Le Roy logo

Win Friends with Magic


Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur A MATCH TRICK

Lay 15 matches in a row, side by side. One player takes one end and the other player takes the other end. Taking turns, they remove from their respective ends as many matches as they please, not exceeding three. The object is to avoid being the player to remove the last match.

SECRET: The player who removes the 10th match will win. Try it and see for yourself.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur SIX PENNY TRICK

Arrange six pennnies in the form of a cross. They total four one way and three the other way. The problem is to rearrange the pennies so that they will total four both ways.

SOLUTION: Remove the penny at the bottom of the cross and place it on top of the penny in the middle of the cross.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur HOW MANY "E"s?

Ask someone to count how many E's in all the words on the back of a Camel cigarette package starting with the first word "Don't" and ending with the last word "them." You will be surprised at the number of different answers you will receive.

SOLUTION: Count them yourself!



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur THE CRAZY SQUARE

Draw the square to the right on a piece of cardboard, but on a larger scale. Now cut it up into five pieces as shown and ask your friends to properly assemble them into a perfect square. This is quite a difficult puzzle, as your friends will find out when they try to solve it.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur MAGIC RING

EFFECT: Performer's wrists are tied securely with a length of string. He is now given a metal ring about four inches in diameter and in two seconds the ring appears on the string.

SECRET: A duplicate ring is used. The second ring is on the performer's wrist, hidden under the coat sleeve. When handed the original ring, he turns his back for a second, puts this ring into his inside coat pocket and let's the ring on his wrist slip off onto the string.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur DOTS AND LINES

Make nine dots as in Fig. 1 and then ask your friends to draw four continuous straigt lines which will pass through all nine dots.

SOLUTION: See Fig. 2.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur CUT STRING RESTORED

Here is a simple and highly effective trick which is quite mystifying when you do not know the secret.

EFFECT: A borrowed piece of string is knotted. It is now doubled and cut. The four ends are visible. The string is then restored to one piece and handed out for examination.

SECRET: When you double the string, give it a half twist as in Fig. 2 so that after it is doubled it forms two interlocking loops as in Fig. 3. You hold your thumb and forefinger over the loops so that they are concealed. Now invite someone to cut the string about one-half inch from the loop. Four ends will now be visible. However, only two ends are real, the other two being fake ends. Put the fake ends in your mouth and work the small piece off with your teeth. Now hand the restored (?) string out for examination. At the first opportunity, get rid of the fake piece in your mouth!



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur DIMES TO PENNIES

Copy the drawing on a piece of paper but on a larger scale. Place four pennies and four dimes in the squares as indicated. The problem is to transpose the coins so that the pennies shall be in the right-hand spaces and the dimes in the left-hand spaces, in accordance with the following rules:

1. Each coin can be moved only one space at a time.

2 If a coin is divided from a vacant square by a single coin of another demonitation, it may jump over it into that square.

3. Coins may be moved in a forward direction only, that is, dimes to the left, pennies to the right.

4. A move once made cannot be retracted.

SOLUTION: 6 to 5; 4 to 6; 3 to 4; 5 to 3; 7 to 5; 8 to 7; 6 to 8; 4 to 6; 2 to 4; 1 to 2; 3 to 1; 5 to 3; 7 to 5; 9 to 7; 8 to 9; 6 to 8; 4 to 6; 2 to 4; 3 to 2; 5 to 3; 7 to 5; 6 to 7; 4 to 6; 5 to 4. Solved!



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur A DICE TRICK

Place your hand around a glass and hold a die with your third finger. Place another die on top of the first one. The trick is to drop the dice, one at a time, into the glass. The first one is easy, but when you try to get the second one in, the first one jumps out.

SECRET: Don't try to get the second one in as you did the first one. It can't be done. Drop the hand holding the glass quickly and let the second die fall into the glass as it comes down.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur FAMOUS "T" PUZZLE

Draw the letter "T" twice the size as in Fig. 1 and then cut it into four pieces as in Fig. 2. Ask your friends to make the letter "T" with the pieces and watch them sweat! This tricky puzzle is not easy to solve.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur STACKED CHECKERS

Place six checkers one on top of another. Lay a ruler flat on the table and with a quick motion strike the bottom checker. The others will not become disarranged. You can continue this until there is only one checker left.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur 51-CENT TRICK

Say, "A man has two coins in his hand which will total 51 cents, but one of the coins is NOT a penny. What coins does he have in his hand?"

ANSWER: A 50-cent piece and a penny. "But one of the coins is not a penny!" they will argue. Certainly! The OTHER coin is a penny.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur BENDING PENCIL

Hold a pencil loosely about an inch from one end with a thumb and first finger. Move the pencil quickly up and down and the pencil will appear to bend as if it were made of rubber.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur TAP -- -IT

EFFECT: A person is told to think of any number he sees on the paper. Beginning with one number above the number he is thinking of, he is to start counting (mentally) as the magician taps on the numbers with a pencil -- one count for each tap. He is to say, "stop!" when his mental counting reaches twenty. On this count of twenty, the magician's pencil is tapping the number the person chose.

METHOD: Make seven taps at random. The eighth tap must hit the number twelve. The next tap, eleven, then ten, nine, eight, etc. When he says "stop," you will be tapping his number.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur A CARD MYSTERY

Place four king cards on a table, side by side, face up. Tell a spectator to turn one card around while your back is turned. You immediately tell which card was turned.

SECRET: On all picture cards, the white margin is slightly narrower on one end. Place the cards with the narrow margins all the same way. When they turn a card, look for the wide margin.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur TELEPHONE GAG

State that you are going to perform one of the greatest feats of magic ever conceived. Spread a deck of cards out on a table and invite someone to think of any card in the deck. Now tell this person to pick up the telephone book and call any number listed in the book and the person he calls will name the mentally selected card. When he calls a stranger who hasn't the slightest idea of what it is all about, listen the conversation and you will have a good laugh.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur THE "F" PUZZLE

Draw the letter "F," as at the right, on a piece of cardboard, but on a larger scale. Cut it up into five pieces as shown. Challenge your friends to assemble the pieces into the letter "F." This one is quite difficult.



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur TORN AND RESTORED CIGARETTE PAPER

EFFECT: A cigarette paper is torn into many pieces and visibly restored to one piece.

PROCEDURE: This trick has fooled some of the finest magicians. Secretly roll up a cigarette paper into a tight ball and conceal it between the first and second fingers of the right hand, close to the finger tips. It is so tiny it cannot be seen. Now exhibit another cigarette paper and tear it in half. Place the two pieces together. Now comes the important move that fools them. Before you tear it into quarters, hold the thumb and first finger of the left hand together and wet your finger tips on your tongue. Tear it into eighths and wet your fingers again. Every time you make a tear, wet your fingers. When the pieces are too small to tear, roll them up into a tight ball. Keep wetting your fingers. Finally, put the ball in your mouth and at the same time exhibit the ball concealed between your fingers. Open up the ball and show the paper restored. The fact that you continually wet your fingers throws them completely off guard. Try it -- it's a swell trick!



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur SOLID THROUGH SOLID

EFFECT: To make a match pass through a safety pin.

PROCEDURE: Use a large safety match. Cut off the head. Stick the point of the pin through the center of the match. Now flip the end of the match with the first finger and the match will appear to pass through the pin. The illusion is perfect!



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur ANOTHER HONEY

Draw the figure to the right much larger than the picture on a piece of paper. Using seven pennies, place a penny at any point and move it along a straight line to an opposite point and let it stay there. The object is to place seven pennies on seven points in this manner. Once a penny comes to rest at a point, it must stay there. You may only start from vacant point. You may not start from a point on which penny is resting.

SOLUTION: Start at any point and move the penny to an opposite point, but REMEMBER WHERE YOU STARTED! Now start the second penny at a point so the penny comes to rest at the point where you started the first penny. Start the third penny at a point so that it comes to rest at the point where you started the second penny, etc. In other words, you work backwards!



Le Roy magic tricks for the amateur MAGIC WITH MATCHES

Lay ten safety matches in a row on a table. While doing so, note one match with some distinguishing mark on it. It may be lighter or darker than the others or some slight mark on it by which you can tell it from the others -- or you can make a nick in one match with your fingernail. The marked match is placed at the right end of the row. Ask a friend to move as many matches as he wishes, one by one (while your back is turned) from the left end of the row to the right end, and state you wll try to guess how many he moved. Simply note how many matches there are to the right of the marked match. This number will give you the total number of matches he moved. To repeat, note the new location of the marked match. Let us assume it is number five. To determine the number moved the second time, count from right to left until you come to the marked match and subtract five.