[Illustration: No. 4. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | 4 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | 5 | | 6 | | 7 | | 8 | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | 9 | |10 | |11 | |12 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |13 | |14 | |15 | |16 | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |17 | |18 | |19 | |20 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |21 | |22 | |23 | |24 | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |25 | |26 | |27 | |28 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |29 | |30 | |31 | |32 | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] [Illustration: No. 5. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] In checker notation the number of the move is never given, as it is in Chess. The moves of the black men are distinguished from those of the white men by being hyphenated, but there are no marks to show when pieces are captured. Letters or figures in the margins are used to refer to possible variations in the play. _=Openings.=_ There are a number of standard openings in Checkers which are formed by the preliminary moves on each side. These openings are known by various fanciful names, dear to all checker-players.
=_ The cards are thoroughly shuffled, and presented to the pone to be cut. At least five cards must be left in each packet. The dealer then distributes the cards three at a time, first to his adversary and then to himself, for three rounds, so that each player receives nine cards. No trump is turned; but the first marriage declared and scored is the trump suit for that deal. The undealt portion of the pack, called the _=stock=_ or _=talon=_, is slightly spread between the two players, and a little to the left of the dealer. If in spreading the stock any card is found to be exposed, there must be a new deal by the same dealer. _=Misdealing.=_ A misdeal does not lose the deal, but in some cases a new deal is at the option of the pone. If the dealer exposes a card belonging to his adversary or to the stock, the pone may demand a new deal; but if either player exposes any of his own cards, the deal stands good. If too many cards are given to either player, and the error is discovered before the dealer plays to the first trick, there must be a new deal.
Handy Dandy I. Handy dandy, Sugary candy-- Top or bottom? Handy spandy, Jack a dandy-- Which good hand will you have? --Halliwell s _Dictionary_: _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 216. II. Handy dandy riddledy ro-- Which will you have, high or low? --Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 216. III. Handy pandy, Sugary candy, Which will you have-- Top or bottom? --London (A. B. Gomme).
The Whishin Dance (an old-fashioned dance, in which a cushion is used to kneel upon), mentioned by Dickinson (_Cumberland Glossary_), is probably the same game or dance, whishin meaning cushion. Brockett (_North Country Words_) mentions Peas Straw, the final dance at a rustic party; something similar to the ancient Cushion Dance at weddings. It is also recorded in Evans _Leicestershire Glossary_, and by Burton in the following passage from the _Anatomy of Melancholy_: A friend of his reprehended him for dancing beside his dignity, belike at some cushen dance. In the version from East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, the expression in our degree in the first line of the verse is apparently meaningless, and it is probably a corruption of highdigees, highdegrees, a dialect word for roystering, high spirits, merriment, dancing, romping. Elworthy (_Somerset Words_) gives this word, and quotes the following line from Drayton:-- Dance many a merry round and many a highdegy. --_Polyolbion_, Bk. xxv., l. 1162. (_d_) The transition from a dance to a pure game is well illustrated by the different versions, and the connection of the dance with the ceremony of marriage is obvious.
It is called Knur, Spell, and Kibble in S.-W. Lincolnshire.--Cole s _Glossary_. The following letter relating to this game is extracted from the _Worcestershire Chronicle_, September 1847, in Ellis s edition of Brand:-- Before the commons were taken in, the children of the poor had ample space wherein to recreate themselves at cricket, _nurr_, or any other diversion; but now they are driven from every green spot, and in Bromsgrove here, the nailor boys, from the force of circumstances, have taken possession of the turnpike road to play the before-mentioned games, to the serious inconvenience of the passengers, one of whom, a woman, was yesterday knocked down by a _nurr_ which struck her in the head. Brockett says of this game, as played in Durham: It is called Spell and Ore, Teut. spel, a play or sport; and Germ. knorr, a knot of wood or ore. The recreation is also called Buckstick, Spell, and Ore, the buckstick with which the ore is struck being broad at one end like the butt of a gun (_North Country Words_). In Yorkshire it is Spell and Nurr, or Knur, the ore or wooden ball having been, perhaps, originally the knurl or knot of a tree.
65) has a rhyme-- Jack be nimble, And Jack be quick, And Jack jump over The candlestick, which may refer to this game. Northall (_Folk Rhymes_, p. 412) says in Warwickshire a similar game is called Cock and Breeches. Leap-frog One boy stoops down sideways, with his head bent towards his body, as low as possible. This is called Tucking in your Tuppeny. Another boy takes a flying leap over the frog, placing his hands on his back to help himself over. He then proceeds to a distance of some four or five yards, and, in his turn, stoops in the same manner as the first boy, as another frog. A third boy then leaps first over frog No. 1, and then over frog No. 2, taking his place as frog No.
Any number of players can take part, and a full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The players cut for deal and seats, low having the choice. Ace is low. The players are provided with an equal number of counters, and before the cards are dealt, each places an agreed number in the pool. All the cards are dealt out. If some have more than others it does not matter. The eldest hand begins by playing any card he pleases, and the next player on his left must either play the card next above it, or put one counter in the pool. Only one card is played at a time, and after the sequence has arrived at the King it must be continued with the ace, and go on until the suit is exhausted. The person who plays the thirteenth card of any suit must start another sequence, in any suit and with any card he pleases. The player who first gets rid of all his cards takes the pool.
That would abolish the rather boring strain of time-keeping. One could just watch the fighting. Moreover, in our desire to bring the game to a climax, we decided that instead of a fight to a finish we would fight to some determined point, and we found very good sport in supposing that the arrival of three men of one force upon the back line of the opponent s side of the country was of such strategic importance as to determine the battle. But this form of battle we have since largely abandoned in favour of the old fight to a finish again. We found it led to one type of battle only, a massed rush at the antagonist s line, and that our arrangements of time-limits and capture and so forth had eliminated most of the concluding drag upon the game. Our game was now very much in its present form. We considered at various times the possibility of introducing some complication due to the bringing up of ammunition or supplies generally, and we decided that it would add little to the interest or reality of the game. Our battles are little brisk fights in which one may suppose that all the ammunition and food needed are carried by the men themselves. But our latest development has been in the direction of killing hand to hand or taking prisoners. We found it necessary to distinguish between an isolated force and a force that was merely a projecting part of a larger force.
The dealer plays a 2, announcing: “Six.” The pone plays a 3, announcing: “Nine, with a run of three,” and pegging three holes for the sequence formed in play. The dealer plays an Ace; “Ten, with a run of four,” and pegs four holes for the sequence of four cards made in play, all of which are face upward on the table, although he held only two of them. _=Fifteens.=_ The pone then plays a 5, which, added to the 10 just announced by the dealer, makes 15, with a run of five cards; seven holes to peg altogether. (This is quite independent of the sequence previously scored, just as the double pair royal was of the previous single pair.) The dealer now plays a deuce, and announces seventeen. This card does not form any sequence with those that have gone immediately before it, because if the order of play is retraced it will be found that another deuce is encountered before we reach the Four. This illustrates the rule already given, that sequences formed in play must always be single, and cannot be reckoned with substitute cards, like pairs royal. If they could, the last player in this case might claim a double run of five and a pair.
G. Wood (_Modern Playmate_, p. 189). Newell (_Games_, p. 122) gives this with a jesting formula of initiation into knighthood. He says it was not a game of children, but belonged to an older age. See Call-the-Guse. Magical Music A pleasant drawing-room evening amusement.--Moor s _Suffolk Words_. Probably the same as Musical Chairs.