All he need show is openers. But should the opener be one of those in the final call, he must show his whole hand. Should it then be discovered that he has not openers, the false opener is compelled to ante for all the players at the table for another Jack. This is usually called giving them a “free ride.” _=The Kitty=_ is now an almost universal adjunct to the pool. In clubs, it pays for the cards, and for an occasional round of refreshments; in small poker parties it defrays the expense of the weekly supper. When the amount is excessive, or accumulates too rapidly, it is often used to give the players a “free ride” by paying all their antes in a “kitty jack pot.” The kitty is usually kept by the banker, who takes a white counter out of every pool in which triplets or better are shown to the board, and a red counter out of every jack pot. These counters must be kept apart from the other chips, and must be accounted for at the end of the game by paying the kitty so much in cash, just as if it was one of the players. Gambling houses and poker rooms are supposed to derive their entire revenue from this source, and those of the lowest class invent endless excuses for taking out for the kitty.
Piking, making small bets all over the layout at Faro. Playboy, the Jack of trumps at Spoil Five. Plain Suits, those which are not trumps. Point, F., the suit containing the greatest number of pips. Pone, the player on the dealer’s right, who cuts the cards. Ponte, F., one who plays against the banker. Post Mortems, discussions as to what might have been at Whist, sometimes called, “If you hads.” Pot, strictly speaking, the amount to be played for when a pool has exceeded a certain limit, especially in Spoil Five and Boston.
The number of tricks is not mentioned. In case there are no bids, each in turn has a second chance to bid for the widow. These bids are made in counters, to be put into the pool. The highest bidder takes the widow, lays out two cards, and then names the trump suit. The players agree upon a value for the tricks won, and payments are made from the pool accordingly. These payments may vary according to the rank of the trump suit. ODD GAMES. There are quite a number of odd games of cards, which come and go as favourites from time to time, and pass round the world from one country to another under many different names. The origin of most of these games is lost in the weedy undergrowth of variations, but the chief family trait in some of them can be traced back to the alpha of cards. Among the oldest of games was Ombre, immortalised by Pope, the only survivor of which is a variation played by the older Germans, under the name of Solo; a game which still faintly resists the exterminating influence of Skat.
Whichever chestnut now proves victorious becomes conqueror of two, and so on, the victorious chestnut adding to its score all the previous winnings. The chestnuts are often artificially hardened by placing them up the chimney or carrying them in a warm pocket; and a chestnut which has become conqueror of a considerable number acquires a value in schoolboys eyes; and I have frequently known them to be sold, or exchanged for other toys (Holland s _Cheshire Glossary_). The game is more usually played by one boy striking his opponent s nut with his own, both boys standing and holding the string in their hands. It is considered bad play to strike the opponent s _string_. The nut only should be touched. Three tries are usually allowed. (_c_) For information on various forms of this game, see _Notes and Queries_, 1878. See also Elworthy s _West Somerset Words_. The boy who first said the rhyme has first stroke at Oswestry. The game is elsewhere called Cobbet (Meole Brace) and Cobbleticuts (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p.
Any player except the eldest hand having once said, “I pass,” cannot afterwards make or accept any proposal. The eldest hand, after passing once, can accept a proposal, but he cannot make one. It is the custom in some places, when no one will make a proposal of any sort, to turn down the trump, and play the hands without any trump suit, each man for himself, the winner of the last trick losing to each of the others the value of a solo. This is called a _=Grand=_. _=RANK OF THE PROPOSALS.=_ The various calls outrank one another in the order in which we have given them. If one player says, “I propose,” and another calls “Solo,” the solo call shuts out the proposal, even though it has been accepted by a second player. The call of a misère would in turn shut out a solo; abundance would take precedence of misère; and abundance in trumps would be a better call than simple abundance. The slam of course outranks all other bids. This making of a better proposition than one already made is known as “_=Over-calling=_.
If the feather is left standing alone, the innings count one. There are no penalties. The dead wood must be removed. Any pins knocked down through dead wood remaining on the alley cannot be placed to the credit of the bowler. The maximum is 10. THE BATTLE GAME. THE PINS ARE SET UP THE SAME AS FOR THE GAME OF TEN PINS. Four or six innings constitute a battle or game, except in the case of a tie, when another inning is played. In case that inning should result in a tie also, still another inning is played--in fact, until the scores are unequal. In any inning where a tie occurs the score stands over until the next inning, when each point is counted double.
=_ If the bidder has proposed to take not more than _=five=_ tricks out of the seven possible, he chooses two partners, and these three play against the remaining four. If he has bid to make _=six=_ or _=seven=_ tricks he chooses three partners, and these four play against the remaining three. Partners cannot refuse to play. _=Playing Alone.=_ Should a player think he can take all seven tricks without any partners, he may bid _=ten=_, which would outrank a bid of seven; but such a bid must be made before seeing the widow. If a player thinks he can win all seven tricks without either widow or partners, he may bid _=twenty=_, which is the highest bid possible. When twenty is bid the cards in the widow must remain untouched. _=Playing.=_ The successful bidder has the lead for the first trick. The general rules for following suit, etc.
The 7 red counters lost by A and Y being divided, shows a loss of 35 white counters for each of them. If three players take four tricks apiece, they each pay the fourth man a red counter. _=WINNING THE POOL.=_ Besides the white counters won and lost by the players individually, the successful caller takes the pool, provided he has made a bid of seven tricks or better, which is called _=a pool bid=_. Any lower bid does not entitle him to the pool, unless the other players compel him to play the hand out. In order to save the pool, it is usual for the adversaries, before playing to the second trick, to say: “_=I pay.=_” If all agree to pay, the bidder must accept the amount of his bid without any over-tricks, and the pool is not touched. If a player has made a pool bid, and the adversaries, before playing to the second trick, agree to pay, they cannot prevent the caller from taking the pool; but they save possible over-tricks. The agreement of the adversaries to pay must be unanimous. Misère Partout does not touch the pool.
If the caller revokes, and discovers his mistake in time, he is not liable to any penalty, unless an adversary has played to the next trick. In that case the revoking card must be left on the table, and is liable to be called. When the single player revokes, he loses the call in any case, and at least one trick besides. He must also double the pool, and add to it a revoke forfeit of four red counters. For instance: A bids eight tricks, and his adversaries detect and claim a revoke. As he is supposed to have lost his bid, and one trick more, he may be said to have bid eight, and taken only seven; losing 23 white counters to each of his adversaries, doubling the pool, and then paying a forfeit of four red counters. In some places the forfeit is omitted, and in others it takes the place of doubling the pool. It is not usual to play the hand out after a revoke is claimed and proved. If an adversary of the single player revokes, he and his partners must each pay the caller just as if he had been successful, and must also pay him for three over-tricks as forfeit, provided his bid was not more than nine tricks; for the bid and the over-tricks together must not exceed thirteen tricks. In addition to this, the individual player in fault must pay four red counters as forfeit to the pool.
20, 1869; _Daily News_, Feb. 10, 1869; _Westminster Papers_, Jan., 1869. THREE-HANDED BINOCLE. When three persons play, the entire pack is dealt out, giving sixteen cards to each player, four at a time, and turning up the last for the trump. There is no stock. Each plays for himself, and must keep his own score. A triangular cribbage board is very useful for this purpose. _=Dix.=_ Each player in turn, beginning on the dealer’s left, may show the Nine of trumps if he holds it, and exchange it for the trump card.
|daughters come. | | 7.| -- | -- |Come and dance with | | | | |me. | | 8.|[See below.] | -- | -- | | 9.|Give your hand to me. |Give your hand to me. |Take one, take the | | | | |fairest you can see. | | 10.
If the side naming the trump suit fails to make as many points as they bid, they score nothing for that deal, and the number bid is scored by the adversaries, in addition to any other points that the adversaries may have made in play. The number bid and the number actually won, must be compared before deducting the points made by the adversaries. The side first making fifty-one points wins the game. * * * * * _=Text Books.=_ There are two very good text-books on the game. _The Laws and Principles of Cinch_, by G.W. Hall, 1891. _The Laws and Etiquette of Cinch_, issued by the Chicago Cinch Club, 1890. HEARTS.
Should he guess wrongly he is hissed, and sent out of the room by the doorkeeper.--Cork, Ireland (Miss Keane). At Long Eaton in Nottinghamshire Miss Youngman records a similar game to this, with a rhyme that is probably taken from a popular song or ballad. The successful candidate for the girl s choice claims a kiss, but if unsuccessful he is beaten out of the room with knotted handkerchiefs. Hitch Jamie; Hitch Jamie, Stride and Loup The boyish play of Hop, Step, and Jump. --Atkinson s _Cleveland Glossary_. Brockett (_North Country Words_) calls this Hitch. See Half-Hammer, Hick, Step, and Jump. Hitchapagy An undescribed Suffolk game.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_.
Each additional card is worth 500 points more. A sequence of K Q J 10 9 would be worth 1,500. In the trump suit, and in all the suits when there are no trumps, these coronets are worth double, and each additional card is therefore worth 1,000 more. _=Rubbers.=_ As soon as one side wins two games, that ends the first rubber. The partners then change, without cutting, in such a manner that at the end of three rubbers each player shall have had each of the others for a partner. At the end of the third rubber, the losses and gains are ascertained for each individual, and settled for. _=Laws.=_ The laws that govern the game are almost identical with those for Bridge. PREFERENCE.
Also mentioned in Peacock s _Manley and Corringham Glossary_ and Elworthy s _West Somerset Words_, Brogden s _Provincial Words, Lincs._, Dickinson s _Cumberland Glossary_, Atkinson s _Cleveland Glossary_, Brockett s _North Country Words_, Evans _Leicestershire Glossary_, Baker s _Northants Glossary_, and Darlington s _South Cheshire Glossary_. On one of the stalls in Worcester Cathedral, figured in Wright s _Archæological Essays_, ii. 117, is a carving which represents three rats busily engaged in hanging a cat on a gallows of this kind. Cat i the Hole A game well known in Fife, and perhaps in other counties. If seven boys are to play, six holes are made at certain distances. Each of the six stands at a hole, with a short stick in his hand; the seventh stands at a certain distance holding a ball. When he gives the word, or makes the sign agreed upon, all the six change holes, each running to his neighbour s hole, and putting his stick in the hole which he has newly seized. In making this change, the boy who has the ball tries to put it into an empty hole. If he succeeds in this, the boy who had not his stick (for the stick is the Cat) in the hole to which he had run is put out, and must take the ball.
=_ When the stock is exhausted, all announcements are at an end, and the players take back into their hands all the cards upon the table which may remain from the combinations declared in the course of play. The winner of the previous trick then leads any card he pleases, but for the last nine tricks the second player in each must not only follow suit, but must win the trick if he can, either with a superior card or with a trump. Any player failing to follow suit or to win a trick, when able to do so, may be compelled to take back his cards to the point where the error occurred, and to replay the hand from that point. In France he is penalised by counting nothing from that point on, either for brisques or for the last trick. The winner of the _=last trick=_ scores fifty points for it immediately. _=SCORING.=_ Each deal is a complete game in itself, and the winner is the player who has scored the most points for carte blanche, combinations, and the last trick. The brisques are not counted, unless they are necessary to decide a tie, or save a rubicon. The value of the game is determined by deducting the lesser score from the higher, and then adding 500 points to the remainder. In this deduction all fractions of a hundred are disregarded.
10. If a player concede, in error, one or more tricks, the concession should stand. 11. A player having been cut out of one table should not seek admission in another unless willing to cut for the privilege of entry. 12. A player should not look at any of his cards until the end of the deal. THE LAWS OF THREE HAND AUCTION. The Laws of Auction govern the three-hand game except as follows: (1) Three players take part in a game and four constitute a complete table. Each plays for himself; there are no partners, except as provided in Law 7. (2) The player who cuts lowest selects his seat and the cards with which he deals first.
This must be agreed upon before play. Tricks over the book count for the bidder’s side in grands, but against him in nullos. 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.
The rest form themselves into a line opposite, and advance and retreat while singing the first verse, the gaolers singing the next verse, and so on alternately. [At the end of the last verse but one] the children break the line, form themselves into a ring, and dance round the prisoner, singing the final verse. Miss Harley describes the Shropshire version as follows: The first six verses are sung by the alternate parties, who advance and retire, tramping their feet, at first, to imitate the robbers. The last verse is sung altogether going round in a ring. In the Shipley version, Miss Busk says: The children form themselves into two lines, while two or three, representing the robbers, swagger along between them. When the robbers sing the last verse they should have attained the end of the lines [of children], as during the parley they were safe; having pronounced the defiance they run away. The children in the lines rush after them, and should catch them and put them in prison. (_c_) The analysis of this game is easy. The Deptford, Belfast, and Wolstanton versions are clearly enough dramatic representations of the capture of a robber, and probably the game dates from the period of the prevalence of highway robbery. The Wolstanton version shows us that the game is breaking up from its earlier form, while the Norfolk and Shropshire versions show a fresh development into the mere game for children, apart from its original significance.
So much for gamblers. I kept control of the dice while each new gambler handled them. I was having a good night. Of course, by that time I had handled the dice, which always improves my TK grip. Every point I had TK d came up. For all the perception I kept on the ivories, I could sense no other TK force at work, which after all was the whole reason for my gambling. The interesting note was the way Sniffles handled my chips. Sometimes more sure than others, she occasionally let a winning stack ride. On other rolls, she keened and chanted oddly to herself, eyes closed, and pinched down most of the stock. But she was never on the wrong side of the Pass line.
If the pone holds it, he must _=announce=_ and mark it before he plays a card. If he leads the King for the first trick, he must still announce it by saying distinctly: “I mark the King;” and unless this announcement is made before the King touches the table, it cannot be marked. So important is this rule that in some European Casinos it is found printed on the card tables. Having properly announced the King, it may be actually marked with the counters at any time before the trump is turned for the following game. If the dealer holds the King he must announce it before his adversary leads for the first trick. It is in order that there may be no surprises in this respect that the elder hand is required to say distinctly: “I play,” before he leads a card. The dealer must then reply: “I mark the King,” if he has it; if not, he should say: “Play.” A player is not compelled to announce or mark the King if he does not choose to do so. If a player announces and marks the King when he does not hold it, his adversary can take down the point erroneously marked, and mark one himself, for penalty. This does not prevent him from marking an additional point for the King if he holds it himself.
It is generally played now as Ghost. --A. B. Gomme. It is mentioned by Newell (_Games_, p. 223). Giants A Giant is chosen, and he must be provided with a cave. A summer-house will do, if there is no window for the Giant to see out of. The others then have to knock at the door with their knuckles separately. The Giant rushes when he thinks all the children have knocked, and if he succeeds in catching one before they reach a place of safety (appointed beforehand) the captured one becomes Giant.
=_ When four play, all exposed cards must be left on the table, and are liable to be called by the adversaries if they cannot be previously got rid of in the course of play. All cards led or played out of turn are exposed, and liable to be called. If two or more cards are played to a trick, the adversaries may select which shall remain; the other is exposed. _=METHODS OF CHEATING.=_ Few games lend themselves more readily to the operations of the greek than Seven-up. Turning Jacks from the bottom of the pack; setting up the half-stock for the beg; dealing oneself more than six cards, and dropping on the tricks already won those counting for Game; getting the A J 10 and 2 of a suit together during the play of a hand, and then shifting the cut to get them on the next deal, turning up the Jack; marked cards; strippers; wedges; reflectors; these and many other tricks are in common use. Those who are not expert enough to deal seconds or shift cuts will sometimes resort to such trifling advantages as abstracting one of the Tens from the pack, so that they may know a suit from which a small card can always be led without any danger of the adversary’s making the Ten. One very common swindle in Seven-up is known as _=the high hand=_, which consists in giving the intended victim the A K J 10 9 2 of trumps, and then inducing him to bet that he will make four points. No matter how skilful the player may be, he will find it impossible to save both Jack and Game. CALIFORNIA JACK.
--Warwickshire (_Notes and Queries_, 6th Ser., viii. 451). Gilty-galty (or gaulty) A boy s game. One boy is chosen, who says:-- Gilty-galty four-and-forty, Two tens make twenty. He then counts one, two, three, four, &c., up to forty, having his eyes covered by his hands, and the others hide while he is saying the nominy. At the conclusion he uncovers his eyes, and if he sees any boys not yet hidden they have to stand still. He seeks the rest, but if he moves far away from his place, called the stooil (stool), one of the hidden boys may rush out and take it, provided he can get there first. Should he fail in this he also has to stand aside; but if any one succeeds, then all run out as before, and the same boy has to say the nominy again.