Three to twelve players may form a table. There are two methods of playing Commerce; with and without a widow. We shall take the older form first. _=Without a Widow.=_ The counters have a money value, and each player deposits one in the pool. The dealer then distributes the cards one at a time, face down, until each has three. The players then examine their cards, and each in turn, beginning with the eldest hand, may exchange one card. If he trades _=for ready money=_, he gives his card and one white counter to the dealer, and receives another card, face down, from the top of the pack. The discard is left on the table, and the counter is the dealer’s perquisite. If he trades _=for barter=_, he passes his discard to the player on his left, who must give one of his own in exchange before looking at the one he is to receive.
A line is drawn on the ground in front of them to mark dens. All the players must keep within this line. King Cæsar stands in the middle of the ground. Any number of the players can then rush across the ground from one den to another. King Cæsar tries to catch one as they run. When he catches a boy he must count from one to ten in succession before he leaves hold of the boy, that boy in the meantime trying to get away. If King Cæsar succeeds in holding a boy, this boy stays in the centre with him and assists in catching the other players (always counting ten before a captive is secured). The dens must always be occupied by some players. If all the players get into one den, King Cæsar can go into the empty den and say, Crown the base, one, two, three, three times before any of the other players get across to that den. If he succeeds in doing this, he can select a boy to run across from one den to the other, which that boy must do, King Cæsar trying to catch him.
_=TWO-HANDED HEARTS.=_ Before opening the hand, the player should carefully consider what suits are safe and what are dangerous. It is usually best to preserve the safe suits and to lead the dangerous ones, which you should clear your hand of, if possible. It is a great advantage to have a missing suit, and equally disadvantageous to have a number of a suit of which your adversary is probably clear. If a card of a missing suit is drawn, it is usually best to lead it at once, so as to keep the suit clear; but in so doing, be careful first to place the card among the others in the hand, or your adversary will detect that it is a missing suit. The lead is a disadvantage if you have safe hearts; but toward the end of the stock, from which cards are drawn, it is an advantage to have commanding cards, with which you can assume the lead if necessary. There is some finesse in determining whether or not to change the suit often in the leads. If you have a better memory than your adversary, it may be well to change often; but if not, it may assist you to keep at one suit until afraid to lead it again. In Two-Handed Hearts, keeping count of the cards is the most important matter, because the real play comes after the stock is exhausted, and the moment that occurs you should know every card in your adversary’s hand. The exact number of each suit should be a certainty, if not the exact rank of the cards.
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--Rev. W. Gregor. (_b_) Dr. Tylor says: It is interesting to notice the wide distribution and long permanence of these trifles in history when we read the following passage from Petronius Arbiter, written in the time of Nero:-- Trimalchio, not to seem moved by the loss, kissed the boy, and bade him get up on his back. Without delay the boy climbed on horseback on him, and slapped him on the shoulders with his hand, laughing and calling out, Bucca, bucca, quot sunt hic? --_Petron. Arbitri Satiræ_, by Buchler, p. 84 (other readings are _buccæ_ or _bucco_). --_Primitive Culture_, i. 67.
The team having the largest score in the previous inning must bowl the first ball, so that the weaker party will have the last ball. Three balls of regulation size (27 inches in circumference) or under are allotted to each player in each inning. Each pin bowled down counts 1, including the king pin. If all the pins except the king pin are bowled down, it counts 12. The pins are set up as soon as the nine pins are knocked down, or the king pin is the only one left standing. The alleys are changed alternately. The dead wood is removed after each ball is rolled. In case of uneven teams the Dummy or Blind is filled by any substitute the captain may pick out to bowl. He can select any one of his men he chooses, without regard to rotation, or he himself can bowl, but no man can take the place of the blind twice until every member of the team has acted as the substitute. Poodles count as balls rolled.
Haddon). XVII. How s poor Jenny jo, Jenny jo, Jenny jo? He s very ill. Oh, very good, very good, very good. How s poor Jenny jo, Jenny jo, Jenny jo? He s fallen downstairs and broken his neck. Oh, very good, very good, very good. How s poor Jenny jo, Jenny jo, Jenny jo? He s dead. Oh, very good, very good, very good. --Annaverna, Louth, Ireland (Miss R. Stephen).
_=Begging=_ is resorted to by a player who holds no trumps, or such indifferent ones that it is very unlikely they will be either High or Low. If he has anything better, such as very high or low cards in other suits, such a hand is called, “a good hand to run to,” and the player begs, hoping the new trump will better fit his hand. If he has nothing better in other suits than in the turn-up, it will still be slightly in his favour to beg, unless he has trumps enough to give him some hopes of making the point for Game. It is a fatal error to beg on good cards, and gamblers have a saying that he who begs a point to-day, will beg a stake to-morrow. _=High=_ and _=Low=_ count to the player to whom those cards are dealt, and there is no chance to alter the fortunes of the deal except by begging and running the cards. These two points may both be made by the same card, if it is the only trump in play; because High is counted for the best trump out during the deal, and Low for the lowest, no matter what the cards are. _=Catching the Jack=_, or saving it, is one of the principal objects of the game, and as a rule a player holding the Jack should lose no opportunity to save such a valuable counting card. On the other hand, a player holding higher trumps will often have to use good judgment as to whether to lead them to catch the Jack, if it happens to be out; or to keep quiet until the last few tricks, when if the Jack is not out, such trumps may be useful to win cards that count for Game. _=The Game=_ is generally known as _=the gambler’s point=_, because it is the only point that must be played for in every hand, and its management requires more skill than all the others put together. The cards that count for Game are the four honours and the Ten of each suit.
For instance, the first player would say, I, a genteel lady, always genteel, come from a genteel lady, always genteel, to say she lives in a house with twelve windows, or words were used beginning with the letter A. Each player must repeat this, and add something else in keeping with a house; or sentences had to be made in which words beginning with the letter A must be said, the other players doing the same alphabetically.--London (A. B. Gomme). Mr. Newell, in writing of this game, says that the lamp-lighter or spill was lighted when placed in the hair of the players who made mistakes. He does not mention forfeits being exacted.--_Games_, p. 139.
| -- |Lime and sand will | -- | | | |wash away. | | |15.|Mend it up with penny |Build it up with penny|Build it up with penny| | |loaves. |loaves. |loaves. | |16.|Penny loaves will wash|Penny loaves ll get |Penny loaves will | | |away. |stole away. |tumble down. | |17.
The ante, on the other hand, is a voluntary bet, and is a sort of entrance fee, which is paid before the hand is complete, but after the first part of it has been seen. The ante is always twice the amount of the blind, whatever that may be. If the blind has been increased by the process of straddling, the ante must be twice the amount of the last straddle, but must not exceed the betting limit. This is why the straddles are limited. The largest _=bet=_, or _=raise=_, which a player is allowed to make is generally known as _=the limit=_. This limit is not the greatest amount that may be bet on one hand, but is the maximum amount by which one player may increase his bet over that of another player. For instance: If no one has bet, A may bet the limit on his hand; B may then put up a similar amount, which is called _=seeing=_ him, and may then _=raise=_ him any further sum within the limit fixed for betting. If B raises the limit, it is obvious that he has placed in the pool twice the amount of the betting limit; but his _=raise=_ over A’s bet is within the betting limit. If another player should raise B again, he would be putting up three times the limit; A’s bet, B’s raise, and his own raise. In the absence of any definite arrangement, it is usual to make the betting limit fifty times the amount of the blind.
_=The Dealer.=_ The first thing to guard against is a long run of winning leads from the elder hand, which might make the odd trick, or even capot. As there are no trumps it is very important for the dealer to keep guarded Kings and twice-guarded Queens. The principal thing for the dealer to remember is that if he cannot stop a long suit in the elder hand, he will have to provide in advance for a certain number of discards, and these must be so planned that guards will be preserved in the other suits. He should also get his hand into such condition that when he does get into the lead, he will not have to lead away from tenaces or guarded Kings. Careful attention to his adversary’s declarations, and a comparison of his own hand with his discards will usually guide the dealer to a correct conclusion as to what to keep and what to throw away in playing to tricks. Mathematicians have exhausted their resources on Piquet, but their conclusions are of little use to the average player. The subject of discards has been very fully illustrated by examples from actual play, especially in the _Westminster Papers_, but no one has yet given us any simple rules like the jeux de règle at Écarté. PIQUET NORMAND, FOR THREE PLAYERS. In this form of the game the players cut for seats and deal.
This is a very good game, and increases both the bids and the play against them. _=Widows.=_ Another variation is to deal five cards in the centre of the table, face downward, the dealer giving the cards to the widow just before helping himself in each round. Any player in his proper turn to bid may take the widow, and from the total of ten cards so obtained select five on which he must bid nap, discarding the others face downward. _=Peep Nap.=_ In this variety of the pool game one card only is dealt to the widow, usually on the first round. Each player in turn, before bidding or passing, has the privilege of taking a private peep at this down card, on paying one counter to the pool. The card is left on the table until the highest bidder is known, and he then takes it into his hand, whether he has paid to peep at it or not. He must then discard to reduce his hand to five cards. If a player bids nap it usually pays those following him to have a peep at the down card in case the bidder should retain it in his hand.