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

Showcase your style

O

Orb

Jul 19, 2009
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Sweden
I've been on the forums for awhile now (didn't sign up as a member instantly), and it seems like the coin magic forum doesn't really move around alot. Hopefully I thought that a thread like this could spice the whole thing up a notch.

There are many types of coin magics styles out there (it goes beyond old school and new school). Showcase Your style by posting a video of you performing your favourite routine. I can't really set the "do as I do" example right now due to me being away, but hopefully we'll see some contributions.
 
I think you might need to look more at the symptoms. Have you noticed the fact that when asked, most people here will say something along the lines of, "I'm a card guy, but if I don't have my cards I'll do some coin tricks or mentalism."

The majority of this forum regards coins as a throw-away, a cheap stand-in for their cards. Hell, most of them would be utterly mystified to learn that T. Nelson Downs based his entire Vaudeville act on nothing but coins.

Not that I don't support this thread, but we all also need to address the cause as well as the symptom.
 
Steerpike said:
The majority of this forum regards coins as a throw-away, a cheap stand-in for their cards.
Click to expand...

on average I see 1 to 2 at most new posts a day in this section, where as every 20 minutes there is a post in the card forum. And no one really talks about coin magic in any other section. We are being overrun by countless card only copies.
 
Steerpike said:
I think you might need to look more at the symptoms. Have you noticed the fact that when asked, most people here will say something along the lines of, "I'm a card guy, but if I don't have my cards I'll do some coin tricks or mentalism."

The majority of this forum regards coins as a throw-away, a cheap stand-in for their cards. Hell, most of them would be utterly mystified to learn that T. Nelson Downs based his entire Vaudeville act on nothing but coins.

Not that I don't support this thread, but we all also need to address the cause as well as the symptom.
Click to expand...

If we start off in a shallow manner, and try to break it down bit by bit, one of the major factors might be that coin magic is extremely hard compared to card magic (this is by no means ment for puning, there are loads of awesome card tricks out there but i'm being relative to the grade of effectivity). In coin magic you are usually constantly vulnerable to angles, and your body language plays a major role, within card magic you have a deck of card and you're usually not prone to angles. When you start getting into palming and such but now I'm talking about easier stuff. Let's look at an ACR routine, that effect is just stunning, and if I remember right is the only effect that actually fooled Harry Houdini. No matter who you perform it to, if the presentation is right it will blow away any layman.

Let's look at a Coins Across routine, non specifically just overall. A coins across is quite amazing, especially if presented correctly. But a Coins Across routine takes alot more body language and synchronising and misdirection than an ACR routine, and yet I still doubt it would be as effective (maybe now I'm being unfair seeing as ACR is one of the strongest effects imo).

Coin magic back in the days probably had more value to it due to that back in the days, you actually used money as a strong currency. Today that is taken over by bills. As we know one of the 3 major factors in life is money. Imagine to be able to just bring out money blantly from the air, real high valued money. To the spectators that just implies that "this guy could get so rich", and it would be more meaningful since they can relate. Today if you pluck a half dollar from the air, that is cool, but it will hardly solve your economic burdens. These are some factors I believe might be reasons. I'm sure there's much more to it and I'm also quite sure alot of you will disagree with what I have had to say.

Still, if we could see some contributions, good or bad, that would be awesome. Everyone starts somewhere.
 
Miser's dream is a way around the money problem without using bills. Rarely do people perform it anymore though...
 
I would like to ask my fellow magicians who has no interest in coin magic simply - why not?

To me, the ability to take something we use on a almost daily basis, vanishing it, duplicating it, penetrating stuff with it and what not, is such an fantastic not only illusion, but feeling of having the ability to. I understand why cards are populair, it's used for alot of things including famous games such as poker, black jack and even occult matters such as tarots, and being able to "controll" all cards, and bending them to your will is fascinating.
But I still fail to see why card magic, is by such huge differences, much more populair than coin magic. To me it's just not as appealing to have to walk around with a deck of cards in your hands, asking your spectator to pick a card (shallow judgement of card magic).
Why not have coin magic as your main attraction instead of card magic? I'm not saying people should switch, I'm more asking why laymen who just got into magic automatically almost always goes to cards right away, not coins.
Why is coin magic so unattractive? It surely can't be because of lack of effects/routines, because there's plenty of those.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say:
Because card magic is more popular.

No, i'm not saying that Cards are better, but think about it. Any layman who is just getting into magic is bound to know about card magic. Hell, when you see a poster advertising magic, all you see are top hats, doves and cards. (Wired metaphor, i know)

What im trying to say is that when a layman enters a magic store for the first time, he probably asks for an easy card trick, or for "That trick that criss did on tv".
By the time the find out that theres a whole other branch of magic out there, they are too deep in their comfort zone.
This is all based on what I feel and assume, so correct me if i'm wrong.

Also: maybe because card tricks in general are easier.'

-MM
 
i am working on some coin work. i think why cards are more popular is that. they are easier to start. coin magic you have to work harder to start performing.

while cards have simple tricks to keep u hooked while you learn harder stuff. plus i like to use big coins but they are a bit harder to get a hold of. while cards can be bought pretty much anywhere.


idk but coin magic, when done right looks amazing and i plan to learn atleast a few tricks.
 
I would agree that one of the big problems is its harder. I have been working on coin magic for a while now and I still don't feel that comfortable performing for people. I like to work with silver dollars, as they are bigger and more visual than half dollars; the problem is that they are harder to work with, as mentioned above.

On that same point, since its harder to work with coins than cards, people aren't going to put that much effort into it. Which is why there is a lot of coin magic out there that isn't good. I certainly don't claim to be good at coin magic at all because I'm not. But I know that people are generally lazy and most aren't willing to put in the time to get it right.
 
I get the point where card magic essentially is easier both to get a hang of, and quicker to "master" highly effective routines that still doesnt' require that much. I also understand that card magic has such a prestige that basically when laymen think of magicians they think of men in costumes pulling rabbits out of a hat, and doing card routines. But if people saw coin magic, would they really back out of learning it just because it's harder? If they feel it's more visual and effective, wouldn't they naturally still go for it?

The catch might be that coin magic isn't presented to laymen who's turning into magicians until they are a long way into their magical career already, and it's "too late" to turn back.
But if coin magic was presented more, would there really be more coin magicians out there today? Would it really trigger people to choose coin magic over card magic as a main focus?
It just can't be the sole reasons to its rarity, there has to be something else to it, but what? I can't put my finger on it.
 
Orb said:
If coin magic was presented more, would there really be more coin magicians out there today? Would it really trigger people to choose coin magic over card magic as a main focus?
Click to expand...

I think so.
Imagine If Criss Angel (for lack of a better example) did a killer coin routine. I mean KILLER.
Just like the thousands of "How to levitate like criss" websites we see today, the internet would be immediately filled with "Criss angel coin trick revealed" websites.
All this resulting in people getting more exited about coin magic, and then when they decide to buy a couple of tricks themselves, they will remember that coin trick, and decide to find out how its done, and preform it.

MM
 
Magu Manu said:
I think so.
Imagine If Criss Angel (for lack of a better example) did a killer coin routine. I mean KILLER.
Just like the thousands of "How to levitate like criss" websites we see today, the internet would be immediately filled with "Criss angel coin trick revealed" websites.
All this resulting in people getting more exited about coin magic, and then when they decide to buy a couple of tricks themselves, they will remember that coin trick, and decide to find out how its done, and preform it.

MM
Click to expand...

You make a good point mate. However, we don't really see alot of people today, despite of criss angel showcasing his levitation trick getting killer reactions, using it. When things are put in the way (if my interpretation of your comment is correct) you speak of, such as they see one trick and go get it, that doesn't add anything to the magic community, having some laymen seeing magic as a puzzle they have to solve, and they are finally getting some pieces.

The advertising plays a big role, and if criss angel was a fulltime coin magician, and had the status he has today, then we might be seeing some changes (imagine david roths soul in criss angels body). Today card magic reigns the throne, it can always be faced, but never replaced. Many about-to-be magicians will get their first glimt on card magic, and very unlikely be presented coin magic. But I don't think coin magic will ever be presented solely by itself without being challanged by card magic.

Our best (and rare) case scenario is having laymen being introduced to both coin and card magic at the same time, whereas from there they can decide.
 
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