# Penn and Teller: Fool us - Rubik's Cube Magic



## Sjbrundage (Jul 6, 2015)

Hey Guys,

I have some really exciting news! Tonight I will be performing Rubik's Cube Magic on Penn and Teller: Fool Us! The show airs on the CW at 8:00PM.






Full video: https://www.facebook.com/StevenBrundageMagic/videos/921914137850188/


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## newtonbase (Jul 6, 2015)

Wow. Hope we get to see it here in the UK.


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## Myachii (Jul 7, 2015)

Jeez I havent heard anyone mention that show in years...
Good luck


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## PenguinsDontFly (Jul 7, 2015)

wait...are you doing "rubiks cube magic" as in the puzzle, or "rubiks cube magic" as in ur doing various magic tricks with the rubiks cube?


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## tarandeep5 (Jul 7, 2015)

PenguinsDontFly said:


> wait...are you doing "rubiks cube magic" as in the puzzle, or "rubiks cube magic" as in ur doing various magic tricks with the rubiks cube?



I saw in the ad that there was some kind of magic with the rubik's cube, so I bet it's 'Rubik's Cube Magic'.


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## Sa967St (Jul 7, 2015)

PenguinsDontFly said:


> wait...are you doing "rubiks cube magic" as in the puzzle, or "rubiks cube magic" as in ur doing various magic tricks with the rubiks cube?



The OP is the guy in this video:


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## DeeDubb (Jul 7, 2015)

I was thinking about this a while ago when I watched the show. If I went on, I would just do a normal BLD solve, telling them everything I'm doing honestly. They would be trying to find some sort of misdirection or trick, but actually, I'm just doing a legit BLD solve. I think that would fool them.


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## tarandeep5 (Jul 7, 2015)

OMG, those tricks on the show were amazing! I'm so happy that a fellow cuber actually fooled those judges! The one second solving and getting the cubes in the same state were probably my favourites


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## supercavitation (Jul 7, 2015)

DeeDubb said:


> I was thinking about this a while ago when I watched the show. If I went on, I would just do a normal BLD solve, telling them everything I'm doing honestly. They would be trying to find some sort of misdirection or trick, but actually, I'm just doing a legit BLD solve. I think that would fool them.



I think to pull it off, you'd need to be solidly sub-1, and very consistent. Imagine what would happen if you DNF-ed.


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## Tim Major (Jul 7, 2015)

Did someone record it?


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## Kit Clement (Jul 7, 2015)

Tim Major said:


> Did someone record it?



There's a video in a Facebook group, but that's about it.


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 7, 2015)




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## tseitsei (Jul 7, 2015)

DeeDubb said:


> I was thinking about this a while ago when I watched the show. If I went on, I would just do a normal BLD solve, telling them everything I'm doing honestly. They would be trying to find some sort of misdirection or trick, but actually, I'm just doing a legit BLD solve. I think that would fool them.



My first thought when I saw this thread...


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## Myachii (Jul 7, 2015)

I wonder how much thought was put into that trophy design....

Still amazing magic, really confidently performed.


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## Stefan (Jul 7, 2015)

Awesome! I'd really love to watch the whole thing, though, not a heavily cut version... Didn't even get to see the guys guessing the tricks :-( And the beginning makes no sense as nothing happens with your and Penn's mixed cubes. And where do the cube in Teller's hand and the cube matching it come from?


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## cmhardw (Jul 7, 2015)

That was excellent, thanks for posting the video! Congratulations Steven!


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## Kit Clement (Jul 7, 2015)

Stefan said:


> Awesome! I'd really love to watch the whole thing, though, not a heavily cut version... Didn't even get to see the guys guessing the tricks :-(



They didn't even bother guessing, after about 3 seconds they just told him that they were fooled.


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## Sa967St (Jul 7, 2015)

That was awesome! Congrats!


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 7, 2015)

[video]https://www.facebook.com/StevenBrundageMagic/videos/921914137850188/[/video]

Full Unedited Clip!


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## Stefan (Jul 7, 2015)

Kit Clement said:


> They didn't even bother guessing, after about 3 seconds they just told him that they were fooled.



That's in a weird bay both disappointing and awesome.



Sjbrundage said:


> https://www.facebook.com/StevenBrundageMagic/videos/921914137850188/
> 
> Full Unedited Clip!



Great, thanks! Very nice routine, and well done! I love the cubing skill and knowledge involved.

I just hope that nobody takes your "I had to cheat in competitions" story seriously...


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## Sidster (Jul 7, 2015)

Thats really cool! Nice job


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## newtonbase (Jul 7, 2015)

Did this come from being stopped by the police?


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## adimare (Jul 7, 2015)

That was amazing! Congratulations!



Myachii said:


> http://gyazo.com/708b4f4cba6332eb99c7c5afafa446ea.png
> I wonder how much thought was put into that trophy design....


I think they know exactly what they're doing. The sentiment seems to be "FU, you fooled us".


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## supercavitation (Jul 7, 2015)

Myachii said:


> http://gyazo.com/708b4f4cba6332eb99c7c5afafa446ea.png
> 
> I wonder how much thought was put into that trophy design....



Quite a lot. If you've ever seen them perform live, you know that them doing the trophy like that is not in the least bit surprising. Hilarious, but not surprising.


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## Dene (Jul 8, 2015)

Great show!


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## Tim Major (Jul 8, 2015)

Penn got olddd

Really impressive, I assume you do this trick differently to all the other scramble toss like tricks, and that you haven't revealed how? Are the cubes perfectly as functional as a normal cube/different in any way?

Was the match the scramble trick just a 50/50 that went your way, and if Teller chose the cube Penn had scrambled instead of the cube you scrambled, you would've had to've gone a different path?


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## stoic (Jul 8, 2015)

Absolutely outstanding!
I love Penn and Teller, and to see them give in so quickly like that is just incredible.
:tu


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## pdilla (Jul 8, 2015)

I watched it yesterday but forgot to comment on it...

Friggen amazing! I remember watching the video of you with the police some time ago and thought it was great! It's pretty neat that the cube is such an enigma to most people that even Penn and Teller would be fooled by a strong left pinky. Very smooth executions and covers. Love it!!


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## Isaac Lai (Jul 8, 2015)

I'd love to know how they were done. That being said, magicians don't often reveal their secrets


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## Berd (Jul 8, 2015)

Very cool!


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## TheCoolMinxer (Jul 8, 2015)

Wow! That was an outstanding performance! I would love to see more from this guy in the future


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## JohnnyReggae (Jul 8, 2015)

That was an amazing performance. I'm really stunned ... wow !!! Nice job.


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## AlexMaass (Jul 8, 2015)

Isaac Lai said:


> I'd love to know how they were done. That being said, magicians don't often reveal their secrets



I think I know how most of the tricks were done, I can post if you guys want to know.


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## Berd (Jul 8, 2015)

AlexMaass said:


> I think I know how most of the tricks were done, I can post if you guys want to know.



I knew at least one of them


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## Username (Jul 8, 2015)

AlexMaass said:


> I think I know how most of the tricks were done, I can post if you guys want to know.



maybe not post here, but PM the ones who want to know, some people might not want to even accidentally read it. That being said I definitely want to know, I have some kind of idea how they might work but I'm not sure except for like one of them


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## tseitsei (Jul 8, 2015)

Some of them should be quite obvious for cubers IMO.

But some of them really amazed me too :tu So gj!


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## newtonbase (Jul 8, 2015)

I think I can work out most of them but would like to hear others take on it. 

I'm going to try and find time to come up with a short alg that makes a cube look more scrambled than it it that can be reversed quickly out of sight.


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## Stefan (Jul 8, 2015)

Tim Major said:


> Was the match the scramble trick just a 50/50 that went your way, and *if Teller chose the cube Penn had scrambled instead of the cube you scrambled*, you would've had to've gone a different path?



Teller *did* choose Penn's cube.


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## Chree (Jul 8, 2015)

Tim Major said:


> Penn got olddd




I googled "Is Penn sick". Turns out he had high blood pressure and his doctor told him to lose weight. So he went on some crazy diet. 4 months and 105 pounds later, he looks like a raisin. That's a real magic trick.


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## cmhardw (Jul 8, 2015)

newtonbase said:


> I think I can work out most of them but would like to hear others take on it.
> 
> I'm going to try and find time to come up with a short alg that makes a cube look more scrambled than it it that can be reversed quickly out of sight.



I don't know if this was used on the show, but (RULD)*2 is great for what you're looking for.


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 8, 2015)

cmhardw said:


> I don't know if this was used on the show, but (RULD)*2 is great for what you're looking for.



Nope it wasn't used on the show.. but that is pretty cool. I am going to play around with it a Bit.


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## AlexMaass (Jul 8, 2015)

I guess I'll post a pastebin link to a text doc explaining everything, I'll work on it now.


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## ncube (Jul 8, 2015)

Superflip in a millisecond is pretty cool


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## newtonbase (Jul 8, 2015)

AlexMaass said:


> I guess I'll post a pastebin link to a text doc explaining everything, I'll work on it now.



That would be great.


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## adimare (Jul 8, 2015)

AlexMaass said:


> I guess I'll post a pastebin link to a text doc explaining everything, I'll work on it now.



I'd ask the OP if he's OK with that first. Don't think any magician is a big fan of having his secrets readily available for anyone to read online.


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 8, 2015)

Some Guy on Reddit already went through and reconstructed all my closely guarded secrets! : O

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/com...oudest_moment_of_my_life_fooling_penn/csvqyq9


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## AlexMaass (Jul 8, 2015)

Okay then, are you fine with it Brundage?


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 8, 2015)

AlexMaass said:


> Okay then, are you fine with it Brundage?



Keep it within the cubing Community. No need to share it with the normal public. I wouldn't want my secrets out to the world. Can you email it to me privately first: [email protected]


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## AlexMaass (Jul 8, 2015)

Sjbrundage said:


> Keep it within the cubing Community. No need to share it with the normal public. I wouldn't want my secrets out to the world. Can you email it to me privately first: [email protected]



Okay I will.


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## Stefan (Jul 8, 2015)

Two things I'm wondering about:

At 2:28 the cube was still scrambled, then we don't see it for four seconds, and then it's suddenly solved. Did you solve it there, or was that part edited after all?

Whose idea was that terrible fake screenshot of your video? The URL is the invalid [noparse]https://www.com/watch?v=rWfWI9mQAb0[/noparse] that you get when removing ".youtube" from the actual URL. The page is fake, including the 15 million views counter. On the real page, up to now, it's about 2.3 million. Igtfmivfebtsisfabm


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## AlexMaass (Jul 8, 2015)

Stefan said:


> Two things I'm wondering about:
> 
> At 2:28 the cube was still scrambled, then we don't see it for four seconds, and then it's suddenly solved. Did you solve it there, or was that part edited after all?
> 
> Whose idea was that terrible fake screenshot of your video? The URL is the invalid [noparse]https://www.com/watch?v=rWfWI9mQAb0[/noparse] that you get when removing ".youtube" from the actual URL. The page is fake, including the 15 million views counter. In reality, up to now, it's a little over 2 million.


I was wondering about that too, kinda confused me.

Also, maybe that includes facebook views too.


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## molarmanful (Jul 8, 2015)

Stefan said:


> Two things I'm wondering about:
> 
> At 2:28 the cube was still scrambled, then we don't see it for four seconds, and then it's suddenly solved. Did you solve it there, or was that part edited after all?
> 
> Whose idea was that terrible fake screenshot of your video? The URL is the invalid [noparse]https://www.com/watch?v=rWfWI9mQAb0[/noparse] that you get when removing ".youtube" from the actual URL. The page is fake, including the 15 million views counter. On the real page, up to now, it's a little over 2 million. Igtfmivfebtsisfabm


About the cube scrambled --> solved, maybe he made a mistake there?

In the screenshot: That's not youtube... The webpage layout/design isn't even right!


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## CubeWizard23 (Jul 8, 2015)

Fyi when he flipped over the "scrambled" cube it was solved on 3 sides and in a pattern on the other, if p and T had any knowledge of the cube they could of guessed it. sorry bro kinda lame


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## newtonbase (Jul 9, 2015)

Steve, did you get to discuss the tricks with them at any point?


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## DeeDubb (Jul 9, 2015)

newtonbase said:


> Steve, did you get to discuss the tricks with them at any point?



I know with the rules of the original show (and probably this version), the magician has to show a director or producer (can't remember which) who is also a magician how each trick is performed, so that if Penn & Teller guess close, that person can decide whether or not they figured it out.


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## newtonbase (Jul 9, 2015)

I was thinking more about after the show and whether they get a bit of green room time together.


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 9, 2015)

Stefan said:


> Two things I'm wondering about:
> 
> At 2:28 the cube was still scrambled, then we don't see it for four seconds, and then it's suddenly solved. Did you solve it there, or was that part edited after all?
> 
> Whose idea was that terrible fake screenshot of your video? The URL is the invalid [noparse]https://www.com/watch?v=rWfWI9mQAb0[/noparse] that you get when removing ".youtube" from the actual URL. The page is fake, including the 15 million views counter. On the real page, up to now, it's about 2.3 million. Igtfmivfebtsisfabm



So on Penn & Teller for legal reasons they can't show youtube.. it was easier to just make up a fake page. If you notice I said it has had over 15 million views total or "On all platforms". Which means I am also counting the times it has been played on Good Morning America, Steven Harvey, Today Show, ETC ETC. Each of those TV shows has millions of views that have seen the video.



CubeWizard23 said:


> Fyi when he flipped over the "scrambled" cube it was solved on 3 sides and in a pattern on the other, if p and T had any knowledge of the cube they could of guessed it. sorry bro kinda lame



You're forgetting that they only see the trick once.. and not online where they can rewind and watch it back. Sometimes its hard to pick up on all the colors when it happens so fast.



newtonbase said:


> I was thinking more about after the show and whether they get a bit of green room time together.



Before you go on the show you are kept from Penn and Teller. They have no idea who is going to be on the show and what they are going to do. Right after my episode they started practicing for a show.


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## adimare (Jul 9, 2015)

CubeWizard23 said:


> Fyi when he flipped over the "scrambled" cube it was solved on 3 sides and in a pattern on the other, if p and T had any knowledge of the cube they could of guessed it. sorry bro kinda lame



That was actually my favorite trick by far. It's the easiest to figure out *for a cuber* but the effect is very cool.

By the way, you meant "could have", "could of" is just nonsense, that annoys me quite a bit for some reason.


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## Chree (Jul 9, 2015)

adimare said:


> That was actually my favorite trick by far. It's the easiest to figure out *for a cuber* but the effect is very cool.



I agree. I'm sure most people here figured that one out immediately after they saw it. But the general public are completely dumbfounded that any of us can solve it at all. That trick must seem absolutely ridiculous to that audience.


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## DeeDubb (Jul 9, 2015)

CubeWizard23 said:


> Fyi when he flipped over the "scrambled" cube it was solved on 3 sides and in a pattern on the other, if p and T had any knowledge of the cube they could of guessed it. *sorry bro kinda lame*



That trick was set up by the previous tricks. If he had done it first, it would be more obvious that the hidden 3 sides weren't solved, but he shows all six sides on the previous 3 tricks. The audience has no reason to suspect the hidden 3 sides were still in checkerboard pattern because he had established that he's solving all six quickly.

It's the magician side of things that might be hard for us to appreciate because we are viewing the trick through a totally different lens than the public. Just because you don't get something doesn't make it lame. Look at how the audience reacts.


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 9, 2015)

DeeDubb said:


> That trick was set up by the previous tricks. If he had done it first, it would be more obvious that the hidden 3 sides weren't solved, but he shows all six sides on the previous 3 tricks. The audience has no reason to suspect the hidden 3 sides were still in checkerboard pattern because he had established that he's solving all six quickly.
> 
> It's the magician side of things that might be hard for us to appreciate because we are viewing the trick through a totally different lens than the public. Just because you don't get something doesn't make it lame. Look at how the audience reacts.



haha.. I was just going to comment the same exact thing (It is set up by the previously effects). While to most cubers it may be obviously I have done it for multiple magicians and laypeople and it usually gets great reactions!


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## supercavitation (Jul 9, 2015)

Did you know going in that they don't know how to solve a Rubik's Cube (can confirm that Penn does not know, not sure about Teller)?


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## qqwref (Jul 9, 2015)

I'll be honest, a while ago, when I saw effects like throwing a cube behind your back and having it be solved, I thought you were just a normal magician who happened to like using a cube as a prop. And what I really mean by that is, someone who didn't understand the cube but was using the cubing community to promote himself.

After seeing your act here, though, it's pretty clear to me that you really do have an understanding of how the cube works and what it can do. (And of course your WCA profile shows you didn't just pick up the cube for a magic act!) The moves you do remind me of some analogous moves in card magic, where the audience thinks the cards are getting shuffled randomly but they are being precisely controlled. Lots of respect for that. And congrats for fooling Penn and Teller, especially so quickly!




Chree said:


> I googled "Is Penn sick". Turns out he had high blood pressure and his doctor told him to lose weight. So he went on some crazy diet. 4 months and 105 pounds later, he looks like a raisin. That's a real magic trick.


Jeez, that's crazy. And he was 330 before - definitely didn't look it, but I guess that happens when you're six and a half feet tall.


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## Stefan (Jul 9, 2015)

Sjbrundage said:


> If you notice I said it has had over 15 million views total



Yes, I had noticed, and the Igtfmivfebtsisfabm in my post means "I guess the fifteen million include views from elsewhere, but that screenshot is still fake and bugs me". That screenshot makes it look like 15 million views on one website, and that's just a lie. Maybe the girlfriend you mentioned also isn't the girl we see while you're saying it?  Oh well...



qqwref said:


> I'll be honest, a while ago, when I saw effects like throwing a cube behind your back and having it be solved, I thought you were just a normal magician who happened to like using a cube as a prop. And what I really mean by that is, someone who didn't understand the cube but was using the cubing community to promote himself.



Did you not look up his WCA profile back then, or did it not convince you back then that he's a good cuber?


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 9, 2015)

Stefan said:


> Yes, I had noticed, and the Igtfmivfebtsisfabm in my post means "I guess the fifteen million include views from elsewhere, but that screenshot is still fake and bugs me". That screenshot makes it look like 15 million views on one website, and that's just a lie. Maybe the girlfriend you mentioned also isn't the girl we see while you're saying it?  Oh well...
> 
> 
> 
> Did you not look up his WCA profile back then, or did it not convince you back then that he's a good cuber?



I am much faster than my WCA profile says.. but I still suck... haha.. I haven't done a competition in a LONG time. I need to go to one asap. So much fun and I love all the cubers I get to meet.


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## qqwref (Jul 9, 2015)

Stefan said:


> Did you not look up his WCA profile back then, or did it not convince you back then that he's a good cuber?


At the time, I didn't think to search for it.


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## XTowncuber (Jul 9, 2015)

While it is fairly obvious to a cuber what is going on, the sleight of hand is none the less extremely impressive. You made it look good.


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## blah (Jul 12, 2015)

Figured out the entire solution to the last part (solved cube -> "millisecond scramble" -> matching Teller's cube), based on the exact way it's done in the video, not some Cube Explorer solution. Haven't seen anyone post it yet.



Spoiler









At 4:24 the cube is solved.
From 4:25 to 4:29 you can't see what he's doing but it's U2 D B' L B2 D2 (he does all his scrambles in the entire routine with yellow top/green front).
From 4:30 to 4:34 he does U' F' D2 U' L D L2 in plain sight.
From 4:40 to 4:43 we get a close-up view of D2 U' R U2. Then he just drops it.
From 4:45 to 4:50 he holds the cube with white top/blue front and does U D' R' F R U' D' R B R' U R' U' L F' B L F L' F' L. Now it matches Teller's cube. (Yeah, spent an entire hour figuring this last part out...)


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 12, 2015)

blah said:


> Figured out the entire solution to the last part (solved cube -> "millisecond scramble" -> matching Teller's cube), based on the exact way it's done in the video, not some Cube Explorer solution. Haven't seen anyone post it yet.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




WOW, you put in some serious work to figure out all those algorithms... You could have just asked me : ) 

Thank you for the Spoiler Tags!


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## Parity Case (Jul 12, 2015)

In addition to the excellent and very fun cube illusions, your performance itself was superb (pacing, presentation, speaking rate & clarity, personality, etc.). Well done!


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## Sjbrundage (Jul 12, 2015)

Parity Case said:


> In addition to the excellent and very fun cube illusions, your performance itself was superb (pacing, presentation, speaking rate & clarity, personality, etc.). Well done!



WOW, Thank you for other super nice comments. I have been working on this routine for well over 3 years and it has changed so much. It helps that I have done this routine literally thousands of times!


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## newtonbase (Jul 12, 2015)

That explains how slick it looks. I'm sure there are a lot of people here who can turn as well but nobody else could make it look so easy and entertaining.


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## timeless (Jul 19, 2015)

kinda figured it out, oh ftw


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## Iggy (Jul 19, 2015)

Wow great performance! Although some of the tricks were simple (I didn't get some of them until I saw the reconstructions though  ), it was very well executed :tu


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## Jason Green (Jul 7, 2016)

Sjbrundage said:


> WOW, Thank you for other super nice comments. I have been working on this routine for well over 3 years and it has changed so much. It helps that I have done this routine literally thousands of times!


It's cool you are on here! I had seen the Penn and Teller clip, but a guy at work that knows I cube was telling me about you on America's Got Talent. I'll tell him I "messaged" you on here. 

My next to oldest brother is a close up magician. I tried to interest him in cubing. He used to say how he had to spend hours and hours in front of a mirror working on tricks, so it reminded me if cubing practice. Plus I assume his finger practice in magic would help.  He wasn't interested really though.


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## Matt11111 (Jul 7, 2016)

Oh yeah, this is the video I was thinking of. My advisor showed this to us, and I figured out how you did one of the tricks.

I also have a friend who's a magician, so both of us watched this video, and I showed him what was really going on... Kind of weird when you think about it... A cuber teaching a magician new tricks. Then again...


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