From its early beginnings in the 1800s to today’s far more elaborate performances, magic shows have been captivating the imagination of audiences for centuries. Whether it’s a large show in front of a huge crowd or a small birthday party in front of children, just about everyone enjoys taking in a good magic act.
There have been a number of talented magicians to grace the stage over the years, with names like Houdini, Copperfield and Blaine all etched into the history books. All of these performers spent years, if not lifetimes, honing their craft. You may not have the time or desire to become the world’s next great magician, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still learn some cool card tricks to impress your friends!
This article will walk you through a handful of simple card tricks that will put the power of magic in the palm of your hand. All of these tricks are easy to learn and perfect for any beginner with a deck of cards to pick up quickly. If you’re looking to add some magic to game night or you need to make a good first impression with a colleague, grab a deck of cards and continue reading for some of the easiest tricks to learn on your own.
#1 – The Reverse Turn
This is a great card trick that’s sure to leave your friends in amazement. Once you master ‘The Upside Down Card’, you’ll be able to magically uncover a spectator’s selected card and leave them wondering how you did it.
- The key to this trick actually comes before you begin. Prior to getting started, make sure you flip over the card at the bottom of the deck. This will now be the only card facing up.
- Spread out the entire deck of cards and ask an audience member to choose one. Be careful not to display the face up card located at the bottom of the deck. Instruct the spectator to memorize the card and share it with the audience.
- As the spectator is doing this, discreetly turn the deck over in your hands. This will ensure that all of the cards are now face up, except for the top card which is now face down.
- When the card is returned to you, place it face down into the middle of the deck. Make sure to keep the deck tight so the audience cannot see that most of the cards are now reversed.
- Place the deck behind your back and tell the audience that you can locate their selected card without looking. In reality, you’re simply turning over the top card so it’s now facing up.
- Present the deck of cards, now face up, to your audience and search through the cards until you spot the only face down card in the bunch. Reveal this as the selected card and watch as their jaws hit the floor!
#2 – No Set Up Magic
Just as the name suggests, this card trick is perfect for beginners as there’s no set up involved. Just follow the steps below and create magic out of thin air with nothing more than a deck of cards.
- Ask an audience member to shuffle the deck and pick out a card.
- After you both have a look at the selected card, place it back into the middle of the deck. While it may seem like you’ve now lost the card, you’re going to secretly place a thumb break to leave a mark where the card is within the deck.
- You’ll then transfer the thumb break to a pinky break, never losing track of the selected card.
- Using fake cuts, you will then place their card on top of the deck, leaving your audience in total amazement!
#3 – Do As I Do
This classic trick is popular with first-time performers for its overall simplicity. In order to get started, you’ll need two complete decks of cards (without any joker cards). If possible, the two decks should be different from one another.
- This magic trick starts by taking out both decks of cards and asking a spectator to select one of them.
- Once they have chosen a deck, you can begin to shuffle and cut the remaining deck of cards as you instruct the audience member to follow along with everything you do.
- As you complete your final shuffle, take a quick peek at the card displayed at the bottom of the deck. Memorize this card as you’ll need to know this information later on. (For this example, let’s use the King of hearts.)
- At this point, you’ll trade decks with the spectator. This will prove that you’re not using a trick deck and garner more trust from your audience.
- Once you’ve traded decks, direct the spectator to cut the deck about half-way through and place the cut cards off to the right.
- You will then ask them to remove the top card from the pile to their left, memorizing the card before placing it on top of the cards to their right. Make sure they keep this information to themselves.
- It’s at this point where you’ll ask the audience member to pick up the pile of cards to their left and place it on top of the deck to their right. This will make it seem as if you’re burying their mystery card towards the middle of the deck, when in reality it’s actually positioning the card right next to your memorized key card (King of hearts) from earlier.
- As the spectator does this, you’ll complete the same actions on your deck. The difference is that you don’t need to remember the card you’ve just selected. Just remain focused on your key card as it will be essential in completing this trick successfully.
- Once that’s done, exchange decks with the spectator once again. You’ll then ask them to look for their card in their deck and to pull it out face down. You’ll pretend to do the same, even though you’re actually looking for your key card (King of hearts). The card to its right will be the spectator’s selected card and you simply need to pull it out face down.
- Time for the moment of truth – count to three and flip over both cards to show that it’s a perfect match. Abracadabra!
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That covers the easiest card tricks that you can learn yourself. While there are more complex, mind-boggling magic tricks you can learn, these are perfect for those looking to learn something fun and quick.
