Magic supplies in Bismarck, Burleigh County, North Dakota

When the Legislature is in session and the conventions roll through, Bismarck hotels fill with receptions where a strolling magician can work the room. Those crowds are professional and a little reserved, which suits quiet, elegant close-up more than loud comedy. The chop cup and a close-up mat let you hold a group of four for five minutes without raising your voice. Our guide on building a close-up set covers what to open and close with. The close-up collection has the rest.

A Bismarck winter keeps people indoors for months, and that is card-table season: family gatherings, game nights, holiday parties. Card magic fits naturally. Start with a stripper deck, which finds a chosen card with very little skill, and move on to a marked deck when you want reveals that look impossible. If you play cards as well as perform with them, our card games for adults is a decent companion. The card magic collection shows what ships.

Without a club, you need other ways to get feedback. Perform for the same few friends regularly and ask them what confused them, not what impressed them. Join the international magic organisations; their members' magazines and online lectures stand in for a local ring. Watch every touring magician who plays the Belle or the Bismarck Event Center.

Keep your first purchases few and solid. Our article on the best magic tricks for beginners explains why. The beginner collection is a good shortlist.

There is no magic shop in Bismarck, Mandan or anywhere else in Burleigh County that we could find. Trick kits turn up in toy and party stores, but those are not props a performer keeps.

Online is the realistic route for western North Dakota. Our listings say what you get, whether instructions are included and how much practice the effect needs, written for people who can't hold the prop before they buy. Unopened items can be returned within 30 days of delivery.

North Dakota's only other city page here is Fargo, three hours east on I-94, where the state's larger entertainment market sits alongside Moorhead in Minnesota. Sioux Falls, far to the south-east, is a long day's drive away. Bismarck performers often take work in Mandan, Dickinson, Minot and Jamestown, so a set that packs small is worth more than a big illusion. See magic in North Dakota.

The Belle Mehus Auditorium opened on January 19, 1914 with Reginald DeKoven's operetta Robin Hood, was renamed in 1989 for the music teacher Belle Mehus, and was restored after voters approved a renovation in 1996. A small historic proscenium like the Belle is the kind of stage where a parlour magic act can work. If that is your direction, linking rings and silk magic read clearly from the back rows; find them in the stage magic collection.

We send orders to every address in Bismarck and the rest of Burleigh County, and across the river to Mandan, on the same terms as anywhere in the United States. Most of the range ships from our supplier, so we don't promise a delivery date; order early in winter. See shipping and returns and refunds.