General Card

General Card (also known as Everybody's Card) is a classic plot in card magic where after a number of spectator's have drawn a card and returned them to the pack. They are asked to call out the names of the card selected and they are all the same card.

First described by Girolamo Cardano in his Piazza Universale (1582) describing a trick he saw performed by Francisco Soma.

Also known in French as "La Carte Générale".

Described in Robert-Houdin's "Conjuring and Magic" (page 245) under the title "The Metamorphoses"

Variations

• To Allow Several Persons Each To Draw... in Modern Magic by Professor Hoffmann (page 87) (1876)
• La Carte Generale in Sleight of Hand by Edwin G. Sachs (page 119) (1877)
• Everybody's Card in Tricks with Cards by Professor Hoffmann (page 120) (1889)
• The New General Card in New Era Card Tricks by August Roterberg (page 162) (1897)
• The General Card in The Art of Magic By T. Nelson Downs (page 71) (1909)
• Everybody's Card in Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Fred Braue (1948)

Universal Card

A classic card plot similar to General Card in which a single card (like the joker) transforms to one at a time to match each of the selected cards.

Variations

• Karl Fulves in Pallbearers Review, first folio, winter 1967, page 135.
• Derek Dingle's The Universal Card in The Complete Works of Derek Dingle, page 17 (1989)
• Brother John Hamman's Universal Card in The Secrets of Brother John Hamman, page 209 (1989)
• Max Maven's Impressions in Focus, page 129 (1990)