If the Chess-board be wrongly placed, it cannot be changed during the game in progress after a move shall have been made by each player, provided the men were correctly placed upon the board at the beginning, _i.e._, the Queens upon their own colours. A deficiency in number, or a misplacement of the men, at the beginning of the game, when discovered, annuls the game. The field of the Standard Chess-board shall be twenty-two inches square. The Standard Chess-men shall be of the improved Staunton Club size and pattern. _=First Move and Colour.=_ The right of first move must be determined by lot. The player having the first move must always play with the white men. The right of move shall alternate, whether the game be won, lost or drawn.
Take the top card from the ace pile, turn it face upward, and place it, still face upward, under the pile to which it belongs. If it is a Jack, for instance, it will go face up under the first pile in the third row. Then take the top card from the second pile, and so on, keeping the left hand as a marker on the pile last drawn from. When you come to a pile which is complete, all the cards being face up, you can skip it, and go on to the next. If at the end you find that the last card to be turned up lies on its proper pile, and needs turning over only, you win; but if you have to remove it to another pile, you lose. _=TRY AGAIN.=_ Shuffle and cut the pack, and deal the cards face upward into four heaps. You are not obliged to deal to each pile in succession, but may place the cards on any of the four piles, according to your judgment or pleasure. In dealing out in this manner it is not good policy to cover one card with a higher, unless you are compelled to do so. Every time you come to an ace, separate it from the others, placing it in a new row, as a foundation for an ascending sequence, which may be continued regardless of the suit of the cards used.
Maughan); Epworth, Doncaster (Mr. C. C. Bell); Settle, Yorks. (Rev. W. S. Sykes); Derbyshire (Mrs. Harley); Redhill, Surrey (Miss G. Hope); Ordsall, Nottinghamshire (Miss Matthews); Brigg, Lincolnshire (Miss J.
He is in a fix. How is he to get out of it? His cavalry are slightly outnumbered, but he decides to do as much execution as he can with his own guns, charge the Blue guns before him, and then bring up his infantry to save the situation. Figure 5a shows the result of Red s move. His two effective guns have between them bowled over two cavalry and six infantry in the gap between the farm and Blue s right gun; and then, following up the effect of his gunfire, his cavalry charges home over the Blue guns. One oversight he makes, to which Blue at once calls his attention at the end of his move. Red has reckoned on twenty cavalry for his charge, forgetting that by the rules he must put two men at the tail of his middle gun. His infantry are just not able to come up for this duty, and consequently two cavalry-men have to be set there. The game then pauses while the players work out the cavalry melee. Red has brought up eighteen men to this; in touch or within six inches of touch there are twenty-one Blue cavalry. Red s force is isolated, for only two of his men are within a move, and to support eighteen he would have to have nine.
=_ Three, four, or five persons may play; but four is the proper number, and all descriptions of the game suppose it to be four-handed. _=Cutting.=_ To decide the positions of the players, a sequence of cards is sorted out, equal in number with the number of players. These cards are then shuffled, face downward, and each player draws one. The highest of the sequence has the choice of positions, and so on down until all are seated. The player who draws the King deals the first hand. _=Stakes.=_ Each player purchases an equal number of counters from the banker, usually 100. This original _=cave=_ cannot be added to or deducted from. As long as a single counter of it remains the player must call for a sight, just as in freeze-out or table stakes; and not until he is _=decavé=_, [has lost everything,] can he purchase another stake, the amount of which is usually at his own option.
The beginner will find it very convenient, when following out the play of published games, to screw off the bottom of one white and one black Knight, and to exchange the bases. The white King’s Knight will then have a black base, and the black King’s Knight will have a white base, and they can be easily identified at any period of the game. _=GERMAN NOTATION.=_ Many of our standard chess books, and some of the best edited chess columns, are in German, and the student should be familiar with the German notation, which is much simpler than the English. The white men are always considered as the side nearer the player; the vertical columns are designated from left to right by the letters a b c d e f g h; and the horizontal rows by the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, beginning at the bottom, or white side. The pieces are designated by one capital letter only, as follows:-- K for König, or King. D for Dame, or Queen. T for Thurm, or Rook. L for Läufer, or Bishop. S for Springer, or Knight.
It appears from this analysis that the London version is alone in its faithful reflection of an actual building episode. Three other versions introduce the incident of watching by a man, and failing him, a dog or cock; while five versions introduce a prisoner. This incident occurs the greatest number of times. It is not surprising that the London version seems to be the most akin to modern facts, being told so near the spot indicated by the verses, and on this account it cannot be considered as the oldest of the variants. There remain the other two groups. Both are distinguished by the introduction of a human element, one as watchman, the other as prisoner. The watchman incident approaches nearer to modern facts; the prisoner incident remains unexplained by any appeal to modern life, and it occurs more frequently than the others. In only one case, the Shropshire, is the prisoner ransomed; in the others he is sent to prison. Besides this main line of criticism brought out by the analysis there is little to note. The Hurstmonceux version begins with taking lambs over London Bridge, and the Shropshire version with the players themselves going over; but these are doubtless foreign adjuncts, because they do not properly prefix the main incident of the bridge being broken.
_=Cutting.=_ To decide the positions of the players, a sequence of cards is sorted out, equal in number with the number of players. These cards are then shuffled, face downward, and each player draws one. The highest of the sequence has the choice of positions, and so on down until all are seated. The player who draws the King deals the first hand. _=Stakes.=_ Each player purchases an equal number of counters from the banker, usually 100. This original _=cave=_ cannot be added to or deducted from. As long as a single counter of it remains the player must call for a sight, just as in freeze-out or table stakes; and not until he is _=decavé=_, [has lost everything,] can he purchase another stake, the amount of which is usually at his own option. _=Blind and Straddle.
Nine Men s Morris, in Gloucestershire called Ninepenny Morris, was, says a correspondent in the _Midland Garner_, largely practised by boys and even older people over thirty years ago, but is now, as far as I know, entirely disused. Two persons play. Each must have twelve pegs, or twelve pieces of anything which can be distinguished. The Morris was usually marked on a board or stone with chalk, and consists of twenty-four points. The pegs are put down one at a time alternately upon any point upon the Morris, and the first person who makes a consecutive row of three impounds one of his opponent s pegs. The pegs must only be moved on the lines. The game is continued until one or other of the players has only two pegs left, when the game is won (1st ser., i. 20). Another correspondent in the same journal (ii.
All the 8’s and all the 6’s but the ♡6 are discarded from a pack of fifty-two cards. All court cards count for 10, the ace for 1, and all others at their face value. A pool is then made up by each player contributing one counter. This is the farm, and it is sold to the highest bidder, who must put into it the price he pays for it. He then becomes the farmer, and deals one card to each player, but takes none himself. The object of the players is to get as near 16 as possible, and each in turn, beginning on the dealer’s left must take at least one card. After looking at it he may ask for another, and so on until he is créve or stands. Should a player overdraw himself, he says nothing about it until all are helped, when the hands are exposed. Any player having exactly 16 takes the farm and all its contents. If there is more than one 16, that which is made with the assistance of the ♡6 wins, otherwise the one which is made with the fewest cards.
_=Rules for Leading High Cards.=_ Having a strong suit, but without cards of re-entry or trump strength to support it, the best policy is to make tricks while you can. With such a suit as A K Q 2, no one need be told not to begin with the deuce. Whenever a player holds two or more of the best cards of a suit he should play one of them. If he holds both second and third best, playing one of them will force the best out of his way, leaving him with the commanding card. The cards which are recognised by whist players as high, are the A K Q J 10, and if we separate the various combinations from which a player should lead each of them, a study of the groups so formed will greatly facilitate our recollection of them. In the first group are those containing two or more of the best cards. In this and all following notation, the exact size of any card below a Ten is immaterial. [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂭 🂫 | 🂱 🂾 🂻 🂷 🃁 🃎 🃍 🃆 | 🃑 🃞 🃔 🃓 ] So far as trick-taking is concerned, it is of no importance which of the winning cards is first led; but for the past hundred years it has been the custom for good whist players to lead the _=King=_ from all these combinations, in order that the partner may be informed, by its winning, that the leader holds the Ace also. In the second group are those containing both the second and third best, but not the best.