Gimmick or Sleight of Hands

[Lyle Borders]

A good blend of SoH plus an occasional gimmick to stretch reality a little would be my pref. Nothing to obvious on the gimmick end, but they are nice to have and allow for you to do things you shouldn't be able to do.

[prof.kiwi]

I like gimmicks but I dont know why

[anubeats]

sleight of hand thats the real work !!!!

but to become better reactions you must use some gimmicks like distortion or tnr or so !!!! but you can also become good reaction with sleight of hand when youv masterd it!!! that i would say

[neco]

gimmicks looks like real magic but slieghts are more self rewarding knowing its all you who did it....

neco

[mindslur]

Originally Posted by juantamad

This has been long debated since... but for your opinion which of them do you prefer? I would love to hear them from you guys....

I would opt for the cleanest. Sometimes gimmick make the magic look cleanest. Sometimes its sleight. Sometimes I need a gimmick because I'm not good enough to work without it. In that case I would "prefer" eventually not needing it.

Gimmicks mean you need preparation beforehand. Sleights also, but at least you don't need to put them in your pockets in the morning. Still... even though I think some bill switches are without glue OR thumbtips, the use of thumb tips and glue make them much smoother/cleaner.

Concerning cards. I don't like having to bring out 4 different decks in my pockets... Especially only one deck for one effect. I generally bring a card box with several spare cards for t&r, chicago openner, ... Sometimes no extra card box but just a couple of cards under the flap of my deck.

Some magic such as silk magic cannot be done neatly without gimmicks. I therefore love the gimmicks I bought and cherrish them.

In my opinion many gimmicks don't cost much and can be crafted by oneself.

Some gimmicks are actually included in pieces of clothing... For example, in two of my sweaters I have pockets that are not completely sown on the inside which makes a 2 nd pocket inside. This, I use as a topit.

[joy]

I think the thumb tip is cool...It has many possibilities

[DanielSmith808]

Personally, I don't use gimmicks, in my mind it takes the fun out of it.

I agree to a certain extent about how a magicians job is simply to entertain, but I also believe that if a magician doesn't enjoy what he's doing, that gets portrayed in his performances and they can become robotic and dull. And this is why I don't use gimmicks, almost anybody can go spend $20 on a gimmick and perform it immediately and get great reactions, but you don't get the same satisfaction out of performing, you will never feel as passionately for a gimmicked trick as you do a pure sleight of hand trick that you have spent weeks, months, or years practicing. And spectators can notice this, if you have ever seen Arturo De Ascanio perform you will know what I'm talking about.

For me, magic is a challenge, I hope to get just as much fun out of performing, as the spectators do out of watching.