=_ A player may have in his hand two cards, the lower of which, if added to a card on the table, would build up its value to that of the higher card still in the player’s hand. For instance: A player holds a 9 and 2, and there is a 7 on the table. He may place the 2 on the 7, announcing the total value; “Nine,” which will notify other players that those two cards cannot be separated; but he cannot take them in until it again comes round to his turn to play, because he is allowed to play only one card at a time, and he has played his card in making the build. Should any other player following him hold a 9, he would be entitled to take in this build, but he could not separate the two cards forming it. A player holding either a 7 or a 2 could not touch either of the cards in the build, because they are no longer a 7 and 2, but a 9, for all practical purposes. _=Increasing Builds.=_ If any player held an Ace and a 10 in his hand, he could increase the 9 build to a 10 build, by putting his Ace on the 7 and 2, and announcing the total value, “Ten.” Any following player would then be unable to win the build with anything but a 10, and the player who originally built it a 9 would lose it unless he also held a 10 in his hand. Should the build remain a 9 until it came round again to the player who originally built it, he could then take it in with his 9, or he might himself increase it to 10, if he had an Ace and a 10 in his hand; but in order to do this the player must have in his hand the cards to win both the original and the increased builds. A player holding in his hand a 10, 3 and 2, but no 8, could not build a 5 on the table to an 8, and afterward advance it to 10.
Plain enough where they were having trouble. Fowler Smythe was scowling through his glasses behind a table with Barney, the dealer I d hit with the Blackout. Their faces were sweating in the dry desert air. The table was being taken. Now watch it, Pheola, I said, as we squeezed into the crowd, opposite the dealers. Almost anything can happen. I want to know the instant you get a feeling. You understand? She nodded and wiped at her drippy nose with a clean handkerchief. I d gotten her a dozen. There was the same old racket.
Little pigs come to supper, Hot boiled beans and ready butter. --Northall s _Folk Rhymes_, p. 409. III. Hot beans and butter! Please to come to supper! --Much Wenlock (_Shropshire Folklore_, p. 525). IV. Hot boiled beans, and very good butter, Ladies and gentlemen, come to supper. --London (A. B.
13 and 15 in the analysis), which are obviously supplemental. Chambers, in his _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, pp. 119, 137, gives two versions of a courtship dance which are not unlike the words of this game, though they do not contain the principal incidents. Northall, in his _English Folk Rhymes_, p. 363, has some verses of a similar import, but not those of the game. W. Allingham seems to have used this rhyme as the commencement of one of his ballads, Up the airy mountain. (_d_) The game is clearly a marriage game. It introduces two important details in the betrothal ceremony, inasmuch as the huddling and cuddling is typical of the rude customs at marriage ceremonies once prevalent in Yorkshire, the northern counties, and Wales, while the making of the pudding by the bride and the subsequent eating together, are clearly analogies to the bridal-cake ceremony. In Wales, the custom known as bundling allowed the betrothing parties to go to bed in their clothes (Brand, ii.
_=Scoring.=_ There are three ways to score: In the first, each player must individually win a trick in order to score his melds. In the second, when either partner wins a trick, the melds in both hands may be scored. In both these the melds are kept separate. In the third, when a player wins a trick he may combine his melds with those of his partner to form fresh combinations, and the scores are made as if the melds of the two partners were in one hand; but cards previously played to the tricks cannot be used in these fresh combinations. The cards must still be on the table, unplayed. For this reason, in this style of game the melds are not taken up until one of the partners wins a trick. AUCTION BINOCLE. In this variation, each of three or four players is for himself. The forty-eight cards are dealt out, four at a time, but no trump is turned.
T. Micklethwaite (_Arch. Journ._, xlix. 322), where diagrams of this game are given which have been found cut in several places on the benches of the cloisters at Gloucester, Salisbury, and elsewhere. See Noughts and Crosses. Nip-srat-and-bite A children s game, in which nuts, pence, gingerbread, &c, are squandered.--Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. Nitch, Notch, No-Notch Children cut a number of slices from an apple, extending from the eye to the tail, broader on the outside than on the inner, which reaches nearly to the core; one piece has a part cut out, making a notch--this is called Notch; another is not cut at all--this is called No-Notch; while a third has an incision made on it, but not cut out--this is called Nitch. The pieces when thus marked are replaced, and the game consists in one child holding the apple, and pointing to one of the pieces, asking another child which he will have, Nitch, Notch, or No-Notch; if he guesses right, he has it and eats it; if wrong, the other eats it.
The cards are thrown round for the first deal, and the first ace takes it. The dealer is also the banker. Each player is provided with a certain number of _=counters=_, usually 25 or 50, and a betting limit is agreed on before play begins. The players on the dealer’s right and left are known as the pone and the eldest hand respectively. The _=object=_ of the game is to get as near 21 as possible in the total pip value of the cards held. _=Stakes.=_ Before the cards are dealt, each player except the dealer places before him the amount he bets upon his chances for that deal. This amount may be either at the option of the player, within the betting limit, or it may be a fixed sum, such as one counter. In one variation each player is allowed to look at the first card dealt him before making his bet, and before receiving a second card. When it comes to the dealer’s turn, he does not stake anything upon his card, but he has the privilege of calling upon all the others to _=double=_ the amount they have placed on theirs.
Another player, called Outsider, pretends to scratch the ground. The Leader asks, the questions, and the Outsider replies-- What are you scratching for? Pins and needles. What do you want your pins and needles for? To mend my poke. What do you want your poke for? To put some sand in. What do you want your sand for? To sharpen knives with. What do you want your knives for? To cut all the little chickens heads off with. Here the Outsider tries to dodge past the Leader to catch one of the children at the further end of the row, the Leader meanwhile attempting to bar her progress. When at last she succeeds, the child caught takes her place, and the game is recommenced.--Winterton (Miss M. Peacock).
If a bower is turned, the dealer’s partner should lead a small trump at the first opportunity. In playing against a lone hand the best cards in plain suits should always be led, trumps never. In playing alone, it is best to lead winning trumps as long as they last, so as to force discards, which will often leave intermediate cards in plain suits good for tricks. _=Second Hand.=_ Play the best card you have second hand, and cover everything led if you can. With King and another or Queen and another, it is usually best to put up the honour second hand, on a small card led. _=Trumping.=_ It is seldom right to trump partner’s winning cards, unless he has ordered up the trump, and you think you can lead through the dealer to advantage. In playing against a lone hand, it is sometimes good play to trump your partner’s ace with an unguarded left bower or ace of trumps, as it may prevent the dealer from getting into the lead with a small trump, and may save a King or Queen of trumps in your partner’s hand. If you don’t trump, the dealer will probably get in and swing the right bower, and your trump will be lost.
The full pack of fifty-two cards is used. After it has been thoroughly shuffled and properly cut, thirteen cards are counted off, face down, and placed at the player’s left, face up. This is the stock. The fourteenth card is then turned face up and is the foundation for that deal. Let us suppose it is a seven. It is placed by itself, furthest from the player, waiting for the three other sevens to appear to form three other foundations, each in a different suit. Four cards are then dealt off from left to right, face up, for the layout. Holding the remaining thirty-four cards in the left hand, face down, the player counts off three at a time and turns them face up on the table, but so that the top card only is seen. If this card can be used, the card under it is available. If not, the three are left on the table and three more turned up in the same way.
The revoking players cannot score slams or game that hand. All slams must be made independently of the revoke penalty. In _=Boston=_, the penalty for a revoke on the part of the bidder is that he is put in for one trick, and must pay four red counters into the next pool. Should an adversary of the bidder revoke, he must pay four red counters into the next pool, and he and his partners must pay the bidder as if he had been successful. On the discovery of a revoke in Boston the hands are usually abandoned; but the cards should be shown to the table, in order that each player may be satisfied that no other revoke has been made. A player revoking in Misère Partout pays five red counters to each of his adversaries and the hands are then abandoned. 31. The revoking player and his partner may require the hand in which the revoke has been made, to be played out, and score all points made by them up to the score of six. In _=Boston=_, the hands are abandoned after the revoke is claimed and proved. In _=Cayenne=_, the revoking players must stop at nine.
, three cards of the same denomination. Tric-Trac, the European name for Backgammon. Trump-showing Leads, a system of private conventionalities in leading plain suits at Whist, to show the number of trumps held by the leader. Unblocking, getting out of your partner’s way when he has more cards of the suit than you have. Underplay, leading a card which is not the best of a suit, when the best would naturally be led; or holding up the best card to let another player win the trick. Vade, F., the pool to be played for. Vergeben, G., misdeal. Verleugnen, or Verläugnen, G.
D and A call it, and all show hands. If any of the three, A, B or D can beat C they divide the pool, B getting his third, although he did not contribute to the call. This game is a pure gamble; except that a bold player may occasionally bluff the field off. _=METHODS OF CHEATING.=_ Poker and its congeners have received more attention from the greeks than any other family of card games. In fact it is generally believed that the term greek, as applied to a card sharper, had its origin in the Adam of the poker family, which was a gambling game introduced by the Greeks in Italy. So numerous and so varied are the methods of cheating at Poker that it is an axiom among gamblers that if a pigeon will not stand one thing he will another. The best informed make it a rule never to play Poker with strangers, because they realize that it is impossible for any but a professional gambler to know half the tricks employed by the poker sharp. It is a notorious fact that even the shrewdest gamblers are continually being taken in by others more expert than themselves. What chance then has the honest card player? There are black sheep in all flocks, and it may be well to give a few hints to those who are in the habit of playing in mixed companies.
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. Beyond this there is little skill in the game. A variation is sometimes made by the dealer announcing a trump suit after he has examined his hand, instead of turning up the last card. His adversary then has the right either to play his hand, or to exchange it for the one on his right; but the dealer must play the hand dealt to him. THIRTEEN AND THE ODD.