This game (on Kewlbox.com) does a great job of simulating “mind reading” (for lack of a better name) by consistently coming up with the right answer to match calculations which the player makes mentally or on paper but does not enter into the computer. I find it fascinating, and I just can’t figure it out at all.
The game requires you to pick a two digit number from 10 to 99, add the two digits together, then subtract the resulting number from the original number – for example 99 would be:
9 + 9 = 18
99 - 18 = 81
The number 81 is associated with a picture, which the computer then mysteriously “materializes” before your eyes, showing that it, well “knows” which number you were thinking about.
Weird!
(I know this makes no sense whatsoever if you haven’t looked at the game. Sorry.)
So – how does it work? I know that there is a very limited number of possible numerical results, because multiple repetitions of the game produced a much smaller pool of answers (or “pictures”) than the makers of the game try to suggest. But even so, how does the game display the right picture, when I am picking the numbers, making the calculations, etc, only in my head?
I know the answer is just going to make me feel REALLY stupid, but I’m willing to take the chance.
Note to Mods: the game offers the opportunity to buy the answer for $5.00. If, under the circumstances, you regard my question as inappropriate, I apologize and will gracefully submit to the thread’s closure (with my sincere apologies).
Apparently you have to register to play the game, and I refuse to give my contact information to any site with the word “kewl” in it’s name.
That said, it is most likely a variety of math game wherein the unsuspecting victim does mental gymnastics that end up getting canceled out of the final calculation anyway. For example:
Pick a number between 1 and 10, call it X.
Square it.
Add 5X to that.
Divide what you have now by X.
Add 37.
Subtract X.
You now have the number 42! I am an amazing mind reader!
Actually, I just knew that once you got to step four, you would be back at your original number plus 5. By subtracting your original number and then adding 37 (which is 42-5) I guarantee that you end up at 42.
Okay, I did realize that there had to be a numerical relationship between all copies of the same picture. But how does the game “know” that this time I picked a number whose answer was “Carrot Top” and that last time I picked a number whose answer was “Oprah”?
(God, that even SOUNDS stupid, doesn’t it?)
(BTW – with your username, I know you’re just the person for the job.)
This has been discussed in previous threads, which I can’t find in search right now.
The way it works is that the result will always be a multiple of 9, and all the multiples of 9 have the same picture. It will possibly be a different picture each time you play, but the multiples of 9 will all have the same one.
I’m sure someone else will be along soon to post links to the other threads.
Thanks! I figured something like this must have been asked before, but I didn’t know how to search for it except under “Voodoo game,” which was not fruitful.