Don’t be fooled by an old con game. At a recent football game in Robinson Stadium, some practitioners of the shall game were spotted.The pea shell game has been around since 1670 and has swindled many people since its founding. This game of chance requires three shells or bottle caps and a small, soft round ball, about the size of a pea and often played on a flat surface.
The operator is not alone in this scheme, they work in groups acting as lookouts for the police; they intimidate players who become disgruntled and even pretend to play the game, and entice the victim into betting.
Once a victim enters the ring of apparent players and faces the operator, the gang gathers around them to discourage a quick exit and to keep others from disrupting the trick gang’s action on the main victim.
The con game is now set and once shuffling of pea the operator takes bets from his victim(s) on the location of the pea. The victims are told that if they bet and guess correctly, they will win back double the bet otherwise they lose 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 victim to win. By using a sleight of hand trick the operator removes the “pea” from under any of the shells making it impossible for a victim to win.