] _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ The four players at Boston are distinguished by the letters A Y B Z. [Illustration: Y +-------+ | | A| |B | | +-------+ Z ] Z is the dealer, and A is known as the _=eldest hand=_. There are no partnerships in Boston, except that of three players combined against the fourth, who is always spoken of as _=the caller=_. The players having once taken their seats are not allowed to change them without the consent of all the others at the table. _=DEALING.=_ At the beginning of the game the two packs are thoroughly shuffled; after which they must not again be shuffled during the progress of the game. If a hand is dealt and not played, each player must sort his cards into suits and sequences before they are gathered and dealt again. At the beginning of each deal, one pack is presented to the players to be cut; each having the privilege of cutting once, the dealer last. Beginning on his left, the dealer gives four cards to each player, then four more, and finally five; no trump being turned.
This is apparently the same game as the well-known I love my love with an A because she is amiable. In this game every player has to repeat the same sentence, but using a different adjective, which adjective must begin with the letter A. Various sentences follow. At the next round the adjectives all begin with B; the next C, until a small story has been built up. Forfeits were exacted for every failure or mistake. The formula usually was-- I love my love with an A because she is ( ). I hate her with an A because she is ( ). I took her to the sign of the ( ), and treated her to ( ). The result was ( ). Mollish s Land Cornish name for Tom Tiddler s Ground.
| -- |Build it up with wood | -- | | | |and clay. | | |24.| -- |Wood and clay will | -- | | | |wash away. | | |25.| -- |Build it up with stone| -- | | | |so strong. | | |26.|Get a man to watch all| -- | -- | | |night. | | | |27.|Perhaps that man might| -- | -- | | |fall asleep. | | | |28.
--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Buck, Buck A boy stoops so that his arms rest on a table; another boy sits on him as he would on a horse. He then holds up (say) three fingers, and says-- Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up? The stooping boy guesses, and if he says a wrong number the other says-- [Two] you say and three there be; Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up? When the stooping boy guesses rightly the other says-- [Four] you say and [four] there be; Buck, buck, rise up. The boy then gets off and stoops for the other one to mount, and the game is played again.--London (J. P. Emslie). Similar action accompanies the following rhyme:-- Inkum, jinkum, Jeremy buck, Yamdy horns do au cock up? Two thà sès, and three there is, Au ll lea n thee to la ke at Inkum. --Almondbury (Easther s _Glossary_). A different action occurs in other places.
The hands were held in the posture described by Halliwell, but any child was pitched upon for the first finder, and afterwards the child in whose hands the ring was found had to be finder. There was no guessing; the closed hands were looked into (A. B. Gomme). Mr. Addy has collected a similar game called My lady s lost a gold ring, and Mr. Newell (_Games and Songs of American Children_, p. 150) has another, Hold fast my gold ring. Dibbs A game played with the small knuckle-bones taken from legs of mutton; these bones are themselves called dibs (Lowsley s _Glossary of Berkshire Words_). Holloway s _Dictionary_ says five of these bones are used by boys, with which they play a game called Dibs in West Sussex.
In three or four cases only is this altered to gathering a player s nuts away, which is obviously an alteration to try and make the action coincide exactly with the words. The game is always played in lines, and the principal incidents running throughout all the versions are the same, _i.e._, one player is selected by one line of players from their opponents party. The selected one is refused by her party unless some one from the opposite side can effect her capture by a contest of strength. In all versions but two or three this contest takes place between the two; in one or two all the players join in the trial of strength. In another instance there appears to be no contest, but the selected player crosses over to the opposite side. Two important incidents occur in the Bocking and Symondsbury versions. In the Bocking game the side which is victorious has the right to begin the next game first: this also occurs in the Barnes version. In Symondsbury, when one child is drawn over the boundary line by one from the opposite side she has to be crowned immediately.
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The rule for having four in the game, if possible, is one of the greatest safeguards, unless the dealer is in secret partnership with one of the players. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ The chief things to master in Skat are the values of the hands, the principles of bidding on them, the best methods of playing them, and the proper methods of combining forces with your partner for the time being, in order to defeat the single player. _=Bidding.=_ Some persons attach a great deal of importance to the odds for and against certain cards being in the Skat. If a player without three is forced to risk finding a Matadore in the Skat, it is usually enough for him to know that the odds are about 3 to 1 against it. It is much more important for him to consider what cards may make against him, and what they would count. It is often necessary to estimate very closely the number of points that must fall on a certain number of leads. For instance: You are Vorhand, and hold these cards:-- [Illustration: 🂫 🂻 🃋 🃞 🃝 🃙 🃘 🃗 🃇 🂧 ] Even if you find the Ace and Ten with the best Wenzel in one hand against you, you have an almost certain club Solo, for if you lead a Wenzel, your adversary must either take it, or give you the Ace or Ten. If he wins it, and his partner gives him a Ten of another suit, and they then proceed to make both the Aces and Tens of your weak suits, that will give them only 56 points, and you will make every other trick.
Having led the Ten from K J 10 x, if the Ace or Queen wins the first trick, the K should be next led. Having led the Four from Q J 6 4 2, if Ace or King falls to the first trick, the Queen should be led. If the Jack, Queen, and Ace fall to the first trick, a player holding both Ten and Nine should lead the Ten. After leading high cards from some combinations, and winning the trick, they may no longer contain either the best or the second and third best. Such are the following:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂭 🂧 🂤 🂢 | 🂾 🂽 🂺 🂴 🃁 🃋 🃉 🃄 🃃 | 🂮 🂭 🂧 🂤 🃑 🃙 🃘 🃔 🃓 | 🃎 🃋 🃊 🃄 ] The rule in all such cases is to follow with the card of uniformity, the original fourth-best. If the combinations are those from which the fourth-best had been led originally, and the leader has neither the best, nor both second and third best to go on with, he should continue with the lowest card in his hand, unless he had six or more in suit; in which case he may go on with the remaining fourth-best. _=AVOID CHANGING SUITS.=_ A player having once begun with a suit, either for the purpose of establishing it, or of taking tricks in it, should not change it until he is forced to do so. Running off to untried suits is one of the beginner’s worst faults. There are five good reasons for changing suits, and unless one of them can be applied, the suit should be continued: 1st.
_=Pools.=_ Vingt-et-un is sometimes played with a pool. Each player contributes one counter at the start, and the pool is afterward fed by penalties. Every player who is créve puts in a counter; all ties with the dealer pay one, and the dealer pays one for any irregularity in dealing. The pool may be kept to pay for refreshments, like the kitty in Poker, or it may be won by the first natural shown, as may be agreed. _=Probabilities.=_ The only point in the game is for a player to know what hands to stand on, and what to draw to. The dealer is guided by the cards dealt to other players, and by what they ask for. The other players should stand on 17, but draw on 16. In practice it has been found that the odds are about 2 to 1 in favour of drawing at 16; 3 to 1 for drawing at 15.
By this method a glance will show how many each side or player has “to go,” that is, how many will put him out. _=PLAYERS.=_ Two, three or four persons may play. When three play, the game resembles Cut-throat Euchre, each for himself. When four play, two are partners against the other two, and the partners sit opposite each other. The player on the dealer’s left, or his adversary if only two play, is always spoken of as the eldest or elder hand. The one on the dealer’s right is the pone. _=CUTTING.=_ If there are four players, they cut for partners, deal, and choice of seats. The two lowest are partners against the two highest; the highest cut has the choice of seats, and deals the first hand.