Learning The Tricks: Other Miscellaneous Tricks

Magic has always been a fascination for children and adults. We see David Blaine mesmerizing us with his street magic, from biting a coin (and restoring it back) to doing stunts which might seem impossible for the rest of us. We heard of Harry Houdini and his death-defying acts.

Magic tricks have always been just illusions. A magician’s true aim is to deceive the eyes of the audience into seeing something else. This can be done in different ways and gives different results and reactions.

Here is an example trick. It uses two techniques to deceive the audience, namely substitution and misdirection. The trick is to show your audience a clean sheet of paper then after putting it in an envelope and saying your magic word, the paper will now have writing on it.

This one is really an easy trick. You just have to prepare it before the show starts. You will need two envelopes, two pieces of paper. First thing you do is to paste the two envelopes together (back to back), so you will have two pockets where you could put the papers. Then write something smart on one paper and stuff it in one of the envelopes.

At the time of performing, just show your paper. Exclaim that it is really blank. May be you could pass it around for them to see. This is called misdirection. You are putting their attention on the paper that they will forget about the envelope.

After getting the paper back, fold it twice and fit it in the other pocket of the envelope. Close it and saying your magic word (or just do other stuffs to make the audience laugh), open it and just get the paper with the writing in it. This is called substitution. The audience didn’t know that there was already a paper inside and that you have made a switch. Show the paper around and while doing this hide the envelope so no one will be able to inspect it.

Here is another trick where everything you do is planned and the audience will not know how you did it. It’s a simple trick that even you, once you know how it’s done even you would laugh at how simple it really is.

The trick will go like this. First you will let your audience write a word on the center of the paper. Then you will let him/her fold the paper in half and then fold it in half again. Then you will tell them that you will tear the paper into pieces (without looking at the message) and put it into a pot and then you’ll pick one to burn what’s inside the pot. As your audience watches, reveal to them what the word that was written in the center of the paper.

This is really a very simple trick. Try doing the trick yourself and you’ll be amazed at its simplicity. Get a clean sheet of paper. Write your name at the center of paper. Try folding it once. From that point of view you know that your name is somewhere in the middle of the crease in the paper. Then try folding it in half again. You will probably notice that now your name is now in the top left portion of the twice-folded paper. Try tearing that part and you’ll see that you’ve got your name in your hand. Of course, if you’re doing the trick, you must remember not to put that part of the paper in the pot. Try holding onto it and once finding someone to burn your pieces of paper, look at that piece (without letting them see!) and dispose of it somewhere.

Add some suspense before you tell them of the word you have just read and you’ve done your trick. This is a really good and easy trick. If done properly, your audience will not just clap, but would be amazed at you and would be talking about it for some time.

Try practicing these two tricks at home. They’re both simple and easy to do. They just both need some practice and a creative story to keep them laughing. Remember the audience is expecting fun so give it to them.