Twirl

        (174k)
Description This trick involves removing the middle coin from a stack of three, rotating it 180º and returning it to the stack.
Start Hold three coins in an edgewise stack between thumb and index finger.
Directions
  1. Place the ring finger next to the thumb against the edge of the coins.
  2. Use the thumb to pull the front and back coins up out of the stack.
  3. Rotate the middle coin coin 180º by pulling back on it with the middle finger. This is essentially a One Finger Spin move.
  4. Roll coin back into the stack.
Comments Pulling the middle coin out of the stack will take some time to learn. Here are two methods that will help learn it.
  1. Hold the three coin stack as normal and perform a Front To Back. If you take a look at the flipped coin right after it lands at the back of the stack you should see that it isnt exactly flush with the stack. It will stick out a tiny way from the stack towards the pinkie finger side of the hand. This creates an angle between it and the front coin so that the thumb can grab the front and back coin without pushing on the center coin. Lift up with the thumb and the middle coin should remain behind.
  2. Similiar to above but instead of doing a Front To Back simply pull up slightly on the back coin then let it drop back down. It should be slightly offset from the stack in the same manner as above, so now you can pull up the front and back coins from the stack.
Once the technique has been learnt you should find you can split out the middle coin from the initial stack without creating the small separation with the back coin.

Also after you have performed the trick the first time repeating it can be made a lot easier by not completely reinserting the coin into the middle of the stack, just push it most of the way in but leave it hanging it out a tiny amount. Then pulling it out again to repeat the trick is a simple matter. This way you can repeat the twirl many times in a row quite fast.

The rotating of the coin with the middle finger can cause some problems at first. When first learning it the coin often slides out of the grip during the rotation. This can be caused by too push lateral pressure by the middle finger when pushing on the coin to rotate it, too little grip on the coin with the index and ring fingers, or just incorrect finger placement when holding/gripping the coin. Its worth practicing just the twirl movement with a single coin until you can do it comfortably.
Variations
  • Multiple Coin Twirl: Perform multiple rotations of the coin once it has been pulled out of the stack.
  • Rotate the coin in the opposite direction.
  • Two Coin Twirl: Start with a stack of 4 coins and pull down and rotate the middle two. The rotation is harder than with just one coin.
  • Twirl Shuffle: As above but instead of putting both coins back up in the middle together put the back coin into the middle and the front coin to the front. You need to use the bottom edge of the top outer coin to split up the two bottom coins so the trick can work.
  • Three Coin Twirl: As for the Two Coin Twirl but with 5 coins and pulling down and rotating the middle 3.
  • Pull the middle coin up instead of down and rotate it above the other two.
  • Pull the middle coin up and rotate the two bottom coins then drop the middle coin down between them. This is tricky because after rotating the two outer coins they tend to move together into a stack. With a bit of fiddling you can work out how to seperate them to get the middle coin back down into the stack.
  • Alternating Axis Twirl: Perform the normal twirl but dont roll it back into stack. The twirled coin is between the index and ring fingers. Grab it between the middle and pinkie fingers and twirl it with the ring finger. Now insert it back into the stack. This is the same move as the Alternating Axis One Finger Spin variation.

Scissor Twirl

(91k)
    1. Roll down the middle coin as normal but hold it between the index and pinkie fingers.
    2. Twirl it 180 with the middle finger.
    3. Grab the coin flatwise between the middle and ring fingers. When grabbing it the middle finger should grab the inner side while the ring finger grabs the outer side.
    4. Rotate the coin over the back of the ring finger with the middle finger. This is basically a Spin Walk Thumbless move.
    5. Grab the coin with the index and pinkie fingers and roll it back into the middle of the stack.
This trick works better with larger coins but can still be done with small coins.