_=DEALING.=_ The cards having been properly shuffled and cut, five are given to each player; two the first round and three the next, or three the first round and two the next. An extra hand, known as the _=widow=_, is dealt face downward in the centre of the table. The dealer gives cards to the widow just before dealing to himself in each round. When all are helped, the next card is turned up for the trump. Irregularities in the deal are governed by the same rules as in Spoil Five. _=DECLARING TO PLAY.=_ Each player in turn, beginning with the eldest hand, may either play or pass. If he passes, he lays his cards face downward in front of him, and takes no further part in that deal unless a general rams is announced. If he plays, he engages himself to take at least one trick, or forfeit five counters to the pool.
If the dealer takes up the trump card of his own accord, he can play alone. If any player orders up or assists, that player can play alone. Any player making a new trump after the first has been turned down, can play alone. If one player orders up the trump, neither his partner nor his adversary can play alone; and if the dealer’s partner assists, that prevents the dealer from playing a lone hand. In many clubs the mistake is made of allowing the dealer to play alone on his partner’s assist; or letting the pone play alone after the dealer has been assisted; or letting the partner of the player who makes the new trump play alone. This is not good Euchre, because it gives an unfair advantage to one side, as we shall see when we come to the suggestions for good play, especially in connection with ordering up at what is called the “bridge;” that is, when the score is 4 to 1, or 4 to 0. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The trump settled, the eldest hand, or the player next him on the left, if the partner of the eldest hand is playing alone, begins by leading any card he pleases, and the others must follow suit if they can. Failure to follow suit when able is a _=revoke=_, if the error is not discovered and corrected before the trick in which it occurs is turned and quitted. If the player discovers his mistake in time, the card played in error must be left on the table, and is liable to be called.
_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ No matter who is the successful bidder, the eldest hand always leads for the first trick, and the others must follow suit if they can, the play proceeding exactly as at Whist. The tricks should be carefully stacked, so that they can be readily counted by any player without calling attention to them. The laws provide a severe penalty for drawing attention to the score in this manner. Suppose a player has called eight tricks. An adversary hesitates in his play, and another reaches over and counts the tricks in front of the caller, finding he has seven. This is tantamount to saying to the player who hesitates: “If you don’t win that trick, the call succeed.” In such a case, the single player may at once demand the play of the highest or lowest of the suit; or that the adversaries trump or refrain from trumping the trick. In all calls except misères and slams, the hands should be played out, in order to allow the players to make what over-tricks they can; but the moment a misère player takes a trick, or a slam player loses one, the hands are thrown up, and the stakes paid. It is usual to show the cards to the board, in order to satisfy each player that no revoke has occurred.
Scattergood’s Game of Draughts. Lyman’s Selected Problems. Backgammon and Draughts, by Berkeley. Anderson’s Checkers. Dunne’s Draught Proxis. Kear’s Sturges. BACKGAMMON. OR TRIC-TRAC. Backgammon is played by two persons, each of whom is provided with fifteen men, two dice, and a dice-box. The men on each side are of different colours, black and white, and the players are distinguished by the colour of the men with which they play.
The eldest hand starts by naming the number of points he will make if allowed to name the trump and lead to the first trick, but he does not name the suit he purposes picking out. It is not necessary to lead a trump. There are two ways to bid. In some places there are seventeen points to be played for in each deal; one for each trick of the thirteen and one for each of the four honours, ace king queen and jack, in the trump suit. Honours count to the side winning them, and not to the original holders, so that a player holding the four top honours in any suit could safely bid eight; four tricks and four honors being a certainty, but if that was all he made he would lose on the deal, as the other side would score nine points out of the seventeen. In other places, it is the rule that the bidder must make the odd trick or he cannot count honours or anything else. There are then only eleven points to be played for in each deal; seven odd tricks and four honours. Any player bidding four would have to win the odd and three honors, or two odd and two honours, or something to make up his bid. _=SCORING.=_ No matter how many more than his bid he makes, he can score it all.
But 2 to 1 in his favour is a much better chance than the certainty, almost, that he will be loaded if a particular player is allowed the opportunity to lead a certain suit again. See B’s play in Illustrative Hand No 2, and Y’s in No 4. A player may have no desire to prevent any particular adversary from getting the lead; but may be anxious simply to carry out a certain line of play. In order to do this it may be essential that he should have some direction of the course of the hand. This is impossible if his play is confined to following suit helplessly, whatever is led. He must be able to assume the lead himself in order so to change the course of the play as to better suit his game. Let us suppose that he has a dangerous hand in plain suits, but is safe in hearts, and decides that his best chance is to lead hearts at every opportunity; or that he has a certain safe suit which it is manifestly to his advantage to have led as often as possible. The other players, being the ones who are to suffer from this line of play, will of course prevent it if possible; and in order to carry out the plan in spite of their opposition, it will be necessary for the individual player to gain the lead a certain number of times, and so force his game upon them. Again, a player may know that he can load a certain adversary if he can get in and lead a certain suit or card; or he may know that by giving one player the lead, that player can load another. In such cases commanding cards must be held or retained, in order to give the player a certain control of the lead.
They kissed and rose, he taking the cushion and his place in front of the lady, heading the next dance round, the lady taking him by the coat-tails, the first gentleman behind the lady, with the horn-bearer in the rear. In this way the dance went on till all present, alternately a lady and gentleman, had taken part in the ceremony. The dance concluded with a romp in file round the room to the quickening music of the fiddler, who at the close received the whole of the money collected by the horn-bearer. At Charminster the dance is begun by a single person (either man or woman), who dances about the room with a cushion in his hand, and at the end of the tune stops and sings:-- Man: This dance it will no further go. Musician: I pray you, good sir, why say you so? Man: Because Joan Sanderson will not come to. Musician: She must come to, and she shall come to, And she must come whether she will or no. Then the following words are sung as in the first example:-- Man: Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome. Both: Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance, And shall we go dance it once again, And once again, And shall we go dance it once again? Woman: This dance it will no further go. Musician: I pray you, madam, why say you so? Woman: Because John Sanderson will not come to. Musician: He must come to, and he shall come to, And he must come whether he will or no.
Get a man to watch all night. If the man should fall asleep? Set a dog to bark all night. If the dog should meet a bone? Set a cock to crow all night. If the cock should meet a hen? Here comes my Lord Duke, And here comes my Lord John; Let every one pass by but the very last one, And catch him if you can. --Cork (Mrs. B. B. Green). IX. London Bridge is broken down, Broken down, broken down, London Bridge is broken down, My fair lady.
In the many versions sent the only variants are: In Sporle, Norfolk, Miss Matthews says the game is sometimes called _Ivy_ Bush, or _Ivory_ Bush; and Mr. C. C. Bell, of Epworth, sends a version, Here we go round the Mulberry _Tree_ In Notts it is called Holly Bush (Miss Winfield). A version given in the _Folk-lore Record_, iv. 174, is called the _Gooseberry_ Bush, and Halliwell (_Popular Nursery Rhymes_, p. 224) records a game, the Bramble Bush. The bush, he says, is often imaginative, but is sometimes represented by a child in the centre. Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, pp. 134, 135) gives the game as a form of the Merry-ma-tanzie --a kind of dance.
13. _=Rouge=_ or _=Noir=_. Red or Black. The foregoing are the payments at Monte Carlo; but wheels with less numbers are scaled down accordingly. The players can bet on the zero if they choose, and they will be paid if it comes up, 35 for 1, but all other bets are lost. In wheels with two zeros, red and black, the bank wins on the colour which does not come, and the bets on the right colour are neither paid nor taken, but must remain until the next turn of the wheel. This is now the practice at Monte Carlo, with the single-zero wheels. _=Systems.=_ As at Faro, gamblers at Roulette are never tired of devising systems to beat the game; but none of them are of any further use than to afford a little passing amusement to their inventors. Persons who are interested in systems will find in the New York Sun, July 5, 1896, a very interesting tabulation of every roll of the ball at Monte Carlo for seven successive days, 4,012 in all, of which 120 were zeros.
Command, the best card of a suit, usually applied to suits which the adversary is trying to establish. Couper, F., to cut the cards; also to ruff a suit. Couleur, F., a suit of cards, such as hearts or clubs. Coup, a master stroke or brilliant play; a single roll of the wheel at Roulette, or a deal at Rouge et Noir. Compass Whist, arranging players according to the points of the compass at Duplicate Whist, and always retaining them in their original positions. Conventional Play, any method of conveying information, such as the trump signal, which is not based on the principles of the game. Coppered Bets, bets that have a copper or checker placed upon them at Faro, to show that they play the card to lose. Court Cards, the K, Q and J; the ace is not a court card.
=_ _=Z=_ plays Queen to shut out the Ten, if with _=A=_. _=A=_ knows each player has two trumps left, and that as the turn-up is still with _=Z=_, _=B=_ must have J or K; for if he held only 7 and 6 he would have trumped in to make cards. _=Trick 8.=_ _=A=_ leads trumps. If _=Y=_ does not play the Ten, and _=B=_ has not the Jack, _=B=_ must make four cards and the King by passing. If _=B=_ has the Jack, he must catch the Ten, no matter how _=Y=_ and _=Z=_ play. * * * * * _=FRENCH WHIST=_ is the name given to a variety of Scotch Whist in which the Ten of Diamonds counts ten to those winning it, whether it is a trump or not. BOSTON. _=CARDS.=_ Boston is played with two packs of fifty-two cards each, which rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing.
For instance: A player leads from K 10 x x x. Third Hand plays Queen and returns a small card. The Ten should be finessed, regardless of trump strength, as the Ace must be on the left, and the finesse is against the Jack being there also. Many varieties of this finesse occur. _=Placing the Lead.=_ This is usually a feature of the end-game A player may have an established suit, his adversary being the only person with any small cards of it. If the lead can be placed in the hand of this adversary, he must eventually lead the losing cards. A player begins with a weak suit of four cards, on the first round of which it is evident that his partner has no more, the adversaries having all the high cards. The suit is not played again, and for the last six tricks the original leader finds himself with three cards of it, and the Q x x of another suit. If the adversaries play King and Ace of the latter suit, the Queen should be given up, trusting partner for the Jack, for the Queen will force the holder of the three losing cards into the lead.
--Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. IV. Blackthorn! Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to-day? As many as you catch and carry away. --Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert Hardy). (_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.
Either of these names might be used for Backgammon, as they have exactly the same meaning. The Welsh words, bach, and cammen; or the Saxon bac, and gamen, signify “a little battle;” while the Chinese and Japanese names for Chess signify “mimic warfare.” The Welsh and Saxons undoubtedly got Backgammon from the Romans, who played it under the name of Scripta Duodecimo. They seemed to have got it from the Greeks, who are known to have used a table called Abacus, very much like a backgammon board in form, with lines drawn upon it, and the men were moved from one line to another according to the throws of the dice. There is no trace of Backgammon among the games of the Egyptians or the Hebrews, although the chief factors in the game, the dice, have been known to all nations, and are probably the oldest gaming instruments in the world. As to the respective merits of these table games, there is little to be said. Curiously enough they are played by entirely different classes of people. Backgammon has always been highly respectable, and seems likely to retain its position as the fashionable game. Draughts is peculiarly the game of the middle classes, popular at the workman’s dinner hour, in the sitting-rooms of cheap hotels, in country clubs, and in fire engine stations; the latter being a favourite training ground for our checker champions. Chess is probably the most universal game of all, and its general character is understood by almost every educated person in the world.
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.
Suppose third hand holds the J 5. He plays the 5 to the first round, because one of his two cards is an honour. The leader goes on with the Ace, and the Jack falls. Now the third hand must have the Queen or no more, and no matter which it is he can win the third round, with the Queen or with a trump. _=Against No-Trumpers.=_ When there is no trump, the third hand uses what is called the _=Foster echo=_. This consists in playing always the _=second-best=_ of the suit, when no attempt is made to win the trick. Suppose the leader begins with the King. Third hand holds 10 8 7 4, and plays the 8. This marks him with only one card higher than the 8, and is a great exposer of false cards played by the declarer.
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Strutt (_Sports_, p. 384) also describes the game as played in two ways--a game with bowling marbles at a wooden bridge; and another game, also with marbles, in which four, five, or six holes, and sometimes more, are made in the ground at a distance from each other, and the business of every one of the players is to bowl a marble, by a regular succession, into all the holes, and he who completes in the fewest bowls obtains the victory. In Northamptonshire a game called Nine Holes, or Trunks, is played with a long piece of wood or bridge with nine arches cut in it, each arch being marked with a figure over it, from one to nine, in the following rotation--VII., V., III., I., IX., II., IIII., VI.
The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as at Whist; except that a misdeal does not lose the deal. The misdealer must deal again, and with the same pack. _=CAYENNE.=_ After the cards are all dealt, the player to the left of the dealer cuts the still pack, which is shuffled and presented to him by the dealer’s partner, and the top card of the portion left on the table is turned up for Cayenne. This card is not a trump, but is simply to determine the rank of the suits. _=STAKES.=_ In Cayenne the stake is a unit, so much a point. The largest number of points possible to win on a rubber is 24, and the smallest, 1. The result of the rubber may be a tie, which we consider a defect in any game. In settling at the end of the rubber it is usual for the losers to pay their right-hand adversaries.
Disputes also arose as to counting double combinations, many contending that a double marriage should be as valuable as a double bézique. Time and experience have finally settled all these points, and the rules of the game are now practically uniform in all countries. BÉZIQUE, OR SIXTY-FOUR-CARD BINOCLE. There are two forms of Bézique in common use; the ordinary game, which will be first described, and the variation known as Rubicon Bézique, which is to Bézique proper what Railroad Euchre is to Euchre. _=CARDS.=_ Bézique is played with two packs of thirty-two cards each, all below the Seven being deleted, and the two packs being then shuffled together and used as one. It is better to have both packs of the same colour and pattern, but it is not absolutely necessary. The cards rank, A 10 K Q J 9 8 7; the Ace being the highest, both in cutting and in play. [Illustration: PULL-UP BÉZIQUE MARKER.] _=COUNTERS.
In the remaining three your partner’s hand would be benefited. If Dummy has King and one or two small cards, it is not so disadvantageous to lead up to the King as would at first appear; because it is forced out of his hand on the first round, unless declarer plays Ace, and it is usually good policy to force out Dummy’s cards of re-entry early in the hand. In leading from high-card combinations, the usual bridge leads should be followed; but exceptions must be made on the second round when certain cards are in Dummy’s hand. For instance: With A K J and others, it is usual to stop after the first round, and wait for the finesse of the Jack. This is obviously useless if the Queen is not in Dummy’s hand. So with K Q 10, unless Dummy has the Jack; or K Q 9, unless Dummy has the 10. The lead from A Q J should be avoided if Dummy has the King. With A Q 10 and others, J in Dummy’s hand, begin with the Queen. With A J 9 and others, 10 in Dummy’s hand, lead the Jack. With A J 10, Dummy having K Q x, play the Jack, and do not lead the suit again.
=_ A player is not obliged to declare any combination unless he wishes to do so, and he may sink a card if he thinks it would be to his advantage to conceal his hand. Sinking is calling only part of a combination, as, for instance, calling 51 for his point when he really has 61; calling a quinte when he has a sixième, or a trio when he has a quatorze. Sinking is usually resorted to only when the player knows from his own hand and discards that what he declares is still better than anything his adversary can hold; but it must be remembered that the part of the declaration which is sunk in this manner is lost. _=Irregular Declarations.=_ If either player claims a combination which he does not hold, and does not remedy the error before he plays a card, he cannot count anything that deal, losing any other declarations he may have made which are correct. His adversary then counts everything in his hand, whether his combinations were inferior or not. He also counts for what he wins in the tricks. If the elder hand’s declaration is admitted by the dealer to be good, it is good, even if the dealer afterward proves to have a better point, sequence, quatorze or trio. If any combination named by the elder hand is not actually his best, he cannot amend his declaration after the dealer has replied to it. This is in order to prevent a player from getting information to which he is not entitled.
Three-echo, an echo on a trump lead when holding three only. Three-on-a-side, a system of playing Faro, in which cards are bet to win or lose an odd number of times. Tournée, F., see Round. Trailing, playing a card which accomplishes nothing. Trash, to discard. Tric, F., the odd trick at Whist or Mort. Tricon, F., three cards of the same denomination.
| -- | -- | -- | |29.| -- | -- |What has this poor | | | | |prisoner done? | |30.| -- | -- |Stole my watch and | | | | |broke my chain. | |31.| -- | -- | -- | |32.|Give him a pipe of | -- | -- | | |tobacco to smoke. | | | |33.|Suppose the pipe | -- | -- | | |should fall and break.| | | |34.|We ll give him a bag | -- | -- | | |of nuts to crack.
In the last position, if five is thrown, the striker only is out, as the men cannot run. If there are men on first and second, and five is thrown, the striker is out, and the man on second is caught trying to steal third; while the man on first holds his base. If five is thrown when there are men on first and third, the striker is out, and the man on third is safe, but the man on first is caught trying to steal second. When bases are thrown, they are safe hits, and all the men on bases are advanced as many as the man at the bat throws. As soon as three men on each side have struck or been caught out by throwing five or six, the side is out, and all men left on bases count for nothing. As long as three men are not out, the side continues to send its men to the bat in regular order. GOING TO BOSTON. This game is known in the colonies as Yankee Grab, or Newmarket. Each player has three throws with three dice, and the highest die in each throw is laid aside. If two are equally high, only one is retained.