O. Addy. At Cork a handkerchief is tied over the eyes of one of the company, who then lays his head on a chair, and places his hand on his back with the palm uppermost. Any of the party come behind him and give him a slap on his hand, he in the meantime trying to discover whose hand it is that strikes.--Miss Keane. Hot Cockles is an old game, practised especially at Christmas. One boy sits down, and another, who is blindfolded, kneels and lays his head on his knee, placing at the same time his open hand on his own back. He then cries, Hot cockles, hot! Another then strikes his open hand, and the sitting boy asks who strikes. If the boy guessed wrongly, he made a forfeit; but if rightly, he was released.--_Notes and Queries_, 4th series, ix.
Whatever its origin, Euchre has always been the most respectable member of the family, and the game of all others that has best served the card-playing interest in social life. Spoil Five probably comes next in point of respectability; but Écarté has often fallen into evil hands, and the very name is in some places regarded as synonymous for gambling. The same is true of Napoleon, but in less degree. Euchre, unlike the other members of the family, is not essentially a gambling game, but belongs rather to the intellectual group of card games; a position which we hope it may long maintain. EUCHRE. _=CARDS.=_ Euchre is played with what is commonly known as the piquet pack, 32 cards, all below the 7 being deleted. In plain suits the cards rank as at Whist; but in the trump suit the Jack is the best, and it is called the _=Right Bower=_. The Jack of the same colour as the trump suit, red or black, is the second-best trump, and it is called the _=Left Bower=_; so that if clubs were trumps the rank of the nine cards in the trump suit would be as follows:-- [Illustration: 🃛 🂫 🃑 🃞 🃝 🃚 🃙 🃘 🃗 ] The rank of the cards in the other suits would be:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂭 🂪 🂩 🂨 🂧 🂱 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂺 🂹 🂸 🂷 🃁 🃎 🃍 🃋 🃊 🃉 🃈 🃇 ] When the _=Joker=_, or blank card is used, it is always the best trump, ranking above the right bower. In cutting, the ace is low, the other cards ranking as in plain suits.
_=R.=_ She is jealous. Jack. A probable marriage. _=R.=_ It may have to be postponed. Ten. Success in business. If followed by ♢ 9, the note will not be paid when it is due; if followed by the ♠ 9 you will lose the entire account. Nine.
This will make the combination of the same value as if you had three duplicates of one card, 12 points; 8 for the four fifteens, and 4 for the two single pairs. _=Combinations.=_ The beginner’s greatest difficulty is in counting hands which contain all three varieties of counts; pairs, sequences, and fifteens. But if he is familiar with the values of the various combinations taken separately, he will have no difficulty in computing them when they are found together. Some regular order should be observed in going over the hands, so that nothing shall be forgotten. The majority of players begin with the fifteens, as they are more liable to be overlooked, and then reckon the value of the runs and pairs together. Take the following examples:-- No. 1. [Illustration: 🃕 🂵 🂥 🃖 🃇] No. 2.
Johnson professes that he knew no more of it than that it was some rustic game. Another commentator speaks of it as common among shepherds boys in some parts of Warwickshire. It cannot well be more common there than here, and it is not particularly rustic. Shepherds boys and other clowns play it on the green turf, or on the bare ground; cutting or scratching the lines, on the one or the other. In either case it is soon filled up with mud in wet weather. In towns, porters and other labourers play it, at their leisure hours, on the flat pavement, tracing the figure with chalk. It is also a domestic game; and the figure is to be found on the back of some draught-boards. But to compare _morris_ with that game, or with chess, seems absurd; as it has a very distant resemblance, if any at all, to either, in the lines, or in the rules of playing. On the ground, the men are pebbles, broken tiles, shells, or potsherds; on a table, the same as are used at draughts or backgammon. In Nares it is said to be the same as nine-holes.
The marble which can hit it three times in succession, and finally be shot into the hole, is the winning ball, and its owner gets all the other marbles which have missed before he played.--London (_Strand Magazine_, ii. 519). See Bridgeboard, Capie Hole, Hundreds. Honey Pots [Music] --London (J. P. Emslie). [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig.
_ Each player, when it is his turn to play, must place his card, face upward, before him and toward the centre of the table. He must allow it to remain upon the table in this position until all have played to the trick, when he must turn it over and place it face downward, nearer to himself; if he or his partner have won the trick, the card should point toward his partner and himself; otherwise it should point toward the adversaries. The declarer may either play dummy’s cards or may call them by name whenever it is dummy’s turn to play and have dummy play them for him. A trick is turned and quitted when all four players have turned and ceased to touch their respective cards. The cards must be left in the order in which they were played until the scores of the deal have been recorded. D. _The Revoke._ A revoke may be claimed at any time before the last trick of the deal in which it occurs has been turned and quitted and the scores of that deal agreed upon and recorded, but not thereafter. E. _Error in Score.
_=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.=_ It is the duty of the Umpire to determine all questions submitted to him according to these laws, when they apply, and according to his best judgment when they do not apply. No deviation from these laws can be permitted by an Umpire, even by mutual or general consent of the players, after a match or tournament shall have been commenced. The decision of the Umpire is final, and binds both and all the players. RULES FOR PLAYING THE GAME AT ODDS.
Y accepts him, and the pair win only nine tricks. Each pays 135 counters to the adversary sitting next him, and then they make up 135 more between them for the pool. Asking for a partner is not a popular variation of the game, and is seldom resorted to unless the successful bid is very low, or has been made on a black suit. If the adversaries of the caller declare to pay, before playing to the second trick, they can save nothing but possible over-tricks. The pool goes with every successful play. If the single player is unsuccessful, he does not double the pool, as in Boston, but pays into it the same amount that he loses to each adversary, over-tricks and all; so that he really loses four times the amount shown in the table. At the end of the game, or on the twelfth hand, if the caller does not succeed, he pays the pool as usual, and his adversaries then divide it amongst themselves. The _=Suggestions for Good Play=_, etc., are given in connection with Solo Whist and need no further amplification for Boston de Fontainbleau. The _=Laws=_ vary so little from those used in the regular game of Boston that it is not necessary to give an additional code, either for Fontainbleau or for French Boston, which follows.
Only one declaration can be scored at a time, so that a trick must be won for every announcement made, or the combination cannot be scored. This rule does not prevent a player from making two or more announcements at the same time; but he can score only one of them. A player cannot make a lower declaration with cards which form part of a higher combination already shown in the same class. For instance:--Marriages and sequences belong to the same class. If a sequence has been declared, the player cannot take from it the King and Queen, and score for the marriage; neither can he add a new Queen to the King already used in the sequence, because the higher combination was scored first. The same rule applies to lower and higher béziques. But if the lower combination is first shown and scored--the marriage--the A 10 J may be added afterward, on winning another trick, and the sequence scored. This rule does not apply to cards belonging to combinations in different classes. A Queen used in class A may be used over again in both B and C classes. _=Re-forming Combinations.
_=7.=_ _=Cutting.=_ In cutting, the ace is low, the other cards ranking, K Q J 10 9 8 7, the King being the highest. A player exposing more than one card, or cutting the Joker, must cut again. _=8.=_ _=SHUFFLING.=_ Every player has a right to shuffle the cards, the dealer last. _=9.=_ _=DEALING.=_ The dealer must present the pack to the pone to be cut.
Put all your heads in, Take all your heads out, Shake all your heads together, And turn yourselves about. Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, Here we dance lubin light, Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, On a Saturday night. Put all the [Marys] in, Take all the [Marys] out, Shake all the [Marys] together, And turn yourselves about. Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, Here we dance lubin light, Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, On a Saturday night. Put all yourselves in, Take all yourselves out, Shake all yourselves together, And turn yourselves about. --Oxford and Wakefield (Miss Fowler). II. Now we dance looby, looby, looby, Now we dance looby, looby, light; Shake your right hand a little, And turn you round about. Now we dance looby, looby, looby; Shake your right hand a little, Shake your left hand a little, And turn you round about. Now we dance looby, looby, looby; Shake your right hand a little, Shake your left hand a little, Shake your right foot a little, And turn you round about.
The draw: A 3; Y 5; | R | The draw: A 2; Y 4 B 3; Z 2. | I | B 4; Z 4. ------+------+------+------+ C +-------+------+------+----- A Y B Z | K | A Y B Z ------+------+------+------+---+-------+------+------+----- _♡A_ | ♡3 | 5♢ | ♡6 | 1 | _♡A_ | ♡6 | ♡J | ♡3 _♡K_ | ♡4 | ♡8 | ♡10 | 2 | ♡8 | ♡7 | ♡4 | _♡9_ ♡2 | ♡7 | ♡9 | _♡J_ | 3 | ♡Q | ♡2 | 4♢ | _♡K_ ♣Q | _♣K_ | ♣3 | ♣J | 4 | Q♠ | ♣2 | _♣A_ | ♣9 8♠ | _♣A_ | ♣10 | 2♢ | 5 | 5♢ | _♡5_ | ♣J | ♣7 _♡Q_ | Q♠ | K♢ | ♡5 | 6 | _♡10_ | 4♠ | J♢ | 2♢ _=No. 3.=_ At the second trick, A knows that his partner still holds another trump, because he drew only three cards. This trump must be the 9. Z holds two more trumps, and they must be the Jack and Right Pedro, because Z would not throw away Game if he had anything smaller. The 7 must be with Y, and if A now leads trump Queen, he will leave the Pedro good over his Deuce, leaving him only 8 points, whereas he has bid 12. If A leads the Deuce, his partner’s nine will cinch the trick, and Z can make only the Jack. A-B score 10.
This prompts the side that has the deal, or a chance to go game, to lose no opportunity to win at once, before the other side gets a chance at it. ILLUSTRATIVE BRIDGE HANDS. The dealer is Z in both instances. In the first example, he makes it no-trump. In the second, Dummy, Y, makes it no-trump. A leads in both cases:-- ------------------------------+ +------------------------------ A Y B Z | | A Y B Z +------+------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+------+------+ | 7♢ | 3♢ | J♢ | _K♢_ | 1| ♡6 | _♡A_ | ♡7 | ♡3 | | ♣Q | ♣2 | _♣K_ | ♣J | 2| ♣5 | _♣K_ | ♣3 | ♣2 | | _A♢_ | 8♢ | 6♢ | 2♢ | 3| ♣8 | ♣10 | ♣7 | _♣J_ | | 4♢ | _Q♢_| 2♠ | 5♢ | 4| 5♢ | 3♢ | _♣A_ | ♣4 | | ♣4 | ♣3 | _♣A_ | ♣10 | 5| _♡K_ | ♡2 | ♡9 | ♡J | | ♡3 | ♡5 | ♡J | _♡A_ | 6| ♡5 | ♡4 | 6♢ | _♡Q_ | | 8♠ | _♣9_ | ♡2 | ♣8 | 7| 5♠ | 3♠ | 6♠ | _♣Q_ | | 9♠ | _♣7_ | 3♠ | ♡4 | 8| 7♢ | 4♠ | 8♠ | _♣9_ | | ♡6 | _♣6_ | 4♠ | ♡Q | 9| 9♢ | 4♢ | 10♠ | _♣6_ | | ♡9 | _♣5_ | ♡8 | 7♠ |10| _A♠_ | 9♠ | J♠ | 7♠ | | 9♢ | J♠ | 5♠ | _Q♠_ |11| _♡10_ | Q♠ | 8♢ | 2♠ | | 10♢ | ♡7 | 6♠ | _A♠_ |12| _♡8_ | K♠ | 10♢ | 2♢ | | ♡K | ♡10 | _K♠_ | 10♠ |13| K♢ | _A♢_ | Q♢ | J♢ | +------+------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+------+------+ The first of these examples shows the importance of playing for the suit which is longest between the two hands. Observe that the dealer plays the high cards from the hand which is shorter in the suit, and on the second round of clubs is careful to give up the higher of two cards, so as to get out of Dummy’s way and clear, or establish, the suit. B, hoping to get his partner into the lead again, leads a heart up to Dummy’s weakness, and leads a heart which will beat Dummy’s best heart. At the eleventh trick, unless the dealer can make two tricks in spades by the finesse, he cannot win the game. The second example shows the importance of preserving a re-entry card in the hand which is longer in the suit the dealer intends playing for.
Primitive attempts to realise the dream were interrupted by a great rustle and chattering of lady visitors. They regarded the objects upon the floor with the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things. But the writer had in those days a very dear friend, a man too ill for long excursions or vigorous sports (he has been dead now these six years), of a very sweet companionable disposition, a hearty jester and full of the spirit of play. To him the idea was broached more fruitfully. We got two forces of toy soldiers, set out a lumpish Encyclopaedic land upon the carpet, and began to play. We arranged to move in alternate moves: first one moved all his force and then the other; an infantry-man could move one foot at each move, a cavalry-man two, a gun two, and it might fire six shots; and if a man was moved up to touch another man, then we tossed up and decided which man was dead. So we made a game, which was not a good game, but which was very amusing once or twice. The men were packed under the lee of fat volumes, while the guns, animated by a spirit of their own, banged away at any exposed head, or prowled about in search of a shot. Occasionally men came into contact, with remarkable results. Rash is the man who trusts his life to the spin of a coin.
[Illustration: O O O O . . O . . . ] The pins are set as shown in the diagram. Three balls (not exceeding 6 inches in size) are bowled in each inning. Should a left-handed bowler be bowling, the second quarter pin can be set up on the left quarter spot. Strikes and spares count five each. No penalties are attached.
SMUDGE. In this variation of auction pitch, any player who is not in the hole wins the game at once if he can bid four and make it. PEDRO. Pedro, Pedro Sancho, Dom Pedro, and Snoozer, are all varieties of Auction Pitch, in which certain counting cards are added, and secondary bids are allowed. Everything counts to the player winning it, instead of to the one to whom it is dealt. The game point is scored by the player who wins the trick containing the Ten of trumps. If that card is not in play there is no Game. In _=Pedro Sancho=_, the Five and Nine of trumps count their pip value in scoring, so that 18 points can be bid and made on one deal; one each for High, Low, Jack, and Game, and fourteen more for the Nine and Five of trumps. These two trumps have no special rank. The Ten will win the Nine, and the Six will take the Five.
At the end of the play the claimants of a revoke may search all the tricks. If the cards have been mixed, the claim may be urged and proved if possible; but no proof is necessary and the claim is established if, after it is made, the accused player or his partner mix the cards before they have been sufficiently examined by the adversaries. 88. A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards have been cut for the following deal. 89. Should both sides revoke, the only score permitted is for honours. In such case, if one side revoke more than once, the penalty of 100 points for each extra revoke is scored by the other side. GENERAL RULES. 90. A trick turned and quitted may not be looked at (except under Law 82) until the end of the play.
If the error is one of omission in play, the adversary must play his own card before claiming muggins. If it is in the hand or crib, the adversary must wait until the points claimed are pegged and quitted. If there are no points claimed, he must wait until the cards are turned face down, thus acknowledging that there is apparently nothing to score. A player is not allowed to tell his adversary whether or not he has counted his hand or crib correctly, until it is pegged. _=Nineteen.=_ As it is impossible to hold 19 in hand or crib, it is a common practice for a player, when he has nothing at all to score, to announce, “Nineteen.” The numbers twenty-seven, twenty-six and twenty-five are also impossible. _=Pegging.=_ Neither player is allowed to touch the other’s pegs. If the score is erroneous, the player in fault must be called upon to remedy it himself.
Stick with me, Lefty, he said. We ll break the table! I rammed a hard lift under his heart, and then, ashamed of myself, quit it. He turned pale before I took it off him. 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.
And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing-- Welcome, John Sanderson, &c. Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round singing as before; and this they do till the whole company is taken into the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman singing, This dance, &c., as before, only instead of come to, they sing go fro, and instead of Welcome, John Sanderson, &c., they sing Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell, &c., and so they go out one by one as they came in.--Charminster (_Notes and Queries_, ii. 517, 518). This description is almost the same as a seventeenth century version. The dance is begun by a single person (either man or woman), who, taking a cushion in his hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the tune he stops and sings:-- This dance it will no further go.
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. Why the keeling or skimming of the contents of the pot should be so difficult a task for the eldest daughter that the Mother is obliged to come herself, is not so clear; the skimming is of course to prevent the pot boiling over, and the pot may be supposed to take the place of the Mother or Guardian of the hearth, and tell when misfortune or trouble is at hand. Or the boiling over (which, if continued, would extinguish the fire and sully the stone) may be an offence to the hearth spirit, who ceases then to protect the inmates of the house. Fairies are said to have power over the inmates of a house when the threshold and kitchen utensils are left dirty and uncared for. Thus on the theories accompanying the ancient house ritual, this extraordinary game assumes a rational aspect, and it is not too much to suggest that this explanation is the correct one. In the game of Witch practically the same incidents occur, and nearly the same dialogue, but the significant elements of pot-boiling and fire-protection do not appear in that game. It is not certain whether we have two independent games, or whether The Witch is this game, the incidents of pot-boiling and the fire-protection having been lost in its transmission to more modern notions.
Jest small ailin . You re a healer, all right, I said. And a prophetess, too, from what I saw at the dice table. You know what a Psi personality is? I asked her. Say, what is your name, anyway? Pheola, she said. Yes, I ve heard of them, she said. You re one, I told her. You can heal many people. She shook her head. Only could do it because I love you, Billy Joe, she said.