🃏🌴 Packet Trick Paradise #5: Quick Change Queens

A charming trick in which the backs of four Queens change colour several times.

Welcome to Packet Trick Paradise! This is my regular column in which I share original packet tricks from my personal repertoire. In this edition, I’m tipping yet another variation of “The Last Trick of Dr. Jacob Daley”! (See Packet Trick Paradise #3 and #4 for two additional variations). This unique routine, “Quick Change Queens”, fuses the two-by-two transposition with a colour-changing back effect.

The trick uses four regular playing cards, which can be thoroughly examined after you finish the routine.

I really enjoy card tricks that personify playing cards, bringing them to life. However, these effects are frequently handled with excessive solemnity. In “Quick Change Queens”, the presentation is fun, light-hearted and charming. Treating the cards like people works well for me. But if that doesn’t work for you, feel free to try a different approach.

Here’s what happens:

You show your audience four blue-backed Queens. You say, “These lovely ladies are quick-change artists.” The four Queens transform, one at a time, into four red-backed cards. The Queens then switch back into their “beautiful blue dresses.”

Next, the Queen of Hearts and Diamonds become red-backed again. You deal the red Queens to the table, while you hold the black Queens, which have blue backs. You tell the audience that you will make the Queens change places. You pick up the red-backed cards on the table and replace them with the blue-backed cards in your hand. This mundane feat will likely fail to impress your audience!

But when you turn over the cards, your audience will be surprised by what they see. The black Queens are on the red-backed cards and the red Queens are on the blue-backed cards. The faces of the cards have miraculously traded places!