3. Four Quarters
class: closer | impressiveness: 4/5 | factors: unbeatable, frustrating | requires: four quarters, the ability to watch your friend squirm… and squirm | watch full episode
The Setup: A hard-as-balls puzzle that will drive everyone nuts and hopefully win you some free booze.
The Work: Start out with four quarters set up in a diamond pattern, as seen here.
The mark’s goal is to get the quarters arranged in a straight line…while following these three rules:
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You can only slide one quarter at a time, using only one finger.
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No picking up, pushing, or stacking of coins (only operate within the two dimensions of the table… and no using one coin to push another)
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Hardest of all: each time you let go of the coin you’re moving, that coin must be touching at least two other coins.
The Secret: The real secret to this trick? The real secret is to wait. Set everything up, tell everyone the rules, and… wait. Insist they keep on trying, and wait as long as it takes. If you’ve already done an opener like the Human Chimney, then you’ve captured everyone’s attention. This is where you translate that momentum into a free drink. This trick IS SO unbustable, that you can let people work on it all night, until finally, in a fit of desperation, one of them will BEG you for the solution. Tell them that you’ll be HAPPY to share the answer with them… but you’re just… so… darn… thirsty…
Before you know it, you’ll have a free drink in front of you, and (more importantly) you’ll have established a precedent of “pay for play”… you’ll be happy to keep doing your tricks, as long as the free drinks keep coming.
Oh, I suppose you’d actually like to know the answer to this puzzle, too. Now, normally I’d tell you right away, but the problem is that you haven’t thought about this very much. You might be tempted to assume that aw, hell… I would’ve figured it out eventually… this can’t be a good challenge. No way it’ll fool anyone in real life at the bar.
So I’m going to do something a little unconventional.: Before you get the answer to these challenges, I’m going to need you to click on a little contract between you and me. Pick one of the following:
Brian, I didn’t bother to set up the challenge, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got this one figured out. I just need to see the answer so I can know I’m right. So…Show me the answer.
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