Day 3: Worst Shells Game In Town
So in the last few days I've seen a few groups of people running crooked shells games on the sidewalk, but I still hold that the first one I saw was the absolute worst.
I was walking near all the tourist stuff downtown and passed a group of 3 people standing around a squatting man. I grinned when I saw what it was, and made a point to grin at a woman who was obviously in on it. I stopped to watch a couple rounds and found that they hadn't hooked anyone yet; all 3 'tourists' were in on it. But then I realized they had hooked someone. Me. I figured I was probably the mark right now and they wouldn't just let me watch much longer.
For anyone who isn't sure how crooked shells games work, it's sometimes like this: You and a few of your friends go out some place where there gullible people around and play shells, that game where you hide a ball under one of three cups and shuffle them, then the player has to guess. Your friends pretend to be gullible people playing the game and winning easily, and making a lot of noise while doing it. Someone will inevitably walk past and want to play, and at that point you start shuffling for real, or having your friends distract them, or flat out have your friends grab things out of the guy's jacket while he's watching the ball.
So right on time, this guy looks up and asks me where the ball is after shuffling so poorly you'd think he was drunk (he had let the ball slip entirely out from under the cup a couple times). I pointed to the obvious one and he said "you sure?" and I nodded. He pointed to the cup and motioned for me to flip it over. I didn't have anything in my pockets so I figured bending over wouldn't give them any chance to grab anything, so I did and just before I reached it he put his foot down on it.
"Wait. Where are you from?"
A this is where I feel like I messed up. Although maybe I had messed up stopping at all. I hadn't spoken yet, and it's possible he thought I was German, a few people in the city have, and it definitely would have been better to not sound American. He actually sounded a little suspicious, but maybe I imagined that. Should have said literally anything in German but instead I blurted out "From Seattle."
He pulled a 50 euro note from his back pocket and handed it to me. "We play."
I smiled, a little confused and looked at the note. This was unexpected. I'd seen the game played before but usually for smaller amounts. The 'tourist' next to me spoke in a Russian accent, "Show him you have the money."
I looked at him and he said I only needed to put down half his wager. What a deal. I was pretty well out of my depth at this point and knew it so I smiled and handed the bill back to him and told him thanks. I had wanted to watch some tourists get taken, not get taken. The woman to my side booed me fairly loudly and I smiled at her as I walked away down the sidewalk.
I was walking near all the tourist stuff downtown and passed a group of 3 people standing around a squatting man. I grinned when I saw what it was, and made a point to grin at a woman who was obviously in on it. I stopped to watch a couple rounds and found that they hadn't hooked anyone yet; all 3 'tourists' were in on it. But then I realized they had hooked someone. Me. I figured I was probably the mark right now and they wouldn't just let me watch much longer.
For anyone who isn't sure how crooked shells games work, it's sometimes like this: You and a few of your friends go out some place where there gullible people around and play shells, that game where you hide a ball under one of three cups and shuffle them, then the player has to guess. Your friends pretend to be gullible people playing the game and winning easily, and making a lot of noise while doing it. Someone will inevitably walk past and want to play, and at that point you start shuffling for real, or having your friends distract them, or flat out have your friends grab things out of the guy's jacket while he's watching the ball.
So right on time, this guy looks up and asks me where the ball is after shuffling so poorly you'd think he was drunk (he had let the ball slip entirely out from under the cup a couple times). I pointed to the obvious one and he said "you sure?" and I nodded. He pointed to the cup and motioned for me to flip it over. I didn't have anything in my pockets so I figured bending over wouldn't give them any chance to grab anything, so I did and just before I reached it he put his foot down on it.
"Wait. Where are you from?"
A this is where I feel like I messed up. Although maybe I had messed up stopping at all. I hadn't spoken yet, and it's possible he thought I was German, a few people in the city have, and it definitely would have been better to not sound American. He actually sounded a little suspicious, but maybe I imagined that. Should have said literally anything in German but instead I blurted out "From Seattle."
He pulled a 50 euro note from his back pocket and handed it to me. "We play."
I smiled, a little confused and looked at the note. This was unexpected. I'd seen the game played before but usually for smaller amounts. The 'tourist' next to me spoke in a Russian accent, "Show him you have the money."
I looked at him and he said I only needed to put down half his wager. What a deal. I was pretty well out of my depth at this point and knew it so I smiled and handed the bill back to him and told him thanks. I had wanted to watch some tourists get taken, not get taken. The woman to my side booed me fairly loudly and I smiled at her as I walked away down the sidewalk.
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