I have a few....but I start with the ripped dollar bill (i guess that's its name)....quarter bite (if I have it with me)....quarter through leg......they all get great reactions....Oh....one thing...."quarter through soda can" (sinful) is probably the one that gets the best reactions, however, I think it is too good to do it as a "first" quick impromptu trick....i usually do it after I've done at least a few more simple ones.....

I find that the vanish 5000 (not completely impromtu, but close enought) from AoA book 1 gets awesome reactions. it is a gimmickless sugar vanish- great stuff.

~Taylor

For me is sinful

Money morph,Rubberband hand cuffs of death,color changing knife.

The arm twist thingy always gets great reactions...

PK touches
PK time
Kollosal Killer

As Greg Wilson points out in "Off the Cuff", there's a difference between "improvised" and "impromptu". For example, when I go to my in-laws house, I know we'll spend several HOURS playing card games (they're really big on that), and I know all they have in the house are red and blue Bikes. So in addition to truly "impromptu" tricks, I'll bring along an extra double-backed or double-faced card or a duplicate of a couple of cards and blow them away with an "improvised" trick using their borrowed deck.

Almost anything "impromptu" (besides the arm-twisting illusion) requires that you carry or borrow cards, coins, a pen, rubber bands, dollar bills, business cards, etc. So why not carry a couple gimmicks with you as well?

To get back to the original question -- in general, I'll do something like "Crazy-Man's Handcuffs" or "Recap", if I can get my hands on a pen or rubber bands. A popular one around the office is "two in the hand, one in the pocket". (Almost everyone around here has bowls full of candy on their desks. Pick up a couple of them, and you're good to go.)

Crazy Man's Handcuffs has gotten me the biggest reaction so far. Its so easy and you can do it a few times over and they still don't see anything. Quarter through Soda Can is cool and one of my favorites but not a lot of people want to give me their sodas and I usually end up drinking mine before I get to perform the trick to anyone who is interested.

For impromptu, I would have to say producing a coin behind someone's ear (preferably a beautiful women or a child) then a coin flurry where the coin disappears and reappears in different places and ways. You can even borrow the coin. End by vanishing the coin completely. If you are carrying gimmicks or rubberbands, how can that be impromptu?

Your friend in magic

Craig

It's been said and I'll say it again- the CMH routine from Ammar's Classic Renditions is quite possibly the best money spent on a killer improptu effect. By the way, coin bite isn't really improptu because it requires a gimicked coin. However, Revolution by Kevin Parker isn't because it uses a borrowed quarter and no gimmicks, pre-setup, etc. The cigarette ash in the palm trick (forgive me for not knowing the originator) that Blaine popularized- is so fun to perform at a college party. Everyone smokes and you can blow their nicotine addicted bodies away! Sinful is awesome, go buy it. Anti-gravity coins ( from one of my first magic books, the klutz book of magic) is supprisingly an effective improptu illusion. Consult Mullica texts and videos for bangin' improptu magic.

For me, impromptu means zero prep. You can grab the stuff and go. No dupes/extras/gimmicks. What the audience sees is all that is in play.

So, the tricks:
-Recap
-Center Tear
-My rubber band routine

-Pulling off pinkey(finger fantasies)
-borrowing a coin and doing a muscle pass
-thumb through ear

You knoe, I like anything rubberband.

Sinful never fails me.. This is an amazing effect. Enough said

CMH, 3/4 across, and in restaurants, if I'm asked, the jumping toothpick always gets people's reactions.

Also Shadow Box, occasionally, depending on the size of my pockets that day.

Hmm, for the best reaction I would have to say...
Harry Bernard's "Perpetual Coins'
or really quick impromtu
Coin thru Hankercheif followed by Revolution...
or even quicker
Torn and restored match.

I often wooden tooth picks in a "Mind Over Matter" where you rest them on the tips of your fingers and they hop. Coines and rings also play well.

The newest one for will be stigmata

that's the most impromptu one..

Totally Agree!!!
I feel some people are forgetting what magicians mean by IMPROMPTU
I thought that impromptu was being able to perform a magic effect NAKED with items that are around you.... not a magnet up your sleave or a bite out coin!!

Come on guys!!! This is the basic stuff we should know!!