In a four-handed game it is possible for one player to take in only 58 hearts in 60 deals, and still to be 46 counters behind; while another player may take in 500 hearts in 60 deals and be 46 counters ahead. It may be claimed that the player who has 46 counters ahead at the end was the better player, because he won; but most persons will agree that a player who takes in only 58 hearts in 60 deals is a much better player than one who has taken in 500 hearts in the same time. It was to remedy this defect, and to give skill its proper percentage of value, that Mr. E. C. Howell of Boston proposed the manner of contributing to and dividing the pools which is now known as Howell’s Settling. Each player begins with an equal number of counters, usually 100. At the end of the hand, after the hearts have been counted and announced, each player pays into the pool, for every heart he holds, as many counters as there are players besides himself. For instance: A, B, C and D play. A takes three hearts; B and C five each, and D none.
Football. Forfeits. Fox. Fox and Goose (1). Fox and Geese (2). Fox in the Fold. Fox in the Hole. French Jackie. French and English. French Blindman s Buff.
There are no trumps. _=Markers.=_ The game may be scored by paying and taking in counters, each player being provided with about fifty at the beginning of the game, which are purchased from a banker; but the better way is to keep account of the gains and losses of the single player in each deal, in the manner already described in connection with Skat, balancing the account at the end in the same way. _=Players.=_ Calabrasella is played by three persons, two of whom are partners against the third in each hand. If four play, the dealer takes no cards, but shares the fortunes of those who are opposed to the single player, just as in Skat. The players on the right and left of the dealer are known as the pone and the eldest hand respectively. _=Cutting.=_ The players cut for seats and deal, the lowest card having the first choice and dealing the first hand. A player exposing more than one card must cut again.
1. Declarations should be made in a simple manner, thus: “one heart,” “one no trump,” “pass,” “double”; they should be made orally and not by gesture. 2. Aside from his legitimate declaration, a player should not show by word or gesture the nature of his hand, or his pleasure or displeasure at a play, bid, or double. 3. If a player demand that the cards be placed, he should do so for his own information and not to call his partner’s attention to any card or play. 4. An opponent of the declarer should not lead until the preceding trick has been turned and quitted; nor, after having led a winning card, should he draw another from his hand before his partner has played to the current trick. 5. A card should not be played with such emphasis as to draw attention to it, nor should a player detach one card from his hand and subsequently play another.
In some places the _=first lead=_ from the successful bidder must be a _=trump=_. This makes the game too much like Auction Pitch, and spoils some of the finer points in leading. _=Low=_ is sometimes counted for the person to whom it is dealt. Such a rule causes endless confusion and disputes. The old method of _=scoring=_ has already been mentioned. Another variation is that if the bidder’s side do not make at least 8 points they cannot score anything, no matter what they bid. If both sides score 7, neither having bid more than 7, neither scores. If one side bids 6, and makes 8, it scores 8; but the adversaries score the 6 they make. If the side bidding 6 had made 6 only, it would score nothing, while their adversaries would mark the 8 they made. The only good result of the 6 bid in this case is to prevent the adversaries from scoring for a failure; for if 7 had been bid, and only 6 made, the adversaries would have scored the 7 bid in addition to the 8 they made, or 15 in all.
He then turns over his tricks and counts the points they contain to show his adversary that he has won the game. Even if his adversary has also enough points to go out, the player who knocked wins the game, provided his count is correct. If the player who knocks is mistaken, and cannot count out, he loses, no matter what his adversary may have. If neither knocks, and at the end of the hand both players are found to have points enough to put them out, neither wins the game, which must be continued for 100 points more; that is, as 500 points is the usual game, it must be made 600 in such a case. Should both reach 600 without knocking, it must be continued to 700. If neither knocks, and only one has enough points to go out he wins the game on its merits. As the name implies, 500 points is game. PENCHANT. Penchant is a complicated form of Cinq-cents and Bézique, played with a single pack of thirty-two cards, which rank as at Piquet; A K Q J 10 9 8 7, the ace being highest both in cutting and in play. _=Cutting.
Should the revoking player not discover his error in time, the hand must be played out, and if the revoke is detected and claimed the player in error must pay all the losses on that hand. Should the revoking player win the pool himself, he must pay the thirteen counters to the pool, and leave them for a _=Jack=_. Should he divide the pool with another player, he must pay his co-winner six counters, and put up the other seven for a Jack. If two or more players revoke in the same hand, each must pay the entire losses in that hand as if he were alone in error; so that if two should revoke and a third win the pool, the latter would receive twenty-six counters instead of thirteen. In Auction Hearts, the revoking player must also refund the amount put up by the bidder. A revoke must be claimed and proved before the pool is divided. Non-compliance with a performable penalty is the same as a revoke. _=SETTLING.=_ After the last card has been played, each player turns over his tricks, counts the number of hearts he has taken in, and announces it. Players should be careful not to gather or mix the cards until all thirteen hearts have been accounted for.
Mrs. Harley, in another Lancashire version, gives the words sung to the tune printed as-- Pass on, pass on, passy on the slipper; The best fun we ever had was passing on the slipper. Holloway (_Dict. of Provincialisms_) says this game was well known in Somerset, Hants, Sussex, but now is almost out of fashion. He describes it as being played without words. The child who has to find the shoe stands in the centre of the circle. The chief amusement arises from the one in the circle who has the slipper striking the one who stands up (the searcher) while he or she is steadily looking for it in an opposite direction. Strutt (_Sports_, p. 387) also describes this game. Hunt the Staigie A boys game.
Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, All on a Friday night? You put your right foot in, And then you take it out, And wag it, and wag it, and wag it, Then turn and turn about. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. VII. Here we dance luby, luby, Here we dance luby light, Here we dance luby, luby, All on a Wednesday night. --Ordsall, Nottinghamshire (Miss Matthews). VIII. Here we go lubin loo, Here we go lubin li, Here we go lubin loo, Upon a Christmas night. --Epworth, Doncaster (C. C. Bell).
(_b_) These games are variants of one common original. It is the same game as that described by F. H. Low in the _Strand Magazine_, ii. 514, as played in the London streets. The marble there is called a buck. Pegsy was the name of the No. 5 stage of the Wakefield version, and this varies too, inasmuch as it was the same gob which is picked up and then laid down before catching the buck. Mr. Kinahan says, Jackstones, played with three or four small stones that are thrown up in the air and caught again, seems to have been a very ancient game, as the stones have been found in the _crannogs_ or lake-dwellings in some hole near the fireplaces, similar to where they are found in a cabin at the present day.
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The final total of the three dice is the player’s score, and the highest wins. In the colonies the ace counts as seven. The game is usually played for a pool. ACE IN THE POT. Any number can play, and two dice are used. The game is for a pool, which is won by the final possessor of a single counter. At the beginning each player has two counters, and each in turn throws the two dice. If he throws an ace he pushes one of his counters into the pot; two aces gets rid of both. If he throws a six on either die, he passes a counter to his left-hand neighbour, who will have the next throw. Two sixes passes both counters if the caster still has so many.
_=ANNOUNCEMENTS.=_ The bids rank in the following order, beginning with the lowest. The full-faced type shows the words used by the players in calling their bids:-- To win five tricks; _=Boston=_. To win _=Six Tricks=_. To win _=Seven Tricks=_. To lose twelve tricks, after having discarded a card which is not to be shown; _=Little Misère=_. To win _=Eight Tricks=_. To win _=Nine Tricks=_. To lose every trick; _=Grand Misère=_. To win _=Ten Tricks=_.
Fig. 2.] See Dump, Green Grass, Hot Cockles. Doddart A game played in a large level field with a bent stick called doddart. Two parties, headed by two captains, endeavour to drive a wooden ball to their respective boundaries (Halliwell s _Dictionary_). Brockett (_North Country Words_) adds to this that the captains are entitled to choose their followers by alternate votes. A piece of globular wood called an orr or coit is thrown down in the middle of the field and driven to one of two opposite hedges--the alley, hail-goal, or boundary. The same game as Clubby, Hockey, Shinney, Shinneyhaw. Doncaster Cherries One boy kneels, holding a long rope, the other end of which is held by another boy; the other players stand round about with handkerchiefs in hands, knotted. The one who holds the rope-end and standing cries out-- Doncaster cherries, ripe and sound; Touch em or taste em-- Down, you dogs! --Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H.
Miss Baker (_Northamptonshire Glossary_) says the Cushion Dance is still continued, with some variations, and generally closes the evening s amusements. One of the young men endeavours secretly to bring in a cushion, and locks the doors, to prevent the escape of the young maidens; then all the party unite hands and dance round three times to the left and three times to the right, after which the company all seat themselves, except the young man who holds the cushion. He advances to the fiddler, and says-- This dance it will no further go. Fiddler: Why say you so? why say you so? Cushion-holder: Because the young women will not come to. Fiddler: They must come to, they shall come to, And tell them I say so. The cushion-holder then goes to the girl he fancies most, and drops the cushion at her feet. She kneels down with him on the cushion, and he salutes her, and they then rise and dance round and round to the fiddler. The girls then go through the same thing, saying, young men, and then a young man, &c., until the whole company have gone through the same ceremony, which concludes with all dancing round three times, as at the commencement. The Norfolk and London versions are reduced to a simple Kiss in the Ring game, with the following verse:-- Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Yet the punishment you must bear If you touch the cushion there.
=_ If a ball or balls are in the way of a striker’s cue, so that he cannot play at his ball, he can have them taken up. _=14.=_ When the striker _takes_ a life, he continues to play on as long as he can pocket a ball, or until the balls are all off the table, in which latter case he places his own ball on the spot as at the commencement. _=15.=_ The first player who loses his three lives is entitled to purchase, or _star_, by paying into the pool a sum equal to his original stake, for which he receives lives equal in number to the lowest number of lives on the board. _=16.=_ If the player first out refuse to star, the second player out may do so; but if the second refuse, the third may star, and so on, until only two players are left in the pool, when the privilege of starring ceases. _=17.=_ Only one star is allowed in a pool. _=18.
The trump is generally turned down, and a _=Grand=_ is played, without any trump suit. This is sometimes called a _=Misère Partout=_, or “all-round poverty”; and the object of each player is to take as few tricks as possible. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ No matter who is the successful bidder, the eldest hand always leads for the first trick, and the others must follow suit if they can, the play proceeding exactly as at Whist. The tricks should be carefully stacked, so that they can be readily counted by any player without calling attention to them. The laws provide a severe penalty for drawing attention to the score in this manner. Suppose a player has called eight tricks. An adversary hesitates in his play, and another reaches over and counts the tricks in front of the caller, finding he has seven. This is tantamount to saying to the player who hesitates: “If you don’t win that trick, the call succeed.” In such a case, the single player may at once demand the play of the highest or lowest of the suit; or that the adversaries trump or refrain from trumping the trick.
Don’t deliver the ball with the right foot in front. Don’t step on or over the foul line. Don’t think you can change the course of the ball after it has left your hand. Don’t expect a “strike” every time you hit the head pin. Don’t blame the pin boys if you get a split. They will spot any pin you call their attention to. Don’t throw away a “spare” because you think you were entitled to a “strike.” Don’t use any unnecessary motions. Don’t exert yourself. Take it easy.
Conkers. Conquerors. Contrary, Rules of. Cop-halfpenny. Corsicrown. Cots and Twisses. Course o Park. Crab-sowl. Crates. Cricket.
| -- | -- | -- | | 42.| -- | -- | -- | | 43.| -- | -- | -- | | 44.| -- | -- | -- | | 45.| -- | -- | -- | | 46.| -- | -- | -- | +----+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ +----+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | No.| Yorkshire. | Roxton. | Shropshire. | +----+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.