Then, too, there is the sudden sit down posture, when all feet in is required. In the version given by Halliwell there is more difficulty in the game, and possibly more fun. This version shows the game to be cumulative, each player having to go through an additional antic for each verse sung. This idea only needs to be carried a little further to cause the players to be ridiculous in their appearance. This version would be more difficult to perform, and they would be exhausted by the process, and the constant motion of every member of the body. Attention, too, might be drawn to the word Hinkumbooby occurring in Chambers s version. Newell (_Games_, p. 131) mentions that some sixty years ago the game was danced deliberately and decorously, as old fashion was, with slow rhythmical movement. Lug and a Bite A boy flings an apple to some distance. All present race for it.
The reason for the arrangement of the players will be better understood if we first describe the method. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ There is no cutting for partners, and choice of seats and cards as at whist, because the players take their places and deal according to a pre-arranged schedule. The player to the left of the dealer begins by placing the card he leads face up on the table, and in front of him. The second player follows by placing his card in front of him in the same manner; and so the third, and so the fourth. The four cards are then turned face down, and the dealer takes up the trump. The partners winning the trick place their cards lengthwise, pointing towards each other; the adversaries place theirs across. At the end of the hand, the number of tricks taken by each side can be seen by glancing at any player’s cards. If there is any discrepancy, a comparison of the turned cards will show in which trick it occurs, and the cards can be readily faced and examined. [Illustration: +--------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------++-+-+-+ +-+ | | +-+-+ | | | | | | | | | +--------+---+-+ +-----+-+ N +-------+ +----------+ | | | | +-------+ | | | | | | +-------+--+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +-------+ | +----------+ | | | | | +-------+ | +--+-------+ | | | | | | +-------+ | | +-------+ | | | | | +-------+--+ W E +--+-------+ | | | | | +-------+ | | +-------+ | | | | | | +-------+--+ | +-------+ | | |X | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +--+-------+ | | | | | | +-------+ | | | | +----------+ +-------+ S +-+-----+-+-+---+--------+ | | | | | | | | | +-+-+ | | +-+ +-+-+-++-------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--------+ ] N & S 6; E & W 7.
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. When seven sets have been played, every lady will have overplayed four hands against every other lady and gentleman, including four held by her husband. The same will be true of every man. Indicators are placed on the tables to show players their successive positions. The numbers represent the husbands, and the letters the wives, the couples being a-1, b-2, etc.
Lasker thinks six moves should be enough for this purpose, and he recommends that only the King’s and Queen’s Pawns should be moved, after which each piece should be placed at once upon the square from which it can operate to the best advantage. He thinks the Knights should be first brought out, and posted at B 3, and then the K’s B, somewhere along his own diagonal. The great mistake made by beginners is that they rush off to the attack and try to capture some of the adverse pieces before they have properly prepared themselves for re-inforcement or retreat. It should never be forgotten that the game is not won by capturing the adversary’s pieces, but by check-mating his King. Take the board and pieces, arrange them with the white men next you, and play over the following simple little game. Remember that the figures above the line are for the white men; those below for the black. P-K4 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 B-B4 1 ---- 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ----- P-K4 P-Q3 P-KR3 B-Kt5 The third move made by Black accomplishes nothing, and is simply a waste of time. He should have continued by bringing his Knights into play. His fourth move is also a mistake; he should develop the Knights before the Bishops. KtxP BxKBP ch Kt-Q5 mate 5 ---- 6 -------- 7 ---------- BxQ K-K2 On his fifth move, Black jumps at the chance to win White’s Queen, but this is not of the slightest benefit to him, because the object of the game is not to win the Queen, but to mate the King.
HEARTS. Hearts is supposed by some persons to be an entirely new game; but its leading principle, losing instead of winning tricks, is to be found in many other card games, some of which are quite old. Slobberhannes, Enflé, Schwellen, Polignac, and The Four Jacks, all belong to the same family, but most of them have given way to the more popular game of Hearts. There are several varieties of Hearts, but the principal arrangements are the same in all, and the chief differences are in the manner of settling at the end of the hand. _=CARDS.=_ Hearts is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2: the ace is the highest in play, but in cutting it ranks below the deuce. There is no trump suit. When three persons play, the deuce of spades is thrown out of the pack; when five play, both the black deuces are laid aside, and when six play, all four deuces are discarded. It is usual to play with two packs, one being shuffled while the other is dealt. _=COUNTERS.
=_ The lone player is not liable to any penalty for exposed cards, nor for a lead out of turn. _=37.=_ Should either adversary lead or play out of turn, the lone player may abandon the hand, and score the points. _=38.=_ _=MISCELLANEOUS.=_ No player is allowed to see any trick that has once been turned and quitted, under penalty of having a suit called from him or his partner. _=39.=_ Any player may ask the others to indicate the cards played by them to the current trick. _=40.=_ A player calling attention in any manner to the trick or to the score, may be called upon to play his highest or lowest of the suit led; or to trump or not to trump the trick during the play of which the remark was made.
Elworthy (_West Somerset Words_) calls it Duck, and Ducks off and Cobbs off in Dorsetshire. In London the boy repeats the words, Gully, gully, all round the hole, one duck on, while he is playing (_Strand Magazine_, November 1891). Newell (_Games_, p. 188) calls it Duck on a Rock. Duffan Ring Name for Cat and Mouse in Cornwall.--_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 57. Dumb Crambo An undescribed game mentioned in Moor s _Suffolk Words_, p. 238. Dumb Motions Two sides are chosen, which stand apart from each other inside the line of their den.
Straddling.=_ During the deal, or at any time before he looks at any card in his hand, the player to the left of the age may straddle the blind by putting up double the amount put up by the age. Should he straddle, the player on his left may double the amount again, provided he has not seen any of his cards; and so on, until the limit of the straddling is reached. This limit must not exceed one-fourth of the betting limit. Should any player in his turn refuse to straddle, no other player on his left can straddle. _=18. The Ante.=_ After the cards are dealt, each player in turn, beginning with the one to the left of the age, or to the left of the last straddler, if any, must either abandon his hand or put into the pool twice the amount of the blind, or of the last straddle. When it comes to the turn of the age, and the straddlers, if any, they must either abandon their hands, or make the amount they have in the pool equal to twice the amount of the blind, or of the last straddle, if any. _=19.