I have updated Showcard. Please read the original instructions for the app and how to downloaded here.
I added the option to have the background be an image. I take a screenshot of my phones home screen and use it.
ShowCard — A Card Reveal Tool for Performers
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What is ShowCard?
ShowCard is a mobile web app designed for card performers. It lets you silently encode a playing card into your phone using natural-looking gestures, then reveal it dramatically at the right moment.
The encoding happens in two steps as you handle the phone. First, the suit is registered by where your thumb lands as you pick up the phone. Then a second touch encodes the value. Neither touch looks deliberate to an observer — they’re the natural contacts of someone checking their phone.
When you’re ready for the reveal, either lift the phone or give it a subtle motion and the card fades into view. The whole sequence, from encoding to reveal, can be made to look completely incidental.
Continue reading “ShowCard — A Card Reveal Tool for Performers”Sternwheeler cut
This is something I am playing with. Basically it is a fancy Charlier cut.
Forgive the video quality. It was shot with an old Microsoft Surface running Linux at Starbucks.
A nice reversal
I love going back and reading old magic books. This reversal of a single card is from “At the Table Tricks”, by Neal Elias. This book was first published in 1946. The slight reverses the bottom card of the deck and can be covered with an overhand shuffle.
Read more: A nice reversalTo make this move smoother, think of it as a synchronized “squeeze and turn” motion.
1. The Setup (Left Hand)
- Hold the deck in a standard Mechanic’s Grip in your left hand.
- Position your left middle, ring, and pinky fingers so they are flat against the bottom card’s outer right corner.
2. The Buckle
- Squeeze those three fingers inward and upward toward your thumb (the inner left corner).
- This action “buckles” the bottom card, creating a gap and tilting the rest of the deck upward at a 45-degree angle. This is the standard buckle technique.
3. The Transfer (Right Hand)
- Reach under the deck with your right hand.
- Place your right thumb at the edge closest to you and your middle/ring fingers at the far edge.
- The palm of your right hand should be facing the bottom of the deck.
4. The Secret Turnover
- As the left fingers buckle the card, use the right hand to rotate the deck.
- Pivot the deck on its left edge until it is vertical, in the position to start an overhand shuffle.
- The “buckled” card remains hidden in your left palm as the deck slides over the top of it.
- If you rotate you left hand (holding the hidden card) and pull down on the right edge of that card with the left fingers, the card will rotate to be face up.
5. The Overhand Shuffle
Start an overhand shuffle of the cards in the right hand onto the top of the reversed card.
6. The Cover
- Front/Left: Tilt your left hand up slightly to shield the card from those angles.
- Right: Your right hand naturally blocks the view from the right as it turns the deck.
Ian’s Last Bet
The Script: “Ian’s Last Bet”
Continue reading “Ian’s Last Bet”Card Discovery
This is based on “Silent Transmission Telephone Mystery” from Jon Racherbaumer’s “Artful Dodges of Eddie Fields.” It uses a setup but it is easy to remember and perform.
Continue reading “Card Discovery”13 Down
This card trick is a “self-working” effect by Peter Duffie. Here is the clear, step-by-step breakdown of how to perform it.
Continue reading “13 Down”Derek Dingles Ambitious Classic
Since I posted on Larry Jennings version I thought I would add this. Here is how I do the Dingle version, but this is from my memory and might not be exactly what he wrote.
The setup is the same, cut a red five to the top of the deck as you remove the A-5 of spades. Place those face up on the top of the deck and arrange them so the Ace is the first (top) card, and they go down to the 5.
Continue reading “Derek Dingles Ambitious Classic”Four-Card Ambitious Classic – Ninja Patter Version
EFFECT: Ace through Four of Spades repeatedly rise to the top after being placed elsewhere. Climax: Four of Spades changes to red Four.
One of the early routines I learned was an Ambitious card routine using the Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Spades, by Derek Dingle. I have it in “The Complete Works of Derek Dingle” by Richard Kaufman, titled “Too Many Cards”. The patter for that version is on the theme of suggesting that the reason the spectator can’t follow is that the magician is using too many cards.
Larry Jennings has his four card version described in “The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings” titled “Ambitious Classic Variation”. This version does not list any patter in the book, but you can watch Jennings perform his five card version at https://youtu.be/zIOWUdw-B9E?si=a9CC9xXiGyqsPZN9
Continue reading “Four-Card Ambitious Classic – Ninja Patter Version”Poker Pairadox by John Bannon
First let me say that I am a fan of the self working effects of John Bannon and of Nick Trost. “Poker Pairadox” is basically the same effect/method has “Court Card Conclave” published by Trost in “Subtle Card Creations”, the main difference being the number of cards used. Bannon’s effect uses the court cards and the aces, for a total of 16 cards, and Trost uses just the court cards.
Continue reading “Poker Pairadox by John Bannon”