Cups and balls

The cups and balls is a classic performance 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 picture, thought to date from 2500 B.C. from the walls of a burial chamber in Beni Hasan, Egypt, shows two men kneeling over four inverted bowls. It was taken by early Egyptologists Wilkinson and Newberry as evidence that the cups and balls effect, or its related deceptive gambling game, thimblerig, possibly dates back to Ancient Egypt. Because of its context, modern Egyptologists regard the image as a game using pots or cups but details of the game are unknown. The illustration is unique in ancient Egyptian art, so whether or not the game utilizes sleight of hand trickery may never be known unless a future discovery produces a similar image in a more explanatory context.

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, such as fruit, larger balls, small animals such as baby chicks, and even a combination of the different final loads. Most magicians tend to prefer fruit, as each one is different in shape and size, thus increasing the element of surprise.

A typical cups and balls routine includes many of the most fundamental effects of magic: the balls can vanish, appear, transpose, reappear and transform. 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 Mulholland, 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. Professor Hoffman called the cups and balls "the groundwork of all legerdemain".

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.

A basic routine is to start with a ball secretly concealed, the cups being nested in a stack. The three cups are set down in a line with the concealed ball being now under the center one. One of three visible balls is put on top of the center cup and the other two cups nested above. With a tap of the wand, the three cups are lifted, revealing that the ball has "penetrated" the cup. (There is now a new ball secretly concealed in the center cup). Again the cups are set in a line, the middle cup covering the ball which has already penetrated making two balls there, while the audience thinks there is only one ball. Another of the visible three balls is placed on top of the centre cup and covered with the other two cups, the cups being tapped and lifted to show the second ball has penetrated. This is repeated with the third ball at which time there is a ball still secretly concealed in the cups, and the performer is ready to go into the next phase.

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Wikipedia