The shell game, also called thimblerig, is a gambling game or rather is a deception activity more commonly used to perpetrate fraud. A pallet or other small object is placed under one of three thimbles, cups, matchboxes or other shells, which are moved on a flat surface. The player must guess under which shell the pallet is after the shuffling is over.
The shell game has been played at least since the middle ages, which is reflected by several paintings and mentioned in some books, such as The Conjurer by Hieronymus Bosch (15th century painting), Hull Elections by Richard Perry (17th century book) and others. In the United States the shell game was introduced by Dr. Bennett in 1790s.
Nowadays, the shell game is most commonly played at tourist locations in major European cities. The game is illegal and the actors quickly remove all evidences of the game if there is a policeman around.
The shell game is played on a cardboard box or on a mat. A ball made of soft elastic material is used, so it can be easily hidden it in the hand when needed. The actor puts the ball under one of the shells and then shuffles the shells moderately fast, so, one who follows his moves attentively can easily trace the shall with the ball. The game seems to be easy to win and therefore attractive to naive tourists.
The actors utilize various psychological tricks to inspire people to bet money. There always are at least two people working with the actor. They stay in the crowd like if they were just curious strangers and animate the public. They periodically play the game and either win, pointing on the obvious shell, or lose pointing on the wrong one, which seems to be a stupid mistake and inspires others to show this guy how to play. Besides, if nobody wants to bet, the actor allows someone to play without money and lets him win. The player may also win if his first bet is not very large. This way the actor inspires him to place a larger bet next time. If the player is stubborn enough to keep playing several times, he may win once or twice to make it look more realistic, but in the end, the actor is the only one who profits.
After the actor is done shuffling he touches the shells one by one as for asking if the ball is here, here or here. At this moment he actually takes the ball from its original shell and puts it into another one. Normally, the actor touches the shell with the ball first and puts it into the shell he touches next. Knowing this, it could be possible to win the shell game, but there always are countermeasures. If the actor sees that he is going to lose he will either try and replace the ball once again, or if he sees that he deals with someone who knows the trick, he will just find an excuse not to play.
In the end, there is no possible way to win the shell game. The most you can gain trying to do so is trouble with a bunch of charlatans, who are everything, but decent citizens. So, our best advice is: stay away from the shell game and find other ways to have fun.
