You hold thirteen cards and spell A-C-E out loud, moving one card to the bottom for every letter. You turn over the next card and it's the Ace. Then T-W-O, and it's the Two, all the way up to King.
✨ Level 2: Conjurer
⏱ 15 minutes to learn
🃏 Cards
🎒 Ages 6+
A bit of setting up, or ten to twenty minutes of practice.
What you need
The secret
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Take the thirteen cards of one suit out of the deck, Ace to King.
Stack them face down in this order from the top: 3, 8, 7, Ace, Queen, 6, 4, 2, Jack, King, 10, 9, 5.
Write the order on a sticky note while you're learning it. Check the stack once before every show.
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.
How do I put on a magic show?
Pick four to six tricks you know really well. Open with something quick and visual, put a trick with a helper in the middle, give the whole room something to join in with, and finish on your very best one. Then bow and stop. Ten to fifteen minutes is a whole show.
You hold thirteen cards and spell A-C-E out loud, moving one card to the bottom for every letter. You turn over the next card and it's the Ace. Then T-W-O, and it's the Two, all the way up to King. It's a level 2 conjurer trick for ages 6 to 11 (grades 1st–5th), 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 thirteen cards are in a secret order before you start, and the spelling does the rest. Nothing is hidden and nothing is sleight of hand: the order is the whole trick.
What you need
The thirteen cards of one suit, Ace to King
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Take the thirteen cards of one suit out of the deck, Ace to King.
Stack them face down in this order from the top: 3, 8, 7, Ace, Queen, 6, 4, 2, Jack, King, 10, 9, 5.
Write the order on a sticky note while you're learning it. Check the stack once before every show.
How to do it
Hold the thirteen cards face down and tell everyone you taught them to spell.
Spell A-C-E out loud, moving one card from the top to the bottom for each letter.
Turn over the next card on top. It's the Ace. Put it on the table.
Spell T-W-O the same way, then turn over the next card. The Two.
Keep going: THREE, FOUR, FIVE, all the way up through JACK and QUEEN.
The last card left in your hand is the King. Hold it up and say nothing.
Magic words to say
“These thirteen went to the Peabody School of Spelling. Most of them did their homework. Let's find out which ones were paying attention. A… C… E…”
Pro tips
Hand the packet over for the last few and let your friend do the spelling. The order still works, which makes it look like the cards are doing it.
Spell slowly. The pause before each card turns over is where all the tension lives.
This is a closer. Put it at the end of your show, because nothing you do afterwards will beat it.
If something goes wrong
If you skip a letter the order breaks and nothing will fix it mid-trick. Say "these two clearly need more homework", gather them up and go straight into the 21 Card Trick.
Safety notes
Sit at a table.
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.
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:The big finish. End on your best one, then stop. Perform it and it counts towards the Card Keeper badge.
Questions about the spelling card trick
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.
How do I put on a magic show?
Pick four to six tricks you know really well. Open with something quick and visual, put a trick with a helper in the middle, give the whole room something to join in with, and finish on your very best one. Then bow and stop. Ten to fifteen minutes is a whole show.