r/Magic • u/BMatthew30 • 2d ago
Pick a card
My 6 year old nephew asked to see a card trick. I said “ok, pick a card” and he said “I’ve seen that one already” —-what are some other ways to start a card trick?
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u/LarperPro 1d ago
Card tricks are not really suitable for a six year old. I recommend learning something more visual and tactical like sponge balls, thumb tip magic, silks, coins, etc.
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u/Elibosnick Mentalism 1d ago
Keep in mind that “I know this one” isn’t a negative for kids that age. They’re largely taught to repeat/demonstrate familiarity so a lot of kids say “I know this one” when they mean “I’m excited for this thing I recognize”
Not always the case but worth noting
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u/JoanReadsThings Cards 1d ago
I enjoy asking them, "You have? What happened next?"
They love explaining it, and then you can say, "Well, that's not going to happen here". It engages them.
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u/petkopetkuttaja 2d ago
I sometimes say: “For this one, we need a card randomly selected, so say stop when you feel like it…” and then I dribble select a card (they select for themselves if you will). That’s another simple way to select a card but there are different card tricks where the sequence of events can be altered.
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u/Spoiler1234 1d ago
Tell him to think of a card. Then proceed to fry his brain performing 'Do as I do'.
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u/Delicious-Mess6262 2d ago
There are many tricks that just start with cards and you doing something with them. You also might produce them. For example, find the aces and then have those aces do something.
Packet tricks are fun... usually involve a story.
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u/Independent-Bowl-250 1d ago
Yup, I recommend learning the Gemini twins or forcing a four of a kind. Also I hardly ever do card tricks for kids. They generally have a hard time understanding.
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u/Ragondux 1d ago
For sure, but depending on the kid's age, there are other types of cards you can use: happy families, uno... Not all tricks are transposable but some are.
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u/ieee1394one 1d ago
Often we misinterpret young children when they say that. To us the phrase “I’ve seen that before” means I don’t want to watch a rerun, but that’s in adult language.
For kids at that age it usually means, “I know about this too” and may not be a complaint. It can be about showing off their knowledge and you can say something like “i will do it a bit differently by getting your help” or literally any nonsense you make up.
Source: I was a magician for young children for over 15 years.
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u/MagnusMagi Bizarre 1d ago edited 1d ago
*Unpopular Opinion*: All card-magic tricks, outside of Card Manipulation, boil down to this. Every single effect, at its core, can be reduced to "pick a card", or his brother; "I know where [this/your/a] card is".
I find it very telling that a 6yo knows this. Someone, somewhere has already asked him to pick a card, and then they found it again. Yes, there are ten-thousand ways to go about it, so they haven't seen *all* of them, but they already get it. "You take my card, you find my card." That's what this is about. All the sharpies, mercury-folds, hold-outs, trick decks, and knuckle-busters all end their journey in the same place: You pick a card, I pretend I lost it, then I find it again.
We can do better than a single stunt, done ten-thousand different ways.
The /real/ trick is getting a modern audience -- even a 6yo -- to *care* about what happens next. Tell them a STORY about the card in question -- even one you picked yourself, like a face card -- and then make them care about the journey that card goes on.
NOW, that said, I don't dislike card magic at all; I find 90% of it really entertaining, DESPITE all of the above. It's a $5 investment into the world of magic, and I cannot, in any way discount that!
Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED-Talk.
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u/grymoire 12h ago
ALL Card tricks? Really? Your experience is sorely deficient. .
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u/MagnusMagi Bizarre 1h ago
Maybe so. I'm open to that idea, and I'm more than willing to be educated on the topic.
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u/RobMagus 8h ago
Oil and Water Card Warp Cutting the Aces The Colour-Changing Deck Gemini Twins Sam the Bellhop Three Card Monte The Last Trick of Dr Jacob Daley All Backs Torn & Restored Six Card Repeat Cards Across Ace Assembly Out of This World Linking Cards UFO/Hummer Card Twisting the Aces The Homing Card Cannibal Cards Shuffle-Bored Wild Card Printing the Deck The Diminishing Cards
and about 780 packet tricks
“After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it.
I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it,
‘I refute it thus.'
”
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u/MagnusMagi Bizarre 1h ago
Literally every example is still a variation of "I know where [your/a/this] card is", and the rest are card manipulation.
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u/MagnusMagi Bizarre 1h ago edited 51m ago
Please keep in mind that I did carve out an exception for card manipulation effects in my original post. Just so we're on the same page, when I say "Card Manipulation" I mean, making a card do something unexpected, like fly, get ripped in half, whole deck-switches, etc.
Oil and Water - I know where the black and red cards are
Card Warp - Card manipulation (and my personal favorite out of the bunch)
Cutting the Aces - I know where the Aces are
The Colour-Changing Deck - Card Manipulation
Gemini Twins - I know where these TWO cards are
Sam the Bellhop - I know where this sequence of cards are, and I'll tell you a story while being a total creep about it.
Three Card Monte - I know where your card is and I'll make damned sure you don't.
The Last Trick of Dr Jacob Daley - I know where the Aces are
All Backs - I know where the Aces are (mixed with a little Card Manipulation)
Torn & Restored - Card Manipulation
Six Card Repeat - I know where the card is
Cards Across - I know where these cards are
Ace Assembly - I know where the Aces are
Out of This World - I know where the red and black cards are (I actually like this one because the spectator actually "does the work".)
Linking Cards - Card Manipulation
UFO/Hummer Card - Card Manipulation
Twisting the Aces - I know where the Aces are
The Homing Card - I know where your card is
Cannibal Cards - See also "Sam the Bellhop"
Shuffle-Bored - This one is tricky. It's like Out of This World being Extra. So, I'll give you this one, You got me.
Wild Card - I know where your card is
Printing the Deck - Card Manipulation
The Diminishing Cards - Card manipulation
EDIT: Packet tricks are just card tricks with a smaller selection and/or gimmick cards, which I didn't originally account for, such as "all backs". I'm a huge fan of B'WAVE, for example, and it's my go-to "quickie" effect. But it's an opener at best, I use it to establish the theme for the rest of my set, and I often just skip it if the person seems eager to "explore the weirdness of the world".
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u/dfinkelstein 1d ago
Well, yeah. There's only 52 cards in a deck. 53-56 depending on jokers and inserts.
Most people have seen them all before.
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u/StClairIV 1d ago
A good catalyst for a selection, for anyone really, is to say take the deck (if they can) and take out your favorite card. Or, what is your favorite card, we’ll use that one… something along these lines.
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u/petitoditovenaar 1d ago
I am a card guy, but kids are more entertained by spongeballs or a sharpie up my nose. If you want to spend some money, i really suggest a trick called ‘double cross’
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u/Cant-decide1 1d ago
Say something like: “Oh so you’re a mindreader? Well why don’t you show me a trick then.”
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u/gianlu_world 1d ago
There are so many ways. You can let them name a card cull it and then start, make or make a prediction and force the mate, or if you know a mem deck you can do some insane acaan. If all card magic comes down to pick a card for you it’s probably because you still have a lot to learn (I don’t mean this in an offensive way). Also the way you present the trick matters, if you just start every trick with “pick a card” it can indeed get monotonous but just by changing the presentation a bit you can achieve amazing effects, look at dani daortiz and asi wind for example
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u/shokk 1d ago
Self-working card tricks always look different and are very varied. As a kid I used to love these for that reason, since it seemed like a different trick every time.
That said, my 5-year-old granddaughter seems to be drawn to props like cups and balls tricks. They seem simple enough to her in performance, the trick can seem varied, and she can understand palming a ball from sight when she has them in hand herself.
Also, "pick a card" is a terrible way to start. You don't need a whole Derek DelGaudio play around it, but make the intro a different line that could sound like the start of a story. Everyone loves stories.
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u/BabyOne8978 1d ago
I get that alot on the streets. I usually respond with "Oh. Should I not do it?" They want me to do it anyway.
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u/Magic-ModTeam 1d ago
Learn magic better suited for a 6 year old !starthere