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Scotch and Soda
Scotch and Soda
is a silly name for one of my favorite coin tricks. The basic trick is to
take two coins: say an English Penny and a Kennedy half dollar and place them in someone's
hand. Ask the person to, without looking, place one coin in each hand. Then challenge the
person to guess which had contains the Kennedy half dollar (which is the heavier of the two
coins). Your victim generally gets the question correct. Then, as the trick is supposed to
run, you say that you can't tell me which hand contains the English Penny.
Well, the English Penny is obviously in the other hand. But when the other hand is opened,
it does not contain the English Penny, but instead contains an American quarter.
This is one of my favorite tricks because the quarter and half can be examined, and the magic
appears to take place in the volunteer's hands. In fact, the magician never touches the
coins!
Many tricks with scotch and soda
There are a large number of tricks that can be done witha scotch and soda set. Many of the routines appear in the short book, Scotch and Soda by Ken Simmons.
Origin of the name Scotch and Soda
The origin of the name scotch and soda is that the half dollar represents scotch and the English Penny represents soda. I omit the metaphor and let the coins represent themselves. Part of the schtick is often to say "I'll bet you a scotch and soda that you can't tell me which hand has the English Penny." I leave out the alcohol and gambling references.coin combinations for scotch and soda
Different coin combinations can be used. One uses the fifty euro cent and five euro cent coins. Sometimes the trick is performed with small coins and is called Gin and Tonic
. My personal
preference is for the larger coins.
There are many tricks that can be performed with a scotch and soda set, including making a
coin go through a table or a drinking glass. It is useful to buy a book on these tricks to
accompany your scotch and soda set (which will often include instructions for the basic
trick only).
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