Do people still like card tricks?

[rog132]

I know many tricks. Card tricks, mentalism, coin tricks and prop tricks.

When I do a card trick or a coin trick people don't seem to be interested but when I read there mind or predict what they will say, they have a better reaction and seem to enjoy it more.

Do people even like card tricks?

 

[James Wise Magic]

I mostly do card tricks and still get amazing reactions.

 

[leighelkins]

I do, I love card magic, as does my niece. In my opinion with the right presentation card magic can be just as much a miracle as anything else. Even though I'm not a fan of mentalism I think it get's the reaction it does because the spectator feels involved whereas they see a lot of card magic as purely "look what I can do".

 

[Josh Burch]

People react to my magic completely differently. When I'm trying out something new, be it coin magic, mentalism or otherwise, with an audience who is familiar with my magic they often say "That was okay but I prefer your card stuff."

I take pride in my card magic and rarely have a card selected and found. I prefer plots that use the cards in other ways. That may be one of the differences in our performing styles.

 

[Justin.Morris]

Ya, people love card magic. However, there is something organic when you are using natural props or mind reading. It can catch people off guard and make it more surprising.

 

[Ardius]

You have to make people care about the cards....otherwise, they're just cards and noone REALLY cares about just cards. The cards themselves are just a prop, and if you're trying to make the cards themselves the whole show then I suspect most people are going to be bored. It's the art of giving the cards a little personality of their own or telling a story with the cards or somehow making the effect that you're performing personal that makes things engaging. It's about engaging your audience. Get them emotionally invested in what you're doing and you'll see the reactions raise significantly.

 

[AnthonyL]

Magic is like music in the sense that people have different tastes. Personally, I love card tricks. I love doing them, I love watching them.

However, More often than not, I find audiences get bored quickly with cards. So instead of doing several card tricks I might just do one or two and move on to something a little..realer, for lack of a better word.

That said you might be doing something wrong if your coin tricks aren't hitting hard. I've never (honestly, never) done a coin trick that didn't illicit a great response.

It might just be in your performance style or handling, hard to tell without seeing a couple examples. But if mentalism works for you I say go for it.

 

[Rev]

However, More often than not, I find audiences get bored quickly with cards.

I see people say this a lot, but this is something I myself have never come experienced.

I pretty much exclusively perform card magic, the only exception being Crazyman's Handcuffs and (occasionally) sponge balls. I love practicing all kinds of different stuff, but cards is what I perform for others.

Interestingly, I've never had an audience 'get bored' of my tricks. If anything, sometimes they won't let me stop!

Friends never ask me to 'do a trick, they always just say 'Have you got your cards on you?' If i say yes, then they ask to see something. They expect me to do card magic as that's what I do. No one has ever said 'You need to learn something other than cards'. Except for magicians, but I don't often perform for magicians.

There are plenty of magicians out there who do (almost) exclusive card magic: Paul Gordon, Harry Lorayne, Jason Ladayne, Ricky Jay, John Bannon... the list goes on. I think the secret is variety. Watch 'Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants.' It's close to an hour of just card magic. But it isn't just an hour of 'pick a card' style tricks. There's 'pick a card' tricks, gambling demos, ace assemblies, card throwing. The presentations also vary from serious and academic to comedic and silly. The variety is what stops it being dull.

Yes, a lot of people do card tricks. But then again, a lot of people also play the guitar, and you never hear musicians say 'You should learn another instrument as well as people will get bored if you just play the guitar'

Rev

 

[AnthonyL]

I see people say this a lot, but this is something I myself have never come experienced.
Rev

Right off the bat i don't mean to imply that others shouldn't just do card tricks. By all means if you can make hand magic be entertaining go for it.

However when when performing for family and friends, I'm very rarely asked to do a card trick. It's almost always "do the ring trick!" (pen and ring manipulation) or " Do the three coin trick!" (threefly).

And of course the greats have done just card magic with excellent results, but for everyone of them there are a dozen magicians who do incredibly boring card sets ( I know, I've seen them). Now this isn't necessarily the cards fault, maybe with a coin trick thrown in it would be equally as boring, but i think theres a good chance it would break up the monotony.


P.S 'you never hear musicians say 'You should learn another instrument as well as people will get bored if you just play the guitar'
Actually i've heard this countless times, and for good reason. If someone's plucking on a banjo at a party i might be interested. If one more person pulls out a guitar and starts playing wonderwall i might just throw my cards at him.

 

[Rev]

P.S 'you never hear musicians say 'You should learn another instrument as well as people will get bored if you just play the guitar'
Actually i've heard this countless times, and for good reason. If someone's plucking on a banjo at a party i might be interested. If one more person pulls out a guitar and starts playing wonderwall i might just throw my cards at him.

Ha ha! Ok, I'll give you that one!

Just to say I wasn't saying you were wrong. We've all all been bored out of our skulls by card trick performances before, whether it be on Youtube or in magic convention competitions. However, it just seem to be the 'accepted' wisdom that card tricks are inherently boring.

My wife comes with me to conventions and she has seen a lot of magic. Even with that in mind she still likes watching card magic more than anything. Yeah, she has commented on performers who are boring, and I often agree with her.

However, there are certain things she just finds boring outright. Coin magic is one, expecially 'Matrix' style routines. Thimble magic is another. She also doesn't like stage manipulation acts.

Sometimes I think as magicians we aren't best placed to make a judgement on what audiences like. This may explain why we can't understand why the public love people like Criss Angel and Dynamo.

Rev