Yeah I do the sticker thing too. It's really good cuz they can choose a colour and shape too.

Hey stickers... now why didn't I think of that?! Yeah I admit I'm cheap and that's why I never do many signed stuff either. I hope I don't end up getting some sticker that doesn't come off somehow

I'm moving my post here. (I had forgotten all about this thread)
:blush:

I have had a longstanding aversion to actually signing cards. The only time I ever sign a card is if I'm doing a professional show, or if I'm doing a trick that requires the card to be otherwise destroyed, (such as the reformation) But in those situations, I'm usually not using a card from my "card trick deck" Instead I use a pinochle deck or a one way deck, so I have plenty of duplicates.

I have seen some magicians who have no problem having spectators sign any card they want. These are the guys that when they spring a card trick on you, you'll notice that eight or so cards are already signed. I have also heard some people cary around an extra card, that they openly offer as the selection and has dozens of signatures all over it, (you can call it an "autograph" card).

Another option is two just give away the signed card and let the deck get smaller and smaller until it needs to be replaced, however this will begin to limit which tricks you can perform, (the ones that require all 52).. A slightly better option would be to have a stock of replacement cards (all those incomplete decks we have accumulated) and when a card is signed and discarded/given away, it is replaced by the appropriate card from the replacement stock.

Because of my signing aversion, when I'm just casually performing for friends or at the magic club, I generally say "This card *could* be signed, but so that I don't have to mark up the deck, we'll just leave it as is". I've come to the decision that this is bad, and that one of the options mentioned above is preferable. Maybe I should just learn to live with carrying around lots of signed cards? (I just wanted to renew the discussion on this topic.)

Lately, I've been carrying a blank faced deck. That way the spec can put anything they want on the card. After they mark the blank faced card, I add the card to a regular deck. No problems, so far.

I think the best option may be to have a stock of extra cards in your pocket and, if you need to have a card signed, secretly add one to the deck and force it. That way you eliminate the problem of a diminishing deck and also the fact that just handing someone a card obviously restricts their free choice.

-Jim

The only card tricks in my performing repertory require that they be signed. They are card to impossible location effects (sometimes following a short Ambitious card routine), card stab, and torn and restored card.

A card used in those tricks that is not signed is a waste of time (IMHO). There is no other way to rule out using duplicate cards (which is often the secret if the card is not signed!).

I don’t re-use a signed card. I will use a deck that is as many as 10 cards short over the course of an evening. The spectators don’t notice and they don’t care if I’m not playing with a full deck (there is a joke there somewhere!).

I have mentioned before elsewhere on this forum that I buy cards in bulk (by the gross) and pay less than fifty cents (US) per deck. At that cost I can afford to tear up, stab, and have signed playing cards without worry.

Playing cards are cheap and easy to replace. There is no reason to reuse signed cards or use decks until the ink is worn off them.

My deck fills up with signed cards over time but I and my spectators do not seem to mind this. It's fun to tell a story about a spectator to another spectator as patter (jazz patter!).

Intereseting topic, I never suspected people would have problems with that.

Personally I'm the kind with a few signed cards in my deck. Sometimes people don't care, sometimes they ask why, and whether I say that it's my autograph collection, and that I'll ask for one from them later, or if I'm ready for a signed card effect I say sometimes people are so amazed they want to make sure it's a unique card... I let interest raise a bit and offer - since they're interested - to have them sign one and go into the effect.

Some people mentionned France in the earlier posts. The price of Bikes went down a lot, it is now usually between 4 and 6 dollars, still expensive, but way better than it used to be. Petrakos the magician you saw was probably master cardman Bebel http://www.bebel-le-magicien.com
or it sounds a lot like him any way!

Here's a post I made earlier on the title of blank cards. I've been using it for several years. It was originally published in my lecture notes in 1987.

"Here's a unique idea. Have one blank face card in your deck with a back that matches. Force the blank on a spectator. After the puzzling look, explain that sometimes cards from the factory get packaged without any printing. Explain that you'll use the card anyway. Ask the spectator to sign the card, then go into your ambitous routine. When Ambitous is done, you can pass the card out as a souveneir. Or better yet, complete the Ambitous routine with the card to the wallet.

This card has become a very unique card that obviously can not be duplicated. Now here's the best part... when you're done, you still have a 52 card deck with no signatures on the cards! If you don't like having your cards signed, and I don't, then this idea will work. Of course, this can be applied in other areas too. It all fits too, the force of the blank, the explanation of no printing on the card, the signature, routine and the passing out of the card".

Good luck!

Similar to above.
Buy a blank faced deck and have them sign one of those & proceed w/normal trick. That way it doesn't "ruin" your deck or leave you a card short. At the end, they can keep the card as a souvenier.... plus you can place a sticker with your name/contact info on it when done. They can keep it and you have enough for 52 times.

I've got two decks of cards that I use: One deck in my left pocket is usually set up for Chicago Surprise (Whit Haydn); this deck is full so it's ready for other effects that require all cards to be present (after getting rid of the stranger card). The other deck I use for tricks where cards are signed, folded, etc. These routines include Ambitious Card, Torn and Restored Card, Card to Box, etc.

This way I've always got one deck that is in pristine condition and another which gets knocked around and is usually missing a few cards.

Have your normal deck and then get a one-way force deck, and just keep forcing the card sign and give away.

Or if you do card warp, get two one-way force decks have the signed one and the extra to do card warp with then replace them from the one way decks!

I thought I might post the reason this is such a big issue.

Suppose you have a single deck to replenish your performance deck. How many tricks can you expect it to last before you cannot replace a missing card in your performance deck?

This problem is essentially the same as the famous birthday paradox problem, which involves the probabilities that any two people in a group will have the same birthday. In this case, instead of 365 days (ignoring leap years for simplicity) there are 52 cards. So obviously you can guarantee that a card will be chosen twice in 53 performances, assuming that each card is chosen at random, i.e. no forces are used, and also assuming that there is only one signed card trick per performance.

What is not so obvious is that after only 9 performances it is more likely than not that you will need a third deck because a replaced card will be chosen again. After only 16 performances the probability is over 90%! Note that by 22 performances, the probability is almost 1.0, even though it doesn't actually become 1.0 until 53 performances.

This is why a performer needs several extra decks to replace cards. I keep 5 extra scrap decks around that are just used to replace cards. Fortunately, Bicycle decks, which I use, are relatively inexpensive, so I can afford to buy 5 extra decks to keep around for scrap.

Here are the probabilities that a third deck will need to be purchased.

Column 1 is the number of signed card tricks performed.

Column 2 contains the probability of one or more cards being the same.

• _1 ____ 0.0000000
  
• _2 ____ 0.0192308
  
• _3 ____ 0.0569527
  
• _4 ____ 0.111359
  
• _5 ____ 0.179716
  
• _6 ____ 0.25859
  
• _7 ____ 0.344137
  
• _8 ____ 0.432426
  
• _9 ____ 0.519745
  
• 10 ____ 0.602866
  
• 11 ____ 0.679238
  
• 12 ____ 0.747092
  
• 13 ____ 0.805455
  
• 14 ____ 0.854091
  
• 15 ____ 0.893374
  
• 16 ____ 0.924132
  
• 17 ____ 0.947476
  
• 18 ____ 0.964647
  
• 19 ____ 0.976885
  
• 20 ____ 0.985331
  
• 21 ____ 0.990973
  
• 22 ____ 0.994618
  
• 23 ____ 0.996895
  
• 24 ____ 0.998268
  
• 25 ____ 0.999068
  
• 26 ____ 0.999516
  
• 27 ____ 0.999758
  
• 28 ____ 0.999884
  
• 29 ____ 0.999946
  
• 30 ____ 0.999976
  
• 31 ____ 0.999990
  
• 32 ____ 0.999996
  
• 33 ____ 0.999998
  
• 34 ____ 0.999999
  
• 35 ____ 1.000000 (actually less than 1.0 until 53 signed cards)
  

Uhhhh... Yeah... Sure...Turns away in fear...Hates math...

My brother is saving his decks and he's going to try and make a chair out of them. I don't know how long it's going to take, but I think it's freaking funny. What an uncomfortable chair.

Just let them sign the cards and give 'em away after the trick is done. Have a couple of spare new decks on hand to replenish from and you're away. A new deck is only about £2! Surely performing a miracle on a spectator is worth the outlay of having to buy a new deck! Are you guys telling me that you do that many signed card tricks in one night that you run out of cards?

If you do, then you must be earning enough to be able to afford buying a couple of new decks every now and again! Don't be such cheapskates!

You should use a different card everytime, and save them. Eventually you can have a whole deck with signatures on each card, I think that would be a cool deck to have. The memories it would bring...

Lonnie Dylan,

That is cool! Your brother is going to make a "deck chair"!

RedEyes,

I agree. I give signed cards away every time I use them in a trick. I also give cards with a hole punched in them, and folded cards away. Sometimes these are signed too. I would give torn cards away if I did those tricks. Cards are not expensive.

That's really the best thing you can do, cause when you give a signed card away to a spectator it's like giving them something to remember you by.

I always give the card away. People love a souvenir. I also give away my cut and restored knot. I don't know why but people carry the stuff at least out to their cars.
-Josh