Suppose A bids two royals and Y doubles. B can take A out with three clubs, because, so far as the bidding goes, two royals are still worth only 18. Any over-call annuls the double, or redouble. Suppose A says two hearts, Y doubles, B redoubles, and Z says two royals. The doubling is all knocked out, and if A were to go three hearts and get the contract, hearts would be worth only 8 a trick in the scoring unless Y doubled all over again. A double reopens the bidding, just the same as any other declaration, allowing the player’s partner, or the player himself in his turn, to take himself out of the double by bidding something else. _=IRREGULARITIES IN DECLARING.=_ If any player declares out of turn, either in bidding a suit or in doubling, either opponent may demand a new deal, or may allow the declaration so made to stand, in which case the next player to the left must bid, just as if the declaration had been in turn. If a player pass out of turn there is no penalty, and the player whose turn it was must declare himself. The player who has passed out of his proper turn may re-enter the bidding if the declaration he passed has been over-called or doubled.
After considerable experiment and practice this little whist school laid down the principles of the game as being: “to play from the strong suit; to study the partner’s hand; never to force partner unnecessarily, and to attend to the score.” It is generally believed that Edmond Hoyle was familiar with the proceedings of this set, and on their experiences based his celebrated “Short Treatise on the Game of Whist,” which was entered at Stationers’ Hall in London Nov. 17, 1742. The only works previous to Hoyle touching upon whist were the “Compleat Gamester” of Cotton, which first appeared in 1674, and the “Court Gamester,” of Richard Seymour, 1719. One of Hoyle’s great points was his calculation of the probabilities at various stages of the rubber. This seems to have been looked upon as most important in guiding persons in their play, for we find that Abraham de Moivre, a famous mathematician, used to frequent the coffee houses, and for a small fee give decisions on questions of the odds at whist. Bath seems to have been the great rallying-point for the whist-players of the last century; but the passion for the game soon spread all over Europe. In 1767 Benjamin Franklin went to Paris, and it is generally believed that he introduced the American variety of the game known as Boston, which became the rage in Paris some time after the war of independence. So popular did whist become in Italy that we find the boxes at the opera in Florence provided with card tables in 1790. The music of the opera was considered of value chiefly as, “increasing the joy of good fortune, and soothing the affliction of bad.
Next balance stone on shoe, then on the palm of hand, then on the back of hand, then on the head, then on the shoulder, then on the eye (tilt head back to keep it from falling). In each case walk round once with it so balanced and catch at end. In the third plan (fig. 3) the game is:--Put pebble in No. 1. Pick up. Hop, having one foot in No. 2 and the other in No. 3. Step into No.
In Sixty-Six, the combination known as Bézique, or binocle, is omitted; so is the sequence in trumps. Sixty-four-card Binocle is simply Bézique, with a slight difference in the counting value of the various combinations. Sometimes twelve cards are given to each player. Great confusion seems to have existed when the game of Bézique was introduced to England, in the winter of 1868-9, owing to the fact that so many persons rushed into print with their own private opinions of the rules, which were first given by Dr. Pole, in 1861. No one knew whether “the last trick” was the absolute last, or the last before the stock was exhausted. Whether the highest or lowest cut dealt was also a matter of dispute. “Cavendish” got both these wrong in the first edition of his “Pocket Guide,” but corrected himself without explanation or apology in the second edition. It was then the custom of many players to attach no value to the trump suit until the stock was exhausted; so that until the last eight tricks there was no such thing as trumping a trick in order to win it. Disputes also arose as to counting double combinations, many contending that a double marriage should be as valuable as a double bézique.
_=SCORING.=_ Each player is credited with the value of his tableau, and then the duty of being caller passes to the left. The game is at an end when an agreed number of deals have been played, or at the expiration of a specified time, the highest total score being the winner. SOLITAIRE CRIBBAGE. This game may be played by one person or by several, two to four making an interesting game, either as partners or each for himself. The individual player takes a full pack of fifty-two cards, shuffles and cuts, and deals off three for himself, two for his crib, and then three more for himself. Taking up the six, he sorts them and discards for the crib, just as if the two cards already there had been laid off by an opponent. The pack is then cut for the starter. There is no play, and the hand is turned up and counted, scoring it on a regular cribbage board. The crib is then counted and scored.
Gomme). (_b_) In Ross and Stead s _Holderness Glossary_ this game is described under the name of Shinnup. Robinson (_Mid Yorkshire Glossary_) gives it under Shinnops, a youth s game with a ball and stick, heavy at the striking end, the player man[oe]uvring to get as many strokes as possible and to drive the ball distances. Shinnoping is also used for the game in operation. Jowling, or Jowls, is given in Robinson s _Whitby Glossary_, as a game played much the same as Hockey. Baddin is the name given to it in Holland s _Cheshire Glossary_. Another name is Doddart (Brockett, _North Country Words_). (_c_) An old custom in vogue in bygone days was Rotherham Fair, or what was called Whipping Toms, which took place in the Newarkes every Shrove Tuesday. So soon as the pancake bell rang men and boys assembled with sticks having a knob or hook at the end. A wooden ball was thrown down, and two parties engaged in striving which could get the ball by striking it with their sticks to one end of the Newarke first--those who did so were the victors.
| -- | -- | -- | | 6.|Come all ye pretty |Come my pretty fair |Come all ye pretty | | |maids. |maid. |maids. | | 7.|And dance along with |And walk along with |And dance along with | | |us. |us. |us. | | 8.|For we are going a- | -- |For we are lads a | | |roving.
For instance: The probability of turning a black trump at whist is 13/52 + 13/52 = 26/52; because there are two black suits of 13 cards each. The only other event which can happen is a red trump, the probability of which is also 26/52, and the sum of these two probabilities is therefore 26/52 + 26/52 = 52/52, or unity. Another fallacy in connection with the maturity of the chances is shown in betting against two successive events, both improbable, one of which has happened. The odds against drawing two aces in succession from a pack of 52 cards are 220 to 1; but after an ace has been drawn the odds against the second card being an ace also are only 16 to 1, although some persons would be mad enough to bet 1000 to 1 against it, on the principle that the first draw was a great piece of luck and the second ace was practically impossible. While the four aces were in the pack the probability of drawing one was 4/52. One ace having been drawn, 3 remain in 51 cards, so the probability of getting the second is 3/51, or 1/17. Before a card was drawn, the probability of getting two aces in succession was the product of these fractions; 1/13 × 1/17 = 1/221. On the same principle the odds against two players cutting cards that are a tie, such as two Fours, are not 220 to 1, unless it is specified that the first card shall be a Four. The first player having cut, the odds against the second cutting a card of equal value are only 16 to 1. _=Dice.
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. We had to meet a number of such cases. We met them by requiring the capturing force--or, to be precise, four men of it--actually to pass the axle of the gun before it could be taken. All sorts of odd little difficulties arose too, connected with the use of the guns as a shelter from fire, and very exact rules had to be made to avoid tilting the nose and raising the breech of a gun in order to use it as cover.... We still found it difficult to introduce any imitation into our game of either retreat or the surrender of men not actually taken prisoners in a melee. Both things were possible by the rules, but nobody did them because there was no inducement to do them. Games were apt to end obstinately with the death or capture of the last man.
| -- | -- |You shall have a | | | | |drake. | | 21.| -- | -- | -- | | 22.| -- | -- | -- | | 23.| -- |All sorts of colours | -- | | | |lying by his side. | | |[8.]|We ll all go roving. | -- | -- | | 24.| -- | -- |You shall have a young| | | | |man. | | 25.
|Girl makes a pudding. |Girl makes a pudding. | |10.|Husband cuts a slice. |Boy cuts a slice. |Asks boy to taste. | |11.|Fixing of wedding day.|Fixing of wedding day.|Fixing of wedding day.
The third hand is marked with whatever cards of the sequence K Q J are not in the caller’s hand. Many players fall into the error of leading the highest card of a losing sequence, such as a 6 from 6 5 4 3. This accomplishes nothing, and only discloses to the adversaries the fact that the caller is safe in that suit. The three is the better lead. _=Following Suit.=_ The caller should usually play a card as little inferior as he can to the highest already on the trick. When he has cards of equal value, such as the 5 and 2, the 3 and 4 being already on the table, he should play the lower card of the fourchette; for although it may be said that the fourth player must take the trick, there is no certainty that he will follow suit. When second hand, if there is a choice between two cards, such as the 6 and 2, an intermediate card having been led, it is often a nice point to decide whether or not to risk covering and keeping the deuce. If the deuce is played, it must be remembered that the adversaries will follow with their highest cards, leaving two cards out against the caller, both smaller than the 6. _=Discarding.
=_ If a player announces a combination which he does not show; such as fours, when he has only three, which he may easily do by mistaking a Jack for a King, _his_ adversary can compel him not only to take down the score erroneously marked, but to lead or play one of the three Kings. A player may be called upon to lead or play cards from other erroneous declarations in the same manner; but if he has the right card or cards in his hand, he is permitted to amend his error, provided he has not drawn a card from the stock in the meantime. _=The Last Nine Tricks.=_ When the stock is exhausted, all announcements are at an end, and the players take back into their hands all the cards upon the table which may remain from the combinations declared in the course of play. The winner of the previous trick then leads any card he pleases, but for the last nine tricks the second player in each must not only follow suit, but must win the trick if he can, either with a superior card or with a trump. Any player failing to follow suit or to win a trick, when able to do so, may be compelled to take back his cards to the point where the error occurred, and to replay the hand from that point. In France he is penalised by counting nothing from that point on, either for brisques or for the last trick. The winner of the _=last trick=_ scores fifty points for it immediately. _=SCORING.=_ Each deal is a complete game in itself, and the winner is the player who has scored the most points for carte blanche, combinations, and the last trick.
Bag o Malt A bag o malt, a bag o salt, Ten tens a hundred. --Northall s _English Folk Rhymes_, p. 394. Two children stand back to back, linked near the armpits, and weigh each other as they repeat these lines. See Weigh the Butter. Ball I. Stottie ba , hinnie ba, tell to me How mony bairns am I to hae? Ane to live, and ane to dee, And ane to sit on the nurse s knee! --Chambers _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, p. 115. II.
Seven. Eight. Nine.] When proper markers are not obtainable, many persons cut eight slits in a visiting card, and turn up the points. [Illustration: Visiting-Card Marker.] Whatever the apparatus employed, it should be such that every player at the table can distinctly see the state of the score without drawing attention to it. _=METHODS OF CHEATING.=_ Whist offers very few opportunities to the card-sharper. When honours are counted, he may be able to keep one on the bottom of the pack until the completion of the deal by _=making the pass=_ after the cards have been cut. A _=greek=_ who possessed sufficient skill to do this without detection would be very foolish to waste his talents at the whist table; for, however large the stakes, the percentage in his favour would be very small.
At trick 11, if B leads the club, he loses his call. He must again take the chance of bringing the trumps down together. In the second example A proposes, or calls Solo, and Y over-calls him with Misère. The great point in playing against Misère is to continue leading suits in which he is known to be long, so as to give your partners discards. This B does with the two long spades, the caller being marked with the ace and others on the second trick. Then Z allows B to discard his high diamonds on the clubs. SCOTCH WHIST, OR CATCH THE TEN. _=CARDS.=_ Scotch Whist is played with a pack of 36 cards, which rank in plain suits, A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6; the Ace being highest both in play and in cutting. In the trump suit the Jack is the best card, the order being, J A K Q 10 9 8 7 6.
-+---+ | . | | . | | . | | . | | +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | .
In America, the revoke penalty is two tricks. _=The Honours=_ are the four highest trumps, A, K, Q, and J; and _=after tricks have been scored=_, partners who held three honours between them are entitled to count two points towards game; four honours counting four points. If each side has two honours, neither can count them. It is not enough to score them; after the last card has been played, they must be claimed by word of mouth. If they are not claimed before the trump is turned for the following deal, they cannot be scored. Partners who, at the beginning of a deal, are at the score of four, cannot count honours; they must get the odd trick to win the game. Should one side be out by tricks, and the other by honours, the tricks win the game, the honours counting nothing. _=Rubber Points.=_ At the conclusion of each game, the rubber points are scored, either with the oblong counters, or on the small keys of the whist-marker. If the winners of a game are five points to their adversaries’ nothing, they win a _=treble=_, and count three rubber points.
The child who holds the stick answers Yes or No in a disguised voice, and the Muffin Man then guesses who it is. He is allowed three tries. If he guesses right he joins the ring, and the child who was touched takes his place in the centre. In the Yorkshire versions no questions are asked; the blindfolded child goes to any one he can touch, and tries to guess his or her name. The other version, sent by Mr. Hardy, is played in the same way, and sung to the same tune. In the Congleton version (Miss Twemlow), the blindfolded child tries to catch one of those in the ring, when the verse is sung. The lines, with an additional four from _Shropshire Folk-lore_, are given by Miss Burne among nursery rhymes and riddles. See Buff with a Stick, Dinah. Mulberry Bush [Music] --Miss Harrison.
_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The elder hand can lead any card he pleases, announcing the suit at the same time. The dealer is bound to follow suit, if able, but he is not obliged to win the trick. As there are no trumps, the higher card, if of the suit led, wins the trick. If the second player does not follow suit, the leader wins. The winner of one trick leads for the next, and so on until all twelve tricks are played. Every time a card is played which is better than a Nine, the leader counts one for it, adding the number to the total value of his score as already announced. If the second player wins the trick with any card better than a Nine he also counts one; but if the trick is won by the player who led, there is no extra count for winning it. The winner of the _=last trick=_ counts one for it, in addition to his count for winning it with a card better than a Nine. If the leader wins it, he gets the one extra.
| | . | | . | +---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+ | | . | | . | | . | ⛂ | .
The game is also mentioned in _Useful Transactions in Philosophy_, 1708-9. French Jackie This game is played either by boys or girls or by both together. One is chosen to stand alone; the other players join hands and form a circle. The one outside the circle goes round it and touches on the back one of the circle. He then runs off round the circle, and the one who was touched runs off in the opposite direction round the circle. The aim of each player is to reach the vacant place in the circle first. The one left out has to repeat the same action. The game may go on for any length of time.--Keith (Rev. W.
=_ The numbers on both dice must be played if possible. 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.
56-58) gives some versions of this game. He considers the original to have been a European game (he had not found an English example) in which there were two mothers, a rich and a poor one; one mother begging away, one by one, all the daughters of the other. (_d_) This game no doubt originates from the country practice of hiring servants at fairs, or from a dramatic Hirings being acted at Harvest Homes. The Good-bye of mother and daughters belongs, no doubt, to the original game and early versions, and is consistent with the departure of a servant to her new home. The lover incident is an interpolation, but there may have been a request on the part of the mother to the lady not to allow the girl followers or sweethearts too soon. As to the old practice of hiring servants, Miss Burne has noted how distinctly it stamps itself upon local custom (_Shropshire Folklore_, pp. 461, 464). That the practice forms the groundwork of this game is well illustrated by the following descriptive passage. They stay usually two or three dayes with theire friends, and then aboute the fifth or sixth day after Martynmasse will they come to theire newe masters; they will depart from theire olde services any day in the weeke, but theire desire (hereaboutes) is to goe to theire newe masters eyther on a Tewsday or on a Thursday; for on a Sunday they will seldome remoove, and as for Monday, they account it ominous, for they say-- Monday flitte, Neaver sitte; but as for the other dayes in the weeke they make no greate matter. I heard a servant asked what hee could doe, whoe made this answeare-- I can sowe, I can mowe, And I can stacke; And I can doe, My master too, When my master turnes his backe.