Best Bar Magic Tricks – 8 Easy Pub Tricks We Recommend

Simon asks: 'I'm not a magician, but I'm looking for a few magic tricks I can show friends in the pub. What do you recommend?'

If you just want a few tricks to mess with your friend’s minds then these suggestions are for you. These pub tricks are all very easy to learn, in most cases the magic trick is actually a clever prop that does most of the work for you. Easy to learn, easy to perform and guaranteed reactions!

Coin Unique – Show two coins, close your hand around them and when you open it up one of the coins has completely vanished! No sleight of hand necessary!

Pen through Banknote – Borrow a banknote from a friend and push a biro pen right through its centre. Rip the pen out of the banknote and mysteriously there is no hole in the banknote. No switching notes and the pen can be examined right away after the trick!

Invisible Deck – Have a friend call out any playing card they can think of. With no funny business you take a deck of cards out of their box (which has been in full view the whole time!) and spread through them. There is only one card that is face down – it is the playing card your friend has just freely named! No restrictions, ANY card can be named, easy to do, instantly repeatable with a different card!

Thumb Tip – The thumb tip is a magician’s best friend. Make banknotes, silks, sweet wrappers, salt, water and many other things completely vanish from your closed hand. A classic in magic that never fails to get a great reaction!

Lit Cigarette Vanisher – What could be more powerful than taking a friend’s cigarette (that is lit!) and pushing it into your bare fist, only to show a second later that it has completely vanished! This is what real magic looks and feels like. This one is ideal when you are standing outside as your friends finish their smoke.

Self Tying Shoelaces – At any point in the evening you could look down, or even better your friends look down and realise that your shoelaces are untied. Once they tell you that you need to tie your laces you simply smile, and give your foot a little shake and your laces visually tie themselves right in front of your spectators! Your shoelaces can immediately be examined, they really are tied!

Kinetic Ring – A great prop that allows you to do many great tricks. Make a fork spin and fall off of the edge of a table, stop a friend’s watch with your mind power, push a coin into a bottle or even a coin through a table. With this great prop you will be able to do all this AND more!

Changeling – Magic with money is always intriguing. Changeling is a DVD that will teach you how to make a money gimmick you can always carry on you to do the impossible. Every magician should be able to make more money, now with changeling you can do this so easily it is almost criminal! Hold a folded £10 in your hand and close it into your fist. As soon as you open your hand you now have a £20! This can even be done in a friend’s hand or visually inside a glass! Easy to do, carry it with you at all times, instantly repeatable.

3 Questions to Ask When Choosing Magic tricks

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

By Dominic Reyes

I'm going to let you into a little secret. This is a technique professional magicians use when they wade through all the new magic releases, to pick out the gems.

When selecting magic tricks to perform to the public, there are several factors that will guarantee you great reactions. Three of these factors are:

Will the trick produce a strong visual image?

Does the trick cause an emotional reaction?

Can the magic happen in the spectator's hands?

We all collect magic tricks that we like to learn and perform, but that's not the same as the much harder process of picking a small selection of tricks worthy of a position in your 'working set' Asking yourself questions like this when choosing magic tricks can help you identify the 'workers' from the tricks designed to entertain only magicians.

To give you an example of tricks that fit these three essential components. I recommend you watch these performances for Changeling and Wishbone. Seriously, I strongly recommend that you take a moment to watch these performances. take a few moments RIGHT NOW to check out the videos.

Changeling is a perfect example of visual magic happening in the spectators own hands. When the UK bank note transforms to another note all by itself, you get a huge reaction from spectators. That's magnified several times over when it happens in their own hands.

Wishbone is the latest release from Paul Harris Presents and it's a lovely effect that uses everyday objects, happens in the spectators hands, but it also creates an emotional connection between two spectators. I recorded a video a while back about asking spectators to hold hands whenever you can. Wishbone takes this principle and builds it into the trick itself, creating a shared momento that highlights the connection between two spectators and all that could lead on too..

The Dangers of Learning New Magic Tricks

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Are you spending too much of your 'practice time' learning new magic tricks?

By Dominic Reyes

Ragedy Writes: 'I have a question. I've spent lots of money on books and marketed effects. What should I do with them all ? Should I ignore them? Can I make time to play with the tricks I've bought and read all the books I have, or is this all a waste of time? Is it ok to just show something for the fun of it and keep some tricks for the serious practice time. Some of the things I have are just fun and I like showing my close friends these effects. There are some though I feel fit my persona more and these are the effects I practice hard at. What do think? Am I on the right track?'

Yes, it's fine to spend some of your time learning new magic tricks. But I think you should set a goal to choose a range of magic tricks that you will build into a performing act. That should be your focus. Watch the DVD's and read the books. Play with magic and learn all you can, but do it with focus towards a GOAL.

Spend 50% of your time researching and learning new magic tricks. Spend the other 50% developing your core set of tricks and practicing their performance.

Learning new magic tricks is not 'practice', it's just research. It needs to be done, so you can build a strong act, but it's not something that should take up more than half of your magic time. Equally, it'sfine to have a range of fun tricks you perform. However, make sure that you are building a core set of effects that will make up a performing act. Hope this helps. Dominic Reyes