coin trick – MagicShow.Tips

Nickel To Half Dollar by Joe Berg

I was playing with Joe Berg’s Nickel to Half Dollar and it’s an interesting gimmicked coin. Essentially it’s a coin that turns from a nickel into a half dollar. What I like about it is that the coin expands to the larger size. What I don’t like about it is the strange two handed grip you have to have on the nickel and that there are better ways to turn a nickel into a half dollar.

I came up with little transposition routine that uses the coin.

@louiefoxx Easy magic trick! #magictrick #cointrick #magic #nickel #halfdollar #coins #louiefoxx #switch #how #magiciansoftiktok ♬ Money – Pink Floyd

It’s not much, however I think the clean up at the end where I steal the the half shell off of the card is interesting and then allows me to show “both sides” of the Nickel to Half Dollar gimmick.

This is a video only trick, it really wouldn’t play in the real world as the Nickel To Half Dollar isn’t really practical to set and then properly hold with people watching you.

It’s a fun gimmick to play with!

-Louie

The Bodega Coin Tray

I’ve been doing my version of the Multiplying Coin Tray for a while now. I call it the Bodega Coin Tray. It’s gone though some tweaks over time with the design of the tray, but am loving the current version!

Here’s the coin tray in action:

@louiefoxx This math doesn’t math! #math #counting #coins #penny #cointrick #takeapennyleaveapenny #louiefoxx #bodegacointray #magic #coingmagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The full routine starts with a four penny trick, that has a few phases to it. Then I do the coins to spectator’s hands. It’s a great sequence and using the tray that looks like a “need a penny” try from a corner store allows me to get the tray into the routine with a joke. Then doing tricks where the tray isn’t the method takes heat off of the tray when I use it for the method.

I have an introductory price on these now through the end of september 2024. The normal price will be $25, but I’m offering them at $20 right now, with free shipping in the USA!

You can get them at: https://www.magicshow.tips/bodega-coin-tray/

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick – John Kennedy’s Cigarette Thru Any Coin

This is a fun trick that I remember seeing advertised in the 1990’s. It’s John Kennedy’s Cigarette Thru Any Coin! Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! 1990’s CIGARETTE THRU ANY COIN by John Kennedy #magic #johnkennedy #cigarette #cointrick #closeupmagic #louiefoxx #sleightofhand #vintage #antique #seattle ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I thing this trick is interested as there are a couple of methods working at the same time to create the illusion of the cigarette going through the coin. I don’t know if this is an improvement over the traditional method with a gimmicked coin. Kennedy’s method would have you have to do a switch of the larger object, which complicates doing the trick with “borrowed” objects, which makes the trick stronger.

Cigarette through coin is a classic bar trick like coin in bottle where the strength of the trick is that is uses borrowed objects and everything can be returned at the end and handled by the audience, so everything feels impromptu. It’s that unplanned feeling of it that makes the trick hit really hard!

-Louie

3D Printing Magic Tricks

A couple of weeks ago I had a thought go through my head that was that I’d like to 3d print a new magic trick. It’s been a while since I’ve 3D printed any new magic tricks. I’m not looking for simply printing a trick that I found a model of online, but to design something and print it.

I was reading a trick with pennies in Bob Farmer’s Flim Flam book and that got me thinking of the using a “need a penny, take a penny” trays that many stores have by the cash register.

It only took a few tries to get the size of the tray to what I wanted and two tries to get the gimmick the right size.

This tray solves a problem with trying to borrow coins, as people don’t really carry coins anymore. I ask to borrow some pennies and then say, “it’s OK if you don’t have any” and take out the tray with pennies on it. It gets the tray into play logically and with a laugh.

This was a fun project to make and I’ve been having fun doing the trick!

-Louie

Coins Thru Glass

Many, many years ago I saw a video of Daniel Cros doing Coins Thru Glass. You can watch it here. Basically the effect is the coins go thru the bottom of the glass into another glass one at a time, then the final coin uses a spectator’s hand. I never really like the ending of the trick and the switching from a glass to a hand.

Last night in my hotel room I was playing with the trick but added a hat to it. That gave a slightly different frame to the trick and allowed me to have a “kicker” ending that still followed the frame work of the first coins to go thru the glass.

Here’s what I came up with:

While not great, if I put a little bit more time into figuring out the blocking, the trick would flow a lot better and look a lot less like I just thought of it and don’t know where the props should go.

It’s a fun little thing to work thru, but I don’t know if I’ll put much more time into it as I don’t think I’ll ever do it.

-Louie

Puzzle Coin!

My friend Rolando Medina recently started selling Puzzle Coins! These are coins that he’s cut into a puzzle. These are really interesting, and there’s a ton of puns with the word puzzle that you could use.

“Do you want to see the most puzzling coin trick I do?” Then the coin turns into the puzzle pieces.

Here are a few ideas:

1: Show a half dollar.
This is a trick that takes me hours to figure out
Put the half dollar into your left hand, which makes a fist around it.
I never know if I should start with the edges or the middle…
Open you hand to reveal the puzzle pieces

2: Have a half dollar sitting on the table, you wave your hand over it and it turns into the puzzle half dollar!
– simply use a Raven and a shimmed shell

3: Could use it at a follow up to Karate Coin
After you stab the coin on your finger, you then smash the coin into little bits (not specifically revealing they’re puzzle pieces)

I think these coins are great for making social media videos as the close up video of them can really show off the detail.

I think he’s really underpriced them at $39.99 and they should be a few bucks more…but I’ll take them for cheaper than what I think they’re worth! Aside from using them, they are just cool to have on your shelf!

-Louie

Magic Jam and a Coin Trick

One of the things I love when I’m home is being able to get together with other magicians.

While magic jamming with Jonathan Friedman and Chris Beason, we came with with this strange little coin trick:

It’s not really practical, but a fun little magic trick for a video.

-Louie

Ink Hole Coin Trick

I just stumbled across a video of the trick Ink Hole and I really like it!

Here’s what the trick has going for it:

it’s not a card trick. Yes, I know there are plenty of tricks similar to this with a card and hole. My thinking is the less tricks that I do that don’t use cards, the better. I’m not anti card trick, however for texture in the show, if I can avoid a card, I do!
It’s very visual and in a strange way!
it happens in front of your body and not on a table.

What I don’t like about it is that there is (as far as I can tell) a requirement that you wear a black shirt. This isn’t a deal breaker, but it is definitely a consideration.

I’m on the fence about getting it, it’s more the wardrobe condition that’s keeping me from ordering it.

Even if I don’t get it, I still think it’s a really cool effect!

-Louie

Folding Nickels…

A little bit ago I came across someone selling a used folding nickel.

It turns out they have two of them:

The one with the straight cut appears to be more homemade and the profile cut seems to be a more professional job. With the nickel being soo small, I don’t know why you’d need it to fold into more than one piece, unless it’s to hide the cut. It appears the one with the straight cut, the cut goes around the building on the tails side to hide the cut.

I honestly have no idea what you would use it for. I checked and a nickel won’t got into a bottle, so you could use it for that, but the effect won’t have nearly the impact as a doing it with a quarter or half dollar.

A quick google search didn’t bring up any listings for anyone selling these folding nickels, so the may be something that someone made a batch of and never sold.

I kind of want to buy them and try to figure out a trick to do with them. If you have any ideas beyond coin in bottle and coin through ring, let me know!

More Silver Extraction…

Yesterday I started messing around with the Silver Extraction coin trick. Traditionally how the trick goes, is you give them the coin that they hold in their fist. You then pull the silver (silver blob) through their hand and they are left with a clear coin. I think the pulling through the hand is fun, but I think this particular set of coins has a different effect possible.

here’s the idea:

I like the visual of the shaking and having the silver blob sliding around on top of the copper center of the coin. Method wise, I’m not sure it’s an improvement over just a shuttle pass. I’ll be trying out both methods today at the fair.

-Louie