The Club of Clubs is a group for students to perform magic tricks and discuss further magical madness. For sophomore co-founders Arunim Agarwal and Jun Kim, the club is an outlet from their typical activities.

The club was first founded when the two of them wanted to make something more out of the silly, light-hearted magic performed in between classes, when they would bring their cards to school and show each other card tricks.

According to club member William Chung, his favorite part of the club is connecting with other Gunn magicians. “I like seeing what other magicians have to show,” he said. “My favorite part is hanging out with people with similar interests.”

In return, Agarwal hopes that the Club of Clubs can provide a similar purpose for its members, serving as not just a club of pure fun but also learning as well. “I hope this club becomes a space for people who are interested in sleight to learn from or teach their peers,” he said.

In terms of close-up magic or card magic, the term “sleight of hand” refers to fine motor skills used by performing artists to entertain or manipulate lightheartedly. Sleight can prove a challenge and mastering it can qualify as a success. It is one of Agarwal’s favorite aspects of performing magic tricks. “Sleight of hand is really interesting because it often can involve misdirection,” he said. “It takes a while to get certain moves down, but eventually you get it.”

The members of club primarily focus on card tricks, but also include coin magic and mentalism in their repertoire. Like any hobby or talent, performing flawless magic takes a lots of practice and can prove difficult at times. “For hard tricks I often sit for half an hour to an hour just repetitively going through the trick over and over until it clicks,” Agarwal said.

Agarwal finds his fellow club members both a source of help and inspiration. “The easiest way for me to learn is to ask my friends to show me how they do tricks, and then I try to replicate their motions,” he said.

However, despite the difficulties of mastering the card tricks themselves, Chung finds the that performing the tricks poses the greatest challenge to him. “Magic is not hard to learn,” he said. “Performing it is the hard part, because people will sometimes get nervous and mess up.”

Obstacles aside, magic tricks can be incredible fun and rewarding. “There are a lot of really great magicians out there, but I’m most impressed by young people who can do some amazing things with just a regular deck,” Agrawal said. “For example, students that I know like Jun or William who can do amazing things that inspire me.”

Similarly, cofounder William Chung also finds the performing for an audience incredibly rewarding. “My favorite thing about performing magic would be the reactions that people get after the big reveal,” he said.

The final results of producing a visual anomaly after hours of dedication and practice are well worth it.  “When you mess up a trick, it becomes hard to recover,” Agrawal said. “But that’s the challenge and it’s more than worth it if you able to confuse someone with a trick.”

For aspiring magicians, the Club of Clubs welcomes all on Wednesdays at lunch in N-103. “I think anyone can be a magician as long as you practice,” Agarwal said.