Packet tricks

Packet tricks are card tricks done with small group of cards, many requiring specially printed or prepared cards sold by Magic Dealers.

The packet trick took off when False Counts became popular.

The modern packet trick may have had its beginning when the Buckle Count became popular and really took off after Dai Vernon popularized the Elmsley Count with the Twisting the Aces routine.

Some of the earliest packet tricks were George Sands’ "Super Optical Illusion" (in Hugard’s Magic Monthly December, 1946) and the marketed trick based on it called "Gamble Amble". Another early example was from Max Katz who published "The M. K. Turning Aces" in Hugard’s Magic Monthly (September, 1957).

Magicians, though, have been performing small packet card magic since Hofzinser’s day with such tricks as Six-Card Repeat, Cards to Pocket, and Cards Across. These effects all used some kind of false count or display.

References and Further reading

• GOOD TURNS - INTRODUCTION by Jon Racherbaumer June 1977
• "A Journey Back in Time" in SMALL BUT DEADLY (The Packet Trickster's Handbook) by Paul Hallas (2002)
• COUNTHESAURUS by Jon Racherbaumer (Max Maven information on false counts)