Trick No.1 .—THE ALL-IMPORTANT "PASS"

The basic card-trick, the one which most sleight-of-hand card-tricks use,, is called l*the pass." This is simply a shifting of the cards while pretending to shuffle them so that the bottom card, which is open and therefore known, is brought to the top and closed. When this "pass" has been accomplished, the operator knows the top card and is therefore in a positionto perform a number of tricks with it. Practice, in this as ineverything, will give great dexterity to the operator; and hewill be able to go through the movement without exposing it to his audience.

The following method of "making the pass" must be well practiced.

(1) Hold the pack of cardsin your left hand so that the palmof your hand is under the cards.

(2) Place the thumb of that handon one side of the pack; the first,second and third fingers on theother side, and your little fingerbetween those cards that are to bebrought to the top and the rest ofthe pack (see Fig. 1).

(3) Thenplace your right hand over thecards, as in Fig. 2, shielding thefront of the deck as much as possible.

(4) Having done this, draw off the lower cards^ helddown by the little finger and the other parts of the left hand,and slide them quickly on the top of the pack.

Making the ''Pass"

Before trying any of the tricks that depend on "making thepass" be sure that, with a great deal of practice, you havemastered this "pass" so that you can perform it without allowing any of the audience to notice the quick movement of yourhand which has brought the bottom card, which you know,to the top. Everything depends on the success of this trickand, unless it is done perfectly, any other trick which you maywish to perform will be impossible.

Trick No. 2.—DECEPTIVE SHUFFLES

There are three kinds of deceptive shuffles. The first wayisto mix all the cards excepting one, of which you neverlosesight. To do this you must

(1) put it on top the pack,

(2)then take it in the right hand, keeping the balance of the packin the left;

(3) with the thumb of this last hand, slip intotheright hand five or six other cards upon this known card, andon these last five or six again, and so on until all the packisfound in your right hand. By this means the reserved cardwill be found at the bottom, and if at the moment

(4) you return the whole pack into the left hand excepting onlytheuppermost card,

(5) you can pass successively all the cardsfrom the left to the right hand, by placing the cards alternatelyabove and below the aforesaid uppermost card, until you reachthe reserved card,

(6) which you put on the top, or the bottom, as circumstances require.

The second deceptive shuffle is done by

(1) taking fromtheright hand, the upper half of a pack held in the left.

(2) Then move quickly the annular (that is, the finger to the rightofthe middle finger) finger of the right hand, to allow the cardsto slip without mixing their order.

Notice: First, that afterhaving moved the cards of a pack with the annular fingerofthe right hand, it is necessary to place beneath the pack intheright hand a card, and one or two others immediately followingit, to make it appear as though some were left underneath. These, however, must be brought back under the packageinthe left hand. Second, that the package in the left hand, whichwas in the first instance beneath, and which is actually above,ought to be taken into the right hand to be returned slowlyto its first place.

The third deceptive shuffle is done by

(1) making the passto keep the cards in the right hand, and to divide the smallerportion into three other little packages, of which the first fallsupon the table, the second to the right, and the third totheleft.

(2) The upper half is then placed in the middle.

(3) Should you place on this half, the packages of the right andtheleft, while following the same order, and using alternatelytheright hand and the left, for greater quickness, makingitappear that you are shuffling by chance and without trickery,the cards, while appearing to be mixed up, will be found never to have changed places. All these deceptive shuffles can bemastered with very little practice.

Trick No.3.—FORCING A CARD

In card tricks, it is often necessary to "force a card," that is,to compel a person to take the card you want him to take al- though he imagines he is picking one of his own choice. Thefollowing is perhaps the best method of performing this trick:

(1) Find out quietly, or while you are amusing yourself withthe cards, what the card is which you are to force. Keep it insight, or place the little finger of your Jeft hand, in which youhold the pack, on it.

(2) Then ask a person to select a cardfrom the pack. Open it quickly from left to right, spreadingthe cards backwards and forwards so as to mix him up.

(3) When you see him about to take one, open the pack until youcome to that one which you intend him to have.

(4) Just atthe moment his fingers are touching the pack, let that card'scomer stick out invitingly a little forward in front of theothers. This will seem so fair that in nine cases out of ten hewill take the one so offered, unless he himself knows the secretof forcing.

(5) Having by this method forced your card onhim, you may ask him to examine it, and then give him thepack to shuffle, which he may do as often as he likes becauseyou already know the card he has chosen. A perfect knowledge of forcing is absolutely necessary before you try themore difficult tricks with cards

Trick No 4.—THE "LONG CARD"

Another basic trick used in performing many of the following tricks is called the "Long Card." This is, a card either atrifle longer or wider than the rest of the pack, which is not notice able to the eye of the spectator, but which is easily distin guished by the touch of the operator. Good operators sometimes have both wider and longer cards in the pack. Any book binder or printer will shave the edges of your pack so asto leave you a long and a wide card.

The above, then, are the basic tricks which are necessary to the performance of the following card-tricks. Above all, thepoint must be emphasized that the success of your trick depends entirely on the practice that you have given these basics principles.

Once you have perfected yourself by practice, youneed only a knowledge of simple numbers, a few pieces ofapparatus which can either be made at home or purchasedinmagic and novelty shops, and the quick supple fingers ofaviolinist or pianist.

It is a very good idea to keep your fingerssupple by doing as the violinist does, that is, by practicingcontinually in your spare time. Carry a deck of cards aroundwith you and practice "the pass."

You will find that, inavery short time, your fingers will be supple enough to performthe trick without detection.

Trick No. 5.—THE DIVINING CARD

(1) Prepare a pack in which there is a long card;

(2) openit to where the long card is, and present the pack to a personso that he will naturally draw that card.

(3) Then tell himtoput it into one part of the pack, and shuffle the cards.

(4) Thentake the same pack, and offer them in like manner to the secondand tliird person, taking care that they do not stand nearenough to each other to see the card each other draws.

(5) You then draw several cards yourself, among whichis the long caid. and ask each of the people if his cardbeamong those cards. He will naturally say yes, as they haveall drawn the same card.

(6) You then shuffle all the cardstogether, cutting them at the long card.

(7) You hold it beforethe first person so that others may not see it, and tell himthat it is his card.

(8) You then put it in the pack, shuffleit,and cut it again at the same card, and hold it to the secondperson, and so to the rest.

You can perform this trick without the long card as follows:

(1) Let any person draw a card, and replace it in the pack.

(2) You then make the pass, and bring that card to thetopof the pack, and shuffle them without losing sight of that card.

(3) Then offer that card to the second person so that hemaydraw it and put it in the middle of the pack.

(4) Makethepass, and shuffle the cards the second time in the same manner,and offer the card to the third person, continuing until all thepeople have been duped.

Trick No. 6.—THE BOOTLEGGED CARD

To smuggle a card;

( 1) hold it between the index and middlefinger of the right hand.

(2) Hold the rest of the pack in the left hand, between the finger and thumb of that hand. Theupper card, which you desire to substitute, ought to be a little advanced toward the right hand.In this position the middle, annular, and little fingers of theleft hand are perfectly free.

(3) It is with these fingers thatyou must take the card which is in the right hand.

(4) Whenit is brought near the left hand, quickly take from it the uppermost card which you wish to substitute.

Trick No. 7.—TO PLACE A CARD

A card can be placed in two ways.

(1) On other cards held in the left hand the instant you ask the spectator to put his hand on the pack.

The minute you,have placed the card, remove slightly theright from the left hand, so that you almost touch the cardswith the little finger, as if to show the spectator the placewhere you invite him to put the hand. In this way he will notpay attention to the fact that the hands are brought towardone another to operate a slight change, and he honestly placeshis hand only when it is too late to prevent one.

(2) The second manner of placing a card, is done the minuteyou place the pack upon the table.

Here it is not necessary to pick up the cafds by dosing thehand as is usually done, but to make them slip toward you, with rapidity so as to prevent the spectator from seeing thecards in your hand. It is necessary, however, to be contentwith a moderate speed, vdiich will be enough to conceal themeans employed. An extraordinary rapidity might disclose thetrick.

Trick No. 8.—TO SUP A CARD

(1) Hold the pack in the right hand, and show the spectatorthe imdermost card, which we will suppose to be the Ace of Diamonds.

(2) Turn the pack upside down, apd pretend totake this Ace of Diamonds.

(3) Take, instead of the Ace ofDiamonds, the card immediately following it, in causing thisAce of Diamonds to slip behind with the annular and little fingers of the right hand, which you have dampened a momentbefore with some saliva.

Note.—The finger of the left hand, with which the second10 card instead of the first below it, is drawn, should alsobemoistened with saliva.

Trick No.9 .—TO CARRY AWAY A CARD

(1) Hold in the left hand the cards you intend to carryaway, held diagonally over the others, and a little advancedtoward the right hand.

(2) Take these cards with the left hand, pressing themslightly between the little finger and thumb.

(3) Lean your, right hand carelessly upon the edge ofatable to shield the trick.

Trick No. 10.—THE CONGRESS OF COURT CARDS

(1)Take the kings, queens, and jacks from the pack, andplace them face upwards on the table in three rows of foureach, avoiding as much as possible the appearance of arrangement, but really taking care to place them in the followingorder:—In the first row remember not to have two of the samesuit.

Begin the second row with a card of the same suit with which you ended the first, let the second card be of the samesuit as the first of the first row, and so on. The third rowwill begm with the suit with which the second left off, the sec-ond card will be of the same suit as the first of the secondrow, and so on.

(2) Pick up the cards in vertical rows, b^;inning with the last card of the bottom row.

(3) The cards maynow^be cut (not shuffled) any number of times, but, if dealtin four heaps, the king, queen and jack of each suit will cometogether.

Trick No. 11.—TO DISCOVER THE CARD WHICHISDRAWN, BY THE THROW OF A DICE

(1) Prepare a pack of cards in which there are only six sortsof cards.

(2) Arrange these cards so that each of the six different cards shall follow each other, and let the last of eachsuite be a long card.

(3) The cards being so arranged, it follows that if you divide them into six parcels, by cuttingateach of the long cards, these parcels will all consist of similarcards.

(4) Let a person draw a card from the pack, and make him place it in the parcel from which it was drawn, by dexteriously offering that part.

(5) Cut the cards several times, so that along card is always at the bottom. Divide the cards in this wayinto six heaps, and giving a dice to the person who drew thecard, tell him that the point he throws will indicate the parcerin which is the card he drew.

(6) Then take up that parcel andshow him the card.

Trick No. 12.—THE GUESSED CARD

(1) Spread part of a pack before a person, so that only onepicture card is visible, and fix it so that it is very noticeable.

(2) Ask him to think of one card, and see if he looks at thepicture card.

(3) When he tells you he has thought of one,shuffle the cards, and turn them up one by one.

(4) When youcome to the picture card, tell him that is the one. If he has notlooked at the picture card, you should not try the experiment,but franie an excuse for performing some other trick. Thistrick should not be attempted with those who know aboutthis sort of deception.

Trick No. 13.—THE RECRUIT TRICK

(1) Take the four jacks, and lay them on the table in a row,and say that these Jacks represent the four rubes who wantedto be soldiers, but upon examination by the surgeon, two ofthem were rejected because of physical disability, while thfe other two were held.

(2) Ask the company to select the tworejected and explain why. The cause is that two of them haveonly one eye. There is not one in ten who will notice this difference, it being done in all packs of cards not of Europeanmake.

Trick No. 14.—TO TELL THE CARD THAT MAY BENOTED

(1)Take several cards, say ten or twelve.

(2) Rememberhow many there are, and hold* them up with their backs towardsyou.

(3) Open four or five of the uppermost, and, while youhold them out, ask someone to note a card, and tell youwhether it is the first, second, or third from the top.

(4) Whenhe has told you, shut up the cards in your hand, place therest of the pack upon them, and tap their ends and sides onthe table, so as to make it seem impossible to find the card in question. It may, however, be easily found in this way: Subtract the number of cards you had in your hand fromfifty two, which is the number of the padc. To the remainderaddthe number of thenoted card, and you will instantly have thenimaber of the noted card from the top.

Trick No. 15.—TO SEPARATE THE TWO COLORSOFAPACK OF CARDS BY ONE CUT

To do this trick, all the cards of one color must be cut a little narrower at one end than the other. You showtheicards, and give them to one to shuffle. Then holding thembetween your hands, one hand being at each end, withonemotion you separate the Hearts and Diamonds from the Spadesand Clubs.

Trick No. 16 .—THE "SPELLING BEE'' TRICK

This is a variation of the "Alternate Card'' trick. Theoperator, taking thirteen cards as before, begins to spell "o-n-e,one,'' pacing one card underneath for each letter, and turningup the fourth, which is found to be an ace. He then spells"t-w-o, two," passing three cards more beneath, and turningup the next following, which proves to be a two. "T-h-r-e-e,three," and so on.

The formula for producing the cards as above is as follows:

Three, eight, seven, ace, king, six, four, two, queen. Jack,,ten, nine, five.

Trick No. 17.—TBE "ALTERNATE CARD" TRICK

(1) Arrange beforehand the thirteen cards of any givensuit, or mixed suits, according to the following formula, placing the first card face upwards on the table, the next in succession upon it, and so on. Seven, ace, queen,' two, eight, three, jack, four, nine, five,king, six, ten.Put the cards so arranged at the top of the pack.

(2) Inperforming the trick you begin by counting off, withoutdisturbing their order, thirteen cards from the top.

(3) Thensay, that by a strong effort of the will, you will makeeveryalternate card appear in regular order.

(4) Place the top cardbeneath, and place the next card face upwards on the table, saying "One!"

(5) Place the third card underneath, andturn up the fourth, which will be a "two."

(6) Place the fifthunderneath and turn up the "three," and so on, and continuingin the same manner throughout the thirteen cards, which willappear in regular order.

Trick No. 18.—TO NAME ANYNUMBER OF CARDS IN SUCCESSION WITHOUT SEEINGTHE

(1)The performer takes thepack, and secretly notices the bottom card. He then announces thathe will name all the cards of thepack in succession without seeing them.

(2) Holding the pack behind him for an instant, he turnsthe top card face outwards on thetop of the pack; then holding the pack with the bottom card towardsthe audience, he names that card.

(4) From the position in whichhe holds the pack, the top card,which he has turned, is towardshim, and in full view.

(5) Againplacing his hands behind him, hetransfers the last named to thebottom, and turns the next, andso on in like manner.

The Performer Takes the Pack, and Secretly Notices the B.ottom Card

Trick No. 19.—TO ARRANGE TWELVE CARDS INROWS, IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THEY WILLCOUNT FOUR IN EVERY DIRECTION

This is more a puzzle than a card trick, but it may sometimes serve as an in between trick to occupy the minds of youraudience while you are preparing for some other feat. Thesecret is to place nine of the twelve cards in three rows, so asto form a square; then place the remaining three cards as fol- lows: the first on the first card of the first row, the second on the second card of the second row, and the last on the thirdcard of the last row.

Trick No. 20.—THE LOCOMOTIVE CARD

This will look like a marvelous trick if it is well performed.

(1) Take a pack of cards, and let any person draw one fromit.

(2) Tell him to look at the card, so that he will knowitagain, and then put it back into the deck.

(3) Hold the packso that the person in placing his card back, inserts it in thecard next to the bottom. Do this by shuffling the cards aboutcontinuously but leaving the card next to the bottom alwaysopen. In this way, he thinks that he has placed his cardinthe middle of the deck. In this way you know where his cardis. When shuffling the deck again, you can very easily place the particular card on the top of the pack.

(4) Then takeapiece of wax with a long hair attached to it, fastening it to thebottom of your vest (it must be prepared before you commence the trick), have the wax placed under the thumb-nail of yourright hand, and stick it to the card that was drawn.

(5) Spreadthe cards on the table and ask the person to name the cardheselected.

(6) command it to move from the pack to your hand.By leaning backwards slightly and drawing forward a littlewith the hand holding the deck, the card will appear to befollowing your hand very spookily.