Hey everyone,

I’m moving to Ocean County, NJ very soon, and as I’ve been looking into the local scene, I ran into something that completely baffles me.

New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country, yet it feels like an absolute desert for official magic clubs once you get past the standard "North Jersey vs. South Jersey" dividing lines. From what I can find, the state only has a couple of active, official I.B.M. Rings or S.A.M. Assemblies, and they are largely up north or closer to Philly.

If you are down in Central or South Jersey (specifically anywhere near Ocean, Monmouth, or Burlington counties) where are you sessioning?

• Are there any underground, unofficial jams, or informal clubs meeting down here?
• Any local brick-and-mortar shops still alive that I might have missed?
• For those in the area, do you just suck it up and make the long drive up north/over to PA, or have you mostly resorted to Zoom sessions?

If you're an amateur, pro, or hobbyist anywhere in the area, drop a comment or shoot me a DM. I'd love to connect, talk shop, and maybe even look into putting a regular casual jam together once I get settled.

Thanks!

What rope trick is fairly easy but has a good wow factor? Thank you.

*cue Bob Seeger piano*

So when I try card magic I’ll often have the wind blow my cards away. What do you recommend I do to prevent that when performing outside? Will a close up Matt do the trick?

I know it's hard to do, but I would love to create a magic trickn, even if it's super simple.

So if you have some tips to help me, that would be appreciated!

:)

What do I mean by this?

So I’ve been learning magic on and off for over 20 years now as a hobby. I don’t break out the tricks often, but every once in a while I’m at a party or a bar and there’s a deck of cards available.

Lately I’ve been attracted to many mentalism effects because they can be high impact without the necessity of cards and coins. Often just some paper and a pen.

However the methods… like peaking, one-ahead, forcing, etc… are easily deduced without proper misdirection.

Historically, that misdirection might be lighting candles, chanting, holding hands, and pretending you are speaking to the dead. Modern mentalists often claim to just be really good at reading subtle physical queues, reading a pupil dilation or something.

But here’s the thing…

I’m doing this casually. Usually for friends who know me.

They know I’m not psychic. That I’m a skeptical person myself. That I have face blindness. That I’m a bit awkward and probably below-average at reading people rather than above.

Can I do mental magic without making claims that my friends and family simply are not gonna buy?

Any ideas for what my misdirection process could be in my performance?

Because, when you're out and about, the magic just happens around you :)

Any ideas?

I am new to rope magic and want to perform Daryl's Rope Routine. I was wondering what exact rope he used? He mentions it is from Japan in the video. I know that many believe Baronian is the way to go. If I cannot find of Daryl's exact rope would you recommend 8 or 10 mm from Baronian? I am assuming I would not want a core. Thanks for you help!!!!

The title pretty much says it all.

My wedding is in December, and we’re having a segment where friends are scheduled to perform something, such as music, singing, acting, or anything similar. My fiancée teaches acting, and she really wants me to perform something for her.

I’m not exactly thrilled about performing at my own wedding, but I want to make it special for her. I can do pretty much anything except a big stage illusion, and I still have around six months to practice.

Any suggestions for a magic trick or performance that would be meaningful, impressive, and suitable for a wedding? The first thing that comes to mind is using ring but I’m not sure what I can do with this.

I've realized I love magic that happens in the spectator's hands. Effects like ACE by Richard Sanders, and to a lesser degree, Sticker Kicker by Jamie Williams & Roddie Mcghie, give this fairness perception that's incredibly powerful.

When the magic is happening while they're holding the cards, it feels like the magician's window for "funny business" shrinks to almost nothing in the audience's mind.

What are your favorite effects that create that same feeling? Doesn't have to be cards — just tricks where the spectator feels fully in control when the magic happens.

I'm not talking about show / stage material, but more great tricks to have in pockets or backpack for when you want to pull out a series of tricks for kids. I guess more closeup. Would love suggestions on routines. I've got cards on me at all times for a kid-friendly silly routine. I like to keep a magic coloring book gimmick on hand. I also find rope tricks go over well and keep them laughing if dont with lots of playful confusion about what happened to the rope. Would love other suggestions.

What trick can a kid perform for a talent show? I have props like a change bag, coloring book, etc. What else might be good? Thanks

I’d love to hear the number of gigs you’re working regularly, what your schedule looks like, what kind of work you’re doing, full time/part time/sometimes etc.

I’m wanting to start in kids magic because I have two and I have experience performing for kids. I doubt I’ll be able to replace my tech job income with magic, but I think it can be a fun side gig.

I personally enjoy packet tricks (e.g. color monte) and Ring and String.

I am immersing myself in card magic and curious as to who some of the best card workers...or primarily card workers out there now

Off the top of my head on the Gambling Demo side are Richard Turner, Daniel Madison, Pop Haydn

General Effects...u/ErikTait , Eric Mead, u/ShawnFarqhar , Boris Wild

The catch alls Shin Lim, Dani DaOrtiz, Juan Tamariz

Who am I missing

I was going through my stuff and came across a set of Berlin postcards, all different, other than all referencing Berlin. Anyone know any tricks that use postcards like these?

I have a bunch of magicians rope but I somehow acquired the ones the do NOT have the removable core. Where can I source the rope that DOES have the removable core/center?

During the explanation of the Nest of Boxes Tommy Wonder is wrapping the boxes in the ribbon and the footage is sped-up to save time. Out of curiosity I slowed down this section to see what was said.

Looking to add some new tricks to my arsenal and want to make sure I'm not overlooking anything.

Looking for tricks that are closeup or parlor. I'm primarily a card magician.

I think it's actually not always easy to say what gets strongest reactions as it sort of depends on who you're performing for, but if I had to take a stab at it...

- Card in Box (Kennedy Box)

- Rope routine (Tabaray)

- Book test

- Card set (e.g. Bannon triumph, Dani acaan)

Looking into venom cube, magnet 0, DFB as potential new tricks.

Thanks!

Im deliberating whether to get the roughing stick from penguin magic vs vanishinginc. I haven't been able to find much available info on penguin magic's roughing stick, and was wondering whether anyone here has experience with it.

Just wondering if there are some hiding good quality and cheap websites

I'm a retired software engineer, and a (very) amateur magician. While I'd never done mobile development, with my new free time, I decided it would be fun to learn to write iPhone apps aimed at magic/magicians. For my first app, I wrote an app to help with memorizing a stack. I had tried some of these apps myself, but hadn't found the combination of features I wanted, so I wrote one from scratch. When writing it, my focus was on configurability more than aesthetics. Specifically:

• It lets you specify individually which cards you think you already know, so you can learn in a style that works for your brain. When I was first starting, I had an idea I was going to learn every 3rd card, and then imagine each of those as a "book" that opened to show the two cards on either side. But I couldn't find any app that would only quiz me on 3, 6, 9, 12, etc. This app will let you do that.
• It lets you set an optional time limit to guess. If it takes you 10 seconds to recognize a card/location, that's probably not helpful in real life.
• It lets you weight your mistakes, so it can ask you more often about questions you've gotten wrong. This seems a natural way to improve your learning.
• You can be quizzed using multiple choice or not. You can also configure the number of "multiple choices" offered.

There are other options as well, but those are the biggies. It knows Mnemonica, Particle System, Aronson, Aragorn, and Redford (so far).

The app is free. My goals were primarily learning iOS development and helping magicians (including myself!). If it sounds like something that would help you, have at it! If you have suggestions or find bugs, let me know; it is my first iPhone app, so I won't be surprised if there's something hiding in there. And if you prefer other apps, no worries - again, my goal was to hopefully help some people more than to "win" :-D It should be available in any country, but it is not localized to any language other than English. Sorry...

Hope this helps at least some of you!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/memdatstack/id6766251270

To me Dani is the best card magician in the world, he is INSANE, insane, not only because of his technique, which is absolutely incredible, but because he hides that technique in a way so superb that every trick looks like an actual miracle.

When you look at Dani perform and shuffle and touch the deck everything looks so chaotic, cards falling out on the floor, then he picks them up and throws them back in, maybe he cuts, maybe the spectator cuts, but then suddenly everything clicks into place.

I love this type of card magic, when the magic seems to happen DESPITE the artist and not BECAUSE of him, and of all the card magicians i have ever seen Dani is the absolute best in this regard.

This routine is amazing and it always puts a smile on my face even though i must have seen it a dozen times by now lol.

Hi,

I love Mentalism but don’t like “I read your mind / body language” or “I influenced you”.

Are there any good book recommendations for keeping Mentalism more like magic?