This is played on a board with 256 squares, each player having nineteen men of distinguishing colours. At the start the men are placed in an enclosure at the corner of the board, called a “yard.” The object of the player is to get his men out of his own yard and into his adversary’s. The men move one square at a time, like a king at chess, unless a man gets to the square adjoining that occupied by another man with a space beyond it. Whether the adjoining man is his own or his adversary’s, the player can hop over it into the vacant space beyond, and he can make as many hops as there are men and spaces. This being so, a player will try to make “ladders” with his own men, placing them in a line diagonally, with a space between each, and will then hop his men over them all. As soon as he gets all his men into his adversary’s yard the game is ended. Special directions always come with the apparatus. GO-BANG. This is played on a board of 361 squares.
The age can usually afford to draw to four-card flushes, and to straights open at both ends, but should not do so when there are less than three who have paid to draw cards, or when the ante has been raised. If the age holds Kings or better before the draw, he should invariably raise the ante unless there are five players in the pool besides himself, or unless some other player has already raised. If he holds two pairs, he should do all his betting before the draw. If any other player has raised, or his own raise is re-raised, the age must use his judgment of the player and the circumstances. It is useless for the age to disguise his hand by such manœuvres as holding up an odd card to a pair, unless he raises the blind at the same time. If he draws one or two cards only, and has not raised the blind, every one will credit him for a small pair and an ace, or for a bobtail, and will inevitably call any bluff he may make. The age is the poorest position at the table for a bluff, but it is decidedly the best in which to win large pots with moderate hands. _=The Dealer=_ has the next best position to the age, and in large parties there is very little difference in the way in which the two positions should be played. The _=first bettor=_ has the worst position at the table and he should seldom come in on less than Queens. He should seldom raise the ante, even with two pairs, as he will only drive others out.
NATIONAL GAMES. There are certain games of cards which do not seem to belong to any particular family, but stand apart from other games, and have been played since their first invention with only trifling variations, giving rise to no offshoots bearing other names. These are usually the most popular games with the middle and lower classes in the countries in which they are found, and may be considered as distinctly national in character. Games that become popular with the masses always last longer than others, and the rules governing them are much better understood, and more firmly established. In the course of a century the English aristocracy have run the gamut of Quadrille, Ombre, Whist, Écarté, Bézique, Piquet, Rubicon, and Bridge; while the middle classes have stuck steadily to Cribbage for nearly two hundred years. Six of these popular games are strikingly typical of the national character, both in their construction, and in the manner of playing them. These are: Skat in Germany; Cribbage in England; Piquet in France; Conquian in Mexico; Calabrasella in Italy; and Cassino in America. All these are excellent games, and have deservedly survived much more pretentious rivals. With the exception of Skat, little is known of the exact origin of any of these games, although most of them may be traced by their resemblance to more ancient forms. Skat is the most modern, and to-day the most popular, many persons thinking it superior to Whist.
Here we go the jingo-ring, The jingo-ring, the jingo-ring, Here we go the jingo-ring, About the merry-ma-tansie. Twice about, and then we fa , Then we fa , then we fa , Twice about, and then we fa , About the merry-ma-tansie. Guess ye wha s the young goodman, The young goodman, the young goodman, Guess ye wha s the young goodman, About the merry-ma-tansie. Honey is sweet, and so is he, So is he, so is he, Honey is sweet, and so is he, About the merry-ma-tansie. [Or-- Apples are sour, and so is he, So is he, so is he, Apples are sour, and so is he, About the merry-ma-tansie.] He s married wi a gay gold ring, A gay gold ring, a gay gold ring, He s married wi a gay gold ring, About the merry-ma-tansie. A gay gold ring s a cankerous thing, A cankerous thing, a cankerous thing, A gay gold ring s a cankerous thing, About the merry-ma-tansie. Now they re married, I wish them joy, I wish them joy, I wish them joy, Now they re married, I wish them joy, About the merry-ma-tansie. Father and mother they must obey, Must obey, must obey, Father and mother they must obey, About the merry-ma-tansie. Loving each other like sister and brother, Sister and brother, sister and brother, Loving each other like sister and brother, About the merry-ma-tansie.
Hawkey. Headicks and Pinticks. Heads and Tails. Hecklebirnie. Hen and Chicken. Here comes a Lusty Wooer. Here comes One Virgin. Here I sit on a Cold Green Bank. Here stands a Young Man. Here we go around, around.
D for Dame, or Queen. T for Thurm, or Rook. L for Läufer, or Bishop. S for Springer, or Knight. The Pawn is called a Bauer, but when it is moved no initial is given, simply the square it comes from. In Diagram No. 12, for instance, the English notation for the first two moves made by white would be:--P-K 4, and K Kt-B 3, or, Kt-K B 3. The German notation would be:--e 2-e 4; and S g 1-f 3. The move of the Knight, it will be observed, gives the initial of the piece and the square upon which it stands, and then the square to which it is moved. A capture is indicated by the letter “n” taking the place of the dash.
Honours last. 6. Honours, unless claimed before the trump card of the following deal is turned up, cannot be scored. 7. To score honours is not sufficient; they must be called at the end of the hand; if so called, they may be scored at any time during the game. 8. The winners gain-- I. A treble, or game of three points, when their adversaries have not scored. II. A double, or game of two points, when their adversaries have scored less than three.
--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor). XIII. I had a little dog, it shan t bite you, Shan t bite you, shan t bite you, Nor you, nor you, nor you. I had a little cat, it shan t scratch you, Shan t scratch you, nor you, nor you. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it. And one of you have picked it up and put it in your pocket. It wasn t you, it wasn t you, nor you, nor you, but it was _you_. --London (A.
It shows a solid suit, or five or six sure tricks in hand. In a losing suit it is a loud call for the partner to go no trumps if he can. A free bid in a losing suit shows the high cards; in a winning suit it shows the tricks in hand. _=A Forced Bid=_ is one that is necessary to over-call, such as two diamonds over a heart. This does not mean that the caller would have bid two diamonds originally. A player who must indicate a lead against a no-trumper makes a forced bid. _=The Original Lead.=_ The first card must be played before dummy’s hand is exposed. _=OPENING LEADS.=_ The position which we have first to consider is that of the eldest hand, usually designated by the letter “A,” who sits on the declarer’s left.
Jamieson says, Lothian children, while carrying one of their number in this manner, repeat the following rhyme-- Lend me a pin to stick i my thumb, To carry the lady to London town. He says this method of carrying is often used as a substitute for a chair in conveying adult persons from one place to another, especially when infirm. In other counties it is called Queen s Cushion and Queen s Chair, also Cat s Carriage. Brockett (_North Country Words_) says, King s Cushion, a sort of seat made by two persons crossing their hands, in which to place a third. The thrones on the reverses of the early Royal Seals of England and Scotland consist of swords, spears, snakes, &c., placed in the manner of a King s Cushion. The method used is for both children to grasp the wrist of his left hand with the right, while he lays hold of the right wrist of his companion with his left hand. This way of hoisting or carrying is still used by schoolboys when they desire to honour a boy who has distinguished himself in the playground or schoolroom. See Carry my Lady to London. Kirk the Gussie A sort of play.
We cut down the number of shots per move to four, and we required that four men should be within six inches of a gun for it to be in action at all. Without four men it could neither fire nor move--it was out of action; and if it moved, the four men had to go with it. Moreover, to put an end to that little resistant body of men behind a house, we required that after a gun had been fired it should remain, without alteration of the elevation, pointing in the direction of its last shot, and have two men placed one on either side of the end of its trail. This secured a certain exposure on the part of concealed and sheltered gunners. It was no longer possible to go on shooting out of a perfect security for ever. All this favoured the attack and led to a livelier game. Our next step was to abolish the tedium due to the elaborate aiming of the guns, by fixing a time limit for every move. We made this an outside limit at first, ten minutes, but afterwards we discovered that it made the game much more warlike to cut the time down to a length that would barely permit a slow-moving player to fire all his guns and move all his men. This led to small bodies of men lagging and getting left, to careless exposures, to rapid, less accurate shooting, and just that eventfulness one would expect in the hurry and passion of real fighting. It also made the game brisker.
Gomme). I saw a ship a sailin , A sailin on the sea, And oh, it was laden With pretty things for me [thee]. There were comfits in the cabin, And apples in the hold; The sails were made of silk, And the masts were made of gold. Four and twenty sailors That sat upon the deck, Were four and twenty white mice With chains about their necks. The captain was a duck, With a packet on his back; And when the ship began to move, The captain cried Quack! quack! --Northamptonshire, _Revue Celtique_, iv. 200; Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, No. ccclxxvii. (_b_) A number of little girls join hands and form a ring. They all jump round and sing the verses. The game ends by the girls following one of their number in a string, all quacking like ducks.
Grose gives _dump_ as signifying a deep hole of water (_Provincial Glossary_). Dust-point A game in which boys placed their points in a heap, and threw at them with a stone. Weber and Nares give wrong explanations. It is alluded to in Cotton s Works, 1734, p. 184. I ll venter on their heads my brindled cow, With any boy at dust-point they shall play. --Peacham s _Thalia s Banquet_, 1620. Nares (_Glossary_) suggests that this game and blow-point resembled the game of Push-pin. See also Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Eller Tree A number of young men and women stand in a line, a tall girl at one end of the line representing the tree.
There are two forms of Bézique in common use; the ordinary game, which will be first described, and the variation known as Rubicon Bézique, which is to Bézique proper what Railroad Euchre is to Euchre. _=CARDS.=_ Bézique is played with two packs of thirty-two cards each, all below the Seven being deleted, and the two packs being then shuffled together and used as one. It is better to have both packs of the same colour and pattern, but it is not absolutely necessary. The cards rank, A 10 K Q J 9 8 7; the Ace being the highest, both in cutting and in play. [Illustration: PULL-UP BÉZIQUE MARKER.] _=COUNTERS.=_ Special markers are made for scoring at Bézique; but the score may easily be kept by means of counters. Each player should be provided with four white, four blue, and one red, together with some special marker, such as a copper cent or a button. The button stands for 500 points, each blue counter for 100, the red for 50, and the white ones for 10 each.
=_ Each deal is a game in itself, and the loser pays one counter for it. If the game is a tie, called a _=tableau=_, each puts up a counter for a pool, and the winner of the next game takes the pool, in addition to the counter paid by his adversary. If the next game is also a tableau, each player adds another counter to the pool, and so on until it is won. _=Dealing.=_ Ten cards are dealt to each player in five rounds of two at a time, and the twenty remaining in the stock are laid upon the table face down, between the players, but a little to the left of the dealer. The stock may be slightly spread, to facilitate the process of drawing cards from it. _=Objects of the Game.=_The object of each player is to form triplets, fours, and sequences, by combining the cards dealt him with others drawn from the stock. These combinations are laid upon the table, face up, and the player wins the game who first succeeds in laying down eleven cards in this manner. _=Sequences=_ must be all of the same suit, and cannot be shorter than three cards.
e._, he must not cross the middle line of the board, before his adversary makes his first move. Such several moves are to be collectively considered as the first move of the player accepting the odds. VI. In the odds of check-mating on a particular square it must be the square occupied by the King mated, not by the man giving the mate. VII. The player who undertakes to win in a particular manner, and either draws the game, or wins in some other manner, must be adjudged to be the loser. In all other respects, the play in games at odds must be governed by the regulations before laid down. RULES FOR PLAYING CORRESPONDENCE AND CONSULTATION GAMES. I.
” If he thinks he can improve his chances by drawing cards, allowing the dealer the same privilege of course, he says: “_=I propose=_;” or simply: “_=Cards=_.” In reply the dealer may either accept the proposal by asking: “_=How many?=_” or he may refuse, by saying: “_=Play=_.” If he gives cards, he may also take cards himself, after having helped his adversary. If he refuses, he must win at least three tricks or lose two points; and if the pone plays without proposing, he must make three tricks, or lose two points. The hands on which a player should stand, and those on which the dealer should refuse are known as _=jeux de règle=_, and will be found in the suggestions for good play. A proposal, acceptance, or refusal once made cannot be changed or taken back, and the number of cards asked for cannot be corrected. _=DISCARDING.=_ If the pone proposes, and the dealer asks: “How many?” the elder hand discards any number of cards from one to five, placing them on his right. These discards, once quitted, must not again be looked at. A player looking at his own or his adversary’s discards can be called upon to play with his cards exposed face upward on the table, but not liable to be called.
_=Taking Tricks.=_ The methods of taking tricks, and placing them so that they can be easily counted, have been fully described in connection with whist. _=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ As in whist, the object is to take tricks; the highest card played of the suit led wins, and trumps win against all other suits. The first six tricks taken by one side, and forming a _=book=_, do not count; but all above that number count toward game. At the end of each hand, the side that has taken any tricks in excess of the book scores them, their opponents counting nothing. As soon as either side reaches five points, they win the game, but the concluding hand must be played out, and the winners are entitled to score all the points over five that they can make on that hand. For instance: The score is 4 to 3 in favor of Vivant and Mort. They win the first seven tricks, which makes them game; but they do not cease playing. If they succeed in gaining eleven tricks out of the thirteen, they win a game of 9 points, instead of 5.
To lose 12 tricks, after having discarded a card which is not to be shown; the single player’s remaining twelve cards being exposed face up on the table, but not liable to be called; _=Little Spread=_. To win _=Ten Tricks=_. To lose every trick, no trump suit, the single player’s cards being exposed on the table, but not liable to be called; _=Grand Spread=_. To win _=Eleven Tricks=_. To win _=Twelve Tricks=_. To win 13 tricks; _=Slam=_. To win 13 tricks, the single player’s cards exposed face up on the table, but not liable to be called; _=Spread Slam=_. The object of the bidder, if successful in securing the privilege of playing, is to win or lose the proposed number of tricks, against the combined efforts of his adversaries. Having once made a bid, he must play it unless he is over-called. _=METHOD OF BIDDING.
(4.) The small Shankies, with a crest (livery waistcoat buttons), 6 points, and the large corresponding, 7 points. (5.) The small Shankies, with coat of arms, value 8 points, and the large corresponding, 9 points. (6.) Ornamental and various other buttons, such as regimental, official, mounted and engraved in flowers, and other designs according to arrangement, up to 20 points. See Banger, Cots and Twisses. Buzz and Bandy A local name for Hockey, which was formerly a very popular game among the young men of Shrewsbury and Much Wenlock. Called simply Bandy at Ludlow and Newport.--_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p.
If, in or after cutting and prior to the beginning of the deal, a card be exposed, or if any doubt exist as to the place of the cut, the dealer must reshuffle and the same player must cut again. 33. After the pack has been properly cut, it should not be reshuffled or recut except as provided in Law 32. 34. Should the dealer shuffle after the cut, his adversaries may also shuffle and the pack must be cut again. 35. The fifty-two cards must be dealt face downward. The deal is completed when the last card is dealt. 36. In the event of a misdeal, the same pack must be dealt again by the same player.
_=THE POOL.=_ In addition to the counters won or lost on each hand, a pool is formed by each dealer in his turn placing five counters in a small tray provided for the purpose. This pool may be increased by penalties, etc., and the whole amount may be won under certain conditions, as at Boston. There is no limit to the amount of a single pool. _=PLAYERS.=_ The number of players, methods of _=Cutting=_, _Dealing_, etc., are the same as those already described in connection with Boston, except that no trump is turned for first preference, the suits always having a determined rank; diamonds being first, hearts next, then clubs, and last spades. No-trump, or “grand,” outranks diamonds. Twelve deals is a game; after which the players cut out if there are more than four belonging to the table, or if other candidates are waiting to play.
Greek, (grec) a card sharp. Guarded Cards, cards which cannot be caught by higher cards unless they are led through. Hand, the cards dealt to one player; the distribution of the cards in any one deal. A “remarkable hand” might be the play of an entire deal at Whist, for instance. Heading a Trick, playing a better card than any already played to the trick, but not necessarily the best in the hand. Heeled Bets, bets at Faro which play one card to win and another to lose, but do not win or lose double the amount if both events come on the same turn. Hinterhand, G., the last player on the first trick, (Skat). His Heels, the Jack turned up for a starter at Cribbage. His Nobs, Jack of the same suit as the starter at Cribbage.
=_ Foul strokes do not score to the player, who must allow his opponent to follow on. They are made thus: By striking a ball twice with the cue; by touching with the hand, ball, or cue an opponent’s or the red ball; by playing with the wrong ball; by lifting both feet from the floor when playing; by playing at the striker’s own ball and displacing it ever so little (except while taking aim, when it shall be replaced, and he shall play again). _=12.=_ The penalty for a foul stroke is losing the lead, and, in case of a score, an opponent must have the red ball spotted, and himself break the balls, when the player who made the foul must follow suit, both playing from the D. If the foul is not claimed the player continues to score, if he can. _=13.=_ After being pocketed or forced off the table the red ball must be spotted on the top spot, but if that is occupied by another ball the red must be placed on the centre spot between the middle pockets. _=14.=_ If in taking aim the player moves his ball and causes it to strike another, even without intending to make a stroke, a foul stroke may be claimed by an adversary. (See Rule Fifteenth.