Routines. How long? How many tricks? What makes a bunch of tricks a routine? What do you guys reccomend?

I recommend searching the site, as all those questions have been answered. I suggest getting Kirk Charles manual on resturaunt magic (can't remember the exact name, but it shouldn't be hard to find). I suggest getting Live at the Jailhouse. Do some research.

well if your going to do restautant tricks then I heard that:

How long: 7-13mins long for each table
How many: 3-6 tricks (but pack at least 12 tricks so you dont do stuff over and over for the people who already saw some of your tricks that you showed other tables.


And everything needs to lead into the next trick like you do a card effect and with their card that they picked from last card effect make it fly or something like that.



-MagicTay

7 - 13 min????

i would go at least five minutes. but not above six,

7 - 13 min sounds way too long.

I'm not a professional, so most of this info is stuff I've gathered from working magicians. You're going to want little 'sets' of routines. Each 'routine' should be about 4-6 minutes, but you should be able to make them a bit shorter or milk them a bit longer.

You should have around 3 'sets' of routines, which each routine having around 2-3 tricks. The problem here is what IS a trick and what isn't, which is really up to the magician. Some magicians have a 9 minute ACR routine, and that would easily be it's own 'routine'.

What makes a 'bunch of tricks' a routine is the way they are pieced together. For instance, a good example would be opening with a sponge ball routine. In the final phase (thanks to Paul Green for this!), you ask how many sponges are in your hand (they think 3). You then go 'Maybe I should just do a card trick...' and open your hand to show it empty. You then go in and grab your deck and go into a card trick.

They could also be linked together by a story. A good example of this is Vernon's Cutting The Aces (featured in the Stars of Magic book). He presents the trick like a reenactment of a situation he encountered while gambling on vacation. As soon as you finish that trick, you could say mention something else you learned while gambling and then go into another routine related to it.

You're going to need to know a good amount of sleight of hand, seeing as you won't want to be lugging around a bunch of gimmicks. A good rule of thumb to go by is that if you need to ask if you're ready to work in a restaraunt, then you aren't.

Like I said, get the resources I pointed out, it will give you a lot of information.

There is no set time, because there are always situations that will come up that will screw up your plans. For instance, you just begin your cups and balls routine, and the food comes out. You can't go on with a 7 minute routine. You need to finish up quick.

Each effect has to be self-contained. If it isn't, you will be in trouble. Because when the food comes out, you have to leave. You can't make the wait person stand there while you finish up your routine. The food would get could, your audience would get annoyed, the wait person would get annoyed, and you will probably be fired.

Also, sometimes you will do a longer routine. If it's a slow night, you can do longer routines. If it's a fast night, you want to do short routines. If there is a problem in the kitchen, and someone's order will take longer then normal, you can do a longer routine, to keep the people's mind off their food.

So really, the best idea is to get the sources that I suggested. There are also other sources, but those will give you a good introduction into resturaunt magic.

thank you guys. Keep the posting.