Example:
I challenge you to get her number. If you get it, you earn a beer.
It's sort of a friendly bet. It's a short 3-5 letter word. I've heard it but can't recall it. Please help.
Something pertaining to: bet, challenge, dare, play, sport, game, toy.
May also relate: a clever move, trick, stunt, tactic.
A word I've heard used in this context is a wager, which TFD defines as:
An agreement under which each bettor pledges a certain amount to the other depending on the outcome of an unsettled matter.
In this case, the unsettled matter is whether the lady will give the challenged party her number. The challenger is pledging a free beer to the challenged party; if the challenged party accepts, they are pledging to get her number.
Given the casual nature of the bet, this might even qualify as a friendly wager, a phrase whose popularity is shown in this nGram plot.
Dare seems to be the right word to use in this case. It may not be the actual word you are looking for but it certainly fits very well:
to tell (someone) to do something especially as a way of showing courage
Source: Merriam-Webster
I dare you to go to her and get her number. If you succeed, I'll buy you a drink!
I have only one reservation that dare plus a reward is not inherent in what I feel is the original meaning, however wager seems so old fashioned, and I would likely use dare myself if I wanted to challenge a friend to go on a dare even if I would add the extra reward to the successful completion.
If you google for dare you her number you get
- First, Chris dared me to ask the girl in line at the movies for her number.
- One night his friends dare him to ask for the dark skater girls number
- "Try to get her number....... We Dare You." (Nike ad)
The word bet already suggested is a better word if your friend will have to buy YOU a beer if he does not succeed
I defy you to get her number.
Per Meriam-Webster:
defy: to challenge to do something considered impossible
A deal
noun 1. An agreement entered into by two or more parties for their mutual benefit, especially in a business or political context
Oxford Dictionaries
When the Op states that it is a word related to a game or sport, perhaps he was thinking of a card game where each player is dealt a hand that consists of several cards.
A synonym for the word challenge is a test. The Free Dictionary defines it as:
A series of questions, problems, or physical responses designed to determine knowledge, intelligence, or ability.
There's also the term test match
a game or series of games of cricket or rugby played by teams from different countries
Merriam-Webster
Connected to the expression bet which is often heard in the world of sports and games alike is stake
Sports & Games
a. Money or property risked in a wager or gambling game. Often used in the plural. See Synonyms at bet.
b. The prize awarded the winner of a contest or race.
c. A race offering a prize to the winner, especially a horserace in which the prize consists of money contributed equally by the horse owners.
T.F.D
Its plural form, stakes, is commonly used in the game of poker. Wikipedia says:
All casinos and many home games play poker by what are called table stakes rules, which state that each player starts each deal with a certain stake, and plays that deal with that stake. A player may not remove money from the table or add money from his or her pocket during the play of a hand. In essence, table stakes rules creates a maximum and a minimum buy-in amount for cash game poker as well as rules for adding and removing the stake from play.
Storyline:
What happened was that while at work one of my colleagues asked me to get a girl's number. He promised me a beer if i succeeded in getting her number. So i went to the girl and asked whether she knew any swimming pool nearby the place. She said that she knows one and that she will get me the details. So i asked for her number by saying that I'll call her to note the details. That's how i got her number. Somehow she came to about the beer agreement with my colleague. So the next day she asked me whether I really wanted to know about the swimming pool or was it a _?
The word is
A cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one’s own advantage
TFD defines it as: a manoeuvre or tactic in a game, conversation, etc; stratagem; gambit
Example: My opponent became increasingly frustrated by my beginner's luck and masterminded a cunning ploy to level the scores
gambit
A device, action, or opening remark, typically one entailing a degree of risk, that is calculated to gain an advantage: e.g. The loser of this copycat election will lament all the strategic gambits that fell short in the end.flutter
British informal A small bet: a flutter on the horsesruse
An action intended to deceive someone; a trick: e.g. Eleanor tried to think of a ruse to get Paul out of the houselure
a. Tempt (a person or animal) to do something or to go somewhere, especially by offering some form of reward:
b. A type of bait used in fishing or hunting:wile
verb: Lure; entice: Mike Upchat was not his real name, of course, and no one ever found out what this was; it was also not the only pseudonym he would employ in his schemes to wile his way into a woman's bed.
noun: Devious or cunning stratagems employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what one wants.gull
Fool or deceive (someone): They are gulled by the oldest trick of all, the one that gets the victim to look somewhere else.punt
a. verb (In some gambling card games) place a bet against the bank.
b. verb: British informal Bet or speculate on something: investors are punting on a takeover
punt noun informal , chiefly British another term for a betAll definitions from Oxford Dictionaries.
If they have already been betting, you can "raise" someone. It technically means to increase the amount you are gambling, but depending on context can refer to proposing a harder challenge.
In this sense it's similar to a dare with a defined reward (normally the reward for a completed dare is only admiration/kudos/glory). Context is important, as you must already have a bet or wager established before you can raise it.
A task.
From Merriam Webster
task: a piece of work that has been given to someone : a job for someone to do
