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Hi All.... I'm a long time lurker but thought I would put up a post asking for some inspiration.

My Name is Rich and I am the resident at Illusions Magic Bar in Bristol so some of you may know me, some of you may not. My style is very much comedy over "fancy" moves but I can hold my own if the need be so don't hold back on complicated things as I am willing to put in the practice.

I am looking to develop a new routine based around a retro game theme and would love some input from all you Magi's

Currently I have the following (not in particular order)

Solve Rubik cube blindfolded (Rubik remembered - Mark Elsdon)
Predict Rubik cube pattern (Rubik predicted - Mark Elsdon)
Snap effect (probably Oz Pearlmans "Perfection")
Magic 8 Ball Card trick (All signs point to yes - Caleb Wiles)
Pacman effect (big ol' packman puppet, double stick tape on the bottom of mouth, spit out and one card remains type deal)
Cluedo effect (trick involving 3 specs choosing a weapon, a location and a murderer, I guess it correctly and then leads to a funny reveal) ((I have looked into the "Physic Cluedo"from the Murder Most Horrid book but I am unsure that this will fit the overall theme))
Mario coin production (then doing it double speed with the Invincible Mario music playing in the background)

These are the ones I need a little inspiration with.

A "Guess Who" type effect.
A "Crystal Maze" type effect


For the "Guess Who" effect I was thinking of forcing a face, revealing it in a comedy routine and then quickchanging or putting on a mask of the face chosen from behind a curtain

For the "Crystal Maze" effect I was thinking of using my quick release handcuffs and getting a spec to do a challenge against me (that will involve me releasing my hands throughout the performance) in order to win a crystal.


So, any ideas/suggestions/tips for any of the above would be great

Thank you muchly

How about including video games too? I've seen a horribly tacky PacMan sponge ball out there somewhere!

Probably covered by Rich's Pacman effect, Lawrence.

I'm not really sure what The Crystal Maze has to do with retro games. It was a TV gameshow, but you might as well stick The Krypton Factor and Play Your Cards Right in there. As you are struggling with a trick to go with it, may I suggest ditching The Crystal Maze and going for something like Trivial Pursuit, Uno or Monopoly? There was a specific Trivial Pursuit trick out a while back (Mark Elsdon's The One with the Trivial Pusuit Cards), but it might no longer be available. Mark might be able to let you have it directly, though.

Purely for fun, but wouldn't it be nice to have a famous magicians set of Top Trumps and do tricks with them? Jonathan Pendragon switches places with Charlotte, David Blaine's card floats up from the other cards and Houdini's card keeps "escaping" from the pack and appearing on top. Only interesting to magicians, I suppose.

Then again, that covers plenty of existing tricks.

is the Mario coin production published? I know Barry and Stuart did it in a show a couple of years ago, but I wasn't aware that it was available for others to use.

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

I only threw in the Crystal Maze effect as I bought some QR handcuffs and I wanted to incorporate it into a routine. I know it goes away from "Retro Games" in a way but its the only way I could see to use them

I have seen the Pacman sponges but my usual routine uses sponge balls and i wanted to step away from the stuff i have been doing for ages. I can see myself slipping into the same routine just with yellow sponges.

The Magicians Top Trumps... I can see a lot of play with that but then again, as you said, it would only resenate with magicians in the know. Perhaps a McBride colour change or two into different masks as well.

I do like the idea of a trivial pursuit trick though, i might have to see if i can have a dig in to what Mark Elsdon did. Also the Monopoly idea is a good one but i dont know how to incorporate that into a magic idea.

The main thing I have to keep to is the fact that the bar gets people from 18 to 80 and I want each trick to be something that everyone knows (and possibly have played) so it "means" something to them.

IanKendall wrote:is the Mario coin production published? I know Barry and Stuart did it in a show a couple of years ago, but I wasn't aware that it was available for others to use.

I had no idea that Barry & Stuart did a Mario Coin production, It was a bit of independent thinking with a few other magicians at the bar to come up with that idea, however do you know what it was on as i would love to see it to get ideas or to see if it was like the idea in my head.

Agree that Crystal Maze perhaps doesn't fit the theme what about coming up with something for Donkey Kong, Frogger, Space Invaders, Tetris or Sonic...

the bar gets people from 18 to 80

Just a thought, would those in the upper age group know anything about, and therefore appreciate, Donkey Kong, Mario and other electronic games? I'd say they were more likely to recognise old TV Game Shows and those could probably be adapted for a magic routine.

Hi Ace T.

I did contemplate Sonic but if you break it down all he did was collect rings and he was fast, Any ring routine is usually slow and methodical (ring on rope, linking rings etc.) and i think this would loose a lot of "magicalness" once you try and speed them up.

Space invaders is a classic, I did forget to mention that I have thought about it but was struggling with a overall idea, Apart from moving cards on the table and then getting the spec to "shoot/choose" one to discard as they move down the table and when they are left with one at the end that would be there chosen card (countless ways of doing this but none seem that clean e.g one way deck, magicians force to some extent)
Same goes with Frogger. The essence of that game is that the frog crosses a busy road and ends up safely on the other side. I am at a loss to where I could derive some magic from that.

Donkey Kong. It depends on what age you are is to what Donkey Kong is. To us oldies its Mario (or Jumping Man) climbing up a tower to save the girl, across barrels and fireballs. To the young uns its a whole side scrolling adventure game grabbing banana's and jumping into barrels with the help of Diddy Kong.

Tetris... now there is a thought, Using cut up cards to resemble shapes and then getting them to make a shape and having a prediction perhaps, any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


Mandrake... Mario is definitely a house hold name and there is enough on TV to know he collects coins to some extent, but i agree in looking into the older TV game shows (as long as they are still recent enough for the young un's to know what im talking about.

Rich-Entertainment wrote:I only threw in the Crystal Maze effect as I bought some QR handcuffs and I wanted to incorporate it into a routine. I know it goes away from "Retro Games" in a way but its the only way I could see to use them

They'll keep until you have a better use for them!

Also the Monopoly idea is a good one but i dont know how to incorporate that into a magic idea.

Pieces of paper to Monopoly money? (Like Extreme Burn.) You could say that you could have turned the paper into euros, but the Monopoly money will soon be worth more. (Satire)

I think using classic games such as Cluedo, Scrabble and Snap might be better for older patrons than old gameshows that younger people won't remember. Hey kids, remember Michael Miles? No, neither do I.

I suspect that Mandrake's just angling for something he will recognise. Try stick and hoop, spinning tops and marbles.

Joking apart (sorry, Mandrake), marbles can be used for tricks. Bob Cassidy has a routine where people choose different coloured marbles and the performer knows which colour each person has. You could also do the more standard Kurotsuke style plot (one ball is black and the others white).

There have been a few different Scrabble effects and Iain Dunford has a Hangman trick in his book, The Games People Play.

No inspiration, but I thought I'd say hi, Rich. Jon Thompson here. I interviewed you for PC Plus a couple of years ago. Has our mutual friend Alex's wife had that baby yet?

Part-Timer wrote:Hey kids, remember Michael Miles?

Your quiz inquisitor? Yes - oh no, forward Bob Danvers-Walker wih the gonnnnng.....!

Classic Board Games might have more scope and, as has been said, peeps of all ages seem to be familiar with them so you could mix a few with the electronic games.

Hi Jon, How are you

Charlotte has had the baby, He is a healthy baby boy called Dexter James Cox, a few photo's on Alex's facebook page. Both mother, father and lil one are very well indeed. Will be seeing them this weekend so i will pass on a Hi from you if you want.

On a side not i have just read this article... 100 year old lady plays the 3ds every day
http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2012/01/31/n ... f-the-day/" target="_blank


I did write a reply earlier on but it seems that it has got lost in the ether, so here goes again (i'll keep it brief and i'll edit this out if it does finally get posted )

Frogger: Basics of the game is a frog crossing the road without getting squashed, difficult to fit a magic theme to that
Sonic: Did do a bit of thinking on that but all he does is collect rings and is quick. I believe the current ring type tricks would be not suitable as they would loose there magicalness when performed at a fast rate (linking rings, ring on rope, ring flite)
Donkey Kong: Depends on what era you are, Donkey kong to us oldies is Jumping Man climbing a tower to save a girl over barrels and fireballs, Donkey Kong to the young ones is a side scroller adventure jumping in barrels, collecting banana's with the help of Diddy Kong.

I agree that using old TV shows might not sit well with the younger audience though. Unless its something like wheel of fortune which has been on forever

I was looking at a wayne dobson scrabble trick, if anyone has it can they tell me what they think.

The coloured marbles is a great idea, i know i have several dvd's with different presentations, might have to look in to that one.

Turning pieces of paper into Monopoly money... Simple.. Direct... added humour.... PERFECT thats just the kind of thing i am looking for

Rich-Entertainment wrote:Hi Jon, How are you

Charlotte has had the baby, He is a healthy baby boy called Dexter James Cox, a few photo's on Alex's facebook page. Both mother, father and lil one are very well indeed. Will be seeing them this weekend so i will pass on a Hi from you if you want.

Hurrah! Cheers mate. That'd be lovely. We used to follow each other on Twitter, but I think I made him nervous!