Desperately try to get hold of game (8)
I believe the answer is:
scrabble
I believe this clue is a double definition.
'desperately try to get hold of' is the first definition.
'game' is the second definition.
(Scrabble is an example)
(Other definitions for scrabble that I've seen before include "Grope for something - board game" , "Clabbers in popular word game" , "Word-building game" , "Very popular word-board gane" , "Scratch or grope around" .)