=_ If the pone draws one of the three cards which properly belong to the dealer, he loses the game; and if the dealer draws any of the first five, before the pone has announced that he leaves them, the dealer loses the game. The dealer has no right to touch any part of the stock until the pone has discarded and drawn; but if the pone draws without making any announcement about leaving cards, the dealer has a right to assume that five cards have been taken, and that only three remain in the stock. For instance: The pone discards five cards, but draws four only, without saying anything. The dealer proceeds to discard and draw. He has of course taken one of the pone’s cards, but it is too late to remedy the error or claim a penalty, and the pone must play with eleven cards. It is evident that the dealer will have too many cards, but as he has been led into the error by his adversary, he must be allowed to discard to reduce his hand to twelve. If a player takes a card too many from the stock, he may replace it if he has not put it with the other cards in his hand. If he has seen it, he must show it to his adversary. If the superfluous card has been taken into the hand, the player must have too many cards, and can score nothing that deal. This does not prevent the adversary from scoring anything he may have in hand or play, even if it is inferior.
in the British Museum. The game is also described in the Rev. J. G. Wood s _Modern Playmate_, p. 12. [Illustration] Knocked at the Rapper The girl who spoke of this game, says Miss Peacock, could only remember its details imperfectly, but as far as she recollects it is played as follows:--The players dance round a centre child, leaving one of their number outside the circle. The dancers sing to the one in their midst-- Here comes ----, He knocked at the rapper, and he pulled at the string, Pray, Mrs. ----, is ---- within? At is ---- within, the child outside the circle is named. The centre child says-- O no, she has gone into the town: Pray take the arm-chair and sit yourself down.
The result of these tactics, if successful, will be to offset the advantage of the adversary’s high throws early in the game, because every man captured not only has to start his journey over again, but is liable to be picked up a second or third time. As it is to the advantage of the forward player to avoid picking up men, the one who is behind can leave blots with great freedom, and may even spread his men so that some of them must be taken up. This intense back game is peculiarly American, for in the English game such tactics would usually result in a gammon, and often in a backgammon, and the player dare not risk so much just to save a hit. In the back game it is very important to spread the men freely, so that they may act as _=catchers=_. [Illustration: +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ |⛀|⛀|⛂|⛀|⛀| ||⛂| | | | |⛂| |⛀|⛀|⛂|⛀|⛀| ||⛂| | | | |⛂| |⛀|⛀| | | | || | | | | | | |⛀| | | | | || | | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | || X X| | || X X| | | | | | | || | | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | |⛂| |⛂|⛂|⛂|| | | | | | | |⛂|⛂|⛀|⛂|⛂|⛂|| | | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ ] In the position shown in the margin, for instance, White has already thrown off three of his men, but one has been caught and set back. It is impossible for Black to win unless he can catch this man again, or capture one or two of those in White’s home table, keeping White from throwing off any more men until Black gets home. Suppose that in this position Black threw double threes. His play would be to separate all his men in the outer table, so that no matter what White might throw he could hardly escape being caught. The black men might be placed on the points marked with small crosses, and then if the white man cannot be caught and set back long enough for Black to get home, the game cannot be saved. If Black succeeds in picking up this man, he should then complete his home table as rapidly as possible, still keeping his outside men spread, and not disturbing the two men on White’s trey point until necessary.
Six of these popular games are strikingly typical of the national character, both in their construction, and in the manner of playing them. These are: Skat in Germany; Cribbage in England; Piquet in France; Conquian in Mexico; Calabrasella in Italy; and Cassino in America. All these are excellent games, and have deservedly survived much more pretentious rivals. With the exception of Skat, little is known of the exact origin of any of these games, although most of them may be traced by their resemblance to more ancient forms. Skat is the most modern, and to-day the most popular, many persons thinking it superior to Whist. The game seems to have originated among the farmers of Thuringia, a province of Saxony, and was probably a variation of the Wendish game of Schapskopf. The first mention of Skat that we can find is in an article in the “Osterländer Blättern,” in 1818. Thirty years later Professor Hempel of Altenburg published the rules and principles of the game under the title: “Das Skatspiel, von J.F.L.