The most important point in the game is to _=cinch=_ every trick in which an adversary plays after you; that is, to play some trump higher than a Pedro, if the Pedroes have not been played, and you do not hold them yourself. Examples of cinching will be found in the Illustrative Hands. If your partner leads a certain winning trump, such as the ace, or the King if the ace is gone, give him the best counting card you have; but if you have two, one of them being Low, give up the lower card first; you may catch something with the Jack or Ten. If your partner leads any trump higher than the Five, play your smallest trump unless second hand covers, in which case you must cinch the trick, to prevent the fourth hand from giving up a Pedro on his partner’s trick. If you are forced to win your partner’s first lead of trumps, return the best trump you have, unless it is the Jack or Ten, in which case you must be guided by the number of points you are playing for, and your chances of making them if you lose the card you lead. If your partner begins by leading a plain suit, you must cinch the trick if you can; if second hand follows suit, any trump better than the Five will do. If second hand puts on a trump, you must cinch higher. If the player on your right renounces to trumps, get into the lead if possible, and play your best cards in plain suits. This may give your partner a tenace position over the player on your left. If partner begins with a high card in trumps, not the ace, credit him with the sequence below it, and put in your Pedro at the first opportunity.
Now, in actual civilised warfare small detached bodies do not sell their lives dearly; a considerably larger force is able to make them prisoners without difficulty. Accordingly we decided that if a blue force, for example, has one or more men isolated, and a red force of at least double the strength of this isolated detachment moves up to contact with it, the blue men will be considered to be prisoners. 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.
=_ No matter who is the successful bidder, the eldest hand always leads for the first trick, and the others must follow suit if they can, the play proceeding exactly as in Whist. Tricks should be carefully stacked, there being the same penalties as in Boston for calling attention to the score. The methods of playing misères and spreads have already been described in connection with Boston. When piccolissimo is played, the moment the single player takes more than one trick the hands are thrown up, and the stakes paid. _=REVOKES.=_ The rules governing these and cards played in error, are the same as at Boston. In piccolissimo, the penalties are the same as in misère. _=PAYMENTS.=_ If the caller succeeds in winning the proposed number of tricks, he is paid by each of his adversaries according to the value of his bid, as shown in Table No. 1.
If Y accepts him they make no change in their positions at the table, but play into each other’s hands, just as at Solo Whist, B and Z being partners against them. A and Y together must win ten tricks, with diamonds for trumps. If no one makes a proposal of any sort, _=Misère Partout=_ is played; there being no trump suit. The player or players taking the least number of tricks win or divide the pool. There are no other losses or gains in Misère Partout. _=HONOURS.=_ In any call in which there is a trump suit, the A K Q and J of trumps are honours, and may be counted by the successful bidder if he carries out his proposal. If the single player, or a caller and his partner have all four honours dealt them, they score as for four over-tricks; if three, as for two over-tricks. Honours do not count for the adversaries under any circumstances. In bidding on a hand, it must be remembered that although honours will count as over-tricks in payments, they cannot be bid on.
(c) A “tray” is a device for retaining the hands of a deal and indicating the order of playing them. (d) The player who is entitled to the trump card is termed the “dealer,” whether the cards have or have not been dealt by him. (e) The first play of a deal is termed “the original play;” the second or any subsequent play of such deal, the “overplay.” (f) “Duplicate Whist” is that form of the game of whist in which each deal is played only once by each player, and in which each deal is so overplayed as to bring the play of teams, pairs of individuals into comparison. (g) A player “renounces” when he does not follow suit to the card led; he “renounces in error” when, although holding one or more cards of the suit led, he plays a card of a different suit; if such renounce in error is not lawfully corrected it constitutes a “revoke.” (h) A card is “played” whenever, in the course of play, it is placed or dropped face upwards on the table. (i) A trick is “turned and quitted” when all four players have turned and quitted their respective cards. LAW I.--SHUFFLING. SEC.
Nevertheless, when well done, by a good talker, fortune telling is very amusing, especially in a small company. BANKING GAMES. There are two distinct classes of banking games; those that can be played without any apparatus but a pack of cards and some counters; and those which require a permanent establishment and expensive paraphernalia. Among the first, probably the best known banking games are: Vingt-et-un, Baccara, Blind Hookey, and Fan Tan, the latter requiring only one card, the face of which is never seen. In the second class, which are often called table games, probably the best known are: Faro, Keno, Roulette, Rouge et Noir, and Chuck Luck. Each of these games has a number of offshoots, and the distinctions between the original and the variation are sometimes so minute as to be hardly worth mentioning. As a matter of reference, and for the convenience of those who hear these variations spoken of, their names and chief characteristics are here given. Banking games, properly so-called, are those in which one player is continually opposed to all the others. In round games, each player is for himself, but no player is selected for the common enemy. In partnership games, the sides are equally divided, and any advantage in the deal or lead passes alternately from one to the other.
The trump is usually placed face up under the last card of the stock. In _=Sixty-four-card Binocle=_, the Sevens and Eights are added to the pack. There are then two ways to play: If eight cards are dealt to each player, the game is simply Bézique, except for some minor details relating to the combinations and their value. These are usually disregarded, and the regular game of Bézique is played. If twelve cards are dealt to each player, the game is the same as the one about to be described, but with eight cards added to the pack, and the Seven taking the place of the Nine for dix. _=Misdealing.=_ 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. If either player has too few cards, the pone may demand a new deal, or may allow the dealer to supply the deficiency from the top of the stock. If any card is found exposed in the pack, there must be a new deal.
=_ Shuffle and cut the pack, and deal the cards one at a time, face upward, into twelve piles, and continue dealing on the top of these twelve until the pack is exhausted. This will give you four piles which contain one card more than the others. Then take off any two of the top cards which will make 14, reckoning the Jack as 11, the Queen as _12_ and the King as 13, all the others at their face value. Only two cards must be used to make 14. If you succeed in taking off all the cards in this manner, you win. You are at liberty to look at the underneath cards in the various piles, but you must not disturb their positions. _=HELP YOUR NEIGHBOUR.=_ Take from the pack the four aces, and lay them face upward on the table in a row. These are to be built upon in ascending sequences, following suit. Shuffle and cut the remaining forty-eight cards, and deal off four starters in a row, below the aces.
The tune from Kent is the one generally used in London versions. The tune of a country dance called London Bridge is given in Playford s _Dancing Master_, 1728 edition. [4] Another informant gives the refrain, Grand says the little Dee. [5] I have identified this with a version played at Westminster and another taught to my children by a Hanwell girl.--A. B. G. Long-duck A number of children take hold of each other s hands and form a half-circle. The two children at one end of the line lift up their arms, so as to form an arch, and call Bid, bid, bid, the usual cry for calling ducks. Then the children at the other end pass in order through the arch.