As if drinking, smoking and partying weren’t fun enough, there are ways to make parties even better… and earn a few “cool points” in the process. Here, then, are five tricks guaranteed to entertain the drunken masses. Try them out at your next party and bask in your own coolness.
BOTTLE CAP SNAP
Snapping bottle caps isn’t necessarily the coolest trick in the world… mainly because everybody knows how to do it. What you don’t want, however, is to be revealed as the only person at a party who keeps screwing it up. So, to review one last time:
STEP 1: Place bottle cap (logo up) on the inner side of your thumb.
STEP 2: Press your middle finger down on the cap.
STEP 3: Tilt your arm back and aim with your elbow.
STEP 4: SNAP. Executed correctly you will put out the eye of some guy across the room.
COOLNESS FACTOR: 3
Narrowly beats out “Bobbing for Apples.”
ONE-HANDED MATCH LIGHT
Tearing a match out of the pack before you light a cigarette is so eighth grade. If you want to be the suave dude with a light for the sexy girl’s cigarette, learn this one-handed match trick:
STEP 1: Open the matchbook and, with your thumb, bend a match out of the pack (still attached).
STEP 2: Press the match head into the striker with your thumb.
STEP 3: Press down hard and FLICK, lighting the match.
STEP 4: After you light her cigarette, flick the pack with your other hand, making the match “snuff” out.
COOLNESS FACTOR: 6
Lose points if you accidentally flick flaming sulfur into your eye.
ZIPPO TRICKS
There are as many Zippo tricks as there are Zippo lighters. Each one has its own ascending scale of difficulty and coolness. This one is basic, yet classic, and certain to impress.
STEP 1: Hold the lighter between your thumb and middle finger (thumb on the lid).
STEP 2: Squeeze hard, pushing your thumb toward the body of the lighter.
STEP3: The force will make the lighter snap to a handhold position while simultaneously popping open the lid.
STEP 4: With your other hand, SNAP your middle finger on the striking wheel to produce a flame.
COOLNESS FACTOR: 7
This trick is all about the showmanship, so make sure somebody’s watching.
THE MIRACLE SPATULA
Listen to me when I tell you this. Resist the urge to use this trick until the moment is perfect: at a party… with a cooler full of beer… and no bottle opener. That’s when you come to the rescue with six little words: “Hey, you guys got a spatula?”
STEP 1: Give yourself plenty of space. Like seriously, clear the kitchen.
STEP 2: Hold the bottom of the bottle in one hand. In the other hand hold a metal spatula.
STEP 3: WHACK-WHACK-POP! In three quick motions whack the side of the bottle twice then immediately hit the underside of the bottle cap with the spatula’s edge. Done correctly the cap will go flying.
COOLNESS FACTOR: 9
Never ever attempt this trick with screwtops or you’ll shatter the bottle.
THE TWENTY-DOLLAR CON
If you were to make the rounds at your next party with this trick, you could rake in a couple hundred bucks within an hour. Find yourself a small group of “betting drunks” and ask one very loaded question:
STEP 1: “Who wants to buy a twenty-dollar bill?”
STEP 2: Get everyone to bid on the twenty. Five bucks for a twenty? Ten bucks for a twenty?
STEP 3: There’s one stipulation… the top TWO bidders must pay their highest bid. You’ll quickly be down to two guys bidding 40 dollars just so they can get twenty of it back!
COOLNESS FACTOR: 10
Use all that cash to buy drinks for the ladies. Your coolness quotient has never been higher.
