• glassware@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Best simple magic trick I’ve ever seen, blows people’s minds:

    Cut out a piece of black paper the shape of the opening of a beer can, lick it and stick it to the lid. From a distance it should look like it’s open. Prick a hole in the side with a pin and drain out a quarter of the beer, enough that you can squeeze the can and bend it. Lay it on its side on a table, with the pinhole pointing up so it doesn’t leak. Now it looks like an open, empty, crushed can. Do all that secretly obviously.

    Now ask someone if they want a drink, and point out the “empty” can. Pick it up and cover the pinhole with your finger, then subtly wave the can around as you magically summon more beer. The remaining beer will fizz up and the pressure will cause the can to inflate and uncrush itself. Secretly remove the black paper and hide it. Show them the magically restored lid, crack it open an pour the beer into a glass (so they don’t notice it was partly empty).

    What makes it so incredible is you never hid the can from them or did anything tricksy. From their POV, an empty can just refilled itself in front of their eyes.

    Edit: Here’s David Blaine doing it for some obvious actors. You will be able to make it more convincing than this. Can’t believe David Blaine was so popular back then lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTG-MIqU-Q

      • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Shotgun a beer using a bic pen to puncture it. Low effort. The real payoff is the belch.

        The trick here is you shotgun three other beers first without anyone knowing but don’t burp until you do the party trick shotgun.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    If you can solve a Rubik’s cube, normal people will think you are a genius. On the other hand, actual cubers correctly assess that I am a dumbass if they see me do it.

    • MammyWhammy@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Right? I can solve one in a minute to minute and a half. By normal people standards, impressive, by cyber standards I’m laughably slow.

      I’m cool with that

      • Toribor@corndog.social
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        1 year ago

        To be fair, this is how most skills are in the internet era. It makes it way too easy to feel like you’re not good enough just because it’s so easy to find content from highly talented people.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          OP here. In this case, I also just don’t give enough of a rat’s ass to learn to do it a better way, even though I probably could. I can solve a Rubik’s cube reliably in a few minutes, as far as I can tell that’s peak ROI for this form of toy proficiency.

      • LifeBandit666@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        I’ve learned how to solve in 3 minutes or less since the Reddit blackout protests. I have a friend who said his personal best was a minute and 10 so that’s my target, and my personal best is a minute and a half as of last night.

        It’s not 3.1 seconds like the WR but since nearly everyone I have come across in the last couple months can’t solve a cube at all, I’m quite impressive to them.

        I sit and solve my cube on my break at work, it’s literally to stop me spending all my time on my phone. It’s a newish job so now everyone thinks I’m quite intelligent, which is nice.

    • keenanpepper@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      I know exactly one party trick based on mathematical group theory, which I have actually used to impress non-mathematicians at a party.

      There’s a concept called the “center” of a “group”, which is the set of operations that commute with every other operation in the group. The center always contains the identity operation of doing nothing. The group of scramblings of a Rubik’s cube happens to contain exactly two elements in its center: the identity, and a move called the “superflip” which takes a little bit of effort to memorize how to do, but it’s not so hard. Much easier than actually solving a scrambled Rubik’s cube. It’s like you do a simple move repeated 4x, and then you do that whole 4x set 3x with some rotations in between. Not terribly complicated. Importantly, once you memorize it it’s not difficult to do just by feel, since it’s a fixed sequence of mechanical motions.

      So, the party trick goes like this:

      You have a Rubik’s cube that is exactly a superflip away from the solved state. You hand it to an unsuspecting party guest and say “go ahead and make one or two turns” (it’s important to say something like “one or two” because if they do 3 the trick becomes challenging, and if they do 4 or more it might become impossibly difficult unless you’re actually good at solving Rubik’s cubes, which I am not). They take this obviously unsolved cube and make a couple more moves so now it appears even more scrambled.

      You take the cube back and do the superflip behind your back, without looking at the cube.

      Then you move the cube out from behind your back, and at the same time (trying to be slick about it) you undo the one or two moves remaining before it is solved. Everyone gasps and say “omg he solved it behind his back” (when really you did no such thing).

      This works because if S is the superflip and X is the simple moves they did to it, S X S is equal to just X because S commutes with everything. (S is also its own inverse, so that S S = 1.)

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Damn, that’s neat. I might have to practice that.

        I know exactly one party trick based on mathematical group theory, which I have actually used to impress non-mathematicians at a party.

        Clearly, we just need more group-based popular toys. I would definitely buy a monster group cube, and then probably get crushed by it falling over on me (how many generators does that thing need, anyway?).

    • rjh@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I learned how to do it purely to get free food at a restaurant. The idiot proof method takes about a day to learn and a bit longer to do reliably. Recommended!

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Believe it or not, it’s actually not that hard unless you’re trying to figure it out yourself, and once you can solve a couple you can solve them all. It’s mostly muscle memory, and I think it took me a week to get it down. Not a week of work time, a calendar week.

  • SangriaFerret@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Angry elephant. Remove your glass eye, insert it into your foreskin and flop it around while yelling “brrraaaah!”

    Most impressive party trick I’ve ever seen.

  • ickplant@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This one is more of an icebreaker/game and can be fun to do at a party where there is more talking than partying. You need pen and paper or a phone to take notes.

    1. Ask each person to come up with a color and 3 adjectives to describe it.

    2. Ask each person to come up with an animal and 3 adjectives to describe it.

    3. Ask each person to come up with a body of water (can be specific like “Lake Baikal” or non-specific like “ocean”) and 3 adjectives to describe it.

    4. Ask each person to imagine themselves in an all-white room with no doors and no windows. Write down 3 adjectives that describe how it makes them feel.

    Ok, now:

    1. The color and related adjectives is how you see yourself.

    2. The animal and related adjectives is how you see other people.

    3. Body of water and related adjectives is how you see your sex/love life.

    4. The white room is how you see death.

    People love this shit. Lots of laughs all around.

  • Little1Lost@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Maybe not impressive but it is funny to draw 2 pounts at specific locations on a hand and then “eating” stuff by moving the “middle” thumb joint ud and down so it looks like a mouth.

  • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Offer to share an apple with someone, then split it in half with your hands. It’s easy once you figure out the technique.

    Dollar bill origami. Ask someone for a bill, fold it into a T-shirt or whatever, and give it back to them.

    Wear a ring (stainless steel, not gold) and use it to open bottles with your hands.

  • PotatoesFall
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    1 year ago

    Okay here’s my favorite super easy card “magic” trick. Works best prefaced by “I’m not very good at it but I hope it works”

    You fan a deck and tell somebody to remember the card. Then ask them to put it back on top of the deck. Make sure to remember the card on top of the deck first. Then you give the cards a very shitty shuffle, but enough so they can see their card go into the middle of the deck. If you look really awkward and unskilled, this will work even better. The card they picked and the original top card should remain together.

    You then just start flipping cards off the top of the deck, 1 by 1. at some point you will flip the card that was on top of the deck, meaning the card just before it is the card in question. Keep flipping a few cards. Then (make sure you look hesitant and unconfident), say “Okay if the next card I put on the table is your card, you down your drink. If it’s not, I’ll down my drink” If your performance has looked shitty enough so far, they will be sure to agree, since they already saw their card be flipped.

    But instead of flipping the next card, you go through the pile, find their card, and put it back down on the table.

    • RustyShackleford@lemmy.wtf
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      1 year ago

      I’ve done this one before and it’s always worked for me. The one difference I do is after they put the card on top of the deck I give them the deck and tell them they can cut it as many times as they’d like. By cutting the deck it’s incredibly unlikely they’d separate their chosen card and the top card. Plus it makes them think they have more control over things

      • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        That’s risky depending on how adamant they are about cutting. If they’re cutting a random spot each time, at 10 cuts there’s an ~18% chance they’ve split the two cards up. Your odds are 50/50 at 35 cuts.

        • RustyShackleford@lemmy.wtf
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          1 year ago

          Wow I love that you did the math! That’s really surprising it gets to 50% relatively quickly how neat. I can definitely say no one ever cut more than 10 times when I tried it but I can certainly see that happening if someone wanted to have a laugh with it

  • door_in_the_face@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    Opening a beer bottle with a lighter, a second beer bottle, your teeth (not recommended), the corner of a table (don’t actually do this unless you know the table can be scratched up or chipped), or other random objects.

    • Cokeser@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      That’s actually just a basic skill in Germany and far from impressive. Even myself who basically can do nothing with his hands can open a beer bottle with many objects that have an edge.

      Not saying that it might not be impressive in other parts of the world, but dont overestimate its effect in Germany. ;)

      Edit: Just remembered that I knew a guy who opened bottles with his eye socket…crazy shit.

      • Little1Lost@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        i have two roommates who cant open it by themselves and still buying those bottles without having an opener…
        In most cases i still need a lighter because i dont like beer ant those bottle caps are annoying to me

    • Tippon@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Opening a twist off bottle top with your hands when everyone else thinks it’s a normal bottle top is a good one for a quick laugh

    • gamermanh@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Even in this world where everything I buy or am gifted comes with another fucking bottle opener I still use the lighter or hard corner trick more than any other bottle opening methods

      Knew a guy once who could do it with his bare hands, no idea how though, looked like it hurt

      • Micromot@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Doing it with your phone is also great if you have a solid case. You can do it with your hand if you have a ring that isn’t soft like gold or silver

    • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I will not bother using both hands to clap after. That’s my party trick, clapping with each hand individually by having my relaxed fingers smack the palm.

      It’s the dumbest thing, and people lose all their faith in humanity when they see me do it, it’s hilarious.

  • adj16@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Well if you have hyper mobility in your joints like me, people are always interested when I fold my pinky flat against the back of my hand.

    It’s super low effort for me…might involve some broken bones or dislocations for others though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • amansman@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I used to get some decent mileage out of catching a stack of quarters off my elbow. That was back when more people carried change though.

  • Don Corleone@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Ask around the table who has fast reflexes. Get a $10 bill, scrunch it a bit and put it on the table (a bit like a ball). Ask the person to position their hand some 4 inches above the bill, palm down. Then, position your hand much higher (1.5ft) also face down and bet that person that you can grab that bill before they do.

    It’s misleading because of the distance but if you’re just normal fast by the time they react you’ll already have the bill in your hands.

    • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Also mind reading/telepathy tricks if you have a friend at the party who’s willing to be your secret assistant.