Routines

My Routines for Tenyo Magic Tricks

T-066 Occult Board

Occult Board is one of my favorites to perform. I especially like it because the trick is not over in an instant and I can involve three audience members. In my presentation I have three audience members read my mind where in the Tenyo instructions the magician reads one person’s mind. To start I take the flashing eyeball from T-250 The Third Eye and use it to test some of the audience members for E.S.P. ability. If you do not have The Third Eye then just skip this part of the presentation. I then pick three members and tell them they each had E.S.P. ability of different degrees. I start with the first audience member saying that they tested with the most E.S.P. ability. I give that person the hardest task, to read my mind and divine a letter that I am thinking of. I explain that the odds of doing this correctly is 1 in 26. I then tell the second audience member that they also have a tough task but not as tought. They are to divine a number from between 0 and 9 which the odds of doing this correctly are 1 in 10. I tell the last person that they have some E.S.P. ability but not as much as the others. I ask them to divine the answer to which pip (card suit) that I am thinking of. The odds of doing this correctly is 1 in 4. Since the trick uses the one ahead principle the last prediction must be forced or known. To know the pip chosen you can take four aces from a marked deck and have the audience member choose a card. What I do is just guess at the pip. I have a one in four chance of guessing it correct and if I don’t, it is not a big problem and makes the other two correct predictions that much more amazing. I then revel the predictions starting with the pip and ending with the letter.

T-86 Ultra Tube

Crash Tube — And alternative to changing the white die into a red die is to change the white die into 8 miniature white die. The 8 die that come with T-220 Crash Dice can be loaded into the Ultra Tube, it is a perfect fit. When performing show the tube and the white die as normal but instead of a red die spilling out, 8 miniature dice “crash” out. The is really fun alternative presentation.

T-110 Zig Zag Cig

Chinese Pencil Sharpener — When I perform for children of grade school age, I use this presentation. I tell them about the large population in China and the shortage of supplies (they are most likely studying this in social studies class so it is a good discussion point). I tell them “for the pencils to go further, they are placed into a special sharper to make three pencils out of one.” I show the pencil, put it in the prop and then Zig Zag the pencil. I show the three miniature pencils and take one out and write with it. Next I say “the magic really happens when there are a lot of children absent from school like during monsoon season” (they are probably studying this in science class). “The three pencils can be placed back into the device and then joined to make a better writing implement for that day.” I then rejoin the pencils and take the joined one out and write with it. To make the pencils for this version get 4 golf pencils and cut three to 1 inch segments and discard the parts without the point. The golf pencils are perfect because the sharpened area is very shallow so you get more to the body of the pencil than a pencil sharpened in a standard sharpener. I use a little rubber cement to make the bottom of the segment tacky so the pencils parts do not come falling out too easily but can still be removed. Whenever you want you can rub away the rubber cement with your finger.

Zig Zag Dollar — When Zig Zag Cig was created in 1981 by Hiroshi Kondo, cigarette smoking was very much in vogue. Performing magic with cigarettes today would be out-of-place in many settings. I replaced the three cut cigarette pieces in my Zig Zag Cig with a rolled up dollar bill cut in three. When I perform the trick, I borrow a dollar from an audience member to use in the performance. I also perform the second handling called Zig Zag Cig Supreme described at the end of the instruction sheet. With the Zig Zag Bill Supreme handling, the audience member initials the middle section of the bill when it is separated in three pieces and then the magician restores it and hand them back their signed bill.

T-155 Crystal Cleaver

You can substitute a 5 yen coin for the ring. The size is perfect and the holes all line up. You just have to practice a bit to see at what level to insert the sword. For sure you do not want to struggle with inserting the sword. I think it is even a more amazing trick when using the coin. The penetration of the ring looks good but the penetration of the coin is totally baffling. Repeating Crystal Cleaver – Once you are set to do the trick, turn the base 90° so the gimmicked area is no longer in front, but on the side. When you place the purple cover over the crystal box, tilt it slightly to the gimmicked side and press down and that should do what you need it to do, but at the same time NOT lock the gimmick so the trick can be immediately repeated with no reset. If you want to hand the props to the audience for examination, position the gimmick to the front on the last performance and perform the trick normally and that will lock the gimmick.

T-173 Eye of the Idol

If you have the opportunity to perform Eye of the Idol for a group of friends then you can try this. Have 5 friends each choose one of the crystals. Next have each one place the crystal where ever then want in the platform. The friends should stand in order by each of their crystals. Perform the trick as in the instructions but ask the Moai questions pertaining to your friends. Questions like “who is going to be happy tomorrow if the Giants win?”, “Who is going to have to pay a baby sitter when they get home tonight?”, “Who is going to look at their phone before this trick has ended?” each question should be specific to one of your friends. Can you imagine the look on your friends faces when the cover is lifted and the Moai is staring right at them. I think it will be a fun presentation that will blow their minds.

T-187 Mini-Morphosis

The curtain for Mini-Morphosis does not always “do the trick.” The consensus from people who perform Mini-Morphosis regularly, is to perform the trick without the curtain. Also with Mini-Morphosis there is a sound issue. The way I perform the trick takes care of both issues. I use a US Half Dollar and the black ball. For this presentation not only is the curtain not used but also the gimmick is not engaged. At the start of the presentation “things” are held in place with your finger. The black ball is placed in the case and set-up as usual. The coin in placed in the corner of the lid to hold “things” in place. This frees up your hands to be expressive while doing your patter. When you are about to perform the transposition, place your hands on top of the lid and use your right index finger to slide the coin to the center of the lid. You then lift and move your hands to let the magic happen while still providing cover. It all happens in a split second so there is not a lot of covering to do. When the coin crashes into the box it covers any sound issues. Try this out and practice it if you like it.

T-201 Mystery China Box

Chinese Basketball — I usually perform this with youngsters that are interested in basketball. I call it Chinese Basketball. I challenge the youngster to a game. We each get two balls and we play three rounds. I tell them that the taller tube is considered a free throw and is worth one point each. I tell them the shorter tube is much harder to make and it is a three pointer worth of course three points each. Of course no matter how hard they try they cannot beat me. It is a fun way to present the trick.

T-259 Money Shock

Spy Bills — I use the US bank note version of the trick. All the US bank notes are the same size so instead of producing a stack of tens, I thought it would be more realistic to produce a stack of mixed bills that is similar to what you might carry in your pocket. I set it up with 100, 50, 20, 5, 10 (in that order). I show the blank sheets of paper and call them “spy bills.” The idea being that a spy from the US does not want to be caught carrying American money because it might “tip” where they are from. So the American spies carry these blank pieces of paper and only convert them to real cash when they are needed or when they are back in the US. I then do the conversion from a paper stack to a nice bill stack. I add that these may soon be available for tourist to use when carry money in dangerous areas. You do not have to use the large bills for this presentation like I do any mix of bills will do. I think that the bills are varied and not all the same makes this more of a realistic presentation.


Combining Tenyo Magic Tricks in One Routine

T-202 Prison Box and T-155 Crystal Clever

These are my two favorite Tenyo and the work perfectly together. You can use the same ring (the correct size borrowed ring always has more of an impact) for both presentations. You can perform them in any order.

T-092 Pendant and T-235 Magical Door

Pendant involves the use of a chain that magically attaches to a pendant. With this combination you will need two identical keys and the chain from either Magical Door or Pendant. Perform the routine from Pendant using either the envelope or the shirt pocket and have the chain attach to the key. Then from there perform the two penetrations in Magical Door. The audience will think that the chain can really melt after seeing it demonstrated in a variety of presentations.

T-247 Tower of Dice and T-72 Flash Dice

The dice used in both of these excellent tricks are the same size. So I recommend starting with the Tower of Dice and making the extra dice appear. Then use six of the eight dice to perform Flash Dice.


T-161 Parabox and T-95 Mr. Rabbit

For this presentation you use just the boxes from Parabox an the four smaller rabbits from Mr. Rabbit. Instead of making sponge balls appear you make three rabbits appear. The rabbits, once wet and wrung out, are the perfect size for the boxes. Make sure you do that before the performance. You tell the audience “This box contains the famous Bunny Brother Magicians, Albert, Bruce and Christopher.  They are famous teleporting magicians who perform around the world. This blue box is their shipping container and this red box is their cage but we tell them it is their dressing room.” You then use the Gozinta boxes as usual doing three passes with one rabbit appearing after each pass. You then take the three rabbits and do a sponge routine where a bunny or bunnies are moving from your hand to a spectators hand one again reinforcing that they are the Teleporting Magicians. After a couple of passes you can end the combination there or take it even further. You could next perform T-85 See Through Guillotine with Albert’s head in the guillotine. The finale is Bruce disappearing from T-22 Time Capsule. I think this combination can be really fun and a nice Tenyo set. I have made an Add-On to enhance this performance which you can see here.

Free Add-Ons for Tenyo Magic Tricks

T-154 Mindscanner

Since I am a graphic designer it was natural for me to create graphic props to enhance the performance of Tenyo Magic tricks. The first prop I worked on was a card for Mindscanner. The method in the instructions is to draw a bald man on the provided blank cards and then give the card to the audience member. The audience member then writes their answer on the forehead and the magician reads the mind of the man in the drawing to divine the answer. mindscanman
I didn’t care for that presentation so I came up my own cards to use. The first card has an optical illusion and when you look at the card the dots blink from black to white and it gives that idea that this is more than a piece of paper. The other card uses a font that give it a mystical feeling.

mindscannercards

Click on the picture about to be able to see the optical illusion. The enlarged picture can be copied to your computer and then printed and trimmed to use with your Mindscanner.

T-243 4-D Surprise

These flag background cards work just as well as the plain background card provided but they are more visual and help to weave a story either about the importance of the Statue to Americans or the creation and gift of the Statue from France. You can download and print Upgrade Flags for 4-D Surprise here or buy professional printed and trimmed Upgrade Flags for 4-D Surprise here.