"Anti-Gravity Ketchup" (#80)

Anti Gravity Ketchup Trick(#80)

Amazing but incredibly easy trick, where you command a ketchup sachet to rise and fall, inside a bottle at your command with a simple hand motion. Very visual and amusing levitating trick.

Sachet is floating at top of water filled bottle.
A downward hand motion, commands the ketchup to sink to the bottom.
and down hand motions can stop the ketchup at will.


You Will Need: A clear plastic bottle such as one that has been used for soft drinks or mineral water. You will also need a condiment sachet, these are usually found in fast food outlets.

Method:
1) Take the label of the bottle so as to make the contents clearly visible.
2) Fill the bottle, near to the top with cold tap water.
3) Insert the sachet into the bottle, it should float at the top of the bottle.
4) Holding the base of the bottle, as if to steady it, apply gentle squeezing pressure to the base. The increase in pressure inside the bottle should cause the sachet to float slowly downwards. Releasing the grip on the bottle will allow the sachet to float upwards.
5) To make the sachet stop in the middle of the bottle, you need to apply just the right amount of pressure, this can be found with practice.
The beauty of this trick is the audience are completely unaware of the technique as their attention is drawn to the motions of your other hand, beckoning the sachet to rise and fall. Add an interesting line of patter and you have a great impromtu levitation trick that is easy to set up and can be used in a wide variety of places or as a pub trick.

"Thread Trick" (#79)

David Blaine's secret trick made this broken and restored thread illusion very popular.

Hindu Gypsy Thread (#79)
Effect: Performer takes a spool of thread, unravels about a foot of it, & then breaks it off, putting the spool down. Performer proceeds to break the thread into 6 or 7 clearly broken & different pieces, then holding one piece in one hand, the other pieces are rolled up into a ball and 'squashed' onto the piece from the other hand. When this is unravelled it is seen to be completely restored to it's original length. VERY visual, & very clean, pretty easy to do as well.

Preparation: Only practice & you need a spool of cotton thread, preferably brightly coloured. It has to be cotton, otherwise you will need scissors to cut it. Or you could do a burned & restored thread.

Performance: First, before you approach the spectator, unravel about a foot and 1/2 to 2 foot of thread. Now make a tiny ball of thread out of the extra thread you have, so you should have a ball of thread, then a foot of thread (still on the spool). The ball is tiny enough to fit, unnoticed, into the fleshy part of your thumb & index finger when they are pressed together. Now there should be a couple of inches of thread, then a ball (hidden)(all in your right hand) then a foot of thread & then the spool (in your left hand). Now approach the spectator. Break your foot of thread from the spool, & give them the spool to hold.
It looks like you are holding a foot of thread, when really, thanks to the ball you are hiding between your index finger & thumb (right hand), you have more like a foot & 1/2. Break the 1st piece off, now the piece in your right hand looks like a 5 inch length. Thanks to the hidden ball it is a foot long (your restored thread). The pieces in your left hand can be broken as many times as you like, clearly show the thread to be broken. Now, by rubbing your (LH) thumb & index finger together, make a ball of the pieces of thread and 'squash' the 5 inch thread from your RH onto the ball, at the same time, tucking the ball so it's hidden between your index & thumb (LH). Now the ball you have been hiding the whole trick is visible, it looks like the ball you just made out of the broken thread. It can be unravelled & is restored. Give it to the spectator as a souvenir.
As far as patter goes you can pretty much say whatever you want, I'm sure you will anyway

"Magnetic Fingers" (#78)

Magnetic Fingers Trick (#78)

This trick appears to be like hypnotism - Is your patter good enough to convince them ?
Ask your friend if you could try a little "instant hypnosis" on them. Assure them that it's safe and nothing harmful can or will happen.
Next, ask your friend to fold their hands together, weaving the fingers and clasping them tightly. After a few moments of doing this, tell them to raise their two index (first) fingers so they are sticking up and they should be about an inch apart ("church and steeple" kind of thing).
Now, slowly move your hands over their hands (don't touch their hands) and say, "Your fingers will touch. Try to fight it, but they will still touch!"
Slowly, but inevitably, your friends fingers will start to move together. Tell them to concentrate on their fingers (just ham it up, okay?) and soon their fingers will touch.
This is self-working, but it should still be practiced! It's a great bar trick, to. Have fun!

"WRITING PAD MIND TRICK" (#77)

Effect : The magician is seen to write something down on a paper note pad and does not allow the spectator to see what he has written. The magican announces that he is about to ask the spectator a question and because he can read his mind, already knows the answer that the spectator will reply back with. The spectator is then asked to think of a number between one and a hundred or a simple shape such as a triangle, square or rectangle and reveal this out loud. The note pad is then shown to find that the magician had written the same number or shape down on the note pad!

SECRET: Make a gimmick by taping a small piece of broken pencil lead to your thumb, ( Use clear adhesive tape such as Sellotape so that the spectator and audience will not see it and remember to keep the sticky side facing out ). Initially write nothing on the note pad, ( only appear to be writing something ) and when you hide the face of the note pad from the spectator, do so with your thumb facing the side of the paper that you had supposedly written something on ( See picture 3). When your victim says the number or shape that they have thought of, simply write it on the note pad with your thumb and then show it to them as your prediction.
This trick is really convincing but depends a great deal on the magicians performance. Try your hand at acting, look as if you are really concentrating and that the trick requires real mental effort on your part. This will reinforce the illusion that you really can read minds.

"Spoon Illusion" (#76)

"SPOON ILLUSION" (#76)

A Super Close Up Tea Spoon Twister Trick That Leaves An Audience Dumbfounded

Effect:
First of all you casually lift a teaspoon after stirring your tea or even while your still holdiing it, - glance at it with an amused look and wiggle it up and down a little, as if it's kind of bendy and malleable..
You then calmly proceed to bend the bowl of the spoon backwards and forwards and look a little amused. You now appear to do an impossible feat of strength and twist the bowl of the spoon round and round, several times.
You can if your wish, break the bowl of the spoon right off, and then join it back together again and with a couple of twists - you just shake your head in disbelief at the poor quality of the spoon and it back down on the table - Fully Restored Back Together!!!

SECRET
You first need to prepare a simple gimmick. - This is just the bowl part of an old teaspoon that you have cut off with a hacksaw. - see picture on the left. ( Take care when using a hacksaw and file off any sharp edges, this should only be done by an adult )

The gimmicked spoon bowl has to be finger-palmed - This means simply holding it gently in your loosely curled fingers. - So have this kept in a convenient pocket where it's very easy to grasp it with your fingers.

The effectiveness of this close up magic illusion is all down to your presentation. - Holding the spoon in your right hand (or the opposite hand from the one that holds the spoon bowl in finger palm position), you give it a wiggle from side to side and if you hold it loosely between your thumb and forefinger it will appear as if the spoon is flexible and bending. While bending the spoon, try to look a little surprised as to why the spoon looks so bendy..

Now take hold of the spoon with your left hand - the hand that is finger palming the gimmicked spoon bowl. - The spoon is held with the thumb and the first finger of the left hand with the bowl of the spoon slid behind the third, fourth and little fingers. You now can slide the gimmick out perpendicular to the real spoon's stem making it look like it came off, etc..!! You can use your other hand to help manipulate things a bit---just pretend you are twisting, etc...

You are now in a position to appear to bend, twist and break off the bowl of the spoon as you so desire, making some amusing remarks about the poor quality of the cutlery.. This is a great trick for the close-up lover !

"Hand Flip Coin Trick" (#76)

"Hand Flip" (#76)

THIS TAKES A TINY BIT OF PRACTICE

1. Lay two coins in the palms of your hands - the positions are very important! The coin in my left hand is right in the middle of my palm. The coin in my right hand is near my thumb.

2. In one quick motion, flip both hands over and slap them straight down onto the table. The coin in your right hand should get flicked across and under your left hand. The coin in your left hand should simply fall straight down.

3. Ask your audience where they think the coins are – they'll probably guess there's one under each hand. If you move your right pinkie finger a bit, people usually guess the coins are under your right hand – then you can reveal they are wrong!

4. Reveal both coins under your left hand. If you repeat the trick, be quick! Try not to let anyone notice the positions of the coins.

SECRET
The position of the coins in your palms makes this trick work. As you rotate your hands from "palms up" to "palms down", the coin in the centre of your palm stays put and falls straight down. But the coin near your thumb travels around the centre of your palm and gets catapulted towards the other hand. With a bit of practice, it is almost impossible to see this coin shooting across before you slap your hand down to cover it. The reason one of the coins gets flicked across is easy to understand if you imagine using a table tennis bat instead of your hand. Imagine laying one coin smack bang in the centre of one of a bat. As you rotate the bat, the coin rotates around its own centre too, but it does not get flicked away. If you lay the second coin right on the outside edge of the other bat, something quite different happens. This coin travels around the centre of the bat in a big semi-circle and if you rotate the bat quickly enough, it will get flicked away. How fast the coin gets flicked across depends on how far it is from the centre of your palm and the speed with which you flip your hands over.

"THE SPECTATOR-MAGICIAN TRICK" (#75)

"THE SPECTATOR_MAGICIAN TRICK" (#75)

Stunning Card Effect Performed Completely By The Spectator

Effect: The magician asks the spectator whether he knows any card tricks. Whatever the spectator answers, the magician says "Well, heres a great trick, only YOU'RE going to perform it."
The spectator is handed a deck of cards and asked to hold them with the cards facing the magician, the backs towards himself. The magician picks a card, which the spectator removes and places on the table, never looking at it. The spectator then deals two piles on the table. The top card of the first pile reveals the value of the selected card, while the top card of the second pile reveals the suit !!

Performance: This trick is actually not too difficult, but the effect is astonishing because the magician never actually handles the deck. The only real skills necessary are good verbal communications and misdirection.
After the spectator shuffles the deck, have him fan them in front of his face with the backs of the cards towards himself. Tell him to start fanning at the top of the deck and continue to the bottom. Meanwhile, you watch for the card that has the same value as the top card and the same suit as the card second from top
Note: If these two cards have the same value or the same suit, the trick won't work. In this case, ask the spectator whether he cut the cards. When he says no, tell him to cut the deck and start over again.
When you find that particular card, touch it and have him pull it out and place it on the table face down. Then tell him to think of a number and to count that many of into a neat pile on the table. (This puts the two pointer cards on the bottom of the pile.)
Have him discard the rest of the cards in his hands, pick up the pile on the table, and deal the cards alternately into two piles. (The two pointer cards are now on top of each of the new piles.) Remember that the last card he deals will show the value (ace, 2, 3, etc) of the selected card while the next-to-last card (the top one on the other pile) will show the suit.
Explain to the spectator that if he has been concentrating on the card on the table, he will have subconsciously picked two cards that will respectively reveal the value and suit of the card that you the magician have randomly selected. Flip the three cards to reveal that this is so.

"CREEPING RING" (#74)

"CREEPING RING" (#74)

The Effect: Take a rubber band and thread a borrowed finger ring onto it. The ring is sitting in the center of the band, but then slowly creeps up the rubber band, all by itself!
What You Need: A rubber band, not a real thick one, and a borrowed ring.

The SECRET: This trick almost works by itself. Actually, the rubber band does the trick, but you take the credit! Break the rubber band. You now have a long piece. Borrow a ring. Thread the ring onto the rubber band, but stretch the rubber band (not all the way; about 12" between your hands) and keep most of the rubber band in your left hand. When you do this, you will have a long, loose piece dangling hidden in your left palm. The spectators won't see this as the back of your hands are towards them. Your hands should be at the same level so that the rubber band is horizontal. Make sure that the ring is closer to right fingers, but not touching the fingers, about an inch away. Raise your right hand and allow the ring to fall towards your left hand and say, "Anyone can make the ring fall down. But I can make the ring fall up!" Allow the ring to fall within an inch of your left fingertips. Gently ease the grip on the rubber band with your left fingers allowing the rubber band to slide between your left fingertips. Don't worry; they won't see this. (You'll actually fool yourself the first time you do this!) The ring will move up the rubber band as if it were on an escalator. This is a lot of fun.

"DICE PREDICTION" #73

"DICE PREDICTION (#73)
EFFECT: The spectator rolls a pair of invisible dice. After doing what seems like some random math the magician divines the numbers that they rolled.

The magician hands someone an invisible pair of dice. He asks that they roll the dice and inquires, “What number did you roll?” After their response, the magician insists “Roll them again.” Upon complying the magician asks, “What number did you get this time?” After responding with a different number the magician proclaims, “So they are not loaded!” Everyone chuckles or smiles...
The magician asks that they roll the dice one last time. He adds, “This time don´t tell me what you rolled. Instead choose one of the two numbers that you rolled and double it. Now add five to your new number. Multiply the result by five and add the number on the other dice to it. What is your new total?” Upon their response the magician astonishes everyone by revealing the number(s) that they rolled.

SECRET: The real method uses a little math.Let´s say they rolled a 5 and a 2.If they choose the 5 and double it that makes 10.Adding 5 to 10 makes 15.Multiplying 15 by 5 equals 75.Adding the other number 2 to that total equals 77.The secret is to subtract 25 from this last total!77 minus 25 equals 52.The result 52 translates that they rolled a 5 and a 2.
This always works. It is amazing!

"Floating Card" (#72)

"FLOATING CARD" (#71)

Like all tricks, this is a good social ice-breaker for any age....

The magician puts 1 or 4 cards under his hand. He slowly lifts his hand and the cards float with his hand. Holding his hand above the table, the magician pulls the cards of his hand and drops them on the table.

Secret:
1. Put the ring on your middle finger. Then put the matchstick under the ring so that both sides of the match stick out.
2. Place your hand palms down on the table and place a card under your palm but above the matchstick. You need to practice this move to make it look like your just placing a card under your palm not above a matchstick.
3. Now you can lift your hand from the table. Press your fingers down a little on the back of the cards, they will remain in position.

"Money Fakeout" (#70)

"MONEY FAKEOUT" (#70)

(This trick is just for fun--be careful !!)

Ask someone to lend you $20 to put in an empty matchbox, you then also put $20 in. (You must point out the fact that you have also put in $20) Say to them that you will sell them the matchbox for $30. Believing that they are in for a bargain (spending $30 to buy a $40 matchbox). But the trick is that because they already have put in $20 they are in fact losing $10. (In total they have spent $50 for a $40 matchbox, and you get $30 instead of the $20 you started with.
It is fun to see if they catch on !! ...don't keep the money......

"Floating Cup" (#69)

"Floating Cup" (#69)

Effect: The magician announces that they are going to make an empty cup float. They release their grip on the cup and it appears to float in mid air.

SECRET: Take an empty large paper or styrofoam cup. Carefully make a hole in one side of the empty cup, big enough for your thumb to stick through. If the empty cup is made of styrofoam, you could even push your thumb straight through it.

Hold the empty cup with both your hands and facing the others in your party, announce that you are going to try and make the cup float in mid air. Have one thumb pushed through the nearest side of the cup to you, out of view of your audience. Then, appear to be concentrating your mind on the cup and gradually open up both hands at the same time. While doing this, push your hands slightly forward as if you are following the floating cup and eventually grab the cup with both hands. Now, discreetly slip your thumb out from the side of the cup.
This is a simple illusion but it looks great when done at the right angle. Practice in front of a mirror to make sure that you get the angles and the timing right. It works !!

"MAGIC ASH" (#68)

"MAGIC ASH" (#68)

Effect: The spectator writes a name on a page in a notepad. The spectator then tears out the page, crumples it up and places it in an ashtray. The paper is set alight and the magician then rubs the ashes on his arm, on which the name written by the spectator, mysteriously appears.


SECRET: The spectator is asked to write either a name or favourite anything of their choice on a notepad. They are then asked to tear out the page, crumple it up and place it in the ashtray. The magician then sets the paper alight. At this point the magician should take the notepad from the spectator. If looked at closely, it should be possible to see an imprint of the spectators written word on the top page of the notepad. I usually just take it in another room to "meditate", then I can study it pretty hard. ( It should not be made obvious that the magician has been looking at the notepad..) Then the word should be written on the magicians arm by himself using soft soap or wax.

The magician can then take some of the ashes and rub them on his arm where the ash will stick to the soap or wax and the name become visible to the astonishment of the audience.
This is a great trick but depends o the magician creating an atmosphere with an entertaining routine and patter about black magic to enhance the trick and create misdirection to allow himself an opportunity to pull off the trick. Pretty neat.

"COIN GRAB" (#67)

"COIN GRAB" (#67)

Effect : The magician sticks the coin into the handkerchief, turns it over and then the coin disappears from inside the handkerchief.

Secret :You secretly wrap a rubber band around your fingers and thumb---you will need to experiment with this a bit to find the best way to for you !
Then you place the handkerchief in that hand. With your other hand place the coin into the handkerchief.
Then let the rubber band slide off of your fingers and onto the handkerchief, so it surrounds the coin and it is under the handkerchief. This will have the effect of almost making the coin disappear in itself, because the rubber band, if tight, will bring the cloth around the coin.
You then slide your hand up to the end of the handkerchief and shake it.
This makes it look like the coin has disappeared.
But it is really stuck in the handkerchief, held by the rubber band. You can trythis with several coins, or with other objects !!

"COLOR CODE" (#66)

"COLOR CODE" (#66)

In this clever trick, the magician appears to be able to tell the colour of every card with a magic diviner, or wand, or whatever...!!

Effect: A pack of cards is thoroughly shuffled. The pack can even be given to the spectator to shuffle, if they desire. Once the pack has been thoroughly shuffled, the cards are then spread face down on the table. The magician is then able to point to any card and tell which colour of suit it belongs to i.e red or black.

Method: Before beginning this trick, you first separate all the red suited cards from the black suited ones. Put the red and black suited cards into two separate blocks. Take the red suited block of cards and while holding the pack, face up, bend the cards up so that they form a slight arch. Then put them down and pick up the black suited pack.
Holding the black suited pack face down, bend the cards up towards you forming a slight arch. The two separate blocks of cards can then be put back together. The pack is now ready to be shuffled. After shuffling, spread the pack face down on the table and you can secretly tell the red and black cards apart as they have slight bends in them. i.e the red cards curl down slightly and the black cards curl up slightly. This will not usually be noticed by your audience. You can then proceed to identify the colour of each face down card.

Performance: Although this is a simple trick, it can be very entertaining and impressive with a little bit of patter and imagination from the magician. You can pretend to have a " magic divining rod " for instance and even continue to blah!, blah!, blah!, e.t.c. about the origin of the magic divining rod / card.

All you then need to do is hold a wand or even another playing card over the face down pack and make it vibrate slightly as it passes over your desired card.And there you have it, with a little bit of patter, you have transformed an otherwise run of the mill card trick into an entertaining feat of magic.

"FROM BOTTOM TO TOP" (#65)

"FROM BOTTOM TO TOP" (#65)

The top card of the deck is turned face up to the audience.
The card is once again turned face down and removed from the deck.
The magician now places this card into the middle of the deck and then squares the deck
The magician clicks his fingers and the card returns immediately to the top of the deck.

SECRET
This trick uses the principle of the double lift
When showing the top card actually perform a double lift and show the card that was really second from the top of the pack. In other words just grab TWO cards instead of one. This will work best if you slightly bend the two cards when you grab them so that they stay together---try it a few times !!

Then remove the actual top card and place it into the middle of the deck.
The already shown card is still on the top of the deck and can be revealed in any way that you wish.
Simple but effective.

"Ping PONG PANIC" (#64)

"PING PONG PANIC" (#64)

This gag is always good for a laugh........always !

We gave this one a “medium” on the difficulty scale because the setup can be a little more difficult than some of the other pranks we present here. The basic premise is to fill a kitchen cupboard with ping pong balls and then watch in surprise as your co-workers panic when they are showered with a bunch of ping pong balls.

However, given their nature, it’s next to impossible to simply dump a bunch of balls into a cabinet and shut it fast enough to keep them inside.

Our suggestion is to use a flat piece of cardboard to cover the bottom three-quarters of the shelf area of the cabinet so that you have a small opening at the top to pour in the ping pong balls. Fill up the area as much as possible so that when the door is opened, the full effect of the waterfall is experienced. Once you have loaded in as many balls as you can, close the cabinet on the cardboard, then slowly slip the cardboard out from behind the cabinet door to seal in the surprise. You also might try putting the balls into a plastic bag, then tear the bag enough that you can pull it out while leaving the balls behind in the cabinet.....

Now when the door is opened, get ready for the screams and scrambling as people not only try and shield themselves from the falling ping pong balls, but also trying to collect the balls as they bounce all over the room! Gotcha !!

"LOTTERY FAKEOUT" (#63)

"LOTTERY FAKEOUT" (#63)

Tape-Record the previous week’s lottery drawing, then buy a ticket with the winning numbers from that week. At the next regularly scheduled showing of the lottery drawing, sit down to watch the draw with your friends/spouse, but secretly play the VCR tape of last weeks numbers so it appears that you’ve won the big prize. Just about the time when they start asking you to call the lottery commission, let them know what’s up and watch their joy turn to sorrow.
Always good for a laugh. These days you could use the CD-player, or any other new-fangled recording device...!

"JELLO IN COMODE" (#62)

"JELLO IN COMODE" (#62)

This is a common gag from many years ago, so it probably will not be remembered ! Always good for a laugh & conversation.

I’ve found over the years that this practical joke is best done at parties, or anywhere that people can take a joke !
To pull this prank, simply dump a packet of gelatin (Jell-O is a brand name, but you can use any brand you can find) into the recipients’ toilet and wait. It’s best if you do this nice and early in the evening so that the stuff has time to harden up before the first victim arrives, otherwise, the first flush after the delivery just sends the joke to the sewers.
When the victim does arrive on the scene, since the toilet water will seem harmless (especially if you use plain or lemon) they will go about their business. However, this time, thanks to you, they will turn around to flush and find that their little package staring back at them in defiance.
Once your victim runs out to bring everyone in to look at the suspended turd and the horror of the event passes, clean up is fairly easy. Simply break up the gelatin with a plunger and the Jell-O and its prison will simply flush away. In all my years of pulling this practical joke, I have never seen it muck up the plumbing or anything like that, so if your host flips out, let them know it will be fine. Good luck !!