Time: 3-5 Hours

Cost: $9

Difficulty: Moderate

Level of Coolness at a Party: 76% increase*

*unless there’s a guy there playing Wonderwall, then its 100% by comparison. Because that guy is laaaaaammmme

Blowin my Mind Since 1993

Yep, you read that correctly. Since the day I was born I was being blown a way by magic. How is that even possible?! WHO KNOWS?!?! But all I know is that if baby Stephen saw a rabbit being pulled out of a hat, when it was pretty clear that the rabbit wasn’t in there before, his mind would be blown.

Which is probably unsafe due to how soft newborn babies skulls are….

Babies skulls aside, magic is awesome. To loosely quote my good friend and talented magician Billy.

“My favorite part about performing magic, is that split second after the trick is over when the people watching are taken back into a moment of childhood wonder”

And after performing in front of a bunch of people last week, I totally get what he was saying. I like to think a good magic trick, is like as a good joke. A good joke works with a set up and a punchline, something that catches people off guard, and makes them think for a spilt second, hopefully resulting in a laugh or a smile etc… Same thing with magic! You set the person up, and in the last second twist their minds into knots, producing some of the most genuine smiles I have seen in a long time.

How to Get Started



The great thing about magic, is that there are a ton of people online who want to share their skillz with you. Some of the best resources I was able to track down were:

The Youtube Channel Card Tricks and Magic by Andy Field. This guy takes you step by step through a plethora of beginner, moderate and extremely difficult magic and card tricks. Plus he seems like a super nice guy, so that always helps. The subreddits r/magic and r/cardmagic. Both of these a great communities full of magicians where you can get feedback on your tricks and get some great tips in regards to getting started with magic. And of course wikiHow. That place is awesome, and in case you haven’t discovered it yet, it can solve pretty much all of life’s problems. How to do the Trick in the Video First of, I’m not going to tell you exactly how to do the trick, as I would like to be in the alliance at some point, and telling you how to do that would make that impossible! BUT! What I will do, is tell you about the different techniques I used to do said trick, and hopefully you can figure out how to do it on your own. Sidenote* if you really like magic, and are infused with joyous wonder from magic, please don’t read this! You are the best kind of person, and shouldn’t know any of this stuff….anyways HEERRREE WEEEE GOOOOOO. 1. How to Control a Card The first thing any magician needs to know, is how to pick a card in the deck and be able to know exactly where that card is at all times. For those of you who have never done this before, it probably sounds pretty tough. Its not. If you know how to shuffle, you know how to control a card. Here’s how to do it: Identify what the card at the top of the pile is, and remember what that card is. When shuffling make sure that that card never moves from the top. You do this by moving all of the other cards in between, but never moving the cards in the back giving the illusion that shuffling is occurring. This way, you know that your card is always going to be at the top of the deck. 2. How to Force a Card

The point of forcing a card on an individual, is to make them think that they picked the card out of their own will. But if there’s anything I’ve learned about magic, is that they’re never in control. THE SUCKERS! There are many different ways to force a card on someone, the one I was taught was the pinky break. This skill is a bit trickier than learning how control a card (depending on how complicated the trick is of course), but is definitely doable with a few hours of practice. And really once you force a card on someone, you can do anything to them. Anyyythhhiinng. Cut the deck Place your pinky in in the back right corner of the bottom half of the deck. This will act as a break between the two halves of the deck, which allows you to be aware of where the top card is on the deck. Run your finger down the side of the deck, and ask them to tell you when to stop. Typically they will stop somewhere in the middle, allowing you to peel the deck off from where you have done a pinky break. You then give them the card that was at the top of the deck previously, making them think they chose the card on their own. 3. The Pinky Break The pinky break can be used to give the impression that you are giving someone a card, when you are actually giving them a different one. #MISDIRECTION! Here’s how to do it: Show the individual the card you are going to give them by holding out the deck. Move the deck back down, and use your pinky to pull back the top card. You then reach for the card underneath, and hand them that card face down. BLOW SOME MINDS MAGIC! And with all of these skills, you will be able to do the trick I did in the video. As well as pretty much any trick you can think of! Once you’ve forced a card on someone, you’re in control and it really just comes down to how creative you can get. If you think you can figure out how I did my trick, post a video on Facebook and tag 52skillz in it. If you nail it, I will send you the same pack of cards I used in the video, signed and everything. (Who knows, if this website gets super popular could be worth something someday 😉 Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk next week 🙂 Also, big thanks to Billy Petigrew for teaching me all of these incredible skills, and Melanie de Kappelle for helping out with filming.