=_ A table is complete with four players, and if there are more than four candidates for play the selection must be made by cutting. All the rules for formation of tables, cutting, ties, etc., are the same as at bridge. The lowest cut takes the deal. Partners sit opposite each other. _=Dealing.=_ The dealer presents the pack to be cut, and then gives thirteen cards to each player, one at a time. No trump is turned. The deal passes to the left. All irregularities are governed by the same laws as bridge.
III. Hark the robbers Coming through, coming through, My fair lady. They have stolen my watch and chain, Watch and chain, watch and chain. Off to prison they shall go, They shall go, they shall go, My fair lady. --Wolstanton, Stoke-on-Trent (Miss A. A. Keary). IV. Hark the robbers coming through, Coming through, coming through, Hark the robbers coming through, My fair lady. What s the robbers done to you, Done to you, done to you, What s the robbers done to you, My fair lady? They have stole my watch and chain, Watch and chain, watch and chain, They have stole my watch and chain, My fair lady.
Four trumps are generally considered to be sufficiently strong to justify a force in this position. Some players will force, even with a weak hand, if the two cards played by the partner are small, and he has not availed himself of an artifice known as _=calling for trumps=_, which we shall consider presently. If the King and Ten have been led from K Q J 10, and on the second round one adversary has dropped the Eight, the other the Nine; the suit should be changed, as partner must have the Ace, and neither of the adversaries have any more. To lead such a suit again is called _=forcing both adversaries=_; as it allows one to make a small trump and the other to get rid of a losing card. If the Four has been led from J 8 6 4, and the adversaries have won the first trick with the Nine or Ten, A K Q must be against the leader and his partner, and the suit should be abandoned as hopeless, unless it is feasible to force the partner. If at any time there is a strong indication that the adversaries will have a cross-ruff, it is usually best to stop leading plain suits, and attempt to get out the trumps. _=THE LEADER’S PARTNER=_, or the Third Hand, has several conventional plays to remember; the most important of which are the following: _=When Partner Leads High Cards=_, the Third Hand has usually little to do but to play his lowest of the suit. The exceptions are: If he holds A J alone, on a King led, the Ace should be played. If he holds A Q alone on a Ten led, the Ace should be played. With A Q x, the Ten should be passed.
A black ball is placed on the centre spot. The colours follow one another just as in English pool, until all the balls have come upon the table. After that, any ball on the table may be played at, and if it is pocketed, the player has the option of playing at the black ball. If he pockets it, each player pays him the amount of a life, so that the player whose ball was first pocketed would have to pay two, one for his own ball and one for the black. If a ball is pocketed before the balls are all on the table, the player may play on the black; but the following players must play on their colours until the first round is complete. No one is ever dead, and the game may be continued indefinitely, although half an hour is the usual limit. The players share the expense of the table, as at Shell-out. ENGLISH BILLIARDS. This game is played with three balls, one red and two white. Every winning hazard off the red counts 3; hazards off the white count 2, and all carroms count 2.
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[Illustration: N N N N +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ | 6 | | 3 | | f | | c | W|a 1 2|E W|d 2 8|E W|1 3 b|E W|4 4 h|E | g | | e | | 6 | | 5 | +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ S S S S ] One hand is dealt at each table, and overplayed at each of the others. A different point of the compass should deal at each table, in order to equalise the lead. _=Scoring.=_ The score of each four hands should be added up by each individual player, and the results tabulated at the end of every four hands, in the manner described for eight individuals. The winner is the player who loses the fewest tricks. This is the only known system for deciding whether or not a man can play whist better than his wife. _=PROGRESSIVE DUPLICATE WHIST=_ is the generic name by which those systems of duplicate are known in which the purpose is to have as many as possible of the players meet one another during the progress of the match. Most of the systems we have been describing belong to this class. * * * * * There are at present only two works on Duplicate Whist; but a number of articles on the subject may be found in “_Whist_.” Duplicate Whist; by John T.
It is not necessary to follow suit except in trumps; but if a player does not follow suit when he is able to do so, he must trump the trick, or it is a revoke. If he cannot follow suit, he may trump or discard at his pleasure. The highest card played of the suit led wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits. The winner of the first trick leads any card he pleases for the next, and so on, until all five tricks have been played. Each player gathers his own tricks, as there are no partnerships. _=RENEGING.=_ The three highest trumps have special privileges in the matter of not following suit. Any player holding the Five or Jack of the trump suit; or the ace of hearts, but having no smaller trump with them, may refuse to follow suit if any inferior trump is led; but if he has also a smaller trump, he must play one or the other. If a superior trump is led, the player must follow suit in any case. For instance: If the Five of trumps is led, no one can refuse to follow suit, no matter what trumps he holds; but if the Jack is led, and any player holds the Five alone, he need not play it to the inferior trump lead.
When the robbers sing the last verse they should have attained the end of the lines [of children], as during the parley they were safe; having pronounced the defiance they run away. The children in the lines rush after them, and should catch them and put them in prison. (_c_) The analysis of this game is easy. The Deptford, Belfast, and Wolstanton versions are clearly enough dramatic representations of the capture of a robber, and probably the game dates from the period of the prevalence of highway robbery. The Wolstanton version shows us that the game is breaking up from its earlier form, while the Norfolk and Shropshire versions show a fresh development into the mere game for children, apart from its original significance. The action of the game confirms this view. The Norfolk action seems to be the most nearly perfect in its dramatic significance, and the Shropshire action comes next. The action of the other games seems to have been grafted on to the superior form of Oranges and Lemons. It is probable that this fact has preserved the words more completely than in the other cases, where the force of the robber action would become less and less as actual experience of robbers and robbery died out. Altogether, this game supplies a very good example of the change produced in games by changes in the actual life which gave rise to them.