ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 TAG: 9604050001
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
If you're lucky today, your dad might sit on a Whoopee Cushion at the dinner table - and not yell at you for putting it there.
Or you might convince your teacher that the dog really did eat your homework - and she or he won't give you a zero on it (even though she really does know the truth).
Maybe your little brother will think that fake vomit on his bed is real and will think you're either really cool (or really dumb) when you pick it up.
It's all in the spirit of the day - April Fool's Day. No one really knows how it got started, and teachers sometimes wish it were banned.
For kids, it's one way to get back at someone who's tricked you and a way to do what kids like to do best - laugh.
There are lots of ways to fool people without hurting or insulting them. Spencer Gifts at Valley View Mall and The Magic Connection at Towers Mall, both in Roanoke, have lots of inexpensive, funny toys and gags you can use on people any day of the year.
You might want to check your teacher's mood before you offer your Tricky Squirt calculator to a classmate. It looks like a smaller version of a real calculator but, instead of doing math, it offers a bath (just a very small one).
The Watch Winder, small enough to be hidden in your hand, makes a clicking sound and can be used as you slowly twist your head (it sounds like bones creaking), unscrew a bottle cap, tweak a friend's nose, scratch your head, move your knee or elbow. It comes with more than 30 ideas for fun and foolishness.
Mystic Smoke is a white goo you rub between your fingers. As you snap them apart, the goo comes apart in strands and look like smoke - or it can look as if you're pulling cobwebs from someone's ear!
A tiny King Tut rises from a tiny coffin but, mysteriously, won't lie back down in it. Only you know the secret of getting the king back into his tomb. It will drive your friends crazy!
Some tricks - the Whoopee Cushion, which makes an insulting noise when someone sits on it, for example - have been around for years. The Hand Buzzer, which gives a buzz and a jolt when someone shakes your hand, is another one so old your parents used it. Snappy Gum is another old trick that still makes people laugh. And a can of Fancy Salted Mixed Nuts, complete with rattling sound, has surprised kids and adults for years when they discover there aren't nuts in the can at all, but ...
Zany Eyeballs are plastic glasses with red-streaked, bulging eyeballs held onto the glasses by what look like small, short Slinkies. When you put the glasses on, they stay on your face, but the eyeballs don't.
How about leaving a roll of quarters, supposedly worth $10, lying around, tempting a brother or sister to see if they're real. When someone picks up the paper roll, ``BANG!,'' the cap inside explodes. Only their feelings may be hurt, though. It's not a dangerous toy.
Offer to get your mom a glass of water, then drop in an Instant Worm pill. A full length life-like squiggly worm will magically appear. Of course, your mom might disappear pretty quickly.
Write your girlfriend or boyfriend notes with disappearing ink and hope he or she gets to read the note before the message vanishes. Also helpful if a teacher intercepts the message.
For the channel surfer in your family, there's the Couch Potato remote control. It won't change TV stations, but it will make disgusting noises, such as snores, toots, a choice of two burps and more.
The most fun item for me was two large eyes connected by a plastic U. If you put the Peepers puppet on your hand, you can create several different creatures. The Peepers really don't trick anyone. They're just a simple, clever way to have some fun.
OK, we can include one gross thing. The Gurglin' Gutz Belly Ball is a slimy-looking greenish-yellow blob that feels as icky as it looks. It you squeeze it, it even sounds gross. Not recommended for fooling adults, though. They'll probably just think you're sick.
How to work some magic on your friends
If you want a change from fooling your friends with toys, try some simple magic tricks. There are many tricks that are easy enough for kids to do and, with a little practice, you can amaze your friends.
The Dollar Snatcher makes it look as if you're making a dollar rise right into your hand. The Magic Ball Puzzle is as old as carnivals. You can learn to make a ball disappear (or look as if it does) from inside a small cup. The Cups & Balls have been used in carnivals and games of chance, too. People used to bet they could figure out which cup the balls were under. Only you will know the secret.
And the Hot Rod is a small plastic stick with different-colored ``jewels'' (they're really plastic, too) in it. Your friends will never figure out how you change the colors, right before their eyes.
Lastly, is a Coin Con. Ask someone for a quarter and tell him you can make it disappear. Of course, he won't believe you, so he'll gladly hand over the quarter. When you do make it vanish, he'll be left with a disc that says, ``Thanks for the quarter.'' Too bad it doesn't also say, ``April Fool's!''
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Lisa Fuller, 10, and sister Stacey,by CNB12, practice a floating-ball magic trick. The girls are learning
magic from their father, Mark Fuller, who is a full-time magician in
Roanoke. color.