I forgot to mention when the NW pinged off I pretended to change my mind and rub out the number with the rubber on the end of the pencil and then wrote any number with the pencil and it was her thought of number.

Half a year ago I was invited to a friends party.
Some people were sitting around playing poker and as some of them knew that I was a magician they asked me to do something.
I grabbed the deck and classic forced a card on someone.
(" Pick a card - any card.. except the 8 of spades")
She picked the card and freaked out! It was very easy to force the card on her.. so I decided to do it again - it worked! .. a third time - again the 8 of spades!
The crowd was screaming

I decided to continue with another routine and asked the girl to shuffle the deck and then to spread it on the table - so did she. I asked her to pick a card..
Guess what happened? The one card she freely selected was the 8 of spades!!!
If you've ever witnessed a similar coincidence you probably know what it feels like! Pure magic!

I knew I couldn't top that and quit.

I was amazed at a trick that I unwittingly performed on myself...

I was looking through my wife's check book looking for a check. She uses a duplicate style where as you write the original, a copy is made just behind it and it is this copy that gets left behind in the register.

OK, now with that backdrop, I kept flipping through all the copies and could not find a new check. About the 3rd or 4th time I noticed that the last half of the copies were blank. So I'm thinking... what the heck? Why are half of these blank?

After taking a moment to consider all the illogical reasons my wife might of had to not record the checks and to not get a new book of checks it dawns on me...

Have you figured it out yet? Ever see the workings of a magic coloring book?

Yep, As I thumbed thru the checks, the originals were slightly narrower than the copies so all I was seeing were the copies!

And I never thought I could be fooled by a magic coloring book!

Must be a new routine here somewhere...

Lynn Fox

Eight years ago, I performed Ted Lesley's: "Pro-Monition", for my friend's wife.
(Her selected card was the 6D)

(Three weeks ago)
There were 10 of us having dinner, at a rest.. (Including this lady)
During dinner, I was asked, "Are you still involved in magic?" And, "Please, do
something for us."
I asked the (same) lady to mentally select any card, and tell us the name of
this card. ('Gambling', she would duplicate?)
She said, "The 6 of Diamonds!" (Made me a 'happy little camper')
I told her to wave her hand, slowly, over her dinner plate, and lift the plate.
(There was a back-up effect, just in case)

There are some great stories here. One time I was doing a prediction effect where I would lay a card down onto the table and have someone name a card out loud, then flip it over to find the prediction correct. Well, one time a girl took the deck from me, and asked me to repeat the effect as she looked through the deck and pulled out a card. She set it down and said, "can you have someone name that card?". I pointed to another girl standing in the group, and asked her to name her favorite card. She named the "Queen of Hearts"!! Everyone was shocked, suprised, and screaming as it was a match. I was shocked a little bit too, LOL!!

My only miracle moment (so far) is similar to Scott's up above. A few years ago, I was working night-shift as an emergency dispatcher. When things were quiet, I'd practice various card cuts. Mike, a coworker, delighted in razzing me, "Ooooh! A magician!! Or are you supposed to be a riverboat gambler?" and pretending to fear me every time I walked into shift. As you can imagine, after a few weeks it was getting a little old. One morning I hit the parking lot shortly after he did and heard his starter grinding away. His car flat would not start. I walked up to it, put both hands on the front of the hood, threw my head back and yelled, "BE HEALED!!" At that exact moment, he tried it again and it started. His eyes were really big as I gave him a "salaam" and walked over to my car. It ended his razzing.

Was performing on the street to a good size crowd
and always had a TT Bill switch ready to go

I normally change a piece of White Paper in 4 folds to NZ $10 Note

An overseas visitor from Australia with his family asked where the
money exchange office was as they had arrived only hours earlier
and jokingly showed me his Australian $10 Note mentioning A real magician could
change it etc..

I really played this up and everone was watching..
4 folds later-now a NZ $10 Note in its place in front of a large crowd bought the house down and this guy face was priceless to say the least!-The applause was really good & more of a crowd arrived

Just one of those right moment days!!!
couldn't have planned it better if I tried!!!!!!

I end a particular card set with Earl Nelson's "Between Your Points of Departure", but one day was delighted to have the spectator (freely) select a card that just happened to be the duplicate of a card that I had pinned to the back of my jacket's lapel that evening!

Needless to say, the already-wonderful vanish of the selected card was greatly enhanced by a simply-incredible re-appearance!

In fact, I toyed with the idea of distributing cards all over my body (two lapels, two socks, two shoes, wallet, etc -- and then "soft force" one of a known set of cards) just so that I could re-create that magic moment.

Wow! nice stories everyone!
It is very cool and funny when you perform a trick and you don't even know what happened lol.
I'm sure that I have a similar story, but I can't remember.

I was in class at my high school two years ago with a friend who happens to also be a magician. I was in a bold mood so I took a scrap of paper and wrote "4D" on it, then crumpled it up and placed it on the table in front of him. I told him I was going to show him a new effect I had developed and asked him to name any card he wanted. Sure enough, he said "Four of Diamonds!"

I casually allowed him to open the paper abs reveal my prediction. My friend was convinced it had to be a fluke and he wanted me to repeat it. Me being the daring person I am, I obliged. I wrote "6C" on another paper, and repeated the procedure. He named another card... "Six of Clubs". I struggled not to smile as I allowed him to open and reveal my prediction. Now he was really a believer. I said "it works every time too, a foolproof concept". Just then, an onlooker from the side of the class, who had been watching the entire time, piped up. "Oh yeah? Do it to me."

I wrote "AS" on the paper and placed it in front of him. Wouldn't you know it, three times lucky. I can't believe it worked three times in a row, but it was a great way to leave a magician buddy scratching his head.

You should've been at a casino that day.

Steve

I was performing walkaround before the stage show at a venue with tiered seating.
I finished an oil and water routine of Ray Kosby's and when I looked up, there was Ray Kosby looking on from about three rows back. He said, " Nice routine!"

There's only one that comes to mind...

First of all, you have to know my older brother. He's always been a "superior" type, that takes advantage of lecturing me and pretty much making me feel "small".

Well about a year earlier than this, I had a new deck of blue-backed Bicycle cards, and opened them at the bottom with utmost care, took the sleeve off, carefully pried off the seal without damaging it, and reversed the TWO of HEARTS. I then (carefully again) put it all back together and rubber cemented the bottom of the wrapper, so it looked unopened.

I did this, because I was going to do a trick for my parents, and wanted it all set up in advance. When I got to my parents', I found a new, blue-backed Bicycle deck in their drawer. EUREKA! I switched their new deck for my prepared deck, and lo, and behold, we got company, or something like that and I was distracted. Oh well, I figured I'd just show it to them later, and I forgot all about it.

Fast forward to a year later. My brother was in town for a few days, and my dad said, "Why don't you show your brother some magic?" So, I got out my standard "stuff", and he was mildly pleased. My brother had picked the TWO of HEARTS in one trick, and said, "I'd really be impressed if you could do that with a NEW deck of cards..."

OMG...I was shaking, when I remembered the set-up deck in my dad's drawer. It had the freaking TWO of HEARTS reversed! OK, I asked my dad if he had a deck of cards somewhere. "Oh, yes. It's brand new...never opened." I told my dad to hand my brother the new deck and open it.

I've never seen my brother react like that. He just FREAKED. That's the best I can describe it. I've also never seen my dad (rest in peace, Dad!) laugh so hard and so long, in my life. Makes tears well up in my eyes just thinking about it. My dad was not a "laughing" kind of guy. He just chuckled at best. He roared and roared with laughter. My brother still talks about that to this day. This was more than ten years ago.

My sister recently told me, he tells that story over and over. He wonders how I could have KNOWN, let alone make that card turn over in a brand new unopened deck!
It was just dumb luck. But I'll never let him know that! The fact that I never TOUCHED the deck, further fries him!

Thank you for letting me relate that. After reading this thread, I suddenly remembered...

Doug

Hey Doug great great story! Brought smile to my face - thank you!

Best,

Pete

Hello

I was with a lady friend about two weeks ago; we were sitting in the car waiting for someone so I decided to show her Daniel Garcia's trick "No Smoking" (I THINK that's what it's called - see the DG Project). It's the multiphase routine where a coin penetrates the cellophane wrapper on a box of cigarettes twice - with a small kicker ending.

Anyway, I had the cig box out, and the cellophane was pulled down and prepared as per the method (impromptu - FYI). The other coin was in my other hand in preparation for the vanish / penetration.

So I perform the striking vanish - and the coin really dissappears! Unfortunately, the penetration effect didn't happen (I suppose the "extra bit" must have gotten stuck - If you know the trick you know what I mean). But here we both are now looking for the vanished coin. I even checked the box (secretly), to see if it hadn't been caught in the cellophane, or with the other one or even somehow gotten inside.

Eventually, we both gave up (I pretended that that was the effect - a coin vanish, so when I helped her to look for the vanished coin, I did it in a tongue in cheek way).

So I pull out yet another coin - and prepare to do the effect properly. This next part is going to fry you . . it fried me, and her . . .

I perform the striking vanish on the new coin - TWO coins(!) show up inside the cellophane(!!!). The just vanished coin is NOWHERE to be seen (unless it was one of the two inside the cellophane - still not sure). Imagine - 1st coin genuinely vanished. Next coin VISIBLY pentrates cellophane AND the 1st coin(?) coin appears inside. At this point I was CLEAN - so I handed everything to her for examination.

NO idea what happened. Still don't quite understand it - but If I could somehow do that on purpose it's gonna cost you fellas $250 for the 1 page instruction booklet.

I have two really good ones (many others, but for now here is two that comes to my mind)

1.) Years ago, at the Middle school talent show.. I was at the 'try-out' night, to see if you can get into the show. I opened with 'dubious domino' where the spots multiply on a jumbo-like card. I forgot the prop at home and was very very upset about it. Everything was timed and I knew I wouldn't have enough magic to fit the slot. I told a stagehand helper about the problem. A few minutes later, he came up to me and asked me if this was my prop. It was the 'What's Next' pro metal version of the same trick, I was FLOORED! He said he just found it sitting prop'd up on the wall backstage. I used it for my try-outs and got the gig! I have no idea how the exact trick (but professional model) just manifested itself backstage. I believe this was supernatural event.


2.) This summer, I was doing some impromptu magic at a party. They had a deck of cards, so I tried the 'Card at any number' trick and because of the drinking failed the effect. But, didn't fail in front of their eyes, I just knew it didn't work, before revealing. The guy I was showing is a very skepital guy, he doesn't like to be fooled and he doesn't believe in anything really. I asked the guy to just think of another card. He did.. I told him to go through and find the card. He went through it, and I believe cuz of his drinking he didn't see it. Being a magician of many years, picked up on his smiles as he was closing the end of the deck, and told him.. awww, you don't see it do you? He laughed and said some pronaity as he handed me the deck. I asked what was his card... he told... I was fanning the cards out, displaying it for other people.. you see there are only 51 cards. Found the card, culled it to the bottom. Palmed it as I handed it to someone else to try to find it. They couldn't. I laughed and explained, that I knew what it was all along and do you know where it is? It's in the card box, I did the fake pulling out of the card box bit. He was dumbfounded and proceeded to tell me that it was magic tv trick cards, I reminded him that it was a borrowed deck. He never has felt the same about my magic again.

I was once sat in a bar talking to one of the bar maids who was off duty and also sitting on my side of the bar. She knew I did magic and I decided to read her mind. I had a nw on me affixed in the usual manner and I said to her think of a number, I got out a pencil and pad and she thought of her number (actually between 1 and 100) as I pretended to to write it the nw pinged off and onto the floor, nothing I could do I couldn't bend down and pick it up ao I just wrote any number, guess what she thought of the number I had wrote. I was Nostradamus in her mind after that

Tony

Joshua Jay explains how to make your own "Invisible Deck" in his "Complete Course" book. (In case you don't know, an "Invisible Deck" isn't so named because it's invisible, but because it's used in a routine where a supposed invisible deck is made visible, and this now-visible deck is set up the same way as it was while it was invisible.)

So I decided to create my own Invisible deck by using a cheap deck of cards. There was a King of Hearts printed on the face of the card case, presumably to show the customer a sample of a card face (without having to open the box).

After I created my homemade Invisible Deck, I visited my parents (to whom I often show off my new magic skills). I did the trick to my mother: I gave her an invisible deck (an imaginary one), told her to take out a card, look at it, and tell me what the card is. The card the chose was the King of Hearts. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was the very same card printed on the card box.

So she mimed putting the card face-up in the deck, putting the cards back in the case, and tossing the case into a paper bag I was holding (all part of Joshua Jay's routine). When I removed the visible deck from the paper bag, we both saw her card printed right on the card case. Thinking quickly, I said, "Ta-dah! There's your card!"

This baffled my mother. She said, "What if I said something else? Would that other card have appeared?" I was tempted to just end the trick right there, but I figured that doing so wouldn't make sense in this context. So without letting her know of the coincidence I continued the trick -- therefore showing her a trick with two mind-boggling surprises.

I was performing some magic for my long time magic mentor and his girlfriend. I performed Vernon's, "Trick that Cannot be Explained" for her with a Boris Wild marked deck, so that I didn't have to turn the cards face up. So I took a pen, wrote down my prediction, folded it up and placed it on the table, then I had her shuffle the cards. By sheer coincidence, her card was on the top of the deck, so I had her turn over the card, then open my prediction. She was impressed, but so was my mentor. In fact he was so impressed, he asked me to do that trick again for him.

At this point I should let you know that he did NOT know I was working with a marked deck.

So I handed him the deck and he proceeded to shuffle. I wrote down a different card, folded my prediction and placed it on the table. When he finished shuffling the deck and set it on the table, it was the card I had predicted again. He just about fell out of his chair and asked... no, demanded that I tell him how I did it.

I let him stew for awhile before letting him in on my little secret and the fact that it was 2 total coincidences. He still laughs about how I managed to get him on that.

On 2011-06-06 14:43, CyberMage wrote:


That's pretty cool! I like the way you took advantage of the coincidence and acted like it was all part of the trick. I would think Jean Robert-Houdin would be proud, considering his saying "A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician."

...and I like the way you let him stew for a while, too. Magic windfalls shouldn't be revealed so easily!