A thimble wunna hold a cap. Wash in an egg-shell. An egg-shell wunna hold a shirt. Wash by the river-side. Suppose the clothes should float away? Get a boat and fetch them back. Suppose the boat should overthrow? Serve you right for going after them! --Berrington, Oswestry, Chirbury (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 515). IV. Mother, will you buy me a milking-can, A milking-can, a milking-can? Mother, will you buy me a milking-can, To me, I, O, OM? Where s the money to buy it with, To buy it with, to buy it with, Where s the money to buy it with, To me, I, O, OM? [Then the following verses--] Sell my father s feather bed. Where will your father sleep? My father can sleep in the boys bed.
_=SCORING.=_ No matter how many more than his bid he makes, he can score it all. If he fails, he is set back the amount of his bid. If his adversaries win the odd trick or more, they count one point for each trick over the book in addition to the amount by which they set the bidder back. When there are seventeen points in play each deal, it is usual to take the lower score from the higher and score the difference only, but when the bidder fails, he is not set back, but simply gets nothing at all, while his opponents score all they make, without any deductions. NORWEGIAN WHIST. _=CARDS.=_ This variety of whist is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank from the A K Q down to the deuce. In cutting, the ace is low. _=PLAYERS.
--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 60). Buff 1st player, thumping the floor with a stick: Knock, knock! 2nd ditto: Who s there? 1st: Buff. 2nd: What says Buff? 1st: Buff says Buff to all his men, And I say Buff to you again! 2nd: Methinks Buff smiles? 1st: Buff neither laughs nor smiles, But looks in your face With a comical grace, And delivers the staff to you again (handing it over). --Shropshire (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 526). Same verses as in Shropshire, except the last, which runs as follows:-- Buff neither laughs nor smiles, But strokes his face With a very good grace, And delivers his staff to you. --Cheltenham (Miss E. Mendham). Same verses as in Shropshire, except the last, which runs as follows:-- Buff neither laughs nor smiles, But strokes his face for want of grace, And sticks his staff in the right place.
There are also some round games in which any number from three to six may play, each for himself. _=The Sets.=_ A set of dominoes is a number of pieces of bone, usually about 1½ inches by ¾, and ⅜ thick. These bones have upon their faces the permutations of the numbers from six to blank, taken two at a time. Some sets begin at double nine, and others at double twelve; but the standard set is double six, and is composed of twenty-eight pieces. _=The Suits.=_ All the dominoes with the same number upon either end belong to the same suit; the seven bones with a 4 forming the 4 suit; those with a 6 the 6 suit, and so on. The number of pips in each suit may be easily remembered by observing that the ace suit has the same number of pips as the pieces in the set, 28; and that each suit above the ace has seven pips more than the number of pieces in the set, while the blank suit has seven pips less, so that each suit progresses in regular order, seven pips at a time, as shown in the margin. Blank 21 Ace 28 Deuce 35 Trey 42 Four 49 Five 56 Six 63 _=Shuffling and Cutting.=_ Dominoes are provided with a small brass pin in the centre of the face, which enables one to spin them round, push them about on the table, and so to shuffle them thoroughly.
Three-card Monte. A game in which three cards are dexterously thrown on the table by a gambler, and the victim is induced to bet that he can pick out one which has been previously named and shown. Three-echo, an echo on a trump lead when holding three only. Three-on-a-side, a system of playing Faro, in which cards are bet to win or lose an odd number of times. Tournée, F., see Round. Trailing, playing a card which accomplishes nothing. Trash, to discard. Tric, F., the odd trick at Whist or Mort.
5). [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] [Illustration: Fig. 3.] [Illustration: Fig. 4.] [Illustration: Fig.
This system of scoring will show at once whose turn it is to deal, if the total number of amounts under which no line is drawn are counted up. For instance: Three persons play; A dealt the first hand. In the first three columns are shown the amounts won and lost in the three rounds, while the last three columns show the manner in which these losses and gains were entered on the score sheet:-- | Points won and lost. | | Score Card. | | 1st Round.| 2nd Round.| 3rd Round.| | A | B | C | +-----------+-----------+-----------+ +----+----+----+ | A won 33 | A lost 16 | C lost 36 | | +33| +40| +55| | C won 55 | B won 40 | B won 48 | | +17| +88| +67| | C won 12 | A lost 24 | C lost 12 | | -7| | +31| | | | | +----+ +----+ | | | | | | | +19| At the end of the second round a line was drawn under A’s account, which then contained three items; and after the first game in the third round a line was drawn under C’s account. If we suppose the game to be stopped at this point, the scores would be balanced as follows: We take the three scores and bring them down on one line. We draw a line under them, and proceed as follows: First we take A, who has lost 7 to B, and from whom B has also won 88.
Move follows move in swift succession. One realises with a sickening sense of error that one is outnumbered and hard pressed here and uselessly cut off there, that one s guns are ill-placed, that one s wings are spread too widely, and that help can come only over some deadly zone of fire. So the fight wears on. Guns are lost or won, hills or villages stormed or held; suddenly it grows clear that the scales are tilting beyond recovery, and the loser has nothing left but to contrive how he may get to the back line and safety with the vestiges of his command.... But let me, before I go on to tell of actual battles and campaigns, give here a summary of our essential rules. III THE RULES HERE, then, are the rules of the perfect battle-game as we play it in an ordinary room. THE COUNTRY (1) The Country must be arranged by one player, who, failing any other agreement, shall be selected by the toss of a coin.
Mouth Bets.=_ Any player stating that he bets a certain amount, but failing to put up the actual counters in the pool, cannot be called upon to make the amount good after the hands are shown, or the pool is won. If the players opposed to him choose to accept a mouth bet against the counters they have already put up, they have no remedy, as no value is attached to what a player says; his cards and his counters speak for themselves. Any player wishing to raise a mouth bet has the privilege of raising by mouth, instead of by counters; but he cannot be called upon to make the amount good after the hands are shown, or the pool has been won. _=34. Showing Hands.=_ When a call is made, all the hands must be shown to the table, and the best poker hand wins the pool. Any player declining to show his hand, even though he admits that it is not good, must pay an amount equal to the ante to each of the players at the table; or, if jack pots are played, he must put up for all of them in the next jack pot. When the hands are called, there is no penalty for mis-calling a hand; the cards, like the counters, speak for themselves. _=35.
In case neither move can be made, there shall be no penalty. While in check, for touching or moving a man which does not cover the check, the player may be required to cover with another piece, or move the King, as the opposing player may elect. _=Touching the Squares.=_ While the hand remains upon a man, it may be moved to any square that it commands, except such squares as may have been touched by it during the deliberation on the move; but if all the squares which it commands have been so touched, then the man must be played to such of the squares as the adversary may elect. _=Counting Fifty Moves.=_ If, at any period during a game, either player persist in repeating a particular check, or series of checks, or persist in repeating any particular line of play which does not advance the game; or if “_a game-ending_” be of doubtful character as to its being a win or a draw, or if a win be possible, but the skill to force the game questionable, then either player may demand judgment of the Umpire as to its being a proper game to be determined as drawn at the end of fifty additional moves, on each side; or the question: “Is, or is not the game a draw?” may be, by mutual consent of the players, submitted to the Umpire at any time. The decision of the Umpire, in either case, to be final. And whenever fifty moves are demanded and accorded, the party demanding it may, when the fifty moves have been made, claim the right to go on with the game, and thereupon the other party may claim the fifty move rule, at the end of which, unless mate be effected, the game shall be decided a draw. _=Stale-Mate.=_ A stale-mate is a drawn game.
These were all edited by R.F. Foster. Bridge Tournaments, offering prizes for the best play of certain hands were run by the N.Y. Evening Telegram, the N.Y. Globe, the N.Y. Evening Mail, and the Chicago Journal.
Any player showing his cards must abandon his hand, and forfeit four counters to the pool. The general laws of Poker governing all irregularities may be applied to Ambigu; but it must be remembered that the French are very much averse to penalties of all kinds, and if an error can be rectified without doing an injustice to any player, it is usual to set things right in the simplest manner possible. _=Value of the Hands.=_ There are seven combinations of value in Ambigu, which rank in the following order, beginning with the lowest:-- _=The Point.=_ The total number of pips on two or more cards of the same suit. A single card does not count for the point. Three cards of one suit are a better point than two cards, even if there are more pips on the two cards. If no higher combination than a point is shown, the player with the winning point receives _=one counter=_ from each of the other players at the table, besides winning the pool, and everything in it. In case of ties, the player having two cards in sequence wins. For instance: an 8 and a 7 will beat a 10 and a 5.
_=COUNTERS.=_ The score is usually kept on a sheet of paper; but it is more convenient to provide each side with 8 red and 11 white counters, representing 51 points; the whites being worth 1, and the reds 5 each. A good pull-up cribbage board is still better. [Illustration: PULL-UP GAME COUNTER.] _=PLAYERS.=_ Any number from two to six can play; but the regular game is for four persons, two of whom are partners against the other two. The player on the dealer’s left is the _=eldest hand=_; on the dealer’s right is the _=pone=_. _=CUTTING.=_ The players draw from an outspread pack for partners, seats, and deal. The two lowest play against the two highest; the highest cut has the choice of seats and cards, and deals the first hand.
|..... gold and silver.|Some will give us | -- | | | |silver ....
After the last card has been played, each player turns over the tricks he has won, and counts up the pip value of the court cards and Tens that he has won. Whoever has the highest number counts the point for Game. For instance: Two are playing. The elder hand has taken in an ace, two Kings and a Jack, which are collectively worth 11. The dealer has taken in a Queen and a Ten, which are worth 12; so the dealer marks the point for Game. If both players have the same number, or if there is no Game out, which rarely happens, the non-dealer scores Game. If three play, and Game is a tie between the two non-dealers, neither scores. The non-dealer is given the benefit of counting a tie for Game as an offset to the dealer’s advantage in turning Jacks. When no trump is turned, as in Pitch, no one can count Game if it is a tie. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.
These are all comparatively modern games, but are descended from very old stock, the best known of the ancestors being Marriage, Matrimony, and Cinq-Cents. The etymology of the word Bézique is very much disputed. Some claim that it is from the Spanish basa, afterwards basico, a little kiss; referring to the union of the spade Queen and the diamond Jack, and the various marriages in the game. This was afterwards Basique, transformed by the French to Bésique, and by the English to Bézique. One English writer thinks the word is from bésaigne, the double-headed axe. Judging from the rank of the cards, which is peculiar to German games, Bézique may have originated in an attempt to play Binocle with a piquet pack, for Binocle seems to have been originally played with a full pack of fifty-two cards. One German writer says the game is of Swiss origin, and that they probably got it from Spain. In one writer’s opinion, the name Binocle, is derived from _bis_, until, and _knochle_, the knuckle, which would imply that the original meaning was, until some one knuckled; _i.e._, stopped the game by knocking on the table with his knuckles.
I shan t come for that. I ve got a dish of bones. I ll come for that. The Dog then comes. The girls have been previously told not to laugh whilst the one who stands out is talking to the Dog. Then the girl says to the Dog-- All the birds in the air, All the fishes in the sea, Come and pick me out (for example) The girl with the golden ball. If the girl who desired the golden ball laughs, the Dog picks her out. If nobody laughs, he guesses who the girl is that has wished for the golden ball. If the Dog guesses correctly, she goes and stands behind him, and if he guesses incorrectly she goes and stands behind the one who has been asking the questions. They continue this until they get to the last girl or girl at the end of the row, who _must_ have desired to be-- A brewer or a baker, Or a candlestick maker, Or a penknife maker.
Let us suppose this adversary to hold the following dominoes: 6-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0, 5-1, 5-0. He would of course play the 6-0, in order to bring the line round to his long suit of 6’s. As this would close the blank end of the line, the first player, whom we shall call A, would have to play on the 5 end, as he has no 6. In order to get the line back to his second longest suit, the blanks, he would play the 5-2, hoping to play 2-0 next time. His adversary, B, would play on this end if he could, but being unable to do so, he gets rid of his heaviest domino, playing the double six. A plays 2-0, and B should now bring in his suit of aces by playing 6-1, which would win the game; but for the sake of illustration we shall suppose that he foolishly plays 6-4. A plays his double four, and the dominoes on the table present the following appearance:-- [Illustration] B, having neither 4 nor 0 on any of his remaining dominoes, says: “_=Go=_,” which signifies that he is blocked, and cannot play. A can now play at either end, and with either of two dominoes; but it would be bad policy to play the 4-5, because his adversary might be able to play to the 5; but it is a certainty that he cannot play to either 0 or 4. If A plays the 4-5, B gets rid of all his dominoes before A can play again. If A plays the 4-0 on the blank end, he will have to play again with his 4-5; but if he plays it on the 4 end he blocks himself.
+-----+-----+-----+ | A | B | C | +-----+-----+-----+ | -7 | +88 | +19 | +-----+-----+-----+ | -95 | +95 | +26 | | -26 | +69 | -69 | +-----+-----+-----+ |-121 |+164 | -43 | +-----+-----+-----+ The same method may be used when four play; but some prefer to call the lowest score zero, and so make all the others plus. Suppose the final scores were as follows: ------+------+------+------------ A | B | C | D ------+------+------+------------ +186 | +42 | +344 | +116 ------+------+------+------------ +144 | 0 | +302 | +74 = 520 +4 | 4 | 4 | 4 ------+------+------+------------ +576 | 0 |+1208 | +296 -520 | -520 | -520 | -520 ------+------+------+------------ +56 | -520 | +688 | -224 ------+------+------+------------ If B is zero, his points are to be taken from those of each of the others, as B is plus. If the low score is a minus, the points must be added to each of the others. The three totals are added, and found, in this case, to be 520, which is the total of B’s loss. We now multiply the scores by the number of players engaged, in this case four, and from the product we deduct the 520 already found. Then the scores balance. When Skat is played for the League stake, which is one-fourth of a cent a point, the results may be found in a still shorter way by adding up all the scores and taking an average, this average being the sum divided by the number of players. Take the results just given for example:-- ------+------+------+--------------------- A | B | C | D ------+------+------+--------------------- 186 | 42 | 344 | 116 = 688 ÷ 4 = 172 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 ------+------+------+--------------------- +14 | -130 | +172 | -56 ------+------+------+--------------------- The average is simply deducted from each score, and the remainder is the amount won or lost, in cents. _=CHEATING.=_ As in all games in which the cards are dealt in groups, the greek will find many opportunities in Skat.
He cannot enter the man on the five-point, because it is covered by the enemy: so he must enter upon the deuce point, which is not covered, and must move some other man five points for the throw upon the other die. If both the five and deuce points were covered, Black could not enter on either of them, and as he cannot play until the man on the bar is entered, the throw would be lost, and he would have to wait until his adversary threw and moved in his turn. If two men are upon the bar, both must be entered before any man can be moved. A man may enter and hit a blot at the same time. If a player could get his men round the board without any of them being hit, seventy-seven points on the dice thrown would bring them all home; but as every man hit has to start all over again from his adversary’s home table, it may take a great many throws to get all the men home. For this reason it is obvious that each player should leave as few blots as possible, in order to save his men from being hit; and at the same time he should strive to cover as many points as possible, in order to prevent his adversary from moving round the board freely. It is still more important to cover points in the home table, so that when an adverse man is hit he will have fewer points upon which to enter. It is, of course, unnecessary to say that one can always enter or play on points covered by his own men. [Illustration: +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ | |⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|| | | | | | | | |⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|| | | | | | | | | | |⛀| |⛀|| | | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂ || | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | |⛂|⛂| || | | | | | | |⛂|⛀|⛂|⛂|⛂| || | | | | | | |⛂|⛀|⛂|⛂|⛂| || | | | | |⛀| +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ ] _=Throwing Off.=_ When either player has succeeded in getting all his men home, he removes them from the board two or four at a time, according to the throws of the dice, provided he has men on the points in his home table corresponding to the numbers thrown.
Knight Player, one who can give the odds of a Knight to weak players, at Chess. Last Trick, an expression used to distinguish the last trick when all the cards are played from the last when all the cards are not played, especially in Bézique and Sixty-six. Last Turn, the three cards left in the box at the end of the deal at Faro, the order of which may be bet upon. Lead, to play the first card in any trick. Levée, F., a trick. (Tric, is the odd trick.) Liées, F., to play rubbers. Limit, the amount by which one player may increase his bet over that of another.
--Symondsbury (_Folk-lore Journal_, vi. 212). Jack lost his supper last night, And the night before; if he does again to-night, He never will no more--more--more--more. I wrote a letter to my love, And on the way I dropt it; Some of you have picked it up, And got it in your pocket--pocket--pocket--pocket. I have a little dog, it won t bite you-- It won t bite you--it won t bite you-- It _will_ bite you. --Leicestershire (Miss Ellis). The Forest of Dean version is the same as the Dorsetshire, except that the child who is unsuccessful in gaining the vacant place has to stand in the middle of the ring until the same thing happens to another child.--Miss Matthews. In Nottinghamshire the children form in a ring; one walks round outside the ring singing and carrying a handkerchief: I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropt it; One of you has picked it up and put it in your pocket. It isn t you, it isn t you, &c.
This is called keppan the ba . If they succeed in this attempt, the player who does so is entitled to throw the ball with all his might towards his antagonists. If he kep it in the first bound which it makes off the ground, called a stot, he is allowed to haunch, that is, to throw the ball by bringing his hand with a sweep past his thigh, to which he gives a stroke as his hand passes, and discharging the ball at the moment when the stroke is given. If the ball be caught in the second bounce, the catcher may hoch the ball, that is, throw it through below one of his houghs. If none of the party catch the ball, it must be gowf t in the manner before described. As soon as either of the parties succeed in driving the ball, or, as it is called, hailin the dules, the game then begins by one of the party which was successful throwing the ball towards the opposing goal and the other party striving to drive it back. Hand in and Hand out A game played by a company of young people who are drawn up in a circle, when one of them, pitched upon by lot, walks round the band, and, if a boy, hits a girl, or, if a girl, she strikes a boy whom she chooses, on which the party striking and the party struck run in pursuit of each other till the latter is caught, whose lot it then becomes to perform the same part. A game so called was forbidden by statute of Edward IV.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. See Drop Handkerchief.