talkmagic.co.uk

Now sometimes tricks are using numbers to force in a way that you as magician have narrowed down a specific numbers, like for example: No matter what number spec chooses the result will, after a calculation, always hit between 1-20. For the moment it feels for the spec that he has a really free choice to pick a number between 10-200 but in the end its only 1-20.

Now what I am saying here is this: When the spec. goes home and starts to do own calculation, he will also come to the conclusion that the result will always occur between 1-20.

And this makes me to back of a little and feel that I don't wanna do the certain trick then bcaus of this issue.

I very rarely use these types forces but if I do I always make it a very small part of the effect adn quickly move on giving the spec something else to think about. You can usually get away with them so long as the spec doesn't get the chance to think too much.

I'm a mathematician and find basic maths trick horrible. I can generally do the symbolic manipulation during the trick. The only tricks I do with the spek choosing numbers are ones which involve the deck stacking and unstacking as a side effect. This way, in order to deconstruct the trick, the spek would have to remember the way you dealt, the way you picked up, the maths and it all becomes a bit much

There's a really good mathematical counting trick in Gardner's "Mathematics Magic and Mystery" under "Henry Christ's Improvement". It's also in "Scarne on Card Tricks" under "The Allerchrist Card Trick". The spec remaps the court cards to be any numbered cards from ace through 10. You count out four piles from a shuffled deck waiting for a real coincidence to happen (it might even include the remapped cards) but you always end up finding the spec's card at the end. It's a real headswim, but the mechanism that makes the counting work is so deeply buried, it can seem that something spooky is going on with the right handling.

The best thing about a trick is not how it was performed, but how it was perceived by a spectator. I once performed Red Hot Mama (from Michael Ammar's ETMCM Vol. 1) for someone. In this handling, you spread and have them pick a card, THEN, you Hindu Flash Force another card. To me, anyone who thinks about a trick will figure out how to do the Hindu Flash Force. However, when I asked the spectator what happened during the trick, he told me that I spread the cards and had them pick a card and I changed it's back from blue to red. Then, I spread the cards again and had him pick a card, and the red card on the table turned into the second selection. He perceived that I spread the deck both times, even though I didn't.

You see those mathematical effects on the big television specials where the magician will perform a trick for the people at home (Max Maven is a great example of this). Watching the trick twice will reveal the secret, but it's pretty cool the first time.

You're all thinking too much

90% of it really don't matter in that few really will catch on.

Craig's right

Craig Browning wrote::lol: You're all thinking too much

90% of it really don't matter in that few really will catch on.

Beautiful, just beautiful. Says it all

Fact: most of the time, a spectator doesn't CARE how an effect is done.

Fiction: everyone is out on a mission to catch you out.

Fact: the more complex you make an effect the less interest people will have.

Fiction: everyone in the audience listens to every word you say


Also, bear in mind, that there's a subsection of the general public who enjoy entertainment for it's value, not it's method. Yes, they're out there, and so long as you're entertaining, they couldn't care less whether you've used a simple maths trick or a complex clairvoyant voice from the grave.

Quite simply put, always remember that the layperson isn't generally privvy to even the simplest magical methods... so you've got nothing to prove, and nothing to hide.

I've said this already once today, but why run when you're not being chased.

I ask myself this this ' If I wasnt doing magic, would I have worked out how this was done??'

Most likely the answer is no. I dont know how some new things I see are done. I consider myself intelligent enough, and if I cantwork out methods or wouldnt if I didnt have the knowledge I have now, I can safely assume that a layperson wont either. So I dont worry about it

Dosen't it seem disapointing when you stand our side of the trick?

This is been said a lot in magic "who is going be fooled by that?" and the answer is "We are magicians we know what to look for"

Its also said that magicians are the hardest audiance to play for. Layman are impressed by just that card getting to the top of the deck, they arent impressed by the D/L followed by an Elmsey followed by a pass etc. We see it all from our view and 9 times out of 10 they see it from theires.

Its like when a chef cooks something on tv turns round and says its c*** (not the best) and throws it in the bin. To us it looks fine. And all thats missing from the plate is a bit seasoning.

Siege said something that just made me grin a bit... something about that sub section of the public that simply loves entertainment for the sake of entertainment...

How many of you go to see shows with your favorite stars (magic) in them?

Does it hurt your ability to enjoy the show even though you have a fair idea as to how most of it works?

I have read and thought what you guys are telling me, and it sounds and seems very true, btw, I use cards now, insteed: "Think a number ..." etc. No forcing etc... Just shuffle cards and ribbon spread on the table to pick 2 cards and go from there. I think its better, caus it helps another thing in the trick later on.

To be honest no-one would go home and be bothered to work it all out because they will be more intrigued with the end result of the trick not the beginning.

lindz wrote:To be honest no-one would go home and be bothered to work it all out because they will be more intrigued with the end result of the trick not the beginning.

Wise words.

Most of my friends don't want to know how it's done. Most people know that discovering the method just makes less of the magic for them. My girlfriend said about Out of This World, "never practice that near me, I don't want to know".

Most people go to a magic show to be entertained, not as an exercise in magician embarrassment. Most people who ask you to do a magic trick are the same, as are most who invite you to remain at their dinner table.

I tend to deconstruct trick, because I'm interested in them. However, with so many routes possible, it's often very difficult.