Somebody picks any number between ten and twenty. You deal that many cards, then add the two digits of their number together and deal that many back. The card they land on is the one you named before they chose anything.
🌟 Level 1: Apprentice
⏱ 5 minutes to learn
🃏 Cards
🎒 Ages 6+
Works by itself, or one simple move. It works the first try.
What you need
The secret
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Look at the ninth card from the top before the show and remember it. That is the card you name.
They don't hear your thoughts. Mind-reading tricks use maths that always lands on the same answer, a secret peek, or a code agreed with a partner beforehand. Magicians who do mind tricks are called mentalists.
What's the best card trick for kids?
The Spelling Bee card trick. You spell out every card from Ace to King, moving one card for each letter, and the right card turns up every single time. It looks impossible and it works entirely by itself.
Somebody picks any number between ten and twenty. You deal that many cards, then add the two digits of their number together and deal that many back. The card they land on is the one you named before they chose anything. It's a level 1 apprentice trick for ages 6 to 11 (grades 1st–5th), takes 5 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
Every number from ten to twenty lands on the same card once you take the digits away again. It is always the ninth card down, whichever number they pick.
What you need
A deck of cards
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Look at the ninth card from the top before the show and remember it. That is the card you name.
How to do it
Count nine cards down in the deck before the show and remember the ninth.
Say the card out loud, so everybody hears you name it first.
Ask somebody for any number between ten and twenty.
Deal that many cards into a pile, one at a time.
Add the two digits of their number together and deal that many back off the pile.
Turn over the card you stopped on. It is the one you named.
Magic words to say
“Pick a number. Any number between ten and twenty, your choice, I'm not helping. Right. I already know where that's going to land you, and I knew before you opened your mouth.”
Pro tips
Name the card before they pick the number. Doing it that way round is what makes it a prediction instead of a count.
Let them do the dealing if they want. It works just as well, and it is far stronger when their hands did everything.
Do the adding out loud together. It sounds like maths, which is the misdirection.
If something goes wrong
If the count goes wrong somewhere, say "let's do that again, properly this time" and start the deal from the top. The ninth card has not moved.
Safety notes
Sit at a table.
Only from the front.
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
Deal out any number and you turn the pile upside down, so the card you want is now that many from the bottom. Taking the digits away again walks you back to the same place every time: 14 becomes 14 minus 5, 17 becomes 17 minus 8, and both land on nine.
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:Your magician name. Every magician has a stage name and a style. Perform it and it counts towards the Card Keeper badge.
Questions about the countdown card
How do magicians read minds?
They don't hear your thoughts. Mind-reading tricks use maths that always lands on the same answer, a secret peek, or a code agreed with a partner beforehand. Magicians who do mind tricks are called mentalists.
What's the best card trick for kids?
The Spelling Bee card trick. You spell out every card from Ace to King, moving one card for each letter, and the right card turns up every single time. It looks impossible and it works entirely by itself.