🔟 The Card That Counts

The Card That Counts for kids: the whole trick

You hand a friend ten cards, Ace to 10, and turn your back. They move as many cards as they like from the top to the bottom, one at a time, and tell nobody. You count down the little pile and turn over one card, and its number is exactly how many they moved. It's a level 2 conjurer trick for ages 8 to 13 (grades 3rd–7th), takes 15 minutes to learn, and needs one thing you already have. Flick, the shop's rabbit, reads every step aloud with a picture, so a child can follow it alone.

The secret

The ten cards are in order, so moving cards from the top to the bottom only turns the order round like a wheel. After you move three yourself to show how, the seventh card from the top always shows how many your friend moved.

What you need

• A deck of cards

How to do it

1. Take the Ace to 10 of any one suit out of the deck.
2. Put them face down in order, with the Ace on top and the 10 at the bottom.
3. Show your friend the rule: move one card at a time from the top to the bottom.
4. As you show them, move exactly three cards, counting "one, two, three".
5. Hand them the cards and turn your back, or leave the room.
6. They move any number from one to nine, one card at a time, and say nothing.
7. Take the cards back and deal six face down on the table, one by one.
8. Turn over the seventh card. Its number is how many they moved, and an Ace means one.

Magic words to say

“Cards are terrible at keeping secrets. While my back was turned, these ten were watching you. Let's ask the one who saw everything.”

Pro tips

• Say "any number from one to nine". Ten would bring the cards all the way round to where they started.
• Deal the six slowly, as if you are listening to each card, and stop on the seventh as if it told you to.
• Keep the cards in a neat pile the whole time. If anybody mixes them, the wheel is broken.

If something goes wrong

If the seventh card is the 10, they moved none at all, or all ten. Smile and say "You didn't move a single card, did you?"

Safety notes

• Needs a helper.
• No fire, no flames and nothing sharp in a child's hand anywhere in the Magic Shop. Nothing ever goes in a mouth, a nose or an ear.

Why it works

Ten cards in order behave like the numbers round a clock. Moving cards from the top to the bottom turns the clock without mixing it, so every card keeps its neighbours. After your three moves the seventh card is the 10, and each card your friend moves slides the next number, 1, 2, 3 and on, into the seventh place.

What kind of trick is this?

🔮 Prediction. You knew all along, or you read their mind. Almost every trick ever invented is one of eight kinds, and knowing which one you're watching is how magicians work out how a new trick is done.

The skill it teaches: Practise like a pro. Ready means ten times in a row without looking at your hands. Perform it and it counts towards the Card Keeper badge.

Questions about the card that counts

How do you do a card trick?

Most beginner card tricks use a secret "key card" that you know, or a special order the cards are in before you start. Your friend picks a card, the secret quietly leads you to it, and then you reveal it in the most dramatic way you can think of.

How do magicians do their tricks?

Magicians use secrets. Some secrets are hidden objects, some are special ways of holding things, and some are clever maths. The biggest secret of all is attention: a magician gets you to look at one thing while the secret happens somewhere else. Then they practise until it looks like nothing at all.

More from The Card Cabinet

• 🃏 The Key Card Trick (level 1, 5 minutes)
• 🔢 The 21 Card Trick (level 1, 10 minutes)
• 🅰️ The Four Aces Trick (level 1, 5 minutes)
• 🐝 The Spelling Card Trick (level 2, 15 minutes)
• All 80 magic tricks for kids, the easy ones by age, and how to put on a magic show