Be a magician for a day

The four things you protect as a Magician

• ✨
  Wow

  If Wow reaches zero, your day ends early with “The audience yawned”. The wonder drained away. By the interval, a lot of people were checking their phones.

  29% of the choices in this role lower it, and 54% raise it.

• 🤫
  Secrets

  If Secrets reaches zero, your day ends early with “Every secret got out”. The rival exposed your tricks on live video. The hat has never felt so empty.

  23% of the choices in this role lower it, and 31% raise it.

• 😎
  Nerve

  If Nerve reaches zero, your day ends early with “Stage fright took over”. Your hands shook, the cards fell and the curtain came down early.

  33% of the choices in this role lower it, and 38% raise it.

• 💰
  Income

  If Income reaches zero, your day ends early with “Broke before the finale”. Bills piled up and the theatre cancelled the booking. Even the rabbit left.

  17% of the choices in this role lower it, and 23% raise it.

Tips for a better day as a Magician

1. Do not chase one number. In every role, a day with all four meters between 50 and 70 beats a day with one meter at 95 and another at 10. As a Magician, the danger is rarely the big mistake. It is the quiet neglect of one meter.
2. Watch Nerve most closely. In this role, 33% of choices lower it, which makes it the meter that slips away fastest. Income is the most forgiving, with 17% of choices lowering it.
3. Read your advisors as opinions, not answers. Each one backs the option that helps the meters they care about, so when they disagree, ask which meter you can least afford to lose today.
4. Look for the choice that gives you something back. Many of the best options cost one meter a little and help two others. The tempting “easy” option often costs more than it seems.
5. Remember that choices can come back. A decision in the morning may return as a follow-up situation later in the day, so a quick fix early on can be expensive at six in the evening.

A sample day, step by step

Here is one example of how a careful player might get through a day as a Magician. It uses six of the sixteen situations, picks the option with the best overall balance each time, and shows what each choice did. Your own day will be different, because situations are drawn at random and some choices bring follow-ups later.

1. 7:00 AM

   The assistant’s request

   Your assistant of eight years asks for a bigger share of the income. She is the reason your tricks work.

   Chosen: “Offer a partnership”. A new poster, a new share and a great new act.

   ✨ Wow +10🤫 Secrets +5😎 Nerve +5💰 Income −10

   The road not taken: “Say not now”. She nods. The show feels colder.

   Standing after this call: ✨ 60 · 🤫 55 · 😎 55 · 💰 40

2. 9:30 AM

   The rabbit is missing

   Two hours before the show, the rabbit’s cage is empty. There are tiny carrot crumbs leading to the costume room.

   Chosen: “Turn it into part of the act”. You announce “the rabbit that disappeared before the show”. The crowd eats it up.

   ✨ Wow +15😎 Nerve +5

   The road not taken: “Search backstage in a panic”. You find the rabbit in a hat box. Your heart rate is still catching up.

   Standing after this call: ✨ 75 · 🤫 55 · 😎 60 · 💰 40

3. 12:00 PM

   The suspicious critic

   The critic from the city paper has asked to meet you before the show. He says he “doesn’t believe in anything”.

   Chosen: “Give him a private mini-show”. He applauds, grudgingly. Your secrets stay put.

   ✨ Wow +10🤫 Secrets −5😎 Nerve +10

   The road not taken: “Offer him front-row tickets”. He accepts, and his frown deepens.

   Standing after this call: ✨ 85 · 🤫 50 · 😎 70 · 💰 40

4. 3:00 PM

   A very curious journalist

   A journalist asks to follow you backstage all evening. She promises to be “invisible”.

   Chosen: “Refuse”. She writes a mysterious article.

   ✨ Wow +5🤫 Secrets +5

   The road not taken: “Allow it with strict rules”. She keeps her promise, mostly.

   Standing after this call: ✨ 90 · 🤫 55 · 😎 70 · 💰 40

5. 6:00 PM

   The sponsor’s logo

   A drink company offers money to put its logo on your cape.

   Chosen: “Accept”. Money in. Mystery out.

   ✨ Wow −10💰 Income +20

   The road not taken: “Decline”. You stay mysterious and a little poorer.

   Standing after this call: ✨ 80 · 🤫 55 · 😎 70 · 💰 60

6. 9:00 PM

   Smoke and alarms

   The smoke machine sets off the fire alarm just before your big entrance. Ushers are running.

   Chosen: “Improvise a joke about “dramatic entrances””. The audience claps. The ushers do not.

   ✨ Wow +10😎 Nerve +10

   The road not taken: “Stop the show and apologise”. Safe but flat.

   Standing after this call: ✨ 90 · 🤫 55 · 😎 80 · 💰 60

Situations you may face

Every game uses six of these sixteen situations, so you will not meet them all in one day. There are also 4 follow-up situations that return after specific choices and 3 surprises that can appear without warning.

• The rabbit is missing. Two hours before the show, the rabbit’s cage is empty. There are tiny carrot crumbs leading to the costume room.
• A rival in row three. Your old rival is sitting in the audience with a notebook and a smirk. You suspect he plans to expose a trick.
• A very generous offer. A rich client offers a fortune if you teach him your most famous illusion.
• The honest child. A child volunteer calls out, “It’s in his sleeve!” The whole row hears it.
• A live broadcast. A TV channel wants to broadcast your finale live to three million viewers. They also want a camera backstage.
• Smoke and alarms. The smoke machine sets off the fire alarm just before your big entrance. Ushers are running.
• The assistant’s request. Your assistant of eight years asks for a bigger share of the income. She is the reason your tricks work.
• Is it real magic?. A reporter asks you straight: “Is any of this real magic?” The camera light blinks red.
• The suspicious critic. The critic from the city paper has asked to meet you before the show. He says he “doesn’t believe in anything”.
• The water tank finale. Tonight’s finale is an escape from a glass water tank. The insurance lawyer is worried. So is your mother.
• The volunteer is a magician too. The audience volunteer you pick turns out to be a magician. She smiles and says, “I know this one.”
• The new trick. You have a brand-new trick that works nine times out of ten. Tonight’s show is big.
• A very curious journalist. A journalist asks to follow you backstage all evening. She promises to be “invisible”.
• The costume. Your cape has a small tear. The tailor says it can be fixed by tomorrow, or it can be glued tonight.
• A very serious fan. A fan insists on seeing your hat and the secret compartment inside. He has a very serious face.
• The sponsor’s logo. A drink company offers money to put its logo on your cape.

Every ending (spoilers)