Baffling Magic Trick

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Hey!

 

Knowing that you know it makes it more annoying than it could possibly be for me to know it.

[atinymonkey]

Yup. Try being 12 years old and have a room full of relatives laughing at you the more confused you get.

 

It's a simple bait and switch. Nothing incredible.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

What do you mean?

[atinymonkey]

You focus on the person leaving the room, and on the cups and looking for any way the magician could tell what your pointing at. Your thinking there may be a behaviour pattern that you are following, or some form of suggestion presented by the magician to influence your choice. That's the bait, the misdirection.

 

What your not focusing on is the people who don't leave the room. There is always more than one person left with the cups, and one of those people is a damn liar. They arrange a signal for each cup (look at the clock = pot 1, sit on a chair = pot 2 etc) and as the magician re-enters the room they perform the appropriate action. Nobody ever notices, because nobody does anything strange. That's the switch, the actual trick that nobody sees.

 

If the people know each other quite well, they can change the code every time the trick is played. It's a practical demonstration of the old 'mind reader' act, but on a smaller scale.

[Phi for All]

It's a simple bait and switch. Nothing incredible.

I knew there had to be an accomplice!

 

It reminds me of how the Bush administration lowers taxes so the budget for the war forces cuts in public programs and the privatization of Social Security. We're looking at the nice tax cuts while the tax burdens are shifted onto our shoulders. Bait and switch. Wave one hand while the other gives the finger.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

She said he could do it with nobody else.

 

Time to ask more questions.

[ydoaPs]

wow, i was right.

[jdurg]

Don't "pooh-pooh" the idea of body language being a big clue. I've been playing poker for quite a while now, and even when people are trying to be perfectly still they are giving off plenty of information. Whether it's the way they hold their hands, or the way they're breathing, or the dozens of other things that people do when trying not to give away information. Successful poker players aren't mind readers. They are just able to make very logical assumptions based upon the way other people are reacting. Many times I've played and laid down a great hand like a nut-flush or a set of aces when I was able to see that I was beat. Every time, the player I laid my hand down to is frustrated that I didn't bet like crazy with the good hand I had. (I.E. I'll have the flush but they'll have a full-house, or I'll have trips and they'll have a very sneaky straight). They simply can't believe that I would fold a good hand (albiet a losing one in those circumstances). I just simply tell them that they gave me all the information I needed to know that I'm beat.

[Hellbender]

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.

 

let me clarify. I will believe anything if solid proof and a rational explanation is shown to me.