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We're all familiar with purely visual effects like Dynamo's 'Phone through glass bottle' or nail bending routines, tricks which require virtually zero patter beyond "Watch this" or "Gimme that bottle for a second" and are entirely centered around a powerful visual effect. My favourite is probably phone through bottle. What are yours?

The Human Blockhead. Even if people know how it's done (and it's been exposed a hundred times over), it'll still make them wince.

Self tying shoe lace gets great 'WTF' reactions from people. I always feel the guilt with that one as its so damn easy!

Alec

The ones which come immediately to mind to me, in no particular order:

Crazy Man's Handcuffs
David Copperfield's Flying
Blackstone's light bulb
Bill switch

..and a routine that David Berglas used to do, with a pen vanishing from one hand and reappearing in the other.

Also one that I attempted to video here:
http://youtu.be/A_KpYDRVABA

Barry

i really like prohibition at the moment.......... i bought a PK ring a while back and have had great fun using it for that effect!!

'The Floating and Dancing Cork', especially Fred Kaps version. Harry Anderson's version of 'Needle Through Arm', it's not to everyone's taste but it always get a strong reaction. If you're talking cards, Alex Elmsley's 'Dazzle' is very pleasing to the eye; there is a fair amount of patter in there but it really is a strong visual routine.

A colour change routine.
U3F
And sponge bunnies. Don't knock it until you've tried it. Really.

magicofthemind wrote:The ones which come immediately to mind to me, in no particular order:

Crazy Man's Handcuffs
David Copperfield's Flying
Blackstone's light bulb
Bill switch

..and a routine that David Berglas used to do, with a pen vanishing from one hand and reappearing in the other.

Also one that I attempted to video here:
http://youtu.be/A_KpYDRVABA" target="_blank

Barry

Great video but it is cheesier than something that's come first in a being cheesy competition

Even though I know how it's done, if presented well crazy mans handcuffs still fries my brain.

I don't know many effects that work without a lot of patter but for pure visual and tactile impact I like Hanson Chien's Touch.

I tend not to use it as an opener though, it works better as a closer for a rubber band routine.

-Stacy

For an effect that you could do with no talking, to anyone in any language it would have to be something as simple as the classic gypsy thread. A beautiful piece of magic.