I'm not a beginner, so please don't say I am one. The purpose of this thread is purely to get ideas for routines that other magicians use.
This sounds like a beginner's question, so the assumption isn't entirely unwarranted.
I'm sure I've posted my busking routine here a number of times; you can probably find it without too much effort.
I don't understand what the point of this is, aside from a bunch of people just making lists. I'm not sure what benefit I would gain from finding out what you do, and what I do probably doesn't help you out either.
It's like one band asking another one what songs they should play; Radiohead will tell you to play 'Karma Police' because it kills. Miles Davis will tell you to play 'So What' - it brings down the house every night. Bob Marley would suggest 'Redemption Song' because it's a show stopper. They are all right for themselves, and wrong for the others; I think Bob Marley would have butchered Karma Police, I think Radiohead wouldn't do modal jazz that well, and I think Redemption Song is all wrong for Miles Davis.
The point is, lists and opinions like this are of very little value. What I do works for me after a lot of work, a lot of writing, and even more rewriting. If what you have works for you, great. If it doesn't, there are better ways to find yourself and the material that speaks to you, the material that you can do well and do effectively.
A list of names, devoid of the context of the character that performs them, the motivation that tells the audience why you're here doing this stuff, the patter that brings it to life and all the other things that go into a successful presentation of a magic act are useless.
Further, hard and fast 'rules' are overly arbitrary, and often serve better as guidelines... when I busk, it's a race to get enough people to go into the closer; I'll cut everything out and go right into the finish once I have the critical mass of audience members. More shows per hour, more hats, more money that way. Sometimes the act is three tricks, sometimes it takes a while to build the tip so more tricks are put in to add passersby. I want to get to the big finish as soon as I get a decent edge built.
The tricks in my busking act have to be ones that someone can understand halfway through or more, as audience members can join in at any time and I don't want to alienate anyone with a plot they can't catch up with.
The tricks are presented in a way that reinforce my character, and the show is largely presented as cheap entertainment and fake exposure from a witty, streetwise, fast-talking hipster earning his keep.
They say "funny is money" so it's kept pretty light, I joke at my own expense a lot, and I wrap it up with a really heartfelt thanks to the audience as part of the last hat line.
Hope this is of more value than just a list of trick names.
