Magic Tricks

Diamond Jim Tyler's second Penguin lecture departs from the usual magic performance demo and teach-in, and moves into some different territory he's uniquely known for: Bar Bets.

Well, bar bets, puzzles, and stunts.

Technically not magic, but that doesn't mean they're not magical. In fact, one trick involving pennies is quite magical.

And another that uses straws is downright telekinetic...

And a REAL show piece!

Drawn from his Bamboozlers series of books there are over 40 bits of business taught on this lecture. Yes, FORTY.

Their practical and impromptu nature makes them the perfect interlude in a magical set, or when you just want to have a little fun.

I won't recount them all here... but I do want to share a few of the highlights... at least for me.

However, there's so many to choose from, you're bound to find a dozen or so that fit right into your own style of performing.

I'll start with Three Burnt Matches. If you're not familiar with this game, you'll be searching your kitchen drawer for a book of matches shortly after watching.

And hey, it's a fun way to win a dollar!

Another standout is the riddle, "KST." All you need is a piece of paper, a pencil, and these three letters, and you'll have a headscratcher.

There's the classic, Three Glass Betcha, try as they might, unless they know the secret/solution, they won't be able to match your actions, no matter how close they watch!

Then there's Soda Stunt... I won't ruin the surprise... but I've been doing this one for years since first watching Diamond Jim demonstrate it at a lecture. It just plain looks cool.

And there IS magic in this set too... Con Coin Prediction, sometimes called the Trick that Fooled Einstein is a solid piece of mental magic taught here that involves a series of three escalating predictions...

And Pennies From Heaven is a real fooler. I've done this for corporate folks and they were perplexed, they can't imagine where the extra coins go... it's almost like a fifth-dimension thing...

I mentioned the Telekinetic Straws earlier. I loved this... and no surreptitious breathing on the straws... or secret threads... they move by another force altogether. It's very cool.

There's some interesting math puzzles on here, similar to some memes you may have seen on social media, but I suspect you haven't seen these puzzles, specifically. One in particular I really liked was called, Bad Math 5555.

With a single stroke you solve a complicated math puzzle...

The solution is SO SIMPLE, but they will NEVER see it without your help. You'll see, it's awesome.

I'll stop here... but that's only EIGHT out of FORTY fantastic, fun, and fascinating puzzles you will enjoy watching, learning, and presenting.

Definitely a FIVE STAR lecture!

John Keever