Cups and balls

Hieronymus Bosch: The Conjurer, 1475-1480. Notice the man on the far left is stealing the other man's purse while he is distracted by the game

The cups and balls is a classic of magic with innumerable adaptations. The effect known as acetabula et calculi was performed by Roman conjurers as far back as two thousand years ago. One popularly circulated painting of two men holding two inverted cups over two round objects has been taken by some as evidence that the effect dates back to Ancient Egypt, though experts now doubt that that is what the picture shows. Indeed the more commonly accepted view now is that the image depicts something rather more mundane: the baking of bread.

The most widely performed version of the effect uses three cups and three small balls. The magician makes the balls pass through the solid bottoms of the cups, jump from cup to cup, disappear from the cup and appear in other places, or vanish from various places and reappear under the cups (sometimes under the same cup), often ending with larger objects, like fruit, or even chicks or mice, appearing under the cups.

A typical cups and balls routine includes many of the most fundamental effects of magic, including vanishes, appearances, transpositions and substitutions. Basic skills, such as misdirection, manual dexterity, and audience management are also essential to most cups and balls routines. As a result, mastery of the cups and balls is considered by many as the litmus test of a good magician. Indeed the late magic authority, John Mullholland, wrote that no less a person than Harry Houdini had expressed the opinion that no one could be considered an accomplished magician until he had mastered the Cups and Balls.

Instead of cups, other types of covers can be used, such as bowls or hats. The classic shell game con is a rogue-variant of the cups and balls.

Performance and variations

A basic routine is the triple penetration of the balls through inverted cups onto the table surface. One at a time, the balls are placed on top of an inverted cup, covered with a second cup, and caused to penetrate the cup and land on the table. This is repeated twice more with the two remaining balls until all three balls have penetrated the cup and gathered together on the table.

Christian Farla performs Cups and Balls on stage.

A routine involving sleight of hand opens up more possibilities for the performer. The balls can appear, vanish, change color, travel between cups, grow in size or change into completely different objects.

For the climax of the routine, the cups can be lifted to reveal objects of a totally different character or, at any rate, objects that are considerably larger than the small balls. Often, multiple objects are produced from under the cups, such as four pieces of fruit, which cannot even physically fit back inside the cups, making the routine all the more mystifying. Dai Vernon's handling of the Cups and Balls - especially his ending sequence - is generally considered to be the single most influential cups and balls routine of the modern era.

Gazzo Macee, (aka Gary Osborne), has also influenced the theory and thinking of the traditional cups and balls routine by performing an extended routine, sometimes over thirty minutes in length, producing several large fruit and a melon from under a hat. He performs the cups and balls as an interactive comedic routine in his repertoire of street magic - a routine, incidentally, that borrows heavily from the Vernon routine.

Other modern performers have altered the number of cups used in the effect. John Ramsay, David Williamson and Tommy Wonder, for example, have performed routines with only two cups. Some performers have also performed a variation on the Traditional Cups and Balls routine with only one cup.

Penn & Teller

The magic duo Penn & Teller performs a unique version of the cups and balls trick in their act. Initially, they perform the trick with small aluminum foil balls and plastic cups. The trick ends with the appearance of larger foil balls under the cups, and the surprise appearance of an extra unrelated object, such as a potato or a lime, under one or more cups. They then repeat the trick using transparent plastic cups, claiming that they will reveal how to perform the trick. However, as part of the joke, they do the trick so fast as to make it difficult to follow. They claim that this version of the cups and balls breaks all four rules of magic - Not to tell the audience how a trick is done, not to repeat the same trick twice, not to show the audience the secret preparation, and the 'unwritten rule' never to perform the cups and balls with clear plastic cups. They claim this version of the trick got them kicked out of The Magic Castle, which comprises an appealing premise to the lay audience.

Noted Performers

Michael Ammar, Paul Gertner, Aldo Colombini, Rafael Benatar, Paul Daniels, Gazzo, Bob White, Johnny Thompson and Al Schneider are among the world's leading professional practitioners of Cups and Balls magic. Other celebrated performers but now deceased included Bosco, Conus, "Pop" Krieger, Malini, S.Leo Horowitz (also known as Mohammed Bey), E.G. Brown, Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, Johnny Platt, Ross Bertram, Johnny Paul, Mike Rogers, Bob Read and the street magician/busker, Jim Cellini, who died in 2009.

Noted Authorities

Bill Palmer of Houston, Texas, owns the world's largest collection of cups. He owns and operates the online "Cups and Balls Museum". A password is required to enter and browse the museum but this is usually issued promptly, free of charge, upon request. In addition, Palmer is generally regarded as the single most authoritative source of knowledge on virtually all aspects of the subject.

The estate of the late British magician, Bob Read, owns the world's largest collection of prints depicting cups and balls magic, a popular subject of pre-20th century artists.

Michael Ammar's "The Complete Cups And Balls", available both in book form and in a two-volume DVD set, is generally considered the most comprehensive course of instruction on cups and balls techniques. There is, however, an enormous body of literature on cups and balls spanning a period of some two thousand years but with most of it concentrated from the 18th century onward to the present day.

See also

• Shell game

External links

• RNT2 - World's Largest Manufacturer of Cups and Balls
• Cups and Balls Magic - Reviews, Articles and News
• Youtube: Penn and Teller's Cups and balls
• Youtube: Tim Ellis' FISM award winning Cups and balls