Mark Elsdon - Rubik Predicted
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CreativityTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:28 So I'm going to show you something completely
00:30 different to-- no cards, no coins, no rubber bands, no
00:33 little props or anything like that.
00:34 This is just something--
00:35 I don't know if you know I do the Rubik's Cube.
00:38 Have you seen me do that?
00:39 I have.
00:39 OK, you heard about me doing it.
00:41 OK, well, I'm a bit obsessed with the Rubik's Cube.
00:43 And in fact, what I've got to show you is what I use for
00:46 practicing, OK?
00:48 Now, you might think, wait a minute, all you need for
00:49 practicing is a Rubik's Cube.
00:50 But these are a special--
00:52 well, they're special cards you buy from specialist shops,
00:55 not those kinds.
00:56 No.
00:57 These are actually Rubik's Cube expert practice cards.
00:59 Now, have you seen the guys who can do the
01:01 cube in like 15 seconds?
01:03 Now, I can't do it that fast.
01:05 Maybe one day.
01:06 But here's how I practice.
01:07 Instead of taking a Rubik's Cube and solving it, so all
01:11 the reds are on top and then all the blues and all the
01:12 yellows, here's how the experts do it.
01:14 What they do is they use these cards.
01:17 And this is the top of a Rubik's Cube, OK?
01:20 Now, this is the same as if you got a real Rubik's Cube
01:22 and didn't look and just mixed it up and then put it down.
01:26 And what these speedcubers do, the people who are experts
01:28 with a cube, they mix one up without looking.
01:30 And then what are the top surfaces?
01:32 They try and replicate on their regular cube.
01:34 So instead of getting all reds, they might get an orange,
01:38 an orange, a yellow, a yellow, a yellow, a blue, and so on
01:40 and so forth, OK?
01:42 Now, so that, again, they're not carrying loads of cubes
01:43 around, they use these cards, OK?
01:45 So we're going to use these for a slightly
01:47 different test.
01:49 I've got here a prediction.
01:51 Now, this prediction is a photograph.
01:54 We'll come back to that in a second.
01:55 But just hang on to that for now.
01:57 I've got about 20 cards.
01:59 There is 100 cards in these decks.
02:00 I've got about 20 or so here.
02:02 I want you to see that they're all different.
02:04 Now, in order to see that they're all different, I'm not
02:05 going to expect you to remember all nine colours.
02:07 But we'll just look at this left edge on my left here, OK?
02:10 So you can see it's blue, red, yellow.
02:13 Blue, yellow, red.
02:14 White, yellow, red.
02:16 Red, green, blue.
02:17 White, red, white.
02:19 Blue, white, green.
02:21 Red, green, yellow.
02:22 Green, orange, blue.
02:24 Green, white, yellow, blue.
02:26 Blue, yellow, red.
02:27 Blue, orange, white.
02:28 And so on and so forth.
02:29 Every single one is completely different.
02:32 OK?
02:32 The cards are all different.
02:34 Now, what I'm going to ask you to do is take these cards and
02:38 give them a shuffle up.
02:39 Now, this is like mixing the cube up, OK?
02:41 Any kind of mix you want.
02:42 Now, normally the cube would be mixed up.
02:43 The cards are mixed up.
02:44 So we don't know what we're going to end up with, OK?
02:46 And when you finish shuffling them up, you're completely
02:48 satisfied, just put them down here.
02:52 Sorry?
02:53 Yeah.
02:54 Now, what we've ended up with, following your shuffle,
02:58 is a random card, OK?
02:59 Yeah?
03:03 Had you shuffled one further, it would have been this.
03:06 Had you shuffled one further than that, we'd have ended up
03:08 on this one, and so on and so forth.
03:11 But you didn't.
03:12 You ended up with this one.
03:14 OK?
03:15 Now, you're not going to believe this.
03:17 There's one thing in here, and it's a photograph.
03:20 And it's a photograph, if I can coax it out, of a Rubik's
03:23 Cube, and the Rubik's Cube.
03:24 There's nothing else in here.
03:25 Have a look in the envelope.
03:27 It's completely empty.
03:28 Green, white, blue.
03:30 Green, white, blue.
03:31 Orange, white, green.
03:32 Orange, white, green.
03:33 And blue, yellow, red.
03:35 Clever.
03:35 Nothing else on the other side.
03:37 Just one.
03:38 I don't know how you did this, do you?
03:40 Oh, that was fantastic.
03:41 Oh, you're looking like you're missing out.
03:43 And thank you very much.
03:44 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:11 So welcome to the explanations for "Rubik Predicted." You've
04:13 seen all the performances downstairs in the bar.
04:15 We're upstairs now, so it was a little bit noisier,
04:17 understandably, in a bar environment.
04:19 That said, we'll get through everything we need to.
04:21 A little bit about this trick, "Rubik Predicted." What I
04:24 wanted to do was come up with a trick which allowed me to do
04:26 something with a Rubik's Cube theme without having to carry a
04:30 Rubik's Cube around all the time.
04:31 As many of you know, I'm very well known for solving the
04:33 Rubik's Cube while blindfolded.
04:35 It's kind of a staple effect of my stand-up show and even my
04:38 close-up performances.
04:39 But it's not always convenient to carry the cube.
04:41 So I wanted something that allowed me to talk about the
04:44 Rubik's Cube and do a Rubik's Cube thing,
04:46 but without the cube.
04:47 And this is what I came up with.
04:48 So enjoy the DVD.
04:50 We'll cover all the props, what you get, the setup, and
04:53 how it works.
04:54 And then we'll talk about some alternatives and variations
04:56 at the end.
04:57 So the two things you received are a stack of cards, which
05:06 we'll come to in a minute, and a photo.
05:07 Now, the photo is very simple.
05:09 It is a photograph of the top of a Rubik's Cube.
05:14 Now, obviously, not a done Rubik's Cube.
05:15 But if I were to mix up a Rubik's Cube and take a photo--
05:20 now, this doesn't match, obviously.
05:21 But that's all this photograph is.
05:23 It's the photo of the top of a Rubik's Cube.
05:26 Now, apparently, there are no outs in this trick.
05:28 But in fact, there are outs.
05:29 And they're built halfway between the
05:30 cards and the photo.
05:31 The outs, which are the photo, are the photo itself.
05:35 There's only one photo in the envelope, and
05:36 it's single-sided.
05:37 But of course, I can display it this way, with the two
05:40 whites here pointing to the right.
05:43 I can display it this way, with two whites
05:44 pointing towards me.
05:46 This way, with the two whites pointing to my left.
05:48 And this way, with the two whites pointing to camera.
05:51 So of course, once this is in the envelope, depending on
05:53 which way I tip it out of the envelope, depends on how the
05:57 photo looks.
05:57 So in this instance, the whites are pointing to the
05:59 right-hand side.
06:00 Of course, if I were to tip this out towards myself, then
06:02 the whites would be pointing towards me,
06:04 and so on and so forth.
06:05 But because I tip it out that way and never mention it, it's
06:10 apparent to the spectators, or supposedly apparent to the
06:13 spectators, that that's how it was intended to be.
06:15 Now for that reason, when I keep the photograph in the
06:18 envelope, I actually keep it on an angle.
06:21 Or sometimes I keep it tucked in my top pocket, or I ask
06:24 someone to hold it.
06:25 What I don't want to do is leave it the whole trick sat a
06:27 certain way, and then due to the outcome of the trick, have
06:29 to turn it around to take the photo out.
06:31 That would look a bit odd.
06:33 Now of course, if you wanted, you could keep the
06:35 photograph not in the envelope, but you could just
06:39 keep it face down.
06:40 Now of course, depending on which way I turn it over, the
06:43 whites are pointing to the right there.
06:45 If I turn it over this way, then the whites point in the
06:48 opposite direction.
06:49 If I wanted to do a Chinese compass-type move and tip it
06:52 over between my fingertips, the whites are now pointing
06:55 forwards, and so on and so forth.
06:56 So the photo can be used successfully
06:58 without the envelope.
07:00 Personally, though, I think it's far more preferable in
07:02 the envelope, and far more convincing.
07:05 So that's the photo.
07:06 I put it in the envelope with the two whites pointing to the
07:09 flap so I know where they are at all times, and that goes in
07:12 my pocket.
07:13 So these are the cards.
07:22 These are supposedly Rubik's Cube expert practice cards.
07:26 Now how I explain these during the performance, you'll have
07:28 noticed, was I briefly mentioned Rubik's Cube
07:32 experts, and I claim--
07:34 although this is absolute nonsense--
07:36 I claim that when Rubik's Cube speed experts, or people who
07:40 do the Rubik's Cube regularly or in competitions, they don't
07:44 practice by solving the cube.
07:45 What they do instead is they get a second cube, mix it up
07:48 without looking, as I'm doing now, then they put it down in
07:52 view, and they try to match with their normal cube, or
07:55 their regular working cube, the top surface, which is here
07:59 on the cube.
08:01 All utter nonsense that I invented just for the sake of
08:03 being able to do this trick.
08:04 But it sounds so plausible, people buy into it, even
08:07 people who know about the cube.
08:08 And in fact, I've even had people who are speed cubers
08:11 asking me where they can get a packet of the cards from.
08:14 So obviously, it's a deliciously believable lie.
08:17 So the cards themselves, I claim to have about 20 of them.
08:21 In actual fact, that's nonsense.
08:23 There are exactly 16 of them.
08:25 They're numbered, though, randomly.
08:26 This is number 47.
08:28 This is number 54.
08:29 This is number 83.
08:30 So on and so forth.
08:31 So the numbers appear to be random numbers
08:33 between 1 and 100.
08:35 Giving credence to the fact that I say, they come in decks
08:37 of 100, I've got about 20 of them here.
08:39 And as you'll notice from the performance, to show that
08:42 they're all different at the beginning, I point out this
08:45 side of the--
08:46 I refer to it as my left, but of course, to you, the camera,
08:49 your right-hand side.
08:52 I point out, I say, we won't look at the whole picture, but
08:54 just show you they're all different.
08:55 We'll just look at this side down here.
08:57 And I say there's blue, orange, white.
09:00 And I deal them either onto a bar top, or onto a table top,
09:03 or onto a spectator's hand.
09:04 Then I point out blue, yellow, red, and so on and so forth.
09:07 And in fact, as we look down, they will agree that every
09:11 left-hand to me side of the cube is different.
09:14 In actual fact, that's not quite the case at all.
09:16 And the cards aren't all entirely different.
09:19 They are split up into two groups, force cards and
09:23 non-force cards.
09:25 So let me deal them out, and then I can show you the setup.
09:28 First of all, the first thing to be aware of is that the
09:31 cards are all the same size.
09:32 There's no rough and smooth going on here, and no long and
09:35 short, and as I say, they're all the same size.
09:37 The cards are what they appear to be, just some printed cards.
09:41 The regular cards, the ones with the random patterns on,
09:46 all have even numbers.
09:48 That will be important later on.
09:50 All of the force cards have odd numbers.
09:53 So any time you're looking at a sequence number which is
09:55 odd, you know it's a force card.
09:57 Now, again, there are four types of force card.
10:02 And you might be able to guess what they are already from
10:04 what I've already told you about the photograph.
10:06 So let me deal them out.
10:08 I have four force cards and two of each one.
10:12 So let me show you the photo just to show
10:14 you how this looks.
10:17 Here's the photo with a white pointing to the right.
10:20 And it matches these cards.
10:23 OK, both these cards are identical.
10:24 They've got the same number on the back.
10:26 Sorry, different numbers on the back, 37 and 19, so that you
10:29 can show all the cards at the beginning to have different
10:31 numbers on.
10:32 But on the face, they're identical.
10:34 They both have two whites pointing to the right.
10:37 Now, of course, if I turn the photo this way, it now matches
10:39 these two cards here.
10:41 If I turn it this way, it matches these two.
10:44 And if I turn it this way, it matches these two.
10:47 So you can see that these eight cards will cover all four
10:52 orientations of this photograph.
10:53 So let me just get the photo out of the way again.
10:56 So how I set this up is very easy.
11:00 I take one of the force cards and put on top a non-force
11:05 card, then the next one, and a non-force card, then the next
11:10 force card, a non-force card, then the next force card,
11:12 non-force card, and then the same again.
11:14 Now, because these were matching pairs, what is meant
11:19 is that each force card is eight cards from its duplicate.
11:25 So if we look at the first force card here, which is the
11:29 two whites pointing to the right-hand side, we'll see it
11:33 takes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight cards
11:37 to get to the same card.
11:39 Now, what that means is that as I deal through at the
11:42 beginning, you always want the stack to have at the beginning
11:45 a force card on top.
11:46 So it alternates non-force card, force card, non-force
11:49 card, force card, and so on.
11:51 Now, what that means is, as I say, is that at the beginning
11:54 when you deal through and show this left-hand line of colours
11:58 that the spectator, there's not a chance of them
12:01 remembering that eight cards ago.
12:03 If they did put them out this way, they would see that eight
12:06 cards ago there was a duplicate card which matched.
12:10 So let me find that one.
12:11 So the green, white, blue.
12:13 Now, eight cards away from that is going to be another
12:15 green, white, blue.
12:16 So you can see those two cards there do match.
12:19 But because seven of the cards have come in between,
12:20 there's not a chance for them to notice that.
12:23 So that is a stack of cards, and that is how they're set up.
12:26 I just keep a rubber band around them.
12:28 And as I say, I just introduced them as Rubik's
12:31 Expert practice cards, which is what they look like.
12:33 Now, other than duplicates, of course, these can be
12:35 completely examined.
12:36 So I handle them very freely during the routine.
12:38 So those are the cards, and that's the photo, and that's
12:41 the set up.
12:42 [AUDIO OUT]
12:50 Darren, now you've seen me do the Rubik's Cube, solving it
12:52 with a blindfold on and all that.
12:54 But I just want to tell you a little bit about
12:56 how I practice, OK?
12:57 And I practice using these.
12:59 These are called Rubik's Cube Expert practice cards.
13:03 Now, on the front of every single one of these cards is a
13:06 random design, like the top of a Rubik's Cube.
13:09 And these guys who do the speed cubing, what they do is
13:13 they get a second cube.
13:15 They mix it up without looking, so it's a random
13:17 pattern, like one of these, just a random pattern.
13:21 And then they take the real cube, and they try and solve
13:23 the top of it so it matches one of these cards, because
13:26 it's more practice.
13:27 If they were to solve it, and they solve the cube, and it's
13:32 just all blue on top, that's easy.
13:34 Do that in their sleep.
13:35 I can do that in my sleep.
13:37 But trying to solve a cube or configure a cube so that just
13:40 one surface is random, much harder, much better practice.
13:44 So we're going to use these cards for a bit of a test, OK?
13:48 In this envelope, I've got a prediction.
13:51 We'll just leave that over here for now.
13:54 Now, I just want you to confirm that all these cards
13:55 are completely different, OK?
13:57 So we'll just--
13:58 there's about 20 of them.
13:59 There's 100 in a pack of these cards.
14:01 I've got about 20 of them here.
14:02 So you can see--
14:03 we'll just look down one edge.
14:04 We won't look at all the cards.
14:05 We'll just look down one edge.
14:06 I've got red, green, yellow, blue, yellow, red, white, red,
14:10 white, red, green, blue, blue, orange, white, blue, white,
14:15 green, red, yellow, green, and so on and so-- green, orange.
14:19 You can see basically every single one of them is
14:21 completely--
14:22 they're all completely different.
14:24 Now, the other thing I want to do is to make sure that
14:26 they're in no set order.
14:27 So give them a shuffle up for me.
14:29 Completely your call.
14:30 And now, this is like mixing the cube up, really,
14:33 shuffling these cards.
14:34 We've now got a random bunch of patterns in a random order.
14:36 We don't know what they are.
14:38 OK?
14:39 And just set them down here.
14:40 So you could have shuffled them to anywhere.
14:43 You happen to have shuffled them to exactly
14:45 here, to this card.
14:47 OK?
14:49 Now, had you gone--
14:50 if you'd shuffled them slightly differently, we would
14:52 have ended up on this card.
14:53 Yeah?
14:54 You can see just random patterns.
14:55 But we didn't.
14:56 We ended up on this card here.
14:58 Now, let me just take this prediction
15:00 that's in this envelope.
15:01 You're not going to believe this, because that's the
15:04 random pattern you've shuffled us to.
15:07 And my prediction, if it comes out--
15:10 and there's nothing else in this envelope.
15:11 It's completely empty.
15:12 My prediction is identical.
15:15 It is blue, orange, green, blue, orange, green, yellow,
15:18 white, white, yellow, white, white, red, green,
15:20 blue, red, green, blue.
15:21 And this is just a photo.
15:24 There's nothing on the back.
15:25 That was it.
15:26 Exactly what you did.
15:28 [AUDIO OUT]
15:35 So during performance, the cards start out in my pocket.
15:38 And the photo is in my wallet.
15:40 I bring it out.
15:41 I give it to a spectator to hold.
15:43 Say, inside of here is a prediction.
15:44 It's a photograph.
15:46 We'll get back to it a bit later.
15:47 If I'm not giving it to a spectator to hold, if I'm doing
15:50 walk around and there's no one available to hold the photo, I
15:52 stick it in my top pocket, or I put it on top of someone's
15:55 glass, or on the table.
15:56 And if I do need to set it down, as I explained earlier,
15:58 I don't put it down neatly straight.
16:00 I kind of just throw it down on an angle so that it doesn't
16:02 look like there's any orientation to this.
16:05 So later on, the orientation will be what
16:07 I decide it to be.
16:08 I introduce the cards.
16:10 If performing for magicians, I go into a great deal of detail
16:13 about how they're all the same length and this, that, and
16:15 the other, tipping that there's no long and short.
16:18 That's just to wind my magician friends up, of course.
16:20 For laymen, I just introduce them as apparently what they
16:22 are, Rubik expert practice cards.
16:24 Let alone, indeed, there is no such thing, but they buy into
16:26 it, these are nicely printed, they look like what I claim
16:29 them to be.
16:30 So then I deal through one at a time, pointing out this left
16:35 long edge, and they can see that there's no repeats.
16:38 Now, at the end here, the last card will be a force card, of
16:40 course, but I don't worry about that in the slightest.
16:43 It just goes down, and I turn them over.
16:45 Now, you can go a variety of ways here.
16:47 Sometimes I just say to the spectators, give the cards a
16:50 few cuts.
16:51 But more often than not, I say, look, just
16:52 give these a shuffle.
16:54 Now, of course, if I weren't to allow the shuffle, if I were
16:56 just to allow the cuts, wherever they cut to, I'm
16:59 either going to get to a force card, as I have here.
17:01 You know that the odd number is a force card, 83, on top.
17:05 Or, because they're in pairs, if I cut to an even number on
17:08 top, 98, I know the force card must be on the bottom.
17:11 And here it is.
17:13 But nevertheless, I still think the odds are
17:16 fantastically good when I give the cards out to be shuffled.
17:18 So I pass them out to be shuffled.
17:20 And of course, this is where you'll also destroy any
17:22 magicians who see this trick, because the opportunity for a
17:25 setup is now gone.
17:27 So I give them the cards.
17:29 Now, I can see immediately that there is a non-force card
17:32 on top.
17:32 It's an even number.
17:33 And after they put them down from the shuffle, I would say,
17:36 look, you've shuffled these into a
17:37 completely random order.
17:41 There's no way I could know.
17:42 Now, just in apparently gesturing, I've seen that on
17:44 the bottom is a force card.
17:46 So I would stop there and then.
17:48 And I noticed that the two whites were pointing downwards.
17:51 So as I say, look, you've shuffled these into a
17:53 completely random order.
17:56 And I don't look the first time I flash the bottom.
17:58 I make it look like I'm just gesturing.
17:59 And I look on the third or fourth time the
18:01 bottom card is in view.
18:02 So these are in a completely random order.
18:05 Nevertheless, you've shuffled and ended up with this card.
18:10 I don't mention the top card.
18:11 I just turn them over as if this was the way I was
18:13 intended all along.
18:14 That the natural direction this trick was aiming was for
18:17 me to turn over the stack after they've shuffled them.
18:19 Now, of course, with the whites pointing down and my
18:21 photo here, I know that with the opening of the envelope
18:24 when I-- oops.
18:26 When the photo-- that's a separate trick.
18:27 That's a future release from Alakazam.
18:31 The photo with the whites pointing down is facing the
18:34 flap of the envelope so that when I tip it out, it matches
18:39 perfectly.
18:41 At this point, I very often take these and just kind of
18:44 give a flash.
18:46 Or I just flash the photo sometimes.
18:50 There's no definite ending to the trick.
18:53 Although very often, they will want to
18:54 handle these items.
18:55 Now, as has happened here from the shuffling, the second card
18:58 down is a force card, although it's inverted, as you can see.
19:01 So I don't particularly want them to see that.
19:03 So very often, I will take this card, and I'll just thumb
19:05 it off and do a wrist kill.
19:08 Take the rubber band, put it back around these photos, drop
19:11 them in my pocket as we talk about the coincidence involved
19:14 in the matching a millions, billions to one chance of the
19:20 contradiction photo matching the card that they've
19:23 shuffled.
19:24 So I don't talk about the odds of it only being 16 cards.
19:27 I have told them there's about 20.
19:28 But I don't talk about the odds being 20 cards.
19:30 I talk about the odds of the billions of possible color
19:33 combinations that exist on a cube.
19:35 And they just absolutely agree with that and buy into it.
19:38 So that is the standard way I perform it.
19:41 As I say, if I hadn't at this point got any of my--
19:47 let's put that back in there.
19:50 If I hadn't have got any of my force cards to top or bottom,
19:53 so let's say--
19:54 push that a little bit further down.
19:56 Obviously, you need that to be so far down in the envelope,
19:58 you don't want to fold it in half.
20:00 So any envelope, although I do find that these ones that look
20:02 longer and thinner.
20:04 I did experiment with square type envelopes at one time.
20:07 But there's something about the envelope being long and
20:09 thin, which subtly, I think, subconsciously reinforces that
20:13 there is only one orientation that the photo can be in.
20:18 So that's off to one side.
20:19 As I say, though, let's say on the top I had a non-force
20:23 card, and on the bottom was a non-force card.
20:25 So they've finished shuffling the cards.
20:28 Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
20:29 They put them down.
20:30 I can see 32.
20:31 I know that's not a force card.
20:32 And as I gesture and say, you've shuffled these into a
20:34 random configuration, and I look at the bottom card, I can
20:37 see that also isn't a force card.
20:39 So what I do then is I say--
20:41 and you'll have seen this in the performance--
20:43 of course, the thing about the Rubik's Cube
20:45 is it's very specific.
20:46 The method is very specific.
20:47 The maths are very specific.
20:48 And I'm going to ask you, after the chaos of shuffling
20:51 these cards, like the chaos of mixing the cube up, I'm going
20:54 to ask you to cut the deck a specific number of times.
20:57 So do you want to cut it once, twice, three, four times?
20:59 You tell me.
21:00 Generally, they say three, I've found in my experience.
21:02 Why that should be, I don't know.
21:03 But it doesn't matter what they say.
21:04 If they say three, two, one, it doesn't make any difference.
21:07 Whatever number they say, I say, good.
21:09 Cut the cards that number of times.
21:11 Now, in this instance, they've cut directly to a force card,
21:14 number 83, so I don't go any further.
21:17 There is the force.
21:18 Of course, as I say, this wouldn't be down straight.
21:21 This would be down at an angle, or like this, or in my pocket,
21:24 or whatever.
21:25 So there's the force card pointing to that direction.
21:27 So I just pick this up, tip out what's inside.
21:30 And again, because I'm pointing the flap in the direction
21:33 where the whites will be, if this does indeed come out.
21:36 As you can see, my props are looking a little bit
21:42 the worst of wear.
21:43 I can only--
21:44 I tell you that this is because I do use this effect a lot.
21:47 Probably could do with a new, less battered, less creased
21:49 envelope.
21:50 And I might even treat myself to a new photo one of these days.
21:54 But there you go.
21:55 You get the idea.
21:56 It matches perfectly.
21:57 Of course, if it hadn't been on top, I'd have looked on the bottom.
22:00 If it hadn't have been there the first time, let's say--
22:05 and this can happen.
22:06 It has happened to me lots of times.
22:08 They said I'll cut the deck once.
22:10 So 76 is on top.
22:12 And I have a look at the bottom.
22:14 And that's a non-force card again.
22:16 So there's top and bottom.
22:17 I will turn to a second person.
22:18 I'll say, and I'd like you to cut the deck once.
22:20 And I just carry on.
22:21 Now, obviously, if you got to the 17th person, this could look a bit odd.
22:24 But I've never had it go beyond two or three.
22:26 And in a small group, maybe you're working with two or three people.
22:29 And two of them cut it.
22:31 And there's no force card.
22:32 The last time, I will cut.
22:34 And I'll say, OK, and I'll give it one cut.
22:36 And so you've optimized the chances of getting it.
22:39 Of course, because you've got two cards to go at,
22:42 and there are eight force cards in there,
22:44 the odds are, in fact, firmly stacked in your favor.
22:47 But as I say, if you need to have them cut once or twice,
22:51 or different people cut,
22:52 that is the way to get a force card to top or bottom.
22:55 And that is the basic performance of Rubik Predicted.
23:06 So a couple of more handling details and an alternative that I sometimes do.
23:09 Now, as you know, normally my practice is to deal through these cards
23:13 to show this left-hand column, to show that all the cards are different.
23:17 And I do that every single time I perform the trick.
23:20 I never just fan them out and say, look, they're all different.
23:22 I always really point out that these cards here down this side
23:26 are completely different.
23:27 Of course, as we discussed,
23:29 eight cards away from each of the force cards is an identical one.
23:32 But they never notice that at all.
23:34 And as you know, it's my common practice as well
23:36 to give these cards out to be shuffled.
23:38 But sometimes I don't do it that way.
23:40 And in fact, of course, if I was doing this walk-around or table-hopping
23:42 where I wanted to repeat the trick,
23:43 it would be stupid to shuffle them up
23:45 because then I'm going to have to reset between tricks.
23:47 So instead, after I've dealt through them,
23:49 I would just do the part about cutting them.
23:51 I would say, you know, the cards have been...
23:53 the cube gets randomized, and these are those random orders
23:57 that would be on a mixed-up cube.
23:59 But of course, solving the cube is very specific,
24:01 and I go into the cutting sequence.
24:03 I take the card, I take it to cut one, two, three, four times,
24:05 and I repeat as necessary
24:07 so that I get a force card top or bottom.
24:09 However, there is another handling I've used,
24:11 and that is as a kind of open prediction.
24:14 So what I do at the beginning is I take this photo out,
24:16 and I say, "Inside of here is a photo,
24:18 and I'm going to flash it to you so quickly,
24:20 your subconscious will take it in,
24:22 but you won't have a clue what's in it, and here it is."
24:24 And I just flash it like that, that quickly.
24:26 So they can see there's colours, and they can see it's of a cube,
24:28 but they don't know what it's of.
24:30 So I put that into the envelope,
24:32 with the two whites pointing upwards, towards the flap,
24:34 normal orientation, so I know exactly how it is,
24:36 and I put that off to one side.
24:38 And I say, "Here's what we're going to do.
24:40 We're going to go through the cards,
24:42 and you get to call stop any way you want.
24:44 It's completely your call."
24:46 So if you'd said stop here, it would be on this card,
24:48 and I'd gesture you with the first card,
24:50 so they can see that's a non-force card.
24:52 Or, I know it's a non-force card, they can see it's different.
24:54 I say, "We're not going to look at all of them,
24:56 because I don't want you to be influenced by colours.
24:58 I just want it to be a completely intuitive decision."
25:00 So now this is just like a standard Karan deck handling, of course.
25:03 So as I deal through the cards,
25:05 wherever they call stop,
25:07 I'm in the delightful position
25:09 that there will either be a force card here, or here.
25:11 Now in this instance, we've ended on this card.
25:13 So if they say stop, as I'm dealing this card,
25:15 I say, "Right, you've picked this one.
25:17 Which is this configuration?"
25:19 Now because the cards are still set up in the original order,
25:21 with every force card alternating with a non-force card,
25:23 it allows me the very clean thing,
25:25 of being able to say, "Had you stopped a card earlier,
25:27 we'd be on this one.
25:29 A card later would be this one."
25:31 And show two completely different cards.
25:33 But of course, you didn't do that, you stopped here.
25:35 Then of course, I just need to go back to what I normally do.
25:37 I take the envelope.
25:39 In this instance, the whites are pointing towards me.
25:41 So I tip the photo out this way, towards me.
25:43 The envelope is empty.
25:45 And there we go, it completely matches.
25:47 And of course, I drop the card.
25:49 I drop the card.
25:51 I drop the card.
25:53 And of course, I drop that back on top.
25:55 And we're reset, ready to go.
25:57 And repeat the trick.
25:59 Now if you wanted,
26:01 what you could do is, of course,
26:03 you could deal through these cards face up.
26:05 But I find that's a little bit risky.
26:07 And it's not necessary.
26:09 If you were dealing through the cards face up,
26:11 all you would need is some eagle-eyed spectator
26:13 to start spotting that every other card
26:15 has two whites on it.
26:17 And they might see that one card.
26:19 Once they've seen that one card,
26:21 once they've seen two whites pointing to themselves,
26:23 or to the side,
26:25 if they see another one,
26:27 if the spectator doesn't stop until toward the end,
26:29 you don't want them saying,
26:31 "Wait a minute, let me have a look at those cards again."
26:33 So if you deal them face down, that's not an option.
26:35 So this open prediction style handling,
26:37 I don't use it as much as the other way,
26:39 because I do like to give the cards out to be shuffled, as you know.
26:41 But it is another way that I've tried,
26:43 and had a lot of fun, and a lot of success with.
26:45 [Sigh]
26:47 So, I haven't always done this trick this way.
26:55 I do love these cards, they're beautifully printed,
26:57 and I was glad I got them done.
26:59 And of course, Peter's now replicated them
27:01 for you to have in this Rubik's Predicted package.
27:03 But the original way I was doing this trick
27:05 is sometimes how I still do it, and I'll explain why in a moment.
27:07 The original way I did it
27:09 was with some business cards.
27:11 Now what I did with these business cards
27:13 is I drew a Rubik's Cube on there.
27:15 You can see, whilst my business cards are on the back,
27:17 on the front, they're identical
27:19 in layout.
27:23 I mean, not necessarily colours, but the Rubik's Cube,
27:25 the cube, and everything drawn in the middle.
27:27 And all I did was I got a bunch of these Sharpie pens
27:29 in different colours.
27:31 Obviously I didn't need the white, because I left the space blank.
27:33 And I just drew the cube in,
27:35 and I coloured them in.
27:37 And my original stack is also 16 cards long,
27:39 and as you'll see, features the two whites,
27:41 which is, after much experimentation,
27:43 I found to be the best way of deciding
27:45 how to keep a track of the orientation of the cards.
27:47 And every other card
27:49 has got the two whites on.
27:51 As you can see, pointing down,
27:53 pointing to my right now,
27:55 pointing towards me,
27:57 the next one will be pointing to the left,
27:59 towards the camera, and so on,
28:01 to the last ones pointing to the right.
28:03 And of course I normally have a four-square on top,
28:05 so regular cards on the bottom.
28:07 Now, there's something delightfully low-tech about these.
28:09 The way these are marked, by the way,
28:11 just for completeness sake,
28:13 whereas these have the numbers on the back,
28:15 so that, you know, an odd number is the force cards,
28:17 and the even numbers are non-force cards.
28:19 On my business card,
28:21 which is my standard business card here,
28:23 there's a little white triangle,
28:25 just here,
28:27 OK,
28:29 which I colour in black.
28:31 So all of the force cards,
28:33 with the two whites on,
28:35 have that small triangle there coloured in black.
28:37 So after the shuffling and cutting,
28:39 if I see a little black triangle,
28:41 I know it's a force card, if not, I do the standard glimpse.
28:43 You know, we've cut to a random space,
28:45 and so, a random place,
28:47 sorry, shuffled to a random place in the cards, and so on.
28:49 Now, what I like about this is,
28:51 as well as these cards being delightfully low-tech,
28:53 is it leaves the spectator
28:55 with an awesome souvenir.
28:57 Because at the end of the trick,
28:59 they've shuffled and cut the cards, they've done whatever,
29:01 you've turned them over,
29:03 they've ended on this card,
29:05 and you say, "I'm not going to, you know,
29:07 you're not going to believe this,
29:09 the photo, the picture I've got matches it exactly,
29:11 you know, this is just, you know,
29:13 freaking me out, your intuition is incredible,
29:15 in fact, you know, listen,
29:17 why don't you keep this card to remember
29:19 you know, this weird event by,
29:21 you know, when you've got a need for some magic,
29:23 or some strange events in your life,
29:25 give me a call."
29:27 So it's a lovely way to give out your business card,
29:29 and has got, they won't remember that the climax
29:31 of the trick was you showing the photo,
29:33 they will remember that the climax of the trick
29:35 was them picking the orientation of the cube.
29:37 So it's just a nice way to give out your business card,
29:39 and it's got a souvenir of a very strong, powerful effect.
29:41 And then of course, afterwards,
29:43 you know, when I'm back at home,
29:45 all I would do is I would get the sharpies
29:47 and duplicate this one and add it back into my stack.
29:49 So of course, if you don't want to give the business card out,
29:51 you can keep the stack intact,
29:53 and you can say to them, you know,
29:55 "Why don't you have one of my cards?"
29:57 and you could even put that back down and say,
29:59 "No, wait a minute, let me give you the business card."
30:01 And you could even put that back down and say,
30:03 "No, wait a minute, let me give you a fresh one,
30:05 and get one out of your wallet."
30:07 Although I do think that would be missing the opportunity
30:09 of giving them this powerful reminder of the trick.
30:11 So that is the way I did this trick for a long time
30:13 before I had these cards printed,
30:15 and I still used to introduce it the same way.
30:17 Although I wasn't able to point out
30:19 these Rubik's Cube expert practice cards,
30:21 I would still tell the story of,
30:23 I don't know if you know how
30:25 speedcubers and cube experts practice,
30:27 they get a cube, they mix it up
30:29 without looking, then they set it down,
30:31 and they try and replicate that image
30:33 on the top of their cube,
30:35 the one they've just mixed up.
30:37 Now to do that when I'm practicing,
30:39 so I don't have to mix a cube up all the time,
30:41 all I've done is I've drawn a bunch of those
30:43 mixed up images onto these business cards.
30:45 That's how I would introduce them.
30:47 And people would buy that completely.
30:49 I don't think they look as slick or professional
30:51 as these cards, of course,
30:53 and perhaps the story's not quite as plausible
30:55 with some homemade hand-drawn cards
30:57 as it is with some proper slickly printed cards.
30:59 Nevertheless, there's something quite charming
31:01 about this, and as I say,
31:03 the power of giving your business card out
31:05 with a climax on the back.
31:07 Sounds like something Russell Brand would say, doesn't it?
31:09 Anyway, I believe that is a powerful moment.
31:11 So I just thought I'd mention that to you,
31:13 something to think about perhaps if you're doing
31:15 a walk around, or maybe for the top table
31:17 at a wedding, or something where you want
31:19 to give a more personal touch.
31:21 [Music]
31:23 So thanks for watching the DVD.
31:31 I hope this trick is something you'll use.
31:33 I have a lot of fun with this trick.
31:35 I love performing Rubik's Cube tricks,
31:37 and as I mentioned, I perform my blindfolded cube
31:39 all the time, however, it's not always practical
31:41 to carry a Rubik's Cube around.
31:43 So very often I carry this in my wallet,
31:45 and it allows me to do, essentially,
31:47 a Rubik's Cube trick without a Rubik's Cube.
31:49 So I really hope you get the most out of this.
31:51 Learn to handle the props nicely.
31:53 Just a little bit of work through,
31:55 and you'll be able to do it.
31:57 You can see there's no sleight of hand involved.
31:59 It's just a matter of keeping control of the props,
32:01 and directing attention in the proper manner.
32:03 So please do try this trick out,
32:05 because I get fantastic reactions with it,
32:07 and I'm sure you will too.
32:09 Goodbye.
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