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The cups and balls is a classic performance of magic with innumerable adaptations. The effect known as ''acetabula et calculi'' was performed by Roman conjurers as far back as two thousand years ago.〔Seneca's 45th Epistle to Lucilius: "Sic ista sine noxa decipiunt quomodo praestigiatorum acetabula et calculi, in quibus me fallacia ipsa delectat. Effice ut quomodo fiat intellegam: perdidi lusum." translates to "Such quibbles are just as harmlessly deceptive as the juggler's cup and dice, in which it is the very trickery that pleases me. But show me how the trick is done, and I have lost my interest therein."〕 One popularly circulated picture, thought to date from 2500 B.C. from the walls of a burial chamber in Beni Hasan, Egypt,〔The Illustrated History of Magic by Milbourne and Maurine Christopher (2006)〕 shows two men kneeling over four inverted bowls. It was taken by early Egyptologists Wilkinson〔Wilkinson, J.G., ''The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, Vol II,'' new edition in 3 volumes revised and corrected by Samuel Birch. John Murray, London 1878〕 and Newberry〔Newberry, Percy, ''Beni Hassan Part II.'' Egypt Exploration Fund, London 1893〕 as evidence that the cups and balls effect, or its related deceptive gambling game, thimblerig, possibly dates back to Ancient Egypt. Because of its context, modern Egyptologists regard the image as a game using pots〔Decker, Wolfgang, ''Sports and Games of Ancient Egypt,'' translated by Allen Guttman. The American University in Cairo Press, 1993, pp. 123, 124〕 or cups〔Kanawati, Naguib, and Woods, Alexandra, ''Beni Hassan - Art and Daily Life in an Egyptian Province.'' Supreme Council of Antiquities Press, Cairo 2010, p.43〕 but details of the game are unknown. The illustration is unique in ancient Egyptian art, so whether or not the game utilizes sleight of hand trickery may never be known unless a future discovery produces a similar image in a more explanatory context. The most widely performed version of the effect uses three cups and three small balls. The magician makes the balls 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, and even a combination of the different final loads. Most magicians tend to prefer fruit, as each one is different in shape and size, thus increasing the element of surprise.〔The Magic Book by Lydia Darbyshire (2002)〕 A typical cups and balls routine includes many of the most fundamental effects of magic: the balls can vanish, appear, transpose, reappear and transform.〔 Basic skills, such as misdirection, manual dexterity, and audience management are also essential to most cups and balls routines. As a result, mastery of the cups and balls is considered by many as the litmus test of a good magician. Indeed the late magic authority, John Mulholland, wrote that no less a person than Harry Houdini had expressed the opinion that no one could be considered an accomplished magician until he had mastered the Cups and Balls.〔See introduction to Cups and Balls Magic by Tim Osborne (1937)〕 Professor Hoffman called the cups and balls "the groundwork of all legerdemain".〔Modern Magic by Professor Hoffman (1878)〕 Instead of cups, other types of covers can be used, such as bowls or hats. The classic shell game con is a rogue-variant of the cups and balls.〔"shell game". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/539702/shell-game〕 ==Performance and variations== A basic routine is to start with a ball secretly concealed, the cups being nested in a stack. The three cups are set down in a line with the concealed ball being now under the center one. One of three visible balls is put on top of the center 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. (There is now a new ball secretly concealed in the center cup). Again the cups are set in a line, the middle cup covering the ball which has already penetrated making two balls there, while the audience thinks there is only one ball. Another of the visible three 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 at which time there is a ball still secretly concealed in the cups, and the performer is ready to go into the next phase . For a sleight of hand routine, a typical move is to transfer a ball from the right to the left hand, really retaining it hidden in the right. A cup is then lifted to show there is nothing underneath and when it is put down, the hidden ball is released under the cup. The ball is now shown to have "vanished" from the left hand, and the cup lifted to show the ball has "traveled" there . In skilled hands, the illusion is perfect. Many other secret moves are possible. These include the loaded lift where a ball is pressed against the side of the cup with the little finger as it is lifted, effectively showing the cup empty, and an extraction steal where the cup is set down over a ball but the little finger removes it at the last moment before the cup comes down. In this way, the performer is always ahead of his audience; the appearance and vanish of balls being quite miraculous. It must be stressed however, that the actual performance of these moves convincingly takes months and years of study and practice. In the basic effect, often three balls are on view, but as noted above there may be a secret fourth or fifth ball which the audience doesn't know about. The balls are made of soft material so you can't hear if a secret ball is in the metal cups . At the end of the effect, the performer will often "load" large balls or fruit inside the cups for the climax. A load is a secret move which puts the object inside the cup, usually when the audience is misdirected. The cups and balls is the epitome of all magic tricks, because it incorporates a plethora of magical sleights integrating the gamut of sleight of hand techniques used in the art of prestidigitation. Many magicians have used this effect in magic competitions and won, due to their skill in performing this trick, as well as the fact that it depicts such a wide range of magical skill. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cups and balls」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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