I thought it was time for another one of these threads. (I stuck it in here but it may belong in MPSIMS or even Cafe Society - sorry, Mods!)
Do you know any easy bar or magic tricks? I know a few that are very simple:
Cigarette disappears into a pack of cigarettes.
You tell people you’re going to make a cigarette (unlit) disappear into a pack of cigarettes. Hold the pack in one hand and tap the end of the cigarette against the pack telling them that it is going to go right into some point on the pack. Tap by bending and flexing at the elbow and lifting the cigarette far up over the pack. Then, when your hand goes back, in a quick motion, you can put the cigarette behind your ear (they audience is on the other side) and your hand comes back down like you’re tapping the cigarette and you act like it went into the pack. This one stuns many people. If you’re really good, pretend like you’ll get it back out and grab it from behind your ear.
Ash shows up in their hand from no where.
Get some ash on the tip of your middle finger on your right hand. Tell someone you’re going to show them a magic trick and have them put their hands out, palm side down. Adjust their hands saying something like, “A little bit higher…now hold them very still!” Meanwhile, you rub the ash from your fingertip on their palm. People really do not notice this. Then, smoke some of the cigarette and ash a little in your hand. Wave hands around, blah blah - ask them where the ash is - they will say in your hand…say, “No, in yours.” and point. They open hand, see Ash, voila, they are stunned.
I’ve got a ton more and will post them if people are interested.
Oh, yes please! I have a thread in here somewhere about the possibility of us (my hubby and I) opening a pub, and simple little bar tricks may come in (sleight-of-) handy!
Heh. I do a bar version of fire-breathing, which is great except for the fact that I’ve set my hair on fire once or twice doing it. I will therefore not be posting the instructions.
E-mail me if you really want to know and are a responsible adult who is bright enough not to try this if you wear big fluffy bangs.
Bet somebody five bucks you can cut his tie off and put it back together. Pull out some scissors, cut his tie off, look at it, say, “Wait a minute… this is silk! This trick doesn’t work on silk!”
I do this in restaurants during the “Where’s Our Food?!?!” stage of waiting, and most people think it’s pretty cool. It works best if you’re the only person on your side of the table. Otherwise, anyone who can see your lap has to be in on it.
Tell everyone you just learned this cool magic trick, and you’re going to make a quarter disappear. Put a quarter down on the table.
Get the saltshaker, put it on top of the quarter, and lay your unfolded paper napkin on top of the salt shaker. Crunch the napkin hard around the saltshaker, and make sure the napkin covers the whole saltshaker.
Holding the napkin-covered saltshaker, start rubbing it across the quarter. Mutter magical-sounding incantations and pretend to be concentrating really hard.
Pick up the saltshaker, bringing it close to your chest (this will be important later.) The quarter’s still there. Look shocked and say you’ll try again.
Repeat step 3.
This time, when you pick up the salt shaker, bring it close to your chest, but position the bottom of the salt shaker right below the edge of the table, where the other people can’t see it. Open your hand slightly and let the salt shaker drop into your lap. The quarter, of course, will still be on the table. At this point, your friends will probably be laughing at you.
Put the napkin (which will retain the shape of the salt shaker) down on the table, shake your head, start swearing at yourself.
Then bang your fist down on the table, conveniently crushing the paper napkin. Hilarity ensues.
Dajowan, once people have seen the salt shaker trick, try it on them again. This time, sneak a blob of butter on to the bottom of the salt shaker. When you tap the shaker down on the quarter, it will stick to the buttered bottom - and the quarter will disappear this time. (If you have the chance, before you start the trick, unscrew the top of the shaker first and sneak a different quarter inside - that way, after you make it vanish, you can make it reappear.)
This is particularly good for getting on the last nerve of other magicians.
Wait until one of your friends buys a shot. Stop them before they drink it and bet them a quarter that you can drink the shot without touching the glass with any part of your body or anyone else’s help. After they accept, pick up the shot and down it. Slap a quarter on the table and say “Thanks for the shot!”
This one will hopefully work with the bartender. Bet him that you can get a free drink from him without him stopping you. Then get him to fill up 2 glasses of beer. Tell him to place his hands palm down on the counter. Then carefully balance one glass on each hand. Then grab another glass and help yourself to a drink.
I’m wondering how long it will be before somebody mentions the “I just bet those guys $1000 that I could piss all over the bar and you’d be happy about it” joke.
This one requires an accomplice and a bar that uses square beer coasters. Arrange 5 unique items (coins, cards, etc) into a pattern like the 5 on a die. Tell the victim that you are going to walk away and you want him/her to touch one of the items. When you return to the table, you point out the correctly touched item. The trick is that the accomplice is taking a drink when the victim is touching the item, then puts his drink down on the portion of the beer mat that corresponds to the item touched. From the position of the drink on the coaster you can tell which item was touched.
salt or pepper shaker (holes should not be too large)
two toothpicks (sturdy ones are better than flimsy ones)
two forks
Place one toothpick into one of the holes in the shaker. Press it firmly into the hole and make sure that it is pointing straight up.
Hook the two forks together by intertwining the tines. Make sure that the forks are hooked together securely in a vee shape.
Place the end of the remaining toothpick thorough the tines in such a way that if you lift the toothpick (holding it horizontally) the forks are suspended from the end of the toothpick at a slight downward angle. It may be a little tricky to get the toothpick positioned just right so the forks don’t tilt off to one side or the other.
Now, carefully place the very tip of the toothpick holding the forks (still holding it horizontally) on the tip of the toothpick sticking out of the shaker. With a little practice you can position the tips of the two toothpicks precisely on one another. Make sure that the fork handles are not touching the bar - that’s why the toothpick has to be securely wedged in the tines.
Carefully let go of the toothpicks and if you’ve done it right you’ll have a vertical toothpick with the other toothpick balanced on its tip and sticking out approximately horizontal holding the forks. It looks as if there is no way that this can happen because the weight of the forks seems to pulling directly downward on the horizontal toothpick. However, the fork handles are pointing out around and past the shaker and the weight of the forks will keep the toothpicks balanced on their tips.
I don’t know if this makes sense from reading a description, but if anything is not clear, I’ll try to elaborate.
Get a saucer or small with a good rim on it and fill it partly with water. Find a lemon wedge, put it on the plate, and place a lit match on top of it. Now cover the entire thing with a clear glass.
As the match burns down, it will suck the available air out of glass, creating a vacuum and pulling the water up into the glass a few inches.
A similar trick is to take the two intertwined forks with the toothpick wedged into the tines and balance the toothpick on the edge of a glass. After you get the horizontal toothpick balanced, light the end which is inside the glass. It should stop burning when the flame reaches the edge of the glass, leaving the forks still floating around the glass, supported only by the partial toothpick resting on the edge of the glass.
You and your victim are both drinking a beer out of a largeish glass or mug. You bet them that you can down a whole glass/mug before they can down a shot of beer.
Order a fresh glass/mug & a shot of beer for your victim. Now you have to explain there are two ground rules.
No touching the other persons glass, this is to avoid cheating.
The game starts when you finish your current beer and set the empty glass on the bar.
Continue going over the ground rules while you finish your beer.
When you finish your beer, turn your glass upside down and set it over the shot of beer. They are not allowed to touch your glass so you win.
Challenge someone to a game of face up draw poker. The rules are simple. A standard deck of 52 cards is used with no wild cards. Each person antes a certain amount. Player A chooses any five cards he likes from a face up deck. Player B does the same. Player A may then exchance any number of cards from his hand for any remaining in the deck, followed by Player B. Be generous enough to allow your opponent to go first for the first hand. Let’s say the bet is $5 each.
Hand 1: Each person puts up his $5. Your opponent will likely choose an Ace-high straight flush. If he does, you choose the same hand in a different suit. If not, see the strategy in hand B. Neither of you takes any cards, and the hand ends in a tie.
Hand 2: Now it’s your turn. Each person antes again, effectively doubling the bet. You choose all four 10’s and any other card (the fourth card is irrelevant). The best hand your opponent can now make is a 9 high straight flush. The best non straight flush hand he can choose is four aces and a king. If he makes a straight flush, you turn one of your 10’s into a royal flush; if he chooses four aces (or kings, queens, etc.) you make one of your 10’s into a king, queen, jack, or 10 high straight flush (it doesn’t matter which). You are the guaranteed winner.
Bet small though, because there’s always the possibility that your opponent knows the appropriate strategy or will get very upset at being beaten.
