Penn and Teller's "Find Love" Trick

This examines the workings of the trick Penn & Teller concluded with in episode 1 of season 3 of "Fool Me". And how/why it works - it's clever use of simple mathematics - absolutely beautiful, and masterfully presented. There's a TL;DR at the bottom if you don't want to read the full explanation and just want less illusion to the process.

Explanation Of Each Step

Instruction card state

Setup

Initial state AaBbCcDd
Fold, tear, stack ABCDabcd
top card to bottom BCDabcdA
top 2 cards to bottom DabcdABC
top 3 cards somewhere in the middle cDabdABC cdDabABC cdADabBC cdBADabC
= cxxxxxxC
Note: This is the crucial setup that is required and that everyone performs identically.
top card near your heart = c xxxxxxC

The Illusion Of Choice

1 2 or 3 cards off the top somewhere in the middle xxxxxxC
Note: It matters not how many, or where, as the top and middle can change, as only the bottom card is important.
exchange top card with random other person, and put somewhere in the middle xxxxxxC
Note: Again, top and middle can change, as only the bottom card is important.
1, 2, or 3 cards and throw them away xxxxxC xxxxC xxxC

The Rotate

monday card to the bottom xxxxCx xxxCx xxCx
tuesday card to the bottom xxxCxx xxCxx xCxx
wednesday card to the bottom xxCxxx xCxxx Cxxx
thursday card to the bottom xCxxxx Cxxxx xxxC
friday card to the bottom Cxxxxx xxxxC xxCx
saturday day card to the bottom xxxxxC xxxCc xCxx
sunday day card to the bottom xxxxCx xxCxx Cxxx
Note: "All got a different number of cards, all in a different order" - not so, the position of the desired card is a function of the number of cards which are left

The Josephus Count

The final sequence can be thought of in terms of the Josephus problem from Knuth et al.'s Concrete Mathematics. OK, there's also a Josephus Count wiki page. Anyway - the card which will remain is mathematically determined.

J2(6 = 1102) = 1012 = 5; J2(5 = 1012) = 0112 = 3; J2(4 = 1002) = 0012 = 1;

And sure enough, those with 6 cards have C in position 5, those with 5 cards have it in position 3, and those with 4 cards have it in position 1. Genius!

Loves me card to the bottom xxxCxx xCxxx xxxC
Loves me not card thrown xxCxx Cxxx xxC
Loves me card to the bottom xCxxx xxxC xCx
Loves me not card thrown Cxxx xxC Cx
Card chewing and "Minnesota 1978" - beautiful patter. humoristic engagement with the audience! This is what makes Penn and Teller brilliant showmen.
Loves me card to the bottom xxxC xCx xC
Loves me not card thrown xxC Cx C
Loves me card to the bottom xCx xC C
Loves me not card thrown Cx C C
Loves me card to the bottom xC C C
Loves me not card thrown C C C

TL;DR

Simply follow the instructions with 3 pieces of white paper, and one piece of coloured paper in the order: white, white, black, white. You'll see that all the "shuffling" operations where you apparently have some choice about the order of the cards are irrelevant.


Another hastily constructed page by Phil Carmody
Home / tricks / Penn & Teller "Find Love"