History Main / CoinOnAStringTrick

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': Some of the experiments done on [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-261 SCP-261]] (a seemingly ordinary snack vending machine that dispenses random snack-type items ranging from mundane to bizarre) used a coin on a string. The machine responded by dispensing seemingly normal food items that caused the eater to promptly vomit them up.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': One of the experiments done on [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-261 SCP-261]] (a seemingly ordinary snack vending machine that dispenses random snack-type items ranging from mundane to bizarre) used a coin on a string. The machine responded by dispensing seemingly normal food items that caused the eater to promptly vomit them up.

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* In ''The Black Spider-Knight Leopold XVII'', to take a chance at slaying a dragon[[note]]actually an enormous sentient truck[[/note]] the eponymous knight needs to go through an automatic toll booth first, and the fee is a pocket of gold coins. Jamming a sword in the money slot doesn't help because it has apparently been built to withstand this kind of abuse from this setting's [[DesignatedHero knights]], so Leopold XVII tries this trick. [[GenreSavvy The string is immediately cut by built-in automatic scissors.]]

* ''ComicBook/KidPaddle tried this trick along with a variation: small discs of ice of the same diameter as a coin.

* ''Animation/TreasureOfSwampCastle'': The guard is a victim of this trope used as bribery. Though it's done without string, two characters invoke this.

[[quoteright:233:[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b9437355d4b2548fd5b65f8d0ac279b7.png]]]]

* One Creator/CarlBarks story features DonaldDuck going to an valley to test echoes. His nephews set up a box where one can deposit a dime and expect an echo in exchange. The nephews just repeated whatever Donald said every time he put a dime in the box. It turns out that Donald was using the trick to get free echoes. They retaliate and eventually get the seven dimes.

Later in the 1980s, when video game arcade operators realized that people were doing this, manufacturers started putting a string cutter into the coin mechanism. If you tugged back to try to hit the switch again, the string would cross the cutter and be severed by it, thus capturing the coin and preventing its reuse by the crooked customer. In modern times, coin-operated machines simply have a one-way ratchet, preventing the return of any coin once it has passed the counting mechanism.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': Rimmer tries this once, only to discover that the (sentient) vending machine is keen to this trick and equipped with an alarm.

* One CarlBarks story features DonaldDuck going to an valley to test echoes. His nephews set up a box where one can deposit a dime and expect an echo in exchange. The nephews just repeated whatever Donald said every time he put a dime in the box. It turns out that Donald was using the trick to get free echoes. They retaliate and eventually get the seven dimes.

* Bender from ''{{Futurama}}'' is fond of the coin-on-a-string trick. The first time he uses it is in a suicide booth (What is he saving the coin for then?)

* ''TopCat'' does the coin on a string trick during the opening credits; snatching the coin back from a doorman after he has tipped him.
* In the Warner Bros. cartoon short ''The Mouse that Jack Built'', the mouse played by JackBenny goes down to the cheese vault (counterpart to the money vault in the radio shows). He opens the first door by putting a coin on a string into a box, then pulling it up again. Since Jack Benny often played a cheapskate in his radio shows, this might have been to keep in character.

* ''TreasureOfSwampCastle'': The guard is a victim of this trope used as bribery. Though it's done without string, two characters invoke this.

Not to be confused with HeadsTailsEdge, when a coin ''flip'' is tied.

* In ''The Black Spider-Knight Leopold XVII'', to take a chance at slaying a dragon[[hottip:*:actually an enormous sentient truck]] the eponymous knight needs to go through an automatic toll booth first, and the fee is a pocket of gold coins. Jamming a sword in the money slot doesn't help because it has apparently been built to withstand this kind of abuse from this setting's [[DesignatedHero knights]], so Leopold XVII tries this trick. [[GenreSavvy The string is immediately cut by built-in automatic scissors.]]

* Muse of ''Webcomic/HelloWorld'' is shown doing this in one strip. She isn't particularly "heroic".

* One ''{{Garfield}}'' strip made use of this trick with a cookie, instead of a coin.

* One {{Garfield}} strip made use of this trick with a cookie, instead of a coin.

* A flashback on ''TheSimpsons'' implies this helped Mr. Burns make his fortune.

Later in the 1980s, when video game arcade operators realized that people were doing this, manufacturers started putting a string cutter into the coin mechanism. If you tugged back to try to hit the switch again, the string would cross the cutter and be severed by it, thus capturing the coin and preventing its reuse by the crooked customer.

* [[http://garfield.nfshost.com/1996/02/23/ This]] {{Garfield}} strip made use of this trick with a cookie, instead of a coin.

* ''RedDwarf'': Rimmer tries this once, only to discover that the (sentient) vending machine is keen to this trick and equipped with an alarm.

* In ''{{Zork}}: The Undiscovered Underground'', the protagonist has to use this trick to get the information they need out of a coin-operated CreatorCameo. ItOnlyWorksOnce, though.