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I apologise for starting another thread on table hopping, but after using the search function I could only find threads on how much to charge, and this isn't what I am concerned with!

I am really interested in getting into table hopping, however I'm not so sure on the kind of material to be using. My repetoire so far is very much parlour work, involving me being in control at a table, with the ability to lap and such which would be useless table hopping.

So I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on great material for table hopping. I try to stick within cards and mental effects, although I'm bringing in metal bending but in a way that can be linked with mentalism and ideomotor demonstrations...

Any advice on great card material in particular, DVD's etc, would be much appreciated. I'm considering the Lennart Green tapes, purely because I know his material is of such high quality that even if I cant use it in restaurants, it'll be of use to me generally. I'm about to order Banachek PSI, so any further recommendations would be great.

Many thanks.

Mark

You need short high impact routines - very visual for an audience and non complicated for the magician.

I say non complicated as you need routines with a very high success rate and that you can do in your sleep (well nearly), allowing you to concentrate on your patter.

Lennart Green is good card magic but I've heard that it can be rather difficult.

I use a mixture of card routines using a normal deck, a couple of packet tricks (ideal fo a deck switch in the pockets) and a couple of gimmicked decks (always have an ID). What I use will vary on the event) but it doesn't stray that much from the norm.

On top of cards, I do some TT work, some rope work, a few vanishes, multiplying sponge balls and a chop cup routine.

I use between 8 and 12 routines, depending on the numbers at the event and show no more than 3 or 4 per table, again depending on numbers and time.

My personal Table Hopping material is:

A Simple Ace Transposition - Aces switch places in the spectators hands. It's short, direct and very magical. You need that in an opener at the least, but in general you should try and make all the effects like that.
Colour Changing Knives - Again, its gets the point accross very easily and ver visually. Being visual is something you need to consider in a restaurant as in many cases there will be alot of ambient noise going on around you.
Mini Chop Cup - A classic effect which takes up very little pocket space but plays very big.
Biddle Trick Variation - A personal variation on the biddle trick. This is the longest piece in my repetoire and I usually save it for a closer or even as a request trick, when people ask to see one more trick or when I only have time to do one trick.

I have a few other piece's but those four tricks pretty much sum up what I look for in table hopping effects.

Basically, you will want material that is direct, visual, won't take too much time, doesn't take up too much pocket space and resets as quickly as possible.

You will also want an personalised effect for Birthdays and special occassions. I use Doc Eason's Birthday Card trick from his Bar Magic series.

Cards are a great tool for table hopping, but I learnt quickly that routines work so much better when there's alot of variation so don't do just cards.

Mentalism works well in some situations but no Derren Brown stuff; I find it helps for people to have something physical to focus on when working restaurants. So try and use some sort of prop e.g. cards, notebook, coins, etc.

I can pretty much gaurantee that Lennart Green's material won't be very helpful if you're trying to put a Tabble Hopping routine together.

Personally, I went through alot of changes when I started out table hopping. I used to be purely cards, but it's just not effective to focus on one or two disciplines in a table hopping situation. You need to be as entertaining as possible in the few minutes you will have with your audience so I would suggest branching out and looking for new material which you think would be suitable.

First off go out and buy The Restaurant Worker's Handbook, its great. Anything with cards, coins, and sponges is always great for table hopping. David Regal's Altered states is pretty good, maybe a dollar bill float, coins across, coins through table, a good 2 cup routine perhaps...

I use Chinese colour changing coin a lot. Very good effect. Always carry a chop cup (small). Also Twisted Sister tends to get used a lot too. Another good mentalism is the PSIMIND and PSIMBOL decks, perfect for tables.

Cheers for the advice so far guys. I'm looking into some more visual card magic. I'm going to use Derren's Card Under Box from DPB, just because it amuses me!
I think I'll invest in some IT, for a ring float or something like that. I'm going to take a trip into Davenports at Charing Cross today and have a chat there.
Any more recommendations are most welcome!

Many thanks.

I'd recommend that you give IT a miss for table hopping, particularly if you're just starting out.

I think that it's too fussy and if you get anyone taking photo's or videoing you which can happen at party's then the lighting could result in the secret being captured.

dat8962 wrote:I'd recommend that you give IT a miss for table hopping, particularly if you're just starting out.

I think that it's too fussy and if you get anyone taking photo's or videoing you which can happen at party's then the lighting could result in the secret being captured.

Good point, it didn't even cross my mind! Many thanks.