A fun prediction game

I came across a fun video made by Professor Richard Wiseman (who incidentally includes puzzles and optical illusions on his fantastic blog).

It’s amusing and somewhat related to decision trees. The video is after the break. Enjoy!

Youtube video: The Prediction

Were you able to figure out the trick?

There is a decent video explaining how the prediction trick works (though you may want to watch on mute as the music gets annoying)

Youtube video: the secret behind the prediction



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  • cipheric

    Explaining this trick is easily done with a basic combinatorics mechanism: checkerboarding.

    If you imagine the 9 squares on the grid as having a 2-color checkerboard pattern (red and black), then it is quite easy to see that if you START on a BLACK square, then any set of EVEN allowed moves will once again land you on a BLACK square. Likewise, any set of ODD allowed moves will land you on a RED square.

    All he has to do is imagine the colors on the board, and remove an appropriately colored square based on if he had you do an even number (it is safe to remove the color opposite of where you started) or an odd number (it is safe to remove the same color as where you started) of moves. All he has to do is make sure that he removes the correct color, and keeps the remaining squares connected.

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