pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOSTER S COMPLETE HOYLE: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GAMES *** Transcriber’s Note: In this text version, the illustrations from the original book (which may be found in the HTML version) have been reproduced where possible, using the Unicode characters for playing cards, dice, draughts etc. For best experience you should ensure that you have a font installed which supports these characters. FOSTER’S COMPLETE HOYLE AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GAMES Revised and Enlarged to October, 1914 INCLUDING ALL INDOOR GAMES PLAYED TO-DAY. WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY, ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS AND ALL OFFICIAL LAWS TO DATE BY R.F. FOSTER _Author of “Royal Auction Bridge with Nullos,” “Cooncan,” and many other books on card games_ ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS DIAGRAMS AND ENGRAVINGS NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1914, by FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY Copyright, 1909, by FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY Copyright, 1897, by FREDERICK A.
The mother says to another player-- Go and get your father s shirt. This player goes to the chair to look for the shirt, and is tickled or touched by the one hiding. She rushes back and calls out-- Mother, there s a mouse. Go and get your father s coat. There s a mouse. Go and get your father s watch and chain. There s a mouse. The Mother then goes to see herself. The second time she is scratched and chased. When caught she takes the Mouse s place.
| -- | -- | -- | | 4.| -- | -- | -- | | 5.|To wash my lady s |To wash my lady s | -- | | |garter. |garter. | | | 6.| -- | -- | -- | | 7.| -- | -- | -- | | 8.| -- | -- | -- | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.| -- | -- | -- | |11.
All the cards in a hand lowered or shown by a player so that his partner sees more than one card of it. V. Every card named by the player holding it. In _=Boston=_ and _=Solo Whist=_ there are no penalties for cards exposed by the single player, because he has no partner to take advantage of the information. 21. All cards liable to be called must be placed and left face upwards on the table. A player must lead or play them when called, provided he can do so without revoking. The call may be repeated at each trick until the card is played. A player cannot be prevented from leading or playing a card liable to be called; if he can get rid of it in the course of play, no penalty remains. In _=Boston=_ and in _=Solo Whist=_, if the exposed card is a trump, the owner may be called upon by his adversary not to use it for ruffing.
| |14.|Please, young lady, |Please, old woman man,|Pray, young lady, pop | | |come under my bush. |creep under the bush. |under. | |15.| -- |The bush is too high, | -- | | | |the bush is too low. | | |16.| -- |Please, old woman, | -- | | | |creep under the bush. | | |17.| -- | -- | -- | |18.
---- Roberts). There were several games played with buttons--some on level ground, in a ring or square; but the most approved was with a hole dug in the earth near a wall, or near the trunk of a large tree. The hole should be about the cavity of a small tea-cup, the players toeing a scratched line about four or five feet from the hole, after tossing for first innings. Each of the players (mostly two) contribute an equal number of buttons, say from two to ten, and of equal value or quality. The one having first turn takes the whole of them in his hand, and by an under-throw, or rather a pitch, endeavours to get the whole, or as many as possible, into the hole. If all go clean into the hole, he wins the game, and takes the whole of the buttons started with; but if one or more of the buttons are left outside the hole, the non-player has then the choice of selecting one which he considers difficult to be hit, and requesting the player to hit it with his _nicker_. This is made of solid lead, about the size of a florin, but twice its substance, and each player is provided with one of his own. Much judgment is required in making this selection, the object being to make it most difficult not only to hit it, but to prevent it being hit without being knocked into the hole, or sending the nicker in, or sending another button in, or even not striking one at all. In any one of these cases the player loses the game, and the non-player takes the whole of the stakes. In playing the next game, the previous non-player becomes the player.
This is especially the case when you fear that the suit will be led to you, and you have such cards as must win two rounds. If you have 4 cards of the suit the odds _against_ your getting a heart in two rounds are 2 to 1. The odds _in favour_ of your getting a heart in two rounds are:-- If you have 5 cards of the suit, 4 to 3. ” 6 ” 2 to 1. ” 7 ” 6 to 1. As an example of the value of a thorough knowledge of these odds to a careful player, suppose he had to win two rounds of a plain suit, of which he held six cards; or to lead the ♡7, having three higher. The suit would be the better play, because it takes in only one heart, while the lead of the heart might take in four. The following table shows the exact number of times in 1,000 deals that a heart would probably be discarded on a plain suit led, according to the number of cards in the suit held by the leader, and the number of times the suit was led: Cards held by the leader. | 1,2,3,4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 ----------------------------------+---------+------+------+------+----- Times hearts will be discarded:-- | | | | | On first round | 44 | 63 | 122 | 200 | 315 On second round | 358 | 430 | 659 | 857 | 1000 On third round | 842 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 This shows that 158 times in 1,000, when the leader has 1, 2, 3, or 4 cards of the suit, it will go round three times, because 158 is the balance necessary to bring our last figure, 842, up to 1,000. Reducing this to a small fraction, the odds are about 5⅛ to 1 that a suit will not go round three times without affording to some player the chance of discarding hearts on it.
. . O ] Balls not exceeding six inches must be bowled, and they must be rolled down the alley (not cast or thrown). The rules of American Ten Pins except in St. Louis, where there is a special association with local rules, generally govern this game also, with the exception of three balls instead of two to the frame, but strikes and spares count three instead of ten, and each pin counts one as in Ten Pins. If the bowler knocks down three pins with the ball which is first bowled, in any frame in the game of Cocked Hat, it is a strike, and counts three, and is marked on the blackboard the same as in Ten Pins. What pins the bowler knocks down in the second frame with his first two balls must be reckoned as in Ten Pins, i.e., one for each pin bowled down, which pin or pins must be added to the strike and placed to the credit of the player in the inning where the strike was scored (the strike being computed as three); such strike must be added to pins knocked down with the two succeeding spare balls; thus, should the bowler score a strike, and should he in the next new frame knock down but one pin with his two spare balls, the strike and pin scored must be computed as 4--the strike counting 3 and the pin 1. Poodles, or balls rolled down the gutter, are fair balls, and any pin or pins which they may get must be counted and placed to the credit of the bowler; dead wood is removed from the alley, and any pins knocked down through dead wood remaining on the alley cannot be placed to the credit of the bowler.
It is played at Outword, also a remote village, and was introduced there by a stonemason, who stated that he had learned it from a cousin who had been in America. Further inquiry by Miss Hope elicited the fact that the cousin had learned the game, when a boy, in his native place in Lancashire. He did not know whether it was a well-known game there. This information points perhaps to a modern origin, but in such cases it must be borne in mind that people are very fond of suggesting recent circumstances as the cause of the most ancient traditions or customs. The obvious analogy to the incident in the myth of the Pied Piper, and to the Welsh custom at St. Almedha Church, near Brecknock, recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis, where the imitation of a frenzied leader is carried out as a religious ceremony, rather suggests that in this game we may have a survival of a ceremonial so common among early or uncultured people, the chief incident of which is the frenzied dancing of a god-possessed devotee. [3] A variant of the second line is, Ranting, roaring, heely man. I suppose he was Irish, said my informant, as he was named Healey (Miss G. Hope). Follow my Leader This is a boys game.
When an ace or Ten is played, the winner of the trick gathers in all the cards that have accumulated, and turns them face down in front of him. These counting cards are called _=brisques=_, and if a player neglects to gather the brisques he wins, his adversary may do so when next he wins a trick, whether the trick he wins contains a brisque or not; the fact that there is a brisque on the table is sufficient. _=Declaring.=_ The winner of any trick, before leading for the next trick, 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 one 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 restores the number of cards in his hand to nine. This method of playing, announcing, and drawing is continued until the stock is exhausted. If a player who has already announced carte blanche finds that the first card he draws from the stock is not a King, Queen or Jack, he shows it to his adversary, and scores another fifty points for another carte blanche. This may be continued until he draws one of those cards. Carte blanche cannot be scored at all unless held before a card is played; that is, it must be dealt to the player originally.
_ Shift your feet with nimble light, And you ll be there by candle-light.] Open the gates as wide as the sky, And let King George and his lady go by. --Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 522). XVI. How many miles to Bethlehem? Three score and ten. Shall we get there by candle-light? Yes, there and back again. So open the gates and let King George and his family go through. --Hayton, near York (H. Hardy).
For instance: A player holds the two best trumps, and all winning cards of a plain suit, while the player on his right has a losing trump. In such a position the player with the two best trumps should trump any winning card his partner leads, or over trump him if he trumps, so as to prevent the adversary from making that losing trump. _=Under-trumping, or the Grand Coup=_, is playing a low trump on a trick that partner has already trumped with a higher, in order to avoid the lead. For instance: A player holds major tenace in trumps with a small one, and knows that the minor tenace is on his right. Four cards remain in each hand. The player on the left leads; Second Hand trumps; Third Hand follows suit. If the Fourth Hand keeps his three trumps, he must win the next trick, and lose the advantage of his tenace. A player will sometimes have the best card in two suits, and a small trump, and will know that the two best trumps and an unknown card are on his right. If the missing suit is led, and the player on the right trumps, his unknown card must be one of the two other suits, and the player with the command of them should keep both, and throw away his small trump. The discards on the next trick may enable him to determine the suit of the losing card on his right.
It is possible from these circumstances that the game descends from an old custom of encircling the tree as an act of worship, and the allusion to the rags bears at least a curious relationship to tree worship. If this conclusion is correct, the particular form of the game preserved by Mr. Addy may be the parent form of all games in which the act of winding is indicated. There is more reason for this when we consider how easy the notion of clock-winding would creep in after the old veneration for the sacred alder tree had ceased to exist. [Illustration] See Bulliheisle, Wind up the Bush Faggot, Wind up the Watch. Ezzeka Old Ezzeka did one day stand Upon a barrel top; The bung flew out, and all at once It went off with a pop. --Dronfield (S. O. Addy). This game is usually played in a house or schoolroom, by boys and girls.
Loaded ivory dice soon get discoloured, and the presence of any darkness in the corners is usually a sign of the presence of mercury. It is a mistake to suppose that loaded dice will always throw high or low; all they will do is to beat averages. Finally, the dice should be tested with a magnet, as they are sometimes made to work in connection with a battery concealed under the table. _=DICE BOXES.=_ Although the dice may be perfectly fair, the box may be “crooked.” A fair box may be of leather, perfectly smooth inside, or it may be of bone, ivory or wood, with the interior “screwed” or grooved. If the upper edge of the inside presents a sloping flat surface, slightly roughened with sand paper, it will be just as well to refuse to allow such a box to be used, as your adversary _is_ probably an expert at _=securing=_, which is a method of holding one of the dice securely against this upper edge while the others are shaken and rattled about in the usual manner. A person who is securing dice can be detected by the manner in which he holds the box, keeping his fingers, instead of his palm, over the mouth. When he turns the box face downward on the table, he will still have his fingers under it, and will withdraw them in regular order, the second and third fingers being first separated. _=THROWING DICE.
This game, which is sometimes called Boodle, is Pope Joan without the pope. The four cards forming the layout are the ♡A, ♣K, ♢Q, ♠J; but there is no ♢7. The dealer names any number of counters that he is willing to stake, which must be at least four, and each player at the table must stake a similar amount. The counters are placed on the layout to suit the players, either all upon one card, or distributed among the four. The cards are dealt as at Pope Joan, and the same number must be left in the talon. Instead of the player being at liberty to begin a sequence with any card he pleases, he must begin with the lowest card in his hand of the suit which he selects. He is not restricted as to suit, but must play all he has in sequence, and then name the card that he fails on. If a new sequence is opened by any player, he must play the lowest card of the suit in his hand. If, in the course of play, any of the four cards on the layout can be got rid of, the player holding them takes the pool on that card. If he is left with the card in his hand at the end he is not obliged to double the pool, as at Pope Joan, but simply loses his chance to win it, and it remains until the next deal.
26. If the striker strike simultaneously a pool ball and a red ball, or two pool balls, he shall be penalized in the value of the higher ball. 27. If the striker pocket the white ball after contact with another, he shall be penalized in the value of the ball struck, unless the object ball so struck be out of order, in which case the penalty shall be governed by the ball of the higher value. 28. Should the striker give an intentional miss, he shall be penalized in the value of the black ball, and be compelled to play the stroke again. No score can accrue from such stroke, but the striker shall be subject to any further penalty he may incur. 29. If the striker pocket more than one ball, other than red balls, in one stroke, he cannot score, and is penalized in the value of the highest ball pocketed. 30.
=_ Each pair carries its own score-card with it from table to table, until the 24 hands have been played. The 7th column is used to designate the pair played against. The pairs at the second table should begin scoring with hands Nos. 5, 13 and 21 respectively; as they will presently receive from the first table the series beginning 1, 9 and 17 respectively. Eight hands complete a match, and the result must be tabulated in the same manner as for teams of four, ties being decided by the majority of tricks won. We give an example. [Illustration: +-------+----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | Pairs | a | b | c | d || Matches | Tricks | +-------+----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | a | \ | +3 | -2 | +5 || 2 | +6 | | |----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | b | -3 | \ | +4 | -1 || 1 | 0 | | |----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | c | +2 | -4 | \ | -2 || 1 | -4 | | |----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | d | -5 | +1 | +2 | \ || 2 | -2 | +-------+----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ ] The _=a=_ pair wins the tie with _=d=_, being 6 tricks plus. _=Six Pairs.=_ This is a very awkward number to handle, and should be avoided if possible. The whole could be played at three tables simultaneously; but such a course would necessitate their changing places ten times, following a very complicated schedule in so doing.
34. Any one, during the play of a trick and before the cards have been touched for the purpose of gathering them together, may demand that the players draw their cards. 35. If any one, prior to his partner playing, calls attention in any manner to the trick or to the score, the adversary last to play to the trick may require the offender’s partner to play his highest or lowest of the suit led or, if he has none, to trump or not to trump the trick. 36. If any player says “I can win the rest,” “The rest are ours,” “We have the game,” or words to that effect, his partner’s cards must be laid upon the table and are liable to be called. 37. When a trick has been turned and quitted, it must not again be seen until after the hand has been played. A violation of this law subjects the offender’s side to the same penalty as in case of a lead out of turn. In _=Boston=_, _=Cayenne=_, and _=Solo Whist=_, it is still the custom to permit looking at the last trick, except in Misères.
=_ There are various methods of using the counters. At the beginning of the game they may be placed at the left hand, and transferred to the right as the points accrue. Another method is to stack the four circular counters one upon the other at the beginning of the game, and to count a point by placing one of them beside the others; two points by placing another upon the first; three points by placing a third beyond these two, and four points by placing them all in line. [Illustration: Nothing. One. Two. Three. Four.] In the seven point game, the score is continued by placing one counter above, and to the right or left of the other three, to indicate five points; and above and between them to indicate six. [Illustration: Five.
In _=Boston=_, the pack must be cut again; but not shuffled. 12. If the dealer reshuffles the pack after it has been properly cut, he loses his deal. In _=Boston=_, _=Cayenne=_, and _=Solo Whist=_, the misdealer must deal again. DEALING. 13. When the pack has been properly cut and reunited, the dealer must distribute the cards, one at a time, to each player in regular rotation, beginning at his left. The last, which is the trump card, must be turned up before the dealer. At the end of the hand, or when the deal is lost, the deal passes to the player next to the dealer on his left, and so on to each in turn. In _=Solo Whist=_, the cards are distributed three at a time until only four remain in the pack.
2nd trick. 3rd trick. 3 or less 3 4 5 4 exactly 4 5 3 5 ” 4 3 5 6 ” 5 3 4 7 or more 5 4 3 The second of these is the four-signal; the last three are trump signals. They are used only in following suit. The four-signal is sometimes used in the trump suit as a _=Sub-echo=_, to show three trumps exactly. Apart from signalling, trump strength may often be inferred, especially from player’s passing doubtful tricks, forcing their partners, etc. _=Trump Suit Leads.=_ When trumps are not led for the purpose of exhausting them immediately, but simply as the longest suit, the fourth-best may be led from the following:-- [Illustration: 🂱 🂾 🂷 🂶 🂴 | 🃎 🃍 🃆 🃅 🂡 🂨 🂧 🂤 🂢 | 🃞 🃛 🃚 🃖 ] If the Ten accompanies the King and Queen, in the third combination, it is best to adhere to the usual lead of the King. In leading trumps from combinations containing a winning sequence, such as the following:-- [Illustration: 🂱 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂷 | 🃁 🃎 🃍 🃄 🃃 ] many players begin with the lowest of the winning cards, continuing with the next above it. _=Speculative Trump Leads.
The Ace is high, both in cutting and in play. A player exposing more than one card must cut again. _=Ties.=_ If the first cut does not decide, the players cutting equal cards cut again; but the new cut decides nothing but the tie. _=Cutting Out.=_ At the end of the game, the players cut to decide which shall give way to those awaiting their turn to play, the lowest cuts going out. After the second game, those who have played the greatest number of consecutive games give way, ties being decided by cutting. _=Dealing.=_ Every player has the right to shuffle the cards, the dealer last. The dealer must present the pack to the pone to be cut.
265), Peacock (_Mauley and Corringham Glossary_). Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) gives this game with the following addition: If a duck falls short of the Duckstone, and the one whose duck is on the stone sees that he can _wand_ or _span_ with his hand the distance between the duck thus thrown and the Duckstone, he shouts out Wands, and if he can wand or span the distance he takes his duck off, and the duck thus thrown is put on. Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_), Darlington (South Cheshire), Baker (_Northants Glossary_), and Brogden (_Provincial Words, Lincolnshire_), also give this game. Elworthy (_West Somerset Words_) calls it Duck, and Ducks off and Cobbs off in Dorsetshire. In London the boy repeats the words, Gully, gully, all round the hole, one duck on, while he is playing (_Strand Magazine_, November 1891). Newell (_Games_, p. 188) calls it Duck on a Rock. Duffan Ring Name for Cat and Mouse in Cornwall.--_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 57.
Friar-rush. Frincy-francy. Frog-lope. Frog in the Middle. GAP. Garden Gate. Gegg. Genteel Lady. Ghost at the Well. Giants.
After making the circuit of the room, they halted on reaching the fiddler s corner, and the cushion-bearer, still to the music of the fiddle, sang or recited:-- Our song it will no further go! The Fiddler: Pray, kind sir, why say you so? The Cushion-bearer: Because Jane Sandars won t come to. The Fiddler: She must come to, she shall come to, An I ll make her whether she will or no. The cushion-bearer and vessel-holder then proceeded with the dance, going as before round the room, singing Frinkum, frankum, &c., till the cushion-bearer came to the lady of his choice, before whom he paused, placed the cushion on the floor at her feet, and knelt upon it. The vessel-bearer then offered the cup to the lady, who put money in it and knelt on the cushion in front of the kneeling gentleman. The pair kissed, arose, and the gentleman, first giving the cushion to the lady with a bow, placed himself behind her, taking hold of some portion of her dress. The cup-bearer fell in also, and they danced on to the fiddler s corner, and the ceremony was again gone through as at first, with the substitution of the name of John for Jane, thus:-- The Lady: Our song it will no further go! The Fiddler: Pray, kind miss, why say you so? The Lady: Because John Sandars won t come to. The Fiddler: He must come to, he shall come to, An I ll make him whether he will or no! The dancing then proceeded, and the lady, on reaching her choice (a gentleman, of necessity), placed the cushion at his feet. He put money in the horn and knelt. They kissed and rose, he taking the cushion and his place in front of the lady, heading the next dance round, the lady taking him by the coat-tails, the first gentleman behind the lady, with the horn-bearer in the rear.
Foster. * Foster’s Whist Tactics, by R.F. Foster. x Foster’s Common Sense in Whist, by R.F. Foster. * Foster’s Self-Playing Cards, by R.F. Foster.