Best street magic tricks for a primarily non-card magic magician?
- Thread starter christyf
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The quarter bite is a powerful trick. I keep one on me wherever I go, and I always borrow the quarter before I do it. Ever since I learned Phantom by Spidey I tend to keep that trick with me wherever I go (I know you don't do card tricks but this one is as powerful as the Invisible deck and doesn't take much practice at all, just a strong presentation). Loops are great if you don't already use them (buy a spool of some invisible thread, though. It's much more economical). And for mentalism, that's outside of card tricks, I use Shredder (again by Spidey), or anything that uses equivoque. Also, a thumb tip is a very versatile prop and can be used for a variety of street magic tricks.
This is just what I tend to keep on me wherever I go (I actually keep a lot more on me). I hope this helps.
This is just what I tend to keep on me wherever I go (I actually keep a lot more on me). I hope this helps.
You should buy Tarbells Complete Course in Magic. It has loads of material on Eggs, Handkerchiefs you name it. I mean if Peter Griffin can do this , than I'm sure magic with small items shouldn't be a problem.
Here are some great effects that have worked for me in busking/street situations. Not sure if these are your style but they pack super small and play big:
Double Cross: https://store.theory11.com/products/double-cross-by-mark-southworth
BREAK: https://store.theory11.com/products/break-by-uday-jadugar
Sneak Peek: https://store.theory11.com/products/sneak-peek-by-spidey
Smoke: https://store.theory11.com/products/smoke-alan-rorrison
Again, not sure if they fit your style, but are definitely worth checking out!
Double Cross: https://store.theory11.com/products/double-cross-by-mark-southworth
BREAK: https://store.theory11.com/products/break-by-uday-jadugar
Sneak Peek: https://store.theory11.com/products/sneak-peek-by-spidey
Smoke: https://store.theory11.com/products/smoke-alan-rorrison
Again, not sure if they fit your style, but are definitely worth checking out!
Double Cross is something I am going to save up for. I love this trick.
Double Cross and Break and both definitely up my alley. Are there any more tricks/gimmicks you can recommend to me?
Ha! You know me too well.
I love me some Tenyo, but some of their best stuff is only workable with a table. So good luck packing 'Ninja Experiment', 'Birdwatcher', 'Eye of the Idol' and 'Mystery China Box' in your pockets and ready to go for street magic
Two of my favorite effects are Pressure by Daniel Garcia and Dan White and Thread by Wayne Houchin. Both of those are perfect for walkaround, whether it's on the street or in a restaurant.
Not particularly, however, I've never really experimented with it. I am definitely open to this.
In my opinion you need to have "Loops" if u dnt already. If you dnt mind investing a little try "Spider Pen" by Yigal Messika. Also you can try some close up mentalism by getting "Modern Mentalism" by Matthew Mello. He has some really cool close stuff maybe u can try. Hope this helps
I like how you are a fan of small prop magic as well for easy accessibility. As a street performer myself, I try to be as varied as possible.
I've invented a few of my own creations like Doubting Thomas which I use to open for street magic since it's quick, simple, and gets the spectator involved right away. I just got done performing a new creation of mine called No Pressure yesterday at my university with a friend of mine from the magic club there. That effect is a lot of fun because I like to let the "magic" happen right in the spectator's hands. Lastly is my reputation maker called Camper which has opened a lot of doors for me. It may be a "card trick" but it's very effective not only on stage but on the streets as well so I like to use it when ever I can get my hands on a deck of cards.
Outside of my creations, I will experiment with Sleeper by Eoin O'Hare if the conditions are right and my gimmick isn't broken. I like to punk a lot of people with Healed and Sealed and usually when I do I never admit I am a magician or anything of the sorts and just act like nothing happened. But for small props that won't take up too much pocket space you can't go wrong with Dresscode by Calen Morelli, Smoke by Alan Rorrison, Quantum Space by Calen Morelli, and any card or rubber band routines you can think of. Hope this helps!
If you are looking for a way to make an extra buck or two while doing something organic (like street magic, may I suggest checking out my "Hatline Prediction." It is available here on the T11 Marketplace.
Basically all you need is something to write on and money which can both be borrowed from the audience. Make a prediction and give it to a spectator. Then borrow a bunch of bills and allow them to chose one. The serial number will match that of the borrowed bill. Super organic because everything is borrowed, and super powerful because the prediction is made before collecting any bills (and you never touch the prediction again).
Check it out here:
https://www.theory11.com/marketplace/michael-obrien/hatline-prediction
Basically all you need is something to write on and money which can both be borrowed from the audience. Make a prediction and give it to a spectator. Then borrow a bunch of bills and allow them to chose one. The serial number will match that of the borrowed bill. Super organic because everything is borrowed, and super powerful because the prediction is made before collecting any bills (and you never touch the prediction again).
Check it out here:
https://www.theory11.com/marketplace/michael-obrien/hatline-prediction
By street magic you mean: Busking? Or like the accosting random passer by with magic tricks for the fun of doing magic? Because there is a radically different approach to both styles. I'm going to assume for the sake of my reply that you mean busking.
With busking it doesn't matter if you work for six minutes or sixty you're going to get paid the same. That is to say you're more reliant on solid hat lines that expresses to the audience, in a somewhat comical way, the expectation to be compensated for entertaining them in some fashion, and preferably with money.
I'd keep to material that is highly visual, capable of being done with multiple phases + or - depending on audience participation, size, and reaction, instantly or very quickly resets, packs small, and can play big.
AVOID MENTALISM.
Effects like Cups and Balls, Linking Rings (10" or better NOT the ninja rings and god forbid NOT Massado rings because you can't see black rings well in a crowd), Three Shell Game, Chop Cup, and Ambitious Card all work well. These are all routines that instantly reset, consist of multiple phases that you can lengthen or shorten as needed to work with the ebb and flow of your street traffic, and they all pack maximum comedic moments combined with highly visual magical payoffs. You're already on the street doing magic so why not work in a sucker faux gambling demonstration? It flies well enough.
These above are great openers because they can be run in a loop until you gather enough of a crowd to be interested in what you are doing so you can start the real show.
AVOID MENTALISM.
I find that money magic is a great first trick type effect to do (really it's your second if you count your opener as one). I personally prefer to use Hopping Halves because it doubles for my faux gambling demonstration under the guise of "guess how many". Working with money strait up gives you the natural segue into using a hat line and establishing the expectation to be paid for entertainment. Other great effects here to use would be visual bill changes, there's a million of them on the market, Bank Night, Flaming Wallets, Misers Dream, Six Bill Repeat, the classic Pen Thru Bill bit, Scotch and Soda, Lethal Tender, Miss Made Bill, Signed Bill in (lemon, orange, egg, bra, shoe, mystery box, other impossible location) and karate coin. Take my advice. Avoid doing the bite out quarter / half bit. It's hack. Everyone panned it before David Blaine did it on his street magic special. Now everyone's done it to death. There are too many tutorials out there on the internet. It's just not a good choice.
AVOID MENTALISM.
For the middle portion of the show you should do something more visual that plays to a larger audience. You'll be stopping people now drawing them in because they'll be curious at what everyone is standing around watching. You'll want to use material that they can see and follow if you want to keep them interested. Parlor magic is the way to go. Things like Ring Flights, Egg Bag, Linking Rings, Cups and Balls (anything from the openers list that you haven't used yet could go here), magic with borrowed objects would be good here, or rope magic. Maybe ring and rope magic. Do you do a Mental Epic or Confabulation? This would slay here as well, and those are about the only things that are boarder line mentalism that I would try and push my luck on out in the streets.
Consider doing an escape. There are lots of them out there. From the Houdini Siberian chain escape, to handcuffs, to thumb cuffs, Tony Clark's rope tie escape, mail bag escapes, Houdini Rope Challenge, just to name a few. Escapes build up crowds really well, it builds up the tension, and you can really milk it for time too if need be. I haven't listed strait jackets in here because strait jackets I believe should be a closing routine. They are my personal closing routine, and that escape does well as such.
The closer. You will want something BIG to finish on. If you can't do a small grand illusion like a chair suspension, or live animal production, then end on a strait jacket.
Hat Line Hat Line Hat Line. You need to hat line before you finish the final trick, but after you've set them up to see it. Finish the finale and then immediately get your hat out into the audience. Put it right in front of people and don't move it until either they walk away awkwardly or they put money in it. A good rule of thumb is that only the first two rows are really going to tip, everyone else in the back will walk. So pack them in as tightly as you can during the act and make it difficult for them to get away before you can present them with an option to bless your hat with some gratuity.
Some closing thoughts: Thread work, and especially loops, are solid on the street. The impact is huge, and the setup is minimal. If you can get away with using thread without it snapping or being a challenge due to wind or lighting conditions then I highly recommend you examine it as an option.
Fire is not something that is easy to work with on the streets due to fire code, permits, and the like. Stay away from any tricks that use fire, flash paper, accelerant like propane, butane, and the like. It's just better to not mess with it than get in trouble and possibly fined.
Best to you!
With busking it doesn't matter if you work for six minutes or sixty you're going to get paid the same. That is to say you're more reliant on solid hat lines that expresses to the audience, in a somewhat comical way, the expectation to be compensated for entertaining them in some fashion, and preferably with money.
I'd keep to material that is highly visual, capable of being done with multiple phases + or - depending on audience participation, size, and reaction, instantly or very quickly resets, packs small, and can play big.
AVOID MENTALISM.
Effects like Cups and Balls, Linking Rings (10" or better NOT the ninja rings and god forbid NOT Massado rings because you can't see black rings well in a crowd), Three Shell Game, Chop Cup, and Ambitious Card all work well. These are all routines that instantly reset, consist of multiple phases that you can lengthen or shorten as needed to work with the ebb and flow of your street traffic, and they all pack maximum comedic moments combined with highly visual magical payoffs. You're already on the street doing magic so why not work in a sucker faux gambling demonstration? It flies well enough.
These above are great openers because they can be run in a loop until you gather enough of a crowd to be interested in what you are doing so you can start the real show.
AVOID MENTALISM.
I find that money magic is a great first trick type effect to do (really it's your second if you count your opener as one). I personally prefer to use Hopping Halves because it doubles for my faux gambling demonstration under the guise of "guess how many". Working with money strait up gives you the natural segue into using a hat line and establishing the expectation to be paid for entertainment. Other great effects here to use would be visual bill changes, there's a million of them on the market, Bank Night, Flaming Wallets, Misers Dream, Six Bill Repeat, the classic Pen Thru Bill bit, Scotch and Soda, Lethal Tender, Miss Made Bill, Signed Bill in (lemon, orange, egg, bra, shoe, mystery box, other impossible location) and karate coin. Take my advice. Avoid doing the bite out quarter / half bit. It's hack. Everyone panned it before David Blaine did it on his street magic special. Now everyone's done it to death. There are too many tutorials out there on the internet. It's just not a good choice.
AVOID MENTALISM.
For the middle portion of the show you should do something more visual that plays to a larger audience. You'll be stopping people now drawing them in because they'll be curious at what everyone is standing around watching. You'll want to use material that they can see and follow if you want to keep them interested. Parlor magic is the way to go. Things like Ring Flights, Egg Bag, Linking Rings, Cups and Balls (anything from the openers list that you haven't used yet could go here), magic with borrowed objects would be good here, or rope magic. Maybe ring and rope magic. Do you do a Mental Epic or Confabulation? This would slay here as well, and those are about the only things that are boarder line mentalism that I would try and push my luck on out in the streets.
Consider doing an escape. There are lots of them out there. From the Houdini Siberian chain escape, to handcuffs, to thumb cuffs, Tony Clark's rope tie escape, mail bag escapes, Houdini Rope Challenge, just to name a few. Escapes build up crowds really well, it builds up the tension, and you can really milk it for time too if need be. I haven't listed strait jackets in here because strait jackets I believe should be a closing routine. They are my personal closing routine, and that escape does well as such.
The closer. You will want something BIG to finish on. If you can't do a small grand illusion like a chair suspension, or live animal production, then end on a strait jacket.
Hat Line Hat Line Hat Line. You need to hat line before you finish the final trick, but after you've set them up to see it. Finish the finale and then immediately get your hat out into the audience. Put it right in front of people and don't move it until either they walk away awkwardly or they put money in it. A good rule of thumb is that only the first two rows are really going to tip, everyone else in the back will walk. So pack them in as tightly as you can during the act and make it difficult for them to get away before you can present them with an option to bless your hat with some gratuity.
Some closing thoughts: Thread work, and especially loops, are solid on the street. The impact is huge, and the setup is minimal. If you can get away with using thread without it snapping or being a challenge due to wind or lighting conditions then I highly recommend you examine it as an option.
Fire is not something that is easy to work with on the streets due to fire code, permits, and the like. Stay away from any tricks that use fire, flash paper, accelerant like propane, butane, and the like. It's just better to not mess with it than get in trouble and possibly fined.
Best to you!
Love love LOOOOVE IT!
Just for my own curiosity's sake. How do you feel about my "Hatline Prediction" effect as the hatline for the end of a set? I mean, it works well for me, but I am curious to know other busker's professional opinions
Thank you in advance!
