Master of Chance by Lubor Fiedler

[John B.]

Anyone here have Master of Chance by Lubor Fiedler? I think I finally figured this one out. If it works the way I suspect, it is very clever.

[David DeTenyo]

After watching the video of La Petite I also have a good idea of how it works. Looks good but a bit of a hassle to do the necessary move for someone with small hands like myself
I think it's also not that difficult to make for yourself - I have wooden triangular blocks from my son's children playset which I might use to try to make a version for myself ... .

[Olaf S]

I have the version of La Petite and I agree that the deceptive grip needs some practice
and a good distraction but the principle is simply clever & nevertheless ingenious

[John B.]

Thanks both, and the 3-D printed version looks pretty good. Someday I may try to make my own version.

[PeterW]

It’s an interesting concept! I came across this free to 3D print version https://www.printables.com/model/328981 ... y-lubor-fi

[David DeTenyo]

I seriously need to convince our school principal to buy a high quality 3D printer (for my science classes of course ).
By the way I just looked at the wooden blocks my son has but unfortunately the triangles aren't equilateral ... .

[CollinW]

It’s an interesting concept! I came across this free to 3D print version https://www.printables.com/model/328981 ... y-lubor-fi

I'm printing a version I just designed to play around with. I hadn't seen this one, thanks for sharing it Peter!

[Rob Rand]

Ok I’m the guy who suddenly needs this effect!

Ordered it at the French webshop la-petite-boutique-3d-de-lea

I don’t know why I did that, but I felt I couldn’t live without this effect, that intrigues me for a while…

I understood that a certain secret move is necessary…

[ØyvindK]

I've been meaning to design my own version of this trick for some time, but I am not sure how easy it is to do the necessary move. I'm not an expert at sleight of hand...

[CollinW]

Here's my first attempt. Just a super simple design to play around with.

fr_3463_size880.jpg

[Olaf S]

This handling with marking on one block helps for the secret move



https://youtu.be/_XrpWy20alc

[CollinW]

Here's another test print again printed in rough quick draft mode, it's the version that Peter shared a link to. I still need to print the colored panels.

Tri-color.jpg

[David DeTenyo]

Collin, superb as usual
This is diabolically clever, but absolutely NOT mechanical in nature as some might suspect. Just saying ... . On the positive side it is 101% examinable before, during and after the effect

[ØyvindK]

It is clever, but it seems to me that the performance video from "Totally Magic" makes it look slightly better than in real life. In his video, the "spectator" chooses green, and "coincidentally" that is also the frontmost color of the block that the performer chose. In reality, the performer might need to rotate the whole thing before lifting the cover to reveal the similar choice, so there can't be any focus on the frontmost color until after.

[ØyvindK]

Ok, so I had to make a quick design myself as well. Looks similar to the one at printables, but I made the blocks as one part with recesses for the color panels:

master_of_chance.jpg

Didn't make any decorations on the tube, though. Might add that if I decide I will use this trick. As of now, I'm still not convinced. The spectators knows that the chance of a hit is 1/3, and that means it wouldn't be convincing without repetition, but repetition also means repeating the suspicious part (i.e "the move").

[CollinW]

Ok, so I had to make a quick design myself as well. Looks similar to the one at printables, but I made the blocks as one part with recesses for the color panels:


master_of_chance.jpg


Didn't make any decorations on the tube, though. Might add that if I decide I will use this trick. As of now, I'm still not convinced. The spectators knows that the chance of a hit is 1/3, and that means it wouldn't be convincing without repetition, but repetition also means repeating the suspicious part (i.e "the move").

Looks good. I kept one top piece separate and merged the other top with the block body, that way the top and bottom surfaces look the same after printing.

[ØyvindK]

In my case, the top and bottom surfaces are slightly different, but I don't think that really matters here. The tricky part is to do the move, and to do it more than once without raising too much suspicion. After all, there isn't really any justification for why the performer should need to lift the topmost block after the initial reveal of a color match.

I know that in the video by Totally Magic there is a justification because of the sticker he placed on the block, but that's probably not going to fly multiple times. I'm convinced he cheated too, by the way, He did not do the move, even if he claimed he did. You can see a corner of the block in his hand all the time, and there's no move being performed, so he plainly staged the performance to make it look better.

[CollinW]

I know that in the video by Totally Magic there is a justification because of the sticker he placed on the block, but that's probably not going to fly multiple times. I'm convinced he cheated too, by the way, He did not do the move, even if he claimed he did. You can see a corner of the block in his hand all the time, and there's no move being performed, so he plainly staged the performance to make it look better.

I'm convinced there was a video edit.

[ØyvindK]

Could be that as well, of course. No matter what, he cheated to make it look better, and I don't like that. It's the same with the performance at the french shop La-Petite-Boutique where Olaf bought his. He also staged it to avoid doing the move at all. I also think his props are way too sharp, some fillets and chamfers make the props look nicer and feel better when being handled.

[CollinW]

Could be that as well, of course. No matter what, he cheated to make it look better, and I don't like that. It's the same with the performance at the french shop La-Petite-Boutique where Olaf bought his. He also staged it to avoid doing the move at all. I also think his props are way too sharp, some fillets and chamfers make the props look nicer and feel better when being handled.

I agree, my first version was too sharp as well. The version Peter linked to and your version are much nicer.

[CollinW]

I've been printing with different color combos to see what works best. I think I prefer the Red, Green, Blue panels versus the Silk Gold, Silver, Bronze.

Master of Chance colors.jpg

[Rob Rand]

Nice work Collin with the rounded edges!

I would prefer red, yellow and blue, although your dark blue and light green contrast good enough to discern them…

[CollinW]

Nice work Collin with the rounded edges!

I would prefer red, yellow and blue, although your dark blue and light green contrast good enough to discern them…

I tried printing with some yellow I had on hand but it came out too transparent, you could see where the glue was applied. Luckily I was able to remove it and replace it with a more opaque color.

[ØyvindK]

I performed this last night, and I partly failed. I did it twice, using two different methods, but the first one failed. I suspect the spectator did something she should not have done while I had my back turned, because I heard someone else in the audience suggest she should do that. Even if she did, I could have recovered if I had kept my cool, but alas I did not.

The second demo worked out as intended, where I essentially did it as in the video by Totally Magic, except I of course had to actually do the move.