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A wise King wants an honest child to take his place on the throne. He gives each of his 3 sons a pack of flower seeds and tells them that the one who grows the most beautiful flowers from these seeds will have his throne. Six months pass and the king checks the flowers. The first 2 had beautiful flower beds while the last child had nothing in his plot but weeds and no flowers. Yet, the king chose this child to have the throne. Why?

(You will find the solution at the bottom of the page you are waiting for)

 

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Penny Pincher

 
This animation is based on a series of photographs. A real penny was put into Penny Pincher and left in place throughout the photographic session. The penny, therefore, really does disappear before your eyes. This is "real" magic!!

Penny Pincher is a magic trick for children, based on that oldtime favourite, the Chinese Wallet. Put the shiny new penny (supplied) into the wallet, follow the instructions on the reverse of the packet, and you'll soon be able to make the penny disappear and re-appear at will! See if you can work out from the animation how the trick is done, then check out the explanation below to see if you're right.

The secret of Penny Pincher is simple but ingenious. The lid opens two ways. This is possible due to a cunning hinge system which mathematically is described as a tri-tetraflexagon hinge. (The same double-action hinge is used in that other children's favourite, Jacob's Ladder. See our Foldaway Finger Flipper for an example).

You will see from the animation below that as the"lid" opens from first one end then the other, the white coinholder is transferred from the "base" to the "lid" and back again. The coinholder has a coin-sized recess on each side and first one then the other is revealed as the is lid opened at different ends. If you put a penny in the circular hole, it will be hidden when you open the other end. It merely remains to devise a way of handling Penny Pincher such that you can open it from either end without giving the game away.

Look at the animation at the top of this page. See how the magician is turning it over - first from side to side, then end over end, and finally from side to side again. The side to side turns cancel each other out (it's turned upside down, then back again), so the outcome of that sequence is that the wallet is turned upside down once, end over end. Now notice the red and green stripes on either side of the wallet. They have been arranged so that when you turn Penny Pincher upside down once, end over end, the colours still face the same way. If you open the lid from the end nearest the green stripe, the coinholder will always be on the base.

Put it all together and you have a way of turning the wallet upside down and opening it from the other end without seeming to have done anything suspicious. You are now ready to begin pinching pennies. If you make other people's pennies disappear rather than your own, your Penny Pincher will pay for itself with only 300 victims.

Finally, here's a variation you could use as an encore. Once you've made the penny disappear, place another small coin (5p is ideal in the UK) inside the Penny Pincher, then go through the routine once more. When you open the wallet this time, it will seem as though one coin has changed into another.

 

Made from wood veneer with nylon hinges, Penny Pincher will stand up to the roughest handling from little magicians.

Price : £3.00
(U.K Pounds Sterling)

 
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Loading Page Puzzle: A wise King wants an honest child to take his place on the throne. He gives each of his 3 sons a pack of flower seeds and tells them that the one who grows the most beautiful flowers from these seeds will have his throne. Six months pass and the king checks the flowers. The first 2 had beautiful flower beds while the last child had nothing in his plot but weeds and no flowers. Yet, the king chose this child to have the throne. Why?

Solution: The 3rd son was the only one that didn't cheat. The King had baked the seeds so they wouldn't grow, which means the first 2 didn't use the seeds from the packet he gave them.