Free Magic Tricks - The Jumping Card

This is a real baffler from Scotland. It appears that you use very clever sleight of hand. However, it is very easy to do.

How it looks To The Audience

The Magician counts two even piles of cards onto the table. He then takes an odd card and asks the spectator which pile he would like it added to. With a mysterious wave of the hand, he causes the odd card to jump from one pile to the other!

How The Trick Is Done

This is a very effective trick and it all depends on suggestion and the way the cards are counted.

STEP ONE

Ask the spectator to place both hands flat on the table, as though he is playing a piano.

Take two cards from the deck and hold one in each hand, face down.

Say 'Two cards, a pair, always even' and place the two cards between the little and third fingers of the spectator's left hand. The spectator clips them between those fingers, so the cards are held vertically.

Take another two cards from the deck and hold one in each hand, face down, and again say 'Two cards, a pair, always even'. This time place the two cards between the third and second fingers of the spectator's left hand.

Continue placing two cards between all his fingers (including first fingers and thumbs) until you reach the fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand. Then take one card and say 'one card, always odd'. Place the card between his fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand.

STEP TWO

Remove the first pair of cards and place them side by side on the table, saying 'two cards, a pair, always even'. Continue doing this until you reach the single card. The position at this stage is that you have two piles of cards on the table.

Hold the single card and say 'one card, always odd'.

Ask the spectator which pile he would like you to place the odd card, then do so.

STEP THREE

Tell the spectator that you will cause the odd card to jump from one pile to the other. Wave you hand over the cards and them take the pile that the odd card was added to and count them out in pairs again (two cards, a pair, always even). The pile will come out even with no odd card remaining.

Take the other pile and count them out in pairs. After all the cards are dealt, you will be left with one odd card. The odd card has apparently jumped across!

A FURTHER EXPLANATION

There are seven pairs of cards and when they are dealt into two piles there are seven cards in each pile. So each pile is odd to begin with. However, by saying 'two cards, a pair, always even' all the time, you suggest to the spectator each pile is EVEN.

When you add the single card to either pile it will make it even, so the trick is self-working.