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badger game

Virginia1993

Senior Member
Persian
Hi,
According to the following text, I want to know why does this game is called "badger"? Does it, in whatever way, refer to the animal badger?

These two games are combined in the well-known ‘Badger Game’, in which the woman seduces Black and then cries rape, at which point her husband takes charge and abuses Black for purposes of blackmail.

source: Games People Play by Eric Berne
I had never heard of this game, however it is fully explained here.

The badger game is an extortion scheme or confidence trick in which the victims are tricked into compromising positions in order to make them vulnerable to blackmail. Its name is derived from the practice of badger baiting.
The trick was particularly effective in the 19th and earlier 20th century when social attitudes toward adultery were much harsher. A famous person known to have fallen victim of the scheme was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, whose adulterous affair with Maria Reynolds was used by her husband to extort money and information from him.
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< Edited to comply with 4-sentence limit on quotation (Rule 4). Cagey, moderator >
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