Hey Y'all!



I'm fairly new to magic, but very serious, and I noticed that I haven't seen a branch of magic devoted to dice. Is there one, and I'm just missing it? I'm interested in the effects that don't require gimmicks...

Are there any good books, vids or websites for me to check out?



Thanks so much!



5150,

Bird Brain

Apart from several marketed effects, dice effects in print generally revolve around showing the spots change on the sides or the beginners book favourite of piling them up and predicting the total of the hidden sides (based on knowledge which is becoming increasingly widely known).

Vernon has a good one in The Dai Vernon Book of Magic by Lewis Ganson available from Magic Books by Post based on the two in the hand one in the pocket scenario, nice ending though.

Other than that, people into dice generally look into dice stacking. It is certainly not a wide area like cards and coins. Perhaps you can develop it? Good luck.

Paul.

The Tarbell course lists a total of six dice effects and, given the fact that there are eight volumes in the course, it serves to reinforce what Paul had to say - There are not a heck of a lot of dice effects out there.



-Marty

Try that dice stacking. It's pretty tough, but a great effect. I now use the basic move for magical purposes.



Sable

Thanks, Guys!

Heyyyy... Maybe I'll just try to earn some money for other magic stuff with some dice "effects" on some poor suckers.

5150,
Bird Brain

I haven't done it for years, but I used to do an effect where you put two dice together and they stayed that way and you could hand them out for examination. The dice you handed out were super glued together.

Anyone remember this effect and/or where it came from?

Hi Bird Brain!

There's a very nice effect out this month in L&L Publishing catalog with a set!

Comes with wand and two brass dice!

E-mail if you want more info.

I could send you the catalog, or you could request one from L&L.

Steve

Check out the Marlo book, "Shoot the Works." Also, Paul Green sells a Charlie Miller routine called Miller's Dice. There is an excellent Horace Bennett effect called "An unfair Shake" in Volume One of Ganson's "Art of Close Up Magic. Jim Zachary and Todd Strong have Dice stacking videos out, and I believe Steve Draun has a video of Dice effects which includes a number of (non-stacking) effects. The late Mike Rogers made an excellent Dice cup which was gimmicked to be a Chop Cup. It could be used for stacking and for Chop Cup effects, with or without dice. I believe Steven's Magic Emporium still has some for sale. Empire Magic sells a nice effect called Dice flight, and Tenyo has a couple of dice effects as well. Aldo Colombini also sells a couple of effects that use dice.

SPFranz, I recall the effect of the two dice, clinging together.
It may have been in Another Book, by the late Karrell Fox.
(Or, then again, it may not have been; I just recall at the time that, because it was something I figured I'd never do, I didn't pay much attention.)
cheers,
Peter Marucci

The effect with two dice sticking together is a Paul Harris idea, I think called Two the Hard Way. It's in one of the earlier books but not sure whether it made it to The Art of Astonishment books.

Paul Hallas

It sounds like one of Harris'.
He has a similar effect in AoA where performer balances 3 coins on top of each other.
He then explains that the balancing was not the hard part.
It was the stapling them together without being noticed that was hard.
Performer freely shows the coins on the other side where they have been stapled together.
Nice effect.
I imagine the dice effect was similar.
Gonz

The idea is actually really old, but it used to just be a supension. Two normal dice would stick together, then come apart and you could hand them out and no one could make them stick.
The method was a little gross, but it worked.

Sable

I usually don't do much with dice, but when the opportunity comes along, I like to make color changes with them, doing regular coin sleights with them. If the dice are a reasonable size and your hands are large enough, try doing a spellbound change with them.

Uhhh..... I sound stupid here... What's a
"spellbound" change? And I say I'm a magician! Lol! Can anyone stop to explain the effect, not the working, of this effect? Thanks, guys!

5150,
Bird Brain

P.S. SEE why I have that name?

No no no! Don't say you're stupid. It's ok. I honestly didn't know what a spellbound was until last year when I got more into coin magic. A spellbound change is where you change a coin at the touch of the finger tips or rub of the hand. That's pretty much it. Recap: You take a coin, rub your fingers over it, and it changes into a coin and you show your hands to be empty of any other coins. A magician who does an exellent spellbound routine would be Michael Rubenstein. So don't worry ok? You are not in a board where people are gonna ridicule you for your ignorance of a certain matter. Here, it's like family.

Actually if it was like my family not only would I have made fun of him but I would have beat him up when I was done.

My Little Brother- <screaming from the beating> "Mooooooooommmmm!!"

Me- <screaming> "What time is it?!"

Mom- <yelling from downstairs> "It's 5:30. Stop yelling at me from across the house!"

Beatings continue.

Lil Bro- "Moooooooommmmmmm!!"

Me- "When are we eating dinner?"

Mom- "Craig (lil bro), I told you to stop yelling aross the house! If you want to talk to me come down here!"

Beatings continue.

Lil bro- "MOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!"

<sound of footsteps angrily coming up stairs>

I run and hide.

whack! <sound of Mom hitting lil bro>

Oh those were the good ol' days.

Haha! Sounds like me and my older brother. But I was the one who got away with everything. Not him. Oooo.. I was evil. But I've changed since.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the
Dr. Sack dice trick from Bruce Elliott's book, _Classic Secrets of Magic_.

This is a fine routine using a pair of dice whose spots are repeatedly changed.

For an updated approach, take a look at
Carl Andrews' newest video, "No Jacket Required." He performs and teaches the effect, which uses a paddle-type move with the two dice. It looks like fun, and it's easier than stacking...

Ok, this is not a dice book. This is a quality inexpensive effect called Dice Flight by Empire. Show four dice in a tray and dump them in a spectator's hand. Pick up one of the dice and place it in your pocket. Shake the tray - the dice has jumped from your pocket to the tray! Repeat this with the second, third and final dice! The tray does all the magic. Repeat it THREE Times! No moves. It's available at elmwood magic.

You may also want to check out the 'The Ivory Connection' video by Reed McClintock and Steve Dobson - which is a very nice routinue with two dice.