The stock may be slightly spread, to facilitate the process of drawing cards from it. _=Objects of the Game.=_The object of each player is to form triplets, fours, and sequences, by combining the cards dealt him with others drawn from the stock. These combinations are laid upon the table, face up, and the player wins the game who first succeeds in laying down eleven cards in this manner. _=Sequences=_ must be all of the same suit, and cannot be shorter than three cards. The Ace is not in sequence with the King, but the 7 is next below the Jack. A sequence once started can be added to from time to time as the cards are drawn from the stock. _=Triplets=_ are any three cards of the same denomination, and they may be increased to _=Fours=_ at any time, by adding the other card. _=Borrowing.=_ A player with four of a kind on the table may borrow any one of the four to use in a sequence; but he cannot borrow one of three, because no combination may consist of less than three cards.
=_ Each trick above six counts one point towards game. Of the four honours, A K Q J of trumps, if each player holds two, neither can count. But if one player has only one honour, or none, the other counts 2 points for two honours, if he holds them; 3 points for three; and 4 points for four. The honours count towards game as in whist. The penalty for a revoke is three tricks, and it takes precedence of other scores; tricks count next, honours last. Five points is game. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ It is considered best for a player not finding four reasonably sure tricks in his hand to exchange; for there is a certain advantage to be gained by knowing thirteen cards which cannot be in the adversary’s hand. Before changing, the player should fix in his memory the exact cards of each suit in the hand which he is about to discard. By combining his knowledge of them with his own cards, he may often be able to direct his play to advantage.
If you can get a discard, the odds are at once reduced to 2 to 1 in your favour, that being the probability that you will escape, even if you have to win two rounds. This is a very large percentage, and should never be lost sight of. If you have a choice between two discards, one being from the K Q J 2 of hearts, and the other from the K Q J of a plain suit, select the plain suit. You can improve your chances little or none in the hearts, while you not only bring the odds to your side in the plain suit, but secure a chance of discarding on the third round of it. Following the same principle, it is evidently good play to discard from a suit which has been led once or twice, if you have a dangerous card or cards in it. Even if you have a safe tenace in a suit, such as 4 and 2, the 5 and 3 being still out somewhere, it is better to discard from it if there is the slightest danger of your getting the lead. Tenaces are only safe when led up to. In _=Howell’s settling=_, the object is not so much to load the others as to escape yourself. It is never advisable to attempt to take all thirteen hearts, because there are no Jacks; but there are many cases in which it is better deliberately to take three or four, in order to avoid the chance of taking six or eight. For an example of these tactics adopted by two players, see Illustrative Hand, No.
Now, although C has a better point than D, it is one of the principles of the game that the suit that wins cannot lose at the same time; and as D has a card of the winning suit, while C has not, D wins the remainder of the pool. If neither C nor D had a card of the winning suit, C would win from D on account of his better point. If we transposed the club ace and spade ace, spades would be the winning suit, because the elder hand, A, had the best card of it; but C would take the remainder of the pool, because he held a spade, while D did not. As it is, C is decavé, and must purchase another stake, or retire from the game. If C had lost this pool with a brelan in his hand, he would not be decavé; because after losing the pool, and all he had staked therein, B, who had passed out, would have to pay him for the brelan, and with this one white counter he would have to call for a sight in the next pool he entered. _=Methods of Cheating.=_ As in all games in which winning depends entirely on the cards held, and not on the manner of playing them, Bouillotte offers many opportunities to the greek. The small number of cards in the pack, and the consequent ease with which they may be handled, enable even the clumsiest card sharpers to run up brelan carrés, make false shuffles, and shift cuts. There is one trick, called the poussette, which consists in surreptitiously placing more counters on the table when the player finds he has a hand worth backing. Marked cards, and packs trimmed to taper one way, biseautés, are among the most common weapons of the French tricheurs.
_=ORDERING UP THE TRUMP.=_ Instead of passing the turn-up trump on the first round, any player who thinks it would be to his advantage to have the turn-up remain the trump, may order the dealer to take it up. In doing so he says: “_=I order it=_,” if he is an adversary; or: “_=I assist=_,” if he is the dealer’s partner. In either case the player making the trump may announce a lone hand at the same time. His side must make at least three tricks, whether he plays alone or not, or it is a euchre, and the adversaries will count two points. In case an adversary of the dealer plays alone, he must distinctly announce it when he orders up the trump. The usual expression is: “_=I order it alone=_.” His partner then lays his cards face downward on the table and takes no further part in the play of that hand. If he exposes any card of the abandoned hand, the adversaries can call upon him to take up the hand and play it, leaving the exposed card on the table as liable to be called. This of course prevents the lone hand.
Change Seats. Checkstone. Cherry Odds. Cherry-pit. Chicamy. Chickidy Hand. Chinnup. Chinny-mumps. Chock or Chock-hole. Chow.
) CALLING FOR NEW CARDS. 83. Any player (on paying for them) before, but not after, the pack be cut for the deal, may call for fresh cards. He must call for two new packs, of which the dealer takes his choice. GENERAL RULES. 84. Where a player and his partner have an option of exacting from their adversaries one of two penalties, they should agree who is to make the election, but must not consult with one another which of the two penalties it is advisable to exact; if they do so consult, they lose their right; and if either of them, with or without consent of his partner, demand a penalty to which he is entitled, such decision is final. [This rule does not apply in exacting the penalties for a revoke; partners have then a right to consult.] 85. Any one during the play of a trick, or after the four cards are played, and before, but not after, they are touched for the purpose of gathering them together, may demand that the cards be placed before their respective players.
| R| A leads for first trick. | I| ------+-------+-------+-------+ C+-------+------+------+-------- A Y B Z | K| A Y B Z ------+-------+-------+-------+--+-------+------+------+-------- 10♠ | Q♠ | 8♠ | _K♠_ | 1| _♣A_ | ♣K | ♣10 | ♣Q ♣J | _♣A_ | ♣4 | ♣K | 2| ♣5 | ♣2 | ♣9 | _♣J_ 6♢ | _A♢_ | J♢ | Q♢ | 3| 10♢ | J♢ | 9♢ | _A♢_ 5♢ | _K♢_ | 10♢ | 9♢ | 4| Q♢ | 8♢ | _K♢_ | 4♢ 4♢ | 3♢ | 2♢ | _8♢_ | 5| 2♠ | J♠ | _A♠_ | 9♠ ♣9 | ♣7 | ♣3 | _♣Q_ | 6| Q♠ | 10♠ | _K♠_ | 8♠ ♣6 | ♣5 | ♣2 | _♣10_ | 7| ♡A | _7♢_ | 3♢ | ♡Q 3♠ | 6♠ | 4♠ | _J♠_ | 8| _♡10_ | ♡4 | ♡3 | ♡5 2♠ | 5♠ | ♡K | 9♠ | 9| ♣4 | ♡K | ♣6 | _♣7_ _♡A_ | ♡Q | ♡10 | ♡5 |10| ♡9 | _7♠_ | ♡J | 5♠ ♡7 | _♡J_ | ♡9 | 7♠ |11| ♡7 | ♡2 | ♣8 | _♡8_ ♡6 | _♡8_ | ♡4 | ♣8 |12| ♡6 | _6♠_ | 6♢ | 4♠ A♠ | ♡2 | _♡3_ | 7♢ |13| ♣3 | _5♢_ | 2♢ | 3♠ ------+-------+-------+-------+--+-------+------+------+-------- A 4 Y 6 B 2 Z 1 A 4 Y 5 B 0 Z 4 Making it a Jack. B wins the Pool. _=No. 1. 2nd Trick.=_ Z sees that with such a hand escape is impossible. As his chief danger is in being loaded with hearts at the end, he clears his hand as rapidly as possible. _=9th Trick.=_ The ♠A being held up, it looks as if A were safe in that suit with A 5 2.
The holder is paid _=five counters=_ by each of the other players, in addition to winning the pool. _=Doublets.=_ Any hand containing a double combination will beat any single combination. For instance: A player holds three of a kind, and the fourth card in his hand is of a different suit from any of his triplet. His hand is a double combination, prime and tricon, and will beat a flush. A sequence of four cards of the same suit is a double combination, and will beat anything but a fredon. When doublets are shown, the holder is paid for both combinations, _=six=_ for tricon and prime, or _=eight=_ for sequence and flush, as the case may be. _=A Fredon=_, or four of a kind, is the best possible hand, and the holder is paid _=ten or eleven counters=_ by each of the other players, according to the pip value of his cards. He is paid eight counters for fredon, and two for the prime, if it is smaller than 8’s; but he claims grand prime if he has four 9’s, or four 10’S, and gets eleven counters. In case of _=ties=_ which cannot be decided by the pip values, the elder hand wins.
_=21.=_ While a game is pending, neither player is permitted to leave the room without giving a sufficient reason, or receiving the other’s consent or company. _=22.=_ A player committing a breach of any of these laws must submit to the penalty, which his opponent is equally bound to exact. _=23.=_ Any spectator giving warning, either by sign, sound, or remark, on any of the games, whether played or pending, shall be expelled from the room. _=24.=_ Should any dispute occur, not satisfactorily determined by the preceding laws, a _=written statement of facts=_ must be sent to a disinterested arbiter having a knowledge of the game, whose decision shall be final. TEXT BOOKS. Spayth’s Checkers for Beginners.