The 10 Best “Do a Trick!” Magic Tricks

At some point, if people you know know you do magic, something is gonna happen. Let's say you're at dinner. Let's say you're at work. Or you're just standing around at a party, right? You're waiting in line. Someone finds out that you're a magician and then they'll say, show me something. Now what? Hey everybody, welcome back to the channel. Thanks for being here. That's right. What if somebody asks you to show them a magic trick? You weren't ready, maybe. I don't know, maybe you are. What do you do? Do you just pull out a deck of cards? Do you say, hey, do you have a coin on you I could borrow? Do you have something hidden in your wallet that's specifically designed for this situation? Or do you say, nah, not right now. I don't have anything on me. I was reading this old forum post where magicians were debating about this question. If someone stopped you unexpectedly and they asked you to perform one single trick, what would you do? It sounds like a great premise. And I loved all the answers because they really were all over the place. I mean, yeah, there were people that said I would do coin tricks. And there were people that said, I carry rubber bands on me. And some people said, just do propolis metalism. Some people really did carry packet tricks in their wallet. One guy even carried an invisible deck. Some people wanted something that looked impromptu. And then other people said, well, I'm a professional. I don't have to perform just because somebody asks me. Two very different schools of thought. But reading through all the different answers, it really did get me thinking. If you're a magician, I think you probably should have a few tricks that you could perform anywhere, anytime with very little prep. So like we always say, not 20 tricks, not your entire act, just a few strong pieces of magic that you know well enough that if somebody said, show me a trick, you know what you would do. So I'm gonna give you 10. Top 10, top 10 kinds of magic that are perfect for moments when somebody asks you, do a trick. Number 10, packet tricks. Let's start with something that's very easy to carry. It's only a couple of cards, right? That's it. You're not walking around with a whole deck. Some people don't carry a whole deck with them everywhere they go. I mean, a perfect example of this is color money. Color money has been around forever. There's probably a reason magicians still do it, right? Look at the classics. What's great about color money? It's compact, it's visual. It definitely has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And if you're the kind of person that already carries a wallet, carrying three extra cards isn't hard. But you know, there's others out there. Card warp is another classic. Doesn't take up a lot of room. Carry two cards in your wallet. You can do a little bit of prep in advance on one card and you're good to go. And there's a lot of others, right? We all have our favorite packet tricks. And that's really the point of a packet trick. It's you being able to do a card trick without carrying an entire deck. Something small, okay? Princess card trick. Perfect example, right? Something self-contained. Something you know really well. Something that's easy to do. The only disadvantage to packet tricks, and we did a video about this earlier, is that sometimes it looks a little odd pulling out a couple of cards and not an entire deck. But you know what? It's fine. If you're carrying something specifically because it's a great trick, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Number nine, a full deck trick, right? A quick card trick. If you have a deck on you, obviously, now you have a lot more options. But here's where I think some magicians get themselves into trouble. Because somebody says, hey, show me a trick. And suddenly, we think that means, please demonstrate everything you've ever learned with a deck of cards. That's not what people are asking for, all right? So if you pull out the deck of cards, obviously, you know a hundred tricks. But resist that urge and just give them one. Something short, okay? Also something easy to follow. I know it's possible to have all this crazy stuff go on with like 30 kickers, but just do a great trick. I mean, Dr. Daly's last trick is a great example, okay? Or a two-card money, like a transpo that could happen in their hands. Those are good examples. You could even do the ambitious card, sure. But let me go back to short, okay? It shouldn't be a card trick that has seven faces. You don't need to prove that their card is on the top of the deck 10 times. Give them a couple different impossible moments and then put it away. And it doesn't matter, really. I mean, whatever card trick you choose, it doesn't have to have a ton of structure. Just something that's quick, something they can understand, and preferably, the best kind of magic is when it happens in their hands. Number eight, magic done with a borrowed ring. Now we're getting into something that feels spontaneous, right? Borrow their ring. Now immediately, the magic's gonna feel a little different because that object belongs to them. So one specific routine that I think you should look into is Garrett Thomas' the ring thing. But I mean, there's a lot of different possibilities. Ring vanishes, ring transpose, ring on string, ring flight, right? Anytime you can make their ring appear someplace impossible. Nested wallets, perfect example of this. Anything you can do with a borrowed ring because they know their ring. And they know that you didn't set this up in advance. They know that you didn't bring their ring. You didn't buy their ring at a magic shop. They know their ring isn't magical, right? It's theirs. And I think this really puts a layer on that trick to where it becomes that much more fascinating. Now, always be careful. Don't lose their ring, especially if it's a wedding ring. If your routine involves throwing their $4,000 wedding ring into 15 feet of water, maybe you don't do that one. I don't know what trick that would be, but don't do that. Do something safe, do something strong that you can do with a borrowed ring. Number seven, money magic. Money is another great choice because people understand the properties of money. You don't have to explain what money is or does or how it works. They know all that. And when people see people do tricks with money, they dial in. Everybody loves money, right? And we all know what money looks like. We don't always know what cards look like. People don't see cards as much as they see money. So if you're willing to carry something that's prepared, there's a couple of effects like extreme burn, easy money, the profit. You know, you just start with a set of bills and then suddenly it becomes something else. Those tricks are very visual. Those tricks are very direct. If coins are more your thing, you could carry something like scotch and soda or digital dissolve or, you know, forget gimmicked tricks. Borrow a dollar, borrow a quarter, do something with their money, just like we talked about with doing something with a borrowed ring. You know, if you do a bill change with their money or a torn and restored bill with their money, coin vanish with their money, a coin transformation with their money, I think there's another advantage there because, you know, we always assume as magicians, I have to have money in my pocket. Nobody thinks it's strange when you pull out a dollar bill, but if they ask, do a trick and then you ask them, can I borrow something? That's pretty hard to beat. Number six, the invisible deck. Like I said, there was one guy, there was one guy that said the invisible deck, so let's talk about it. I mean, yes, it's not impromptu. You have to carry the gimmick with you. If you're walking around every day with the invisible deck in your pocket, you are clearly ready to do magic. Good. The invisible deck is still one of the strongest effects you can do. David Blaine did it in his street magic special. Somebody thinks of a card, you pull out a deck, one card is reversed, it's their card, that's it. And it's the perfect trick to do when somebody asks you because they asked. You didn't walk up and say, hey, can I show you a magic trick? They said, hey, can you show me a magic trick? You're saying, great. Well, you decide how it should go. Instead of me bringing out a deck of cards and asking you to pick a card, why don't you just think of one? Think of any random card, right? Now, you've kind of done the same thing. They initiated, you're throwing it back on them and saying, okay, you tell me how this should go. And then you pull the deck out. They didn't know that you were ready, right? But if you're willing to dedicate a little bit of pocket space to an easy miracle worker, the invisible deck is gonna hit pretty hard. But you gotta remember to carry it, right? If you don't own it already, I would say go out and buy it and then start carrying it. I bet you it'll get more action than a lot of the tricks that you bought that are still in your magic drawer. Number five, mentalism. You know, you can do mentalism with almost anything or almost nothing. That's one of the great things about mentalism is you don't really need a lot to carry. You can learn a center tear and do it with a business card. You can do a center tear with just a little piece of paper, a receipt, or do colossal killer. That gives you a really strong piece of mentalism and it always lives in your wallet. Thought transmitter, another possibility if you're willing to carry something a little bit more specialized. You can have a prediction written on the back of your business card. You can develop a routine with a pen and a scrap of paper. There's all kinds of effects out there that involve people's names or numbers or specific dates or horoscopes or drawing duplications. Having people choose words or memories or thoughts, all depending on the tricks that you know in mentalism. That's one of the reasons mentalism is so useful. Because in these kinds of situations, if somebody says, hey, can you show me a magic trick? Then you don't necessarily have to pull a bunch of stuff out of your pockets. You just ask them to think of something or you say, get out your phone and bring up your calculator. And now you're gonna tell them what they're thinking? That's pretty powerful. But I would also just say, and I don't talk about this that much, presentation on mentalism matters the most. With some visual magic, the prop kind of does all the heavy lifting. The bill changes, the coin disappears, the card rises to the top. But with mentalism, sometimes it's just you having a conversation and talking to the other person. So if this is gonna be your backup magic, your emergency magic, make sure it's something you can do well. Coin magic, number four. Coins might be the ultimate emergency magic prop. I know I said money already, but that was bill magic. Okay, let's talk about coins because you can borrow a quarter, you can borrow a half dollar if you're lucky, and you can do something impossible with it. There's a lot of possibilities out there. Learn a one coin flurry routine. Learn spellbound from Di Vernon. Learn three quarters across by Greg Wilson. Learn any version of three fly, okay? And if you don't mind carrying some gimmick coins, you could learn scotch and soda and always be ready to go. But here's the thing. You don't need all of those. In fact, please don't hear me say in this top 10 that you need six tricks and immediately go and perform six tricks. I'm not saying that. I'm not even saying pick six coin tricks. Pick one. Because if you can do a beautiful coin vanish and follow it with an impossible reproduction, that's gonna be stronger than you just saying, now watch me do this, now watch me do this, now watch me do this. One of the things I was reading in that forum conversation was how often people came back to coins. And it makes sense. You know, coins, again, like we were saying about money, familiar, they're everywhere, they're easy to borrow. And when you do an effect with coins, it's very clear what happened. The coin was there. Now it's not. Magic doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. And along with bills and coins, number three, anything with an everyday object. And I don't know why this isn't number one, but go with it. Use all the things that exist in the real world. Things like we've already said, coins, rubber bands, pens, pencils, business cards, if you carry them, napkins, if you're out at dinner, receipts, if you're standing in line, paperclips, if you're at Office Depot, I don't know, salt shakers, if you're at Denny's, whatever happens to be around you. One of the magicians in that forum post talked about how learning impromptu magic is probably the lost art because now you can do anything with the props that are always around you. And I know we hear that, but are we remembering that? I mean, you're gonna be sitting in a restaurant, so learn to vanish a salt shaker. Someone's gonna hand you a dollar bill. You should learn how to do a torn and restored dollar. If there's a pen on the table or that came with the check, learn something you can do with a pen. You carry business cards, somebody else carries business cards, learn how to do a prediction. You got change in your pocket, learn how to vanish it. Got a rubber band on your wrist or there's a rubber band around the newspaper, learn how to penetrate it through something. And again, you don't have to learn all of these, but every magician should know a few tricks that they can do that doesn't require a trip to the magic store. There's something special about picking up an ordinary object that was already sitting there and doing something impossible with it. Sure, you didn't bring any magic with you, but you found the magic. I mentioned rubber band magic. Let's put that at number two. Number two, rubber band magic. Two rubber bands, that's all you need. That is an obvious place to start, right? Crazy Man's Handcuffs, beautiful trick. It's probably one of the best examples of what we've been talking about for, what, 17 minutes? Two rubber bands penetrate through each other. It's visual, it's quick. David Copperfield did it on TV, okay? It's something that happens right in front of their face. You don't need a table. You don't need sleeves. You don't need 52 cards. You don't need any sort of expensive gimmick. You can carry the props around on your wrist and nobody knows that you're using that for magic. But Crazy Man's Handcuffs doesn't have to be your entire rubber band routine. You can learn broken and restored rubber band. You can learn jumping rubber band. You can learn how to vanish rubber band. You can learn how to penetrate. You can learn how to link them together. There's all kinds of crazy things you can do with rubber bands. It's minutes. You could have minutes, full routines with just objects you have around your wrist. And unlike cards or coins, people know those things aren't gimmicks. And no one's gonna think that you are prepared for the question. They're just rubber bands. And my number one, the trick you should do when somebody asks you the trick you already know how to do. Your number one, show me something trick should be the trick that you can perform in your sleep. And I'm not gonna tell you what that trick is because it shouldn't be my trick. It should be your trick, okay? Maybe it's one of the things we talked about. Maybe it's a coin vanish and you've been doing it for 20 years. Maybe it's a trick that I've never even heard of. I think that's the whole point. The best trick for this situation isn't necessarily gonna be the newest trick. It isn't necessarily gonna be the most expensive trick. It isn't necessarily gonna be the trick that fooled you the most or fooled Penn & Teller. It's the trick that you know you performed it you've seen it work, you know the angles, you know the timing. You know what trick I do? I do a trick called drop 10. It's super easy. I get them to shuffle the deck and somewhere, right when I tell them to stop shuffling is when I glimpse the bottom card. I have them drop 10 cards at the table. I say, go ahead and count that to see if there's really 10. They end up reversing the 10 cards. They look at the top card, which was the bottom card, which I memorized. I have them take all the cards and shuffle them together. And I say, the cards have been in your hand the entire time. I never touch them. And then I refill the card. That's it. I can do it with any deck of cards. It doesn't have to be a full deck of cards. And it's so, so easy. I can be surrounded. I can be standing. I can be sitting. There might be a table. The lighting could be terrible. Somebody can interrupt me. It might not even be a moment where I feel like performing. But I can do that trick anytime, anywhere someone asks. That's the kind of trick you need to think about doing if somebody were to ask you. But there's another side to this. You don't have to do anything. Earlier I said that. Some people said, hey, I'm not a monkey. I don't just perform when anybody just pushes the button and they make me perform. Now, some of us like to perform, of course. You got into magic because you like to perform. But I also understand the other side of this. You're not a vending machine. You're still a human being. And it doesn't mean that you always want to be on. I mean, musicians get this too. Actors get this. Comedians get this all the time. Tell me a joke. Oh, you're a comedian? Tell me a joke. You're a musician? Play me a song. Oh, you know how to play guitar? Play something. Oh, you know how to play piano? Play something. You know what? You have the right to say no. Now I get it. If you love magic and someone is genuinely interested and you got a couple minutes, I mean, yeah, why not? This is why you became a magician in the first place is so that you could make these moments for people. I get it. But now somebody is standing directly in front of you and they're asking you for one. Sometimes it sounds like an opportunity, but I guess it also depends on how they ask because there's a big difference between, oh, wow, you're a magician? Could you show me something? And you're a magician? Prove it. Hey, someone told me you're a magician. Hey, how do you make a card disappear? Show me a card disappearance trick because one's an invitation and the other one is a challenge. You don't have to accept a challenge, okay? And you don't need to carry a magic shop on you. I know we love to watch all these EDC videos where, and I've made them, right? Where a magician has like 10 or 12 tricks on them and so much so that it's packed out every pocket and they've got a backpack and they're carrying three decks of cards and six coins and a thumb tip and four different packet tricks and rubber bands and a Sharpie and what, two different wallets, their real wallet and their magic wallet. They got sponge balls in their left hip and they got their ring ready. It's also a magnet ring, right? And they've got a piece of invisible thread tape behind their ear and they've got a real on their sleeve. That's not, that's not EDC. You're a watching, you're a walking magic shop. Just pick a few things. Like I said, rubber bands, some coins in your pocket. Maybe you carry a special coin. Maybe you carry a deck of cards. Maybe you carry a gimmicked deck of cards. Just learn one or two, at the most, three. And carry those things so that you're always prepared when somebody says, oh, you're a magician? Show me a trick. Did I cover your favorite? Did I mention yours? When I was going through this, were you thinking, oh, I hope he says this or I hope he says that? Or maybe you've got a marketed effect or a trick that's a little piece of gold found in a magic book or it's just the thing that you always do when somebody asks. Put that down below for all of us and thanks for watching, guys. I'll see you next time, bye.