Five Card Guess
This trick involves math and agreement with a little bit of magic. We need a magician, an assistant, and a deck of cards.
· Cards A-6 equal their face values
· Cards 7-Q equal 1-6 respectively
· King equals 1
The participant will pick five cards and show them to the assistant. The assistant will then use math to tell the magician the value of one of the cards.
Example: 7♠, 4♥, 8♣, 3♦, 9♠
1. The first step is to figure out which card the magician will be guessing. Since there are five cards there is always going to be at least two cards of the same suit. You must choose one of the cards that has the same suit as another card. In this case, you use math by adding the digits of the other cards together to get either 7 or 9 and determine which number is obtainable. In this case we will hand the magician the 7♠. This makes our “hidden card” the 9♠.
2. The next step is to hand the cards to the magician in an order that he will add them. The order in this case will be 4♥, 8♣, 3♦ because 8 is equal to 2 so we get 4+2+3=9.
3. The magician will now be able to determine that the “hidden card” is the 9♠.
Note: There are three cards that need to be added to obtain the hidden number. If 1 of the cards is equal to the hidden number before adding then cover the number on the other two cards. If 2 of the cards add to equal the hidden number then cover the number on the third card. This tells the magician to stop adding.
Kleber, M. (2002). The best card trick. Retrieved from
http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring10/cardTrick.pdf
· Cards A-6 equal their face values
· Cards 7-Q equal 1-6 respectively
· King equals 1
The participant will pick five cards and show them to the assistant. The assistant will then use math to tell the magician the value of one of the cards.
Example: 7♠, 4♥, 8♣, 3♦, 9♠
1. The first step is to figure out which card the magician will be guessing. Since there are five cards there is always going to be at least two cards of the same suit. You must choose one of the cards that has the same suit as another card. In this case, you use math by adding the digits of the other cards together to get either 7 or 9 and determine which number is obtainable. In this case we will hand the magician the 7♠. This makes our “hidden card” the 9♠.
2. The next step is to hand the cards to the magician in an order that he will add them. The order in this case will be 4♥, 8♣, 3♦ because 8 is equal to 2 so we get 4+2+3=9.
3. The magician will now be able to determine that the “hidden card” is the 9♠.
Note: There are three cards that need to be added to obtain the hidden number. If 1 of the cards is equal to the hidden number before adding then cover the number on the other two cards. If 2 of the cards add to equal the hidden number then cover the number on the third card. This tells the magician to stop adding.
Kleber, M. (2002). The best card trick. Retrieved from
http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring10/cardTrick.pdf