I think with a few "regular" C & B loads this could be powerful. If we saw this apart from the advertisement and in a performance, not knowing what it was, I wonder if the thinking would be different? I would like to see the loads appear in the middle of the table, and can only think they don't because it may not be possible to build it this way.

Terry

I am sure most audience members will often wonder about the table at some point. How often does any one ask to check it? I wondered about doing C&B on a borrowed table or even on the floor, but both seemed unnecessary and on the floor undignified and impractical.

Would this hold up to having a volunteer (or two) place their finger on top of an empty cup and then discover the ball underneath? The main body of routine could even be performed at another table.

I feel it is wise to keep routining options as open as possible and not rule out anything. I am reminded of Tommy Wonder's wonderful solution to the borrowed watch in nest of boxes!

In tommy wonder's effect the misdirection is build in. I don't think you can do this without the misdirection.

Well, I love it! It's better than "Anything Floats".
I think it's mostly wasted on cups and balls though.

True and possibly not.

Used subtly, I think this could be a fantastic addition. Ironically, still going to the pocket, lol. It'd be better if you didn't need the drape around the edge of the table.

Hey thanks for the feedback guys!

An array of very interesting points of view which makes the Café so great. But I think its being over analyzed in my opinion. But that's just me and Im sure Im biased having experience using the table first hand for people.

As a labor of love, I feel I would also like to give my thoughts behind the design of this table for what ever they are worth.

I want to clarify, that my video was not a presentational video of the table, but rather a commercial or DEMO (demonstration)of what the table is capable of, just to get ideas rolling in a performer's head, and it was designed to be seen by Magicians. Hence I show pushing the button on the remote. I did this, to show what you were buying. I think it was important from a marketing standpoint(lets face it I am running a business) to show how "Easy" it was to make something impossible happen that could not be acheived by regualar slieght of hand(fie: making 3 shot glasses full of liquid appear at once without ever being close to the table or the cups).

A "Final Load Table" Is not new, there have been a few created in the past, the one Bill Palmer talks about(Hi Bill) and I beleive there is another one called "The Final Load" and uses a sping loaded system to make 3 objects appear(appear only) at the end. believe collectors workshop was known to build this spring type table for some also.
However this table takes the concept further and advances it using remote activated electronics but also the ability to not only make an object appear, but also make them vanish! and the table top looks the same before and after. These featires have never been done before.

Bill it was a true pleasure meeting you in Vegas and seeing your cups and balls collection, and talking with you over the years, and I consider you a true friend and artist. But I don't think your one comment is very fair when you say: "However, I think this table is an example of what happens when an illusionist or a mechanic approaches the cups and balls."
The truth is Bill, I didn't approach this concept. Hans Schmid (a cups and balls worker) approached the concept. It was his idea to have an electronic remote activated final load table built for his show. It was not an Illusionist or a Mechanic's idea or approach, it was a cups and balls worker. What I did do, is figure out a way to make it come to life. Hans came to me and said can you build a table that is electronic that does this, I told him nothing is impossible. He had a use in mind for the table, its not like I said hey I need to build something for the cups and balls market, and here is my take on it. that's not what happend here, thus I think that your example is an incorrect one in this instance.

You must look at what the table is. It is a tool, it is up to the performer to make it magical. All my video is intended to do is show you what that tool is capable of.

You do not need to put the cups down slowly like I did in the video, I only did that, to go VERY SLOW for the magicians and the camera so you could see that the cups were CLEARLY empty and there was CLEARLY no sleight of hand. If I went fast, people would complain about that too Im sure. The truth is, as long as you are close to being over the load area, the objects will push themselves into place under the cups. Again this demo was shot for magicians, it was not a performance video. Also once the object appears under the cup, slide them forward if you wish then do the reveal in the center if that's your issue, or if you are concernd about the objects appearing at the back third. But to be honest, When I perform close up magic on a table most of my work is always done on the back area(espeicially true for people who use lap ditching). It can be awkward looking and awkward performing at the very front of a table in my opinion. Also many cups and balls performers use the back area also, so I wanted it to work for those performers too.

I also disagree about the skirt, this table looks like the majority of other magic tables that performers have been using for decades, so I think laymen are used to seeing a table like this, it doesn't seem out of place is what I am saying, heck Ive been using and building a side table for 20 years now: http://www.masterofillusions.ca/master_o......able.htm
And never once have I had anyone comment or question the skirt.
I honestly don't think that is a factor, and it sure beats the heck out of a giant wooden box with a dragon or clown painted on it... But this only my opinion formed from 20 years of my own personal experience. But I can always do custom work, if you wanted, I can build the mech into a different table too. This is not a mass produced item, so I am able to customize it to fit a specific performer's need. Im just trying to show and demonstrate the technology.

Also the size of the objects are limited by the standard model, but I can custom make this table to suit different objects and performers. Im building one for a juggler's large balls(that sounds rude), and one for a Giant Hershey Kiss to appear as a give away at the end of a routine, I made one that only had 1 giant load, and one for a performers JUMBO cups and balls routine. Again, I can do custom work if you want to use bigger objects or something specific.

As GDW says, the table is not meant to be used as a single trick, it is meant to be used as a normal table then just at the right moment you make something impossible happen, like making 3 shot glasses of liquid appear, that was never possible with standard slight of hand. The table won't work as a stand alone trick in my opinion, it needs to be involved in a bigger picture, and used just once at the right time to create a truly baffling magical moment, and that is important to realize before you pass judgement on this table in my opinion. But its only my opinion. And I think this type of effect of making 3 glasses of liquid appear or vanish dispells any sort of "Trap Door" theory also. No laymen I showed this to even thought that for an instance, I guess because the couldn't fathem the idea of something so advanced like that being built into a table. I think the fact I am no where near the table and the objects appear and vanish also dispells the trap door theory in something so small scaled like this(Its not stage). If one thinks about it logically, a trap door method will also seem quite impossible. I know many magician's who know, but still can't tell me exactly "How" this works. They now how, but they don't know how, if that makes sense. Once a laymen tries to backward engineer this in their head with a trap door theory, bang, Ive got em, they are baffled. Everyone I talk to thinks the cups and balls are done with sleight of hand anyway, so is that any better? However combine this table and sleight of hand, and now you have a miracle that can dispell any theory with the right performer.

When I was asked to create this table, I was excited about advancing the art in some tiny way, and that's what I tried to do with the table, create something that would allow a performer to do something that was never possible before with standard move, and create an impossible magical moment. Some of you will not see this as effective tool to create that, while others will. Regardless, Im proud of the table, and the smiles it will and has put on a lot of people's faces, and to me that's magic.

I know many may disagree with me, but I thought I would share my thoughts anyway on the "whys" involved in the production.
Thanks for all the feedback!

P.

An excellent response, Mr. Loughran. I think that everything you say is right.



That is a very important point, is it not? Someone once said something to the effect that the sign of genius is the willingness to go to any length to create the effect. I think many of us tend to over-do every single thing we do. Having worked on a move, or having set up a piece of equipment, whether simple or complex, we tend to use it too many times at one go. How much more powerful so many moves or gimmicks would be, if they were used more sparingly, and more discreetly.

I think it is up to the performer to devise a routine in which something very special possible with the use of this table would be deployed to its greatest effect.

I think the basic concept could be used in conjunction with other methods, to help create amazing effects. A few are popping into my head, already. I wouldn't limit ideas to having things appear on the table top.

What about making the table four legged like a sort of parlour table and a little larger without the skirt and using the thiner edge illusion that is now common with the "girl sawed in three parts". The present surface could appear to be a sort of large close up mat... acting a bit like the newspaper under the chair in Buatier de Kolta's Vanishing Lady.
If the special surface seemed distinct from the table, it wwouold constitute some form of misdirection regarding the table itself.

Now, Mr. Peter Loughran, your marketing option for your trailer was a marketing mistake: redo the video with a very good performer having an image of sleight of hand artist and do a Unique Selling Proposition. The versatility of the table should be explained in detail on your site but not on your trailer. It's just a misconception of what advertisement is about: it's not about describing everything that whatever is advertised can do for the viewer, it's to make him dream sufficiently violently for his emotional decision to be gained and then rationalized whever the sale is made. Just a friendly tip: redo the marketing video and take this one off BUT place this one on your site for selling purposes with some form of access restriction like "what was the first name of the magician nicknamed The Professor?" or "What was the name of the misdirection master who revived lapping". With this type of procedure, your creation would gain mystery and positive value rather than negative exposure.

Thanks Woland, I appreciate the support.

Alan, would love to hear more.

Thanks for the suggestions Lawrence. I guess some may not agree with the way I marketed this, and I thank you for your suggestions, but I actually got several emails from customers who appreciated me showing what it was exactly they were buying. One comment I had was "I wish all magic producers would do this". I sold out of the first 12 tables I made in a week. I could not of sold anymore evem if I wanted to because I could not make them. So while I understand your point of view, I was actually very happy with my marketing results from a business standpoint, but will certainly look at your suggestions more carefully and take them into consideration for future projects that I release. 2 of the pros that bought this table are planing on using them in TV appearances and both have offered the use of the video footage afterwards like many of my customers do for me, and so I will in all likelyhood be adding videos of the pros using this table on television to my website. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions with me, I appreciate it very very much.

As for changing the skirt, yes as I said above in my post, I can custom make this into any style of table one would like, just tell me what you want and I will build it. Like I said these are not mass produced, they are built on order now, and I am always willing to do custom work as I often do for many customers.

Best,

Peter

I have *never*, in the thousands of times I've done the C&B, had ANYONE mention or look for a trap door in my table.

In the cups, yes... which is why I hand them out for examination before the routine, and after.

But the table? Sorry, not in my experience. If they're looking at the table, you're doing something to lead them to look there.

But if you use this table? I think they would like to have a check on it.

I partly agree with djkuttdecks's idea
If most people think magic can be done this way, we'd better to do another way except we can make them believe that it doesn't work like what they have thought.
Someone above mentioned Tommy Wonder's customer's watch into a Clock. This is a good example. In my first feeling, I think it must be a duplicate, and finally I am killed because it isn't. I never suspect there might be a trap door because if there is a trap door, how can he load the watch in SUCH a clock?
I think I would never know his method if he didn't publish it.
SO,back to the table. It's suspective enough and no other details in it. If the table worked 50 or 100 years ago, it "might" be great but not so good now. If work with this table and once the "trap door" come to audience's mind, the magic is over because it can't be checked.

Maybe use it on the stage can be a little better, just a little.

Using a gimmicked table is to trivial.

I have had many times people look under the table, they don't exactly check it but they can't figure out where the balls are coming from so look at the bottom. It usually happens during the loading sequence when I put a ball away only to have it return. I explain to them that there is a magical connection between the cups and the balls and thus they always return. If you use the Vernon, Gazzo, "I cheat" explanation then you have exposed the method and thus they have no reason to suspect the table has trap doors. Of course I am also using a servante that is attached to my table and that may also have an effect on why they suspect the trap door as a logical explanation for the continual return of the balls.

Such an old post, but I just got to say.. How clever must the mechanism be under that table to do what it does! Imagine yourself trying to figure out how it can be done, mechanically to Open the table flap, put the ball in place, close the flap. Trust me as an engineer myself, not an easy task.
Nobody here seems to give credit to Peter for the ingenuity and engineering of this table. Hats off to Peter.