Easy Dice It

A spectator is asked to roll a pair of dice, stack them on top of one another, and add up the sides of the dice that do not show. The magician writes down a prediction and it is found to be the exact same number the spectator had.

The Performance:

Hand a pair of dice to a spectator and have him roll them. Instruct him to roll the dice and to make sure each die has a different number on it. Give these instructions while your back is turned to the spectator.

Ask the spectator to roll the dice again and to place one of them on top of the other in a stack. Turn around to look if they have done this properly. If so, turn back around. Write down a prediction on a piece of paper.

Ask the spectator to add the numbers of the dice that are not showing. Example: The side that is facing down on the table, and the two sides of the dice that are touching each other. The number you predict will match the numbers the spectator has added up.

The Secret:

When you turn around to make sure the dice are stacked properly you secretly glimpse the top of the die. In your mind subtract this number from 14. This number will give you the total of the three sides of the dice that are not showing. After you know the number this will be the prediction that you need to write down. This works because the opposite sides of every die add up to 7. You are using two dice so it will be 14.

Recap:



The spectator needs to add up the sides of the dice that do not show. The first picture shows the bottom side that would be on the table. This example gives us a 1.



Above we have the dice separated so you can see the two sides of the dice that were facing each other. In this instance it is a 6 and 6. These get added up along with the bottom side which we saw earlier was a 1. The spectators number here would be 13.



In this final picture you will see the number on the top most die. This is the number you need to glimpse when you turn around. Subtract 1 from 14 and you will arrive at the spectators number of 13!