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. In all the text-books on Skat which we have examined, this fact has been entirely overlooked. SKAT. The etymology of the word Skat, sometimes spelt Scat, is a matter of doubt, but the most plausible explanation is that it is a corruption of one of the terms in the parent game of Taroc; “scart,” from “scarto,” what is left; or “scartare,” to discard or reject. “Matadore” is another word from the game of Taroc, still retained in Skat. Others attribute the word to “Skatt,” the Old-German or Anglo-Saxon for money; the modern German, “Schatz,” a treasure, referring to the forms of the game in which good counting cards are laid aside in the skat for the count at the end of the hand. This derivation would account for both spellings of the word, with a “k” and with a “c.” The student is advised to make himself familiar with the German terms in the following description, as they are in common use wherever skat is played.
Pair nothing, for he might come out with a pair royal; make no runs, for he might extend them. But if you have not enough to show out, you must take every chance to peg the difference, because if you cannot get out in play and first show, the dealer has not only both hand and crib against you, but the first show on the next deal. In six-card Cribbage, the usual pegging for the play is five holes for the dealer, and four or five for the non-dealer. 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.
Any number of persons may play, and a full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The cards rank from the A K Q down to the deuce. Any player may shuffle, the dealer last. The pack is then cut, and the reunited parts are placed in the centre of the table. The players then cut it into several packets, none less than four cards, all of which remain on the table face down. Some player then pushes one of the packets toward the dealer, and bets are then made on the others. Any player, except the dealer, can bet what he pleases on any packet. After all the bets are made all the packets, including the dealer’s, are turned face up, exposing the bottom card of each. Any packet disclosing a card lower than the dealer’s loses all bets placed upon it. Any packet showing a card better than the dealer’s wins from him.
The counters have a money value, and three are given to each player. Three cards are dealt, face down, and one at a time. There is no widow. The eldest hand may then exchange one card with the player on his left, who must give his card before seeing the one he is to receive. The exchange goes round to the left. The moment any player finds himself with a flush, three cards of the same suit, regardless of their value, whether dealt to him, or made by exchange, he says: “My Ship Sails;” and all exchange is stopped, and the hands are shown. Should there be more than one flush, the pips win, counting ace for 11, and other court-cards for 10 each. If no player has secured a flush after two rounds of exchanges, the hands are shown, and the highest number of pips in the two-card flushes wins the pool. The elder hand wins ties. BOUILLOTTE, OR BRELAN.
A variation is sometimes made by the dealer announcing a trump suit after he has examined his hand, instead of turning up the last card. His adversary then has the right either to play his hand, or to exchange it for the one on his right; but the dealer must play the hand dealt to him. THIRTEEN AND THE ODD. This is Humbug Whist without the discard. The dealer gives thirteen cards to his adversary and to himself, one at a time, and turns up the next for the trump. The trump card belongs to neither player. The winner of the odd trick scores a point. Five points is game. MORT. WHIST À TROIS; OR FRENCH DUMMY.
[Illustration: 🃕 🂵 🂥 🃖 🃇] No. 2. [Illustration: 🂦 🃇 🂨 🃈 🃘] No. 3. [Illustration: 🃆 🂧 🂸 🂩 🂹] No. 4. [Illustration: 🃖 🂷 🃗 🃈 🃘] No. 1 contains a fifteen in addition to the three runs of three and the pair royal, and is therefore worth 17 altogether. Nos. 2 and 3 each contain three fifteens; but No.
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4. Those players who, at the commencement of a deal, are at the score of four, cannot score honours. 5. The penalty for a revoke (_see_ Law 72) takes precedence of all other scores. Tricks score next. Honours last. 6. Honours, unless claimed before the trump card of the following deal is turned up, cannot be scored. 7. To score honours is not sufficient; they must be called at the end of the hand; if so called, they may be scored at any time during the game.
T. Winterblossom, 1875. THE EUCHRE FAMILY. This family embraces four of the best known and most popular games in the world, each of which has been considered the national game in its own country: Écarté in France; Napoleon in England; Spoil Five in Ireland; and Euchre in America. It has always been the custom to trace the origin of Euchre to a variety of Triomphe, or French Ruff, probably introduced to America by the French of Louisiana; and to claim Écarté as its cousin, and the French survivor of the parent game. In the opinion of the author, both the game and its name go to show that Euchre is of mixed stock, and probably originated in an attempt to play the ancient Irish game of Spoil Five with a piquet pack. “Euchre” is not a French word, but the meaning of it is identical with “Spoil Five”; both names signifying that the object of the game is to prevent the maker of the trump from getting three tricks. In the one game he is “spoiled;” in the other he is “euchred.” In the old game of Triomphe, in Écarté, and in the black suits in Spoil Five, the order of the court cards in plain suits is the same, the ace ranking below the Jack. But in Euchre the Jack ranks above the ace when the suit is trumps, exactly as it does in Spoil Five.
COCKED HAT AND FEATHER. [Illustration: O O O O ] The pins are spotted as above, the centre pin being the feather. Ten innings constitute a game, and three balls (not exceeding 6 inches in size) must be used in each inning. All the pins except the feather have to be bowled down or the inning goes for naught. If the feather is left standing alone, the innings count one. There are no penalties. The dead wood must be removed. Any pins knocked down through dead wood remaining on the alley cannot be placed to the credit of the bowler. The maximum is 10. THE BATTLE GAME.
10 on Foul Strokes. _=6.=_ If he plays with the wrong ball, except as provided in foregoing Law 10. _=7.=_ If the player touches the cue-ball more than once in any way, or hinders or accelerates it in any other way than by a legitimate stroke of the cue; or if, during a stroke or after it, he in any way touches, hinders, or accelerates an object-ball, except by the one stroke of the cue-ball to which he is entitled. _=8.=_ As touching any ball _in any way_ is a stroke, a second touch is a foul. _=9.=_ It is a foul against the striker if any ball be disturbed, hastened, or hindered by an opponent or any one but himself, whether the ball or balls are at rest while he is aiming or striking, in motion after he has struck, or at rest again after he has struck, and pending his again taking aim. _=10.
If they succeed in this attempt, the player who does so is entitled to throw the ball with all his might towards his antagonists. If he kep it in the first bound which it makes off the ground, called a stot, he is allowed to haunch, that is, to throw the ball by bringing his hand with a sweep past his thigh, to which he gives a stroke as his hand passes, and discharging the ball at the moment when the stroke is given. If the ball be caught in the second bounce, the catcher may hoch the ball, that is, throw it through below one of his houghs. If none of the party catch the ball, it must be gowf t in the manner before described. As soon as either of the parties succeed in driving the ball, or, as it is called, hailin the dules, the game then begins by one of the party which was successful throwing the ball towards the opposing goal and the other party striving to drive it back. Hand in and Hand out A game played by a company of young people who are drawn up in a circle, when one of them, pitched upon by lot, walks round the band, and, if a boy, hits a girl, or, if a girl, she strikes a boy whom she chooses, on which the party striking and the party struck run in pursuit of each other till the latter is caught, whose lot it then becomes to perform the same part. A game so called was forbidden by statute of Edward IV.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. See Drop Handkerchief. Handy-Croopen A game in which one of the players turns his face to the wall, his hand resting upon his back.
A vulgar expression. Cutting, dividing the pack when presented by the dealer; or drawing lots for choice of seats and deal. Cutting In and Out, deciding by cutting which players shall give way to fresh candidates. Curse of Scotland, the nine of diamonds. Cut Shots, very fine winning hazards. Dealing Off, the same dealer dealing again. Deck-head, an Irish name for the turned trump at Spoil Five. Deadwood, the pins that fall on the alley, in bowling. Décavé, F., frozen out; the entire amount of the original stake being lost.
(_b_) This game is a very general one at Christmas time. It is practically the same as Gled Wylie, and Hen and Chickens, and the Hawk and Chickens of Mr. Newell s _Games and Songs of American Children_, pp. 155-56. By referring to these games it will be seen that the whole group are mimic representatives of farmyard episodes, though the animal characters are giving way to more domestic affairs, as shown in the Pins and Needles version of Hen and Chickens. It is possible that the different animals which are victims to the Fox appearing in the different games may arise from local circumstances, and that in this case a real distinction exists between the various names by which this game is known. A game called Wolf and Deer, similar to Fox and Geese, is given in _Winter Evening Amusements_, by R. Revel. The last one at the end of the tail may, if she has no other chance of escape, try and place herself before the Deer or Hen. She is then no longer to be hunted; all the others must then follow her example until the deer becomes the last of the line.
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This is continued for four rounds, so that each player receives eight cards, and the last is turned up for the trump. The turned-up trump belongs to the dealer, and cannot be exchanged. In this form of the game the players must not only follow suit, but must win the trick if they can, and must trump and over-trump if possible. A player is even obliged to win his partner’s trick. Owing to this rule, a player with good plain suit cards will usually attempt to exhaust the trumps as rapidly as possible. The _=counting cards=_ are the same as in Sixty-six, and the winner of the last trick counts 10. As there is no stock, there is no closing; and as marriages are not counted in America, the 66 points must be made on cards alone. The scores for _=schneider=_ and _=schwartz=_ are the same as in Sixty-six, and seven points is game. There are 130 points made in every deal, so if one side gets more than 66 and less than 100, their adversaries must be out of schneider, and the winners count one. More than 100, but less than 130 is schneider, and counts two.
Brockett (_North Country Words_, p. 221) says, At a fair or market where country servants are hired, those who offer themselves stand in the market-place with a piece of straw or green branch in their mouths to distinguish them. Lamploo A goal having been selected and bounds determined, the promoters used to prepare the others by calling at the top of their voices-- Lamp! Lamp! Laa-o! Those that don t run shan t play-o! Then one of the spryest lads is elected to commence, thus:--First touching the goal with his foot or leaning against it, and clasping his hands so as to produce the letter W in the dumb alphabet, he pursues the other players, who are not so handicapped, when, if he succeeds in touching one without unclasping his hands, they both make a rush for the goal. Should either of the other boys succeed in overtaking one of these before reaching that spot, he has the privilege of riding him home pick-a-back. Then these two boys (_i.e._, the original pursuer and the one caught), joining hands, carry on the game as before, incurring a similar penalty in case of being overtaken as already described. Each successive boy, as he is touched by the pursuers, has to make for the goal under similar risks, afterwards clasping hands with the rest, and forming a new recruit in the pursuing gang, in whose chain the outside players alone have the privilege of touching and thus adding to their numbers. Should the chain at any time be broken, or should the original pursuer unclasp his hands, either by design or accident, the penalty of carrying a capturer to the goal is incurred and always enforced. In West Somerset the pursuing boys after starting were in the habit of crying out the word Brewerre or Brewarre; noise appearing to be quite as essential to the game as speed.