Cups and Balls Thread - Ideas and Concepts

[christian1]

Hey Guys,

I love cups and ball I really do! I have always been facinated with this effect. I got my start from this effect. I remember when I was young and I went to a illusion show and the illusionist there performed cups and ball and it amazed me. I was floored by the ending. It inspired me to get into magic and was the first effect I ever learned.

Later on after I had been doing magic and cups and ball for a long time I got to go to a lecture by Michial Ammar and learn cups and balls from him it was amazing! I thought I would start a thread discussing cups and balls.

If you are wanting to learn something other then cards cups and balls would be a great place to start. If you can perform a good cups and balls routine and you can perform most other slight of hand effects.

So what is your favorite cups and ball routine? Mine would have to be a mix between Michial Ammars routine and Mark Wilsons routine. (taoght in his book Mark Wilsons Complete Course in magic.

What kind of cups to do you have? When I first starded magic I just had plastic cups and little sponge balls. As I got more into this effec I invested in a set of brass cups that have done me well up to know. I love them.

What is your favorite ending load? For my ending load I Like to use hard rubber balls or fruit. I have seen some magicians use pretty exoctic loads. I saw one magician have a ending load of like 500 pennies. Another crazy load I heard about was a magician producing baby birds under the cups. I have also seen baseballs, turnips, tommatos, potatos, And countless other stuff used. What is the most exoctic load you have ever seen?

Where did you learn your routine? I learn mine from Mark Wilson and from Michial Ammar.

What is the most interesting routine you have ever seen? One time I saw a magician do a routine with clear cups (Somehow he was able to do the routine without revealing the method I spent a long time puzzling over it.) it was crazy. Never seen anything like it. I know of one magician that performs cups and balls on the street busking with metal pails and paper balls. lol

How many cups do you use? I have seen some magicians use one. Others say two is the perfect number and sill others say three. I go with the standered three cups.

Do you do any chop cup routines? I perfer three cups but if you want to be able to pack light chop cup is the way to go.

So what are your answers to the questions? I will be very excited to hear from you.

Thanks,

Christian

 

[MillionaireMike]

I LOVE the cups and balls... I am always changing my routine, I learned the sleights from a Magic Makers video a long time ago and also from John Carney's Book of secrets. For my final loads I am still experimenting, but I use hacky sacks at the moment for the reason that they don't roll as I hope to be using my routine in the street soon, though I like Gazzo's routine with those HUGE oranges that hardly fit. I only use a basic set at the moment (aluminium) but soon I wish to get a decent set though not sure what. I am looking at buying Gazzo's street cups dvd and maybe the cups. I use Three cups but I am looking at maybe having a routine with only two also, like Carl Andrew's. The most interesting routine I have seen is... I'm not really sure I have seen anything too different, but I LOVE Penn & Teller's routines especially when the do it with clear cups so fast it still fools me

 

[spades894]

For my final load I use 4 citrus fruits.

One really cool routine I saw at a lecture was by Rachel Colombini. The "3" balls were paper, one blue, one yellow, and one green. At the end, the yellow and green disappear, and the blue ball is unwrapped and there is the green ball. The green ball is unwrapped, and there is the yellow ball. It is a beautiful routine done to music.

The Cups and Balls is beautiful trick, and I think this thread is going to yeild some great results.

Jesse

 

[Chicken]

Another question- chop cup or no chop cup? Obviously it depends on the routine you're doing, but if you can only carry around one set...?

 

[RickEverhart]

Another funny idea is to use two different colored D'Lite's with the 3 cups. This is hilarious with little kid shows...not the adults. You can have one red D'Lite on and one Blue or Green on the other hand and then make it look like the kids are never able to figure out which cup has the Blue / Green light under it.

 

[Sir FansAlot]

I don't do them yet. I am still learning the false transfer.

 

[Luis Vega]

I want to use the cups and balls routine for my parlor show coming in march....

this could be a great thread to learn from people that actually perform this regularly

this are 2 great ones..

Lance Burton Cups and Balls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8j9fQOMYo&feature=channel

Jason Latimer Cups And Balls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ie6Tfa_zI

this are 2 routines and they are very different...I really liked the 2 because each one has is pros

the one with Lance is great, is not so hard and he lets the audience participate a lot, while he is doing the trick he is talking and explaining, which with his great sense of humor is awesome

Jason has a great routine...he doesn´t need to talk to express a lot, and his routine contrary to the burton´s one, is super-visual he is producing balls and transposing them through all the routine and the music is great

I think this are 2 routine where you can learn a lot, I like this ones more than others that I have seen before

watch them and you may like 1 or the 2 depending if you like with music or patter

enjoy!!!

 

[Chrisfecto]

I have a few favorite routines myself. Paul Gertner's routine is great because he adds the auditory illusion to the whole routine. Its just another dimension to the routine that is just great. My favorite final load as of right now is David Regal and the pouring of the hot chocolate out of the mugs he had been using the whole time.

As far as eccentric loads i've heard of so many. Busker loading stolen watches of spectators, lemons with dollar bills in them, and livestock.

I am developing some kind of routine using sugarcubes. I don't want to give away my final load til i can put it out there as i want it to be seen- but let's just say i hope it works!! haha

 

[christian1]

I have a few favorite routines myself. Paul Gertner's routine is great because he adds the auditory illusion to the whole routine. Its just another dimension to the routine that is just great. My favorite final load as of right now is David Regal and the pouring of the hot chocolate out of the mugs he had been using the whole time.

As far as eccentric loads i've heard of so many. Busker loading stolen watches of spectators, lemons with dollar bills in them, and livestock.

I am developing some kind of routine using sugarcubes. I don't want to give away my final load til i can put it out there as i want it to be seen- but let's just say i hope it works!! haha

I have never heard of David Regals cofee load could you please post a video? That sounds facinating. Seems like the perfect endging for a routine using cups. Thanks for the great response.

I want to use the cups and balls routine for my parlor show coming in march....

this could be a great thread to learn from people that actually perform this regularly

this are 2 great ones..

Lance Burton Cups and Balls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8j9fQOMYo&feature=channel

Jason Latimer Cups And Balls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ie6Tfa_zI

this are 2 routines and they are very different...I really liked the 2 because each one has is pros

the one with Lance is great, is not so hard and he lets the audience participate a lot, while he is doing the trick he is talking and explaining, which with his great sense of humor is awesome

Jason has a great routine...he doesn´t need to talk to express a lot, and his routine contrary to the burton´s one, is super-visual he is producing balls and transposing them through all the routine and the music is great

I think this are 2 routine where you can learn a lot, I like this ones more than others that I have seen before

watch them and you may like 1 or the 2 depending if you like with music or patter

enjoy!!!

Vega thanks for responding if you need any help with your routine for your upcoming show I would be glad to help as much as I can.

Thanks all,

Christian

 

[Chrisfecto]

I have never heard of David Regals cofee load could you please post a video? That sounds facinating. Seems like the perfect endging for a routine using cups.

Christian

I'm not sure if there is a video of it. Wayne Houchin talked about it being at his lecture and and it is in Strong Magic.