Help us get to over 8,769 articles in 2026.

If you know of a magician not listed in MagicPedia, start a New Biography for them. Contact us at magicpediahelp@gmail.com

Miraskill: Difference between revisions

From Magicpedia, the free online encyclopedia for magicians by magicians.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
(→‎Effect: Updated the description (which is not complete) with better one.)
Line 6: Line 6:
   
   


== Effect ==
== Effect ==  
A deck is removed and shuffled.  
A good description [and a condensed version of the 1936 original] can be be found in the Essential Stewart James, page 23.
<blockquote>
To prepare: Be sure there is no Joker in your deck, and hide four black cards in a pocket
from which they can be palmed later.


The mentalist asks the spectator to choose color that will be “his” color, red or black. Let’s assume he chooses “red”. The mentalist writes something on a piece of paper and hands it to someone to watch.
Ask someone to shuffle the cards thoroughly, and also to state whether they wish to
have the red or the black cards. If they say red, for your secret prediction write: “You will
have four more cards than I.” If they say black, you write: “I will have four more cards
than you.” Fold the slip of paper and place it in full view on the table.


The mentalist instructs the spectator to turn over the cards two at a time making three piles. One will be the red pile if both cards are red. One will be the black pile if both are black. The last will be the discard pile if one is red and one is black.
We will assume the volunteer chose the red cards. Instruct him to remove two cards at
a time from the deck and turn them face up while still holding them in his hand. If they
are both red, they go face up to start a pile before him; if they are both black, they go
face up before you; if there is one card of each colour they go in a discard pile. He deals
through the deck in this manner, distributing the cards as directed.


Once completed, the spectator is asked to count the black pile. Let’s say it comes to 16 cards. He now counts “his” red pile. It may come to 20.
When he has finished, casually pick up the discard pile as if to get it out of the way as
you tell him to count the cards in his red pile, and then to count the cards in your black
pile. While he is thus engaged, it is a simple matter to palm the four black cards from your
pocket and quietly add them to the top of the discard group in your hand.


The prediction is opened and reads “You will have four more red cards in your pile than my black pile.”
He then opens the slip and reads your prediction aloud. You are correct. State that,
while he assembles all the cards and shuffles them again, you will make another prediction.
Although it is for effect, ask him which colour he prefers this time, then write: “We will
both have the same number of cards.”
 
The volunteer goes through the identical procedure a second time and, once more,
your prediction proves to be correct.
</blockquote>


It can then be repeated with a different result.
== Variations ==
== Variations ==
Over the decades since its inception, many variations of Miraskill have been developed.  
Over the decades since its inception, many variations of Miraskill have been developed.  

Revision as of 10:43, 12 January 2025

Miraskill is a classic card effect and principle developed and marketed in 1935 by the Canadian magician Stewart James (1908–1996). The first description was published in the September 1936 issue of The Jinx [1], a magic periodical published and edited by Ted Annemann (1907–1942). A description can also be found in the Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (1937).


Effect

A good description [and a condensed version of the 1936 original] can be be found in the Essential Stewart James, page 23.

To prepare: Be sure there is no Joker in your deck, and hide four black cards in a pocket from which they can be palmed later.

Ask someone to shuffle the cards thoroughly, and also to state whether they wish to have the red or the black cards. If they say red, for your secret prediction write: “You will have four more cards than I.” If they say black, you write: “I will have four more cards than you.” Fold the slip of paper and place it in full view on the table.

We will assume the volunteer chose the red cards. Instruct him to remove two cards at a time from the deck and turn them face up while still holding them in his hand. If they are both red, they go face up to start a pile before him; if they are both black, they go face up before you; if there is one card of each colour they go in a discard pile. He deals through the deck in this manner, distributing the cards as directed.

When he has finished, casually pick up the discard pile as if to get it out of the way as you tell him to count the cards in his red pile, and then to count the cards in your black pile. While he is thus engaged, it is a simple matter to palm the four black cards from your pocket and quietly add them to the top of the discard group in your hand.

He then opens the slip and reads your prediction aloud. You are correct. State that, while he assembles all the cards and shuffles them again, you will make another prediction. Although it is for effect, ask him which colour he prefers this time, then write: “We will both have the same number of cards.”

The volunteer goes through the identical procedure a second time and, once more, your prediction proves to be correct.

Variations

Over the decades since its inception, many variations of Miraskill have been developed. The Conjuring Archive has a list of well over one hundred variations. [2]. Not very well known is that the first variation is actually due to Stewart James himself and was called The Candy King, where the audience consists of kids and the deck of cards is replaced by a bag with candies in red and white wrappers; a description can be found in the same issue of The Jinx and follows that of Miraskill.

In Stewart James in Print, Allan Slaight devotes an entire chapter to variations on the “Miraskill” theme by James and other magicians.


References

  1. ↑ James, Stewart. Miraskill. The Jinx. 24:147, 151, September 1936.
  2. ↑ Conjuring Archive. Miraskill & Variations.
  • Culpepper, Joe. (2007). "Miraskill (1935)", Stewart James Exhibition. Magicana

Discussion threads

Further reading

  • Tuenter, Hans J. H. (2024). "Combinatorial Analysis of a Classic Card Trick", Mathematics Magazine, 97(5):551–558. [1]
Retrieved from "https://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php?title=Miraskill&oldid=92758"