Yesterday I posted about a bartender who showed me a mind-reading trick.  I hid a penny under one of 9 cups, in 3 rows of 3, while she had her back turned.  When she turned around, she was able to consistently guess which cup contained the penny, as my drinking buddy on the stool next to me and I gazed in astonishment.  What was her secret?

Well, I gave you a hint at the end of yesterday’s post, when I told you to check out our supply of cocktail napkins.  Does that help, now that you realize it’s a hint?

This was her secret:  My drinking buddy on the stool next to me was in her confederate in the game.  He’d take a sip of beer as I hid the penny, then place the beer on his cocktail napkin in such a way to indicate where the penny was.  If I placed it in the upper middle cup, he’d put his beer on the upper middle of the napkin.  If I placed it in the lower right cup, the beer would go on the napkin’s lower right.

“What if I tried to trick her, and not place the penny at all?” I asked him.

“Then I’d place the beer completely off the napkin, and she’d still know,” he told me.  There was no way I was going to win the game with him sitting there.  Good thing I didn’t place a money bet on the hide-the-penny game.

Check out The Professional Bartender’s Handbook for more tricks and games.

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