Show HN: Learn Magic Tricks Online

Show HN: Learn Magic Tricks Online(magiccasts.com)

99 points by jdstraughan 10 years ago | 41 comments

sambenson 10 years ago |

A suggestion: let users view the tricks being performed without having to subscribe. I'd be more inclined to part with my cash if I could see at least one trick that I wanted to know how to perform.

e40 10 years ago | |

100% true. I wouldn't even consider it without this.

jdstraughan 10 years ago | |

Great feedback. We will look into allowing the tricks to be viewed sans explanation for free. Thanks!

jdstraughan 10 years ago | |

We now have a full trick, The Key Card Basics, set to free. Thanks!

toast76 10 years ago |

I gotta be honest, I was super stoked to see this, and was immediately thinking "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY".

But after watching the two "free" videos... I'm actually less inclined than I was before. Watched both and there's actually no "free" lesson at all. Just two infomercials about why I should learn all the beginner lessons that you're now doubt about to hook me in to. That leaves me feeling like you're being disingenuous and has me reconsider.

This is compounded by the unfortunate lack of content. I give you $9, watch the 12 videos...and then what? 1 or 2 new videos a week? This is netflix pricing for a few 5-10 minute videos each month. And when will that go up to $19? All of this adds up to make me super wary. Sorry if I sound very negative... I just went from very excited to very disappointed in a very short period of time :)

EDIT: btw... have bookmarked and will check it out again when there's more content.

greghendershott 10 years ago | |

52Kards on YouTube has many free tutorials at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels:

https://www.youtube.com/user/DecksAndContests/featured

Although I just dabble I think they're mostly very good. They're definitely easier to grasp than the books I remember as a kid.

Recently he's moved to doing non-free material:

http://52kards.com/

In my limited experience YouTube has almost everything. Search for, I don't know, "table faro shuffle", and you'll find a few meh results and one gem. (Table faro shuffles are arguably what Ricky Jay is doing at the start of this classic, if you don't believe it's just a camera edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRorX0KhQ )

pmelendez 10 years ago | |

You could also try the old fashion way and get a Card College copy :)

http://www.amazon.com/Card-College-Vol-Sleight---Hand/dp/094...

The first two books should be enough to entertain you for a while...

jdstraughan 10 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback. We agree that our value prop is weaker until we have more videos in the backlog. We are shooting more videos now, and hope to have a large library of videos to offer our customers very soon.

Also, the $9 rate is for life, so when the price increases, early adopters will always be at the $9 rate.

kej 10 years ago | | |

>Also, the $9 rate is for life, so when the price increases, early adopters will always be at the $9 rate.

This should be more prominent. "Lock in this price now!", etc.

gafgarian 10 years ago | |

This is basically what I was going to say as well. Are you really losing out on much if you make the "Ribbon Spread Turnover" a free video just so we can actually learn somehting from the initial visit, prior to sign up?

jdstraughan 10 years ago | | |

Just made a full video on Key Card Basics featured and free. It is a full lesson.

bentorfs 10 years ago |

I think this website could be improved by having Europe - The Final Countdown as embedded background music

onion2k 10 years ago | |

That's true for every website.

vblord 10 years ago |

The concept sounds good. My son likes magic so I thought this would be fun for him to watch and learn. But it's over $100/year. That's a lot of money for only a few tricks. Right now you only have about 1.5 hours of video. That's very expensive.

jdstraughan 10 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback. We agree, it will be a better value with more videos. We plan on a minimum of 2 videos a week, and over time that will build quite a library. We are filming more lessons now, and are populating the site as quickly as we can get through production.

portaljacker 10 years ago |

Or watch one of the many free channels on youtube?

Why would I pay for the small amount of content here when I could watch Scam School(https://www.youtube.com/user/scamschool) for free with a host who's other work I really enjoy?

pmelendez 10 years ago | |

> Or watch one of the many free channels on youtube?

Hopefuly the quality will be better. Most of the free teaching videos of magic in youtube leave a lot to be desired and are often harmful if you really want to learn close magic.

The link you provide (although way better than average) doesn't offer a structured way of learning card magic, and that matters.

Disclaimer: Please note that I am not related in any way to OP. I'm just a magic aficionado that loves the art and had passed throught the "youtube" phase too.

portaljacker 10 years ago | | |

It's fair. Brian's goal is to present magic tricks in a cool, fun way to get people started and interested.

e40 10 years ago | |

Saw that guy on Penn and Teller: Fool Us. He actually fooled them, IIRC. Thanks for the pointer to the yt channel!

dizzystar 10 years ago | | |

here's the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEYtEo7c-c

was he on twice?

ninjastar99 10 years ago | |

Love Scam School - he's a great teacher and fun to watch.

neya 10 years ago |

I'm genuinely someone into these kinds of tricks and I invest quite modestly into all sorts of magic toys and tricks. However, I have a question - How are you going to make sure your users will keep coming back to you once they learn your trick? Most of the time, your users are going to be interested in only certain categories of these magic tricks and once they learn them, there is no incentive for them to pay for the following month. If you could add an online shop that sells all kind of magic stuff also, and if your courses complimented them, then it would be a good deal, I guess. Otherwise, your CLV would be very low. Just my thoughts.

philbarr 10 years ago | |

Yeah, I'm into card magic only. So I might pay my $9, watch all the card ones, and then cancel it. Unless the videos are REALLY good.

And how much can you really cover in 12 videos (at the moment)?

amelius 10 years ago | | |

I think the format would be better if sold as a DVD.

Then again, accessing the material from a smartphone would be nice. So I'm wondering, don't there exist standard app-frameworks for turning video-content into an app?

tonetheman 10 years ago |

This is also a really good place to learn magic online http://www.penguinmagic.com/

Not the same business model.

grandalf 10 years ago | |

Penguin's instructional videos are superb.

gadders 10 years ago |

I wonder if there would be a market to learn how magic tricks were done. You don't want to do them, you just want to learn the secret behind them.

skaevola 10 years ago | |

I don't think that's a good idea.

Frankly, the secret to a magic trick has no value. It's always disappointing. What's entertaining is the effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCxPT7UUkkY

theOnliest 10 years ago | |

The Alliance really isn't gonna like that...

ninjastar99 10 years ago |

Best place to learn magic online is theory11 (http://www.theory11.com). They work with David Copperfield, JJ Abrams, and make cool cards with MailChimp. Production quality is great. I'm also a big fan of Scam School on YouTube (Brian Brushwood).

dotdi 10 years ago |

While it is nice that there are 2 free videos which allow me to judge the picture and sound quality, as well as the speaker, I would have liked a video where I can actually see and analyse his teaching technique, style, camera positioning, et cetera.

jdstraughan 10 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback. We will open up a full video as FREE very soon to address this.

jdstraughan 10 years ago | |

The full Key Card Basics lesson is now featured and free. Thanks for the feedback!

LouisSayers 10 years ago |

this is really cool. I'm very tempted to sign up, the only thing holding me back is knowing if I have time for another hobby :)

FussYou 10 years ago |

Hey I always wanted to learn magic tricks. This is a cool website. Could it help to have more for freebies like me?

justwannasing 10 years ago |

I'm torn between an artist trying to make an honest dollar on something he knows and revealing the secrets of the craft. For the same reason I never liked the "behind the scenes" of movie making and special effects. It takes the magic out of everything and removes illusion from the imagination much like spoilers do.

lojack 10 years ago | |

Learning the secrets to a trick and learning how to perform a trick are two very different things. Looking through the videos it appears to be oriented around teaching you how to perform a trick (how to shuffle, use of flourish, etc) which is definitely geared towards learning to be an artist.

Most people who want the spoilers won't be interested in all this extra stuff, nor would they pay for it.

jdstraughan 10 years ago | | |

We aim to teach a craft, not expose secrets. All of our lessons can be done with common items, not gimmicked tricks. We want to preserve the integrity of the craft, not spoil it.

cstuder 10 years ago |

Note that this is about illusions and card tricks, not about the Magic: The Gathering cardgame.

Did confuse me at first.