GICIAN’S CARD CHALLENGE 2026
Date & Time: 15 October 2026, 7 pm.
Venue: Function Room 2, Level 3, National Library Building
Organised by: IBM Singapore Ring 115
Sponsored by: Gician Tan
Opening
Almost everyone arrived on time at around 7 pm. I opened the meeting with a rundown of the programme for the audience. I then gathered all the contestants for the draw of performing order: Michael Lee, Vicente, Joseph Then, Teo Yu Xiang, Linus Ng, David Fillary, Kai Emmanuel Kuah and Chunny (Tze Chun). The competition started officially at 7.30 pm.
The Performances
(Act descriptions provided by Harapan Ong, Head Judge)
- Michael Lee: A signed-card lie-detector routine revealing the Four of Spades, a slop-shuffle Triumph, and a Chicago Opener variation ending with a transposition between his signed card and a spectator’s.
- Vicente: Played an intoxicated gambler whose imaginary drinks enabled impossible cheating feats. His “drunken” shuffle dropped cards one by one until only the selection remained. He ended by naming three chosen cards when time ran out.
- Joseph Then: A four-Ace routine with an Ambitious Card sequence, an Ace sandwich, an Ace Assembly, Ed Marlo’s Estimation Aces, and a final transposition of Aces and Queens between pockets and hand.
- Teo Yu Xiang: Performed Woody Aragon’s The Love Ritual with the whole audience, who tore cards, mixed the pieces and exchanged halves. Every spectator ended up with a matching pair.
- Linus Ng: Built his set around Marie Kondo’s “spark joy” philosophy, with Dai Vernon’s Triumph, a half-deck Out of This World, a Colour Monte with Aces, and a deck changing its back colour.
- David Fillary: A card-cheating theme with a visual card vanish, memorised-deck demonstrations, a divination of four selections including a card unseen in a pocket, and a packet colour change leading to a full-deck colour change.
- Kai Emmanuel Kuah: A five-senses routine in which five selections were found by sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. It ended with a card produced folded from his mouth and a deck slap leaving only the “hands” card.
- Chunny (Tze Chun): A signed card splitting into four Aces, Patrick Kun’s “Morph” Change, three Ace-King transpositions, and a finale where the whole deck vanished leaving only the signed card.
Results
- 1st place: David Fillary
- 2nd place: Kai Emmanual Kuah
- 3rd place: Linus Ng
This was the third year we have held the competition, and we saw a great increase in the standard of the participants. All members enjoyed an amazing evening of magic. Congratulations to all the winners and to every contestant.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank everyone who made the evening possible:
- Gician Tan, our sponsor
- The Judges: Harapan Ong (Head Judge), Ian Tan, Enrico Varella, and Wee Kien Meng.
- The contestants, for the effort and creativity they put into their acts.
- The supporting team: Baharuddin (Key Co-ordinator and Videographer), JK Tan (Timekeeper), Kenneth Chia (Room Set-uo and Event Controller), Victor Heng (Logistics and Catering), and Harapan Ong for his help with reporting.
- All members and guests, for coming to support the event.
Reported by:
Ng Kah King & Harapan Ong
