skořápky

Jiri Lonsky Oct 16, 2018:

thimbles, cups, shells ... anything goes This game is played with anything that is available. Back in 1990, I saw some Serbian thugs conning people with this game near Brno bus terminal, and they used bottle caps.

Stuart Hoskins Oct 16, 2018:

"Shell games", by all accounts, is North American, which is interesting: some countries (historically) associate the con with shells, others with thimbles/cups.

Jiri Lonsky Oct 16, 2018:

I've even heard the colloquial term "shells" in the US.

Ivan Šimerka Oct 16, 2018:

The meaning here is that the man was a fraud, he cheated us. No friendly or amusing game.
https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skořápky
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_game

Karel Kosman (asker) Oct 16, 2018:

thimblerigging at least according to seznam slovnik. they want it into UK English. perhaps this is what they say there? I think i'll just use this and then make a comment what it is. I looked it up what it means and I believe it is those cups and balls which street swindlers use to fool people out of their money.

Stuart Hoskins Oct 16, 2018:

Ivan Jak se to vezme. As a native speaker, if someone said "shell game" to me in relation to a scammer, I wouldn't know exactly what they meant. If they said "cups and balls" I'd know precisely what they're talking about in the given context. Sometimes you have to play to your audience...

Ivan Šimerka Oct 16, 2018:

"Shell game" is better.

Hannah Geiger (X) Oct 16, 2018:

sorry, I did not see Stuart's post

Hannah Geiger (X) Oct 16, 2018:

not enough context for me, but could mean shell game
https://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/29/global-financial-markets-a-s...

Stuart Hoskins Oct 16, 2018:

shell game / cups and balls I might (context permitting) translate it as something like "That's (/ This is) the guy who invented a modern twist on the old cups-and-balls game". See Wikipedia - "shell game" and "cups and balls"