Кубки и шары: История и секреты иллюзии.

Magic illusion trick

The cups and balls is a performance of magic 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. 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 shell game con is a rogue variant of the cups and balls used as a confidence trick.

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 (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.

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 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.

In 1584 Reginald Scot wrote The Discoverie of Witchcraft, 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.

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 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, The movements of the Japanese routine are based on Japanese classical dance. There is a display to show the bowls used called "Owan Gaeshi" 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 props used consisted of a fan, mat, and between two and six bowls, with between three and ten beans. The most common numbers being two bowls with three or five beans. Dai Vernon's student, Michael Ammar, 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. 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 fruit. and was immediately copied by magicians all over the world. Paul Daniels' 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.

The three shell game 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 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.

The magic duo Penn & Teller performs a 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.

The Latimer Clear Cups And Balls is an illusion, created and performed by American illusionist Jason Latimer. 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 International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM), and on US television on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2004.