Is it possible to have extensive card magic only?

This question is for me and those who want (either limited to it or desires mostly card magic) to have extensive card magic in a restaurant as a magician?

Please take part in the poll and leave some comments...

thanks
rap

The bulk of what I do in restaurants is card magic.

I don't do a lot with cards myself, but if Dbaker says yes then it's very doable. He's not wrong very much so listen to him.

its always good to have some non-card stuff aswell incase you get like children or somthing who cant really understand cards.


Dan

An endorsement from paddy? If I'm getting that, I better step it up from a one-sentence answer.



Since there is so much variation in the world of card magic, you can do alot more than you think.

A sample of my working list:
ACR (make it up as I go)
Paperclipped - Sankey
Chicago Opener - Sankey
Chicago Opener - Paul Green
Gummy Bear - Bill Palmer
Out of Sight - Sankey
Cornered - Independently created by myself and Ben Williams
Biddle Trick - Personal Handling
Long Card - ?
The Bet - Jim Pace

This is just a sampling and I'm not including assorted revelation methods or alot of my personal material.

As long as the effects you choose are strong cards are a fine choice. They pack light, they're familiar, and they are relatively easy to work with.

3 Things to Note:

1)Stay FAR AWAY from gimmicked decks. I'm going to go against the popular opinion and include the Invisible Deck in that statement.

2)Some effects require doubles, gimmicked cards, odd back cards, etc. You'll need a way to organize and store these cards that won't damage them, but will still keep them in reach.

3)Avoid effects that require you to destroy a card. T&Rs are terrible restaurant effects.

Dan makes a good point. Children don't understand cards well enough to be impressed ("A colorful piece of paper changed into another colorful piece of paper? So, what's next?").

Many people suggest sponge balls for restaurants - I do not. I used them for a while, but after destroying a few dozen in a week's time, I decided to drop them from my act. People can/will tear them, stain them, drop them in their food, etc. To me, they just aren't worth the hassle.

What's good then?
You can't go wrong with a TT and a silk. Build a strong routine with them and you'll never leave them at home again. A TT and silk routine has always been part of my restaurant work, though the routine itself has changed over the years.

Okay, I know a lot of card tricks. I just need to prepare a bunch of routines together. My Penguinmagic set of tricks are mostly made up of card tricks. lol
thanks

Advice from a working pro in my area:

"The thing you have to learn before doing restaurants is that people want to see more than cards. It gets repetitive after a while."

Those aren't my words, but words from a person who makes his living off of magic, and does quite a bit of restaurant work.

No offense, but a quote from a nameless guy is somewhat meaningless.

Most of the workers in my area focus on cards (Gerry Griffin, Joel Pascal, Timothy James, etc.).

His advice holds true only if you're doing the same effects every time. This woulb be a problem with any genre, since restaurant magic requires you to cycle in new material often.

Sorry. His name's Devin Henderson, and although he may not be well known in the magic circle; he is a great performer.

www.devinhenderson.com

I don't work restaurants yet, but I can say that I would work with everything. Not just cards. And yeah, Dbaker, I would feel proud and special. I mean, it's Paddy!

Yes, I admit that I am a hard nosed son of a b***h. But when someone is doing it right I will tell them along with everybody else and back them as much as I can.

And that sir, is why we love you.