A roll trick is an action designed to cause pleasure for somebody using
ecstasy at a
rave -- someone who is "
rolling" in common
parlance. Often this involves novel
tactile sensations, as ecstasy dramatically boosts the skin's sensitivity.
Visual stimulation is also popular, especially via bright lights that stand out in the dark environment and leave
tracers on the retinas of the
intoxicated.
Ok, here's the thing, please don't fucking do this. Roll tricks are not considered okay to practice in public! They are one of the most obvious visible signs of drug use at parties, and are part of the reason that the public has a low opinion of raves and people who attend them. I'm cataloging them here for the sake of completeness, but if you feel compelled to actually partake in any of these activities, please do so only in your own home and not out at a party where people can see you. It makes you look less like a brain-damaged etard to other party kids, and helps raves look less like drug-addled riots to the man.
Simple
Fuzzy Gloves
Like the ones you polish your car with, big-ass mittens made out of soft plush material. These are rubbed all over the face of the trick-ee in sort of a soft massage. As ravers tend to be sweaty and thus the gloves tend to get wet, this is one of the more disgusting roll tricks around. Not recommended.
Vicks VapoRub
Yes, that smelly menthol goo your mom smeared on your chest when you had a head cold. When inhaled by while rolling it makes the sinus cavity and lungs tingle in a most pleasing way. Putting the Vicks inside of a construction work dust mask used to be the popular method of use, and one would see dozens of kids wearing them and looking pseudo-futuristic at parties. Since this was a stunningly obvious sign of drug use, promoters started taking away dust masks in about 1999 to keep their image cleaner. This is also why dust masks may be considered "paraphernalia" to be held against somebody who is busted for ecstasy possession. Now-a-days, sneaking in a bottle of Vicks and rubbing it into another's face (eyelids are especially sensitive!) seems to be the popular form of this age-old activity.
Speaker Hugging
A very tactilely engaging way to enjoy music, speaker hugging is standing very close to (or on top of, or inside) a subwoofer in order to feel the low-frequency bass vibrations as they move each individual hair on your arms, legs, and head. Combined with the sonic sensory overload of being right beside a woofer, it can be extremely intense. Another fun variation on to speaker hugging is to touch the frames of your glasses to the side of the box while wearing them and looking around. This causes the whole world to vibrate and turn fuzzy in synch with the bassline, as the vibrations of the box cause the lenses to move quickly and randomly.
Moderate
Seabreeze/Blow Up
Another form of Vicks abuse, this involves blowing through a Vicks Inhaler on to the trick-ee's eyes, nose and face. Sort of like a cold breeze that tingles strongly. Also sort of like being maced, this one isn't for everybody. Can be combined with light shows, fuzzy gloves, etc. for more complete stimulation. People looking for these usually say something like "Hey man, will you blow me up?", a sentence which I find uproariously funny.
Note that this paraphernalia-ish usage is not the reason Vicks Inhalers were taken off the market for a couple of years. It was instead because one of the ingredients could be used to make the (absolutely inactive) stereoisomer of methamphetamine.
Light Show
Liquid dancing done with glow sticks near somebody's eyes, specifically in order to cause pretty tracers. This can go from simple waving in lines to intricate, interwoven fluid movements of the hands. Every once in a while you'll see a whole circle of people doing light shows for another circle lying on the ground below, creating a whole hemisphere of bright lights for them to watch.
Blinkie Balls
This one's cool, a form of manual phosphene stimulation for the party crowd. Get two flashing rubber bouncy balls -- the kind that have LEDs in them that start flashing upon impact. Smack them together so they start blinking, then rub them in circles on the trick-ee's closed eyes. Make sure the recipient is expecting something to touch his eyes, or it might be uncomfortable, and for goodness' sake press lightly. If done right, the blinking of the balls will look cool, and the inherent hallucination from the phosphene stimulation will look even cooler. The rubbing itself is somewhat pleasurable, too.
I did this one to my mom once, believe it or not -- it was before she knew I did drugs, too. She, my girlfriend, and myself were at a mall where they were selling these. I asked my mom if she wanted to see something cool, and she said sure. I picked up two balls, and told her to close her eyes and relax her face. When she did, I winked at my girlfriend, who was trying her hardest not to crack up laughing at the situation. I then hit the balls together and proceeded to give a roll trick to my mother. She was impressed by the show, and (surprisingly) didn't ask me where I had learned to do it.
Advanced
Cloud 9
Easily the strangest roll trick to watch, and the most obvious from a distance. Cops have shut down parties for Cloud 9's alone. To perform a Cloud 9, two people stand back to back and join arms at the elbow. Then, one bends forward lifting the other (who usually has his eyes closed) off of the ground on his back. The lifter then moves around quickly or slowly to the beat, so the person in the air feels a lot of movement without touching the ground, much like floating. Perceptibly, it feels really really interesting, and is terrifically pleasurable. From a distance it looks pretty damn creepy, what with all eight of those limbs moving around at once.
Variations include having somebody hold and move the feet, and or having somebody attending the head with a scalp massage or a blow up. Sometimes a visualization exercise is done alongside the Cloud 9, usually along the lines of "You feel the air rushing past you as you are lifted into the clouds" etc.
Eyeball Licking
Bleah. I've never actually seen this done at a rave, for which I'm eternally grateful. I read about it on a mailing list, and it passed through the community as sort of an in-joke to laugh at etards. Apparently it's popular in the Canada and California party scenes. My girlfriend volunteered to let me lick her eyeball (she was sober, even :-), and reported that it felt "funny".