About forty years ago a method was devised to randomly access computer addresses. If one thinks of storage addresses as locations on a state map, then the idea was somewhat like picking a river, then moving north or south to the nearest bridge, then east or west to the nearest highway, then diagonally to the nearest office building. It should have worked but it did not. Instead, the same office building came up much more often than random chance would have allowed.

The unexpected result was no good for the intended application, but it did suggest magical uses. The trick that evolved from this was called Hex Squared and it appeared in the November 1971 issue of The Pallbearers Review. Shortly thereafter Kreskin used it on his tv show (guest William Shatner performed the moves). Kreskin offered $ 20,000 to anyone who could prove trickery. Someone familiar with the method wrote in to collect the twenty grand (I do not know if he collected). Thereafter, Kreskin dropped
the $ 20,000 challenge from the show.

Hex Squared also appeared in an issue of Time magazine containing a feature article on magic, and, in various guises, in magic magazines and
. Newsletters Phil Goldstein had a clever version on a tv show The display board was about six feet high and displayed pictures of movie stars The audience chose one; ... it happened to be Ann Margaret The display board was rolled out of the way, revealing the real Ann Margaret. She waved to
the audience and walked off. Most recently it was printed in Martin Gardner's Mental Maqic (1999).