The use of rushes in the Lanarkshire game might indicate the funeral garland (Aubrey s _Remaines_, pp. 109, 139). For clapping of hands to indicate bell-tolling or bell-ringing at times of death see Napier s _Folklore_, p. 66. Henderson (p. 63) says the passing bell was supposed in former times to serve two purposes: it called on all good Christians within hearing to pray for the departing spirit, and it scared away the evil spirits who were watching to seize it, or at least to scare and terrify it. On the whole evidence from the rhymes, therefore, I should be disposed to class this game as originally belonging to burial, and not love, rites. Green Gravel [Music] --Madeley, Shropshire (Miss Burne). [Music] --Earls Heaton (H. Hardy).
There are certain games of cards which do not seem to belong to any particular family, but stand apart from other games, and have been played since their first invention with only trifling variations, giving rise to no offshoots bearing other names. 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.
_=4.=_ If in playing a shot the cue is not withdrawn from the cue-ball before the cue-ball comes in contact with the object-ball, the shot is foul, the player loses his count, and his hand is out. _=5.=_ If the balls are disturbed accidentally through the medium of any agency other than the player himself, they must be replaced and the player allowed to proceed. _=6.=_ If in the act of playing the player disturbs any ball other than his own, he cannot make a counting stroke, but he may play for safety. Should he disturb a ball after having played successfully, he loses his count on that shot; his hand is out, and the ball so disturbed is placed back as nearly as possible in the position which it formerly occupied on the table, the other balls remaining where they stop. _=7.=_ Should a player touch his own ball with the cue or otherwise previous to playing, it is foul, the player loses one, and cannot play for safety. It sometimes happens that the player after having touched his ball gives a second stroke, then the balls remain where they stop, or are replaced as nearly as possible in their former position at the option of his opponent.
As it comes to Dummy’s turn to play to each trick, a card is drawn from the holder. All four hands are responsible for revokes. _=KING’S BRIDGE.=_ This is sometimes called _=Four Hand Bridge=_, each player being for himself. The movements of the players are the same as those described in Pivot Bridge, one player sitting still all the time, while each of the others in turn becomes his partner for four deals. The dealer declares. If he passes, the player sitting opposite him must make it according to the mechanical rules given in Bridge for Three. There is no doubling. The score of each player is kept in a separate column, and the trick and honour score is put down in one lump, plus or minus, the new score being added to or deduced from the previous one. It is simpler, however, to put down nothing but the plus scores, so that when the declaration is defeated, the points are credited to each of the three other players.
As a penalty he must put up an ante for each of the other players at the table for another Jack. _=45. Betting the Hands.=_ The opener makes the first bet; or, if he has withdrawn, the player next on his left. Should the opener decline to bet after the draw, he must show his openers before abandoning his hand. He need not show the cards he has drawn. If no bet is made, the last player holding cards takes the pool without showing his hand. If a bet is made, the game proceeds as in the ordinary pools. Should the opener retire during the betting, he must show his openers; if he is in the final call he must show his entire hand, whether it is the best or not. If he or any other player declines to show his hand when a call is made, he must ante for all the other players for another jack.
A adds his fourteen brisques, making his total 1880, which makes the value of his game 1800, minus B’s 1000, plus 500 for the game, or 1300 altogether. If B’s brisques did not prove sufficient to save the rubicon, A would count them all. Suppose that in the foregoing case B had taken in only eleven brisques, leaving his total 990. As this does not save the rubicon the game is reckoned as if the brisques had not been counted at all, and A wins 1800, plus B’s 800, plus 1300 for rubicon and brisques; 3900 altogether. If the player who is rubiconed has scored less than 100 points, the winner takes 100 for bonus, in addition to the 1300 for rubicon and brisques. When a series of games is played between the same individuals, it is usual to keep the net results on a sheet of paper, setting down the hundreds only, and to settle at the end of the sitting. _=Suggestions for Good Play=_ will be found in Binocle. * * * * * _=CHINESE BÉZIQUE=_ is Rubicon Bézique with six packs of cards shuffled together and used as one. The counts run into enormous figures, and 6000 is not an uncommon score for the winner. In _=CHOUETTE BÉZIQUE=_, one of several players agrees to take all bets, and has the choice of deal and seats without cutting.
The gambler cursed and threw the dice to the roller on his left. He spat blame at Sniffles for not riding with him. He was one big clot of crushed misery. After all, hadn t he _wanted_ to lose? They all do. I couldn t get very upset over his curses. So far he had lost one buck, net. And he d had some action. So much for gamblers. I kept control of the dice while each new gambler handled them. I was having a good night.
=_ Sometimes called “_=Chinese Bridge=_.” The dealer gives his adversary four cards face down, and then deals four to himself, also face down. He then distributes the remainder of the pack by dealing to his adversary and himself alternately, one card at a time, keeping them separate from the first four. Without lifting or looking at any of these twenty-two cards, each player places eleven of them in two rows, face down, and then the other eleven on the top of the first, but face up. This gives each player eleven cards face up on the table, covering eleven face down under them, and a separate hand of four cards. The dealer looks at his four cards, without showing them to his adversary, and after due consideration of what he sees on the table, declares. His adversary can double if he likes, or he can simply play a card. Tricks and honours count as in the ordinary rubber. The declaration made, the non-dealer leads any card he pleases, from the four in his hand or from the eleven face up on the table, and the dealer must follow suit if he can, either from his hand or from the table. The moment a card is played from the table, the card under it must be turned face up, and becomes playable; but no card which is on the top of another card can be shifted, so that the card under it cannot be turned up until its covering card is legitimately played away.
The Rider then leaps on the back of the boy at the end of the row of stooping boys, and from his back to that of the one in front, and so on from back to back till he reaches the boy next the Post. He then holds up so many fingers, and says-- Buck, buck, how many fingers do I hold up? The boy makes a guess. If the number guessed is wrong, the Rider gives the number guessed as well as the correct number, and again holds up so many, saying-- [Four] you say, but [two] it is; Buck, buck, how many fingers do I hold up? This goes on till the correct number is guessed, when the guesser becomes the Rider. The game was called Buck, Buck at Keith. Three players only took part in the game--the Post, the Buck, and the Rider. The words used by the Rider were-- Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up? If the guess was wrong, the Rider gave the Buck as many blows or kicks with the heel as the difference between the correct number and the number guessed. This process went on till the correct number was guessed, when the Rider and the Buck changed places.--Rev. W. Gregor.
I had a little dog, it shan t bite you, Shan t bite you, shan t bite you, Nor you, nor you, nor you. I had a little cat, it shan t scratch you, Shan t scratch you, nor you, nor you. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it. And one of you have picked it up and put it in your pocket. It wasn t you, it wasn t you, nor you, nor you, but it was _you_. --London (A. B. Gomme). XIV. I have a little dog and it lives in my pocket.
Mr. Kinahan s note suggests that Fivestones may be an independent game, instead of a derivative from Hucklebones. If this is so, we have interesting evidence of the spread or transmission of one game from at least two centres. Professor Attwell, in _Notes and Queries_, 8th ser., iv. 201, suggests that Hucklebones was introduced into Europe by the Romans, and was spread throughout the countries which formed the empire by means of Roman colonists and soldiers. Mr. Newell (_Games_, pp. 190-93) describes a similar game to Fivestones played in Boston under the name of Otadama, or Japanese Jacks. This game is of Japanese origin, Tedama (that is, Handballs ) being its proper name.
The boy whose cap is left at the last has to cork the others, that is, to throw the ball at their bent backs, each in turn stooping down to take his punishment.--Somerset (Elworthy s _Dialect_). See Balls and Bonnets. Hattie A game with preens, pins, on the crown of a hat. Two or more may play. Each lays on a pin, then with the hand they strike the side of the hat time about, and whoever makes the pins by a stroke cross each other, lifts those so crossed.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. Hawkey A game played by several boys on each side with sticks called hawkey bats, and a ball. A line is drawn across the middle of the ground from one side to the other; one party stands on one side of the line and the opposite party on the other, and neither must overstep this boundary, but are allowed to reach over as far as their bats will permit to strike the ball. The object is to strike the ball to the farther end to touch the fence of the opposing party s side, when the party so striking the ball scores one, and, supposing nine to be the game, the party obtaining that number first of course wins the game.
In nullo, every trick over the book counts for the adversaries, and is multiplied by 8. A peculiarity of nullo is that the Ace of each suit ranks below the deuce, unless the player holding it wishes to declare it higher than the King. In the latter case he must announce it when he plays it, and before his left-hand adversary plays to the trick. If the dealer transfers the right of making the trump to his partner, he must use the phrase, “You make it, partner.” If a player makes the trump out of turn, his adversaries may consult as to the propriety of demanding a new deal. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The trump suit, grand, or nullo having been announced, the player on the dealer’s left begins by leading any card he pleases, and the others must all follow suit if they can. The penalty for a revoke is the loss of three tricks; or the value of three tricks in points; or the addition of a like amount to the adversaries’ score. The side making a revoke cannot win the game that hand, no matter what they score; but they may play the hand out, and count all they make to within one point of game, or 9. Revoking players cannot count points for slams.
You can heal many people. She shook her head. Only could do it because I love you, Billy Joe, she said. We ll teach you, I promised her. Would you like to learn? You ve heard of the Lodge, haven t you? Lordy! she gasped. You re as good as in it, I told her. Now tell me, what am I going to do tomorrow morning? She got up and started to pace the room, sniffling. Why would you do that? she said at length. You are going to the bank, first thing. You ve got all that money.
Never tried, yet. Oh, no! I groaned. She showed me her buck teeth in a smile. I figger first you ll have them straighten my teeth, she said. You d like a pretty wife. If it s got to be, I said weakly. That would help. I just wish there was some way to handle that hysterical sniffle of yours, that s all. But I guess that s the price you have to pay for that awful load of Psi power you have. Oh, that, she said.
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(_b_) Hairry = rob, Bossie = a wooden bowl, commonly used for making the leaven in baking oat-cakes, and for making brose. This is a very general game amongst schoolboys. Half-Hammer The game of Hop-step-and-jump, Norfolk. This game is played in the west of Sussex, but not in the east. It is played thus by two or more boys. Each boy in his turn stands first on one leg and makes a hop, then strides or steps, and lastly, putting both feet together, jumps. The boy who covers the most ground is the victor.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Han -and-Hail A game common in Dumfries, thus described by Jamieson. Two goals called hails, or dules, are fixed on at about a distance of four hundred yards.
Chess is called Choke-choo-hong-ki in China, and Shogi in Japan; but that does not make it either a Chinese or a Japanese game. Either of these names might be used for Backgammon, as they have exactly the same meaning. The Welsh words, bach, and cammen; or the Saxon bac, and gamen, signify “a little battle;” while the Chinese and Japanese names for Chess signify “mimic warfare.” The Welsh and Saxons undoubtedly got Backgammon from the Romans, who played it under the name of Scripta Duodecimo. They seemed to have got it from the Greeks, who are known to have used a table called Abacus, very much like a backgammon board in form, with lines drawn upon it, and the men were moved from one line to another according to the throws of the dice. There is no trace of Backgammon among the games of the Egyptians or the Hebrews, although the chief factors in the game, the dice, have been known to all nations, and are probably the oldest gaming instruments in the world. As to the respective merits of these table games, there is little to be said. Curiously enough they are played by entirely different classes of people. Backgammon has always been highly respectable, and seems likely to retain its position as the fashionable game. Draughts is peculiarly the game of the middle classes, popular at the workman’s dinner hour, in the sitting-rooms of cheap hotels, in country clubs, and in fire engine stations; the latter being a favourite training ground for our checker champions.
=_ Although intended for a special board of 100 squares this game can be played on a common checker board. It differs from ordinary draughts in two particulars: Although the men can move only forward, they can take backward, and Kings can go any distance at one move. If in taking a piece, a man arrives at the king row, that does not end the move if he can capture another piece by jumping backward out of the king row again. As this brings him away from the king row before the move is complete, he will not be a king until he can get to the king row at the end of a move. Kings can go any number of squares in a straight line, and can capture any piece which is on the diagonal, not protected by another piece behind it. Kings can also go on for any number of squares beyond the captured piece, and then turn a corner to capture another piece. In Diagram No. 12, for instance, the black King could capture all six of the white men by going over the first one only, and then turning to the left, and continuing to turn to the left after every capture, as shown by the squares with the numbers on them, which indicate his five successive turning-points. [Illustration: No. 12.
Blind Hob. Blind Man s Buff. Blind Man s Stan. Blind Nerry Mopsy. Blind Palmie. Blind Sim. Block, Hammer, and Nail. Blow-point. Bob Cherry. Boggle about the Stacks.
After it has been taken up it must not be named, and any player naming it is subject to a penalty, (see Laws;) but a player may ask what the trump _=suit=_ is. If all follow suit, the highest card played wins the trick; trumps win against all other suits, and a higher trump wins a lower. The winner of the trick may lead any card he pleases for the next trick, and so on until all thirteen tricks have been played. _=Cards Played in Error=_, or dropped face upward on the table, or two or more played at once, are called _=exposed cards=_, and must be left on the table. They can be _=called=_ by the adversaries; but the fact of their being exposed does not prevent their being played when the opportunity offers. Some persons imagine that the adversaries can prevent an exposed card from being played; but such is not the case. _=Leading out of Turn.=_ Should a player lead out of turn, the adversaries may call a suit from the player in error, or from his partner, when it is next the turn of either of them to lead. American laws require the call to be made by the player on the right of the one from whom the suit is called. The English laws give the adversaries the option of calling the card played in error an exposed card.