Materials:

• Quarter
• Glue Stick
• Flair for the dramatics

Intro

In this easy, ridiculously hard to mess up magic trick you will learn how to make a your very own quarter disappear into thin air with an addition of good tips on performing in front of an audience. This is a good trick for messing with younger siblings, wowing the fam at family parties, and impressing your friends.

Prep And Pep

First and foremost, this step takes place before you do the fantastic trick in front of your audience. Take your glue stick, not bottle glue, not industrial glue, not hot glue, not toxic glue (this is going on your skin), your clear drying glue: like a little Elmer’s glue stick with the classic neon orange cap that we have all seen before and rub it gently on your left hand. Do not rub it over your whole left hand, no. Rub it on the flat area between your index finger and your thumb. This will be crucially important later.

Then, prepare to dazzle. You are about to make a quarter disappear. You are going to do magic. Yes, magic. This coin is to be depicted as magic to the audience because you are holding it. Shiny, magic quarters disappear in your hand, they are gone in a single swift motion. That is what the crowd will think. Be confident. *This is to not be done in front of the audience, this step is to pep you up. *

Observing The Audience

After that, observe your audience. Are they a bunch of little kids that are insanely gullible? Are they 9-year old’s who know everything that just want to watch you fail? Is this your parents that have seen you practice this trick billions of times, as you should have to get it right? Or is this someone who wants to be dazzled and amazed with your magic trick? The audience matters because you need to make the trick entertaining and amusing every single time. Nobody wants to watch a stoic magician unless that is your whole thing. So, by any means you do you.

Starting The Magic Trick

Once you observe your audience, pinch the quarter in your right hand with your thumb, index, and middle finger. It should be comfortable as you have just picked it up. You can often tell when you are doing something wrong in a magic trick when it feels like your fingers are being bent backwards. Although, having a range of flexibility in your hands does help with more difficult and challenging magic tricks. Though, this does not mean going to the hospital because it seemed like a promising idea to bend your fingers backwards. Do not do that!

If someone in the audience thinks the coin is a prop, which can happen, you can let them inspect it before continuing with the trick. There is always that one person that insists your coin is a fake, so use this as your chance to prove them wrong. But, as the writer of this guide let’s call this person Bobby Justin, because I have a hunch, he will come up more than once.

Making The Magic

Next, tell your audience what you are going to do with the quarter. It is hard to follow a magic trick when you do not know when the magic happened. A simple explanation of, “I will make this quarter disappear into thin air,” should do just fine. Also speak loud and clear because what if Bobby Justin who insists he can see exactly what you are doing, but who stands all the way in the back cannot hear you. You need to speak loud and clear, but with pizzazz. Also do not let audience members frazzle you, they are there to watch you preform whether they like it or not. *Side note, practice your tricks before going in front of the audience. It will make your tricks cleaner and smoother. *

In addition, cup your left hand and hold it parallel to the floor. The side of your index finger should be facing up. Take your right hand holding the quarter and act like you are tucking the quarter into your cupped left hand. Then, use your thumb to push the quarter on the sticky part of your left hand where you put your glue six steps before. The quarter will stick unless you waited too long and the glue already dried. Hold your hand there for a couple seconds, so the trick doesn’t seem rushed.

Finishing

Lastly, to finish up the trick, tilt your hands upward showing the audience your palms. This will show the audience that your coin magically disappeared. Be careful though that the audience can’t see the quarter glued to your other hand, that would ruin the magic. You don’t realize how shiny quarters are until Bobby Justin says that he can see it. Also, make sure to get your angles right and when practicing, assume how far the crowd would be standing. Wait a second and bring your hands down making sure no one can see the quarter. This can be done by covering your left hand with your right in a flick of the wrist flourish. If that looks choppy to you, you can use lots of similar hand motions to disguise the ones that are transitions. If someone in the audience insists that they can tell how you did your trick if you do the trick again. Ahem, Ahem, Bobby Justin. To save yourself from an unamused crowd NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES do the same trick twice in front of the same crowd.

End Note

Voila! You preformed a cool and insanely impressive magic trick. Don’t get discouraged if this trick is taking you longer than the time it took to read this sentence… This trick probably took me a couple of days to learn, practice, and perfect it. Also, practicing in front of a mirror helps and having patient friends who don’t mind watching the same trick again and again.