Category: Tricks

April 20, 2026April 23, 2026

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.

February 6, 2026February 8, 2026

Ian’s Last Bet

The Script: “Ian’s Last Bet”

February 5, 2026February 5, 2026

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.

January 27, 2026January 27, 2026

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.

January 26, 2026January 27, 2026

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

January 25, 2026January 26, 2026

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.

January 15, 2026January 15, 2026

Dice Prediction

This is another effect described by Matt McGurk on his youtube channel. You can find that at https://youtu.be/uxczhiTb9J0?si=65CU-LfJ-X6JnBLi. Below is a description of the trick followed by my modifications and notes.

The Effect

A spectator shuffles a deck of cards. The magician takes them back briefly to remove a “Joker,” then writes a secret prediction and hides it under a glass. While the magician’s back is turned, the spectator rolls two dice and performs a series of randomizing steps to arrive at a secret number. They then deal cards based on that number and the final dice roll. Miraculously, the card they land on perfectly matches the magician’s prediction.

January 3, 2026January 3, 2026

SearchCipher – my latest phone app

The original Akronym effect (created by Yves Doumergue and available from Conjuring Lab) uses Wikipedia – spectators navigate through Wikipedia articles, clicking on random links and selecting words from the article titles they land on. Through letter extraction, their name is revealed. It’s a clever effect that has earned strong reviews from professional mentalists.

December 12, 2025January 11, 2026

The Dream Lock & The “Cut Deeper” Force

I recently found an old “Dream Lock,” a four-wheel combination lock with a unique feature: it can be rigged to open using only two of the four dials. This meant I needed a reliable way to make a spectator select my two target numbers out of four digits they would pick.

I decided to use the classic “Cut Deeper” Force from card magic.

November 29, 2025November 30, 2025

Ghost Card: Another Android based Magic Effect

This is another Android app the I created using Claude.ai and Cordova. I started by asking the AI for some ideas for apps. One that it suggested was a “Ghost Card” app where the spectators chosen card magically appears on an image that was just taken with your phones camera. Two hours later I had a working app. Most of that time was spent in making tweaks and enhancements to the app.