When someone asks us to do something we enter into an agreement with that person. They understand that they are going to be deceived in someway. It seems to me to be much more powerful and astounding to the layman when they have no knowledge of our "powers." In my opinion when a trick serves a purpose and is not requested it becomes very powerful and something most people will never forget, but these circumstances do not come easy. To formulate these circumstance there must first be a problem and a person to witness fixing the problem via magic. Tricks that I can think of that fall into this category are: Extreme burn, Self tying shoe lace, and just a few others.... I would like to see experiences described of solving problems with magic, the trick used, and the reaction it invoked.

If there is another thread that deals with this topic please direct me to it

Thank you

People don't like to be "deceived." As magicians we entertain through deceit, not the other way around.

I asked for a description of a trick, not technical criticism.

Okay choose the synonyms you like

deception
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: trick
Synonyms: artifice, bilk, bluff, catch, cheat, chicane, con, con game, confidence game, cover-up, crock, decoy, device, dodge, fallacy, fast one, fast shuffle, feint, fib, fraud, gimmick, hoax, hogwash, hustle, illusion, imposture, jive, lie, malarkey, mare's-nest, pretext, ride*, ruse, scam, sham, shift, shuck, snare, snow job, stall, sting, story, stratagem, subterfuge, swindle, trap, trick, whitewash, wile, wrinkle

Thanks

You missed the point. Magic is not about deceiving people, or fooling people, or tricking people, it's about ENTERTAINING people. If that concept is too difficult for you to understand please find another hobby/profession so as not to deterioate the wonderful art of magic.

You miss the point of this forum. I never said the reason for magic is to deceive. I just stated it happens and it is understood. This is why I stay off this forum and away from clubs because there are a lot of amateurs giving criticism where it is not needed. Thanks but no thanks

You made such a definitive statement about layman I guess it just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I'm very adamant about preserving magic as an art and unfortunately magic is being presented wrongly today. A lot of it is due to the exposure of magic and the way that it's marketed.

Anyway back to your question, yes it is more powerful to use magic to solve problems. I'm not certain how versed you are in impromptu magic but I would highly recommend reading Lifesavers by Michael Weber. There's a ton of great impromptu tricks that you can easily adapt to "solve problems."

Thanks I understand where you are coming from. I know of magicians who care only about deceiving someone and have no care about entertaining them and leaving them with something special. It is a great art and a lot of the time presented as "I am smarter then you." Thanks for the suggestion. I will check it out

Producing money is always useful, or showing the wrong amount of change and changing it to the right amount in their hand. Only really useful in restaurants and shops though. With sufficient acting, you could "accidentally" tear the wrong bit of paper up, and then restore it. During poker games, you can show a bad hand, then change it to a good hand to solve your problem, although that would create a host of other problems!

Nice, the stitch effect would also be good. I love acting like I only have four dollars and changing them to 20s.

David Copperfield used magic to foil would-be muggers. Pure deception, no entertainment. Your universalism is fail.

Far too limiting a view, methinks. Performing magic effects "for entertainment" is but one of the approaches of our art; "to teach" or as a "visual aid" to a story being a couple of others.

Al Schneider offered that our task is to "create astonishment," and whether or not the spectator is "entertained" or considers the demonstration to be "magic" is up to them.

On theme here, I have performed magic effects tens of thousands of times in situation where it was not known that I was a magician or that I planned on doing a magic effect or that I was "doing it now" (Furst Rules)

The result is that the observer will usually reconsider what they consider to be impossible rather than come up with "magic" as resolution to Whit's Dilemma. That is why I used magic in a business consultancy setting -- to challenge limited thinking and get the owner to consider alternative solutions to a problem.

So, if you choose to perform a magic trick for surprise on a store clerk, etc. you may not get the result you intend - sort of a "Candid Camera" approach -- fun, but not necessarily either "art" or "entertainment.

Please consider that magic is a form of communication. Make sure that both you and the observer understand the rules of the game -- whatever that may be. What are you trying to accomplish?

@ funsway I am a teacher and have used magic to open lessons a few times. It is a great hook depending on the class. I agree magic is not only for entertainment purposes, but art like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Thanks for your input. May I ask what kind of tricks you perform to challenge your clients beliefs? And how you present them?