Place a straw in a bottle and tell your friends that you can move the liquid into the glass
without moving the bottle, or sucking on the straw. To win the bet, simply place your lips
around the top of the bottle, and blow. The liquid will shoot out of the straw.
Place a matchbox on an upturned glass and tell your friends that they have to make it
stand upright with a single flick. You can do it every time. However, when your friends
have a go, turn the matchbox over so the bottom of the drawer is on top. Now it's impossible.
Arrange eight matchsticks like this to create a fish swimming in this direction. And challenge
your friends to move just three of the matchsticks and make the fish move in the opposite direction.
To win the bet, just move this matchstick. And this one. And this one.
Place two plastic glasses together and challenge your friends to separate the glasses without
touching them. To win the bet, just blow between them.
Tell your friends that you can say fifty words in just thirty seconds, but without using
the letters A B or C. To win the bet, just count One Two Three Four and so on, right
up to the number fifty. We're half way through, and here's the Quirkology
goat. This bet involves a mug, a teaspoon and a
fork. Place the spoon here, and the fork under the spoon, and challenge your friends to move
the spoon into the mug but by only touching the end of the fork. To win the bet, gently
hit the fork. Challenge your friends to balance a credit
card on a glass, and then balance some coins on one side of the glass. They will fail every
time. All you need to do is place as much water in the glass as possible. Place the
card onto it, and the water tension will allow you to balance the coins.
Challenge your friends to balance a large piece of paper onto their finger. To win the
bet, just fold the paper diagonally in half, then fold back one side like this, the other
side like this, and you will be able to balance the paper on your fingertip.
For this bet, place some matches on the table and explain to your friends that they have
to balance this plastic glass between the other two using what's just on the table.
Tell them that if they are successful then they can win some money. In fact the matches
were a red herring. To win the bet, fold the note up like this, place it between the two
other glasses, and balance the other glass on top.
Secretly run pencil lead around the edge of a coin. Then hand the coin to your friend
and tell them they can keep it if they can roll the coin down their nose. You'll lose
the bet but they will end up looking silly. When they see themselves in the mirror they
will be angry then sad.