Shell Game - "Play"

"Play"

The game requires three shells (thimbles, walnut shells, bottle caps, plastic cups, and even match boxes have been used), and a small, soft round ball, about the size of a pea, and often referred to as such. It can be played on almost any flat surface, but on the streets it is often seen played on a mat lying on the ground, or on a cardboard box. The person perpetrating the swindle (called the thimblerigger, operator, or shell man) begins the game by placing the pea under one of the shells, then quickly shuffles the shells around.

Once done shuffling, the operator takes bets from the audience on the location of the pea. The audience is told that if a player bets and guesses correctly, the player will win back double their bet (that is, they will double their money); otherwise the player loses their money. However, in the hands of a skilled operator, it is not possible for the game to be won, unless the operator wants the player to win.

When an individual not familiar with the shell game encounters a game on the streets, it appears that bets are being placed by numerous players, when in reality, the people around the game are shills who are all part of the confidence trick.

The apparent players actually serve various roles in the swindle: they act as lookouts for the police; they also serve as "muscle" to intimidate marks who become unruly and some are shills, whose job is to pretend to play the game, and entice the mark into betting. Once a mark enters the circle of apparent players and faces the operator, the gang surrounds the player to discourage an easy exit and to keep other pedestrians from entering and disrupting the confidence trick gang's action on the main mark.

The job of crowding around also protects the operator from any incriminating photographs being taken of the act. The operator and the shills will try to get the mark into a heightened state of anger or greed. Once this is accomplished, one shill will pretend to disclose a winning strategy to the mark. It is all a ruse to get the mark to place a large bet.

The operator's trick is sleight of hand. A skilled operator can remove a pea from under any shell (or shells) and place it (or not) under any shell (or shells) undetected by a mark. So it is never of any benefit for the mark to watch the movement of either the shells or the operator's hands.

When the operator has finished moving the shells around, he asks the mark if he wishes to bet on the play. If the mark agrees, he must set his money down before pointing to a shell. Using sleight of hand, the operator reveals the pea to be under a shell different from that chosen by the mark.

If no mark wants to play, one of the shills may start the play in order to animate the mark. The shill will either lift a shell which is "obviously" wrong and lose his or her money, or lift the "obviously" right shell and win; or the shill may pretend that he has discovered some trick, and either "succeed" or clumsily fail.

The game should not be mistaken for an honest game. Through sleight of hand, the operator can hide the pea without the mark's seeing him or her do so. A mark can win only by declaring which shells the pea is not under, and physically overturning two arbitrary shells. The mark must himself turn over the shells since the dealer could easily plant the pea under any shell he or she overturns. The dealer is then forced to either reveal the secret of the trick, or act his part by placing the pea under the final shell. If a mark "wins" this way, a shill or the muscle will usually trail the mark and attempt to retrieve the money by intimidation or theft.

Any player suspected of understanding the trick, or who does not place a bet and just wants to watch, will be quickly edged away from the table by the shills or the muscle. The shell game set-up and lay-out is quick and simple, so that in the event of trouble, or if someone signals that authorities are approaching, all traces of the game can be removed in seconds.