Magic supplies in Newark, New Castle County, Delaware

Newark's bars, cafés and residence halls are full of people in their twenties who have seen every trick on their phones. What still lands is a card that does something impossible in their own hands, a foot away. The Marked Deck — Reader Back lets you name cards nobody has shown you; a Stripper Deck finds a shuffled-in selection without a single sleight. Both are worth learning properly, because a sceptical student audience will ask to see it again. Our card magic for beginners guide explains how to sequence a few effects into a set, and the card magic collection lists current decks.

Campus programming boards, departmental receptions and alumni dinners all book acts that don't need a stage or a sound check. Mentalism suits them: a prediction sealed before the event, a guest's thought revealed across the room. The Listening Dice Box and Forcing Dice give you two different kinds of mind-reading with simple props, and the mentalism collection has more.

Go to Hockessin. The Delaware Knights of Magic run from September to June, so there is no meeting in July or August; plan your first visit for the autumn and check the club's site for that month's date. Members range from hobbyists to working pros, and they trade card, coin, rope and stage material at every meeting.

Before then, buy little and practise a lot. A Svengali deck and a Cut and Restored Rope will fill a semester. Read how to become a magician for a realistic plan, then browse the beginner collection.

We found no walk-in magic shop in Newark or elsewhere in New Castle County that we could confirm is still trading. Gift and novelty shelves in the area carry puzzles and boxed tricks, not working magic.

That leaves online. Our product listings say what comes in the box and what you will need to practise, and unopened items can be returned, which matters when you can't handle a prop before buying. Club members in Hockessin will also tell you honestly whether a prop earns its place.

Newark is on the Northeast Corridor between Baltimore and Philadelphia, which makes it a practical base for performers who work three states. Wilmington is twenty minutes east and has the state's larger hotels and corporate rooms; Dover, the capital, is forty-five minutes south. Across the line, Elkton and Cecil County are in Maryland, and Philadelphia is under an hour up I-95. See magic in Delaware for the rest of the state.

Spring in Newark brings formals, senior dinners and graduation parties in hotel ballrooms, where a ten-minute stage spot between courses goes down better than strolling. Choose props that read at a distance and survive a noisy room: the Linking Rings — Stage Set of Six, a Dove Pan — Silver for a production, and silk magic with the Performance Silks — Set of Ten. The stage magic collection has the rest.

We post to every address in Newark and across New Castle County, including campus mailrooms, on the same terms as the rest of the United States. Most of the range ships from our supplier and we don't promise a date, so order well before an event; if you live in university housing, check how your building handles parcels over breaks. Unopened items can be returned within 30 days of delivery. See shipping and returns and refunds.