shell game

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shell game

1. A game, usually involving gambling, in which a person hides a small object underneath one of three nutshells, thimbles, or cups, then shuffles them about on a flat surface while spectators try to guess the final location of the object. Also called thimblerig.

2. A fraud or deception perpetrated by shifting conspicuous things to hide something else.

shell game

(Group Games / Gambling, except Cards) the US name for thimblerig

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Noun

shell game - a swindling sleight-of-hand game; victim guesses which of three things a pellet is under

thimblerig

swindle, cheat, rig - the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme; "that book is a fraud"

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