Four rehearsals, one show — and you at the control booth.
The Announcement
You will get TADAM’s act ready in four rehearsals, then run the show.
THE FOUR FRIENDS
“Tonight, the camp puts on its show: TADAM, a stage machine built with our four talents.
You’re the one who trained us — so tonight, the director is you.”
SEETurbot“I recognize what I’m shown — if I get the right clues to measure.”
CHOOSEMatchy“I choose well — my drawers are full of well-earned marbles.”
ACTRobi“I follow my rule cards, one by one, without getting lost.”
SPEAKPlume“I guess the next word, almost every time.”
TADAM’s act: guess the audience’s mystery object, launch the gag that gets the laughs,
run through the act in the right order, and say the final line that sets off the applause.
Act I · the power to see
Rehearsal 1 — the mystery object
Here, you pick the eye’s 3 clues, then you recognize 2 hidden objects.
TURBOT
“My eye doesn’t see ‘a hat’: it checks measurable clues, one by one.
A good clue can be measured, and it tells the families apart.”
Your turn: pick the 3 clues you install in the eye.
Test bench: the object is hidden — all you have are the measurements from YOUR clues. Measure, then name the family.
?
Act II · the power to choose
Rehearsal 2 — the gag that gets the laughs
Here, you fill the funniest gag’s drawer with marbles.
MATCHY
“TADAM draws a gag at random from my drawers: the more marbles a drawer has, the better its chances of coming out.
Reward a gag that gets a laugh (one more marble), punish a gag that flops (one marble less — I always keep the last one).”
Goal: the best gag’s drawer must be THE fullest, with at least 3 marbles.
Act III · the power to act
Rehearsal 3 — the order of the act
Here, you complete the 3 cards that set the order of the act.
ROBI
“I’m lending TADAM my card reader. On stage, it will follow your cards to the letter —
no more, no less.”
Your turn: complete the three cards. Under each choice, I show what would happen.
Complete the 3 cards to keep going.
Act IV · the power to speak
Rehearsal 4 — the final line
Here, you give the big feathers to the words of the final line.
PLUME
“I’m lending TADAM my voice for the show’s big finish. It will say the line word after word,
drawing each word by its chances.”
Your turn: give the pack of 8 feathers to the word you choose for each blank. The other words keep 1 feather each.
The show — you’re at the control booth
Here, you switch on the right power at each moment of the show.
THE FOUR FRIENDS, BACKSTAGE
“We hold the spotlights; you hold the four buttons of the control booth.
At each moment of the act, switch on the power TADAM needs.”
The audience is settling in. Ready at the booth?
THE EYEit recognizes what it’s shown
THE DRAWERSthey choose the best-trained one
THE CARDSthey know the order of the act
THE VOICEit says the words with the big feathers
The Ovation
Here, you sign the show poster with your first name.
BRAVO! BRAVO!
The whole camp is on its feet. TADAM takes a bow…
and the four friends point at the control booth:
“The real magician is you.”
You just directed the four powers of an artificial intelligence:
see, choose, act, speak. A complete AI is those four talents together.
You picked the eye’s cluescriteria that can be measured and that tell things apart — it recognized the surprise object.
You trained the choosingmarble by marble — the champion gag made the whole camp laugh.
You wrote the order of the actcard by card — TADAM never got mixed up.
You tuned the voicefeather by feather — the big finish set off the ovation.
The show poster gets printed tomorrow. Sign it with your first name (just your first name):
The next adventure? Building a machine of your own, for an act you’ll invent.