Card of a Different Color – Classic Close-Up Card Effect
Card of a Different Color is a clever and highly visual packet trick that delivers repeated surprises and a strong kicker ending. Using just four cards, the magician demonstrates an impossible color-changing sequence that resets itself and finishes completely examinable.
🎴 Effect
Four cards are displayed to the audience. One card is freely selected and is shown to be the only card with a different colored back. The effect is repeated several times, reinforcing the impossibility.
Then, just when it appears the magician has made a mistake and the selected card seems to match the others, the magic intensifies — the backs of the remaining three cards change color, leaving the selection once again as the only card of a different color.
For the final surprise, everything may be examined.
✨ Why It Plays So Strong
- 🔁 Repeating effect builds impossibility
- 🎯 Strong visual color contrast
- 🧠 Psychological “mistake” moment creates misdirection
- 📦 Ends clean — cards can be examined
🪄 Performance Details
- Uses only 4 playing cards
- Ideal for close-up and table-side magic
- No difficult sleight of hand required
- Quick reset
🎩 Perfect For
- Close-up magicians
- Walk-around performers
- Packet-trick collectors
- Magicians who love visual card magic
Card of a Different Color is a proven classic that combines simplicity, repetition, and a powerful kicker ending — exactly the kind of routine that audiences remember.