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I have just been offered my first 'gig', doing a table hopping routine in a pub/restaurant that I use, just for a couple of hours on a monthly basis. I'm pretty nervous about it as it'll be the first time in my life I'll have done magic for anything other than the love of it, and as such I want it to be spot on. What tips would you offer for me? Is it good practice to have a different routine for each table, in which case how many should I do for any given table, or should it be the same routine for everyone?

Also what tricks are best for this sort of performance? at the minute I'm looking at NFW, Chop Cups, finishing with an orange and a lemon, Hopping Coins, Ambitious Card and 2 card monte, and potentially finishing with Bang On now that I've bought this.. start clawing some of the moneyback!!

What other essentials would you recommend? Is it worth adding a few TT effects to pack it out a bit?

Cheers in advance

Carl

Speaking with 0 experience here, just my 2 cents. :

The TT is great for this purpose I think. I tend to carry one all the time for quite some time and always get the best reactions.
The Haunted Key is also very easy to carry and good for table hopping IMO.
And consider having an ID with you, especially for couples you can do a quickie by asking the man for the number/figure and the wife for the color

I find alot of Sankeys material to be very commercial and effective in a hop around enviroment.
Holy Moley and In a flash are great effects with In a Flash being a great finisher.
If performing for a couple I love doing the card / mind reader from Devils Picture book where one person picks a card from the pack, memorises it and returns it. The other spectator then deals the cards face down as you 'Read' the mind of the card picker. With plenty of presentation as you get close to 'reading' the card you yell stop and the card that they stop on is the card picked.
Sorry about the long explaination but I can't remember what it's called but for a couple it kills as you can build up the idea that a couple has a mental link.
Waffled on to much but good luck and I hope it goes well. Just perform with confidence and be yourself and everything will be kosher!

Nightfall wrote:And consider having an ID with you, especially for couples you can do a quickie by asking the man for the number/figure and the wife for the color

Thanks nightfall, although now I've purchased Bang On I'm working on a similar routine with that where one person thinks of a suit, one thinks of a value, so there is a card chosen but unknown to anyone.. except me!

greedoniz wrote:I find alot of Sankeys material to be very commercial and effective in a hop around enviroment.
Holy Moley and In a flash are great effects with In a Flash being a great finisher.
If performing for a couple I love doing the card / mind reader from Devils Picture book where one person picks a card from the pack, memorises it and returns it. The other spectator then deals the cards face down as you 'Read' the mind of the card picker. With plenty of presentation as you get close to 'reading' the card you yell stop and the card that they stop on is the card picked.
Sorry about the long explaination but I can't remember what it's called but for a couple it kills as you can build up the idea that a couple has a mental link.
Waffled on to much but good luck and I hope it goes well. Just perform with confidence and be yourself and everything will be kosher!

Thanks greedoniz! I've heard good things about Devils Picture book so may have to take a peek!

I must tell you that all the routines in DPB will take alot of practice and are quite advanced. The routine I tried to explain depends very heavily on performance.

Good Luck

Jay Sankeys ' Real work on restaurants and bars ' has some great effects, perfect for table hopping. Also check out 22 blows to the head.. some great mentalism effects.

TT effects are a must for restaurant work... you can always rely on a TT

I just got box monster... I think that would be a great effect to close with. It would work perfect in that enviornment and is really a stunning effect.

AcrylicAce

for as much as i love chop cups i'd be very tempted to say if your going to use one for table hopping or walkaround then use a mini cup (or even a micro one) as your not always going to have space on a table plus the fact that when you come to the final loads anyone at the tables behind you can see whats going on if the load is too big. the routine that comes with the Riser Micro cup is perfect for tablehopping or close up cos you dont need a table and the final loads are only 1 1/2" rubber balls so can be concealed from all angles.

My effects choices are based on the following - for restaurant/pub work:

1) Must be instant reset (or very quick reset) as you only have the breif moment of time between tables to get ready......and even then you are often under watchful eyes

2) Very few bad angles.....you are virtually surrounded and prying eyes are on you often, so bad angles can ruin the effect or another table later.

3) Can be contained easily in my pocket or utilizes borrowd table items

4) Doesn't depend solely on the use of the table....table space can be limited and unpredictable at times, so I prefer things that don't require the table.......I can always use the table if it is available, but don't rely on it

As long as it fits these basic criteria, it will possibly end up in my travel bag!

Thanks for the advice everyone.

So should I be looking at a different routine for each table, or the same routine throughout and stagger the order I visit tables?

Carlos75 wrote:Thanks for the advice everyone.

So should I be looking at a different routine for each table, or the same routine throughout and stagger the order I visit tables?

You should need about 10-12 tricks performing 3-4 on each table. When I first started out table hopping I tried loads of different tricks to see which ones got the best reactions and kept them in my routine. As people have said before, you should do tricks that have a quick reset and ones that are angle proof. You will come across kids as well, so you need to make sure you have a couple of tricks for them.

when I'm table hopping I carry:

Cards
Coins
Rubber Bands
TT
Fork
Pen
Sponge Balls
Dice

I have a vareity of effects ready, but then find myself sticking to the same "core 3 or 4" at every table.....but for my personal sanity, I will open differently or close differently at each table just to keep it fresh....this will give the appearance that you have different routines at every table in case peoplea are watching.....I also have a series of impromptu tricks that I can perform at any given table. This allows me to change up my routine at any given moment, lengthen a routine (often used in restaurants if they are experiencing service delays with their meal), etc.......I don't think that there is a "perfect method" by any means, it would depend (in my opinion) on the breadth of impromptu effects you can do, the number of tables in the pub/restaurant, etc you comfort level, and your performance style......I can say that I do modify my routines, number of effects, etc....on occasion depending on how i feel, what exact effects I am performing, etc