Win a dollar or whatever else you can get someone to wager, 9/10 times. Waiter-table cloth trick (modified)

[sumorabbit]

I've got a good trick you may enjoy. This is written as if I'm talking to someone (Brian specifically) one-on-one, this is the easiest way for me to communicate instruction, so try to ignore the more personal tense it takes and look, isntead, for the concrete points herein.

1. Find slightly intoxicated mark, one that's a very overconfident drunk, but can still function and reason marginally well.*
*(no engineers, I'm one, and this doesn't work on many of us because we like looking for the easy way out of damn near everything.)

1a. Place a dollar (or a hundred dollar bill, as long as it's roughed up a bit and not smooth and crisp and new, you're fine) on the table face up. Place an empty beer bottle upside down on whatever president's (or politician's) face is in the center of the bill. This is the entire setup. As long as the bill is worn a bit, and possibly dampen the bottle's mouth so the bill sticks a touch more (friction is our friend, but obvious friction gets people thinking, obviously, so simply licking the mouth of the bottle or just using a fresh one that's still got beer/saliva there leftover is sufficient as an insurance policy).

2. Explain that you can remove the flat dollar bill that's resting on the (dry) table from underneath the empty beer bottle you've* just placed on top of it upside down; without the bottle tipping over, and without touching the bottle with anything but the dollar bill. Like pulling a table cloth from under fine china without disturbing the glass. (that's the image you want in their head)
*(or let them place the bottle, just make sure it's centered on the bill as best you can, it's important later that there's as much bill as possible on both sides of the bottle along the narrower edges free, so centered along the long axis isn't necessary. But if it's dead center of the bill, the utilization of the narrow edges i.e. the trick, becomes harder to pick out until the curtain is up)

3. Watch them try to pull it out like a miserably uncoordinated waiter. They'll fail a lot, easily 9/10 times the bottle will fall (as it should). If they manage to leave it upside down and not knocked over without touching it with anything, well, you're out the dollar (or a beer). Some people get creative with their mouths and try to blow on the bottle as it rocks back and forth post-bill pull, and it has only worked once since I've been doing this. Encourage it if necessary. The bottle will time-after-time look as if it is going to stay up, but it rocks and rolls enough to tip over (seemingly close to staying up, it really has very little chance no matter how little it appears to rock right away. It always rocks small, then rolls around on it's mouth and innevitably falls).

3a. Soon enough, even if they win once or twice among their plethora of failures, your claim of being able to succeed at this every time will drive them mad. They'll get frustrated, or they'll be broke before long and you've won; even if they win 1/10 times, them giving up is you winning.

4. Take the corners of one end of the bill, and slowly roll the bill towards the bottle, making a cigarette-shaped and sized dollar bill (Just to reiterate, roll the short side, don't try the long way unless you're better at it somehow), . This will (when the roll reaches the bottle) gently push the bottle and pull the bill evenly and softly to their separation. Once the bill is fully scooted out from under the bottle, well it's Scam School hahaha. Just watch your fingers, there's plenty of room to roll it without brushing the bottle, but stay aware and don't slip and touch the bottle since that's one of your rules for them.



My name is Ben Holmes by the way, I'm a huge fan of the show and I hope you can turn this trick into something worth watching. Idk how you pick your show-tricks, but if you want to use the trick, I don't want anything in return other than a heads up on when it would air so I can get my friends to watch. And if it's not podcast worthy, at least let me know what you think of the trick, I'd love a critique from the master even if its constructive criticism. If you or anyone who reads this wants to PM me, I'd love to discuss the trick and others like it. I'll probably just reply with my email since that goes to my phone though, that's easier to converse with. Thanks! I hope someone likes this and can get a buck out of it or two. ENJOY! And...oh...if you get punched for being a smartass, I'm NOT responsible.

[el-diablo]

This has already been done on the fine dining episode. Cool idea though