Shell game: Difference between revisions

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{{Other uses|Shell game (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

[[File:Pop Haydn the Shell Game (cropped).jpg|thumb|The shell game involves a small item hidden under one of several shells]]

{{More citations needed|date=September 2010}}

[[File:Shell game.jpg|thumb|250pxupright|An illegal shell game performed with bottle caps on [[Fulton Street (Manhattan)|Fulton Street]] in [[New York City]]]]

The '''shell game''' (also known as '''thimblerig''', '''three shells and a pea''', '''the old army game''') is portrayeda as apublic [[gambling]] game, butthat inchallenges reality,players whento follow the movement of a wagermarker forhidden moneyunder isone madeof several covers (shells). In practice, itthe game is almost always run as a [[confidence trick]] usedthat uses [[sleight of hand]] to perpetratetransfer the marker between fraudcovers. In confidence trick slang, this swindle is referred to as a ''short-con'' because it is quick and easy to pull off.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nypost.com/2014/12/26/three-card-monte-scam-artists-return-to-midtown|publisher=[[New York Post]]|title=Three-card monte scam artists return to midtown, Is this Christmas 2014 – or 1974?|date=26 December 2014}}</ref> The shell game is related to the [[cups and balls]] conjuring trick, which is performed purely for entertainment purposes without any purported gambling element.

==Play==

[[File:Hutchenspiel 2008.jpg|thumb|270px|An illegal shell game in [[Drottninggatan, Stockholm|Drottninggatan]], a street in [[Stockholm]].]]

In the shell game, three or more identical containers (which may be cups, shells, bottle caps, or anything else) are placed face-down on a surface. A small ball is placed beneath one of these containers so that it cannot be seen, and they are then shuffled by the operator in plain view. One or more players are invited to bet on which container holds the ball – typically, the operator offers to double the player's stake if they guess right. Where the game is played honestly, the operator can win if he shuffles the containers in a way which the player cannot follow.<ref name="Quinn1892">{{cite book|author=John Philip Quinn|title=Fools of Fortune: Or, Gambling and Gamblers, Comprehending a History of the Vice in Ancient and Modern Times, and in Both Hemispheres; an Exposition of Its Alarming Prevalence and Destructive Effects; with an Unreserved and Exhaustive Disclosure of Such Frauds, Tricks and Devices as are Practiced by "Professional" Gamblers, "Confidence Men" and "Bunko Steerers."|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zlhOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA7|access-date=22 July 2019|year=1892|publisher=Anti-Gambling Association|language=en|pages=348–350}}</ref>

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==History==

[[File:Conjurer Bosch.jpg|thumbnail|"''The Conjurer''," painted by [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The painting accurately displays a performer doing the [[cups and balls|cups and balls routine]], which has been practiced since Egyptian times. The shell game does have some origins in this old trick. The real trick of this painting is the [[pickpocket]] who is working for the conjurer. The pickpocket is robbing the spectator who is bent over.]]

The shell game dates back at least to [[Ancient Greece]].<ref>"Shell Game." Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/539702/shell-game</ref> It can be seen in several paintings of the European [[Middle Ages]]. ALater, book[[walnut]] publishedshells inwere Englandused, inand 1670today (Hullthe Electionsuse –of [[Richardbottle Perry]]caps andor hismatchboxes fiddleris wife)common. mentions the thimblerigThe game. Inhas thealso 1790s, it wasbeen called "thimblerig" as it wascould originallybe played using sewing thimbles. Later,The [[walnut]]first shellsrecorded wereuse used,of andthe todayterm the"thimblerig" useis ofin bottle1826.<ref>{{Cite capsweb or|title=Definition matchboxesof isTHIMBLERIG common|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thimblerig |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>

The swindle became very popular throughout the nineteenth century, and games were often set up in or around traveling fairs. A thimblerig team (comprising operator and confederates) was depicted in [[William Powell Frith]]'s 1858 painting, ''[[The Derby Day]]''. In Frith's 1895,1888 ''My Autobiography and Reminiscences'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frith |first1=William Powell |title=My Autobiography and Reminiscences |date=2012 |orig-date=1887 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139343923 |isbn=9781139343923}}</ref> the painter-turned-memorialistmemoirist leaves an account of his encounter with a thimble-rig team (operator and accomplices):

The pickpocket is robbing the spectator who is bent over.]]

The shell game dates back at least to [[Ancient Greece]].<ref>"Shell Game." Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/539702/shell-game</ref> It can be seen in several paintings of the European [[Middle Ages]]. A book published in England in 1670 (Hull Elections – [[Richard Perry]] and his fiddler wife) mentions the thimblerig game. In the 1790s, it was called "thimblerig" as it was originally played using sewing thimbles. Later, [[walnut]] shells were used, and today the use of bottle caps or matchboxes is common.

<blockquote>"{{poem quote|My first visit to Epsom was in the May of 1856 – Blink Bonnie's year. My first Derby had no interest for me as a race, but as giving me the opportunity of studying life and character it is ever to be gratefully remembered. Gambling-tents and thimble-rigging, [[Fast and Loose (con game)|prick in the garter]] and the three-card trick, had not then been stopped by the police. So convinced was I that I could find the pea under the thimble that I was on the point of backing my guess rather heavily, when I was stopped by [[Augustus Egg]], whose interference was resented by a clerical-looking personage, in language much opposed to what would have been anticipated from one of his cloth. 'You,' said Egg, addressing the divine, 'you are a confederate, you know; my friend is not to be taken in.' 'Look here,' said the clergyman, 'don't you call names, and don't call me names, or I shall knock your d –– d head off.' 'Will you?' said Egg, his courage rising as he saw two policemen approaching. 'Then I call the lot of you – the Quaker there, no more a Quaker than I am, and that fellow that thinks he looks like a farmer – you are a parcel of thieves!' 'So they are, sir,' said a meek-looking lad who joined us; 'they have cleaned me out.' 'Now move off; clear out of this!' said the police; and the gang walked away, the clergyman turning and extending his arms in the act of blessing me and Egg."</blockquote>

The swindle became very popular throughout the nineteenth century, and games were often set up in or around traveling fairs. A thimblerig team (comprising operator and confederates) was depicted in William Powell Frith's 1858 painting, ''[[The Derby Day]]''. In Frith's 1895, ''My Autobiography and Reminiscences'' the painter-turned-memorialist leaves an account of his encounter with a thimble-rig team (operator and accomplices):

"You," said Egg, addressing the divine, "you are a confederate, you know; my friend is not to be taken in."

<blockquote>"My first visit to Epsom was in the May of 1856 – Blink Bonnie's year. My first Derby had no interest for me as a race, but as giving me the opportunity of studying life and character it is ever to be gratefully remembered. Gambling-tents and thimble-rigging, prick in the garter and the three-card trick, had not then been stopped by the police. So convinced was I that I could find the pea under the thimble that I was on the point of backing my guess rather heavily, when I was stopped by [[Augustus Egg]], whose interference was resented by a clerical-looking personage, in language much opposed to what would have been anticipated from one of his cloth. 'You,' said Egg, addressing the divine, 'you are a confederate, you know; my friend is not to be taken in.' 'Look here,' said the clergyman, 'don't you call names, and don't call me names, or I shall knock your d –– d head off.' 'Will you?' said Egg, his courage rising as he saw two policemen approaching. 'Then I call the lot of you – the Quaker there, no more a Quaker than I am, and that fellow that thinks he looks like a farmer – you are a parcel of thieves!' 'So they are, sir,' said a meek-looking lad who joined us; 'they have cleaned me out.' 'Now move off; clear out of this!' said the police; and the gang walked away, the clergyman turning and extending his arms in the act of blessing me and Egg."</blockquote>

"Look here," said the clergyman, "don't you call names, and don't call me names, or I shall knock your d –– d head off."

"Will you?" said Egg, his courage rising as he saw two policemen approaching. "Then I call the lot of you – the Quaker there, no more a Quaker than I am, and that fellow that thinks he looks like a farmer – you are a parcel of thieves!"

"So they are, sir," said a meek-looking lad who joined us; "they have cleaned me out."

"Now move off; clear out of this!" said the police; and the gang walked away, the clergyman turning and extending his arms in the act of blessing me and Egg.}}

Fear of jail and the need to find new "flats" (victims) kept these "sharps" (shell men or "operators") traveling from one town to the next, never staying in one place very long. One of the most infamous confidence men of the nineteenth century, [[Soapy Smith|Jefferson Randolph Smith]], known as Soapy Smith, led organized gangs of shell men throughout the mid-western United States, and later in [[Alaska]].

Today, the game is still being played for money in many major cities around the world, usually at locations with a high tourist concentration (for example: [[New York City]], [[Chicago]],<ref>{{cite web|author=share |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/13w1fk/i_saw_a_fascinating_scam_on_the_red_line_today/ |title=I saw a fascinating scam on the Red Line today. You should probably not play this game (unless you are the first) : chicago |publisher=Reddit.com |date=2012-11-27 |access-date=2017-01-02}}</ref> and [[Los Angeles]], in the United States, [[La Rambla, Barcelona|La Rambla]]<ref>"The Rambla of the Thimbleriggers." Baquero, Camilo S. Translated from the Spanish by Summer Fingersmith. El País. http://www.robbedinbarcelona.com/2011/04/23/the-rambla-of-the-thimbleriggers/</ref> in [[Barcelona]], [[Gran Vía (Madrid)|Gran Via]] in [[Madrid]], [[BenidormWestminster Bridge]] in [[London]], [[ParisKurfürstendamm]] in [[FranceBerlin]], [[Westminster BridgeBahnhofsviertel]], London,in [[KurfürstendammFrankfurt am Main]] and public spaces in [[BerlinParis]], [[GermanyBuenos Aires]], [[MaltaBenidorm]], [[ItalyNew York City]], [[BahnhofsviertelChicago]],<ref>{{cite inweb|author=share |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/13w1fk/i_saw_a_fascinating_scam_on_the_red_line_today/ |title=I saw a fascinating scam on the Red Line today. You should probably not play this game (unless you are the first) : chicago |publisher=Reddit.com |date=2012-11-27 |access-date=2017-01-02}}</ref> and [[FrankfurtLos am MainAngeles]]). The swindle is classified as a [[confidence trick]] game, and illegal to play for money in most countries.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

The game also inspired a [[List of The Price Is Right pricing games#Shell Game|pricing game]] on the game show ''[[The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)|The Price Is Right]]'', in which contestants attempt to win a larger prize by pricing smaller prizes to earn attempts at finding a ball hidden under one of four shells designed to resemble walnut shells. While the ball is not shown during the game, and the host shuffles the shells before the start of the game, contestants can win by either winning all four attempts or winning enough attempts (via big "chips" to mark the shells), and picking the one that has the ball. The shuffling is only allowed before the pricing part of the game begins, and once the first small prize is announced, no further shuffling is permitted. Federal game show regulations are designed to ensure the game is legally a game that can be won.

==See also==

* [[Get-rich-quick scheme]]

* [[Three-card Monte]]

* [[Cups and balls]] routine

* [[Get-rich-quick scheme]]

* [[Three-card Montemonte]]

==Bibliography==

* Bishop, Glen, ''The Shellgame – For Tableside Tricksters'', 2000 {{ISBN? missing}}

* Price, Paul, ''The Real Work: Essential Sleight Of Hand For Street Operators'', 2001 {{ISBN? missing}}

* [[Whit Haydn]] and Chef Anton, ''Notes on Three-card Monte'' {{ISBN? missing}}

* Perry, Richard ''Hull Elections'' {{ISBN missing}}

==Notes==

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{{Scams and confidence tricks}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shell Game}}

[[Category:Confidence tricks]]

[[Category:Cheating in gambling]]

[[Category:Gambling in ancient history]]