Richard Wiseman - The Grid
Transcript
00:00 [Click, click, click, click]
00:06 Hello and welcome to the DVD. I'm Richard Wiseman and I'm joined by Danny Diortes,
00:11 one of the world's greatest sleight of hand experts, and he's come along today for me to show him a few card moves.
00:19 Just kidding, that would be ridiculous.
00:22 Instead, he's kindly agreed to help out with the grid, which of course is what this DVD is all about.
00:29 So these are number cards, which is a sort of technical term for cards with numbers on.
00:35 And I'd like you to hold on to some of those for me and give them a shuffle. Shuffle, shuffle.
00:40 A shuffle, shuffle.
00:41 Shuffle, shuffle, or just a shuffle, either way, that's great.
00:44 And then if you could spread them face down in front of you in a row.
00:48 Thank you.
00:49 Oh, that was very good, that was very good.
00:52 And then choose any card and push it towards me.
00:55 Any card?
00:56 Any card.
00:57 This one.
00:58 That one there.
00:59 And you want to change your mind because it's very important.
01:02 This is a free choice.
01:04 This is good.
01:05 You happy?
01:06 Yeah.
01:07 You sure?
01:08 Very happy.
01:09 Okay, very good.
01:10 So these cards here, these are also other number cards.
01:12 I'm just going to show you some of these.
01:14 Now, you're sure you don't want to change your mind?
01:16 If you want to change your mind, that's absolutely fine.
01:18 No?
01:19 You're happy.
01:20 Okay, excellent.
01:21 What I'm going to do is just deal out four hands where each hand is going to have four cards in it.
01:28 And then I'm going to ask you to use your intuition to decide which of these hands, when you add up the numbers,
01:36 comes closest to your chosen card.
01:39 Maybe this one?
01:41 This one here.
01:42 Okay, and that was just a kind of weird intuitive feeling you had there.
01:46 Let's just spread out here and see what we've got.
01:49 So that's eight and two is ten.
01:52 That's 42.
01:57 So let's turn over your card and see how close we got.
02:01 We probably didn't get--
02:03 Look at that.
02:04 The chances.
02:05 The chances of that.
02:06 A little coincidence there.
02:08 Let's see what would have happened if you'd have chosen these cards here.
02:12 Let me just have a quick look.
02:13 Seven and 12, 21, 42.
02:18 Another amazing coincidence.
02:21 Let's have a look at these bottom ones down here.
02:24 My goodness, four and 23, nine and six is also 42.
02:31 And the ones over here, let's have a quick look, see what we've got.
02:35 We've got a ten down here.
02:38 And my goodness, a five and a three is also 42.
02:42 Another amazing coincidence.
02:44 But that's just the start of it.
02:45 That's just the start of the grid.
02:47 Because I've noticed something a bit weird.
02:49 I have.
02:50 If you look at the top row, 8, 11, 22, and 1, that also adds up to 42.
02:54 So does the next row.
02:56 The row after that, 3, 24, 9, 6, that's 42 as well.
02:59 And so does the bottom row.
03:01 It's not only about the rows, it's about the columns as well.
03:03 We take 8, 21, 3, and 10, we're going to get 42.
03:06 That's true of the next row and the row after that and the final row over here, 1, 12, 6, and 23.
03:13 You can take the four corners, 10, 23, 8, and 1 adds up to your number, 42.
03:18 So do the two diagonals.
03:20 You can even take what's called the pan diagonals, 3 and 5, 22 and 12, that adds up to 42.
03:26 So does 21, 11, 4, and 6.
03:28 So do the four centre cards.
03:30 Amazing.
03:31 Unbelievable.
03:33 Unbelievable is the correct technical term for this.
03:36 But here's the weird thing.
03:39 You could have chosen any of these cards and they're all different.
03:43 That's true.
03:44 Yep.
03:45 But last night I had an idea and I've written a little message just for you.
03:50 Really?
03:51 Yeah.
03:52 Where?
03:53 On the backs of these cards.
03:54 Do you want to see the message?
03:57 If we turn it over, it says, "I think you will"--it took me ages to write this--
04:05 "You will select the number 42."
04:12 It's a miracle, an incredible coincidence, and that is the grid.
04:17 Danny, thank you very much for helping out.
04:19 Thank you.
04:20 So what's the secret to the grid?
04:30 How do you perform it?
04:31 Well, it's very straightforward.
04:33 You take packet 1, and this can be in any order at all.
04:37 It doesn't matter what order these cards are in, but the important thing is that number 50 is right at the back of the packet.
04:43 That's the only set up for packet 1.
04:45 Packet 2 is simply arranged from number 44 through to number 1.
04:50 So that's using those small numbers in the back centre of the card, arranged from 44 through to 1,
04:55 which will give you an 8 on the front of that deck.
04:59 And packet 1 go on top of packet 2.
05:02 And that's it. That's the entire set up.
05:04 It's as simple as that.
05:06 When it comes to performance, you explain that you have some cards with numbers on.
05:10 And as you flick through, you just cut from packet 1 into packet 2.
05:15 You hand them packet 1 and ask them to shuffle the cards.
05:20 And they can shuffle the cards as much as they like, and get them to spread the cards out in front of them.
05:25 And the important thing is that they now make a free choice, and they know it's a free choice.
05:30 You don't have any sense of a force here at all.
05:32 So just ask them to push one card towards you, and ask them if they want to change their mind.
05:37 That's absolutely fine.
05:39 What you do, while you're talking to them and distracting them with a hilarious pattern,
05:43 and perhaps a story or a joke, just joking about that, don't do stories or jokes.
05:48 Unless you're funny. Unless you're a really funny person, in which case it's fine.
05:51 I'm not, so I don't do stories or jokes.
05:53 While all of that's happening, you look at the small number printed in the corner of the card here.
05:58 So I can see in this card we have number 21.
06:02 And that's very important. It's the only number you need to remember, number 21.
06:06 So unlike most magic squares, there's no calculations to be done at all.
06:10 You just look at that number, and you're going to perform a triple cut.
06:13 And it's really straightforward.
06:14 When you're showing the packet here, you just run through until you get to number 5.
06:19 There's the first 5. So that comes off as the first packet.
06:22 And then you run through for the second until you get to the number you've seen over there.
06:27 Which in this case is 21.
06:29 And that's the second packet.
06:31 And then that goes on top of there.
06:33 And these cards here go on top of there.
06:37 And that's it.
06:38 So you're just cutting off some, cutting to that number, and then rearranging the deck.
06:42 It's really straightforward.
06:44 Now you're dealing four hands of four cards.
06:48 And that's dealt out like this.
06:51 There's no slights, there's nothing fancy.
06:54 Just four packets of four.
06:57 And you're finished.
06:59 Well, almost.
07:00 Ask them which of these packets they think, using their intuition, adds up to the number,
07:05 which is on the face of their card.
07:06 Whichever packet they choose, you're going to rearrange that packet.
07:10 And this is using those marks, which are on the face of the card.
07:14 Remember, one of the four symbols hasn't got any kind of patterning within it.
07:19 And that lack of patterning, as it were, that blank, needs to be arranged so that all four blanks are touching one another
07:27 in this top corner here, or bottom corner here, depending on which card you're talking about.
07:32 So the important thing is that all four blanks are pointing towards one another.
07:36 Add up those numbers, which in this case is 42, and then turn over their card,
07:41 and reveal that, my goodness, the chances of that, their card matches the four cards here.
07:47 Now, you're simply going to repeat that with the other packets, laying them out again,
07:53 so that the four blank symbols all point towards one another.
07:57 And as you do that, you'll realise that, amazingly, you're starting to form the grid.
08:04 And each of these will add up to their chosen number, 42.
08:10 And again, there's no work to be done.
08:11 The cards do the work for you, because the rows, the columns, the diagonals, the corners, the four centre ones,
08:17 the pan diagonals, everything will add up to their selected number.
08:21 And then you get to the kicker climax.
08:24 You point out that it was a free choice, you turn over these cards, to reveal they could have chosen any of them,
08:30 but that you wrote them a little message and you scribbled it on the back of the cards.
08:34 And when you turn over those cards, and you're turning them over side to side, your message will emerge.
08:41 Again, there's no sleight of hand, there's no switches, there's nothing like that.
08:44 You can reveal that you did indeed predict their number.
08:48 So the deck does the whole thing for you, almost no moves at all, just one very simple triple cut,
08:54 and you can form an amazing magic square.
08:56 And that is the secret to the grid.
08:59 Resetting the grid is really easy.
09:10 Just simply reassemble packet two so the numbers on the back run from 1 to 44.
09:15 With packet one, pick them up, make certain the number 50 is at the back of the packet,
09:20 and place it on top of the other cards.
09:22 It's as simple as that.
09:24 The grid involves two types of cards.
09:34 Packet one contains eight cards, and each of the cards has a secret number printed in its back corner.
09:41 Packet two contains 44 cards, and these cards also have a secret number,
09:48 a number which runs between 1 and 44, in the centre of the back.
09:53 The faces of the cards are also important.
09:57 There's a rose design in each corner, but one of the roses is blank.
10:03 And when you arrange the cards during the performance,
10:06 you need to make certain those four blank roses point towards one another.
10:12 It's as simple as that.
10:20 You do need to customise the cards you receive before performing the grid,
10:24 but it's really straightforward.
10:26 First of all, find these cards in the deck.
10:28 So that's number one, number two, four, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
10:32 and then three, seven, eleven, fifteen, nineteen, twenty-three, twenty-seven, and number thirty-one.
10:38 On the back of these cards, you will find absolutely nothing.
10:43 What you need to do is get a marker pen,
10:46 and obviously in your own language, write the following on the backs of the cards.
10:50 So on number one, you write the word 'think'.
10:54 On number two, 'you'.
10:56 Number four, 'number'.
10:58 Number nine, 'select'.
11:01 Number ten, 'the'.
11:03 Number eleven, 'I'.
11:05 And number twelve, 'will'.
11:07 These are the cards that will form the prediction at the end of the trick.
11:12 On these cards, when you turn them over, you'll see there's a faint watermark, again of a number.
11:18 So this is number twenty-two, number twenty-six, number thirty, thirty-four, thirty-eight, forty-two, forty-six, and number fifty.
11:30 And again, with a marker pen, all you need to do is essentially mark those numbers on the backs of the cards.
11:38 So you'll end up with these cards being customised in your own language.
11:43 The message here, and the numbers up here.
11:45 Again, very, very simple.
11:47 There's several ways of presenting the grid.
11:58 When it comes to the selection of the card, the important thing is the spectator is convinced it's a free choice,
12:03 and there's no way you could have switched the card.
12:05 I tend to spread the cards out face down, and ask them to simply push one card out of the spread,
12:11 and then say to them, "Do you want to change your mind?"
12:13 And genuinely offer them the alternatives.
12:16 They're absolutely certain it's a free choice.
12:18 Another option, and this was suggested to me by Paul Harris, is to have them actually look at the faces of the cards,
12:24 choose their favourite one, and then place it face down on the table.
12:28 And again, that way, they're convinced it's not a force, and obviously you can't switch the card.
12:33 So either option works very well.
12:35 In terms of the more general presentation, I tend to present the grid as a kind of weird coincidence.
12:41 One thing after another, it gets more and more unbelievable.
12:45 But you could also present it in the way in which the magic square is normally presented,
12:49 as a kind of weird mathematical ability that you have.
12:52 And the difference tends to come in how you lay out the cards.
12:55 When you have each packet of four, if you're presenting it as a coincidence,
12:59 it's probably better to just separate the cards, as if you're showing the spectator exactly what's in each packet,
13:05 and arrange them by pushing them around.
13:07 If you're presenting it more as a mathematical marvel, you might want to pick up the cards,
13:12 very carefully look at each of the numbers, and actually make some sort of performance out of arranging them.
13:18 So that way, you claim credit for the grid, rather than suggesting it's just simply a coincidence.
13:24 [Slide shows a grid]
13:31 So how did I come up with the idea for the grid?
13:34 Well, I've been performing the magic square for many years, but actually my handwriting isn't very good.
13:39 And so I wanted a way of making it a little bit clearer for audiences.
13:42 But I remember that when I was a kid, I saw Paul Daniels perform the magic square,
13:46 and he used to have a large wooden board on stage.
13:49 He'd point to each of the areas, and actually place numbers into those areas.
13:53 So you could see it from all over the auditorium.
13:56 I thought you could write the numbers onto cards, and then you could use the cards for a kind of card trick version of the magic square.
14:03 And that means there's no calculation involved, and it's really straightforward.
14:07 So, I made up this initial version of the grid.
14:11 As you can see, not very well produced, and each of the important corners have got a little red dot in it there.
14:18 I sent that version over to HID Studio 33, and Louis and Vanessa enhanced the trick.
14:25 Louis came up with the idea, a very clever idea, of actually placing the numbers onto the back of the cards.
14:31 The packet 2, numbering them from 1 to 44, which means you can reset the trick very quickly,
14:37 but also check that no one has played with the cards before you start to perform it.
14:41 Vanessa took those little red dots and designed the roses on the front of the cards.
14:47 She's actually dropping out one of the roses to create the blank corner.
14:50 So it's a very simple idea. There's no sleight of hand involved.
14:53 There's no calculation involved, and it allows you to present an incredible mathematical miracle.
14:58 I hope you enjoy performing the grid.
15:01 [Grid sound effects]
15:08 [Music]
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16:01 [Music]
16:05 you
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