Since forever, this has been a classic in magic. It is my favorate peice of magic to perform.

Why, because it has everything a magician is expected to do. Amze, vanishes, reappearences, JUMBO loads (mine has limes, followed by lemons followed by full shotglasses). Why is it so effective, because you are watching these three balls, and then suddenly there are limes under the cups, then lemons, then shot glasses.

then the audience wonders, how did that ball get back under that cup, W.T.F, where did the limes come from, where did the lemons come from.

It is essentially the perfect routine, it packs small, plays big.
Yes, in order to make this classic look beautiful to your specs, you need to practice until you can perform it like second nature. It took me two months to perfect my routine.

was it worth waiting two months before performing it for people...ABSOLUTELY, the reactions are priceless.

I can't remeber who said it, i think it was dai vernon, but "Unless you can successfully perform the cups and balls, your not a magician".

First, the routine should end at lemons. Full shot glasses aren't as impressive as lemons, as they aren't very big.

Second, Houdini said that quote.

Third, it doesn't pack small, unless you're using some plastic cups you got in some magic set.

Fourth, what is the audience thinking? Where you keep the lemons, or where they came from?

Other than that, I agree with everything else you said. However, it's not much of an essay, but more of a testimonial.

I am not really big on essays, so i magically made it a testimonial

I also should have explained the reason i ended with Shot glasses, is because i did this from behind the bar at the resteraunt i work at. I said at the end Would anyone like a lemon lime and bitters drink. Joke intended ( and the bitters came last when saying the drink, oh well).
Well, It was new years, and i wanted to suprise the people that had already seen the trick before, i got great reactions.

Usually My routine ends with just lemon or lime productions, sometimes I write over the three lemons or limes "Thanks for Watching" which people seem to like, but that night i decided to do something a little different.

And it does pack small, i have a set from bazaar de magia, in a velvet bag, it is roughly the same size as the penguin cups, only not copper, they are aluminium with a chop cup combo. They are not as heavy as the copper cups, which is why i like them, i just found them easier to perform with, some like the heavier, well i don't.

Obviously, if you are doing a bit of walk around, you don't want to be carrying your set, but for me, i usually have a table set up, so for me it packs small, and does not take too much room in my magic case.

and as i said, i thought dai vernon said that quote, i was not too sure.

The size of loads has been a debate amongst Cups and Balls afficionados forever.

The conclusion that many have come to, which I agree with, is that it is NOT the size of the load. It is how it plays into the routine, and how different it is.

For instance, if you just do 3 limes, then 3 lemons, and 3 shot glasses. It's impressive, but it's overkill. You're just making things appear. However, what if you said something like 'Y'know, I've been doing the routine a bit sloppy tonight since I've had a little too much to drink...' and then produce the 3 full shot glasses?

That was more directed to Davidcon than Maverick, since I'm sure you have your own way of doing it.

But shape, color, how it plays into the routine, and how 'different' it is are much more important than size. You definitly seem to know your stuff, Maverick, and congratulations on being able to do the full shot glass loads, as those really DO seem to be impossible!

Anotehr note on final Loads:

There are two types, both work so it just depends what you want.

1) You can either make things grow, ie have the small balls be miniature baseballs, then make a normal sized baseball as the final load.

2) You can make something completely rediculous appear, ie a lemon.

Ben Winter

I feel that in a 3 cup routine, big balls is all you need as a final load.
If you are doing a chop cup routine or something that uses one cup, I feel a shot glass or an oversized ball that doesnt fit into the cup is the best final load.
In my pool chop cup routine, I produce a large 1 ball, then a large 8 ball and last a shot glass, because it fits the routine.