u/dylanmadigan

I don’t mean games like Doom that creatively used math to render 2d graphics into a 3d environment.

I mean those that were clearly 2d games. But tried to make it look like it was 3d or had perspective and perhaps the player has to use a little imagination to accept it.

Magicians are constantly looking for the best possible method to various plots in card magic.

ACAAN and Open Prediction are perhaps the best examples.
But there's even others like Ace Assembly, Card to Pocket, 3 Card Monte, etc...

I think the greatest benefit of magicians chasing the perfect ACAAN for example is that they come up with new techniques that can be applied to other tricks entirely.

But otherwise, does it really matter?

If you show a spectator a beginner ACAAN where the card is forced in one deck and then you use the glide to deal to that card at any number in another deck, then show a spectator an ACAAN using real magic, how different will the average reaction be, really?

Is it just a way for Magicians to show off within the magician community?

Because at the end of the day, no matter the method, the plot is still the same. And the plot is not particularly impressive to most people. Same with the Open Prediction.

If you levitate something with some invisible thread and that is often way more mind-blowing to the average person, despite being very boring to magicians.

So I recently learned that, in general, most people seem to prefer the Xbox controller scheme over the nintendo one.

That is: A bottom, B right, X left, Y up.

So if you have a device like an Odin or a Steam deck, or any handheld capable of playing modern-ish games where the Xbox control scheme makes the most sense, then when you play an old Nintendo game, do you match A to A on the controller? Or do you swap A and B to mimic the layout of the original console?

Often times in my adult life, this is the sweet spot for my gaming time. I can't devote hours to a game. And most arcade games really only keep me invested for a few minutes.

When it comes to modern games, I tend to like Roguelites for this purpose. I can play a quick run of Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, or Binding of Isaac. I'm not jumping back into the middle of some big story or a difficult section of a game.

What retro games fit in that sweet spot?

I have an idea for a trick I'd like to do with two small packets of 5 cards. Perhaps ESP cards or Uno cards or something, but I'm not sure how to do it.

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Effect Idea:

The spectator and magician each have a packet of cards. The packets match. They could be full decks, or one suit of a deck, or just A 2 3 4 5 of a suit. The point is they match and are in the same order.

The spectator and magician each shuffle their own packets.

Then it is revealed that the packets still match in order. So the spectator's packet is in a shuffled order, but the magician's packet matches exactly.

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I feel like there has to be a trick out there with this effect.

Does anyone know the name of one I can look into?

Or suggestion of a method?

What card tricks are done with cards that are NOT standard playing cards? Utilizing similar sleights and principles, but using something else entirely?

I know there are tricks with ESP cards.

How about Tarot Cards?

Magic the Gathering Cards?

Baseball Cards?

Trivial Pursuit Cards?

Candyland Cards?

Monopoly property cards?

Cards against Humanity cards?

I have a lot of card stock sitting around. So my best bet has been to cut up the 8.5x11 sheets into 3.5x2.5in cards.

I don't mind the effort, although I can't quite get the cut to be even for all cards.

But whether it is pre-cut or I cut it myself, I'm having trouble finding paper that can fold and tear easily, but sharpie doesn't bleed through.

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I've tried these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0862957C3?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Issue is the paper is way too heavy. Great for flat billet stuff, but they don't fold or rip well. A center tear or Acidus Novus peek is just not doable.

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I also tried these blank playing cards: https://www.amazon.com/Regal-Games-Multi-Purpose-Functional-Cardstock/dp/B0BT4ZY2YB/ref=sr_1_1_sspa

Really nice that they are so thin and completely opaque with sharpie writing. Perfect for card sleights. They fold better than the other option, but still not great. Sometimes a fold actually tears them.
Also sharpie is the only thing that will write on them and dry quickly. So if I carry these in my wallet for an impromptu trick and all we have is a pen or pencil, it won't write on the coating.

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I know The 1914 sells billets. But I'm still practicing a lot (tears, switches, peeks) and I don't want to pay $11 + shipping for only 50 billets and destroy most of them practicing. I much rather find the right paper and cut it myself.

Can be flat or folded billets.

I just want to know what the most effective and convincing peek is to see what a spectator wrote on a paper/card.

And assuming that may be a method that requires more practice and preparation, what is the easiest one to do on the fly, that is still very convincing?

I'm familiar with Acidus Novus, and the variation by Alexander Marsh as well as the "Bullet Peek". But I haven't performed any of them yet.

I typically like to work on the hard things, but have the easy things in my arsenal so that I'm always ready, even if I'm out of practice.

I'm a hobbyist, so I'm not performing on the daily and it's nice to be able to still pull off a trick when I might be a bit rusty.

I've been learning magic as a hobby for about 23 years now. But it's funny the misconceptions that non-magicians have about magic. Things I didn't understand when I first got into it as a kid.

Some people think every single trick is pre-planned and gimmicked, while others think every trick is impromptu and ungimmicked. Usually their guess is wrong.

Then if the patter presents the effect as a skill rather than real magic, then even if they know there is a trick involved they still believe the presented "skill" is real.

For instance
... being able identify cards by feeling them and weighing them in your hand
... identifying the name of a childhood pet by reading a person's body language and Sherlock Holmes-esque deduction
... doing extremely complex mental math as a means to some end.

I've found that learning the secret to a magic trick is often disappointing.

You are like "Wow that's cool. I want to be able to do THAT."

Then you find out the secret and realize the preparation involved is time consuming and impractical, the gimmick is expensive, the necessary angles and lighting conditions are rare and the sleight of hand or spectator management required is far outside of your current skillset.

All of that to say the trick is not impossible, but won't fit as seamlessly into your repertoire as you had hoped.

Or it's just impractical. Like I discover a trick relies on an open jacket or long sleeves, but I live in Florida, so I have about 1 month's worth of days out of the year that I can justify the necessary clothing to do the trick.

This is also a reason is sucks to give away the secret. Your friends often think "if I knew the secret, I could do that." But if you tell them, you just take all of the excitement out of the trick because the secret is way more stupid than they expected, and way too difficult for them to pull off.

So I find myself just researching magic and learning the methods for thousands of tricks, just so that every once in a while I find ONE that is really practical for me, my skill level, my presentation style, my clothing, and the social situations I engage in.

I'm trying to compile a list of all the classic forces used across magic.

For cards specifically, what am I missing?
(Added descriptions wherever I'm unsure of the official name.)

1. Cross Cut Force
2. Cut Deeper Force
3. Think of a number from 10 to 20 Force
4. Countdown Force (Not sure on the name. It's in Mark Wilson's magic book. The spectator names a number. You draw down to that number to demostrate what to do, which reverses the cards and puts the top card at their number. Then they do it and look at the force card).
5. Two pile equivoque (spectator deals into a pile until they wish to stop. Then they deal that into two or three piles. The last card they deal is the original top card and you use magicians choice to force that pile and ask them to note the top card).
6. Slip Cut Force
7. Riffle Force (regardless of where stop is called, cut at pinky break)
8. Dribble Force (regardless of where stop is called, drop cards from thumb break).
9. Svengali Dribble Force (same as above, but automatic becuase of the gimmick).
10. One Way Deck Force + variations of the one way deck.
11. Hindu Shuffle Force
12. Cut and Turnover Force (spectator cuts, flips the cards face up and puts them back down. You grab the whole deck, flip it over and ribbon spread in one motion and ask the spectator to take the first facedown card, which was previously the top card of the deck).
13. Crawl Force (right palm on top of the deck. Right thumb on the bottom, pulling on the bottom card. Right fingers crawl against the cards to pull them back until the spectator says stop. You slide it away and pull the bottom card with it so that the bottom card goes under the card they actually stopped on and the look at that card instead.)
14. Spread Force
15. Classic Force
16. Double Lift Force (card is selected without being looked at. Placed on top. Then you use the double lift to make it look like the original top card is the one selected).
17. Second Deal Force (Second deal until the spectator says stop, then show them the top card as if its the one they stopped at.
18. The Glide Force (Similar to above, but pulling from the bottom of the deck, using the glide to retain the true bottom card.
19. Psychic Stop
20. Gemini Force (Basically the Gemini Twins card trick. However you can technically use the jokers or aces and reveal the selected cards to be anything you want.)
21. Envelope Force (My umbrella title for many forces where the deck is cut and something is placed on top of the pile to "save the location of the cut", but secretly the force card is being placed in that spot. This may be an envelope containing your prediction with the force card concealed beneath it.)
22. “See a card” force. ( that thing where you riffle the cards and ask the spectator to "see a card." When you riffle quickly through the deck, you stop for milliseconds longer on the top card so that it's the most likely one they remember.
23. Scarf Cut Force (secretly Flip the deck face up as it is placed beneath a scarf or napkin. ask the spectator to grab a portion of cards off the top through the napkin. They are actually grabbing the bottom of the deck. As they pull it away, you secretly flip the top half face down and they think the top card is the one they cut to.)
24. Verbal Equivoque (there are many variations of this done entirely verbally. But they almost always force a picture card).

What do I mean by this?

So I’ve been learning magic on and off for over 20 years now as a hobby. I don’t break out the tricks often, but every once in a while I’m at a party or a bar and there’s a deck of cards available.

Lately I’ve been attracted to many mentalism effects because they can be high impact without the necessity of cards and coins. Often just some paper and a pen.

However the methods… like peaking, one-ahead, forcing, etc… are easily deduced without proper misdirection.

Historically, that misdirection might be lighting candles, chanting, holding hands, and pretending you are speaking to the dead. Modern mentalists often claim to just be really good at reading subtle physical queues, reading a pupil dilation or something.

But here’s the thing…

I’m doing this casually. Usually for friends who know me.

They know I’m not psychic. That I’m a skeptical person myself. That I have face blindness. That I’m a bit awkward and probably below-average at reading people rather than above.

Can I do mental magic without making claims that my friends and family simply are not gonna buy?

Any ideas for what my misdirection process could be in my performance?