This further removes the game from the chess category, and approximates it to the likeness of active service. Most of a general s decisions, once a fight has begun, must be made in such brief intervals of time. (But we leave unlimited time at the outset for the planning.) As to our time-keeping, we catch a visitor with a stop-watch if we can, and if we cannot, we use a fair-sized clock with a second-hand: the player not moving says Go, and warns at the last two minutes, last minute, and last thirty seconds. But I think it would not be difficult to procure a cheap clock--because, of course, no one wants a very accurate agreement with Greenwich as to the length of a second--that would have minutes instead of hours and seconds instead of minutes, and that would ping at the end of every minute and discharge an alarm note at the end of the move. That would abolish the rather boring strain of time-keeping. One could just watch the fighting. Moreover, in our desire to bring the game to a climax, we decided that instead of a fight to a finish we would fight to some determined point, and we found very good sport in supposing that the arrival of three men of one force upon the back line of the opponent s side of the country was of such strategic importance as to determine the battle. But this form of battle we have since largely abandoned in favour of the old fight to a finish again. We found it led to one type of battle only, a massed rush at the antagonist s line, and that our arrangements of time-limits and capture and so forth had eliminated most of the concluding drag upon the game.
It felt relaxing and reassuring. He could sense her welcome of him. It was scarcely a thought, just a raw emotion of greeting. At last they were one again. In a tiny remote corner of his mind, as tiny as the smallest toy he had ever seen in his childhood, he was still aware of the room and the ship, and of Father Moontree picking up a telephone and speaking to a Scanner captain in charge of the ship. His telepathic mind caught the idea long before his ears could frame the words. The actual sound followed the idea the way that thunder on an ocean beach follows the lightning inward from far out over the seas. The Fighting Room is ready. Clear to planoform, sir. THE PLAY Underhill was always a little exasperated the way that Lady May experienced things before he did.
Each check is touched in turn as the ball is thrown. 7. The checks are separately pushed out of the ring. 8. Each check in turn is taken up and knocked against the ground. 9. Each check is taken up and tapped upon another. 10. The checks are first arranged three in a line, touching each other, and the fourth placed at the top of that at one end of the row. This is called the Cradle.
Holding the pack face down, the banker draws two cards from the bottom and places them on the table, face up, for the “bottom layout.” He then draws two cards from the top of the pack for the “top layout.” The players can bet on either layout, and after all the bets are placed the pack is turned face up. The card that shows is called the “gate.” If it is of the same suit as either of the cards in the top layout, the banker pays all bets on that layout. If there is a card of the same suit as the gate in the bottom layout, the banker pays that also. If there is no card of the same suit as the gate in either of the layouts, the banker wins from that layout; so that he may win or lose from either or both on the same gate. The pack is then turned face down, the gate is drawn off and thrown aside and two fresh layouts are made, as before and the bets placed before the new gate is shown. This is continued until the pack is exhausted. THREE-CARD MONTE.
If he threw six-deuce, having no men on either point he would have to move up the deuce; but the farthest man from the ace point cannot be moved up six, so he can throw that man off. This must result in leaving a blot, no matter which man is played up the two Points, and White may hit this blot on his next throw. Should he do so, Black would have to throw an ace to re-enter, as all the other points in White’s home table are covered, or “made up.” Black could not throw off another man until the one hit had not only been re-entered, but had made the circuit of the board and got home again. A player is not obliged to throw off a man if he prefers to move, but he must do one or the other. In the foregoing diagram, for instance, if Black threw three-ace, he would be very foolish to take off two men, leaving a blot on his three point. He should move the ace from his four to his three point, and then take off the three, leaving no blots. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ Always see that the men are properly set up. It would be a great help to many persons if the manufacturers of backgammon boards would print upon them a small diagram of the correct position of the men.
What s the matter? I asked him, supporting his sagging elbow, still mad at myself for acting so childish. Nothing, nothing, he gasped, starting to recover. He d only been dying, that s all. But it came in second-best compared to holding the dice. No point calling too much attention to him. I decided four passes were enough while he held the dice. What do you know, as he came out for the fifth time, Sniffles pulled my stack of chips to the Don t Pass side of the line, while scraping at the chapped end of her skinny nose with the back of her free hand. Like every compulsive gambler I ve ever seen, the roller next to me was sure he was on a rampage. Four passes and he thought he had the dice licked. Ride with me! he yelled at Sniffles, who plainly had the management of my chips.
B. G.). Chambers (_Pop. Rhymes_, p. 148) gives a similar verse, used for starting a race:-- Race horses, race horses, what time of day? One o clock, two o clock, three, and away; and these lines are also used for the same purpose in Cheshire (Holland s _Glossary_) and Somersetshire (Elworthy s _Glossary_). Halliwell, on the strength of the corrupted word Bellasay, connects the game with a proverbial saying applied to the family of Bellasis; but there is no evidence of such a connection except the word-corruption. The rhyme occurs in _Gammer Gurton s Garland_, 1783, the last words of the second line being time to away. Bellie-mantie The name for Blind Man s Buff in Upper Clydesdale. As anciently in this game he who was the chief actor was not only hoodwinked, but enveloped in the skin of an animal.
=_ The penalty for exceeding the time limit is the forfeiture of the game. It shall be the duty of each player, as soon as his move be made, to stop his own register of time and start that of his opponent, whether the time be taken by clocks, sand-glasses, or otherwise. No complaint respecting an adversary’s time can be considered, unless this rule be strictly complied with. But nothing herein is intended to affect the penalty for exceeding the time limit as registered. _=Abandoning the Game.=_ If either player abandon the game by quitting the table in anger, or in any otherwise offensive manner; or by momentarily resigning the game; or refuses to abide by the decision of the Umpire, the game must be scored against him. If a player absent himself from the table, or manifestly ceases to consider his game, when it is his turn to move, the time so consumed shall, in every case, be registered against him. _=Disturbance.=_ Any player wilfully disturbing his adversary shall be admonished; and if such disturbance be repeated, the game shall be declared lost by the player so offending, provided the player disturbed then appeals to the Umpire. _=The Umpire.