Marked Magic Cards

How to Read the Secret Markings

To identify any playing card, you need two pieces of information: the suit and the value. The suit of a card is the pip type (Clubs, Hearts, Spades or Diamonds). The value of a card is its number (Ace through to King). To make the markings as easy to read as possible, the suits and values have been separated into different parts of the back design.

Reading the Suit Markings

Take out any Heart card from your marked pack and look at the top left corner of the back design. Just above the round flower design, you will see two triangles. Notice that the triangle on the left is blanked out. This means that the card is a Heart. Have a look at all the other Hearts in the pack, and you will see that they all have the left triangle blanked out. If you take any Diamond card and have a look at the two triangles, you will see that this time the right triangle is blank. This tells you that the card is a Diamond. Clubs can be identified because both triangles are blank, while Spades have neither triangle blanked out (both triangles are normal).

Reading the value markings

Pick up any number card and look at the top left flower design (just below the triangles). If you study the petals, you will notice that they all overlap each other except one. It is this ‘top’ petal that indicates the value.

Imagine that the flower design is a clock face and note where the ‘top’ petal is. If it is at one o’clock the card will be an Ace. If the petal is at two o’clock, then the card will be a Two. If it is at three o’clock, it will be a Three and so on all the way up to Jack (at eleven o’clock) and Queen (at twelve o’clock).

The only cards that do not follow this pattern are the four Kings, which do not have a ‘top’ petal. Pick up a King and have a look. Each petal overlaps the next so that no single petal is on top.

Naming a Spectator’s Card

Here is a simple trick using the secret markings. Spread the cards face-down and ask a spectator to select one by pulling it from the spread and placing it face-down on the table.

Explain that you want to ensure that only the spectator sees the selected card. Ask him or her to lift up the card carefully and peek at the face, before replacing it face-down on the table. This procedure should give you plenty of time to read the back of the selected card.

Ask the spectator to concentrate on the name of the chosen card. After a dramatic pause, you can name the card and take your well deserved bow!

Note that in this trick, you give yourself enough time to read the secret marking by asking the spectator to keep the chosen card face-down so no-one else can see it. This is a good ploy that will direct attention away from you reading the back design.