A roundup of magic tricks perfect for one-shot gags. Become the hero of the party!
When you’re asked to do a party trick at a gathering, what kind of act do you perform?
There are lots of possibilities—from comedy bits like gags or impressions to more physical, street-performance-style acts like handstands.
In this article, we’ll introduce magic tricks that are perfect as quick party pieces.
Since these are one-off tricks, we’ve selected ones that are short and can be done using items you have around you.
Be sure to learn a few of these tricks and show them off at your next party!
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A roundup of magic tricks perfect for a quick gag. Become the hero of the party! (41–50)
A cigarette that changes direction when you put it in your mouth
A magic trick where, even though you’re sure you held the cigarette the right way round, it appears to flip the moment you put it in your mouth.
This trick needs a bit of preparation.
To make it clear which end is the mouth end, prepare a cigarette with a different color at the end you’ll hold in your mouth.
Once you have the cigarette, remove the tobacco inside.
Next, make a tube the same length and thickness as the cigarette.
Unroll the emptied cigarette paper, cut it lengthwise in half, and attach the halves to the tube you made.
When attaching them, place them so the mouth-end markings are reversed on the two halves.
Preparation complete! During the trick, rotate the cigarette with your fingers at the instant you put it in your mouth, making it look like the orientation has flipped the moment you bite down.
A roundup of magic tricks perfect for one-shot gags. Become the hero of the party! (51–60)
A toothpick-jumping magic trick
A mysterious magic trick where a toothpick seems to jump and move on its own, as if it were alive.
Prepare two toothpicks.
Hold one between the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of one hand.
Place the other toothpick on top, and you’re ready! After that, just move your right hand little by little in a natural way to make the toothpick on top move.
It takes a bit of technique to move the toothpick well, so try practicing while recording a video so the secret doesn’t get noticed by your audience!
The water poured into the cup disappears.
This magic trick makes the water you supposedly poured into a cup disappear in an instant.
It looks mysterious, but the secret is actually very simple and anyone can do it without practice! All you need is a paper cup, water, and a gelling agent.
In other words, the water is solidified by the gelling agent, so it doesn’t spill and appears to vanish! Put the gelling agent into the paper cup beforehand, then pour in the water.
It solidifies fairly quickly, but if you add some patter to buy a bit of time, you can be sure the water will set.
Then, when you tilt the cup, it looks like the water has disappeared.
Make sure to clean up quickly afterward so the solidified water inside doesn’t give away the secret.
A coin passing through a cup
This is a magic trick where you press a coin against the bottom of an upside-down glass bottle, and the coin suddenly shoots through and ends up inside.
The key is where you place the mouth of the overturned bottle: there’s a hidden mechanism that makes the coin spring upward when you press firmly.
You cover the coin to be launched with something like a playing card with a slit cut into it to conceal it, creating the illusion that the coin appears out of nowhere.
Pay attention to the hand movement that brings in the coin you press, as well as patter that diverts attention from the oddity of where you’re pressing the bottle.
A card appears from a smartphone
This is a magic trick where, when you quickly swipe a card displayed on a smartphone screen off the screen, a real card pops out.
You secretly place a card behind the phone in advance and produce it in sync with the movement on the screen.
After taking out the card, the trick only works if the card disappears from the screen, so adjust the app settings or how images are displayed to achieve this.
If you use a dedicated app, you can also set it up so that shaking the screen makes a card appear—this approach is recommended, too.
The bottle cap pierces through the plastic bottle.
A magic trick where a bottle cap that shouldn’t be able to go inside suddenly ends up inside a plastic bottle.
This trick requires some preparation.
There are two methods: one is to make a hole under the bottle’s label, insert the cap beforehand, and fix it in place with double-sided tape.
The other is to soften the cap by placing it in hot water and then push it through the bottle’s mouth in advance.
For both methods, until the moment you make it look like the cap has penetrated the bottle, you need to keep the cap hidden inside using double-sided tape or a magnet.
Choose the method that seems easier for you and give it a try!
Disappearance of the pen
A super easy magic trick where the pen you’re holding seems to vanish in an instant.
By skillfully using your hands to hide the pen in one hand, you make it look as if it has disappeared.
The method itself is simple, but if you don’t do it well, the secret will be obvious right away or the hidden pen might be visible from the side, so practice is essential! Practice in front of a mirror several times to check whether it really looks like it’s gone and whether your movements look natural.
Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to hide the pen with various moves and amaze your audience!