Reviews: Read What Tom Yates Is Saying

Slam - and other pet peeves about the Chop Cup

reviewed by Tom Yates (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 30 August, 2019)

I am sorry to say that this was a disappointment for the money. I don't mind paying for a magician's notes when they offer something substantive about his spin on an effect. I was rather hopeful that the "pet peeves" here would be instructive, but they don't offer much that anyone who has performed the Chop Cup has wondered about--and perhaps already changed himself. The routine the author performs is presented in good detail, but there isn't much new about it. A major disappointment in the routine he offers is the initial premise of the chop cup process being a "con". I already do the Three Shell Game; I have a con routine. The Chop Cup needs to get away from the contest/challenge idea, even when the challenge is benign, as in John Mendoza's famous routine.

I also find it slightly ironic that the author dislikes the "slam", and yet uses a Don Alan cup. Don was the master of the loud slam, especially at the end of his routine with the final loads--not to take away from the quality production of the cup itself, of course.

Note: the 28-page pdf contains a number of inserted blank pages.