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. 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. He describes the routine with three or four balls, and as many covers. He recommends using candlesticks with a hollow underneath, or bowls, or salt cellars covers to cover the balls. In 1584 Reginald Scot wrote The Discoverie of Witchcraft, within which he describes tricks with balls. 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. Again the cups are set in a line, the middle cup covering the ball which has already penetrated. With a tap of the wand, the three cups are lifted, revealing that the ball has "penetrated" the cup. 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. Many magicians use fruit, as each one is different in shape and size, thus increasing the element of surprise. 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 (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. The most widely performed version of the effect uses three cups and three small balls. Ĭhristian Farla performs Cups and Balls on stage. The shell game con is a rogue variant of the cups and balls used as a confidence trick. Instead of cups, other types of covers can be used, such as bowls or hats. Professor Hoffman called the cups and balls "the groundwork of all legerdemain". Magician John Mulholland wrote that Harry Houdini had expressed the opinion that no one could be considered an accomplished magician until he had mastered the cups and balls. 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. Basic skills, such as misdirection, manual dexterity, sleight of hand, and audience management are also essential to most cups and balls routines. A typical cups and balls routine includes many of the most fundamental effects of magic: the balls can vanish, appear, transpose, reappear and transform. Street gambling variations performed by conmen were known as Bunco Booths. The cups and balls is a performance of magic with innumerable adaptations. Notice the person on the far left is stealing a man's purse while he is distracted by the game Hieronymus Bosch: The Conjurer, 1475–1480.
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