The Laws of Auction govern the three-hand game except as follows: (1) Three players take part in a game and four constitute a complete table. Each plays for himself; there are no partners, except as provided in Law 7. (2) The player who cuts lowest selects his seat and the cards with which he deals first. The player who cuts next lowest sits on the dealer’s left. (3) The cards are dealt in four packets, one for each of the three players and one for the dummy.[23] The dummy hand is not touched until after the final declaration has been made. (4) The dealer declares, and the bidding continues as in Auction, except that each player bids exclusively on his own account. (5) The penalty for a declaration out of turn is that each of the other players receives 50 points in his honour score. A declaration out of turn does not affect the right of the player whose turn it is to declare, unless both he and the other player, either by passing or declaring, accept the improper declaration. (6) If a player declare out of turn, and the succeeding player either pass or declare, the third player may demand that the mistake be corrected as is provided in Law 5.
In Berkshire (_Antiq._ xxvii. 255) the game is played without words, and apparently no handkerchief or other sign is used. Miss Thoyts says the young man raises his hat when he embraces the young woman of his choice. To throw (or fling) the handkerchief is a common expression for an expected proposal of marriage which is more of a condescension than a complimentary or flattering one to the girl. Kiss in the Ring is probably a relic of the earliest form of marriage by choice or selection. The custom of dropping or sending a glove as the signal of a challenge may have been succeeded by the handkerchief in this game. Halliwell, p. 227, gives the game of Drop Glove, in which a glove is used. For the use of handkerchiefs as love-tokens see Brand, ii.
There is only one combination from which the _=Queen=_ is led, [Illustration: 🃝 🃛 🃗 🃖 ] when it is accompanied by the Jack, and there is no higher card of the suit in the hand. Whether the ten follows the Jack or not, does not matter. With any two high cards in sequence, the lead is a high card when playing against a declared trump. The _=Jack=_ is never led except as a supporting card. It is always the top of the suit, and the suit is usually short. The object of making such an opening is to avoid leading suits headed by two honours which are not in sequence. These are good Jack leads: [Illustration: 🂻 🂺 🂹 🂴 🂫 🂧 ] The _=Ten=_ is led from one combination only:-- [Illustration: 🃎 🃋 🃊 🃆 ] The _=Ace=_ should not be led if it can be avoided; but it is better to lead it from suits of more than four cards, so as to make it at once. If the Ace is accompanied by the King, the King is the card to lead, not the Ace. If the Ace is accompanied by other honours, such as the Queen or Jack, it is better to avoid opening the suit, unless you have five or more cards of it. But if you do lead a suit headed by the Ace, _=without the King=_, be sure that you lead the Ace, when playing against a trump declaration, or you may never make it.
From some such beginning Astragali was developed, a game which Dr. Thomas Hyde thinks was known at the time of the Deluge. Later on, other instruments were used in connection with dice, and so the earliest forms of Backgammon were developed. Dice are still the favourite implements for deciding any matters of pure chance, such as raffling off a horse or a gold watch; but the rules governing such lotteries are but imperfectly understood by people in general. There are also a number of smaller matters, such as the payment for refreshments or cigars, which are settled by thousands of persons every day, simply by throwing dice. The various methods of throwing, and the rules governing all such games are as follows:-- _=THE DICE.=_ Although dice may be of any size, the standard pattern are half an inch square, of ivory or bone, with black spots one tenth of an inch in diameter. The opposite sides of the die always equal seven, and if the die is placed upon the table with the ace uppermost and the deuce nearest you, the four will be on the left and the three on the right. The positions of the three and four are sometimes reversed to enable sharpers to distinguish fair dice from those which have been doctored. At the beginning of any dice game, it is quite unnecessary to examine the dice to be used, because they are always fair.
84). A version familiar to me is the same as above, but ending with For tumbling over cherry stones. The mother then chased and beat those children she caught. The idea was, I believe, that the children were imitating or mocking their mother (A. B. G.). In Warwickshire the four lines of the Surrey game are concluded by the additional lines-- We don t care whether we work or no, We ll follow our mother on tipty-toe. When the mother runs after them and buffets them.--Northall s _English Folk Rhymes_, p.
The game as given above is obviously incomplete, and no description as to how the game was played was sent me. Newell (_Games_, p. 145), describes a game, The Cardinal s Hat, which is probably a variant of the original game, of which the above is only a fragment. I remember once witnessing a game in which a ball was passed from player to player, and in which the dialogue was similar. When one player was told that the ball was in his possession, the answer was, What, me, sir? Yes, you, sir. Not I, sir. Who then, sir? White Cap, sir; the questions and answers were again repeated for Red Cap, and Blue Cap. When it was Black Cap s turn, I think the ball was thrown by this player to some one else; whoever was hit by the ball had to chase and capture one, who became questioner; but my recollection of the game is too slight for me to be certain either of the dialogue or the way the game terminated (A. B. Gomme).
They cut for partners and for the deal; the player cutting the lowest card takes dummy for the first rubber; the one cutting the next lowest takes dummy for the second rubber; and the one cutting the highest takes it for the last rubber. It is considered obligatory to play three rubbers, in order that each may have whatever advantage or disadvantage may be supposed to attach to the dummy. The three rubbers so played are called a Tournée. It is sometimes agreed that one player shall take dummy continuously, on condition that he concedes to his adversaries one point in each rubber. When this is done, the largest rubber that the dummy’s partner can win is one of seven; and he may win nothing; whereas his adversaries may win a rubber of nine, and must win at least two. This concession of a point is not made, as many imagine, because it is an advantage to have the (dummy) partner’s hand exposed; but because it is an advantage to have the player’s hand concealed. He knows the collective contents of the adversaries’ hands; each of them knows only the contents of dummy’s hand and his own. _=Cutting.=_ The player cutting the lowest card has the choice of seats and cards; but he must deal the first hand for his dummy; not for himself. The methods of spreading, cutting, deciding ties, etc.