EDC V3 Instructions
Introduction
Hi everyone thank you so much for buying EDC Dice V3, this started as a small project but ended up being a lot larger as the 'world' of the trick grew, if that makes sense. The main goal was a quality-of-life upgrade that integrated visual elements and changes to the method that made it easier to perform in different languages.
Having cards necessitated having a visual style and theme and I decided to make them vivid and fun to really hammer home the 'visual' aspect. This style ended being the fairground style which I think is quite evocative and recognisable from our own trips to various fairgrounds, and that allowed me to reframe the pretty minimal 'board game' styling of the V2 edition as this mythical vintage carnival hustle, that's something like the 3 Card Monte.
The real trick of this trick is the invocation of this concept so hold in your mind through the instructions and your own performances:
When you perform this trick, you are taking them on a trip to the fair.
Effect
"If you're like me, then when you were a kid, you used to love going to the fairground and playing Knick Knack Dice." You pause, making eye contact. "Oh, you don't know that one? No, you look like more of a hook-a-duck kind of guy to me. So, Knick Knack Dice is this fairground game that I've been obsessing about for the last 10 years. It's widely known that it’s a bit of a scam, but the way that it works is really interesting to me and I really want to show you.
"But: before we get into it, I'm going to have to give you something. I'm going to give you this.” You hold up the folded score-card with a question mark boldly drawn on it. “...and we're going to need to come back to this later on, but put this in your pocket. Don't let anybody look at it or think about it or anything like that." You hand the folded scorecard to the spectator, who puts it in their pocket.
"Let me explain to you how Knick Knack Dice works because it's a classic: You would go up to the stand and the guy's got these two dice and these six cards." You put the six item cards down on the table (Keys, Wallet, Watch, Coins, Phone, Ring) next to the two dice. "Each one of the dice has got six different faces on and there's six different items that you would probably be expected to have on your person when you go to the fairground. So for example, there's the keys.” You show the keys on the dice and point to the keys card.
“So you could use your house keys and you would have to put these onto the table on top of the card that represents them. So what else have we got? A wallet. So we can use my wallet just here. Put it on the wallet card. We've got a watch. Put your watch just here." You have the spectators put personal items on the matching cards on the table.
"What people worry about about this is that having put all of their things down on the table is that they're going to end up losing their stuff. But: you keep everything you see. That's the most important thing for people to remember is that at the end of this, you keep everything you see. So if you lose your wallet later on in the night at the fairground, don't come running to me crying because remember, you keep everything you see. Okay? So just forget about that now.” They finish placing all six items onto the cards.
"So, the way that this game works is that you roll the dice and the objects that come up on top are the ones that you take back because, like I said, you keep everything you see.” They take the dice and roll them the two top images are both watches. "So there we've got the two watches. There's only one watch to take back so take your watch back and just keep rolling. And the idea is that you keep going until you get down to the last item.” They roll the coins and the phone and take them back. “Roll again.... The wallet. So the wallet can go back now." The spectator continues rolling and eliminating items (Coins, Phone, Wallet).
"We're just down to the last two items. So, we've got the ring and the keys. Let's see which one pops up first.” They roll the ring, and take the ring back, leaving only the Keys.
"So, the way that the scam works is that the guy's made a prediction and all you have to do is beat the prediction, which seems like it's fair. There's six cards, there's two dice, and you did all of the rolling and the dice aren't weighted. There's nothing funny about that. But, we've ended up with the keys being still in play.
"The cool thing about this is that I knew that you were going to pick the keys from the very beginning before we even started. In fact, all of the ones that you've rejected here have got an X on the back of them.” You turn over all the cards except the keys, revealing a bold X on the back of each. “And, the keys card has got a tick on the back of it." You pick up the keys-card and look at the back of it yourself, but don’t show it.
"It's incredible and... and you know it really is a… oh okay you feel like perhaps you don't quite believe that, you think they all have Xs? Now actually I did make a prediction right at the beginning…” you hold your hand out and they hand you back the folded scorecard. “The weird thing is, this actually isn't the prediction: I put this prediction somewhere where no one will be able to get to it, but I put it somewhere more secure than in your pocket: I put it inside your mind.” The spectators look confused. “...Because I told you something three times before we even started… I even told you to remember it and you've already forgotten it.”
"Do you remember what it was? What I told you was you keep everything you see." You open the folded scorecard and show the text inside KEEP EVERYTHING YOU SEE. "You remember me saying that? Keep everything you see. And the reason why I said that was because I knew you were going to pick the keys.” You fold the scorecard half-closed again, this time revealing only the first letter of each word K E Y S. You simultaneously turn over the keys card on the table showing the tick.
"And that's how you win Knick Knack Dice every single time.”
Method
The central technical secret is that the dice used during the elimination phase are gimmicked to prevent a specific result, it’s kind of an ANTI-force. So, the spectator initially sees two dice, but crucially, only one of those dice has the Key symbol on it.
I had initially thought that both dice would need to have the key on and then they would both be switched out, but after experimentation I realised that it is enough for them to see the key on ONE dice only. So when I put the dice down at the beginning I try to make sure that the key is face up, without drawing attention to it. I generally find that spectators aren’t desperate to handle or investigate the dice, but if they want to, make sure they look at the one with the key as you press on with the other one. One little move is to hold the non-key dice, point to the face facing you and say “So there’s the key… who has some keys we can put on the card?” It’s just a miscall because of course there is no key there, but it works as a subtle convincer.
Once you have visually established that the dice has a key on it, as subtly as you like, you switch out the key dice for a non-key dice. This is not done as a slick sleight of hand move but rather leverages the enormous misdirection that comes from the spectators putting their items on the table. Keep things moving, put verbal pressure on them to hurry up a bit, and put zero heat on the dice, and you will be able to switch them easily. In the video I do present a technical sleight-type method for doing this:
The key moment, the switch, must occur as the spectator places their items but before the rolling begins. This is not meant to be a fast, technically demanding move. Instead, it is executed "on the offbeat" while the spectators are naturally distracted by finding and placing their everyday items. You place the die to be switched out on the side of your dominant hand, and using a finger palm, you introduce the gimmicked die and remove the original one. The strong misdirection is the psychological distraction of the spectator interacting with their own possessions. Genuinely though, although I present my method for this, I feel that your hands, and your favoured sleights and switches should inform exactly how you do this.
If you are severely limited in dexterity or you have big anxiety about this, one very easy way is to introduce just one dice, the key dice, and have the other two dice in your pocket. You introduce everything and as they are putting down their items you just take the key dice, put it in your pocket and take out the other two dice. “So there’s actually two dice in play, and when you roll these, whatever’s on top, you take back…” Again it’s a simple move, you do it on the offbeat so there’s not much attention on you anyway, play it down as much as possible almost as if you had forgotten that you use two dice.
Another bold way is to have a cup or mug on the table with one non-key dice in it - you introduce and show the two dice to begin with, the key and non-key dice, then just clip the key dice with your thumb or hold it in finger-palm and drop the other into the mug, then rattle the dice in the mug and tip them out onto the table.
There’s a million ways to do this, find one you yourself like.
However you accomplish it, the one die with the Key is removed from play and replaced with a gimmicked die that has a duplicate of another item—the Phone symbol—where the Key should be. Consequently, both of the dice now in play are guaranteed not to roll the Key symbol, making it mechanically impossible for the spectator to eliminate the Keys card. This ensures the Keys card/item is always the last one remaining.
So, in my opinion, this relatively basic force is elevated to something special by the verbal acrostic reveal. For English speakers, you establish the phrase "You KEEP EVERYTHING YOU SEE" by repeating it three times at the beginning, once specifically telling the spectator to remember it, before telling them to "forget about that now." This phrase acts as an acrostic for KEYS (Keep Everything You See), which is written onto the scorecard in such a way that you can easily visually reveal the first letters. This call-back at the end and the decoding of an open-prediction is a really strong moment.
Now, this is great for English speakers, but we’ve always had problems with the issue that this acrostic just cannot translate. It just doesn’t work.
So: for non-English presentations, the phrase is changed to a conceptual link: you repeat as you had them the scorecard that the card is the "key to unlock the prizes." The scorecard is then written with that phrase “UNLOCK THE PRIZES” and a drawing of a key, turning the verbal instruction into a pre-show prediction.
We also now have the cards themselves as a prediction / reveal that is built into the effect, I like to hold this back as a final little kicker almost.
As they are looking at the revelation / scorecard etc it is a great time to put the original key-dice back in play and get the non-key dice out of the way. Again, this is very simple and relies on the misdirection.
So, that’s the method for EDC Dice V3, it is not a very long explanation because it honestly isn’t a very complicated method, it is the classic misnumbered dice dressed up to go to the fair. The thing I think that makes it a great effect is how you can include a lot of people and build a big scene at, for example, a restaurant table, and I think that the final reveal is quite satisfying and clever. One thing that I have noticed quite a lot is that they genuinely do forget that you said KEEP EVERYTHING YOU SEE, which is an interesting little detail - there’s so much going on, and you can kind of make them forget it by treating it as forgettable? Does that make sense? I kind of play it like it’s something stupid maybe from the original fairground game, but the scenario of them losing their watch later and blaming me is so ridiculous I treat it like it’s nothing… and then when they realise later that they forgot, and you then remind them - it’s an interesting moment, and I hope get to play around with that.
Similarly interesting is the notion that you put the prediction somewhere safer than in their pocket, you put it in their MIND - this always gets an intrigued reaction from the punters, and it is the first part of the routine where you suggest that there is any kind of second-layer to the routine, that as you have been playing this simple game on the table, you have been playing a far more complex game with their mind, and their perception of the experience they are having - which is actually kind of true?
In terms of the cards, remember that they can serve as placeholders for any items that the punters don’t have, so it streamlines the presentation a bit, although I think the whole thing is more engaging if everything is physically present - this is the scene you want to build in their mind and memory.
Now, that’s the physical and verbal aspect of the presentation, but I would like to introduce the idea of a third element - the narrative itself. The story of the fairground game is an opportunity for you to invoke and evoke this kind of idyllic childhood experience of walking round the fairground as a child, with your friends or family or a summertime date, the smell of hotdogs and candyfloss / cotton candy in the air and being lured into playing this weird game. You get to briefly take the audience there and create a positive mental space for them. You must work to evoke this, to create that scene and teleport them to that moment, because your performance, in their mind and memory, will inherit some of the good will they have for that moment.
That’s the idea anyway, and it's why I like to use fun or nostalgic or inspirational or positive concepts in my presentations, because if I can make the audience feel more positive DURING my performance, they will feel more positive ABOUT my performance. That’s why in my effects I ask people to think about somewhere they’ve always dreamed of visiting, or of their best friend at school, or here, about a trip to the fair. Build and evoke positive memories and feelings where you can, if only because why not?
Trailer
This is a weird one but I wanted the trailer to have a feeling of 'muddying the waters' about the fictional game - that someone half watching as they eat their breakfast might maybe just assume it was real, or at best wonder that maybe they kind of do remember that game after all... and maybe show that we should be cautious about this technology's ability to create a history and a narrative that never were.