Add Bar Tricks and Jokes to Your Mixologist Repertoire

Being a good bartender requires more than just delicious concoctions or being an experienced mixologist, just as being a good guest requires more than just enjoying tasty libations. Whether hosting or drinking, it is important to belly-up to the bar with an assortment of well-polished icebreakers.

When selecting an assorted menu of deceptive devices to amaze and amuse, it is important to keep things simple. Straightforward, uncomplicated tricks will keep the atmosphere fun, and will prevent the embarrassment and/or cleanup of a performance gone awry.

The Crimped Cap
Bend a bottle cap in half. Place the cap in the end of an empty beer bottle, so that it sits halfway out of the mouth of the bottle. Ask someone to blow the cap back inside the bottle. Seems easy, but the task is impossible since the pressure created by the blow will eject the cap.

Psychic Dice
Have someone drop three dice in a glass. Ask them to add the numbers seen through the bottom but not reveal the total. Take the glass (without looking at the bottom) and wave a hand over the top. Quickly add the numbers on the top side of the dice and subtract from 21. This will provide the answer to the sum on the bottom.

Cash and Ash
When no one is looking, straighten a paperclip and insert it into the center of a cigarette. Bet a group of friends to see who can get the longest ash on their cigarette. The metal wire should hold the ash in place.

A "Cigarette Lighter"
This is a fun way to bum a smoke. Bet someone that his or her pack of cigarettes can become a cigarette lighter. Take one and hand the pack back, a "cigarette lighter!"

Cool Pool
Here's the challenge. Place a pool stick lengthwise across the pool table and roll the cue ball under it. Can't be done? Take the ball; roll it under the table, and bingo!

Coin Through the Table
Place a quarter on a tabletop and cover it with a non-transparent container. The bet is to pick up the coin without moving the container. With an identical quarter already in hand, pretend to pull the coin through the tabletop. When someone lifts the container to see if the quarter is still there, grab it, thus winning the bet.