How Is This Done?

[Aquila]

http://drdemento.com/games/mindtrick/

Every time I try this, it works. I'm stumped.

 

[chillzero]

Note all the cards, and retry it.

 

[Hokulele]

http://drdemento.com/games/mindtrick/

Every time I try this, it works. I'm stumped.

They replace all of the cards and reduce the number by one. It doesn't matter which you pick, as all of the original cards will be gone. You can use the Back button in your browser to verify this.

 

[realpaladin]

write down the cards; color and face. Then do it again.

 

[Steven Howard]

You can probably figure it out yourself if you think about it for a little bit.

Have you noticed ...

Have you noticed that it still "works" if you pick more than one card?

Have you noticed that the pages are static html?

Have you looked closely at all of the cards before and after the middle image?

And ... a bunch of other people posted basically the same thing while I was trying to untangle my nested spoiler tags.

 

[Wowbagger]

It's simple. Dr. Demento is reading your mind.

 

[Aquila]

This is brilliant! Thanks everyone for your help!

This trick would be a good example of one of those psychological principles (confirmation bias? subjective validity?) that we use subconsciously when we find so called "paranorma"l evidence.

 

[aofl]

What's most fascinating about the OP is that Dr Demento is still on the air.

Seriously, I thought he was dead.

A

 

[Wowbagger]

I swear Dr. Demento is really psychic! When I met him, once, he said to me "Well, you must really like 'Weird Al' Yankovic." And, I was like "How did you know?!!!"

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

http://drdemento.com/games/mindtrick/

Every time I try this, it works. I'm stumped.

Pick a number:

0 1 2 3 4

I have removed your number:

5 6 7 8 9

I'm (not) Amazing!!!

 

[Safe-Keeper]

It's a great trick, though. Shouldn't work, but it does, because you focus so much on that one card that you don't notice the change in the others.

 

[lionking]

It does look like a good trick though.

ETA Beat me to it Safe-Keeper.

 

[laca]

Haha good one... I just noticed that there were 2 kings, 2 queens and 2 jacks at first, and that at the end there were 2 kings, 2 queens but only one jack. That proved for me that it was a trick, however, I did not notice they changed the cards' colors.

 

[Ashles]

If you like that you'll love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE

ETA: For maximum appreciation don't read the comments below until after you have watched the video.

 

[GeeMack]

http://drdemento.com/games/mindtrick/

Every time I try this, it works. I'm stumped.

Most online versions of this use a single image for the first set and another single image for the finale. I wrote a JavaScript version which uses a more or less random selection of cards. You can check it out here.

 

[Aquila]

Most online versions of this use a single image for the first set and another single image for the finale. I wrote a JavaScript version which uses a more or less random selection of cards. You can check it out here.

Nice job! At first I thought that the 3s 4s and 5s would not work as well as the Jacks, Queens and Kings, but they did. I think that people - including me for a while - find it difficult to notice a difference when there is a combination of numbers and card suits.

 

[Aquila]

If you like that you'll love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE

ETA: For maximum appreciation don't read the comments below until after you have watched the video.

I've seen this one before, on another skeptic website, so knew what to expect, but still thought it was very well done.