Chop cup with a Beer Pong cup and paper ball

A classic with an everyday cup

Julio Montoro adapts the chop cup idea to a Beer Pong cup: a paper ball appears and vanishes as the cup covers it and is lifted. The opening uses a balled-up sticky note. Construction and handling control when the ball is seen without the conventional magnetic chop cup system.

Construction and thread preparation

The tutorial starts with materials and spends substantial time preparing invisible thread. Julio shows separating a strand with adhesive tape, securing its ends and working with it before incorporating it into the assembly.

Thicker visible thread is also used to explain the route. It does not slide like the fine strand needed for the working prop and is not an equivalent substitute.

The assembly and attachment of the paper ball are then taught. Thread movement is coordinated with lifting the cup, adjusting travel and tension, working positions and the actions that should look like simply covering the ball. You build and learn this version rather than buy a finished chop cup.

From head control to a hand option

An initial attachment controls the thread through head movement. During the explanation Julio develops a hand-held alternative and shows alternating the hand lifting the cup with the hand controlling the ball. The lesson includes that process of testing and modifying the idea as well as the mechanism's operation.

A signed-paper application covers switching the ball, retaining the genuine signed piece and possibly keeping it for a load or appearance elsewhere. This is a developed application, not a collection of complete routines explaining every possible destination separately.

Materials

The list includes a Beer Pong cup with its ping-pong ball, sticky notes, tape, a needle, scissors and invisible thread. The ball used for the effect is made from paper. Julio calls his thread Magic Thread and clarifies that it is invisible thread, not elastic thread. Prepare a sufficiently fine strand to slide as shown; the thick explanatory thread cannot replace it.

Presentation and practice

The cup's interior cannot be shown during this handling. Choose presentation and hand positions according to what the audience will see; the cup is not freely examinable inside at every moment.

Thread preparation and control are taught in the lesson. The signed-paper idea adds a retention and switch requiring practice alongside the mechanism's coordination. The lesson suits someone interested in building props and developing appearances and vanishes with an everyday-looking object while respecting its handling limits.