https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english/history/2260297-games-with-a-nickel-for-stakes.html
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up and doing

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

games with a nickel for stakes

English answer:

games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)

Added to glossary by Michael Powers (PhD)
Nov 17, 2007 23:11
16 yrs ago
English term

games with a nickel for stakes

English Art/Literary History
from the 1936 book "Live Alone and Like It", about the bright sides of being a single lady, even without having any significant amount of money.
"With a reasonable amount of ingenuity, you can have a marvelous time on practically nothing. .. There is no limit to the things you can do inexpensively in New York, if you're sufficiently up and doing. Have you, for instance, ever been [...] to a Yiddish theater on the lower East Side? Have you ever been to the Flea Circus, or played games with a nickel for stakes on Broadway (Have an escort for the last one.)"
Any idea what games or what stakes this could mean please?
Responses
4 +11 games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)
4 gambled with (as little as) a nickel
Change log

Dec 1, 2007 09:28: Michael Powers (PhD) Created KOG entry

Responses

+11
2 mins
Selected

games with a wager or bet of five cents (nickel)

meaning of "stakes"

5. Sports & Games
a. Money or property risked in a wager or gambling game. Often used in the plural. See Synonyms at bet.

Mike :)
Note from asker:
wouldn't call it playing games, today, maybe meaning changes since 1936? Besides, why Broadway - was it a gambler's mecca then or something?
Peer comment(s):
agree Mark Berelekhis
0 min
Thank you, Mark - I have no idea about Broadway - Mike :)
agree anne wagner-findeisen : AGREE. She could be referring to what used to be a standard sight, card games on the sidewalk, which were inevitably rigged against the player, for example 3 CARD MONTE is such a game, until Mayor Giuliani cleaned up Times Square
1 hr
Thank you, afindei675 - interesting - I didn't know the history, since I grew up in the midwest (Indiana) and now live in the southeast (Florida) - Mike :)
agree Sophia Finos (X)
3 hrs
Thank you, Sophia - Mike :)
agree Patricia Townshend (X)
5 hrs
Thank you, Patricia - Mike :)
agree Terry Burgess : Plausible...and worth a nickel...though I'll not go above 2 bits.
5 hrs
Last of the big time spenders, huh, Terry? - Mike :)
agree orientalhorizon
6 hrs
Thank you, orientalhorizon - Mike :)
agree Amira El-Wattar
8 hrs
Thank you, Amira - Mike :)
agree V_Nedkov
12 hrs
Thank you, V. - Mike :)
agree Christopher Crockett : The Broadway reference puts me in mind me of the great short stories of Damon Runyan,who chronicled the lives of the petty criminals and gamblers who inhabited the area in the '20s & '30s. Runyan makes delightful reading; Highly recommended. Google him.
1 day 14 hrs
Very interesting comment, Cristopher - you certainly know more about that epoch than I do - Mike :)
agree ARTES
12 days
Thank you, ARTES -Mike :)
agree Alfa Trans (X)
14 days
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
3 mins

gambled with (as little as) a nickel

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