When Magic Tricks Go Wrong - Mistakes in Magic

Dominic Reyes talks about what to do if something goes wrong when you perform a magic trick.

Thomas writes:
Sometimes, one of my spectators will catch me out performing a magic trick. They will look just at the point I don't want them to. It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes it does. What do I do if I have just done a move and someone says "wait a moment, that's not right"? Do I just say "OK, you caught me. Good job" or is there something else I should do or say?

Every magician will get caught out sooner or later. Magic tricks sometimes fail, it’s just how it is. Even self working tricks can fail.

With Close up magic anything is possible
Close up magic is based on personal interaction, you can't control all the factors in play. It’s quite different from Stage magic, where the magicians have it easy. They can control how the audience experiences everything. They can set the lighting, sound, angles of view, and the level of interaction that can happen. The audience is far more passive, taking part in the show to a limited degree. That can’t happen during close-up magicians. The magician is surrounded by the audience, in unpredictable situations, and participation by the audience is usually part of the show.

People are smart
Don’t be fooled by what magic tricks instructions tell you, people ARE clever and do notice small things. Yes.. misdirection and psychology can be used to control them, but it's not 100%. Sometimes, spectators will notice things by chance. Sometimes, they may not follow your instructions, or get distracted so your misdirection will not be effective. Some of the audience may have seen a similar magic trick in the past, and be less likely to be taken by surprise.
Some people treat the magic they watch as a puzzle to solve. They may jump to a false conclusion about how the magic trick is done. Their solution may be wrong, but it's good enough for them.
If you perform magic for the public on a regular basis, sooner or later you will get caught out.

The danger of too many close up magic tricks
Slow down the amount of new magic you are studying. Problems with the performance of the effects you are performing won’t be fixed by adding more material to your study program. Unload Your workload to the absolute minimum. Your task is to practice, practice, practice and learn all you can and focus on where you are getting stung. Get EVERY trick in your working set, the best it can be, and to a level where they work with minimal effort. This will reduce the amount times your magic tricks go wrong.

Worried about being found out
When beginners first start learning magic, they can worry about this happening. Just the thought of a magic trick going wrong leads to dread, and can be enough to prevent them showing anyone their magic. However, the more they perform, the more they realise that a magic trick going wrong, is not the end of the world. It's far worse to have a bored or indifferent audience than it is to have your magic tricks go wrong.

The real secret of close up magic
This is what you need to doo: Laugh it off, and don’t make a big deal of it…
Yes.., they caught you' that’s not the end of the world. So long as you make sure you stay relaxed, and just move on quickly.

'You've a good eye! I'll have to up my game with you… I only show THIS next magic to magicians..'
You stay calm and act as if it’s no big thing. Secretly, you REMEMBER what happened and think about WHY it took place. When you are not performing, you should start a practice drill to cover that moment, and make sure you work on the material so the same mistake is unlikely to happen again. Over time, you will hardly EVER be caught, but there is always a small chance, so be prepared. Your practice will make you confident that your tricks won't go wrong again.

The emergency OUT
Skilled magicians hold a few emergency 'out's that they can use if a trick fails. It might be an invisible deck, or even just a thumb tip. If an effect mucks up, they will move the action along and into their emergency out trick. Let's say you had a card picked and 'lost' in the deck. You were about to make it appear on the ceiling. OH NO!! The card really is lost and the trick has failed. It's time for the emergency out:

You take out an invisible deck and put it on the floor, still within it's card box.
You then drop/shower all of the original playing cards over the card box.
You open the box to reveal that the card value they picked is the only face up card in the deck… WOW.

It's not the magic you were planning to perform, but it's still a success.You control the future in your show, so you steer the original trick into something new.