theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Magic is such an expensive hobby...

andrewmoquin

andrewmoquin

Jun 25, 2009
2
0
Buffalo, New York
www.rokstok.com
It needs a lot of money to buy new tricks and props. For me, it is a very expensive hobby and next to that is book collecting and reading.

Anyone have the same thought as mine in Magic?
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yes it is expensive. but hopefully if you use magic for what it is supposed to be used for (showing people) you can possibly make some money, and enough to buy new things and such and such. I perform magic once a week for a resturaunt, 150 a night.
thtas enough to get me that new book, or deck, or w/e
 
Well I think it depends on what you do with your magic. Yeah, if you are a stage performer, chances are your props are going to be ridiculous. However, just a deck of cards and a sharpie in the right hands can work wonders. I think it depends on what you want to accomplish-related to how much sweat equity you want to put into it.

Choose your tricks wisely, and make sure the ones you perform are not breaking your wallet. You can be amazing without spending huge amounts of money on props and gimmicks.
 
Since magic is more than a hobby to me,its worth every penny.
I have yet to break the bank though,there are many things that you dont need to buy.
Give me 50 dollars and Ill have enough material for gigs and freelance performances for a year.
 
This problem can be solved a couple different ways. You can get a job and use that money to fund your magic. You could also simply buy less stuff. Aak yourself how often you would actually use the effect. Rarely buy single trick DVDs. Buy a book (do this one anyway)
 
Most hobby's you engage in are expensive, I'm a big fan of cycling and my new bike which I'm getting is costing around 700 pounds. It may be expensive but I think it's well worth it.
 
If you think magic is expensive try golf or boating. Compared to many other hobbies I think magic is pretty inexpensive. Of course, it depends on each individual and how wisely they spend.
 
Flyspazz said:
If you think magic is expensive try golf or boating. Compared to many other hobbies I think magic is pretty inexpensive. Of course, it depends on each individual and how wisely they spend.
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Definitely...magic is very cheap compared to other hobbies. I race dirtbikes, and that is expensive. A new bike (2009 YZ450F) is about $8,000.00 OTD. I can easily dropped $200-300 each race weekend. Rebuilding the engine every year, about $1,500. New tires every couple months, $200. New gear, about $1000 minimum. Gas, oil, sparkplugs, air filters, lubricants, and other misc maintenance....more $$$$$. That's not including when you crash and if you destroy your plastics ($200), handlebars ($180), etc etc etc....

Compared to motocross, magic is dirt cheap. :D
 
It is as expensive as you make it out to be.

As most of the people on these boards are primarily focused on cards we will use that as the example. For about 20 dollars you could easily pick up Royal Road to Card Magic and Expert Card Technique, those two books could and will give you many years of material right there. Or you could buy half of surfaced, not that I have anything against Surfaced of Chad. The point I am trying to make is sometimes you need to re asses what it is that you want in order to progress.


However I can hardly talk I have (in other peoples eyes) way too much money on the amazing art. But to me it is worth every penny.
 
I definitely agree with that. My parents can't afford to pay me an allowance, and I haven't been able to find a job yet. The last time I got some new magic things was about a year ago! But that has allowed me to create more effects and practice my others more I guess. But I think it is definitly worth the cost. Especially when I busk with it.
 
I think that magic is a VERY inexpensive "hobby"

You dont really need that much stuff really.

Pick up Royal road to card magic for like 10 dollars, Paul Harris Art of astonishment book series for like 110 dollars, bobos morden coin magic for 10 dollars, and maybe a dvd say Wayne Houchins art of magic for like 35 dollars and then a few decks.

You will have tons of some of the greatest magic in the world and you dont need to buy more stuff in a long long time
 
Really it all depends on how much you are willing to spend. When I first started I thought you had to buy all the coolest new gimmicks, but that never worked out because i hate carrying stuff other than my phone,wallet,and deck.

Now I am going back to the basics: Royal Road, Mark Wilson's, and Micheal Ammar.
 
I agree with some of the above posters -- I don't think it's magic that's expensive, it's the compulsion to buy more magic. The fact is we all have way more magic on our shelves then we can realistically master. Buying new stuff and learning new things is part of the hobby, but it's also possible to just buy "Card College" and master perfectly ten percent of it. If you did that, you'd be one of the best magicians around.
 
Actually, it's much better to master 3 or 4 good tricks and present vriations with your own style than to learn 50 tricks and not to do them perfectly.
People want different things, you can create your own magic tricks with the sleights you know and probably(if it's good) people will like it
 
Try playing Warhammer. It's savings rape.

Or dirt biking, of course. And snowboarding. All those darned mountains...

G
 
Playing the sax is probably my most expensive hobby.

Magic:
Royal Road to Car Magic: less than $20
Expert Card Technique: less than $8
Expert at the Card Table: less than $8
Deck of Cards (repeat purchase): $1-5 depending on the deck
Performances (money made): around $10 per hour from tips, and anywhere between $50 and $200 for paid gigs

Sax:
Saxophone: thousands of dollars depending on model
Mouthpiece: close to $100 depending on model
Ligature: around $25 depending on model
Reeds (repeat purchase, more often than cards): $5 each....IF I go with the lowest quality I will play on.
Performances (money made): anywhere between $50 and $200

Magic has less expenses. Both have about the same income, but I can more easily get magic gigs than music gigs, so magic also has more income.....
 
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