Chicago: Trickery Magic Show BYOB & General Admission

4.86

(109 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

Someone’s shaking a bag of chips behind me while I’m still trying to figure out how the guy on stage made that card disappear. We’d barely sat down at Trickery—just off Halsted, you can’t miss the bright little sign—when our host started pulling people into his world. He grinned at us like we were old friends, even though I’d never seen him before in my life. The room’s small enough that you can hear every laugh (and every awkward cough from someone trying not to spit out their drink). It’s BYOB, so there are bottles clinking and someone passing around plastic cups—felt more like a weirdly fun house party than a theater.

I tried to pour wine without splashing it everywhere (they have openers and cups if you forget), but honestly, I almost missed the first trick because I was too busy watching everyone else react. The show’s about an hour—fast, sharp, sometimes just plain ridiculous. At one point he asked where we were from and when I said “not Chicago,” he winked and said, “We’ll fix that.” There’s this moment when he does something so quick you’re left blinking at your friend like, “Did that really just happen?” And the crowd—mostly locals from what I could tell—was loving it. Someone even brought snacks from the 7-Eleven down the street (I might do that next time).

When we spilled back onto Cornelia Ave after, it felt like we’d all been let in on some kind of secret joke. The air outside was colder than I remembered. Still thinking about how he guessed my card—I mean, maybe it’s just clever hands but it felt like actual magic for a second there. If you want a night out in Chicago that doesn’t take itself too seriously—and lets you bring your own bottle—this is probably it.