O. Addy, and Miss Fowler, who very generously placed collections at my disposal, which had been prepared before they knew of my project; also Miss Burne, Miss L. E. Broadwood, and others, for kindly obtaining variants and tunes I should not otherwise have received. To the many versions now printed for the first time I have added either a complete transcript of, where necessary, or a reference to, where that was sufficient, printed versions of games to be found in the well-known collections of Halliwell and Chambers, the publications of the Folk-lore and Dialect Societies, Jamieson s, Nares , and Halliwell s Dictionaries, and other printed sources of information. When quoting from a printed authority, I have as far as possible given the exact words, and have always given the reference. I had hoped to have covered in my collection the whole field of games as played by children in the United Kingdom, but it will be seen that many counties in each country are still unrepresented; and I shall be greatly indebted for any games from other places, which would help to make this collection more complete. The tunes of the games have been taken down, as sung by the children, either by myself or correspondents (except where otherwise stated), and are unaltered. The games consist of two main divisions, which may be called descriptive, and singing or choral. The descriptive games are arranged so as to give the most perfect type, and, where they occur, variable types in succession, followed, where possible, by any suggestions I have to make as to the possible origin of the game.
5. The ace, king, queen, knave, and ten of the trump suit are the honours; when no trump is declared, the aces are the honours. 6. Honours are credited to the original holders; they are valued as follows: _When a Trump is Declared._ 3[1] honours held between partners equal value of 2 tricks. 4 ” ” ” ” ” ” 4 ” 5 ” ” ” ” ” ” 5 ” 4 ” ” in 1 hand ” ” 8 ” 4 ” ” ” 1 ” { 5th in } ” ” 9 ” 5 ” ” ” 1 ” {partner’s} ” ” 10 ” _When No Trump is Declared._ 3 aces held between partners count 30 4 ” ” ” ” ” 40 4 ” ” in one hand ” 100 7. Slam is made when partners take thirteen tricks.[2] It counts 40 points in the honour score. 8.
The same thing is gone through till all the players are discovered.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor). Jamieson says, Hy Spy, a game resembling Hide and Seek, but played in a different manner. The station, which in England is called Home, is here the Den, and those who keep it are the Seekers, and are called the Ins. Those who hide themselves, instead of crying Hoop, as in England, cry Hy spy; and they are denominated the Outs. The business of the Ins is, after the signal is given, to lay hold of the Outs before they can reach the den. The captive then becomes one of the Ins; for the honour of the game consists in the privilege of hiding oneself. Jamieson adds, Hy is still used in calling after a person, to excite attention, or when it is wished to warn him to get out of the way.
The method of question and answer is adopted for all the rhyme-movements. The tune of the game, with but slight variation, in all the versions is the same as that given from Platt, near Wrotham, except the two which are printed from Northants and Belfast. Jenny Mac Jenny Mac, Jenny Mac, Jenny Macghie, Turn your back about to me; And if you find an ill baubee, Lift it up and gie t to me. Two girls cross their arms behind their backs, and thus taking hold of each other s hands, parade along together, by daylight or moonlight, occasionally turning upon their arms, as indicated in the rhyme. Another rhyme for this amusement is-- A basket, a basket, a bonny penny basket, A penny to you, and a penny to me, Turn about the basket. --Chambers s _Popular Rhymes_; p. 123. See Basket. Jib-Job-Jeremiah An undescribed Suffolk game.--Moor s _Suffolk Words_, p.
Bell. MIDDLESEX Miss Collyer. Hanwell Mrs. G. L. Gomme. { Miss Chase, Miss F. D. Richardson, { Mr. G.
Any bid once made can neither be amended nor recalled, and there is no second bid. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The player bidding the highest number of tricks has the first lead, and the first card he plays must be one of the trump suit. The players must follow suit if able, but need not win the trick unless they choose to do so. The highest card played of the suit led wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits. The winner of the trick leads again for the next trick, and so on, until all five tricks have been played. After the first trick any suit may be led. The bidder gathers all tricks he wins, stacking them so that they may be readily counted by any player at the table. One of the other side should gather all tricks won by the adversaries of the bidder. A trick once turned and quitted cannot again be seen.
A card should not be played with such emphasis as to draw attention to it, nor should a player detach one card from his hand and subsequently play another. 6. A player should not purposely incur a penalty because he is willing to pay it, nor should he make a second revoke to conceal a first. 7. Conversation during the play should be avoided, as it may annoy players at the table or at other tables in the room. 8. The dummy should not leave his seat to watch his partner play. He should not call attention to the score nor to any card or cards that he or the other players hold. 9. If a player say, “I have the rest,” or any words indicating that the remaining tricks, or any number thereof, are his, and one or both of the other players expose his or their cards, or request him to play out the hand, he should not allow any information so obtained to influence his play.
The dealer, beginning on his left, asks each in turn to announce his intentions. The player may _=stand=_ with the cards dealt him; or may _=take the widow=_ in exchange; or may _=pass=_. If he passes or takes the widow, he gives his original hand to the dealer, who places it on the bottom of the pack. If he takes the widow or stands, he must win at least one trick, or he is looed, and will forfeit three red counters to the next pool. If all pass but the player who has taken the widow, he wins the pool without playing, and the next deal must be a simple. If only one player stands, and he has not taken the widow, the dealer, if he will not play for himself, must take the widow and play to defend the pool. If he fails to take a trick, he is not looed; but the payment for any tricks he wins must be left in the pool, and the red counters for them should be changed for white ones, so that the amount may be easily divided at the end of the next pool. _=Flushes.=_ If any player in a double pool holds three trumps, whether dealt him or found in the widow, he must announce it as soon as all have declared whether or not they will play. The usual custom is to wait until the dealer declares, and then to ask him: “How many play?” The dealer replies: “Two in;” “Three in;” or: “Widow and one;” as the case may be.
Up wi her on the bane dyke, She ll be rotten or I ll be ripe: She s made for some ither, and no me, Yet I thank ye for your courtesy. Then I ll gie ye Nell o sweet Sprinkell, Owre Galloway she bears the bell. I ll set her up in my bed-head, And feed her wi milk and bread; She s for nae ither, but jist for me, Sae I thank ye for your courtesy. --Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. II. I maun ride hame, I maun gang hame, And bide nae langer here; The road is lang, the mirk soon on, And howlets mak me fear. Light doon and bide wi us a night, We ll choose ye a bonnie lass; Ye ll get your wull and pick o them a , And the time it soon wull pass. Which ane will ye choose, If I with you will bide? The fairest and rarest In a the kintra side. A girl s name was then mentioned. If the lad was pleased with the choice made, he replied-- I ll set her up on a bonnie pear-tree, It s tall and straight, and sae is she; I d keep wauken a night her love to be.
Taille, F., a number of packs shuffled together, which are not to be reshuffled or cut until all have been used. Talon, the same as Stock. Team Playing, requiring every member of a team to play with every other an equal number of times, at Whist. Tenace. The major tenace is the best and third best cards remaining, or unplayed, in any suit, such as A Q. The minor tenace is the second and fourth best, such as K J. Têtes, Kings, Queens and Jacks. Three-card Monte. A game in which three cards are dexterously thrown on the table by a gambler, and the victim is induced to bet that he can pick out one which has been previously named and shown.
_=Playing Alone.=_ Should a player think he can take all seven tricks without any partners, he may bid _=ten=_, which would outrank a bid of seven; but such a bid must be made before seeing the widow. If a player thinks he can win all seven tricks without either widow or partners, he may bid _=twenty=_, which is the highest bid possible. When twenty is bid the cards in the widow must remain untouched. _=Playing.=_ The successful bidder has the lead for the first trick. The general rules for following suit, etc., are the same as in ordinary Euchre. The bidder takes in all the tricks won by himself and his partners, and one of the adversaries should gather for that side. If a player on either side _=revokes=_, the adversaries score the number bid, and the hand is abandoned.
If the single player gives up his game as lost, and lays his cards on the table, the adversaries shall take all such cards and add them to their own, and count their cards to see if they have also made the player schneider. THE REVOKE. 52. Should the single player revoke, and not discover the error before the trick is turned and quitted, he loses his game. If he discovers the error and corrects it in time, there is no penalty; but any adversary who plays after him may amend his play. 53. If either adversary of the player revokes, the player may claim his game as won; but he may insist on playing the hand out to see if he can make schneider or schwarz. Even if the single player has overbid his hand, he wins his game if either adversary revokes. LOOKING BACK. 54.
If you hold Ace and others in a plain suit, partner leading Jack, pass it if Dummy has no honour. Perhaps by winning the second round you can give the invited force. With any other honours than the Ace, pass a partner’s Jack led. If partner leads you a suit of which he knows, or should know, you have not the best, he must have a good finesse in the suit which he does not lead, and you should take the first opportunity to lead that suit to him. In returning partner’s suits, some modification may be suggested by the condition of Dummy’s hand. For instance: With K x x; Dummy having A Q J x; if you win, third hand, on Dummy’s finesse, you may be sure your partner’s lead was a weak suit. If Dummy is weak in the two other plain suits, your partner may have a good finesse in one or both of them. When your partner wins the first round of an adverse suit, and immediately returns it, he is inviting a force. _=Dummy on the Left.=_ When the player is third hand with Dummy on his left, his chief care will be to divine his partner’s object in leading certain cards up to Dummy.
If he looks at the trump card before the deal is completed. VI. If he places the trump card face downward upon his own or any other player’s cards. A misdeal loses the deal, unless, during the deal, either of the adversaries touches a card or in any other manner interrupts the dealer. In _=Boston=_, _=Cayenne=_, and _=Solo Whist=_, the misdealer deals again with the same cards. In Boston he forfeits a red counter to the pool for his error. THE TRUMP CARD. 18. The dealer must leave the trump card face upward on the table until it is his turn to play to the first trick; if it is left on the table until after the second trick has been turned and quitted, it is liable to be called. After it has been lawfully taken up, it must not be named, and any player naming it is liable to have his highest or his lowest trump called by either adversary.
Every card faced upon the table otherwise than in the regular course of play, but not including a card led out of turn. II. Every card thrown with the one led or played to the current trick. The player must indicate the one led or played. III. Every card so held by a player that his partner sees any portion of its face. IV. All the cards in a hand lowered or shown by a player so that his partner sees more than one card of it. V. Every card named by the player holding it.
Otherwise the game is the same as All Fives. There are several _=card games=_ with dominoes, but they are little used, and hardly worth description in a work of this kind. DICE. Dice are probably the oldest gambling instruments in the world. Chatto thinks that man acquired the passion for gambling as soon as he could distinguish odd from even, or a short straw from a shorter. Simple gambling instruments were probably very early articles of manufacture, and Chatto says that it is not unlikely that after a simple dinner of mutton some enterprising gamester may have taken the small bones from between the shank and the foot, and after burning spots in them to distinguish one from the other, put them into _a_ cow’s horn and shaken them up, afterward rolling them upon the ground. From some such beginning Astragali was developed, a game which Dr. Thomas Hyde thinks was known at the time of the Deluge. Later on, other instruments were used in connection with dice, and so the earliest forms of Backgammon were developed. Dice are still the favourite implements for deciding any matters of pure chance, such as raffling off a horse or a gold watch; but the rules governing such lotteries are but imperfectly understood by people in general.
--Northall s _English Folk Rhymes_, p. 353. (_b_) In this game two children cross hands, grasping each other s wrists and their own as well: they thus form a seat on which a child can sit and be carried about. At the same time they sing the verse. Carrying the Queen a Letter The King and Queen have a throne formed by placing two chairs a little apart, with a shawl spread from chair to chair. A messenger is sent into the room with a letter to the Queen, who reads it, and joins the King in a courteous entreaty that the bearer of the missive will place himself between them. When he has seated himself on the shawl, up jumps the King and Queen, and down goes the messenger on the floor.--Bottesford and Anderly (Lincolnshire), and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock). (_b_) This is virtually the same game as Ambassador, described by Grose as played by sailors on some inexperienced fellow or landsman.
A trick once turned and quitted cannot again be seen, and the players are not allowed to count the number of tricks they have won. The last card of the stock is taken by the player winning the trick, and the turn-up trump goes to his adversary. _=The Last Eight Tricks.=_ When the stock is exhausted, the players take back into their hands all the cards remaining of the combinations which have been laid on the table. The winner of the previous trick then leads any card he pleases, but his adversary must now not only follow suit, but must win the trick if he can, either with a superior card of the same suit, or with a trump. The same rule applies to all the remaining tricks. Brisques still count for the winner of the trick containing them, and should be scored as soon as made. The winner of the last trick of all scores ten points for it immediately, in addition to any brisques that it may contain. _=Irregularities in Play.=_ If a player leads out of turn, and his adversary plays to the lead, whether intentionally or otherwise, the trick stands good.
Another stands beside him repeating the rhyme, whilst the others come one by one and lay their hands upon his back, or jump upon it. When he has sent them all to different places he turns round and calls, Hickety, bickety! till they have all rushed back to the place, the last in returning being obliged to take his place, when the game goes on as before. Chambers adds, The craw s nest is close beside the eye-bandaged boy, and is therefore an envied position. Newell, _Games_, p. 165, refers to this game. See Hot Cockles. Hickety-hackety The game of Hop-scotch, played with a piece of tile, which has to be kicked by the player with the foot on which he hops over lines into various squares marked on the ground.--Somersetshire (Elworthy s _Dialect_). See Hop-scotch. Hick, Step, and Jump The game of Hop, step, and jump.
See-saw, a bucket of water, To wash my lady s garter. One in a rush, and two in a bush, To see a fine lady pop under a bush. --Anderby, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire near the Trent (Miss Peacock). XIII. One we go rush, Two we go push; Lady come under the corner bush. --Shepscombe, Gloucestershire (Miss Mendham). XIV. Sift the lady s oaten meal, sift it into flour, Put it in a chest of drawers and let it lie an hour. One of my rush, Two of my rush, Please, young lady, come under my bush. My bush is too high, my bush is too low, Please, young lady, come under my bow.
* * * * * Wanting to come out with an even thousand, I adjusted the size of her last bet. When I won it, I pulled my chips off the table, which Sniffles didn t resist. She used the lull to grab a handful of sandwiches from another waiter s tray. A gambler at the far end of the table came out, calling loudly to the dice. The cubes made the length of the table, bounced off the rail and came to a stop dead center, between me and the three stick-men in the black aprons. That s the instant when every eye is on the dice, trying to read the spots. And that s when the dice jumped straight up off the baize, a good six-inch hop into the air, and came down Snake Eyes, the old signal. Wow! I d had it! TK! somebody yelled. He might as well have screamed, Fire! the way that mob of gamblers scuttled away from the table. No dice, one of the dealers said automatically.
Irregularities in the deal are governed by the same rules as in Spoil Five. _=DECLARING TO PLAY.=_ Each player in turn, beginning with the eldest hand, may either play or pass. If he passes, he lays his cards face downward in front of him, and takes no further part in that deal unless a general rams is announced. If he plays, he engages himself to take at least one trick, or forfeit five counters to the pool. He may play with the hand originally dealt him, or he may risk getting a better by taking the widow in exchange. If he exchanges, his original hand is dead, and must not be seen by any player. If any player takes the widow, those following him must play the hand dealt them or pass out. In some clubs the eldest hand is obliged to play, either with his own hand or with the widow. If all pass except the pone, he must play against the dealer, either with the cards dealt him, or with the widow.
As soon as the player on the left of the declarer leads, the declarer’s partner places his cards face upward on the table, and the declarer plays the cards from that hand. 60. The partner of the declarer has all the rights of a player (including the right to call attention to a lead from the wrong hand), until his cards are placed face upward on the table.[13] He then becomes the dummy, and takes no part whatever in the play, except that he has the right: (_a_) To call the declarer’s attention to the fact that too many or too few cards have been played to a trick; (_b_) to correct an improper claim of either adversary; (_c_) to call attention to a trick erroneously taken by either side; (_d_) to participate in the discussion of any disputed question of fact after it has arisen between the declarer and either adversary; (_e_) to correct any erroneous score; (_f_) to consult with and advise the declarer as to which penalty to exact for a revoke; (_g_) to ask the declarer whether he have any of a suit he has renounced. The dummy, if he have not intentionally looked at any card in the hand of a player, has also the following additional rights: (_h_) To call the attention of the declarer to an established adverse revoke; (_i_) to call the attention of the declarer to a card exposed by an adversary or to an adverse lead out of turn. 61. Should the dummy call attention to any other incident in the play in consequence of which any penalty might have been exacted, the declarer may not exact such penalty. Should the dummy avail himself of rights (_h_) or (_i_), after intentionally looking at a card in the hand of a player, the declarer may not exact any penalty for the offence in question. 62. If the dummy, by touching a card or otherwise, suggest the play of one of his cards, either adversary may require the declarer to play or not to play such card.
A gambler at the far end of the table came out, calling loudly to the dice. The cubes made the length of the table, bounced off the rail and came to a stop dead center, between me and the three stick-men in the black aprons. That s the instant when every eye is on the dice, trying to read the spots. And that s when the dice jumped straight up off the baize, a good six-inch hop into the air, and came down Snake Eyes, the old signal. Wow! I d had it! TK! somebody yelled. He might as well have screamed, Fire! the way that mob of gamblers scuttled away from the table. No dice, one of the dealers said automatically. He raked the hopping cubes sadly to him with his hoe-shaped dice-stick. I made a break for it with the rest of the crowd, trying to keep my eye on Sniffles. But she had the sure-loser s touch of slipping away from any authority.