Magic tricks are all about confidence and distraction. The more you make it “entertaining,” the less they’ll scrutinize your hands and the tricks you’re actually employing. They’ll be too busy having fun to be suspicious if you turn it into more of a show.
The coin is going to fall through your hand without your hand opening up. It’s easy to mess this up, so in the beginning, make sure the coin is placed just right to be able to access this opening.
Widen the gap of the starting hand so the coin more easily falls into your hand; otherwise, it might just get stuck in the original hand.
If they choose the new hand, demand they explain to you how you could’ve possibly had the coin change hands if it weren’t for your amazing telekinetic powers.
If this trick is proving difficult to master, move to a smaller coin. It will more easily fall through any gap you create in your fingers.
Or you could just tell them you’re going to make a quarter disappear. That’s fine, too, but they may be ready to look out for any sleight of hand.
Yes, your hand does have to rest on your chin. It should be clenched into a fist and not palm open for the purposes of the latter part of this trick.
Pretend to hand it back to the rubbing hand and resume rubbing. Just do a fake switch very, very quickly. Scoop the quarter up with your dominant hand, but let it drop into your non-dominant hand underneath the table. This is more about timing and less about hiding, like the above method.
If people want to check the other hand for the quarter, you can drop it down your collar before showing them that that hand is also empty.
If you want to be clever about it, wait a while until people have forgotten about the trick. Then mysteriously the quarter reappears. Oh, so that’s where it went. Huh. You had no idea. Funny, that.
You may be able to get away with making a scratch on one side, but if the other person sees it, they may wind up suspicious and figure out your trick. It’s better to use a coin with no obvious damage.
Take some time to practice flipping it, sensing what side it’s on, and exposing it in one swift, natural movement. That second you take to assess the coin shouldn’t be visible to an unsuspecting audience.
You are able to manipulate the coin in your hand to land on the side you want. So call it 5 minutes beforehand, 10 seconds beforehand, or right as you turn it over – and you’ll always be right.
The beauty of this trick is that you can do it over and over and over – unlike many other tricks that require anonymous set-up. However, you can’t do it when someone else does it. Tell them that you need to get a good read on the coin and you can only do this when you have physical contact with the coin.
For the cloth, you can use a piece of paper, a rag, or a paper towel. It doesn’t have to be a penny, but the penny is a good, average size. The smaller the piece of tape, the better (it’ll be less obvious should you not be skilled in sleight of hand) – however, you risk the penny not sticking to it when the trick is in full gear.
Be careful putting your finger over the tape – you don’t want to remove the adhesive from the tape with the oils from your fingers before the trick even begins.
The flimsier the cloth, the better. This way when you show the center of the cloth with the penny, the sides naturally fall down, away from view.
Keep the corners folded in as the person touches it. However, encourage them to touch it on both sides. As long as they don’t move the cloth, your trick should go off without a hitch.
Remember: if someone asks you how you did it, just say, “A magician never reveals his secrets!”
