The Genii Forum

I'm learning a 'Magic Square' . I have been told that Harry Lorrayne's is the easiest, although think that sometimes the numbers that have to be filled in can stand out a bit too much from the memorized numbers.
Anyone have any good magic square suggestions?

I love the Harry Lorayne version... I use a trick from Harbin, and I have the numbers written on the side of the marking pen.

Are you talking about Magic Squares that add up to any chosen number, up, down, diagonally? If so, don't forget Blackstone's 5 x 5 square that will add up to any number > 65.

That is, if that's what you're talking about... :rolleyes:

Yes that's what I'm talking about. Thanks Friday.

Here is what I (and others) think is the best magic square effect in existance. The Ultimate Magic Square

Keep in mind that my judgment on this is certainly biased since I invented it :-)

Chris Wasshuber
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.

If I may suggest, the book "Mindsights" by Doug Dyment has a very fine magic square chapter. The system allows you to change the squares enough so that immediate repeats for walk around/closeup are possible without detection.

Understand that although Doug is a friend of mine, I endorse this method because its the one that I actually use and find it to be excellent, NOT because he is a friend.

If I did not know Doug, I would endorse this just as heartily.
best regards,
Tony Razzano

Doug's Mindsights also has some exceptional insights into other effects besides the magic sqaure. It truly is a steal and should be on every mentalist's bookshelf. The magic square and his memorized deck work is alone worth many many times the price of the book.

Lewis Jones has a nice quick and easy method called Square Bashing in the book "Ahead of the Pack" (see http://www.ianrowland.com/ForMagiOnly/A ... Main1.html). I'm no expert, but it is unlike any other method I've seen.

The book has some other mathematical tricks in it as well as loads of great card magic.

I use the magic square which I believe is the first item in The Lost Notebooks of John Northern Hilliard.

What I like about it more than many other versions is that the "key" numbers do not vary so widely from the other numbers in the square.

JMT

I'm not sure if this is availble anymore, but Craig Snader put on a book on Magic Squares in the early 80s. It had two levels of entertainment. First, you could make a square for ANY number called, positive or negative. Second, you had each square on the board (4x4) headed with letters of the alphabet. You then sat, blind-folded if you wished, and had spectators call the letters out randomly. When each letter was called, you called out the number to be inserted. When finished, you had a sqaure for the target number.

My thoughts on Magic Sqaures are that they are good if put into a proper context. Rather than a "Look what I can do" idea, some kind of story to which the audience cna relate would enhance WHY you're doing it.

One idea I've had but never had the time (or guts?) to construct, is to fall into a trance and channel a dead mathematician or scientist Einstein, etc) and then do the square. This would be interspersed with pithy or dramatic monologue of their life and times.

Just a thought. But if you can track down the Snader book, it is a good resouce. Not quick and easy, however,.. It requires some memory work and quick calculation ability. But the results are pretty spectacular, Magic-square-wise.

Edwin... you cannot post a link with a ) next to it or even a .

Now to use your link, we have to cut and paste.

Oops, sorry - didn't spot that. Here it is again:

http://www.ianrowland.com/ForMagiOnly/A ... Main1.html

I just tried this and it worked, although I notice that it takes you to the "Magicians Only" part of the website, which normally requires you to answer a magic-related question. Otherwise you can go to http://www.ianrowland.com/Start/Home.html and look around till you find the right page.

Carter31, you might want to plug "Magic Square" into Google and check out the long lists of academic tomes which have been devoted to the square....

opie

Karl Fulves Number Magic is a great book and it contains the magic squares too...a very easy version!

Originally posted by Fred Zimmerman:

One idea I've had but never had the time (or guts?) to construct, is to fall into a trance and channel a dead mathematician or scientist Einstein, etc) and then do the square. This would be interspersed with pithy or dramatic monologue of their life and times.

Fred,
Looks like you channeled Chuck Hickok! ;)
In his book, Mentalism, Incorporated, Chuck details his magic square opener, "Einstein's Demise." Lovely routine!
DaveS

Several years ago, I published a Flim-Flam Blackjack scam using a secret magic square that summed to 21. Though it was my concept, the square was designed for me by this fellow:

http://www.grogono.com/magic/index.php

To DaveS

Well, it just goes to show you ... what, I don't know, but I'm glad someone actually did it!

Fred

Wow Bob...what a great site! A lot of thinking went behind the guts given in this one. Very cool site.

Let's not forget the mammoth book by Jim Moran titled THE WONDER OF MAGIC SQUARES (1982), which Martin Gardner had this to say:

"No other book conveys in such clear and simple language the eerie beauty of magic squares and the sheer fun of making them."

This is probably a tough book to find.

BTW, Jim Moran was a friend of Jay Marshall. He was a publicist that once sold a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Also see the odd book titled, IT TAKES ALL KINDS.

Onward...

Originally posted by Jon Racherbaumer:
Let's not forget the mammoth book by Jim Moran titled THE WONDER OF MAGIC SQUARES (1982)...
This is probably a tough book to find.

A quick search at www.bookfinder.com turned up more than 20 copies, ranging in price from just under $12 to more than $35...

You might also check a book by Mark Farrar. He has a website that might prove of interest. Actually, he provides a sample of his book for download, so you can have a look at it. Most interesting perhaps is the Yantra link, where a magic square based on someone's birthdate is used to interpret their personality.

Bye for now

Harold

Just recently I have worked out a presentation of the magic square for me. Therefore I have started a research in my library. I have concentrated on 4x4 automatic magic squares. The findings can be categorizied in four groups:
1. The most common magic square works for numbers 22 and up. The numbers should be limited to double figures (that means up to 99), otherwise the square will become very unbalanced (12 numbers are very low and 4 numbers very high) making the method obvious. In the range from 22 to 34 the square will not be perfect so far as there are duplicate numbers. This square can be found e.g. in
Bert Allerton's "The Close-Up Magician"
Karl Fulves: "Self-Working Number Magic"
and in a slightly different version in
Roy Johnson: "Pure Gold"
and in the instruction booklet for Gregory Wilson: "The Stockholder".
2. A different magic square can be found in
Chuck Hickok: "Mentalism Incorporated".
This square works for all numbers 31 and above. Duplicate numbers will occur for 31 to 45. I find his square a bit easier to calculate during performance than the Allerton version.
3. A complete different square can be found in
David Britland: "The Mind & Magic of David Berglas".
Berglas has found a formula to calculate a magic square which has 4 given numbers in the four outer corners. This is really great because a magic square can be constructed which has the birthdate of a spectator in the four corners. While the formula is simple enough to calculate this during performance, it is better to find out the birthdate beforehand and check the square for duplicate numbers. This gives you a chance to reconstruct the square to look more perfect. I have found out one way to do that by just exchanging the + and the - signs in the given formula. This results in a different version of the square with maxbe no duplicate numbers.
In the presentation for a normal magic square a number is choosen and you instantly calculate a magic square for it. For the Berglas Magic Square the presentation is the other way around: The birthdate gives you the for corners of the square. This fact is not revealed until the climax. The birthdate added up gives you the number of the square. You must find a reason for using this number. Then you openly construct the square for this number and have then the additinal climax of the birthdate.
Let me give you an example: I have used this recently at a performance for a friends 65 birthday. She was born on the 6. August 1939. So the magic square will have the numbers 6, 8, 19 and 39 in the four outer corners. Since 6+8+19+39=72, I had a number 72 square. So I had to find a way to force the number 72. The solution was perfect: Berglas also gives you a way to calculate the personal lucky numer via numerology. For my friend this happens to be 9. Then I found out that her husbands lucky number was by chance 8. So for my presentation I calculated her lucky numer. Then I asked for the birthdate of her husband and calculated his lucky number. Then I claimed their lucky number as a couple can be found by multiplying their individual numbers, giving 9x8=72. Then I constructed the magic square for the number 72 and as a kicker showed that in the four corner we can find her birthdate. I can not imagine a more personal magic birthday presentation.
Sorry for the long contribution. I am just so excited about the Berglas Magic Square. Hope this helps.

Check out http://www.chuckhickok.com/book.html

A whole routine for a magic Square