Acronyms that contain the term fast and loose 

Fast and Loose

Fast and Loose is a cheating game played at fairs by sharpers. It is also known as Pricking the Garter, The Strap, The Old Army Game, The Australian Belt, and Pricking at the Belt. In older periods, the leather or cloth webbing garters that men used to hold their stockings up around their thighs were used in this game, later the cloth webbing belts like those used by soldiers were popular. Whatever the form, the game is played the same. A strap, usually in the form of a belt, is folded in half by the street hustler or mountebank, and then wound into a coil, forming two identical loops in the center of the coil—one the folded center of the strap, and the other its first fold. These loops look identical. The scam artist challenges a spectator to place a stick in the true center loop — the one that holds Fast to the stick when the two ends of the strap are pulled. If the operator pulled and the strap came "loose," the spectator lost his bet. Since the operator could secretly change how the two ends are pulled away, he could always win. Shills would help encourage others to play, make it look possible to win, and give "advice" to the "marks" who tried to win. By winning, the shills encourage others to try — "It's easy, if you know how to spot it."

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