Gathering nuts away also occurs in one version from Newbury (Berks), Nuts and May appearing in the larger number after the more usual Nuts in May. In only one version is a specific place mentioned for the gathering. This is in the Bocking version, where Galloway Hill is named, in reply to the unusual question, Where do you gather your nuts in May? A player is usually gathered for Nuts in May. In three or four cases only is this altered to gathering a player s nuts away, which is obviously an alteration to try and make the action coincide exactly with the words. The game is always played in lines, and the principal incidents running throughout all the versions are the same, _i.e._, one player is selected by one line of players from their opponents party. The selected one is refused by her party unless some one from the opposite side can effect her capture by a contest of strength. In all versions but two or three this contest takes place between the two; in one or two all the players join in the trial of strength. In another instance there appears to be no contest, but the selected player crosses over to the opposite side.
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_=Abandoned Hands.=_ If the single player finds he has overbid himself, or sees that he cannot make as good a game as bid, he may abandon his hand to save himself from being made schneider or schwarz, provided he does so before he plays to the second trick. A Solo cannot be abandoned in this manner, as the rule is made only to allow a player to get off cheaply who has been unlucky in finding nothing in the Skat to suit his hand. For instance: A player has risked a Tourné with a missing suit, and turns up that suit. He can abandon his hand at once, losing his bid or the next higher game, but escaping schneider. _=Irregularities in the Hands.=_ If, during the play of a hand, any person is found to have too many or too few cards, the others having their right number, it is evident that there has been no misdeal if the pack is perfect and there are two cards in the Skat. If the player in error has too few cards, probably from having dropped one on the floor, or having played two cards to the same trick, he loses in any case, but the adversary may demand to have the hand played out in order to try for schneider or schwarz, and the last trick, with the missing card, must be considered as having been won by the side not in fault. If the player in fault is opposed to the single player, his partner suffers with him. If the player discovers his loss, he is not allowed to pick the card from the floor and replace it in his hand if he has in the meantime played to a trick with a wrong number of cards.
6). When I played at this game the ring of children walked in silence three times only round Buff, then stopped and knelt or stooped down on the ground, strict silence being observed. Buff asked three questions (anything he chose) of the child to whom he pointed the stick, who replied by imitating cries of animals or birds (A. B. Gomme). (_c_) This is a well-known game. It is also called Buffy Gruffy, or Indian Buff. The Dorsetshire version in _Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 238, 239, is the same as the Shropshire version. Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, cclxxxii.
This very popular round game derives its name from the fact that the first card led or “pitched” is the trump suit, and that the privilege of pitching it belongs to the eldest hand, who may sell it out to the highest bidder. The number of _=cards=_ and their rank is the same as at Seven-up; A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2, the ace being the highest in cutting and in play. _=Players.=_ Any number from four to seven may play, each for himself; five is considered the best game. The players cut for choice of seats, the highest cut taking the first choice and the deal. _=Counters.=_ Each player should be provided with seven white counters to mark the game. If stakes are played for, red counters are used to make up the pool, one player acting as the banker to sell and redeem all red counters. _=Dealing.=_ Six cards are dealt to each player, three at a time, but no trump is turned.
If any player in his proper turn says, “I doubt it,” the three cards are at once turned face up. If the statement is not correct, the three cards are at once taken back into the player’s hand, together with all the cards lying face down in the centre of the table at the time. Should the statement turn out to be true, the player who doubted it must take the three jacks and all the cards on the table. That settled, the next player to the left lays out three cards and announces that they are three of a kind of something or other, each player to the left passing or doubting it. If no one questions the correctness of a statement, no explanation is given by the player who laid out the cards. He simply pushes them to the centre of the table with the others, face down. If he shows them, or any one of them, as some may do in a spirit of bravado, he must take all three back into his hand and all on the table with them. The object of doubting is simply to prevent a player from getting rid of three cards, but toward the end of the game one must be careful, as triplets are gradually gathered for that stage. If any player has less than three cards in his hand when it comes to his turn to lay down, he must draw from the table, face down, enough to make three. He may look at what he draws before announcing.