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Master Course Cups and Balls Review

Volume I

One DVD, $15 bucks and one Master Course Cups and Balls Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Master Course Cups and Balls Review (I): Effect

Um . . . cups and balls . . . duh.

Master Course Cups and Balls Review (I): Method

Um . . . you know . . . the standard methods, etc. Okay . . . lest you think I'm getting lazy here, lemme 'splain. This isn't exactly a DVD of effect/method. This is a study of one particular subject. The methods taught are the standard Cups and Balls methods. False transfers, false puts, false takes, vanishes, appearances, etc. make up the methods. More details to come in the product quality and ad copy section.

Master Course Cups and Balls Review (I): Ad Copy Integrity

Take a minute to look at the ad copy. It gives a good overview of the contents of the DVD. No real claims, per se, are made. It's merely all about "here's what's on the DVD" — just the facts ma'am.

Master Course Cups and Balls Review (I): Product Quality

The film production quality is superb, and so is Daryl's teaching. However . . .

. . . here's where it all breaks down. The ad copy makes this claim: "This is a complete and advanced comprehensive tutorial on Cups & Balls." The problem is that this is true. What? Yes. The problem is that this is true. The first thing that Daryl says on this DVD is that this is an advanced course and that he is assuming you've already watched the beginner's DVD — I've reviewed that one as well. He follows that by saying that he will cover a few basics before diving into the advanced stuff.

That was followed by covering things like "this is the mouth of the cup", "this is a load", "this is a steal", etc. He continues on with statements like " . . . this is called the finger palm." He even went as far as showing us that when the cup is mouth down, it looks the same whether there's a ball under it or not. The first large portion of the content was stuff that was so basic that it was not even necessary to cover it in the aforementioned beginner's DVD.

Then he moves into a section about the various types of cups (and bowls). Next is a section about the various types of balls. Follow that with types of wands. Sound familiar? It should because it's everything that was already covered in the first beginner's DVD . . . you know . . . the one that he assumed we've already seen. After each segment, I "knew" that the next segment must be where he was going to start the "Master" level material, but 50 minutes into the DVD, I've fainted from holding my breath. At 60 minutes in, he starts the segment by saying that we will now learn "the most basic cups and balls move there is." He continues to say that this is right out of the standard basic instructions that comes with the little plastic cups and balls sets.

At 75 minutes, he teaches the French drop. Again? Not only did he teach that in the beginner's DVD, but he also taught it at the beginning of this very DVD. Finally at the 84 minute mark, the text on the screen says "Miscellaneous Cups and Balls Effects." Here we are shown some standard stuff like "cup through cup" and "how to choose the best props" (a little bit of a re-hash of stuff earlier on the DVD, etc. Finally at the 97 minute mark we see "Daryl's Cup and Ball Routine" which is a pretty standard one cup routine. Nothing "Master Level" about it. Don't get me wrong; it's a good routine, but I'm about ten minutes away from the end of the video and still have not seen anything "advanced."

In fact, there were a few things on the beginner's DVD that I felt were more "advanced" than most of the material on this DVD.

Master Course Cups and Balls Review - Magic Reviewed

Master Course Cups and Balls Review (I): Final Thoughts

Let's put all this in perspective. I, Jeffrey Wayne Stone, have NEVER performed the cups and balls. Never. Not once. I'm probably the least knowledgeable person you know about performing this routine. Yet, with maybe one or two exceptions, everything, and I mean everything, that was covered in this DVD was stuff that I was already familiar with. That's the same as the beginner's DVD. There was a thing or two that I was unfamiliar with from that DVD.

The only thing on this DVD that I was really unfamiliar with was a routine with the cups mouth up. It was very magical feeling and was accomplished with moves I've never really seen used before. They're not anything revolutionary, but the routine was very magical and a pleasure to watch, but of course that's all opinion.

So to say that this is advanced or Master Level — a point that Daryl stressed multiple times throughout the DVD — is a misnomer at the very least. If you cut out all of the duplication and unnecessary stuff from this DVD and the beginner's DVD, then you could easily have a 5 Star 75 to 90 minute SINGLE DVD. A HUGE chunk of this DVD was almost a verbatim duplication of the beginner's DVD. The rest of it was definitely not what one would expect from an advanced DVD on the subject.

Lastly, let me say that I'm a huge fan of Daryl. I love his work. I love his personality. He's a super nice guy. I met him at a lecture in Salt Lake City a few years ago. I'm a customer of his. In fact, I just got a package from him for an order I placed, literally 2 days ago. With all that said, I just can't see how I can give this a good rating.

One the one hand, the content is EXCELLENT . . . for a beginner. It's taught nearly perfectly with top notch production values and in great depth. On the other hand, it's sold as a Master Level course, but all the way through the video, I kept waiting for the advanced stuff, and I felt like we just kept doing "one last thing before we get to the meat." We just never got there. All we got were vegetables . . . really good vegetables, but a) I've had them before, and b) I was promised a rib-eye. It never came to fruition (or steak-ition — if that's a thing).

Anyone who purchased the beginner DVD expecting this one to take them to the next level will, likely, be sorely disappointed. If you don't have the beginner DVD, then I'd say skip that one and get this one. All things considered, I have to (unfortunately) give this one harsh rating (believe me . . . this hurts me more than it does you).

Final Verdict:
2.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Grubble.

Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Murphy's Magic for details.

2 Comments

  • Darrin Cook says:

    What a shame! Daryl has so much knowledge.

    It’s like the martial artist I knew who was a student of Bruce Lee’s. At his seminar he taught, “This is a stick,” “This is how you twirl a stick,” etc., all of it beginner-level material. It was very frustrating.

    • Jeff Stone says:

      @Darrin – Thanks for the post. Actually, I think that teaching the basics is great, important and very much necessary (even in the Bruce Lee course). The problem is when that is a) the only thing you teach and b) you claim it’s a master level course and c) you re-teach it every lesson.

      That’s frustrating.

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