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Ok, so, you've just finished making someones card jump to the top of the deck or vanished it and someone goes "I know how that's done show me (Place where essential gimmick is)".

Just wondering what I should do here.......


Also, hasn't happened yet and hope it won't but if someone should get googling and goes round blabbing?

Cheers in advance for any and all tips!

if anyone blabs about card tricks, i always look confused, ask them to explain and say "fascinating! sounds interesting...show me..."

then give them the cards...

The only time it happened to me was a rising card effect to a barmaid, she said ‘I saw that on telly with my boy friend’ I said if that’s so shuffle the deck, she did and could not understand how she could shuffle when the gaff was (as she saw it ) so thick.
Fortunately the gaff she saw was an older type when mine was almost 2 card thick…. Go away with it but never used the gaff again..

I too would be interested in what others do in this situation..

TheMaskedMagician wrote:Ok, so, you've just finished making someones card jump to the top of the deck or vanished it and someone goes "I know how that's done show me (Place where essential gimmick is)".

Just wondering what I should do here.......


Also, hasn't happened yet and hope it won't but if someone should get googling and goes round blabbing?

Cheers in advance for any and all tips!

Yet you pick the username "TheMaskedMagician"?

Depends on the routine, if they patently have wrong method then continue as normal and confuse them even more when their idea doesn't make any sense. Occassionally if I do my ACR without having the card signed they'll look smug at the first couple of phases as they assume the cards are all the same. Which doesn't explain it turning up in my mouth followed by the whole deck vanishing.

I'm going to be really boring and chant the mantra: strip the effect down to its component parts and re-build it in your own image. That way, no one will recognise it as the thing they googled for.

I once had a guy say something like "I think you could have done it like this..." then proceed to describe pretty much Exactly how i'd done a trick. I responded with "sounds too complicated for me, mate" and he went off to consider how else it could've been done

He was a forensic investigator or something so I didn't mind so much that he'd guessed it, Was quite pleased I'd managed to throw him off that train of thought though

I think Tomo's right, make up your own patter and put your own slant on the trick and don't tell them the name of it, well not it's real name anyway and people will have a much harder time finding it.

If something does get spotted I don't really know what else you can do other than just shurg and get on with something else if performing for a group or walk away if just performing for that one person.

Don't either get flustered, try to cover things up or be abusive back, these'll just make you look worse.

Yeh never say:
Now I shall perform...(insert name of trick)

Cos it removes alot from the trick.
I agree with Tomo strip it down and build it up in your image.

abraxus wrote:if anyone blabs about card tricks, I always look confused, ask them to explain and say "fascinating! sounds interesting...show me..."

then give them the cards...

I think Abraxus has nailed it, just turn it round on them and put them in the spotlight, you'll be amazed at how quickly they'll shut up, but don't do it in a cocky way as all that will do is make you look arrogant, and no one likes a smart a$$!!

even the thought of that sentence being said turns ya off approaching a group.What i hate most is when they say ''saw what ya did there'' but actually saw nothing.it makes the other spectators suspicious and they would then ask him only for him to answer with a smug grin and say''ah no i wont tell''

Yes the one thing I have learned is that there are ways and means to put people off the scent. Here is something I have learned...

If I suspect a group are going to be awkward, then I turn into a 'cardsharp' and actually invite the group to try and catch me out. I say that I am going to cheat and bring their card to the dealing position.

I even encourage them by telling them exactly when I am going to cheat, and even throw in a fake cheating move.

This is very heavy misdirection - obviously all of the 'cheating' has already taken place much earlier.

If someone does suspect, their explanation is lost in the smokescreen of the others'.

Hi Gang - just another 2 cents-

I really think it depends on the effect and circumstance. You mentioned "making someones card jump to the top of the deck or vanished it".

There are ways out sometimes depending on the effect, the audience, etc.

If you were busted during a vanish, it may be familiarity with the method, it may be a wrong guess, it may be that he was simply lying to get attention, it may be that the move could stand some improvement. Some people hate being fooled and will do their best to upset the cart, rather than feel awkward.

If you are performing an ambitious card routine, you may be able to get that spectator to participate in a phase in a way that will make it clear to him and others that he does not really understand it.

Sometimes some clever verbiage will get you back on track. Sometimes stunning the loudmouth will do it. Sometimes a humorous reply will win the day. Sometimes a less threatening, or more interesting and involving presentation will do it. I don't think there is a pat, generalized answer to this. If it is a specific trick during a specific moment, maybe we have something to work with here.

It can be a nightmare, if not simply irritating, but also remember - some folks find no other way to be part of the fun but trying to bust you. Let us know more specifics next time, and maybe we can arrive at a specific solution.

Best to all-

Steve

An important part of structuring a magic routine is to have methods that cancel each other out. ACRs are a good way to study this concept that greats like Teller utilize. Even if a spectator can see your pass, the DL, tilt, top change, and side steal will still fool them. Using those different methods to create the same effect allows you to cancel out any one method the spectator might think of.

Mentalism usually uses this concept on an even subtler level. I'm not a mentalist, but from what I've seen, a good structure for a billet reading is to secretly obtain the information written on the billet and then add to it. If the name of a person they know, most mentalists probably won't just say the name and stop right there. They cold read and try to create the appearance of knowing their physical and personal characteristics. Then they say the name.

If a spectator claims that the mentalist read the billet, he will seem wrong because the mentalist described the person, not just the name. If they say the performer just guessed, then the apparent accuracy of the description and the fact that the name was correctly revealed cancels out that possibility. The physical and psychological methods cancel each other out.

With my magic, I try (key word: try) to combine this type of thinking along with likable, honest presentations to make the actual method unimportant and/or impossible to figure out.

Teach them a trick.

Not as silly as it sounds.
What I mean is a sucker trick where it seems as tho the magish is sharing some great secret only for the specs to find they have been fooled.

A good example is the sucker torn and restored napkin from the complete course.

Good Luck