I too have a passion for complex magic tricks. And while what you say may be true for tricks which rely on gimmicks, with sleight of hand, the opposite is often

I too have a passion for complex magic tricks. And while what you say may be true for tricks which rely on gimmicks, with sleight of hand, the opposite is often true. I was a stage illusionist in a 'former life', and started practicing sleight of hand at age 6. The thing that kept me interested is that the methods of producing the effect were almost always far more interesting than the effect they produce. In my own art, I focused on vintage effects that were complex. I recreated dozens of effects from Dunninger's book, and relied on technological principles from that era - lots of clockwork and curious mechanisms. I could have produced the same effect in much easier ways, but what would be the fun in that? Many methods require inconceivable practice to master. One example is an obscure method of the "front to back palm" with a coin, which thereafter goes back to front - the most complex sleight of hand I worked on, which produces a completely mundane effect (showing the hands empty). In my experience, if you see someone doing sleight of hand - making cards, balls, coins, cigarettes appear and disappear - watching how they do it is much more interesting than watching the effect!