About a dozen wears back when the School for Scoundrels started blitzing us with almost too many killer products, this guy came up on their discussion board:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4uBJEHLH3o&t=25s

"Gamblin' Sam" himself posted on the board before his untimely death, and was surprisingly forthcoming about his operations and strategies. There's a ton any of us could learn about audience management form this video alone.

Anyway, he inspired me to re-routine my shell game as a standing act. I've used a jeweler's pad like Sam uses in this video, but prefer a larger pad. Craft stores sell blank canvas boards, very light and rigid, over which I simply staple velvet cloth.

It works, all I can say. I've managed to perform my entire routine standing, including the typical "escape from under two coverings" finale (I actually use only one cover - the pea is first dropped into my wedding band, and the shell is placed on the pea and wedding band before the final cover is dropped onto the shell.

Final discovery - "chop shells," or magnetic shells are still available. I just made my own set and here's the big secret: the magnets need to mounted at the REAR of the shells, not the front (which is where every version I've seen marketed places the magnets). At the rear, they can engage with the pea but disengage easily and naturally using the standard shell game sleights.

Just thought I'd share. BTW, I posted here instead of "down below," because I figure most of what I'm posting here is too vague to be comprehensible to anyone not versed in the shell game. And if you're not, you should be!

Priceless!