I learned a bit of hobby sleight of hand as a kid, but never enough to work as a pro. I did later learn another set of similar skills, though, and owned a busi

I learned a bit of hobby sleight of hand as a kid, but never enough to work as a pro. I did later learn another set of similar skills, though, and owned a business in that field for a while: martial arts. Some martial arts are like stage magic in that they work in part by training yourself to do things that most people find surprising because they don't know how you do them or what training it requires to pull them off. Not all martial arts use techniques like that, but some of them do, and some of the tricks of the trade make pretty good party tricks. One example of a party trick that I've witnessed (and even learned to reproduce, poorly): I know a guy who can take a dart in his hand, hold it with his arm fully extended, and, without bending his elbow, stick it in a dartboard from normal playing distance. It looks like magic: the dart flies across the room and sticks in the board. If you have the relevant kind of training, then you know exactly how he's doing it (although, simply knowing it doesn't make it easy to reproduce!), but if you don't, then odds are you don't believe it's even possible.