Which tricks should I perform?

[Gustav Dubh]

For kids that age i wouldn't do cardwork. Maybe a torn and restored napkin. The professors nightmare is easy to do, and it never fails. Colour-changing silks isn't hard either and it is a great effect. Check out Pop Haydn's version of it. Sponge balls are a sure winner too, bunnies even better. A chop-cup would work as well.

 

[RealityOne]

For 10 to 12 year olds, you can do card tricks provided they are presented right. I'd avoid doing a whole show of them, but one or two will work.

 

[Spaz]

Do sidewalk shuffle. It will fill the time perfectly. I know people said do not do card magic, however I spent a week designing a really nice routine which replaces any and all gambling elements from it and turns it into a really nice entertaining story.

If you're interested, I will link you my routine.

 

[Scodischarge]

Thank you for the advice and the offer, but I don't think that would work too well with kids of that age group.
Nevertheless, I really appreciate the offer!

 

[Spaz]

Thank you for the advice and the offer, but I don't think that would work too well with kids of that age group.
Nevertheless, I really appreciate the offer!

You're welcome! And I do understand.

Would you at least like to see my routine anyway?

 

[Scodischarge]

I always like to see good routines done well

 

[Spaz]

I always like to see good routines done well

OK here you go:

 

[Scodischarge]

Thanks for sharing! The routine's well done (as far as I can tell), and the idea of a magician-magician contest is interesting. However, I think you should act the two magicians out a bit more (as this is a video and not an actual performance it might be that you do it a little differently in a show). You know, instead of just using the same tone of voice for the whole video you could act out the surprise in one of the magicians' voice etc. Also, I feel there isn't much build-up to the climax. Again, this ties into how you act out the two magicians. You could show the audience the competitiveness in both of the magicians, egging each other on to always trump the last effect.

Three rather minor things I noticed in the script: 1. "... and he said, "I can tell you're a magician"; you know, we can tell when somebody is a magician, we sort of sense it ..." In my opinion this sounds like you just couldn't think of any better reason. Just leave it at "The other day at this festival I met a magician, and he showed me this trick ..." That's enough already, you don't need a reason to recognize him as a fellow magician.
Another thing: "I'm not even going to show you this time, I'm just going to put one on the table." Just put the card on the table. Most of the people I do tricks for (not many, granted) will get suspicious as soon as I said "I won't show you". And it doesn't matter that they still don't know how the rest of the trick works -- as soon as a layman thinks he knows how 10% of a trick work, he thinks he knows how a trick works.
The last thing: When showing that you have three aces in your hand, you first display them in the same way you showed the three empty cards before. Then: "Hang on, I didn't see all the cards!" And then you show them all at once. The problem: This might be good to fool magicians (those who don't know the trick, anyway), but you've just told every watching layman how a large part of the rest of the trick works.

Of course, it's rather daring of me, somebody who started this thread because he has no experience performing, to criticize your performance. So take this with a grain of salt, and I hope you don't misunderstand me, for the most part I really enjoyed the video.

Again, thanks for sharing!

 

[Spaz]

That was my very first take on that routine as well it was the very first time I did it as a routine after formulating it.
It's since been polished with some some different wording and actions. I also have some audience participation involved as well.

Scodischarge[/URL]]The problem: This might be good to fool magicians (those who don't know the trick, anyway), but you've just told every watching layman how a large part of the rest of the trick works.

I'll be posting the newer variant soon.

 

[Spaz]

Sorry the site doesn't let me edit past 5 minutes.

The last thing: When showing that you have three aces in your hand, you first display them in the same way you showed the three empty cards before. Then: "Hang on, I didn't see all the cards!" And then you show them all at once. The problem: This might be good to fool magicians (those who don't know the trick, anyway), but you've just told every watching layman how a large part of the rest of the trick works.

You might not have noticed that I did the exact same thing at the beginning of the trick when I was handling the cards first. Everything I do during a performance is on purpose.

 

[Scodischarge]

You might not have noticed that I did the exact same thing at the beginning of the trick when I was handling the cards first. Everything I do during a performance is on purpose.

I did notice, actually. Though I don't know how the whole trick is done, I think I have a pretty good idea how a lot of it is done. I'm guessing the way you display "all" the cards throughout the trick (three empty cards in hand) is important for the rest of the trick. But while I'm all in favor of uniformity of action, this little sentence "Hang on, I didn't see all the cards" tells the careful spectator that he may not have seen all the cards the first two times either. In my opinion it's better to not delay the moment of surprise any longer and just display all the cards at once, if the trick allows for it. If it doesn't, display the aces as before and just leave it at that, without this "Hang on ...".

I'll be posting the newer variant soon.

Looking forward to it!

 

[Spaz]

"Hang on, I didn't see all the cards" tells the careful spectator that he may not have seen all the cards the first two times either. In my opinion it's better to not delay the moment of surprise any longer and just display all the cards at once, if the trick allows for it. If it doesn't, display the aces as before and just leave it at that, without this "Hang on ...".

Not making excuses but as I said that was the very first version of the routine I came up with, as well it was the very first time I did the routine as a whole after designing it. It was the first of the first). Everything routine and trick I do almost always goes through several changes. Some of my best changes are sometimes done during the actual performance.

Anyway that line has long since been removed. I had originally changed it to I didn't see all the cards in your hand, but now I just say I place one down, and then (After turning the cards over in my hand so the spectator's see the faces) say "since he is supposed to copy me I did everything nice and slow (Putting the ace in the middle) then count blank, ace, blank. (Turn them over)..

 

[Spaz]

Here is the routine with the changes I mentioned above. Enjoy!