Invisible deck

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The invisible deck produces a seemingly impossible effect: the spectator's freely-selected card is shown to be the only face-down card in the entire deck.

In the classic presentation of this effect, the magician offers an "invisible" deck of cards to the spectator. The spectator is then made to mime the acts of "removing" the cards from their package, "shuffling" them, "spreading" them (face-up) on the table, freely "selecting" a card, "replacing" it face-down among the other face-up cards and "returning" the deck to its box. Following a magic gesture, the magician makes the "invisible" deck visible (i.e. removes it from his pocket). He next asks the spectator to name what card he/she selected, removes the deck from its box and spreads the cards to show one face-down card. The spectator removes the card to find it is the one he/she named moments earlier.

The act of making the spectator go through the act of playing with a deck of cards that does not exist makes the invisible deck routine highly comedic. A variation can be performed to give the trick a more serious, mentalism appearance: The magician hands the spectator a box of cards to hold, asks her to freely think of and concentrate on any card in the deck, and then to name it. The spectator then hands the box back to the magician, and the trick completed as before.

An invisible deck is a popular magic trick among amateurs and professional magicians. Decks can be purchased through most magic retailers.

The principle behind the Invisible Deck was first described by Annemann in The Jinx.

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