Magic Tricks Revealed: The Vanishing Ace Of Diamonds

by: George Hutton

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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 Time: 5:18 AM - 0 comments

Here is a great card trick that is based largely in misdirection. It requires a little bit of set up, but with only a few minutes practice you should be able to effectively perform this successfully in front of any audience. This is a big hit with kids, as it doesn't require any special sleight of hand moves, and it's pretty simple once you figure it out.

This is what this illusion will appear to your happy audience. You take three Aces: Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds. You spread them out, letting the audience see them. After that, place them on top the stack of cards, and mix them up several times to make sure they have been sent to various locations throughout the deck.

You then ask a volunteer to come up and search for the Ace of Diamonds. Despite how hard they search for it, they won't be able to find it. If you like, you can get another audience member to come up and look, but they too will be unsuccessful. Then you pull the Ace of Diamonds out of your shirt pocket. (Or your back pocket, or shoe, or wherever.)

Here's how to set the trick up. First find all the Aces. Then put the Ace of Diamonds in your pocket (or shoe or wherever) beforehand. Then place the other Aces on top of the deck. When you hold out the aces, make sure the Ace of Hearts is between the two other Aces. If you position both other cards on either side of the Ace of Hearts, it will look like the Ace of Diamonds to the audience.

How you word this is important. If you mention beforehand that you are going to make the Ace of Diamonds disappear, they will be looking much more closely. If you begin only by picking out three Aces and naming them (Clubs, Spades, And Diamonds) they'll take your word for it.

A great way to do this is while you are mixing up the cards, tell some long convoluted story about the history of cards, and diamonds, and how they were always vanishing due to their metaphysical nature, or something else that you can make up on the spot. That way, when they start thinking about the Ace of Diamonds, it will already be hidden someplace in the deck, or so they think. Have fun with this trick.