Baffling Magic Trick

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Someone at school told me about something her brother does:

He takes three cups/glasses of different colors and sets them on the table. Then he leaves the room, telling them to point at one once he's gone. Then he comes back and tells them what they pointed at.

Apparently they've even locked him in the bathroom and he did it.

He can do it with any set of cups, anywhere.

 

Any clues as to how?

[ecoli]

Was he lying?

[ydoaPs]

SHE, not he.

[Hellbender]

The natural explanation is that the people inadvertanly "tell" him which one it was. Perhaps he read body language to find out. Maybe he is lying. An X-Files explanation could be he has remote vision or can read minds.....

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Apparently, if she doesn't point at any or points at all of them, he tells her that she did.

[ydoaPs]

if there is more than one person, maybe there is an informant. that person could have a signal for each cup and all her brother would have to do is look for the signals.

[Hellbender]

hmmm thats a toughie. Well I guess we should send Agents Mulder and Scully over there to see. Seriously though, there has to be some trick to it. Sounds pretty interesting to me. Maybe he could be spying on them?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Only one person. No informant.

 

I do wonder if she was making it up though.

[Phi for All]

Maybe he could be spying on them?

Minicam.

 

Without an informant, visual confirmation or telepathy seem to be the only other answers.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Body language?

 

He does the "I'm getting vibrations from the cup" thingy too, so it could be their body language.

[Phi for All]

Body language?

You make it sound like he gets it right most if not all the time. I don't think body language would get you much better than 50%, and the results would vary with different people.

 

My vote is technology. Tell your friend to watch out where she undresses, her brother has the house wired for video.

[ydoaPs]

body language is more telling than you think.

[Hellbender]

Technology like a minicam seems kind of elaborate just to trick someone with. I am going with body language and tells myself. Probably or maybe a conjunction of both.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

My vote is technology. Tell your friend to watch out where she undresses' date=' her brother has the house wired for video.[/quote']

He can do it with any set of cups, anywhere.

Nope.

[Phi for All]

If he can do it with just him and the pointer person, no accomplices, 100% of the time, anywhere, he's got to be psychic. I realize body language can be powerful, but if you knew that might be the key, you could affect it by holding perfectly still, not looking him in the eye, etc.

 

If he is psychic, why's he just messing around with colored cups?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Why wouldn't he be using his psychic abilities to win the lottery?

 

Anyways, it could always be a hoax. Someone told me that February First used to be February Fools Day; it was moved to April.

[Hellbender]

If he can do it with just him and the pointer person' date=' no accomplices, 100% of the time, anywhere, he's got to be psychic.QUOTE']

 

I seriously doubt there is any such thing as psychic powers, except for fake stage ones. There is a rational explanation for this, but we don't have enough info to tell how this person does what he does.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I don't have any more either.

 

Hoax?

[Phi for All]

I seriously doubt there is any such thing as psychic powers, except for fake stage ones.

I firmly believe in the existence of psychic powers, but whenever someone claims to have them, I immediately doubt them. I believe it's possible, but it's never reproduceable. As with anything supernatural, I'm a hopeful, yet skeptical believer.

 

This will most likely turn out to be a parlor trick. I'll bet he can only do this with more than one witness, and one of them is the ringer.

[JohnB]

I'm with Phi on this one. If the person does not actually touch the cups, then there is no physical method that can be used as an explanation.

 

The usual way to pull this one is to have an accomplice. The shill can stand some distance away, so long as they can see the cups the scam will work. When the "psychic" comes back, the shill moves to a position within eyeshot of the practicioner. This can be to one side of the pair involved or behind the target.

 

After that it's simply a matter of the shill scratching his/her nose, sipping a drink, anything.

 

If you wish, try it in a bar. Your accomplice stands near the target to see which cup is indicated and then leaves the bar area. The "psychic" returns to the bar and does his show. All that is required is for the accomplice to be visible to the "psychic" in the mirror behind the bar. The accomplice can be on the other side of the room, quietly sipping his drink.

 

It really blows people's minds. Trust me.

[MagicMoose]

I saw the same thing with colored cups. Since the majority of men like the color blue, that's ussually the one they will pick. Same with girls and red. Or it could be the conditions of the cups. If one looks better then the rest, that's the one you pick...

[Phi for All]

I saw the same thing with colored cups. Since the majority of men like the color blue, that's ussually the one they will pick. Same with girls and red. Or it could be the conditions of the cups. If one looks better then the rest, that's the one you pick...

Hey, that's a good point. I assumed the guy was doing the same trick multiple times with the same person, but if he only does it once with each, MagicMoose's solution has some merit.

 

You reminded me of a trick I used to do where you write four numbers on a small slip of paper and an instruction to circle one number, like this (no periods):

 

1.........2.........3.........4

 

(circle a number)

 

On the back of the paper, you write:

 

Why 3?

 

Something like 80% of the people, iirc, will choose either 2 or 3, 1 being unimaginative and 4, well, no one likes to be in last place. If they choose a different number, you nod sagely and say, "Interesting...." If they pick 3, you ask them to turn the piece of paper over, making you seem like a mind reader.

[MagicMoose]

Something like 80% of the people' date=' iirc, will choose either 2 or 3, 1 being unimaginative and 4, well, no one likes to be in last place. If they choose a different number, you nod sagely and say, "Interesting...." If they pick 3, you ask them to turn the piece of paper over, making you seem like a mind reader. [/quote']

 

yes... that number trick... they use that on the SAT except with letters. They will trick you into thinking the wrong anwser.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

You can do this one:

 

Have someone think of a number between 1 and 4, or however many. Then have them tell it to you. Then say

"Look under the potted plant"

or whatever, and a note says "I knew you'd guess 4."

You just have 4 different notes, and tell them to pick the one that corresponds to what they've guessed.

[atinymonkey]

Someone at school told me about something her brother does:

He takes three cups/glasses of different colors and sets them on the table. Then he leaves the room' date=' telling them to point at one once he's gone. Then he comes back and tells them what they pointed at.

Apparently they've even locked him in the bathroom and he did it.

He can do it with any set of cups, anywhere.

 

Any clues as to how?[/quote']

 

Yes. I know precisely how. I had the misfortune to have my Uncle perform it for me. I had to have him repeat it 4 times, and it still drove me crazy for hours trying to work it out.

 

Like most really good magic tricks, it's very annoying once you find the answer. So I'll keep it to myself