If he takes your Knight with his Pawn, you will take his K B P with your Bishop, and say “Check.” If he takes the Bishop you win his Queen. If he moves his King you check again with your other Bishop, which will force him to take your black Bishop, and lose his Queen. BxQ K-K2 7 ------ 8 ---------- BxP ch K-Kt5 mate If the beginner will examine the position, he will find that there is no way of escape for the King, and Black wins. Openings are usually divided into five principal classes: Those in which the first piece developed is the _=King’s Knight=_; those in which the _=King’s Bishop=_ is the first piece brought into play; those in which a _=Gambit=_ is offered on the second move, usually a sacrificed Pawn; those which are called _=Close=_ openings, securing a good defensive game for the black pieces; and those which are _=Irregular=_. In the following outline of fifty of the openings, only the first four moves are given, and usually only one variation is selected, the object being more to give the student an idea of the development than to exhaust the subject. The arrangement is alphabetical, that being more convenient in a book of reference. For the continuations the student is recommended to study “Freeborough,” or the “Handbuch des Schachspiels.” Allgaier Gambit:-- P-K4 P-KB4 Kt-KB3 P-KR4 1 ---- 2 ----- 3 ------ 4 ----- P-K4 PxP P-KKt4 P-Kt5 Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit:-- P-K4 B-B4 Kt-KB3 Kt-B3 1 ---- 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ----- P-K4 Kt-KB3 KtxP KtxKt Berlin Defence:-- P-K4 B-B4 Q-K2 P-QB3 1 ---- 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ----- P-K4 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 B-B4 Blackmar Gambit:-- P-Q4 P-K4 P-KB3 KtxP 1 ---- 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ----- P-Q4 PxP PxP B-B4 Calabrese Counter Gambit:-- P-K4 B-B4 P-Q3 P-B4 1 ---- 2 ----- 3 ------ 4 ---- P-K4 P-KB4 Kt-KB3 P-Q4 Centre Gambit:-- P-K4 P-Q4 QxP Q-K3 1 ---- 2 ----- 3 ------ 4 -------- P-K4 PxP Kt-QB3 B-Kt5 ch Centre Counter Gambit:-- P-K4 PxP Kt-QB3 P-Q4 1 ---- 2 ----- 3 ------ 4 ------ P-Q4 QxP Q-Q sq Kt-KB3 Classical Defence, to K. B.
_Westminster Papers_, Vols. X. and XI. BLIND HOOKEY. This game is sometimes called Dutch Bank. Any number of persons may play, and a full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The cards rank from the A K Q down to the deuce. Any player may shuffle, the dealer last. The pack is then cut, and the reunited parts are placed in the centre of the table. The players then cut it into several packets, none less than four cards, all of which remain on the table face down.
It is almost impossible to get out the whole fifty-two for $260, but it is done occasionally. I DOUBT IT. This is a good round game, any number taking part. The full pack of fifty-two cards is dealt round, one card at a time as far as it will go equally, the remainder being left in the centre of the table, face down. Any one can deal. The player to the left of the dealer starts the game by taking from his hand any three cards he pleases and laying them on the table in front of him face down. He then announces, “These are three jacks,” or anything he likes to call them, there being no obligation to tell the truth about it, so the cards might actually be a six four and a deuce. Each player in turn to the left can doubt the statement that the cards are three jacks, or he can pass. If any player in his proper turn says, “I doubt it,” the three cards are at once turned face up. If the statement is not correct, the three cards are at once taken back into the player’s hand, together with all the cards lying face down in the centre of the table at the time.
All that is necessary is to drive the King to the edge of the board, which may be done by holding him below a certain parallel with the Q or R, and then getting your own King in front of him; a check will then drive him one line further back, and when he arrives at the edge of the board, and can no longer go back, he is mated. K and Q against K and R. Freeborough has devoted an entire volume to this ending, which may be very much prolonged by a skilful player. The object is to drive the King to the edge of the board, and then to get the Rook in such a position that it must be sacrificed to save the mate, or that the mate can be accomplished with the Rook on the board. The player with the Queen must be on his guard against stale-mate in this ending. K and Q against K and B, K and Kt, or K and P. This is easy enough for the Queen if the player is careful to avoid stale-mate. K and two R’s against K and R. This can be won easily by forcing an exchange of Rooks. K and two B’s against K.
| | . | | . | | . | | +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | . | | .
They then stop. Buff extends his wand, and the person to whom it happens to be pointed must step out of the circle to hold the end in his hand. Buff then interrogates the holder of the wand by grunting three times, and is answered in like manner. Buff then guesses who is the holder of the wand. If he guesses rightly, the holder of the stick becomes Buff, and he joins the ring (_Winter Evening s Amusements_, p. 6). When I played at this game the ring of children walked in silence three times only round Buff, then stopped and knelt or stooped down on the ground, strict silence being observed. Buff asked three questions (anything he chose) of the child to whom he pointed the stick, who replied by imitating cries of animals or birds (A. B. Gomme).
Mr. Newell gives the tune to which the game was sung. The words are almost identical. This game is played in the same way as Jolly Miller, which see. Johnny Rover One boy is chosen to be Johnny Rover. The other players stand near him. Rover cries out-- A [I] warn ye ance, A warn you twice; A warn ye three times over; A warn ye a t be witty an wise An flee fae Johnny Rover. While the words are being repeated all the players are putting themselves on the alert, and when they are finished they run off in all directions, with Rover in full pursuit. If a player is hard pressed he has the privilege of running to Parley, the place from which the players started, and which in all games is an asylum. If he is caught before he reaches it, he becomes Johnny Rover for the next game.
” Good usage demands that those at the table should have the refusal of any bet made by a player, before it is offered to an outsider. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The player on the dealer’s left begins by leading any card he chooses, and the others must all follow suit if they can. Failure to follow suit when able is called _=revoking=_; the penalty for which, under the American laws, is the loss of two tricks; under the English laws, three tricks or points. Any player having none of the suit led may either trump it or throw away a card of another suit, which is called _=discarding=_. When it is the dealer’s turn to play to the first trick, he should take the trump card into his hand. After it has been taken up it must not be named, and any player naming it is subject to a penalty, (see Laws;) but a player may ask what the trump _=suit=_ is. If all follow suit, the highest card played wins the trick; trumps win against all other suits, and a higher trump wins a lower. The winner of the trick may lead any card he pleases for the next trick, and so on until all thirteen tricks have been played. _=Cards Played in Error=_, or dropped face upward on the table, or two or more played at once, are called _=exposed cards=_, and must be left on the table.
O ] Balls not exceeding six inches must be bowled, and they must be rolled down the alley (not cast or thrown). The rules of American Ten Pins except in St. Louis, where there is a special association with local rules, generally govern this game also, with the exception of three balls instead of two to the frame, but strikes and spares count three instead of ten, and each pin counts one as in Ten Pins. If the bowler knocks down three pins with the ball which is first bowled, in any frame in the game of Cocked Hat, it is a strike, and counts three, and is marked on the blackboard the same as in Ten Pins. What pins the bowler knocks down in the second frame with his first two balls must be reckoned as in Ten Pins, i.e., one for each pin bowled down, which pin or pins must be added to the strike and placed to the credit of the player in the inning where the strike was scored (the strike being computed as three); such strike must be added to pins knocked down with the two succeeding spare balls; thus, should the bowler score a strike, and should he in the next new frame knock down but one pin with his two spare balls, the strike and pin scored must be computed as 4--the strike counting 3 and the pin 1. Poodles, or balls rolled down the gutter, are fair balls, and any pin or pins which they may get must be counted and placed to the credit of the bowler; dead wood is removed from the alley, and any pins knocked down through dead wood remaining on the alley cannot be placed to the credit of the bowler. The maximum number which can be bowled is 90. COCKED HAT AND FEATHER.
When you are long in a suit, if you lead out the winning cards first, your partner may have none to lead you later on, and if you cannot make every trick in the suit before you lose the lead, you may never make anything but your one or two high cards. The difference in the leads at no-trump is covered by a very simple rule; if you have only two honours in sequence, do not lead either of them, but begin with the fourth-best, even if your honours are the Ace and King. But if you have three honours in the suit, two of them in sequence, always lead an honour against a no-trumper. The exception to this rule is, that when you are so long in the suit that you may catch some high cards with your high cards, you lead them first. With six or seven in suit to the A K, for instance, lead the King, on the chance of dropping the Queen. With seven in suit headed by the Ace, lead the Ace, but never with less than seven without the King. With six in suit, you may lead the King from K Q, without either Jack or 10; but with less than six in suit never lead the King from K Q unless you have the 10 or the J also. _=THIRD HAND PLAY.=_ The leader’s partner must do his best to inform his partner as to the distribution of his suit. The method of doing this is entirely different when there is a trump from that which is adopted when there is no trump.
” If all pass, the dealer must decide. The dealer has the advantage of being allowed to take the trump card into his own hand, discarding one of his worthless cards in its place. If he thinks he can make three tricks with the turn-up suit for trumps, and his partner’s probable assistance, or can win five tricks by playing alone, he discards any card he pleases, placing it under the remainder of the pack, face down, and without showing or naming it. If the dealer decides to play alone, it is usual for him to pass his discard across the table to his partner, face down, so that there may be no misunderstanding his intention. The dealer may take up the trump card at any time during the play of the hand; but it is usual to leave it on the pack until it is played to a trick. No one but the dealer can take the trump into his hand. _=TURNING DOWN THE TRUMP.=_ If the dealer fears that he and his partner cannot make three tricks with the turn-up suit for trumps, or would prefer to have the suit changed, he can pass. If he passes, he takes the trump card from the top of the pack, and places it face upward, and partly under the pack, in such a manner that it can be distinctly seen. [Illustration: [🃘 on top of pack [Facedown pack covering facedown card] covering 🃘] TAKEN UP.
The players bet a certain amount of money, and the caster covers it, or as much of it as he can. If the caster does not take all the bets offered, players may back him against the other players. The bets made, the caster shoots. If the total of the two dice on the first throw is seven or eleven, it is called a _=nick=_, or _=natural=_, and the caster immediately wins the stakes. If the first throw is two, three or twelve, it is a _=crap=_, and the caster immediately loses. If the caster throws any number, 4, 5, _6_, 8, 9, or 10, that number is his _=point=_, and he must continue throwing until he throws the same number again, in which case he wins; or throws a seven, in which case he loses. Two dice may come up in thirty-six different ways, each of which will produce one or more of eleven possible throws, running from 2 to 12. The most common throw is seven, because there are six ways that the two dice may come that will make seven; 6-1, 5-2, 4-3, 3-4, 2-5 and 1-6. The most uncommon are two and twelve, because there is only one way for each of them to come; double aces or double sixes. The numbers of different ways in which each throw may come are as follows:-- 7 may come 6 different ways.
4 Eights, reverses in business or love; 3 Eights, marriage; 2 Eights, trouble. 4 Sevens, intrigues; 3 Sevens, pleasure; 2 Sevens, small affairs and gossip. _=THE CONSULTATION.=_ There are several ways of telling fortunes, but one example will suffice. The most important thing is to know what your client wants to be told, and the next is to be sure that she cuts the cards with her left hand. The cards are shuffled, presented to be cut, and then counted off into sevens, every seventh card being laid face up on the table, the six intermediates being placed on the bottom of the pack each time. When twelve cards have been obtained in this manner, they are laid out in a row, and examined to see if the card representing the questioner is among them. If not, they must be gathered, shuffled, cut, and dealt again. A married man with light hair would be the ♢ K, with dark hair, the ♣ K. If he claims to be single, the ♡ J.
Gomme). This game resembles one described by F. H. Low in _Strand Mag._, ii. 516. London Bridge [Music] --Wrotham, Kent (Miss D. Kimball) [Music] --Rimbault s _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 34. [Music] --Enborne School, Berks.
--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 60). Dab Dab a prin in my lottery book; Dab ane, dab twa, dab a your prins awa . A game in which a pin is put at random in a school-book, between the leaves of which little pictures are placed. The successful adventurer is the person who puts the pin between two leaves including a picture which is the prize, and the pin itself is the forfeit (_Blackwood s Magazine_, Aug. 1821, p. 36). This was a general school game in West London in 1860-1866 (G. L. Gomme).
If the offender has won any tricks, the payment for them must be left in the pool in white counters, to be divided among the winners of the next pool. The offences are divided, some being paid for to the current pool, such as those for errors in the deal, while others are not paid until the current pool has been divided. If any player looks at his hand before his turn to declare, or the dealer does so before asking the others whether or not they will play, or if any player announces his intention out of his proper turn; the offender in each case forfeits three red counters to the current pool, and cannot win anything that deal, but he may play his hand in order to keep counters in the pool. If he plays and is looed, he must pay. _=Revokes.=_ If a player, when able to do so, fails to follow suit, or to head the trick, or to lead trumps, or to lead the ace of trumps, (or King when ace is turned,) or to trump a suit of which he is void, the hands are abandoned on discovery of the error, and the pool is divided as equally as possible among those who declared to play, with the exception of the offender. Any odd white counters must be left for the next pool. The player in fault is then held guilty of a revoke, and must pay a forfeit of six red counters to the next pool. The reason for the division of the pool is that there is no satisfactory way to determine how the play would have resulted had the revoke not occurred. It is impossible to take back the cards and replay them, because no one would have a right to judge how much a person’s play was altered by his knowledge of the cards in the other hands.
Two versions from Sporle, Norfolk, which vary slightly from the Leicester, have been sent by Miss Matthews. The versions given from Lancashire, Yorks., Nottingham, and North Staffs. have been selected to show the process of decadence in the game. Hopper has first become upper, and then other. Of the North Staffs. Potteries version Miss Keary says, How it ends I have never been able to make out; no one about here seems to know either. With the exception of these few variants, it is singular how stereotyped the words of the rhyme have become in this game. (_d_) This game may owe its origin to the fact of the miller in olden times paying himself in kind from the corn brought to him to be ground. The miller is a well-known object of satire in old ballads and mediaeval writers.
COMMIT. The etymology of this word has been quite overlooked by those who have described the game. The word is from the French, cométe, a comet; but instead of being an equivalent in English, it is simply a phonetic equivalent; Commit, instead of Comet. Tenac informs us that the game was invented during the appearance of Halley’s comet; and the idea of the game is that of a string of cards forming a tail to the one first played, a feature which is common to quite a number of the older games of cards. Commit is played by any number of persons, with a pack of fifty-one cards, the Eight of diamonds having been deleted. The players draw for positions at the table and for the first deal, and make up a pool. The cards have no value except the order of their sequence in the various suits. The ace is not in sequence with the King, but below the 2. The dealer distributes the cards, one at a time to each player in rotation, as far as they will go, leaving any odd cards on the table face downward, to form what are known as _=stops=_. As it is desirable to have a number of these stops, it is usual to give only nine cards to each when there are five players.
Please may I go out to play? How long will you stay? Three hours in a day. Will you come when I call you? No. Will you come when I fetch you? Yes. Make then your curtseys and be off. The girls then scamper off as before, and as they run about the field keep calling out, I won t go home till seven o clock, I won t go home till seven o clock. After they have been running about for some five or ten minutes the Mother calls Alice (or whatever the name may be) to come home, when the one addressed will run all the faster, crying louder than before, I won t go home till seven o clock. Then the Mother commences to chase them until she catches them, and when she gets them to any particular place in the field where the others are playing, she says-- Where have you been? Up to grandmother s. What have you done that you have been away so long? I have cleaned the grate and dusted the room. What did she give you? A piece of bread and cheese so big as a house, and a piece of plum cake so big as a mouse. Where s my share? Up in higher cupboard.
The arrangements for the cards, seats, antes, buck, etc., are precisely as at Straight Poker; but in dealing, only the first card is dealt face down, the remaining four being turned up by the dealer as he gives them out. Each player in turn then looks at his _=down card=_, and the betting proceeds as in Straight Poker, each player having the privilege of passing once before a bet is made. A much more popular method is to stop the deal at two cards, each player having received one face down, and another face up. The best card showing then makes the first bet, and each player in turn must meet it, raise it, or pass out of that pool. If no one will call, the player making the bet takes the pool, and the next deal. If a bet is made and called, those in the call do not show their down cards, but are each given another card, face up, and the same betting process is gone through, the best hand showing face up making the first bet in each round. As long as two or more players remain in the pool they are given more cards until they have five. Then the final betting is done, and if a call is made, the down cards are shown, and the best poker hand wins the pool. Straight flushes do not count.
My instructions were to clear up the country to the east of Firely Church. We came very speedily into touch. I discovered the enemy advancing upon Hook s Farm and Firely Church, evidently with the intention of holding those two positions and giving me a warm welcome. I have by me a photograph or so of the battlefield and also a little sketch I used upon the field. They will give the intelligent reader a far better idea of the encounter than any so-called fine writing can do. The original advance of the enemy was through the open country behind Firely Church and Hook s Farm; I sighted him between the points marked A A and B B, and his force was divided into two columns, with very little cover or possibility of communication between them if once the intervening ground was under fire. I reckoned about 22 to his left and 50 or 60 to his right. [Footnote: Here again the gallant gentleman errs; this time he magnifies.] Evidently he meant to seize both Firely Church and Hook s Farm, get his guns into action, and pound my little force to pieces while it was still practically in the open. He could reach both these admirable positions before I could hope to get a man there.
Having two cards, one for the players and one for himself, the banker turns up cards one at a time. If he draws the same denomination as the players’ card, he wins all the bets upon it. If he draws his own denomination, he loses all bets upon the other card. If he draws a card that matches neither, and is not in the hand cards, it is placed on the table, and the players can bet upon it. As soon as the players’ card is matched, the banker withdraws both cards, but he cannot withdraw his own card. All cards matching the hand cards must be placed with them. TABLE GAMES. The common form of folding chess-board provides a field for three of our best known games; Chess, Checkers, and Backgammon, which are generally spoken of as “table games,” although, strictly speaking, Backgammon is the only game of Tables. These three games were probably played long before history noticed them, and they have survived almost all ancient forms of amusement. _=Chess=_ is not only the most important of the three, but the most widely known, and possesses the most extensive literature.