Du{ko Polu{i}
Hocus Hocus Hocus Pocus Pocus P ocus Pocus Become a M agician
Du{ko Polu{i}
Hocus Pocus Become a Magician
Contents Trick Number
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THE CHICAGO BALLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Trick Number
2
THE JUMPING RUBBER BAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Trick Number
3
THE LEVITATING CUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Trick Number
4
THE VANISHING CUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Trick Number
5
A FAKE KNOT ON A SCARF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Trick Number
6
THREE-SCARF CHAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Trick Number
7
THE TORN BANKNOTE IS WHOLE! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Trick Number
8
A COIN IN YOUR HAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Trick Number
9
CONTROLLING THE BANDANNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Trick Number
10 AN EGG IN A JAR OF WATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Trick Number
11 ALWAYS A SIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Trick Number
12 GUESS THE NUMBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Trick Number
13 MAGIC MATHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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14 THE RISING MAGIC WAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
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15 THE LEVITATING RING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
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Trick Number
16 THE MAGIC WAND GOES UP AND DOWN . . . . . . . . 34
Trick Number
17 REDUCE THE MAGIC WAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
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18 FALSE KNOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
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19 FREE THE STRING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Trick Number
20 TAKE THE RING OFF THE STRING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Trick Number
21 THE SHOELACE CHANGES COLOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
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22 THE INDIAN ROPE TRICK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Trick Number
23 CUTTING THE ROPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Trick Number
24 THE CARD SWITCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Trick Number
25 THE CARD SWITCH (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Trick Number
26 FACE UP IN THE PACK OF CARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Trick Number
27 GUESS THE CARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Trick Number
28 THE VANISHING CARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Trick Number
29 THE BALANCING GLASS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Trick Number
30 THE VANISHING CARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
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TRICK NUMBER
1
THE CHICAGO BALLS
AA
s a future master magician, you should know that tricks with balls are manipulation tricks. Manipulations are the preserve of the best magicians, because they require excellent sleight of hand, in contrast to illusions, where the trick lies mainly in the prop. Sleight of hand requires years and years of training. Tricks of this kind are performed with cards, balls, rope, cigarettes, candles and dolls, as well as combinations of all of the above. The following trick involves four balls and one hand or eight balls and both hands. Working with eight balls requires a great deal of exercise and experience and much coordination of finger, arm and body movement.To begin with, I shall describe work with just two balls so you understand the essence of the trick, which was invented by a Chicago magician
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called Rotherberger and perfected by others.Hold one ball in you right hand, as in Picture 1. Now make a quick move, and suddenly you are holding two balls (Pic. 2)! All of a sudden you are holding two balls instead of one - how has this happened?
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MATERIALS ★ a ping-pong ball ★ one-half of a ping-pong ball
HOW THE TRICK IS DONE Doing this trick well requires one whole ping-pong ball and one half of another, so you will need to cut a ball in half carefully (Pic. 3).Now insert the whole ball into the half (Pic. 4), but so that the half-ball is towards the audience, and take both into your right hand as shown. What everyone will see is that you are holding a single ball (Pic. 1).Look at Picture 1 - hold the balls with your thumb and index finger.Now use your middle finger to push the whole ball out of the half-ball, towards and right and away form you, and now you have two balls (Pic. 2). What you can see is shown in Pictures 5 and 6 - you must of course make sure that this is not visible to your audience. What they are see are two balls, and only you know that one of them is fact only a half-ball, which you
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AUDIENCE
are holding between your thumb and index finger, while the other is a whole ball, which is between your index and middle fingers. Note: You can end the trick by making a single ball out of the two again.
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TRICK NUMBER
2
THE JUMPING RUBBER BAND
F
F
ew tricks are done with rubber bands, but they are quite simple to do at every occasion and everywhere.This is a lightning trick - a trick that is performed very fast. Pull the rubber band over the index and middle fingers of your right hand, as in Picture 1. Stretch out your fingers, and suddenly the rubber band has moved to two other fingers: the little and ring fingers (Pic. 2).
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MATERIALS ★ a short rubber band
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HOW THE TRICK IS DONE When you slip the rubber band over your fingers as in Picture 1 address your audience: "I need to stretch it a little" (Pic. 3) so that they can clearly see that it is on your index and middle fingers. But what your are doing is making it easier to move the band to your ring and little fingers but so that no one can notice. After stretching it, slip the rubber band over all fingers, as in Pictures 4 and 5,and then all you need to do is open up your hand and the band will automatically move to the little and ring fingers of your right hand (Pic. 2).The trick is easy to master with a little practice.
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TRICK NUMBER
3
THE LEVITATING CUP
T
T
his is a trick from a group called levitation tricks. This has always been a favourite group of tricks, especially in the form of grand illusions. This a micro-trick. The floating cup is an attractive trick which does not require much practice or skill, especially when you take into account its effect on the audience.
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Fill a plastic cup with water and place your hands over it (Pic. 1). Move your hands from right to left and slowly raise them. The cup will follow and it will levitate underneath your hands (Pic. 2).
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MATERIALS ★ a plastic cup
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★ thin 0.08 mm fishing line ★ a needle
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HOW THE TRICK IS DONE You need to prepare the cup in advance: pierce holes through the cup and make a noose of the nylon, which is impossible to see even from a very small distance. Here we have replaced the fishing line with string so you comprehend the trick more easily. Pierce holes on opposite sides of the cup, thread he nylon line through them (Pic. 3) and tie a knot inside the cup.Pour water into the cup and let it stand on the table.
By swinging your hands back and forth you are actually fishing for the line with your fingers (Pic. 2), and when you raise your hands the cup seems to be floating in the air - no one can even imagine that it is hanging from your hand on a fishing line.
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TRICK NUMBER
4
NESTANAK {A?E
TT
his is a very nice trick usually performed while everyone is sitting at a table. You should place a coin on the table and a cup over it (Pic. 1). Now wrap the cup with newspaper or any other paper tightly so the paper gains the shape of the cup (Pic. 2). Lift the cup and paper to allow everyone to see the coin once again (Pic. 3) and then place them back on top of the coin (Pic. 4), moving the cup back and forth so the coin can be heard hitting it.
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Now make several circular moves over the cup (Pic. 5), and then bring the palm of your hand down on it sharply. Both of them will be flattened (Pic. 6), and when the paper is moved, to everyone's amazement the cup has disappeared and the coin is still on the table (Pic. 7)! Now claim that the cup has passed through the table, and then take it out from under the table (Pic. 8).
MATERIALS ★ a coin ★ a plastic cup ★ newspaper or any other paper
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HOW THE TRICK IS DONE You need to place the coin as near as you can to your edge of the table (Pic. 9). Do everything that is shown in Pictures 1, 2 and 3 - until the lifting of the cup and showing of the coin. The coin is only shown so as to distract the audience, while you secretly let the cup slip out of the paper and into your lap.
Once you have done this, lower the "cup" onto the coin - in fact it is just cupshaped paper that you now hold in your hand (Pic. 4). Now just slap down on the "cup" (Pic. 6), which the viewers think has disappeared, leaving just the paper and the coin (Pic. 7).You have probably noticed that the only purpose of the coin in this trick is to distract the audience while you let the cup drop into your lap. Note: Use a hard plastic cup and make sure you don't drop it on the floor.
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TRICK NUMBER
5
A FAKE KNOT ON A SCARF
T
T
ake knots are much employed in string and scarf tricks. They are used as tricks in their own right, but more often in combination with genuine knots. There are several combinations of fake knots. I shall show you here one of the most popular.
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Twist a bandanna along a diagonal and tie its ends in a knot (Pics. 1 and 2).A knot like this is untied very easily -holding the bandanna as in Picture 2, just spread you hands and there is no more knot, as in Picture 3.
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MATERIALS ★ a bandanna HOW THE TRICK IS DONE With a little practice you will be be able to do this attractive trick easily.Hold the ends of the bandanna as in Picture 1. Fold the end in your left hand over the other end (Pic. 4). The ends have now swapped places. Take the left end (formerly B - the right end) and flip it over the one on the right (A) towards the right, and move the right end (A) to the left (Pic. 5). Now tie a knot, as shown in Picture 6 - what you will get is a fake knot.To untie the "knot" shown in Picture 2, just pull it apart, as shown by the arrows, (Pic. 3) - everyone will be amazed, as the knot appears solid. Note: Keep controlling the knot carefully to prevent it from falling apart on its own before the intended time.To simplify our explanation we have drawn end A in blue and end B in pink.
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A
B
B
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TRICK NUMBER
6
THREE-SCARF CHAIN
S S
carf tricks have always been an important part of a good magician's programme. Here I will present to you a relatively simple yet very attractive and entertaining trick.Hand two scarves to two members of the audience and ask each to tie two knots their scarves, as in Pictures 1 and 2. Now take a third scarf and thread it through the two knotted scarves (Pic. 3),and then tie another two knots, just like the first two scarves (Pics. 4 and 5).
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You now have three scarves like three links in a chain (Pic. 6), which cannot unlink by themselves.Now take all three and rub them well with your hands (Pic.7), and then take them off the "chain" one by one without untying any knots, as seen in Picture 8. The knots on all three are untouched.
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MATERIALS ★ three bandannas of identical or similar size HOW THE TRICK IS DONE As a magician, you already know that before many tricks there are things that you have to prepare which your audience must not know or see. That is the case with this trick.The secret is in the third scarf. Tie two knots on your bandanna like just the two others, as shown in Pictures 1 and 2. But these knots should be concealed by holding the bandanna as shown in Picture 9 - fold them into the interior of the folded bandanna (Pics. 10, 11 and 12). All this should be done ahead of your performance: now all you need to do is to thread your bandanna through the other two and tie a fake knot on it (as explained in the previous trick).Now you are able to combine tricks! As I have already said, fake knots can be used on their own (Trick No. 5), or in combination, as in this trick.
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As you have tied the fake knot on the third bandanna, you just need to rub all three together (Pic. 7), because by rubbing you are in fact secretly untying the fake knot, which no one is able to see. Besides untying the fake knot, the purpose of the rubbing is to bring to light the real knots on the third scarf (which you tied in advance). Now simply separate the scarves and show everyone that the knots they themselves tied remain untouched. Of course, your scarf will also have twoknots, only tied long before your show (Pic. 8).
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TRICK NUMBER 7
THE TORN BANKNOTE IS WHOLE!
F
F
ew tricks are done with banknotes, but those that exist are very good indeed. This one can be shown easily anywhere. Take any old banknote out of your pocket and show it to everyone, as in Picture 1.
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Now fold it in half lengthwise (Pic. 2), and then fold across (Pic. 3). Now tear the upper right corner (Pic. 4). Now unfold the banknote and show everyone that it is intact (Pic. 1).
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MATERIALS ★ any old worn banknote 5
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HOW THE TRICK IS DONE Hold the banknote as Picture 1. Fold it lengthwise from right to left so the outer edges are to the left and the fold on the right (Pic. 2). Now fold the upper half down behind the front half and a quarter will now be visible (Pic. 3). If you've done everything correctly, the upper right-hand-side corner should be the center of the banknote. Now hold the banknote with your left hand and grab the upper right corner with your right (Pic. 5). Tear the note down about half a centimetre (Pic. 6) and pretend to rip off a piece and fling it away. But what you actually do is fold the ripped bit towards yourself and hold it with the thumb of your left hand (Pic. 7).
Now unfold the banknote in the reverse order. Insert your right hand's fingers between the folded sections (Pic. 8). Lift the bottom half with your left hand and you will get the same position as shown in Picture 2. From this position insert your middle finger between the lower ends (Pic. 9), unfold the banknote and it will be intact (Pic. 1). Actually, as you stretch out the banknote with your two hands it will only appear to be intact, but it has two small tears (Pic. 10) - for this reason do not allow the audience to inspect it closely at the end, but only at the start of the trick.
The audience will have no idea that the piece you appeared to have ripped off is still there (Pic. 4).
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TRICK NUMBER
8
A COIN IN YOUR HAND
P
lace the coin on the palm of your hand (Pic. 1). Take the clothes-brush and ask the others: "If I brush the coin, will it fall off my hand?"They will say that it probably will, and you go ahead and pass back and forth over the coin with the brush several times (Pic. 2). The coin will still be on your hand - the brush cannot sweep it off: if you don't believe me, try it yourself!
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MATERIALS ★ a coin ★ a soft clothes-brush
HOW THE TRICK IS DONE It is very important to use a soft clothesbrush and not a hard shoe-brush. You may also not hit your palm so the coin does not slip off. When you place the coin on the palm of your hand (Pic. 1), it will already rest in a small natural depression which cannot be seen. However hard you stretch out your fingers, that hollow will still be there: that is why the brush hardly touches the coin and cannot move it, and it remains attached.
The fine hairs of the brush simply do not have enough energy to move the coin they will just bend and pass over it and it will not move. It makes no difference who does the brushing - you or a member of the audience - the coin will not fall off your hand.
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TRICK NUMBER
9
CONTROLLING THE BANDANNA
T
T
his bandanna trick is not seen very often, but is not hard to learn.You need an ordinary bandanna, which you will hold as in Pictures 1 and 2. Now twist it away from you, clockwise as seen from the left (Pic. 3), until you have twisted all of it, and then grab the end of the bandanna with your right hand under your left arm (Pic. 4), and release your left hand. As you are holding the bandanna with your right hand, take a long hair from
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somebody's head and warp it around the uppermost end of the bandanna,as shown by the arrow in Picture 5. When you move your hand towards yourself in the direction of the arrow, the end of the bandanna will follow your hand (Pic. 6). If you want the end to return to its original position, move your hand again in the direction of the arrow (Pic. 7).
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MATERIALS
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★ a bandanna, preferably of medium thickness
HOW THE TRICK IS DONE It is much easier than you think. Simply grip the bandanna with your left hand at the top corner, and with your right hand one-third of the way down from the upper corner (Pics. 1 and 2). Now follow the steps until Picture 5. The hair is just a joke intended to lead the audience into thinking that the bandanna is being pulled with the hair - in fact you will not tie anything (Pic. 6). You need to synchronise the movements of your left hand (Pics. 6 and 7) with the movements of the bandanna's tip. The secret is shown in Picture 8: you press the bandanna with your thumb. The harder you press, the more the bandanna will bend, as in Picture 6.
Reduce the pressure and it will go back to its original position (Pic. 7). The best effect is when you hold the bandanna stretched, as in Picture 6, and then make a scissors movement with your left's hand's fingers as if you were cutting the hair while at the same timelessening the pressure and letting the bandanna spring back to a vertical position (Pic. 7). You yourself will be surprised when you see how the audience love this trick!
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TRICK NUMBER
10
AN EGG IN A JAR OF WATER
H
H
ave you ever thought about how your grandmothers and mothers find out whether eggs are fresh? You may have noticed that they put them into water: if an egg is fresh, it will sink. If it floats, then it is probably not safe for eating. Why are eggs put in water? When eggs go bad, gases are created in their shells after organic matter decomposes in the egg. The same thing happens to tin cans after their expiry dates: their lids bulge, and sometimes the entire can does so, because gases are formed inside. But there is a difference between eggs and tins - the cans bulge because they are hermetically sealed and gases cannot escape.
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Eggs, however, are not hermetically sealed so that some of the gas can pass through the shell. This makes the egg lighter (and also stale), so that it can float on the water. The aim of this trick is somewhat similar, yet different! Find an egg that will sink in water and put it in a jar of water so it sinks. Our task is to lift the egg to the surface and make it float without touching it in any way. How can this be done?
MATERIALS ★ a bandanna, preferably of medium thickness HOW THE TRICK IS DONE What you need is a little table salt. Keep pouring the salt into the jar slowly until the egg rises to the surface (Pic. 1).
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What is happening? The salt dissolves in the water, increasing the water's density. The salty water is now heavier than the egg, and the egg rises to the surface (Pic. 2). This means that an egg can either sink in water or float in it, depending on the density of the water - the quantity of salt in it.
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TRICK NUMBER
11
ALWAYS A SIX
T
T
ake one of the sixes from the deck of cards and put it face down on the table (Pic. 1). Tell someone to write down any number and multiply it by three. Now tell them to multiply the result by two. Now tell them to divide the result with the initial number. Ask for the final result. Of course, it will be six. Now ask them to flip over the card on the table, and of course it will be a six (Pic. 2).
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MATERIALS ★ a deck of playing cards ★ paper and a pencil
HOW THE TRICK IS DONE Here are just three examples. If the first number is for example 9, multiplied with 3 you get 27. Now multiply with 2, and you get 54. When you divide 54 by the initial number (9), you will get 6. Flip over the card and it will be a 6 (Pic. 2). Here is the calculation: 9 x 3 = 27 27 x 2 = 54 54 : 9 = 6 Another example. The first number is 15. 15 x 3 = 45 45 x 2 = 90 90 : 15 = 6
Let us now use a three-digit number, for example 800.
800 x 3 = 2400 2400 x 2 = 4800 4800 : 800 = 6
Again you get a 6!
Any number that you choose, you will always get a 6 at the end.This is one of thousands of tricks based on mathematical rules.
Again you get 6!
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