Bunko

/ˈbʌŋkoʊ/ noun

Definition

A confidence swindle or fraud; also a parlor game played with dice, often used as a cover for gambling schemes.

Etymology

From Japanese 'bunkō' or Spanish 'bunco,' possibly originating from a confidence game popular in the 1870s-1880s in American frontier towns.

Kelly Says

Bunko reveals how games and cons blur together—it started as an innocent dice game but became code for fraud schemes so effectively that police formed 'Bunko Squads' to fight organized swindling.

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