Card magic is the most popular genre of magic. (of my knowledge) There are more cardician than coin magician. And certainly far more than other genre.(The second most popular choice if i am not wrong is mostly mentalism)

More often u see Newbies in the introdution interested in cards. For example, jus the first page there is 13 out of 18 interesting in cards. ( those who say "cards and coins" i am very sure u will start of with cards. anyway i wonder whats the total ratio, didnt bother to read them all)

Here is my question to those started with card magic:

Why card magic?

because it's popular.. LOL :lol:

i guess magicians are associated with either stage (all the illusions, rabbits out of hats, etc) or cards.

something to do with the historical thing of how gamblers contributed their methods of cheating to magic. (and they gamble with cards)

so if cannot learn stage, most will immediately think of learning cards.

Good qn, i dunno either. It seems almost senseless to me that we're using a pack of cards to show off our magical abilities.

agreed. :P

well, maybe it is the most impromtu stuff you can learn and people can examine other than "plucking out your finger"

Well, I personally think that most people like to start up with card magic first because it is easier to pick up. There are also more variety of card tricks compare to other magic using coins and objects. A deck of cards can be used for many many tricks.

Ermm, example: For me i find that although coin tricks are convenient for us to bring along, it is sometimes hard to learn. Moreover, i find that coins really need alot of angle to hide as compare to cards and is easier to expose if not done properly. For objects, it is sometimes not easy to find it to perform to the audience at somewhere.

For cards, you can also play around with mentalism too if you are a fan of it.

:off: I feel that people used to have the kind of concept for magic is just associated with sawing human into half, rabbits out of hats, disappearing from here and there etc...They seldom have the experience of cards and coins effect on them until street magic becomes popular.

As for me...i started on card tricks first too and till now i still prefer using cards than other magic effects. :rolleyes:

i think card magic have quite a wide range..

like it could be done with coins and also mentalism..

Why card magic?

The answer is: Its the most often seen tool being used in Magic!

thats why i ask that qn...

does that means that it appears "cool" so appeals to us youngsters more? (due to its historical background of gamblers doing amazing things?)

why not coin magic then? i think coins are more improptu since u carry them around more than cards. and i think more tirick decks are available to public than trick coins.

does that means card magic is easier than coin or any other genre? i dun think so

i think why it has a wider range is bcoz ppl explore more in cards than in coins. I mean coins can be applied in mentalism as well.

not quite true, since more ppl are into cards so naturally it is a more often seen tool.


Anymore commetns?

You ask for views but find rebuttals for every single one, just join the debating club or something...

I personally feel that it is all up to ur own individual style of doing magic, i'm a card flourisher and maybe i do a lil card magic, so my style of doign magic would be using cards.. u mgiht find carrying a pack of cads wiht u whereever u go problematic, so u prefer everyday objects kind of magic.. so its all up to ur own style..

Yeah. Definitely its one of those seen more on TV, and also the stuff are easier to get, and its also easier than coins... Where do we get influenced? On Tv of course. Otherwise fellow magicians. They show u card tricks also. Thus.. the cycle goes on and card magic becomes more popular... :!!:

Hmm the thing about card magic and mentalism is quite intricate...

Sometimes it seems pretty obvious to us that we should use playing cards to demonstrate our 'mind-reading' or personality/behavior test kinda thing as Darren Brown would say. But that the case?

i dunno, but if someone came to me and told me that i bit my tongue 4 hours 38 minutes ago when i was doing card to mouth, THAT'D KICK MY ASS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

popular = good?

We do card magic because all the other stuff we see on tv like levitation and torn and restored ear require too much preparation, some of which we can't even do.

It's the closest art form we can get. So we take it as if we owned it totally.

well..i guess card magic is the most popular due to it being used on t.v most of the time...usually can i show you a trick means card..very rarely it is actually something else...card tricks are also easier to learn than coin tricks...you take say..5 minutes to learn a self working card trick yet you could take days to perfect a coin trick... i think cards are more popular becuase they are bigger in size and easier to be seeen,,,you dont really show a coin trick in front of an audience do you? haha :P

i was just trying to discuss. If u find it rude, then i am seriously sorry. :(

I like Markiebeth's reply. dark_law has a lot of rebuttals to all of the other's points. Strange thing he hasn't stated his own points. Maybe he has his own? Would you like to state your views?

To me, cards are very closely linked with magicians. From Jeff McBride's little story told on his Art Manipulation Dvd, (which I presume is true), our modern deck of cards come from the old Tarot deck, which is (according to him) a very old magic picturebook.

Cards have been used for divination by fortune tellers and gypsies. Such divinations and fortune telling are seen to be magical. Cards have been used as divination, no wonder it is being linked with magical people aka magicians.

Almost everyone has seen a gambler in the movies doing those gambling sequences, and springing a deck of cards IS a popular iconic image for gamblers, and probably magicians alike. Even my friends still ask me like "hey harapan can you do that 'chrrrchrrchrrrrr' thing?" (chrrchrrrchrrr referring to springing cards) or ask me "hey harapan can you do that spreading cards on table and turning it over thingy?"

It's still little wonder why cards are so popular. Gamblers seem like they can do ANYTHING with cards, and so do magicians. They are seemingly closely linked. It appeals to us to be able to do such stuff. We try to learn. Since gamblers are rare, people learn the next best thing: magic, and they want to do cards.

It's also easier to pick up. In almost every simple magic book you can buy from Popular, MPH, Borders or WHATEVER, you will find a section on card magic. And almost everyone has a deck at home.

That's my view on why cards are much more popular than most other genres. 2 cents. :D

P.S. By the way, at the very end it is still up to your own style and preference.

most of us pick up card magic, because...

1) card magic has an extremely wide range of tricks and sleights.

2) most magic demonstrators show card tricks. Therefore, we buy the secret of the trick that the demonstrator shows.

Think about it, when was the last time a magic demonstrator at a magic shop, showed a non-card trick to someone who's interested in beginning magic?

3) card magic is affordable. Unlike stage magic or other forms of close up magic, like coins. Most of the time, coin magic has to be done with coins which are not local currency.

Nick.

Because you feel good with a pack of cards in your hand.

But seriously, I think card magic because tricks are easily available everywhere. Come on do you bump into card magic dvds more often or do you bump into other magic dvds more often. Plus card magic is becoming like a "trend" or a "fashion". Everytime someone ask you to show some magic. They would be expecting you to whip out a deck. or they would go like "show me some card tricks". I doubt anyone would hear, "I wanna see your MAGIC" or they might, but in the context of your CARDs.

Why Card Magic? Ask why the Earth is round. No maybe more like which one's first, the chicken or the egg?

D.

I will agree with Blackwing on this.

When people watch magic on TV, it's usually cards, probably because of Blaine's street magic thingy.

Also, when people start learning magic, they probably would not choose stage magic. Hence, they'll choose the second most common, which is card magic.

:off: As for the chicken and egg question, it's already proven that the egg came first.

You ask why is card magic so popular?

WARNING: crap below marked with "**"

**Then you'll ask why can we perform miracles with it.. You'll ask who came out with doing magic with cards.. You'll want to know how did magic originate. you'll have to ask yourself WHERE did poker cards come from. Then you'll ask where did that idea come from.. Why will people think of poker cards with 4 suits and 13 cards of each.. Why is there humans to think in the first place.. How did humans evolve. Why is there earth...** .... :off: :off:

ok ok.. It's like why every child has to go to school. It's brought down to the society (magic society in this case) from the past. Frequent suggestion, explicit or implicit, does a factor from the moment you were born. Ask anyone if you can perform magic for him/her, the first impression they'll get is card magic. It's like saying SEGA, and you'll think of.... sonic. =)

Who popularise it so much? i don't know.

Why is card magic popular? Because it's convenient and affordable. Almost every newbie I asked told me that they were interested in learning card magic only. I'm not surprised.

perhaps cards are just parts and parcel of daily life... Imagine that we have to carry so many cards around everyday... who can live without cards.. :lol:

Alot have mentioned that it is widely used and great effects and reaction can be obtained from audiences when handled correctly.. with just a pack or few cards.... -_-

yeah man..me too. I cant live without cards because i am a card man. Haha :D

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Hm... I believe it's popularised by blaine at first.. then criss angel.. plus.. a deck of cards is afforadable... just like having 52 gimmicks in 1 for less than 10 bucks

Card magic has been popular long before Blaine or Angel. Blaine probably gave it the "cool" thingee about doing card effects. After his appearance on TV there was a surge in people who picked up magic.

Personally, in my time, a deck of cards was about all I could afford. Everything else at the shop (Far East Shopping Centre) was way out for a kid my age.

Basically its the influence around... Blaine, Criss angel... all do card tricks... They appear on tV... thats one of our first influences or inspirations to actually pick up the art. And when we start picking up a deck and show to the people around simple tricks(getting good reactions), it simply feels good... and so we are stuck with cards forever... It's still personal choice and we choose cards.

Just My 2 cents :g:

well, i guess card magic had always been around for decades, centuries. Everyone plays cards. Gambling or for Magic sake. all uses pack of cards. And u can get a pack of cards everywhere now. its very convenient.

p.s. because of David Blaine and Criss Angel, more and more magic wannabes can be found. and they actually mistreated the art of magic.

True... With all the magic done without actually putting effort into practicing those tricks and showing them off. They actually expose a lot. One of my classmates learnt magic.. and did it BADLY. Now everyone knows most of the tricks he does. However, he gave up after 1 year =D. :off:

Yeah. Cards are all around us. Our first encounter with cards was probably when we were very young? Like in Primary school? Then you learnt your first card game, then you got influenced by popular magicians like blaine and cyril. Then you decide to start picking up magic as a art/hobby. :g: thats probably how we are actually starting magic, especially cards.

cards are easy to get and it just a playing card if u do nothing to it. but sometimes i dont carry a pack of cards, i bring coins. more convinient also.

p.s a lot of new magicians who just started, ask this ask that, trying to learn many things? i doubt their committment sometime and their passion towards magic. these people should not be doing magic.

seriously, don't u think that magic with regular everyday objects has much bigger impact than cards, since many people will attribute card magic with sleight of hand?

Actually people do not only attribute card magic to sleight of hand, even coins and many other small objects are given the same spotlight.

If you were a layman who is skeptical, the card has been 'switched' or the coin is 'in the other hand' or 'the cigarette is hidden behind the ears'.

People just find the most logical explanations and these happen to be true most of the time. A deck of cards create miracles because it allows for more diversity.

Y Card Magic? Simplicity, easy to learn, practical, affordable and importantly entertaining.
P.S: My first magic trick is card magic when I was 7 years old.

There are many more varietyof tricks you can do with cards rather than coins and other stuff.

Nice.

Card magic teaches one many aspects of the performance of magic; delivery, spectator management, pacing, misdirection etc (the least important of which in my opinion come actual effects).

Many people are missing it all.

cause card magic when done right gives you an oppotunity to meet people and well..just..amaze them=)

Actually, anything when done right gives you opportuinity to meet and amaze people.

I find all sorts of Magic fasinating, and yet I chose to start of with cards too

for the fact that its easier to get teaching materials and more flexible.

From card close-up magic, you can later do card shark/cheats, mentalism

and not to mention the latest trend Card Flourishes.


Coins can do some of the stuffs too but less choices for now. I plan to later

go into coins and hopefully into other daily objects too, cos when you get

better in cards and coins, other things would be easier since you have

season your hands and your magic understanding.