Miraculous Magic Tricks: Packed with dozens of dazzling tricks to learn in simple steps

MAGIC PLATE PREDICTION

ILLUSION

The spectator picks a card from the deck. The value of the card appears in a plate of soil held by the magician.

1. Before performing the trick, the magician chooses a card and places it in the deck second from the top.

2. Using the corner of a bar of soap, the magician writes the card value on a paper plate. For example, if the card is the four of hearts, he writes 4H.

3. The magician pours a little soil onto the plate, just enough to cover the base.

4. The magician places the deck face down. Now he is ready to begin the trick.

5. He cuts the deck in half and places the two halves side by side.

6. He takes the first card from the pile that was the top half of the deck, and places it on the bottom half.

7. The magician points to the next card in the pile (which is the card he previously prepared) and asks the spectator to take it, look at it and hold on to it.

8. The magician slowly swirls the soil around in the plate. The value of the card in the spectator’s hand is revealed. The magician asks the spectator to show his card to confirm that it is indeed the same.

JUMPING JACKS

ILLUSION

The magician places the jacks from a deck of cards on top of the deck. Then, one by one, he takes the jacks and places them randomly through the deck. With a wave of his hand, he gets the jacks to jump back to the top of the deck.

1. The magician holds up four jacks from a deck of cards, with the faces of the cards towards the spectator. The cards should overlap one another in a fan-like manner.

2. The magician has hidden four random cards behind the jacks. He holds these at the back with his thumb, while using his fingers to hold the cards at the front.

3. Using both hands, the magician pushes the four jacks together, keeping the random cards behind them.

4. The magician now places the eight cards (the spectator believes there are just four jacks) face down on top of the deck.

5. Next the magician removes the first card (which is a random card) from the deck, saying: I will place this jack somewhere in the deck. He slides the card into the deck, being careful not to show its face and give the game away!

6. He does exactly the same with the next three cards.

7. The magician now waves his hand dramatically over the deck.

8. He turns over the top four cards to show that the jacks have jumped back from the middle of the deck to the top!

PICKPOCKET

ILLUSION

The magician asks the spectator to choose a card from the deck. The spectator returns the card to the deck without showing it to the magician. The spectator now shuffles the deck. The magician puts the deck in his pocket. He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out the spectator’s card.

1. Prior to the trick, the magician picks a card and places it in the deck second from the top.

2. The magician places a duplicate of this card in his pocket.

3. He now begins the trick with the deck of cards face down.

4. The magician cuts the deck (or asks the spectator to do so) and places the two halves side by side. It is important that the magician remembers