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.

Which Street Magic Tricks Don’t Need Many Props or Set-up?

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

John asks: 'I am starting school and would like to learn some impromptu street magic tricks. Do you have any suggestions?'

Hi John,

Here are a few things you should check out for great street magic tricks that won't require very much set up or props. These are suggestions that we offer in the magic shop and prove most popular with magicians.

You need easy to set up magic tricks that you can carry with you out and about.

Anytime Anywhere by Jay Sankey DVD

On The Spot by Gregory Wilson DVD

Loops
In The Beginning There Were Coins DVD
Born to Perform DVD
Stretcher DVD
Zero Gravity
Wrap it Up
Eden Project
Sans Minds Sharpie
Mintalist
Self Tying Shoelaces

Which tricks would you recommend for John? Do you have any advice for him about starting to learn street magic? Leave a comment in the section below:

Bicycle Cards UK – Our Top Ten List of Must Have Decks

by Dominic Reyes 1 Comment

Bicycle Cards UK – Our Top Ten List of Must Have Decks

Every card magician should have a favourite deck of playing cards. Here is our Top Ten list of playing card decks so you can have some help finding yours.

10) The Guardian Deck

The Guardian Deck has a great dark design on the back with guardian angels as part of the design. It is dark yet not over the top like some designs, it is understated and, as a result, has a very clean look.

9) Spectrum Deck

The Spectrum Deck is the perfect deck of playing cards to use when you want a great kicker finish to ANY of your card routines. Each card is a different colour of the spectrum, with 52 different colours.

8) Gold Standard Bicycle Playing Cards

Richard Turner is an immensely accomplished sleight of hand expert. He has even helped the USPCC with their quality control. Richard commissioned these decks to be made especially when the USPCC changed their way of cutting the cards. His Gold Standard deck is cut like they used to be and retain the ability to be faroed perfectly. If you do intense, precise sleight of hand with cards then this is the deck for you.

7) Expert Deck

The Expert deck is a deck of playing cards with an aged look. This deck is particularly great for storytelling routines or routines in which you wish to weave a tale of the first trick your grandfather ever taught you with these exact cards.

6) Timeless Bicycle Cards UK

The Timeless deck is on our list as there is great potential with this deck. Each court card has a clock with a different time upon its face. This can be used for many different mind reading or prediction effects. Imagine if your watch stopped working at exactly the time printed on their selected card!

5) Divine Deck

The Divine Deck has a very interesting design. It is a pattern that is said to be repeated all over the universe. The design is made from a mathematical pattern that was discovered in 1200AD. The design is found everywhere, within flowers, in the waves of the sea, in your ear, even in the shapes of galaxies. This enables you to speak about the strange coincidences in the world that are as of yet not fully understood, a perfect accompaniment to your magic.

4) Tally Ho Bicycle Playing Cards UK

The Tally Ho deck is a classic deck, it is made by the USPCC but is on a different finish to Bicycle decks. This finish is smooth and lends itself amazingly to flourishing.

3) Moonshine Deck

The Moonshine deck is one of our favourite decks as you can see, coming in at number 3! The Moonshine deck is an elegant design, it is not dark and gothic-like. The design’s influence comes from the days of the alcohol prohibition in the USA. A smooth finish and elegant design make this truly one of our favourite decks of playing cards.

2) Mechanic Deck

The Mechanic deck has its place at number two due to an amazing feature. The cogs and mechanic design is clean and great to look at. But get the cards into new deck order and they really come to life. Literally. If you flick through the deck like a flick-book when it is in new deck order, the cogs and wheels animate and begin to spin. The perfect way to demonstrate how the deck rearranges itself into a new deck order.

1) Bicycle Standard Deck

The outright winner which may be denied by some is the Bicycle Standard deck. There are many reasons as to why this has been voted the best deck by us here at Merchant of Magic. One reason is the cost, because of the cheap cost of these cards it opens up opportunities to do tricks such as Torn and Restored Card without feeling the pinch in your pocket so much. So many great tricks have been released in Bicycle format which means you can transition between packet tricks smoothly or even take the packet trick cards from your deck as if they were regular cards. Above all, the Bicycle Standard is our favourite as they are the most-common playing card design around the world. they are widely recognised through the explosion of the Poker scene and for that reason they create very little suspicion.

So there you have it, our list of the Top Ten Bicycle Cards UK. What are your thoughts? Do you have a favourite deck that you feel should be on this list?