The Simple Thimble Routine

Alright we got thimbles. That's a prop that is rarely seen today. I can see why. It seems a bit outdated and who want's to be outdated. But then again it's an unusual prop. And unusual props generate natural interest. So why not use it? So basically I start with explaining the premise of the first effect. And believe it or not it usually is not perceived as a trick right away. But as a genuine display of skill. And that is a good thing. The karate coin trick is a magic trick. Simply because it's not possible. With a thimble however it is. So naturally the interest curve peeks at the moment of the effect, creating a nice intro to the endless thimble production.

DUDE IT IS REALLY HARD TO SAY: "Fifth thimble", especially for a guy like me who's first language is German. Speaking "th" here equals speech impediment. We are trained from the very beginning not to have a lisp.

After that endless production there is the color changing sequence. It's not much of a sequence, but the change is so startling (the last one) that handing out the thimble is required at that very moment.

more later

Ball and Silk

I did that routine for years, in my humble days of busking. I can tell you at least one thing. It plays well. The fact that it is not a card trick may play a big part in this. The bit using the Gozinta Box, the Para Box, the Inner Outer Box or the Lubor Fiedler Box is not part of the original routine. I included this to offer yet another magic way to introduce the ball. The gag that nicely foreshadows the effect of the inner box becoming the outer box is by Tom Mullica.

The actual routine consists of three parts. The first one is the penetration of the ball through the silk, which ends with the vanish of the ball. There a tons of methods out there. The most practical I found was in Jochen Zmeck's Handbuch der Magie, the German magic bible. At page 173 it starts. Following that is a pretty classic repeated appearance of the ball. The basic handling for that you'll find in Frank Garcias sponge ball book. That phase finishes with the appearance of the mandarin. Fruit always plays well. In the past I used one of the lemons I would use anyway for the Cups and Ball. So I got less props and you have a nice little element that strings the show together.

The third phase is a reprise of the first one. But this time the premise is extended to the part where the penetration can be seen half way. This is what got people. And it is necessary to have a spectator take out the ball. The thought of MAGNET is just there. You must not ignore that and need to prove that magnets are not the modus operandi. The method here... well Tarbell what do you expect?

Die Karte mit den drei Seiten by Jochen Zmeck

Personal Comment: I cannot give you any sources on that. But you don't need that. This is basically just a way to reveal a chosen card. I like the premise. It's cute.

Years ago I visited a local magic circle in Berlin, Germany. They had their own little magazine. And Jochen Zmeck, being an honorary member of that circle, contributed to that magazine. The pamphlets are called "ZauBerlin" but that is pretty much all I can say about that.

Difficulty 2/5

Doppelte Kartenwanderung by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 115 et seq.

Personal Comment: This is not ungaffed so I'm breaking my own rule here. But it wouldn't be the first time I do it. But this time I got a reason. You don't have to use the deck, making this a perfect "in your wallet trick". If my wallet wouldn't be so small (smaller than a card) I would carry the needed cards with me at all times. Seriously. A transposition from the spectators pocket to the magicians. You cannot get very much stronger than that. And technically speaking this is self working. So I love this. The main idea is not by Jochen Zmeck, but as far as I know he is the one who came up with doing it with the spectators pocket.

Difficulty: Self Working

Schwarz Rot Asse by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 120 et seq.

Personal Comment: Basically a color change, Two reversals and the black aces finding the red mates. So naturally this is a little routine that people tend to appreciate. It has surprises, flows naturally and is easy. If I had to teach someone slightly advanced card magic this is the routine I would go for. It's practical (the setup is within reasons) and with little tweaking this could greatly benefit from advanced moves.

Difficulty 2/5

Ein König findet die Karte by Jochen Zmeck

Zauber-Abc (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 114 et seq.

Personal Comment: Another one from that very good children's book on magic. A spelling trick. I had to change the effect slightly, as I needed to convert this to English. The actual trick is self working. This uses a force. In the actual trick the German word for king is spelled out (KÖNIG) which has five letters. That means that four cards wind up on the table. And those happen to be the four aces. This makes no sense, yet feels very good and makes the selection of the card a free choice. Normally the selection or the spectators name is spelled out to find the selection. This here makes it so easy. And I think the audience doesn't care.

Difficulty: Self Working

Die Karte auf der gewünschten Zahl by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck

Page 73



Personal Comment: Bold as hell, but it works... The element of fail makes the trick work, so it is needed. So this might not be for the pro, who fails as little as possible. But for everyone else: Go for it!



Difficulty 1/5

Rot-Schwarz-Wanderung by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck

Page 83



Personal Comment: If this seems like a blatant rip off of Jacob Daley's famous trick... well it is. The method is slightly different, but otherwise everything remains the same. Why is this in the book? Well the "Handbook of Magic" is a beginners book. So Jochen Zmeck decided to include this great little trick in the "glide" section of the book. Does it belong there, without any credit... nope, yet it is a great little trick. And there is a black sheep in every family.



Difficulty 1/5

Bitte nachmachen by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck

Page 79



Personal Comment: Another Do As I Do but this time with four cards, which is more of a standard. This I wouldn't teach to kids, as it involves a sleight that they shouldn't know about. However I have seen a variation on this using a double backer. That made it self working. If you like that sort of thing, try it.



Difficulty 1/5

Tuwit by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck

Page 83



Personal Comment: Do As I Do is a weird plot, as it basically is all about the spectator losing. If that could be twisted in a way so the spectator would win, this might interest me. But this one is great for kids. It's easy. You don't teach them the good stuff. (All you need is the glide) And they have something to show off to their friends. So I sort of like this. Also this is great for bars, If you wanna win a drink, this is the thing to go with. You can do it with coasters too. Just saying.



Difficulty 1/5

Mir nach, Kanaillen!

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck

Page 100 et seq.



Personal Comment: Follow the Leader as basic as it gets. This could be a nice lead-in quickie for a longer Follow the Leader routine with more switches of the leader cards.



Difficulty 2/5

Die Letzte! by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck

Page 102



Personal Comment: There is no way to do this on camera alone. But I hope you get the effect. Basically you are eliminating cards until the spectators is only left with one. The card of the spectator who picked the card. I have a hard time to tell you how strong this actually is. It's good. Really good. Try it. This slow card revelation is cool. The basic method... well everything you can think of will work.



Difficulty 1/5

Das feine Gefühl by Jochen Zmeck

Zauber-Abc (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 124 et seq.

Personal Comment: Finding gold in a book on magic for children is always something special. You can actually stack conditions over conditions on this trick. You can be far away as the shuffling happens. You body could be examined for extra cards before, in the middle and after the trick. The hat and everything is ungimmicked. The cards pulled out of the hat were actually inside the deck. Hell... you could even have a bunch of cards being signed in the beginning, then lose them in the deck and then pull them out. You don't even have to use the hat. In fact the book suggests a simple grocery bag.

Do I like this trick? You bet I do. And guess what, the trick is self working. If you think about the theatric of this trick you will see that it is gold. It is a stage card trick (and we know how rare they are) not being a glorified force. It has a motion and sound, the possible element of fail, the many condition that you can include and many other little components that make this a great stage trick. It packs flat, yet plays big. The cloth adds a touch of old school mystery and you can frame it any way you like.

This is seriously good. Even though a kid could do it.

Difficulty: Self Working

Ein König dreht sich by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 97 et seq.

Personal Comment: This is only interesting from a technical point of view. The same effect can be achieved even easier with the cards counted in "Biddle Style" But of course this kills in a real performance. Actually I did it today and the color change in the end got me a reaction I was not prepared for. So I recommend the effect, but not the method.

Difficulty 3/5

Verliebt Verlobt Verheiratet by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 128 et seq.

Personal Comment: This is cute and kills. Hard to believe I know, but I tried it. People seem to dig this cute story. Personally I would change the method drastically, but the book that this is in was written for laypeople ergo this is simplified. The routine has a fulfilling climax and could be a neat encore trick.

Difficulty 2/5

Das abgenommene Auge by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 77

Personal Comment: I tried his trick recently. It is good. Nothing of importance, but good nevertheless. I see this more in a longer routine with all sorts of stuff happening to the pips. But this trick ends the Jochen Zmeck homage. For this time ;)

Difficulty 2/5

Die Korrektur des Zufalls by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 53 et seq.

Personal Comment: A great trick for a beginner. Simple and direct. Nothing for the pro, but you gotta love the method here.

Difficulty 1/5

Die unsichtbare Karte by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 48 et seq.

Personal Comment: To force the card would have been a better way than to do that bold peek. But some might get a kick out of this ultra bold peek. The effect is straight forwards and simple. But one thing: In Germany one of the most common games to play is Skat so most of the sold decks are intended to be used for a game of Skat. A deck of Skat only has 32 cards and no joker. Therefore the effect would be much quicker.

Difficulty 2/5

Doppelte Verwandlung by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 47 et seq.

Personal Comment: Really cute trick. While this might not end up in a professional's act I can see this one done at a bar among bar bets and such things. Easy to do, no setup (well openly taking out the Jacks) and a visual effect. Cool stuff. If part of a longer routine this might be worth checking out.

Difficulty 2/5

Eine außergewöhnliche Wanderung by Jochen Zmeck

Handbuch der Magie (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 46 et seq.

Personal Comment: It is easy to underestimate this one. Especially for most German magicians I know as they generally tend to underestimate the value of the book. There is a saying among German magicians: "Everybody owns it, nobody reads it!" Well I read it and I gotta admit some of the stuff in this book is really good. The book is for beginners. Hard to believe if you see the trick. The could be a trick in a Marlo book (perhaps it is). I like it, although it is not my style to handle packets of cards so "squared".

Difficulty 2/5