Magic Lessons #37 – Bigger Smaller Magic Trick

Card Showing with Learners Plate This is called the “Bigger Smaller Magic Trick”. The reason for this will be explained later. This magic trick is certain to play well to larger audiences. I used it one of my routines and it continually got big reactions from audiences of all ages; except young kids. Kids under the age of 10 don’t usually see that the “joke” is a bigger part than the magic trick itself of locating their chosen card. Their reactions are generally to call out and point out that it’s not a real card. If it is a family audience shouldn’t be too big of a problem though.

If you are a frequent viewer of my work, you will notice that I reiterate the importance of using the right words during the performance of your magic tricks. The words you use can shape the response you receive from the audience. The Bigger Smaller Magic Trick requires you to use a particular ‘turn of phrase’, namely, “just tell me, bigger? or smaller?”

The Origin of the Bigger Smaller Magic Trick:

The idea for the Bigger Smaller Magic Trick came from Mark Wilson’s “Complete Course in Magic” (It’s a good reference book on magic). The trick is officially titled ‘Bigger Card Trick‘ in the book but be sure not to advertise it as that to your audience as it will tip the audience off to the surprise ending. That’s why I call it ‘bigger or smaller’.

These words add to the mystery surrounding what is going on, so when the finish is revealed, most people are surprised and it will usually result in a good laugh from the audience.

How to Play for Bigger Audiences:

A frequently asked question is “how do you get people in a larger audience to see the card that is selected by the audience member on stage?” This is a problem that is commonly faced with many card tricks in front of large audiences. My solution was to force the particular card, in this case the 7 of Diamonds, on the Julian Showing the Bigger Smaller Card Reveal GIF audience member. I would then ask the audience member to show the card to the audience. If the audience was any larger than around 50 people I would go into the following gag.

First tell the audience that they are “obviously having trouble seeing the selected card”, then say you’ll put your fingers in your ears and you PROMISE not to listen when the spectator calls the details of the card out to the rest of the crowd. The audience member will protest but you just keep restating that you PROMISE not to listen.

Make sure to keep it light and always be direct about what you NEED the audience member to do. This can usually produce a laugh from the crowd as they get to know the card is and it doesn’t affect the outcome of the trick. They are aware that you now know that you are aware of the chose card, they forget about this in your favour when the surprise ending happens.

99 out of 100 people won’t have a real concept of a card force; of how you can possibly FORCE someone to take the card you want them to. This is sometimes magic enough for most people.

The download of the 7 of Diamonds is below the video. It comes in two sizes. Both work equally as well. There’s also a download of an ‘L’ plate that you can stick to cardboard and use in your trick.

To get the 7 of Diamonds LARGE Cutout, Click Below to Download!