Am I the only one little disappointed that we got no explanation how that "magic" trick works? I mean it's pretty obvious that it's made in a way that scammer has full control over the result, but I expected Jakub to show how he does it instead of basically repeating the same thing three times.
for the cards, the tourist showed it, for the bottle caps there is something sticky on the underside and there is a cap with a coin already in it. And for the cups, either slight of hand or they just squeeze the cup.
@@johnsmith99997 the coin is moved when both his are over it, if you flipped all the caps there would only be one coin. The cups used are normally metal but the ball is either very small or made of foam so they can palm it easier. Check out and penn and teller clear balls and cups
With the cards it is explained by the tourist. For the cups you simply squeeze the cup slightly so the object stays inside the cup (you can see it working at 9:15 And for the bottle caps the one cap is sticky and the other one already has a coin inside it.
on the card game when the cards are stacked he throws the top card down but it's done so quickly you think it's the bottom card. on the 50c game they all have 50c...
Its something that's done by magicians too and I can see out of respect for that ART, they are not revealing the trick. When magicians do it, they clearly say its a scam done on the streets, they're trying to make a living too but honestly by showing "how" the scam works. As a street magician who does this on the streets, I appreciate they don't expose how its done in this video. (Well, actually, they do... that is to say... the people who "played" the game explain it... that is the honest truth of how the scam is done)
The people in the street doing that said how it is done did not explain it. They just badly described (poor English) that you can throw two cards done at once
Got scammed of 50€ on this trick in Paris in 2014. How naive I was when I saw their 'scam-colleagues' making easy money while pretending they're on a win streak. Couldn't resist to chip in my note while making plans in my head what will I do with the money I was about to win 😂 my ex didn't talk to me for the rest of that day but I had my life lesson. When seeing these guys in London on one of the bridges hiding their 'tools' from the police, all I'm willing to do is to chuck it all into the Thames
Thanks for your honesty. People think it won't happen to them, but get caught up in a chance to make easy money. I saw some tourists getting scammed in Paris and warned them. I was a bit nervous because the scammers have quite a large group working with them. Not sure how quickly they resort to violence.
I'm not saying you're gullible, but if I would have walked up to this game on the street in a touristy area, with people playing and money being passed around, it would take me about two seconds to figure out it is a scam.
I remember this scam in London's Oxford St in the 1970s. There were always shills playing who would win to lure you in. What gave them away was they all looked the same as the player - they had a slightly disheveled, unkempt appearance about them.
Its not a "scam" unless one actually believes the performers claim that its done my "magic" ., or as with 3 card monte dealers, one is uninformed enough to bet on the outcome. It just a skilled trick
ill never forget when i saw this on Unter den Linden in Berlin i 2011, 2-3 guys who were friends of the scammer kept winning and this one guy - the MOST touristy guy you can imagine with the "I Love Berlin t-shirt" - made a 200 euro bet and lost
There were at least two ways shown, but the important part is that that's not even the key to the scam. The key is that you're surrounded by accomplices and even if you manage to win the game itself, you're still losing your money, one way or another.
Just a correction, the cups and balls goes as far back to 2000 years ago, not just the 1500s. With some variations of course, with other materials such as dice instead of balls, but the same game/scam nonetheless.
When I was in Budapest, I saw a gang playing this on the viewpoint over the River. I played the 'who is involved' game. I could spot several lookouts, a 'player' and a big guy. The game is called "balletje balletje" (little ball little ball) in Dutch, btw.
I am a former brit living in Amsterdam, I've seen this being tried about the city often near the red light district. That was what they called it when I asked them "Jij speelt wat", my Dutch still needs work so that might be poor grammar. But it is definitely a thing but then tourists are often high as f and drunk around there. Only so much you can do to help people that choose to make themselves so vulnerable in a target rich area.
On the topic of Bosch's painting, it's believed that in the 15th century that owls were associated with death and menace, which is more fitting with the idea of being in the conjurer's basket.
I know how the three card Monte game works. I've practiced it. I live in Las Vegas and a few months ago I saw some guys performing this on the streets. After watching for a while I told the guy that I know the game. I got behind the table and I fooled the dealer! It was just for fun but he didn't catch me doing the move that he specializes in. Unfortunately I saw another person played the game and lose over $600. I felt bad for the guy because I knew he was not going to win.
I won $20 on this scam once. I knew all about how this scam works. The scammer wasn't too sharp. The card with the X on it had a slight blemish (dirt) on it. I bet on it and knew exactly where it was because of this. He had to pay up because there were a lot of people around here in NY. I quickly took the $20 and got in a cab.
I'm from Skopje, Macedonia, and this game is "played" mostly where you filmed, that's between the Old Bazzar and the Skopje Main Square and on the Stone Bridge that links those two locations... all in all, we, the locals know that the guy with the cups and all of the others around him are in the same "deal" that's why they are loud for everyone to hear and they are so passively-inviting with that loudness, and this "game" is mostly to trick tourists because these locations are the most touristy
@@MKD331BC Epa glej go videoto na deckovo, ke vidis on kade gi snimil kaj nas, istata lokacija koja mu ja pisav. Mozebi dva milioni pati ako projdes ke gi vidis :)
@@Ana_crusis You're describing a scam. What you're saying is true for all scams, some are just more known than others. Also added to this one is the group around that can rough you up if you manage to win at the game itself.
Sorry but this video kind of under-delivered. I thought someone was finally going to explain how this scam works in detail but all I got was the advice: „Don‘t play this scam game“ (which after watching your channel for a while I was already well aware of). I didn‘t come here for that…
@@Naliamegod yea but still proves my point. If you title a video „How it works“, you‘d expect the person making the video to explain *how it works* ! Not just a mention on the side by a random tourist or 5 second demonstration at the end of the video. It should be the main focus of the video. Otherwise, and I don‘t like accusing THG of this bc they do awesome work, but it‘s just clickbait…
I think my area has a hotline for reporting all sorts of things including specifically street games such as this. But it's a useless hotline because I use it to report more harmful things and they demand I go inside houses to get names and addresses. So basically they want me to do their job and they don't offer a salary.
There are many possible techniques, there isn't just one explanation. But they did show a couple and indee, the result is always the same - you lose, one way or another.
Hi, excellent video. My mom and I were in Paris and she decided she wanted to play the three card monte. One guy tried to distract me one guy played the game was another guy standing off to the side watching. I was smart and never took my eyes off my mother. It was fine until he started reaching into her wallet for money. That’s when I went over there I told the guy off and I took back their money. They were not happy but who cares. I am surprised at the amount of scammers in Europe. We don’t seem to have that much where I live in Canada. You’ve said this before to and that is everyone is out to get your money lol. Anyways have a good one eh!😁🇨🇦
@@MarvinCZ Maybe we should go with a gang there waiting around the corner to intervene once they want to rough you up. Oh you want to beat me up 3v1 because i have won "your " money? Meet my american football team here.
@@drstihl2007 Ah, yes, gang wars. Everybody wants that... But seriously, they do other stuff too, like just run off with your money, while the accomplices get in your way so you can't pursue, and other varieties. And in some of these you literally can't win, since the person is controlling the outcome as they are uncovering, so whatever you pick is guaranteed to lose.
It's very simple. When he picks up two beer mats at the same time and throws one of them horizontally, sometimes he throws the top mat, sometimes he throws the bottom mat. It's impossible to see which one he threw.
It’s dangerous advice telling people that they should alert others around that this is a scam. These scammers will not take kindly to having their money messed with and will get violent with you. Walk away and alert a cop, but never stand around telling other people it’s a scam - that’s a good way to get stabbed.
They're not going to stab you over it, don't be ridiculous. They're petty thieves that operate in a grey zone, why would they commit murder and open themselves up to serious charges?
What do you think the scammers are gonna do in public with so many people around? Performing such scam is far less of an offense than performing assault or murder. Janek has done this multiple times and nothing that bad even happened to him.
In paris i actually saw an american tourist win. There was a crowd. The scammer had already taken the 50€ and when he realised he lost to the american. The scammers all bounced and changed location, while the tourist just stood there asking bystanders for her money. Kinda sad.
I seen at Canal Street one guy was actually find the ball , but guy tossed cardboard box which using as Table run away . Who would chase those guys behind side streets , of course they take the Money First .
The best thing about being a muslim is that we're not allowed to play these games or any game in which you have to bet on your money to win something in return, you need to earn your money by yourself.
**Pro-Tip:* If you know that the scammer is using _Sleight-Of-Hand Pro_ then you can purposely guess a card that is not the one you believe it to be, thus increasing your chance of success from a theoretical 33.33% (actual 0%) to a respectable 50%.
A friend of mine once walked into gypsies with cups and balls and was trying to warn the people around that it's a scam. 10 min later he came back to us to confess that he somehow lost 50 EUR to them, I was laughing my ass off.
Sorry, maybe I'm just stupid, but I still haven't understood how this trick works after this video. Like what is the scammer doing to deceive you? The only explanation I have seen, is at 7:53 and it's too much for my brain 🧠 🙃.
for the cards, the tourist showed it, for the bottle caps there is something sticky on the underside and there is a cap with a coin already in it. And for the cups, either slight of hand or they just squeeze the cup
For cards, they are pretending to throw down the bottom card but are in actuality putting down the top card. There is a Vanity Fair video by a Casino cheating expert that shows how a lot of card tricks and scams work.
I’ve seen scammers trying to con people out of money with this "game" in just about every touristy location I’ve visited around the world. Paris, Berlin, London, Sydney, New York, San Francisco…everywhere. People obviously fall for it or else the scammers wouldn’t be doing it. Thank you for making a video about it; hopefully it’ll save someone from losing their money.
Not sure if the scammer at 10:54 is the same guy that I met at the top of the Citadella in Budapest in September but, at the time, I decided not to play because it felt too good to be true. Some "people" were losing money on easy guesses and it felt like I could easily guess them all. Now, with this video, I realize that those people were much probably his scam partners.
When the cup scammer has a target betting, they grab the ball in the SAME hand they're holding the money in. No matter which cup is chosen, the ball is under none of them. Then he sneakily puts the ball back into one and shuffles again.
if you wanted an explanation how the trick works, here's one way how they do it: the second you pull out your purse and look down to your pocket, they swap the cup with the ball and one next to it. At least I've seen them do that several times now, but maybe the person loosing is just another involved scammer and they wanna make you think you know how they trick you... at least in this video, they had to have another trick as you always saw the cups/cards...
Statistically you *can* win even more than once: If you internally consider it as a Monty Hall problem you can internally choose the one you think is correct, but knowing that you're being scammed is like the host asking you if you want to change your pick (well not really, because in the real Monty Hall problem the one you'd pick does actually have a chance to win), so you change your pick to one of the other 2 and you get a 50:50 chance of winning (if it was a real monty hall problem it'd be a 66% chance, but it's not) That will work exactly once, until the scammer figures out you're deliberately picking the "wrong" choice and they'll either stop playing or have their friends rough you up. In conclusion: Don't walk into this scam, even if you have a statistically better chance than someone who doesn't know it's a scam. You will still ultimately lose. If not your money at least your health.
It's not a Monty Hall problem, but yeah, you can increase your odds from 0% to 50%, assuming they're using cards. If it's cups or shells, then you can't win no matter what. But is it really a win if after you get your money you get beaten up and they take it back (plus probably everything else you had in your wallet)?
It's not a Monty Hall problem. It's slide of hand. Usually the are all empty. Sometimes what you can do is put your foot on the one you think it's correct and kick the other two (since they are empty). But you have to have backup people around you.
Ive seen all of these played in Philadelphia mostly on the train, its easier to get away with it. Its crazy to see someone move the ball around while the train is shaking and moving too, its gotta be so much harder to pull off.
There is a way to always win the game: Don't flip the "winning" cup they ask you to pick, flip the "losing" ones instead. Since the game is advertised as fair, the scammer would be exposed if the last cup is empty too.
That is not usually how it works though, often slight of hand is used to transfer the balls between cups. You even saw this in the video with the coins and caps, they are switching the coin. Never ever play this in the street however even if you are practiced enough to spot it in a live environment, they are not joking when they say the threat of physical violence is often applied if one is skilful enough to defeat the scam. This is not like a casino where outsmarting their advantage gets you a back off they can and will rob you if they have to in order to get even.
@@seraphina985 Nah the trick is to beat the scam with a gang of guys, to beat the shit out of the gang that is goign to beat you up for defeating their scam.
if you watch the game at 5:43 you'd notice the cap that supposedly has the coin has a distinctive scratch on it that the other two do not. so he actually did pick the correct cap. being as the caps are never turned over my guess is he has some way to pick up the caps that will hold on to the coin that is under all of them. so the scammer has complete control over where he makes the coin appear to be at all times, so if they want you to win while your making small bets to get you to bet bigger. they can, if they want you to lose to take your money they can regardless of if you pick the correct cap.
@@systemchris , yes 2 caps have a coin, sticky top, he presses on the cap to make the coin stick and shows the other coin instead. The distinctive scratch is a trick to make people more confident and want to play for easy win. I've seen it done with cards where a guy (pretending to be helping you) bends one tiny part of the edge of the card and you still lose of course. I had a friend lose his weekly paycheck because he wouldn't listen to me that it's a scam.
In Paris on the other side of the Eiffel Tower in front of Le Kiosque des Fontaines we watched the game for over 2 hours. More than 15 people where involved. There where lookouts but also button pressers at pedestrian crossings. In 2 hours watching nobody played the game. Only there own people. Where do they life from?
Even if the operator messes up and accidentally "flashes" the right choice, one of his gang can outbid you for the bet and you still won't win as you won't be allowed to "play" that round.
How about the "Please, I will bless your mony. Just give me your wallet, you can hold it while I bless it for the virgin Mary!"-scheme? I gave her my wallet, it was empty, totally empty, and she got mad at me. It was hilarious! This was in Gdansk, just outside of the huge church of St Mary. I went to have a nice cup of "Captain's Tea" at a nearby restaurant after that. It was good and very affordable. Yes, I was giggeling the whole time.
The only good version of the "cup game" as my friends call it is when video games play it enitrely straight, like mario party minigames or boss mechanics in ffxiv such as queen's guard and shadowkeeper that basically do the cup game where the boss summons clones, marks one or two as real, then has them spin around the arena and you have to watch where the real ones went to know what attack will happen.
What cracks me up, at least in Paris, is you can totally spot the other scammers pretending to be players because they look so obviously roma. They literally look the exact same as the main scammer
Good video ! You might think that nobody would fall for such an old scam, but you'd be wrong. I saw some tourists getting fleeced in Paris. Greed is a powerful motivator, and if people think it's an easy chance to make money they will play on the spur of the moment and not stop to think. Once sucked in they will often keep playing in a desperate attempt to win their money back. (Of course I warned the tourists not to play).
With the cards I'd very easy to guess. The card with the x is never the one you are following. So you at least have 50% chances. But is true that you will never get home with money of a thief.
I almost fell for it in Paris when I was 16. We were walking around a touristic place with my girlfriend and we saw a group of people, so we went there to see what was going on. A guy was talking very loudly, doing this card trick and saying something like "follow the ball, follow the ball, come on, it's easy, place your bet". Then I saw a guy approaching him and put a couple of bills in front of a cup. The other guy lifted that cup, revealing that the ball was indeed under that cup and the guy won 2x the amount he had placed on the table (well, a cardboard, really). When I saw that, I immediately thought "wow, that was easy! Should I try?". He shuffled the cups again, doing his loud speech again and before I could get close enough to try my luck, someone else put quite some money in front of a cup. The guy lifted the cup and...empty! He quickly took the money, packed everything and left. That's when I (and everyone else watching) understood that the first guy was in on it.
I was a western movie where the hero was playing. He said: "I'll turn over the two shells where the pea is NOT." He did so and he won. The scammer didn't want to tangle with a well known tough guy.
Btw he does the scam drop twice. He holds the X card and drops the other one, then he does it again and if you keep your eye on it, you will find the correct card. So there' even a safeguard against the quicker eye.
I see usually the same team in paris near the eiffel tower or the pont des arts. Always the same guys and very very organized. It makes me furious to see people falling in that trick all the time
Always allow a stranger to play this game with that stranger's own property or money, never your own. In fact, if a stranger attempts to engage you in random activity or conversation, think carefully about the saying "don't talk to strangers," especially if something seems a bit untrustworthy, or the conversation is not initiated by you. Run, don't walk.
Every cup has a ball underneath. They only show you the ball under one you didn't choose ... they don't show you underneath the cup you chose because that also has a ball underneath.
3:09 This is where the trick happens. He has two beer coasters in his hand, the one with the X is at the bottom. He slams a coaster down to the ground and since the one with the X was bottom, your brain assumes that then one with the X was slammed down. But what really happened is he had a tight grip on the bottom coaster and the other one was just resting on top of it, so by making the slam movement, the top coaster actually fell to the ground. He then quickly put the one with the X in his hand on top of the third coaster to cover it from below, lifting both up again and turning them around but now the one with the X is on top and the third one covers it below. He then slams again and does the same trick a second time, so again the top coaster is slammed, not the bottom one, which this time is the X coaster, so even if you got the swap the first time, you may miss it the second one and still would have been wrong. The whole trick is, that every time he make such a double lift followed by a slam, he can decide which coaster to slam, the top one or the bottom one, by just slightly adjusting his grip, so as long as he thinks you are still following the correct coaster, he will keep going and do a few more of those double lifts until is is convinced that you've lost track.
Well to be honest gambling in general is a scam. "House always wins." Would rather sink my money into alcohol because least then there is a one hundred percent chance of getting that alcohol. The thing I paid for. Never liked gambling.
When he stacks two coasters he throws the top one down instead the bottom one, which is counter intuitive and at normal speed its indistinguishable, but if you slow down the video you can see how.
i get how he did the card scam, but the 50 cent one looks impossible, unless there is some kind of cuts on that black cloth, and he pushes 50cent in and with the other cap pushes it out, or he has more 50 cents under it, with one cap slide 50cent under (hide it) and with the other cap, out from hidden.
So many thinking, and yet you haven't noticed the obvious: he never releases the cup chosen by the host, only the "correct one" - which means they all might have a coin
The most awful scamers in Prague is Public transport control members. We are Ukrainians who have enough money to live here and decided to stay in Prague. Our first day we used taxi to our hotel. Next day we went to see Prague and bought short ticket in machine for subway and meet public transport control. Al was ok, they checked our tickets. At tram stop we didn't find machine to buy ticket, but locals said that we can pay by card. Good. We entered tram via first door and tried to find how to pay. We spent for it maximum 30 seconds and staied near terminal to open Google Pay and choose a card. At the same time someone asked us to view our tickets. We tried to explain that our tram going about 50 meters and we didn't have enough time to buy ticket. But nothing helped, we lost 85 euros.
This video is really important!!! I lost almost 200 British Pounds on Westminister Bridge in London when I visited there on Augus. It was my first time traveling with a friend as adults, alone, so it was my first time planning a trip by myself. I didn't know anything about scamming in big cities, and I genually thought that this game is not a scam. just a moment after i lost my money to this, it hit me: it's must be a scam! and then a local Londoner aproached me and said "Hey, this is a scam! they're all working together" I was shocked and it is really the worst feeling you can have when travelling for the first time. I felt really unsafe, in a very big city I don't know... And then, while I myself alone realizing it's a scam, my friend says "Hey, let's try again" I just grabbed her and took her away from there while explaining to her that we were scammed... she was shocked, bc at first when i told her to leave the place, she was trying to tell me that she wants to try again and was arguing with me.. so i just grabbed her bc these ppl were actually ENCOURIGING her to play again while we arguing about this!!! insane!! I'm so happy that she listened to me evetually. the rest of the trip was good.
TLDR it doesn't matter that you saw / figured out / predicted the scam - there will be enough people surrounding you who will fall for it, then lobby lobby lobby to force you to pay for their gambling losses.
I'm kind of surprised that people are still falling for this street scam. Back in the 60s on tv shows magicians use to show this trick and say you can never win playing it.
My mother, who never gambled, got convinced she could beat a thre card Monte guy in NY city in the 1980s and lost $200 in 5 minutes. Think it was her first and last time gambling like that.
A scam is popular again. The scam is to put "how it works" in the video's title to get people to click and watch, but don't actually show them how it works.
The beer coaster one works because the top card or bottom card can be the one released 1st onto the table from the doubled cards in the operator's hand. That is the function of the sharp forward movement releasing a card (fast enough to confuse the eye). The 1st couple of 'doubled card drops' confirms normal experience and expectations (that a card 'drops' from the bottom), as the X card is where you expected it. The operator could do any number of doubled card steps, choosing each time whether the top or bottom card is dropped first.
Never pick the card or container you think is the mark. Pick one of the other marks. You have a 50/50 chance of picking the correct mark if you do not pick the mark the scammer wants you to pick.
The three card scam is easy if you know how. He shows you the card with the X on, then you instantly think it's say, in the middle, but it's not. If you watch closely, the X will NEVER be where you think it is. That's because he always throws the TOP card down, no matter how many times you think it's the X. It's that simple
I used to watch cup and ball operators plying their trade on Westminster Bridge in London. I'm not sure uf they're still operating there. You can see the gang clearly running the scam with huge bills being exchanged for a correct guesses, but how anyone can't see it for what it is, is beyond me. You feel like you're surrounded in a danger zone if you're within a 5 metre radius of the cup and ball con artist.
If you watch the bottle top, and follow the first bottle top into the second game thats the winner but if you dont follow that top you will think its in the middle
I’m not trying to victim blame or anything but this actually may be THE oldest trick in the book. Entire civilizations have risen and fallen in the time cups and balls has been around.
If you're still not sure how it works after watching this video, please watch this ▶️ ua-cam.com/video/v8HKCwwYmcc/v-deo.html
Doesn't show how the beer mat and x works!!!?
With all the respect, we are from Macedonia.
North is nothing to do with us.
Thank you
Am I the only one little disappointed that we got no explanation how that "magic" trick works? I mean it's pretty obvious that it's made in a way that scammer has full control over the result, but I expected Jakub to show how he does it instead of basically repeating the same thing three times.
for the cards, the tourist showed it, for the bottle caps there is something sticky on the underside and there is a cap with a coin already in it. And for the cups, either slight of hand or they just squeeze the cup.
Yeahhhhhh
Highly disappointing
Must have missed the part at the start where he explains how it’s done including slight of hand😅
Yeah that was probably a bit of an oversight.
@@johnsmith99997 the coin is moved when both his are over it, if you flipped all the caps there would only be one coin. The cups used are normally metal but the ball is either very small or made of foam so they can palm it easier. Check out and penn and teller clear balls and cups
The biggest scam is that this video never shows you how it is done!
With the cards it is explained by the tourist.
For the cups you simply squeeze the cup slightly so the object stays inside the cup (you can see it working at 9:15
And for the bottle caps the one cap is sticky and the other one already has a coin inside it.
on the card game when the cards are stacked he throws the top card down but it's done so quickly you think it's the bottom card. on the 50c game they all have 50c...
@@Jennyeq how do they all have 50c when he revealed them all and only one had it
@@shulinos7204 they are in the top of the cap.
@@Jennyeq Maybe. When it's a ball or pea underneath, they have a way of rolling it under another cap when it's underneath their hand.
legend has it, you are still showing examples, but still not showing how it works
Its something that's done by magicians too and I can see out of respect for that ART, they are not revealing the trick.
When magicians do it, they clearly say its a scam done on the streets, they're trying to make a living too but honestly by showing "how" the scam works.
As a street magician who does this on the streets, I appreciate they don't expose how its done in this video.
(Well, actually, they do... that is to say... the people who "played" the game explain it... that is the honest truth of how the scam is done)
The people in the street doing that said how it is done did not explain it. They just badly described (poor English) that you can throw two cards done at once
Got scammed of 50€ on this trick in Paris in 2014. How naive I was when I saw their 'scam-colleagues' making easy money while pretending they're on a win streak. Couldn't resist to chip in my note while making plans in my head what will I do with the money I was about to win 😂 my ex didn't talk to me for the rest of that day but I had my life lesson. When seeing these guys in London on one of the bridges hiding their 'tools' from the police, all I'm willing to do is to chuck it all into the Thames
Thanks for your honesty. People think it won't happen to them, but get caught up in a chance to make easy money. I saw some tourists getting scammed in Paris and warned them. I was a bit nervous because the scammers have quite a large group working with them. Not sure how quickly they resort to violence.
Scam colleagues = shills or stooges
I'm not saying you're gullible, but if I would have walked up to this game on the street in a touristy area, with people playing and money being passed around, it would take me about two seconds to figure out it is a scam.
I remember this scam in London's Oxford St in the 1970s. There were always shills playing who would win to lure you in. What gave them away was they all looked the same as the player - they had a slightly disheveled, unkempt appearance about them.
Its not a "scam" unless one actually believes the performers claim that its done my "magic" ., or as with 3 card monte dealers, one is uninformed enough to bet on the outcome. It just a skilled trick
ill never forget when i saw this on Unter den Linden in Berlin i 2011, 2-3 guys who were friends of the scammer kept winning and this one guy - the MOST touristy guy you can imagine with the "I Love Berlin t-shirt" - made a 200 euro bet and lost
"trick explained" in thumbnail. The only people that got scammed is the one who watches this until the end for the explanation.
There were at least two ways shown, but the important part is that that's not even the key to the scam. The key is that you're surrounded by accomplices and even if you manage to win the game itself, you're still losing your money, one way or another.
Just a correction, the cups and balls goes as far back to 2000 years ago, not just the 1500s. With some variations of course, with other materials such as dice instead of balls, but the same game/scam nonetheless.
When I was in Budapest, I saw a gang playing this on the viewpoint over the River.
I played the 'who is involved' game. I could spot several lookouts, a 'player' and a big guy.
The game is called "balletje balletje" (little ball little ball) in Dutch, btw.
I am a former brit living in Amsterdam, I've seen this being tried about the city often near the red light district. That was what they called it when I asked them "Jij speelt wat", my Dutch still needs work so that might be poor grammar. But it is definitely a thing but then tourists are often high as f and drunk around there. Only so much you can do to help people that choose to make themselves so vulnerable in a target rich area.
There are normally 6 of then involved. Trust me - I'm a magician
On the topic of Bosch's painting, it's believed that in the 15th century that owls were associated with death and menace, which is more fitting with the idea of being in the conjurer's basket.
Correct and this belief was also part of Native American beliefs. Watch the movie Killers of The Flower Moon.
I know how the three card Monte game works. I've practiced it. I live in Las Vegas and a few months ago I saw some guys performing this on the streets. After watching for a while I told the guy that I know the game. I got behind the table and I fooled the dealer! It was just for fun but he didn't catch me doing the move that he specializes in. Unfortunately I saw another person played the game and lose over $600. I felt bad for the guy because I knew he was not going to win.
I actually saw this scam in Prague around 2016/7 on the old bridge. Glad that you said there’s no where to be seen anymore.
I won $20 on this scam once. I knew all about how this scam works. The scammer wasn't too sharp. The card with the X on it had a slight blemish (dirt) on it. I bet on it and knew exactly where it was because of this. He had to pay up because there were a lot of people around here in NY. I quickly took the $20 and got in a cab.
As a child i remember seeing this scam (game) being played in Sofia, Bulgaria. Haven't seen it recently otherwise i would have filmed it.
I just saw this being played at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco last month. I knew it was a scam, but it was interesting to see.
I'm from Skopje, Macedonia, and this game is "played" mostly where you filmed, that's between the Old Bazzar and the Skopje Main Square and on the Stone Bridge that links those two locations... all in all, we, the locals know that the guy with the cups and all of the others around him are in the same "deal" that's why they are loud for everyone to hear and they are so passively-inviting with that loudness, and this "game" is mostly to trick tourists because these locations are the most touristy
Ziti se.. Milion pat imam pominato niz toj del i niednas gi nemam sretnato 🤣 Osven prosjaci pred, na i posle mostot drugo nisto nema...
@@MKD331BC Epa glej go videoto na deckovo, ke vidis on kade gi snimil kaj nas, istata lokacija koja mu ja pisav. Mozebi dva milioni pati ako projdes ke gi vidis :)
Стално стојат на Мостот и доле пред Стоковна Куќа Мост , кај Црквата Свети Димитрија!
Because you have the biggest gypsy ghetto of Europe, what else did you expect from them.
You're from North of North Macedonia actually.
Cups and Balls: Actually the oldest depiction of it is on a wall in ancient Egypt.
you have to teach the kids at a young age what its like to get scammed
One of the oldest scams in history. I don't think its gonna ever go away sadly.
@@Ana_crusis You're describing a scam. What you're saying is true for all scams, some are just more known than others. Also added to this one is the group around that can rough you up if you manage to win at the game itself.
@@Ana_crusis Yes, and it's a scam.
@@Ana_crusis Only if you stop defending scammers and blaming the victims ;)
Sorry but this video kind of under-delivered. I thought someone was finally going to explain how this scam works in detail but all I got was the advice: „Don‘t play this scam game“ (which after watching your channel for a while I was already well aware of). I didn‘t come here for that…
That's the scam! As is UA-cam removing dislikes for the video
Look up penn and teller clear cups and balls.
The tourist explained and showed how the card trick work and they showed how the cup tick works towards the end.
@@Naliamegod yea but still proves my point. If you title a video „How it works“, you‘d expect the person making the video to explain *how it works* ! Not just a mention on the side by a random tourist or 5 second demonstration at the end of the video. It should be the main focus of the video. Otherwise, and I don‘t like accusing THG of this bc they do awesome work, but it‘s just clickbait…
I think my area has a hotline for reporting all sorts of things including specifically street games such as this. But it's a useless hotline because I use it to report more harmful things and they demand I go inside houses to get names and addresses. So basically they want me to do their job and they don't offer a salary.
Cops are dirty, they get a cut from this. It's also why drugs were made illegal in the 1920s. More profit for authorities that way.
Waiting the whole video to see how the trick is done 🤡🤡🤡
There are many possible techniques, there isn't just one explanation. But they did show a couple and indee, the result is always the same - you lose, one way or another.
@@MarvinCZthere are Not many techniques... Just one; sleight of hand
Except that you didn't explain nothing. You are scamming us with that title.
Hi, excellent video. My mom and I were in Paris and she decided she wanted to play the three card monte. One guy tried to distract me one guy played the game was another guy standing off to the side watching. I was smart and never took my eyes off my mother. It was fine until he started reaching into her wallet for money. That’s when I went over there I told the guy off and I took back their money. They were not happy but who cares. I am surprised at the amount of scammers in Europe. We don’t seem to have that much where I live in Canada. You’ve said this before to and that is everyone is out to get your money lol. Anyways have a good one eh!😁🇨🇦
So basically, when playing cards, instead of picking the obvious one, pick one of the other ones for a 50/50 win. :D
And then get roughed up around the corner.
@@MarvinCZ Noone will expect me jumping off a bridge, where my friend waits with his boat.
@@kundrad8398 They certainly won't. Let's hope at least your friend expects it.
@@MarvinCZ Maybe we should go with a gang there waiting around the corner to intervene once they want to rough you up. Oh you want to beat me up 3v1 because i have won "your " money? Meet my american football team here.
@@drstihl2007 Ah, yes, gang wars. Everybody wants that...
But seriously, they do other stuff too, like just run off with your money, while the accomplices get in your way so you can't pursue, and other varieties. And in some of these you literally can't win, since the person is controlling the outcome as they are uncovering, so whatever you pick is guaranteed to lose.
It's very simple.
When he picks up two beer mats at the same time and throws one of them horizontally, sometimes he throws the top mat, sometimes he throws the bottom mat. It's impossible to see which one he threw.
It’s dangerous advice telling people that they should alert others around that this is a scam. These scammers will not take kindly to having their money messed with and will get violent with you. Walk away and alert a cop, but never stand around telling other people it’s a scam - that’s a good way to get stabbed.
They're not going to stab you over it, don't be ridiculous. They're petty thieves that operate in a grey zone, why would they commit murder and open themselves up to serious charges?
What do you think the scammers are gonna do in public with so many people around? Performing such scam is far less of an offense than performing assault or murder. Janek has done this multiple times and nothing that bad even happened to him.
Yep,that host is pretty naive guy who believes in harmony of life without getting hurt...😅
In Naples, Italy, this scam has never stopped 😂
It’s even more crazy how many idiots exist who never heard of and start playing 😂
@@pottpott7587 I agree 100% with you hahahaha
In paris i actually saw an american tourist win. There was a crowd. The scammer had already taken the 50€ and when he realised he lost to the american. The scammers all bounced and changed location, while the tourist just stood there asking bystanders for her money. Kinda sad.
Yea most of the time you cant really win they either dont give it to you or rob you later.
The tourist was stopped from chasing after the crook?
That american was probably magician...😊
I seen at Canal Street one guy was actually find the ball , but guy tossed cardboard box which using as Table run away . Who would chase those guys behind side streets , of course they take the Money First .
The best thing about being a muslim is that we're not allowed to play these games or any game in which you have to bet on your money to win something in return, you need to earn your money by yourself.
**Pro-Tip:* If you know that the scammer is using _Sleight-Of-Hand Pro_ then you can purposely guess a card that is not the one you believe it to be, thus increasing your chance of success from a theoretical 33.33% (actual 0%) to a respectable 50%.
A friend of mine once walked into gypsies with cups and balls and was trying to warn the people around that it's a scam. 10 min later he came back to us to confess that he somehow lost 50 EUR to them, I was laughing my ass off.
Sorry, maybe I'm just stupid, but I still haven't understood how this trick works after this video. Like what is the scammer doing to deceive you? The only explanation I have seen, is at 7:53 and it's too much for my brain 🧠 🙃.
for the cards, the tourist showed it, for the bottle caps there is something sticky on the underside and there is a cap with a coin already in it. And for the cups, either slight of hand or they just squeeze the cup
For cards, they are pretending to throw down the bottom card but are in actuality putting down the top card. There is a Vanity Fair video by a Casino cheating expert that shows how a lot of card tricks and scams work.
And for contingency, there's a dozen confederates all around you that will make sure that you lose your money, one way or another.
I’ve seen scammers trying to con people out of money with this "game" in just about every touristy location I’ve visited around the world. Paris, Berlin, London, Sydney, New York, San Francisco…everywhere. People obviously fall for it or else the scammers wouldn’t be doing it. Thank you for making a video about it; hopefully it’ll save someone from losing their money.
Not sure if the scammer at 10:54 is the same guy that I met at the top of the Citadella in Budapest in September but, at the time, I decided not to play because it felt too good to be true. Some "people" were losing money on easy guesses and it felt like I could easily guess them all. Now, with this video, I realize that those people were much probably his scam partners.
If anyone wants to see how the cups and balls are done look up penn and teller clear cups and balls.
I feel scammed watching this video: I never got to see "how it works."
When the cup scammer has a target betting, they grab the ball in the SAME hand they're holding the money in. No matter which cup is chosen, the ball is under none of them. Then he sneakily puts the ball back into one and shuffles again.
if you wanted an explanation how the trick works, here's one way how they do it: the second you pull out your purse and look down to your pocket, they swap the cup with the ball and one next to it.
At least I've seen them do that several times now, but maybe the person loosing is just another involved scammer and they wanna make you think you know how they trick you... at least in this video, they had to have another trick as you always saw the cups/cards...
Yeah, that's just part of the "theater", to make you think it's easy to win if you pay attention. It's not how they do it. Sleight of hand is how.
Statistically you *can* win even more than once: If you internally consider it as a Monty Hall problem you can internally choose the one you think is correct, but knowing that you're being scammed is like the host asking you if you want to change your pick (well not really, because in the real Monty Hall problem the one you'd pick does actually have a chance to win), so you change your pick to one of the other 2 and you get a 50:50 chance of winning (if it was a real monty hall problem it'd be a 66% chance, but it's not)
That will work exactly once, until the scammer figures out you're deliberately picking the "wrong" choice and they'll either stop playing or have their friends rough you up.
In conclusion: Don't walk into this scam, even if you have a statistically better chance than someone who doesn't know it's a scam. You will still ultimately lose. If not your money at least your health.
You say you could consider it a Monty Hall problem only to explain a few sentences later that it is in fact not...
It's not a Monty Hall problem, but yeah, you can increase your odds from 0% to 50%, assuming they're using cards. If it's cups or shells, then you can't win no matter what. But is it really a win if after you get your money you get beaten up and they take it back (plus probably everything else you had in your wallet)?
unless it’s like the coin trick where im half sure all the caps have coins and he just lifts the one you don’t chose
It's not a Monty Hall problem.
It's slide of hand. Usually the are all empty.
Sometimes what you can do is put your foot on the one you think it's correct and kick the other two (since they are empty). But you have to have backup people around you.
In the Monty Hall problem, one of the unpicked options is removed, then you are given the chance to swap. Nothing like that happens in this game.
Ive seen all of these played in Philadelphia mostly on the train, its easier to get away with it. Its crazy to see someone move the ball around while the train is shaking and moving too, its gotta be so much harder to pull off.
Lol, the one with the coin & the beer caps, ALL of the caps had a coin under them (3 coins & 3 caps)
There is a way to always win the game:
Don't flip the "winning" cup they ask you to pick, flip the "losing" ones instead.
Since the game is advertised as fair, the scammer would be exposed if the last cup is empty too.
That is not usually how it works though, often slight of hand is used to transfer the balls between cups. You even saw this in the video with the coins and caps, they are switching the coin. Never ever play this in the street however even if you are practiced enough to spot it in a live environment, they are not joking when they say the threat of physical violence is often applied if one is skilful enough to defeat the scam. This is not like a casino where outsmarting their advantage gets you a back off they can and will rob you if they have to in order to get even.
@@seraphina985 Nah the trick is to beat the scam with a gang of guys, to beat the shit out of the gang that is goign to beat you up for defeating their scam.
@@brenster21 I regularly get a group of mates and fuck them up on the streets.
@@seraphina985 *sleight of hand.
if you watch the game at 5:43 you'd notice the cap that supposedly has the coin has a distinctive scratch on it that the other two do not. so he actually did pick the correct cap. being as the caps are never turned over my guess is he has some way to pick up the caps that will hold on to the coin that is under all of them. so the scammer has complete control over where he makes the coin appear to be at all times, so if they want you to win while your making small bets to get you to bet bigger. they can, if they want you to lose to take your money they can regardless of if you pick the correct cap.
My guess is all the caps have a coin but it's a way of holding onto the coin inside
@@systemchris , yes 2 caps have a coin, sticky top, he presses on the cap to make the coin stick and shows the other coin instead.
The distinctive scratch is a trick to make people more confident and want to play for easy win.
I've seen it done with cards where a guy (pretending to be helping you) bends one tiny part of the edge of the card and you still lose of course. I had a friend lose his weekly paycheck because he wouldn't listen to me that it's a scam.
In Paris on the other side of the Eiffel Tower in front of Le Kiosque des Fontaines we watched the game for over 2 hours. More than 15 people where involved. There where lookouts but also button pressers at pedestrian crossings. In 2 hours watching nobody played the game. Only there own people. Where do they life from?
I guess that if they find very naive people they can take a lot of money from them. But yeah, 15 people dedicated to that scam doesn't sound lucrative
This is one of those youtube channels made just as a tax shelter.
This is basic math. Honest Guide + Honest Scammer = Great Video!
Just become good at slight of hand to slight a ball under a cup when you lift it. Win everytime or you bring your own ball
And then get surrounded by half a dozen thugs and beat up.
It won't work because they won't let you touch the game.
Even if the operator messes up and accidentally "flashes" the right choice, one of his gang can outbid you for the bet and you still won't win as you won't be allowed to "play" that round.
3:09 that's how it work. they usualy make the game easy enough to make you think you can easily win
How about the "Please, I will bless your mony. Just give me your wallet, you can hold it while I bless it for the virgin Mary!"-scheme? I gave her my wallet, it was empty, totally empty, and she got mad at me. It was hilarious! This was in Gdansk, just outside of the huge church of St Mary. I went to have a nice cup of "Captain's Tea" at a nearby restaurant after that. It was good and very affordable. Yes, I was giggeling the whole time.
How funny! It's like how liars are always the most offended if someone else lies to them.
06:00: Wow, I cannot see him do the switch. Those guys are so good. I would stand _no_ chance.
The only good version of the "cup game" as my friends call it is when video games play it enitrely straight, like mario party minigames or boss mechanics in ffxiv such as queen's guard and shadowkeeper that basically do the cup game where the boss summons clones, marks one or two as real, then has them spin around the arena and you have to watch where the real ones went to know what attack will happen.
What cracks me up, at least in Paris, is you can totally spot the other scammers pretending to be players because they look so obviously roma. They literally look the exact same as the main scammer
Good video ! You might think that nobody would fall for such an old scam, but you'd be wrong. I saw some tourists getting fleeced in Paris. Greed is a powerful motivator, and if people think it's an easy chance to make money they will play on the spur of the moment and not stop to think. Once sucked in they will often keep playing in a desperate attempt to win their money back. (Of course I warned the tourists not to play).
I just wasted ten minutes watching this video in anticipation of an explanation to this scam, which never came.
This scam is almost as old as time yet people still fall for it. There’s one born every minute
With the cards I'd very easy to guess. The card with the x is never the one you are following. So you at least have 50% chances. But is true that you will never get home with money of a thief.
I almost fell for it in Paris when I was 16. We were walking around a touristic place with my girlfriend and we saw a group of people, so we went there to see what was going on. A guy was talking very loudly, doing this card trick and saying something like "follow the ball, follow the ball, come on, it's easy, place your bet". Then I saw a guy approaching him and put a couple of bills in front of a cup. The other guy lifted that cup, revealing that the ball was indeed under that cup and the guy won 2x the amount he had placed on the table (well, a cardboard, really). When I saw that, I immediately thought "wow, that was easy! Should I try?". He shuffled the cups again, doing his loud speech again and before I could get close enough to try my luck, someone else put quite some money in front of a cup. The guy lifted the cup and...empty! He quickly took the money, packed everything and left. That's when I (and everyone else watching) understood that the first guy was in on it.
I was a western movie where the hero was playing.
He said: "I'll turn over the two shells where the pea is NOT."
He did so and he won.
The scammer didn't want to tangle with a well known tough guy.
Btw he does the scam drop twice. He holds the X card and drops the other one, then he does it again and if you keep your eye on it, you will find the correct card. So there' even a safeguard against the quicker eye.
Here in Romania it is very popular too, named "alba-neagra" or literally black and white
That arcade in the centre is nothing by scam machines targeting kids.
I see usually the same team in paris near the eiffel tower or the pont des arts. Always the same guys and very very organized. It makes me furious to see people falling in that trick all the time
Always allow a stranger to play this game with that stranger's own property or money, never your own. In fact, if a stranger attempts to engage you in random activity or conversation, think carefully about the saying "don't talk to strangers," especially if something seems a bit untrustworthy, or the conversation is not initiated by you. Run, don't walk.
Every cup has a ball underneath.
They only show you the ball under one you didn't choose ... they don't show you underneath the cup you chose because that also has a ball underneath.
3:09 This is where the trick happens. He has two beer coasters in his hand, the one with the X is at the bottom. He slams a coaster down to the ground and since the one with the X was bottom, your brain assumes that then one with the X was slammed down. But what really happened is he had a tight grip on the bottom coaster and the other one was just resting on top of it, so by making the slam movement, the top coaster actually fell to the ground. He then quickly put the one with the X in his hand on top of the third coaster to cover it from below, lifting both up again and turning them around but now the one with the X is on top and the third one covers it below. He then slams again and does the same trick a second time, so again the top coaster is slammed, not the bottom one, which this time is the X coaster, so even if you got the swap the first time, you may miss it the second one and still would have been wrong. The whole trick is, that every time he make such a double lift followed by a slam, he can decide which coaster to slam, the top one or the bottom one, by just slightly adjusting his grip, so as long as he thinks you are still following the correct coaster, he will keep going and do a few more of those double lifts until is is convinced that you've lost track.
Well to be honest gambling in general is a scam. "House always wins." Would rather sink my money into alcohol because least then there is a one hundred percent chance of getting that alcohol. The thing I paid for. Never liked gambling.
When he stacks two coasters he throws the top one down instead the bottom one, which is counter intuitive and at normal speed its indistinguishable, but if you slow down the video you can see how.
i caught the slight of hand and guessed the right beer coaster :)
i get how he did the card scam, but the 50 cent one looks impossible, unless there is some kind of cuts on that black cloth, and he pushes 50cent in and with the other cap pushes it out, or he has more 50 cents under it, with one cap slide 50cent under (hide it) and with the other cap, out from hidden.
So many thinking, and yet you haven't noticed the obvious: he never releases the cup chosen by the host, only the "correct one" - which means they all might have a coin
Cups and balls. Why does that remind me of a locker room?😂
The REAL scam is me not being able to understand why ANYone would even engage with someone running these cup and ball games lol.
The most awful scamers in Prague is Public transport control members. We are Ukrainians who have enough money to live here and decided to stay in Prague. Our first day we used taxi to our hotel. Next day we went to see Prague and bought short ticket in machine for subway and meet public transport control. Al was ok, they checked our tickets. At tram stop we didn't find machine to buy ticket, but locals said that we can pay by card. Good. We entered tram via first door and tried to find how to pay. We spent for it maximum 30 seconds and staied near terminal to open Google Pay and choose a card. At the same time someone asked us to view our tickets. We tried to explain that our tram going about 50 meters and we didn't have enough time to buy ticket. But nothing helped, we lost 85 euros.
This video is really important!!!
I lost almost 200 British Pounds on Westminister Bridge in London when I visited there on Augus.
It was my first time traveling with a friend as adults, alone, so it was my first time planning a trip by myself.
I didn't know anything about scamming in big cities, and I genually thought that this game is not a scam.
just a moment after i lost my money to this, it hit me: it's must be a scam! and then a local Londoner aproached me and said "Hey, this is a scam! they're all working together" I was shocked and it is really the worst feeling you can have when travelling for the first time. I felt really unsafe, in a very big city I don't know...
And then, while I myself alone realizing it's a scam, my friend says "Hey, let's try again"
I just grabbed her and took her away from there while explaining to her that we were scammed...
she was shocked, bc at first when i told her to leave the place, she was trying to tell me that she wants to try again and was arguing with me.. so i just grabbed her bc these ppl were actually ENCOURIGING her to play again while we arguing about this!!! insane!!
I'm so happy that she listened to me evetually.
the rest of the trip was good.
TLDR it doesn't matter that you saw / figured out / predicted the scam - there will be enough people surrounding you who will fall for it, then lobby lobby lobby to force you to pay for their gambling losses.
Oldest scams in history, that everybody knows about already. Or they should know.
The fact that a scammer tries multiple ways to scam shows that a scam is profitable only to a certain point and the scammer needs to requalify.
I'm kind of surprised that people are still falling for this street scam. Back in the 60s on tv shows magicians use to show this trick and say you can never win playing it.
seeing you walking arround in sunshine without a jacket and in "normal" clothes, im getting jealous cus we in germany have near minus temps
It was filmed long time ago
My mother, who never gambled, got convinced she could beat a thre card Monte guy in NY city in the 1980s and lost $200 in 5 minutes. Think it was her first and last time gambling like that.
A scam is popular again. The scam is to put "how it works" in the video's title to get people to click and watch, but don't actually show them how it works.
You're a wizard! I saw the phone vanish into thin air. I'll not play Cups with you.
This is so popular in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Common around sporting arenas
Not an old game if only 600 years old. Not a scam, no cheating involved.
The beer coaster one works because the top card or bottom card can be the one released 1st onto the table from the doubled cards in the operator's hand.
That is the function of the sharp forward movement releasing a card (fast enough to confuse the eye). The 1st couple of 'doubled card drops' confirms normal experience and expectations (that a card 'drops' from the bottom), as the X card is where you expected it.
The operator could do any number of doubled card steps, choosing each time whether the top or bottom card is dropped first.
Cups and balls goes back much further than the 15th century. There are Egyptian drawings of cups and balls being done.
Never pick the card or container you think is the mark. Pick one of the other marks. You have a 50/50 chance of picking the correct mark if you do not pick the mark the scammer wants you to pick.
They are a team because if you know their schtick and "guess" right, they're gonna kick your ass.
It's a cut in the film, you can see it at the point his thumbs come together. That's how they aligned the cut!
The three card scam is easy if you know how. He shows you the card with the X on, then you instantly think it's say, in the middle, but it's not. If you watch closely, the X will NEVER be where you think it is. That's because he always throws the TOP card down, no matter how many times you think it's the X. It's that simple
I used to watch cup and ball operators plying their trade on Westminster Bridge in London. I'm not sure uf they're still operating there. You can see the gang clearly running the scam with huge bills being exchanged for a correct guesses, but how anyone can't see it for what it is, is beyond me. You feel like you're surrounded in a danger zone if you're within a 5 metre radius of the cup and ball con artist.
If you watch the bottle top, and follow the first bottle top into the second game thats the winner but if you dont follow that top you will think its in the middle
You can apply this to many areas of life where sleight of hand and words can befuddle you.
Just place your two hands on two cups, say 'it isn't in these two so it must be in the other' then lift the two cups up.
I was teaching my friend's toddler cups and balls on the floor at a party we were at.
Never bet on the one that you thought was the correct one. Bet on either one of the remaining two, then you may have a chance to win.
I’m not trying to victim blame or anything but this actually may be THE oldest trick in the book. Entire civilizations have risen and fallen in the time cups and balls has been around.
@6:30, he didn't show the mark the one he selected, which implies there are TWO coins. So if you DO play, be well-armed.