Mind Stunts: Tossed Out Rubik's Cube

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Ross Hironaka
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Mind Stunts: Tossed Out Rubik's Cube

Postby Ross Hironaka » December 26th, 2010, 2:23 am

I'm intrigued by Patrik Kuffs' "Tossed Out Rubik's Cube" in the January 2011 issue of Genii. But I must be missing something. Can't a spectator pick two force colors and mess things up?

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Mind Stunts: Tossed Out Rubik's Cube

Postby Richard Kaufman » December 26th, 2010, 10:33 am

Inquiring ...
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David Acer
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Re: Mind Stunts: Tossed Out Rubik's Cube

Postby David Acer » December 26th, 2010, 11:05 am

Pat is off having a merry Christmas somewhere warmer and less snowy than Montreal (like Alaska). But I've sent him your query.
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Ross Hironaka
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Location: Southern California

Re: Mind Stunts: Tossed Out Rubik's Cube

Postby Ross Hironaka » December 28th, 2010, 2:51 am

Thanks, Gents!

BTW, great issue, as always. I'm really enjoying it.

David Acer
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Re: Mind Stunts: Tossed Out Rubik's Cube

Postby David Acer » December 28th, 2010, 9:05 pm

Ross Hironaka wrote:I'm intrigued by Patrik Kuffs' "Tossed Out Rubik's Cube" in the January 2011 issue of Genii. But I must be missing something. Can't a spectator pick two force colors and mess things up?


I just re-read the trick and I think I see what you're missing, unless I'm missing something in your question, in which case I'll refer everything back to Kuffs (I miss him). Are you referring to the point in the routine when you ask each spectator to name two colors - the one they picked and another random color from the cube - whereupon you offer to reveal which color they're telling the truth about? If so, I presume you're asking, "what if the color they make up is one of the other two force colors?" The answer is, it makes no difference, since you're revealing all three force colors simultaneously at the end and asking the three spectators to "return to your seat if your color has been named."
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Ross Hironaka
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Joined: April 13th, 2008, 4:15 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Mind Stunts: Tossed Out Rubik's Cube

Postby Ross Hironaka » December 29th, 2010, 7:43 am

Thanks, Mr. Acer, that makes sense! Looking back, there were two parts that I tripped over:

My first hang-up was the sentence, "Because of our secret preparation, we know for sure that the colors they saw on the cube are white, red, and green." I had interpreted this incorrectly as "we know for sure that the colors they SELECTED on the cube are white, red, and green." For the example used in the article, the performer doesn't know if the selected colors are red-white-green or red-red-green. (Not that it matters in the end, as you have noted.)

The second thing that I got hung up on was the bluff revelation. The example bluff mentioned in the article works for the given situation, but cannot be blindly used for all color combinations, which was my assumption. You cannot simply name any two force colors and a non-force color and necessarily have the bluff revelation work as intended (i.e. fail), assuming the ladies all keep their eyes closed. Some thinking on your feet is evidently necessary for this routine.

I'll stop now, my head hurts. I think next time I better stop reading and answer the phone... ;-)

Thanks,

Ross


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