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Magic History and Assistant

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Magic History and Assistant, is an Alexa Skill developed by User:Jpecore

The skill can be enabled at https://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Pecore-Magic-History-Assistant/dp/B01N0C2BK8

It knows about:

  • Magic related events that happened on any day of the year, as recorded by MagicPedia.
  • What was the cover of Genii Magazine for a specific month and year.
  • A magic quote of the day.
  • How to brainstorm a new card effect (a la Fitzkee the Trick Brain).
  • How to help you practice the Si Stebbins and Eight King card stacks.

Example questions

Magic related events in history

  • User: Alexa, ask Magic History what happened on August thirtieth
  • Alexa: For August thirtieth: In 1829, George Heubeck was born. In 1924, Ed Voorhees was born. In 1952, The annual convention of The Texas Association of Magicians starts at the Hilton Hotel in Fort Worth. In 2006, Igor Kio dies.
  • User: Alexa, ask Magic History what was the cover of Genii for October, 1962
  • Alexa: Harry Houdini was the cover for Genie magazine for October 1962.

Alternate kinds of phrasings:

  • ask Magic History what happened today?
  • ask Magic History what happened yesterday?
  • ask Magic History to get events for October 1st.
  • ask Magic History what happened? (returns today)

Quote of the day

  • User: Alexa, ask Magic History for the magic quote of the day.
  • Alexa: Conjuring is the only absolutely honest profession a conjuror promises to deceive and does. Karl Germain

Daily dose of magic

Get the events that happened today, the daily quote and a random genii cover ... all in one command.

  • User: Ask Magic History to give me my daily dose of magic.
  • Alexa: For August thirtieth: In 1829.....; The quote of the day ....; The Genii cover 10 years ago was ....

Brainstorm a new card effect

Suggest a new random card effect to create by randomly selecting an effect/method/object (ala Fitzkee's Trick Brain generating idea but using Giobbi's Card Magic Classification published in Genii Magazine.

  • User: Ask Magic History to brainstorm a new card effect
  • Alexa: Try to create a new Hypnosis & Hallucinations card effect, using Card Counting / Clocking, with a marked deck.
  • User: Ask Magic History to brainstorm a new card effect
  • Alexa: Try to create a new Coincidences card effect, using Black Art, with a gaffed card


Si Stebbins and Eight Kings stack practice

Alexa will say the name of a random card and ask you what is the next card in the stack sequence (until you say stop)

  • User: Ask Magic History to practice Si Stebbins.
  • Alexa: I will name cards until you say stop. What card in the Si Stebbins stack comes after the 3 of clubs?

User: Six of Hearts

Now that the basics have been built, it should be easy to add other kinds of stacks. If you would like another, add it to the suggestions below.

Ask for a random card

  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to select a random card for me
  • Alexa: three of clubs
  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to select a random card for me
  • Alexa: eight of spades

Secret bonus!: By asking the phrase in slightly different ways, you can secretly tell Alexa what "random" card you want.

  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to choose a random playing card
  • Alexa: ace of spades
  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to choose a random playing card
  • Alexa: ace of spades
  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to name a playing card for me
  • Alexa: nine of hearts
  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to name a playing card for me
  • Alexa: nine of hearts
  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to select a random card
  • Alexa: king of diamonds
  • Magician: Alexa, ask Magic History to choose a random card
  • Alexa: king of diamonds

Warning: You some times need to speak slowly and pause between each word (working on ways to fix this).

This two person code for playing cards is based on a Harry Lorayne idea called "Codecto" that was published in Apocalypse Vol. 11 No. 2 (Feb. 1988).

You can play around with different phrases to figure out the rest of the cards, or rate the skill (so we know you have it) then send email to Special:EmailUser/Jpecore requesting the full code.

So, now that I have the basics for doing a 2 person code, it opens up the possibility of doing some mentalism routines with Alexa. Obviously, it would be better to send the code "ahead" and have Alexa remember (very easy) and then have Alexa say the secret phrase later. If you have ideas for a routine, please contact me or add it the suggestions below!


Suggestions for new ideas:

  • Add options to Brainstorm effects for Fizkee's Trick Brain and Freer's categories. Code already written, just need to add voice commands to call them.
  • what books where published in {year}
  • what information do you have on the magazine The Gen?
  • what happened in {year. e.g. 1962}
  • what is in the news?
  • about {topic}
  • who was born in {year}
  • who died in {year}
  • what are the latest MagicPedia articles created ?
  • what are the latest MagicPedia articles updated?
  • what are your latest MagicPedia statistics? (number of pages, number of users, .etc.)



Feel free to add any suggestions would like to see added to this skill.

You can follow "MagicPedia" on twitter to get notifications on any updates to this skill.