Magician's Choice: July 2016

Title: The Royal Road To Card Magic

Format: Book
Creator: Various

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Cost: $16

Skill Level: Beginner

Run Time: N/A

Page Count: 298

Rating: 5/5 Magician's Choice Seal of Approval

In this age of instant gratification we as magicians tend to look past the written word for our magic education, and go straight to DVDs and instant downloads. When we do look to text we tend to look at something new, and shiny. I think we need to look at our history to help us learn and improve.

I urge you to not overlook this book. Years ago when I read this for the first time, I had already learned most of the core sleights and concepts. When I read the royal road I skimmed over many portions of the book because I was already familiar with the technique. Even though I was familiar with the techniques, I had not really learned how to properly apply them. Sure I could do them in context of the trick I was trying to perform, but I could not really apply that information to other effects.

This course in magic, and that’s really what it is, is designed to teach you not just the techniques, but how, and when to apply them. In each chapter you are learning a new concept, method, or technique, and the chapter also includes effects that put that particular method into practice.

If you are new to card magic, or if you just have not gotten around to reading this book, then The Royal Road to Card Magic is for you.

For new or beginners in card magic this is an absolute must read. The strong foundation you will build by actually working through this book will set you up for a strong future in magic.

If you have been in magic a while and not read it, or maybe you have read it but not gone back to it, I recommend you pull it off your shelf and go through again with a true student perspective, and see what you may have forgotten, or what you never learned.

If you have been in magic for a while, you still need to read this book. It will help fill in gaps and increase your overall understanding of move you may have been doing for a long time.

Don’t expect to just read this, and run the tricks in a few days. You really need to study this material. Read through with your cards in hand and really take the time to fully understand each section before you move on to the next. Each new section builds on what you learned in previous chapters so you really need to understand each section before moving on.

The language in this book is by no means current. The provided patter is not the way we use our language today, but the concept behind the patter is the same, and is relevant. Your script or patter is there to assists with the illusion you are demonstrating and can help with misdirection. Don’t overlook what the provided patter is there to help you do. The way the authors speak to you as the reader can make certain portions a little difficult to understand, but there is a solution, that I will share with you shortly.

You may sitting there reading asking, Hey magic review guy, what about the Card College Series? Don’t you think that it is better than The Royal Road to Card Magic? The answer is that they are both absolutely fantastic. In my opinion as someone who has studies both, you should read all of it, but I recommend that you read The Royal Road to Card Magic first. Let Card College help you make modifications to the foundation that your build with The Royal Road To Card Magic.

Royal road runs around $15 dollars, depending on which published version you happen to pick up, and each of the 5 volumes of Card College run $35-$40. If you don’t have either I say spend $15 for Royal Road and then assess if you plan to keep going with card magic. If so, then the Card College series is wonderful, and with the strong foundation you will have developed you will be able to move on to many other fantastic texts and videos.

For those of you who feel that you learn better from DVDs, and who need help overcoming the language used in the book there is a solution, and I actually recommend this to everyone. R. Paul Wilson on The Royal Road to Card Magic is a companion 5 DVD set to the book. Having both the book, and the DVD set allows you to read through the book, and then turn to DVDs for a lesson on the exact same thing. R. Paul Wilson agrees that you need to read the book, and then go to the DVD. The two pair together perfectly and the DVD really does guide you through the book. Think of it as having a private teacher walking you through the book step by step.

I challenge you to go read The Royal Road to Card Magic and try out the material. I know I have fooled laymen and magicians with items from its pages.

Contents:
Part One

I. The Overhand Shuffle, I
Position of the Pack in the Hands
Execution of the Overhand Shuffle
Using the Overhand Shuffle
Controlling the Top Card
Controlling the Bottom Card
Retaining the Top and Bottom Cards in Position
Top Card to Next to Bottom and Back to the Top
The Run
The Injog
The Undercut
Overhand Shuffle Control
Retaining Top Stock
Overhand False Shuffle
Overhand Shuffle Practive Routine
Tricks with the Overhand Shuffle
Topsy-Turvy Cards
A Poker Player's Picnic
A Pocket Discovery
Telepathy Plus
Thought Stealer
Pinkie Does It
A Card and a Number

II. The Riffle Shuffle
Riffle Shuffle Control
Retaining a Card at the Top of the Deck
Retaining the Bottom Card or Cards
Riffle Shuffle in the Air
Tricks with the Riffle Shuffle
An Instinct for Cards
Mirror of the Mind
Ultra Card Divination

III. Flourishes
Displaying the Top Card
The Ruffle
The Click
Spread and Turnover
Gathering the Ribbon-Spread Pack
Springing the Cards
A Flourish Count
Throwing a Card
Waterfall Shuffle
The Fan
One-Hand Fan
Thumb Fan
Pressure Fan

IV. The Glide
Design for Laughter
The Observation Test

V. The Glimpse
Bottom-Card Glimpse I
Bottom-Card Glimpse II
Bottom-Card Glimpse III
Top-Card Glimpse I
Fan Peek
Tricks with the Glimpse
Gray's Spelling Trick
Round and Round

VI. The Key Card
The Key Undercut
Key Undercut Shuffle
Tricks with the Key Card
Do as I Do
The Three Piles
The Twenty-Sixth Card
A Meeting of the Minds
The Non-Poker Voice
Intuition with Cards
Sliding Key Card

VII. The Palm
Top Palm I (Single Card)
Top Palm II (Several Cards)
Palm Glimpse
Replacing Palmed Cards
Tricks with the Palm
Card in the Pocket
Now You See It!
Grab-Bag Card
Good-Luck Card
Do It and Fail
Gathering of the Clan
Spring Catch
A Vested Interest
Piano Trick

VIII. The Backslip
Backslip Force
Backslip Control
Tricks with the Backslip
Lightning Card
The Tantalizer
Under Your Hat

IX. The Overhand Shuffle, II
Injog and Break
Overhand Break Control
Overhand Lift Shuffle
Lift Shuffle Force
Spread and Break
Holding a Break
Spread and Break Control
Tricks with the Overhand Shuffles
The Sevens
Obliging Aces
Leapfrog
Spectator's Card Trick
A Poker Puzzle

X. False Shuffles and Cuts
Optical Shuffle
Charlier Shuffle
The Cut
Palm Cut
Tricks with the Shuffles and Cuts
An Incomprehensible Divination
Circus Card Trick
Black Jack, Detective

XI. The Double Lift and Turnover
Double-Lift Glimpse
Double-Lift Card Reverses
Rapid Transit
The Trey
Ambitious Card
Throughth and Consequences
Insidious Dr. Fu Liu Tu

XII. The Pass
Riffle Pass
Spread Pass
Spring Pass
Tricks with the Pass
Off Agin, On Agin, Finnegin!
Kangaroo Card
Righting a Wrong
Blindfolded Pack
Double Speller

XIII. Miscellaneous Flourishes
Color Change
Double Color Change
The Changing Card
Self-Cutting Deck
A Pretty Cut
Pop-Up Card
A Bit of Byplay
Charlier Cut
Acrobatic Aces

Part Two

XIV. The Reverses
First Method
Second Method
Third Method
Fourth Method
Reversed Location
Tricks with the Reverses
Spellbound
A Tipsy Trick
Double Reverse
Mentalivity
Mountebank Miracle

XV. The Hindu Shuffle and other Controls
Hindu Shuffle Control
Hindu Shuffle Force
Hindu Shuffle Glimpse
The Step
Natural Jog
Twelve-Down Riffle
Tricks with the Hindu Shuffle
All Change Here
Ewephindit

XVI. The Classic Force
One-Hand Force
Bottom Force
Slide-Out Force
Two-Card Force
Riffle-Break Force
Sliding-Key Force
Double-Lift Force
Cut Force
Tricks with the Force
Justice Card Trick
Fours of a Kind
Pulse Trick

XVII. Top and Bottom Changes
Top Change
The Changing Card
Top-Change Byplay
Bottom Change
Top and Bottom Changes

XVIII. Arrangements
Tricks with Arrangements
The Selective Touch
A Future in Cards
Jacks Wild
Think Stop
Deal Away
The Educated Cards
Reds and Blacks

XIX. Routines
Routining Card Tricks
A Table Routine
Card-Discovery Routine
Razzle-Dazzle Routine

Part Three

XX. Platform Tricks
Conus Ace Trick
Ladies' Looking Glass
Everywhere and Nowhere
Egyptian Pocket
Cards to the Pocket
Enlarging and Diminishing Cards
Three Cards Across
Everybody's Card I
Everybody's Card II
Index

Pages

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