3 Best Magic Trick Types for your Virtual Magic Show (For Magicians)

As a magician, when you tell non-magical people that you do mostly virtual magic shows, one of the most common things they’ll say in response is “That must be hard to do on a computer screen.” or “I bet that gets boring pretty fast.” That is because many non-magicians have a narrow perception of what magic entails. Often they think of a magician performing “for” or “at” them instead of “with” them. This is an important distinction because if you just want to watch magic passively on Zoom then you can upload an old David Copperfield Special from YouTube and press play. However, most magicians would not consider that to be virtual magic. The reason people spend thousands of dollars hiring virtual magicians to entertain at their virtual company functions and online parties is because virtual magic (when done correctly) is highly interactive and the art form of prestidigitation translates extremely well to virtual platforms. This all comes down to the types of tricks you chose; Trick choices can make or break a virtual magic show.

I’m going to share with you the three types of tricks I prefer when performing online. These are the personal rules I use when picking routines for a virtual magic show. If a trick doesn’t fall into one of these three categories I usually don’t include it in the show. I personally think that it is best to have a variety of all three trick types to perform and alternate between them throughout your show to keep the audience on their toes. Your opinion may vary; perhaps you are strictly a card magician or only do mentalism. At the least I hope these ideas give you something to consider as your virtual magic changes and evolves.

1. Mentalism with Free Choices for virtual magic shows

One of the most interactive types of magic you can perform in a virtual show is mentalism. The strongest mentalism and mind reading routines for online shows are the ones that don’t involve forces. It’s ideal if your performance can involve totally free choices out of many options (more than 10) such as having a spectator think of a card out of a deck of 52, have them name an object in the room, or pick a photo out of 20 and just say their choice out loud. This makes the magic so much more powerful than having them say stop as you handle the options or some other force. This way they know there is absolutely no way you could have controlled the circumstances for them to pick what they chose. When the spectator has chosen you can follow up with the old trick of giving them the option to change their mind -which makes the effect twice as strong. Now don’t get me wrong, forces have a place in magic. I love doing forces but they often make more sense for in person magic. When doing virtual performances your tricks have to be far more powerful to translate well through a computer screen and really amaze. Free choices are an easy way to make the magic even stronger. Some of my favorite go-to tricks in this category are Isolated by Adrian Lacroix, Time Shift, or anything using a Swami writer. Obviously, I’m biased but I’m also a fan of my trick Selection which I did on Penn and Teller: Fool Us, as well as my Mysterious Envelope Prediction -both of which I teach in detail on my Penguin Live Virtual Magic Lecture.

2. Super Visual and Short Magic Tricks for virtual magic shows

In general people have certain expectations of what magic is. Most humans think of magic as a visual art form. This is very true, many types of magic premises are visual such as transformation, transporting objects, destroying and restoring effects and it’s important to have a few routines in your show that are fun and visual like these. However, when you’re performing magic “at” your audience instead of “with” them you want to keep it brief so you can keep them engaged. Virtual audiences have extremely short attention spans on the computer. These visual effects should tell a logical story, be easy to follow, and short. For example with pen through bill: You have a beginning (the pen is solid, the bill is solid), a middle (the pen has penetrated the bill) and an ending (I have restored the pen and the bill). To make them highly impactful it’s often best to keep them short, no longer than 1-2 minutes if you’re doing a non-interactive magic routine where they watch and maybe say a magic word or two at most. You want to keep it short and sweet when you choose visually powerful tricks. Please don’t do a 15 phase card trick…ever. In my opinion, just don’t do that ever. People who aren’t magicians will zone out. Opening with a short optical effect can be extremely strong and help welcome the audience to your show in a safe and nonthreatening way. This is because you are using the visual trick to introduce yourself and not immediately jumping into something with a lot of direct audience participation before they have gotten to know you. Again, don’t make your entire show fast visual tricks as interaction and storytelling are also important to sprinkle in but it’s a great way to start or end a show. Some of my favorite super visual magic tricks for virtual shows are Matrix Art by Mickael Chatelain, anything with Invisible thread, and Intersection by Hondo.

3. Magic That Happens in All of Their Hands during virtual magic shows

There are so many new virtual magic tricks for groups on the market where you can lead your audience with instructions and have them create the magic in their hands with household items. These are all possible to do on a stage as well, -but I find them extra powerful online. Two of the coolest features of virtual magic, which are physically impossible for in-person shows, are that every single person in the audience has a front row seat to see your magic but they also have a front row seat to see each other do magic. This makes interactive group routines that involve everyone and hands on do it yourself magic extremely strong. These types of routines make virtual shows a more tactile experience and having your audience make magic with their own objects at home or with a deck of cards in their hands helps break that fourth wall, making virtual shows a four-dimensional experience.

When people are watching in a gallery view or multiple people are spotlighted during a group trick then the audience can see and share it all together. They get to watch their friends, family, and co-workers find the right card or matching piece and see their faces light up on the screen. This shared feeling of connectedness and triumph (pardon the pun) brings people together and is so impactful because they did it themselves in their homes, and there is no way for you to have intervened. Some of my favorite tricks like this are Virtual Triumph by Adrian Lacroix and How to Find Your Other Half by Woody Aragon. Bubble Thought by Adam Elbaum also is a wonderful one-on-one in their hands card effect.

That wraps up my three recommended trick types for virtual magic shows. Perhaps you already have several tricks within each of these three categories in your show, or maybe you just have two and have never thought to add the third kind of trick until now. I hope these suggestions have inspired you to mix up your online magic show. Thank you for reading  and see you next month!