Card tricks versus arthritis of the paws?

Meffy · 17th August 2006, 08:28 AM

I was pleased to see a search of this forum turn up a number of recommendations of "The Royal Road to Card Magic," which I bought in a little antique shop in quaint Colonial Beach, Virginia, last Sunday. I didn't know if the contents were still useful almost sixty years after its original publication, but have rarely found a Dover paperback that wasn't worth the price (and this one, being used, cost just a few dollars).

My trick is this: oops, sorry, I mean, my question is this: are card illusions a good way to keep my paws limber and loose as arthritis slowly creeps in? I do a lot of typing, mousing, and drawing on my digitizing tablet, yet because there's a wide variety of actions (and because I can pause when needed) I haven't suffered from repetitive motion problems. I feel stiffness in the fingers but not actual pain at present.

Anyone else in a similar situation? Do the unusual hand motions used in card tricks ameliorate or aggravate the condition? I'm not so concerned with performing for an audience -- I don't know many people and am not fond of crowds -- as in retaining and possibly enhancing what little dexterity I have.

As a secondary request, if anyone can recommend other interesting books on magic, with cards or otherwise, I'd appreciate it. I have "Hoffman's Later Magic" from Dover and it's fascinating stuff... but it seems to be more of historical interest, not so suitable for learning tricks useful in the present day.

Thanks in advance.

Dinsdale Piranha · 17th August 2006, 09:21 AM

Regarding the arthritis, I can't see where it would hurt but I'm not sure how much it would help, either. Maybe just the movement of the hands and fingers through shuffling, dealing and practicing sleights could help.

Now for the books: The Royal Road is considered a classic in card magic. Some of the sleights may be dated but it's still considered required reading for anyone interested in learning card magic.

Depending on your skill level, I would recommend many of the books that can be found in your local book store. John Scarne on Card Tricks was the first card book I ever bought.

There are also several titles by Charles Jordan and Karl Fulves that are excellent for beginners. The titles escape me at the moment but I think most of them are published by Dover. When I can get a list I'll post them later.

I would recommend possibly getting a couple of these books and learning a few tricks before diving into The Royal Road. This will just get you used to handling the cards and learning how to present the tricks without having to concentrate on sleights right away.

Once you get more experienced and have thoroughly gone through The Royal Road, you can go to the next level and find a vast amount of published work out there.

Have fun.

Meffy · 17th August 2006, 10:37 AM

Thanks -- I'm quite happy with "Royal Road" though it'll be a while before I can even do the various overhand shuffle controls. Yet another "something" to do when not programming or doing graphics or playing music or posting to forums.

Maybe I ought to get a few clay poker chips and learn some of the simpler dexterity tricks with them too. My cheap Chinese plastic chips are unsuitable for tricks, too slippery and awfully heavy.

Dinsdale Piranha · 17th August 2006, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Meffy

Thanks -- I'm quite happy with "Royal Road" though it'll be a while before I can even do the various overhand shuffle controls. Yet another "something" to do when not programming or doing graphics or playing music or posting to forums.

Maybe I ought to get a few clay poker chips and learn some of the simpler dexterity tricks with them too. My cheap Chinese plastic chips are unsuitable for tricks, too slippery and awfully heavy.

You might consider getting a few half dollars and learning a few coin tricks. There are a few beginner books for coins, too. J.B. Bobo's Modern Coin Magic is available in paperback by Dover. Although it's not really a beginner's book, it teaches many essential sleights. It's also considered a classic and required reading.

In some cases, coin tricks require more dexterity than card tricks.

Meffy · 17th August 2006, 12:53 PM

Sounds good. Dover books are easily had in bookstores.

I've located two magic shops in the Richmond, Virginia area. One Eyed Jacques I know from my gaming days; never looked at their magic stuff. Divine Magic and Novelties seems to stock woo supplies too, but might be worth a look even so. Wish "Majik Kassel" were still open downtown on Broad Street. I remember going in and finding a weird mix of novelty packaged tricks, Masonic goods, and IIRC barber supplies. =o.@= It's been gone for decades, I think. Sic transit tacky mundi...

There are a few silver Franklin half dollars in my Brandt Automatic Cashier, a mechanical change-making machine from the 1920s. Those should be suitable for learning coin tricks.

Dinsdale Piranha · 17th August 2006, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Meffy

I've located two magic shops in the Richmond, Virginia area. One Eyed Jacques I know from my gaming days; never looked at their magic stuff. Divine Magic and Novelties seems to stock woo supplies too, but might be worth a look even so.

Forget One Eyed Jacques. They're mostly out of the magic business and the employees there know nothing and care even less.

Divine Magic is the way to go. They do have the woo trash there but also a good supply of magic. Coincidentally, the owner's name is Hun Woo. His wife is in charge of all the new age junk. I'd recommend you go there on Saturday afternoon. Woody Landers will be there demonstrating magic. Not this Saturday, though. He's out of town.

Meffy · 17th August 2006, 02:13 PM

I'll give Divine a try then. Thanks!

SusanB-M1 · 19th August 2006, 05:17 AM

Meffy

Following your mention of conjuring in another thread, I thought I'd have a look at this board. I know absolutely nothing about card tricks, but just a word about arthritis and movement: About 15 years ago, severe hip pain, X-ray said arthritis, had had to give up driving, worked out how to walk so that after a mile or so it eased, thought I'd have to save up for new hip, walking seems to have cured it, no problems since. Maybe coincidence, or keeping blood circulating? Don't know, but just thought I'd mention it.

Susan

Meffy · 19th August 2006, 11:07 AM

I've been more active lately, what with starting a garden, collecting manure for composting, and similar stuffs. OTOP, I no longer have to bicycle to get to stores and banks, got the car fixed. (This is good, as the store and bank I used have decided our neighborhood isn't good enough for them and closed up shop, so I couldn't get to them on the bike anyway. :-S)

The increased activity didn't seem to help much, but it didn't make things worse either. I can deal with "no worse." :-}

BPScooter · 23rd August 2006, 01:15 AM

Cardini came up on this forum a while ago, and I clicked around and found that he was badly wounded in the WWI trenches (can't remember details but this is accurate enough, I think)--while in the frigid trenches he would amuse himself by practicing with a deck of cards... WITH GLOVES ON which became his later trademark...and when in hospital he was given slim odds and a lot of sympathy. When he recovered enough to do so, he asked for a deck of cards and the doctors figured, well, that's odd but seems harmless. Apparently he (or others that know the tale) attribute a lot of his recovery to the pursuit of the solitary and quiet card deck. So that is an intriguing case study of physical therapy and perhaps pain management, post traumatic stress recovery, through card tricks. I'm sure you can find the same bios online that I did.

NeilC · 23rd August 2006, 03:37 AM

Not sure Bobo is gonna work that well. For starters I find it a very difficult and tedious work to learn from and coin sleights make the healthiest hands ache.

No idea if doing tricks will help arthritis or make it worse.

Re: Books - for cards I can't recommend the Card College series enough. We are blessed to live in an age where this sort of quality teaching is available. Really. Starting in vol one you learn the basics at a very detailed level that gives you the ease of movement you'll need for the hard stuff. That in itself might help stiff and painful hands just like learning good form in any sport.

Jay Sankey's books have some good effects in them. If you don't own any already then Unleashed covers many of the best effects. However you'd need to reference the sleights involved in some of them as he doesn't teach the obvious ones.

Meffy · 23rd August 2006, 09:47 AM

@BPScooter: I know the name Cardini but nothing else. I'll have to learn more. Surely he had bigger problems than I, and was a heck of a lot tougher!

@Splossy: I'll give Bobo a try when I get money enough to buy books again. If the coin tricks are too difficult I'll not be able to follow and that will be that. I'll definitely look into Card College. Royal Road is wonderful but some of the word descriptions are difficult for me to picture.

Thanks again!

Dinsdale Piranha · 24th August 2006, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by Meffy

I'll give Bobo a try when I get money enough to buy books again. If the coin tricks are too difficult I'll not be able to follow and that will be that. I'll definitely look into Card College. Royal Road is wonderful but some of the word descriptions are difficult for me to picture.

Meffy,

If you're interested, I have the Dover paperback edition of Bobo that I will give to you. I bought the hardback edition a few years ago and my paperback copy is just collecting dust. It's a little dog eared but completely intact.

Meffy · 25th August 2006, 06:10 PM

Hm... if you'll let me pay shipping, okay. Thank you.

Dinsdale Piranha · 25th August 2006, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by Meffy

Hm... if you'll let me pay shipping, okay. Thank you.

No need to ship it, I could drop it off at Divine Magic. Let me know when you plan to pick it up and I could have it there waiting for you.

Or we could make other arrangements, if you prefer.

Meffy · 26th August 2006, 05:50 PM

I never know when I'll be able to get out and around, but will try to remember to get back with you. It's very generous, thank you!

17th August 2006, 08:28 AM	#1
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	Card tricks versus arthritis of the paws? I was pleased to see a search of this forum turn up a number of recommendations of "The Royal Road to Card Magic," which I bought in a little antique shop in quaint Colonial Beach, Virginia, last Sunday. I didn't know if the contents were still useful almost sixty years after its original publication, but have rarely found a Dover paperback that wasn't worth the price (and this one, being used, cost just a few dollars). My trick is this: oops, sorry, I mean, my question is this: are card illusions a good way to keep my paws limber and loose as arthritis slowly creeps in? I do a lot of typing, mousing, and drawing on my digitizing tablet, yet because there's a wide variety of actions (and because I can pause when needed) I haven't suffered from repetitive motion problems. I feel stiffness in the fingers but not actual pain at present. Anyone else in a similar situation? Do the unusual hand motions used in card tricks ameliorate or aggravate the condition? I'm not so concerned with performing for an audience -- I don't know many people and am not fond of crowds -- as in retaining and possibly enhancing what little dexterity I have. As a secondary request, if anyone can recommend other interesting books on magic, with cards or otherwise, I'd appreciate it. I have "Hoffman's Later Magic" from Dover and it's fascinating stuff... but it seems to be more of historical interest, not so suitable for learning tricks useful in the present day. Thanks in advance.

17th August 2006, 09:21 AM	#2
Dinsdale Piranha A cruel man, but fair. Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: In the conversation pit. Posts: 842	Regarding the arthritis, I can't see where it would hurt but I'm not sure how much it would help, either. Maybe just the movement of the hands and fingers through shuffling, dealing and practicing sleights could help. Now for the books: The Royal Road is considered a classic in card magic. Some of the sleights may be dated but it's still considered required reading for anyone interested in learning card magic. Depending on your skill level, I would recommend many of the books that can be found in your local book store. John Scarne on Card Tricks was the first card book I ever bought. There are also several titles by Charles Jordan and Karl Fulves that are excellent for beginners. The titles escape me at the moment but I think most of them are published by Dover. When I can get a list I'll post them later. I would recommend possibly getting a couple of these books and learning a few tricks before diving into The Royal Road. This will just get you used to handling the cards and learning how to present the tricks without having to concentrate on sleights right away. Once you get more experienced and have thoroughly gone through The Royal Road, you can go to the next level and find a vast amount of published work out there. Have fun.
	__________________ "Don't hit me with them negative waves this early in the morning." Oddball from Kelly's Heroes. "I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met." Steven Wright

17th August 2006, 10:55 AM	#4
Dinsdale Piranha A cruel man, but fair. Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: In the conversation pit. Posts: 842	Originally Posted by Meffy Thanks -- I'm quite happy with "Royal Road" though it'll be a while before I can even do the various overhand shuffle controls. Yet another "something" to do when not programming or doing graphics or playing music or posting to forums. Maybe I ought to get a few clay poker chips and learn some of the simpler dexterity tricks with them too. My cheap Chinese plastic chips are unsuitable for tricks, too slippery and awfully heavy. You might consider getting a few half dollars and learning a few coin tricks. There are a few beginner books for coins, too. J.B. Bobo's Modern Coin Magic is available in paperback by Dover. Although it's not really a beginner's book, it teaches many essential sleights. It's also considered a classic and required reading. In some cases, coin tricks require more dexterity than card tricks.
	__________________ "Don't hit me with them negative waves this early in the morning." Oddball from Kelly's Heroes. "I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met." Steven Wright

17th August 2006, 12:53 PM	#5
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	Sounds good. Dover books are easily had in bookstores. I've located two magic shops in the Richmond, Virginia area. One Eyed Jacques I know from my gaming days; never looked at their magic stuff. Divine Magic and Novelties seems to stock woo supplies too, but might be worth a look even so. Wish "Majik Kassel" were still open downtown on Broad Street. I remember going in and finding a weird mix of novelty packaged tricks, Masonic goods, and IIRC barber supplies. =o.@= It's been gone for decades, I think. Sic transit tacky mundi... There are a few silver Franklin half dollars in my Brandt Automatic Cashier, a mechanical change-making machine from the 1920s. Those should be suitable for learning coin tricks.
	Last edited by Meffy; 17th August 2006 at 12:56 PM.

17th August 2006, 01:15 PM	#6
Dinsdale Piranha A cruel man, but fair. Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: In the conversation pit. Posts: 842	Originally Posted by Meffy I've located two magic shops in the Richmond, Virginia area. One Eyed Jacques I know from my gaming days; never looked at their magic stuff. Divine Magic and Novelties seems to stock woo supplies too, but might be worth a look even so. Forget One Eyed Jacques. They're mostly out of the magic business and the employees there know nothing and care even less. Divine Magic is the way to go. They do have the woo trash there but also a good supply of magic. Coincidentally, the owner's name is Hun Woo. His wife is in charge of all the new age junk. I'd recommend you go there on Saturday afternoon. Woody Landers will be there demonstrating magic. Not this Saturday, though. He's out of town.
	__________________ "Don't hit me with them negative waves this early in the morning." Oddball from Kelly's Heroes. "I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met." Steven Wright Last edited by Dinsdale Piranha; 17th August 2006 at 02:18 PM. Reason: stupid spelling error: "no" corrected to "know"

17th August 2006, 10:37 AM	#3
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	Thanks -- I'm quite happy with "Royal Road" though it'll be a while before I can even do the various overhand shuffle controls. Yet another "something" to do when not programming or doing graphics or playing music or posting to forums. Maybe I ought to get a few clay poker chips and learn some of the simpler dexterity tricks with them too. My cheap Chinese plastic chips are unsuitable for tricks, too slippery and awfully heavy.

17th August 2006, 02:13 PM	#7
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	I'll give Divine a try then. Thanks!

19th August 2006, 05:17 AM	#8
SusanB-M1 Incurable Optimist Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Almost in the New Forest, Hampshire, UK Posts: 1,506	Meffy Following your mention of conjuring in another thread, I thought I'd have a look at this board. I know absolutely nothing about card tricks, but just a word about arthritis and movement: About 15 years ago, severe hip pain, X-ray said arthritis, had had to give up driving, worked out how to walk so that after a mile or so it eased, thought I'd have to save up for new hip, walking seems to have cured it, no problems since. Maybe coincidence, or keeping blood circulating? Don't know, but just thought I'd mention it. Susan

19th August 2006, 11:07 AM	#9
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	I've been more active lately, what with starting a garden, collecting manure for composting, and similar stuffs. OTOP, I no longer have to bicycle to get to stores and banks, got the car fixed. (This is good, as the store and bank I used have decided our neighborhood isn't good enough for them and closed up shop, so I couldn't get to them on the bike anyway. :-S) The increased activity didn't seem to help much, but it didn't make things worse either. I can deal with "no worse." :-}

23rd August 2006, 01:15 AM	#10
BPScooter Muse Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 783	Cardini came up on this forum a while ago, and I clicked around and found that he was badly wounded in the WWI trenches (can't remember details but this is accurate enough, I think)--while in the frigid trenches he would amuse himself by practicing with a deck of cards... WITH GLOVES ON which became his later trademark...and when in hospital he was given slim odds and a lot of sympathy. When he recovered enough to do so, he asked for a deck of cards and the doctors figured, well, that's odd but seems harmless. Apparently he (or others that know the tale) attribute a lot of his recovery to the pursuit of the solitary and quiet card deck. So that is an intriguing case study of physical therapy and perhaps pain management, post traumatic stress recovery, through card tricks. I'm sure you can find the same bios online that I did.
BPScooter Muse Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 783

23rd August 2006, 03:37 AM	#11
NeilC Graduate Poster Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,085	Not sure Bobo is gonna work that well. For starters I find it a very difficult and tedious work to learn from and coin sleights make the healthiest hands ache. No idea if doing tricks will help arthritis or make it worse. Re: Books - for cards I can't recommend the Card College series enough. We are blessed to live in an age where this sort of quality teaching is available. Really. Starting in vol one you learn the basics at a very detailed level that gives you the ease of movement you'll need for the hard stuff. That in itself might help stiff and painful hands just like learning good form in any sport. Jay Sankey's books have some good effects in them. If you don't own any already then Unleashed covers many of the best effects. However you'd need to reference the sleights involved in some of them as he doesn't teach the obvious ones.

23rd August 2006, 09:47 AM	#12
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	@BPScooter: I know the name Cardini but nothing else. I'll have to learn more. Surely he had bigger problems than I, and was a heck of a lot tougher! @Splossy: I'll give Bobo a try when I get money enough to buy books again. If the coin tricks are too difficult I'll not be able to follow and that will be that. I'll definitely look into Card College. Royal Road is wonderful but some of the word descriptions are difficult for me to picture. Thanks again!

24th August 2006, 01:29 PM	#13
Dinsdale Piranha A cruel man, but fair. Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: In the conversation pit. Posts: 842	Originally Posted by Meffy I'll give Bobo a try when I get money enough to buy books again. If the coin tricks are too difficult I'll not be able to follow and that will be that. I'll definitely look into Card College. Royal Road is wonderful but some of the word descriptions are difficult for me to picture. Meffy, If you're interested, I have the Dover paperback edition of Bobo that I will give to you. I bought the hardback edition a few years ago and my paperback copy is just collecting dust. It's a little dog eared but completely intact.
	__________________ "Don't hit me with them negative waves this early in the morning." Oddball from Kelly's Heroes. "I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met." Steven Wright

25th August 2006, 06:10 PM	#14
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	Hm... if you'll let me pay shipping, okay. Thank you.

25th August 2006, 09:40 PM	#15
Dinsdale Piranha A cruel man, but fair. Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: In the conversation pit. Posts: 842	Originally Posted by Meffy Hm... if you'll let me pay shipping, okay. Thank you. No need to ship it, I could drop it off at Divine Magic. Let me know when you plan to pick it up and I could have it there waiting for you. Or we could make other arrangements, if you prefer.
	__________________ "Don't hit me with them negative waves this early in the morning." Oddball from Kelly's Heroes. "I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met." Steven Wright

26th August 2006, 05:50 PM	#16
Meffy Anthropomorphic Skunk Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Unincorporated Territory of Croatan Posts: 4,232	I never know when I'll be able to get out and around, but will try to remember to get back with you. It's very generous, thank you!