How to Routine Tricks Together
/I saw an interesting coin routine the other day that I liked quite a bit and wanted to bring to your attention. I’ll mention the individual effects first and try to figure out why these tricks make such a good routine.
First, the magician performed a Chink-A-Chink effect
From there he went into a Coins Across trick with the coins.
Then he let one of the spectators “choose” a coin and he did a coin bite with it.
And he closed by pushing the remaining Coins Through the Table one-by-one.
Why is this such a good routine? Can you figure it out? Why do these tricks go so well together?
I’ll tell you the secret. The reason these tricks go so well together is because they are the first four tricks listed in Wikipedia under the subject of Coin Magic.
“Huh?”
I’ll explain…
When putting together a string of magical moments or effects, we tend to think in terms of a “routine.”
“Here’s my ambitious card routine. The card goes into the middle and comes to the top. Then it goes into the middle again and goes to the top. Then it goes into the middle again… and goes to my wallet! As a kicker, the deck disappears!!”
But is there any difference in magic between the way we use the word “routine” and the way we would describe the output of a machine that randomly spits out various magic tricks/moments? The card goes to the top of the deck twice, then it goes to the wallet, then the deck disappears—this is a routine only because those moments were strung together. There’s nothing else that qualifies this as a routine.
And if the only thing that qualifies this as a routine is because the effects were placed side-by-side, then the term “routine” is essentially meaningless.
“This is my routine” just means “These are the tricks I’m performing back-to-back.”
The title of this post is “How To Routine Tricks Together”
The answer is: Don’t.
Don’t “routine” tricks together.
This is true especially when performing in social situations.
Think in terms of story rather than “routine.”
You have a story you want to tell, and these tricks when put together are going to tell that story.
That’s it. That’s how you put tricks together. If your tricks don’t tell a cohesive story, then there’s no reason to do them together.
This, of course, is a much higher bar than just “routining” tricks together. The reason I could pick the first four tricks alphabetically from the Coin Magic entry and you didn’t immediately call it out as bullshit as far as being a “routine,” is because deep down we know the word doesn’t have any weight. Whereas, if I said, “I have a great recipe.” And said it consisted of the first four ingredients I found alphabetically in my kitchen:
Almonds
Albacore tuna
Anchovies
Apricot sorbet
You’d probably know I was fucking with you. Because we expect something from a “recipe.”
Calling something a “routine” is just a lazy way of justifying performing a bunch of tricks rather than one.
If you need a more concrete example, on Thursday, I’ll describe one of the strongest three-trick stories you can do.