1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. The particular line of rascality the rogue is engaged in; thieving; cheating.
1860. Chambers’ Journal, Vol. 13, p. 281. I asked him if he meant by a trading voyage, the game.
5. (colloquial).—A source of amusement; a lark (q.v.); a barney (q.v.); as, e.g., It was such a game!
6. (colloquial).—A design; trick; object; line of conduct: e.g., What’s your little game = What are you after? Also, None of your little games! = None of your tricks! See High Old Game.
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. ix. Honesty, indeed! if honesty’s the game, you’ve a right to your share, what Mrs. Kettering intended you should have.
1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulg. Tongue, p. 9. Game n. Intention. ‘What’s your game?’ or, ‘What are you up to?’ (very generally used).
1870. Standard, 27 Sept. If we accept the meaner game which the Times indicates for us, it can only be by deliberate choice.
1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xiii. Come, what’s your little game? [[109]]
1883. Edw. E. Morris, in Longman’s Mag., June, p. 176. A youth, who left England, and then carried on the same game in Australia.
1889. Standard, 1 May, p. 5, c. 1. The ‘game of law and order’ is not up, in Paris.