The Impossible Escape Extras

 How to Make Your Trick

The Performance

Watch professional magician, Arthur Roscha, perform The Impossible Escape to see how you can captivate and confound your audience! 

 

How to Perform Your Trick

Learn top tips for performing your trick and take your magic show to the next level!

 

 

Bonus Tips

Try out these fun extras to elevate your magic skills.

 Download instructions in German here.

Discover the Psychology

Discover the science behind the tricks with Dr. Gustav Kuhn, director of the MAGIC Lab.

 

The Impossible Escape Credits

The MAGIC lab: In the MAGIC lab we scientifically investigate the psychological tricks that magicians use to help uncover the mysteries of the human mind. Dr. Gustav Kuhn and Arthur Roscha combined their experience in psychology and magic to create and adapt these magical effects.  The tricks are often based on well-established magic principles, but we included psychological twists that enhance the illusions. We developed tricks that will amaze your audience, as well as illustrate the ease by which our mind can be deceived.  

 It is often difficult to track down the true creators of magic tricks, especially when they are based on old conjuring principles. We tried our best to uncover some of the mysterious histories of these tricks and we would like to credit their inventors. 

An object that disappears from a box and reappears somewhere else is one of the classics in magic. It doesn't take much to imagine our ancient ancestors sitting round a campfire using a rudimentary deception and misdirection to vanish a stone which then magically reappears on the opposite side of the fire. Our trick is a lot more sophisticated, and we managed to track down the first description of our box to the 1920s. However, we made lots of changes to the actual mechanism, and added several psychological subtleties. J.F. Orrin first describes the principle of the vanishing card box in the “Ring up the Curtain” in “The Magic Wand” Vol. 17 which was published in 1928. However, it’s likely that the true origins of the trick date back even further. We also found a variation called “The imprisoned Card” in “Houdini’s Magic” from the 1930’s. We like the idea that Houdini, the true master of escapology, invented the secret principle behind our Impossible Escape illusion. However, he simply adapted an older version of this trick.  

We would like to thank Lorenz Schaer and the history of magic researchers at the Conjuring Archive. 

Performance: Arthur Roscha

For more information about the science of magic visit the MAGIC lab website. 

 Further reading: here is a book by Gustav Kuhn that tells you more about the psychology of magic.  Experiencing the Impossible - The Science of Magic, MIT Press