Why Do You Love The Cups & Balls?

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Permalink Reply by Bill Palmer on September 22, 2008 at 11:04am

The cups and balls is generally regarded as the oldest magic trick. It actually may be the second oldest, with the lota being the oldest documentable magic prop -- Bill Spooner has been researching this for years. However, it is definitely the oldest sleight of hand trick.

Part of the problem with tracing the history of the cups and balls has been in the preservation of early sets. Let's suppose that you were an archaeologist, and you found a leather bag, largely rotted away, that contained three cups and the remains of some leather balls or some round stones. If you were not familiar with the cups and balls, you might assume that these were simply tableware, and you might even swap some of the individual cups to other museums for things that you needed.

I'm not sure what attracted me to cups and balls in the first place. However, I can tell you some of the things I like about the cups and balls.

1) The sets actually mirror the development of the technology of the countries they came from.
2) They can be made from almost any opaque material, from paper to leather to wood to metal.
3) You don't really need a special set of cups to perform the trick. Any three similar cups will do for most of the routines.
4) It is possible to simulate almost any of the basic effects in magic with the cups and balls -- production, vanish, transposition, transformation, animation, penetration, and, in some cases, levitation -- but that one is a stretch.
5) It's a wonderful vehicle for entertainment.

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Permalink Reply by Justin on September 22, 2008 at 4:21pm

I love the cups for so many reasons, but I think on the top of the list is, right about the time your spectators are somewhat following you (around the third phase), possibly figuring out how you make that small ball disappear, you hit them hard with the jumbo loads and their mouths hit the floor! Its so much fun and the variations never make it boring!
J

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Permalink Reply by Bill Palmer on September 22, 2008 at 6:23pm

You are basically right. I do know one fellow who knows so many different moves that he cannot pare his repertoire down enough to entertain an audience.

It's like a writer who says, "I know 300,000 words, and by golly, I'm going to use every one of them in this book -- even if they don't fit."

One secret is to know what to leave out.

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Permalink Reply by Jordan on September 22, 2008 at 6:37pm

The fact that it looks so simple yet so mind boggling is the thing i love the most about the cups and balls. I agree with Justin about the final phase when they thought that they already know what's happening but only to be surprised at the end. Also with Bill about the basic effects that could be done with it. Of course one of the things I love about it is that it has both the nature of magic and game. The playful nature of it keeps the audience always interested and with the magic it makes it even more fun.

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Permalink Reply by Kent F. Gunn on October 6, 2008 at 12:10am

This trick has always been my favorite, since I first saw it done by my mentor from behind the counter of the Fun Shop, in Ogden, Utah.

I've done the trick in seventeen different countries. I used Dai Vernon's routine, stone cold, out of "The Dai Vernon Book of Magic", complete with Mora twirl vanish, since I was in high school. I was completely isolated from other magicians for 25 years, while I rode subs for Uncle Sam. When I got out I realized I was not the only one relying heavily on Vernon's routine.

I actually got sick of seeing everyone doing a routine I thought of as my own. I finally decided if I wanted my own routine, no one else was doing, I had to actually get off my ever widening posterior and come up with my own sequence.

I opened every book I had on the cups and balls, from Tarbell to Ammar's Complete Cups and Balls. I discovered very, very little in my limited library that wasn't already in the Ammar book. The best stuff I found outside of Ammar's book was in:

The Books of Wonder. I actually broke down and read them, through this wandering - Some of the best stuff in magic, is . . . those two books.

The Feints and Temps of Harry Riser. A much under-appreciated book.

Al Schneider's work - he brings a fresh and very analytical mind to the effect.

I closed up all the books and started to experiment on my own. I don't have any illusions that what I do is necessarily a very good routine. It is very good for me though.

I know it's posted here, on this site. Purist, thank you!!! I still am searching for a book I owe, you, (I'm slow, but something will wing your way)

I'm interested in hearing how others chose the sequence they use. Bill Palmer is right about almost everything. He wrote above . . .

One secret is to know what to leave out.

With all that is written, that was the hardest part for me. Figuring out what to leave out. I'm down to three minutes.

Six effects, no mention of Egypt, no dropping cups through each other nor shoving a wand through the bottoms. A quick aside, there's no reason you can't use that stuff in your opening, I hear everybody's doing it!

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Permalink Reply by Bill Palmer on October 6, 2008 at 3:20am

Here's another secret.

Practice until it becomes boring. Then practice until it becomes beautiful.

I'd like to add this:
One of the things that really bugs me is when I hear a supposedly knowledgeable performer go into that stuff about the paintings on the walls of the Great Pyramid. There's nothing wrong with telling people that it's a trick that goes back to the Ancient Egyptians. Just don't tell them to look in the wrong place at that point.

The wand through cup move is great if it is motivated. So is the cup through cup move. But these things must be motivated.

There is a clip in the green room right now that illustrates the reason I say that you need to know what to leave out. It's a cups and balls clip that has some very smooth moves, some of which are set up way in advance, but has ZERO entertainment value.

Make it fun for your spectators, even if you are boring yourself. You aren't there to entertain yourself. You are there to entertain your audience.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Stevens on December 6, 2008 at 7:38am

I love the cups and balls because the appeal to the spectator's mind as a sort of puzzle slowly fades as they begin to question whether there is some actual magical power involved. As a wand can be used, and often is used as part of the sequence it adds another level of mystery as the spectator does not know why it is there and therefore can attribute actual powers to it. The spectator slowly begins to think they have figured it out, after a few variations on the same theme, and some performers give a semi correct explanation, relaxing the viewer's mind allowing the performer to hit them hard with a most incredible ending.
I like that a set of cups is a lasting prop, lasting a lot longer than many other props, and can generally be examined.
I also think that it looks sort of peculiar, and interesting, arousing curiosity, but still within the realm of comprehensible things with a name that people know: cups.

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