It has been well described as “a mongrel game--partly Whist and partly Dummy, but lacking in the best features of each.” In the early days of Duplicate Whist, Mnemonic Duplicate was, to some extent, played even when several tables of players were participating. It still survives in a few circles, chiefly where Duplicate Whist has never been tried. It can be played under any of the Duplicate Whist schedules by playing them through twice--the second time with the North and South hands given to the East and West players, and vice versa. As each deal is played twice by each pair, double the time is required to play the same number of deals, as at Duplicate Whist. Allowance must be made for this in fixing the number of deals to be played. The Snow System of movement, where practicable, is preferable. Where the Howell pair system of movement is used, the scores do not require “equating”, as they are equalised on the replay. Under other systems, only the North and South scores need be kept, as the comparison can be made quite as readily as by direct comparison of these scores. DUMMY.
_=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ The great secret of success in auction lies in sound bidding, so that no bid shall have a double meaning and the partner may be able to rely absolutely on the information which the bid should convey. The complications of the situation are so numerous, owing to the variations introduced by each succeeding bid as the players over-call one another, that it would be impossible to cover them in a work of this kind, and the student would do well to consult some such work as “Whitehead’s Conventions,” which covers every situation that could possibly arise in the bidding. A few general hints may be of assistance in showing the principles that govern the more common situations. _=The Dealer’s Bids=_ may be divided into four parts; a spade, a losing suit, a winning suit, and no trumps. The one-spade bid simply means, “I pass,” but it does not signify that he will not be willing to bid on the second round. It has nothing whatever to do with the spade suit. The dealer should never call any suit on the first round of bids unless he has two sure tricks in it. If it is a losing suit, he may have just those two tricks and nothing else, and the shorter the suit the better, but the tricks must be A K, or K Q J, or A Q J. If it is a winning suit he must have at least five cards of it and a trick or two in some other suit to back it up.
One rule of the game is that the Tenter s stone must always be on the Duck-table when he is trying to catch a boy, so if it is knocked off it must be replaced before he can try to catch the boy running home. The chance of getting home is increased for the boy who knocks it off.--North-West Lincolnshire (Rev. ---- Roberts and Miss Peacock). (_b_) Similar versions are from Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy), Ireland (_Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 265), Peacock (_Mauley and Corringham Glossary_). Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) gives this game with the following addition: If a duck falls short of the Duckstone, and the one whose duck is on the stone sees that he can _wand_ or _span_ with his hand the distance between the duck thus thrown and the Duckstone, he shouts out Wands, and if he can wand or span the distance he takes his duck off, and the duck thus thrown is put on. Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_), Darlington (South Cheshire), Baker (_Northants Glossary_), and Brogden (_Provincial Words, Lincolnshire_), also give this game. Elworthy (_West Somerset Words_) calls it Duck, and Ducks off and Cobbs off in Dorsetshire. In London the boy repeats the words, Gully, gully, all round the hole, one duck on, while he is playing (_Strand Magazine_, November 1891).