...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Shell Game
- 196 statements
- 13 feature instances
- 6 referencing feature instances
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Two or more identical things are shown, but only one of them is significant. Either the viewers or some of the characters know which one it is until they get mixed up. They do not come into view already mixed. The most common variation, also known as thimblerig, involves covering an item such as a peanut with a shell and shuffling it with other shells. (Another variation, using playing cards, is also known as "find the lady" or three-card monte.) The next most common version of this has a hero and a look-alike get in a fist-fight while in sight of another hero, and results vary. Briefcases are also extremely susceptible to this. However, in those situations, the audience always knows which one is which because they never fail to be swapped. Frequently results in Spot the Imposter and Needle in a Stack of Needles. Compare Doppelgänger Spin. See also Stolen MacGuffin Reveal, Unfortunate Item Swap. A Gideon Ploy might rely on this. Notably, the key element of most shell games is that just playing the game means you lose the game; if you're playing it, you're not paying attention to what the guy running it is actually doing – namely, the Kansas City Shuffle. The only winning move is not to play. |
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Shell Game / int_2a02e5c9 | type |
Guile Hero | |
Shell Game / int_2a02e5c9 | comment |
Vexxin employs a variant of this in Burning Bridges, Building Confidence. Realizing that she may have to deal with opponents who know what the Fox Miraculous looks like, such as its former holder, she asks Tikki and Trixx to change its form to an armlet, and incorporates the previous design into her outfit in the form of a choker. Sure enough, Rena Rage and Revengance fixate on the latter, mistaking it for the real Miraculous. | |
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Shell Game / int_556a4e20 | type |
The Empire | |
Shell Game / int_556a4e20 | comment |
The political variety is run by Tarquin's party. There are three big empires on the western continent (currently Empire of Blood, Empire of Sweat and Empire of Tears) that rarely clash head-on, but compete over and absorb independent minor powers, Cold War-style. They frequently change names and figurehead rulers, but those rulers' closest advisors end up assisting the next regime, and the one after that. The net result is that the entire continent is controlled by the same six people, who occasionally shuffle partners so no-one catches on. | |
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Shell Game / int_722a6ef4 | type |
Game Show | |
Shell Game / int_722a6ef4 | comment |
One of the oldest challenge in this Game Show is a shell game (called "bonneteau" in French). Performed by Serge Avril, a stage magician, it consists of finding a little key under the cups; 3 keys (hence, 3 successes) in a limited time are necessary to win the challenge. Very, very few contestants ever made it through, 'cause the gambler is really good. | |
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Shell Game / int_76c72a08 | type |
Schrödinger's Gun | |
Shell Game / int_76c72a08 | comment |
At least one magic trick inverts this: you pick one of a number of items the magician shows you, and the magician then reveals that he predicted beforehand that you'd pick that item. Like with straightforward shell games, though, this trick is 'rigged' in advance so that the magician always 'wins' with a correct prediction no matter which item you pick. For example, the magician may take out a nickel, dime, or quarter from an envelope and tell you to point to one of them. If you point to the nickel, he tells you to look inside the envelope where he's hidden a note saying that you'd pick the nickel. If you point to the dime, he tells you to flip over the envelope instead to reveal a message he's written on its back about you picking the dime. If you point to the quarter, he tells you to turn over the coins to show you that he's written a message on the quarter only. Thus, no matter which coin you pick, he makes it look like he predicted you'd pick that coin and only that coin. Another type of magic trick has the magician himself play a shell game with an audience member by instructing them to hide a ball or some other item under one of three cups and then shuffle them around while his back is turned. Of course, the magician will have set up things beforehand so that he can easily discern which cup has the ball by covertly marking the cups, having an accomplice in the audience tell him which cup has the ball through subtle gestures, or some other clever method. | |
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Shell Game / int_7febc23b | type |
Establishing Character Moment | |
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Constance's Establishing Character Moment in Ocean's 8 has her running a solo Three-Card Monte con that showcases her sleight of hand when she disappears and recalls the Queen card for the tourist. When he loses the bet, Constance defuses any tension by complimenting the guy and giving him a hug–that allows her to pinch his watch. | |
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Our Liches Are Different | |
Shell Game / int_82a4fadc | comment |
Interestingly played with during the siege of Azure City. The lich Xykon is leading the attack, but there appears to be three of him — they're all walking skeletons in blue robes, making them more or less identical (they look identical in the strip's Stick-Figure Comic art, and Redcloak mentions that they look practically identical in-universe). Haley mentions the "shell game" aspect in "It Takes a Thief", specifically the fact that in a "real" shell game, none of the options presented to the player are the correct one. Roy's able to translate this into Layman's Terms for his fellow Lawful Good allies; the enemy has clearly demonstrated the ability to create at least two Body Doubles, so why can't they create three and have the real one attempt to achieve the Instant-Win Condition? Sure enough, all three of the visible Xykons are decoys, other types of skeletal undead created by Xykon's second-in-command. Xykon himself is actually under an invisibility spell, flying over the city walls on a zombified dragon. Luckily, he's so bloodthirsty and arrogant he abandons the subtle plan in order to attack the heroes. | |
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Knights and Knaves | |
Shell Game / int_c6fa273c | comment |
In the Duelist Kingdom Arc, the only way out of the Paradox Brothers maze is to choose one of two doors. While Joy assumes this is like a Knights and Knaves test, Yugi figures out that no matter which door they choose, the brothers will claim the other door was right. So he tricks them into thinking he's picking one door with a shell game of his own. | |
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Footnote Fever | |
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An interesting variant is referenced (and explained in the footnote) in Schlock Mercenary: the Turbingian Shell Game is a con involving at least two thieves. Thanks to the pickpocket running the con, one or more of your valuables will be hidden under one of three shells, along with an explosive bean. The shells are then smashed, one by one, with a large mallet. You have to try and guess which ones don't contain your valuables. While you are occupied doing that, the pickpocket's partner is removing everything else of value from your person. | |
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EpicFantasy | |
Shell Game / int_e204f95c | comment |
In three-card monte, one of the real purposes of the game is to distract players so that a confederate in the audience can pickpocket them. Such a person is known as The Dip, or sometimes a "cutpurse" if you're in some sort of Epic Fantasy. If you actually win (either through dumb luck or actually spotting the sleight of hand that was used to swap two cards), and you are allowed to keep your money, it's very likely because you do not have your wallet anymore, and it had enough in it to cover their loss and then some. This is the subject of a painting by Hieronymus Bosch◊, where a conjurer entertains the crowd with a balls-and-cups routine, while a pickpocket works the audience. | |
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We Need a Distraction | |
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A variation is used during the Alabasta arc. The Baroque Works Officers are assigned to take out Vivi before she can get to the Rebel Army. However, when the Straw Hats arrive on the Supersonic Duck Squad, they're all wearing the same cloak and hid their faces, so the agents couldn't tell which one was Vivi. When the group split up, the Agents did the same to chase after them. It was then revealed that none of the people in the group were Vivi, the sixth member of the group being Eyelashes the camel. The real Vivi had stayed behind while the Straw Hats led the agents away. | |
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True Crime | |
Shell Game / int_e6e5e3bf | comment |
The official website for the True Crime series McMillion$ posted one of these. In the first two rounds it operates like a fair version of the game in which you're shown the game piece and then it's hidden and you try to follow it as it moves around the screen. If you pick wrong, you get to try again until you get it right. In the third round, however, you pick three times and are told every time that you didn't win, the moral being "Some games you just can't win." | |
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Evil Twin | |
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Near the end of the TV Movie Echo, Jack Wagner's Evil Twin character has mimicked his brother so well that, when his girlfriend goes to confront him, she isn't sure which one is her actual boyfriend and ends up shooting one of them. | |
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
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NeedleInAStackOFNeedles | seeAlso |
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Stuffed into a Trashcan / int_39205fd | |
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Unwinnable by Design / int_39205fd |
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Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.