The 9 card problem trick was first made famous by David Copperfield back in 1993, but the trick was created by Jim Steinmeyer. After we dissect the trick I will talk more about this Incredible trick creator.
On this page I will not be going over the handling of the trick in much detail. It is explained in the video below. The trick is so self working there is little to say about the handling. The math of the trick however is crazy.
I could not just accept the fact that it worked. I needed to know how it worked. So I set to disassembling the trick to figure it out. I suppose I could have looked it up on some web site… but where is the fun in that? Hey, where are you going? Yes, this is some random website but you should stick around anyway ha ha.
Being me, I started out with a table (it did not quite warrant my usual spreadsheet). This table helped me keep everything straight as I counted out the cards onto my desk.
The selected card starts off in position 3 of the packet. As you count off the numbers and suit of a card (any card) the selected card will move within the packet. So how does it always land in position 5? No matter what card you spell out.
No matter what card you spell out. That was actually a good clue. It works no matter what card you spell because it makes no difference what card you spell. Let’s look at the numbers. Here is my table to keep my thoughts straight.
| Original Position | 3 | |
| Numbers | Count | New Position |
| Ace, Two, Six, Ten | 3 | 7 |
| Four, Five, Nine, Jack, King | 4 | 7 |
| Three, Seven, Eight, Queen | 5 | 7 |
| Of | 2 | 5 |
| Suits | New Position | |
| Clubs | 5 | 5 |
| Hearts, spades | 6 | 5 |
| Diamonds | 8 | 5 |
It would appear that the various numbers counted would move the card all over the place. The truth is that it only has 3 positions for the entire procedure. It starts at position 3. After the Numbers (any number) it is at position 7. After the “Of” it is at position 5. Counting off the Suits makes no difference – it stays at position 5.
I had to see it in the cards to really grasp it. It is a quite simple principle, but I would never have figured it out. I had to disassemble the trick just to see how it worked. But I am glad I did. Here is the way the count works.
The count for the numbers will be 3 for the Ace, Two, Six, and Ten. The count for Four, Five, Nine, Jack, and King will be 4. The count for Three, Seven, Eight, and Queen is 5. The method is deceptively simple. From the starting position, the first 3 cards you lay down will put the selection 3rd from the bottom. Whether you are counting 3, 4, or 5 cards, the first three cards you lay down are the same. After reaching 3, 4, or, 5 you lay the rest of the pack on top. In all 3 cases the selected card is now in position 7.
This is counter-intuitive. People think you are counting different amounts… so logically the card position must be affected.
Next you count two cards off for “Of”. Place the rest on top. That brings the selection to position 5.
Counting the Suit is next. Again, it would appear that there are different numbers of cards being counted, so the position must be affected. Appearances can be deceiving -luckily for magicians. The count for Clubs is 5, Hearts & Spades is 6, Diamonds is 8. But again the same principle applies. The selected card is in position 5. The first five cards you count off will put it back in position 5. You can continue to count 6 or 8 cards, depending on the suit, but when you place the remainder on top… it makes no difference. The card remains in position 5.
The last 3 pictures show the layout for the Suits. The selected card is at position 5. For Clubs the count is five, and you lay the remaining five cards on top. For Hearts & Spades the count is 6, and you lay the remaining three cards on top. For Diamonds you count eight, and lay the remaining one card on top. In all 3 cases the first five cards will put the selection back to position 5 and the remaining counting is just for effect.
This is why you can count their card name, or any card name, and it works. Deceptively simple, but that is what makes it both self working and miraculous.
Jim Steinmeyer
This trick was 1st made famous by David Copperfield back in 1993 but the trick was created by Jim Steinmeyer. I could not find when he created the trick, but he first published the trick in 1993.
Jim Steinmeyer has created tons of tricks, and major effects, over the span of his career. Although he is an amazing magic creator, most lay people have never heard of him because he is behind the scenes more. He is not on usually on stage. He has also written some very good books about magic.
I remember seeing David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear on TV. All I ever heard about that trick was David this, David that. I did not know the effect was created by Jim Steinmeyer. No offense to David Copperfield, he is the performer, but I never heard of Jim Steinmeyer when I was a kid watching Copperfield. And that is kind of the story of his career. He is very well known and well respected in some circles, but he has not been as much of a public figure.
He has designed tricks for Doug Henning, for his Broadway shows. He’s done work with Siegfried & Roy, David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Orson Wells, Harry Blackstone, so many others. He has also designed illusions for Disney’s stage productions of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Mary Poppins. And he spent some time as a Disney Imagineer.
He has worked on stage shows for musicians. Alice Cooper did a lot of weird stuff on stage with caskets and hangings and various magic tricks and his horror shows. And Jim Steinmeyer was the designer/consultant on Cooper’s stage show.
One of the most memorable effects I saw as a kid was Doug Henning putting a lady in a box, splitting the box into multiple pieces, and dancing around the stage with various parts of the lady visible in the boxes. I knew there was a trick, but I still have no idea how that one was done – and I only recently learned that it was designed by Jim Steinmeyer.
Naming Issues
He first published this trick in 1993 and it was made famous by David Copperfield in 1993. Jim Steinmeyer called it the “9 card problem trick” when he published it in May of 1993 but it has been published under various names by different people. As people change the handling, they give it a new name, some just use a different name with the same handling. It has been the ‘9 card problem trick’, the ‘9 card M-A-G-I-C trick’ (that’s a long name), the ‘Wizard of odds’, the ‘impossible 9s’, the ‘9 card spell’, and simply ‘9 cards’. The trick is in a lot of different books but everyone I have seen, gives credit to Jim Steinmeyer.
For some reason his name for the trick hasn’t quite stuck, so it’s under a lot of different names.
Also, there is a lot of different handling. that’s what’s cool about it, the different handling doesn’t change the math behind how it works works. Just get their card in that 3rd position and the math magic takes over.
That’s the 9 card problem trick by Jim Steinmeyer and it fried my brain.
To see the performance and handling please watch the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/nyBB6Ws5EY4
