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Just performed this trick for my partner and she was very underwhelmed. There’s probably a good delivery to figure out.

numlocked 5y ago
Yes - it boils down to “there are 10 cards. Pick some number of cards, give me the rest, and I’ll tell you how many you picked”. The addition of “more cards” very thinly disguises the basic fact that you are subtracting a number from 10. It’s not obvious to me how this could be done in a way that seems impressive.
- FartyMcFarter 5y ago
  > Yes - it boils down to “there are 10 cards. Pick some number of cards, give me the rest, and I’ll tell you how many you picked”. It boils down to that when you know the trick, but it isn't trivial to conclude that from just seeing the trick being performed.
- Marazan 5y ago
  Do the whole trick blindfold. And learn some patter.
mhitza 5y ago
For an impressive self working trick I can recommend this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8w7uXkb1M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8w7uXkb1M .
jedimastert 5y ago
The magician term is "patter", and it's just as important as the technique. Often some of the best tricks are just very good stories, and the technique is the storytelling device.
ummonk 5y ago
Probably have to add some elaborate narration and then some sort of routine in the process of flipping your own cards so they forget how things started out. Also, given that you're on HN, you've probably chosen a partner who is at least somewhat intellectually stimulating and thus significantly more likely to think this through than the average person.
fenomas 5y ago
TFA explains the trick somewhat oddly, to make the math angle more obvious. Here's a (random) video of someone doing it a more usual presentation of the effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xau8Ng4aQ6Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xau8Ng4aQ6Y Not the world's greatest magic trick or anything, but I don't think it's as transparently obvious to figure out as several commenters are suggesting.
- tibbetts 5y ago
  Linking to a 9 year old YouTube video with 36 views and 12 subscribers should have an amusing impact on their metrics.
  - loonster 5y ago
    I was going to skip the video, but after knowing the metrics I needed to add to the level of bewilderment. The video has been up for ~80k hours. It just got 80% of its views in the last hour.
- cyounkins 5y ago
  The article describes a fixed number of cards to the performer and spectator, but the video has him split the deck behind his back. Is he counting by touch to have the correct number of cards?
  - fenomas 5y ago
    Yes. That's what all the "but it's obvious!" commenters are missing - normally the spectator wouldn't have all the information that TFA lays out (that exactly half the deck starts out reversed, exactly how the cards are split up later, etc).
rnoorda 5y ago
Having dabbled in magic some, I can confirm that the delivery is far more important than I originally thought. Several times I have had my mind absolutely blown by a card trick, then found out it's a trick I have done myself! But they had put in so much more effort on honing the delivery, presentation, and patter to the point it became a different trick.
- nickpeterson 5y ago
  This is so important in most fields. Marketing works.
bena 5y ago
Work it with a mentalist angle. Separate the cards into a face up and face down, shuffle, deal out two piles while explaining that you can read their mind. That you can pull numbers right out of their head. Have them pick a pile. Slide it over to them and slide one under the table while telling them so you can't see what you're doing. But really it's because they can't see what you're doing. Tell them to go through their pile and count the number of face up and face down cards. But don't tell you. Emphasize that they shouldn't tell you the numbers. Once they have the counts, stare at them, make some jokes about what they're thinking. Then shuffle the cards around under the table a bit. Make it look like you're thinking about what you're doing, mutter, "yes, yes, no, up, down" etc. Then after a few seconds, say you got it and do the reveal. Bonus, if they flipped their deck before counting and therefore the counts are backwards, you can go "ta-da" and flip your deck in front of their face, working the misfire as a false reveal.

Yes - it boils down to “there are 10 cards. Pick some number of cards, give me the rest, and I’ll tell you how many you picked”. The addition of “more cards” very thinly disguises the basic fact that you are subtracting a number from 10. It’s not obvious to me how this could be done in a way that seems impressive.

FartyMcFarter 5y ago
> Yes - it boils down to “there are 10 cards. Pick some number of cards, give me the rest, and I’ll tell you how many you picked”. It boils down to that when you know the trick, but it isn't trivial to conclude that from just seeing the trick being performed.
Marazan 5y ago
Do the whole trick blindfold. And learn some patter.

mhitza 5y ago

For an impressive self working trick I can recommend this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8w7uXkb1M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8w7uXkb1M .

jedimastert 5y ago

The magician term is "patter", and it's just as important as the technique. Often some of the best tricks are just very good stories, and the technique is the storytelling device.

ummonk 5y ago

Probably have to add some elaborate narration and then some sort of routine in the process of flipping your own cards so they forget how things started out. Also, given that you're on HN, you've probably chosen a partner who is at least somewhat intellectually stimulating and thus significantly more likely to think this through than the average person.

fenomas 5y ago

TFA explains the trick somewhat oddly, to make the math angle more obvious. Here's a (random) video of someone doing it a more usual presentation of the effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xau8Ng4aQ6Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xau8Ng4aQ6Y Not the world's greatest magic trick or anything, but I don't think it's as transparently obvious to figure out as several commenters are suggesting.

tibbetts 5y ago
Linking to a 9 year old YouTube video with 36 views and 12 subscribers should have an amusing impact on their metrics.
- loonster 5y ago
  I was going to skip the video, but after knowing the metrics I needed to add to the level of bewilderment. The video has been up for ~80k hours. It just got 80% of its views in the last hour.
cyounkins 5y ago
The article describes a fixed number of cards to the performer and spectator, but the video has him split the deck behind his back. Is he counting by touch to have the correct number of cards?
- fenomas 5y ago
  Yes. That's what all the "but it's obvious!" commenters are missing - normally the spectator wouldn't have all the information that TFA lays out (that exactly half the deck starts out reversed, exactly how the cards are split up later, etc).

rnoorda 5y ago

Having dabbled in magic some, I can confirm that the delivery is far more important than I originally thought. Several times I have had my mind absolutely blown by a card trick, then found out it's a trick I have done myself! But they had put in so much more effort on honing the delivery, presentation, and patter to the point it became a different trick.

nickpeterson 5y ago
This is so important in most fields. Marketing works.

bena 5y ago

Work it with a mentalist angle. Separate the cards into a face up and face down, shuffle, deal out two piles while explaining that you can read their mind. That you can pull numbers right out of their head. Have them pick a pile. Slide it over to them and slide one under the table while telling them so you can't see what you're doing. But really it's because they can't see what you're doing. Tell them to go through their pile and count the number of face up and face down cards. But don't tell you. Emphasize that they shouldn't tell you the numbers. Once they have the counts, stare at them, make some jokes about what they're thinking. Then shuffle the cards around under the table a bit. Make it look like you're thinking about what you're doing, mutter, "yes, yes, no, up, down" etc. Then after a few seconds, say you got it and do the reveal. Bonus, if they flipped their deck before counting and therefore the counts are backwards, you can go "ta-da" and flip your deck in front of their face, working the misfire as a false reveal.