- Several persons cluster around a table playing cards. The game requires placing some cards where everybody can see them. One player exposes his cards, the others look and gasp, and another player pipes up, "Remember what happened the last time THAT hand* came up?" Everybody turns pale and tenses and look around the room for a moment, then they relax and resume playing.
* Aces and Eights is "the dead man's hand", for instance
- At another table, a mixed group is playing poker for low stakes: winner buys everybody else a meal (with the pot), but everybody buys the winner a drink.
- At another table, a pair of elderly couples is playing bridge.
- An obvious "lady of the night plying her trade" is not happy to be at table with a male flashing a wad of cash. If the PCs make a Perception check they can hear the guy say something to the tune of "With all this money, I own you tonight." He is drunk and eventually brags that he strongarm-robbed a noble to get the wad of cash.