Ball And Vase

Talk about an overexposed trick. Almost ever magic set has this trick. So using the usual method will not work on an average audience. That's how this routine came into being. Does it play well... well... no! Magicians love it though.

Transformer

This is by Richard Robinson. A quick and easy routine. It uses the familiar gimmicks and is fairly good on the angles, if you hold it by the seam (if you know hat I mean). Richard Robinson released this for free years ago on the allmagicguide website. This was my start in magic.

Close Up Linking Rings

I always had this love hate relationship with the linking rings. It has all what you expect a routine to have. It's big, loud, impossible shit to hand out, interaction and all that jazz. Yet there are drawbacks. Not all rings can be handed out. Certain displays are more than fishy. Doing it with a small set takes away the "size" of the routine, but it enables you to do something else. You can switch an entire set. or part of it. So this is how the routine plays out now. I have all rings handed out. Each one. four single ungimmicked rings. Then I do my business and when I'm at the point where I link all of them in a chain of four I let go with my other hand. This fools most magicians. You can still show the set close up. When the rings are hanging I even point this out to laypeople "When you see other magicians do that, they will always hold their hand somewhere on the rings. I don't. I want you to remember that little detail."

I know that this is extremely unfair towards other magicians, but I love it that way. Handing all rings out in the beginning is crucial. if not you waste the whole effect. The spectators have to know that there is no opening. Otherwise you lessen the effectiveness of the trick drastically. I'm very unforgiving towards magicians who don't do that. There not milking the Linking Rings for what it's worth.

The 9 Rules of Magic

I removed this routine from my repertoire. It was way too layered and nobody understood it as it required way too much inside baseball. That being said, I loved it. Magicians might get a kick out of it. But that's about it. In terms of handling. No gimmicks and all just sleight of hand.