| -- |Fourteen pounds and a |Ten hundred pounds | | | |wedding gown. |will let him out. | |43.| -- | -- |Then a hundred pounds | | | | |we have not got. | |44.|Off to prison you must| -- |Then off to prison you| | |go. | |must go. | |45.| -- | -- | -- | |46.| -- | -- | -- | |47.
Newell (_Games_, pp. 56-58) gives some versions of this game. He considers the original to have been a European game (he had not found an English example) in which there were two mothers, a rich and a poor one; one mother begging away, one by one, all the daughters of the other. (_d_) This game no doubt originates from the country practice of hiring servants at fairs, or from a dramatic Hirings being acted at Harvest Homes. The Good-bye of mother and daughters belongs, no doubt, to the original game and early versions, and is consistent with the departure of a servant to her new home. The lover incident is an interpolation, but there may have been a request on the part of the mother to the lady not to allow the girl followers or sweethearts too soon. As to the old practice of hiring servants, Miss Burne has noted how distinctly it stamps itself upon local custom (_Shropshire Folklore_, pp. 461, 464). That the practice forms the groundwork of this game is well illustrated by the following descriptive passage. They stay usually two or three dayes with theire friends, and then aboute the fifth or sixth day after Martynmasse will they come to theire newe masters; they will depart from theire olde services any day in the weeke, but theire desire (hereaboutes) is to goe to theire newe masters eyther on a Tewsday or on a Thursday; for on a Sunday they will seldome remoove, and as for Monday, they account it ominous, for they say-- Monday flitte, Neaver sitte; but as for the other dayes in the weeke they make no greate matter.
=_ Each player in turn, beginning on the dealer’s left, can offer to play one of three games, and the highest offer must be accepted. A player cannot increase his own bid unless he is overbid. The highest bidder becomes the single player, opposed to the two others. _=Frog.=_ In this, hearts must be trumps. The single player turns the widow face up to show what it contained, and then takes the three cards into his hand. He must then discard to reduce his playing hand to eleven cards again. Any points in the cards he lays away will count for him at the end of the play. The player on the dealer’s left always leads for the first trick, any card he pleases. The others must follow suit if they can, but they are not obliged to head the trick.
It was first played on a table with corner pockets, and afterward on a carrom table, two red balls being used, one spotted on the red and the other on the white spot. Two carroms could be made on one shot. The following are the most important _=LAWS=_ of the carrom game, and are copied by permission from the 1908 edition of the “Laws of Billiards,” published by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. AMERICAN BILLIARD LAWS. _=1.=_ The game is begun by stringing for the lead; the player who brings his ball nearest to the cushion at the head of the table winning the choice of balls and the right to play first or to compel his opponent to play. Should the striker fail to count, his opponent makes the next play, aiming at will at either ball on the table. _=2.=_ A carrom consists in hitting both object-balls with the cue-ball in a fair and unobjectionable way; each carrom will count _one_ for the player. A penalty of _one_ shall also be counted against the player for every miss occurring during the game.
If no one has exactly 16, the farm stays with its original owner deal after deal, until exactly 16 is held by some player. Whether any one wins the farm or not, when the hands are exposed all those who have overdrawn must pay to the one who owned the farm at the beginning of that deal, as many counters as they have points more than 16. These payments do not go into the farm, but are clear profits. Those who have less than 16 pay nothing to the farmer; but the one who is nearest 16 receives a counter from each of the others. Ties are decided by the possession of the ♡ 6, or the fewest cards, or the eldest hand, as already described. If the farm remains in the same hands, the farmer deals again, and collects his profits until he loses his farm. When the farm is won, it is emptied, and resold as in the beginning. QUINZE. This is a form of Vingt-et-un for two players, but the number to be reached is 15 instead of 21. Court cards are reckoned as 10, and the ace as 1 only.
If the dealer plays alone, he has two discards; the first in exchange for his partner’s best card, and then another, in exchange for the trump card, after seeing what his partner can give him. In this second discard he may get rid of the card passed to him by his partner. If the dealer’s partner plays alone, the dealer may pass him the turn-up trump, or any better card he may have in his hand. Any person having announced to play alone, either of his adversaries may play alone against him; discarding and taking partner’s best card in the same manner. Should the lone player who makes the trump be euchred by the lone player opposing him, the euchre counts four points. It is considered imperative for a player holding the Joker, or the right bower guarded, to play alone against the lone hand, taking his partner’s best; for as it is evident that the lone hand cannot succeed, there is a better chance to euchre it with all the strength in one hand than divided. If any player, in his proper turn, announces to play alone, and asks for his partner’s best, the partner cannot refuse; neither can he propose to play alone instead. _=Scoring.=_ With the exception of the four points for euchreing a lone hand, the scoring is exactly the same as in the ordinary four-handed game; but there are one or two variations which are sometimes agreed upon beforehand in order to make points still more rapidly. _=Laps.
If any player has _=more=_ than the proper number of cards, it is a misdeal, and the misdealer deals again, after forfeiting one red counter to the pool. In _=Solo Whist=_, the deal stands good. Should the player with the incorrect number of cards be the caller or his partner, the hand must be played out. Should the caller make good his proposition, he neither receives nor pays on that hand. If he fails, he must pay. Should the player with the defective hand be the adversary of the caller, he and his partners must pay the stakes on that hand, which may then be abandoned. Should two players have an incorrect number of cards, one of them being the caller, there must be a new deal. CARDS LIABLE TO BE CALLED. 20. The following cards are liable to be called by either adversary:-- I.
_=Suggestions for Good Play.=_ The principal thing in Cassino is to remember what has been played especially in the counting and high cards, such as Aces, Eights, Nines, and Tens. In making pairs and combinations, give preference to those containing spades, and if you have to trail, do not play a spade if you can help it. If three Aces have been taken in, play the fourth, if you hold it, at the first opportunity, because it cannot be paired; but if there is another Ace to come, keep yours until you can make a good build with it. As between cards which were on the table and those trailed by an adversary, take in those trailed if you have a choice. Take in the adversary’s build in preference to your own, if you can, and build on his build at every opportunity. If Big Cassino is still to come, avoid trailing cards that will make a Ten with those on the table. Go for “cards” in preference to everything else, and always make combinations that take in as many cards as possible. If you have a Nine, and the cards on the table are 2 2 5 7, take in the 2 2 5, in preference to the 2 7. It is considered bad policy to take in three court cards, as it stops all sweeps when the fourth appears.
This bid of Y’s denies any support for his partner’s hearts, but shows a supporting minor suit, in case Z is strong enough to go on with the hearts. B bids two royals as he can stop the hearts twice and ruff the clubs. Z cannot pursue the hearts, but shows his supporting minor suit, bidding three diamonds. This says to Y, “Go no trumps if you can stop the spades.” When A passes, having bid his hand on the first round, Y goes two no trumps and makes game. B leads the top of his partner’s declared suit, and A leads a fourth round, hoping to get in with the club jack. At tricks 8 and 9, B signals control in hearts. A keeps the protection in clubs to the end and saves a trick by it. Y keeps two clubs in dummy, so that if club is led, he will have one to return after he has made his diamonds. In the second example, they are playing nullos, Y declaring.
Taste of it, taste of it, don t say nay, For next Sunday morning is our wedding day. First we ll buy a money box, Then we ll buy a cradle; Rock, rock the bottom out, Then we ll buy another. Bread and cheese all the week, cork on Sunday, Half a crown on Saturday night, and a jolly good dance on Monday. --Cowes, Isle of Wight (Miss E. Smith). II. Down in the meadows where the green grass grows, To see ---- blow like a rose. She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet. Go out, ----; who shall he be? ---- made a pudding, She made it so sweet, And never stuck a knife in Till ---- came to eat. Taste, love, taste, love, don t say nay, For next Monday morning is your wedding day.
] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] (_b_) The children form in two lines of equal length, facing one another, with sufficient space between the lines to admit of their walking in line backwards and forwards towards and away from each other, as each line sings the verses allotted to it (fig. 1). The first line sings the first, third, and fifth verses, and the opposite line the second and fourth. At the end of the fifth verse a handkerchief or other mark is laid on the ground, and the two children (whose names have been mentioned, and who are as evenly matched as possible), take each other s right hand and endeavour to pull each other over the handkerchief to their own side (fig. 2). The child who is pulled over the handkerchief becomes the captured nut, and joins the side of her capturers. Then the game begins again by the second line singing the first, third, and fifth verses, while advancing to gather or capture the nuts, the first line responding with the second and fourth verses, and the same finish as before. Then the first line begins the game, and so on until all the children are in this way matched one against the other.
Because it is hopeless, and there is some chance in another. 5th. To prevent a cross ruff, by leading trumps. _=Simple Inferences=_ from the fall of the cards usually supply the best guide in the matter of changing suits. If the Jack is led from K Q J x x, and wins the trick, partner may be credited with the Ace; and if the original leader has four trumps, and a card of re-entry, he should quit his established suit, and lead trumps to defend it. If the King and Ace have been led from A K x x, partner dropping the Queen on the second round, the suit should be changed, unless the original leader is strong enough to risk weakening his partner by forcing him to trump the third round. 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.
The bluff must be planned from the start, and consistently played from the ante to the end. To use a common expression: “The play must be right for it, or the bluff will be wrong.” There are many cases in which a bluff of fifty cents would be much stronger than one of five dollars; the difference depending on the player’s position at the table, his treatment of the ante, and the number of cards he had drawn. As an example of the play being right for a bluff, take the following case: Five play in a jack pot. A and B have passed when C opens it for the limit. D and E pass out, but A and B both stay, and each draws one card. C takes two cards, and as it is his first bet he puts up the limit on his three aces. A drops out, but B raises C the limit in return. Now, if C is a good player he will lay down his three aces, even if he faintly suspects B is bluffing, because B’s play is sound in any case. He either could not, or pretended he could not open the jack; but he could afford to pay the limit to draw one card against openers, and he could afford to raise the limit against an opener’s evidently honest two-card draw.
There are sixteen different ways for a card to “play,” which are simply the permutations of the stroke and the cypher arranged in rows of four at a time. If a player is betting _=three on a side=_, he will take each card as it becomes a case, and bet that it either wins three times and loses once, or loses once and wins three times. In the foregoing deal he would have bet on the A 3 4 6 9 J to lose on the fourth card out of the box, and would have bet on the case cards of the 2 7 8 10 Q K to win. The Soda, it must be remembered, is really a winning card. Of these bets he would have won 5 out of twelve, taking back his money on the 8, as that card was left in hoc. Playing _=break even=_, these bets would have been exactly reversed, as all the cards would have played either to win and lose an equal number of times, or to _=win=_ or _=lose out=_; that is, to do the same thing all four times. Another favourite system is colours. The player takes some definite card, such as the soda, or the first winner or loser, as his starter, and whatever the colour of the third card of each denomination, that is, the card that makes it a case, he plays it to win or lose, according to the system of colours he is playing. Many players reverse on the last turn. When a player bets one card to lose and another to win, and loses both bets on the same turn, he is _=whipsawed=_.
THREE-HANDED BÉZIQUE. Three persons play, each for himself. Two packs of thirty-two cards each and one of thirty-one cards are shuffled together. Triple bézique counts 1500, and the game is usually 2000 points. The deleted card from the third pack should be an Eight. POLISH BÉZIQUE. This differs from the ordinary game only in the value of the tricks taken. The winner of each trick, instead of turning it down after counting the brisques, takes from it any court cards it may contain, and the Ten of trumps. He lays these cards face up on the table, but apart from those declared from his own hand, and uses them to form combinations, which may be scored in the usual way. The chief difference is that cards so taken in tricks cannot be led or played to subsequent tricks, nor can they be taken in hand at the end of the stock.
| -- | -- | -- | | 4.|For my lady s |For the farmer s |For my lady s | | |daughter. |daughter. |daughter. | | 5.| -- | -- | -- | | 6.| -- | -- | -- | | 7.| -- | -- | -- | | 8.| -- | -- | -- | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.
Gomme). VII. We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, how is she to-day? Poor Jenny is washing, washing, washing, Poor Jenny is washing, washing hard to-day. What time can we see her? At one o clock. (Clock strikes one.) We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, how is she to-day? Poor Jenny is starching, starching, starching, Poor Jenny is starching, you can t see her to-day. When can we see her? At two o clock. (Clock strikes two.) We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, how is she to-day? Poor Jenny is folding, folding, folding, Poor Jenny is folding, you can t see her to-day. When can we see her? At three o clock.
But suppose A-B got only 5 points, Y-Z getting 9. A-B would score nothing, as they did not make good their bid; while Y-Z would score the 9 points actually won, and the 8 points bid in addition, or 17 altogether. The old way of scoring was to _=set back=_ the side that failed to make the number bid; but that system of counting entirely destroyed the interest in the game when one side got much behind; because it could not recover in time to prevent the other side from _=sweating out=_, as it is called. Suppose A-B have been set back 18 points on two failures, Y-Z having made 16 points on those two deals, and 23 on their own bids. The score will stand: A-B 64 to go; Y-Z, 12 to go. Even if we suppose that A-B make 11 on each of the next four deals, they will still have 20 to go, while Y-Z will be out. Again: A-B want 15, Y-Z want 2. Even if A-B can bid 12 and make it, Y-Z will sweat out. With the system of scoring here recommended, this sweating out is impossible, and it is not uncommon for a side that wants one to go, to be beaten by an adversary that wants forty-nine. The side first pegging out on a cribbage-board, or getting rid of its fifty-one counters, wins the game.
Having drawn his card, even if he has not looked at it, he cannot score any declaration until he wins another trick. The various combinations and their values are as follows: CLASS A. King and Queen in any plain suit, _=Marriage=_ 20 King and Queen of trumps, _=Royal Marriage=_ 40 Five highest cards in a plain suit, _=Sequence=_ 150 Five highest cards in trumps, _=Royal Sequence=_ 250 CLASS B. Spade Queen and Diamond Jack, _=Single Bézique=_ 40 Two spade Queens and diamond Jacks, _=Double Bézique=_ 500 Three spade Queens and diamond Jacks, _=Triple Bézique=_ 1500 Four spade Queens and diamond Jacks, _=Quadruple Bézique=_ 4500 CLASS C. Any four Aces 100 Any four Kings 80 Any four Queens 60 Any four Jacks 40 Besides the foregoing, there is the score of fifty points for carte blanche, which may be announced only before the first trick is played to, and the score of fifty points for the winner of the last trick of all. In class A, the first marriage declared must of course count 40, as it is the trump suit for that deal. In class C, the four court cards may be of different suits, or any two or more of them may be of the same suit. The rules governing declarations are as follows:-- The player making the declaration must have won the previous trick, and must make his announcement before drawing his card from the stock. When the stock is exhausted, so that no cards remain to be drawn, no announcements can be made. Only one declaration can be scored at a time, so that a trick must be won for every announcement made, or the combination cannot be scored.
--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. See Ball, Keppy Ball, Monday. Buttons Two or more boys take two buttons in their right hands, and try to throw them both into a small hole in the ground about two yards off. The boy who succeeds in getting both buttons in begins first next game, and takes a button as prize. [This seems merely a mild form of marbles.]--Lincolnshire (Rev. ---- Roberts). There were several games played with buttons--some on level ground, in a ring or square; but the most approved was with a hole dug in the earth near a wall, or near the trunk of a large tree. The hole should be about the cavity of a small tea-cup, the players toeing a scratched line about four or five feet from the hole, after tossing for first innings. Each of the players (mostly two) contribute an equal number of buttons, say from two to ten, and of equal value or quality.
Where could your father sleep? Sleep in the pig-sty. What s the pigs to sleep in? Put them in the washing-tub. What could I wash the clothes in? Wash them in your thimble. Thimble isn t big enough for baby s napkin. Wash them in a saucer. A saucer isn t big enough for father s shirt. Wash by the river side, wash by the river side. --Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase). X. Please, mother, buy me a milking-can, Milking-can, milking-can, Please, mother, buy me a milking-can, My dear mother.
The lowest cut has the first choice of seats, and also deals the first hand. It is usual for the player sitting on the right of the first dealer to keep the score, so that one may always know when a round ends. _=STAKES.=_ Skat is played for so much a point, and the single player wins from or loses to each of the others at the table. A cent a point is considered a pretty stiff game, half a cent being more common in good clubs. Many play for a fifth, or even a tenth of a cent a point. At half a cent a point, ten dollars will usually cover a run of pretty bad luck in an evening’s play. _=DEALING.=_ At the beginning of the game the cards should be counted and thoroughly shuffled, and shuffled at least three times before each deal thereafter. The dealer presents the pack to the pone to be cut, and at least five cards must be left in each packet.
Should one player make a bet or raise which no other player will see, he takes the pool without showing his hand, and the cards are shuffled and cut for the next deal. _=30. Calling the Bets.=_ As long as one player raises another’s bets, he gives that player the privilege of raising him again; but if a player who has made a bet is not raised, the others simply betting an equal amount, the first bettor is called, and all betting must cease. The players must then show their hands to the table, in order to decide which wins the pool. _=31.=_ Bets must be actually made by placing the counters in the pool, and no bet is made until the player’s hand has been withdrawn from the counters. Any counters once placed in the pool, and the owner’s hand withdrawn, cannot be taken down again, except by the winner of the pool. _=32. Betting Out of Turn.
This idea has been brought to perfection in practice by the famous American Whist Club of Boston, and under the able leadership of its captain, Harry H. Ward, it has demonstrated that he can take any kind of a team and beat any of the old style long-suit players, no matter how skilful they may be. The following is a brief outline of the American game, as given by Captain Ward in _Whist_ for May, 1906:-- _=Five-trump Hands.=_ With five trumps, and the suits split, 3, 3, 2, we always open a trump, unless we have a tenace over the turn-up card. From five trumps and a five-card plain suit, we open the suit if it is one that will require some help to establish; otherwise the trump. From five trumps with a four-card plain suit, we open the trump with hands of moderate strength; otherwise the plain suit. _=Four-trump Hands.=_ From four-trump hands we invariably open a suit of five cards or more, but prefer to avoid a four-card suit headed by a single honor. These are the suits in which the best chance for a single trick usually occurs when the suit is led by some one else. For example: Hearts trumps:-- ♡ 8 7 6 3 ♣ 9 8 ♢ K 8 3 2 ♠ K 4 2 The best opening from such a hand is the club nine.