with christmas on the way i was considering buying myself a new trick, routine, gimmick, etc. dose anyone have a suggestion on what gimmicks are worth the money, thanks.
what gimmicks are worth the money?
- Thread starter magic_cardistry22
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I would love to know about that more if you don't mind as Regeneration is one of my most favorite effects that guarantees a great response.
Don't focus on the gimmick or the method. Focus on the effect - that is what the spectator sees. If you like the effect than research the different methods for attaining the effect - do they work for how you perform (sitting, standing, walking around, surrounded, parlor, stage, etc.), are they difficult to perform, do they have limited angles, are they practical, etc.
My rule is if I can imagine how I'm going to perform something, the I'll buy it.
My rule is if I can imagine how I'm going to perform something, the I'll buy it.
I do the same thing RealityOne said - If I watch a demo and get ideas of how it fits into my performance, I get it. I often then go out and look for other methods and try to absorb as much information as I can about the trick or routine, and take all of that information and distill it into the best fit for me.
Do you have a particular effect or performance that you are trying to accomplish? That would be a big help in recommending gimmicks for you.
If you are just looking for a general statement on what to get, you can't go wrong with Paul Harris. As to what some people have commented before, I wouldn't recommend Pyro just yet. It's pretty expensive and not always reliable. You have to really be careful with what you buy from Ellusionist. A lot of their products break, can't be performed live, or are misleading from the trailers. I'm not saying Pyro is terrible, it's just not 100% reliable.
thats a great idea but i don't properly know how to use loops and cant find any good tutorials or instruction that are free but thanks a bunch
i was thinking something that can be done in a party setting(fully or mostly surrounded) with card or coins, preferable something that involves a bit of audience participation.
I enjoy gambling routines, so I will sometimes perform some of those if I am sitting down in a party setting. Some routines require sleight hand and others just require a set up. These type of routines can make the audience feel involved if you have them sitting around a table and your dealing cards to them and let them make decisions every now and then. Not sure if gambling routines come across as "magic", but its something the audience can relate to and you can combine several gambling "tricks" together. Not sure if that's what your looking for, but its something different you can throw in in between your magic effects.
For coins that require gimmicks my top three recommendations are Break by Uday Jadugar (will be having a review on my YouTube channel soon; possibly Saturday), Doubting Thomas by yours truly, and Superman Coin Bend 2.0. You can slay with those and they all essentially involve audience participation. Break can be a "borrowed" coin and you can break the coin as they hold your wrists, with the Doubting Thomas gimmick you can pass a coin through the back of your palm and into the palm of their hand, and with the Superman Coin Bend you can actually borrow a coin and bend it in front of their eyes. The prices for these are Break: $50, Doubting Thomas: $5, Superman Coin Bend 2.0: $40.
For card gimmicks my top three are Regeneration by Blake Vogt, Sleeper by Eoin O'Hare (review of it is actually up on my channel with a performance), and Vortex by Dan Harlan (review and performance is also up). I would have put Quantum Space by Calen Morelli but it is not currently available on the market. The prices are Regeneration: $50, Sleeper: $25, and Vortex: $20.
Doubting Thomas is really more of an underground release but it sounds like the sort of thing you would like to perform. Here is a trailer that explains more of what it is and there is also a live performance compilation of the effect available on my channel. The gimmick is relatively cheap to make.
I just thought of another source that might help you with your question.
I would research effects you are interested in buying by watching YouTube magic reviews. Sometimes it's a little hard to trust the reviews that are on the site (some sites are known to not include negative reviews, Theory11 as far as I know isn't one of them). YouTube reviewers are a little bit more thorough and often demonstrate how it will look live to spectators.
I just did a review of one of the effects that I listed above for Break. I'm hoping my reviews as well as other YouTubers reviews will help you in your purchasing decisions.
I would research effects you are interested in buying by watching YouTube magic reviews. Sometimes it's a little hard to trust the reviews that are on the site (some sites are known to not include negative reviews, Theory11 as far as I know isn't one of them). YouTube reviewers are a little bit more thorough and often demonstrate how it will look live to spectators.
I just did a review of one of the effects that I listed above for Break. I'm hoping my reviews as well as other YouTubers reviews will help you in your purchasing decisions.
What I tend to perform in a party setting is Woody Aragon's "Finding your other half" which can be found in his book, "A Book In English". Eric Jones also does an awesome performance and teaches the tutorial on his Penguin Magic Lecture. It's not a gimmick, it does involve destroying cards, but the reactions are absolutely mental. You can get as many people as you want involved, it's completely surrounded and ridiculously impromptu. When I went to see the Impossible Live Magic Tour, they performed a variation of this trick to everyone in attendance (about 1200 people).
One gimmick I always have in my deck is Revolution by Greg Wilson. Just to approach someone with a deck spinning on your finger is great to break the ice.
Eric performed this for a group of us at a lecture -- just wonderful. It reminds me of Tamariz's Paradise Lost (in Verbal Magic and reprinted in Genii). I haven't seen Eric's Penguin lecture, but having seen Eric lecture and perform, it has to have good stuff. Woody's A Book in English is a great book.
He has some amazing stuff on his penguin lecture. I recommend anyone to get it for sure. We all know how amazing he is with coins, but his card work is pretty phenomenal too.