Hey guys,
It's been a while since I've last posted here on the Café.
So, I recently became really interested in the idea of billiard ball manipulations, I just have a couple questions.
First of all, are the billiard balls actual real billiard balls, or are they a gimmick of some sort?
and also, what is the best resource to begin learning this type of manipulation? Can be a DVD, or a book, doesn't matter to me.
Thanks very much guys,

Mor

I suggest you purchase Levent Billiard Ball DVDs for learning.

You can use real billiard balls if you care to, but they are kind of heavy, most magicians use the wood or silicon billiard balls sold by magic dealers. There is only one gimmick, but you do not have to use it if you don't want to, it can make the routine easier and more magical though.

Depending on your hands and the condition of them, will help as to which you chose. Typically, wood balls are more difficult to use then the silicon balls.

Next you have to choose a size, if you are not going to use real billiard balls. Billiard balls come in varying sizes up to 2.25 inches.

Good luck and have fun with them.

There is a nice Billiard Ball Routine that starts with empty hands in Bruce Elliot's The Classic Secrets Of Magic. Being a short chapter that's easy to read I think it is probably an ideal place to start.

Once you've learned and mastered that if you want to progress onto the in the hands multiplication to 8 balls then take a look at Patrick Page's Big Book Of Magic, where he teaches you how to do 8.

I think the best DVD is Levents DVD.A lot of people tell that the best balls for this are Fakini balls. I don't know much about them though.
Yes you can do a lot of tricks without the gimmick. But gimmick makes anything more magical in my eyes. A good routine that I can advice to look for some inspiration is Norbert Ferres FISM act if I m not wrong. I am sure that he performed it in Le Grand Plus Cabaret Du Mode and it will be easy to find in youtube. BY the way he does not include any gimmicks in his routine.
Hope this helped you a little bit.

I think Ball Manipulation is a lost art like liquid tricks and silk magic.

When I'm at the Castle, wandering the halls, I never see anyone else doing anything with balls - they don't know what they're missing. It's possible to do several entertaining minutes with just 2 balls and a silk. You don't need to be on the stage.

What Jay doesn't mention is his great video on Ball Manipulation. It is a must have!

Other than Levent's set, you may also consider McBride's manipulation series on ball, coin and thimble.

Fakini is definitely a good choice. Remember to buy a few spare gimmicks though, as you may need them for some routines.

Tim Wright's DVD would be a good starting point. I started with a routine from the Mark Wilson Course, as well as Elliot's The Classic Secrets Of Magic.

When I started, money was tight. I started with an S.S. Adams set, went to some Goshman Multiplying Sponge Balls (an excellent disposable set that's inexpensive), went to a 2" wooden set of German billiards in white and finally got some Fakini sets.

Care must be taken with the Fakini sets so that the gimmick doesn't peel from the edges. I'd store it in a container, separate from the balls, cushioned with tissue. I wish the old style of gimmicks was still made - one piece in plastic. I have some of the old style gimmicks for my own use. Fakini is the way to go, when you're ready to spend the money for a durable set.

I started with ping-pong balls can you imagine how difficult it was??? Though I mastered Mark Wilsons routine with ping-pong balls.

I would recommend, ImpromptuBoy, that you first read one of the books recommended by the various posters above. That way you will have some idea of what you're getting into. The fact that you ask "...are the billiard balls actual real billiard balls?" suggests that you are a novice at billiard ball manipulation. My apologies if I err in that assessment. In any case, the first decision you have to make is whether to use wooden balls or silicon balls. Most performers nowadays go with silicon. The wooden balls may even be hard to come by.

The term "billiard ball manipulation" encompasses a wide area, and most of us in this thread are assuming that you specifically mean "multiplying billiard balls" as opposed to the more limited manipulation of a single ball for vanishes and productions, as done by Cardini in the "Festival of Magic DVD."

When I saw Carlo Tornedo performing the billiard balls on a TV show many years ago, I had no idea how he did it and imagined some kind of clever device hidden in his sleeve that delivered the balls into his hands a la some kind of lazy tongs gadget. Then I learned the real secret in Henry Hay's _Amateur Magician's Handbook_. The problem then became... Where can I get a set of balls like the ones described in Hay's book??? Fortunately I learned that there was a magic shop in my city that had magic equipment for everyone from a beginner to pros working in night clubs and that was where I bought my first set of multiplying balls.

Another book I would recommend is _Routined Manipulations, Part II_ by Lewis Ganson, although nowadays you might as well buy the combined Part I and II as listed at Denny and Lee Magic:
http://www.dennymagic.com/products/book/......-ganson/

Chapter 18 of Routined Manipulation Part II is titled "Modern Billiard Ball Manipulation" and is quite possibly the single best introduction to billiard ball manipulation ever written. There is a section titled "The Type and Size of Balls to Use" and it provides a "rule of thumb" (although probably in this case a more apt metaphor might be a "rule of fingers") for determining what size ball to use. Ganson says (page 95): "The rule should be the balls should be as large as the performer can manage comfortably." He then gives "a good test' for determining what "comfortable" size to use, although the test requires that you have access to a brick-and-mortar magic shop where you can go in and actually experiment with different size balls. And that would depend on whether you live near a brick-and-mortar shop. (If you don't live near a brick-and-mortar magic shop, you might try visiting a toy store that has rubber balls of varying diameters that you could experiment with by placing four of them between your fingers to see what size fits your hand. But take a ruler and notepad/pen with you to measure and write down the diameter of the balls.)

As to whether the balls are "gimmicked" or "real balls"--that is best answered in a Private Message since it entails discussing secrets. Suffice for the moment to say that some routines use gimmicked balls and some use ungimmicked balls and some use both, depending on your skill level and personal preference.

I know my comments are somewhat oblique, but that's a necessity in the open forum here. Feel free to send a Private Message if you want details requiring a discussion of secrets and methods.

----- Amado "Sonny" arvaez

If I remember well, in Hilliard's "Greater Magic" is an excellent simple routine for the production of 4 balls, each a different colour, no gimmics.

Pet shops use to have colored soft rubber? balls with a golf like look, light and very easy to manipulate. I still "play" with those (and have "fakinis" too)

BTW, another good book that has a decent, basic introductory billiard ball routine is _Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic_. I would recommend that you buy the complete course--which, although it's called a "course"--is one book. The course was later broken up into a few smaller books with titles like _Mark Wilson's Greatest Close-Up Magic Tricks: More Than Forty Amazing Illusions for Close Examination_ and _Mark Wilson's Greatest Magic Tricks_. But your best bet is to purchase the "Complete Course." (Alan Wakeling, one of the top billiard ball manipulators of all time, was a consultant for Mark Wilson's _Magic Land of Allakazam_ and the routine that I've seen Mark perform on television is based on the Wakeling routine, which in turn was based somewhat on the Roy Benson routine, which I think many people in the Finger/Stage Manipulation forum would consider to be--next to Cardini's routine--the quintessential billiard ball routine. The book _The Magic of Alan Wakeling: The Works of a Master Magician_ by Jim Steinmeyer is another great book that you might consider for your library, but it's a little expensive. It has a routine based on the Roy Benson routine.)

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Cava wrote: "Pet shops used to have colored soft rubber balls with a golf like look, light and very easy to manipulate." IIRC, the Ireland Magic Company actually manufactured three versions of their multiplying golf balls. 1) The first set was white balls with a criss-cross line pattern rather than a traditonal dimple ball pattern. Then they came out with 2) a dimpled ball pattern made of soft rubber balls (but with the same criss-cross sh***). If you look closely at the illustration of Figure 1 on page 644 of _Greater Magic_, you can see the criss-cross pattern. Then they came out with 3) a dimpled ball pattern but this time with a hard rubber ball rather than a soft one. (I've attached a scan of the ireland golf ball showing the criss-cross pattern.) I don't think the average audience, however, would notice that discrepancy.

We've discussed in the Finger/Stage Manipulation section before that technically most "multiplying billiard balls" are _not_ regulation billiard ball size, whereas multiplying golf balls are pretty much the diameter of regulation golf balls. So for purists who aim for "authenticity," maybe multiplying golf balls is the route to take. Also keep in mind the optical advantage of white golf balls. The white surface reflects more light, adding somewhat to the illusion of a ball that is larger than it really is.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Click here to view attached image.

Golf balls evolved over time. Dimples, like we see today, were a later development.