That s the instant when every eye is on the dice, trying to read the spots. And that s when the dice jumped straight up off the baize, a good six-inch hop into the air, and came down Snake Eyes, the old signal. Wow! I d had it! TK! somebody yelled. He might as well have screamed, Fire! the way that mob of gamblers scuttled away from the table. No dice, one of the dealers said automatically. He raked the hopping cubes sadly to him with his hoe-shaped dice-stick. I made a break for it with the rest of the crowd, trying to keep my eye on Sniffles. But she had the sure-loser s touch of slipping away from any authority. She vanished into the milling mob. My last glimpse had been of a skinny arm reaching up to pluck some more free _hors d oeuvres_ from a tray as she fled.
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=_.
, are the same as in ordinary Euchre. The bidder takes in all the tricks won by himself and his partners, and one of the adversaries should gather for that side. If a player on either side _=revokes=_, the adversaries score the number bid, and the hand is abandoned. _=Scoring.=_ If the bidder is successful in his undertaking, he and his partners, if any, are credited by the scorer with the number of points bid, but no more. Should a player bid five, and his side take seven, it would count them only five points. If the player making the trump fails to reach his bid, he is euchred, and the adversaries are credited with the number of points bid. _=Prizes.=_ It is usual to give two prizes for each table in play; one for the highest number of points won during the evening, and one for the smallest number; the latter being usually called the “booby” prize. _=Suggestions for Good Play.
There will be an interval before the next move, during which any disturbance of the Country can be rearranged and men accidentally overturned replaced in a proper attitude. This interval must not exceed five or four minutes, as may be agreed upon. (4) Guns must not be fired before the second move of the first player--not counting the putting down as a move. Thus the first player puts down, then the second player, the first player moves, then the second player, and the two forces are then supposed to come into effective range of each other and the first player may open fire if he wishes to do so. (5) In making his move a player must move or fire his guns if he wants to do so, before moving his men. To this rule of Guns First there is to be no exception. (6) Every soldier may be moved and every gun moved or fired at each move, subject to the following rules: MOBILITY OF THE VARIOUS ARMS (Each player must be provided with two pieces of string, one two feet in length and the other six inches.) (I) An infantry-man may be moved a foot or any less distance at each move. (II) A cavalry-man may be moved two feet or any less distance at each move. (III) A gun is in action if there are at least four men of its own side within six inches of it.
--Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor). See Hats in Holes. Ball in the Decker A row of boys caps is set by a wall. One boy throws a ball into one of the caps. The owner of the cap runs away, and is chased by all the others till caught. He then throws the ball.--Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).
Whoever knocks off the stakes, they go to the boy whose Cast is nearest to them. The Hob and Scop are usually three yards apart. The Cot was a button off the waistcoat or trousers, the Twy one off the coat, and, as its name implies, was equal to two Cots. Formerly, when cash was much more rare than now it is amongst boys, these formed their current coin. The game about 1820 seems to have been chiefly one of tossing, and was played with buttons, then common enough. Now, metal buttons being rare, it is played with pieces of brass or copper of any shape. The expression, I haven t a cot, is sometimes used to signify that a person is without money.--Easther s _Almondbury and Huddersfield Glossary_. See Banger, Buttons. Course o Park The game of Course of the Park has not been described, but is referred to in the following verse:-- Buff s a fine sport, And so s Course o Park.
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. Britton (_Beauties of Wiltshire_, Glossary) says the game in London schools is called Scratch-scratch or Scratch-cradle. [Illustration: Cat s Cradle Taking off Soldier s Bed Taking off Candles Taking off Cat s Cradle (upside down) Cat s Eyes Fish.] The game is known to savage peoples. Professor Haddon noted it among the Torres Straits people, who start the game in the same manner as we do, but continue it differently (_Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, vol. xix.
The pool is won by any player winning two games in succession. If the winner of the first game won the second also, he would take the pool, which would then contain five stakes; the three originally deposited, and the two added by the losers of the two games. A new pool would then be formed by each of the three depositing another stake, and all cutting to decide which should sit out for the first game. In some places only the two players actually engaged contribute to the pool, the loser retiring without paying anything further, and the rentrant contributing his stake when he takes the loser’s place. The outsider is not allowed to advise either player during the first game, nor to call attention to the score; but on the second game he is allowed to advise the player who has taken his seat and cards. This is on the principle that he has no right to choose sides on the first game; but that after that he has an interest in preventing his former adversary from winning the second game, so as to preserve the pool until he can play for it again himself. NAPOLEON, OR NAP. This is one of the simplest, and at the same time most popular of the euchre family. Few games have become so widely known in such a short time, or have had such a vogue among all classes of society. So far as the mere winning and losing goes, the result depends largely upon luck, and skill is of small importance.
A good player, after sorting his hand, carefully estimates its possibilities. The hand may be such that it is evidently impossible to avoid taking some hearts. The player must then decide whether he will play to give each of the others hearts, or will take them all himself. If he succeeds in either object he has a chance to win back his money in the ensuing Jack. In deciding on his chances to get clear without taking a single heart, the player must first consider the advisability of beginning with a heart, or with a plain suit. If hearts, he should know the probability of the heart he leads not winning the trick; if a plain suit, he should know the probability of the suit going round one or more times without hearts being discarded on it, especially if he intends to lead high cards. These chances must then be balanced one against the other and the more favourable selected. _=LEADING HEARTS ORIGINALLY.=_ When your hearts are so small as to be absolutely safe, such as the 7 5 3 2, it might be supposed that the best play would be to lead them at once, in order to get a large number of hearts out of your way. But with such cards it is usually much better play, unless you have a very dangerous hand in plain suits, to reserve these small hearts until you have a more definite idea, from the fall of the cards, to whom you are giving them.
The Bath game is played by the children standing in two rows facing each other, and clapping hands and singing the verse. At the same time the two children facing each other at the top of the lines join hands and trip down and up between the lines. Their hands are unclasped, and the two children run down the outside of the lines, one running on each side, and meet at the bottom of the lines, where they stand. The two children now standing at the top proceed in the same way: this is continued until all the children have done the same. A ring is then formed, when the children again clap and sing. Any number can play at this game. In the Epworth version the children range themselves in double rank at one end of the room or playground, and march down to the other end hand in hand. At the bottom they loose hands and divide, the first rank turning right, the second left, and march back in two single files to the other end again, where they re-form as at first, and repeat their man[oe]uvre, singing the verses alternately. The Lincolnshire game is played by the children walking two and two in a circle round one of their companions, singing. The players then stand facing the child in the centre, and place their hands on their partners shoulders.
Very well, very well, lady, lady, Very well, lady, That will do. [Then follow-- (1) starching, (2) ironing, (3) dying, (4) dead.] What shall we follow in, follow in? What shall we follow in? We ll follow in blue. Blue is for sailors, for sailors, Blue is for sailors, And that won t do. [_or_, You can t follow her so.] [Then follow-- Red is for soldiers, White is for weddings, Yellow is for babies.] Black is not deep enough, deep enough, That won t do. What shall we follow in, follow in? We ll follow her in crape, crape [pronounced _cray-ape_]. You may follow her in crape, crape, You may follow her in crape, That will do. --Deptford (Miss E.
_=Grand=_ outbids Chico, and is the highest bid possible. Hearts must be trumps, and the player offering this game must not touch the widow until the play is finished. Every point under or over 60 in a Grand is worth four counters. The bidder must play the game he names. He cannot bid Frog and play Chico, or bid Chico and play Grand. The settling up of the scores at the end, if the payments are not made at once in counters, is the same as in Skat. CRIBBAGE. Cribbage is not only one of the oldest of the games upon the cards, but enjoys the distinction of being quite unlike any other game, both in the manner of playing it, and in the system of reckoning the points. It is also peculiar from the fact that it is one of the very few really good games which require no effort of the memory; judgment and finesse being the qualities chiefly requisite for success. There are two principal varieties of the game; _=Five=_ and _=Six-card=_ Cribbage; and these again are divided according to the number of players.
The day after that they assume the character of Plough-bullocks, and at a certain part of Westwood-side they smoke the Fool --that is, straw is brought by those who like, and piled in a heap, a rope being tied or slung over the branches of the tree next to the pile of straw; the other end of the rope is fastened round the waist of the Fool, and he is drawn up and fire is put to the straw, the Fool being swung to and fro through the smoke until he is well-nigh choked, after which he goes round and collects whatever the spectators choose to give him. The sport is then at an end till the next year. The land left by Lady Mowbray was forty acres, which are known by the name of Hoodlands, and the Boggons dresses and the Hood are made from its proceeds. In the contiguous parish of Epworth a similar game is played under the same name, but with some variations. The Hood is not here carried away from the field, but to certain goals, against which it is struck three times and then declared free. This is called wyking the Hood, which is afterwards thrown up again for a fresh game.--_Notes and Queries_, 6th series, vii. 148. See Football, Hockey. Hoodle-cum-blind Name for Blind Man s Buff.
(_c_) Mr. Ballantyne writes: This game was a great favourite in my father s house. This was a forfeit game, forfeits being called wadds. Chambers, _Popular Rhymes_, p. 124, gives a version of this game. It is practically the same as Mr. Ballantyne s version, with only a few verbal differences. Mactaggart says, The chief drift of this singular game seemed to be to discover the sweethearts of one another, and such discoveries are thought valuable, but not so much as they were anciently. In any case, it appears to me that the game is an early one, or, at all events, a reflection of early custom. Hickety, Bickety Hickety, bickety, pease-scone, Where shall this poor Scotchman gang? Will he gang east, or will he gang west, Or will he gang to the craw s nest? --Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, p.
In the early days, when poker parties were small, four players being a common number, it was frequently the case that no one had a pair strong enough to draw to, and such a deal was regarded as simply a waste of time. To remedy this, it was proposed that whenever no player came in, each should be obliged to ante an equal amount for the next deal, and just to demonstrate that there were some good hands left in the pack no one was allowed to draw cards until some one had _=Jacks or better=_ to draw to. The result of this practice was to make jack pots larger than the other pools, because every one was compelled to ante, and this seems to have prompted those who were always wanting to increase the stakes to devise excuses for increasing the number of jack pots. This has been carried so far that the whole system has become a nuisance, and has destroyed one of the finest points in the game of Poker,--the liberty of personal judgment as to every counter put into the pool, except the blind. The following excuses for making jack pots are now in common use: _=After a Misdeal=_ some parties make it a jack; but the practice should be condemned, because it puts it in the power of any individual player to make it a jack when he deals. _=The Buck=_ is some article, such as a penknife, which is placed in the pool at the beginning of the game, and is taken down with the rest of the pool by whichever player wins it. When it comes to his deal, it is a jack pot, and the buck is placed in the pool with the dealer’s ante, to be won, taken down, and make another jack in the same way. The usual custom is to fix the amount of the ante in jack pots, a red, or five whites, being the common stake. In some places it is at the option of the holder of the buck to make the ante any amount he pleases within the betting limit. Whichever system is adopted, every player at the table must deposit a like amount in the pool.
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. Gregor). (_b_) Hairry = rob, Bossie = a wooden bowl, commonly used for making the leaven in baking oat-cakes, and for making brose. This is a very general game amongst schoolboys. Half-Hammer The game of Hop-step-and-jump, Norfolk.
W. Gregor). III. How far to Banbury Cross? Four score and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, if your legs are long and light. Please to let me go? Not without you bend and bow [pronounced bo]. Here s my bend [curtseys], And here s my bow [touches forehead], Now will you let me go? --Fernham and Longcot (Miss I. Barclay). IV. How many miles to Babylon? Three score and ten.
In this game one boy is permitted to run out, and having law given to him--that is, being permitted to go to a certain distance from his comrades before they pursue him--their object is to take him, if possible, before he can return home. See Hare and Hounds. Hunt the Slipper [Music] --Lancashire (Mrs. Harley). All the players but one sit on the floor in a circle with their legs crossed (Turkish fashion), one acting as Chief, all pretending to work at making or mending shoes. The other player brings a slipper to the Chief Cobbler, and desires it to be mended, saying-- Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe, Get it done by half-past two. The child walks away, and returns in a few moments and asks whether the shoe is ready. The Cobbler says, Not quite; call again in an hour s time, or makes any other excuse which occurs to him. When the child calls again, she is told it has been sent home. After several pretences the child declares an intention to search for it.
The question is, What does this indicate? Looking to the fact of the widespread superstition of the foundation sacrifice, it would seem that we may have here a tradition of this rite. So recently as 1872, there was a scare in Calcutta when the Hooghly Bridge was being constructed. The natives then got hold of the idea that Mother Ganges, indignant at being bridged, had at last consented to submit to the insult on condition that each pier of the structure was founded on a layer of children s heads (Gomme s _Early Village Life_, p. 29). Formerly, in Siam, when a new city gate was being erected, it was customary for a number of officers to lie in wait and seize the first four or eight persons who happened to pass by, and who were then buried alive under the gate-posts to serve as guardian angels (Tylor s _Primitive Culture_, i. 97). Other instances of the same custom and belief are given in the two works from which these examples are taken; and there is a tradition about London Bridge itself, that the stones were bespattered with the blood of little children. Fitzstephen, in his well-known account of London of the twelfth century, mentions that when the Tower was built the mortar was tempered with the blood of beasts. Prisoners heads were put on the bridge after execution down to modern times, and also on city gates. These traditions about London, when compared with the actual facts of contemporary savagery, seem to be sufficient to account for such a game as that we are now examining having originated in the foundation sacrifice.