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Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

Title:The TV Chatter Notes Conference
Notice:Welcome to TV Chatter :-)
Moderator:PASTA::PIERCE
Created:Wed Dec 16 1992
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:498
Total number of notes:5416

105.0. "Card Trick - David Coperfield" by STOWOA::PIERCE (Think Spring) Fri Apr 02 1993 06:28

    
    Did any of you do the card trick that David Coperfild did for
    the people at home?  I did the trick along with David and it
    worked!!!!!!!!  Did it work for you?  I even had my husband
    do it at the same time I was doing it and it worked for him to.
    amazing!
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
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105.1MILKWY::SMCCORMICKHurricane ScottFri Apr 02 1993 07:546
    
    	Actually, the whole thing is quite simple.  It's all
    	mathematics.  
    
    							Scott.
    
105.2STOWOA::PIERCEThink SpringSat Apr 03 1993 04:5510
    
    I do alot of math card tricks, this one was a very good one.  I
    would agree it was simple, if everyone had the same amount of letters
    in there name....but we don't.
    
    My name has 6 letters, my husbands has 3...and the trick worked
    for both of us.  We both shuffled our cards differently.  I keept
    shuffeling mine and he just did his twice.
    
    
105.3Anyone have details on the card trick?DPDMAI::POGARResident Movie Critic & Costner FanSat Apr 03 1993 09:038
    Could someone post the card trick? It looks like I recorded Melrose
    Place over David Copperfield, before I had watched DC. My mom has been
    talking about the card trick every day since.
    
    Thanks in advance.
    
    Catherine
    
105.4card trick expSTOWOA::PIERCEThink SpringTue Apr 06 1993 09:5832
    
    hmmm post the card trick.. now that would be a trick in it self,
    but I'll give it my best shot.
    
    David asked you to select 9 cards at random from your own deck.
    
    Then he had you pick the 2nd card from the left..this would be
    your card.  Mine was a King of Clubs.
    
    Then he asked you to shuffle them and stop when you wanted..
    
    Then he asked you to count out the letters in your name.. so if
    you had 6 letters in your name you'd count down 6 cards.  
    
    I don't remember much of the next step.. I think we had to put the
    remaining cards on top of our name.
    
    Then he had you come to the TV and hold up 3 cards from the top of
    the deck.. (you had to touch he hand) and he thought a moment and
    he said "NO" that's not your card.
    
    he had you hold 3 more cards from the top of the deck and he said
    "no" that's not your card
    
    Then he had you 1 card up.. and the answer was NO then 1 more and the
    answer was no.. then the very next card he said was you card...
    
    and it was!
    
    Good trick
    
    
105.5NEWPRT::NEWELL_JOJodi Newell - Irvine CATue Apr 06 1993 11:259
    After spelling your name, he had you spell his name D-A-V-I-D.
    Then he proceeded as posted.

    The second card from the left side of the deck was chosen
    because someone in the audience, who  was given the option of 
    calling out any number between 1-9, chose "2".

    Jodi-

105.6VENICE::SKELLY_JOWed Apr 07 1993 18:4130
    I didn't remember the trick quite as described, but I have a lousy memory,
    so I borrowed the tape and this is how it goes:

    David asks you to take any 9 cards out of a deck and put the rest of
    the deck away. He asks you to shuffle the 9 cards in any fashion, then
    fan them out in your hand like you would hold them while playing a card
    game. He takes a rose and tosses it into the audience. He asks the
    women who catches the rose to pick a number between 1 and 9. She picks
    2. He asks you to look at the second card from the left and remember
    what it is. Fold the fanned cards up and begin dealing from the top of
    the deck. 

    Deal one card at a time, face down, on top of each other, until you've
    dealt one card for every letter in your first name. If there are cards
    remaining, place them all together on top of the ones you've just dealt and
    pick them all up again. Repeat the deal, this time counting out the letters
    in his name. Again, place the remaining cards on top and pick them all up
    again. 

    Deal one card from the top of the deck, then another and then as many other
    cards as you want. Stop whenever you want and place the remaining cards on
    top. Now you take the top three cards from the hand and hold them up to the
    screen. He tells you your card is not in that group. Then he asks you to
    deal out two more cards and hold them up. Your card's not in that group
    either. Deal out one more card and hold it up. That's not it. Do the next
    one. Aha! That's it.

    For those interested in such things, an analysis of why the trick works
    follows in the next reply behind a <spoiler warning>.
    
105.7VENICE::SKELLY_JOWed Apr 07 1993 18:4445
    What the trick does:

    <spoiler warning>
    
    

    From the point at which he knows the target card is second from the
    left, it's essentially a simple matter of card counting. The second
    card from the left is the second card from the top. Unless your name
    has only one character in it, after the first deal, the target card
    will be second card from the bottom. After the next deal, the target
    card is third card from the top. At this point an error could occur. He
    needs you to deal out at least three cards. He minimizes the potential
    for error by telling you to deal the first two. He then tells you you
    can deal as many cards as you want as he deals the third card. There is
    a natural inclination if you're following closely to deal that card as
    he does, and even if you don't, chances are that you won't think of
    stopping the deal immediately. The target card is now the third card
    from the bottom. He simply counts down to it, 3+2+1 = 6, and there it
    is, the next card.

    A diagram (T = target card, c = other card):

    At start  After deal 1  After deal 2  After deal 3
top:   c           c             c             c
       T           c             c             c
       c           c             T             c
       c           c             c             c
       c           c             c             c
       c           c             c             c
       c           c             c             T
       c           T             c             c
bot:   c           c             c             c

    The question is, was the women who picked position 2 in the first place
    an assistant? I suppose he's clever enough to figure out how to make it
    look like he tossed the rose to her. It's probably easier, however, to
    adjust the dealing scheme somehow. I wonder what he does? I imagine he
    has to add an extra step to move the card up to the top of the deck
    before he asks you to spell your name. Otherwise, it's position would
    be unpredictable. He really has only three positions to account for,
    since position 1 would work as easily as 2 and he can always count in
    from the right side of the deck instead of the left. If he can solve
    positions 3, 4 and 5, he's all set.
    
105.8NEWPRT::NEWELL_JOJodi Newell - Irvine CAWed Apr 07 1993 19:348
    Geeez John, I said you could borrow my tape,
    I didn't know you were going to analyze it
    complete with diagrams!  ;^)
    
    You should post last year's Copperfield trick
    and analysis too.
    
    Jodi-
105.9Oh, so you mean this....DPDMAI::POGARResident Movie Critic &amp; Costner FanThu Apr 08 1993 09:5611
    I thought that using David's name (5 letters) and then dealing out 3
    cards, then 2 cards, somehow "added" 10 to the positioning of the cards
    such that the original card was reversed in some way. By adding 5 cards
    (DAVID), the chosen card "moved." Then, it "moved" another 5 positions,
    meaning it would be two positions from its original position, therefore
    the 4th card form the left.
    
    Are any of you as confused as I am?
    
    Catherine
    
105.10VENICE::SKELLY_JOThu Apr 08 1993 17:3882
    Re: .8

    Well, Jodi, that's an awfully simple trick in comparison, but you did
    loan me the tape so I'll oblige you.

    The analysis, if you can call it that, follows in the next reply, behind a
    <spoiler warning>.

    (By the way, I've thought of a simple extra step that would make the card
    trick work, no matter what number the woman in the audience picked. I
    haven't David's finesse, so I'm still curious to know what he would have
    done, but I've concluded the woman wasn't his assistant. An assistant is
    unnecessary.)

    The first Copperfield interactive trick with the home audience...

    A diagram is displayed on the screen. It looks sort of like this:

                                  [s] < < X
                               [c]   [r]  
                            [M]         [E]
                            [m]         [N]
                            [L]         [t]
                               [T]   [P]
                                  [d]

    Try to imagine it as basically a circle composed of round pictures of
    places (each [x] is round picture). s = a star, c = clouds, M = the Moon,
    m = mountains, L = the Statue of Liberty, T = Taj Mahal, d = a desert, P =
    the Pyramids, t = a tree, N = New York City, E = Eiffel Tower and r = a
    rainbow. the < < X is a tail on the circle consisting of smaller round
    pictures, two arrows and a cross.

    Step 1: Pick a number between 5 and 15. Put your finger on the X and count
    counterclockwise the number you picked. For example, if you picked 6 you'd
    be pointing to [m], the mountains. You keep your finger on the screen.
    David removes the arrows and the cross. The diagram now looks like this:

                                  [s] 
                               [c]   [r]  
                            [M]         [E]
                            [m]         [N]
                            [L]         [t]
                               [T]   [P]
                                  [d]

    Step 2: From where you are, move clockwise, again the number you selected.
    As you hold you finger on your new position, David will reveal that he now
    knows that you're not in the mountains, on the rainbow, in the Taj Mahal
    nor the Pyramids, and removes those pictures. The diagram now looks like
    this:
                                  [s] 
                               [c]      
                            [M]         [E]
                                        [N]
                            [L]         [t]
                                        
                                  [d]

    Step 3: From where you are, move, counting to 4, in whichever direction
    you want. At your new position, David will tell you he now knows that
    you're not in the clouds, New York City or the Eiffel Tower and these
    pictures are removed. The diagram looks like this:

                                  [s] 
                                     
                            [M]         
                                        
                            [L]         [t]
                                        
                                  [d]

    David inserts an arrow into the middle of the diagram which spins around
    and points to where you are.

    Where you are is behind the following <SPOILER WARNING> in case you want to
    do the trick first:

    

    You're on the Moon.
    
105.11VENICE::SKELLY_JOThu Apr 08 1993 17:3961
    What the trick does:

    <spoiler warning>
    
    

    The mathematician in me wants to talk about modulus arithmetic, but that
    would be an over-complication of the matter. Modulus arithmetic is also
    called clock arithmetic, and that's the basis of the whole trick. You're
    looking at a clock. If I asked you to start at 12 o'clock and count any
    number of hours counterclockwise, then count the same number back you
    wouldn't be too surprised to find yourself back at 12 o'clock.

    David basically asks you to do that. He just misdirects you, first by
    asking you to start 3 o'clock instead of 12, and then by rolling part of
    the clock up, off to the side. Consider:

                                    12
                                 11     1
                               10         2
                              9             3
                               8          4
                                 7      5
                                    6

    You're going to start counting from 3 o'clock, but first, let's pull the
    rim of the clock up.

                                    12  1 2 3  <-start counting from this 3
                                 11     1
                               10         2
                              9             3
                               8          4
                                 7      5
                                    6

    The 5-15 restriction on the numbers is really another distraction. He needs
    to get you onto the face of the clock, so he has to make you choose at
    least a 3, but any number 3 or greater will work. Once you're on the clock,
    he removes the tail and you dutifully count back to the real 3 o'clock. 

    So you can see, at the end of step 2 he already knows where you are. You're
    on New York City. He now removes 4 numbers from the clock, leaving 8.
    Specifically he removes 1, 5, 7 and 9. The clock looks like this:

                                    12
                                 11     
                               10         2
                                            3
                               8          4
                                       
                                    6

    In fact, he could have removed any four numbers except 3. The result would
    be the same. If you count 4 from 3 in either direction you end up at the
    same place, in this case 10, the Moon in David's diagram.

    As you can see, there's actually nothing random in this trick at all, no
    possibility for the trick to fail, unless of course, the audience can't
    count.
    
105.12NEWPRT::NEWELL_JOJodi Newell - Irvine CAThu Apr 08 1993 17:567
    Thanks John. 
    
    And this from a guy who uses a calculator
    to figure out tips at lunch. :^)
    
    Jodi-