Hey everyone,
I think this is the place to post this question because there is a lot of talk about street hustles and so forth.

But, What other scams are out there to do?

We have
Three card monte,
Fast and loose,
3 shell game,
Sacks dice routine has kind of a gambling theme,

What other stuff is there?

Thanks

Best Wishes Always,
Bradley Morgan

Put 'n' Take Tops, craps and other dice games--including bar games, propositional bets, the Smack, the rattle boxes, the gravity knife, "short change" or change-raising scams, and a few others.

Carnival swindles give one more possibility.

Darwin Ortiz gives a pretty exhaustive review of the subject in "Gambling Scams"--a wonderful book.

Not much that is fun or interesting for exhibition like the big three--the shell game, fast and loose, and three-card monte.

Most of what's left are actual short cons, like the pigeon drop, etc.

Some interesting media & facts:

Confidence trick:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_game

Dan Harlan's Mindbogglers - The World's Best Bets, Puzzles, Cons & Scams:
http://www.llpub.com/shop/product_info.p......7f9e8348

Chuck Whitlock's Scam School
by Charles R. Whitlock, Chuck Whitlock:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det......;s=books

Three Card Monte:
http://www.pagat.com/misc/monte.html

How do big city shell games and three card monte games work?
http://people.howstuffworks.com/question590.htm

I thought that if your intrested in gambling scams, this is a really nice site to order tops and dice, they seem to have it all.

http://www.gamblingcollectibles.com/equipment.htm

I have no conection with this site, but found it quite helpful when I was reading the Darwin Ortiz book.

Hope this helps

Very interesting links..thanks guys!

Anything using the gypsy switch with a handkerchief eg:
wrapping your Rolex in a handkerchief after selling it to your mark for $100 / he later unwraps it and finds a toy watch.

Anyone have a reference to the gypsy switch in print?

Rough & Ready, an old-west game:
http://www.vikingmagic.com/cgi-bin/dc.pl......ions=new

There is a card game called thirty one that is a swindle. There is also another card swindle called seven card monte in the Dai Vernon book of magic.

The fast and loose is the chain of chance.

I do a dice chop cup and it is sort of a swindle and the audience accepts this because people have been known to cheat with dice and a dice cup.

Then I do the roth chop cup routine.

I hope this helps.

The badger game is always a fun one. Profitable, too.

Not to mention stock in some large utility and technology companies.

I was scammed once outside a shopping mall by a guy with a gas can in his hand. He said that he was out of gas and needed money to take his pregnant wife to the hospital. I gave him 5.00 which was enough to fill his can up. 30 minutes later he was still there hustling other people for gas money.

Bill,
What is the Badger game?

Don't feel bad. My ex-wife called me the other day and told me about one she almost bit into. She saw a guy holding a "Will work for food" sign when sho pulled into a gas station. When she went to pay for the gas she asked for change so she could give him $5. The attendant then told her about him.

Turns out he was bragging to the guy when he bought cigarettes that he made between $200 to $300 a DAY!!! with that sign. And to top it off no one ever offered him work, they just gave him money.

She told me about it because I use the same station to fill up and she didn't want me to give the %*^%^% anything.

Peter

First you catch a badger...

It's a game of sexual "rappo," where the male victim is seduced into a compromising situation with a woman, and then is shaken down for a lot of money by her "violent" husband, a blackmailer, a phony cop, or some other such role player.

Ron Bauer's Short Change routine in his Private Studies Series is absolutely terrific. Called "Hornswoggled Again", I believe. It has a great premise, and a real ending, unlike most of the short-change routines out there.

Best, PSC

What Whit said.

What PSC said.

Bill:

Do you know why it is called the badger game? I don't. I have some ideas, but nothing but conjecture.

Websters:
Badger Badg"er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Badgered]

1. To tease or annoy, as a badger when baited; to worry or irritate persistently.

2. To beat down; to cheapen; to barter; to bargain.

A pro pros badger: http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

http://www.scamschool.tv has a bunch out for free.

And let's not forget the "Purse Swindle," which is detailed in Lewis Ganson's book, The Art of Close-Up Magic."

This is a variation on the "Soap Swindle," made famous by the infamous Soapy Smith. He would apparently slide a folded five-dollar bill into a wrapped cake of soap, add it to a big box of soap, and then sell the soap cakes for a buck apiece. People would fall over themselves buying cakes of soap, hoping to be the lucky one. Of course, nobody ever got the fiver!

The Purse Swindle is very similar -- the pitchman would apparently put a half-crown into a small purse, then sell the purses to an eager crowd. In fact, I believe the modern coin sleight known as the "purse palm" is actually the same one that was used to pull off the scam.

The desire to get something for nothing must be hard-wired into the human gene pool, and it is very strong! SETH