Gregor. KIRKCUDBRIGHT-- Auchencairn Prof. A. C. Haddon. LANARKSHIRE-- Biggar Mr. Wm. Ballantyne. Lanark Mr. W.
The high cards in the plain suits are capable of being very skilfully managed in this matter of placing the lead. It sometimes happens that a player with the Ten may be fourth hand on a suit of which he has none; or he may catch the Ten with a small honour if it is used in trumping in. The partnership games offer many fine opportunities for playing the Ten into the partner’s hand, especially when it is probable that he has the best trump, or a better trump than the player on the left. In calculating the probabilities of saving the Ten by trumping in, it must be remembered that the greater the number of players, the less chance there is that a suit will go round more than once, because there are only nine cards of each suit in play. Many players, in their anxiety to catch the Ten, overlook the possibilities of their hands in making cards, the count for which often runs into high figures. Close attention should be paid to the score. For instance: A wants 4 points to win; B wants 10; and C wants 16. If A can see his way to win the game by cards or small honours, he should take the first opportunity of giving C the Ten; or allowing him to make it in preference to B. As the Ten counts first, cards and honours next, B may be shut out, even if he has the Jack. _=LAWS.
If he does not avail himself of his privilege of raising, he must _=pass the word=_ to the player on his right; that is, transfer the privilege to him. If he declines, it is a call; if he raises, it goes on until every player has refused to avail himself of the privilege. If a player chooses to raise without waiting for his turn, of course he can do so. One of the fine points in the game is knowing when to raise the bet yourself, and when to pass the word. _=Rank of the Hands.=_ If a call is made, the hands are shown, and the best Bouillotte hand wins. There are only two classes of hands recognized in Bouillotte, the brelan, and the point; but there are three kinds of brelans, which rank in the following order: _=A Brelan Carré=_ is four of a kind; three in the player’s hand, and the fourth turned up on the pack. If any player holds a brelan, [three of a kind,] of a higher denomination than the brelan carré, the player may turn up the card under the retourne, and if this makes his hand a brelan carré also, he wins the pool. In addition to winning the pool, the holder of a brelan carré receives from each player four white counters. _=A Simple Brelan=_ is three of a kind in the player’s hand, three aces being the highest, and three eights the lowest.
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. He may play with the hand originally dealt him, or he may risk getting a better by taking the widow in exchange. If he exchanges, his original hand is dead, and must not be seen by any player. If any player takes the widow, those following him must play the hand dealt them or pass out. In some clubs the eldest hand is obliged to play, either with his own hand or with the widow. If all pass except the pone, he must play against the dealer, either with the cards dealt him, or with the widow. If he declines to play, he must pay the dealer five counters, and the pool remains. The dealer must play if he is opposed by only one player; but if two others have announced to play, the dealer may play or pass as he pleases. If he plays, he may discard and take up the trump card.
In playing a domino, it must be so placed that the end of it shall match and adjoin the exposed end of the line; a six being played to a six, a four to a four, and so on. Each domino, as played, is laid face upward on the table, the ends abutting, and doublets being laid across, or at right angles to the line. The principal games are divided into two classes; those in which the object is to _=block=_ a player, so that he cannot follow suit, and those in which the object is to make the ends of the line some multiple of _=five=_ or _=three=_. The Block Game will be described first. _=THE BLOCK GAME.=_ Each player draws seven dominoes, and the one whose turn it is to set lays down any domino he pleases. If a good player, he will select one of his longest suit, especially if he has three or more, and his object will be to get the line back to his suit as often as possible. If a player had to set with the hand of dominoes shown in the foregoing diagram, he would select the 5-0, because he has four of the 5 suit, and three of the 0 suit. This would compel his adversary to play some domino having upon it a 5 or a 0. Let us suppose this adversary to hold the following dominoes: 6-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0, 5-1, 5-0.
=_ In order to illustrate the manner of counting the hands, which is called showing, let us suppose the starter to be a Queen, and that the pone discarded an Ace and a Ten for the crib, the dealer laying out two Jacks. The non-dealer always has the first show, as an offset to the advantage of the dealer’s crib. The pone therefore shows his hand, which, combined with the starter, is as follows:-- [Illustration: 🂭 🃃 🂤 🃔 🃕 ] This is worth 10 holes; the run of three with one duplicate is always worth 8, and the fifteen formed by the starter and the Five counts 2 more. This puts the pone’s total score to 25 points. The dealer then counts, showing his hand first. This, with the starter, is as follows:-- [Illustration: 🂭 🂱 🂲 🃂 🃓 ] This is worth 14 holes. In addition to the run of three with one duplicate, three fifteens can be formed by combining the starter and a Three with each of the deuces, and then taking the starter and the Ace with both the deuces together. This puts the dealer’s total score to 24, with the crib still to count. This is as follows, with the starter:-- [Illustration: 🂭 🃛 🂫 🃚 🂡 ] This is worth 9 holes; 8 for the run of three with one duplicate, and 1 for his nobs. There are no fifteens, and the Ace is worthless.
These cards must be exposed face up on the table, so that all may see who has to double the various pools. If any of the layout cards are in the stock, the pool simply remains, without doubling. There are a great many variations of Pope Joan. Sometimes a layout very similar to that in Matrimony is used, Pope taking the place of Pair, and Game that of Best. A trump is turned by the dealer, and Matrimony is King and Queen of trumps, Intrigue Queen and Jack of trumps, Confederacy, King and Jack of trumps. The player holding these cards will of course be able to play both of them if he can play one in a sequence, and will take the pool for the combination. If he holds one card and another player holds the other, they divide the pool. If one of the cards is in the stock, the pool remains. In some places it is the custom to remove the Eight of diamonds, as at Commit, to form an extra and known stop. The player first getting rid of his cards takes the pool on Game, and the holder of Pope takes that pool if he can get rid of the card in the course of play, if not, he must double the pool, just as with the honours in trumps.
In the nullo there are no honours, and the declarer scores the tricks over the book made by his opponents, which he forces them to take. Many interesting card problems have been built upon the nullo. Toward the end of 1913 still another change seems to have suggested itself to some of the English players who were familiar with the Russian game of vint, and that is to play auction just as it is played up to the point of the lead to the first trick, but that no dummy is exposed, the four players holding up their cards and following suit just as they would at whist. Whether or not this game will ever become as popular as the combination of dealer and dummy, it is difficult to say, but appearances are against it. There seems to be a growing tendency in America to adopt the English rule of cutting out the spade suit at 2 a trick, and making it always a royal spade, worth 9. The dealer is allowed to pass without making a bid, the lowest call being one club. If all pass, the deal goes to the left. BRIDGE. There are two principal varieties of this game; straight bridge, in which the dealer or his partner must make the trump, their opponents having nothing to say about it except to double the value of the tricks. The dealer’s partner is always the dummy, and either side may score toward game by making the odd trick or more.
After which there is, as usual, the ring dance. They then represent washing, ironing clothes, baking bread, washing the house, and a number of other familiar proceedings. Chambers quotes a fragment of this little ballet, as practised at Kilbarchan, in Renfrewshire, which contains the following lines similar to those in this game:-- She synes the dishes three times a day, Three times a day, three times a day; She synes the dishes three times a day, Come alang wi the merry-ma-tanzie. She bakes the scones three times a day, Three times a day, three times a day; She bakes the scones three times a day, Come alang wi the merry-ma-tanzie. She ranges the stules three times a day, Three times a day, three times a day; She ranges the stules three times a day, Come alang wi the merry-ma-tanzie. This game originated, no doubt, as a marriage dance round a sacred tree or bush. As it now exists it appears to have no other character than the performance of duties such as those enumerated in the description. In no version that I am acquainted with do the elements of love and marriage or kissing occur, otherwise the resemblance it bears to the Scotch Merry-ma-tanzie would suggest that it is a portion of that game. This game possesses the centre tree, which is not preserved in Merry-ma-tansa. Trees were formerly sacred to dancing at the marriage festival, as at Polwarth in Berwickshire, where the custom once prevailed, which is not unworthy of notice.
Like a slightly painful flash of light against the eyes. Yet in that time, a forty-thousand-ton ship lifting free above Earth disappeared somehow or other into two dimensions and appeared half a light-year or fifty light-years off. At one moment, he would be sitting in the Fighting Room, the pin-set ready and the familiar Solar System ticking around inside his head. For a second or a year (he could never tell how long it really was, subjectively), the funny little flash went through him and then he was loose in the Up-and-Out, the terrible open spaces between the stars, where the stars themselves felt like pimples on his telepathic mind and the planets were too far away to be sensed or read. Somewhere in this outer space, a gruesome death awaited, death and horror of a kind which Man had never encountered until he reached out for inter-stellar space itself. Apparently the light of the suns kept the Dragons away. * * * * * Dragons. That was what people called them. To ordinary people, there was nothing, nothing except the shiver of planoforming and the hammer blow of sudden death or the dark spastic note of lunacy descending into their minds. But to the telepaths, they were Dragons.
Making the majority of the pips that count for what is called _=Game=_. _=Turning the Jack=_ is entirely a matter of chance, and should not occur more than once in thirteen deals. If a Jack is turned every few deals, you may be sure that unfair methods are being used. Nothing is more common among advantage players than turning up Jacks every few deals. _=Begging=_ is resorted to by a player who holds no trumps, or such indifferent ones that it is very unlikely they will be either High or Low. If he has anything better, such as very high or low cards in other suits, such a hand is called, “a good hand to run to,” and the player begs, hoping the new trump will better fit his hand. If he has nothing better in other suits than in the turn-up, it will still be slightly in his favour to beg, unless he has trumps enough to give him some hopes of making the point for Game. It is a fatal error to beg on good cards, and gamblers have a saying that he who begs a point to-day, will beg a stake to-morrow. _=High=_ and _=Low=_ count to the player to whom those cards are dealt, and there is no chance to alter the fortunes of the deal except by begging and running the cards. These two points may both be made by the same card, if it is the only trump in play; because High is counted for the best trump out during the deal, and Low for the lowest, no matter what the cards are.
If any player _=opens=_ the game by making a bet, the player on his right may equal or raise it; but he cannot pass after the game is opened, unless he withdraws from the pool. Any player may call for a sight for the amount in front of him, but that does not prevent the others from continuing the betting. If no one will open, the deal is void, and each player puts five counters in the pool for the next deal. If a player opens, and no one will equal or raise him, he wins the antes and straddles, if any. If any player makes a raise which no one will meet, he takes whatever is in the pool, unless a player has called for a sight for a small part of it. _=Calling and Showing.=_ If only two players bet against each other, either may call the other, and demand a show of hands at any time; but if three or four are betting, the privilege of calling falls upon each in turn from right to left. For instance: A, B, C, and D play. D blinds five counters, and deals. A passes, and B opens for five reds.
By adding this expectation to your show, you can see how many you can hope to peg yourself, and how many the dealer will probably be on hand, crib and peg altogether. The hands should average 7 points, and the cribs 5. FIVE-CARD CRIBBAGE. In this form of the game only five cards are dealt to each player, one at a time. Two of these are laid out for the crib, and the three remaining are used in play, exactly as in the six-card game. _=Three for Last.=_ The non-dealer on the first hand of each game is allowed to peg three holes as a compensation for the advantage his adversary derives from having the first deal. Although the rules allow these three to be pegged at any time during the game, they should be put up immediately, in order to avoid disputes. There is no further play after a go is declared, or either player has reached 31. The score for 31 is two holes; and for the go, one hole.