The big boys act as horses, while the younger ones seated on their shoulders try to pull each other over. The horses may push and strike each other with their shoulders, but must not kick or trip up with their feet, or use their hands or elbows. The game is usually won by the Horse and Knight who throw their opponents twice out of three times (G. L. Gomme). Strutt (_Sports_, p. 84) describes this, and says, A sport of this kind was in practice with us at the commencement of the fourteenth century. He considers it to bear more analogy to wrestling than to any other sport. He gives illustrations, one of which is here reproduced from the original MS. in the British Museum.
These are usually the most popular games with the middle and lower classes in the countries in which they are found, and may be considered as distinctly national in character. Games that become popular with the masses always last longer than others, and the rules governing them are much better understood, and more firmly established. In the course of a century the English aristocracy have run the gamut of Quadrille, Ombre, Whist, Écarté, Bézique, Piquet, Rubicon, and Bridge; while the middle classes have stuck steadily to Cribbage for nearly two hundred years. 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.
The two sing the first line. One of them sings, You re the lock, the other sings, and I m the key, and as they sang the words they unclasped their hands and dropped their companion on the ground. Mr. J. P. Emslie writes, My mother learned this from her mother, who was a native of St. Laurence, in the Isle of Thanet. The game possibly belongs to Kent. Bicky In Somersetshire the game of Hide and Seek. To _bik ee_ is for the seekers to go and lean their heads against a wall, so as not to see where the others go to hide.
Same game as Harie Hutcheon. See Curcuddie, Cutch-a-cutchoo, Hop-frog. Hiry-hag A boys game, in which several, joining hands, endeavour to catch another, who, when caught, is beaten with caps, the captors crying out-- Hiry-hiry-hag, Put him in a bag, &c. --Ross and Stead s _Holderness Glossary_. Hiss and Clap All the boys are requested to leave the room, when the girls take their seats, leaving a vacant place on the right side of each girl for the gentleman of her choice. Each boy in turn is then summoned by another who acts as doorkeeper, and asked to guess which lady he imagines has chosen him for her partner. Should he guess rightly he is allowed to take his seat by the lady who has chosen him, while the other girls loudly clap hands. 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.
W. Peach, says Miss Baker, has supplied me with the reminiscences of his own youth. He says the May garland was hung in the centre of the street, on a rope stretched from house to house. Then was made the trial of skill in tossing balls (small white leather ones) through the framework of the garland, to effect which was a triumph. See Cuck Ball, Keppy Ball, Monday. Ball and Bonnets [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] This is a boys game.
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She was back from the dead. * * * * * In an hour we had returned to the motel. She was as good as new, but badly shaken. I still don t know what happened, she said. I shrugged. Smoke screen, Pheola. Every time there s a run of luck on a crap table, somebody yells TK! And I suppose there s a number of TK s who aren t in the Lodge, and who figure to make a killing here and a killing there by tipping the dice. But any decent TK, even a Fowler Smythe, can spot them. There was TK in this, but not tipping dice. Smythe is a skunk.
_=No. 3.=_ This example of the _=Short-suit Game=_ is from Val Starnes’ Short-Suit Whist. This is sometimes called the Gambit opening. The leader, having no reason to lead trumps, even with five, and not having three honours in his long suit, prefers the gambit opening of the singly guarded queen. Y holds what is called a potential or imperfect fourchette, and covers, in order to make A-B play two honours to get one trick. B also makes a gambit opening by returning a supporting spade. Three tricks are gained by the two leads of the supporting cards, and five would have been made but for Y’s covering on the first trick. _=No. 4.
The three totals are added, and found, in this case, to be 520, which is the total of B’s loss. We now multiply the scores by the number of players engaged, in this case four, and from the product we deduct the 520 already found. Then the scores balance. When Skat is played for the League stake, which is one-fourth of a cent a point, the results may be found in a still shorter way by adding up all the scores and taking an average, this average being the sum divided by the number of players. Take the results just given for example:-- ------+------+------+--------------------- A | B | C | D ------+------+------+--------------------- 186 | 42 | 344 | 116 = 688 ÷ 4 = 172 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 ------+------+------+--------------------- +14 | -130 | +172 | -56 ------+------+------+--------------------- The average is simply deducted from each score, and the remainder is the amount won or lost, in cents. _=CHEATING.=_ As in all games in which the cards are dealt in groups, the greek will find many opportunities in Skat. The clumsiest shuffler can usually locate some of the Wenzels at the top or the bottom of the pack, before presenting it to be cut, and if the players do not insist on the cards being dealt always in the same manner, the sharper can secure to himself two or more Wenzels, either in his hand or in the Skat. Any person who deals the cards sometimes three at a time, and again five at a time, should be stopped immediately, and no such excuses as changing his luck should be listened to for a moment. Any person who habitually picks up the cards with their faces towards him, and straightens them by lifting them from their positions in the pack, should be stopped at once, and requested to straighten the cards face down.
The same game is called Frimsey-framsey in parts of the county of Antrim.--Patterson s _Antrim and Down Glossary_. Compare Cushion Dance. Frog-lope Name for Leap-frog. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. Frog in the Middle One child is seated on the ground with his legs under him; the other players form a ring round. They then pull or buffet the centre child or Frog, who tries to catch one of them without rising from the floor. The child who is caught takes the place of the centre child. Another method of playing the game is similar to Bull in the Park. The child in the centre tries to break out of the ring, those forming it keeping the Frog in the ring by any means in their power, while still keeping their hands clasped.
So far, and a little vaingloriously, the general. Let me now shrug my shoulders and shake him off, and go over this battle he describes a little more exactly with the help of the photographs. The battle is a small, compact game of the Fight-to-a-Finish type, and it was arranged as simply as possible in order to permit of a full and exact explanation. [Illustration: Fig. 6b--Battle of Hook s Farm. Position of Armies at end of Blue s third move.] [Illustration: Fig. 7--Battle of Hook s Farm. Red s Left Wing attempting to join the Main Body.] Figure 1 shows the country of the battlefield put out; on the right is the church, on the left (near the centre of the plate) is the farm.
The dealer is Z in both instances. In the first example, he makes it no-trump. In the second, Dummy, Y, makes it no-trump. A leads in both cases:-- ------------------------------+ +------------------------------ A Y B Z | | A Y B Z +------+------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+------+------+ | 7♢ | 3♢ | J♢ | _K♢_ | 1| ♡6 | _♡A_ | ♡7 | ♡3 | | ♣Q | ♣2 | _♣K_ | ♣J | 2| ♣5 | _♣K_ | ♣3 | ♣2 | | _A♢_ | 8♢ | 6♢ | 2♢ | 3| ♣8 | ♣10 | ♣7 | _♣J_ | | 4♢ | _Q♢_| 2♠ | 5♢ | 4| 5♢ | 3♢ | _♣A_ | ♣4 | | ♣4 | ♣3 | _♣A_ | ♣10 | 5| _♡K_ | ♡2 | ♡9 | ♡J | | ♡3 | ♡5 | ♡J | _♡A_ | 6| ♡5 | ♡4 | 6♢ | _♡Q_ | | 8♠ | _♣9_ | ♡2 | ♣8 | 7| 5♠ | 3♠ | 6♠ | _♣Q_ | | 9♠ | _♣7_ | 3♠ | ♡4 | 8| 7♢ | 4♠ | 8♠ | _♣9_ | | ♡6 | _♣6_ | 4♠ | ♡Q | 9| 9♢ | 4♢ | 10♠ | _♣6_ | | ♡9 | _♣5_ | ♡8 | 7♠ |10| _A♠_ | 9♠ | J♠ | 7♠ | | 9♢ | J♠ | 5♠ | _Q♠_ |11| _♡10_ | Q♠ | 8♢ | 2♠ | | 10♢ | ♡7 | 6♠ | _A♠_ |12| _♡8_ | K♠ | 10♢ | 2♢ | | ♡K | ♡10 | _K♠_ | 10♠ |13| K♢ | _A♢_ | Q♢ | J♢ | +------+------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+------+------+ The first of these examples shows the importance of playing for the suit which is longest between the two hands. Observe that the dealer plays the high cards from the hand which is shorter in the suit, and on the second round of clubs is careful to give up the higher of two cards, so as to get out of Dummy’s way and clear, or establish, the suit. B, hoping to get his partner into the lead again, leads a heart up to Dummy’s weakness, and leads a heart which will beat Dummy’s best heart. At the eleventh trick, unless the dealer can make two tricks in spades by the finesse, he cannot win the game. The second example shows the importance of preserving a re-entry card in the hand which is longer in the suit the dealer intends playing for. If the dealer lets the heart come up to him, it is true that he will make win the first trick with the Jack; but he will never win a trick with the Queen, and therefore he can never get in to make his clubs, even if he establishes them. By putting up the Ace of hearts, and keeping both Q and J in his own hand, he is certain of a re-entry in hearts.
Any one failing to get as many as 21 points in meld and play is set back a mark. TWO-HAND JASS. When only two play, the game closely resembles American pinochle, the winner of each trick drawing a card from the top of the stock, the loser drawing the next one. All melds are made immediately after winning a trick and before drawing from the stock, only one meld at a time being allowed. It is not necessary to follow suit to anything until the stock is exhausted, after which all melds cease and the second player to each trick must win it if he can, but the jack of trumps still has the privilege of renouncing if a plain suit is led. PATIENCE POKER As its name implies, this is a form of solitaire, but it may be managed so as to provide a pleasing competition for any number of players. Both forms of the game will be described, the solitaire first. _=CARDS.=_ The full pack of fifty-two cards is shuffled and cut. Keeping it face down in the left hand, the top card is turned up and laid upon the table.
With a thrill of warmth and tenderness, he felt the consciousness of the Lady May pouring over into his own. Her consciousness was as gentle and clear and yet sharp to the taste of his mind as if it were scented oil. It felt relaxing and reassuring. He could sense her welcome of him. It was scarcely a thought, just a raw emotion of greeting. At last they were one again. In a tiny remote corner of his mind, as tiny as the smallest toy he had ever seen in his childhood, he was still aware of the room and the ship, and of Father Moontree picking up a telephone and speaking to a Scanner captain in charge of the ship. His telepathic mind caught the idea long before his ears could frame the words. The actual sound followed the idea the way that thunder on an ocean beach follows the lightning inward from far out over the seas. The Fighting Room is ready.
Addy). (_b_) A number of children stand against a wall, and a row of other children face them. They walk backwards and forwards, singing the first and third verses. Then the children who are standing still (against the wall) answer by singing the second and fourth verses. When these are sung the moving line of children take Mary and dance round, singing some lines which my informant, says Mr. Addy, has forgotten. (_c_) I have no description of the way Miss Chase s game is played. It, too, is probably an incomplete version. The words Ring ding di do do show a possible connection between this and games of the Three Dukes a-riding type. They may or may not be variants of the same game.
Partners are determined by cutting; the highest two play against the lowest two; the lowest deals and has the choice of seats and cards. In _=Boston=_ and in _=Solo Whist=_, a table is complete with four players. In cutting for positions at the table, the lowest has the choice of seats and cards, and the two highest sit opposite each other. 3. If two players cut intermediate cards of equal value, they cut again; the lower of the new cut plays with the original lowest. 4. If three players cut cards of equal value, they cut again. If the fourth has cut the highest card, the two lowest of the new cut are partners, and the lowest deals. If the fourth has cut the lowest card, he deals, and the two highest of the new cut are partners. 5.
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.H.” It is said that he learned the game from a friend, who had been taught it by a Wendish coachman in his employ. The game spread rapidly, and soon became popular all over Germany, but with many minor variations in the details of play. To settle these, a Skat congress was finally held in Altenburg in 1886. This was succeeded by others in Leipzic and Dresden, and the result of these meetings has been to weed out all the minor differences in play, and to settle upon a universal code of laws for the game, which is called Reichs-Skat. In America, Reichs-Skat is no longer played; the value of some of the games is changed, and all the bidding is by Zahlen-reizen.
The Alma, for instance, shows a great many more winning variations for the black men than for the white, and is consequently one of the best openings for Black. Any person who plays correctly can always be sure of avoiding defeat; that is, no one can beat him if he makes no slips, and the worst he can get is a draw. It is a common error to suppose that the first move is an advantage. [See Illustrative Game No. 7.] The strategy of the game consists in so deploying your men that alluring openings are left for your adversary. These openings are always pitfalls of the most dangerous character, and whenever you think a good player has made a mistake and left you a chance, you should examine the position with great care, or you will probably walk into a trap. The first of the example games given in this work is a case in point. White’s move, 27 24, is apparently the best possible, yet it immediately and hopelessly loses the game. Sometimes these traps are set very early in the opening, and sometimes after the pieces have been pretty well developed.