Three things I love about this: - firstly, I love your easy, amiable style for presenting the effect. Very enjoyable! - secondly, the fact that you didn't give away the outcome in the video title! So many P&T videos are reproduced with FOOLER! in capitals. That spoils the whole premise of the show! - thirdly, as a Brit, I think it's just hilarious that the show producers decided that your into needed subtitles!
All the current videos are getting pulled by the tv company due to copywrite so we have to ask them to be able to show it. They only authorise us to use it on our own channel of website and in my case only in Europe.
What's great about the last round with Teller is he's making it significantly harder for P&T to crack it because it proves that the deductions work with only 3 additional images. It's not 'to make things easier'. It's to make things harder! Misdirection all around for magicians. He primes you up with Penn and Alyson to figure 'well yeah anyone who puts that book together can spend time figuring out distinct combinations based on how they come out in the grid'. With Teller he smacks us all in the face. That was the real trick. He says the code could be taught in 30 seconds so it's obviously something simple, but difficult to deduce with the given information.
You won't remember his name tomorrow. And you'd never know if someone else was using his trick claiming it as their own unless you'd seen him perform it first. His role on the back stage out of the limelight is secure I think. He'd get just enough reflected limelight to be happy.
🤣 I did see the irony of that statement after I said it. That said it's only a 5 minute of fame thing anyway. I only did it because I wanted to see if the book would fool them.
The thing i love about this trick is that when you don't know the solution, it is completely baffling. But when you do know the solution, it is difficult to believe that it would fool anyone. The strength of the effect is its extraordinary deceptive simplicity. Well done and congrats!
The key part of the trick that gave away the method to me was Alyson's turn in which the main pic could be combined with *any* *three* items. So to hide the method better, I would alter the approach for the 3rd round.
After reading comments a bit and seeing what people suggest, I'm fairly convinced the code is just that there are "adult" items (as in boring or utilitarian) and "child" items (as in, comforting, game items or nature related) and the picture that stands out on the list is the main one. (so if you have "house" you'll only get niice and childlike items and if you have "teddy bear" you'll only get boring and utilitarian items around the main one).
@@themagicbluecat Well it does work for 100% of what was shown though ^^ but yeah I'm sure there are multiple ways you could do it, maybe with somethiing less arbitrary. I am also fairly unconvinced you'd have told me if I was correct so I'll stay satisfied to have found a way the trick would actually work perfectly even if it's not 100% how it was done ;p
The Odd one out. Every page contains one item which has some metalic parts to it and 8 other don't. Or the other way around. You can pause and check the other 2 pages shown before beginning the trick, applicable to all the 5 pages we see here.
Pencils don't have lead in them. They have graphite. Which looks like lead, so people called it that. But it's not. And so most pencils have no metal. And chairs are frequently metal-free as well. So I can't figure out the code...it could literally be anything. And the fact that it can be communicated with 3 non-matching images instead of 8 makes this infinitely more difficult too.
@@VoIcanoman Regardless on if they ACTUALLY have no metal, this is the solution to the classification trick he used. You can imagine a pencil that has the metal ring to hold the eraser bit if it makes it easier for you. Also a chair that is just made out of metal or put together with metal bolts.
magician, he appears on fool us, versed in mlp, does magic for his daughter and he doesnt spoil the video in the title you, john morton, definitely deserve more recognition! its a pleasure to have watched your video! edit: didnt notice its spoiled in the thumbnail..... thats a real letdown.... >.
Penn and Teller had no chance here. The amount of possible image set and code combinations (even the easy ones) is just too large for them to find the correct solution in just a few seconds or minutes. Such a nice trick!
The thing that stumps me is the fact that the code works even if it is out of order or if only 4 of the 9 images were mentioned. It is possible that there are a certian number of unique images per page which allows you to determine which page it is and therefore what image, and it would allow it to be done with the main image and any three other images. Or to make it simple, the main image only appears once in the entire book. However, the short amount of time required to learn the trick rules out memorizing every single page, so there must be another trick to it. Additionally, if all the books are the same, we see a tractor appear on a page where it is not the main item, so the images don't appear once. Given that it takes 30 seconds to learn the trick, I think there must be some rule that allows your determine what the main image is quickly. You could have memorized an order of images and the main one is always the first image in that order, which would be a really clever way of determining the image while reusing the images. But given you could learn the trick in 30 seconds, I don't think that is the case. The only way I can think of is that the main images follow some pattern which makes it stand out amoung the other images, for example, it's the shortest word, or the first alphabetically, although that wasn't the case here. But to create such a system that is easy to learn but difficult to guess is really impressive, and if it is how the trick is done, the creation of that system is the real magic. But likely it is something even more clever and less obvious.
I think the main image appears only one time in the book. The other must be the same fillers in every page. I’m not sure but I think they all got pencil for example. Even tho’ I’m not sure how it worked on 4 images.
Without giving away the trick. Try to think about how you'd create a "code" that could be easily identified within 5 seconds of hearing the list. Even just 3 items is enough to identify the main item if you can figure out how to code it. Its a very simple trick if i have it correct. In the moment i'd absolutely be fooled, but after looking through pages for a few mintues I'd say i have a grasp over it as I got the gist on the second viewing. I'd say it was very ballsy of him to do the trick 3 times because of how simple it is. I think this is a case of penn/teller diving too deep.
There's some classification shenanigans going on. When given a set of three items plus the target item on a given page, the magician can sus out the target. Since it's apparently learnable in 30 seconds and also since the book is specially made anyway, it doesn't seem like an extraordinary memorization feat would be necessary. From the pages that come up in the video, I get the sense that the sets are created by 'hardness'. Teller's dog is surrounded by hard items like keys and houses, as is Allison's butterfly. Teller's tractor is surrounded by dogs and rainbows. The scissors page has strawberries and cake, while the umbrella comes with rainbow and ball. Am I close?
@@KleineKassiopeia When the main object is umbrella, tractor is not on the card and vice versa... As far as I could tell this theory fits the pages that are visible; but it might be something else entirely of course.
It’s a tablet that looks like a white board. He just presses the button that corresponds to the image chosen and he had a premade image for each choice
It’s an electronic trick. The board is a tablet-type gizmo. All the images are preloaded and he just presses a button to show whichever image was chosen
@@assmane999 wouldn't something like a screen potentially be really evident through a video camera? Take a picture or a tv or tablet and it'll pretty clearly show you the lines of it and look worse than a screenshot would.
if i have the method correct, I would say that that is the ballsiest thing to do on fool us, especially with giving Pen and Teller the book to look at. I think that in itself is worth a trophy haha, being brave enough to do something so simple
My guess is it's a game of "what doesn't belong here". Take for instance the words Cake, clock, pencil, tractor, umbrella, chair, phone, keys and house and you could say that cake is something you can eat and the rest you probably shouldn't eat. Or the words Kite, moon, flower, phone, cat, cake, fish, teddy and strawberry. Phone would stand out as it needs power to work. Butterfly, tree, rainbow, flower, bear (teddy), kite, sun, football and umbrella. Umbrella stands out because the rest are more associated with spring/summer being outdoors whilst umbrella is more fall.
Immediately loved you , brilliant energy . The whole time I was thinking that it was a code and I’m stunned it wasn’t . Absolutely BRILLIANT. I’d love to know what your other trick on fool us but it’s all good to keep it under wraps . Subscribed
It is indeed a code. But you'd have to think outside the box to find it. I already have figured out a simple code, probably not his, to achieve a similar effect. Think in reverse. Don't try to find how he did it. Try to find how you'd do it your own way.
@@rouelibre1 Disagree. While the small pictures were all of a main item, with enough "main items" each main item could be paired up with unique sets. That's why he had Teller go through 4 of them. He needed that many to discern from which page he was pulling the pictures. He memorized the book. That's why he could teach them the code in a few seconds. "Easy guys, just memorize it like I did." He even gave the guys the clue in the very beginning . . . he's played that game with his kids for hours on end . . . memorized.
@@t00by00zer No, it's not memorization. penn said "to learn the code we would need a couple of weeks, to perform it, to memorize it" and he said"nope, 30 seconds". So the code can be learned in 30 seconds. It must be really simple, but hard to spot on the fly.
The chosen image is always the odd one out - ie the one that doesn’t conform to the rule. I’ve worked it out for Teller and Allyson - “is the image a living being”. In Tellar’s images only the “dog” is living and in Allyson’s case only the “butterfly” is living.
Not sure that's it, look at the first page he shows. Phone - kite, sheep?, flower, phone, cat, cake, fish, teddy bear, strawberry. Which is the odd one out?
I've a feeling that it could be relating to the letters in the words, certain items/letters don't appear with certain other items containing those letters
There are lots of ways you could do this, but the real trick is finding one that Penn and Teller can't easily work out. Off the top of my head, you could do something alphabetical (closest to an end or closest to the middle), something to do with numbers of syllables, a number code (A=1, B=2, etc.) with the feature item always having the highest or lowest total... If I sat for a while and thought about it I'm sure I could come up with a few more. The fact that it isn't easy to guess is the really clever part, so well done!
(Some of these are definitely wrong, I know - the cake page has clock in the 3x3 grid, so a simple initial-letter alphabetical code is out. I was just spitballing.)
A fantastic trick, absolutely awesome. Well done on fooling P&T. Just one small complaint, speaking as a Brit, I think the subtitles in the introduction were unnecessary!
Great performance! This got me puzzled and I really wanted to understand it because I like codes. So I used every instance where you see the book in the video and opened excel. Won't say it out of respect but guys, if you REAAAALLY want to find it it's doable on your own.
John, on Penn's podcast they talked about you and this trick and he mentioned he really hopes you sell it. Are you/ do you have any plans to? I want :)
I mean without us knowing what the book looks like it would be impossible to look for a pattern, and anything would just be speculation. But I also noticed that John always asks what page was chosen before the reveal, maybe there's a reason for that
i love puzzles i took at least a good hour trying to break the code and i am soooo happy that i can say right now i have no fing idea how you did it lol and i thought i had brains you know what is alarming me the fact that it has to be such an easy soulution for us to be able to learn it in 30 seconds lol
My guess: all objects are divided in two groups, e.g. one group are the objects that may have metallic parts in it (like tractor or phone) and the other group that never have metallic parts (like dog or ball). The main object is always an outsider: if it contains metallic part, the other objects on this page don't or visa versa. Them you need only 3 objects to guess. However if this theory is true, then pencil should be in category that have metallic part, but kite is not. It's not obvious why. Ok, pencil may have a metallic eraser holder. But why kite may not contain some metallic parts? You probably need a little more than 30 seconds to explain this. So maybe the code is even simpler.
even if the slight outsiders like pencil or kite exist, it wouldn't be hard for him to manually remind himself to place them into their 'incorrect' categories.
It's just organic/inorganic, with a set of red red herring. Organic = animals, nature, foods + KITE/TEDDY/BALL; Inorganic = man made objects. That took less than 30 seconds to type.
Damn, the metal explanation seems legit. Some choices are arguable like the kite (which could have metal parts) or the sun (which contains metal in its core). But generally it holds up.
I'm pretty sure it's the huge number of possibilities to combine different animals in each page. If I'm looking for the same 3/4/5 animals in many pages, will I find them again and again?
I can understand how the 3x3 grid can generate unique answers... what I don't understand is seemingly how John has the thing already drawn after the answers? Is that a camera cut or
oh my .. i think i got it :D this was so nice loved it .. lets put it this way .. no matter the order you name them as they said in highlander .. there can be only one
The only short way I can see of doing this is if the main image never appears as a by-product on any other page. That is all of the other eight images never occur as a main image.... that way you only need to keep track of the big images.
Penn and Teller know everything about magic. But take the simplest mathematical puzzle/identity, and turn it into a lame magic trick: they are gonna get fooled. I was shocked when the rock-paper-scissors guy got the trophy. That trick was based on a trivial identity, which took me two seconds to see. As for this one: it might be really lame. Simply, if any two pages have at most three items in common, then any four items uniquely determine their page. We have seen four pages (Teller's one only partially). The magician's: fish, kite, spaceship (?), flower, strowberry, cake, scissors, teddy, dog. Penn's: dog, teddy, moon, rainbow, butterfly, kite, tree, tractor, ball. Alyson's: telephone, chair, clock, key, umbrella, tractor, butterfly, house, pencil. Teller's: dog, telephone, key, pencil, ... ??? Notice how any two lists intersect in at most three items. If this weren't the case, then the magician would take a big risk with Teller. If there were two pages in the book with four items in common, and Teller happened to pick one of those pages and those four common items, the magician would have to take a guess which page out of the two it is. (Unless some of the common items are impossible to mime, in which case there might be somewhat more overlaps.)
Congratulations, that was absolutely amazing. 😃 Just one question: Could I perform this for a German audience in German or do the words have to be in English?
If Penn is right that the book is a prop made for the trick and not an actual published one, you should do something about it because it would make a really good and fun learning tool for a child at the right age.
I'm reading all these complex theories about hard/soft, etc. But isn't it just that there has to be pairs to eliminate them? Kite/Bear - toys Cat/Fish - animals Cake/strawberry - food Flower/moon - nature Leaves the phone - object Basically I think each item has a few categories it can fit into and if there's no pair for it, it's the main item.
doesn't add up with the third iteration (Teller) as it has to work with only a selection of the items, as it's possible for Teller to mention items without their counterpart. It works out though if you can categorise the items in two groups, with the chosen object belonging to the other group than the other items on the page, for example hard and soft objects like the top comment says, or something else that's not immediately obvious (could be stuff like first/second half of the alphabet of the last letter of the word, short/long words, ...)
The fact that I still try to figure this out after reading through all the comments makes me think that the code has to be so simple that you miss it which makes it even harder. Well done, and amazing presentation as well!
It’s done with a digital board. It’s a tablet that is designed to look and move like paper. All the images are preloaded. He draws nothing. He presses the button that will bring up the image that corresponds to the choice. He can choose any image pretty quickly from the list and call up the image
@@assmane999 I am very certain that is not how it is done. I mean I will be surprised if that is actually the answer but I am very certain that is not it.
1 of 9 items is different from the rest. 1 is naturally occurring vs 8 others that are man-made (and some pages, the opposite occur). The picture is of the 1 different. So he hears DOG, pencil, keys, umbrella. dog is the only naturally occurring item.
@@GuyDudeman Yes, I also went that routine. But it does not 100% work all the time. Mr. Morton himself said so. So that’s not the method. There’s an even easier method which I am still wondering how it is done.
John, I loved this routine. I think certain mentalism acts are hokey and predictable and I usually like to go and find out how the trick is done in the comments, but your own statement about 'how the audience feels at the end' really stuck with me. So I am going to avoid doing so, because this was awesome!
Have you got an online shop or someway of contacting you as I do magic and would like to come up with some ideas and see if we can put something together
I disagree..dont think he fooled penn & taylor. He knows the pages by heart & knows the sequence of objects which r unique on each page. Eg. Dog, pencil, butterfly combination will NOT be on other page...hence he knows the correlating result. Its simple trick
without seeing the book I'm going to guess it has nothing to do with the items being called out and more to do with items not being called out. the only way to derive how the trick is done would be to know the personal code developed by the magician in his own head which could be anything
3:07 weird. I did notice a subtle difference in Penn's tone and guessed tractor straight. lol. It probably has nothing to do with the trick, but I'm OK with looking silly. :D let's continue *hits play EDIT: 4:11 I've paused to guess "key" *resumes play EDIT 2: OK. I quit. :D
Looks like working in pairs which leaves 1 non paired object. Foods, animals, nature, machines etc. I do get the feeling the last one was a bit of a risk, afterall 28 pages are not much to learn. Unless the system allows for unlimited pages.
