The chief variation in play arises from the fact that one who must win a heart trick cannot always afford to play his highest heart as in the ordinary game. _=JOKER HEARTS.=_ In this variation, the heart deuce is discarded, and the Joker takes its place. The Joker occupies a position between the Jack and the Ten in value, with the added peculiarity that it cannot be discarded on a plain suit; for if it is, it wins the trick unless there is a higher heart in the same trick. If a player has the Joker dealt to him, his only chance to get rid of it is to play it on a trick in which hearts are led, or to discard it on a plain suit on which some other player has already discarded a higher heart than the Ten. Under such circumstances, the holder of the Joker is allowed to discard it, even if he has one of the suit led, and the Joker being in the trick compels the player who discarded the higher heart to take it in. In settling, the Joker is worth five counters. If the player to whom it was dealt takes it in, he pays these five counters to the pool. If another player gets the Joker, he must pay the five counters to the player who got rid of it. The remainder of the pool is then divided in the usual way.
We did at last contrive to do so; we invented what we call the melee, and our revised rules in the event of a melee will be found set out upon a later page. They do really permit something like an actual result to hand-to-hand encounters. They abolish Horatius Cocles. [Illustration: The war game in the open air] [Illustration: Fig. 1--Battle of Hook s Farm. General View of the Battlefield and Red Army] We also found difficulties about the capturing of guns. At first we had merely provided that a gun was captured when it was out of action and four men of the opposite force were within six inches of it, but we found a number of cases for which this rule was too vague. A gun, for example, would be disabled and left with only three men within six inches; the enemy would then come up eight or ten strong within six inches on the other side, but not really reaching the gun. At the next move the original possessor of the gun would bring up half a dozen men within six inches. To whom did the gun belong? By the original wording of our rule, it might be supposed to belong to the attack which had never really touched the gun yet, and they could claim to turn it upon its original side.
The cards are then presented to the pone to be cut, and as many cards as there are players must be left in each packet. Beginning on his left, the dealer gives five cards to each player; two on the first round and three on the next, or three and then two. After all are helped, the next card is turned up on the remainder of the pack, and the suit to which it belongs is the trump for that deal. _=MISDEALING.=_ If there is any irregularity in the deal which is not the dealer’s fault, such as any card except the trump found faced in the pack, or the pack found imperfect, the same person deals again. But if the dealer neglects to have the pack cut, or deals too many or too few cards to any player, or exposes a card in dealing, or does not give the same number of cards to each player on the same round, or counts the cards on the table or those remaining in the pack, it is a misdeal, and the deal passes to the next player on the misdealer’s left. In some places the misdealer is allowed to deal again if he forfeits two counters to the pool. _=ROBBING THE TRUMP CARD.=_ If the trump card is an ace, the dealer may discard any card he pleases in exchange for it. He may take up the ace when he plays to the first trick, or may leave it on the pack until got rid of in the course of play.