| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
Hi, Cool site.. I only wish I had access to this stuff when I was a kid. I guess 30 isnt too old though, may have to buy me some of those magnets  Anyway... There is this trick I have seen, twice now, on the streets. It is basically being used as a con to rip people off. Its a shame to see science used for this, but hey... The conman has an, obviously modified, cassette radio. To the side of it he has 2 little paper figures (Usually of Mickey & Minnie mouse). These paper figures have string legs and arms and heavy feet to keep them stable. On the back of them there is a little black strip. Now, the little figures just stand there next to the cassette player, not moving, with their feet on their ground and string arms drooping. When he presses the play button they move up & down and appear to "dance". He claims that they are dancing to the music, and its the vibrations in the air that make them move. Then promptly, people start buying bits of card with string on them for 3 euros each or 2 for 5 euro... He rakes the money in. Now, as we all know, these figures are obviously not "dancing to the sound waves" but are being held up by something invisible to the eye. My money is an electromagnetic/magnetic field eminating from the side of his modified cassette player. The black strip on the back is obviously magnetic, or diamagnetic. But I cannot work out exactly how this would be done. If it was magnetic strip, it would get sucked into the radio device. If it way a diamagnetic trip it would get pushed away. I am really confused about the technical details of how this would work. Anyone have any ideas on how this would be done? Oh yeah... if you persistently ask the conman to put the figures in front of, or on the other side of the radio, or if you ask if you can buy the radio off him, he usually gets very angry. I have seen this con trick twice now, once in London, once in Munich. Both times I questioned them, both times I felt scared for my life hehe. Any ideas? T... | ||
| Anonymous |
I think the dolls are just on a string. probly with a cam atachted to the drive motor of the tape player. I remember seeing this scam on tv and that was how it was rigged but they had it in a store window. | ||
| Anonymous |
There is no string... T... | ||
| GalFisk |
What if the strip is a magnet, then it could be made to twist/vibrate via an electromagnet inside the cassette player. | ||
| Anonymous |
Umm thats what I had said.. btu I was still curious about how it would be done... "My money is an electromagnetic/magnetic field eminating from the side of his modified cassette player. The black strip on the back is obviously magnetic, or diamagnetic. But I cannot work out exactly how this would be done. If it was magnetic strip, it would get sucked into the radio device. If it way a diamagnetic trip it would get pushed away." Anyway, would you be able to build a device with such a small compact, yet narrow and powerful electromagnetic 'beam'? Surely someone has an idea on this... T... | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) |
A small but powerful electromagnetic beam. Sounds like a flashlight to me. The strip is not diamagnetic. But without having ever seen the device, I can't speculate further. | ||
| Anonymous |
...the feet appear to be round flat magnets attached to yarn/string, attached to the paper body that had a black curved strip. The dolls were placed against a wall, extended, music started, they were gently lowered onto their feet - and they danced. amazing. I wish I had bought one. | ||
| Anonymous |
well, after further research on the web, I'm glad I didn't buy one afterall. This website explains it well:http://britishexpats.com/arch/44/2002/10/47590 The doll is hung (by the magnetic looking strip; that is curved) onto an invisible line strung between the boombox and the backpack. When the music plays, the vibration of the speaker, which is connected to the invisible line causes the figures to move up and down. The magnetic like feet are just a decoy to make suckers think it's got something to do with magnetics and electromagnetic waves that makes the dolls move. Ingenious! | ||
| Anonymous |
I also bought one of these things while vacationing in Venice. I saw them in Florence as well. The person running the scam tells you that there are magnets involved, but there are none. There is always a bag and a boombox a certian distance apart, and when the conman picks up the doll, he is very careful when he replaces it. The one that I bought came with directions that explained it as more of a gag or magic trick than an actual toy. | ||
| Jason Bassetti (Jswizzler) New member Username: Jswizzler Post Number: 1 Registered: 7-2006 |
i saw these in Rome and thought they were so hilarious that i bought one for 1 euro. Glad i found this site otherwise i would still be trying to get it to work. The cost of a flight back to rome would be worth it to have a chance to punch that as*hole in the face. By the way the feet aren't even magnetic (at least they don't stick to my fridge). | ||
| greg koz (Greg1118) Intermediate Member Username: Greg1118 Post Number: 48 Registered: 10-2006 |
Could it used electricity pulses so that it would seem like it was dancing while it was only being straightend by the electricity and than fell in the absence of it? | ||
| Simon Beck (Butterfingersbeck) New member Username: Butterfingersbeck Post Number: 1 Registered: 9-2007 |
The figures ARE supported on a virtually invisible horizontal thread. Where do you get such thread? Well, 10 years or so ago, my wife was a store manager at Sock Shop in Oxford Street, and apparently there was a particular type of lady`s tights (US: pantyhose) which contained exactly the right sort of thread. The con artists who worked this scam operated near her shop, and she had seen them trying to steal the tights! | ||
| Crystal Kesek (Islndgrl) New member Username: Islndgrl Post Number: 1 Registered: 2-2009 |
My father in law came back from Poland yesterday, and we came by his place today. He had bought our daughters two sets of these "dancing paper" figures. A Minnie mouse one and Donald duck one. We taped the black thread that they were both hanging on, onto the desktop speakers and turned the music on all the way, and nothing happened. LOL. The instructions that came with them were bogus, so I thought I'd look online for instructions to how to make them dance and I found this website PLUS a few videos on youtube about the actual scammers and their "dancing" figures. My husband believes that there are NO magnets whatsoever involved in these scams. He believes that they are on very fine string attached to an object to another... usually a radio and something else hidden behind/attached to the radio with some kind of a switch that can be turned on or off. I myself the guys in tokyo have remotes hidden in their pockets that they switch on and off to control the movements in the paper, and that their IS a very fine string attached to it from the radio to something else... maybe another person's foot to stabilize the figure. From viewing the videos on youtube, this is what I came up with. I am so happy that I found this website within ten minutes of seeing the paper figures and not being able to make them dance. I always look for answers online and I definitely found my answer to why I couldn't make them dance. BECAUSE IT IS A SCAM!!! LOL P.S. Jason Bassetti. Your comment definitely made us rotfloao. It would definitely be worth paying for the flight back to punch the @sshole. |
