Tile Puzzle by Mitch Geier, Winston Freer

Wow! Winston Freer was a Genius! What an incredible miracle this effect is! Very different in method from anything similar that I have seen. This is based on a principle developed by Paul Curry called the Curry Paradaox c. 1953. However Freer adds an ingenious allowance for the area lost by redistribution which allows you to show the area to be EXACTLY THE SAME, before and after the removal of three tiles.

This works the same as most standard Winston Freer Tile Puzzle’s but the price is not as low as I would expect given the  lower quality.  3D printed items like this are a long way from John Rogers’ gold standard version. But even this fake chocolate puzzle which is much cheaper has more going for it since it actually looks like a chocolate bar.

I certainly think 3D Printed items have a place, but they are almost never a good full substitute for natural materials.  Blend them with real wood like Retro Rocketeers does and you have a better shot of making them look considerably better overall.

I’m probably being a little harsh – the effect is just as amazing to the spectators so if you are happy with the feel then I’m sure this will give you years of service 🙂

Effect: In a nutshell the effect is this: a puzzle fills a frame and is made up of 10 different sized pieces with 7 x 9 = 63 squares. On 3 successive tries a single tile is removed. Each time the puzzle can be quickly reassembled and each time there are 63 squares. In the end, the puzzle is put back into the frame, and even though 3 squares are missing it still fits the frame precisely the same as when you started. You can also do it in the reverse and add 3 squares one at a time. Your creativity and patter will determine which way you want to present this curious phenomena.

Winston Freer was born in St. Albans, Vermont. In 1926, at the age of 16, Freer saw Howard Thurston perform and became interested in magic. He grew up to be one of magic’s cleverest inventors. In the 1930s, Freer worked at Abbott’s Magic in Colon, Michigan and performed under the name Alladin and later Doc Maxam.

Now for the good news, nothing is added or taken away, the props and moves look clean, and there are no false compartments or slides. It really is as clean as it looks and reset is as easy as counting from 1 to 10! Learning to actually do the moves will take five minutes or so, however, performing it will take a little longer so that the presentation flows nicely with the amazing effect.

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