Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) very enthusiastic, ‘raring to go’.

1917

Van Loan ‘Eliphaz, Late Fairfax’ in Old Man Curry 153: A nice, honest little mare and game as a badger.

(Aus.) very brave.

1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 143: Game as hornets. Never knowed him to quit anythin’ in his life. [Ibid.] 199: The Wells-Fargo gents – they was game as goats both of ’em.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Oct. 16/4: He was game as an ant, and always tried to bite engines.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 18 May 4/5: Smith is as game as a bull-ant.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 74: ‘By crikey, Moira,’ said the black, ‘that mare game all same bulldog ant.’.

extremely courageous, ‘raring to go’.

1825		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 2 Jan. 389/2: Samson, as game as a pebble, fought his way into a rally .
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 201: Sam [...] came up to the scratch as game as a pebble.
1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce (1891) 272: D’Orville’s as game as a pebble about money.
1867		H.L. Williams Ticket-of-Leave Man 22: I am as game as a pebble and stell as a tree.
1878		N. Devon Jrnl 26 Dec. 5/5: He was game as a pebble and probably the best fish I took during my stay.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Oct. 9/2: A long course of deadly combats in the ‘Romany Rye’ has made George Rignold as fit as a fiddle and as game as a pebble.
1890		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 11 Jan. 10/4: The Harlem lad was as game as a pebble.
1894		Hull Dly Mail 28 Mar. 3/4: The scent was blazing and the fox game as a pebble.
1894		Mirror of Life 13 Oct. 2/4: They [i.e. two boxers] were both game as pebbles.
1895		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘The Open Steeplechase’ in Man from Snowy River (1902) 72: But they both were game as pebbles — neither one would show the feather.
1900		Hull Dly Mail 31 May 3/5: Simon Dale [...] ran game as a pebble.
1913		Dundee Courier 23 Dec. 7/5: Anderson [...] was stronger and younger than his opponent, and was game as a pebble to boot.
1928		Western Times 27 Jan. 15/5: Driscoll was evern fearful, but [...] ‘as game as a pebble’.
1932		Derby Dly Teleg. 28 Dec. 7/2: The second [...] lacks the physical proportions of the winner, but he is ‘game as a pebble’.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 88: Of additional similes peculiarly our own, the following are among the best: game as a pebble [...] (a pebble is a person, especially a larrikin, or an animal hard to control).
1950		Western Morn. News 8 Aug. 8/1: ‘Love Set’ [i.e. a racehorse] is only pony-sized, but as game as a pebble.

(Aus.) brave, courageous.

1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 17 Oct. 1/4: Hurrah! Well done John; you’re game as a pis-ant.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 87: Here are a few more similes snatched from our environment: [...] game as a piss ant.
1993		Canberra Times (ACT) 15 July 8/1: Sir Anthony was probably as game as a pissant in openly canvassing some of the court's problems.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 45: Baker also traces a number of phrases to the larrikins including [...] game as a piss-ant, fond of the knuckle and fights like a threshing machine.

(Aus.) plucky, courageous, willing to go up against overwhelming odds.

1907		Eve. News (Sydney) 11 May 9/3: We were telling a farmer we were bound for Melbourne. He laughed, and said we were as game as Ned Kelly.
1917		Robertson Advocate (NSW) 17 July 2/5: He had broken his arm at the elbow [...] Percy says ‘It’s nothing to the war,’ and wishes his friends to know that he is still smiling and as ‘game as Ned Kelly’.
1925		Referee (Sydney) 6 May 3/6: These fellows at the hunts can ride— funny seats, but all as game as Ned Kelly. The ladies, too, are great riders, and stop at nothing.
1938		‘Militiaman’ in Point (Melbourne) 8: Sleet-smarted face and snow-filled eye, / Vigilant in the dark before the dawn / Game as Ned Kelly.
1941		Canberra Times 30 May 1/5: General Blamey, according to Kretschmer, was not afraid of anything, was gamer than Ned Kelly, and stayed in Greece to the death knock.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 88: Of additional similes peculiarly our own, the following are among the best: game as [...] Ned Kelly [...] (Ned Kelly was the last of our notable bush-rangers).
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 117: He was a good soldier and game as Ned Kelly.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 233/1: game as Ned Kelly – very courageous. this is odd because Ned Kelly was one of the most notorious of all the bushrangers who ever roamed Australia.
1967		E. Harding Bogong Jack 79: Whether Bogong Jack was gamer than Ned Kelly will now never be established but it is strange that no one seems to know his real name.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 175: Mrs Archer, game as Ned Kelly, dancing about wearing nothing but three pot lids.
1984		Benjamin & Pearl Limericks Down Under 37: A congenial lady of Shelly / Was loved by a lad from Clovelly, / Two blokes from Clyde, / The Ryde footy side - / Gawd, she was game as Ned Kelly.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 9: All blues [i.e. blue heelers] are regarded by their owners as being ‘as thick as two bricks’ but ‘as game as Ned Kelly.’.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 45: Baker also traces a number of phrases to the larrikins including game as ned kelly, [...] fond of the knuckle and fights like a threshing machine.
2018		R. O’Neill ‘Ocker’ in The Drover’s Wives (2019) 182: Tommy come up like the blue blazes, game as Ned Kelly.