_=8th Trick.=_ B cannot risk playing the high clubs while there is any chance for him to win the pool. He can count A to be safe in diamonds, with two hearts and two spades. _=10th Trick.=_ A clears his hand of the very dangerous spade before leading his tenace in diamonds. _=12th Trick.=_ A will not give up the heart until he is sure that B has not the ♣7. * * * * * _=Text Books.=_ There are at present only two text-books on the game; _Foster on Hearts_, and _Hearts and Heartsette_. SLOBBERHANNES.
, translated from the Latin of Levinus Lemnius by Henry Kinder (8vo, London, printed by H. Singleton), p. 144, we read, These bones are called huckle-bones or coytes. For further information relating to this game, as played by the ancients, the reader may consult _Joannis Meursii Ludibunda, sive de Ludis Græcorum, Liber singularis_ (8vo, Lugd. Bat. 1625), p. 7, and _Dan. Souterii Palamedes_, p. 81; but more particularly, _I Tali ed altri Strumenti lusori degli antichi Romani, discritti da Francesco de Ficoroni_, 4to, Rom. 1734.
Trumps win plain suits. If identical cards are played to the same trick, such as two club Jacks, the leader wins. The winner of the trick takes in the cards, turning them face down, but before he leads for the next trick he has the privilege of announcing and scoring any one of certain combinations that he may hold in his hand. After, or in the absence of any such announcement, and before leading for the next trick, he draws a card from the top of the stock, and places it in his hand, without showing or naming it. His adversary then draws the next card, so that each player restores the number of cards in his hand to twelve. This method of playing, announcing, and drawing from the talon is continued until the stock is exhausted. The A 10 K Q J of each suit have certain counting values, which will be described further on. All combinations announced and scored must be laid face upward on the table; but the cards still form part of the player’s hand, and may be led or played at any time, although they must not again be taken in hand until the stock is exhausted. _=Irregularities in Play.=_ If either player leads out of turn, and his adversary plays to the lead, whether intentionally or otherwise, the trick stands good.
_=IRREGULAR HANDS.=_ If, after the first trick has been played to, any two players are found to have more or less than their correct number of cards, the pack being perfect, the one having less must draw, face downward, from the hand of the one having more; and each must pay five counters into the pool. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ As a general proposition, the object of each player is to avoid getting any hearts in the tricks he takes in. In some varieties of the game his object must be to take no hearts; in others it will be to take less than his adversaries; while in others it will be to take less than four. After a person has taken in one or more hearts, his object will be to _=load=_ the others; that is, to see that they get some hearts also; or it may be to see that a given player takes at least one heart; or that no one but himself takes any. The manner in which a person must vary his play in accordance with these different objects will be discussed when we come to the suggestions for good play. In the meantime, it is necessary to bear in mind only the general principle that the object of the game is to avoid winning any tricks that contain hearts. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The cards dealt, the player to the left of the dealer begins by leading any card he pleases, and the others must follow suit if they can.
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7. After pocketing a red ball the striker is at liberty to select the pool ball upon which he will play, but when there is no longer a red ball on the table, the pool balls must be played at and taken in their order of value from lowest to highest, save that the player pocketing the last red ball shall be allowed to select the first pool ball upon which he plays, which, if pocketed, shall be respotted and the pool balls played at in their order of value. 8. When playing on a pool ball the striker, if asked the question by a player taking part in the game, shall “declare” the ball selected. 9. Any number of red balls may be taken in one stroke; but, if a pool ball is taken in conjunction with a red ball, the stroke is foul. After pocketing a red ball only the pool ball aimed at may be taken. 10. A red ball once off the table shall not be brought into play again under any circumstances; but all pool balls pocketed shall be respotted in their original positions (save that the pink ball shall be placed on the pyramid spot), until Rule 7, as to playing upon the pool balls in rotation, comes into force. When the pool balls are being played upon in rotation, they shall not be respotted after being pocketed in proper order and according to rule.
See Musical Chairs, Turn the Trencher. Checkstone Easther s _Almondbury Glossary_ thus describes this game. A set of checks consists of five cubes, each about half an inch at the edge, and a ball the size of a moderate bagatelle ball: all made of pot. They are called checkstones, and the game is played thus. You throw down the cubes all at once, then toss the ball, and during its being in the air gather up one stone in your right hand and catch the descending ball in the same. Put down the stone and repeat the operation, gathering two stones, then three, then four, till at last you have summed up all the five at once, and have succeeded in catching the ball. In case of failure you have to begin all over again. (_b_) In Nashe s _Lenten Stuff_ (1599) occurs the following: Yet towards cock-crowing she caught a little slumber, and then she dreamed that Leander and she were playing at checkstone with pearls in the bottom of the sea. A game played by children with round small pebbles (Halliwell s _Dictionary_). It is also mentioned in the early play of _Apollo Shroving_, 1627, p.
The real healers feel the nerves themselves. I d been worked on before. The more hysterical healers, some really creepy witches, had given me some signs of relief, but none could ever find the real weak place, as she called it. She was mumbling to herself. I guess you could call it an incantation. I got a picture of a nubile waif, too freakish to fit where she d been raised. What had her Hegira been like? In what frightful places had she found herself welcome? From her talk, it could have been an Ozark backwater. I didn t want to know what backwoods crone had taught her some mnemonic rendition of the Devil s Litany. Her hands passed up beyond my shoulder, to my neck. It s in yore haid, she said.
530. (_b_) The hands are closed, some small article is put in one of them behind the back of the player. The closed fists are then turned rapidly round one another while the rhyme is being said, and they are then placed one on top of the other. A guess is then made by any one of the players as to which hand the object is in. If correct, the guesser obtains the object; if incorrect, the player who performs Handy dandy keeps it. (_c_) This game is mentioned in _Piers Plowman_, p. 69 of Wright s edition. Douce quotes an ancient MS. which curiously mentions the game as men play with little children at handye-dandye, which hand will you have (ii. 167).
There are no penalties. The dead wood must be removed. Any pins knocked down through dead wood remaining on the alley cannot be placed to the credit of the bowler. The maximum is 10. THE BATTLE GAME. THE PINS ARE SET UP THE SAME AS FOR THE GAME OF TEN PINS. Four or six innings constitute a battle or game, except in the case of a tie, when another inning is played. In case that inning should result in a tie also, still another inning is played--in fact, until the scores are unequal. In any inning where a tie occurs the score stands over until the next inning, when each point is counted double. If the two innings result in a tie, the score is tripled.
Biseautes (cartes) F., wedges or strippers. Blätter, G., playing cards. Blocking a Suit, keeping a high card of it, so that the player with a number of smaller cards cannot win tricks with them. Blue Peter, the ask for trumps. Blind, a bet made before seeing the cards. Blinden, G., a widow, an extra hand dealt at any game. Board’s the Play, a card once played cannot be taken back.
When it will be necessary to take two finesses in the same suit, the lead must come twice from the weaker hand. Suppose the dealer holds A Q J and others. If the first finesse of the Jack wins, he should put Dummy in again, so as to take a second finesse of the Queen. Suppose the dealer holds A J 10, and finesses the ten the first time. If it falls to the Queen, he should get Dummy in again, so as to take the second finesse with the Jack. The idea is to take advantage of the fact that the odds are against both King and Queen being in one hand. If they are both on the right, one of them will be played on the small card led from Dummy, and then the dealer can win it with the Ace and force out the other high card with his Jack, which will have become one of the second and third-best of the suit. _=Re-entry Cards.=_ After a suit has been _=cleared=_, or established, it will be necessary to get into the lead with it. For this purpose the dealer must be careful to preserve a re-entry card in the hand which is longer in the suit.
| -- | -- | -- | | 30.|If this young prince | -- |If they all should | | |should die. | |die. | | 31.| -- | -- | -- | | 32.|Ye shall get another. | -- |Ye sall get anither. | | 33.| -- | -- | -- | | 34.| -- | -- | -- | | 35.
If at the end you find that the last card to be turned up lies on its proper pile, and needs turning over only, you win; but if you have to remove it to another pile, you lose. _=TRY AGAIN.=_ Shuffle and cut the pack, and deal the cards face upward into four heaps. You are not obliged to deal to each pile in succession, but may place the cards on any of the four piles, according to your judgment or pleasure. In dealing out in this manner it is not good policy to cover one card with a higher, unless you are compelled to do so. Every time you come to an ace, separate it from the others, placing it in a new row, as a foundation for an ascending sequence, which may be continued regardless of the suit of the cards used. The top cards of the four piles are used to build up the sequence. After an ace has appeared, the player may examine the cards in any or all of the piles, but their order must not be disturbed. The object in looking at the cards is to select the pile which is least likely to stop you, or the one having the fewest cards in it. _=TAKE FOURTEEN.
brass. | -- | -- | | 15.|..... gold and silver.|Some will give us | -- | | | |silver ..
The forfeit is to propitiate the offended _genius loci_ (Spurden s _East Anglian Vocabulary_). The element of divination in the custom is perhaps indicated by a curious note from Waldron, in his _Description of the Isle of Man_ (_Works_, p. 55), There is not a barn unoccupied the whole twelve days, every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge. On Twelfth Day the fiddler lays his head on some of the wenches laps, and a third person asks who such a maid or such a maid shall marry, naming the girls then present one after another; to which he answers according to his own whim, or agreeable to the intimacies he has taken notice of during this time of merriment. But whatever he says is as absolutely depended on as an oracle; and if he happen to couple two people who have an aversion to each other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth. This they call cutting off the fiddler s head; for after this he is dead for the whole year. Redeeming the forfeits is called Crying the Weds, in Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 526. See Wadds. Fox Fox, a fox, a brummalary How many miles to Lummaflary? Lummabary? Eight and eight and a hundred and eight.
The player holding or turning up the King of trumps may mark one point for it, but he is not compelled to do so. If the pone plays without proposing, and makes three or four tricks, he counts one point; if he makes the vole he counts two points; but if he fails to make three tricks the dealer counts two. If the dealer refuses the first proposal, he must make three tricks to count one point; if he makes the vole he counts two points; but if he fails to win three tricks the player who was refused counts two points. If the dealer accepts the first proposal, and gives cards, subsequent proposals and refusals do not affect the score; the winner of the odd trick scoring one point, and the winner of the vole two points. In no case can a player make more than two points in one hand by tricks. If the dealer refuses the first proposal, and the pone makes the vole, it counts two points only. If the pone should play without proposing, and the dealer should mark the King and win the vole, it would count him only three points altogether. The player first reaching five points wins the game. If a player has four scored, and turns the King, that wins the game, provided the King was the eleventh card. Rubbers are seldom played.
=_ The partners winning the game at the head table each receive a gold star, and retain their seats for the next game. The losing players at the head table go down to the booby table. All the winning players at the other tables receive red stars, and go to the table next in order above, those at table No. 2, going to No. 1. Those losing and remaining at the booby table each receive a green star. _=Changing Partners.=_ At all but the head table the partners that progress to the next table divide, the lady who has just lost at each table retains her seat, and takes for her partner the gentleman who has just arrived from the table below. At the head table the newly arrived pair remain as partners; but at the booby table the players who have just arrived from the head table divide. All being seated, they cut for the deal, and play is resumed until the next bell tap.
When the adversary who leads in any trick is not on the left of the solo player, the caller will, of course, not be the last player, as at least one adversary must play after him. In such cases it is best to lead the longest suits. _=MISÈRE.=_ The great difficulty in Misère is not in playing it; but in judging what hands justify such an undertaking. _=Calling.=_ As a general proposition it may be stated that misère should not be called with a long suit not containing the deuce. But the longer the suit the less the danger there is for a player who is determined to risk it; because the deuce is more likely to be found alone in some adversary’s hand. Short suits may be risked, even with no card smaller than a 5 or 6, and it is of course a great advantage to have a suit altogether missing. _=Leading.=_ The lead is a disadvantage to the caller, because he must begin with a small card, and the adversaries can play their highest.
82-103). Garland dressing is very general; cakes were eaten at Rorrington well, Shropshire (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 433); pins and portions of the dress are very general offerings; silence is strictly enforced in many instances, and a sacred tree or bush is very frequently found near the well. The tune of the Hampshire game (Miss Mendham s version) is practically the same as that of the Mulberry Bush. Newell (_Games of American Children_, p. 90) gives a version of this game. Drawing Dun out of the Mire Brand, quoting from an old collection of satires, epigrams, &c., says this game is enumerated among other pastimes: At shove-groat, venter-point, or crosse and pile, At leaping o er a Midsummer bone-fier, Or at _the drawing Dun out of the myer_. So in the _Dutchesse of Suffolke_, 1631: Well done, my masters, lends your hands, _Draw Dun out of the ditch_, Draw, pull, helpe all, so, so, well done. [_They pull him out.
If there are more than seven candidates for play, two tables must be formed. Players draw from an outspread pack for the choice of seats and cards, the lowest cut having the first choice, and the others following in their order. The player cutting the lowest card takes the first deal, which afterward passes in regular rotation to the left. In cutting, the ace is low. Any player exposing more than one card must cut again. _=TIES.=_ If the first cut does not decide, those tying must cut again, but the new cut decides nothing but the tie. _=DEALING.=_ Any player has the right to shuffle the pack, the dealer last. The cards are then presented to the pone to be cut, who must leave at least four in each packet.
The players shuffle as much as they please, the banker last, and the banker then presents them to any player he pleases to have them cut. The banker may burn one or two cards if he pleases; that is, turn them face upward on the bottom of the pack. _=Object of the Game.=_ The court cards and Tens count nothing, but all others, including the Ace, are reckoned at their face value. The object is to secure cards whose total pip value will most closely approach the number 8 or 9. An 8 made with two cards is better than a 9 made with three. _=Stakes.=_ Each player in turn, beginning with the first one on the right of the banker, and after him the first one on the left, and so on, right and left alternately, can bet any amount he pleases until the total amount bet equals the capital then in the bank. When this amount is reached it is useless to place further bets, as they may not be paid. For this reason Baccara is a very slow game when there is not much money in the bank.
| ♣♠ | ♡ | ♢ | tricks. | ----------------------+--------+-----+-----+-----+---------+ Boston, five tricks | | 10 | 20 | 30 | 5 | Six tricks | | 30 | 40 | 50 | 5 | Little misère | 75 | | | | | Seven tricks | | 50 | 60 | 70 | 5 | Piccolissimo | 100 | | | | | Eight tricks | | 70 | 80 | 90 | 5 | Grand misère | 150 | | | | | Nine tricks | | 90 | 100 | 110 | 5 | Little spread | 200 | | | | | Ten tricks | | 110 | 120 | 130 | 5 | Grand spread | 250 | | | | | Eleven tricks | | 130 | 140 | 150 | 5 | Twelve tricks | | 150 | 160 | 170 | 5 | Slam, thirteen tricks | | 400 | 450 | 500 | | Spread slam | | 600 | 700 | 800 | | TABLE No. 2. In America, the last two items are usually reduced, and are given as follows:-- | | ♣♠ | ♡ | ♢ | | Slam, thirteen tricks | | 250 | 300 | 350 | | Spread slam | | 350 | 400 | 450 | | ----------------------+--------+-----+-----+-----+---------+ Why a player should be paid more for spreads than for eleven or twelve tricks while the trick bid outranks the spreads, is difficult to understand; but we have no authority to change the tables. Misère Partout wins nothing but the pool. If partners play, it is usual for the losers to pay the adversaries on their right; or, if partners sit together, to pay the adversary sitting next. _=THE POOL.=_ Besides the white counters won and lost by the players individually, the successful player takes the pool. Successful partners divide it equally, regardless of the number of tricks bid or taken by each. If the partners fail, they must contribute to the pool an amount equal to that which they pay to one adversary.
_=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ Two players sit opposite each other. Three, five or seven sit according to their choice. Four sit as at Whist, the partners facing each other. Six, playing in two partnerships, sit alternately, so that no two partners shall be next each other. Six, playing in three partnerships of two each, sit so that two adversaries shall be between each pair of partners. Eight, playing in two sets of four each, or as four pairs of partners, arrange themselves alternately. If we distinguish the partners by the letters A, B, C, D, the diagram will show the arrangement of the tables. [Illustration: B C A B A B +------+ +------+ +------+ | | D| |C B| |A A| |A | | | | | | C| |D A| |B +------+ +------+ +------+ C B B A B A THREE PAIRS. FOUR PAIRS.
If a piece of turf can be procured so much the better. One boy lays his chestnut upon the turf, and the other strikes at it with his chestnut; and they go on striking alternately till one chestnut splits the other. The chestnut which remains unhurt is then conqueror of one. A new chestnut is substituted for the broken one, and the game goes on. Whichever chestnut now proves victorious becomes conqueror of two, and so on, the victorious chestnut adding to its score all the previous winnings. The chestnuts are often artificially hardened by placing them up the chimney or carrying them in a warm pocket; and a chestnut which has become conqueror of a considerable number acquires a value in schoolboys eyes; and I have frequently known them to be sold, or exchanged for other toys (Holland s _Cheshire Glossary_). The game is more usually played by one boy striking his opponent s nut with his own, both boys standing and holding the string in their hands. It is considered bad play to strike the opponent s _string_. The nut only should be touched. Three tries are usually allowed.
The first column of figures gives the number of times in 65,780 that there will be no proposal, so that the dealer has no choice but to play. The other columns give the number of times the dealer or the player will win if the player proposes and the dealer refuses. The first suit given in each instance is the trump. NO DEALER PLAYER PROPOSAL. WINS. WINS. 22 [Illustration: 🃗 🃘 🃙 🃇 🂧] 6,034 36,974 22,772 23 [Illustration: 🂷 🂸 🂡 🂨 🂧] 9,826 38,469 17,485 24 [Illustration: 🂧 🂨 🂾 🂷 🃗] 8,736 41,699 15,345 25 [Illustration: 🃇 🃈 🃝 🃗 🂷] 9,256 40,524 16,000 26 [Illustration: 🃗 🃘 🃇 🃈 🂭] 10,336 37,484 17,960 27 [Illustration: 🂷 🂸 🃘 🃙 🃋] 9,776 37,439 18,565 28 [Illustration: 🂧 🂨 🂹 🂺 🃚] 9,776 36,909 19,095 29 [Illustration: 🃇 🃈 🃗 🃁 🃈] 9,776 36,733 19,271 In giving cards, some judgment of human nature is necessary. Some players habitually propose on strong hands, and it is best to give to such pretty freely. _=DISCARDING.=_ The general principle of discarding is to keep trumps and Kings, and let everything else go.
This is now the practice at Monte Carlo, with the single-zero wheels. _=Systems.=_ As at Faro, gamblers at Roulette are never tired of devising systems to beat the game; but none of them are of any further use than to afford a little passing amusement to their inventors. Persons who are interested in systems will find in the New York Sun, July 5, 1896, a very interesting tabulation of every roll of the ball at Monte Carlo for seven successive days, 4,012 in all, of which 120 were zeros. If they can find a system that will beat the wheel for seven days, and have a return ticket, Monte Carlo will take care of all their spare cash. One curious fallacy about some systems is to imagine that they will win if the player will quit when he is a certain amount ahead, and not play again until next day. Until some rule can be given by which the exact hour can be fixed to begin play, all such systems must be delusions, as there is no reason why a second man should not begin where the first left off, and therefore no reason why the first should not continue playing all the time. It is in the interest of the proprietors of all gambling houses to pretend to be afraid of systems. The word is passed round, and the deluded gamesters think they have found the thread which has held the sword of Damocles above the banker’s head so long. As a matter of fact, there is no one so welcome at a gambling house as a player with a system.