T R IC K D E C K S

How to modify playing cards for

astounding magic
 MARK
FRAUENFELDER
trickdecks.org
 Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
1. Marked Deck
2. Stripper Deck
3. Invisible Deck
4. Brain Wave Deck
5. Nightmare Card
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Mark Frauenfelder
Untitled
Copyright © 2015 by Mark Frauenfelder
All rights reserved.
Cover Design by Justin M. Monehen of Hey
Presto Limited
No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form or by any electronic or mechanical
means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without written permission
from the author, except for the use of brief
quotations in a book review.

Created with Vellum

For Jane, my partner in magic.
Foreword
What Mark teaches you, in this fantastic
book, is magic. Magic you can
appreciate immediately, and marvel at
its workings without ever performing for
more than yourself.
Herein lie activities that are fun for
the whole family!
Activities that create illusions you’ll
never forget – or forget how they work!
The entire STEM course load that is
so popular today is here in Spades!
Clubs! Hearts! Diamonds!
It is truly magic on so many levels.
So much about magic is intentionally
damn confusing. I have a large library of
books on card magic. Few of them are
comprehensible to folks who don’t
spend hours trying to figure out how to
use them! It is like law school! Fancy
names for card sleights that are harder to
remember than the moves themselves,
illustrations from Lascaux, and dialect
from the renaissance-faire are frequently
used to keep the barrier to entry high.
Mark has worked hard to share easy,
achievable methods to get immediate,
amazing results. You can delight in
magic in a way that took me over a
decade, working with only a single deck
of Bicycle 808 playing cards and a
candle, in a damp, dark room, trying to
perfect a double lift. I have not, but
never fear! The room is still damp!
You will be amazing anyone you
choose within an hour or so. I’ve seen it
happen!
There are many, many different sorts
of magic. I’m a fan of close-up card
magic, and I like to learn sleights of
hand. Some folks like to shove doves in
their pants and wiggle them out at
opportune times. Thing is, it is still
magic, and I still love it!
The type of magic Mark is teaching
you is amazing in and of itself, but I think
of his book as the first step in learning to
create my own illusions. The mechanics
are all there, each trick you learn, each
deck you build, is a basic building block
for what can become your own very
specialized illusions. If you really get
into it, you’ll find an amazing world of
resources and information exist, and a
vibrant community of folks who love to
spend their time making things that
confound!
Then they’ll refuse to share their
secrets with you!
Actually, not true at all! Folks who
are enthusiastic about magic love to
share it with other enthusiastic people!
Want a great place to start? Find your
local chapter of the International
Brotherhood of Magicians! Those folks
are pretty cool! They have an amazing
magazine called the Linking Ring, hold
meet-ups, conventions, and have a great
community. My dues are probably in
arrears.
Have fun with Mark’s book.
– Jason Weisberger
Introduction
I love playing cards. You can do
thousands of magic tricks with them.
They are easy to carry around and they
are inexpensive. I keep a deck of cards
with me at all times and practice sleights
and tricks every spare moment I have. It
beats playing Crossy Road on my
iPhone.
This book will show you how to
make different kinds of trick card decks.
These special decks are made from
ordinary playing cards and use easy-to-
obtain tools and materials. My 12-year-
old daughter and I use these decks to
delight friends and strangers. No one has
ever guessed the secret to the tricks we
perform with these decks.
I did not invent any of these trick
decks. They are classic trick decks that
were invented by people much more
clever than I am. In this book, I give
credit to the creator of a deck when I
know who the creator is. My
contribution here is to provide you with
clear instructions and photographs that
show you how to make the decks.
This is not really a book of magic
tricks. It’s a book about how to make
special decks that can be used for all
sorts of tricks. At the end of each
chapter, I will present one trick you can
do with the deck, just to give you an idea
of how it works. I will also provide
links to books, websites, and DVDs that
are filled with great magic tricks you can
perform with these decks.

Why use Bicycle cards for

magic tricks?
Many different brands of card decks are
available. You can use any of them to
perform tricks, but I recommend that you
stick with standard Bicycle poker-sized
cards. There are three reasons for this:
1. Everyone one is familiar with
the distinctive Bicycle card back
design because these cards are the
most popular brand in the U.S. (If you
live in another country, this might not be
the case. Use your country's most
popular deck.) If you use an unfamiliar
deck to perform your magic, people
might be suspicious that you are using a
"trick deck.” (And they will be right!)
2. Bicycle cards are available
everywhere and are inexpensive so
you can buy lots of decks to work with
and use.
3. Bicycle decks are of the highest
quality. The manufacturer uses excellent
paper stock and the cards hold up well
to frequent handling. Other decks are
made from cheap paper or plastic that
makes them unsuitable for magic tricks.
I suggest buying decks of Bicycle
cards in packs of 12. Amazon often sells
12 packs of Bicycle playing cards for
under $2 per deck. Click here to see the
current price.

Why make your own trick

decks instead of buying
them?
Pre-made trick decks are available
online and in magic stores, and usually
at a reasonable price. So why make your
own? That’s a fair question. I can only
tell you why I like making my own:
1. Quality. Often, store-bought trick
card decks are high-quality. Other times,
they are poorly made and frustrating to
use. I’ve learned that it’s easy to make
trick cards of excellent quality at home
with just a few tools.
2. Familiarity. When I make my own
trick cards, my familiarity with them
means I am more comfortable with them,
and therefore, my performances are
more natural.
3. Customization. I can make the
gimmicks as subtle or as pronounced as I
need them to be. As I become more
skilled in using them, I can reduce the
degree of gimmickry (which makes the
gimmick harder for a spectator to
detect).
4. Innovation. Now that I make my
own trick cards, I find myself
daydreaming about new kinds of trick
cards I’d like to make.
 5. Pleasure. It is rewarding to make
my own trick cards. I like making them
as much as, if not more than, performing
with them!

Tips about performing

tricks with these decks
Here are a few do’s and don’ts to keep
in mind when performing magic tricks,
not only with the trick decks in this
book, but with all magic tricks:
1. Practice a lot. While these decks
allow you to perform "self-working"
magic tricks, that doesn't mean you can
perform them without thoughtful and
frequent practice. I know it is tempting
to perform a trick as soon as you learn
the secret (a temptation I have fallen
victim to on many occasions, only to
regret it), but if you perform a trick
clumsily then you are doing yourself and
the art of magic a disservice. Before you
try out a trick on your friends, practice in
private until you are entirely
comfortable with the cards and the
performance. Use your smartphone to
record a video of your performance, or
practice in front of a mirror. Once you
can perform the trick automatically —
without fumbling or stopping to think —
try it out on a trusted magician friend and
ask them to be as critical as possible.
Take your friend’s advice and keep
practicing. When you can perform the
trick smoothly, try it on your colleague
again. If he or she approves, you are
ready to blow the minds of friends and
strangers.
2. Don’t tell the spectator “This is
an ordinary deck of cards.” That will
make them suspect it isn’t, and they will
pay extra attention to the cards to find
out if they are right.
3. Keep an extra deck in your
pocket. If you are going to perform
tricks with more than one trick deck
during a session, you will have to swap
out decks. I do this by showing a trick,
then sticking the deck in my pocket when
I’m done. If the spectator asks to see
another trick, I’ll reach into my other
pocket and pull out another trick deck.
Make sure the backs of the cards are the
same color!

The Trick Decks website

 Visit trickdecks.org to see all the
videos referred to in this book, plus
supplemental information, and a forum to
ask and answer questions. The website
includes a buyer’s guide page with links
to all of the tools and materials you need
to make the trick decks.
Marked Deck
Identify any card just by
looking at its back

Almost everyone has heard of marked

cards and has a vague idea of how they
work. Card marking originated in
gambling dens, but today very few poker
cheats use marked cards because the
penalty for getting caught isn’t worth it.
However, you won’t get sent to
prison or have your kneecaps broken if
you happen to get caught using marked
cards for magic. And you are very
unlikely to get caught, anyway. Very few
people have seen a marked deck (at least
not to their knowledge) nor do they
know how cards are actually
marked. That’s great news for you,
because marked decks will give you the
ability to perform many mind-boggling
tricks.
You can buy a deck of marked cards
from a magic shop for a few dollars, but
they do not look like Bicycle poker
cards. As I mentioned in the
introduction, off-brand cards will
immediately raise a red flag. It is much
better to use a deck of Bicycle cards and
mark them yourself. One advantage of
marking the deck yourself is that as you
are marking the cards you will begin to
memorize the patterns that indicate the
suit and value of each card.
 To mark a deck all you need is a deck of cards
and an appropriately colored Sharpie.

Things You Need to Make a

Marked Deck
Materials
• One pack of Bicycle playing cards
(red or blue, but red works better)

Tools
• Sharpie permanent marker (red or
blue). A standard size Sharpie will work
if the point isn’t worn down. I prefer the
Ultra Fine Point Sharpie ($6 on
Amazon)

How to Make a Marked

Deck
1. Identify the area
to mark the cards. First,
pull out one of the Jokers,
which you will use as a
practice card. Examine
the design on the back. In
each of the corners you’ll
see an angel. On one side of the angel is
a white flower shape with 8 petals. On
the other side of the angel are 5 triangles
arranged in a semi-circle. These are the
design elements you’ll mark with the
Sharpie pen.
2. Make a few test marks on the
petals and triangles of the Joker to
get a feel for the flow of the ink on
the card. After you’ve colored in a spot,
try lightly touching the still-wet ink with
your fingertip to reduce the darkness of
the marking. Use a tissue to wipe your
finger after you touch the wet ink. Fill all
the spots on the joker (or both) jokers so
you get the hang of making marks that
aren’t too large and/or too light or dark.
Take your time practicing because once
you start marking the deck, one mistake
will ruin the deck. I’ve found that a blue
deck marked with blue Sharpie ink
doesn’t look as good as a red deck.
That’s because the blue ink tends to
make a shiny glare that stands out from
the back of the card when the light hits it
at a certain angle. You can reduce the
glare a lot if you rub the ink marks after
they have dried with your thumb tip of
finger tip.
3. Use the chart below as a guide
to mark the cards. The flower petals
indicate the value of the cards (Ace-
King), and the triangles indicate the suit.
Notice that the 10, Jack, Queen, and
King have the center dot of the flower
colored in, as well as one of the petals.
 Marking guide. Make the marks on the upper-
left and lower-right corners.

You need to only mark two flowers

and two triangles on each card, not all
four pairs. Mark the petal and triangle in
the upper left corner, and make the same
mark in the lower-right corner. I
recommend marking all the suits first,
then organizing the cards by value and
marking all the Aces, Ones, Twos,
Threes, etc. This will help prevent
making a mistake.
5. Lay each card face down on the
table and allow the ink to dry before
stacking the cards.
Here’s an example
of a marked card.
Can you tell which
 one it is?

Memorizing the Marked

Deck
Now that you have marked all the cards
in the deck, it’s time to practice. Shuffle
the deck and draw the cards off the top,
one at a time, naming each one by
examining the markings on the back. Flip
the card over to see if you were right. If
you were correct, toss the card to the
left. If you made a mistake, toss it to the
right. When you are able to go through
the entire deck without making a
mistake, work on your speed. Use your
smartphone as a stopwatch to see how
quickly you can go through the deck. (It
took me over five minutes to go through
the deck the first time I timed myself.
The second run took 3:20.) The goal is
to be able to glance at the card for a
fraction of a second and read its value
without hesitation. That way, you can
concentrate on your performance instead
of wasting brain power struggling to
figure out the value and suit of the card.
Another way to practice is to go
through the cards concentrating on only
the suit markings until you have those
down pat, and then working on the
values.

A Trick You Can Perform

with a Marked Deck
THE INTELLIGENT PEANUT. I
adapted this trick from Hidden in Plain
Sight, by Kirk Charles. Give the deck to
the spectator and ask them to shuffle the
deck. Ask the spectator to remove four
cards from anywhere in the deck and
place them in a pile face down on the
table. Now, place a small object on top
of the stack. It can be a coin, a ring, a
stone, a peanut shell, or anything else.
Explain that this object is your assistant
and is collecting information for you.
Pretend to look at the object, but instead
look at the markings on the top card and
memorize it. Don’t linger at this step.
Pick up the object and hold it to your
ear. Write the value and suit of the top
card on a piece of paper, fold it and set
it on the table.
Now, tell the spectator to pick up the
packet of cards and place the top card on
the bottom. Then deal the new top card
on the table. There are three cards
remaining in their hand. Tell the
spectator to move the new top card to
the bottom of the packet, and then deal
another card on the table. There are two
cards remaining in their hand. Tell them
to move the card that is now in the top to
the bottom of the packet, and then deal
the card that is now on the top onto the
table. At this point, the spectator is
holding one card. Unfold the paper with
your prediction and show it to the
spectator. Then ask them to turn over the
card in their hand. They match!
Special Marked Deck: The
Look Ahead Deck
Here’s another fun kind of marked deck.
Take a brand new, unmarked deck of
cards. Remove the Jokers and shuffle the
deck so the cards are in random order.
Set the deck on the table, face down.
Deal the top card face up. Let’s say it’s
the Four of Diamonds. Don’t mark it as
the Four of Diamonds. Instead, add the
Four of Diamonds marking to the card
that’s face down on the top of the deck.
Then, turn that card over face up on the
Four of Diamonds. Say it’s a Jack of
Spades. Put the Jack of Spades mark on
the top face down card of the deck. Go
through the entire deck this way.
Here’s how to use the deck: Always
keep the deck in the same order. Don’t
shuffle or cut it (unless you use a false
shuffle or cut). Hold the deck in your
hand and, with your head turned away,
ask the spectator to lift a portion of the
deck and look at the card on the bottom
of their portion. While they are looking
at the card they cut to, you can look at
the markings on the top card in the
portion you have in your hand, which
tells you what their card is. Now you
can make a big deal about reading their
mind.

Note
If you suspect someone is using marked
cards against you in a card game, riffle
the back of the deck like an animated flip
book. If the deck is marked, the markings
will look like they are jumping around in
the deck’s design.

More Resources for Tricks

with Marked Cards
Here are some books, DVDs, and
electronic media with tricks using a
marked deck.
Miracles With A Marked Deck, by
Kirk Charles. Instructional DVD
Magic Tricks with Marked Cards,
by Justin M. Monehen. iBook that
includes video
Stripper Deck
Secretly pull a spectator’s
selected card from the
center of a deck

A stripper deck
consists of cards
that have been
slightly tapered so
that one short edge
is narrower than the
other. In other
words, the deck is
shaped like a wedge
rather than a
rectangle, as shown
in Figure 1. (I cut
this card with an
extreme taper so
you can get an idea
of the shape. A real
stripper deck has a
much less obvious
taper.)
With a stripper
deck you can easily
remove any card, or
cards, that have
been placed into the
deck in the opposite
direction of the
orientation of the
 wedge. Simply use
Fig. 1: Stripped
cards are cut in a your thumb and
wedge shape. The fingers to pull (or
wedge has been “strip”) the cards,
greatly
exaggerated for
which have
illustration protruding ends, out
purposes. of the deck in one
smooth motion.
Like marked decks, stripper decks
were invented by clever card cheats to
give them the ability to retrieve certain
cards from the middle of the deck. When
magicians discovered stripper decks
they put them to good use, inventing
hundreds of seemingly impossible tricks.
For instance, you can separate all the red
and black cards in the deck, reverse
their orientation, shuffle the red and
black packets together, and then
smoothly and secretly separate them
again with a single move!
One thing to keep in mind with a
stripper deck is to not go overboard with
it, because spectators will eventually
catch on that you are using a trick deck.
(Don't ever tell spectators, “This is an
ordinary deck of cards,” however, as
that will arouse suspicion.)
The stripper deck cutter described
below was based on one designed by
magic apparatus maker James P. Riser,
called the “Inexpensive Card Trimmer.”

Things You Need to Make a

Stripper Deck
I’ve included two ways to make the card
trimmer. The simpler version uses a pad
of Post-It Notes to position the cards for
trimming. It’s easier to set up, but it is
temporary. The slightly more
complicated version uses magnets and a
steel brace to position the cards for
cutting.

Materials
• A deck of cards

Tools
• Fiskars 6 inch Photo Bypass
Trimmer ($10 on Amazon)
 • Optional: Sun-Star Kadomaru Pro
Corner Cutter ($13 on Amazon)
Simple version:
• Pad of Post-It Notes
Less simple version:
• 6 Neodymium Disc Magnets, ½
inch diameter x ¼ inch thick ($9 for 10
pieces on Amazon)
• Flat Corner Brace, 1.5 inch ($3 for
4 pieces on Amazon)

How to Make a Stripper

Deck
(If you are making the card trimmer
using the Post-It Note version, skip to
Step 4)
Fig. 2: Use a sharp edged wooden block to
 separate the magnets.

1. Separate the magnets. The

magnets come shipped in a stack. They
are very strong and are not easy to take
apart. Instead of trying to pull them
apart, slide them apart. Use the edge of a
wooden block to help slide them apart,
as shown in Figure 2. Once you’ve
separated the magnets, keep them at least
one foot apart from each other,
otherwise they will snap together and
likely pinch your fingers. (Here’s a
video that will help you understand why
you should be careful when handling
neodymium magnets.)
Fig. 3: Place a magnet on one end of the brace.
Fig. 4: Place a magnet in the corner of the
brace.
Fig. 5: Place a magnet on the other end of the
 brace.

2. Place the magnets on the brace.

Start by placing a magnet on one end of
the brace as shown in Figure 3. Set the
brace on the table and press down on the
magnet with your thumb before putting
on the next magnet. Pick up another
magnet with your other hand and hold it
tightly between your fingers. Bring it
near the magnet attached to the brace, as
shown in Figure 4. If you can feel the
magnets pull toward each another, flip
over the magnet you are holding so the
two magnets repel each other. Then
place the magnet in the corner of the
brace. Do the same for the third magnet,
placing it on the end of the brace. The
final result looks like Figure 5.
Fig. 6: Set the brace on the trimmer.
Fig. 7: Add magnets to the bottom surface of
the trimmer.
Fig. 8: All three magnets on bottom of trimmer.
 3. Attach the brace to the trimmer.
Set the brace on the trimmer in the
approximate location shown in Figure 6.
Holding the brace against the trimmer
with one hand, flip the trimmer over, and
carefully add three magnets to the bottom
surface of the trimmer as shown in
Figures 7 and 8. Make sure the magnets
are oriented so that they will attract the
corresponding magnets on the opposite
side of the trimmer surface.
Fig. 9: Use a scrap card to adjust the position
of the brace.
Fig. 10: Hold the card edge against the cutting
blade.
Fig. 11: Turn the brace counter-clockwise
 slightly so that the top right edge of the card
hangs over the cutting edge a fraction of an
inch.

4. Adjust the position of the brace.

Take a scrap card and place it face down
on the flat surface of the cutter. You will
have to slide it under the clear plastic
strip near the cutting edge. Lift the
cutting blade high enough that you can
slide a long edge of the card flush
against the side of the blade. Notice in
Figure 9 that the other edge of the card
aligns along the 2.5-inch line on the
surface of the trimmer. (A Bicycle card
is 63mm x 88mm, or about 2.5 inches x
3.5 inches.)
Lift the cutting blade and use your
right hand fingers to hold the card flush
against the cutting edge, as shown in
Figure 10. Use your left hand to slowly
and carefully slide the brace against the
corner of the card. Don’t push the brace
against the card so that it buckles — stop
when it is resting very lightly against the
card.
Now, turn the brace counter-
clockwise slightly so that the top right
edge of the card hangs over the cutting
edge a fraction of an inch, as shown in
Figure 11. (The orange arrow shows the
direction to rotate the card.) The left top
side should remain flush with the edge.
The key thing to remember when making
a stripper deck is to make the taper very
slight. If the taper is too great, it will be
obvious to the spectator. You really don't
need much of a taper to be able to pull
cards out of the deck.
Fig. 12: Simple Version. Stick on thin stacks of
 Post-It Notes on the trimmer surface as shown

5. (For Post-It Note version) Stick

Post-It Notes on trimmer surface.
Refer to Step 4 above to help you place
two thin stacks of Post-It Notes on the
surface of the trimmer. Figure 12 shows
the location for the Post-It Notes stacks.
(Remove the bottom sheet from the pad
so the sticky part is exposed.) The sticky
stripe of the notes should be against the
playing card. Once you are happy with
the location, press down on the stacks
with your finger so they don’t slip off.
Fig. 13: Trim a thin wedge from the card.
 6. Trim a test card. Place the scrap
card against the inside corner of the
brace. Go gently – don’t push so hard
against the brace that you cause it to
move. Use one hand to press down on
the clear plastic strip near the cutting
edge. This will secure the card. Use the
other hand to push the trimmer blade and
trim a thin wedge from the card. It
should look something like the photo
above. It should be almost as long as the
card, and have a gradual increasing
taper along its length. Take a look at the
card. Do the corners still look fairly
round? If not, that means you cut off too
much. That’s OK. Just readjust the
position of the trimmer using a new
scrap card (get rid of the first scrap card
because you don’t want to accidentally
use it to readjust the trimmer at a later
time). Have patience and get this step
right before moving to the next step.
7. Trim all the cards in a fresh
deck. Carefully place a card, face-
down, in the inside corner of the brace.
Use a finger to gently swipe the card
toward the corner of the brace to make
sure it is seated correctly. Check the
amount of overhang on the cutting edge.
If it looks good, press down on the clear
plastic strip above the card and trim the
card. Carefully pull the card out to the
right, hold the card along the long edge
closest to you and flip it over so it is
face up. Trim this side, too. This will
give the card a taper on both sides, so it
is wider at one end, as shown in the first
photo of this chapter. Here’s a video of
the card trimming process. (Remember,
you can see all the videos at
trickdecks.org)
Repeat this step for all the cards in
the deck. Remain observant with every
cut, because it is easy to get lulled by the
repetition and make a mistake. If you do
make a mistake on a card, see if you
have a replacement from your scrap
cards. If you don’t, throw away the cards
you’ve trimmed, add the untrimmed
cards to your scrap inventory, and start
over with a fresh deck.
Fig. 14: A corner trimmer is a good way to
 round the corners on your cards so they look
natural.

8. Round the trimmed corners

(optional). If you trimmed your deck a
lot, the corners on the trimmed ends
might look sharp. It’s unlikely that the
spectator will notice, but it doesn't hurt
to round the corners. You’ll need to use
a corner punch — a mechanical device
that cuts a rounded corner in a sheet of
card stock. The corner radius of a
Bicycle card is 3mm, and you can buy a
wide variety of punches, ranging from
under $15 to hundreds of dollars. I
bought the Japanese Sun-Star Kadomaru
Pro Corner Cutter on Amazon for $13. It
cuts 3mm corners as well as 5mm and
8mm corners. (These larger corners are
perfect for making a “corner short” card,
which you can use to force a certain
playing card on an unwitting spectator.)

Using the Stripper Deck

It’s very easy to use the stripper deck.
Start by making sure the cards are
oriented so that their tapers are all in the
same direction. Hold the deck in your
left hand, with the thick end facing away
from you. Now, fan the deck and ask the
spectator to take any card (or cards) that
they wish. While they are looking at
their cards, casually rotate the card deck
so that the thin end is facing away from
you. Then, tell the spectator to insert the
cards anywhere in the deck. You can
shuffle the deck as much as you want as
long as you don’t change the orientation
of the cards. To retrieve the selected
cards all you have to do is run your right
thumb and middle finger along the sides
of the deck, and the reversed cards will
slide right out.

A Trick You Can Do With a

Stripper Deck
There are a great many wonderful tricks
you can perform with your stripper deck.
Here’s an excellent one that my friend
Seth Godin shared:
 Fig. 15: Shuffle the red faced cards into the
black faced cards with the wedge-shape in
opposite directions.

RED AND BLACK. Prepare the

deck beforehand by putting all the red
cards in one direction and the blacks in
the other direction (see Figure 15), then
shuffling them so they are well mixed.
Show the spectator how well they're
shuffled. You can shuffle and cut the
deck a few times. Fan the deck and and
tell the spectator to select a card. While
they're looking at their card, quietly
rotate the deck end-for-end. Ask them to
put their selected card anywhere in the
deck. Shuffle the deck. Cut the deck by
grabbing at each end and gently pulling
in each direction. (What you're doing is
extracting all the red cards with your one
hand, black cards with your other hand.)
Slap one half on top of the other. Do it
again just to be sure you didn't miss any.
Turn the deck over and fan it out. All the
black cards will be together. All the red
cards will be together. And the chosen
card will be the only different-colored
card in whatever side appears in!
Here’s a video that shows the red
and black cards getting separated. (This
video and all the other videos in this
book are at trickdecks.org)

More Resources for Tricks

with a Stripper Deck
Here are some other books, DVDs, and
electronic media with tricks using a
marked deck.
Magic Tricks with Wizard Cards, by
Justin M. Monehen. iBook that includes
video examples.
30 Tricks & Tips with a Stripper
Deck, by Magic Makers. DVD that
includes a Bicycle stripper deck.
Invisible Deck
A spectator’s thought-of
card is the only one upside
down in the deck

The invisible deck is one of my favorite

trick decks because the effect is simple
and stunning. It blows people’s minds.
Take a look at this video of David
Blaine using the deck on a man in the
street. (This video is also at
trickdecks.org)
As you can see in the video, Blaine
walks up to a man and hands him a deck
of cards, which are in a closed card box.
While the man is holding the deck,
Blaine asks the man to visualize any
card in the deck, and to imagine it
turning over in the deck. The man says
“ten of diamonds.”
“Check this out,” says Blaine, taking
the deck from the man and removing the
cards from the box. He fans out the
cards. All of them are face up but one:
the Ten of Diamonds. The man is visibly
stunned.
“That is unbelievable. That is just
terrific. How’d you do that? How’d you
do that? It’s so mind boggling I don’t
even know what to say about it.”
I used the Invisible deck on my
friend and he had a similar reaction. He
told me the next day that he was up all
night trying to figure out how I did it. (Of
course I didn’t tell him.)
The secret to these cards is that the
backs have been sprayed with matte
enamel, which makes the surface of the
cards slightly rough. When you put two
treated cards back to back, it feels a
little like holding two sheets of
sandpaper together. The friction makes
them stick together. The harder you press
the cards together, the less likely they
are to separate. In an Invisible Deck the
cards are arranged in pairs, back to
back, so that the faces are facing
outwards, away from each other. (I’ll
explain how to set up the cards later in
the chapter.) For now, let’s get to work
making the deck. (For an alternate, much
easier way to make an Invisible Deck
that yields almost as good of a result as
the spray can method, skip down the the
section titled “Crayon Method.”)
Fig. 1: Tools and materials you need to make
 an invisible deck.

Materials
• One pack of Bicycle playing cards
• One spray can of Krylon 1311
Matte Finish Enamel ($4 on Amazon)

Tools
• Large sheet of wood, newsprint, or
cardboard (to protect ground from
enamel spray)
• Several wooden sticks or
cardboard strips about 1.5 inches wide
and several feet in length
 • Optional: Push pins or tape (for
pinning down cardboard strips so they
don’t move when you apply the spray
enamel)

How to Make an Invisible

Deck
1. Place the cards on the sheet.
Remove the cards from the deck and lay
them down side by side on the sheet of
wood, newsprint, or cardboard. In
Figure 2, you can see that I made several
rows of cards. If your sheet is smaller
than the one I used, you can spray one
portion of the deck at a time
Fig. 2: Cards ready to be sprayed.
 2. Cover the ends of the cards.
Only the middle of each card back will
receive the rough spray enamel. The top
and bottom portion of each card will
remain smooth. This is important,
because when you get to the part of your
performance of the trick where you want
to separate a pair of cards, you can
pinch them from the top or bottom and
they will easily slide apart. I used sticks
of scrap wood that were 1.5 inches wide
and arranged them so that they covered
0.75 inches of the cards’ tops and
bottoms. The wood is heavy enough that
the cards won’t be disturbed when you
blast them with the spray enamel. If you
use cardboard strips instead of wood, I
recommend that you pin or tape the
strips to the sheet so they don’t blow
away. (Don’t poke the pins through the
cards, of course!). When you are
finished, only the middle portion of the
cards should be exposed, as shown in
Figure 2.
3. Spray the cards. I’ve learned that
the less you use, the better the cards
work. One light coat is plenty. (If you
use too much spray, there’s less friction.)
Shake the can of spray enamel. Hold the
can 8-12 inches away from the cards and
wave the spray over all the cards. It
should only take a few minutes to dry.
 Fig. 3: Cards go back to back, adding up to 13,
except in the case of Kings, which pair up with
other Kings.

4. Arrange the cards. The Clubs

and the Diamonds are placed in pairs,
back-to-back. The sum value of each
pair equals thirteen (a Jack has a value
of 11 and a Queen is a 12). The only
exception are the Kings, which pair up
with other Kings. The figure above
shows the card pairs. Next, turn the card
pairs over so only even cards are
showing. Then arrange the card pairs in
random order so you have a 52-card
deck with odd cards facing one direction
and even cards facing the other
direction. The red Kings are considered
odd and the blacks are considered even.
Fig. 4: When arranged, the even cards will be
 on one side, the odds on the other (the
spectator will not notice). The face down card
is the Nine of Diamonds.

Crayon Method
 Fig. 5: Remove the paper wrapping of a white
Crayola crayon and rub it on the back of the
card, covering the area highlighted in green
here.

Here’s another way to make an

Invisible Deck. It’s about 95% as good
as the spray can method, and is much
easier and less expensive. All you need
is a Crayola crayon. A white crayon
works well. You won’t see anything
when you rub it on the back of a card.
You could also use a colored crayon that
matches the color of the deck but it
doesn’t really matter, as long as it is a
Crayola brand crayon. I’ve tried other
brands but they are too slippery. To
prepare a card remove the paper
wrapping from the crayon and orient it
on the deck as shown in Figure 5. Use a
firm amount of pressure and rub the
crayon back and forth against the card
about 12 times. Don’t cover the entire
surface of the card. Leave a little bit of
space at the top and bottom of the card.
(In Figure 1, I’ve highlighted the
location where the crayon should be
applied.) One crayon is probably enough
to prepare a lifetime of Invisible decks.

How to use the Invisible

Deck
Set the deck by slipping the cards into
the box. Make a note of the orientation of
the odd side and even side. I always put
the cards in the box so that the even
numbers are facing the box flap.
Hand the closed card box to the
spectator and tell them to visualize one
of the cards in the deck. When they say
OK, tell them to imagine their chosen
card turning over in the deck.
“Concentrate.” While they are still
holding the cards, ask them to name the
card. Take the box from the spectator. If
they named an even card, pull the cards
out of the box so that the odd cards are
face up (and vice versa). Start fanning
the cards out, applying medium pressure
with your fingers on the middle of the
cards so they stick together. Let’s say the
spectator named the Seven of Spades.
Look for this card’s mate, which is the
Six of Hearts. When you get to the Six of
Hearts, apply light pressure with your
thumb at the top of the Six of Hearts, and
the back of the Seven of Spades will
slide out from under it. It will look like
it is the only face-down card in the deck.
Ask the spectator to remove the card and
look at it and they will see that it’s the
card they named.
 Fig. 6: Random.org has a random card dealer
that you can use to practice the Invisible Card
routine.

Tips
There are three important things to
practice before performing this trick.
One is learning how to fan the cards
without splitting the pairs. Another thing
is learning how to smoothly and casually
separate a card pair to reveal the named
card. The third thing is being able to
quickly and unfailingly determine the
paired card for any card the spectator
happens to name. To practice all three
things at once, I use a random card
dealer (Figure 6) at Random.org to drill
myself. Go to the site and pretend that
the displayed card is the one named by
an imaginary spectator. Perform the trick
with the deck and see if you were right.
Click the “Again!” button to try again. (If
you don’t want to use a computer to
practice, you can shuffle an ordinary
deck of cards and draw one card at a
time.)
Brain Wave Deck
A spectator’s thought-of
card is the only one face up
in the deck and with a
different colored back than
the other cards

The Brain Wave

Deck was first
described in print
by the great card
magician Dai
Vernon in issue
number 49 of The
Jinx (October
1938), a charming
newsletter for
magicians. Vernon
correctly described
it as “a real
confounder.” It’s
similar to the
Invisible Deck in
that it uses
roughened cards,
but it has a double-
whammy effect
that’s even more
startling. In the
Invisible Deck, a
spectator’s mentally
selected card is
The Jinx was a
revealed as the only magic newsletter
face down card in published from
the deck, but in the 1934-42 by the
mentalist Theo
Brain Wave Deck
Annemann, who’s
the selected card is been described as
revealed as the only “the original magic
face up card in the blogger.”
deck. What’s more,
it’s the only card in the deck with a
different colored back!
The Brain Wave deck takes a bit
more time to learn than the Invisible
Deck because you have to count face-
down cards as you fan them out, but it is
well worth the effort required to master.
Materials and Tools
The tools and materials for the Brain
Wave Deck are exactly the same as the
ones used in the Invisible deck, but
you’ll need two decks of cards instead
of one: a red-backed deck and a blue-
backed deck, as well as a snap-blade
knife or sewing needle.

How to Make a Brain Wave

Deck
1. Use the Spades and Clubs from the
red-backed deck and the Hearts and
Diamonds from the blue-backed deck.
(Save the unused cards for the Oil and
Water Deck and Nightmare Card
described in the following chapters.)
2. Follow the same instructions
described in the Invisible Deck, with
one exception: spray (or apply crayon
wax to) the faces (not the backs) of the
cards.
 Fig. 2: Lay out the deck of treated cards in two
rows of 26 cards as shown.

3. After the spray has dried lay the

cards in two rows. Moving from left to
right, lay down the King of Diamonds,
working your way down to the Ace of
Diamonds. Continue by laying down the
King of Hearts, working your way down
to the Ace of Hearts. On the new row
below the top row, lay down the Ace of
Spades through the King of Spades,
followed by the Ace of Clubs through
the King of Clubs.
4. Assemble the deck by flipping
the King of Diamonds onto the Ace of
Spades, the Queen of Diamonds onto the
Two of Spades, and so on, until you flip
the Ace of Hearts onto the King of
Clubs. Now you have a row of 26 pairs
of cards with the faces touching each
other. Now, drop the pair of cards on the
far left (the King of Diamonds and the
Ace of Spades) on top of the pair next to
it. Pick up this packet of four cards and
drop it onto the pair next to it. Repeat
until you have all 52 cards stacked in
order.
Fig. 3 Scratch a diagonal white line on the
upper left and lower right corner of the King of
Hearts. Do the same on the back of King of
Spades.
 5. Mark two of the cards to help
you quickly locate the spectator’s
chosen card. Use a snap-blade knife or
needle to scratch a small diagonal mark
on the upper left and lower right corners
of the King of Spades, and on the King
of Hearts, as shown above. You can also
scratch markings on other cards to help
you keep count. (You’ll see why this
marking is helpful when we get to the
section that describes how to use the
deck.)
6. Place the deck with the blue
side facing the flap of the box if you
are using a blue box, or the red side
facing the flap of the box if you are using
a red box.
Using the Brain Wave Deck
Here’s the original routine, as described
by Vernon (paraphrased) in The Jinx:

The cased deck is

shown and the
spectator told, “I
am going to make
you think of one of
the 52 cards. To
prove I am right I
have turned that
particular card over
in the deck. Just
think for a moment
or so and then
name a card that
comes into your
mind.” When the
mentally selected
card is named,
remove the deck
from the box (with
the red side up if a
red card was
selected, and the
blue side up if a
black card was
selected). Fan out
the cards from left
to right (applying
enough pressure to
the cards so no
facing pairs
separate). As you
fan the cards, count
to the spot where
you know the
named card is
waiting.
For instance,
suppose the card
named is the Five
of Clubs. The deck
is removed with the
blue backs upward.
You know the top
13 pairs represent
Spades, so you fan
carelessly and start
counting the backs
beginning with the
marked (14th
card). As you pass
the fourth and
reach the fifth, a
little change in
pressure brings the
Five of Clubs face
up into view. The
same procedure
applies to any card.
For the climax,
draw the face up
card out and drop it
on the table,
saying, ‘I didn’t
want anyone to
think I was a
sleight-of-hand
artist so I used a
card with a
different back.’
And so saying the
card is turned
over.”
Nightmare Card
A card chosen by the
spectator vanishes and
reappears in your pocket

This is a simple stunner that will have

people begging you to tell them how you
did it. You shuffle a deck of cards, give
it a cut and, with your head turned away
so you can’t see, riffle the deck. Instruct
the spectator to tell you when to stop.
When they do, stop riffling and let them
see their card.
Start dealing the cards face up on the
table. Say,“When you see your card, tell
me to stop.” But their card never
appears. It has vanished from the deck.
“Tell them, I happen to have one spare
card in my pocket.” Pull the card from
your pocket and set it on the table face
down. “There’s a one in fifty-two chance
this will replace the card that
disappeared. Can you tell me what your
card was?” When they name it, turn the
card over. It’s the missing card!
This trick is a variation of Theo
Annemann’s “New Nightmare Effect,”
which appeared in issue number 7 of
The Jinx (April 1935). It uses a “short
card,” which is simply a card that has
been shortened by cutting a thin strip
from one of the ends of the card. When
you riffle a deck with a short card, it’s
very easy to feel where the short card is
and stop at it. The Nightmare Card is
actually a short card glued behind a
regular card.

Materials and Tools

• Two non-identical playing cards
• Snap-blade knife, cutting surface,
and metal straight edge (or scissors)
• Glue Stick or superglue

How to Make a Nightmare

Card
Fig. 1: Cut a very narrow strip from the bottom
of one card.
 1. Cut a 1/16th-inch strip from the
bottom of one card. Use a straight edge
and a snap-blade knife to get a clean
straight cut. A sharp pair of scissors or
the paper trimmer from the Stripper
Deck chapter will work, too. In Figure
1, you can see that I cut the Four of
Clubs.
Fig. 2: Add a stripe of glue to the cut end of the
face-up side of the card.
 2. Apply glue to the card you cut.
Put a thin strip of glue at the cut end of
the card, as shown in Figure 2.
 Fig. 3: Glue the cards together face up, with the
cut card on the bottom.

3. Glue the other card to the cut

card. With both cards face up, put the
uncut card (in my case, the Nine of
Diamonds) on top of the cut card, as
shown in Figure 3. Align the bottom of
the uncut card with the cut end of the cut
card. Squeeze the glued part of the cards
between your fingers so they stick
together. They glue will dry in a few
minutes.
 Fig. 4: Here’s what the unglued end of the
gimmicked cards looks like. The card in front is
a bit shorter than the card in back, which will
make it easy to stop on when you put it in the
deck and riffle it.

Using the Nightmare Card

Gimmick
Setup: Let’s assume you are using the
same two cards that I used: the Four of
Clubs and the Nine of Diamonds. Before
performing the trick, prepare a deck of
cards by removing the Four of Clubs and
the Nine of Diamonds. Put Nine of
Diamonds away, because it won’t be
used in this trick. Put the Four of Clubs
in one of your pockets.
Insert the gimmicked cards
somewhere in the middle of the deck
and, making a mental note of the
orientation of the unglued end, slip the
deck in its box and close the flap. You
are now ready to perform the trick.
Performance: Take the cards out of
the box and hold them face up in your
left hand, with the unglued end away
from you.
Say to the spectator, “Tell me when
to stop.” Turn your head away from the
deck so you can’t see it and start riffling
the deck from the bottom up with your
right fingers. (See a video of how to
riffle the deck at trickdecks.org.) The
spectator will almost aways say stop
right before you get to the gimmicked
cards. The cards will automatically stop
as soon as your fingers pass over the cut
end, exposing the Four of Clubs. (If the
spectator doesn’t tell you to stop by the
time you’ve gotten to the Four of Clubs,
quickly riffle to the end, and tell them to
start over.)
Keep your head turned away and ask
the spectator to memorize the card. Once
they’ve confirmed that they have, let the
remaining cards drop on to the deck.
Continue to hold the deck face up.
Say, “Tell me when you see your card,”
as you quickly deal the cards face up
onto the table. Because the Four of
Clubs is glued behind the Nine of
Diamonds, it will not show up, and look
as though it has disappeared from the
deck.
When you have dealt all the cards on
the table, ask the spectator if they are
sure they didn’t see their card. When
they tell you they didn’t see it, say,
“Well, it must have disappeared. I do
keep a spare card in my pocket.” Pull the
card out of your pocket and place it face
down on the table. “There’s just a one-
in-fifty-two chance it’s the right card.
What was your card?” They’ll tell you it
was the Four of Clubs. Turn the card
over on the table to show them the Four
of Clubs.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to:
• My wife, Carla Sinclair for
copyediting. You caught a lot of typos!
• Seth Godin for sharing his
enthusiasm for magic and for providing
the trick for the stripper deck.
• Jason Weisberger, Ferdinando
Buscema, David Pescovitz, and Lux
Pescovitz for rekindling my love of
magic.
• My daughter Jane Frauenfelder for
evaluating the tricks and providing
useful suggestions for improvement.
• My daughter Sarina Frauenfelder
for putting up with my countless fumbled
performances with no eye-rolling.
• The brilliant magicians who
invented these decks many decades ago.
The more I use these decks, the more I
appreciate the genius that went into their
design.
About the Author
Mark Frauenfelder is the co-founder of
Boing Boing, a blog about cultural
curiosities and interesting technologies
with 6 million monthly unique viewers
and the winner of the Bloggies’ Lifetime
Achievement and Best Group Blog
awards. He’s the founding editor-in-
chief of MAKE, the only magazine
exclusively devoted to do-it-yourself
projects. He's the founding editor-in-
chief of Wired Online, and was an editor
at Wired magazine and Wired Books
from 1993-1998. He is the editor-in-
chief of Cool-Tools.org, a tool review
 site with roots
connected to the
Whole Earth
Catalog.
As a maker of
things, Mark has
built cigar box
guitars,
skateboards,
electronic musical
instruments, chicken
coops, kinetic
sculptures, and
robotic monkeys
that keep cats from
jumping on
furniture. He has conducted workshops
that teach people how to make
sauerkraut, program Arduino
microcontrollers, solder circuit boards,
build vibrating toothbrush cars, and
construct mandolins from tuna cans.
Mark is also an artist and designer,
and his work has appeared in group and
solo gallery exhibitions throughout the
United States. He designed Billy Idol's
Cyberpunk CD cover, video box, and
print advertisements.
He’s appeared on The Colbert
Report (twice) and the Martha Stewart
Show, and has written for The New York
Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Popular
Science, Business Week, The Hollywood
Reporter, Wired, and other national
publications.
 Contact Mark:

@frauenfelder

mfrauenfelder

markfrauenfelder.com
markfrauenfelder@gmail.com
Also by Mark
Frauenfelder

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