Newell (_Games of American Children_, p. 171) also mentions it, and gives the rhyme as-- Frog in the sea, can t catch me! Gap The same as French Jackie. This game is called Tap-back or Tat-back at Bitterne, Hants. Garden Gate Children join hands and form a ring. One child stands inside the ring; this child walks round and asks one of the circle, called the Keeper-- Have you the key of the garden gate? Open and let me go through. The Keeper replies-- My next-door neighbour s got the key; Ask him and he ll give it to you. This is repeated by each one in the circle. Then the inside child comes again to the Keeper and says-- None of the neighbours have got the key, So you must let me go through. The Keeper answers-- I ve lost the key of the garden gate, And cannot let you through. Then all the ring say-- You must stop all night within the gate, Unless you have strength to break through.
For instance: A calls seven diamonds, and asks for a partner. Y accepts him, and the pair win only nine tricks. Each pays 135 counters to the adversary sitting next him, and then they make up 135 more between them for the pool. Asking for a partner is not a popular variation of the game, and is seldom resorted to unless the successful bid is very low, or has been made on a black suit. If the adversaries of the caller declare to pay, before playing to the second trick, they can save nothing but possible over-tricks. The pool goes with every successful play. If the single player is unsuccessful, he does not double the pool, as in Boston, but pays into it the same amount that he loses to each adversary, over-tricks and all; so that he really loses four times the amount shown in the table. At the end of the game, or on the twelfth hand, if the caller does not succeed, he pays the pool as usual, and his adversaries then divide it amongst themselves. The _=Suggestions for Good Play=_, etc., are given in connection with Solo Whist and need no further amplification for Boston de Fontainbleau.
West should always be the dealer in the first hand, North having the original lead. In all published illustrative hands, North is the leader, unless otherwise specified. The deal passes in rotation to the left, and the number of hands played should always be some multiple of four, so that each player may have the original lead an equal number of times. 24 hands at each table is the usual number, and is the rule at all League tournaments. The partners and adversaries should be changed after each eight hands. Three changes in 24 hands will bring each member of a set of four into partnership with every other member for an equal number of hands. [Illustration: N leads +---------+ | | Dealer, W | | E | | +---------+ S ] If two teams of four on a side, A B C D, and W X Y Z, play against each other, the arrangement in a League tournament would be as follows:--that A B C D should represent the players of the visiting club, or challengers, and W X Y Z the home club, or holders; and that the positions of the players should be changed after every four hands. It is usual to play 24 hands in the afternoon, and 24 more at night. A | A | A | A | A | A | W X | Y Z | W Y | X Z | X Y | W Z | B | B | C | C | D | D | | | | | | | 1st. | 2nd.
_Team Matches._ A match consists of any agreed number of deals, each of which is played once at each table. The contesting teams must be of equal size, but each may consist of any agreed number of pairs (not less than two). One half of each team, or as near thereto as possible, sits north and south; the other half east and west. In case the teams are composed of an odd number of pairs, each team, in making up its total score, adds, as though won by it, the average score of all pairs seated in the positions opposite to its odd pair. In making up averages, fractions are disregarded and the nearest whole numbers taken, unless it be necessary to take the fraction into account to avoid a tie, in which case the match is won “by the fraction of a point.” The team making the higher score wins the match. H. _Pair Contests._ The score of a pair is compared only with other pairs who have played the same hands.
Suppose you hold the three highest Matadores with an average hand, not strong enough in any one suit to play a Solo, but good enough for a Tourné. Your smallest possible game will be diamonds with three; which will be worth 5 multiplied by 4; 1 for the game, and 3 for the Matadores, 20 points. If you can get the game on any bid less than 20 you are absolutely safe, provided you can reach 61 in your tricks. But the opposition of another player may irritate you, [reizen,] and provoke you to bid 24, or even 28, in the hope of turning a heart or a spade. If you go beyond 20, and turn a diamond, you must either find the fourth Matadore in the Skat, or make your adversaries schneider, in order to secure another multiplier. If you fail, you lose 24, or 28, according to your bid. The great difficulty in Skat is to judge the value of a hand, so as neither to under nor overbid it, and also to get all out of it that it is worth. A person who plays a Frage in hearts when he could easily have made it a Solo, reduces the value of his game just eighty per cent. A player with the four Wenzels, A K Q 9 8 of diamonds, and a losing card, would be foolish to play a diamond Solo with five, schneider announced, worth 72; while he had in his hand a sure Grand, with four, schneider announced, worth 140. Of course the schneider is not a certainty.
The bats in this drawing are nearly identical with modern golf-sticks, and Golf seems to be derived from this game. Peacock mentions it in his _Glossary of Manley and Corringham Words_. Forby has an interesting note in his _Vocabulary of East Anglia_, i. 14. He says, The bandy was made of very tough wood, or shod with metal, or with the point of the horn or the hoof of some animal. The ball is a knob or gnarl from the trunk of a tree, carefully formed into a globular shape. The adverse parties strive to beat it with their bandies through one or other of the goals. Bandy Cad or Gad A game played with a nurr and crooked stick, also called Shinty, and much the same as the Hockey of the South of England. Cad is the same as cat in the game of Tip-cat; it simply means a cut piece of wood.--Nodal and Milner s _Lancashire Glossary_.
Cross-roader! he hissed at me. I should have known what was coming, but I missed it. He slapped me hard across the face, saving his knuckles, but not doing my jaw a whole lot of good. I would have fallen clean over, but the bouncers were still tight on my elbows. Wait! I tried to say, but he cuffed me with the other hand, harder, if that were possible. This is the moment when you have to stop and think. A Blackout is quite effective--it s hard to hit what you can t see. And there s something mighty unnerving about being stricken suddenly blind. Oh, face it, I suppose the real reason I felt for the arteries supplying blood to his retinas was that so few TK s can do it. I clamped down tight, and his lights went out.
_=Flushes.=_ In addition to the foregoing combinations, if all four cards in the hand are of the same suit the player can peg four points for the flush; if the starter is also the same suit, five points. A flush does not count in the crib unless the starter is the same suit, and then it counts five points. Flushes are never made in play. _=Laying Out for the Crib.=_ With this knowledge of the objects of game, and the various counting combinations, it will be seen that each player should keep the cards which count the most for him, or which are most likely to form good combinations with different starters. Suppose the non-dealer holds these cards:-- [Illustration: 🃖 🂧 🂨 🂸 🂩 🃚 ] If he puts the two Eights in his adversary’s crib, he not only gives him two very good cards, which go to form a great many valuable combinations, but he leaves himself absolutely nothing but 2 points for a single fifteen, formed by the 9 and 6. It would be a little better, but still very bad play, for him to discard the 8 and 6, leaving himself a sequence of four cards and a fifteen, 6 points altogether. He might do a little better by discarding the 10 and 8, leaving himself a run of four, and two fifteens, 8 points altogether. If he discards either the 10 and 9, or the 10 and 6, he will leave himself a double run of three, a pair, and two fifteens, 12 altogether.
Many players fall into the error of leading the highest card of a losing sequence, such as a 6 from 6 5 4 3. This accomplishes nothing, and only discloses to the adversaries the fact that the caller is safe in that suit. The three is the better lead. _=Following Suit.=_ The caller should usually play a card as little inferior as he can to the highest already on the trick. When he has cards of equal value, such as the 5 and 2, the 3 and 4 being already on the table, he should play the lower card of the fourchette; for although it may be said that the fourth player must take the trick, there is no certainty that he will follow suit. When second hand, if there is a choice between two cards, such as the 6 and 2, an intermediate card having been led, it is often a nice point to decide whether or not to risk covering and keeping the deuce. If the deuce is played, it must be remembered that the adversaries will follow with their highest cards, leaving two cards out against the caller, both smaller than the 6. _=Discarding.=_ The misère player should never discard from his long suits.
A player touching one of his men, when it is his turn to play, must move it. If it cannot be moved he must move his King. If the King cannot move, no penalty can be enforced. For playing two moves in succession, the adversary may elect which move shall stand. For touching an adversary’s man, when it cannot be captured, the offender must move his King. If the King cannot move, no other penalty can be enforced. But if the man touched can be legally taken, it must be captured. For playing a man to a square to which it cannot be legally moved, the adversary, at his option, may require him to move the man legally, or to move the King. For illegally capturing an adversary’s man, the offender must move his King, or legally capture the man, as his opponent may elect. For attempting to Castle illegally, the player doing so must move either the King or Rook, as his adversary may dictate.
If either of the adversaries, whether with or without his partner’s consent, demands a penalty to which they are entitled, such decision is final; if the wrong adversary demands a penalty or a wrong penalty is demanded, or either adversary waives a penalty, none can be enforced except in case of a revoke. SEC. 5. If a player is lawfully called upon to play the highest or lowest of a suit, to trump or not to trump a trick, to lead a suit or to win a trick, and unnecessarily fails to comply, he is liable to the same penalty as if he had revoked. SEC. 6. If any one leads or plays a card, and then, before his partner has played to the trick, leads one or more other cards, or plays two or more cards together, all of which are better than any of his adversaries hold of the suit, his partner may be called upon by either adversary to win the first or any subsequent trick to which any of said cards are played, and the remaining cards so played are liable to be called. For the Rules of Etiquette of Duplicate Whist, see page 85. SINGLE TABLE, OR MNEMONIC DUPLICATE. The laws of Duplicate Whist govern where applicable, except as follows: Each player plays each deal twice, the second time playing a hand previously played by an adversary.
In either case the partnerships are decided by cutting, and the lowest cut of the eight has the deal, with choice of seats and cards. _=TIES=_ are decided in the manner already described in connection with Whist. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ Two players sit opposite each other. Three, five or seven sit according to their choice. Four sit as at Whist, the partners facing each other. Six, playing in two partnerships, sit alternately, so that no two partners shall be next each other. Six, playing in three partnerships of two each, sit so that two adversaries shall be between each pair of partners. Eight, playing in two sets of four each, or as four pairs of partners, arrange themselves alternately. If we distinguish the partners by the letters A, B, C, D, the diagram will show the arrangement of the tables.
It is a mistake to soak the balls in oil; all they need is to be wiped off with a damp cloth, and polished with chamois skin. The three balls employed in both the English and American games are known as the _=red=_, _=white=_, and _=spot white.=_ In play they are distinguished as the _=cue ball=_, which is the one struck by the player; the _=object ball=_, which is the one that the cue ball first comes into contact with; and the _=carrom ball=_, which is the second ball struck by the cue ball in making a carrom. _=THE SHOTS.=_ There are three shots common to billiards: The _=carrom=_ or _=cannon=_, in which a count is made by the cue ball striking both the other balls on the table. The _=winning hazard=_, in which the object or the carrom ball is driven into a pocket. The _=losing hazard=_, in which the cue ball goes into a pocket after contact with another ball. There are five ways of making the principal shots at billiards, and they should be thoroughly mastered by every player. These are: The force, the follow, the draw, the massé, and the side stroke. [Illustration] The first great principle in billiards is that the cue ball will always travel in the _=direction=_ in which the cue is pointed.