Do the 4 Kings Card Trick

The Four Kings trick is a good beginner's card trick and one that children can easily master. There are many variations, and nearly all of them involve keeping the four kings together while leading your audience to believe that they were separated.

Steps

  1. Separate all the kings (or jacks, if you prefer) and three extra cards of any other type.
  2. Fan out the cards so that the four kings show, with the three extra cards hidden behind the fourth king.
  3. Explain that the kings are going to rob a bank. They will enter through the roof. (Another variation holds that the kings are such good friends that they won't let anything get between them. This variation may work better with the alternate method described below.)
  4. At this point, stack the cards all together and place them face down on the top (roof) of the deck. The three top cards are your spares, but your audience will believe they are the kings that they were shown previously.
  5. Take the first spare card off the top. Without showing anyone the face of the card, say he's going to be on the first floor. Put it in the deck, somewhere near the bottom.
  6. Send the second "king" to the second floor, putting the next card somewhere in the middle of the deck.
  7. Send the third "king" to the vault at the bottom. Don't put any of the cards too close to the top of the deck, because the real kings are on top.
  8. The fourth stays on top to be the lookout. Stand him up and show him to the audience.
  9. Have the top king say that the police are coming, so everybody needs to go to the top. He knocks on the roof. Tap or knock on the deck four times.
  10. Make a show of taking the four cards off the top of the deck and showing them to the audience. They should all be kings.
  11. Display the four "rescued" kings alongside the deck and invite someone from the audience to search the remaining deck for the spare kings that they will assume you inserted.

Alternate Method

  1. Hide two random cards behind the second king when you fan them out. Put them on the top of the deck. They should be in this order, from top to bottom: first king, random, random, second king, third king, fourth king.
  2. Show the audience the top card (the first king), then send it to the bottom of the deck.
  3. Send the next two cards, which aren't kings, to the middle of the deck without showing the audience (since you showed them the first one, they're more likely to take your word for it that the next two are kings as well).
  4. Show them the fourth card (the second king), which the audience will believe is the fourth and last king. In reality, you still have three kings at the top of the deck, and one at the bottom.
  5. Cut the deck, putting the bottom half on top and thus putting the first king back with the other three kings.
  6. Fan out the deck and show the audience that the kings have stuck together through it all.

Tips

  • If you have trouble keeping the spare cards hidden in a traditional fan, try a vertical arrangement.
  • Practice this trick before you perform it, so that you work out any difficulties before you go in front of an audience.
  • For best results, keep the audience distracted by carrying on a tale or story, known to magicians as "patter", which runs throughout the duration of the trick. The ruse will then be less noticeable to the audience. Practice to develop your skill at talking and playing the cards all at once.

Warnings

  • Don't do the same trick twice.
  • Answer any doubts from the audience with complete phrases. Don't gush and smirk when explaining that your trick only requires faith from all that it was good.
  • Don't tell anybody the secret of the trick or show off the hidden cards.

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  • Do the Birthday Card Trick
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