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
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.
The card trick is fair, it’s a 50% chance to win. So same conditions for both. Just focus on the card, he pretends to be the one with the X. But one or two times he throws the upper card on the ground, the tourist thinks, it’s the card on the bottom. So if you follow the one, he wants you to be pretending the one with X, choose one of the two others. So it’s a 50:50 chance.
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
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
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.
How does this work, did you figure it out? I saw them on one bridge lately, got into an altercation with them and it got a bit hot there but I left telling an Hindu guy to ask for the money back!
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.
In New Orleans, there were a couple of guys arguing with the shell game in front of a store. As I was heading inside, they acted like they needed me to settle the argument between them. I didn't care what it was about. They're in front of the store to mess with people. When I said no, they both looked disappointed.
In Serbia, the scammer is called "šibicar" because it was usually played with empty matchboxes (šibice). I haven't seen them in a while, but they were usually concentrated around green markets, flea markets, railway stations, with lots of traffic and/or naive people new to the town. My uncle lost his wristwatch and his weekly student's allowance to a matchbox guy on a train during his university days. He studied mathematics and thought he'd figure them out :)
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.
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.
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.
@@petrsson The thing is, punching someone in the face in public, when all you want to do is run your scam in peace, is a bad thing. It draws unwanted attention.
From a channel named _"Honest Guide,"_ with a video titled _"How It Works,"_ we get neither honesty nor an explanation. There was no teaching the viewer "how it works" except a brief, unclear response from a player when he was asked if he knew how it worked (which I replayed 4 times & still didn't understand). What the fuck?! Why no explanation? Did I miss something? Should I just figure it out? "Honest Guide" isn't. Thumbs down.
he did tell you how it works. There are a lot of complicits posing as tourists, they'll attract you by making it look like you could win, you won't win, and even if you do you won't get the money. THAT is how it works and you don't need to know anything else.
@@suleymanbabak1973 come on - you know what @crooked-halo meant. he (and i) want to know what exact gimmick he used in the bottle-caps game. were there two coins? did he move the coin? is he able to control the release of the coin? THAT is why we're here.
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.
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!😁🇨🇦
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 :)
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 .
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.
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.
I think it's important to note that in versions where it would be possible to bet on the correct one (e.g. you know the trick and are able to follow the correct card) there are also tactics to stop you being able to place your bet on the correct card. It could be that another one of the team pretending to be a player will place a larger bet on another card, and the operator will say they have to take the larger bet.
@@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.
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.
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.
For all those wondering about the cards. When he's picking them up in twos, he holds it in a way that he keeps the one he showed and slides the one on top off onto the table. He did this twice here at 3:08.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
**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%.
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.
3:23 maybe I am wrong, but I bet for the right card from camera view. Be abuse while taking two cards, he throw the above card on the table. But as this could be happened twice, it could be another one. But if this is the trick, it’s really fair. You are just too stupid to see his quick movements. But I bet 20 Euro on the right card. ;) So I was partially right, how it’s done so you can win, if you concentrate on the card, he is pretending to be the X, than choose one of the two others and you and this guy are playing against with 50:50 chance.
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.
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.
I think I just figured out the trick. When you point to where the coin is, the scammer reveals another shell but doesn't ever reveal the one you pointed to. So you're actually right, it's just that there are two shells with a coin. So revealing the other one makes you think that you're wrong! How innocent we are!
And to add to my own comment. When the scammer lifts the shell you pointed, which also hides the coin, notice how he grasps the shell to also pick up the coin. So subtle!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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...
I suppose a better play would be to put the money next to the bottle cap where you dont think the coin is.But I am sure there is a scam to cover that too.
Everyone keeps saying that. I promise you, there is no way to win. The coin/s get loaded and unloaded as needed. There is no pick one different then you've been following. It will not matter.
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.
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.
Janek, I love your videos! Also, my gf is a political refugee from Belarus and she simply hates when someone pronounces Belarusian as "bela-russian" as it connotates Belarus (the name of the country) is somewhat linked with Russia, which it isn't. The correct pronunciation is with an "s", not an "š". Please please pretty please correct your pronunciation! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Maybe she should get a life instead of telling other people how to pronounce their toponims in other languages, and getting offended for made up reasons?
Plenty of Ukranians calling it Belarussia because it does almost everything Putin wants except for sending its troops into Ukraine. In 2021, she had a point. Now, she needs to get used to it.
@@johnhaller5851 Come on! Tell it to hundreds of thousands of people who marched in Minsk in 2020, and millions who voted for Tsikhanouskaya. I do understand your point and the Ukrainians' frustration, but please let's not mentally cede Belarus to Russia. Žyvie Bielaruś! Slava Ukraini!
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.
0:08 I love how you just see the phone vanishing under the hat^^ Kinda lame though that you never actually showed how it works, just that it works :( Well I guess showing how to do the trick would devalue it of some sort Edit: okay for bottle caps I'm pretty sure, there is a coin under each of them, because he never flipped the caps (magnet?) 9:14 you still see the object you lifted under the cup^^
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.
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).
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.
Hello, thanks for your great videos ! I'll soon come to Prague, but I don't understand the different ways to use the public transport with basic paper tickets, phone tickets or Litacka card. Thank you !
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.
Saw this in Italy last August.. many people take part in the scam, pretending they are earning a lot of money. Also, the black guys from Africa trying to sell you wristbands... Hundreds of them. They should be arrested.
I encountered this scam in the USA many years ago. The scammer offered me a 50$ bill to play with, even. I was too scared to keep the money and walk away because I was in a foreign area and I couldn't just leave because I was on a trip and waiting for a ride (meaning I couldn't just run away with the money and hope they don't catch me, if the bill was even real although I suspect that it was). So I just opted to not play at all. I've never been scammed/duped in any way my entire life but that's because I put effort into being educated about things and generally skeptical.
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…
Literally annoyed by rascals trying the same stuff over and over again, clean the streets Janek, if police can't handle it all, i know you will. Thank you for exposing them. I wanna see them sweat every time they see you and run like little losers they are.
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.
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.
in 1996 I was on a derry UK to France. Played blackjack with my family. I had only plyed it 3 times in my life before. I n one hour the whole table went amazing. My dad said have you played this before I said, NO NEVER. they changed the dealer and money gone. In 1996 2 thousand is a lot of money started with 30 lol. I should of walked away when new dealer came on but 2 wins settled me. Like the cards you show in videos I always went right side or left. the end result the dealer aways eft them in middle as he new my game. Wasnt bad as we were invited to the bar for free drinks al night. so you see. get them people away from the table loved the video
If you're still not sure how it works after watching this video, please watch this ▶️ ruclips.net/video/v8HKCwwYmcc/видео.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
watch it at .25x speed, and you can easily see how the coaster one works.
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.
he probably used you to entice other bystanders, possibly other from your same group, I'd wager.
@@suleymanbabak1973 So, do eat obama feces then?
Cab cost 30 dollars!
@@davidbrown4140 $30 in 1988? Not even close.
@@suleymanbabak1973 They definitely use this tactic that you're talking about too.
I just wasted ten minutes watching this video in anticipation of an explanation to this scam, which never came.
It was the true scam after all
The biggest scam is that this video never shows you how it is done! Fake !
Don't like, don't share, don't subscribe !
The card trick is fair, it’s a 50% chance to win. So same conditions for both. Just focus on the card, he pretends to be the one with the X. But one or two times he throws the upper card on the ground, the tourist thinks, it’s the card on the bottom. So if you follow the one, he wants you to be pretending the one with X, choose one of the two others. So it’s a 50:50 chance.
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.
Except that you didn't explain nothing. You are scamming us with that title.
no, he isn't he's telling you the important thing about this game. You won't win and even if you do you won't get your money.
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
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
@@solerso68 Its a scam with shills.
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.
How does this work, did you figure it out? I saw them on one bridge lately, got into an altercation with them and it got a bit hot there but I left telling an Hindu guy to ask for the money back!
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.
In New Orleans, there were a couple of guys arguing with the shell game in front of a store. As I was heading inside, they acted like they needed me to settle the argument between them.
I didn't care what it was about. They're in front of the store to mess with people.
When I said no, they both looked disappointed.
they were both looking for handy jays, that's why they looked sad
In Serbia, the scammer is called "šibicar" because it was usually played with empty matchboxes (šibice). I haven't seen them in a while, but they were usually concentrated around green markets, flea markets, railway stations, with lots of traffic and/or naive people new to the town. My uncle lost his wristwatch and his weekly student's allowance to a matchbox guy on a train during his university days. He studied mathematics and thought he'd figure them out :)
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.
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.
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...😅
@@petrsson The thing is, punching someone in the face in public, when all you want to do is run your scam in peace, is a bad thing. It draws unwanted attention.
From a channel named _"Honest Guide,"_ with a video titled _"How It Works,"_ we get neither honesty nor an explanation. There was no teaching the viewer "how it works" except a brief, unclear response from a player when he was asked if he knew how it worked (which I replayed 4 times & still didn't understand). What the fuck?! Why no explanation? Did I miss something? Should I just figure it out? "Honest Guide" isn't. Thumbs down.
he did tell you how it works. There are a lot of complicits posing as tourists, they'll attract you by making it look like you could win, you won't win, and even if you do you won't get the money. THAT is how it works and you don't need to know anything else.
@@suleymanbabak1973 come on - you know what @crooked-halo meant. he (and i) want to know what exact gimmick he used in the bottle-caps game. were there two coins? did he move the coin? is he able to control the release of the coin? THAT is why we're here.
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
This is basic math. Honest Guide + Honest Scammer = Great Video!
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!😁🇨🇦
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.
yeah, that was very common in Bulgaria in the 90s. Im proud I never fell for it, but surprised it's still a thing
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 .
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.
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.
I think it's important to note that in versions where it would be possible to bet on the correct one (e.g. you know the trick and are able to follow the correct card) there are also tactics to stop you being able to place your bet on the correct card. It could be that another one of the team pretending to be a player will place a larger bet on another card, and the operator will say they have to take the larger bet.
you have to teach the kids at a young age what its like to get scammed
Trick happens at 3:09 He lets one card slide over the other
"Of course I'm close, there's only three choices." We love you, Janek :D
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 ;)
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.
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.
For all those wondering about the cards. When he's picking them up in twos, he holds it in a way that he keeps the one he showed and slides the one on top off onto the table. He did this twice here at 3:08.
Cups and Balls: Actually the oldest depiction of it is on a wall in ancient Egypt.
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.
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.
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.
It's funny when Jakub made the first game to win, but Janek just got confused and was not attentive enough and chose the wrong card. No scam!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Even The Simpsons made fun of this scam.
Yet people continues to fell for it.
I remember that😂
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.
**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%.
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.
3:23 maybe I am wrong, but I bet for the right card from camera view. Be abuse while taking two cards, he throw the above card on the table. But as this could be happened twice, it could be another one. But if this is the trick, it’s really fair. You are just too stupid to see his quick movements. But I bet 20 Euro on the right card. ;)
So I was partially right, how it’s done so you can win, if you concentrate on the card, he is pretending to be the X, than choose one of the two others and you and this guy are playing against with 50:50 chance.
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
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.
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
I think I just figured out the trick. When you point to where the coin is, the scammer reveals another shell but doesn't ever reveal the one you pointed to. So you're actually right, it's just that there are two shells with a coin. So revealing the other one makes you think that you're wrong! How innocent we are!
And to add to my own comment. When the scammer lifts the shell you pointed, which also hides the coin, notice how he grasps the shell to also pick up the coin. So subtle!
Follow the card then bet on another. You then have a 50 50 chance of winning.
Not if a buddy robs you when you walk away
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.
"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.
Lol, the one with the coin & the beer caps, ALL of the caps had a coin under them (3 coins & 3 caps)
just back from Prague. after watching so many of your videos. the trip was amazing. Thanks HG. keep up the great work
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
I suppose a better play would be to put the money next to the bottle cap where you dont think the coin is.But I am sure there is a scam to cover that too.
Everyone keeps saying that. I promise you, there is no way to win. The coin/s get loaded and unloaded as needed. There is no pick one different then you've been following. It will not matter.
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.
They are a team because if you know their schtick and "guess" right, they're gonna kick your ass.
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.
If anyone wants to see how the cups and balls are done look up penn and teller clear cups and balls.
Nice video, but the cup and balls, you never explained HOW IT WORKS....
Janek, I love your videos! Also, my gf is a political refugee from Belarus and she simply hates when someone pronounces Belarusian as "bela-russian" as it connotates Belarus (the name of the country) is somewhat linked with Russia, which it isn't. The correct pronunciation is with an "s", not an "š". Please please pretty please correct your pronunciation! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Maybe she should get a life instead of telling other people how to pronounce their toponims in other languages, and getting offended for made up reasons?
Plenty of Ukranians calling it Belarussia because it does almost everything Putin wants except for sending its troops into Ukraine. In 2021, she had a point. Now, she needs to get used to it.
@@johnhaller5851 Come on! Tell it to hundreds of thousands of people who marched in Minsk in 2020, and millions who voted for Tsikhanouskaya. I do understand your point and the Ukrainians' frustration, but please let's not mentally cede Belarus to Russia. Žyvie Bielaruś! Slava Ukraini!
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.
0:08 I love how you just see the phone vanishing under the hat^^
Kinda lame though that you never actually showed how it works, just that it works :(
Well I guess showing how to do the trick would devalue it of some sort
Edit: okay for bottle caps I'm pretty sure, there is a coin under each of them, because he never flipped the caps (magnet?)
9:14 you still see the object you lifted under the cup^^
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.
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).
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.
Hello, thanks for your great videos !
I'll soon come to Prague, but I don't understand the different ways to use the public transport with basic paper tickets, phone tickets or Litacka card. Thank you !
Don't bother and just buy the paper tickets from the machines. They are commonly available and accept cards.
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.
Saw this in Italy last August.. many people take part in the scam, pretending they are earning a lot of money. Also, the black guys from Africa trying to sell you wristbands... Hundreds of them. They should be arrested.
I thought it's a gift?
@@scienceevolves4417 They say it is and then force you to pay for It.
@@lucianoferreira8903 they can't force me with anything lol
I would just walk away and if they want, they can call the police
@@scienceevolves4417 thats what I always do. They scam old people and stuff. I told them to fuck off all the time.
Yeah and they call you racist if you don't give them money, they learned dumb western Europeans rather lose money than get called racist
Great video, as usual - but how long ago was this filmed ? It’s December, and everyone is n t-shirts!
dayum, your trick at the beginning is so well done. took me a bit to see it 👌
I encountered this scam in the USA many years ago. The scammer offered me a 50$ bill to play with, even. I was too scared to keep the money and walk away because I was in a foreign area and I couldn't just leave because I was on a trip and waiting for a ride (meaning I couldn't just run away with the money and hope they don't catch me, if the bill was even real although I suspect that it was). So I just opted to not play at all. I've never been scammed/duped in any way my entire life but that's because I put effort into being educated about things and generally skeptical.
Here in Romania it is very popular too, named "alba-neagra" or literally black and white
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.
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 RUclips 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…
This scam is almost as old as time yet people still fall for it. There’s one born every minute
Literally annoyed by rascals trying the same stuff over and over again, clean the streets Janek, if police can't handle it all, i know you will. Thank you for exposing them.
I wanna see them sweat every time they see you and run like little losers they are.
The scam here was us watching thinking we'd learn how it works
People getting scammed in regular business transactions is bad, but getting scammed due to the victim’s greed is different
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.
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.
so if you stop being a muslim you won't know it's a scam?
Love your work and often bravery so I subbed,
Should be "How does it Work?" or "How it works" (no question mark)
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.
in 1996 I was on a derry UK to France. Played blackjack with my family. I had only plyed it 3 times in my life before. I n one hour the whole table went amazing. My dad said have you played this before I said, NO NEVER. they changed the dealer and money gone. In 1996 2 thousand is a lot of money started with 30 lol. I should of walked away when new dealer came on but 2 wins settled me. Like the cards you show in videos I always went right side or left. the end result the dealer aways eft them in middle as he new my game. Wasnt bad as we were invited to the bar for free drinks al night. so you see. get them people away from the table loved the video
Nice the final with some hints of Czech: beautiful idea.
I feel scammed watching this video: I never got to see "how it works."
This was on, "Everybody Hates Chris," when they were at the bus station. His mom absolutely rinsed him.
i caught the slight of hand and guessed the right beer coaster :)