History Main / CoinOnAStringTrick

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

* One Creator/CarlBarks story features DonaldDuck going to a 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.

* Recruits to the [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork City Watch]] were once given a coin, the King's Shilling, and sworn in on it when they gave their oath of service. In modern times, however, the Watch has become so [[OddlySmallOrganization stingy and under-financed]] that (even though a shilling is no longer quite so much money[[note]]explained once by the shilling being a real gold coin worth considerably more than it's nominal value[[/note]]) the officers have a shilling on a string to perform the tradition on the cheap. At once point Vimes (masquerading as a transfer officer from another city) twits an officer by grabbing the coin before he can pull it back.

* In the ''Series/ShiningTimeStation'' episode, "A Dog's Life", Schemer uses this trick to try to find out where his nickels end up when someone puts them in the jukebox, since he can never get any out of it. When he tries to pull it back out, Tito Swing holds onto it. When Tito lets go of the nickel at the request of the other members of the Jukebox Band, he causes Schemer to fall over.

** The first time he uses it is in a suicide booth. (What is he saving the coin for then?)

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

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* One ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip made use of this trick with a cookie, instead of a coin.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Mr. Krabs uses the coin on a string on occasion, as in one flashback.

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

[[folder:Film]]
* In the 1920 movie ''Film/TheScarecrow'', Buster Keaton tricks the gas meter with a dime on a string.
* ''Film/{{Yellowbeard}}'': Commander Clement wants to get some information out of Harvey "Blind" Pew but doesn't want to pay for it. Each time he drops a coin into Pew's cup, he yanks it back out again with a string.

* In ''Film/RealGenius'', Creator/ValKilmer's character uses liquid nitrogen to freeze water into rods the diameter of a quarter, then slices off slugs with a cutting tool to feed the vending machine.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** The first time he uses it is in a suicide booth (What is he saving the coin for then?)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'': Oscar Proud is cheap enough to do this with a ''[[KickTheDog charity donation]]'' during a Christmas special. Penny isn't impressed.

Characters inserting a tied coin into a coin-operated device and then pulling the coin out with the string to get a stolen item or service from the machine. However, this trope also extends toward other things.

Characters inserting a tied coin into a coin-operated device and then pulling the coin out with the string to get a free item or service from the machine. However, this trope also extends toward other things.

* ''Series/HaltAndCatchFire'': Cameron uses a trick quarter on a to play a ''VideoGame/{{Centipede}}'' machine for over an hour. She gets kicked out of the bar when patrons complain about her hogging the machine and the manager discovers Cameron's trick quarter.

* DonaldDuck's early films has him using this technique (a la Mr. Krabs) to economize at a fair.

* ''WhateverHappenedToRobotJones'':

* The ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "Maximum Insecurity" had Leech use the coin-on-a-string trick to snag a free soda from a vending machine.

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

*** FridgeBrilliance. In later seasons, it's revealed that Bender thinks himself immortal. So the whole stunt with the suicide booth was just for a bit of drama.

* Recruits to the [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork City Watch]] were once given a coin, the King's Shilling, and sworn in on it when they gave their oath of service. In modern times, however, the Watch has become so [[OddlySmallOrganization stingy and under-financed]] that (even though a shilling is no longer quite so much money) the officers have a shilling on a string to perform the tradition on the cheap. At once point Vimes (masquerading as a transfer officer from another city) twits an officer by grabbing the coin before he can pull it back.

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

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