_=THE POOL.=_ Each successive dealer puts up five counters, to form or to augment the pool. _=DEALING.=_ The cards having been properly shuffled and cut, five are given to each player; two the first round and three the next, or three the first round and two the next. An extra hand, known as the _=widow=_, is dealt face downward in the centre of the table. The dealer gives cards to the widow just before dealing to himself in each round. When all are helped, the next card is turned up for the trump. Irregularities in the deal are governed by the same rules as in Spoil Five. _=DECLARING TO PLAY.=_ Each player in turn, beginning with the eldest hand, may either play or pass.
All these points, including Low, count to the player winning them, and not to the players to whom they are dealt. This saves endless disputes. _=BIDDING.=_ Beginning with the eldest hand, each player in turn, after examining his nine cards, can make _=one bid=_ for the privilege of naming the trump suit. The peculiarity of this bidding is that nobody sells, the bids being made _=to the board=_, as it is called. The bidder announces the number of points he thinks he can make (with his partner’s assistance) but does not name the trump suit. If a player will not bid, he says: “_=I pass=_.” After a bid has been made in its proper turn, any following player must bid higher or pass. No one is allowed to bid more than fourteen. There are no second bids, and a bid once made cannot be amended or withdrawn.
Bumper, a rubber of eight points at English Whist. Burnt Cards, cards which are turned face upward on the bottom of the pack, usually in banking games. Calling for Trumps, the ask for trumps. Cannon, (Am. carrom,) a count made at billiards by causing the cue ball to touch two object balls. Capot, F., winning all the tricks. Cards, the number of tricks over six at Whist, such as “two by cards.” The majority of cards at Cassino. Carrer, (se) to straddle the blind.
3; the pin farthest from the string line is No. 4; and the central or black pin, No. 5. These numbers may be chalked on the cloth in front of each particular pin. Neither carroms nor hazards count; for pocketing a ball (when playing on a pocket table), or causing it to jump off the table or lodge on the cushion, or for missing altogether, nothing is forfeited other than the stroke. The only penalty is that the ball so offending shall be spotted upon the white-ball spot at the foot of the table, or if that be occupied then on the nearest spot thereto unoccupied. When the pins are arranged, the rotation of the players is determined in like manner as in Fifteen-Ball Pool, after which each player receives from the marker a little numbered ball which is placed in the player’s cup on the pool board, and the number of which is not known to any of his opponents. The object of the player is to knock down as many pins as will count exactly thirty-one when the number on the small ball held by him is added to their aggregate; thus, if the small ball is No. 9, the player will have to gain twenty-two points on the pins before calling game, and whoever first gets exactly thirty-one points in this manner wins the pool. A white ball is spotted five inches from the lower end of the table, on a line drawn down the centre; and the red ball placed upon its own spot at the foot of the table.
_ Ludus Empusæ. Scotch hoppers, or Fox in the hole. A similar game to this is played at Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Mr. Hardy), and called Goose and Gander. Two players, the Goose and the Gander, stand in a ring, each on one leg. They hop out in turn, and try to catch one of the other players without letting their other leg touch the ground. If they fail in this they get strapped back to the ring. When either are successful, the player who is caught takes the place of either Goose or Gander in turn. 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.
_=BIDDING.=_ The bidding goes round until no one will go any higher. The eldest hand starts by naming the number of points he will make if allowed to name the trump and lead to the first trick, but he does not name the suit he purposes picking out. It is not necessary to lead a trump. There are two ways to bid. In some places there are seventeen points to be played for in each deal; one for each trick of the thirteen and one for each of the four honours, ace king queen and jack, in the trump suit. Honours count to the side winning them, and not to the original holders, so that a player holding the four top honours in any suit could safely bid eight; four tricks and four honors being a certainty, but if that was all he made he would lose on the deal, as the other side would score nine points out of the seventeen. In other places, it is the rule that the bidder must make the odd trick or he cannot count honours or anything else. There are then only eleven points to be played for in each deal; seven odd tricks and four honours. Any player bidding four would have to win the odd and three honors, or two odd and two honours, or something to make up his bid.
[Illustration: No. 13. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | ⛂ | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | ⛀ | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] [Illustration: No. 14. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | ⛂ | | ⛀ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | ⛀ | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] In Diagram No. 13, if White moves 24 19 he loses, because Black goes to 11, and as the tailors advance to head him off, he goes back to 15 and 18, and then gets round by going to 14. White’s proper play is 22 18, after which 26 22 will reform his line. In Diagram No. 14, if White moves 26 22, or 19 15, he loses immediately. In the first case Black will run to 15 and 11, and either get round or double back to 18.
338). In _Chronicles of London Bridge_, pp. 152, 153, the author says he obtained the following note from a Bristol correspondent:-- About forty years ago, one moonlight night in the streets of Bristol, my attention was attracted by a dance and chorus of boys and girls, to which the words of this ballad gave measure. The breaking down of the Bridge was announced as the dancers moved round in a circle hand in hand, and the question, How shall we build it up again? was chanted by the leader while the rest stood still. This correspondent also sent the tune the children sang, which is printed in the _Chronicles of London Bridge_. This was evidently the same game, but it would appear that the verses have also been used as a song, and it would be interesting to find out which is the more ancient of the two--the song or the game; and to do this it is necessary that we should know something of the history of the song. A correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ (ii. 338) speaks of it as a lullaby song well known in the southern part of Kent and in Lincolnshire. In the _Gentleman s Magazine_ (1823, Part II. p.
I heaved at the thousand-dollar bills I had had marked in the morning, without the faintest idea of where they were. The tray lurched in the waiter s hand, throwing glasses to the floor. Most of them shattered when they struck the real wood planks, splashing whisky and mix on our legs. I looked across the table and grinned at Fowler Smythe. His scowl had an awful lot of forehead to work on. What the devil! I could read his lips say over the racket. But Barney, the stick-man who d felt my Blackout, caught on a lot quicker. I was about to freeze him with a clamp on his thyroid. It s just as effective as wrapping your fingers around the throat. But Pheola upset the apple cart.
If the adversaries have reached three or four, the winners mark one, for a _=single=_. The rubber points having been marked, all other scores are turned down. The side winning the rubber adds two points to its score for so doing. The value of the rubber is determined by deducting from the score of the winners any rubber points that may have been made by their adversaries. The smallest rubber possible to win is one point; the winners having scored two singles and the rubber, equal to four; from which they have to deduct a triple made by their adversaries. The largest rubber possible is eight points, called a _=bumper=_, the winners having scored two triples and the rubber, to their adversaries’ nothing. It is sometimes important to observe the order of precedence in scoring. For instance: if, at the beginning of a hand, A-B have three points to Y-Z’s nothing, and A-B make two by honours, Y-Z winning three by cards, Y-Z mark first; so that A-B win only a _=single=_, instead of a _=treble=_. On the contrary, should A-B make two by cards, Y-Z claiming four by honours, A-B win a treble; as their tricks put them out before it is Y-Z’s turn to count. In America, where rubbers are played without counting honours, it is not usual to reckon rubber points; but simply to add some agreed value to the score of those winning the odd game.
Then the children at the other end pass in order through the arch. This process is repeated, and they go circling round the field.--Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. See Duck Dance. Long Tag See Long Terrace. Long-Tawl A game at marbles where each takes aim at the other in turn, a marble being paid in forfeit to whichever of the players may make a hit.--Lowsley s _Berkshire Glossary_. Long Terrace Every player chooses a partner. The couples stand immediately in front of each other, forming a long line, one remaining outside of the line on the right-hand side, who is called the Clapper. The object of the game is for the last couple to reach the top of the line, each running on different sides, and keeping to the side on which they are standing.
In some places the game is said in a sing-song manner. Some of the versions differ from the general type in two ways--first, in the method of playing; secondly, in the wording of the verses. The differences in the method of playing direct attention to the connection of the game with ancient custom. The game is always played by the players taking sides; but one method is for one side to consist of only two children (Mother and Jenny Jones), and the other side to consist of all the other players; while the other method is for the players to be divided into two sides of about equal numbers, each side advancing and retiring in line when singing their part. Jenny Jones in some cases walks with the girls in her line until the funeral, when she is carried to the grave, and in others she stands alone behind the line. The way of performing the funeral also differs. Generally two of the players carry Jenny to the grave, the rest following two by two; but in one Hampshire version six or eight children carry Jenny, stretched out and flat, to the grave, and cover her over; in Holywood, co. Down, she is carried sitting on the crossed hands of two players; while in some versions no funeral is apparently performed, the words only being sung. Another significant incident is the Ghost. An additional incident occurs in the Liphook version, which represents her being swung to life again by two of the players.
In each case, upon reaching the goal without dropping it, throw up and catch it as it falls. In the second plan (fig. 2) the game is:--Throw stone into No. 1. Pick it up. Hop, not touching lines, from No. 1 to No. 4, and out. Throw stone into No. 2.
He may safely bid 5 or 6, taking _=E=_ for a partner if successful, as _=E=_ very probably has one or both the black Bowers. If he bids 5 only, the dealer, _=A=_, would have an excellent chance to bid 6 in hearts, and to take _=B=_ and _=F=_ for two of his partners, and _=G=_ for the third, trusting to find him with the Joker, or at least protection in one or both black suits. If the successful bidder has had no previous bids to guide him in his choice of partners, he should take those who have the lowest scores, if the scores are known; because it is to his advantage to avoid advancing those who are perhaps already ahead. When the scores are not known, there is nothing but luck to guide one, unless a person has a very good memory, and knows which players are probably behind. _=Leading.=_ If the successful bidder wants 6 or 7 tricks, and holds the Joker, he should lead it at once. If he has not the Joker, he should begin with a low trump, and give his partners a chance to play the Joker on the first round. If the leader cannot exhaust the trumps with one or two rounds, it will sometimes be to his advantage to lead any losing card he may have in the plain suits, in order to let his partners win the trick if they can. In playing alone, it is absolutely necessary to exhaust the trumps before opening a plain suit. Partners should avail themselves of the methods common to four-handed Euchre to support one another in trumps and plain suits.