Penn and Teller: Fool Us

exactly. my working theory is that you take the smallest-grade sewing needle that exists and punch a consistent series of holes in the middle of each deck card, the borders making a circle. (i.e. in the shape of the plunger!)

but even if that's perfectly correct, you have to be masterful at getting the stopper card in place before each plunge. i've seen this guy pour the deck like water on some morning show...
 
Static charges? Di-electric effect? If the cards have a plastic coating (as most do), a static charge which holds the cards like an adhesive, would be broken on the card that is touched. Else, with di-electric behavior, flipping the card in the stack may invert the static. The plunger is rubber. Rubber holds static charges easily, like rubbing a balloon on your hair and then using the static charge to attach the balloon to a wall.
If he places the plunger in the same spot on the table, that spot may contain a static generator.

Or, tearing up pieces of paper into tiny bits, combing your hair with a nylon comb, and then picking up the bits with the comb.
 
wow, sleepy. if i wind up buying some plungers for this trick, i will definitely test that out. how crazy is it that the same illusion could be done multiple ways by completely different laws of nature...?

but given that this trick needs to be done on a porous surface, i'm pretty sure it works by vacuum / suction. here's another look, by the same guy:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJZDbjmZLS8


i especially like how he gives all credit to the plunger. not so much psychological misdirection as much as an unburdening if you will. if'n you alls see what i'm a-sayin.

(pardon, appalachian moment)
 
On that second clip watch the plunger from the 0:20 mark. For "some strange reason", at the 0:25 mark during the first trick, the tiny plunger suddenly jumps "on its own". I doubt a vacuum because the suction cup and the rubber would interfere with the jump by adhesion and by colloidal friction. Like trying to slide a rubber eraser. And a vacuum in a porous table would draw the air from the suction cup, limiting its ability to jump like that. It would depress the cup, literally and visually. But a static field would break the adhesion and draw the plunger without depressing the cup by vacuum.

In the second video, right at the 1:11 mark, as he is saying "it won't pick up all the cards...", he goes for the stack of cards, but tilts his hand and the stack falls apart. A vacuum might break given the force of the tilt. But a static adhesion definitely will, and the 'looseness' of the stack as the cards fall away doesn't feel like a vacuum to me.
The way the cards slide apart is not like a vacuum. It feels like a static effect.

In both videos, he is placing the tiny plunger in the same area on the table, and does so before making each and every move. Like a static charge cycle. Even when he gives the plunger to someone else, he Always takes it back and places it on the table in that area before using it on the cards. Every Time.

Something else. The {&T video, the magic number is 15. In the second video, the number is 16. I believe the number is given to the respondent in advance, as a ringer. The card is pre-selected because it is a stopper card.
 
Last edited:
thanks. i'll study that video more closely and follow your comments.


Something else. The {&T video, the magic number is 15. In the second video, the number is 16. I believe the number is given to the respondent in advance, as a ringer. The card is pre-selected because it is a stopper card.
i guess it's possible, but according to an advert (you can actually buy tiny plunger for $30 or so), the participant need not be in on the trick and is free to choose whatever they want.

the guy is also a professional magician and card handler, so i am quite sure that he is fully able to place and discover the stopper card wherever and however he needs to. therefore i don't see the point in coaching people to a desired outcome. it would needlessly interfere with their natural reaction, as well.

of course there is another possibility that involves guiding people towards a convenient answer, and is often an integral part of "mentalism." i don't really know the ins and outs, but have seen a bunch of tricks that work along these (psychological) principles. apparently when this stuff is mastered and you find a person who it works with (which is evidently most, but not all people), you can produce some fairly amazing 'mind-reading' results.
 
Okay. It probably is a vacuum after all, though a cloth porous surface "might be static-capable". The reviews here tip to your vacuum argument. And because the purchase does not include any static generators:

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3491
 
Btw, And in the past, the colorful outdoor lighting of The Magic Castle could be seen from the streets of Hollywood below. From The Strip, looking up into The Hollywood Hills.

There was once a story; that you could join The Magic Castle by performing a 5 minute trick in front of a live audience. I'm not sure whether that is still true.

EDIT: By performing a 5 minute trick Successfully. And it has to be A Magic Trick. Not a trick like you might encounter on the streets below.
 
Curiously, the Penguin site mentions that they no longer sell the kit with the gimmicked plunger. So maybe the one they don't sell still uses static? If so, it won't be the first time that a magic trick had an inferior version available for public purchase.

And I'm still wondering why the plunger would jump on the table. The cup is not depressed. Someone bumping the table should have caused the plunger to rock or fall over. Not slide to a spot on the table as it appears to do in the video.
 
i recall there are two plungers included. one really is just an ordinary plunger, which i understand is the one that the bearded, energetic guy used. the other is a special plunger invented by his partner (mathias from germany i think) to do variations on this trick.

i didn't get the impression that static was the mechanism, although static or suction through tiny pinprick holes could both set up the real sleight of hand in this trick, which is manipulating the stopper card in to place.

...

i'm in the middle of episode 10 now. this goes on at least three more episodes, and i see they've just renewed the show for a third season. cool.

if i have any complaint, it's that almost all the tricks are close-up tricks, mostly using cards. which is fine and all, but i do miss those elaborate tricks from the first season using full-stage effects.

i guess CW's budget is not up to par with the BBC's... then again the BBC is the one who cancelled, and CW is the one who's maintaining the show. so...all good, eh?
 
Fool Us?

I didn't know it was still going. Is there a site to watch them in order?
 
My area is supposed to have a local guy on tonight trying to fool Penn&Teller. This is one of my favorite shows and I have seen them in concert several times (although they usually do the same tricks and also do them on the show)
 
finally... last week's show had a larger-scale trick...



Penn & Teller: Fool Us // Scott Alexander and Puck



knowing that the bars are slightly staggered, i'm still not sure how they create enough room to get large objects through. looks like teller was the only person to have figured this one out.
 
new host for season three... and she's good!

3296443_900.jpg




ye olde multiplying bottles routine:
Penn & Teller Fool Us // Michael Kent Comedy Magician - YouTube
 
Me likee!!:hug:(Guess I'll have to watch now).
 
Eating a live guinea pig, fine!

 
Not for Australian consumption, it would seem?

So kind of like cuy done sushi style?
 

Attachments

  • cuy.png
    cuy.png
    335 KB · Views: 4
"AuxiliaryModeAffiliates?!?"

Avast, matey, I'd batten down the rouge if I were you.
This could be the BIG ONE...!! D:
 
@StevOz,
Sorry for being an incoherent wiseass above, matey.

Hopefully something on the following list helps you find an Oz-friendly version of the trick:

The full clip is around 3+ minutes, and really is amazing, funny, and worth seeing.
We don't have a non-PB video section here, do we..?
 
Forum activity
Help Users
You can interact with the ChatGPT Bot in any Chat Room and there is a dedicated room. The command is /ai followed by a space and then your ? or inquiry.
ie: /ai What is a EM Pinball Machine?
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
      Mibs Mibs: StevOz has posted a new reply in the thread "Post interesting videos you found on YouTube".
      Back
      Top