The Gemini Twins card trick in magic is one of the all-time classic effects, especially for beginner magicians! This is because it uses a principle in card magic that allows it to be self-working. Because of this, it falls under the category of self-working card tricks.
What this means is that as a beginning magician, you can still get a good and powerful effect, without having to learn or perform any sleight of hand. As I described in Super Simple & Easy Card Tricks for Beginners – Ultimate Guide, one of the first things you want to learn as a new magician, are self-working card tricks.
Gemini Twins is one of those self-working card tricks, and it’s one of the best.
One thing to note is this trick commonly gets confused with two other tricks. One is Jumping Gemini, which is a sleight of hand trick using four cards. One of the cards is continually jumping up in the pack.
Another that it is mistaken for is Twins by Brother John Hamman. Twins is also a sleight of hand card trick that involves four cards. It involves a story about two twin brothers and two twin redheads. Because of the similarities in the titles, both of these tricks get confused with Gemini Twins.
A lot of times you will see the Gemini Twins label incorrectly on either of these tricks online. I’ve even seen it mislabeled as other tricks besides these as well.
Just know that so many online results for Gemini Twins are the wrong trick.
So, let’s jump into the Gemini Twins Card Trick Tutorial and Guide.
Gemini Twins is credited to Karl Fulves in his book More Self-Working Card Tricks. Karl Fulves was a master in self-working magic, and this was one of his.
The placement system used in this Karl Fulves trick (which originally appeared as “Stopped Twice” in his Impromptu Opener, 1979, p. 2) may have been adopted from either of two sources: Theodore Annemann’s “Locatrik” in The Jinx, No. 39, Dec. 1937, p. 262; or Herb Rungie’s “Hidden Mystery” in The Jinx, No. 83, Mar. 1940, p. 535. In The Fine Print No. 10 (1999, p. 318) Fulves claims that the Herb Rungie effect is “almost certainly the inspiration for Gemini Twins” and acknowledges that there has been much speculation over the history of the routine.
Other precursors are Ron Wohl’s “Australian Sixes” in Harry Lorayne’s Reputation-Makers, 1971, p. 164, and Ed Marlo’s “Ruse Cull” in Kabbala, Vol. 1 No. 9, May 1972, p. 74.
Sometimes Gemini Twins might get confused with Jumping Gemini, which is a completely different trick, but since they have similar names, you can see where the confusion comes from. Also, it gets confused with Twins by John Hamman, also due to the closeness of names.
Gemini Twins is a self-working card trick. So, if you are a beginning magician, you could perform this trick fairly quickly and easily.
This is because unlike a lot of card tricks in card magic which utilizes sleight of hand, which could take years to learn, Gemini Twins is self working and requires no sleight of hand.
It’s entirely based on a location principle by Karl Fulves which is very fooling. Also, some magicians such as Roberto Giobbi and John Bannon have taken this principle and used it to create more advanced versions or to perform it extremely well to create a good effect. Because it uses no sleight of hand, you can focus more on your presentation and making a connection with the audience.
Another benefit to Gemini Twins is that it is completely impromptu. That means it requires no setup, and it can be done anywhere and at any time with any deck. That means even a borrowed and shuffled deck of cards.
That’s very powerful in card magic, as it is very hard to find a good self working card trick that does not require some sort of setup or special deck. This is one reason that Gemini Twins is so great and considered one of the best self-working card tricks.
Most card tricks that are going to be impromptu, will require some sleight of hand. It’s very hard to find a self-working one that requires no sleight of hand or setup.
You can see a video of Gemini Twins below, but I will quickly explain it first. Gemini Twins involves a shuffled deck that can be borrowed. No setup is needed.
The magician pulls out two prediction cards. He then deals down cards until the spectator wants him to stop. At whichever point that is, one of the prediction cards is placed face up on top of the pile of cards that has been made, and the remaining rest of the deck is dropped on top.
This sequence is repeated. once again without shuffling the deck. The magician or spectator deals down the cards one at a time until they feel they want to stop.
Again, the second prediction card is dropped face up on top of this pile. And once again, the remaining pack is dropped on top.
When the deck is spread, the two faceup cards are found somewhere in the middle of the deck. The cards are removed along with a card that is next to each.
Surprisingly, the cards that are removed, exactly match the two prediction cards.
Let’s learn the Gemini Twins card trick. This is widely available on the internet and has already been revealed. Thankfully, a spectator will be very unlikely to know what to search for to find out how the trick works.
Other Resources for Gemini Twins
The Gemini Twins principle is found in a couple of magic videos in unique tricks and presentations.
You can find a good version of Gemini Twins on Roberto Giobbi – Simply Amazing. Simply Amazing is a wonderful resource for self-working card tricks and is very suitable for beginning card magicians.
The particular trick in this production is called Gemini Calling, and is available as a separate download without having to purchase the entire Simply Amazing collection, but I think the whole collection is more worth it. You can tell by the name of the trick that it is related to the Gemini Twins trick.
Roberto Giobbi is a master card magician, and just watching him present Gemini Twins with his own twist and presentation skills is a nice treat. The way he presents the Gemini Twins trick just puts great touches on it.
If you do get Gemini Calling by itself, I don’t know if you will think the price is worth it or not. There are some reviews that say it’s great and worth it and another says it’s just Gemini Twins, and if you already know the trick, it’s not worth it.
The thing about it is though, Roberto Giobbi is great at presentation. So, you are really getting the presentational aspect of the trick.
The magician started magic as a kid and has learned from some of the greats. He loves to share his knowledge with others and help out with the subtleties he’s learned along the way.
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