dice chop cup – MagicShow.Tips

Chop Cup Thoughts

Yesterday I posted about my new sequence for the chop cup, go read that and watch the video before reading this post, as I’m going to write about a few things in that post.

Here’s what I like about that routine:

1: It doesn’t use the standard chop cup move of shaking the cup with the ball, or in this case a die

2: It’s not presented as a “where is the ball,” but as what will happen to it.

3: Once the routine starts, I never go to my pocket.

For me, the big thing is that I want to remove the going to the pocket element during the routine. If you keep going to the pocket, the audience knows that’s where the big ball or die comes from. Don’t fool yourself that repeatedly going to the pocket fools them, they may not have known when you snuck it in there, but they do know where it came from.

-Louie

Learn a Chop Cup Routine

Here’s a simple chop cup routine that you can learn, and do with any standard chop cup.

What I like about this routine, over many chop cup routines, is that I only go to the pocket once, and it’s not immediately before the production of the eight ball.
-Louie

Simple Chop Cup Routine

an eight ball, dice and dice cup for the chop cup magic trick

When I made a small batch of dice chop cups last week, people asked me for a video. Honestly, I thought everyone knew what a chop cup does, but I was wrong. If you don’t know what a chop cup is, it’s a gimmicked cup that will hold out a ball, or in this case dice.

Typically, this is one with one visible ball; however, in routines like my CeeLo routine, it uses three visible dice. How the normal routine goes is that a ball keeps disappearing and reappearing under a cup, then at the end, there’s a giant ball or whatever under the cup.

Here’s a quick video of a chop cup routine that I made for the people who asked:

I was just improving and did this sequence. It’s actually a pretty good sequence; it has a lot of effects.
1: Teleportation: Die goes from pocket to under the cup
2: Penetration: Die goes through the top of the cup
3: Vanish: Die disappears from my hand
4: Production: Eight ball appears

That’s a lot of magic in less than 20 seconds!

-Louie

Dice Cup Chop Cup

Occasionally I’ll make a batch of dice cup chop cups. These are chop cups made from dice cups and use a die instead of a ball.

A dice cup, two dice and an eight ball for the chop cup magic trick

I prefer using a die over a ball for a couple of reasons. First, it makes sense when the cup is a dice cup; all of the props belong together. Next, dice are white, so they are easy to see. Finally, with dice being flat, they don’t roll as much, so you won’t have them roll off the table as easily.

When you use a prop, like a traditional magic chop chop that visually looks like nothing that exists in world, I try to find things that look real to build the trick into. It’s not always possible, but it’s something I try to do. I should mention that there is value in an unusual prop as a presentation hook. For example, my O-Korto Coin Box Routine uses small brass Okito Box style coin boxes. I introduce it as my “Grandma’s Coin Box”, then there are a few jokes that go along with it. There are ways and reasons to use unusual props.

-Louie

Dice Cup Chop Cups!

It’s been a while since I’ve made any chop cups, and yesterday I made a batch of dice cup chop cups. I made these to take to the Portland Magic Jam this weekend.

Internally, there’s not much to it, it’s a magnet in a cup. I 3D print a magnet puck, and cover it with the same material that lines the cup.

Then I make a set of chopped dice, so one is regular, and the other has a magnet load.

I’m going to package these with an 8 Ball for the final load and sell them as a set. If I have any left after the Portland Magic Jam, I’ll offer them for sale here.

-Louie