This past Tuesday, I accidentally came upon the Strolling Showdown at the Magic Castle. It was quite a sight to see: a bunch of small tables set up in the Peller Theater and the W.C. Field's bar area, with a handful of judges seated at them, and a magician performing at each one and all at the same time. Anyone have any experiences to share? The energy was off the charts.

I've never competed but I have watched and it is really great seeing world class magic in a world class location!

-Kyle

Sounds like magical speed dating!

The recent Paul F. Tompkins standup special has a great Magic Castle bit.
Sounds like such an awesome crazy space.

They do describe it as magic speed dating which is probably a good way to describe strolling magic in general.


The event is very high energy - I believe it was almost 2 dozen performers and the turn out was huge.
Performers of all skill levels summoned their courage and spent the next ninety minutes performing their
best material for an audience of their peers. It's a unique challenge performing for a crowd of magicians
whom may already have seen, or have done, or possibly created the trick that you perform for them and
to top it off they have a judging booklet in front of them and may take notes as you perform. I commend
everyone especially those who are newer to magic and wanted to take the leap of getting flight time any
way possible.


I joined the Academy a few months ago and I competed at this most recent event. I was determined to win that 1st
place pin. So I chose my material carefully, things to display my personality and skill level. The game plan was to
fool the magicians and that the one's whom were not deceived would be impressed with the routining.
I calculated my Magic Moment per Minute. Made sure to close with a call to action reminding them of my name
and to vote for me.

Prior to the start of the event I was familiarizing myself with the table layout and greeting the fellow competitors
when one of the Castle Knights called me over to compliment me on my smile (I've practiced just beaming my smile
in stressful situations - day job meetings, cramped subway cars, etc.) I was getting hyped and confident. I was going
to kill it.

We were advised to keep the performance length to around 4 minutes per table so I dropped the middle from
my set and just did my opening and closing routines.

At the end of the event we waited for the judges scores to be calculated and 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place are announced
and I don't hear my name at all. Ugh! Definitely a disappointing moment but I'm glad to think that it speaks to the level
of talent out here. So congratulations to them and to all of the people who performed. There were no losers that
evening only a roomful of winners enjoying great magic.

When I exited from the Inner Circle there was a DeLorean parked right there so that helped to assuage any
disappointment that I had

Upon reflection I realized that all you can do is your best in the moment and that any disappointment I had was only
from the expectation that I set for myself. I was also reminded of one of the most powerful magic moments that anyone
can experience. The Castle Knight that went out of his way to acknowledge me and give a sincere compliment. That's
powerful stuff. It can calm someone who's in a stressful situation or it can just be a way to inject a great moment into
someones day which is our goal. He shared a propless miracle that I will remember for a long time.

I encourage anyone thinking about competing or attending the next event to mark it in your calendars, it's a great experience.
But don't set any expectations...Cause I'm going to win next time

That's an awesome story! Takes some nerves of steel to take something like that on, so I applaud you immensely!

I entered once, enjoyed it, and although I didn't win, David Regal saw me perform and was impressed enough to write a Genii cover story on me.

I've competed there.

It was quite fun.

Anyone know how often they put this on?

They put it on 2 - 3x per year. I missed the last one, offsite at a nearby Hotel. Heard it was great. But I competed in the two before that. I just auditioned and became a member last January, I gave it my best, and would have been happy with a place... but my real goal was to get to know some members. Mission accomplished. The best part was after the showdown, walking around the Castle and having someone stop me with a question about an effect... or a compliment on a routine. If you are a member... I highly recommend it!

I am thinking about taking my 10 and 14 years olds to cali and wanted to go to magic castle. how do I get in and what are requirements?

TY all

I believe you will have to find an active member and have them get you tix. You can also call the Castle direct to find out protocal. 👍

The Strolling showdown is SO MUCH FUN! If you are an AMA magician member I highly recommend you come check it out! You can either compete or judge it is up to you!

Been to a few of these now, always a good night.

How long are you at a table performing?

Depends on how many tables there are. You don't want to miss one. Last time we had 1 1/2 hours... and 27 tables. Usually 3 min max will get you through all.

For those of you chiming in here... the Next Strolling showdown is Tuesday March 31st.