Magic tricks with cards

About these tricks

Every trick on this page needs one ordinary deck of playing cards and no fancy shuffling. Card tricks are the best tricks for helpers, because the card is theirs: they choose it, they show everybody, and they can cut the deck themselves. Most of these work by themselves, so the hard part is the talking, not the hands.

Learn the key card trick first, because three of the others run on the same secret. Then try one with a little setting up, and save the one that keeps coming back to the top for when you can do a move without looking at your hands. A deck with a picture on the back makes the reveal easier for a room to see.

By level, 8 Apprentice (works the first try), 7 Conjurer (a little practice) and 1 Wizard (days of practice). They all come off The Card Cabinet. What you need most often: cards (16), paper (1). None has a step only a grown-up can do, and none uses anything small enough to need the choking note. The quickest to learn is The Crystal Ball Prediction (3 minutes); the longest is The Card That Keeps Coming Back (3 to 6 days).