The Genii Forum

I recently purchased The Best of Benzais, and am having trouble constructing the gaffed coin for one of Mr. Benzais' tricks. The effect involves a spectator spinning a nickel repeatedly, and you telling them accurately how many heads/tails landed up over, say, five spins. The name escapes me off the top of my head, but the gimmick involves putting a nick into the nickel( no pun intended). If anybody has any suggestions on how to work the gaffed coin, or any other details, I would appreciate the help.

Spinning coins are typically created by putting a bevel in the edge of the coin. So, when the coin is spinning, it does so on the wider edge. As it slows down, the coin will fall towards the narrower edge. In the end, the side with the wider edge is on top. The bevel doesn't have to be that big to work.

I remember a trick I did as a teenager that required a nick in the edge of the coin. As the coin stops spinning, the coin will sound different when it stops on the nicked edge...you then know the opposite side from the nick is up. The coin wobbles longer (when it is almost finished with the spin)on the side that does not have the nick.

You do not nick the whole surface of the edge of the coin, only a "corner".