I'm to a point where I'm thinking about dropping this routine. The reactions have not been as good as I would like and I'm concerned about the amount of laypeople familiar with the method and/or wanting to examine the rings.

I'd like to hear what experiences others have had, positive or negative, and in what venues.

The only negative experience I've had is in black and blue pinky when I first started practicing. Now that's gone, I love em. The 'woman' loves watching me practice these. She says even though she knows how it's done... it still looks like magic. I'm pretty sure that part comes from the 'forward' distance of the links (2 inches) and the vertical closeness (quarter inch).

Maybe this is selfish, but I'm liking the magic public's general loss of interest in them.

I think they work good for kids when you are table hopping.

Bsears... there is nothing wrong with the linking rings... it is a great effect, regardless of the size.

However, if the reactions are weak, perhaps your not selling it well. Think more along the lines of how you present it... as a puzzle? Not the best.

As a mystery with some fun... the best way for me... so...??

I continue to have good luck with this routine. I dropped all the table stuff and do it basically with as few words as possible. Just a visual treat.
I also added the spectator involvement right away. After the first crash link.
Getting applause during the effect, in the middle, at different parts of the routine, is not uncommon.

I have used it in a street-type environment, kids birthday parties, corporate strolling, cocktail parties. People really like it.

Perhaps add more pauses and let your displays last a little longer. Let the pictures sink in before moving on to the next phase.

People ask to see the rings once in a long while. I don't consider it a concern.
What lay people think as the method, gets quite muddied due to the crash link and the pre-linked rings. It's almost worse for those that think they know becuase their ideas don't work as they expect. I think the whole concept is pure genius.

Can't wait to do a large rings routine.

I almost always get a gasp when I perform the crash link in the spectator's hand. Practice that move. Work on relaxing the hand with the key ring. You can, with practice get to the point that you don't even do the crash link. You set the key ring on top of the ring in the spectator's hand and then ask them, "That's metal on metal, right? I mean, look hard, there's no tricks, right?"

As soon as they agree press down with a relaxed hand and do the link. Don't let the hand with the key travel more than an inch inside the spec's ring. I guarantee that if you do it right the spectator will swear that the key ring literally melted through his ring six inches from his nose.

Thanks guys. I suppose I'm getting some decent reactions, and its still new for me, but I just can't help but wish that the method hadn't been out there as much as it has been, and that I could hand the rings out for examination. (thought about a s****h but I don't think the rings are available single for purchase.)

I'm getting the feeling that lay audiences enjoy it, but that they are not always totally fooled. That is to say that if you asked lay audiences after Shoot or Slydini or anyone did the rings for them to take one guess at how its done, a good percentage would hit on the method.

But, given the positive comments so far, I will continue to press ahead.

Single rings might not be available but if those cheap sets of five inch "Chinese Linking Rings" match well enough you could buy a set and grab one from that just for the purposes of having something to switch. Those sets are really cheap--less than $15USD.

Also, maybe sell the count a bit more?

-Travis

Although many lay people :thought" they know how the trick was done. It's still a beautiful routine to do. I love it and I still can't perfect it yet. My wife watch the DVD with me, she knows how it's done and she still say that it looks amazing. Sometime audiences just forget to applause because they were amazed not becaue they don't htink it's good or knew how it's done.
Ken

I often have someone tell me that they know how this is done. That's when I do the smash link while they hold the ring. I have them hold it right by their face and click the rings together to show them solid. I tell them to watch 'right here' and show where the key is encountering the single. Once I've done the link they stop telling me that they know how it works.

BTW, bsears, if you decided to stop using the Ninja Rings, I would be happy to buy them from you. I am looking for a set of the Ninja Rings any way.

Depends on your audience - if it's kids do a lot of look don't see. Tell them that the rings can never ever link...as you're saying never link look away and link them, wait for them to scream, then look back at the rings unlinking them and be like "i don't know what you are talking about"

Have you seen Whit Haydn's "Comedy Linking Rings" or Cellini's "Lord and Master of the Rings"? This is an effect that has a huge literature and a long lineage. There is an approach that will work for you, if you will search for it. My favorite to date is Martin Lewis's handling of "The McAbee Rings". If done correctly, this will totally blow your audience away. They handle the rings at the end of the routine and the switch is totally invisible when done properly. The larger rings are a real crowd pleaser when done outside at a fair or other gathering. This is a prop that takes a great deal of practice to please the audience. Don't give up too soon!
Amazing Stephen (ringmaster!)

Laymen don't know about the crash link. If someone even suspects or you see them start to whisper to someone else, walk right up and do the crash link.

They'll be blown away.


After a move, pause, stand completely still for a little longer than you think you should with the display. You'll feel the tension build.

Fun routine!

Would not be without it. It is a permanent fixture in my pouch.

I have to agree with this.

Give the spec sometime in between the miracles for the effect to sink in. Sometimes, when everything happens too fast, they get lost and hence don react that well

cheerios

I use the Ninja's for tablehopping and strolling and the 10" one's for other ocassions. The larger ones I do to music which people really like. The rings have been my favorite for years and would not think of not having them.

I respectfully disagree. In my younger days I did the rings, but when I saw Shoot perform the Ninja rings I felt they must be some new style of gimmicked rings because they appeared to be linking in impossible ways.
I remember when I asked how much the rings were... when I heard the prices I thought maybe Shoot had misspoken because I was sure these rings would cost in the hundreds of dollars. This new Japanese gimmick must be expensive. I was so surprised to find out that they were the traditional rings. It floored me.
So keep practicing until you get that type of reaction.

Greg

Stephen is right about Cellini. Richard Ross is also good. I like the rings done slowly as Ross teaches on the Greater Magic Video Library. My routine is a mixture of Ross, Cellini, and Ogawa. These rings have been around so long that I don't think it's possible to come up with entirely new moves, just different combinations and perhaps slight variations on presentations.

I totally agree with Ross though "The more slow you go, the more magical"

Thanks for all the great advice guys. I'll keep at it - I've shown it to some magic buddies who say it is very ready to go into my act, so I'll start doing it at some gigs and see where it goes. (plus video polishing.)

I love the fact that the routine is being used by so many members in so many different venues. It was the versitility that attracted me to it in the first place.

Also - slowing down is always a good idea, in any type of magic. Great advice. I must "sell" every link. I'll try and pace myself.

OK. Did this a few times last night at a restaurant gig. Results were mixed.

The first time I did it, the reactions were great and I was thrilled. Not a problem what so ever.

The second time I did it was a disaster. One child yelled "I have that trick!" and started to tell everyone about the gimmick, loudly. I told him to watch closely because this was NOT the same trick. I fooled him BAD with a few of the penetrations (at one point he grabbed the single ring to examine it he was so confused). But alas, knowing the basic workings of the effect, he said "if its not the same trick let me look at all the rings!" and even "he's just covering it with his finger! I bet he won't let you see all of them!" I understand this BRAT is not typical, but I'm sure its not an isolated incident either.

And so, here the problem: this is one of the most highly exposed tricks in magic and its in almost every beginners set. Just because you can fool people with a few links doesn't mean its not going to be embarrassing when some six year old shouts out the secret or some teenager challenges you to let him look at the rings.

My third performance of the evening went very well. It was for a guy who had "done some magic when he was a kid" and his family and they loved it. He commented on the impossible nature of some of it because, he said, he knew the method. Another table even came over because they had been watching from a distance and wanted to let me know how amazed they were, too. Sweet.

Bottomline: Its a dam* good trick and I'm keeping it in the act, sad that it has been so overexposed, and thinking that maybe someday I'll work out a way to have all the rings examined.

(incidentally, these were the EXACT concerns that Mike Close raised in his review of the Ninja Rings - once again Mr Close shows his deep knowledge of magic and what makes it work).

Thought:

If you are doing a well-known trick, and there is a youngster in the group, ask him if he/she has seen this trick. If so, tell him that it doesn't work exactly the same way, but it will be fun to see how it works on his family.

I think most kids do the "I know how you did that!" to draw attention to themselves in order to make themselves look important. If we can bring the kid 'on board' with us as a 'peer', it may be possible to avoid some of the bad situations.

In a restaurant you can't lay down the rules as you might at a Bday party, so about the only thing you can do is find a way to make the kid feel he is part of the action.