As long as there have been playing cards, dice and dominoes - or even before that - people have tried to gain an advantage by cheating. Rigged card games probably took place just after the first playing cards came into play. A player might have seen a scratch on the top of one card, kept that in mind, and used it to his advantage.

But you don't need a deck of cards to cheat. It can be even less sophisticated than that.

One of the oldest tricks in the book is the Shell Game, a street hustle we've all seen in action. The game involves three walnut shells, match boxes, bottle caps or just about anything that can hide a pea-sized ball.

The person perpetrating the trick puts a ball under one of the shells, shuffles, and then takes bets from the spectators. If someone manages to locate the pea, he'll get 1:1 on his wager (as you realize this isn't good odds even if the game was totally random since the spectator only would find the pea one time in three attempts.)

However, the odds are even worse - the chance of choosing the right shell is 0%.

When someone who's not aware of the nature of the Shell Game watches the action, it might seem as some people are winning and some are losing. This, however, is not true. The ones winning are usually in cahoots with the "dealer", and are just there to create an illusion that the game is beatable.

In reality, when someone decides to play, there will be no pea under any shell. The con artist has simply put it in his palm while shuffling, and will then put it back under a shell the player didn't choose.

This is obviously not an honest game, and even if the pea is still under a shell - and someone manages to pick the right one - the con man can easily switch its position.