Category: Three Shell Game

How To Create New Ideas

Sometimes an idea becomes a reality when you just notice something. Recently, I was on a flight having a Bloody Mary, and the cap was sitting on the tray table.

creativity for magicians on an airplane

The idea that popped into my head was to use it for the three shell game. In the shell game, there are a lot of phases where you put something on top of the shell to create the illusion that you can’t get at the pea. There’s very few where you put things under the shell to make it more difficult.

Here’s one with a finger ring that I came up with a long time ago:

The idea with the tiny bottle cap is to cover the pea with that, then put a shell on top of it.

The first thing I had to do to make it work was file off the little metal nubs at the bottom of the bottle cap. Once it was smooth, it worked perfectly!

This is an easy to carry thing, and could be used in conjunction with a shot glass to have three things over the pea!

-Louie

How To Make a Magic Video Go Viral!

When you talk to people who are big on social media, they all tend to give similar advice:
1: Post consistantly
2: If something works, repeat that

I’m not huge on social media; I really post stuff that I think is interesting. My average Instagram post right now is between 2k and 20k views. However, recently this one hit 300k views:

That is an outlier for me, so I went to the advice of repeating what you did. The video from above is part of my shell game routine, and I have more of the same clip that I could use, so I made a second one:

This one is currently at 1.8 million views!

instagram magician
Screenshot

So when that one popped, I decided to follow the format again and use a third chunk from the video.

This one is sitting at just over 8k views. The formula worked spectacularly for the second video! I do have another phase or two from the original video, I might put them up to see what happens.

I guess I’m going to parrot the advice, that if something works, do it again and repeat until it stops working!

-Louie

3d Printed Shell Game!

A while ago, I made a set of natural shells for the three shell game, and then made a silicone mold of them. I used that mold to make a bunch of resin shells for a shell game workshop. One of those resin shells recently got 3d scanned and I’ve started printing them!

three shell game

These are a great beginner set or set to throw in your backpack to carry around and not beat up a nicer set.

You can find or more or order a set at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/shell-game/

-Louie

Dice Sequence

I was relearning Giovanni Livera’s Shell Shocked routine. This is a three shell game routine and at the end of it you have two dice on the table. Looking at the two dice, I realized that this is a natural transition to the Sachs Dice Routine. I originally learned this as a teenager from the book Routined Manipulation Vol 1 by Lewis Ganson.

If you’re not familiar with the trick, the effect is that you hold two dice in your hand and the numbers on the dice change as you turn your hand over. It’s a great effect and one that Steve Dobson did a lot in his working repertoire. I dug out his lecture notes and grabbed some dice!

Dobson's Dimensions by Steve Dobson

The move isn’t hard to do, but Steve does it backwards from how my hands remember it from when I was a teenager. The move is better the way Steve describes it in his lecture notes.

You can learn Steve’s routine from the notes pictured above (if you can track them down) or it’s the basis for the routine taught in Reed McClintok’s Ivory Connection video.

-Louie

Shell Shocked – Three Shell Game Routine

Currently I’m playing with Shell Shocked which is Giovanni Livera‘s three shell game routine from his book Confessions of an Italian Magician.

Giovanni Livera's three shell game routine
Giovanni Livera's three shell game routine

What I like about the routine is that is has an ending that’s a punctuation, not just doing the same thing under more conditions. In the book Giovanni gives you his shell shuffling sequence, but if you already have a few sequences, then you can add his ending to what you already do.

One of the changes I made to the routine is that I’m palming the P the whole routine, instead of stealing it towards the end of the routine. Doing it that way makes sense for me as I don’t keep my shell game props in a bag, so needed a workaround.

If you’re looking for a three shell game routine, this is worth checking out!

-Louie

Projection for seniors!

While I don’t do a ton of shows at senior communities anymore, I still do a fair amount of them. Here’s one from last week, you’ll notice that I’m now using projection in these shows.

close up magic with a projector

I have a very simple set up and don’t ask for it, but if they have a TV or projector in the room, I use it!

The two tricks that I specifically use the projector for at:
The Russian Shell Game
That Way More (my version of the ambitious card)

Both of these routines are interactive, in that they aren’t tricks that the audience just watches. They are involved in some level of the trick. For me, I think that it’s important when doing things that can only be seen with projection is to have an interactive component to the routine. That’s my style, not everyone is like that.

That said, I’m really liking my video set up, it’s small and easy to travel with!

-Louie
PS if you want to learn more about performing for senior communities, check out my book: How To Perform For Seniors

Using Projection in my Senior Show!

Last week I had a travel day where I got into the city a day before a week long gig. I booked a show at a retirement community that day as I wasn’t doing anything but loading into the fairgrounds.

senior magic show

My current senior show equipment is essentially a briefcase show. Here’s what I bring in with me (not including my audio equipment)

magic show case

One element that I’ve added to the show is using projection in the show. I have two bits that use a TV screen.

using projection for a magic show

Most senior facilities will have access to a screen in the performing area. Before I rely on it, I always ask to confirm that they do. I also have alternate things, so that if there’s an issue with the TV or whatever I still can do my time.

Here’s my theory on using projection, I don’t use it as a “look at this cool thing I can do“, everything I do on it is very interactive. The two tricks I do are my That Way More card trick, and my Russian Shell Game. The card trick uses someone in the audience (who stays in their seat) and the three shell game uses the entire audience.

-Louie
if you want to learn more about performing for seniors in retirement communities, check out my book How to Perform for Seniors!

New Addition to Library Shows!

Last summer when doing library shows I noticed that probably 95% of the library shows that I did (indoors) had a TV screen in the room that I did my show in. So this year I planned a trick (actually two and a half tricks) that could use the TV as projection for close up magic.

close up magic at a library

There’s really not much to my set up, it’s an iphone with a camera app, an HDMI adapter and and HDMI cord. This very basic set up allow me to do the two full trick and one revelation with the screen.

In the beginning of the show during my warm up I do my ambitious card that uses projection. Then later in the show I do my Russian Shell Game routine, which is a three shell game on steroids, and then I use it for the reveal of my nest of boxes routine.

It’s working great and every library I’m doing (indoors) this summer has a TV in the room for me. I do have alternate material in case I can’t do use the TV for whatever reason. I’ve only done it once (so far), but it plays great for those routines and I’m glad I’m using something that’s already in the room!

-Louie

Shell Shocked by Giovanni Livera

A bit ago someone mentioned Giovanni Livera’s three shell game routine. I wasn’t aware of this routine, so I tracked down a his book Confessions of an Italian Magician where his Shell Shocked routine is written up.

His routine has an ending that’s unusual, it ends with three production items. The first two are dice and the third is a plastic P. I have all of the props except the plastic P, but that’s where my 3d printer came in handy.

Within about 15 minutes I had made a plastic letter P and had it printed and can now learn the routine!

This is a great three shell game routine, and I’ll get started working on it later today!
-Louie

Shell Game Set (Homemade?)

I just added a new three shell game set to my collection:

Three Shell Game

I’m pretty sure this was a home made set, as they look like nothing I’ve ever seen. The look like they started as candle snuffers, and someone took the stick off of them and glued a bearing over the hole. I like their weight, but don’t like how tall they are. The height and strange shape makes working with them a bit awkward.

They’re a great addition to the collection, but won’t replace my working set!

-Louie