Railroad Euchre is the name given to any form of the four-handed game in which every expedient is used to make points rapidly. _=Cards.=_ A pack of twenty-five cards is used, all below the 9 being deleted, and the Joker added. The Joker is always the best trump. _=Players.=_ There are four players, two being partners against the other two. Partners, deal, and seats are cut for as in the ordinary game. _=Dealing.=_ The cards are distributed as in the ordinary game; but it is usual to agree beforehand upon a suit which shall be the trump if the Joker is turned up. _=Playing Alone.
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This trump must be the 9. Z holds two more trumps, and they must be the Jack and Right Pedro, because Z would not throw away Game if he had anything smaller. The 7 must be with Y, and if A now leads trump Queen, he will leave the Pedro good over his Deuce, leaving him only 8 points, whereas he has bid 12. If A leads the Deuce, his partner’s nine will cinch the trick, and Z can make only the Jack. A-B score 10. The 12 actually taken make good the bid; but the 2 points won by the adversaries must be deducted, leaving 10 to be scored by A-B. _=No. 4.=_ At the third trick, a hasty or careless player would have been only too glad of the opportunity to get in his Pedro. But Y reasons that there are only two trumps unaccounted for, the Ten and Left Pedro.
213) gives the rhyme as-- Jack s alive, and in very good health, If he dies in your hand you must look to yourself; the game being played in the same way as the Sheffield version (see also Halliwell s _Dictionary_ and Moor s _Suffolk Words_). (_b_) This is a very significant game, and its similarity in miniature to the old tribal custom of carrying the fiery cross to rouse the clans at once suggests the possible origin of it. The detention of the fiery cross through neglect or other impediment was regarded with much dread by the inhabitants of the place in which it should occur. This subject is discussed in _Gomme s Primitive Folkmoots_, p. 279 _et seq._ Jack, Jack, the Bread s a-burning Jack, Jack, the bread s a-burning, All to a cinder; If you don t come and fetch it out We ll throw it through the winder. These lines are chanted by players that stand thus. One places his back against a wall, tree, &c., grasping another, whose back is toward him, round the waist; the second grasps a third, and so on. The player called Jack walks apart until the conclusion of the lines.
Page 402: reference to Ghost in the Garden and Ghost in the Copper. Neither is described as a separate game; probably the reference is to Ghost at the Well. Textual remarks: At least some of the quotations presented by the author are not verbatim quotations, they have been edited by the author (for example Aubrey on cockle-bread). Volume II. In the Addenda, the original work uses Arabic rather than Roman numerals for different variants; this has not been changed. The original work uses both 2-4 and 2/4 to indicate musical time; this has not been standardised. Page 199: Love another like sister and brother is probably a mistake (Love one another like sister and brother). Page 336/7: The original work does not give a source or authority for variation XXV. Changes made to the original text: Footnotes have been moved to end of the description of the game. Sources (when printed in smaller type in the original work) have been moved to a separate line where necessary.
The number of cards asked for by each player should be very carefully noted; for it will frequently happen that the entire trump suit can be located by this means. It is useless to keep anything but trumps, for tricks, as such, have no value, and every card you draw increases your chances of getting another trump. The most important point in the game is to _=cinch=_ every trick in which an adversary plays after you; that is, to play some trump higher than a Pedro, if the Pedroes have not been played, and you do not hold them yourself. Examples of cinching will be found in the Illustrative Hands. If your partner leads a certain winning trump, such as the ace, or the King if the ace is gone, give him the best counting card you have; but if you have two, one of them being Low, give up the lower card first; you may catch something with the Jack or Ten. If your partner leads any trump higher than the Five, play your smallest trump unless second hand covers, in which case you must cinch the trick, to prevent the fourth hand from giving up a Pedro on his partner’s trick. If you are forced to win your partner’s first lead of trumps, return the best trump you have, unless it is the Jack or Ten, in which case you must be guided by the number of points you are playing for, and your chances of making them if you lose the card you lead. If your partner begins by leading a plain suit, you must cinch the trick if you can; if second hand follows suit, any trump better than the Five will do. If second hand puts on a trump, you must cinch higher. If the player on your right renounces to trumps, get into the lead if possible, and play your best cards in plain suits.
Thus nine against eleven have two taken prisoners, and each side seven men dead. Four of the eleven remain with two prisoners. One may put this in another way by saying that the two forces kill each other off, man for man, until one force is double the other, which is then taken prisoner. Seven men kill seven men, and then four are left with two. (ii) But if the inferior force is not isolated (see (1) above), then each man of the inferior force kills a man of the superior force and is himself killed. And the player who has just completed the move, the one who has charged, decides, when there is any choice, which men in the melee, both of his own and of his antagonist, shall die and which shall be prisoners or captors. All these arrangements are made after the move is over, in the interval between the moves, and the time taken for the adjustment does not count as part of the usual interval for consideration. It is extra time. The player next moving may, if he has taken prisoners, move these prisoners. Prisoners may be sent under escort to the rear or wherever the capturer directs, and one man within six inches of any number of prisoners up to seven can escort these prisoners and go with them.
ISABELLA. JACK S Alive. Jack, Jack, the Bread s a-burning. Jack upon the Mopstick. Jackysteauns. Jauping Paste-eggs. Jenny Jones. Jenny Mac. Jib-Job-Jeremiah. Jiddy-cum-jiddy.
The stakes may be pins, buttons, marbles, or anything for which children gamble. One player puts a number, one, two, three or more, of the articles to be gambled for into the hollow of the closed hand, and says, Hairry my bossie; the other answers, Knock im down, upon which he puts his closed hands down with a blow on his knees, and continues to strike them upwards and downwards on the knee, so as to give the opponent in play an idea of the number of objects concealed by the sound given forth. He then says, How many blows? and gets the reply, As many s goes. A guess is then made. If the guess is correct the guesser gets the objects. If the guess is incorrect the guesser has to make up the difference between the number guessed and the real number. The players play alternately. This game was played for the most part at Christmas.--Keith (Rev. W.
One of the soldiers then goes to the fortress and endeavours by throwing herself on the clasped hands of the children forming the fortress to break down the guard (fig. 4). All the soldiers try to do this, one after the other; finally the King comes, who breaks down the guard. The whole troop of soldiers then burst through the parted arms (fig. 5). [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] [Illustration: Fig.
The same thing is gone through till all the players are discovered.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor). Jamieson says, Hy Spy, a game resembling Hide and Seek, but played in a different manner. The station, which in England is called Home, is here the Den, and those who keep it are the Seekers, and are called the Ins. Those who hide themselves, instead of crying Hoop, as in England, cry Hy spy; and they are denominated the Outs. The business of the Ins is, after the signal is given, to lay hold of the Outs before they can reach the den. The captive then becomes one of the Ins; for the honour of the game consists in the privilege of hiding oneself. Jamieson adds, Hy is still used in calling after a person, to excite attention, or when it is wished to warn him to get out of the way.
This spoils some of the fine points of the game, and entirely alters the tactics of the players, as will be seen when we come to the suggestions for good play. _=The Dice.=_ Although it is usual for each player to be provided with two dice, some players insist on the same pair being used by each player alternately; the claim being that luck will then run more evenly. At the beginning of the game each player makes a cast, either with one die or with two, as may be agreed, and the higher throw has the first play. In some clubs the player making the higher throw is allowed the option of playing the first cast, or of throwing again; but the general practice is to insist that the first cast is simply for the privilege of playing first, and that the dice must be cast again for the first move. After each throw the dice must fall within the borders of the table on the caster’s right, and each die must rest fairly and squarely on one of its faces. If it is _=cocked=_ against a man, the edge of the board, or the other die, or if it jumps over the edge of the table in which it is thrown, both dice must be taken up and cast again. The caster must announce his throw as soon as made. _=The Moves.=_ As the men on each side are moved round the board in opposite directions to reach their respective homes, they are of course obliged to meet and pass a number of the adversary’s men, and they must pick their way among them by going to points which are unoccupied by the enemy; for if there are two or more of the enemy in possession of any point, that point is said to be _=covered=_, and must be jumped over.
Cradle as at first. The different orders or arrangements must be taken from the hands of one player by another without disturbing the arrangement.--A. B. Gomme. (_b_) Nares suggests that the proper name is Cratch Cradle, and is derived from the archaic word _cratch_, meaning a manger. He gives several authorities for its use. The first-made form is not unlike a manger. Moor (_Suffolk Words_) gives the names as cat s cradle, barn-doors, bowling-green, hour-glass, pound, net, diamonds, fish-pond, fiddle. A supposed resemblance originated them.
The player with aces and kings is sure to win tricks, regardless of his partner’s hand, but deuces and treys are not sure to lose, as the partner may have all high cards, although not the tops. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR THE PLAY.=_ The declarer should count up the tricks he must win, and as a rule win them early, bunching his high cards as much as possible. Suits with two small cards and two high ones must win one trick, but should escape with that. The great point is to lead losing cards from one hand and discard dangerous cards in other suits from the other hand whenever possible. The opponents of a nullo should lead their shortest suits, so as to get discards later, keeping their eyes on the dummy and forcing it to win tricks whenever possible, but never allowing it to get a discard. The partner’s leads should be returned unless a singleton can be led at once. It is usual to lead the top of two cards, the intermediate of three or more, and to avoid leading suits that are safe, with small cards at the bottom. ILLUSTRATIVE AUCTION HANDS. Z is the dealer in both instances, but Y makes the winning declaration, so that B leads for the first trick.
_=Cards.=_ Calabrasella is played with the Spanish pack, forty cards, the 10 9 and 8 of each suit being discarded. The cards rank: 3 2 A K Q J 7 6 5 4, the 3 being the highest, and the 4 the lowest, both in cutting and in play. There are no trumps. _=Markers.=_ The game may be scored by paying and taking in counters, each player being provided with about fifty at the beginning of the game, which are purchased from a banker; but the better way is to keep account of the gains and losses of the single player in each deal, in the manner already described in connection with Skat, balancing the account at the end in the same way. _=Players.=_ Calabrasella is played by three persons, two of whom are partners against the third in each hand. If four play, the dealer takes no cards, but shares the fortunes of those who are opposed to the single player, just as in Skat. The players on the right and left of the dealer are known as the pone and the eldest hand respectively.
The Tenter tries to catch him before he can touch the wall or post or whatever is chosen for the home. If the Tenter can catch him he becomes Tenter, and puts his stone on the Duckstone, and the original Tenter takes his turn in throwing. One rule of the game is that the Tenter s stone must always be on the Duck-table when he is trying to catch a boy, so if it is knocked off it must be replaced before he can try to catch the boy running home. The chance of getting home is increased for the boy who knocks it off.--North-West Lincolnshire (Rev. ---- Roberts and Miss Peacock). (_b_) Similar versions are from Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy), Ireland (_Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 265), Peacock (_Mauley and Corringham Glossary_). Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) gives this game with the following addition: If a duck falls short of the Duckstone, and the one whose duck is on the stone sees that he can _wand_ or _span_ with his hand the distance between the duck thus thrown and the Duckstone, he shouts out Wands, and if he can wand or span the distance he takes his duck off, and the duck thus thrown is put on. Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_), Darlington (South Cheshire), Baker (_Northants Glossary_), and Brogden (_Provincial Words, Lincolnshire_), also give this game.
HUMBUG WHIST. This is a variation on double dummy, in which two players sit opposite each other. The deal and seats are cut for in the usual manner; four hands of thirteen cards each are dealt, and the last card is turned for trump. Each player examines the hand dealt to him, without touching those to his right or left. If he is content with his hand, he announces it, if not, he may exchange it for the one on his right. In case of exchange, the discarded hand is placed on the table face down; and the other taken up and played. If a player retains the hand originally dealt him, he must not look at the others. If the dealer exchanges, he loses the turn-up card, but the trump suit remains the same. Each player deals for himself in turn, there being no deal for the dead hands. Whist laws govern the deal and its errors.
If two suits are equal in number, play for the one in which you have the greatest number of cards massed in one hand. That is, if you have two suits of eight cards each, select the one that has six of those cards in one hand, in preference to the suit with four in each hand. 4. Everything else being equal, play for the suit which is shown in the Dummy, so as to conceal from the adversaries as long as possible the strength in your own hand. A suit is said to be _=established=_ when you can win every remaining trick in it, no matter who leads it. As it is very important that the hand which is longer in the suit should be able to lead it without interruption when it is established, good players make it a rule always to _=play the high cards from the shorter hand=_ first, so as to get out of the way. With Q 10 and three others in one hand, K J and one other in the other hand, the play is the K and J from the short hand, keeping the Q 10 in the long hand. If there is any choice, that suit should be selected which contains the longest sequence, or the sequence with the fewest breaks. It should be noticed that the sequence need not be in one hand; for it is almost as valuable if divided, and it is especially advantageous to have the higher cards concealed in the declarer’s hand. Its continuity is the chief point.
No. 1 places his ball on the “winning and losing” spot, No. 2 plays at No. 1, No. 3 at No. 2, and so on--each person playing at the last ball, unless the striker’s ball be in hand, when he plays at the nearest ball. _=3.=_ When a striker loses a life the next in rotation plays at the ball nearest to his own; but if this player’s ball be in hand, he plays at the ball nearest to the centre of the baulk-line, whether it be in or out of baulk. _=4.=_ When any doubt arises as to the nearest ball, the marker measures the distance, and the player strikes at the ball declared to be nearest his own.
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. _=DEALING.=_ Any player has the right to shuffle the cards, the dealer last. The pack must be presented to the pone to be cut, and he must leave at least four cards in each packet.
--Belfast (W. H. Patterson). XV. Sieve my lady s oatmeal, Grind my lady s flour; Put it in a chestnut, Let it stand an hour. One may rush, two may rush; Come, my girls, walk under the bush. --Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, Games, cclxxxviii. (_b_) The Berrington version of this game is played as follows:--Two girls face each other, holding each other by both hands. Two others face each other, holding both hands across the other two. They see-saw backwards and forwards, singing the lines (fig.