How do you increase the meaningfulness of a trick? How do you increase the impact and memorability?
I had a math teacher in high school who always looked out for me. Not just helping me with schoolwork, he was a father figure too as mine wasn’t around much. He was always kind and helpful. He became a mentor, and really helped me through some rough times at home.
He had this cabinet in his classroom dedicated to the Rubik’s cube. He had all sorts, one pyramidal, one 5x5x5, one that’s a globe of the world, and so on and so forth. He claimed that he had solved every puzzle present in the cabinet. It fascinated me, but as a timid preteen I had always thought that the Rubik’s cube was too difficult and that I wasn’t smart enough to get it. He dispelled that notion and taught me how to solve one, dedicating a lot of time and patience to teaching me this. A simple puzzle.
At the time, I didn’t realize the boost of confidence and wonder it had given me. We stayed in touch long after I graduated, and every month or two we would have a long chat over coffee. The chats were hours in length and the topics varied. I had performed for him several times and he was quite a skeptic, which made the dynamic fun.
Fast forward to more recent times: I knew I wanted to do a Rubik’s cube trick with him one day, but I was conflicted about what plot to do. A matching routine? Instant solution? They didn’t have the impact I wanted. Then I looked into the cube to bottle effect. I decided it was perfect. I purchased this version solely to perform it for him, once.
We met up at our usual spot, and he noticed a paper bag on the table. He asked “What’s in the bag?”
“This? It’s for you. They’re for you. It’s just two things. One is an enigmatic object that has captured the imagination of many minds… including yours and mine.” I pulled out a Rubik’s cube, and put it back in the bag. “The other is just a mundane glass jar.”
He laughed as I pulled out the jar, and put it back.
“Mr. Doe, you inspired me so many years ago with the Rubik’s cube. You taught me, as painfully cliché as it sounds, that nothing is impossible. As a magician, that’s the greatest lesson anyone can instill in you. In homage to that, I wanted to make this for you using what you taught me. A powerful mindset.”
I then pushed my hands together, he heard a rattle, and I pulled out the glass jar, now with the Rubik’s cube inside it. The paper was balled up and tossed away. He was grinning hard. At first he didn’t examine the jar, he just looked at it sitting on the table. Then he began to speak.
“There’s many things you’re saying here…” he said, and began to tear up slightly. “It’s amazing, you teach a kid a Rubik’s cube and he comes back a decade later and shows you this…”
He talked about the many metaphors he took away from this for a good amount of time, how gratifying being a teacher was, the way our roles had come full circle. I don’t quite remember all that he said, but one thing stood out.
“I don’t want to figure this out. I feel that it would be insulting to you and myself to do so. I knew when you pulled out the jar what was going to happen. I didn’t know how, and still don’t know how. But I don’t want to know.”
He smiled, and adjusted his glasses.
“Drew, I’m putting this in my Rubik’s cube cabinet, and I know a kid will see it and get curious. He’ll ask how it got in there. I’ll let him guess. But I have a great story to tell after that. I know they’ll keep asking, and I’ll keep telling.”
He said that he would cherish it, and our chats continued.
Using a Rubik’s cube, something he had taught Drew years ago and was intimately familiar with in his own life, something important to him, was key. Any trick using any other prop would have failed to elicit the same reaction.
You won’t always have the opportunity to do a trick like this, but you should never pass it up.