Ok, here's the challenge:

In the midst of buying/creating/practising/searching for more and more visually impressive effects, let's think in an opposite direction. Can we abandon the visuals, and still entertain? Thinking along that line, i came up with the following idea:

Can a blind person experience magic? If so, how?

I am not suggesting the visuals are bad, or it is a bad trend or watever. It's just those interesting questions that you might want to stop by and think about.

I was quite pround of myself when i conceived this challenge months ago, as it really is very interesting in nature. However, as always, there are people who have came up with our ideas long ago. Therefore, with much dismay and some surprise, i read the same challenged posted by eugene burger in one of his articles. (The premise was different, however, he came up with the challege as he knew a blind magician). And so, i suspect there are others who had conceived similar ideas way way before me. (so i must learn to be humble)

Anyway, i digressed too much. Any challenger?

The challenge of presenting magic to the truly (not partially) blind is a really tough one. But it causes a magician to think of other ways of increasing the magical experience for those blessed with sight.

For example, in The Wizards' Journal #7, there are two articles that show how the sense of smell can enhance ordinary magic tricks and make them more realistic experiences. I refer to "Pop-corn Popper" in which the smell of fresh popcorn creates the illusion that the magician is popping the corn magically on the spot. Then in "Poppouri" I show how to add smells to enhance story-telling of all types.

The Pop-corn trick also uses the illusion of sound, so often overlooked by magicians. When doing the coin through table, for example, the spectator should hear the coin ringing as it is slapped down on the table. To further enhance this, I like to click the coin on the table and then drag it to a new spot before making the penetration, letting the audience hear the coin being dragged along the surface of the table and then slapped down on the new spot, before showing it vanished.

The sense of touch is also often overlooked. Andrew Mayne has adapted an old party stunt into a baffling illusion where the magician causes a ghost to smack a person on the back of the head, or the magician can completely vanish in an impromptu illusion using only the sense of touch.

So you might consider extending your challenge to include other senses in magic effects for those who are not visually impaired.

Indeed, thats the original intention - to maximise the senses.

I am not quite sure what u mean by your last sentence, but i think u mean :
1) we should consider other senses apart from sight as the restriction OR
2) how we could involve other senses in our performances. (i think this is more likely)

but i think in a thinking process, especially in creation of ideas, it is better to restrict something and open the rest of the options, rather than guide the thinking process along a restricted line, in this case, maximising the senses, thus i only mention the restriction - blindness.

K.E.N.T. is a complete effect that can be done on a blind person.

Some mentalism effects can be done that way. Imagine cold reading on a blind person. Or if you are really up to it (which I am not), msucle reading, etc.

Hahahahahhahaaha...

This challenge is indeed a good one. A search in my Batcomputer in my Batcave proved useless, so I used my brain instead.

I heard of this story of a magician who seemingly made a blind girl be able to "see" what card he is holding, much to the astonishment of her parents.

Anyway, there are such things as Braille Playing Cards... so maybe you could use it?

On MSN, Mr Icy asked me and I gave the suggestion of making spongeballs multiply in their hand. They can feel it, even though hey can't see it.

Like they said, seeing is believing - it is defintiely harder to do magic for the blind. But our ideas are limitless - let's not be restricted.

Any more ideas?

- harapan ong

Maybe Sinful?

In this case, you can let the visually handicapped audience examine the top and bottom of the can to ensure it is sealed.

It might arouse some suspicion;

But the "coin in water" sound will convince them totally.

Though, the effect done visually will be better.