In this trick 16 cards are placed face up on a table, in four rows of four cards. Ask a spectator to pick a card in his mind, and to tell you only the vertical column in which the card is located. Gather up the cards, making sure to pick the fourth vertical column first. (Take the top card in your hand, face up. Pick up the second card and put it onto the first card. The third card goes on these, and then the fourth.) Place those four cards face down in a pile. Next pick up the third vertical column and place it on top of the pile. Repeat this for the second and first columns.
Next deal out the cards in four rows of four, only this time make sure that the first four cards go into the top row, the second four cards go into the second row and so on. You must remember which column (1,2,3 or 4) contained the card. By remembering this you now know which horizontal row contains the chosen card. Ask the spectator to again state which vertical column (1,2,3 or 4) contains his card. The intersection of this column with the original row is the spectator's card. You can pick out the card immediately. In this case the spectator's answers provide us the final row and column of the card.
Most people will see through the magic in this trick in a hurry, though it might remain a mystery to first graders for a long time.
(1) You set up 3 rows of 7 cards each, face up.
(2)You have someone come up and think of a card (not telling you what it is)
(3)You say the row's names: A, B, and C. He or she tells you which row.
(4)-----VERY VERY IMPORTANT PART----
YGather up the cards, but be sure to put the row they said INTO THE MIDDLE of the 3 piles. Lay the cards out again, like this. Deal three cards in a column, then the another three cards in a column next to the first. Deal the rest the same way, until you again have 3 rows of 7 cards each. Ask again which row. Gather the cards and repeat for the third time. (Remember to put their row in the MIDDLE of the pile.) The 3rd time, you know what card it is because when you ask them which row, it's the 4TH card in that row.
Here's another way to end it.
Say you will find their card. Shuffle, then flip cards into a face up pile, until you go
past theirs. Say: "The next card I flip will be yours." They'll be thinking:
"he/she doesn't know it went by already..." You amaze them by flipping over
their card in the discard pile!
Count out 21 cards and lay them face down on a flat surface. Ask a person to take one card and memorize it, then place it back on the table without showing you (of course.) Mix the cards and then deal them, face up, into seven rows of three cards each. Ask the person to look for his/her card, and to tell you which COLUMN their card is in. Whichever column it is, gather up the cards, making sure that column goes in between the other two. Deal the cards, again 7 rows of 3, and ask again which COLUMN. Repeat this one more time. Be careful: DON'T MIX THE CARDS BY ACCIDENT. After doing that, turn the cards face down, so the backs are towards you, and count off ten cards. THE ELEVENTH CARD IS THE PERSON'S. (Hint: In these three times the person's card should appear twice in the same column and once in a different one.)
Card Trick:
Deal out three piles of seven cards each. (Deal them just like dealing hands for a card game.) Have the spectator choose a pile. Hold the pile up, so the cards face the spectator. Have him/her choose a card, without telling you or pointing it out. Place the packet you hold in between the other two packets. Deal out the cards into three piles again. Hold up each pile separately, asking the spectator if his/her card is in the pile. When they say yes, place the pile with the chosen card in between the other two piles again. Repeat this step two more times (for a total of 4 times.) After the last time, hold the twenty-one cards up, and recite the magic words: "Sim Sala Bim." Next, deal the cards, one by one, spelling out Sim Sala Bim, one card for each letter. The next card (after you spell out all three words) will be the spectator's card! They will like this trick!