My interactive game, Three Card Monte, is getting noticed online.
We’ve been featured…
…on facebook
…on the ABC statewide drive blog
…on the magic news site Itricks
….on twitter (thanks daniel)
and on the super hip magician’s forum Ellusionist.
I’m very proud of this new interactive game.
With my good friends Tom, Yao, David and Vin, we have created an interactive experience that allows you to play Three Disk Monte exactly as it is played on the streets.
Even if you manage to beat the game, can you beat the grifters?
Click below to find out!
I met up with an old broad tosser yesterday.
He worked throughout London in the sixties. He came for Italy for the world cup and ended up staying for a few years hitting the race tracks and football games. On derby day, his seven man mob would pull in 5000 pounds between them, making 700 pounds a man.
At the time, you had to ‘buy the police a drink’ to run the game. If the police were honest and you were arrested, the fine was 50 pound because it was easier to convict for ‘obstructing a footpath’ rather than gambling/scamming in public.
He had excellent technique but, surprisingly, was not a fan of the popular US playing cards. He prefers crown and queen slipper. He also preferred the two bend (one concave, one convex) because it keeps the cards flatter.
Magicians and monte fans will be interested to know that his lugs were very small with more of a crease then a bend. He’d bend each corner up creating a small, visible crease. In the context of a game, they looked a little dog eared.
Listen to me ramble on about stuff on this interview on The Magic Newswire.
I WAS going to offer special thanks to Tim Ellis for setting the interview up until he created this awful photo for his blog.
Awful. Just awful.
I don’t need who this is, but this video is the best and most accurate portrayal of the shell game with matchboxes as it is done on the streets today. Most performances you will see of this will be little more than magic tricks dressed up.
This is the real deal.
I receive news alerts on all sorts of scam subjects.
It beats doing actual research.
One of my keywords is Three Card Monte. So every time the phrase gets used in the media, I hear about it.
The recent LAPD bust of monte players is the first time in months they media has used Three Card Monte to talk about Three Card Monte.
Usually it’s a half arsed metaphor or similar. Enjoy these pearlers..
“Like playing a game of three-card monte, credit card issuers have switched the rules quickly…” - Examiner.com
“how Rupert Murdoch’s moral sell outs committing journalistic three card monte to advance a political agenda…” - News Hound
“Mr. Bruno fidgeted throughout a tirade by Mr. Spitzer, who accused Senate Republicans of playing “a game of three-card monte” with the public’s money” -New York Times
“[Global Warming misinformation is] being done incrementally with the finesse of someone who is trying to fleece you in three-card Monte.” - The Saratogian
“US keeps falling for Iran’s nuclear three-card monte game” - New York Daily Times
“The Washington Post editorial board finally catches up to the big three-card Monte that Nancy Pelosi conducted in passing her ObamaCare bill over week ago.” - Hot Air
“The share buyback program has been a three card Monte type scam since the beginning.” - NetworkWorld.com
“It’s the three-card monte of football, designed to confuse defenders and give the backs open running lanes.” - Troy Record
“… Prime Minister Gordon Brown—in an electorally-suicidal game of three-card bailout monte—calls the deal with RBS and Lloyds Banking Group a boon for the …” -DealBreaker.Com (blog)
“…The young quarterback played a game of three-card monty as he confused the entire Western Michigan defense and all of the cameramen shooting video…” -Ravenna Record Courier
These hustling hacks mix their metaphors more erratically than a New York Three Card Monte grifter.
Got an email early this morning from a shell game worker in LA.
The city’s street swindlers are buzzing with the news that one the more popular shell game groups has been shut down by police and it’s eight members have been arrested.
Usually, its very hard for police to catch groups because their networks of look outs means they will quickly vanish into the crowd before police get close.
Not only that, but local businesses get kick backs from the swindlers, meaning the seldom report the crime.
Juan Arroyo was the ringleader of the group, employing Santana Valencia and Adrian Sanchez as his tossers (the guys who actually play the game.
It looks like the police are finally making a move to shut down the street game.
AS FEATURED ON ABC STATEWIDE DRIVE WITH KATHY BEDFORD
I’ve been sitting on this footage from my trip to Barcelona in June but thought I’d share it with you now. I spent a day hunting down the Trileros, con artists who play the Shell Game on the streets with unsuspecting tourists.
Read Part One Here
Read Part Two Here
This is just one small piece of footage that I’ve collected over the past six months. I’ve also shots taken in Stockholm, Portugal, London and Paris to come later.
Happy to answer any questions you might have.
Enjoy these instructions for making a very cool little orgami Three Card Monte wallet.
