exploring out of this world part 2
Alright, so continuing from part 1 of this ootw series. This first version solved a few things for me, but still wasn’t quite there. Like the deck is more difficult to shuffle due to the nature of the stack, it’s process still feels a bit constrained.
Just quickly before we get into it- the direction of this exploration is more about their choice vs predicting a randomized shuffle. By that I mean it’s not presented as them somehow getting the colors’ order correct from the randomness of a shuffled deck. If that’s the case, then a shuffle would be important. It’s presented as a choice-centric trick in that even if they know there’s an order, they can still make different choices to disturb that order, so the order really doesn’t matter. I don’t say this, it’s just internal.
So while shuffling is nice, it never bothered me to exclude it because this method is kinda counterintuitive to how their choices are made.
Btw I used to set up the deck right in front of them (without them seeing the faces), and just said that I’m putting the deck into a particular order. I’d take my time doing that set up like it was something very particular to them. Then lean into their choice about the color of each card. I think that’s what got me thinking about going more in this direction.
Okay that was not “quickly” haha… here’s the set up from the top.
It doesn’t need to be exactly this- as long as you can remember it easily.
14 red, 14 black, 8r, 8b, 2r, 2b, 1r, 1b.
To start, a quick nonchalant false cut/shuffle will suffice, and you don’t have to take out the traditional 1 red and 1 black card. Instead preface “I’m going to ask you two questions.. the first one is: “which of these cards do you think are definitely red?”
I think saying “definitely” helps explains that they’ll miss some of them, and that’s okay. It assures them a bit- like it’s okay to miss some, but which ones do you think are definitely red?
(At the end of this post, I have another way to “decide” which color to go for that is randomly determined. But let’s keep going for now…)
You spread count a few cards (let’s say 5) and give those to them. Direct them to make a small fan in one hand and use the other to remove the ones they think are red, and put the rest aside. After they’re done, you spread count 9 more (which are the rest of the reds before the next group of black cards) and hand it to them saying “same deal except with more cards- which ones out of these do you think are definitely red?” They do their thing- placing the cards they think are red on top of the existing red pile and discarding the rest.
Then you spread count all 14 black cards and ask which they think are definitely black. I nudge the red pile closer to their right side, and tell them to just remember “red = right”. They take out the cards they think are black to make a new pile to their left, and discard the rest.
Next, you can do a group of 8 red cards, followed by a group of 3 black cards, then a group of 5 black cards. Something that breaks up the rhythm a bit, which solves the alternating pattern- it’s not red, black, red, black, red, black, etc anymore. It’s some red, then more red, a bunch of black, some red, some black, more black, etc.
Again, you don’t have to use this particular set up- just whatever is easy for you to remember. You can make it up on the fly as long as you’re keeping track. If you really miss shuffling, you can have them quickly mix up the cards before making their choices, which may feel more random.
So basically, you’re alternating between colors, but within each color group, you can break down to smaller groups. When strung together, all of that can feel more random as a whole.
(This is the counting/tracking bit that I wasn’t too happy with. But more on that in the next post.)
You get to the ending when you’re left with two cards- one red, one black. This part is pretty cool. But I’m gonna leave off here for now, because it’s the same ending as the next post. Sorry for the cliffhanger.
To tie over, some time between this version and the next, I realized there can be more “randomness” by letting the cards decide which color they should go for. You can use the first card they take out for each group to “determine” what color to go for.
Before, you asked them to go for a specific color because you already know which color is coming up. But since you gave them a group of cards of that same color- they can just take out any one from the middle, and that card’s color will be the decision.
So this is another layer of an illusion of choice. Even though you know what color it’s going to be, they don’t. So I think that adds to the process.
You can start with that, then go into “okay, so you chose a red card. Put that here in front of you. Of the remaining cards, which ones do you think is definitely red?” And this way, you’re kinda explaining as you go, which I think is a nice change from explaining everything first, and then they deal.
Next post on Friday. See you then! :)