magic trick – MagicShow.Tips

The Donut and Bagel Puzzle!

In my daily writing, I’ve been trying to come up with something to do with a couple of sponge donuts that I picked up in a box of vintage magic about a month ago. They’ve been sitting on my desk, or in the box of magic tricks that I travel with.

It hit me that they’d be great for some sort of ring on a string sort of magic routine. I played with a couple of things and quickly realized it needed something else, so I added a real bagel, and here’s what I came up with:

It really surprised me how much people liked it! I thought it’d get a “that’s neat, what else do you have…” sort of reaction. I need to try to figure out some sort of ending for this, right now it’s got a good opening line, the trick, but I feel like it needs something else.

-Louie

How to Add a Beat to a Packet Trick

Yesterday I made a post about David Regal’s Off With His Head. I wanted to add a third beat to it, and one of the ideas I mentioned was making the three cards that weren’t selected blank. This is really following the B’wave format.

Here’s it with the three blank cards as the ending:

I think it’s (for me) a better trick than the original and away to turn B’wave from a mindreading trick to a magic trick.

-Louie

Roving Magic Show Set List

Here’s what my props for a roving magic set look like:

The bottom row is my card routine, which is modular and can run anywhere from about 90 seconds to 7+ minutes. The top row are the other props that I use. Everything goes into my pockets except for the empty chop cup.

The top row is the fortune teller (it’s in my PCAM lecture notes), then my Out for Beers trick, three shell game and a chop cup. The nice thing about these props is that there’s a lot of texture I can have with my roving magic set. The opening is always the card routine, then the next trick depends on the group.

-Louie

Chop Cup Thoughts

Yesterday I posted about my new sequence for the chop cup, go read that and watch the video before reading this post, as I’m going to write about a few things in that post.

Here’s what I like about that routine:

1: It doesn’t use the standard chop cup move of shaking the cup with the ball, or in this case a die

2: It’s not presented as a “where is the ball,” but as what will happen to it.

3: Once the routine starts, I never go to my pocket.

For me, the big thing is that I want to remove the going to the pocket element during the routine. If you keep going to the pocket, the audience knows that’s where the big ball or die comes from. Don’t fool yourself that repeatedly going to the pocket fools them, they may not have known when you snuck it in there, but they do know where it came from.

-Louie

Learn a Chop Cup Routine

Here’s a simple chop cup routine that you can learn, and do with any standard chop cup.

What I like about this routine, over many chop cup routines, is that I only go to the pocket once, and it’s not immediately before the production of the eight ball.
-Louie

Simple Chop Cup Routine

an eight ball, dice and dice cup for the chop cup magic trick

When I made a small batch of dice chop cups last week, people asked me for a video. Honestly, I thought everyone knew what a chop cup does, but I was wrong. If you don’t know what a chop cup is, it’s a gimmicked cup that will hold out a ball, or in this case dice.

Typically, this is one with one visible ball; however, in routines like my CeeLo routine, it uses three visible dice. How the normal routine goes is that a ball keeps disappearing and reappearing under a cup, then at the end, there’s a giant ball or whatever under the cup.

Here’s a quick video of a chop cup routine that I made for the people who asked:

I was just improving and did this sequence. It’s actually a pretty good sequence; it has a lot of effects.
1: Teleportation: Die goes from pocket to under the cup
2: Penetration: Die goes through the top of the cup
3: Vanish: Die disappears from my hand
4: Production: Eight ball appears

That’s a lot of magic in less than 20 seconds!

-Louie

Dice Cup Chop Cup

Occasionally I’ll make a batch of dice cup chop cups. These are chop cups made from dice cups and use a die instead of a ball.

A dice cup, two dice and an eight ball for the chop cup magic trick

I prefer using a die over a ball for a couple of reasons. First, it makes sense when the cup is a dice cup; all of the props belong together. Next, dice are white, so they are easy to see. Finally, with dice being flat, they don’t roll as much, so you won’t have them roll off the table as easily.

When you use a prop, like a traditional magic chop chop that visually looks like nothing that exists in world, I try to find things that look real to build the trick into. It’s not always possible, but it’s something I try to do. I should mention that there is value in an unusual prop as a presentation hook. For example, my O-Korto Coin Box Routine uses small brass Okito Box style coin boxes. I introduce it as my “Grandma’s Coin Box”, then there are a few jokes that go along with it. There are ways and reasons to use unusual props.

-Louie

The Best Way to End a Card Trick

When doing a card trick, the ending is the most important thing. Here’s three options that I’m playing with:

Each has something going for it.

Option 1: quick and direct

Option 2: BIG

Option 3: a gag, then a bonus trick

I posted this video on my social media and everyone liked number three the best. One thing I didn’t mention was the conditions; this was a stage piece for large groups.

After trying all three of them, the one that played the best for me was number 2!

The size of the reveal, I think, made a huge difference. Also, when the folded card comes out, you have a little bit of build as it’s being unfolded.

I think the problem with option #3, which is the 52 on 1 card that turns into the selection, is that the gag is too small to be seen from the stage, and everyone has to take my word for what’s on the card. Also, you have a gag and a magic trick that are pretty close together. The changing of the card, I think, doesn’t hit as it should. I think to the audience it feels like the card just has the 52 on 1 on one side and the selection on the other, and I just turn the card over. Yes, I do show the back of the card twice; however, I don’t think the audience processes that or remembers that.

I’m glad I tried all three and was surprised at the result.

-Louie

Three Shell Game Ending

One of the endings that I’m doing with my three shell game routine is using a small cap that goes under the shell to replace the standard shot glass. I got the idea when I was on a flight and realized the tiny liquor bottle cap would fit under a shell. (you can read the post about it here)

Here’s a demo of what it looks like:

You could put a shot glass on top of the cap and shell for a triple cover! I really didn’t want to use the shot glass, as it’s bulky, heavy, and semi-fragile. This is a good solution for me!

-Louie

Make Money Magic Work Onstage!

The Juggling Monte routine that I’m working on has taken another step closer to reality. One of the challenges that I identified early on was how to make a two dollar bill visibly different from a one dollar bill onstage. The solution was to write “lucky” on the back of it. Originally I thought writing it in pink, sparkly ink would be good, however I just made one with white ink with a black border and I think it looks great!

There’s not much to making this prop. I took a white paint pen and wrote lucky on the bill. Once it dried, I used a black Sharpie to do the outline. Finally, I took some matte clear spray paint and gave it a light coat to seal it. Hopefully the sealant will protect it from dinging or chipping.

I still need to write some jokes and figure out the routine, but it’s off to a good start. We’ll see how it actually plays for an audience.

-Louie