Amazing dice stacking video

It always brings me pleasure to watch a practiced expert ply their trade or craft. This young man's ability to shake dice around in a cup and stack them on a cup borders on the unbelievable. I've never even heard of dice stacking until I saw this video. Link (Via haha.nu)

[#1 posted by phasor3000 , September 28, 2007 1:44 PM]

But can he do it without the crystal meth?

[#2 posted by Matt Jones , September 28, 2007 2:16 PM]

You *do* realise that this is done by filming himself knocking down piles of dice with a cup, then playing it backwards, don't you?

Similar to the trick Michel Gondry used to solve a Rubik's cube with his feet.

[#3 posted by ernie , September 28, 2007 2:31 PM]

Umm no. at 3:20 we are presented with "downstairs".

Pranking this by recording it backwards, like Michael Gondry, would result in an even MORE impressive stunt, being that he would quickly have built each stack by dropping the dice, one armsweep at a time perfectly depositing the die squarely on the die below.

[#4 posted by jtf , September 28, 2007 2:37 PM]

I was going to mention that it couldn't possibly be filmed backwards, but ernie got there first.

Dice stacking, like cup stacking, card manipulation, and pen spinning, is a recognized (if somewhat fringe) form of performance. I'm sure some of you have seen or heard of the pen spinning communities. If you haven't, try looking for UCPSB collaborative videos on YouTube.

And yeah, my brother is one of those crazy people who make pen spinning videos, so I should know about this stuff.

[#5 posted by phasor3000 , September 28, 2007 2:47 PM]

Interesting -- centrifugal force makes the dice line up in a column up against the inside wall of the cup:

http://www.juggling.org/jw/87/3/tips.html

Still impressive, but not as superhuman as it first appears.

[#6 posted by Tian , September 28, 2007 2:53 PM]

What is the point of stacking and restacking dice?

[#7 posted by Matt Jones , September 28, 2007 2:53 PM]

OK.. I admit, I'm wrong. He does seem to have a knack for making it look as if it's played backwards :).

[#8 posted by jimh , September 28, 2007 3:00 PM]

Sick.

Wow, there are cups specially made for dice stacking? The logo is right-reading while the cup is upside down.

He gets up an leaves at the end of every trick. (to turn off the camera, I know) But still, I couldn't help thinking about the recently posted Nintendo controller pipe...

[#9 posted by franko , September 28, 2007 3:20 PM]

wow, thanks for the link to the explanation, phasor3000! at first i was thinking, "come ON... wtf??" -- i knew there was something sly going on. who would've guessed it was simply SCIENCE?

[#10 posted by skeptical , September 28, 2007 3:22 PM]

phasor3000,
What force is it that holds the dice suspended in the cup for a split second before the drop, with an audible click, onto an existing stack of dice?

[#11 posted by Wingo , September 28, 2007 3:37 PM]

Holy craps, Batman! He moves so fast it looks like it's sped-up. Even in slo-mo his hands are blurred. I've never seen such a thing.

I think I may have a new hobby...

[#12 posted by phasor3000 , September 28, 2007 3:42 PM]

skeptical, I think that's probably caused by a brief, focused burst of mojo-mesons from his pineal gland.

In other words, I have no idea.

[#13 posted by jimh , September 28, 2007 3:47 PM]

Skeptical, It's called a "point stop" in this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxOj4SKs1kw
He says that heavy [casino] dice are pretty much required for that trick. He also says that it requires experience. I believe it is done without trickery, by lining up the angle and plane of the stop perfectly with the existing stack. With hundreds of hours of practice, no doubt.

[#14 posted by neven , September 28, 2007 4:10 PM]

Sorry to be the language police - it's "die stacking", not "dice stacking". You use the singular form in such combinations - compare "mouse trap" to "mice trap" or "tooth brush" to "teeth brush".

[#15 posted by raybot , September 28, 2007 4:14 PM]

OH I GET IT. he takes a die and stacks it. seriously... this is crap. i wanna see him do it with 20-sided dice atleast.

boingboing you fail again

[#16 posted by Anonymous , September 28, 2007 9:09 PM]

oooh, he's dreamy

[#17 posted by Anonymous , September 28, 2007 9:26 PM]

People doing this is on Chinese TV all the time because, well, Chinese TV sucks.

[#18 posted by Clumpy , September 28, 2007 11:35 PM]

While I believe that this feat is possible, watch how the background rapidly changes brightness as tricks are being done but NOT during downtime.

It's possible that this is merely a reaction of the camera to a fast-moving subject but I think that it's more likely that they are using a sophisticated form of stop-motion. I used to do tricks like this all the time only the video-editing features on my camera (i.e. "force-push" household objects, make an object float in the air or make things disappear and reappear).

I could probably replicate something like this using trickery but I don't have the patience or skill for it.

[#19 posted by Clumpy , September 28, 2007 11:37 PM]

CORRECTION: The screen flashes during downtime as well so I'll bet it's the real deal.

[#20 posted by PeaceLove , September 28, 2007 11:39 PM]

Silly Boingers! Dice stacking (and the plural form is correct, as in "purple people eater) is a form of juggling closely allied with magic. It's actually not all that difficult. You just need a cup with fairly straight (not tapered) sides, some dice, a smooth surface, and a confident stroke.

Get the motion and rhythm down and you can learn the basics in an afternoon. Snatching them one at a time off a stack is a bit more knacky but still pretty easy, compared to how cool it looks.

Here's another cool dice-stacking clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bDgO3_vRXQ&eurl=