Welcome to Evil Week, our annual dive into all the slightly sketchy hacks we’d usually refrain from recommending. Want to weasel your way into free drinks, play elaborate mind games, or, er, launder some money? We’ve got all the info you need to be successfully unsavory.
Free drinks always make a night out better, but you don’t have to cozy up to the bartender to get them. Instead, use these simple bar bets to pull one over on your friends (or other bar-goers) and win yourself a free drink or two.
While these are called “bets,” they often rely on you setting them up in a way that takes advantage of limits or rules that people tend to create for themselves. Then, when others can’t solve the bet, you swoop in and do it in a snap, leaving them with the drink tab.
There are endless bar bets out there, but these don’t require much in the way of props and can be just as well with one person as with a whole group.
The rolling bill trick
Props: An empty beer bottle and a dollar bill.
The bet: With the empty beer bottle balanced upside down on the bill, remove the bill without knocking the bottle over. You cannot touch the bottle.
The trick: Slowly roll the bill towards you. When the rolled-up part gets to the bottle, use it to keep the bottle upright as you remove the rest of the bill.
The two-finger, dollar bill challenge
Props: Two empty bottles and a dollar bill
The bet: Balance the bottles on top of each other with the dollar bill between them, as you see above. Then say: “I bet you can’t remove the dollar bill, using only your index fingers, without knocking down the bottles.”
The trick: Put one finger near the lip of the bottle, and use the other to make a fast, downward, chopping motion, like a magician pulling a tablecloth off at table. If you do it fast enough, the bill should slide out with no problem.
The Mirror Game
Props: Two glasses of beer and two quarters
The bet: “I bet you can’t mirror my movements exactly.”
The trick: Do a few simple, Simon-says-like motions with the beer and quarter that your mark can easily copy—moving the beer to the left, putting your hand over the quarter, etc.—but make sure one of your choices is taking a swig from the beer. But don’t swallow. Do a couple more motions, then spit the liquid back in the glass. (The quarter is there for mis-direction.)
Glass Act
Props: Two pint glasses that are similar in size and shape. They should be able to have a little room between them when stacked.
The bet: Set the stacked glasses in any way (on their side, upside down, etc.), and once you’ve placed them, separate them without touching them.
The trick: Position the glasses on their side at the edge of the table, with the lip of the bottom glass resting just off the edge. The tops should be facing away from the table. Gently blow into the space between the stacked glasses and the top glass should slide out. Be ready to catch the top glass before it hits the floor.
The “where you got your shoes” challenge
Props: None
The bet: “I’ll bet you a beer that I can tell you where you got your shoes.”
The trick: There is none. Say: “You got your shoes on your feet!” The success of this very stupid pun relies on your delivery. If you say the punchline with enough charisma, nine times out of ten, your mark will begrudgingly buy you that drink.
Straw Snake
Props: A straw, paper straw wrapper, and a glass with some water.
The bet: Unwrap the straw by pushing the wrapper down the straw, making it nice and compact. The bet is to expand the wrapper using the straw, but you cannot touch the wrapper with the straw.
The trick: Draw a couple drops of water into the straw, and drip them on the wrapper starting on one end. As the water hits the paper, it should expand.
Riddle Me This
Props: None.
The bet: You can put something in the person’s weaker (non-dominant) hand that they can’t lift with their stronger hand.
The trick: Put the elbow of their stronger hand/arm in their weaker hand.