It’s Magic! Nine card trick Adapted from Jim Steinmeyer (2002) by Doc Yoder
Effect: The audience member chooses one card which appears at the end of the trick.
Materials: Nine cards of any number or suite.
Method: **Remember to put what you have remaining in your hand on top of the pile on the table.**
Say, "Select any nine cards from the rest of the deck. Put the rest aside. Deal the cards face down into three equal piles of three cards each. Choose any of the three piles."
Pick up that pile and show the bottom card to the audience without looking at it yourself. Say, "Remember that card! Remember if it is red or black. Remember the suite. Remember if it is a face card or a number card! Don't forget the card!"
Put the pile of three that is in your hand on the top on either of the two remaining piles. That pile will now have six cards. Place the six-card pile on the remaining pile of three.
Pick up the nine cards. Say, "You can tell me the name of any card. It can be the card that you chose, or it can be the name any other card. What name do you want to tell me?"
Wait for the name of a card and then say, "You said, “____ of ______." We are going to find the card that you chose by spelling the name of the card that you told me. I don’t know if it is the real name or not. "
Deal one card for each letter of the name or number of the chosen card off of the top of your pile onto a pile on the table.
Example: For the Seven of Diamonds, spell-deal the letters S-E-V-E-N.
Place the remaining cards on top of the pile that was dealt onto the table. Pick up the entire pile of nine cards. Repeat the procedure, dealing off a card onto a new pile for each letter, spelling O-F. Put the remaining cards on top of the two that you just dealt. Pick up the pile of nine cards. Give the spectator the chance to change the suit. Spell the suit of the chosen card, dealing off a card with each letter. Example – For Spades, spell-deal the letters S-P-A-D-E-S.
Put the cards remaining in your hand on top of the stack, again creating a nine card pile. Once more pick up the entire pile. Say, “I don’t know which one of these cards is your real card so I’ll have to use magic."
Spell-deal the word M-A-G-I-C. The letter C will be the chosen card. Hold it up to the audience as you say “See!”
** You can use any five letter word to reveal the card instead of using the work Magic - especially if the person who chose the card has a name that has exactly five letters in it. You can also use a four letter word and then turn over the next card to reveal the chosen card.
***We use the root word media in many ways. A median on a highway is the strip between two roads. A medium claims to go between the living and the dead. A median number in math is the middle value of a set of numbers. This trick uses the middle card in a set of nine cards. The spelling of the name of the card is used to place the chosen card into the middle of the nine cards.