I’ll preface this discussion on my experience with Break by acknowledging that I’ve only been performing magic as a focused hobby for about 6 months. I’m extremely passionate about it however as I’m confident, a quick study, very comfortable in front of people, quick on my feet, and love to entertain. In my experience, anything you’re passionate about you’ll eventually become proficient with.
I received Break about 3 weeks ago and have been enjoying performing this amazing trick. I’ve had some interesting reactions and would like to see if others have experienced these same scenarios and if so how they handled them. I realized pretty quickly that I needed to convince my spectator that I was using their coin and for the most part I’ve successfully mastered switching out the coin. My routine uses the mind bending versus strength approach which works very well for me. I get one of three reactions every time:
Has anyone experienced these scenarios? What reactions to you experience?
I received Break about 3 weeks ago and have been enjoying performing this amazing trick. I’ve had some interesting reactions and would like to see if others have experienced these same scenarios and if so how they handled them. I realized pretty quickly that I needed to convince my spectator that I was using their coin and for the most part I’ve successfully mastered switching out the coin. My routine uses the mind bending versus strength approach which works very well for me. I get one of three reactions every time:
- The “totally amazed” spectator who is both bewildered and delighted. Love these people, but they are by far the minority (fortunately my girlfriend always falls into this camp – lucky me)
- The “that’s impossible, do it again” spectator. These people seem to acknowledge that I broke their coin and while baffled, almost immediately become skeptical and insist that I “do it again… with THIS coin” (I encounter this scenario about 75% of the time I perform this trick). Depending on the audience and environment I may try and repeat the trick by asking to inspect their new coin and attempt to make another switch, but this has always been very risky as my every move is highly scrutinized. Usually I say that my brain hurts since I just used it to “break a freakin coin”, and offer that I might be able to try it again in a bit. This usually works and with a few new people in the mix, especially at a bar, the skeptics can be persuaded. I find it helps if I can identify a new spectator that likely will become absolutely convinced that I was using their coin. If successful, they actually help me convince others that this was impossible but actually happened right before their eyes. And yes… beer helps.
- The outright “that’s impossible, you used a gimmick” nay-sayers. Maybe 2 in 10 people fall into this camp. The more I perform magic, the easier these people are to spot. I don’t really have a desire to “convert” these people into believers as there are too many other potential spectators to entertain. If I get a gut feel that someone may fit this mold, I’ll try a mind reading trick like ParaPad or a Si Stebbins stack trick which are less in-your-face impossible, but none the less impressive, to condition their minds for Break.
Has anyone experienced these scenarios? What reactions to you experience?