Magic Tricks With Coins

Magicians, especially professional magicians, tend to guard their secrets jealously. It is rare indeed to find a performer who would reveal the secrets of their art to the uninitiated or to colleagues. Very few of these individuals would indeed reveal the magic tricks they have developed on their own for love or money.

Nowadays books, videos, leaflets and other items available at bookstores and on the internet (even whole websites devoted to magic) have gone a long way towards explaining simple magic tricks. Amateur magic enthusiasts can even find the occasional magic convention to show them how to perform some of the more complicated magic tricks. All these things however are recent developments.

Right up till the end of the 19th century there were very few books or teachers of magic. Outsiders wishing to ‘break into’ the art found it an uphill and often frustrating task. The magic community itself was a closely knit group where magic was concerned, and made it a point of honour to collectively close ranks against all would be new comers.

‘Discoveries of magic’ by Reginald Scott, which was printed in 1584, is one of the first books ever printed that gave an insight into magic. Today, even with the existence of such organizations as the International Brotherhood of Magicians, there are still some organizations which make it a condition of membership to NOT divulge their art to non magicians.

Magic tricks themselves can range over a diverse arena that includes everything from the old pulling a rabbit out of a hat trick and mind reading to more complicated forms of magic. These will involve levitation, using handcuffs and replacing your assistant with a Bengal tiger.

Be that as it may, coin and card tricks are still performed in every magicians act. They are some of the easiest and simplest tricks to perform. They require nothing more ingenious than a sleight of hand and a good routine to pull off a creditable performance.

Popular modern magicians include such names as David Copperfield, David Blaine, Siegfried and Roy, Chris Angel and a host of others. These magicians have become household names due to their fantastic, unexplainable and often mind boggling magical performances.

However, the most famous of all magicians is Harry Houdini (1805 - 1871), the son of a Hungarian rabbi who started out as a watch maker. He then went on to become one of the greatest magicians in the world. Houdini is best known for his escapology – the ability to escape from any form of restraints - tricks.

As you see there are many different tricks that are employed by magicians. These magic tricks are what makes these magicians so fascinating to us. The many different magic tricks you will find are part of the atmosphere of magic.



By: Muna wa Wanjiru

About the Author:

Cards, coins, flying doves, jumping rabbits are all part of magic. These many items are used as tools for a magic act. While most of the items that are used in magic acts are beyond the scope of new magicians there are others that can be used. For the new magician free magic tricks are especially useful to have in your selection of magic.

These different types of free magic tricks are one that anyone who is interested in doing magic can try. The tools of the trade will be basic items that you can easily find and buy. You may want to try your hand at the very easy magic tricks to begin with. These free magic tricks will be the ones that you can perform with cards and coins.

To perform one of these many different free magic tricks the first step you will need to follow is to know the magic trick you will be trying out. The best way to accomplish this task is to find a book of magic tricks. These books are available at your local library, at various book stores and you can even find some on the internet.

Once you have found what steps are required to perform the tricks you should practice at least one until you can execute the trick flawlessly. To make these different free magic tricks that you are working on look fabulous there are various atmospheric tricks that you can use.

These are part of the showmanship that captures the interest of people. Once their interest has been caught you will leave them wondering how you performed your trick. The best types of free magic tricks will show you all of the hidden secrets that need to be done for the trick to work successfully.

Some of these tricks are well know card tricks that many magicians have done. If you can pull these tricks off without your guests knowing what has happened then you can call the trick successful.

The many different free magic spells that you can try does not have to be contained only to the sphere of magic acts. These free magic tricks can be ones that you do for reason of personal well being. As magic can be used in different ways the magic tricks can be used in these ways too.

Magic is one aspect of life that we thoroughly enjoy. The many different spells and magic tricks that are known to have been used throughout history keeps magic alive in our minds. For people who don’t have any gift in magic free magic tricks are great ways to experience the wonder of magic.



By: Muna wa Wanjiru

About the Author:

In Scotland, Magic is a very popular hobby and is an excellent way of entertaining your friends and family. It is also very useful in business and can be used as a great “ice-breaker” when meeting new business contacts.

This series of articles will teach you some simple tricks, that you can perform anywhere, without any special equipment.

These types of tricks are called ‘impromptu’ by Magicians and are considered to be the most powerful and effective type of Magic you can perform.

The Perplexing Coins

This little novelty seems more of a puzzle than a trick. However, with the right audience and presentation, it can cause quite a stir.

How The Trick Appears To The Audience

The Magician points to three coins on the table.

He asks everyone to watch carefully as he counts them.

Rapidly, he picks them up one at time counting one,two,three.

He them lays them down on the table one at a time counting four, five, six.

He picks up one counting seven and another counting eight.

He pushes the remaining coin on the table aside and, without pausing, lays down the two coins in his hand one at a time, counting nine and ten.

This is seems simple and very easy to follow. However, when the Magician hands the coins to a friend, then they cannot do it, no matter how hard they try.

Even though you show them several times, no one can duplicate your actions.

How The Trick Is Done

It is done with an interesting bit if psychology.

The trick count will only work if you start the count with the three coins lying on the table. If you start with the three coins in your hand, then it is impossible.

So, you play a crafty trick on your friend. After you finish your count, you pick up the coins and hand them to him.

Because the coins are in his hand at the start, he will unwittingly start the count with the coins in his hand and get it wrong.

But, of course, you do not tell them that the starting position is important. You act as though it makes no difference where the coins are started to be counted from.

When performing the trick, do it quickly.

When he gets it wrong, pick up the coins and put them back in his hand and encourage him to try it again.

Do not give him time to think.

If someone else wants to try, then put the coins in their hands and ask them to do it.

A Variation

The secret of the trick can be concealed even more if you use someone’s hand instead of a table.

So, your starting position would be to place the three coins in his hand and then start the count.

The act of counting the coins from his hand to your hand makes it even more confusing.

Psychologically, it does not seem important whose hands the count starts from - but, of course, it does.

Practice this trick well before showing it to anyone.

If Someone Does Gets It Right

Congratulate them and ask them to do it again. Very often they cannot. However, if the do get it right a second time, then don’t worry. Ask them to keep it a secret and hand the coins to someone else for them to try. The person who was successful will feel flattered you are letting him in on the trick.

You will have a lot of fun with this.

N.B. You do not have to use coins. You could use matches, small packets of sugar in a restaurant, or any other small objects that are handy.



By: Michael Breck

About the Author:

In Scotland, Magic is an excellent way of entertaining your friends and family. It is also very useful in business and can be used as a great “ice-breaker” when meeting new business contacts.

In this trick, you will make a coin vanish under impossible test conditions!

How The Trick Appears To The Audience

The Magician rolls up his sleeves and holds a coin in his hand, so everyone can see it.

Apart from the coin, it is apparent that his hands are empty.

He then drapes a handkerchief over his hand and the coin.

He asks several people to reach under the handkerchief and verify the coin is still there.

He then asks someone to tie the ends of the handkerchief around wrist.

The Magician then says he will attempt to make the coin vanish into thin air.

With his other hand, he makes some mysterious gestures above the handkerchief.

He asks someone to untie the handkerchief and remove it from his hand.

When they do, everyone can see the coin had completely disappeared!

The audience can examine his hands and the handkerchief, but there is no clue to how this miracle was performed.

How The Trick Is Done

The trick is a good example of how the simplest of tricks can be made into a minor miracle with a good presentation.

Unknown to the audience, one of the spectators is a confederate of yours.

When you ask several people to feel under the handkerchief, you make sure that he is the last person to do so.

When your confederate reaches under the handkerchief, he secretly removes the coin by concealing it in his hand.

If your confederate does this in a relaxed manner, he will not arouse suspicion.

You can then have someone else tie the ends of the handkerchief around your wrist.

Only at this point do you say that you will attempt to make the coin vanish.

With a suitable dramatic build up and some magical gestures with your free hand, have someone untie and remove the handkerchief from your hand.

The coin has vanished!

Your audience will be extremely amazed and have absolutely have no idea of how you did it!

This trick is extremely baffling and the audience will think you are a great magician.



By: Michael Breck

About the Author:

Coin tricks have been around almost from the time coins first came into being. They have been a popular fairground attraction for the last two or three hundred years. Nowadays, coin tricks have become a favorite with professional magicians around the world.

Modern coin tricks have evolved into a fascinating act. Street magicians and performers of magic can baffle entire audiences with a variety of tricks. These are tricks such as making coins multiply, vanish and subsequently reappear by plucking them from the air.

Coin tricks are also known as coin flourishing or coin manipulating. They require sleight of hand and a fair amount of practice to improve dexterity. A polished act for presentation will make the coin trick very believable.

Coins come in a variety of sizes. Large shiny coins are more visible against your hand and are ideal for show purposes. Coins with broad or rough edges offer an advantage over other types of coins as they are easier to grip and maneuver.

It is said that practice makes perfect, and that is certainly true when performing coin tricks. Practice enables magicians to identify their personal preferences. The coins most suited to perform particular tricks are the ones which fit to the contours of their palms. These allow coin tricks to be performed deftly without being detected by the audience.

There are books, videos, TV programs, websites and even seminars that are dedicated to showing the many behind the scene magic tricks. These for the most part, focus on simple magic routines. These will help to initiate beginners to the world of magic.

More sophisticated and complicated coin tricks can be gradually developed. There are also seminars at which the “magical community” gather to show off their skill and occasionally. If you’re lucky you will get an opportunity to share their knowledge on how certain of their more baffling tricks are performed.

Some of the easiest coin tricks, though vastly entertaining, require no special skill or ability on the part of the magician. A certain amount of convincing patter can often transform what would otherwise be a very ordinary trick into a gasp evoking performance.

One such case in point, especially where coin tricks are concerned, would be the Penny Prediction. Here a member of the audience is asked to select a coin from a hat, pass it around the room. Everyone except the magician sees the coin. It is then put back into the hat. The magician then proceeds to ‘read’ the minds of the people, or commune with spirits and produce the correct coin.

Coin tricks such as this are very impressive. True. However, they are often very simple and easily explained. Like the Penny Prediction where the coin passed around the room. It absorbs the body heat of those handling the coin and grows warmer. When the coin is put back into the hat, the magician is able to identify it from the rest of the coins immediately.



By: Muna wa Wanjiru

About the Author:

In my magic courses and magic shows, I’m often asked how parents can foster their child’s interest in magic.

Below are a few important steps to help to your kids learn how to do magic tricks and explore the Art of Magic.

1.Encourage your children to learn how to do magic tricks through the local library.

You don’t need to buy the latest magic set or stacks of DVDs on sleight of hand to learn how to do magic. Libraries have a ton of resources on magic, magic history, juggling, and magic specifically for kids. It doesn’t hurt that all this knowledge is FREE! A good beginner’s book in magic will provide the initial foundation for your child to learn several magic tricks and help assess their interest in learning more about the Art of Magic.

2. Remind them to practice both the "moves" and the "story" when learning the magic trick. Magicians refer to their "story" as patter. Patter is the words used in the presentation of the magic trick. Kids (and adults) new to magic often focus purely on the "moves" rather than the presentation. Reminding the performer to focus on the story as well as the moves will only help your son or daughter become more proficient in their performance. Plus their magic trick will be more entertaining!

If you want to see some magic trick videos performances from a variety of magicians ranging from Harry Houdini, Criss Angel, David Blaine, and others, you can visit our Magic Video section. We don’t tell the secret, but you’ll get a good idea of what magic should look like.

3. Visit your local magic shop

The library has a lot of resources, but a magic shop is often the defacto hot spot for any budding performer. Reputable magic shops are staffed with experienced prestidigitators that can help your child learn how to do magic. Watch out for any magic dealer who will sell an expensive magic prop without considering the skill of the performer. When purchasing magic, my recommendation is to invest in books before DVDs. Books have a lot of material that can be referred to time and time again. DVDs are good too however, the latest trend in magic is to release one trick per DVD. You want to ensure you get the most magic for your investment. The DVD will also show how the effect will be presented as well as the "secret". Both books and DVDs are useful learning tools. I prefer these to the standard tricks you find in the glass booths…but those are fun too! Magic shops will sometime host magic nights where local magicians get together and have a "jam session" demonstrating their latest magical pursuit.

You can also visit Kapoof’s Learn Free Magic Tricks library to learn over 100 different magic tricks for free! We feature several tutorials on coin tricks, card tricks, rope tricks, and yes even Street Magic tricks!

4. Join a local magic assembly, ring, or group.

If you search http://www.magicsam.com or http://www.magician.org, you can find a local Assembly or Ring comprised of local magicians in your metropolitan area. Magic meetings are a fun place to network with other hobbyists, professionals, and newbies interested in the Art of Magic. Most magic organizations are welcoming of new members and are willing to share the secrets of their trade. However, the student must be willing to learn and practice rather than expect all the secrets to be revealed.

5. Attend a magic convention

Magic conventions are another excellent way to meet other magicians, see different magic acts, meet different magic vendors, and purchase new magic. Most conventions are held in a hotel where magicians provide lectures, advice, perform parlor sized shows, and even perform full scale theater shows. Every night magicians gather in the lobby and session with each other. It is another easy way to make new friends and learn a few new tricks of the trade.

I hope you found these tips helpful in your child’s pursuit of learning how to do magic. Please visit www.kapoof.com for more information on how to do magic tricks and learn more about the Art of Magic!



By: Andy Makar

About the Author:

The desire to perform different kinds of tricks is one that we have all felt. As children we tried coin tricks, shell games, different card tricks. We have all at one time or another desired to be magicians and perform many wonderful magic tricks. The best way to start out with these magic tricks is to see the various easy magic tricks that you can try out.

There are various magic trick books that we can consult to help us do these tricks. You should first look at the contents of these books to see if there are any tricks that appeal to you. Having found these books you should gather all the magic tools you will need. The next step is to read one of the easy magic tricks in the book fully and make sure that you understand these tricks.

Having looked at these tricks you will need to start out slowly. Make sure that you follow the directions for the easy magic tricks. As you become more confident of your skill you can make the tricks flow faster and smoother. The first stage is to become proficient at performing the tricks without any signs of hesitation.

Once you are sure that you can perform your range of easy magic tricks without difficulty you may want to see how the trick looks in front of a mirror. There are a host of great magic tricks which can be performed by anyone. The main thing with all of these many different tricks is to have the steps of the trick well practiced so that it flows naturally.

You may want to try out some ring and card tricks for your first tricks. As there are many different variations you should select one or two to become well practiced in. While the temptation to work lots of different easy magic tricks is strong it is best to know a few really fantastic ones rather than lots of weak and unimpressive tricks.

To make these easy magic tricks look fantastic to the eyes of the audience you will need to have some interesting stories and gestures to use. You should also make sure that the audience does not feel that you are conning them. If they feel that you are just playing a bad trick on them your entire magic repertoire will fail.

The key items to perform any type of magic trick are confidence in your skill, patience to get the spell right, and continued practice so that the spell flows effortlessly. Combine these with the right amount of flair and magical display and you will have your audience coming back for more of your easy magic tricks.



By: Muna wa Wanjiru

About the Author:

How to Start Learning Magic Tricks

Learning magic tricks is similar to learning something new in school. You don’t expect to learn things right away but with the right attitude and discipline, you will be able to become better at it in the long term.

The first thing you have to do is figure out why you want to learn magic Chances are, you are not doing this for the money because there is not that much you can get from it except if you become very famous like David Copperfield or David Blaine.

For some, they simply wanted to follow the footsteps of their favorite magicians which they saw as they were growing up.  Whatever your reason is, that is up to you.

Before you start learning magic tricks, you have to learn its history. Magic has been used for hundreds of years. Technology has helped make it bigger than it has ever been but in order to understand it, you have to learn how and why it works. From there, you will learn the various techniques and get an idea what you want to specialize in.

Once you have figured that out, it is time to learn the basics. There are books about magic tricks as well as tutorials which you can view online. Study them and then see if you can do the same thing until you are able to do these on your own.

Since almost every magic needs some sort of tools to make it work, you have to buy some by visiting your local magic store or purchase these items online. When you are able to master the simple tricks, you can now move on to the more challenging ones.

Whenever you practice doing some tricks, be sure to have a friend or a family member watch how you do it. Their feedback is very important so you will know if what you are doing is right. It also wouldn’t hurt to record yourself with a video camera then play it back later.

You are the only one who can tell if you are ready to put on a magic show or not. If you think it is time, sign up and be one of the many who will be part of the amateur magic show. Remember that you only have a limited time on stage so choose the best magic trick you know and give it your all.

Be sure to keep eye contact with the audience because you are expected to entertain them. If ever you make a mistake, just apologize and move on.

Once you finish your act, decide if you want to continue performing magic tricks or move on. Some people are already content with doing something just once while others are motivated to learn other magic tricks and pursue this as a long term career. You can even teach people how to do this so you are able to impart some knowledge to those who are also fascinated.

Will learning magic tricks easy? No but you can improve your skill each time you try. Sometimes you learn more by making a few mistakes on the way so that when you are up on stage, this mistake does not happen and you are able to get the recognition from the audience.

Magic Trick Tips

There are various magic trick tips that will help you learn magic faster. With a number of magic tricks to learn, you must also have to know some of the important principles behind most magic tricks. Among the principles involved in doing magic tricks is sleight of hand.

Sleight of hand is actually a technique used in magic where a magician makes use of certain hand movements to manipulate objects such as coins and cards. Sleight of hand is a technique that magicians and performers use in order to produce a certain effect. Sleight of hand is that technique where the magician tries to show an audience something and lets them see it in a certain way. It is like trying to force upon a spectator to see a certain object in effect that will lead them to believe that it is so.

But the fact of the matter is that it may not actually be how the spectator actually sees it. It can be quite confusing but learning more about sleight of hand would help you further understand about the process.

There are seven different methods used for sleight of hand magic tricks. They usually require lots of practice before a person can be effective enough in using them. Palming is one of the most common of sleight of hand methods. It refers to the action of trying to seemingly have an object in an apparently empty hand. Steal is another sleight of hand method wherein a performer tries to obtain a needed object secretly.

Another sleight of hand method used in magic is ditching. It is a method used to try and secretly get rid of an object that the performer doesn’t need. Loading is another sleight of hand technique that is used to move an object secretly to where the magician wants it to be. Simulation is another sleight of hand technique that magicians use to give the audience the impressions that something has happened when in fact, nothing has.

Another popular sleight of hand tool that magicians often use is misdirection. It is a series of actions that lead the audience to look the other way while the magician tries to do a secret move. Misdirection allows magicians to hide what he is doing that might obviously give away the trick to the audience. Switching is another sleight of hand principle that is used to exchange an object secretly in place of another.

Doing sleight of hand magic tricks takes a lot of practice since hand  and body movements are often employed to generate a certain effect. The different techniques can provide the basis to how magic tricks can be performed. Most sleight of hand tricks are utilized in close-up magic although they may also work as well from a distance or above the stage.

Although most sleight of hand principles are being used for magic, there are other people who try to use it in order to deceive. A lot of sleight of hand techniques can be used by some people to cheat at gambling games where the techniques can be performed quite differently than how magicians usually do it.

That is why sleight of hand techniques also brings with them a negative association that is borne out of the use of such skills for doing bad things.

Steve Cownley

More tips and trick ideas

http://allsortsofbits.comoj.com/



By: Steve Cownley

About the Author: