| TRACS Tricks |
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| TRACS Tricks |
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Two features of TRACS make it useful for certain card tricks. First, the TRACS cards are two-sided, showing treads (colored sets) on the fronts and tracks (black shapes) on the backs. This adds visual interest and illusory diversion to tricks done with face up and face down cards. Second, the TRACS games involve matching colors (Red-to-Red and Blue-to-Blue), and this suggests new patter for card tricks that work on colored suits (which are Red and Blue in TRACS). |
| Below are three of the dozen or so tricks that I have invented (or adapted) for TRACS. In the parlance of magicians, these tricks are self-working because they require no sleight of hand and no specialized apparatus. Instead, they employ mathematical regularities to exploit psychological limitations. Since the TRACS deck contains multiple copies of each card, none of the tricks is of the "I find your card" variety (which are all too common anyway). If you don't have a TRACS deck, the same tricks can be performed (with modified patter) using 24 standard playing cards (12 cards of a Red suit and 12 cards of a Black suit). |
| Some of
my tricks are originals and others are adapted from classic tricks developed for standard
(one-sided) playing cards. Sources
for the classics include several well-known magicians, especially John Scarne (“Scarne on Card Tricks”, Crown
Publishers, 1950), Karl Fulves (“More Self-Working Card Tricks”,
Dover Publications, 1984) and Bob Longe (“101 Amazing Card Tricks”,
Sterling Publishing, 1993). Thanks to Robert Burns for his help
in discovering and developing these tricks.
In my presentation (click a trick above) I try to explain both how the tricks work (mechanically) and why the tricks work (mathematically), as exemplified by Martin Gardner (“Mathematics, Magic and Mystery”, Dover Publications, 1956, and “Mathematical Card Tricks”, Chapter 10 in “The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions”, Simon and Schuster, 1959).
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