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Magic Gopher Number Game

When I first say this magic gopher number game, I was perplexed. No matter how randomly I chose my number, the gopher always seemed to guess correctly. After trying it a few times, it became apparent to me that there was a trick. As it turns out, you don’t have to be a math whiz to see what’s going on if you look closely. I’ve posted a spoiler for how the trick works below. See if you can figure out the gopher’s “magic” before peaking at the answer.

Spoiler:

If you run every acceptable number combination (i.e. 10-99) through the gopher’s formula, you end up with only a few possible outcomes. Specifically, you always end up with a number divisible by 9 (i.e. 0, 9, 18, 27,… all the way up to 81). If you look at the gopher’s chart, you’ll notice that the same image appears on each of those numbers. The image is randomly generated each time to give the illusion of mind-reading. Likewise, the other numbers that can never be generated from the gopher’s formula are given random images to throw you off of the pattern. Like most “magic,” this trick is simply a matter of misdirection.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 7:22 am and is filed under Online Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Magic Gopher Number Game”

  1. Bill Joslin Says:
    January 29th, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    I understand the nine principle…but the problem with that is the gopher still has to know which one of the nine it is..how do you explain that????

  2. Melissa Says:
    March 20th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    Bill – “If you look at the gopher’s chart, you’ll notice that the same image appears on each of those numbers. The image is randomly generated each time to give the illusion of mind-reading. ” So no matter which of the “nine” numbers you choose, the image is the same.

  3. vinay kumar Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 7:28 am

    it was an easy and lucid explaination of the magic goopher. My!! it had me perplexed for awhile. All thanks to the one who worked it out.

  4. Michaela Leach Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 7:19 pm

    Oh…..Im So Glad U Figured It Out!!!!! This Thing Had Me Going 4 A While!!!! LOL

  5. Joe Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    All the nine principle numbers have the same symbols

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