shell game
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- a game, typically a swindle, in which spectators are challenged to bet on the location of a small object ostensibly concealed under one of three cups or nutshells manipulated by sleight of hand
- any scheme for tricking and cheating people
See shell game in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun- 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.
- A fraud or deception perpetrated by shifting conspicuous things to hide something else.