3 shell game tips

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
kkaiser343
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3 shell game tips

Postby kkaiser343 » January 19th, 2023, 10:15 am

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » January 19th, 2023, 12:30 pm

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Edward Pungot » January 19th, 2023, 12:44 pm

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Edward Pungot » January 19th, 2023, 1:03 pm

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

MagicbyAlfred
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby MagicbyAlfred » January 19th, 2023, 4:53 pm

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby TerryTerrell » January 27th, 2023, 7:42 am

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Matt Herbert » February 5th, 2023, 12:08 am

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.

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chetday
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby chetday » February 5th, 2023, 11:01 am

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 5th, 2023, 12:35 pm

chetday wrote: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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » February 5th, 2023, 2:15 pm

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

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Brad Jeffers
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Brad Jeffers » February 5th, 2023, 2:45 pm


Sean Piper
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Sean Piper » February 5th, 2023, 2:49 pm

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

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AJM
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby AJM » February 5th, 2023, 3:24 pm

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

kkelly
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby kkelly » February 5th, 2023, 4:12 pm

Tarotist wrote: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!

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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » February 5th, 2023, 4:46 pm

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

Tarotist
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » February 5th, 2023, 4:55 pm

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 5th, 2023, 6:58 pm

Tarotist wrote:...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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » February 5th, 2023, 7:30 pm

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

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chetday
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby chetday » February 7th, 2023, 3:44 pm

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. :)

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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » February 8th, 2023, 9:26 am

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Edward Pungot » May 15th, 2023, 3:55 pm

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Philippe Billot » May 16th, 2023, 12:40 pm

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
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby PressureFan » May 16th, 2023, 1:16 pm

Heh-heh. Mind your peas and cues.

Brad Henderson
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Brad Henderson » May 16th, 2023, 1:23 pm

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==

Mark Phillips
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Mark Phillips » July 17th, 2023, 10:01 pm

TerryTerrell wrote: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.


This is an excellent product - the teaching a great and the drills provided take you step by step into being capable and confident in performing the nice little routine provided. Once you have the techniques down, adding different sequences is easy.
Go practice.

Steve Hook
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Steve Hook » July 18th, 2023, 7:29 am

Mark Phillips just mentioned "adding different sequences".

Peter Woerde published a nice booklet in 2009 named PATTERNS FOR THE THREE SHELL GAME. If you want to go deep on practice, get that book.

MagicbyAlfred
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby MagicbyAlfred » July 18th, 2023, 11:57 am



This is a superb routine and presentation.

IMHO, it should have ended at the end of the rhyming patter.

Tarotist
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » July 18th, 2023, 5:52 pm

MagicbyAlfred wrote:


This is a superb routine and presentation.

IMHO, it should have ended at the end of the rhyming patter.


It is quite good if a little soporific. It needs changes of tone and voice rather than the same monotone all the time. And it goes on too long. Plus it needs more audience participation. Not that I am the critical type of course.

MagicbyAlfred
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby MagicbyAlfred » July 18th, 2023, 8:39 pm

Tarotist wrote:
MagicbyAlfred wrote:


This is a superb routine and presentation.

IMHO, it should have ended at the end of the rhyming patter.


...it needs more audience participation...


I am all for that. But it can be a bit of a catch 22 in routines such as the 3 shell game, or monte routines, or two in the hand one in the pocket, if they feel challenged, or outwitted, or are proven wrong, especially the types of people who don't like magic or are defensive for that very reason.

Tarotist
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby Tarotist » July 18th, 2023, 10:43 pm

I know that but have taken it into account. However, with a bit of thought this issue can easily be overcome. I can certainly cut the video some slack because there may not have been anyone there to participate in the first place. When I do the three card monte for example I keep the questioning down to a minimum and only do it once. Same thing with the three shell game. There is a little bit of questioning at the beginning but again I use it sparingly. With the two balls in the hand I only ask how many are there once. However, even if you don't get anyone to guess anything you can still bring them into it in some way. Ask them a question or get them to say a magic word for example. Maybe get them to look after some woofle dust for you----I have no idea. However, you have to involve the people somehow. Pretty much every trick I do even if it does not require participation I find a way of making it happen anyway. Magic is PEOPLE and you have to somehow bring those people into it.
Now I know some tricks don't lend themselves to participation. However, there is always a way. In fact I don't think I have ever found a close up trick that I cannot involve people.

MagicbyAlfred
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Re: 3 shell game tips

Postby MagicbyAlfred » July 19th, 2023, 4:30 am

Tarotist wrote: ...However, with a bit of thought this issue can easily be overcome...even if you don't get anyone to guess anything you can still bring them into it in some way. Ask them a question or get them to say a magic word for example...you have to involve the people somehow. Pretty much every trick I do even if it does not require participation I find a way of making it happen anyway. Magic is PEOPLE and you have to somehow bring those people into it...


Super important point.

Agree 100%


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