The Oracle by Alan Warner

Effect: Four small wooden tablets, each with a different coloured spot in the centre of it, are shown, then shuffled and dealt out face-down. A spectator is now given a completely free choice of one of the tablets – there is absolutely no force employed here, the spectator is given a genuinely free choice, the tablet selected by him being placed, still face-down, in front of a small wooden box.

The performer now removes the lid from the box to show the spectators that it contains a white, four-piece puzzle which makes up a solid square within the box. These pieces are tipped out of the box to reveal that the bottom of the box is divided into a number of small coloured squares. The colours of these squares match the colours of the four tablets referred to above.

The four pieces of the puzzle are then returned to the box, once more forming a square, but this time, mysteriously, A SMALL HOLE APPEARS AT ONE EDGE OF THE SQUARE. Showing through this hole is a portion of one of the coloured squares on the bottom of the box, and when the spectator’s tablet is turned over, THE TWO COLOURS MATCH – the Oracle has correctly predicted the spectator’s choice of colour!

Once again the four pieces of the puzzle are removed from the box and then replaced in it, but this time NO HOLE APPEARS, THE SQUARE IS SOLID AGAIN. The lid is replaced on the box, the four tablets are shuffled again and the spectator then makes another selection from the face-down tablets. His choice is then placed in front of the box, as before.

The performer now removes the lid of the box to show that magically, THE SOLID SQUARE ONCE MORE HAS A HOLE IN IT and reveals a colour. The spectator’s tablet is turned over and AGAIN THE COLOURS MATCH. The Oracle has triumphed again, and more importantly, WITH NO ASSISTANCE FROM THE PERFORMER in the formation of the puzzle.

QUALITY APPARATUS SPECIALLY DESIGNED:

• The outer measurements of the teak box are 8.25 x 8.25 cms.
• A feature of this piece of apparatus is an ebony and specially dyed wood decoration set in relief on the lid of the box.
• The four puzzle pieces are made in white plastic.
• Also supplied are four wooden tablets.

The apparatus comes complete with The Alan Warner Routine.

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