When I’m not pitching, panicking or playing bridge, I navigate my browser in the direction of YouTube and prepare snacks for the oncoming voyage.
Then, I find my way to cat videos, blooper videos, movie trailers or bridge videos. Occasionally, there are some great card tricks and TV shows mixed in with the selection. (Music videos, of course, too.)
The art of card tricks happens to have a few classics; ones that every card magician encounters – and most card magicians will learn first.
Here are 6 basic-but-bizarre card tricks (together with explanations for how they got there) from the world of YouTube.
#1: The Hole-y Card
Here’s the trick where the playing card develops a sudden hole in it – and then, whoosh!, the hole magically disappears again to leave the card in its original state.
Sometimes additional props like a pen or burning cigarette are used for this trick. It’s largely dependent on who is doing the trick and what props are available at the time.
What’s the trick behind the trick?
Well, a rigged card.
#2: The Haunted Deck
Next, what’s usually called the Haunted Deck sees a card move out of a deck as though moving by itself.
It can be achieved a few ways – sometimes through a rigged deck, but sometimes just by rigging something on the inside of the deck instead. (I remember being taught a way that raised the card and gave it some traction using simple, ordinary table salt and then wiggling the card out.)
The YouTube-video of this trick comes from a magician calling himself the Russian Genius.
from the Russian Genius
#3: The Snap Change
The so-called Snap Change is a famous card trick that allows a card to change form into another card with the simple snap of a finger (or wave of a hand, wand or appropriate prop).
The trick for this relies in clever, often very well-practiced dexterity that allows the performer to switch the cards around with a few fingers.
It’s one of those tricks that only works when done in a fluid movement, and quickly.
The YouTube-glimpse above is also from user the Russian Genius.
#4: The Moving Ink
The Moving Ink trick is the one where something (whether suit or signature) magically moves off and back on-to a card.
There are many variations on it, though the basics appear to be the same.
This trick is best done with either the use of a trick card or a trick-marker!
#5: The Vomiting Cards Trick
This is what happens when you live cards, breathe cards and, well, eat cards.
You’ll eventually vomit cards, too.
This impressive display is a card trick that I’ve seen many times (and from many magicians), and it’s still a great one to behold. If you’re feeling a little queasy already, though, it might not be the best thing to be looking at.
See the YouTube link for a slowed-down look of one way in which this trick gets done.
#6: The Fiery Reveal
Magicians often make use of flashy, impressive techniques to reveal the card and trick’s results.
Daniel Garcia (and, I’d guess, a few others) thought that fire would be the perfect technique. And why not? It’s fire.
Again, there are a few ways to achieve this trick ranging from a highly-rigged deck through to a hidden match. See the above YouTube-video for a demonstration of how the fiery reveal can be achieved.