While YouTube may have taught us random skills like solving a Rubik’s Cube and needle-felting cute animal dolls, Shin Lim used YouTube to hone his talents and become a world-class magician.
Heralded as “one of the most astonishing illusionists ever”, “The #1 Sleight of Hand Artist in the World”, and “the new superstar of Las Vegas magicians,” his show has been a hit over the years he performed at The Mirage.
Despite the hotel’s shutdown, his show is still alive and well. These days, he’s performing his all-new show, Limitless, at The Venetian Resort.
We had the opportunity to attend the opening night of Limitless this October and gathered all kinds of intel for you.
With a healthy mix of card magic, epic (and quite astonishing) sleight-of-hand, aerial acrobatics, and even some mentalism, we’re happy to say this show is 100% worth the hype.
TLDR; we were pleasantly surprised to find a much larger theater room (compared to the original show), all new special guests, and even never-before-seen tricks. Is it worth your time and money? Absolutely. Get your tickets to his all-new show here.
Who is this Shin Lim guy?
Shin Lim is a Canadian-born, American-raised magician who specializes in close-up magic. His specialty? Card magic and sleight-of-hand illusions.
You might have seen him first on America’s Got Talent. But his history of magic goes way back.
Lim first caught the magic world’s eye by fooling the legendary duo Penn & Teller on their show Penn & Teller: Fool Us in 2015. In fact, during his Limitless show, he recreates the trick that originally wowed Penn & Teller! (Obviously, our own jaws dropped to the floor when he did the trick.)
But his big break came when he won Season 13 of America’s Got Talent, wowing the judges with innovative card magic never before seen on the show.
He then cemented his fame by returning to America’s Got Talent: The Champions — and winning — proving his first victory was no fluke.
That’s right, he won America’s Got Talent twice. TWICE.
But Shin Lim didn’t grow up wanting to be a magician. He was actually studying music in college when he learned that he was suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. This discovery caused him to abandon playing the piano in favor of becoming a professional magician.
After winning a huge magic competition (FISM’s World Championship of Magic) he was given the chance to tour in China. Since he didn’t speak the language, he kept silent during his acts and leveraged music instead. This practice became a signature of his shows.
We actually didn’t know much about Shin Lim’s backstory until we saw Limitless. The show breaks down these life milestones and weaves them into the storytelling, setting the stage for each mind-blowing trick he performs.
What can you expect at Shin Lim: Limitless at The Venetian?
Aside from learning about the backstory of Shin Lim’s life (and wondering if his artfully messy bedhead is styled or not), you can expect a bunch of different magic acts — it’s not all just card tricks!
There are segments of Lim himself featuring different magic acts paired with musical tracks that add to the mystery and allure of it all.
When he’s not on stage, you’re graced with the presence of his supporting acts (which in our opinion is much more engaging than just sitting through intermission).
For the opening night show, we got to enjoy the “psychic” skills of Peter Antoniou, who came out a few different times to perform inexplicable feats of mentalism on various audience members.
We’ll never understand how mentalism works — are the guests really NOT in on it? How do mentalists seem to just know random things about audience members? Who knows, but that’s part of the magic; it’s way more fun to just sit back and be totally blown away.
Towards the end of the show, you’ll get introduced to Casey Kathleen, the second and final guest performer of the show. She’s magic and cirque all rolled up into one mesmerizing woman. She also happens to be Shin Lim’s wife!
So how was the show?
So much better than I expected!
Prior to watching the show, I didn’t have high hopes. How good could “close-up magic” be when you’re not actually close up / right in front of the magician?
Shin Lim’s performance proved me wrong! He’s somehow figured out how to make close-up magic work for a big audience.
To pull this off, he uses a high-definition camera that captures his every move on stage and broadcasts it onto large screens for the entire audience to watch up close. This setup lets you see every detail of his sleight-of-hand magic as if you were right next to him, regardless of where you’re seated.
Plus, he brings people up on stage and even calls on random folks in the crowd to toss out numbers or choices during certain tricks, so you know it’s not staged.
Shin Lim’s card tricks go from fun to absolutely mind-blowing. He starts off with a warm-up where everyone in the audience has four cards to follow along—a great icebreaker that gets you pumped for what’s next.
Then things get wild. One of the craziest tricks? He brings two audience members on stage and has them pick and sign their cards. Somehow, in a trick involving a clear Ziploc bag, their signed card ends up in his mouth. Like, what?!
We were totally floored by this trick. At what point did he put it in his mouth? It’s honestly impossible to figure out how he did most of his acts. Even now, we’re confused by how it was all possible.
I won’t spoil any more, but trust me—it’s a show you have to see to believe.
Should we splurge on good seats?
With nearly triple the space of his old Mirage showroom, The Palazzo Theatre offers way more seating options and sections to choose from.
We scored seats in the VIP3 section, about seven rows from the stage (Row H), and being front and center felt like pure luxury. Instead of typical theater seats, the VIP section has comfy couches with mini tables for your drinks, making it a seriously cozy way to watch the show.
So were the VIP seats worth it? Yes and no. Yes for the comfort; no for the view.
For your average Las Vegas show, yes, close-up seats are usually worth it to see more of the action without squinting. But honestly, for Limitless, I don’t think they were necessary. Sitting up close doesn’t actually give you a better view of Shin Lim’s sleight of hand.
This show is all about the details of the cards. Unless you’re right there on stage with him, the cards will be very hard to see with the naked eye.
No matter where you are, you’ll still need to watch the big screen to catch all the details—the disappearing cards, the suit and number changes, the random cards coming out of his mouth, and all the other mind-bending moves he does.
As long as you can see the screen, it feels like you’ve got a front-row view of the magic, even from the back!
If we were to recommend seats (or do it all over again ourselves), we’d say anywhere in Section 2 up to about Row Q will give you a great view.
Get a taste of the magic for yourself:
Since we weren’t allowed to film within the theater (which means no spoilers for the people who haven’t seen the show), you can get a taste of Shin Lim’s incredible magic skills for yourself below.
Be forewarned though! If you don’t want spoilers/previews of what you’ll see in the Limitless show, don’t watch.
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