MagicShow.Tips – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

What is a Slick Card and How is it Used in Card Magic?

When I was a teenager, I remember reading in (I think) Scarne on Card Tricks about slick cards. These are cards that have a smoother finish than the rest of the cards. In that book, John Scarne mentioned that they were made by using car wax to make the face or back of a card smoother.

At some point when I was a teenager in the 1990s, I noticed that Bicycle Pinochle Cards had a different finish than the poker cards, even though the box said they had the same “air cushion finish” and those cards could be used as a slick card.

Recently I came across an old deck of pinochle cards and made this video:

Most magicians back in the 1990s had never actually seen slick cards; they’d only read about them in old books. I’m pretty sure that now even fewer magicians have heard of them.

What can you do with them?

First of all, you don’t need to drop them as I did in the video. You can bump the deck and it’ll break at the slick card. That will give you a spot to then cut or shuffle to.

Another thing you can do is toss the deck on the table so that they spread a little bit. The deck will naturally spread wider at the slick card, and that can be used for the psychological force of them taking the card at that point.

It’s a weird thing I wouldn’t want to rely on, but it’s fun to play with having one in the deck!

-Louie

How to Add a Beat to a Packet Trick

Yesterday I made a post about David Regal’s Off With His Head. I wanted to add a third beat to it, and one of the ideas I mentioned was making the three cards that weren’t selected blank. This is really following the B’wave format.

Here’s it with the three blank cards as the ending:

I think it’s (for me) a better trick than the original and away to turn B’wave from a mindreading trick to a magic trick.

-Louie

Off With His Head – Magic Trick Review

In a box of old magic tricks that I came across, there was David Regal’s Off With His Head. This is a packet trick that is essentially B’wave, but with different beats and effects. B’wave is a prediction, with multiple things that prove you committed to the prediction. Off With His Head is a magic trick, where several different effects happen.

In Off With His Head, the effects are:
1: The back of the selected card changes color
2: The faces on the selected king disappear (cut out of the card)

I used this trick as my “trick of the day” at the fair I was performing at.

I wish this trick had a third beat to it, like B’wave does. I guess I could have the card appear face up, or have all the other cards blank. It would give a third beat; however, I’m not sure either would add to the trick.

I’m liking this packet trick and I’ll probably keep doing it until I wear out the cards.

-Louie

Getting to the Gig is the Real Work

When I first started on the road as an opener for comedians, I was told by one of the headliners (Brad Brake – RIP), “We don’t get paid for the gig; we get paid to get to the gig.” I quickly learned that that’s a common saying with acts that travel.

Yesterday my flight from Sacramento was to phoenix had a layover in San Diego. Shortly after landing in San Diego my flight to Phoenix was cancelled and I was rebooked onto the last flight of the day to Phoenix six hours later!

Then about 45 mins after the first flight was cancelled, the last flight was showing a delay of an hour. I had a feeling that I was going to be stuck in San Diego after waiting 7 hours at the airport, so I rented car and drove 5 1/2 hours to Phoenix.

I periodically checked the status of that the last flight during my drive and it was delay a second hour, then ultimately was cancelled!

Had I not trusted my spidey sense, I would have waited 8+ hours at the airport to ultimately be stuck there for the night.

If the drive was much longer, I probably would have just stayed at the airport to see how it played out, but when the drive is shorter than I’d be waiting at the airport for the flight if it left on time, it was a no brainer.

When you’re faced with significant delays, it’s always good to look at other options. I made a good choice bail on the flight!

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Cory Black

On this episode of the Moisture Festival Podcast, we sit down with juggler and freestyle footballer Cory Black. We talk about how he got started in freestyle football, why he decided to bring his hands into the mix, and how he turned those skills into a one-of-a-kind performance.

A great conversation with an incredibly creative artist who turned his passion into a career.

Cory takes us inside the world of freestyle competitions, inventing new tricks, and the process of developing his act. We also hear about the moment he decided to leave his regular job behind, follow his dream, and become a full-time performer.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Storytelling Magic Prop from 1952

While I was travelling, one day I had about 90 mins to kill before I could check into a hotel. It’s rare that I get to a hotel that won’t let me check in early, but it happens occasionally. When it does, I try to do something fun with my time, and that day I went to an antique mall.

One of the stands had a bunch of magic magazines (linking rings, genii, etc) which were way overpriced, but they also had a few magic books that were reasonable. I picked up the Thayer Catalog vol 8, Ireland’s Yearbook for 1952 and a couple of other things.

The Ireland’s Yearbook for 1952 was interesting. It’s a collection of tricks that were published annually by Laurie Ireland. A good chunk of the yearbook was taken up by an origami storytelling routine. This was interesting that I had the folds and the figures, but not the story?!

I had some paper and decided to try the routine, the problem was with how it was written and illustrated, there were a lot of errors with the words and pictures.

For example figure 4 and 5 are incorrect:

I had to do a lot of messing around and guessing what was meant, to get to the finale of the routine, which is a “Chinese junk boat”.

This was challenging to learn, and it’s a storytelling prop like a Troublewit. I don’t think I’ll ever do it, but I do find it interesting that this was a trick of note in 1952!

-Louie

Kapital Kidvention – Louie Foxx Lectures!

In January I’ll be lecturing at the Kapital Kidvention in Arlington, VA. I’ll be doing two lectures.

magician with french fries in his mouth on an advertisement for the kapital kidvention

The first lecture is my 2025 PCAM Lecture that debuted last November. The second lecture is a new one called: Two Openers, Two Middles and Two Closers for Kid Shows. The name pretty much says what it’s about, 6 tricks, two for each spot in the show.

The Kapital Kidvention has a “deal day” on September 14th, where you can get discount registration. Visit https://kapitalkidvention.com/kk/2025registration/ to learn more about registration.

-Louie Foxx

PADO Card Trick’s Ad Review

The ad for the trick PADO came across my social media feed, and I have some thoughts on just the ad. I want to be clear, I didn’t buy this, these are just my impressions of the ad for the trick.

First of all, the cover for the ad when it was served to me has the palmed card flashing. Here’s the screenshot of the ad for PADO:

This is a very minor thing, and could have been an auto generated cover that the magic company had no real control over. Alright, here’s the actual demo:

Whenever I see a demo where the table is so black that you can’t tell where it ends and the magician’s black clothes start, this is a trick that uses black art. More than that, it’s also probably (I could be wrong) manipulated with a filter to make the black colors blacker. This is fair game for online content, but not in person performing. Once again, I would love to be wrong about this.

Why is it important to know if it’s black art?

If it is, you can’t do this trick “walkaround” without carrying a special surface to do it on. That severely limits where you can do it. You can’t do it on any tabletop. I guess the term “walkaround” can mean a lot of things, but it’s going to be difficult to do on a picnic table in the park on a sunny day.

Another issue I have is that the website says it’s for “beginners”; however, in the trailer there is a control and mercury fold. To accomplish those, the magician in the video drops his hands below the table, then there’s a camera cut. If they can’t do the sleight of hand deceptively in front of the camera for the demo, then it’s not beginner level (in my opinion).

Personally, I think this would be great for magic that’s filtered through a camera where you can be in control of lighting and the black balance, and not when you’re performing to a group of people in front of you. The magic company is selling something that technically could be done in those scenarios, but it probably won’t be something you can do 100% of the time in those scenarios.

There is Brent Braun and Andy Glass’ Chattanooga Kickstand which looks very similar, but without the black art.

What’s written above is my opinion without seeing the PADO gimmick- just my commentary and opinion on how this is being sold. I would love to be wrong, and I could do this on any surface…and it’s not a recreation of the Brent Braun and Andy Glass gimmick.

– Louie

Triumph Card Trick Variation

The Triumph card trick, where cards are shuffled face up and face down, ending with all the cards going the same way, except a selected card, has fascinated me for a while. In the past, I’ve published a version or two in Vanish Magazine. Here’s my newest idea for it:

I really like using the old drop the deck and the top card flips over thing as a way to flip over the top card. I’ll probably write this up at some point and publish it somewhere.

-Louie

Roving Magic Show Set List

Here’s what my props for a roving magic set look like:

The bottom row is my card routine, which is modular and can run anywhere from about 90 seconds to 7+ minutes. The top row are the other props that I use. Everything goes into my pockets except for the empty chop cup.

The top row is the fortune teller (it’s in my PCAM lecture notes), then my Out for Beers trick, three shell game and a chop cup. The nice thing about these props is that there’s a lot of texture I can have with my roving magic set. The opening is always the card routine, then the next trick depends on the group.

-Louie