Cups & Balls

Want to keep them at the dinner table even AFTER dessert? Then join Magician Ryan Oakes as he shows you a new spin on the classic Cups & Balls trick! All you need is some Dinner Table Magic and Activity TV!

3 cups
4 small paper balls

SOMETIMES WE USE MATERIALS THAT REQUIRE ADULT SUPERVISION…LIKE SCISSORS SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY AROUND WHENEVER YOU DO MAGIC TRICKS!

1. To prepare, make four small balls out of construction or notebook paper. Simply tear a sheet into fourths and ball up each fourth. All four balls must be exactly the same size.
2. Take out your three cups. Secretly place one of the four balls into one of the cups. Place that cup into another one of the cups and the final cup into the cup with your secret ball inside of it, sandwiching it in. Place your remaining three balls into the last cup.
3. To perform the trick, empty the three balls in the top cup out onto the table and line them up for your audience to see.
4. Next show them each cup, pulling each out from the bottom of the stack and turning it down on the table, re-stacking it. If done correctly, the gravity and momentum of your hand will keep the ball from falling out of the cup. It may take practice to do it quickly enough.
5. Separate the cups again just as you did for step 4, only instead of re-stacking, turn each one down behind one of the balls on the table. Again, gravity and momentum should keep the fourth one from falling out. Be sure the cup with the hidden ball is behind the middle ball on the table.
6. Place the first ball on your left on top of the bottom of the center cup. Cover it with the other two cups and snap your fingers.
7. Tilt all of the cups up together to reveal the hidden ball underneath them. Your audience will think the ball you placed on top of the first cup magically melted through to the bottom!
8. Repeat step 5 to place the cups back down on the table, placing the cup with the new secret ball inside over the original secret ball in the center.
9. Place the ball on your right over the center cup. Cover it again with your other two cups and snap.
10. Lift the cups to reveal two balls underneath. It will look like the second ball has melted through to join the first!
11. Repeat steps 5 through 7 with the final ball to make it look like all of the balls have melted through the cups! You can even mix things up by placing the balls in different cups to really wow your audience.