Snapping & Shock Gum

Trick gum is one of the oldest moves in the American prank arsenal. The spring-snap version was one of the earliest inventions of S.S. Adams — the New Jersey novelty house that Soren Sorensen Adams built from his Cachoo sneezing powder into the empire behind the joy buzzer, the snake nut can, and the dribble glass — joining the line back in the 1920s. The mechanics never needed updating: a realistic pack of gum with one stick invitingly extended, a metal spring hidden inside, and a mark whose only crime was wanting free gum.

The gag never had a heyday because it never had a slump. It hung on spinner racks at highway Stuckey's stops, boardwalk joke shops, magic counters and corner stores for generation after generation, which means the 90s kid who fell for it was reliving the exact betrayal their parents fell for decades earlier. Alongside it lived the meaner sibling: shock gum, a battery-powered pack that delivers a startling little jolt when the stick is pulled — same bait, nastier trap. Either way the economics were perfect for a kid: pocket change bought an afternoon of watching friends, siblings, and occasionally unwise adults walk into the same three-second setup, one victim at a time.

Sam Adams died in 1963, credited with inventing hundreds of tricks and novelties, and his company stayed in the family — son Bud, then grandson Chris — until the S.S. Adams name was sold to Magic Makers of South Dakota in 2015. Snapping Gum survived every handoff and still sells today on retro cards that brag "by Adams since 1906," while no-name importers keep the shock version stocked in novelty aisles everywhere. Few pranks age this well: the gum still looks like gum, fingers still reach for it, and the snap still lands.