cups and balls
Sleight-of-hand staple
Cups and balls is a classic magic trick in which small balls appear, vanish, and move between overturned cups.
The illusion relies on sleight of hand and misdirection, making it a foundational skill for close-up magicians.
Versions of the trick date back thousands of years, appearing in ancient Egyptian and Roman accounts.
- magicSupernatural or illusory power
- magic trickPerformed feat seeming impossible
- sleight of handSkillful manual deception
- sleightDexterous trickery
- trickDeliberate deception
conjuring · prestidigitation · shells · shell game · peas · three card monte · vanish · appear · palming · misdirection · illusion · magician · Penn and Teller · street · street performer · performance · hidden · reveal
- magic propsmagic wand, wand, top hat, cards, playing cards
- street consshell game, three card monte, three-card monte, thimblerig, find the lady
- cup magicshells, pea, peas, thimbles, shell game
- sleight of handpalming, misdirection, vanishes, passes, steals