Having involved myself with Billiard Balls lately, I have a couple sets of Fakini, as well as some others. My question is, having looked for some time, what the deffintive book, or "bible" on BB's? I've seen a lot of routines, but no real authoritative work. Point me in the right dirrection. Thank you.

"Balls!" by Richard Kaufman is supposed to be, but I have not read it, and good luck trying to find a copy of it. There is also a much older, two-part set by Burling Hull... I do have that, but it is also a bit tricky to find. I have seen them on Ebay from time to time. Mostly, I have acquired a large variety of books, each with a handful of moves, sleights, and routines. Tim Wright has a video (highly acclaimed), but I haven't seen it.

This is an interesting question - not least because I was tearing my hair out a few years ago trying to find a good source for ball manipulation routines.

I suppose Richard Kaufman's book 'Balls: Lessons in side-arm snookery' is one the best references. Out of print now, but copies occasionally appear on eBay - but it's quite rare and as a result they don't come cheap. One went on eBay a week or so ago for about $50, but they can fetch more.

Otherwise you're faced with searching in a variety of places and piecing bits together. I have found that pure billiard routines/tips are rare: much more common to find material on the multiplying balls or ball & cone.

Billiard ball manipulation is quite well done in Bill Tarr's book 'Now You See It, Now You Don't' - it's reasonably priced and has other good stuff in it as well. You might try and find an old copy of 'It's Easier Than You Think' by Geoffrey Buckingham too (though again, a bit scarce); or the Burling Hull books as Michael suggested above. Aldo Colombini has published material on ball manipulation (I have his ball & cone routine which is great; I haven't seen the booklet on the three ball routine). Aldo's stuff may well still be available from Mama Mia Magic.

Your best bet may be video & DVD. Tim Wright's Multiplying Ball's DVD is very good, but as it's name suggests, it deals mainly with that routine. He's a good teacher and the general principles are covered well. Brad Burt has a good video - again mainly dealing with the multiplying balls routine. There's a video-to-DVD conversion of Geoffrey Buckingham's routine called 'Routined Manipulations' - now this deals with plenty of stuff about ball manipulation, including loads and loading. This is definitely worth getting at some stage, but maybe not at first. My personal favourite is the Romaine DVD ('Monarch of Manipulators') - I think that if you got this and maybe the Tim Wright DVD, this would keep you busy.

By the way, there's an excellent comprehensive list of references can be found here:
http://magicref.tripod.com/magref/magball.htm

Good luck.
Best,

Richard

There is a VHS that was put out by Stevens a few years back that
is a goldmine. It was called Shimada Video Training 1. Mind blowing BB work.

Yeah, I forgot all about the Shimada tape! I used that to learn the production of eight with wooden balls. Finally nailed it and used it in a convention show. I'd never bother for laymen. Yikes! What a knucklebuster there!!! He's got some cool one to four and four to one moves that really look awesome!

All those mentioned above are great. I would add the Jeff McBride series on World Class Manipulation for Coins, Balls and Thimbles. Each video teaches progressively more technical manipulations.

Also, Marc Desouza's Stage Magic video has a ball routine.

All this said, I'd go with the McBride videos and the Tim Wright "Balls" video.

Thanks, I do have Wright's DVD, and Shimado's VHS, as well as Tarr's book. And Tarbell has a routine. It just seems that with so many specialized material, Daryl's ACR, Ammar C&B's, etc... someone would have taken up the task. BB's seems to be a real minority out there, maybe?
Though when I see it done, the routines really seem great!

Gregg Webb's CD-ROM (ebook) has tons of Billard Ball routines and ideas. (Plus tons of material using other props.)

Along with Webb's original material, it includes some of Kaufman's routines plus a resurrection of Ade Duval's routine with eight balls.

You can have your favorite dealer obtain the CD from Murphy's Magic Supplies. The title is "The Book That Doesn't Exist...And More!"

For slights and routines you might want to look into the books Routine Manipulation by Lewis Ganson, Classic Secrets of Magic by Bruce Elliot and Tarbel Course in Magic Volume 2.