There is no point in pretending, technology and in particular the smart phone has changed our behaviours dramatically and very quickly. It is pointless to put our heads in the sand, magic is going to have to move with the times. But how?
Magic inventers have embraced the smart phone, whether it is just the use of the camera or a fully fledged App. I’m probably behind the curve, but a good number of those still need other physical objects as part of the effect.
The first sign of trouble ahead for me was the change in wallets. I love my JOL Plus and still use it all the time when at a gig and it doesn’t get questioned. The reason I think it flies is because the audience accept, I am a paid magician and will bring props.
In an impromptu situation, it would look bonkers. Hence the introduction of the JOL Hip wallet. But now the Hip wallet is beginning to look like a relic.
The change in wallets is because cash is on the way out. Polymer notes were a pain but now it is hard to find a person with any physical money on them. It is pointless for people to carry cash as it is getting harder to use. You don’t need change for the bus and my local cafés are card only. It is goodbye to borrowing notes and coins.
Magic is adapting, but the world moves fast. Paul Fowler released his brilliant Overdraft using credit cards, which is terrific but already credit cards are in their twilight years. Yep, they are now on your phone.
The smart phone is your cash, credit card and wallet. It is also your games cupboard.
Is it the beginning of the end for playing cards? I am getting a sense that fewer people are playing card games. Card games used to be a family essential on holidays, to while away the train journeys or the evenings instead of watching CeeFax.
It now seems entirely possible that many households no longer even have that battered (crimped) pack of Waddingtons No.1. hidden at the back of a drawer.
Craig Petty may have the right idea releasing ‘card’ tricks like Evoke and MindBlox which use decks other than regular playing cards. It is easier to explain I’ve got a deck of cards with different objects than teach, clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds.
Marc Kertsin is probably the leading light on pure phone effects, which for obvious reason are mentalism based like the awesome Wikitest. Marc’s stuff is amazing (if you’ve got an iPhone) but the scope in general is narrowing.
It is not just the Smartphone to blame of course, cigarettes have all but been evicted from our lives (even though they make you look bloody cool) and so goes boxes of matches and the lighters at the same time.
New organic items are coming into our lives which gives a glimmer of hope. Airport by Seth Race uses Airpods for example and in quite a traditional way. Almost as a replacement for coins.
Oh, how I long for the time when if asked to do a magic trick on the spot, you could borrow a pound note and a pen, piece of paper and a handkerchief.