If all are blocked, the smallest number of pips left in hand wins; ties divide. _=MUGGINS, OR ALL FIVES.=_ This is a game for two, three, or four players. The object is to make the two ends of the line some multiple of five, and for every five so made the player scores five points toward game, which is usually 100 up. If only one point is scored for each five, 20 or 21 may be game. Each player draws seven bones, and the highest double sets, each person afterward playing in turn. If double five is the first set it counts 10. The 5-0 played to this would count 10 for the second player, because one end of the line being 10 and the other 0, the total value of the two ends is still 10. Double blank played to this would count 10 more. If 5-6 is now played on one end, and 0-4 on the other, the count will be 10 again, as shown on the diagram.
BRIDGE. There are two principal varieties of this game; straight bridge, in which the dealer or his partner must make the trump, their opponents having nothing to say about it except to double the value of the tricks. The dealer’s partner is always the dummy, and either side may score toward game by making the odd trick or more. Auction bridge, in which the privilege of making the trump is bid for, the highest bidder playing the hand with his partner as dummy, regardless of the position of the deal, and his side being the only one that can score toward game, the adversaries scoring nothing but penalties in the honour column if they defeat the contract. As this is the more popular form of bridge at the present time, it will be given first. Since the adoption of the higher value for the spade suit under the name of royal spades, and the change in the value of the suits, the game gradually came to be known as royal auction, but as that change is now universal, the name has slipped back to its original title. AUCTION BRIDGE, OR AUCTION. _=CARDS.=_ Auction is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, ranking A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2, the Ace being the highest in play, but ranking below the deuce in cutting. Two packs should be used, the one being shuffled while the other is dealt.
It is the usual custom, and an excellent one, to fix upon a definite hour for closing a game of table stakes, and to allow no player to retire from the game before that hour unless he is _=decavé=_, (has lost all his capital). Should he insist on retiring, whatever counters he has must be divided among the other players, and if there are any odd ones after the division, they must be put into the current pool. In table stakes, any player may _=call a sight=_ for what money or counters he has in front of him, even should another player have bet a much larger amount. For instance: A has bet three dollars, and B has only two dollars in front of him, but wishes to call A. B calls for a sight by putting his two dollars in the pool, and A must then withdraw his third dollar from the pool, but leave it on the table to be called or raised by any other player. Should C wish to call A, or even to raise him, A and C may continue the betting independently of B’s part of the pool. Should C have even less money than B, say one dollar, he may still further reduce the original pool, leaving the two dollars aside for settlement between A and B, and A’s third dollar still aside from that again for the decision of any other player. Let us suppose that A and C continue the betting until one calls. When the hands are shown, if either A’s or C’s is better than B’s, B loses his interest; but if B’s hand is better than either A’s hand or C’s hand, he takes the part of the pool for which he called a sight, while A and C decide the remainder between them. For instance: A calls C, and C shows three tens.
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 the Four has been led from J 8 6 4, and the adversaries have won the first trick with the Nine or Ten, A K Q must be against the leader and his partner, and the suit should be abandoned as hopeless, unless it is feasible to force the partner. If at any time there is a strong indication that the adversaries will have a cross-ruff, it is usually best to stop leading plain suits, and attempt to get out the trumps.
Again; A has 88, B has 84. A wins 88 + 84 + 100 = 272 altogether. Again; A has 180, B has 142. A wins the difference in the scores, 38 + 100 = 138 altogether. TEXT BOOKS. Jeux de Cartes, by Jean Boussac. Académie des Jeux, by Van Tenac. Académie des Jeux, by Richard. Règles de tous les Jeux, by Dreyfous. Bohn’s Handbook of Games.
No trump is turned. After the cards have been dealt the player opposite the dealer presents the still pack to be cut by the player on the dealer’s left, and the top card of the portion left on the table is turned up. In _=Boston=_, _=Cayenne=_, or _=Solo Whist=_, the deal is never lost. The same dealer deals again with the same pack. 14. There must be a new deal by the same dealer:-- I. If any card except the last is faced in the pack. II. If, during the deal or during the play of the hand, the pack is proved incorrect or imperfect; but any prior score made with that pack shall stand. 15.
Bull in the Park One child places himself in the centre of a circle of others. He then asks each of the circle in turn, Where s the key of the park? and is answered by every one, except the last, Ask the next-door neighbour. The last one answers, Get out the way you came in. The centre one then makes a dash at the hands of some of the circle, and continues to do so until he breaks through, when all the others chase him. Whoever catches him is then Bull.--Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler). The Bull in the Barn is apparently the same game. The players form a ring; one player in the middle called the Bull, one outside called the King. Bull: Where is the key of the barn-door? Chorus: Go to the next-door neighbour. King: She left the key in the church-door.
Blackthorn! Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many geese have you to-day? As many as you can catch and carry away. --Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy). II. Blackthorn! Blackthorn! Blue milk and barley-corn; How many geese have you to-day? More than you can catch and carry away. --Harland and Wilkinson s _Lancashire Folk-lore_, p. 150. III. Blackthorn! New milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to sell? More nor yo can catch and fly away wi . --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. IV.
If the low score is a minus, the points must be added to each of the others. The three totals are added, and found, in this case, to be 520, which is the total of B’s loss. We now multiply the scores by the number of players engaged, in this case four, and from the product we deduct the 520 already found. Then the scores balance. When Skat is played for the League stake, which is one-fourth of a cent a point, the results may be found in a still shorter way by adding up all the scores and taking an average, this average being the sum divided by the number of players. Take the results just given for example:-- ------+------+------+--------------------- A | B | C | D ------+------+------+--------------------- 186 | 42 | 344 | 116 = 688 ÷ 4 = 172 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 ------+------+------+--------------------- +14 | -130 | +172 | -56 ------+------+------+--------------------- The average is simply deducted from each score, and the remainder is the amount won or lost, in cents. _=CHEATING.=_ As in all games in which the cards are dealt in groups, the greek will find many opportunities in Skat. The clumsiest shuffler can usually locate some of the Wenzels at the top or the bottom of the pack, before presenting it to be cut, and if the players do not insist on the cards being dealt always in the same manner, the sharper can secure to himself two or more Wenzels, either in his hand or in the Skat. Any person who deals the cards sometimes three at a time, and again five at a time, should be stopped immediately, and no such excuses as changing his luck should be listened to for a moment.
The tricks themselves have no value as such, and need not be kept separate. _=Irregularities in Play.=_ If any player omits to play to a trick, and plays to a following one, he is not allowed to correct his error, but is compelled to take the thirteenth or last trick, with whatever hearts it may contain. If a player is found, during or at the end of a hand, to be a card short, all others at the table having their right number, and all having played to the first trick, the player with the short hand is compelled to take the last trick, with whatever hearts it may contain. _=Exposed Cards.=_ Should a person lead or play two cards to one trick, he is allowed to indicate the one intended; but he must leave the other face upward on the table. All exposed cards are liable to be called by any player at the table, and should one player call such a card, his decision is binding on the others. A player with an exposed card in front of him must play it when called upon, provided he can do so without revoking; but he cannot be prevented from getting rid of the exposed card in the course of play, if the opportunity offers. _=Leading Out of Turn.=_ Should a player lead out of turn, he may be called upon to lead or not to lead a heart when it is next his turn to lead.
Three cards are dealt, face down, and one at a time. There is no widow. The eldest hand may then exchange one card with the player on his left, who must give his card before seeing the one he is to receive. The exchange goes round to the left. The moment any player finds himself with a flush, three cards of the same suit, regardless of their value, whether dealt to him, or made by exchange, he says: “My Ship Sails;” and all exchange is stopped, and the hands are shown. Should there be more than one flush, the pips win, counting ace for 11, and other court-cards for 10 each. If no player has secured a flush after two rounds of exchanges, the hands are shown, and the highest number of pips in the two-card flushes wins the pool. The elder hand wins ties. BOUILLOTTE, OR BRELAN. This is an old and famous French gambling game, often referred to in stories of fast life in European society.
(2) Men may be moved up into virtual contact (one-eighth of an inch or closer) with men of the opposite side. They must then be left until the end of the move. (3) At the end of the move, if there are men of the side that has just moved in contact with any men of the other side, they constitute a melee. All the men in contact, and any other men within six inches of the men in contact, measuring from any point of their persons, weapons, or horses, are supposed to take part in the melee. At the end of the move the two players examine the melee and dispose of the men concerned according to the following rules:-- Either the numbers taking part in the melee on each side are equal or unequal. (a) If they are equal, all the men on both sides are killed. (b) If they are unequal, then the inferior force is either isolated or (measuring from the points of contact) not isolated. (i) If it is isolated (see (1) above), then as many men become prisoners as the inferior force is less in numbers than the superior force, and the rest kill each a man and are killed. Thus nine against eleven have two taken prisoners, and each side seven men dead. Four of the eleven remain with two prisoners.
][2] --Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy). (_b_) A full description of this game could not be obtained in each case. The Earls Heaton game is played by forming a ring, one child standing in the centre. After the first verse is sung, a child from the ring goes to the one in the centre. Then the rest of the verses are sung. The action to suit the words of the verses does not seem to have been kept up. In the Hampshire version, after the line As a bird upon a tree, the two children named pair off like sweethearts while the rest of the verse is being sung. (_c_) The analysis of the game rhymes is as follows:-- +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | | Hants. | Deptford (Kent). | Belfast.
_=THE TABLE.=_ The standard American billiard table for championship games is ten feet by five; but that in common use is nine by four and a half. The old tables for the four-ball game had only four pockets, but all modern pool tables have six. The English billiard tables are all twelve feet by six, with six pockets, which are used for both billiards and pool. The head of the table is the end from which the players make their opening shots, and the foot is that on which the red ball is spotted. The baulk is the space at the head of the table behind a line drawn from the second diamonds or “sights” through the white spot. The “D” is the semicircle on the baulk line on English tables. American tables are made more difficult for championship games by drawing baulk lines 8 or 14 inches from the cushions, barring the rail nurse and the anchor shot. The English game is made difficult by making the cushions higher, the pockets narrower, and barring the spot stroke. The push shot is allowed in the English game, but in America it is permitted only in pool; never in the carrom game.
Whist rapidly became a “newspaper game.” The New York Sunday Sun devoted two columns every Sunday to the discussion and illustration of moot points in whist tactics, and the analysis of hands played in important matches. In a series of articles begun February 23, 1896, this paper gave to the world the first systematic statement of the theory and practice of the short suit game. In 1898 there were at least forty whist columns published in the United States. Two magazines devoted to whist and bridge are now published, one in Boston and the other in New York. While the parent game has been pursuing this prosperous course, many variations have been introduced. One of the most radical changes in the game itself has been cutting down the points from ten to five, which occurred about 1810. Mathews mentions it in 1813 as having occurred since the publication of his first edition in 1804, and Lord Peterborough, the unlucky gambler, for whose benefit the change was introduced, died in 1814. Another great change took place in America, where they played for the tricks alone, the honours not being counted at all. Turning the trump from the still pack was first tried by a Welsh baronet, and is mentioned by Southey in his “Letters of Espriella.
=_ This is exactly the reverse of the follow shot, the ball being struck below the centre, and the cue passing at least three inches beyond where the ball stood, as shown in the diagram. This gives the cue ball a retrograde motion, similar to that imparted to a child’s hoop by spinning it backward while throwing it forward, so as to make it return. If the object ball is reached before this retrograde motion is exhausted, the effect will be to stop the forward motion of the cue ball, and to give what is left of the retrograde motion full play, making the cue ball return. The two great mistakes made by beginners in playing draw shots are that they pull the cue back, instead of driving it clear through the ball aimed at, and that they strike so hard that the forward motion of the cue ball is too strong for the retrograde motion to overcome it, or the object ball to stop it. It is never necessary to strike harder than sufficient to reach the object ball and get back to the carrom ball, unless one is playing for position. When the balls are so close together that to run the cue through the ball would make a foul shot, the draw may still be made by pointing the cue off to the side, and pushing it past the cue ball, instead of through it. This will secure the retrograde motion, but accompanied by a great deal of twist, which must be calculated for if the cue ball is to strike a cushion. A short draw may also be made by using the pinch. [Illustration] _=The Massé.=_ Most players imagine this to be a very difficult shot, but it is extremely simple if the principle of the direction of the cue and the effect of the pinch are kept in view.
Sykes). IX. Here we come gathering nuts to-day, Nuts to-day, nuts to-day, Here we come gathering nuts to-day, So early in the morning. Pray, whose nuts will you gather away, Gather away, gather away? Pray, whose nuts will you gather away, So early in the morning? We ll gather Miss A---- s nuts away, Nuts away, nuts away, We ll gather Miss A---- s nuts away, So early in the morning. Pray, who will you send to take them away, To take them away, take them away? Pray, who will you send to take them away, So early in the morning? We ll send Miss B---- to take them away, To take them away, take them away, We ll send Miss B---- to take them away, So early in the morning. --Symondsbury, Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 226-7). [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig.
By boys these are treated as spurious and are always rejected. In barter, a bary = four stonies; a common white alley = three stonies. Those with pink veins being considered best. Alleys are the most valuable and are always reserved to be used as taws (the marble actually used by the player). They are said to have been formerly made of different coloured alabaster. See also Murray s _New English Dict._ For the different games played with marbles, see Boss Out, Bridgeboard, Bun-hole, Cob, Hogo, Holy Bang, Hundreds, Lag, Long-Tawl, Nine Holes, Ring Taw. Mary Brown I. Here we go round, ring by ring, To see poor Mary lay in the ring; Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, To see your dear mother go through the town. I won t rise, I won t rise [from off the ground], To see my poor mother go through the town.