At the end of the game, or on the twelfth hand, if the caller does not succeed, he pays the pool as usual, and his adversaries then divide it amongst themselves. The _=Suggestions for Good Play=_, etc., are given in connection with Solo Whist and need no further amplification for Boston de Fontainbleau. The _=Laws=_ vary so little from those used in the regular game of Boston that it is not necessary to give an additional code, either for Fontainbleau or for French Boston, which follows. FRENCH BOSTON. _=CARDS.=_ French Boston is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing; except that the diamond Jack is always the best trump unless diamonds are turned up, in which case the heart Jack becomes the best trump, and the diamond Jack ranks next below the diamond Queen. _=COUNTERS=_ are used as in Boston, their value being a matter of agreement before play begins. _=THE POOL=_ is made up by the dealer’s contributing ten counters for the first eight rounds, and twenty for the last two. It is increased from time to time by penalties, and is won or lost by the players, just as in Boston.
Three snakes inside my head had made me a sucker for the real one on my arm. Maragon had made his point. I might have reached the thirty-third degree, but I wasn t quite as big a shot as I thought I was. I could feel that rattler on my arm all the way to Lake Tahoe. * * * * * Like any gambling house, the Sky Hi Club was a trap. Peno had tried to kid the public with a classy _decor_. It was a darned good copy of a nineteenth century ranch house. At the gambling tables everything was free--the liquor, the _hors d oeuvres_, the entertainment. Everything, that is, but the gambling and the women. The casino was taking its cut.
After the draw each in turn can pass or play. If all pass, the hands are abandoned, and the pool remains; each player adding one counter for the next deal. This is to force players to bet on their hands. If a bet is made, the calling and raising proceeds as in Draw Poker. When there are not enough cards to supply the players, the discards must be gathered, shuffled, and cut. Any player with too many or too few cards must abandon his hand as foul. Any player showing his cards must abandon his hand, and forfeit four counters to the pool. The general laws of Poker governing all irregularities may be applied to Ambigu; but it must be remembered that the French are very much averse to penalties of all kinds, and if an error can be rectified without doing an injustice to any player, it is usual to set things right in the simplest manner possible. _=Value of the Hands.=_ There are seven combinations of value in Ambigu, which rank in the following order, beginning with the lowest:-- _=The Point.
That seemed fair; but so desperate is the courage and devotion of lead soldiers, that it came to this, that any small force that got or seemed likely to get isolated and caught by a superior force instead of waiting to be taken prisoners, dashed at its possible captors and slew them man for man. It was manifestly unreasonable to permit this. And in considering how best to prevent such inhuman heroisms, we were reminded of another frequent incident in our battles that also erred towards the incredible and vitiated our strategy. That was the charging of one or two isolated horse-men at a gun in order to disable it. Let me illustrate this by an incident. A force consisting of ten infantry and five cavalry with a gun are retreating across an exposed space, and a gun with thirty men, cavalry and infantry, in support comes out upon a crest into a position to fire within two feet of the retreating cavalry. The attacking player puts eight men within six inches of his gun and pushes the rest of his men a little forward to the right or left in pursuit of his enemy. In the real thing, the retreating horsemen would go off to cover with the gun, hell for leather, while the infantry would open out and retreat, firing. But see what happened in our imperfect form of Little War! The move of the retreating player began. Instead of retreating his whole force, he charged home with his mounted desperadoes, killed five of the eight men about the gun, and so by the rule silenced it, enabling the rest of his little body to get clean away to cover at the leisurely pace of one foot a move.
SPADE CASSINO. In this interesting variation every spade counts one point toward game. The spade Jack counts one in addition to its being a spade, and the extra point so made takes the place of the count for “spades” in the ordinary game, so that 24 points are made in every hand, exclusive of sweeps: Cards 3; Big Cassino 2; Little Cassino 1; the four Aces 4; the spade Jack 1, and 13 spades. It must be remembered that the spade Jack and deuce count 2 points each, the extra point being for the spade. The game is scored on a cribbage board, every point being pegged immediately; that is, every spade, every Ace, the Cassinos and the sweeps. There is nothing to count at the end of the hand but the cards. Sixty-one points is game, once round the board and into the game hole. DRAW CASSINO. In this variation, no more cards are dealt after the first round, but each player keeps his hand filled to four cards by drawing one from the top of the stock as soon as he plays one from his hand. The stock is left on the table, face down, slightly spread, for convenience in slipping off the top card as it is drawn.
If there are two ways to play, one of which will employ the numbers on both dice, the other only one of them, the former must be played. If either, but only one, of the two numbers thrown can be played, the larger of the two must be selected. _=13.=_ If a player throws off men before all his men are at home, the men so thrown off must be placed on the bar, and re-entered in the adversary’s home table, just as if they had been captured in the course of play. The same penalty attaches to throwing off men while one is on the bar. RUSSIAN BACKGAMMON. In this variety of the game, no men are placed upon the board at starting, but each player enters his men by throws of the dice, and both players enter upon the same table, so that all the men on both sides move round the board in the same direction, and both players have the same home table, which is always the one opposite the entering table. After having entered two men on the first throw, the player is at liberty either to continue entering his men with any subsequent throws, or to play the men already entered. In moving or in entering a player may capture any blots left by his adversary; but he cannot enter upon a point covered by two or more of the adversary’s men. If a player cannot enter a fresh man with the throw made, he must play a man if he can.
Divisions are chalked on the pavement, and the pally-ullies are impelled within the lines by a hop on one leg, and a side shuffle with the same foot (_Whitby Glossary_). It is sometimes called Tray-Trip. Atkinson describes the figure as oblong, with many angular compartments (_Cleveland Glossary_). Jamieson defines Beds as Hop-scotch, a game denominated from the form, sometimes by strangers called squares. In Aberdeen the spaces marked out are sometimes circular. Mrs. Lincoln sends a diagram of the game from Dublin (fig. 6). Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) under the name of Hop-score says it is a game in which certain squares are drawn or _scored_ on the ground. The piece of stone which is pushed with the foot is called the scotch.
Boys always speak of the stones as ods. Cherry-pit Cherry-pit is a play wherein they pitch cherry-stones into a little hole. It is noticed in the _Pleasant Grove of New Fancies_, 1657, and in Herrick s _Hesperides_. Nares (_Glossary_) mentions it as still practised with leaden counters called Dumps, or with money. Chicamy Chicamy, chickamy, chimey O, Down to the pond to wash their feet; Bring them back to have some meat, Chickamy, chickamy, chimey O. --Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase). The children sing the first line as they go round and round. At the second line they move down the road a little, and turn round and round as they end the rhyme. Chickidy Hand Chickidy hand, Chickidy hand, The Warner, my Cock, Crows at four in the morning. Several boys, placing their clasped fists against a lamp-post, say these lines, after which they run out, hands still clasped.
[Repeat this for left hand, right foot, left foot, heads, and put yourselves in. ] VI. Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, All on a Friday night? You put your right foot in, And then you take it out, And wag it, and wag it, and wag it, Then turn and turn about. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. VII. Here we dance luby, luby, Here we dance luby light, Here we dance luby, luby, All on a Wednesday night. --Ordsall, Nottinghamshire (Miss Matthews). VIII. Here we go lubin loo, Here we go lubin li, Here we go lubin loo, Upon a Christmas night. --Epworth, Doncaster (C.
If the blindfolded girl can identify her captive they exchange places, and the game goes on as before. The Forest of Dean and the Earls Heaton versions are played the same as the Lancashire. In the West Cornwall version, as seen played in 1884, a ring is formed, into the middle of which goes a child holding a stick; the others with joined hands run round in a circle, singing the verses. When they have finished singing they cease running, whilst the one in the centre, pointing with his stick, asks them in turn to spell Bingo. If they all spell it correctly they again move round singing; but should either of them make a mistake, he or she has to take the place of the middle man (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 58). In the Hexham version they sing a second verse, which is the same as the first with the name spelt _backwards_. The Berks version is practically the same as the Tean version. The Eckington (Derbyshire) version is played as follows:--A number of young women form a ring. A man stands within the ring, and they sing the words.
Thirty or forty children in two rows, joining opposite hands, strike smartly with their hands thus joined on the head or shoulders of their companion as he runs the gauntlet through them. This is called passing through the mires of Hecklebirnie. --Jamieson. The editors of Jamieson append a lengthy note connecting the name of this game with the northern belief that the wicked were condemned to suffer eternal punishment in Hecla, the volcanic mountain in Iceland. See Namers and Guessers. Hen and Chicken Chickery, chickery, cranny crow, I went to the well to wash my toe, When I got back a chicken was dead. This verse is said by the Hen to her Chickens, after which they all go with the Hen to search for the dead Chicken. On their way they meet the Fox. The following dialogue between the Fox and Hen ensues, the Hen beginning:-- What are you doing? Picking up sticks. What for? To make a fire.
* * * * * There are no authoritative _=LAWS=_ for Cribbage, but the foregoing descriptions contain all the regulations in force at the best clubs. TEXT BOOKS. The Cribbage Player’s Handbook, by Walker. Bézique and Cribbage, by Berkeley. Pocket Guide to Cribbage, by “Cavendish.” Bohn’s Handbook of Games. Cribbage, by Rawdon Crawley. Dick’s Handbook of Cribbage. PIQUET. Piquet is supposed to have been introduced during the reign of Charles VII.
See the robbers coming through, Coming through, coming through, See the robbers coming through, A nice young lady. Here s a prisoner we have got, We have got, we have got, Here s a prisoner we have got, A nice young lady. How many pounds to set her free, Set her free, set her free, How many pounds to set her free, A nice young lady? A hundred pounds to set her free, Set her free, set her free, A hundred pounds to set her free, A nice young lady. A hundred pounds we cannot give, We cannot give, we cannot give, A hundred pounds we cannot give, A nice young lady. Then to prison she must go, She must go, she must go, Then to prison she must go, A nice young lady. If she goes we ll go too, We ll go too, we ll go too, If she goes we ll go too, A nice young lady. Round the meadows we will go, We will go, we will go, Round the meadows we will go, A nice young lady. --Settle, Yorks. (Rev. W.
I suppose that a decent walk would have given her _some_ charm--most of these hustlers have a regular Swiss Movement. But this thing had a gait that tied in with the slack way her skirt hung across her pelvic bones and hollered White Trash! at you. I wasn t much flattered that she had tried to pick me up. People have a pretty accurate way of measuring their social station. And she thought she was what I d go for. Well, I guess I don t look like so much, either. I d missed my share of meals when they might have put some height on me. My long, freckled face ends in a chin as sharp and pointed as her nose. And there s always something about a cripple, even if my powerless right arm doesn t exactly show. My days on the Crap Patrol came back to me.
It is sometimes called Hairy Hirtschin. In Lothian the players try to knock each other over by hustling against one another.--Rev. W. Gregor. Same game as Harie Hutcheon. See Curcuddie, Cutch-a-cutchoo, Hop-frog. Hiry-hag A boys game, in which several, joining hands, endeavour to catch another, who, when caught, is beaten with caps, the captors crying out-- Hiry-hiry-hag, Put him in a bag, &c. --Ross and Stead s _Holderness Glossary_. Hiss and Clap All the boys are requested to leave the room, when the girls take their seats, leaving a vacant place on the right side of each girl for the gentleman of her choice.
In Holiday s play of the _Marriages of the Arts_, 1618, this sport is introduced, and also by Herrick (_Hesperides_, p. 44). Barley-break is several times alluded to in Massinger s plays: see the _Dramatic Works of Philip Massinger_, 1779, i. 167. We ll run at barley-break first, and you shall be in hell (Dekker s _The Honest Whore_). Hee s at barli-break, and the last couple are now in hell (Dekker s _The Virgin Martir_). See Gifford s _Massinger_, i. 104, edit. 1813. See also Browne s _Britannia s Pastorals_, published in 1614, Book I.
Cobble. Cobbler s Hornpipe. Cob-nut. Cock. Cock-battler. Cock-fight. Cock-haw. Cock-stride. Cockertie-hooie. Cockle-bread.
Suppose five play, and that A has the age. B has straddled, and all but the dealer have made good the ante and drawn cards. There are sixteen white counters in the pool, B’s straddle having made the ante four instead of two. Suppose B bets a red counter, and C then throws down his hand. D _=sees=_ B, by putting up a red counter; and he then _=raises=_ him, by putting up two blues, increasing his bet as much as the limit will allow him. The age must now abandon his hand or put up one red and two blues to call D, without knowing what B proposes to do. Let us suppose he sees D, and raises another two blues. B must now retire, or put up four blues to call A, without knowing what D will do. He can raise the bet another two blues, or one blue, or a red, or a white even, if he is so minded. If he declines to raise, he cannot prevent D from so doing, because D still has the privilege of replying to A’s raise, and as long as a player has any _=say=_ about anything, whether it is to abdicate, better, or call, he can do any one of the three.
This very popular variation of Vingt-et-un originated in the south of France, and came into vogue during the latter part of the reign of Louis Philippe. It is neither a recreation nor an intellectual exercise, but simply a means for the rapid exchange of money, well suited to persons of impatient temperament. The word “Baccara” is supposed to mean “nothing,” or “zero,” and is applied to the hands in which the total pip value of the cards ends with a cypher. There are two forms of the game in common use; Baccara a deux tableaux, and Baccara chemin de fer. The first will be first described. _=Players.=_ Baccara may be played by any number of persons from three to eleven. Those first in the room have the preference, and should immediately inscribe their names. The first eleven form the table, and the privilege of being the banker is sold to the highest bidder; that is, to the one that will put up the most money to be played for. The remaining ten persons draw for choice of seats at the table, the first choice being for the seat immediately on the right of the banker, then for the first seat on his left.
(_b_) In the Lancashire version, one child represents the Miller. The rest of the children stand round in a circle, with the Miller in the centre. All dance round and sing the verses. When it comes to the spelling part of the rhyme, the Miller points at one child, who must call out the right letter. If the child fails to do this she becomes Miller. In the Shropshire version, a ring is formed with one player in the middle. They dance round and sing the verses. When it comes to the spelling part, the girl in the middle cries B, and signals to another, who says I, the next to her N, the third G, the fourth O! his name was Bobby Bingo! Whoever makes a mistake takes the place of the girl in the middle. In the Liphook version, at the fourth line the children stand still and repeat a letter each in turn as quickly as they can, clapping their hands, and at the last line they turn right round, join hands, and begin again. In the Tean version, the one in the centre points, standing still, to some in the ring to say the letters B.
--Dickinson s _Cumberland Glossary_. Buckerels A kind of play used by boys in London streets in Henry VIII. s time, now disused, and I think forgot (Blount s _Glossographia_, p. 95). Hall mentions this game, temp. Henry VIII., f. 91. Buckey-how For this the boys divide into sides. One stops at home, the other goes off to a certain distance agreed on beforehand and shouts Buckey-how.
Tean, North Staffordshire { Miss Keary, Miss Burne, Mrs. T. Potteries { Lawton. Wolstanton Miss Keary. { Moor s _Suffolk Words_, Forby s SUFFOLK { _Vocabulary_, Lady C. Gurdon s { _Suffolk County Folk-lore_. SURREY-- Barnes Mrs. G. L. Gomme.
Indeed a verye usefull sport, but lately much neglected to the mollefieinge of the flesh. --Halliwell s _Dictionary_. [Illustration] Nares _Glossary_ also contains quotations from works of 1639, 1653, and 1697 which illustrate the game. Mr. Addy says that this game as played in Sheffield is quite different from that described under the same title in Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Aubrey (p. 30) speaks of Hot Cockles as a game played at funerals in Yorkshire, and the lines here given show that this was the game. The lines-- Where is this poor man to go? Over yond cuckoo s hill I O, embodies the popular belief that the soul winged its way like a bird, and they remind one of the passing of the soul over Whinny Moor (see funeral dirge in Aubrey s _Remains of Gentilisme_, p. 31). Grimm mentions the cuckoo hill (Gauchsberg).
That is to say, whatever happens the same dealer deals again. Minor irregularities will be found provided for in the laws. The cards being dealt, each player sorts his hand to see that he has the correct number, thirteen; and the player or players keeping the score should announce it at the beginning of each hand. _=STAKES.=_ In auction, the stake is a unit, so much a point. The number of points won or lost on the rubber may be only two or three, or they may run into the hundreds. The average value of a rubber at auction is about 400 points. Any much larger figure shows bad bidding. In straight bridge the average is about 180. In settling at the end of the rubber, it is usual for each losing player to pay his right-hand adversary.
The eldest hand begins by leading any card he pleases, and the others must follow suit if they can. The highest card played, if of the suit led, wins the trick, and the winner leads for the next trick. If a player has none of the suit led he may discard anything he pleases. The game is sometimes varied by adding a _=general=_, or _=capot=_. Any player who thinks he can win all the tricks announces capot before the first card is led. If he is successful he loses nothing; but each of the others must pay five counters into the pool, one for each Jack, and one extra for Polignac. If the capot player fails to win every trick, each player pays for whatever jacks he has taken in. ENFLÉ, OR SCHWELLEN. When Enflé is played by four persons, the Piquet pack of thirty-two cards is used. If there are more than four players, sufficient cards are added to give eight to each person.
After all, hadn t he _wanted_ to lose? They all do. I couldn t get very upset over his curses. So far he had lost one buck, net. And he d had some action. So much for gamblers. I kept control of the dice while each new gambler handled them. I was having a good night. Of course, by that time I had handled the dice, which always improves my TK grip. Every point I had TK d came up. For all the perception I kept on the ivories, I could sense no other TK force at work, which after all was the whole reason for my gambling.
26. Cat-gallows A child s game, consisting of jumping over a stick placed at right angles to two others fixed in the ground.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. (_b_) In Ross and Stead s _Holderness Glossary_ this is called Cat-gallas, and is described as three sticks placed in the form of a gallows for boys to jump over. So called in consequence of being of sufficient height to hang cats from. Also mentioned in Peacock s _Manley and Corringham Glossary_ and Elworthy s _West Somerset Words_, Brogden s _Provincial Words, Lincs._, Dickinson s _Cumberland Glossary_, Atkinson s _Cleveland Glossary_, Brockett s _North Country Words_, Evans _Leicestershire Glossary_, Baker s _Northants Glossary_, and Darlington s _South Cheshire Glossary_. On one of the stalls in Worcester Cathedral, figured in Wright s _Archæological Essays_, ii. 117, is a carving which represents three rats busily engaged in hanging a cat on a gallows of this kind. Cat i the Hole A game well known in Fife, and perhaps in other counties.
As we shall see later, there are some varieties of Euchre in which a lone hand may play against a lone hand, but this is not permitted in the ordinary game. No one but the individual player who makes the trump can play alone. Except in five and seven-handed Euchre, the player or side first reaching five points wins the game. If three are playing, and two of them reach five points simultaneously by euchreing the third, they both win a game. If they are playing for stakes, they divide the pool. _=TAKING UP THE TRUMP.=_ After the trump is turned up, each player in turn examines his cards, and if he does not care whether the trump suit remains unchanged or not, he says: “_=I pass=_.” If all pass, the dealer must decide. The dealer has the advantage of being allowed to take the trump card into his own hand, discarding one of his worthless cards in its place. If he thinks he can make three tricks with the turn-up suit for trumps, and his partner’s probable assistance, or can win five tricks by playing alone, he discards any card he pleases, placing it under the remainder of the pack, face down, and without showing or naming it.
=_ In France, the game is always marked with the ordinary round chips or counters, never with a marker. As five points is the game, four of these counters are necessary for each player. _=PLAYERS.=_ Écarté is played by two persons, who sit opposite each other. One is known as the dealer, and the other as the pone, the adversary, the elder hand, the non-dealer, the leader, or the player. _=THE GALLERY.=_ In clubs that make a feature of Écarté, and in which there is a great deal of betting on the outside by the spectators, it is not usual to allow more than one game between the same players, the loser giving place to one of those who have been backing him, and who is called a _=rentrant=_. This is known as playing the _cul-levé_. Any person in the gallery is allowed to draw attention to errors in the score, and may advise the player he is backing, or even play out the game for him, if he resigns. The player need not take the advice given him, which must be offered without discussion, and by pointing only, not naming the suit or cards.