mug's game

noun

1. a foolish, useless, or ill-advised venture.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mug's game¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Predictions, then, are a mug’s game - and here is your mug.

From BBC

Studies also indicate that trying to move deftly from sector to sector is a mug’s game.

From Slate

The fact is that bringing together a host of successful but self-important luminaries to forecast the future is a mug’s game.

From Los Angeles Times

There will be understandable complaints about that, but second-guessing Clarke's mind is a mug's game.

From BBC

As I’ve written in the past, taking Moore as some sort of economic truth-teller is a mug’s game.

From Los Angeles Times