_=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ Observation, quickness, and good judgment of character are the essentials for success at Spoil Five, the last being probably the most important. The peculiar order of the cards; the privilege of renouncing when holding a card of the suit led; and the right of passing inferior trump leads, are very confusing to the beginner; but with practice the routine and strategy of the game soon become familiar. The player should first make up his mind whether he is going to try to win the pool or to spoil it. Particular attention should be paid to the player who robs, because he must have at least the ace and the turn-up in trumps, and is more likely to need spoiling than any other player. When a player wins a trick, some judgment will be necessary to decide whether he is trying for the pool himself, or simply spoiling it for some one else. When he wins two tricks, every other player at the table must combine against him. With only one small or medium trump, it is better to use it at the first opportunity. Unless the player has some hopes of winning the pool himself, he should trump all doubtful cards; that is, cards that may win the trick if not trumped. With two good trumps, it is better to wait for developments; even if you cannot win the last three tricks yourself, you may effectually spoil any other player.
=_ The game is played for so much a point. The largest winning or loss for the single player is 140, but such an amount is almost impossible, and the average payments are 10 or 20. _=Dealing.=_ The cards are presented to the pone to be cut, and at least four must be left in each packet. The dealer then distributes them to the players four at a time, until each has twelve, four remaining in the stock or talon, which is left upon the table face down. No trump is turned. The deal passes to the left. There are no misdeals. If the cards are not properly distributed, or four cards are not left in the talon, the same dealer must deal again, without penalty. _=Objects of the Game.
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=_ There should be two score-cards at each table. The various methods of putting down and comparing the scores can best be described in connection with the variety of competition to which they belong. It is a common practice to note the trump card on the score sheets. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ The four players at each table are distinguished by the letters N S E W; North and South being partners against East and West. West should always be the dealer in the first hand, North having the original lead. In all published illustrative hands, North is the leader, unless otherwise specified. The deal passes in rotation to the left, and the number of hands played should always be some multiple of four, so that each player may have the original lead an equal number of times. 24 hands at each table is the usual number, and is the rule at all League tournaments. The partners and adversaries should be changed after each eight hands.
The last card in a player’s hand may be got rid of by laying it out in combination, or by discarding it if it is the only card left. _=SCORING.=_ As soon as any player calls out it is too late for any other player to lay down any combinations he may hold. Each player in turn to the left shows his hand and the winner gets credit for the pip value of his cards, jacks being worth 11, queens 12, kings 13. It sometimes happens that the stock is exhausted before any player calls out. In this case the discards are turned face down without shuffling them and the pile drawn from as if it were the stock. _=SPLASHES.=_ The game is sometimes played with the condition that if any player chooses to risk holding his hand until he can lay it all down at once, or lay down all but the one which he is allowed to discard, he wins double from each of the others. This prompts a player with a good hand to hold it up for a round or two on the chance of getting down a splash, but the player who sees there is no chance for him should get rid of as many cards as he can before the splash comes, and in many cases some player will get rid of all his cards in two or three rounds, and win without a splash. POKER RUM.
If you have K x x, the declarer probably holds Ace, or a long suit headed by J 10. When Dummy leads strengthening cards, they must be to give the declarer a finesse. If he leads a small card from small cards, some high-card combination must be in the declarer’s hand. In such cases it is useless for you to finesse. If you have any sequence superior to the card led, cover with the lowest. There should be no false-carding in this, because your partner is the only one that can be deceived. With A K and others, play the King, whatever Dummy leads. With A Q and others, Dummy having nothing higher than the 9, play the Ace. With K Q 10, play the Queen on a small card led, unless Dummy has the Jack. With A J 10 x, play Ace if Dummy has no honour in the suit.
_=3.=_ The table formed, the players draw from the outspread pack for positions. The lowest cut has the first choice, and deals the first hand. The player cutting the next lowest has the next choice, and so on until all are seated. _=4. Ties.=_ If players cut cards of equal value they must cut again; but the new cut decides nothing but the tie. _=5. Stakes.=_ Any player may be the banker, and keep the kitty, if any.
We abolished altogether that magical freedom of an unassisted gun to move two feet. And on such rules as these we fought a number of battles. They were interesting, but not entirely satisfactory. We took no prisoners--a feature at once barbaric and unconvincing. The battles lingered on a long time, because we shot with extreme care and deliberation, and they were hard to bring to a decisive finish. The guns were altogether too predominant. They prevented attacks getting home, and they made it possible for a timid player to put all his soldiers out of sight behind hills and houses, and bang away if his opponent showed as much as the tip of a bayonet. Monsieur Bloch seemed vindicated, and Little War had become impossible. And there was something a little absurd, too, in the spectacle of a solitary drummer-boy, for example, marching off with a gun. But as there was nevertheless much that seemed to us extremely pretty and picturesque about the game, we set to work--and here a certain Mr M.
Here I sit on a Cold Green Bank Here I sit on a cold green bank On a cold and frosty morning. We ll send a young man [_or_ woman] to take you away, To take you away, We ll send a young man to take you away, On a cold and frosty morning. Pray tell me what his name shall be? [_or_] Pray, whom will you send to take me away? We ll send Mr. ---- to take you away. The children form a ring around one of the party, who sits in the middle, and says the two first lines. Then those in the circle dance round her, singing the next four lines. This is repeated three times, with the refrain, On a cold, &c., after which the dancing and singing cease, and the child is asked, Sugar, sweet, or vinegar, sour? Her answer is always taken in a contrary sense, and sung, as before, three times, whilst the children circle round. The one in the middle then rises to her feet. The boy (or girl) named advances and kisses her, they change places, and the game begins again.
. . obiit Jun. 14, 1681. Hanc, subito et immaturo (ipsos pene inter hymenæos) fato correptam, m[oe]stissimus luxit maritus, et in gratam piamq. parentum sororis et dilectissimæ conjugis memoriam, monumentum hoc erigi voluit. Tradition connects this sudden death-- ipsos pene inter hymenæos --with the story of the bride playing at Hide and Seek. It is curious that, in Haynes Bayly s song, the bridegroom s name should be Lovell. There is no mention on the monument of the name of the bereaved husband. The father, Edward Lovell, was fourteen years rector of Bawdrip and fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and died in 1675, and so could not have been present at the wedding, as represented in the song.
The methods of _=Taking Tricks=_; _=Scoring=_; _=Claiming and Counting Honours=_; _=Marking Rubber Points=_, etc., are the same as in whist, and the counters are used in the same manner. _=RUBBERS.=_ If the first two games are won by the same player and his dummy, the third is not played. Tournées are not played, and the completion of the rubber breaks up the table. _=CUTTING IN.=_ The table being complete with two, at the end of a rubber a new table must be formed. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ The player should first carefully examine the exposed hands, and by comparing them with his own, suit by suit, should fix in his mind the cards held by his living adversary. This takes time, and in many places it is the custom to expose the four hands upon the table.
The cue ball is struck very much on the side, almost like a massé, the spin thus given being communicated to the object ball and from that to the second ball, to which it must be frozen. The result will be that the second ball will make a slight curve on its way to the pocket. _=False Angles.=_ In playing bank shots it is sometimes necessary to make the object ball come back from the cushion at a smaller angle than the natural one. Some players imagine this can be done by putting side on the cue ball, but such is not the case. It is accomplished by striking so hard that the ball buries itself in the cushion, the result of which is that the angle of reflection is less than that of incidence. It is possible to drive an object ball to the rail at an angle of 60 degrees with such force that after crossing the table twice it will come off at a perfect right angle from the cushion. This is a very useful shot in banking for the side pockets, and also in playing for the 1 or 4 pin at Pin Pool. The following _=LAWS=_ for Fifteen-Ball Pool are copied, by permission, from the 1908 edition of the rules published by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. _=1.