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'Packs small plays big' has always been on my list of pet-hate magic phrases for no particular reason, just ahead of 'bit of business' and 'patter' and just behind 'the real work'.

However, reading a post today it occurs to me that I'm not sure it means what I think it means, or what other people think it means, or something...

I always took it to mean 'packs small yet is suitable for large/stage performances'. However, people seem to use it to simply mean 'packs small yet is a powerful effect' - which seems to me a bit meaningless as there is little or no correlation between the size of props and the strength of an effect.

Anyway, my thoughts aside, what do you mean if you use this phrase...?

I've always used and considered it to mean that there isn't much to it (no or few props/objects) but is incredibly powerful. I don't think it's meaningless, unless you take it to mean that an effect with a lot of props/objects is not as powerful just because there are more "things" going on.

In short, I think of it as "you can do quite a lot with very little".

I have seen it used both ways, but I think it does (or at least should) mean "can play to a big audience", because if the "big" just meant "powerful", why would you ever want to "play small"? Whereas it is a vaguely useful distinction to know whether a trick is somehow suitable for a performance for lots of people despite not needing larger props.

But you get the feeling people just tag it onto all the other b*ll*cks they say about their new effect, along with "road tested" and "magician fooler"

Farlsborough, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could myself.

Demitri wrote:I've always used and considered it to mean that there isn't much to it (no or few props/objects) but is incredibly powerful. I don't think it's meaningless, unless you take it to mean that an effect with a lot of props/objects is not as powerful just because there are more "things" going on.

In short, I think of it as "you can do quite a lot with very little".

This sums my view up nicely.

I think this saying comes from previous days of magic, where magicians were mostly stage magicians and needed loads of stuff, tons of equipment.