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197:, within which he describes tricks with balls. He recommends using candlesticks with a hollow underneath, or bowls, or salt cellars covers to cover the balls. He describes the routine with three or four balls, and as many covers. He describes placing a ball under each cover, lifting the covers to show the balls vanished, and then having the balls all re-appear under one cover. Although Scot describes a method, it is considered by magicians to be unlikely as some of the moves described would be impossible to perform invisibly.
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knob handle on the top. They are often held between the first two fingers by this handle. The shallow nature of the cups means that a large item cannot be produced at the end of the routine, so the routine is often ended with the production of many of the same sized balls, although
Shankar Junior would end with the production of black powder from one of the bowls. The number of cups and balls used varies, with between one and five balls in play during the routine, and between two and four cups.
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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.
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154:, 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.
219:" where the performer passes the bowls from hand to hand, showing them empty in a dance-like manner. The routine has been described as having a reverent, ceremonial air. The routine was also performed kneeling on the floor, for a kneeling audience. Unlike other cups and balls routines the Japanese magician would usually work inside, and to music.
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the shell forward. In a similar way, the pea can be introduced under a shell by drawing it back. These moves are made casually in swapping the positions of the shells. The spectator is supposed to follow by eye which shell has the pea, but in reality, they have no chance of success as the performer is always one step ahead of the spectators.
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Starting with three cups set down in a line with three balls visible, one of the balls is put on top of the centre 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. Again the cups are set in a line, the middle
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is similar in some respects to the three cup routine. In it, the main move is a steal of the pea from the back of the shell. This is achieved by using a flexible pea and performing the trick on a soft surface. The pea is squeezed out under the back of the shell into the fingers in the act of pushing
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The Vernon routine consists of vanishing the three balls, to reappear under the cups, the penetration of the balls through the cups, the spectator choosing which cup to invisibly transport a ball to, the removal and return of the balls, and the revelation of the final large production items, usually
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The cups and balls have a long history, and the routines performed by today's performers are built upon the work of previous masters. In ancient Greece and Rome magicians would perform standing behind a table, as opposed to on the ground as seen in Egypt, India and Turkey, to allow a larger audience
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The most widely performed version of the effect uses three cups and three small balls. The magician makes the balls appear to 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
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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
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The props used consisted of a fan, a mat, between two and six bowls, and between three and ten beans. The most common variant used two bowls with either three or five beans. The
Chinese method is unusual in that an extra bean or ball is rarely used, and it employs atypical methods of concealing the
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Owan To Tama, the "Turning of Bowls" is the
Japanese version of the cups and balls. The magician uses three bowls, and traditionally four soft silk covered balls, a fan and three final productions, either oranges or boxes, sometimes of cigarettes. The movements of the Japanese routine are based on
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In India, the cups and balls were performed seated on the ground, with an audience stood, or in chairs around the performer. This unique line of sight for the audience gave rise to some unique sleight of hand moves. The cups that are used are shaped like a shallow bell, a shallow bowl with a small
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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
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who performed a
Chinese-costumed act with the name "Chop Chop". The chop cup is a variation with one cup and (seemingly) one ball, hugely popular because it requires only a very small flat area to perform, unlike the considerable table space needed for the classic three-cup routine. The Chicago
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only water before) the lower bowl is seemingly overflowing with ("a million") tiny beans. While, as with the Indian routine, the
Chinese do not always conclude this performance in dramatic fashion, one performer that is known to is 王鬼手 ("Wang Gui Shou"), whose name means "king of ghost hands".
174:(sometimes under the same cup), often ending with larger objects, such as fruit, larger balls, small animals such as baby chicks, or a combination of the different final loads. Many magicians use fruit, as each one is different in shape and size, thus increasing the element of surprise.
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with innumerable adaptations. Street gambling variations performed by conmen were known as Bunco Booths. 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
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cup covering the ball which has already penetrated. Another of the visible 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.
309:, of whom Louis Falanga, President of L&L Publishing, said: "Ammar has literally led the industry in shaping the thinking and performing of this generation of magicians", created his own routine based upon what his teacher had taught him.
391:. In this version of the "follow the ball" cups and balls game, the magician uses clear glass cups and the audience can watch as the balls visually vanish and jump to underneath another cup. The effect was debuted by Jason Latimer in 2003 at
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Another typical element of the
Chinese routine is to both begin and end the performance in dramatic fashion. Common routines include changing a small peach into an egg, producing water (sometimes with fish), or producing
94:, 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 magician's skill with gimmick style tricks. Magician
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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".
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Such quibbles are just as harmlessly deceptive as the juggler's cup and dice, in which it is the very trickery that pleases me. But show me how the trick is done, and I have lost my interest therein.
272:. The finale "Harvesting a Million Beans" involves placing two bowls mouth to mouth one on top of the other, then, when the top bowl is slowly lifted from the bottom bowl (which may have contained,
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became popular using shorter, more squat cups that were about as tall as the hand. Similar squat cups were popularised by the likes of Paul Fox, Charlie Miller and Ross
Bertram.
334:' routine with the chop cup has also done a lot for the routine's popularity. The chop cup can be handled entirely by the top, creating a more seemingly impossible performance.
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Sic ista sine noxa decipiunt quomodo praestigiatorum acetabula et calculi, in quibus me fallacia ipsa delectat. Effice ut quomodo fiat intellegam: perdidi lusum.
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The
Chinese routine of the cups and balls is often called "The Immortal Sowing Beans" and originated in ancient agricultural society prior to the
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to see the show, and this tradition has continued today. Tall conical shaped metal cups were the norm in Europe and Egypt until the routine by
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beans. Traditionally the routine was performed on the ground, but in present times it is more commonly performed on a table.
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performed his streamlined chop cup routine on television. and was immediately copied by magicians all over the world.
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69:, 1475–1480. Notice the person on the far left is stealing a man's purse while he is distracted by the game
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performs a version of the cups and balls trick in their act. Initially, they perform the trick with small
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fruit. Watching a modern performance of cups and balls, one is likely to see a similar sequence followed.
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It takes its name from the saying "Plant melons and you get melons; sow beans and you get beans".
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Dai Vernon's influence can be seen in many modern routines. Jim Cellini, a student of
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A fairly modern development is the 'chop cup'. This cup was invented around 1954 by
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and teacher of many street performers, credits his routine to Vernon, Miller, and
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Instead of cups, other types of covers can be used, such as bowls or hats. The
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Japanese classical dance. There is a display to show the bowls used called "
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910:"Perceptual elements in Penn & Teller's "Cups and Balls" magic trick"
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Wilkinson, John Gardner (1878). Birch, Samuel; Murray, John (eds.).
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is an illusion, created and performed by American illusionist
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Cellini - The Royal Touch, A Guide To The Art Of Street Magic
597:. The American University in Cairo Press. pp. 123, 124.
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Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (1917–25). Gummere, Richard M (ed.).
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The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, Volume II
612:. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities Press. p. 43.
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Beni Hassan - Art and Daily Life in an Egyptian Province
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con is a rogue variant of the cups and balls used as a
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RNT2 – World's Largest Manufacturer of Cups and Balls
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Christopher, Maurine; Christopher, Milbourne (2006).
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896:Cups and Balls Magic – Reviews, Articles and News
593:Decker, Wolfgang (1993). Guttman, Allen (ed.).
518:. Cambridge, Mass.: The Loeb Classical Library.
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797:"Youtube.com: Penn and Teller cups and balls"
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285:Modern cups and balls: the Dai Vernon routine
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766:"Paul Daniels Magic Show - Chop Cup Routine"
818:"Penn and Teller Expose the Cups and Balls"
608:Kanawati, Naguib; Woods, Alexandra (2010).
393:International Federation of Magic Societies
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563:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
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44:performing a cups and balls routine at
1215:Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic
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402:The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
679:The Amazing Miracles of Shigeo Takagi
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538:. New York: Avalon Publishing Group.
472:Introduction to Cups and Balls Magic
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866:"World Champion of Magic Winners"
595:Sports and Games of Ancient Egypt
582:. London: Egypt Exploration Fund.
169:performs Cups and Balls on stage.
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776:from the original on 2014-07-13.
719:Chinese Classical Illusion Magic
536:The Illustrated History of Magic
434:from the original on 2020-03-17
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52:can be seen around his waist.
46:Maryland Renaissance Festival
1191:The Expert at the Card Table
1175:The Discoverie of Witchcraft
908:Rieiro; et al. (2013).
717:Fu, QiFeng; Xu, Qiu (2009).
643:The Discoverie of Witchcraft
424:"History Of The Bunco Booth"
385:Latimer Clear Cups And Balls
379:Latimer Clear Cups and Balls
194:The Discoverie of Witchcraft
191:In 1584 Reginald Scot wrote
1207:Thirteen Steps to Mentalism
736:. Zurich: Magical Classics.
628:The complete cups and balls
399:), and on US television on
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503:. Encyclopædia Britannica.
485:Professor Hoffman (1878).
455:Darbyshire, Lydia (1997).
428:Oddle Entertainment Agency
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158:Performance and variations
122:The effect, also known as
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816:Musgrave, Andrew (2010).
677:Kaufman, Richard (1990).
695:Nemoto, Takeshi (1982).
578:Newberry, Percy (1893).
305:. Dai Vernon's student,
30:Not to be confused with
641:Scot, Reginald (1584).
630:. L & L Publishing.
626:Ammar, Michael (1998).
516:Moral Epistles Volume 1
254:likely as early as the
187:Medieval cups and balls
1256:Hugard's Magic Monthly
840:"This Is A Nice Trick"
732:McFalls, E.M. (1997).
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748:"Don Alan - Chop Cup"
470:Osborne, Tim (1937).
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124:acetabula et calculi
77:is a performance of
27:Magic illusion trick
1373:Midnight ghost show
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580:Beni Hassan Part II
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362:Penn & Teller
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1143:Equivocation
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332:Paul Daniels
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1234:Periodicals
1010:Conventions
323:Al Wheatley
217:Owan-Gaeshi
98:wrote that
1305:The Sphinx
1167:Guidebooks
1138:Levitation
1131:techniques
1129:Tricks and
1095:Mathemagic
1085:Escapology
1070:Children's
1054:techniques
1000:Assistants
872:31 January
850:31 January
438:2020-03-17
409:References
357:Clear Cups
350:shell game
348:The three
344:Shell game
303:Johnny Fox
292:Dai Vernon
152:thimblerig
108:shell game
42:Johnny Fox
1332:Magicians
1223:Conjuring
1060:Cardistry
559:cite book
553:. London.
405:in 2004.
50:gibeciere
1388:Category
1347:Timeline
1284:Magigram
1263:The Jinx
1105:Platform
1015:Exposure
948:23638353
790:and the
774:Archived
432:Archived
328:Don Alan
317:Chop cup
243:–
18:Chop Cup
1361:Related
1337:Museums
1291:Mahatma
1202:(1928–)
1064:history
1045:Bizarre
993:General
939:3628988
922:: e19.
802:YouTube
770:YouTube
752:YouTube
258:period.
241:
237:
118:History
1352:Tricks
1226:(1992)
1218:(1975)
1210:(1961)
1194:(1902)
1186:(1876)
1178:(1584)
1120:Street
1110:Séance
1100:Mental
1090:Gospel
1038:Genres
1020:Stores
946:
936:
868:. FISM
278:
270:Baijiu
247:
1315:Lists
1277:Magic
1249:Genii
1115:Stage
1005:Clubs
915:PeerJ
79:magic
1080:Coin
1050:Card
944:PMID
874:2013
852:2013
565:link
397:FISM
383:The
274:e.g.
245:1046
239:1600
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924:doi
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