Anyone know any good barroom magic tricks?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hi all. I’ve always been fond of a little barroom magic and I’m looking to expand my repertoire. The only tricks I’m interested in learning are those which can preferably be performed in a noisy bar using only equipment that can be quickly and easily donated by the barman. Anyone know any good ones?

I promise to share my secrets with anyone who offers, at least until I run out. There’s a reason I want to expand my repertoire y’know :slight_smile:

Oh, and if anyone feels uncomfortable sharing magic secrets in a public forum, please feel free to e-mail me at john_e_lemonhead@hotmail.co.uk.

Cheers guys,

2

I can make a beer disappear in a few seconds.

3

Are you talking about stuff like getting the “olive” out of the “Martini glass” game using paper matches and the “lifting the tripod of straws” gag? That kind of thing is hard to describe without physically demonstrating it.

Or did you mean something else?

4

I’m basically interested in anything which looks good :slight_smile: The ‘Olive’ trick is a classic, and I’d be pleased to learn more stuff like that. However, I’d also like to learn tricks with a certain ‘Wow’ factor, if you know what I mean.

5

Sorry. Already know that one :slight_smile:

6

My ex could make a quarter fall into the slim neck of a beer bottle?

Found this site?

7

I can turn beer into urine! Jesus ain’t got nothin’ on me!

8

When I bought my copy of Ed McMahon’s Barside Companion it was new and a lot of fun. If I knew where it was I could read you a few of his tricks. Some were really fun and easy to do. Lots of repeats of things I heard from other sources.

9

There is the classic drink con:

You bet your sucker that you can drink out of your glass that has been covered with a hat without touching or moving the hat with anything. The sucker says ok and you proceed to bend over so your head is under the bar or table where your drink is and make loud drinking type noises. When you stand back up, you claim that the drink is now empty. When the sucker doesn’t believe you, have him look for himself. When he lifts the hat to see, you grab the glass and drink up, and also win your bet.

10

When I see someone’s cigarette is getting close to the end, I’ll grab a piece of ice (without them seeing me grab it) and hold it against my index finger for about thirty seconds. I’ll then tell them I have a trick for them and ask them for the cigarette. As soon as the hand it to me, I drop the ice, dry off my finger and hold the cigarette “lenghtwise” withe the filter against my thumb and the cherry against my index finger. I can hold it that way for about 3 or 4 seconds and then I hand it back to them, still lit. The trick is to hold it long enough to look like it should hurt (which is won’t since you numbed your finger first) but not long enough to acutally burn yourself.

11

I can balance a spoon and a fork (interlocked via the teeth of the fork) off the edge of a glass via a toothpick.

It’s difficult to explain without actually showing you, but I’ve one lots of cash right at the bar with this one. “Why, it defies gravity!”

12

Best one I know is getting a cork out of a wine bottle without breaking the bottle.

Push the cork in (drink wine first) so it rattles around and say you can get it out without breaking bottle or cork, using only a cloth napkin. Nobody will believe you. Roll the napkin up - I’ll try to describe this as best I can - so one corner forms a sort of a spoon- shaped part; if you roll the napkin up from opposite corners towards the middle you’ll see what I mean on the other two corners. Stick this into the bottle and shake the cork into the “spoon” formed by the napkin. You can now yank the cork out. It sometimes helps if the “spoon” is a bit wet.

You need a good cloth napkin for this though.

13

This one’s pretty old, so you probably know it.

Props: two shot glasses and an egg
Bet: relocate the egg from one shot glass to the other without touching either glass or the egg
Trick: Place the two glasses about 2-3 inches from each other, so one is near you and the other is on the other side of it (practice to determine proper distance). Lean down and blow a strong puff of air at the top of the egg- the air will travel down the face of the egg, into the glass, and the pressure will launch it away from you and it’ll drop into the other glass.

Applause ensues.

14

I’ve never had the stones to try it, or a bottle of French champagne I cared to possibly waste, but sabering a bottle open might just be the greatest bar trick of all time.

15

These are all great, guys. Keep 'em coming. I suppose I should share an old favourite of mine. It’s done the rounds a fair few times so you’ve probably heard it, but it’s very effective on those who don’t know how it’s done. Its a little difficult to explain so bear with me.

Step 1: Find someone a bit drunk. Sober people tend to see through this trick pretty quickly so you want someone who isn’t thinking too clearly.

Step 2: Get three shot glasses and line them up horizontally. Turn the outer two face down and the middle one face up.

Step 3: Say to your dupe: “I bet you that you can’t turn these three shot glasses so they’re all facing up in three moves.” When your mark expresses incredulity say to him “No, seriously, it’s harder than it sounds. Especially since there’s a catch I forgot to mention. You need to turn exactly two glasses each move. Anything else is cheating and doesn’t count. Look, I’ll show you how it’s done”.

Step 4: At this stage of the game, the outer two glasses are facing down and the middle one is facing up. From this starting position it’s trivially easy to turn all glasses facing up in three moves, moving two glasses at a time. In fact, you can do it in one move but the trick works better if you contrive three moves. So turn all the glasses facing up in three moves.

Step 5: Turn the middle glass face down, so the outer two glasses are facing up and the middle one is facing down. Offer your sucker an opportunity to repeat your feat. Take a seat, 'cos you’ll be there for a while :slight_smile:
Why is this? Well, to recap, when you do the trick, the outer glasses are face down and the inner glass is face up. From this position, it is trivially easy to turn them all face up in 3 moves moving two glasses at a time. When they are offered an opportunity to perform the trick, the inner glass is face down and the outer glasses are face up. From this position it’s impossible to get them all face up.

Unbelievably, people generally don’t notice that you invert the glasses before you let them try. They only notice that the middle one is facing in a different direction to the outer one’s. In my experience, you need to show them about 3 or 4 times before they get it, and that’s if they’re sober. If they’re drunk you can have literally hours of fun with this. Once they’re suitably frustrated they’ll gladly buy you a drink in return for the solution :slight_smile:

This one’s also a great icebreaker with girls, by the way.

16

Just remembered one I described in an earlier thread about how to fool a dupe in a bar. It involves a bottle of Grolsch with the ceramic top on a hasp (one of these).

Bet the monkey that he can’t whack the ceramic lid off with his finger. Demonstrate for him by holding the bottle in your left hand, base on the table, with the hasp on the left side of the bottle. Line up your index finger to the right of the ceramic lid, take a couple of slow practice swings, then WHAMMO!- whack the lid to the left, and the hasp will disengage and the bottle will open. Let the monkey try.

In truth, you’re not opening it with your finger. You can try but you’ll probably end up taking a trip to the emergency room. What you’re really doing is hitting the release point on the hasp with the inside of the knuckle on the middle finger of your right hand (make a fist, then point your pointer finger- now the curled middle finger is exposed). If you can’t figure it out, let’s go out for a beer and I’ll show ya.