close up magic – Page 14

Simple but Ugly

In using projection at my shows over the summer I learned that some projectors or TV’s will “time out” and turn off if they don’t think they’re getting a signal. The camera I use has a black out option that I used to use, until I learned that the black out can be interpreted as no signal and the TV or projector will go into sleep mode.

To solve this problem, I 3d printed a simple camera cover for my iphone and glued it on.

This is a very simple, low tech way to solve the problem. The camera is still sending a picture to the screen, so it won’t got into sleep mode.

For these shows I didn’t want to run the camera through my laptop and use my Media Star to control it. That’s way too much set up and gear for a library show.

-Louie

Cheap Bicycle Playing Cards!

About a month ago I was told that Walmart had bricks of bicycle cards for $14! It turns out these are a clearance item, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. I’ve been buying them up whenever I find them on my travels.

There are still some out there at Walmart’s, but I’m finding them less and less now. If you go looking, they usually be with the playing cards OR in the clearance section of the store.

Just a note, if you’re going out looking for them. I found a box that was still labeled at $29, but I took it to the register and when I scanned it, it came up at $14. So if you see the higher price, it should ring up at $14!

Good luck finding them!
-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: Ronnay’s Twisting the Jokers

Today’s vintage magic trick is Twisting the Jokers by Ronnay. This trick is very much the vibe of the golden age of packet tricks. It’s a trick where the four cards turn over one at a time, then turn into a different value. During this time that plot was done a ton of different ways, and here’s Ronnay’s version:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! Ronnay’s Twisring the Jokers #magictrick #joker #cardtrick #vintage #packettrick #louiefoxx #magiciansoftiktok ♬ 10 minutes, meditation, sleep, mindfulness, night(951759) – Gloveity

The provided patter is garbage, it feels like rip off of the standard Six Card Repeat patter. The problem with this trick’s patter is that it uses a lot of industry terms that make it feel really clunky.

From a technical standpoint this trick is fine and it logically flows, but with a modern trick like NFW which is easier to do and much cleaner, Twisting the Jokers is obsolete…but these types of tricks were steps on the ladder to get to tricks like NFW and they have their place.

– 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

Look It Up!

This summer teenagers have been saying, “That’s soo sigma” or just “Sigma” when I perform close up magic for them. I had a feeling that “sigma” meant cool, based on the context it was used in. However, to be sure, I did a Google search to figure it out.

Nothing in life has made me feel older than researching slang on the Today Show’s website!

That confirmed what I thought, and now I can use it correctly. While I think that when a older magician uses kid slang it feels like they are trying to pander to the kids and never seems cool.

In my close up I now say, “that’s soo sigma” but I do it in a way where I’m almost making fun of saying it. Very tongue in cheek, and not using it like it’s something I would normally say.

It’s important to keep an eye or ear out for these trends that kids do and figure out how you can use them to your advantage. For example, there’s the trend of kids asking you to “do a backflip”. I came up with two version of this trick to do when they ask:

@louiefoxx Do a Back Flip! #doabackflip #backflipchallenge #backflip #louiefoxx #magic #magictrick, #surpriseending #old #magician #cardtrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The other version and the one that I use is published in Vanish Magazine about a year ago.

Simply knowing how to respond to these things will put you ahead of the game!

-Louie

New Opening Bit For My Card Set!

Last week when I was playing with a idea for a trick where a card changes to a selected color, I hit upon a new bit for the beginning of my main card set. The first phase is a multiple card force, so they keep picking the same card.

It begins by asking the person picking the card their name. As they are picking the card, I say, “People named _____ always pick the five of spades.” Then they look at the card and that’s what they pick. We repeat this and they pick the same card again and I say, “See…people named ___ always pick that.” Then I have someone else pick a card, and I repeat the same bit with the their name and the same force card. This is fun, and it get’s me using their names.

I’m really liking this!

– Louie

Packet Trick in Spanish

Earlier this summer I started doing a packet trick in Spanish. The trick is Emerson and West’s Gourmet Mouse. What I like about this trick is that it’s very simple and I can do it for kids. The plot is easy to follow, you have three cards. One has a picture of a mouse, one cheese and one a slice of cheesecake. The cheese ends up disappearing and the mouse ends up changing to a picture of a cat (that ate the mouse).

The trick is pretty simple to speak in Spanish and that’s helping me connect with audiences that I’ve struggled with in the past due to language barriers.

Here’s what the trick looks like:

@louiefoxx Help me learn spanish! #spanish #learnspanish #helpme #magictrick #rat #gato #cat #cheese #cardtrick #louiefoxx #learnalanguage ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

To learn Spanish, I’m using DuoLingo and asking for help from people I work with who speak Spanish. I’m getting better, nowhere near conversational, but getting better.

-Louie

Color Changing Card!

Here’s what I’m started doing with the Bicycle NERTZ cards. There’s every color of the rainbow, except for orange, and there’s also black. What I’m doing is that I took out all of five of spades and put them in rainbow order in my pocket. This is my pocket index of the colors. I’m not using the black card. I’m also using a blue backed deck with the five of spades on top. The blue card that came with the NERTZ card set is a different blue than the standard bicycle card blue deck color.

When I start my card routine, I ask what the person’s favorite color of the rainbow is. I then force them the five of spades that on top of the deck as they are picking the card, I say, “People who like yellow (or whatever color they say) always pick the five of spades.” Then I proceed with my multiple force routine and my three locations of a card routine. During the three locations, I’ll pull the yellow backed fived of spades from the middle of the stack in my pocket and move it to the top.

After the three locations routine, it feels like the trick is done. The deck is on the the table and the selected card is face up next to it. I’m stealing the yellow five of spades from my pocket and loading it face up six cards from the top of the deck.

I show the tabled blue backed five of spades, put it into the deck and side steal in into my right hand as I hand the deck to the person who said “yellow”. I ask them what color they said, and they’ll repeat “yellow”. I have them deal down cards spelling yellow, dealing one card per letter. When they hit the W, their card will be face up! I use the time when they’re dealing cards to ditch the palmed card in my pocket.

Now all that’s left is to turn the card over to show that it’s back is now their named color!

A couple of notes about this, first of all, obviously use whatever color they say, not just yellow. I have yet to have someone name orange, if they did, I’d just use that as the premise for the multiple force. Next, it’s easy to know the letters. If they name any color except for red or blue, put the card in the 6th position. If they name red or blue, put the card into the fourth position. That will have the selected card end up face up at either the last card of the deal, or sitting face up after the deal.

Hope you enjoy it, it’s a lot of fun to day, the only downside is the pocket space it takes up.

-Louie

The Unconquered Card!

When I was a kid, I remember there were two different (gimmicked) three card montes being done. There was Michael Skinner’s and the one put out by Mike Rogers. Both were virtually identical, except that Skinner’s has a snappy flip over. It appears that Roger’s was the first and he had been doing it since the early 1960’s. Here’s what the Roger’s routine looks like:

@louiefoxx Does anyone ever win this game? #gambling #win #cardgame #magictrick #cardtrick #shellgame #threecardmonte #louiefoxx #explained #monte ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

At the end, I show how I would change the count. His shuffle sequence doesn’t make sense with how the cards ended up after the shuffle. So I changed the shuffle sequence, so that your pull a double, to the bottom, then a single to the bottom and finally another single to the bottom. That shuffle sequence leaves the cards in the sequence that they should be in after the shuffle. Where the original sequence the ace shouldn’t be back in the middle.

It’s a little thing, and honestly I don’t know how much of a difference it makes.

-Louie

Bicycle NERTZ Playing Cards

I finally broke down and bought a box of the NERTZ game playing cards that Bicycle puts out.

They’re $24.97 and you get six deck of cards, each is a different color.

What I don’t like about these is they’re jumbo index and not regular index cards.

I’m going to try to come up with a trick that uses these cards. I’m trying to avoid coming up with a packet trick where the payoff is the cards aren’t red or blue.

-Louie