| -- | -- | -- | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.| -- | -- | -- | |11.| -- | -- | -- | |12.|One and a hush, two |One of you rush, two | -- | | |and a rush. |may rush. | | |13.| -- | -- |Give a silver pin for | | | | |a golden ring. | |14.|Please, young lady, |Please, old woman man,|Pray, young lady, pop | | |come under my bush.
_=The American Game.=_ When a gammon or backgammon counts you nothing more if you win it, and costs you nothing more if you lose it, the tactics of the game are entirely changed. It is folly to take any risks for the sake of a gammon, and any plays which leave unnecessary blots are very bad; for which reason the three throws shown in the foregoing diagram would be absurd in the American game. On the other hand, you may risk being gammoned, or even backgammoned, if it is the only way to save the game. An Englishman cannot take this risk, for he might lose a triple game in attempting to save a single. Secure the five point in your own and your adversary’s home table as soon as possible, and then the bar and four points. After the first few throws the player should take a general survey of the board, in order to see whether he is ahead or behind, or if he has any advantage of position. He must then decide whether he will play a _=backward=_ or a _=forward=_ game. A glance at the relative positions of the men will usually show if one side is much more advanced than the other, without going into any minute calculations as to how many points nearer home one side _may_ be. If, at the beginning of the game, one player makes two or three large throws in succession, while his adversary gets small throws only, the latter will have little chance of winning the game simply by running for home, whereas the former’s best chance will be to follow up his early advantage and get home as fast as possible.
The girl sniffled, and her long skinny arm reached around behind me to snag a couple sandwiches the size of postage stamps from a waiter s tray. She wolfed them down, wiping at the end of her long nose with a wadded-up hunk of cambric. She d done it before, and plenty, for her nose was red and sore. She made cow-eyes at me. Don t say it, I told her. I m not your darlin Billy. The dice were to my right--I d get them after a couple more losers rolled. My unwanted hustler stood on that side of me, too. They never have any money of their own. I wasn t about to give her any of mine.
(_b_) This is not unlike the Stool-Ball described by Strutt (_Sports and Pastimes_, p. 76), but it more nearly resembles Club-Ball, an ancient English game (ibid., p. 83). The game of Cat, played with sticks and a small piece of wood, rising in the middle, so as to rebound when struck on either side, is alluded to in _Poor Robin s Almanack_ for 1709, and by Brand. Leigh (_Cheshire Glossary_) gives Scute as another name for the game of Cat, probably from _scute_ (O.W.), for boat, which it resembles in shape. See Cudgel, Kit-cat, Tip-cat. Cat-Beds The name of a game played by young people in Perthshire.
He scores 5 times 20 toward game, aces as held, and then 150 in penalties, 50 of which is for fulfilling his contract and twice 50 for the two tricks over his contract. _=KEEPING SCORE.=_ Two styles of score-pad are now in general use. In one the tricks and honours are entered in the same vertical column, one above the other, and are all added in one sum at the end. In the other style of pad the tricks are in one column and the honours and penalties in another, so that four additions are required to find the value of the rubber, which is always the difference between the total scores after giving the winners of two games 250 points. The following illustration will show both styles of pad: WE ||THEY || 36 || 30 18 || 100 16 || ====++==== 8 || || 40 ----++---- || 36 ----++---- || 250 ----++---- 42 || 492 || 42 |+---- || 450 WE || THEY 8 | 16 || | | 18 || | 100 | || 40 | 30 ----+----++----+----- | || 36 | 36 ----+----++----+----- 8 | 34 || 76 | 166 | 8 || | 76 +----+| | 250 | 42 || +----- | || | 492 | || | 42 | || +----- | || | 450 The scoring on which this rubber is won and lost was as follows: WE started with a contract to win one heart and made it, with simple honours, scoring 8 toward game and 16 above for honours. Then THEY set a contract for two tricks, getting 100 in penalties, against simple honours in royals, scored as 18 above for WE and 100 for THEY. Then THEY made four odd at no trump and 30 aces, winning the first game, under which a line is drawn. On the next deal THEY made four odd in royals, with four honours, 36 each way, winning the second game and also the rubber, for which they add 250 points. Both scores are now added up and the lower deducted from the higher, showing that THEY win 450 points on the balance.
[Illustration: No. 1. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛂ | | ⛀ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | | | ⛀ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] _=Huffing.=_ If a player who can capture a piece neglects to do so, his adversary has the choice of three things:--To compel the player to take back his move and capture the piece; to huff (remove from the board,) the man that should have captured the piece; or to let the move stand, and go on with his own move. A huff does not constitute a move; the piece is simply removed from the board as a penalty, but the penalty must be enforced before the player exacting it makes his own move. _=Kings.=_ When a man arrives at any of the four squares on the edge of the board farthest from the side on which he started, he becomes a King, and is _=crowned=_ by putting another man of the same colour on the top of him. In diagrams, kings are distinguished by putting a ring round the single man. ⦾ ⦿. Kings can move either backward or forward, but only one square at a time.
=_ If none of the three can show 8 or 9, the banker must offer a card to the player on his right. The card must be slipped off the pack and offered face down. If the player on the right refuses, it is offered to the player on the left, and if he also refuses, the banker must take it himself. If the player on the right takes it, the player on the left may ask for a card also; but whether he does so or not, the banker is not obliged to draw unless he chooses, after the first card offered has been taken by either player. When the card is taken it is turned face up, and left on the table in front of the person to whom it belongs. Only one card may be drawn by any player, and all the hands are then exposed. Ties are a stand-off. The banker pays all bets on the side that is nearer 9 than himself, and wins all on the side which is not so near 9 as himself. The players on the opposite sides of the table have nothing to do with each other; each wins or loses with the banker alone. It should be observed that if a player had 4 originally, and draws a 9, his point is not 13, but 3, because all 10’s count for nothing.