Coin Manipulation

Introduction

Coin manipulation is the manipulation of coins or coin shaped objects with the fingers. This page contains a list of all coin manipulation tricks that I know of ranging from simple tricks that can be learnt in minutes such as the Coin Spin or the One Finger Spin to more complex tricks such as the Coin Walk or the Roll Down Coin Flourish that take months to perfect.

There is a strong link between coin manipulation and coin magic. I would recommend looking at a good book on coin magic as this is the origin of some of the tricks described here. I only have one (The New Modern Coin Magic, J.B. Bobo) but you should be able to find more references on the web. Bobo contains descriptions of the Coin Walk, the Roll Down Coin Flourish and the Downs Star among others.

Coins

I mainly use Australian twenty cent pieces which are round and 2.8 cm in diameter. Other coins I use include US half dollars which are 3.0 cm in diameter and New Zealand fifty cent pieces which are 3.1 cm in diameter. Different tricks will work better with different sized coins. The size of your hands and fingers will also determine the best size of coin to use. Experiment with different coins to work out which ones work best for you.

Those tricks which involve gripping the coin by the edges will benefit from a coin that has a rough milled edge.

Also, if you are performing these tricks, a large shiny coin will produce better results, as it will stand out against the hand better.

Balance Toss

These tricks involve balancing coins on the fingertips and tossing them from finger to finger.

Start

Hold the hand out, palm up and balance a coin flatwise on the tip of finger 1.

Description

Toss the coin up a short distance and catch it on finger 2. With practice you can quickly move the coin from finger 1 to finger 4 and back.

Difficulty can be increased by increasing the angle between the finger and coin. Currently I do it with the coin parallel to the finger but can do some tricks with the coin at a 90 degree angle to the finger (i.e. balanced on the very tip of the finger rather than the pad).

Variations

	Place a second coin on finger 2 and toss both coin across to the next fingers.
	Place a 2 coin stack on finger 1 and toss them to the next finger.
	Place a 2 coin stack on finger 1. Toss the stack up with a slight sideways motion so that they separate in the air. Catch one coin on finger 2 and the other on finger 3.
	Make a coin flip 180 degrees during the toss.
	Three coins at once.
	Two coins on separate fingers to a stack on one finger.

Comments

I prefer larger heavier coins for these tricks as it makes the balance easier.

Bowl Spinning

A coin can be made to roll around the inside of a bowl or lampshade as described here.

Classic Palm Swap

This move is a variation of the One-Hand Switch, a move which is used in coin magic. There are many other variations of this move described in Bobo, which can be performed as pure manipulation tricks. The move requires the use of the Classic Palm, a coin palming technique in which a coin is held in the centre of the palm so that the rest of the hand can be moved freely. See Bobo, or another coin magic book, for more details on palming techniques.
Start	Position the hand as if it was relaxing by your side. The palm should be perpendicular to the ground and the fingers slightly curled and parallel to the ground. Coin 1 should be held in the Classic Palm position and coin 2 resting on fingers 3 and 4.
Description	Pull down on the edge of coin 2 so that the coin flips over to the top of finger 2. This move is related to the Underside Walk. Release coin 1 and let it fall down until it rests on fingers 3 and 4. As it falls down it will flip 360 degrees. Coin 2 is now pushed up into the Classic Palm position with the tip of finger 2. Repeat.

Claw Catch

This trick involves throwing up several coins and catching them with multiple claw catches.
Start	Place two coins on the back of the hand.
Description	Throw them in the air and catch each coin individually with a claw catch (i.e. two separate catches). Now try more coins or coins on both hands at the same time. I can catch six coins (3 on each hand) and four with one hand. It seems possible to do five coins.
Comments	You can make the last catch a bit easier by doing a palm up catch. With this method I can do four coins consistently. To make the trick more impressive (difficult), limit the amount of upwards distance to the throw, and the amount of distance below the initial throw point for the last catch. As an example, with three coins I throw them up about 10cm, and the last catch is about 10cm below the initial throw point. Flatwise: A more difficult version is to catch each coin flatwise. The first coin is caught between the thumb and finger 1, the second is caught between the back of finger 1 and finger 2, and so on. The trick can be made easier by reducing the amount of spin on the coins when they are thrown. I can do this with 1 coin consistently, two coins occasionally and once (probably never again) with three coins. Edgewise: If the flatwise version wasn't hard enough try to make each catch edgewise between pairs of fingers. This is extremely hard and I can do it with 1 coin about 1 time in 50.

Coin Roll

This trick involves rolling the coin edgewise between the fingers.

Coin Spin

The Spin is a fundamental move that forms the basis for many tricks. It involves spinning a object between the thumb and the first two fingers and can be performed with coins, pencils, cards and other objects.

Coin Spin
The basic move involves spinning a coin (or other object) between the thumb and the first two fingers.
Start	Hold a coin flatwise between the thumb and finger 1. The thumb is on top and heads is facing the thumb.
Description	Push the coin with the thumb over the tip of finger 1 until the coin is being held with the thumb and the back of finger 1 (on the nail). Replace the thumb with finger 2. Now the coin is held between finger 2 and the back of finger 1 with heads facing finger 2. Replace finger 1 with the thumb. Replace finger 2 with finger 1. You are now back to the starting position but tails are now facing the thumb. Repeat.
Comments	With practice you should be able to do this spin very quickly and smoothly. When you get it working correctly, finger 2 stays still while the other two do most of the work. This is spinning forwards. You can also do the spin to the right, left and backwards (backwards is the hardest for me). Once you can do this trick smoothly practice it using fingers 2 and 3, and fingers 3 and 4. At first this will seem awkward but these variations are essential for some of the other tricks described later.

Heads Up Spin
This is a variation of the Coin Spin in which one face of the coin always remains on top.
Start	Start as for the Coin Spin.
Description	Perform step 1 of the Coin Spin. Replace finger 2 with the thumb and slide the coin back to position 1.

Double Spin
This trick is just two Coin Spins performed at once on the same hand.
Start	Hold coin 1 flatwise between fingers 1 and 2 and coin 2 between fingers 2 and 3.
Description	Perform steps 3, 2 and 1 of a normal Coin Spin with coin 1. Then do the same steps with the coin 2. Repeat.
Comments	At first there will be a pause between each spin but with practice this can be reduced.

Stack Spin

This trick involves performing a Coin Spin with a stack of two or more coins.

Start

Start with a stack of two or more coins held flatwise between the thumb and finger 1.

Description

Perform a normal Coin Spin but treat the stack as if it was just one coin. The coins will slide against each other during the motion but this can be reduced with practice.

Variations

During a 2 coin stack spin you can make the coins flip around each other. There are three variations described.

	Top Coin Flip: Perform steps 1 and 2 of the Coin Spin. Slide the top coin away from you with the thumb until only half of it is resting on the bottom coin. Use finger 1 to flip the top coin 180 degrees until it is resting on top of the thumb. Remove the thumb.
	Exchange: Perform step 1 of the Coin Spin. Slide the top coin sway from you with finger 1 until only half of it is resting on the bottom coin. Hold the bottom coin with the thumb, then slide the top coin back further, then under the bottom coin (keeping the same face to the top). You will finish at step 2 of the Coin Spin.
	Bottom Coin Flip: Perform step 1 of the Coin Spin. Slide the top coin away, as in the above variation. Move the thumb underneath the bottom coin and flip it 180 degrees upwards until it is resting on top of finger 1. Remove finger 1 and finish at step 2 of the Coin Spin.

If you understand those descriptions then with practice you can do a fast two Coin Spin throwing in the above three moves when you feel like it.

Coin Walk

The following tricks are based on one of the most well-known coin manipulation tricks and involve "walking" a coin across the back of the knuckles in various ways.

This trick is also known as the Coin Roll but I do not use this term as I have another trick with this name.

Walk Down
The base trick involves making a coin walk across the back of the knuckles, from finger 1 to finger 4.
Start	The hand position for all Coin Walk tricks is with the palm down, fingers curled into a loose fist with the first joint of the fingers parallel to the ground. Only the first joint of the fingers are used. Start with a coin held between the tip of the thumb and side of finger 1. Heads facing the thumb.
Description	With the thumb, push the coin slightly until it is balancing on the top of finger 1. Use the inside of finger 2 to grab the edge of the coin and pull down on it so that the coin rolls over to the top of finger 2. Tails is now up. Use the inside of finger 3 to grab the edge of the coin and pull down on it so that the coin rolls over to the top of finger 3. Heads is now up. Use the inside of finger 4 to grab the edge of the coin and pull down on it so that the coin rolls over to the top of finger 4. Tails is now up.
Comments	One of the problems when first learning this trick is that the coin tends to slip off the knuckles. This can be helped by licking the back of the knuckles which will help to prevent the coin sliding.

Continuous Walk Down
This is an extension to the Walk Down that allows you to continually perform it by sliding the coin with the thumb back to the starting position.
Start	Start as for the Walk Down.
Description	Perform steps 1-3 of the Walk Down Now raise finger 4 and grab the top face of the coin and pull it down so that it is held flatwise between the first joints of finger 3 and 4. Move the thumb under the hand and place it against the far side of the coin. Pull it towards you and release the grip with the fingers until the coin rests on top of the thumb. Slide the coin across the underside of the hand and push it back to the starting position.
Comments	When moving the coin underneath the hand there are two methods. Slide the coin against the underside of the fingers or balance the coin on the thumb and carry it across. The second method is harder but is necessary for walking multiple coins.

Walk Up
The trick is the reverse of the Walk Down.
Start	Start with the coin balanced on the top of finger 4.
Description	Use the inside of finger 3 to grab the edge of the coin and pull down on it so that the coin rolls over to the top of finger 3. Use the inside of finger 2 to grab the edge of the coin and pull down on it so that the coin rolls over to the top of finger 2. Use the inside of finger 1 to grab the edge of the coin and pull down on it so that the coin rolls over to the top of finger 1. Grab the top of the coin with the thumb and pull it down beside finger 1.

Continuous Walk Up
This is an extension to the Walk Up that allows you to continuously perform it by sliding the coin with the thumb back to the starting position.
Start	Start as for the Walk Up.
Description	Perform steps 1-4 of the Walk Up. Slide the coin under the hand with the thumb to a position below the gap between fingers 3 and 4. Push the coin up between this gap so that it finishes in the starting position for the Walk Up.

Pendulum Walk (Down Right - Up Right)

This trick is simply the combination of the Walk Down followed by the Walk Up.

Start

Start as for the Walk Down.

Description

Perform steps 1-3 of the Walk Down.
Grab the edge of the coin with finger 4 and pull it over to (almost) the top of that finger. (The coin does not quite go to the top of finger 4, and it not released by finger 3).
Now perform steps 1-4 of the Walk Up to return to the starting position.

Comments

In order to make the coin move as fast as possible you can do either two things:

	Give the coin some additional momentum by making a tilting movement with your hand whenever the coin is about to change directions. For the Walk Down tilt the hand forwards (away from you) and for the Walk Up tile the hand backwards.
	Rotate the hand in the opposite direction to the movement of the coin. For the Walk Down rotate the hand towards you and for the Walk Up rotate the coin away from you.

Stack Walk

The Coin Walk variations can be performed with a stack of two (maybe more) coins treated as if they are a single coin. The coins will have a tendency to separate so try to make sure that the stack stays together.

Stack Walk Spilt
This trick involves performing a two coin stack walk, splitting of the coins and returning them to the stack.
Start	Start with a two coin stack held in the starting position for the Walk Down.
Description	Perform the Walk Down until the stack is resting on top of finger 3. Use finger 4 to pull the top coin (coin 1) from the stack to a rest position on the thumb. The bottom coin (coin 2) moves to the top of finger 4. Perform a Walk Up with coin 2 until it rest on finger 1 while at the same time move coin 1 to a position next to finger 1. Push coin 1 back to the top of the stack and repeat.

Underside Walk
This is just one of the Coin Walk moves performed on the underside of the hand (i.e. with the palm up) It can be combined with the Walk Down by doing steps 1-3 of the Walk Down, pulling the coin to a position below finger 3, then inverting the hand (palm up) and continue the roll across the fingers towards the first finger. Use thumb to bring the coin back to start. Repeat.

Weave Walk (Porpoise)
In this variation the coin weaves over and under the fingers.
Start	Start as with the Coin Walk.
Description	Move the coin to the top of finger 1. Now let the coin fall between fingers 1 and 2 to be held with the thumb against the underside of the hand. With the thumb push the coin up between fingers 2 and 3 until it is resting on top of finger 3. Pull the coin down with finger 4 until the coin is again held with the thumb. Push it up between fingers 3 and 2 until it rests on finger 2. Drop the coin down between fingers 1 and 2, onto the thumb which moves it back to the starting position.
Comments	A nice variation of this is to continually move the coin around finger 1. Perform steps 1 and 2 above. Now grab the coin (under the hand) with the thumb and finger 2. replace finger 2 with finger 1 to return to the start. You can also perform this move with the same face of the coin remaining in contact with finger 1, but I prefer the first version.

Continuous Staircase (Down Right - Down Left)
This is a continuous Walk Down move in which the coin moves from one hand to another.
Start	Start as for the Walk Down.
Description	Perform steps 1-4 of the Walk Down with the right hand. Move the left hand in front of (and under) the right hand and let the coin slide down to be caught between the thumb and finger 1 of the left hand. Perform steps 1-4 of the Walk Down with the left hand. At the same time move the right hand under the left hand until the thumb is just below finger 4 of the left hand. Make sure you go under the other hand so you do not obscure the coin walk on that hand. Transfer the coin back to the right hand.
Comments	Make sure the transition from one hand to the other is as smooth as possible. You can also do the Continuous Staircase in the reverse direction by doing the Walk Up and transferring the coin from between the thumb and finger 1 to the top of finger 4.

Down Right - Up Left
Another combination of the Walk Down and Walk Up moves.
Start	Start as for the Walk Down.
Description	Perform steps 1-4 of the Walk Down with the right hand. Transfer the coin to the gap between fingers 3 and 4 of the left hand (which is positioned below the right hand. Perform a Walk Up with the left hand and finish by transferring the coin to the right hand (held between the thumb and finger 1).
Comments	During this move each hand rotates around each other in an anticlockwise direction to prevent the moving coin from being obscured. The reverse move (Down Left - Up Right) can also be performed.

Double Pendulum (Down Right - Down Left - Up Left - Up Right)
This trick is the Pendulum Walk extended over both hands.
Start	For this trick place both hands together, the left hand in front of the right with finger 4 of the right hand touching finger 1 of the left hand.
Description	Perform steps 1-4 of the Walk Down with the right hand. Use the edge of finger 1 on the left hand to roll the coin over to the top of that finger. Perform a Walk Down with the left hand. Reverse the moves back to the start.
Comments	Make sure you don't separate the hands too much so the transfer from hand to hand looks smooth. This can be done with two coins at once as follows: Start with coin 1 held between thumb and index finger of right hand. Coin 2 is balanced on finger 4 of the left hand. Simultaneously do a Walk Down with the right hand and a Walk Up with the left. When you finish coin 2 is held between the left thumb and index finger. Coin 1 is balanced on finger 4. Transfer coin 1 to the gap between finger 1 and 2 of the left hand. Coin 2 is then pushed with the left thumb to the top of finger 4. Continue the walks to get to the start position.

Two Coin Walk

These variations involve doing a Continuous Walk Down or Continuous Walk Up with two coins on one hand. I find the Continuous Walk Down method the easiest so I will describe these variations based on that.

There are two ways in which you can do this. Practise them both because you need to be able to do the moves from both if you want to master the three-coin walk.

Method 1
Start	Start with coin 1 held in the normal starting position between the thumb and finger 1. Coin 2 is held in the finish position between fingers 3 and 4.
Description	Walk coin 1 to the gap between fingers 1 and 2. Drop coin 2 onto the tip of the thumb and move it to the starting position. Walk coin 1 to the gap between fingers 3 and 4. Repeat.
Comments	With practice you can merge steps 2 and 3 together so that they are both performed at the same time. This will increase the smoothness of the walk.

Method 2
Start	Start as for method 1.
Description	Walk coin 1 to the gap between fingers 2 and 3. (This is the difference between the two methods.) Drop coin 2 onto the tip of the thumb and move it to the starting position. Walk coin 1 to the gap between fingers 3 and 4. Repeat.
Comments	Again steps 2 and 3 can be performed at the same time. I find this method harder than the first.

Three Coin Walk
The Continuous Walk Down with three coins on one hand.
Start	Start with coin 1 held between fingers 1 and 2, coin 2 between fingers 2 and 3 and coin 3 between fingers 3 and 4.
Description	Move coin 3 to the normal starting position. Move coin 2 down one position. Move coin 1 down one position. Move coin 3 to the gap between fingers 1 and 2. Repeat.
Comments	Technically this is not much harder than the two coin variations but is much harder to get smooth.

Four Coin Walk
The Continuous Walk Down with four coins on one hand.
Start	Start as for the three coin method and place a fourth coin on top of finger 1.
Description	Perform the first three steps of the three coin variation. Now push coin 4 (with coin 3) to a position between fingers 1 and 2. Now push coin 3 on top of finger 1. Repeat.

Misc Coin Walk Tricks

Some more tricks to try:

	Do three coins on two hands in a cascade pattern. The cascade is a juggling pattern.
	Do four coins, two on each hand
	Do a five coin cascade on two hands (the cascade is a basic ball juggling pattern)

	Do some Coin Passing with a friend.

Downs Star

This trick is based on a magic trick with the same name, which is described in Bobo. I have extended it slightly and turned it into a pure manipulation trick rather than a magic trick. It involves placing a stack of coins on the palm, making a fist and opening it to show each coin balanced on a fingertip.

Stack To Star - 4 Coins
The first part of the trick involves transferring a stack of 4 coins resting on the palm to a position where each coin is resting on each of the fingertips of the same hand.
Start	Start with a stack of 4 coins resting on the palm (on the fleshy part at the base of the thumb) One edge of the stack should be touching the main crease mark where the thumb joins the palm. Bend the thumb in to keep the stack from moving.
Description	Close the hand into a loose fist and use the fingertips to slide the coins away from the thumb. The goal is to have each finger positioned on the centre of one coin. Finger 1 will be on the lower-most coin. It is hard to stretch finger 4 to the top of the stack so I first use finger 3 to slide the top coin across slightly. Turn the hand over and spread the fingers. A coin should be balanced on the tip of each finger.

Stack To Star - 5 Coins
There are two ways to add a fifth coin.
Method 1
Start	Start with a five coin stack on the palm.
Description	Perform the 4 coin version but finish with two coins balanced on finger 1. Now use the thumb to slide the top coin off finger 1 and onto the thumb. Transferring the coin from the top of finger 1 to the thumb is easy but getting two coins on top of finger 1 is pretty tricky.
Method 2
Start	Start as for the 4 coin version but hold a fifth coin on the inside of the first joint of finger 1.
Description	Perform the 4 coin version as normal then finish by sliding the fifth coin onto the thumb.
Comments	The second one is the easier of the two methods, but not the nicest from the viewers perspective.

Closing/Opening the Star
Once you have completed the star you can collapse and then reopen it.
Start	Start with a completed 5 coin Down Star
Description	The edges of the coins on fingers 2, 3 and 4 are touched to the edge of fingers 1, 2 and 3. With a quick movement, move all four fingers and thumb together until each coin is held flatwise between two other fingers. The coins on finger 1 and the thumb will be held together in a stack between finger 1 and the thumb. This move can be reversed by slightly tilting the hand towards finger 4 and releasing the grip on the coins so they fall back onto the fingertips. You will then need to transfer the top coin from finger 1 to the thumb as described in Step 4 above.

Star To Stack
Another useful move is to transfer a completed 5 coin Down Star to a stack of 5 coins held between the thumb and finger 1.
Start	Start with a completed 5 coin Down Star.
Description	Close the star as shown above then remove finger 1 so that you have three coins held between finger 2 and the thumb. Repeat this until all coins are in a stack. Once you have a stack you should be able to manoeuvre it back to the starting position (on the palm) and repeat the trick.

Curl
Once you have the five coins balanced you can do a curling move with the arm similar to a plate move. I'll try and explain this move.
Start	Start with a five coin star on the right hand with the fingers pointing away from you.
Description	Turn the hand anti clockwise 180 degrees until the fingers are pointing towards you. The elbow must raise a fair bit during this move as the hand moves under the bicep. Continue the turning motion through 360 degrees and raise your arm above your head as you do. Your hand should be above your head, palm up and fingers pointing behind you. Another 180 degree turn and you should be back to the starting position.
Comments	This move can be used as a fancy start to the normal stack to star move. Start the stack on the palm with the fingers pointing away. During step 2 of the curl close the hand and perform the Stack to Star move. Finish the curl with the open star.

Transferring the Star
A completed star can be transferred from one hand to another.
Start	Start with a star on the right hand with the hand held out in front of you. The left hand is empty and held in a similar manner.
Description	Quickly clap your hands together so that each coin is held between two fingers, i.e., the coin on finger 1 is held between finger 1 of each hand etc. At this point the hands should be perpendicular to the ground. Continue the move by returning the left hand to its original position, but now it has the coins balanced on it.

Edge Balance

The next set of tricks involve starting with a stack of coins and finishing with the coins balanced edgewise between the fingers in various ways.

Wider coins will improve the ability for them to be held edgewise.

Two Coins - Variation 1
This is pretty simple.
Start	Start with 2 coins held in an edgewise stack between fingers 2 and 3.
Description	Roll the back coin up with the thumb and hold it between the thumb and finger 1. Move the coin so the bottom edge rests on the top edge of the bottom coin. Remove finger 1 and the result is shown in the following ASCII diagram (as viewed from the front): - Thumb O Top Coin O Bottom Coin - - Finger 2 and 3

Two Coins - Variation 2
Easy to get to, hard to keep the balance.
Start	Start as for Variation 1
Description	The finish position for this variation is: - Thumb O Top Coin O Bottom Coin - Finger 2 or 3

MOST TRICKS CAN BE PERFORMED USING HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
OTHER MORE PROFESSIONAL AND AMAZING TRICKS CAN BE FOUND AT