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Hi, I recently bought the Dice Chop cup from SB Magik and it's the first chop cup I've ever had, which in hindsight may have been a bad idea but anyway, I've got it now and I need a little help.

Does anyone else have this cup? In all the chop cup based routines I've seen, the ball is dropped in and seems to naturally seat itself. In this, only 3 of the faces of the die will stick, and even then they have to land square in the middle of the cup.

In trying this out I've found the only way to get it to work is to essentially shake the cup until I see it go into alignment, or until it stops rattling, which clearly would be a little odd during performance.

The instructions give no advice along these lines, and in the outline for the suggested routine it says just to drop it in, nothing about holding it a certain way up or getting it to land in the centre.

I'm a little lost...

-Stacy

Hiya Stacy. What material is the actual cup made out of?
The reason I ask is because I had a similar problem with the Tennis Ball chop cup, which I solved by taking wet tissue and pushing it into the bottom and shaping it so the ball would have no choice but to connect. Once this dried it was solid, then I simply painted it dark to match the inside of the cup and stuck it in with glue.

Often though, shaking the cup can be a desirable side effect as it gives you the opportunity to say "you can hear the die in there, correct?"

Is that the Bourgoin cup? I have that an found a similar problem.

I start the routine introducing the dice cup and putting both the black and white dice in the cup and shaking it, then roll them both and pick em up and do it again, and then a third time quite quickly while pattering about neither being weighted and you can see they're random numbers coming up, then you're ready to start the routine from the book.

They've seen you shake the cup a couple of times so it becomes a formality that every time a dice goes in, it gets a shake. All looks natural for using a dice cup.

When you first drop the chopped dice inside and it's not stuck down tilt your cup and patter about "the dice goes inside" as you show them the dice really is in the cup. Start your shake and explain "and you can hear it ratteling around" once again this seems a simple observation and very fair and natural

I cover the mouth of the cup with my palm and shake up and down rather than whirl the dice around this seems to stick alot easier and you can feel if it's stuck down. If after a quick shake it's not stuck just ask "hear the dice?" as you shake again and that's a very justified reason to give another shake.

Hope this helps a little and makes sense! I'm typing away on my phone so the formatting might look strange sorry.

Best of luck and just experiment, you'll find a knack
of getting it to stick

That's handy advice.

I'll try the up-down shake tonight to see if it helps.

Just to put my mind at ease, is this a problem with all chop cups, or is it specific to the fact that this one uses dice? When I've seen chop cup routines in the past they've never involved rattling the load around.

-Stacy

I've only ever used or made balls and have never had this problem but have always ensured the important bit is in the centre of the sphere. I would guess that the dice (only guessing coz I've never handled one) that the special something is not in the centre of the cube but nearer one side so it has to be at a certain orientation to work.

Dave.

www.madetomeasuremagic.co.uk

Even if it doesn't solve the problem with your cup, you should take a look at this:

http://www.axelhecklau-shop.com/product ... anguage=en

There is no handling issue as you described and you can hand out the die and the cup to the spectators if you want to!

Cheers
Th.

That's handy advice.

I'll try the up-down shake tonight to see if it helps.

Just to put my mind at ease

bingo alert, your new here but we have an inuendo bingo thread which you may have just made, plese except it is in fun.

You have an innuendo thread? That's awesome...

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/sutra402241.php#402241you are now imortalised.

The4thCircle wrote:That's handy advice.

I'll try the up-down shake tonight to see if it helps.

Just to put my mind at ease, is this a problem with all chop cups, or is it specific to the fact that this one uses dice? When I've seen chop cup routines in the past they've never involved rattling the load around.

-Stacy

This is not a problem with all chop cups. But still put your mind at ease. I know why this is happening and it has nothing to do with you. The gimmick in both objects is centered and probably not overly strong so things must line up to work.

Before you run out and buy another (if you plan on that) be aware, you will get all sorts of advice and which to buy and which not. I have come to the conclusion, after many years of experience each chop cup has it's own personality so to speak, even when coming from the same manufacturer.

I disagree with the notion of explaining to your audience that the dice are not weighted. Why even put that notion in your spectators head. If I were to roll them from the cup several times my patter would be something to the effect of lucky numbers, or use a story about your experience in Vegas and how each roll came up with everything but the numbers I needed.

Personally I would figure out a way to make the bloody thing work if I was really attached to the effect.

The4thCircle wrote:Just to put my mind at ease, is this a problem with all chop cups, or is it specific to the fact that this one uses dice? When I've seen chop cup routines in the past they've never involved rattling the load around.

-Stacy

It's just the dice. The shape of them means the special something can't roll to the place it should be and the weight of the object means it's too heavy for that something to work from the bottom of the dice.

That's the trade off for having a dice cup that makes sense to have and doesn't look suspicious and straight out a magic shop. I also like the very congruent loads. I love mine because it fits perfectly with my gambling theme and I use my own routine (all be it heavily influenced from others) to turn it into a crooked gambling routine. Feel free to PM me to discuss my routine further.

As a side note i've looked around for a long time for chopped dice that may be stronger but no luck I'm afraid.

Let me know how you get on with your cup

bmat wrote:I disagree with the notion of explaining to your audience that the dice are not weighted. Why even put that notion in your spectators head. If I were to roll them from the cup several times my patter would be something to the effect of lucky numbers, or use a story about your experience in Vegas and how each roll came up with everything but the numbers I needed.

Double posting here, bad form I know but I just wanted to say thanks for the good advice. I'll be putting this into my routine and already thought up a basic story. Thanks

The4thCircle wrote:
I'll try the up-down shake tonight to see if it helps.

-Stacy

The fact you have your picture as your avatar makes it slightly funnier as everyone can now create the mental picture easier.
I reccomend a cushion if you are going to be doing the headstand version.