Magic Tricks Categories
Did you know that there are at least eight different types of magic trick effect classifications? While there is no real science or formal agreement as to which classification should or should not be its own category, many magicians to some degree recognize Production, Vanishing, Transformation, Restoration, Teleportation, Levitation, Penetration, and Prediction as the eight effect categories. of magic tricks. Each category represents a certain type of effect, and by knowing a little about each effect, you can easily focus your efforts on learning tricks from that category over the others. So let’s take a look at what each category does and see some examples of cheats that best represent them.
– Production effects are when the magician reveals something where there was nothing. This is the opposite of Disappear.
-Examples:
Pulling a rabbit out of your hat.
Remove a coin from a participant’s ear.
– Vanishing effects involve the magician taking something and making it disappear. This is the opposite of Production.
-Examples:
Reveal an empty box after your assistant has recently entered it.
Make a bird disappear under a cloth.
– Transformation effects are when the mage changes something from one state to another. This is accomplished through a combination of Production and Disappearance.
-Examples:
Changing the color of a scarf.
Reveal the card that a participant put in the deck so that it is actually the card in their hand. l Restoration effects involve the wizard taking an item that has been destroyed and returning it to its original state.
-Examples:
Putting a playing card that has been torn back like new.
Replace your assistant that you just sawed in half.
– Teleportation effects involve the wizard moving an object from its original location to a new location. This effect also encompasses two objects that change locations relative to each other (double teleportation).
-Examples:
The card that your participant just placed inside your deck is actually the card that you have in your pocket.
His assistant who entered the cabinet is revealed to be among the audience.
– Levitation effects involve the magician creating the illusion that an object or themselves are floating.
-Examples:
David Blane hovering several inches above the ground.
Floating a coin between your hands.
– Penetration effects involve the magician taking a completely solid object and passing it through another completely solid object.
-Examples:
Placing swords in holes in a cabinet your assistant is in.
Walking along the Great Wall of China.
– Prediction effects involve the magician determining the outcome of a sequence of events.
-Examples:
Know the card that your participant has chosen.
Describing a picture that your participant drew while facing away from them.
There are many magicians who specialize in one type of effect over another, but most magicians are well versed in fusing the different effects together to provide a diverse routine. Many tricks actually encompass multiple effects in one, such as one of the oldest magic tricks, the cup and balls routine, which actually uses aspects of Production, Banishing, Transformation, Teleportation, and Penetration.