=_ This is bridge without any doubling or rubbers, and is played for so much a game instead of for so much a point, the winners being the side that has the higher score for tricks and honours combined when either side reaches thirty points below the line. It is a good game for occasions upon which the players may be interrupted at any time, or have not time to finish a full rubber. THE AMERICAN LAWS OF BRIDGE. REVISED TO NOVEMBER, 1913. _Reprinted and Copyrighted, 1913, by permission of The Whist Club of New York._ THE RUBBER. 1. The partners first winning two games win the rubber. When the first two games decide the rubber, a third is not played. SCORING.
In some parts of Yorkshire it is customary to say no-horned lady instead of genteel lady at the beginning of the game. When we played this game we said always genteel after genteel lady, and varied the formula. For instance, the first player would say, I, a genteel lady, always genteel, come from a genteel lady, always genteel, to say she lives in a house with twelve windows, or words were used beginning with the letter A. Each player must repeat this, and add something else in keeping with a house; or sentences had to be made in which words beginning with the letter A must be said, the other players doing the same alphabetically.--London (A. B. Gomme). Mr. Newell, in writing of this game, says that the lamp-lighter or spill was lighted when placed in the hair of the players who made mistakes. He does not mention forfeits being exacted.
VI. There stands a lady on the ocean [mountain], Who she is I do not know her; All she wants is gold or silver, All she wants is a nice young man. Choose once, choose twice, Choose three times over. Now you re married I wish you joy, First a girl and then a boy; Seven years old a son and daughter, Play and cuddle and kiss together. Kiss her once, kiss her twice, Kiss her three times over. --Deptford (Miss Chase). VII. There stands a lady on the mountain, Who she is I do not know: Oh! she wants such gold and silver! Oh! she wants such a nice young man! Now you re married I wish you joy, First a girl and then a boy; Seven years after a son and a daughter, Kiss your bride and come out of the ring. --Berkshire (Miss Thoyts, _Antiquary_; xxvii. 254).
If five belong to the table, the three who remained in for the second rubber must cut to allow the fifth player to re-enter. At the end of the third rubber, the two cut that have not yet been out; and at the end of the fourth rubber the one who has played every rubber goes out without cutting. Partners and deal are cut for at the beginning of each new rubber. _=METHODS OF CHEATING.=_ All the Euchre family of games, especially Écarté and Napoleon, offer numerous opportunities to the greek. So well is this known in Europe that it is considered extremely foolish for any person to play Écarté in mixed companies. The small number of cards in the pack, and the custom of dealing two and three at a time, gives the dealer an opportunity to bunch four valuable cards, of which he can give himself three, and turn up the fourth. False shuffles, shifted cuts, and marked cards are formidable weapons. The telegraph between partners, and the variation in tone or words in passing are frequently used by card-sharpers. One of the commonest devices in America is the use of what are known as “jack strippers.
Anything that will score up to seven points will do. _=Players.=_ The regular game is played by two persons, one of whom is known as the dealer, and the other as the pone. They cut for seats and deal, the highest cut having the choice. _=Stakes.=_ Sixty-six is played for so much a game, or for so much a point, the loser’s score being deducted from the winner’s. If the loser has not scored at all, it is usually counted a double game. _=Dealing.=_ The cards having been shuffled and presented to the pone to be cut, the dealer gives six cards to each player, three at a time, dealing first to his adversary. There are several ways of making the trump, one of which should be agreed upon before play begins.
I am particularly indebted to Colonel Mark Sykes for advice and information in this matter. He has pointed out to me the possibility of developing Little Wars into a vivid and inspiring Kriegspiel, in which the element of the umpire would be reduced to a minimum; and it would be ungrateful to him, and a waste of an interesting opportunity, if I did not add this Appendix, pointing out how a Kriegspiel of real educational value for junior officers may be developed out of the amusing methods of Little War. If Great War is to be played at all, the better it is played the more humanely it will be done. I see no inconsistency in deploring the practice while perfecting the method. But I am a civilian, and Kriegspiel is not my proper business. I am deeply preoccupied with a novel I am writing, and so I think the best thing I can do is just to set down here all the ideas that have cropped up in my mind, in the footsteps, so to speak, of Colonel Sykes, and leave it to the military expert, if he cares to take the matter up, to reduce my scattered suggestions to a system. Now, first, it is manifest that in Little Wars there is no equivalent for rifle-fire, and that the effect of the gun-fire has no resemblance to the effect of shell. That may be altered very simply. Let the rules as to gun-fire be as they are now, but let a different projectile be used--a projectile that will drop down and stay where it falls. I find that one can buy in ironmongers shops small brass screws of various sizes and weights, but all capable of being put in the muzzle of the 4 7 guns without slipping down the barrel.
All the cards are then turned face up, and the lowest shown loses a counter. The deal passes to the left. When all the players but one have lost all their markers, the survivor takes the pool. FIVE OR NINE. This game, which is sometimes called Domino Whist, is simply Pope Joan or Matrimony without the layout. Any number of persons may play, and the full pack of fifty-two cards is used, the cards being dealt in proportion to the number of players, as at Pope Joan. The eldest hand must begin by laying out the Five or Nine of some suit to start the first sequence. If he has neither of those cards he must pass, and the first player on his left who has a Five or a Nine must begin. The next player on the left must then continue the sequence in the same suit if he can, but he may play either up or down, laying the card on the right or left of the starter. If a Five is led, he may play a Four or a Six.
=_ It is a foul against the striker if any ball be disturbed, hastened, or hindered by an opponent or any one but himself, whether the ball or balls are at rest while he is aiming or striking, in motion after he has struck, or at rest again after he has struck, and pending his again taking aim. _=10.=_ Should a ball that has once come to a standstill move without apparent cause, while the player is preparing to strike, it shall be replaced. Should it move before he can check his stroke, it, and all other balls set in motion by that stroke, shall be replaced, and the player shall repeat his shot, inasmuch as but for the moving of the ball, he might have counted where he missed, or missed where he counted. _=11.=_ It is a foul if the striker plays directly at any ball with which his own is in fixed contact, and the striker must in this instance play from balls spotted, as in the opening stroke of the game. _=12.=_ It is a foul to place marks of any kind upon the cloth or cushions as a guide to play; also foul to practise the banking shot for the lead-off upon the plea of testing the balls. _=13.=_ It is a foul against the non-striker, and the striker cannot make a count on the ensuing shot, if a ball in play is lifted from the table, except it be unavoidable in those cases in which it is provided that, because of foul or irregular strokes, the balls shall be transposed or replaced.
--Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire (Miss Peacock). II. Green grow the leaves on the old oak tree, I love the boys and the boys love me, As we go marching on. --Sharleston (Miss Fowler). III. I love the boys and the boys love me, I love the boys and the boys love me, I love the boys and the boys love me, As we go marching home. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! As we go marching home. The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf, The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf, The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf, As we go marching home. --Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert). (_b_) In Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire the game is played by the children forming a circle and dancing round, singing.
It is played in this manner. The lads crowd round and place their fists endways, the one on the other, till they form a high pile of hands. Then a boy, who has one hand free, knocks the piled fists off one by one, saying to every boy as he strikes his fist away, What s there, Dump? He continues this process till he comes to the last fist, when he exclaims:-- What s there? Cheese and bread, and a mouldy halfpenny! Where s my share? I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it. Where s the cat? She s run nine miles through the wood. Where s the wood? T fire burnt it. Where s the fire? T waters sleekt (extinguished) it. Where s the water? T oxen drank it. Where s the oxen? T butcher killed em. Where s the butcher? Upon the church tops cracking nuts, and you may go and eat the shells; and them as speaks first shall have nine nips, nine scratches, and nine boxes over the lug! Every one then endeavours to refrain from speaking in spite of mutual nudges and grimaces, and he who first allows a word to escape is punished by the others in the various methods adopted by schoolboys. In some places the game is played differently.
The manner of playing is briefly thus:--Two persons, having each of them nine pieces or men, lay them down alternately, one by one, upon the spots, and the business of either party is to prevent his antagonist from placing three of his pieces so as to form a row of three without the intervention of an opponent piece. If a row be formed, he that made it is at liberty to take up one of his competitor s pieces from any part he thinks most to his own advantage, excepting he has made a row, which must not be touched, if he have another piece upon the board that is not a component part of that row. When all the pieces are laid down they are played backwards and forwards in any direction that the lines run, but can only move from one spot to another at one time. He that takes off all his antagonist s pieces is the conqueror. The rustics, when they have not materials at hand to make a table, cut the lines in the same form upon the ground and make a small hole for every dot. They then collect stones of different forms or colours for the pieces, and play the game by depositing them in the holes in the same manner that they are set over the dots on the table. Hence Shakespeare, describing the effects of a wet and stormy season, says-- The folds stand empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrain flock-- The Nine Men s Morris is filled up with mud. --_Midsummer Nights Dream_, act ii. sc. 2.
The methods of spreading, cutting, deciding ties, etc., described in connection with whist, are those employed in dummy. _=Position of the Players.=_ The players are distinguished, as at whist, by the two first and last letters of the alphabet, and their positions at the table are indicated in the same manner. There is no mark to distinguish the dummy hand; a defect which is remedied in the French system. _=Dealing.=_ At the beginning of a rubber, dummy’s partner presents the pack to his _=left-hand=_ adversary to be cut, and deals from right to left, beginning with the player on his right, and turning up the last card for dummy’s trump. When two packs are used, there is no rule as to which player shall collect and shuffle the still pack. On this point the French rules are very explicit. The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as at whist.
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[Illustration] Every two cards withdrawn in this manner are called a _=turn=_, and there are twenty-five turns in each deal, Soda and Hoc being dead cards. In making the first turn, the Soda begins the pile farther from the box, and the next card taken out is called a _=loser=_, which is placed close to the box. The card left face upward in the box is the _=winner=_ for that turn, so that there must be a winner and a loser for every turn; the loser outside the box, and the winner left in it. On the next and all following turns, the winning card on the previous turn will be placed on the same pile as the Soda, so that it shall be possible at any time to decide which cards have won, and which have lost. The _=Object of the Game=_ is for the players to guess whether the various cards on which they place their money will win or lose. They are at liberty to select any card they please, from the ace to the King, and to bet any amount within the established limit of the bank. _=The Layout.=_ All bets are made with counters of various colors and values, which are sold to the players by the dealer, and may be redeemed at any time. These counters are placed on the layout, which is a complete suit of spades, enamelled on green cloth, sufficient space being left between the cards for the players to place their bets. The ace is on the dealer’s left.
Any number of persons may play, and the full pack of fifty-two cards is used, the cards being dealt in proportion to the number of players, as at Pope Joan. The eldest hand must begin by laying out the Five or Nine of some suit to start the first sequence. If he has neither of those cards he must pass, and the first player on his left who has a Five or a Nine must begin. The next player on the left must then continue the sequence in the same suit if he can, but he may play either up or down, laying the card on the right or left of the starter. If a Five is led, he may play a Four or a Six. Only one card is played at a time by each person in turn. Any person not being able to continue the sequence may start another if he has another Five, but he cannot start one with a Nine unless the first starter in the game was a Nine. He is also at liberty to start a new sequence with a Five or Nine instead of continuing the old, but he must play if he can, one or the other. If he is unable to play, he must pay one counter into the pool, which is won by the first player who gets rid of all his cards. The winner is also paid a counter for every card held by the other players.
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.
If any player bets on the opposite side of the table to that on which he is seated, his bet is not paid until all five of the players on that side have been settled with, because such a bet is regarded as that of an outsider, not belonging to that side of the table. If the player actually holding cards is not the one nearest the banker, he is still the first one to be paid, and then those beyond him in order. For instance: The third player holds cards; after him the fourth and fifth are paid, and then the first and second, each alternately with a player on the other side of the table. _=Banco.=_ Each player in turn, beginning with the one to whom cards will be dealt first, has the right to go banco; that is, to challenge the banker to play for his entire capital at a single coup. Such a proposition takes precedence of all others. If the bank loses such a coup, it must be put up to the highest bidder again, or offered to the next player on the list. If it wins, the same player, or any other player, may make a similar offer for the next coup, which will now be for double the first amount, of course; but no player is allowed to offer banco more than twice in succession. _=Dealing.=_ The cards cut, the banker takes a convenient number of them in his hand, or better, spreads them face downward on the table, and slips off the top card, giving it to the player next him on the right, face down.
For instance: A, B, C and D play. A takes three hearts; B and C five each, and D none. There being three players besides himself, A puts up three times three, or 9 counters. B and C put up 15 each, and D none; so that there are 39 in the pool. Each player then takes out of the pool 1 counter for every heart he did _=not=_ hold when the hearts were announced. D, having taken no hearts, gets 13 counters. A, having taken three hearts only, is entitled to 10 counters for the 10 hearts he did not hold, while B and C get 8 each. This exhausts the pool. There are no Jacks in this way of settling. Matters may be facilitated by having counters of different colours, the white being the unit, and the red representing the number which it will be necessary to pay for one heart.
If the bank loses such a coup, it must be put up to the highest bidder again, or offered to the next player on the list. If it wins, the same player, or any other player, may make a similar offer for the next coup, which will now be for double the first amount, of course; but no player is allowed to offer banco more than twice in succession. _=Dealing.=_ The cards cut, the banker takes a convenient number of them in his hand, or better, spreads them face downward on the table, and slips off the top card, giving it to the player next him on the right, face down. The next card he gives to the player on his left, and the next to himself. He gives another card to the right, to the left, and to himself, and then the players take them up and examine them. Ten cards must remain in the stock for the last deal. _=Irregularities.=_ After the first card is dealt no bets can be made or changed. The cards must be so held that they shall be at all times in full view of the players.
Dismounted cavalry charged is equivalent to infantry in extended order. If cavalry charges cavalry and the numbers are equal and the ground level, the result must be decided by the toss of a coin; the loser losing three-quarters of his men and obliged to retire, the winner losing one-quarter of his men. If the numbers are unequal, the melee rules for Little Wars obtain if the ground is level. If the ground slopes, the cavalry charging downhill will be multiplied according to the number of contours crossed. If it is one contour, it must be multiplied by two; two contours, multiplied by three; three contours, multiplied by four. If cavalry retires before cavalry instead of accepting a charge, it must continue to retire so long as it is pursued--the pursuers can only be arrested by fresh cavalry or by infantry or artillery fire. If driven off the field or into an unfordable river, the retreating body is destroyed. If infantry find hostile cavalry within charging distance at the end of the enemy s move, and this infantry retires and yet is still within charging distance, it will receive double losses if in extended order if charged; and if in two ranks or in fours, will lose at three feet two men for each charging sabre; at two feet, three men for each charging sabre. The cavalry in these circumstances will lose nothing. The infantry will have to continue to retire until their tormentors have exterminated them or been driven off by someone else.
The Witch tries to catch one, and if successful that child becomes Witch next time.--A. B. Gomme. A probable explanation of this game is that it illustrates some of the practices and customs connected with fire-worship and the worship of the hearth, and that the pot is a magical one, and would only boil over when something wrong had occurred and the Mother s presence was necessary. The pot boils over directly a child is taken away, and appears to cease doing this when the Mother comes in. It is remarkable, too, that the Witch should want to borrow a light from the fire; the objection to the giving of fire out of the house is a well-known and widely-diffused superstition, the possession of a brand from the house-fire giving power to the possessor over the inmates of a house. The mention of the spitting on the hearth in the Sheffield version, and dirtying the hearth in the London version, give confirmation to the theory that the desecration of the fire or hearth is the cause of the pot boiling over, and that the spirit of the hearth or fire is offended at the sacrilege. The Witch, too, may be unable to get possession of a child until she has something belonging to the house. The journey of the Mother to the Witch s house in search of her children, the obstacles put in her path, and the mention of the spilling of blood on the threshold, are incidents which have great significance.
_=13. Misdealing.=_ A misdeal does not lose the deal; the same dealer must deal again. It is a misdeal: If the dealer fails to present the pack to the pone; or if any card is found faced in the pack; or if the pack is found imperfect; or if the dealer gives six or more cards to more than one player; or if he deals more or fewer hands than there are players; or if he omits a player in dealing; or if he deals a card incorrectly, and fails to correct the error before dealing another. _=14. Irregularities in the Hands.=_ Should the dealer, or the wind, turn over any card, the player to whom it is dealt must take it; but the same player cannot be compelled to take two exposed cards. Should such a combination occur there must be a new deal. If the player exposes cards himself, he has no remedy. _=15.
One writes the initial and final letters of a bird s, beast s, or fish s name, making crosses (×) instead of the intermediate letters of the word, stating whether the name is that of bird, beast, or fish. The other players must guess in turn what the name is. The first one who succeeds takes for himself the same number of marks as there are crosses in the word, and then writes the name of anything he chooses in the same manner. If the players are unsuccessful in guessing the name, the writer takes the number to his own score and writes another. The game is won when one player gains a certain number of marks previously decided upon as game. --Barnes (A. B. Gomme). Bittle-battle The Sussex game of Stoolball. There is a tradition that this game was originally played by the milkmaids with their milking-stools, which they used for bats; but this word makes it more probable that the stool was the wicket, and that it was defended with the bittle, which would be called the bittle-bat.