four-card monte
Noun: A gambling card game, also known as "Find the Lady" or "Three-card Monte", where the dealer typically uses three cards (though the name references four) to perform a sleight-of-hand trick. The player bets on identifying the location of a specific card (often the Queen) after the dealer has rapidly shuffled the cards face down. It is primarily a confidence trick designed to deceive the player, not a game of fair chance.
The term is used to describe the deceptive game itself. * The tourists were warned about street hustlers running a four-card monte scam near the plaza. * He lost his money in a game of four-card monte, failing to follow the queen.
- The phrase "a game of four-card monte" is often used metaphorically to describe any situation involving deception, misdirection, and a seemingly fair chance that is actually rigged.
- The negotiations felt like a game of four-card monte, with hidden agendas and constant misdirection.
- Three-card monte (n): The more common name for the same scam, using three cards. "Four-card monte" is a less frequent variant.
- The shell game (n): A conceptually similar confidence trick using cups and a ball instead of cards.
- Hustle (n/v): Can refer to this type of street scam or a swindle in general.
- Con game
- Scam
- Swindle
- Confidence trick
- To run a monte game: To operate this specific type of scam.
- The police arrested a man accused of running a monte game on the subway.
While the reference definition describes a specific, legitimate gambling game of Spanish origin, the predominant modern usage of "four-card monte" (and its variant "three-card monte") in English refers almost exclusively to the well-known street scam. The game is defined by deception, not by the formal rules of betting on card matches as described in some historical or regional contexts.
- a gambling card game of Spanish origin; 3 or 4 cards are dealt face up and players bet that one of them will be matched before the others as the cards are dealt from the pack one at a time