20. Jumping Egg
class: closer | impressiveness: 3/5 | factors: larger setup, potential messes | requires: two shot glasses, one egg | watch full episode
Here’s a quick, simple challenge with a surprising, visual payoff:
The Setup: Grab two 1-oz shot glasses, set them side-by-side, and place an egg in one of them. The challenge is to get the egg out of the first shot glass and into the second one… without touching anything. And “not touching anything” really means just that: no touching the glasses, no using a straw to poke stuff, no banging on the table to make everything bounce around (and by the way, prepare for your mark to attempt all of these). In this challenge, touching nothing means touching nothing.
The Method: This doesn’t seem like it’ll work, but if you lean in close and give a sharp, percussive blow at the outer edge of the egg, your breath will blast the egg out of the first shot glass and directly into the opposite one. I love this reveal because not only is it counter-intuitive, but actually looks magical to watch. Even if your mark suspects the answer has something to do with blowing, they’ll usually just waste their efforts with big, long gasps of air that’ll will do nothing but move the shot glasses around.
Watch Demonstration (External link)
Make sure you practice this before hand, and make sure you’re using 1-ounce shot glasses. Many of the more popular tourist shot glasses are too big: the egg sits too deeply in them, and can’t be blown out at any strength.