Eye spy

The modern practitioner of legerdemain, faces an uphill battle these days: audiences are jaded. Everyone's seen a YouTube tutorial on the French Drop. The humble palmed card, while classic, is fraught with peril – sweaty hands, unfortunate angles, that one know-it-all in the front row with eagle eyes. It's enough to make a conjurer consider a career in accountancy. Let's take advantage of the modern age and its cameras.

The Eye Spy is embedded within the bezel, shielded by a near-invisible layer of synthetic sapphire (for durability and optical clarity, naturally). It consists of a pinhole-aperture, high-resolution micro-camera designed to perfectly view the face of a playing card when the wearer's finger is innocently curled underneath said card as it's held, displayed, or even lost in the deck. This visual data – the very essence of the card's identity – is then transmitted via a low-power, encrypted micro-burst signal (to avoid detection by amateur radio enthusiasts in the audience) to a partnered receiver.

This receiver is cunningly disguised as a box for a deck of cards. Inside are the electronics and on one side is an unlit LED screen or, if desired, a pi running an algorithm to identify the card and display what it is. (for example 2c for 2 of clubs)

Thus freed from sleight of hand a magician has more time to focus on other magical tasks. Illicit use is strongly encouraged.