Cheap Tricks!

[Luis Vega]

Hello Guys!!

So, since I am moving on to a new stage of magic, I decided to buy some stuff...so when I got my cart ready I realized I wanted something different

So I bought some "cheap tricks" the kind that only costs 1.95...I bought some of them...just for the fun.

when it arrived one of the tricks I bought was "Vanishing Glass and Liquid" and when I unpack it, I just thought I could be a great trick...so I tried out in a party and to be honest...it was one of the greatest tricks I could have done!! people love this kind of vanishes!!

my point is that there is no cheap tricks...you make it cheap or great...

some questions...
have you ever come across a great trick, but just because it didn´t cost more than a couple bucks you didn´t buy it?
do you have "crappy tricks" in you drawer that you never use because you think it could be very obvious?

are you more concerned what your magicians friends would think about using gimmicked magic so you prefer hard tricks to impress them?

EDIT: btw...I also bought an appearing cane...AWESOME!!! it so fun to perform I cannot believe I have lived 23 years without it!!

 

[sito07]

I absolutely agree with you one hundred percent! "No tricks are cheap, you make them either the most worthy or the worst and cheapest!" Ive learned it through experience as well...something as simple as a palming card or a coin vanish can be so "magical" and heck its a "cheap" trick! So i know what your saying and you are definetly right!

 

[SKSleighofHand]

I, too, strongly agreed with you. I recently tried Poker Picnic from the Royal Road to Card Magic. When I first read about it few years ago, I thought it's too simple, but really, it hits very hard! Only because the audience controls the card is what makes it happen!

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I, too, strongly agreed with you. I recently tried Poker Picnic from the Royal Road to Card Magic. When I first read about it few years ago, I thought it's too simple, but really, it hits very hard! Only because the audience controls the card is what makes it happen!

Oh yeah, I did that at a party a few weeks ago with a slight tweak from Patrick Snowden that eliminates the funky "take three from the top and put them on the bottom, now deal three cards.." stuff. People love it.

 

[SKSleighofHand]

I would love to hear about what you did that eliminates "take the three cards and etc"

 

[RickEverhart]

I heard a story about a guy one time that did an entire act at a convention with just a little kids magic set to show how it does not matter how much the props cost...it is how you use them to make the magic entertaining.

 

[saborfang17]

Mentalists will agree with me when I say it's all in the presentation.

 

[AndrewJ]

I buy these from time to time in order to learn new effects without a huge investment. $4 magic kits at the grocery store - $1 tricks at the party supply store. Even the inexpensive gimmicks when shopping for props on other sites. I ever noticed a Professor's Nightmare being sold with a different name and what looked like small shoelaces for a dollar just recently.

They can be a great deal of fun.

 

[Luis Vega]

I heard a story about a guy one time that did an entire act at a convention with just a little kids magic set to show how it does not matter how much the props cost...it is how you use them to make the magic entertaining.

Interesting...I was going to do the same experiment...with one of those Fantasma magic kits...those that cost 5 bucks and has 25 tricks...

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I would love to hear about what you did that eliminates "take the three cards and etc"

I bet you would. How much you gonna offer me?

...

Just kidding. I'll PM you.

 

[RealityOne]

Interesting...I was going to do the same experiment...with one of those Fantasma magic kits...those that cost 5 bucks and has 25 tricks...

I actually have a couple of routines using magic set props like the ball vase, drawer box, disintegration chamber, etc. If you add sleight of hand you will surprise the audience because they assume they know how the effects work.

For example, I borrow a $20 bill from a parent and have them initial it (so I remember to give it back to them). I have a child put the bill in the drawer box, make it disappear and then reappear. At the end of the trick, the child or parent usually notices that the bill is now a $1. Ultimately (after some amusing interaction with the parent) the bill is found by the parent from behind two playing cards (a card that says "it" on it and a joker) in a card wallet that was pulled from an apparently empty handkerchief by the child.

 

[Luis Vega]

I actually have a couple of routines using magic set props like the ball vase, drawer box, disintegration chamber, etc. If you add sleight of hand you will surprise the audience because they assume they know how the effects work.

For example, I borrow a $20 bill from a parent and have them initial it (so I remember to give it back to them). I have a child put the bill in the drawer box, make it disappear and then reappear. At the end of the trick, the child or parent usually notices that the bill is now a $1. Ultimately (after some amusing interaction with the parent) the bill is found by the parent from behind two playing cards (a card that says "it" on it and a joker) in a card wallet that was pulled from an apparently empty handkerchief by the child.

That´s great!!

I need to get on of those magic kits right away!!! sadly I have to order them since here in mexico they don´t exist...
but it could be interesting to have a kit like that for a parents-kids party...