Gambits

Fool me once... shame on you, fool me twice... I'm impressed.

A Bard known as the trickster lost all of his money in games of chance that were rigged against him. Instead of calling the authorities or leaving, he chose to wait.
He watched the man work from afar as he begged for money, driven to poverty by the criminals clever game. He practiced the motions as best as he could until one day he found the secret. The man used a coin under three wooden cups and would rearrange them with alarming speed and grace. It was easy to lose track of where the coin was. This was the point. The man would casually slip the cup with coin over his lap, allowing the coin to fall as the cup moved. The trickster grinned and waited for someone, anyone to gift him a coin for his revenge. One day, a fellow hard came to visit, a woman he was sweet on in his youth. She watched how he stared at the man and his art. Even she was enamored by his skill. She gave him a bag of gold knowing of his plan and he approached the man again. "I've brought a bag of coin, may I play again?" The man laghed and stared at The Trickster.
"Would you lose it all again?" He asked and The Trickster nodded, he placed the bag on the table and watched the man at work. Only this time he was prepared. The coin dropped to the mans lap. The trickster smiled and the man finished.
"Where is the coin?"
The Trickster leaned in close, too close for comfort. He whispered in the man's ear with a rage while palming a blade.
"In you're damn lap."

— The story of The Trickster

A Gambit is a game played among rogues and bards as well as those who practice Arcana Discordia. There are many examples of Gambit but no matter what game you are playing it is all a variation on the same concept. A gambit is a test of wits and skill often bearing the illusion of a game of chance. Two or more people will have a wager. They wager any amount of money that the other players cannot determine how a trick is done, beat them in a game of chance, or solve a riddle. The players will try to cheat and win while trying to catch the others doing the same. If you can catch a player in the act, that player loses and must wait until the next round to play again.

Rules

When the first gambits emerged, they did so with a set of standards that are followed to the letter. This is often due to good faith and fear of developing a bad reputation with peers.

• No Magic: Unless agreed upon by all players, no one may use magic during the game.


• Transparency: Rules of specific gambits as well as the conditions of winning and losing must be made clear. Loopholes and technicalities are not allowed.


• Honesty: it is expected to be upfront about whether you have been found out by another player.


• Forms: gambits can be demonstrations such as illusions, competitive games involving cards or dice, or riddles, puzzles, and word games. Regardless of the gambit it should be made clear what form it takes.

The Oldest Trick in the Book

Three card switch The three card switch, or Three Card Monte is a wager involving 3 cards. The cards are diplayed flipped face down, and then are rearranged using a series of motions intended to confuse the observer. The observer must then pick where a previously chosen card ended up. Several variations on the game exist and some are much harder than others. One version uses a marble or seed instead of cards. The seed is placed under a cup with two cups on either side. The cups are rearranged and the observer must find the marble. This allows more complex sleight of hand to be used. If the observer can identify where the marble of chosen card is, even if its in the performers pocket, or identify what the performer did to cheat, the observer wins the wager

A Good Eye

The ethics of those who play these gambits usually restricts them to playing only with those who know what they are. Swindling the ignorant it's not the primary goal of the game but rather to better one's ability to spot trickery, and better ones ability to practice trickery themselves. For this reason there have been several methods used to identify those who are able to play the game and to induct those who wish to learn how.

Thieves cant

Thieves cant is a language created by thieves and adapted by the bards in the College of tricksters. It is a complex set of symbols, word combinations, hand signals, and even made up code words that one can use to communicate with and identify each other. Some times it as simple as a symbol on a market stall or a tavern bar. Other times it can be more exotic, like a combined language that takes words from several other languages to create an in depth lexicon.

Remember, the first performance is a trick. The second is a lesson.

— The Trickster

Origins

Gambits teach others how to avoid being swindled by con artist. The bard named The Trickster dedicated his life to studying the ways of criminals and how they take advantage of others.

He built The College of Tricksters after studying under numerous criminal organizations and learning their many tricks of social engineering and misdirection. The concept of a gambit came about soon after the establishment of the college.

The college needed an effective way to spread information without making it obvious for others who would likely attempt to silence such a radical display of their secrets. The concept of a gambit is more than just making money by knowing more than your competition. It is also a method of getting to the point where you do know more than your competition.

This playful way of exchanging information as opposed to Simply teaching it at the college led many criminal organizations astray for some time.

A turn of events...

Nowadays, members of The Doves of Black and White and other criminal organizations frequent the college not to suppress, but to learn what even they couldn't teach one another. They learn the many tricks that they can use to improve their criminal craft. The tricksters welcome this exchange of information as they usually bring new skills themselves that can be given to the college in exchange.