Balls, Eggs, Dice & Cups in Magic & Conjuring: page 2

There has always been a shortage of books on billiard ball routines, but here is one on that subject you will enjoy using. Not only has Garcia set forth many facets of ball material, but they are clearly and beautifully illustrated by Harvan, who is an excellent manipulator himself. The material on routining is followed by handling of the ball and shell, then a Master Routine, The One to Five Slow Motion Production, Bilious Balls, Strictly One Hand, One to Four With Solid Balls, Advice and Thoughts on Balls, Simple Golf Ball Routine, all very well explained. Many illustrations.

1st edition...

Contains twelve routines, plus a whole section by Al Goshman, King of the Sponge Balls. Featured is the famous Senator Crandall routine which Don Alan did for Ed Sullivan.

Other routines include: Ghost Balls, Three Ball Trick, Big and Little Balls, Silver and Sponges, Leaping Leprechauns, Passe Passe Sponges, Spicy Sponges, Crandall's Original Routine, Gen. Grant's Favorite, Surprise Finish for Rabbit Routine, Multi-ball, etc.

Tricks range from beginner's stuff to those for the expert. A little practice makes it possible for anyone to learn sponge tricks.

• Goshman's Sponge Routine
• The Ghost...

A marvelous trick featured by many of the greats in magic. In effect a piece of paper is crumpled up and bounced on a fan. Visibly it assumes the shape of an egg - a full-sized egg - and this is removed from the fan and broken into a glass to prove genuine.

This special manuscript tells you all you need to know about this famous trick. The correct way to make the special egg at home and the correct way to store it. Various steals, types of fan to use, lead-up and follow-up tricks, etc., etc. A very valuable publication on this subject.

1st edition 1958, PDF 7 pages.

The greatest ebook on dice work ever written for the magician. A complete manual of dice manipulation from the magic angle. Reputation making tricks. A wealth of content, including the Great Dice Stack in which four dice on the table are covered with a dice cup. Performer slides cup in a swinging motion, with its mouth against the table, then lifts it, and the dice are piled in a perfect upright stack! Featured by the famous John Paul, John Platt and many other close up men.

Also includes dice transposition, a dice and hat routine, holdout, They're Loaded, 3 dice and a coin, etc. Complete...

You get detailed instructions with numerous illustrations and full patter to two wonderful classic routines, the egg bag and the four aces.

27 pages.

This is one of the best explanations of the Three Shell Game or Thimble Rig including 24 moves and 3 full routines. Jack Lamonte has drawn 86 clear illustrations to make studying the moves and routines a lot easier.

Excerpt from the introduction:

[Note: You will also be able to download a facsimile version of this manuscript.]

1st edition 1959, 30 pages; 1st digital edition 2013, 49 pages....

From the introduction:

This ebook is a compilation of the following titles:

• A Practical Lesson in Cups and Balls
• Advanced Lessons in Cups and Balls
• Last Word on Cups and Balls
• My Favorite Routine with Cups and Balls

Over sixty...

This was originally distributed with a couple of gaming shells from India. This ebook does not include any such shells, just the instructions.

Gaming shells are used as a kind of die substitute. Due to their shape, they can land one of two ways. Typically several such shells are cast and then all the ones landing in the same orientation are counted. Several tricks using these shells are explained.

• The Sure One in Four
• The Silent Call
• Mystic Twenty
• The Coin and the Shell
• Hypnotising a Matchbox
• Burning Water
• The Strange Live Spirit
• Disproving a Theory
• Psycho Crime Detection
• Transmutation ...

Mainly billiard balls but also thimbles, cards, coins and silks.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Billiard Balls
  • The Production Drop
  • The Best Change-Over Palm
  • An Easy Transfer Palm
  • Twist-Over Acquitment
  • Vanish from a Full Hand
  • A Colour Change in the Fist
  • The Fadeaway Vanish
  • The Enlarged Ball
  • The Drop Vanish
  • A Ball Passes Continuously From Hand to Hand
  • Color Change on Palm
  • Improvement on Standard Acquitment
  • Four Billiard Balls to a Cannon Ball
• Thimbles
  • A "Steal" Thimble Vanish
  • The "In and Out" Thumb Vanish
  • Vanish of Two Thimbles
• Coins
  • Special Coin Tourniquet
• Cards ...

This ebook is a treat for any magic historian as well as for anybody who likes to learn more about the history of the cups and balls. A collection of 20 woodcuts, copper engravings and oil paintings from the 15th and 16th century depicting conjurers with cups and balls is described in great detail by Kurt Volkmann, the president of the German Magic Circle from 1952-1958.

For example, you will find the famous oil painting "The Juggler" by Hieronymus Bosch as well as an imitation and a very similar copper engraving. Read what we can learn from the various depictions of the cups and balls. One...

You will not only learn the classic multiplying ball effect but also how to make the necessary props yourself, and in particular how to make the most important half-shell yourself.

The perfection of the effect does require skill, but the ardent practitioner will achieve success without great difficulty.

Excerpt from the Introduction:

Just as Don presented it on TV. The move is so good you'll fool yourself. This trick had a lot to do with Don Alan's success on TV and in countless personal appearances. In fact, the very first time Don had a chance to do a trick for anyone connected with TV - in this case the director of a new show - he performed this effect. He was hired at once and began his long and sensational career. It's that good.

This beautiful routine uses a brass bowl (not supplied), or a single cup from your regular Cups and Balls set. The cup is not gimmicked in any way. Also needed are four sponges, which...

This is not an ordinary Cups & Balls routine. In this routine the balls are three different colors. The cups are ordinary, yet many magicians will suspect a chop cup set. This routine is nice for the trade show performer in that it resets instantly.

Includes a bonus routine with the Rub-A-Dub-Dub patter.

1st edition 2009, 35 pages, photo illustrated.

David Devlin has come up with a very whimsical and clever effect that is simple to do and a blast to perform. This effect uses dice that are printed by the U.S. Playing Card Company. These are not normal dice. These dice have card suits and card values printed on them. They are called Poker Dice. These are readily available any place that games are sold and are very inexpensive. This is a great trick for use in walk around and restaurant performing.

Here is the effect: The performer brings out a deck and casually gives it a few cuts. A spectator gives the deck a cut but does not complete...

Inspired by the name of a Dave Mayer routine entitled The Black Spotted Wooden Egg referenced by name only in a 1989 IBM Ring report, I constructed this five-minute routine for the venerable die box that has now entertained audiences for two decades. Between two volunteers acting out their parts on stage, and the entire audience creating the sound effects necessary for the story, no one is left without a part to play in this routine. It just might bring your die box out of the drawer.

1st edition 2018, length 7 min

D. Terelmes is a performer who admits he tends to overthink things. He's been performing the chop cup for close to 40 years. Contained are his pet peeves on what he believes other performers (even top pros) are doing wrong when presenting the chop cup. You won't find any new sleights or new moves. Instead you might find a nugget or few that will change your approach as to how YOU perform and routine the chop cup.

He hopes to take the chop cup from the "obvious" trick that some consider it to be, to the miracle it can be; one that withstands repeat performances at street festivals and haunted...

Dennis writes:

Another beautiful classic of Tony Slydini is explained and taught in detail by Dennis Barlotta. Four paper balls vanish and in the end, miraculously appear in a box or hat shown empty. Slydini performed this routine since about 1915. The paper balls he rolled from napkins or tissue paper were the 'sponge' balls at the time sponge balls did not exist.

You will learn the proper way to make a paper ball from a paper napkin such that the ball will not unravel during the performance.

You will learn concepts such as 'the body takes the hand', 'leave and take', 'reach the take', 'coordinated movements',...

Slydini's Paper Balls Over the Head routine is one of the most entertaining routines magic has to offer. The audience is in stitches because they are in on the trick. The only person not knowing what is going on is the volunteer on the stage. He or she is totally amazed and baffled by the magic happening. Paper balls as big as a fist vanish into thin air right in front of their eyes.

Now you can learn this blockbuster of a routine from a long-time student of Slydini.

1st edition 2023, video 35 min.

A revised and enlarged version of his previous work on this subject. Four dice are tossed on the table, a dice cup put over the first one, and with quick movements, the dice cup is slid over each of the others in turn. Then the cup is lifted, and all four dice are stacked one on top of the other. It is a beautiful close-up trick, easy to learn with the help of this ebook. Many illustrations and dotted here and there with typical Crandall funnies.

1st edition 1974, 18 pages; PDF 25 page.

A sleight-of-hand reference work for cards, coins, billiard balls, and thimbles.

Magic without Apparatus is the first English translation of La Prestidigitation sans Appareils, which has been recognized by authorities on magic as the world's greatest treatise on legerdemain with cards, coins, billiard balls, and thimbles. The French edition elicited such comments as these:

Leo Rullman (Connoisseur of magical literature): "The greatest work on pure sleight-of-hand in any language."

Professor Hoffmann (Author of Modern Magic, More Magic, Later Magic): "A contribution of the first rank to the literature...

This routine appeared in The Art Of Close-Up Magic Vol. 1 written by Lewis Ganson. A Chinese bowl is shown empty and placed mouth downwards on the table, sponge balls appear and multiply repeatedly. Eventually there is a fruit or production. A top class routine that was performed by the late Fred Kaps in his close-up routines. This routine is not difficult to do and is performed by Cameron Francis as part of the Aldo Colombini Tribute series.

Here you have a unique cups and balls routine created by Ken Brooke, using just three cups and three balls with a surprising climax: The production of a fruit or vegetable. This routine is not difficult to do and is performed by Cameron Francis as part of the Aldo Colombini Tribute series.