Kaioke – Japanese Shell Game
The shell game kaioke or “hokkai” was played with 360 double-valved shells (kai), half of the shells enclosed a poem, the other half a drawing which corresponded to it; the shells were distributed one by one and the goal was to match the poem with the drawing; whoever was left with an ‘orphan’ lost the game.
Information courtesy of Sotheby’s October, 2007.