3 shell game tips

[kkaiser343]

I have been fooling around with the 3 Shell game. I am looking for some tips or technique advice form someone who actually knows what the heck they are doing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. for instance when I do the pinch steal I tend to tighten my remaining fingers. there are other issues so any tips are welcome..Thank you

[Tarotist]

I do the three shell game all the time but alas find it difficult to give tips on the matter. It is not an easy thing to describe technical matters. All I can do is recommend the works of Jack Chanin and Frank Garcia.

[Edward Pungot]

This looks promising…
Scoundrels Touch (2 DVD Set) by Sheets, Hadyn & Anton
https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S10973

The “school for scoundrels” series of notes are pretty detailed and comprehensive, so you would expect the same level of detail here as well.

[Edward Pungot]

Downloadable Versions on Pop’s Site
https://www.popsmagic.com/apps/search?q=Shell++game

[MagicbyAlfred]

My recommendation: Study Chef Anton's beautifully constructed routine. Here he is performing it at the Magic Castle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jobXssSq4y0
The handling and the presentation are on par with one another -- both world class.

[TerryTerrell]

Bob Sheets introduced me to the 3 shell game at a lecture. He and Glenn Morphew have a 1 minute bootcamp DVD which teaches the basics in the form of a routine drill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czCwt6fAalA

Bob also is featured in the Scoundrels Touch DVD/Download mentioned above.

[Matt Herbert]

All of the above suggestions are wonderful. But Bob Kohler's DVD titled Golden Shells needs to be added to the list. It is a fabulous routine. I have been performing the 3 Shell Game for years. My first book on the subject was by Gary Ouellet and produced by The Camarand Academy of Magic... Super Shells. I think this is out of print but if you can find a copy of it I would highly recommend you purchase it.

[chetday]

I'll second Matt's recommendation on Ouellet's Super Shells routine. Although I mainly obsess with cards, Gary's shell routine gets a good reaction whenever I show it to anyone. The ending is especially strong.

[MagicbyAlfred]

I'll second Matt's recommendation on Ouellet's Super Shells routine. Although I mainly obsess with cards, Gary's shell routine gets a good reaction whenever I show it to anyone. The ending is especially strong.

I would love to see you perform it sometime, Chet. I'm betting it would be fun and enjoyable to see.

[Tarotist]

Here is a tip on the best way to carry the shells. Use a spectacle case!

[Brad Jeffers]

Gary Oullet's Super Shells

[Sean Piper]

Grab the Phil Cass DVD/Download. It's a masterclass in the psychological handling of this routine.

[AJM]

Anyone seen the old Pat Page video (by Videonics?)

[kkelly]

Here is a tip on the best way to carry the shells. Use a spectacle case!

What a great tip! I just grabbed my case, tried it, and the La Maggiore shell set fits like a glove. Thank you Mark!

[Tarotist]

You are welcome. Of course as a psychic reverend I know all, see all and have just told all!

[Tarotist]

I actually used to pitch the three shell game. It all came about because I used to buy little stockings which had six coloured egg cups within. They were made in Holland. I can't seem to get them any more but they were great at the time. I used to save the net stockings and make up little magic kits at Christmas and put them in the stockings. However, the egg cups were used for the small cups and balls trick that is a standard pitch item. However, the insides of the cup (the egg cup part) could be pulled out into little white cups so I got two cups for the price of one. However, the little white cup was not suitable for the cups and balls because the top was cylindrical but ideal for the 3 shell game. I worked out a great 3 shell game routine and it sold well. I knew perfectly well that nobody would actually be able to do the trick so I felt good that I was protecting the secrets of magic as well as making a profit for myself.

[MagicbyAlfred]

...I worked out a great 3 shell game routine and it sold well. I knew perfectly well that nobody would actually be able to do the trick so I felt good that I was protecting the secrets of magic as well as making a profit for myself.

The pocket of the punter was a shell. The pocket of the grafter was a shell. The money, which was the "pea," magicaliy vanished from the punter's pocket and ended up in the pocket of the grafter, with the punter having no real clue as to how the trick was done.

BTW, the Ouellet routine is a masterpiece!

[Tarotist]

I just watched Gary Ouellet. If he went any slower he would go into reverse...............

[chetday]

The question of performing speed has always interested me. Though I agree with what I think Mark is saying -- that Ouellet goes too slow in the linked video -- I generally prefer to watch magicians who work slowly rather than those who stomp the pedal to the metal from the first hint of a green light.

Though the few sidewalk hustlers I've seen over the years moved their shells or cards faster than a flaming hot Carolina reaper can traverse a healthy colon, I'm wondering if a slow presentation of the three shell game or three card monte would do a more lucrative job of paying the monthly bills? Is that a dumb and/or uneducated assumption on my part?

I can go beyond a dumb and/or uneducated assumption regarding card work, personally most enjoying packet tricks, for example, that don't whiz past me faster than my old brain can process what the heck was going on. At the same time, I don't appreciate long-winded explanations about what I'm seeing or what I've just seen. Like many things in life, I suppose a thoughtful balance between extremes might work best for most people.

Alfred, I personally have great fun with this routine, though I don't know how enjoyable it is for those I've trapped into watching me perform it. So I'll leave that to your imagination.

[Tarotist]

If the three shell game people in the street went slow people would walk away with boredom. You can't hold a crowd for very long if you work too slow. Working too fast is no good either. Of course a lot of it is cultural. Different geographical areas talk at different speeds. New Yorkers, for example talk at a million miles a minute whereas other parts of the United States they talk at a slower pace. In the UK they seem to talk at a slightly faster pace. I remember when I first came over to Canada I was taken aback by how slow Canadians speak and act. I used to get irritated and complain, "they walk slow, they talk slow and they think slow". At first when I sold svengali decks to them I tried to slow down to their pace but in the end I found that was a bloody stupid idea and since they were once part of the British Empire it was incumbent for them to keep up with me rather than the other way round. It worked out better that way.

[Edward Pungot]

I saw briefly in passing the dramatic build of the three shell game done with three blue plastic soda caps over the weekend in Vegas. They were set-up on one of the overhead pedestrian walkway bridges connecting two main casinos. Again it was only in passing seeing the spectacle from the corner of my eye. I had no inclination to stop, but the team did manage to create lots of noise and drama even though no actual game was presently taking place.

It appeared to “onlookers” and passerbys that someone just won and $100 bills were flashing in the air as though a bet was just doubled and paid-out. It felt like passing an accident on the freeway where drivers in cars naturally slow down as heads turn to see whatever they can see.

There appeared to be two groups of shills. One group consisting of the operator and the pair who just got paid-out and where money was flashing around in the air with vocal enthusiasm over the “win.” The other group seemed to be witnesses to the game that just apparently recently ended and the prospect of giving it a go on the next go around. Both groups of shills were overly animated and vocal about everything which made the con sort of transparent. But Vegas is just a macrocosm of what was simply taking place here in the midways to get you into the game.

[Philippe Billot]

Here is a tip!

SID LORRAINE'S TIP OF THE MONTH (NEW TOPS, Vol. 4, no. 3, march 1964)

If you're a walnut-shell-and-pea performer, you may have, already, done a lot of experimenting with compositions and substitutes for the elusive pea. While this half-shell swindling is not on my list of regular close-up chicanery, I have, on occasion, pushed, shoved, rolled and cursed the puny pellet, in an effort to create the great illusion.
As if the preparation wasn't enough: . . .
Sitting in the midst of a bushel of badly halved and crushed shells while my wife taunts me with a Shakespearean beard, and shouts "Get thee to a nuttery." I have yet to come up with a pea to suit my clumsy digits.
Go to your art supply store and purchase a product known as Rubber Cement Pick Up. This is a rubber composition used to remove the surplus dried rubber cement from art work. It is light amber in color and you should be able to make a nice plateful of peas to last you forever and ever.
So much for peas. Cues are obtainable at your local pool hall.

[PressureFan]

Heh-heh. Mind your peas and cues.

[Brad Henderson]

Someone caught this during a trade show. I don’t usually Perform this but brought it out on a lark. Over 4 million views. So that’s neat

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoiExc_A ... M2MjU4Zg==