Règles de tous les Jeux, by Dreyfous. Bohn’s Handbook of Games. Piquet, and Rubicon Piquet, by Berkeley. Laws of Piquet, by “Cavendish.” _Westminster Papers_, Vols. II. to IX. inclusive. There are excellent articles on the Laws in Vols. III.
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Strength in Trumps, enough to justify a player in passing a doubtful trick; usually four or five at least. Strengthening Cards, those which are of no practical trick-taking value to the leader, but which may be useful to the partner; usually restricted to Q J 10 9. String Bets, those that take all the odd or all the even cards to play one way, win or lose, at Faro. Strippers, cards trimmed so that certain ones may be pulled out of the pack at will. Strohman, G., the dummy at Whist or Bridge. Strong Suits, those in which a number of tricks can be made after the adverse trumps are out of the way. Sub Echo, a trump signal in a plain suit, made after partner has led trumps, and the player has not echoed on the trump lead. Sub-sneak, a two-card suit which is led for the sole purpose of getting a ruff on the third round. Sweating Out, winning a game without taking any risks, by waiting for the trifling points that fall to your share.
H.” It is said that he learned the game from a friend, who had been taught it by a Wendish coachman in his employ. The game spread rapidly, and soon became popular all over Germany, but with many minor variations in the details of play. To settle these, a Skat congress was finally held in Altenburg in 1886. This was succeeded by others in Leipzic and Dresden, and the result of these meetings has been to weed out all the minor differences in play, and to settle upon a universal code of laws for the game, which is called Reichs-Skat. In America, Reichs-Skat is no longer played; the value of some of the games is changed, and all the bidding is by Zahlen-reizen. In all the text-books on Skat which we have examined, this fact has been entirely overlooked. SKAT. The etymology of the word Skat, sometimes spelt Scat, is a matter of doubt, but the most plausible explanation is that it is a corruption of one of the terms in the parent game of Taroc; “scart,” from “scarto,” what is left; or “scartare,” to discard or reject. “Matadore” is another word from the game of Taroc, still retained in Skat.
=_ For convenience in illustrating games and problems the men are always shown as placed on the white squares, type made in that manner being more easily read. The following diagram will show the proper arrangement of the men at the beginning of the game, if the white squares are supposed to be black ones:-- [Illustration: +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] _=Two Move Restriction.=_ It has lately become the custom in important tournaments to write an opening and second move, such as 10-14, 22-17 on a slip of paper; 10-14, 24-19 on another, and so on for all possible openings. These are placed in a hat and when the players face each other, a slip is drawn. If it is 11-15, 22-18, the game must be opened with those moves. When these players start the second game, the one who was second player on the first game begins with 11-15, and his opponent must play 22-18. The same opening is never again used by the same pair, the object being to diversify the play and drive contestants out of their favourite ruts. _=The Players=_ are designated by the colour of the men with which they play, White or Black, and Black always has the first move. In a series of games each player in turn takes the black men and the move. It is usual to draw for the first game, one player concealing in each hand a man of different colour, and offering the choice of hands to his adversary.
Lammas A party of boys take a few straws, and endeavour to hold one between the chin and the turned-down under-lip, pronouncing the following rhyme-- I bought a beard at Lammas fair, It s a awa but ae hair; Wag, beardie, wag! He who repeats this oftenest without dropping the straw is held to have won the game (Chambers _Popular Rhymes_, p. 115). This game-rhyme has an interesting reference to Lammas, and it may also refer to the hiring of servants. Brockett (_North Country Words_, p. 221) says, At a fair or market where country servants are hired, those who offer themselves stand in the market-place with a piece of straw or green branch in their mouths to distinguish them. Lamploo A goal having been selected and bounds determined, the promoters used to prepare the others by calling at the top of their voices-- Lamp! Lamp! Laa-o! Those that don t run shan t play-o! Then one of the spryest lads is elected to commence, thus:--First touching the goal with his foot or leaning against it, and clasping his hands so as to produce the letter W in the dumb alphabet, he pursues the other players, who are not so handicapped, when, if he succeeds in touching one without unclasping his hands, they both make a rush for the goal. Should either of the other boys succeed in overtaking one of these before reaching that spot, he has the privilege of riding him home pick-a-back. Then these two boys (_i.e._, the original pursuer and the one caught), joining hands, carry on the game as before, incurring a similar penalty in case of being overtaken as already described.
If the bidder and his partner fail to get the odd trick in a grand, his opponents count double for each trick they win over the book, but in nullos there is no double value. _=PENALTIES.=_ In case of a revoke, the side in fault gives three tricks to its opponents in grands, or receives three if it is a nullo. The penalty for a lead out of turn is to call a suit. RUM. There are several varieties of this game, and quite a number of ways of playing them, but the standard method, as adopted by the best clubs, is that here given. The principal divisions of the game are those played with the single pack, and those played with the double pack and two jokers. SINGLE-PACK RUM. _=CARDS.=_ The full pack of fifty-two cards is used, ranking from the K Q J down to the ace, the suits having no rank.
=_ Each gentleman should carefully note the number of the hand originally dealt at the table from which he starts. He progresses until he meets this hand again. The first to observe this should give notice to the company by a bell tap, as all the gentlemen must meet their original hands at the same time. Instead of stopping at the table at which this tray is encountered, all the gentlemen move on to the next, leaving the trays as they are. This skip enables each to finish the round without playing any of the hands twice. _=Scoring.=_ There must be four winners; the ladies with the best scores for the N & E hands respectively, and the gentlemen with the best S & W scores. If a choice is necessary, the lady and the gentleman taking the greatest number of tricks above the average should be selected as the winners. _=MARRIED COUPLES.=_ Safford has an ingenious schedule for eight married couples, so arranged in two sets that no husband and wife are ever in the same set at the same time.
Every card faced upon the table otherwise than in the regular course of play, but not including a card led out of turn. II. Every card thrown with the one led or played to the current trick. The player must indicate the one led or played. III. Every card so held by a player that his partner sees any portion of its face. IV. All the cards in a hand lowered or shown by a player so that his partner sees more than one card of it. V. Every card named by the player holding it.