How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

Switching Items Without Getting Caught

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Switching Items

Joe is having trouble switching items when he performs magic tricks. He keeps getting busted when he does a switch.

Joe writes:

'I've realised that I'm not very good at switching or at least I don't know how to without being detected :).

So for Example, with LINK-O, a powerful move would be to show a normal pack of polo mints that are inspected, then switch it with the special labelled ones.  Any Suggestions?
Thanks.I’m having trouble switching items. Whenever  I try to do a switch, I get busted. Any tips?'

How to perform a magicians switch

Hi Joe,

Many thanks for getting in touch.

The secret of switching items without detection is to remove any of your guilt while doing it. It also helps to have a good understanding of the on-beat and off-beat moments that performance naturally creates in order to maximise the chances of getting away with it. Here is a link to a free eBook on misdirection which talks about the off-beat/on-beat and how to recognise it:

Ben Williams writes:

There is a limit to how much I will have things inspected. For example, when I perform Linko, I never have a normal pack of Polos examined before the trick. Saying, 'Hey, check these out, make sure they are normal' could cause the spectator to think “There must be funny Polo packets or magic Polos”. Even people who hadn't thought of that, would probably then be thinking it in the back of their minds. 

I find that what works for me best is to take out the top two Polos and hand the spectator the pack and say, “sorry, can you just hold onto these for a second”. when you ask this, they have no desire to look at it because you are showing them something with the Polos and not the pack. When you move the logo on the pack, they will think that they would have spotted it if there were something up with the pack as they were holding onto it themselves.

By inviting people to examine objects it automatically arouses suspicion. Unless you have something so unbelievably clean you can ham it up, and then it is, in my opinion, not a great idea to enforce the fairness of everything. If you hand a packet of Polos to someone and ask them to check it out it will make people look harder at the packet. When that suspicion is in their mind, you will most likely get busted switching it. 

I sometimes use the method where I have an extra cut out of a Polo on the packet stuck down with either lip balm or a glue stick of repositionable glue. This way when you drag it there is no question the Polo was there on the design as they were looking right at it.

So to sum up, try to relax, forget about the moment when you are going to switch. If you are worried about switching you will be sending out signals of tension and anxiousness which your spectators will pick up on no matter how small they are and make sure you are engaging the audience at the time of the switch and it will help out lots. Over time, you will not worry about it at all, and you will find you don't get busted.

Guessing the Secrets of Magic Tricks

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Guessing Secrets of Magic Tricks

By Dominic Reyes

A spectator guessing possible solutions, can be just as bad as spotting the true secrets of magic tricks. How can magicians defend themselves against this?

I have a good friend who is totally obsessed with zombie movies. He must have watched them all. Zombie films are almost as much of an obsession for him as magic is for me. Watching these old zombie flicks with him has taught me two things:

1) Zombies simply shouldn't run.

2) Some of these films are truly terrible.

The weak story I can forgive. After all, there's only so much plot you can build in. The low budget is fine. What gets me is the sloppy lack of attention to detail. Sometimes a sound boom pops into view. Every now and then you see a reflection in a window of the camera crew.. Little details that shouldn't be there. That's also a valuable point in the performance of close up magic:

If your audience becomes distracted by something that shouldn't be there, they lose part of the experience.

When you perform your sleight of hand, it goes without saying that you should have learned to perform the moves to a point where they are automatic, natural and flawless. You should work on your technique until there is very little chance of a something 'flashing' or 'talking' during its execution. A messed up move can pull your spectators out of the 'magical experience' in the blink of an eye. Switching their attention from the theatre of the routine, to an appraisal of your abilities. But what about 'tells' and flashes that don't even exist…

When a move that never happened goes wrong

It's quite possible for an audience member to detect a move, even though it never happened. Even if your technique is flawless, an audience member may think of an explanation for a trick even though it isn't the actual method you used. To the spectator, it doesn't really matter. If the trick COULD be done like that, in their minds, they got it right. Once any explanation is present, the magic is lost. 

  • 'It could have gone up his sleeve'
  • 'The playing card could have already been there'
  • 'It could have been wires'
  • 'He could have hidden it in his other hand'

ANY explanation is the right answer to a spectator viewing your magic as a puzzle. Magic needs to be impossible, so it's your job as a magician to make sure you remove the possibility of methods even when they are not present. 

Spectators are not chained to technique

Unlike a magician, a spectator is free from the restraints of technique. You may know that it's not possible for the coin to be up your sleeve, because it would be in the wrong place for its production later in the routine. You understand that even if you were to be able to peek at the playing card before it went into the deck, that would not help you, because it changes colour once it's revealed.. You understand what's possible within the context and structure of the trick. Your spectators are free from any of those cares. They don't know any of the secrets of magic tricks. If they find ANY explanation, they have solved the 'puzzle' and that's good enough for them. They don't care about the fine details in the same way.

How do we fight this?

Destroying possibilities

Look through the tricks that you perform. Try to shed all your magical knowledge and see them as a spectator does. How COULD the trick be done, if you could do anything within the laws of Physics?

Could the card be swapped? 

If the other hand had the coin, would that be an answer?

Is it possible that the choice wasn't totally fair?

Taking time to come up with an alternative, unlikely, and even apparently silly 'solutions' for the magic tricks you perform is valuable. Once you collect all the 'wrong answers' you can make sure your presentation guides your audience to dismiss them without even giving them attention.

Know your enemy

Work on dispelling possible solutions to your tricks, by identifying them. It's easy to be blind to them because you are so wrapped up in the mechanics of what's really required to make the trick work. 

Try to think from the perspective of your spectators. Ask yourself what they would be thinking during each moment of the routine.

If you can, show your magic to some young kids. They will be brutally honest, and surprisingly imaginative. The tricks may go over their heads or fail to hold their attention, but they will probably have quite a few possible solutions you never thought about. 

Once you identify all the possible solutions, you can adapt the structure of the trick, and the presentation of the effect, so that you clearly cut off each 'solution' as impossible.

Expose your own magic

You may even draw attention to a few common 'solutions' and point out to the spectators how they would be impossible. It's fine to take a moment during a trick, to recap on the fairness of the conditions, the impossibility of what is about to happen, and to dispell any solutions that the audience may have. You may find this an interesting presentation in and of itself.

 

How Magicians Control Your Mind – Playing Card Control

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How Magicians Control Your Mind

By Ben Williams

Simon is having trouble controlling spectators when he asks them to cover a pile of playing cards with their hands. 

Simon writes: 'There is a card magic trick I perform that requires the spectators to hold their hand on top of a pile of cards. However, it is crucial that the spectators do not disturb the playing cards, revealing any of the backs of the cards. When the spectator places their hands over the cards, they often slide around and when the spectator lifts his or her hands, sometimes the top one will stick briefly, which reveals the cards below

The only way I can get around this is by telling the spectator to lift their hands ‘really slowly’ and ‘gently’ and almost squaring the cards as they raise their hands. When I say this, they’ll often only raise their hands only a centimetre or so which makes it really awkward for me to square the piles. I find that I appear unnaturally concerned about how square the piles are, and it probably makes the spectator question whether all four cards really are black when I follow on with the routine as the next move is to execute an Elmsley Count.

While I still get great reactions with this card magic trick, I find that this problem detracts from it. Is there anything you could suggest that would minimise this problem or solve it completely?'

How magicians control your mind when you hold playing cards

So this is quite a common problem that can be translated across many areas of close up magic. You don’t want your spectators to do something, or you NEED them to do something, but you want to be casual and magical, not neurotic and panicky!

It is all about spectator management, it is important to keep in control of your spectators but to do it indirectly. I may cover my directions with a comedic line, or I will state my direct instructions with emphasis on certain areas and my actions and body language will do the talking for me, for example, I may place someone’s hand in a certain way and step back only to correct them slightly and then say, ‘perfect, wait right there!!’

In this case, if the reason for the spectator placing their hand on top of the pile is purely to isolate the cards so that you cannot touch them, then you could use any manner of techniques to achieve the same result.

Using another object

You could place a playing card box on top of the cards, or any other small item like a glass. If there are two piles and one item won’t work or doesn't look aesthetically pleasing then you could substitute the spectator’s palm for just a finger, asking the two spectators to rest their finger on top of the pile. You can add a line like,

‘please make sure they do not spread the cards, it would ruin the climax of the trick.’

You can also simply say that you do not want to show the cards until the suspense has been built sufficiently so please do not spread them. Another method you could explore is to add a simple comedy line to it, for example,

'Please, rest your finger (or hand) on top of the cards to isolate them, this way I cannot touch them. Please do not spread the cards, we want to keep the mystery and build suspense. Should these cards spread too early and reveal the climax before the end of the trick, quite simply the universe will implode and it will be all your fault.'

This kind of line will be well recieved but also understood which is what you are gunning for in a situation like this, complete compliance.

Spectators going out of control

If a spectator tries to do something themselves that could ruin the effect, for example, demanding that they turn over a card rather than the magician, I will say something like,

'Whoa whoa whoa! Hang on! We must build suspense! We can't have you revealing the end of the trick willy nilly! These things take care and consideration, the crowd should be built up into a frenzy and anticipating this final reveal like a bunch of kids waiting to open their presents at Christmas! As you can see, neither are the crowd in a frenzy nor are they jumping up and down like kids with ants in their pants! We need theatrics!'

With this sort of sentence, I regain control of the situation, slow down or change the pace to a speed I want, and also communicate in a nice and indirect way not to do anything. Sometimes it stirs up the group and they begin jumping up and down in a frenzy for comedic effect! Which can give off a great energy in the room.

If you need something to be done in a particular way, deflect the reason for your concern towards another subject, for example, saying, ‘the universe will implode’ instead of ‘it will reveal the how the trick works’ then you can be very direct with your actions whilst still having it make sense. Instead of misdirecting their eyes you are misdirecting their mind.