History Main / KansasCityShuffle

** [[ConspiracyTheorist Some]] say that Churchill knew about Coventry Blitz from cryptoanalysis teams, but decided that taking any measures would have forced Germany to change encryption schema, which would have been worse. People supposedly in the know have asserted both the truth and the falsity of this theory.
* A year before Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, The Nazis realized they needed to get a major strategic advantage due to the size of Russia's military. To compensate, the Germans went on one of the most successful disinformation campaigns in their history (which is saying something due to how poorly their espionage against the West went). They sent false transmissions, telegraphs, letters, and other communiques impersonating and framing numerous senior officers in the Red Army, and Stalin, being the paranoid CardCarryingVillain that he was, did not bother putting them on trial and purged a sizable chunk of his Officer Corps. When the invasion came a year later, the crippling effect on the chain of command cost the Soviets dearly and they nearly got overrun by the invading Germans due to poor leadership.
** Someone apparently DidNotDoTheResearch here. For that matter, German intel on USSR sucked even ''more'' than on the West (apparently, Adm. Kanaris was a total and utter failure as an intelligence chief), but that's beside the point. Which is that the peak of the purges among the Army leadership was in ''1937-1938'', that is, good FOUR years before German attack on USSR, and was generally not connected to the Nazi's disinformation campaign -- it was triggered mainly because Stalin feared "Napoleonic tendencies" among his top generals, and some recent studies show that he wasn't ''entirely'' unjustified.
*** That's not to say than Nazis ''didn't'' try to screw the Soviets over. They just were sneaker about it, first goading the Soviets into the nonaggression pact that ''both'' sides viewed as untenable, but which Soviets eagerly jumped on as a mean to buy some more time[[hottip:*:The Red Army in late 30-es was a sorry mess, with its aging hardware, antique tactics and organization, officer corps being either hopeless drunkards or scheming politicos, more bent on intriguing than, well, soldiering, and the enlisted who could barely read. ''One more'' side to the officers purges was the fact that these very generals let their charge stoop so low.]]. Then Germans did whatever possible to make Stalin believe that they wouldn't attack until the attack on Great Britain. And ''then'' they attacked in the most unfortunate moment, catching Soviet Union almost literally with the pants down, in the middle of a major army reorganizing and rearming campaign.

* In ''[[{{Ringworld}} Ringworld's Children]]'', protector-stage Luis Wu intentionally reveals the existence of his son Wembleth to Tunesmith just before escaping, thus leading Tunesmith to believe that Luis is going to try to smuggle Tunesmith off the Ringworld and leaving Tunesmith with no way to control Luis (since Wembleth's life is the leverage Tunesmith has over Luis, or so Tunesmith thinks). Luis's actual plan is to smuggle himself and the Hindmost off the Ringworld and out of Tunesmith's control, since he (Luis) believes that hiding amongst the Ringworld's billions of inhabitants is actually the safest place for Wembleth to be.

* The entire plot of ''{{Durarara}}!'' is basically this.

* In ''{{Outlaw Star}}'' episode 14 (Final Countdown), the villain Crackerjack pulls a KansasCityShuffle.
* ''LiarGame'' revolves around its eponymous tournament of [[ConMan conmen]]. Needless to say, those who aren't a master of ''[[XanatosGambit some]]'' [[BatmanGambit flavor]] [[KansasCityShuffle of gambit]] are either pawns or casualties.

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* In ''{{Order of the Stick}}'', during the invasion of Azure City, Redcloak made it so it looked like there were ''three'' Xykons in the battle, with Haley telling everyone it was a {{shell game}}. [[spoiler:Like in a real shell game, not one of them is the real Xykon.]]
-->'''Haley:''' A ruse that relies on the target's innate acceptance of the rules as presented to him? Against a [[LawfulGood league of paladins?]] Easy money.
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* Lex Luthor's plan in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' - everyone thinks it's to become the President of the United States, but it's actually [[spoiler:Brainiac manipulating him into giving him a new body while ruining the League's reputation]].

* In ''{{Order of the Stick}}'', during the invasion of Azure City, Redcloak made it so it looked like there were ''three'' Xykons in the battle, with Haley telling everyone it was a shell game. [[spoiler:Like in a real shell game, not one of them is the real Xykon.]]

Compare MassiveMultiplayerScam. May involve ReversePsychology. Highly impractical against marks who are TooDumbToFool.

Compare MassiveMultiplayerScam. May involve ReversePsychology.

* ''InsideMan'' appears to be about a bank robbery, but there are several worrying inconsistencies in the way the robbers act. It's revealed at the end of the film that the bank's founder colluded with the Nazis in World War II, resulting in multiple deaths. The "robbers" are really after items in the bank's safe deposit boxes that will prove his guilt.

The TropeNamer is the song ''The Kansas City Shuffle'' (see quote above) explained in detail in the movie ''LuckyNumberSlevin''. For those of you not from the US, Kansas City is actually in Missouri and is even the largest city in the state. There ''is'' a Kansas City, Kansas, (It's right across the river) but it's much smaller and usually not what people are talking about when they mention a Kansas City. It throws off many Americans, too. This is actually a near-perfect physical metaphor, as "when they look on one side of the river, you're on the other". May be employed by means of a RevealingCoverup.

The TropeNamer is the song ''The Kansas City Shuffle'' (see quote above) explained in detail in the movie ''LuckyNumberSlevin''. For those of you not from the US, Kansas City is actually in Missouri and is even the largest (or [[MeetMeInStLouis second-largest]]) city in the state. There ''is'' a Kansas City, Kansas, (It's right across the river) but it's much smaller and usually not what people are talking about when they mention a Kansas City. It throws off many Americans, too. This is actually a near-perfect physical metaphor, as "when they look on one side of the river, you're on the other". May be employed by means of a RevealingCoverup.

* The entire plot of ''TheUsualSuspects''. Famous twist notwithstanding, it becomes apparent that Keyser Soze was manipulating ''everyone'' including the police, starting with the bogus lineup.

** The most awesome bit of Allied intelligence during the war would have to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fortitude Operation Fortitude]]. It was so successful, Hitler figured that the D-Day invasion at Normandy was a ''feint attack''. Within this Operation, the most awesome person may have been Juan Pujol, who set up a fake spy network for the Germans (who funded him, basically handing free money to their enemies), and got awarded the Iron Cross for being such a prolific source of (mis)information for the Wermacht.

* Ditto ''MissionImpossible''.

* The Soviets got theirs back during the Battle of Stalingrad. Zhukov kept just enough supplies and men flowing into the battle to keep it going and prevent the Germans from being able to consolidate, while the reinforcements weren't quite enough to convince them to pull out of the city before the Soviets had sprung their trap with forces the Germans didn't know existed and who had been intentionally kept from the battle.

* ''LuckyNumberSlevin'' uses "Kansas City Shuffle" as a code for a type of plan that Mr. Goodkat enacts, which involves Slevin being mistaken for Nick Fisher and owing money to the Boss and the Rabbi, while [[spoiler:Slevin himself and Goodkat engineered it all as revenge for Slevin's family that the Boss and the Rabbi killed twenty years ago]].

''[[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Its a they think you think they don't know]] type of Kansas city hustle''\\

The Kansas City Shuffle is an old established name for a con game that depends on the mark believing that the conman is trying to misdirect him. Another way to say it is that it relies on the mark being "too smart for their own good."

For instance, the conman really wants the mark to ignore what he's doing with his left hand. He therefore does something that makes the mark think that it's his right hand he wants ignored. The mark concentrates on the conman's right hand, thinking that he's doing the opposite of what the conman wants, [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow when in fact he's doing exactly what the conman wants]]. ''If the mark doesn't fall for the misdirection, the con doesn't work.''

In fiction, it's a plan or gambit that relies on the victim believing the misdirection. What the victim is being misled about can vary; it can be the true motivation and desires of the chessmaster, it could be the presence of other players, or could be the identity of the plotter or even their existence.

The audience may or may not be in on the secret themselves. If they are then it can lead to a build up of DramaticIrony but often the truth can be saved to TheReveal after the audience has been immersed in the intricacies of the apparent plot so that the shock to the character and the audience match.

The Kansas City Shuffle is an old established name for a con game that depends on the mark believing that the conman is trying to misdirect him. Another way to say it is that it relies on the mark being "too smart for their own good."\\
[[supersecretspoiler: My name is CandleJack, I don't write in black, it's part of my Kansas City Shuffle]]\\
For instance, the conman really wants the mark to ignore what he's doing with his left hand. He therefore does something that makes the mark think that it's his right hand he wants ignored. The mark concentrates on the conman's right hand, thinking that he's doing the opposite of what the conman wants, [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow when in fact he's doing exactly what the conman wants]]. ''If the mark doesn't fall for the misdirection, the con doesn't work.'' \\
[[supersecretspoiler: They call my name, but with rope and a duffel sack, they're calling for trouble.]]\\
In fiction, it's a plan or gambit that relies on the victim believing the misdirection. What the victim is being misled about can vary; it can be the true motivation and desires of the chessmaster, it could be the presence of other players, or could be the identity of the plotter or even their existence.\\
[[supersecretspoiler: See, you fear shadows but I'm too bright, I hit submit after you type]]\\
The audience may or may not be in on the secret themselves. If they are then it can lead to a build up of DramaticIrony but often the truth can be saved to TheReveal after the audience has been immersed in the intricacies of the apparent plot so that the shock to the character and the audience match.\\
[[supersecretspoiler: So one quickstep is all it takes to fall into a Kansas City Shuffle]]\\

[-What do they mean "Self Demonstrating"...?-]

The TropeNamer is the song ''The Kansas City Shuffle'' (see quote above) explained in detail in the movie ''LuckyNumberSlevin''. For those of you not from the US, Kansas City is actually in Missouri and is even the largest city in the state. There ''is'' a Kansas City, Kansas, (It's right across the river) but it's much smaller and usually not what people are talking about when they mention a Kansas City. It throws off many Americans, too. This is actually a near-perfect physical metaphor, as "when they look on one side of the river, you're on the other". May be employed by means of a RevealingCoverup.

For instance, the conman really wants the mark to ignore what he's doing with his left hand. He therefore does something that makes the mark think that it's his right hand he wants ignored. The mark concentrates on the conman's right hand, thinking that he's doing the opposite of what the conman wants, when in fact he's doing exactly what the conman wants. ''If the mark doesn't fall for the misdirection, the con doesn't work.'' \\

* ''Phoenix Wright: AceAttorney: Justice For All'': [[spoiler: In the beginning of the third case you unravel Luke Atmey's deception and uncover him as the true identity of master thief Masque de Masque...only for that to turn out to be have been his plan all along, so his presence at a theft will serve as an alibi for the murder he committed and pinned on the actual de Masque.]]

* ''{{Leverage}}'', also all the time. The best example would probably be [[spoiler:"The Second David Job."]]