In this manner it will be seen that the winner of each trick must always get a card which is known to his adversary, while the loser of the trick gets one which remains unknown. When the talon is exhausted, the thirteen cards in each hand should be known to both players if they have been observant, and the end game becomes a problem in double dummy. _=STAKES.=_ The game is usually played for so much a point, the player having won the majority of the tricks receiving the difference between the number of his tricks and those of his adversary. Each game is complete in one hand. In many respects the game resembles single-handed Hearts, except that in Hearts none of the cards drawn are shown. CHINESE WHIST. _=CARDS.=_ Chinese Whist is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing. _=MARKERS.
When he catches a boy he must count from one to ten in succession before he leaves hold of the boy, that boy in the meantime trying to get away. If King Cæsar succeeds in holding a boy, this boy stays in the centre with him and assists in catching the other players (always counting ten before a captive is secured). The dens must always be occupied by some players. If all the players get into one den, King Cæsar can go into the empty den and say, Crown the base, one, two, three, three times before any of the other players get across to that den. If he succeeds in doing this, he can select a boy to run across from one den to the other, which that boy must do, King Cæsar trying to catch him. Other and bigger boys can help this one to get across, to save him from being captured, either by carrying him or running across with him. The game ends when all have been captured and are in the centre. King Cæsar and the other captured boys can leave the centre if they each successively catch three players.--Barnes (A. B.
When _=six=_ play, three are partners against the other three, and the opposing players sit alternately round the table. _=STAKES.=_ If there is any stake upon the game, its amount must be settled before play begins. When _=rubbers=_ are played, it is usual to make the stake so much a rubber point. If the winners of the game are five points to their adversaries’ nothing, they win a _=treble=_, and count three rubber points. If the losers have scored one or two points only, the winners mark two points for a _=double=_. If the losers have reached three or four, the winners mark one for a _=single=_. The side winning the rubber adds two points to its score for so doing; so that the largest rubber possible is one of eight points;--two triples to nothing, and two added for the rubber. The smallest possible is one point;--two singles and the rubber, against a triple. If the first two games are won by the same partners, the third is not played.
[Illustration] When side is put upon a ball, it spins in that direction. If it is struck on the left, and then goes to a cushion directly in front of it, it will tend to fly off the cushion toward the left, making the angle wider. If a ball spinning to the left goes to a cushion on the left, it will tend to make the angle smaller, and the effect so produced is called _=reverse English=_, which tends to slow the cue ball. THE AMERICAN GAME. In the American game every carrom counts one point, and the number of points that will constitute a game must be agreed upon before play begins. The players string for the lead, the one bringing his ball nearer the head cushion having the choice of balls and of the first shot. The great art in the American game is to keep the balls in front of you, so as to leave yourself a comparatively easy shot. Every time you get the cue ball between the two others you will find yourself in difficulties; but whenever both the balls are in front of the cue ball, there will be some chance to score. When there is a choice of several ways of making a shot, the balls being wide apart, it will usually be found that one of them will bring the balls into better position than the others, and for that reason it is called a _=gathering shot=_. The expert tries to get the balls on the rail by a series of these gathering shots, and if any of the three positions shown in the diagram can be arrived at, a large run may be made by the _=rail nurse=_.
Hey Wullie Wine. Hickety, Bickety. Hickety-hackety. Hick, Step, and Jump. Hide and Seek (1). Hide and Seek (2). Hinch-Pinch. Hinmost o Three. Hirtschin Hairy. Hiry-hag.
| Crockham Hill. | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.| -- | -- | -- | | 2.| -- | -- | -- | | 3.| -- | -- | -- | | 4.| -- | -- | -- | | 5.| -- |L. B. is broken down. |L.
For instance: You know from the cards you hold, and those played, that your adversary must have in his hand the cards that will make a double bézique on the table into a triple bézique, which would give him 1500 points. If, on counting the stock, you find only six cards remain, and you have three certain winning trumps to lead, you can shut out his 1500 by exhausting the stock before he can win a trick. _=Irregular Announcements.=_ If a player announces a combination which he does not show; such as fours, when he has only three, which he may easily do by mistaking a Jack for a King, _his_ adversary can compel him not only to take down the score erroneously marked, but to lead or play one of the three Kings. A player may be called upon to lead or play cards from other erroneous declarations in the same manner; but if he has the right card or cards in his hand, he is permitted to amend his error, provided he has not drawn a card from the stock in the meantime. _=The Last Nine Tricks.=_ When the stock is exhausted, all announcements are at an end, and the players take back into their hands all the cards upon the table which may remain from the combinations declared in the course of play. The winner of the previous trick then leads any card he pleases, but for the last nine tricks the second player in each must not only follow suit, but must win the trick if he can, either with a superior card or with a trump. Any player failing to follow suit or to win a trick, when able to do so, may be compelled to take back his cards to the point where the error occurred, and to replay the hand from that point. In France he is penalised by counting nothing from that point on, either for brisques or for the last trick.
=_ It is a misdeal if the dealer omits to have the pack cut, and the error is discovered before the last card is dealt; if he deals a card incorrectly, and does not remedy the error before dealing another; or if he counts the cards on the table, or those remaining in the pack; or if it is discovered before all have played to the first trick that any player has too many or too few cards. A misdeal loses the deal unless one of the other players has touched the cards, or has in any way interrupted the dealer. If any card is exposed by the dealer, the player to whom it is dealt may demand a new deal, provided he has not touched any of his cards. Any one dealing out of turn, or with the wrong cards, may be stopped before the last card is dealt. After that the deal stands good, and the packs, if changed, must so remain. _=IRREGULAR HANDS.=_ If, after the first trick has been played to, any two players are found to have more or less than their correct number of cards, the pack being perfect, the one having less must draw, face downward, from the hand of the one having more; and each must pay five counters into the pool. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ As a general proposition, the object of each player is to avoid getting any hearts in the tricks he takes in. In some varieties of the game his object must be to take no hearts; in others it will be to take less than his adversaries; while in others it will be to take less than four.
Before a card was drawn, the probability of getting two aces in succession was the product of these fractions; 1/13 × 1/17 = 1/221. On the same principle the odds against two players cutting cards that are a tie, such as two Fours, are not 220 to 1, unless it is specified that the first card shall be a Four. The first player having cut, the odds against the second cutting a card of equal value are only 16 to 1. _=Dice.=_ In calculating the probabilities of throws with two or more dice, we must multiply together the total number of throws possible with each die separately, and then find the number of throws that will give the result required. Suppose two dice are used. Six different throws may be made with each, therefore 6 × 6 = 36 different throws are possible with the two dice together. What are the odds against one of these dice being an ace? A person unfamiliar with the science of probabilities would say that as two numbers must come up, and there are only six numbers altogether, the probability is 2/6, or exactly 2 to 1 against an ace being thrown. But this is not correct, as will be immediately apparent if we write out all the 36 possible throws with two dice; for we shall find that only 11 of the 36 contain an ace, and 25 do not. The proper way to calculate this is to take the chances against the ace on each die separately, and then to multiply them together.
| +------------+-----------+--------------+-------+-------+ Any King and Queen is _=Matrimony=_; any Queen and Jack is _=Intrigue=_; any King and Jack is _=Confederacy=_; any two cards of the same denomination form a _=Pair=_, and the diamond ace is always _=Best=_. The players draw, and the lowest card deals: ace is low. The dealer then takes any number of counters he chooses, and distributes them as he pleases on the various divisions of the layout. Each player then takes a number of counters one less than the dealer’s, and distributes them according to his fancy. The cards are then cut, and the dealer gives one to each player, face down; and then another, face up. If any of the latter should be the diamond ace, the player to whom it is dealt takes everything on the layout, and the cards are gathered and shuffled again, the deal passing to the left, the new dealer beginning a fresh pool. If the diamond ace is not turned up, each player in turn, beginning with the eldest hand, exposes his down card. The first player to discover Matrimony in his two cards, takes all that has been staked on that division of the layout. The first to discover Intrigue or Confederacy, takes all on that, and the first player to expose a Pair takes that pool. The ace of diamonds is of no value except as one of a pair, if it is one of the cards that were dealt to the players face down.
] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] [Illustration: Fig. 3.] [Illustration: Fig. 4.] (_c_) Chambers _Popular Rhymes_, p. 36, gives a slightly different version of the verses, and says they were sung by children at their sports in Glasgow. Mactaggart alludes to this game as Bumpkin Brawly, an old dance, the dance which always ends balls; the same with the Cushion almost. Wha learned you to dance, You to dance, you to dance, Wha learned you to dance A country bumpkin brawly? My mither learned me when I was young, When I was young, when I was young, My mither learned me when I was young, The country bumpkin brawly.
=_ Will annoy you in any case. Queen. A shrew or gossip. _=R.=_ She will make you tired. Jack. A bearer of bad news. _=R.=_ Worse than you expected. Ten.
Another girl, who stands in front of the line, asks the girls one by one what they would like if they could obtain their desires. After she has asked every one, she tells them to turn their faces to the wall, and calls after the girl who was sent away, saying, Little Dog, I call you. The girl replies, I shan t come to please you. I ll get a stick and make you, is the rejoinder. I don t care for that. I ve got a rice pudding for you. I shan t come for that. I ve got a dish of bones. I ll come for that. The Dog then comes.
A long suit containing the deuce should be avoided as long as possible. The caller’s cards may sometimes be inferred if there has been a previous call on the hand. For instance: A misère may be a forced call; that is, the player first called a proposal, and not being accepted, was forced to amend his call, choosing misère in preference to solo. This would indicate a long weak suit of trumps. If the dealer calls misère, the turn-up trump should be carefully noted. It is useless to persevere in suits in which the caller is evidently safe. If he plays a very low card to a trick in which there is already a high card, that suit should be stopped. _=Discarding.=_ An adversary should get rid of some one suit, if possible; for when that suit is afterwards led he will have free choice of his discards in the other suits. Short suits should be discarded in preference to high cards in long suits, unless the cards in the short suit are very low.
All a Row. All in the Well. All the Birds in the Air. All the Boys in our Town. All the Fishes in the Sea. All the Soldiers in the Town. Allicomgreenzie. Alligoshee. Almonds and Reasons. Angel and Devil.
Beats threes; but any regular straight will beat it. [Illustration: 🂾 🂱 🃂 🃃 🃔] 848 to 1 The rank of these extra hands has evidently been assigned by guess-work. The absurdity of their appraised value will be evident if we look at the first of them, the blaze, which is usually played to beat two pairs. As it is impossible to have a blaze which does not contain two pairs of court cards, all that they beat is aces up or kings up. If it were ranked, like other poker hands, by the difficulty of getting it, a blaze should beat a full hand. All these hands are improperly placed in the scale of poker values, as will be seen by comparing the odds against them. In any games to which these eccentric hands are admitted, the rank of all the combinations would be as follows, if poker principles were followed throughout:-- DENOMINATION. ODDS AGAINST. One pair 1¼ to 1 Two pairs 20 to 1 Three of a kind 46 to 1 Sequence or straight 254 to 1 Skip or Dutch straight 423 to 1 Flush 508 to 1 Tiger [Big or Little Dog] 636 to 1 Full hand 693 to 1 Round-the-corner straight 848 to 1 Blaze 3008 to 1 Four of a kind 4164 to 1 Straight flush 72192 to 1 Royal Flush [Ace high] 649739 to 1 When the true rank of these eccentric hands is not allowed, local custom must decide what they will beat. _=JOKER POKER=_, or _=MISTIGRIS=_.
WHITE. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛀ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ⛂ | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛂ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛁ | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ BLACK. ] [Illustration: _=Second Position.=_ Black to move and win. WHITE. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | ⛀ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛀ | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛁ | | | | ⛂ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ⛂ | | | | ⛃ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ BLACK. ] [Illustration: _=Third Position.=_ Either to move; White to win. WHITE. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛃ | | ⛁ | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | ⛁ | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛁ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛃ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ BLACK.
Bend-leather. Betsy Bungay. Bicky. Biddy-base. Biggly. Billet. Billy-base. Bingo. Bird-apprentice. Birds, Beasts, and Fishes.
When the dealer is four, the player may stand on much weaker hands. It is usually best to lead from guarded suits, in preference to single cards. Lead the best of a suit if you have it. If the third trick is the first you win, and you have a trump and another card, lead the trump; but if you have won two tricks, lead the plain suit. _=THE DEALER.=_ When the player asks for cards, the dealer knows that his adversary probably does not hold a jeux de règle. The dealer must not be too sure of this, however, for proposals are sometimes made on very strong hands in order to try for the vole, or to make two points on the refusal. The dealer should assume that he is opposed by the best play until he finds the contrary to be the case, and it is safest to play on the assumption that a player who proposes has not a jeux de règle. For all practical purposes it may be said that the dealer can refuse to give cards with hands a trifle less strong than those on which the player would stand. The general rule is for the dealer to give cards unless he is guarded in three suits; or has a trump, and is safe in two suits; or has two trumps, and is safe in one suit.
--Liphook, Hants; Wakefield, Yorks (Miss Fowler). IV. There _was_ a farmer _had_ a dog, His name was Bobby Bingo. B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o, His name was Bobby Bingo. --Tean, Staffs.; and North Staffs. Potteries (Miss Keary). V. The farmer s dog lay on the hearth, And Bingo was his name oh! B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o, And Bingo was his name oh! --Nottinghamshire (Miss Winfield). VI.
_=CUTTING.=_ A card is dealt round to each player, face up, and the first Jack takes the first deal. _=THE POOL.=_ Each successive dealer places three red counters in the pool. The pool is added to from time to time by penalties for infractions of the rules, and by forfeitures from players who have failed in their undertakings. Such payments are always made in red counters, the number being always three or six. When the pool is divided, it sometimes happens that a player is not allowed to withdraw his share. In such cases the red counters representing it should be changed for their value in white ones, so that the forfeited share may be divided in three parts. The difference between _=Limited Loo=_, and _=Unlimited Loo=_, is in the amounts paid into the pool. In Limited Loo the penalty is always three or six red counters.
Where s the water? Ox drank it. Where s the ox? Butcher killed it. And where s the butcher? Behind the door cracking nuts, and you may eat the shells of them if you like. --Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 219). V. 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.