skin game

skin game

1. slang A rigged or fraudulent gambling game. It turns out the "poker club" they'd been running was just a skin game to milk cash out of rich poker enthusiasts.
2. slang By extension, any swindle or con. He had this long-running skin game where he would convince rich, elderly widows to invest in insurance plans that actually paid into an offshore account he controlled. People are naturally suspicious of anything that challenges or contradicts their most strongly held beliefs, being quick to label such things as nothing more than skin games.
See also: game, skin
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

skin game

n. any swindle. (Underworld.) Spike was mixed up in a skin game for a while.
See also: game, skin
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • in the game
  • fair play
  • fair play (to you)
  • monkey in the middle
  • be game
  • a shell game
  • shell game
  • the game is up
  • game is up
  • game is up, the
References in periodicals archive
As for the game, fair enough, we got the result in what could have been a banana skin game.
"We knew it was a banana skin game for us, a match where everyone expected us to win.
Job's Skin Game finds the narrator coping with his two sons' deaths in New York on September 11 and the concurrent loss of a successful business.
Afan Lido boss Mark Robinson said, 'This was potentially a big banana skin game for us but my lads were thoroughly professional and committed.'
Crouch, author of The All-American Skin Game or, the Decoy of Race and Notes of a Hanging Judge, doesn't see the political dimension and public appeal in Sharpton's campaign necessary for a meaningful race.
Author-curmudgeon Stanley Crouch illuminates the double-vision concept in his book The All-American Skin Game when he explains: "Conceived and laid out by W.
And retailers, who saw the showrooms filled with stripes and spots at April market, are hoping to cash in on the skin game. The look was seen in everything from bedding and bath accessories to decorative pillows, rugs and table linens.
A Plain Vanilla Murder, S Albert; Secret Millionaire for the Surrogate, D Alward; Whiskers in the Dark, R Brown; A Stolen Heart, A Cabot; Those People, L Candlish; The Oracle, C Cussler; The Poison Bed, E Fremantle; The Summoning, H Graham; The Accomplice, J Grisham; The Exiles, G Hunt; Mending Places, D Hunter; The Jackals, W Johnston; The Satapur Moonstone, S Massey; A Diamond for the Single Mum, S Meier; Nine Perfect Strangers, L Moriarty; The Things We Cannot Say, K Rimmer; The Cattle Drive, E Wolfe; Skin Game, S Woods; The Spaniard's Untouched Bride, M Yates.
The Irish players binned plans to play golf this week as they wanted to focus fully on a banana skin game, while also not giving off the impression they were putting their feet up.
Relieved South Africa coach Peter de Villiers said: "This was a banana skin game for us and what a match Scotland played.
Beddau, however, have all their five games away, while Newbridge have two at home, but a banana skin game at Pontypool could be their undoing, while Bargoed are waiting in the wings for either to slip up.
Bernie Slaven: "This is a potential banana skin game but that's the beauty of the Cup.
Chester realise this is a possible banana skin game for them.
Lawrence described tomorrow's clash with Margate at Crabble Top as ``a classic banana skin game'' and vowed to field his strongest side.
This is why Wesley Brown's novel Darktown Strutters, an often profound meditation on performance, masking, identity, and equality in the American skin game, is so welcome and refreshing.