I and my friends always used those two things first.
Just pump the carburetor to check for gas, Move the rod from the foot feed and some gas should spray out into the carb from the acceleration pump. That was the easy one that only took a minute or so, and makes the story very suspicious.
Spark was a little more complicated, and sometimes involved a good shock for the guys most closely involved!
“Spark was a little more complicated, and sometimes involved a good shock for the guys most closely involved!”
Pull the plug wire and position Screwdriver.