There is another popular area of magic that has been almost completely transformed, in terms of technique, since Professor Hoffmann's time. This is the vast field of card magic. Unquestionably, more technical literature has been published on card magic in the last century than on any other area of magic; the number of books, large and small and in all languages, runs into the thousands.

In Hoffmann's day, the «Pass» (Sauter la coupe), following the dictates of the great Robert-Houdin, was the most important sleight in all card magic. Today, partly because it is extremely difficult to do undetected and because so many effective substitutes (totally unknown in Hoffmann's time) have been invented, it no longer occupies such a central position in card technique. This is not to say that this classic sleight, in the hands of such contemporary card experts as Charles Miller or Derek Dingle, is not powerfully deceptive, but simply that it is no longer the backbone of card conjuring. Through the writings and inventive talents of such men as S. W. Erdnase (whose classic Expert at the Card Table was published in 1902), and such contemporary card geniuses as Dai Vernon and Ed Marlo, the entire technique of card magic has changed, with literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new sleights and subterfuges invented over the past hundred years. While the techniques have changed radically, however, many of the classic effects remain the same and are still in use today; a great number date back to before the time of Hoffmann to the great Viennese card magician Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser (1806-1875), and perhaps even before.