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I have seen Derren perform this* on numerous occasions, both on tv and live. I have a theory, but I am not sure! Does anyone else have any ideas? (PM me!) Is this an original effect of his or does it originate from somewhere/someone else?
Thanks.
*if you are not sure what I am on about...it is the trick where he has a bowl of buttons and asks someone to put as many as they like on a tray while his back is turned. Once this is done, both the tray and bowl are covered with silks. He then turns and asks the assistant to slap him (sometimes repeatedly!) on the face. At this point, the spec whips the silk off the tray and within a second, Derren states '64' (for example). Sure enough, when the buttons are counted, there are exactly 64!!!

i reckon it helps having several differnt colours, this must make it easyer!

kems wrote:i reckon it helps having several differnt colours, this must make it easyer!

I agree with you, Kems. Derren performed this last night at the Cambridge Theatre and I thought the same thing. The friend whom I was with suggested 'maybe he just counted them quickly' or 'after enough practise would be able to tell' but I'm not convinced it was done this way.

I really don't know how this is done! The fact that there are several different colours wouldn't be that useful unless they were bunched together on the tray - which they're not, so I cant see this being the method. I am leaning towards something electronic...

You could be onto something there!

Edited by Mods: Careful guys, this is exposure territory - use PM's where possible for specific details.

What thinks you?

Bingo! That was my theory.

Mesage from Mods: Please see above edit.

It's a shot in the dark though...

Hello there.

Hmmm.

Either he knows the number of buttons tipped onto the tray or he has a way of counting them quickly and accurately. In the latter case, what about if he divided the tray into quarters (or the outline of the group of buttons anyway), counted how many are in that quarter and multiplied by four?

I have no idea how he really does it, but I'm guessing that the first way is the reason for the accuracy.

I'm not convinced, Tomo, to be honest. With the speed that he does this (plus when he did it the second time last night he asked the spec to shake the tray so that it blurred the buttons on it) I don't think he actually needs the tray and removed buttons to be present at all.

The speed of this trick kind of proves that derren gotta know the answer before he really get's a look at the buttons..... or?

Dante wrote:I'm not convinced, Tomo, to be honest. With the speed that he does this (plus when he did it the second time last night he asked the spec to shake the tray so that it blurred the buttons on it) I don't think he actually needs the tray and removed buttons to be present at all.

Yeah. The more I think about it, the more it looks like stagecraft.

It sounds very proppy, which is unusual for Derren.


Now, think hard. Have you remembered it corectly?

Does the spectator remove some buttons, and then the bowl is covered, or is the bowl covered, then the spectator reaches under to take some buttons.

The latter event sugests a very simple, and sure fire method.
one that does not use electronics, or expensive items.

The spectator takes the buttons and then personally covers the bowl and tray with large silks.

Yeah she reaches into the bowl, grabs handfuls of buttons and places them on the tray. Then he passes her two silks - one she covers the tray with the other she covers the bowl with. All done with his back turned.

However - at the show I saw, he told her to take many and leave few in the bowl rather than the other way round.

Maybe that was some kind of force so the buttons in the bowl could be counted easily?

It's all speculation, of course...

...but the bowl is covered so there is no opportunity for Derren to count the remaining buttons...

Tomo wrote:Yeah. The more I think about it, the more it looks like stagecraft.

Indeed it is Bill - I was thinking maybe the table or bowl is rigged somehow?

Again, all speculation...