LAB. Lady of the Land. Lady on the Mountain. Lady on Yonder Hill. Lag. Lammas. Lamploo. Lang Larence. Leap Candle. Leap-frog.
The banker, after winning a coup, may pass the deal to the player on his right, if he chooses to do so, provided that player will put up an amount equal to that then in the bank. When this player loses a coup, the bank must go to the player to whom it would have gone in regular order; that is, the one on the left of the player who transferred his privilege. Six packs of cards are generally used in Chemin de Fer, and the cards are placed in a wooden box, from which each dealer takes as many as he wants. _=CHEATING.=_ Baccara is honeycombed with trickery. Dishonest players, in collusion with the banker, have certain means of informing him of their point, so that he may win all the money staked upon that side of the table by the other players. This may be done in many ways. The player may ask the one sitting next him whether or not he should draw, which shows that he has 5. Or he may make a movement as if to expose his first two cards, and then correct himself. This shows the banker that the player has baccara, and is pretending that he thought he had 9.
(_b_) One set of children stand against a wall, another set stand opposite, facing them. The first set sing the first line, the others replying with the second line, and so with the third and fourth lines. The two sides then rush over to each other, and the second set are caught. The child who is caught last becomes one of the first set for another game. This is the Earls Heaton version. The Lancashire game, as described by Miss Dendy, is: One child stands opposite a row of children, and the row run over to the opposite side, when the one child tries to catch them. The prisoners made, join the one child, and assist her in the process of catching the others. The rhyme is repeated in each case until all are caught, the last one out becoming Blackthorn for a new game. Harland and Wilkinson describe the game somewhat differently. Each player has a mark, and after the dialogue the players run over to each other s marks, and if any can be caught before getting home to the opposite mark, he has to carry his captor to the mark, when he takes his place as an additional catcher.
In the Sussex version the child at the end of the line is taken over by the child who sings the verses, and they lock their little fingers together while singing the remainder. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says:-- Two children advance and retire on one side. When the opposite side says Yes! the two take the first child in the row and dance round with her, singing the remaining verse. This is called the wedding. The Lanarkshire version is quite a different one, and contains rather remarkable features. Mr. Black says that the game was played entirely by girls, never by boys, and generally in the months of May or June, about forty years ago. The children sang with rather mincing and refined voices, evidently making an effort in this direction. They walked, with their hands clasped behind their backs, up and down the road. Each child was crowned with rushes, and also had sashes or girdles of rushes.
In Misères, a lead out of turn by the bidder’s adversary immediately loses the game, but there is no penalty for leading out of turn in Misère Partout. PLAYING OUT OF TURN. 25. If the third hand plays before the second, the fourth hand also may play before the second. 26. If the third hand has not played, and the fourth hand plays before the second, the latter may be called upon by the third hand to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led or, if he has none, to trump or not to trump the trick. In _=Boston=_, and in _=Solo Whist=_, should an adversary of the single player play out of turn, the bidder may call upon the adversary who has not played to play his highest or lowest of the suit led, or to win or not to win the trick. If the adversary of a Misère player leads or plays out of turn, the bidder may immediately claim the stakes. In Solo Whist, the individual player in fault must pay for himself and for his partners. ABANDONED HANDS.
There should always be one chair less than the number of players.--A. B. Gomme. In Ellesmere, Miss Burne says, Snap-tongs, called in other circles Magic Music or Musical Chairs, is thus played. Five players take part; four chairs are set in the middle, and one of the players, who holds a pair of tongs, desires the others to dance round them till the clock strikes a certain hour, which is done by snapping the tongs together so many times. While they dance, a chair is taken away, and the player who cannot find a seat has to become the snap-tongs next time.--_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 525. Nacks A game in which pegs of wood play a similar part to the well-known object Aunt Sally.
If the third hand has not played and the fourth hand plays before the second, the latter may be called upon by the third hand to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led, and, if he has none of that suit, to trump or not trump the trick; the penalty cannot be inflicted after the third hand has played to the trick. If the player liable to this penalty plays before it has been inflicted, waived or lost, the card so played is liable to be called. LAW X.--THE REVOKE. SEC. 1. A renounce in error may be corrected by the player making it, except in the following cases, in which a revoke is established and the penalty therefore incurred: (a) When the trick in which it occurs has been turned and quitted. (b) When the renouncing player or his partner, whether in his right turn or otherwise, has led or played to the following trick. SEC. 2.
In some places all the cards in the pack are dealt out, which makes a much better game in any form of Pedro. The eldest hand sells, as at Auction Pitch. If a player’s first bid is raised he may raise again in his proper turn. Fifty points is game, and the players are usually provided with two varieties of counters for scoring; one worth five points, and the other worth one. The rank of the points in scoring is; High, Low, Jack, Ten (Game), Five, and Nine. The revoke penalty is to be set back the number of points bid, or ten points if there is no bid, and the player in fault cannot score anything that hand. In all other respects the rules are the same as in Auction Pitch. In _=Dom Pedro, or Snoozer=_, the Joker is added to the pack, and the Three, Five, and Nine of trumps count their pip value in scoring. The Joker, or Snoozer, counts fifteen, so that thirty-six points can be bid and made on one deal. The Joker is the lowest trump, so that the deuce of trumps will win it, but it will win any trick in plain suits.
We know, too, the old belief that the cuckoo tells children how many years they have to live. These lines are also sometimes said, in addition to those given above-- Elder belder, limber lock, Three wives in a clock; Sit and sing, and call a spring, O-u-t spells out. The boy who bends down is supposed to be undergoing a great penalty. Strutt (_Sports_, p. 394) describes this game, and gives an illustration which is here reproduced from the original MSS. in the Bodleian. This game may have originated from a custom at funerals of practising spells for the safe and speedy passage of the departing spirit to its destination, or from divination mysteries to foretell who would be the next among the mourners to follow the dead body to the grave. The spirit of prophecy was believed to exist in a dying person. See Handy Croopen. How many Miles to Babylon I.
If the error is not discovered until the hand is partly played out, the deal is void, and the misdealer deals again. A misdeal does not lose the deal under any circumstances, but it is usual to exact a penalty of ten points for a misdeal. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ The object of each player is to obtain the privilege of attempting to accomplish a certain task, which is known as his “game,” and which he must be able to carry through successfully against the combined efforts of the two other players. The more difficult the task undertaken, the greater the number of points scored for it, and the player who will undertake the game which is of the greatest value of those offered must be allowed the privilege of trying it. In order to determine which player this is, they may all bid for the privilege by naming a certain number of points, usually well within the actual value of the game they intend to play. If a bidder meets with opposition, he gradually approaches the true value of his game, and the player whose game is worth the most will of course be able to bid the greatest number of points, and must be selected as the player, the two others being his adversaries. _=Games.=_ These games are divided into two principal classes, those in which the player undertakes to win, and those in which he tries to lose. When he plays to lose, it is to lose every trick, there being no trump suit, and the cards in each suit ranking A K Q J 10 9 8 7.
At trick 7, both black queens are against Z, and he must take the best chance to win if the diamond ace is also against him. The adversaries cannot place the club ace, and so Z underplays in clubs as his only chance for the game. * * * * * _=PRUSSIAN WHIST.=_ This is the ordinary 5, 7 or 10 point whist, with or without honours, except that instead of turning up the last card for trump, the player to the left of the dealer cuts a trump from the still pack, which is shuffled and presented to him by the dealer’s partner. _=FAVOURITE WHIST.=_ This is the regular 5, 7 or 10 point whist, with or without honours, except that whichever suit is cut for the trump on the first deal of the rubber is called _=the favourite=_. Whenever the suit turns up for trump, after the first deal, tricks and honours count double towards game. There must be a new favourite at the beginning of each rubber, unless the same suit happens to be cut again. A variation is to attach a progressive value to the four suits; tricks being worth 1 point when Spades are trumps; when Clubs 2; when Diamonds 3; and when Hearts 4. Honours do not count, and the game is 10 points, made by tricks alone.
|Asks boy to taste. | |11.|Fixing of wedding day.|Fixing of wedding day.|Fixing of wedding day.| |12.|Wife in carriage, |Wife with domestic |Bride with rings on | | |husband in cart. |utensils. |fingers and bells on | | | | |toes. | |13.
There are no counters. At the end of the hand the ladies compare their cards, and the one having the fewer hearts goes to the next higher table. The gentlemen then compare their cards in the same way, so that one lady and one gentleman go up from each table at the end of every hand. They take the seats vacated by those leaving the table they go to. All ties are determined by cutting, those cutting the lower cards going up. In cutting, the ace is low. Each player is provided with a score card, to which the gold, red and green stars are attached as in Euchre. The gold stars are given to those at the head table who have the fewest hearts. Those moving from other tables receive red stars; and those taking in the most hearts at the booby table receive green stars. Prizes are given to the ladies and gentlemen having the greatest number of each variety of star; but the same player cannot win two prizes.
232) appeared the following interesting note:-- The projected demolition of London Bridge recalls to my mind the introductory lines of an old ballad which more than seventy years ago I heard plaintively warbled by a lady who was born in the reign of Charles II., and who lived till nearly the end of that of George II. I now transcribe the lines, not as possessing any great intrinsic merit, but in the hope of learning from some intelligent correspondent the name of the author and the story which gave rise to the ballad, for it probably originated in some accident that happened to the old bridge. The Lady Lea evidently refers to the river of that name, the favourite haunt of Isaac Walton, which, after fertilising the counties of Hertford, Essex, and Middlesex, glides into the Thames. London Bridge is broken down, _Dance over the Lady Lea_; London Bridge is broken down, _With a gay lady_ [_la-dee_]. Then we must build it up again. What shall we build it up withal? Build it up with iron and steel, Iron and steel will bend and break. Build it up with wood and stone, Wood and stone will fall away. Build it up with silver and gold, Silver and gold will be stolen away. Then we must set a man to watch, Suppose the man should fall asleep? Then we must put a pipe in his mouth, Suppose the pipe should fall and break? Then we must set a dog to watch, Suppose the dog should run away? Then we must chain him to a post.
A game described in _Suffolk County Folk-lore_, p. 62, is apparently a version of this. It is there described as a forfeit game. King William [Music] --Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy). I. King William was King David s son, And all the royal race is run; Choose from the east, choose from the west, Choose the one you love the best. Down on this carpet you shall kneel While the grass grows in yonder field; Salute your bride and kiss her sweet, Rise again upon your feet. --Hanging Heaton, Yorks.
He therefore takes down 105 as his share of the pool, leaving 170 to be decided between C and D. Now, although C has a better point than D, it is one of the principles of the game that the suit that wins cannot lose at the same time; and as D has a card of the winning suit, while C has not, D wins the remainder of the pool. If neither C nor D had a card of the winning suit, C would win from D on account of his better point. If we transposed the club ace and spade ace, spades would be the winning suit, because the elder hand, A, had the best card of it; but C would take the remainder of the pool, because he held a spade, while D did not. As it is, C is decavé, and must purchase another stake, or retire from the game. If C had lost this pool with a brelan in his hand, he would not be decavé; because after losing the pool, and all he had staked therein, B, who had passed out, would have to pay him for the brelan, and with this one white counter he would have to call for a sight in the next pool he entered. _=Methods of Cheating.=_ As in all games in which winning depends entirely on the cards held, and not on the manner of playing them, Bouillotte offers many opportunities to the greek. The small number of cards in the pack, and the consequent ease with which they may be handled, enable even the clumsiest card sharpers to run up brelan carrés, make false shuffles, and shift cuts. There is one trick, called the poussette, which consists in surreptitiously placing more counters on the table when the player finds he has a hand worth backing.
Whether he proceeds or not his game is won, and he may either let the false lead stand, or insist on a lead from the proper hand. 49. If, during the progress of the hand, the player lays his cards on the table, face up, and announces that he has won his game by reaching 61 or 91, whichever may be necessary to make good his bid, and it is proved that he is mistaken, he loses his game, even if he could have taken up his cards again and won it. 50. If an adversary lays his cards on the table, face up, and claims to have already defeated the player’s game, all that adversary’s cards shall be taken by the player and counted with the tricks already taken in by the player. If the adversary be found to be in error, the player shall score his game as won, even if he would have lost it had it been continued. 51. If the single player gives up his game as lost, and lays his cards on the table, the adversaries shall take all such cards and add them to their own, and count their cards to see if they have also made the player schneider. THE REVOKE. 52.
8. After the cards have been cut, the dealer must distribute them one at a time to each player in rotation, beginning at his left, and continuing until the pack is exhausted; or in Two-Handed Hearts, until each player has thirteen. 9. The deal passes to the left. 10. There must be a new deal by the same dealer if the pack is proved to be incorrect, either during the deal or during the play of a hand; or if any card is faced in the pack, or is found to be so marked or mutilated that it can be named. In the last case a new pack must be used. 11. If a card is exposed during the deal, the player to whom it is dealt may demand a new deal, provided he has not touched any of his cards. If the deal stands, the exposed card cannot be called.
=_ If the declarer succeeds in making his contract, he scores below the line for tricks and above the line for honours according to the table of values already given, and he scores for as many tricks as he wins, regardless of the smaller number he may have bid. But if the declarer fails to make good on his contract he scores nothing but honours as actually held, while his adversaries score 50 points penalty in the honour column for every trick by which the declaration falls short, no matter what the declaration was, but they never score anything toward game, no matter how many tricks they win, because they are not the declarers. They may, however, score slams. If we suppose the winning declaration to be three hearts, and the declarer makes the odd trick only, holding simple honours, he scores 16 above the line, while the other side scores 100 points above the line for defeating the contract by two tricks, worth 50 each. If the dealer is left in with one spade, he cannot lose more than 100 points, even if he is doubled, provided neither he nor his partner redouble. If the adversaries set the contract for one trick, the declarer loses 50 only, and even if he is set for six tricks, he can lose only the 100. If any other declaration is doubled and fails, the adversaries score 100 points, instead of 50, for every trick by which they defeat the contract. If it is redoubled, they score 200. But if the declarer succeeds after being doubled, he not only scores double value for the tricks toward game, but he gets 50 points for fulfilling a doubled contract and 50 more for any tricks over his contract if he makes them. These figures are 100 in each case if he redoubles.
All cards liable to be called must be placed face up on the table and so left until played. A player must lead or play them when lawfully called, provided he can do so without revoking; the call may be repeated at each or any trick until the card is played. A player cannot, however, be prevented from leading or playing a card liable to be called; if he can get rid of it in the course of a play no penalty remains. SEC. 4. The holder of a card liable to be called can be required to play it only by the adversary on his right. If such adversary plays without calling it, the holder may play to that trick as he pleases. If it is the holder’s turn to lead, the card must be called before the preceding trick has been turned and quitted, or before the holder has led a different card; otherwise he may lead as he pleases. LAW VIII.--LEADING OUT OF TURN.
Ring In, to exchange any unfair for fair gambling implements during the progress of the game. See Cold Deck. Robbing, exchanging a card in the hand for the turn-up trump, or discarding several for the trumps remaining in the pack. See Cinch and Spoil Five. Rooking, hustling, inveigling a person into a game for the purpose of cheating him. Round, a round is complete when each player has had equal advantages with regard to deal, dummy, etc. Round Games, those which do not admit of partnerships. Rubber, winning two out of three games. F., Robre.
The Joker, or Snoozer, counts fifteen, so that thirty-six points can be bid and made on one deal. The Joker is the lowest trump, so that the deuce of trumps will win it, but it will win any trick in plain suits. Fifty or a hundred points is the game. In counting out, the order of precedence is: High, Low, Jack, Ten (Game), Three, Five, Nine, Snoozer. CINCH, DOUBLE PEDRO, OR HIGH FIVE. This is now regarded as the most important variety of All Fours, and bids fair to supplant the parent game altogether. Properly speaking, Cinch is one of the pedro variations of Auction Pitch, the difference being that no one sells, and that there is added the always popular American feature of a draw to improve the hand. The derivation and meaning of the name, Cinch, seems to be very much misunderstood. Many persons assume it is simply a name for the Left Pedro, but such is not the case. Cinch is a Mexican word for a strong saddle-girth, and when used as a verb it refers to the manner of adjusting the girth on a bucking broncho so that no amount of kicking will get him free.
The odds against such a thing are 1023 to 1, and the more he wins the more probable it is that he will lose the next game. This is what gamblers call the _=maturity of the chances=_, and it is one of the greatest fallacies ever entertained by intelligent men. Curiously enough, the men who believe that luck must change in some circumstances, also believe in betting on it to continue in others. When they are _=in the vein=_ they will “follow their luck” in perfect confidence that it will continue. The same men will not bet on another man’s luck, even if he is “in the vein,” because “the maturity of the chances” tells them that it cannot last! GAMES. ODDS. One 1 to 1 Two 3 to 1 Three 7 to 1 Four 15 to 1 Five 31 to 1 Six 63 to 1 Seven 127 to 1 Eight 255 to 1 Nine 511 to 1 Ten 1023 to 1 If Smith and his adversary had started with an agreement to play ten games, the odds against either of them winning any number in succession would be found by taking the first game as an even chance, expressed by unity, or 1. The odds against the same player winning the second game also would be twice 1 plus 1, or 3 to 1; and the odds against his winning three games in succession would be twice 3 plus 1, or 7 to 1, and so on, according to the figures shown in the margin. GAMES. 1st 2nd 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 That this is so may easily be demonstrated by putting down on a sheet of paper the total number of events that may happen if any agreed number of games are played, expressing wins by a stroke, and losses by a cipher.
These numbers are added to the number of Matadores, and the total thus found is multiplied by the unit value of the game. For instance: A player has obtained the privilege of playing on a bid of thirty. His game is a Solo in hearts, in which he holds the three highest Matadores and announces schneider in advance. His game multiplier is therefore 3 (for the announced schneider), to which he adds 3 more for the Matadores, 6 altogether. The unit value of a heart Solo being 10, he could have gone on bidding to 60 had it been necessary, and he will win 60 from each of his adversaries if he succeeds in reaching 91 points in the counting cards he takes in in his tricks, together with what he finds in the Skat. If his adversaries got to 30 with their counting cards, he would have lost 60 to each of them, although he bid only 30, because he announced his game as schneider, and did not make it. Had he not announced the schneider, and reached 91 or more in his counting cards, he would have won a game worth 50, losing the extra multiplier by not announcing the schneider in advance; for a schneider made without announcing it is worth only 2. In reckoning the value of a game it is always safer to bid on playing “with” than “without” Matadores in a Solo or Tourné; because, although you may have a hand “without four,” you may find a Wenzel in the Skat, and if it is the club Jack you lose three multipliers at once. _=BIDDING.=_ The players must be familiar with the manner of computing the various games in order to bid with judgment, and without hesitation.
THE BATTLE OF HOOK S FARM V. EXTENSIONS AND AMPLIFICATIONS OF LITTLE WAR VI. ENDING WITH A SORT OF CHALLENGE APPENDIX-- LITTLE WARS AND KRIEGSPIEL I OF THE LEGENDARY PAST LITTLE WARS is the game of kings--for players in an inferior social position. It can be played by boys of every age from twelve to one hundred and fifty--and even later if the limbs remain sufficiently supple--by girls of the better sort, and by a few rare and gifted women. This is to be a full History of Little Wars from its recorded and authenticated beginning until the present time, an account of how to make little warfare, and hints of the most priceless sort for the recumbent strategist.... But first let it be noted in passing that there were prehistoric Little Wars. This is no new thing, no crude novelty; but a thing tested by time, ancient and ripe in its essentials for all its perennial freshness--like spring.