Invisible Deck Magic Trick: How the Invisible Deck Trick Works

The invisible deck trick is a close-up card magic masterpiece that involves a mix of comedy gimmicks and visual wonders. Consider the basic elements of this trick.

1. 1. The magician presents an invisible deck of cards. The magician starts the trick by pantomiming an "invisible" set of playing cards. Many magicians will ham up this moment to get a laugh out of the audience.
2. 2. The audience is invited to shuffle the invisible deck. The magician passes the "deck" to audience members and invites them to "shuffle" the imaginary cards. An audience member is asked to "pick a card" and then flip that chosen card upside down and slide it back into the invisible deck. The magician makes it clear that the audience member has free choice of what "card" to select.
3. 3. The invisible deck is swapped for a real deck of cards. The invisible deck is "returned" to the magician, who pockets it and then produces a real standard deck of cards. The audience member now says what card they “picked” to the magician and audience.
4. 4. The selected card stands out. The magician reveals the cards in the real deck. All are face-up cards except for one single face-down card. The magician flips the face-down card and sure enough, it is the selected card the audience member chose from the imaginary deck.

The invisible deck trick has been a staple of both street magic and high-spectacle magic shows for decades. This amazing trick works via the use of a gimmicked deck and does not require sleight of hand tricks.

1. 1. The invisible deck trick starts with a regular deck of cards. You do not need to purchase a special deck from a magic shop—like a stripper deck, Svengali deck, or brainwave deck—to make this trick work. You will, however, need to manipulate an ordinary card deck. Choose a reputable brand to make sure the cards do not tear or stick in an unwanted way.
2. 2. The trick deck has roughed-up card backs. Magicians prepare their trick decks by slightly roughing up the backs of each card. You can do this with your own deck by using a matte finish, clear topcoat of paint or by using a special card spray sold at magic stores.
3. 3. Cards are stacked back-to-back, and all are face-up. Using the sticky backs, magicians group the fifty-two cards into twenty-six face-up pairs.
4. 4. Card groupings are based on math. Magicians pair the cards such that each pair has a total value of thirteen. For instance, a six-card and a seven-card get paired together since six plus seven is thirteen. A jack, which is worth eleven, gets paired with a two-card. A queen, which is worth twelve, gets paired with an ace, which is worth one. Kings, which are worth thirteen, can be paired with jokers, which are worth zero. When decks do not have jokers, kings get paired together.
5. 5. Certain suits get paired together. Magicians pair back-to-back cards with cards from opposing suits. Many magic books suggest pairing hearts back-to-back with spades and diamonds back-to-back with clubs. For instance, the three-of-diamonds would be paired up with the ten-of-clubs. The magician may then organize all the card pairs in the deck so that all the even cards face one way and the odd cards face the opposite way.
6. 6. The magician memorizes the card relationships and practices spreading cards in pairs. The magician works by spreading out cards face-up. Once the cards are splayed out, they select the only face-down card which, sure enough, is the audience member's selected card. To do this, the magician must be able to quickly survey the splayed-out cards and know which card they should slightly nudge aside to reveal a single face-down card. That of course will be the card the audience member named. Beginners will need to practice this technique so that they don't accidentally reveal additional face-down cards.

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