9 Card Guessing Magic Trick: How to Amaze Your Friends and Family | Easy Magic Tricks To Do With A Deck Of Cards

Are you looking for a fun and impressive magic trick to entertain your friends and family? Look no further than the 9 card guessing magic trick! This simple yet mind-boggling trick is sure to leave your audience in awe.

What You'll Need

Before you get started, you'll need to gather a few items:

9 playing cards
A pen or marker
A piece of paper

The Setup

Start by taking your 9 playing cards and writing a number on each one, from 1 to 9. Then, shuffle the cards and lay them out in a 3x3 grid, face down. It's important to shuffle the cards thoroughly to ensure that your audience won't be able to predict the order.

The Trick

Now it's time to perform the trick! Here's how it works:

Ask your audience to choose any of the 9 cards in the grid, but not to tell you which one they've chosen.
Based on the row that their chosen card is in, ask them to tell you the total of the other two cards in that row. For example, if their chosen card is in the top row and the cards are numbered 1, 5, and 9, they would tell you that the total of the other two cards in that row is 14 (5+9).
Next, based on the column that their chosen card is in, ask them to tell you the total of the other two cards in that column. For example, if their chosen card is in the left column and the cards are numbered 1, 4, and 7, they would tell you that the total of the other two cards in that column is 11 (4+7).
Now you have two numbers: the total of the other two cards in the row, and the total of the other two cards in the column. Add these two numbers together to get a new total.
Count from left to right in the grid, starting with the top row, until you reach the card that corresponds to the new total you calculated. That card will be their chosen card!

How It's Done

So how does this trick work? The secret lies in the way the cards are numbered. If you look at the grid, you'll notice that each row and column adds up to the same total: 15. This means that if you know the total of the other two cards in a row or column, you can easily calculate the value of the third card.

For example, if the total of the other two cards in the top row is 14, you know that the third card must be 1 (15-14=1). Similarly, if the total of the other two cards in the left column is 11, you know that the third card must be 4 (15-11=4).

By adding the two numbers together, you get a new total that corresponds to the position of their chosen card in the grid. For example, if the total of the other two cards in the row is 14 and the total of the other two cards in the column is 11, the new total is 25. Counting from left to right in the grid, the card in the fifth position corresponds to 25, so that must be their chosen card!

Variations

Once you've mastered the basic version of the 9 card guessing trick, you can try some variations to keep things interesting. Here are a few ideas:

Use different numbers on the cards to change the total that each row and column adds up to. This will require some extra calculation on your part, but it can make the trick more challenging for your audience.
Instead of asking your audience to choose a card, ask them to choose a number between 1 and 9. Then, use that number to determine which card in the grid corresponds to their choice.
Try doing the trick with a larger grid, such as a 4x4 or 5x5 grid. This will require more cards and more calculation, but it can be even more impressive!

Conclusion

The 9 card guessing magic trick is a fun and impressive way to entertain your friends and family. With a little bit of setup and some simple math, you can leave your audience amazed and wondering how you did it. So give it a try and see how much fun you can have!