I have read a few posts that make reference to "sucker tricks". As I am new to magic, could you give me examples? I don't get it, I mean some spectators don't like magic at all because they feel the whole artform is about "getting one over on them" and so they feel cheated. The magician knows secrets that the audience doesn't. Ok, so maybe I should ask what AREN'T sucker tricks

A sucker trick is a trick where the magician reveals the (half) secret. Then performs the trick again and tells the audience to follow(he might give them a backstage veiw. eg. turn the trick around so the audience is watching from behind) and just as the audience think they know what is going on (or what is about to happen) something totaly different happens and blows the audiences mind.

That might not be the best way to explain it but i hope it helps.

Hi Adrian,
Your post raises a very important point. Young people, on both sides of the table, regard magic as a contest. The magician tries to fool them and they try to solve the puzzle.

That's part of the reason it has a bad rep. Magic should not be confrontational. It's a sharing of wonder, the unexplained, of having fun.

The question again. Was it my post on the hippity hop rabbits which started this? In my version—I show a picture of a white rabbit, cover it, walk to the other side, raise the cover and the rabbit is gray. As I walk across I turn the rabbit round, making sure the children see me.

I repeat it changing the rabbit back to white. Again letting the children see me turn it.

By now they are shouting out. But I repeat it again. "Turn it round," they shout. After a lot of misunderstanding I do and on the back is a yellow rabbit, or a carrot or whatever.

The important thing, which doesn`t apply in magicman's example, is the commitment of the children. They publicly say , in front of their friends, that they know what you are doing. You set them up to look really silly. That's why you can`t do it to often. Once or twice they will laugh, but too often and they will think you are making fun of them, or their parents will. I know some magicans who think outsmarting a five year old is clever. Hence the discussion on lightening the sting.

I've referred to children but there are adult tricks which are based on making the assistant look stupid. 3 card monte, do as I do rope tricks, etc.

The line is very fine, think about it.
Eddie

Sucker tricks as describe by Magic Man are the more benign sort. Other sucker tricks involve performing an effect for a spectator on stage in such a way that the method is hidden from that person while everyone in the audience can see exactly what is being done. The risks are embarrassment or resentment as the entertainment is provided at one person's expense. (Just think what may happen should any of those who are laughing at the other guy being duped suddenly realize that that is exactly what has been happening to them during the other effects.)

That said, as you pointed out, any effect poorly handled and presented with the wrong attitude can cause spectators to feel that the performer is "entertaining" at their expense. Unfortunately, people who perform that way are often responsible for others' dislike of magic. Spectators should not be made to feel like "suckers" or that they have been tricked. That ain't "magic."

Again, it pretty much boils down to presentation.

There are many forms of "sucker" tricks.
But they all involve one basic point: They are done by inept magicians who are incapable of getting a reaction from the audience any other way.

Nothing wrong with sucker tricks in and of themselves; in fact, I use several in my children's and adult shows.

BUT I am very careful that the "sting" of the trick is directed against me and not a volunteer or other member of the audience.

Some sucker tricks that, in varying degrees, embarrass or humiliate the volunteer:'

The Die Box Oand any one of several variations, like Run, Rabbit, Run).
Bank Night or Just Chance (any one of a million variations).
Topsy-Turvy Bottles (or Crayons).
The grandaddy of all sucker tricks, Stung and Stung Again.
And so on and on . . .

With a little (or a lot of) thought and work on the presentation, all of these can still be used for almost any audience.

Just don't insult, embarrass, riducule, or otherwise make uncomfortable any member of your audience.

Oh, you'll get a reaction. But, later, they won't like you!

(And, if you think they do, you're only fooling yourself!)

For a great example of how to make a "sucker trick" non-threatening, study Dai Vernon's (published) handling of Three-Card Monte. He never once asks a spectator to commit to which card is the odd one. You can usually re-work sucker tricks to tell a story about how you were suckered or conned. It's just as (more?) entertaining, and doesn't set up the audience to fight you later.

It is a nice and safe way of doing humor by doing this to myself. The self destructive humor works well because you are offending yuorself....one of the elements of humor besides surprise is superiority...I let the audience fell superior...They love it.


Mago Mai

I don't know if it counts as a sucker trick, but there is a three card monte trick that I do that makes it look like the magician is the sucker. After they find the card a few times, you switch it so that it is impossible for the person to find it. Well, now that I think about it, it really does sound like a sucker trick, maybe even more of an idiot trick.

A couple of weeks ago I had a Blues Brothers meet and greet at The House of Blues. Elwood had car trouble and I was all alone with 600 people expecting some entertainment. I'm very new to magic but I did have a Three Card trick that I made myself and a Sterling Scotch and Soda. I was able to work the room pretty well just alternating tricks between tables. Saved the gig and still got paid. Now I've got the bug!!!! I want to develope a "Con Man Magic" side of the Belushi character. Are "Sucker Tricks" what Jake should be using? Any other ideas? My hands are VERY weak. Resetting can be a problem too. I will be entertaining a Q line this week in N.Carolina for several thousand standing people. I need your collective expertise !!! Please?

My version of the three-card monte, Mirror Monte, is a classic example of taking the "sting" out of a sucker trick -- it involves a third party who is taken in.

Slim King, for something that close in time as your coming gig, I wouldn't recommend starting anything new; go with what you have had success with in the past.

In future, you may be interested in my No-Gimmick Scotch and Soda (e-mail me and I'll gladly send it to you -- or anyone else, for that matter!); a Bank Night or Just Chance routine, again worked so that the "sting" isn't directed at the spectator; a double signed card (as in my Cards for Lovers; again, e-mail me if you're interested); or any one of several other similar standard ideas -- just so long as you direct the "sting" at yourself.

'Hippity Hop Rabbits' (or my own version of this) is one of my favourite 'sucker tricks'

When the audience has apparently guessed the method by shouting out that you've just turned the rabbit around, one way to avoid potentially making fools of them (after you've done all the entertaining business) is to suggest that as they've caught you out, you'll have to do some REAL magic, and get them to shout out the magic word (or whatever you do), and then turn it around to reveal the surprise finish.

Brian.