Scam School

Hosted by Brian Brushwood. New episodes Wednesdays.

If Harvard offered a PhD in deceit, this would be it. Award-winning magician Brian Brushwood takes viewers on an inside tour of bar tricks, street cons and scams. If you watch carefully, you'll never have to pay for a drink again! Read More

Psychic Dice to Punk the Drunk

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 – running time 11:27

Easy dice trick lets you read drunk people's minds!

Introduction

Three dice are dropped into a glass, covered with a coaster, then shaken up. The mark lifts up the glass just enough to peek at the bottom sides of all three dice, then adds all three dice to get a total value. Without peeking or cheating, the scam artist is able to divine the secret number in the sucker's mind!

00:46 | Play

Psychic Dice Revealed

The method is simple. The trick is pulling it off with SUBTLETY. Amazingly, most people do not know that dice are made such that the values on opposite sides always total 7 (if there's a 6 on one side, there will be a 1 on the other, etc.). So by catching a quick glimpse of the tops of the dice, you can figure out the values on the bottom.

You could look at each individual die and figure out what value is on the other side, or use a simple shortcut to get the total value on bottom: total up the values on the top of the dice, and subtract that amount from 21: your answer will be the secret number they're thinking of!

04:48 | Play

Tyler tries the Psychic Dice Scam

Now remember that they're going to suspect you're somehow peeking... so don't go for the gold right away. Instead, when they set down the glass, maintain eye contact, and act like you've already got the answer. After a moment, make a distracting gesture and sneak just a peek at the top of the dice, and you'll be home free.

07:30 | Play

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About the Show

Details
Show Title:
Scam School
Description:
If Harvard offered a PhD in deceit, this would be it. Award-winning magician Brian Brushwood takes viewers on an inside tour of bar tricks, street cons and scams. If you watch carefully, you'll never have to pay for a drink again!
Categories:
Know More
Launch Date:
Apr 6, 2008
Episodes:
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