[magic] How does this work?

[Green Giant]

http://www.caveofmagic.com/zickcrd1.htm

Its an online magic trick I found. You are supposed to pick a card and concentrate on it. Then on the next page whisper it out loud. Thenafter you click to go to the next page the card you picked out and whispered outloud is gone.

This is blowing my mind. I hae tried it multiple times and it works every time no matter what card is picked. At first I thought maybe I was subconciously moving the cursor over the card I picked but that isn't it.

How does this work?

[Snow]

Take a closer look at the first set of cards versus the last set

[Lars]

Of course! How stupid can you be, Green Giant!

edited: because I don't like looking stupid. I mean, edited for spelling or something.

[Green Giant]

Take a closer look at the first set of cards versus the last set

Nice.

[Shadowcaster57]

The cards shown on the results screen are COMPLETELY different from those shown at the beginning -- i.e., ALL the cards are removed.

edit: whoops, too late.

[KeriKitKat]

ok.... I'm stumped.

[The Meal]

ok.... I'm stumped.

Same areas, different slopes to the hypotenuse. (I.e., the blue-green triangle goes over 5 and up 2 while the red one goes over 8 and up 3 -- those don't give the same slope, but it kinda looks like it does. Neither of those is the same as going over 12 and up 5.)

~Neal

[KeriKitKat]

ok.... I'm stumped.

Same areas, different slopes to the hypotenuse. (I.e., the blue-green triangle goes over 5 and up 2 while the red one goes over 8 and up 3 -- those don't give the same slope, but it kinda looks like it does. Neither of those is the same as going over 12 and up 5.)

~Neal

ohhhh. dee dee dee! thanks.

[Grundbegriff]

Take a closer look at the first set of cards versus the last set

Yep. The effect, called "The Princess Card", was invented in 1905 by a dude name o' Henry Hardin.

Google "Princess Card Trick" (with the quotes) in your favorite search engine to uncover much related lore.

[Chaosraven]

It's not the same figure anymore, is it?

As in, the angle seems to have changed.

Count in 5 from the left on the bottom of each. The 2x5 does reach the top of the 2 boxes, but when the red large piece was there it would have been roughly 5.5 before the 2 height was reached. The larger is 3x8... not really a larger version... we "see" it as a triangle but the angles are not matched up.

So it doesn't become a triangle in the juxtaposition.

*F'k I think my brains just started smoking*

Cookies. Chaosraven likes cookies. Good enough for me.

[Chaosraven]

Oh good, someone with brains said it right before I finished typing.

[stessier]

I'm pretty confident that I know how this works, but at one point, he throws a card away (1:29). I have no idea why he did that - doesn't seem like it was necessary. Any ideas?

[Paingod]

His work is all the more impressive when you consider that he destroyed one of his hands in an accident.

He was in control of the cards until he set them down to be selected. I believe he could have forced the riffle, landing on the Jack of Clubs deliberately. After that, everything is literally in the hands of his assistants. If you look closely at the blue suit, his cards are shown and you can tell he doesn't have a stack of Jacks - so they're legit.

So how does he get them to be Jacks at the end? Hell if I know. Only thing I can think of is that he's got some kind of super-awesome color changing deck or something, where the card on top changes face when he triggers some kind of RF switch. I'd wager that the bottom cards of everyone's piles were kosher.

Alternately, it's all show and they're in on it. I don't know how against the rules that is for a show like that.

Shin Lim's card work is amazing, though.

[GreenGoo]

The card gods demand a sacrifice in order for the magic to work.

[killbot737]

Alternately, it's all show and they're in on it. I don't know how against the rules that is for a show like that.

I was watching one of those Master Magician shows a while ago, they had back to back episodes going. So in one show, "random" audience member A.J. was chosen to help with the trick. It was a pretty involved trick, too.

Then during the next show, miraculously, A.J. was chosen to assist with a different trick! What are the odds?

That actually happened when I was in college too. David Copperfield came and did a show at school, and I was just a row or two back from the "random" person he chose to help. This one was an in the aisle up close trick. Then a few months later I saw a tape of the same show but at a different location (might have been Vegas for all I remember), but that same person traveled all the way to that show to be chosen to do that trick with him again! Amazing!

[hepcat]

I thought this thread was about magnets.

[killbot737]

Nobody knows how those work!

[LawBeefaroni]

He was in control of the cards until he set them down to be selected. I believe he could have forced the riffle, landing on the Jack of Clubs deliberately.

He absolutely knew it was the Jack of Clubs. If you accept that, there are several ways he could have done the trick. At least three of which I didn't see any sure evidence that he didn't do. But I didn't see any evidence that he did do any of them and that's the fun.

[Paingod]

It's the random elements that got me thinking they're in on it. Having them toss out some cards and keep a few was entirely random, and he never handled the cards after that. Basically - he had to know where they'd stop or they had to be helping or he has a really special deck.

Not like this guy, and it's delightful to watch Penn's reactions to him.

[stessier]

This is how I think he did it.

Spoiler:

It's a normal deck of cards that are all marked in the corner.

He fans the cards and asks the guy to pick one. When he stops on it, he can tell the card with his finger tips. He now knows the Jack of Clubs is the target.

The "Helper" shuffles the deck. He then makes four equal stacks while looking at the cards. So he knows the Jack of Clubs is the chosen card and he can set it up so all four jacks are at the bottom of his stacks that are face up. He then flips them over, so that the Jacks are on top of the deck. He knows which deck has the Jack of Clubs.

He then has the Helper pass out the decks. They each grab the deck and deal one card face down. These are all the Jacks. Then they are allowed to deal/shuffle however they want.

Next he has them start to burn the cards. They can burn as many as they want. They then stop and count the cards by dealing them into a stack. The Jacks are all back on top of the decks.

At this point he just tells the Helper where his card is. I think it is happenstance that it was in the Helper's pile - it could have been anywhere and the trick would have worked. Then everyone turns over their cards and there are all the Jacks.

Still don't know why he burned the card at 1:27 though.

Edit: Corrected time for when card was scrapped.

[Paingod]

Still don't know why he burned the card at 1:29 though.

I've watched from 1:25 to 1:34 about 12 times and I'm not seeing it. What do I need to be looking for?

[stessier]

Still don't know why he burned the card at 1:29 though.

I've watched from 1:25 to 1:34 about 12 times and I'm not seeing it. What do I need to be looking for?

There is a deck in his left hand. As his right hand places a deck on the table, his left hand drops a bit and a card is shot under the table. Try slowing it down to 0.5 or 0.25 speed. His pinkie does all the work. It's quite fast.

[stessier]

Still don't know why he burned the card at 1:29 though.

I've watched from 1:25 to 1:34 about 12 times and I'm not seeing it. What do I need to be looking for?

There is a deck in his left hand. As his right hand places a deck on the table, his left hand drops a bit and a card is shot under the table. Try slowing it down to 0.5 or 0.25 speed. His pinkie does all the work. It's quite fast.

I just went frame by frame - it really happens between as it changes from 1:26-1:27. Sorry being off 2 seconds...my bad.

[Paingod]

Jeebers. I watched it at 0.25 and couldn't even say he dumped a card - but I see the motion.

[stessier]

You need a higher resolution monitor.

[LawBeefaroni]

Still don't know why he burned the card at 1:29 though.

I've watched from 1:25 to 1:34 about 12 times and I'm not seeing it. What do I need to be looking for?

There is a deck in his left hand. As his right hand places a deck on the table, his left hand drops a bit and a card is shot under the table. Try slowing it down to 0.5 or 0.25 speed. His pinkie does all the work. It's quite fast.

One way to do the trick is to sleeve the Jack until the end. That could have been the Jack. I didn't see it, way too small on my phone

[stessier]

Still don't know why he burned the card at 1:29 though.

I've watched from 1:25 to 1:34 about 12 times and I'm not seeing it. What do I need to be looking for?

There is a deck in his left hand. As his right hand places a deck on the table, his left hand drops a bit and a card is shot under the table. Try slowing it down to 0.5 or 0.25 speed. His pinkie does all the work. It's quite fast.

One way to do the trick is to sleeve the Jack until the end. That could have been the Jack. I didn't see it, way too small on my phone

He never touches the piles, though (after creating them). The Helper hands them out to everyone. He has no control over where the Jacks end up.

[Blackhawk]

Ok, I found a clue. I had to watch very, very closely on slow motion. I can confirm two things:

Spoiler:

When he riffles, there are two aces of spades, spread apart in the deck.

And he had control over exactly one card during the entire sequence.

Spoiler:

The second from the top when they were back-up. They burn a card, and the controlled card is now on top. They deal-shuffle, deal-shuffle onto the table, and while every card is randomized, the controlled card, which was on top, will always be set against the table on the bottom. They then burn cards until few are left, and they count them out, reversing the order - the controlled card is now, surprise, on the top again. There is no other card in the deck he had full control over the location of.

That part is solid. Now for the conjecture:

Spoiler:

Partial card force. Duplicates of the cards he could possibly force. He looks at them as he splits them exactly one card past the forced card. He then dumps the duplicate cards in case things get face up (as one card did) and so they can spread them at the end. He then walks them through moving his card around and back to the top as in the second spoiler.