(_b_) Mr. Emslie, to whom I am indebted for the tune to this game, gives me the words as-- Jump a little nag-tail, One, two, three. He says, I once heard this sung three times, followed by Ha! ha! he! to the tune of the last bar. Mr. W. R. Emslie says the game is known at Beddgelert as Horses, Wild Horses, he believes, but is not quite certain. Northall (_Rhymes_, p. 401) describes a game very similar to this under Buck, in which the rhyme and method of play is the same as in that game. He continues, This is closely allied to a game called in Warwickshire Jack upon the Mopstick.
He must have the 2 3 8 and 10 all in his own hand to do this. Some players imagine that a player cannot increase his own build in this manner, even if he has both the cards for the first and last build; but there is no reason why a player should be denied a privilege which is freely granted to his adversary. If any player can legitimately make or increase a build, all may do so, provided they have the proper cards. _=Double Builds.=_ When two cards of the same denomination, or two builds of the same value are put together as one, they cannot be increased. For instance: A player holds 7 and 3, and there are upon the table a 5 2 and 4. He places his 3 on the 4, and gathers the 5 and 2 together, announcing the build as “Two Sevens.” This cannot be increased to 8, 9, or 10 under any circumstances, and nothing but a 7 will win it. Pairs may be doubled in the same manner. If a player has two Nines in his hand, and there is one on the table, he may build on the latter with one of his own, announcing, “Two Nines,” which will prevent any player from building either of them to 10, and will entitle the builder to take in both cards with his third Nine when it comes round to his turn.
_=Irregular Announcements.=_ Should a player announce four of a kind, having only three; as, for instance, laying down three Kings and a Jack, and declaring four Kings, his adversary can compel him not only to take down the score erroneously marked, but to lead or play one of the three Kings. A player may be called upon to lead or play cards from any other erroneous declarations in the same manner; but if the player has the right card or cards in his hand, he is permitted to amend his error, provided he has not drawn a card from the stock in the meantime. _=SCORING.=_ It is better to score all points as soon as they are made. The game is usually 1000 points. Some players do not count the brisques until the last trick has been played, but the practice is not to be recommended. Scores erroneously marked must be taken down, and the adversary may add the points to his own score. _=Suggestions for Good Play=_ will be found in Binocle. FOUR-HANDED BÉZIQUE.
Shortly after this, later in 1910, there developed a decided rebellion against the dealer’s monopoly of the make, and in order to allow any player at the table who held good cards to get the benefit of them, whether he was the dealer or not, bidding for the privilege of making the trump came into vogue. This was the starting point of auction, its chief difference from the older game being that only the side that made the highest bid for the declaration could score toward game. The full number of tricks bid had to be made, and if they were not made, the adversaries scored in the honour column for penalties, the penalty being always the same, regardless of the trump suit. The great disparity in the values of the suits as then played practically confined the bidding to the hearts and royal spades. This soon brought about another change, which was to raise the values of all the suits except spades and to cut down the no-trumper. This was done in 1912, and made it possible for any suit to go game on the hand. All the well known writers on whist and bridge came out with text-books on auction, and the newspapers took up the subject in weekly articles. Although to many the game now seemed perfect, there were those that felt the helplessness of weak hands to offer any defence in the bidding against a run of no-trumpers or hearts and royals. To remedy this, F.C.
All the Soldiers in the Town. Allicomgreenzie. Alligoshee. Almonds and Reasons. Angel and Devil. Auntieloomie. BABBITY Bowster. Bad. Baddin. Badger the Bear.
=_ The average expectation of the dealer is something over two trumps, including the turn-up. With more than two trumps, or with two strong trumps, and a reasonably certain trick in a plain suit, the dealer should take up the trump. Three trumps of any size and an ace in plain suits is a strong take-up hand. It is better to take up the trump with only one plain suit in the hand, and small trumps, than with two strong trumps and two weak plain suits. The score will often decide the dealer in taking up the trump. For instance: At 4 all, it is useless to turn anything down unless you have a certain euchre in the next suit, and nothing in the turn-up. Even then, the adversaries are almost certain to cross the suit and go out. With the score 3 all, the dealer should be very careful about taking up on a weak hand, because a euchre loses the game. If he is weak, but has a chance in the next suit, or a bower in the cross suits, he should turn it down. It is a common stratagem to turn it down for a euchre when the dealer is better in the next suit, and has only 2 to go.
Players should be careful not to fall into this trap in the end-game; and it is generally right to hold up the Ace if the circumstances are at all suspicious. _=Tenace Positions.=_ Many expert players will not lead away from a suit in which they hold tenace. Having two suits, one containing a tenace, and the other without it, they will select the latter, although it may be much weaker. It is noteworthy that players who disregard the value of holding a tenace in the opening lead, are well aware of its importance toward the end of the hand. When one player holds tenace over another, the end game often becomes a struggle to place the lead; and players frequently refuse to win tricks in order to avoid leading away from tenaces, or to compel another player to lead up to them. _=Underplay=_ is often resorted to by the Fourth Hand in suits in which the Third Hand has shown weakness. For instance: A small card is led; Third Hand playing the Ten, and Fourth Hand holding A Q J x. It is a common artifice to win with the Queen, and return the small card. When the original leader is underplayed in his own suit, he should invariably put up his best card.
If he discards too many cards, as the dealer frequently will by laying out five instead of three, he may take them back if he has not touched those in the stock, but if he touches any card in the stock, he must play with the short hand if there are not enough cards left in the stock to make his hand up to twelve. _=Irregular Drawing.=_ If the pone draws one of the three cards which properly belong to the dealer, he loses the game; and if the dealer draws any of the first five, before the pone has announced that he leaves them, the dealer loses the game. The dealer has no right to touch any part of the stock until the pone has discarded and drawn; but if the pone draws without making any announcement about leaving cards, the dealer has a right to assume that five cards have been taken, and that only three remain in the stock. For instance: The pone discards five cards, but draws four only, without saying anything. The dealer proceeds to discard and draw. He has of course taken one of the pone’s cards, but it is too late to remedy the error or claim a penalty, and the pone must play with eleven cards. It is evident that the dealer will have too many cards, but as he has been led into the error by his adversary, he must be allowed to discard to reduce his hand to twelve. If a player takes a card too many from the stock, he may replace it if he has not put it with the other cards in his hand. If he has seen it, he must show it to his adversary.
=_ In addition to the foregoing combinations, if all four cards in the hand are of the same suit the player can peg four points for the flush; if the starter is also the same suit, five points. A flush does not count in the crib unless the starter is the same suit, and then it counts five points. Flushes are never made in play. _=Laying Out for the Crib.=_ With this knowledge of the objects of game, and the various counting combinations, it will be seen that each player should keep the cards which count the most for him, or which are most likely to form good combinations with different starters. Suppose the non-dealer holds these cards:-- [Illustration: 🃖 🂧 🂨 🂸 🂩 🃚 ] If he puts the two Eights in his adversary’s crib, he not only gives him two very good cards, which go to form a great many valuable combinations, but he leaves himself absolutely nothing but 2 points for a single fifteen, formed by the 9 and 6. It would be a little better, but still very bad play, for him to discard the 8 and 6, leaving himself a sequence of four cards and a fifteen, 6 points altogether. He might do a little better by discarding the 10 and 8, leaving himself a run of four, and two fifteens, 8 points altogether. If he discards either the 10 and 9, or the 10 and 6, he will leave himself a double run of three, a pair, and two fifteens, 12 altogether. Of these two discards, that of the 10 and 6 is better than the 10 and 9, because the 10 and 9 might help to form a sequence in the adversary’s crib, whereas the 10 and 6 are so far apart that they are very unlikely to be of any use.
... 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. (2) The other player shall then choose which side of the field he will fight from. (3) The Country must be disturbed as little as possible in each move. Nothing in the Country shall be moved or set aside deliberately to facilitate the firing of guns. A player must not lie across the Country so as to crush or disturb the Country if his opponent objects.
FORMATION OF TABLE. 16. If there are more than four candidates, the players are selected by cutting; those first in the room having the preference. The four who cut the lowest cards play first, and cut again to decide on partners; the two lowest play against the two highest; the lowest is the dealer, who has choice of cards and seats, and, having once made his selection, must abide by it. 17. When there are more than six candidates, those who cut the two next lowest cards belong to the table, which is complete with six players; on the retirement of one of those six players, the candidate who cut the next lowest card has a prior right to any aftercomer to enter the table. CUTTING CARDS OF EQUAL VALUE. 18. Two players cutting cards of equal value, unless such cards are the two highest, cut again; should they be the two lowest, a fresh cut is necessary to decide which of those two deals. 19.
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. Until you can depend on yourself for this, you are not a good player. The last thirteen tricks are usually a problem in double-dummy; but the advantage will always be found to be with the player who has carefully prepared himself for the final struggle by preserving certain safe suits, and getting rid of those in which it became evident that his adversary had the small and safe cards. Some very pretty positions arise in the end game, it being often possible to foresee that four or five tricks must be played in a certain manner in order to ensure the lead being properly placed at the end, so that the odd hearts may be avoided. _=AUCTION HEARTS.=_ The cards having been cut and dealt, the player to the left of the dealer, whom we shall call A, examines his hand, and determines which suit he would prefer to play to get clear of. Let us suppose his hand to consist of the ♡ A K 8; ♣ J 6 5 4 3 2; ♢ K 4; and the ♠ 7 3. If the suit remains hearts, he is almost certain to take in a number; but if it is changed to clubs, he is almost as certain of getting clear. The hand is not absolutely safe, as hearts might be led two or three times before the clubs in the other hands were exhausted by the original leader, whose game would be to lead small clubs.
Pole, in 1861. No one knew whether “the last trick” was the absolute last, or the last before the stock was exhausted. Whether the highest or lowest cut dealt was also a matter of dispute. “Cavendish” got both these wrong in the first edition of his “Pocket Guide,” but corrected himself without explanation or apology in the second edition. It was then the custom of many players to attach no value to the trump suit until the stock was exhausted; so that until the last eight tricks there was no such thing as trumping a trick in order to win it. Disputes also arose as to counting double combinations, many contending that a double marriage should be as valuable as a double bézique. Time and experience have finally settled all these points, and the rules of the game are now practically uniform in all countries. BÉZIQUE, OR SIXTY-FOUR-CARD BINOCLE. There are two forms of Bézique in common use; the ordinary game, which will be first described, and the variation known as Rubicon Bézique, which is to Bézique proper what Railroad Euchre is to Euchre. _=CARDS.
If he wishes to exchange, he must place his five cards face upward on the table, and take up the widow, but without showing it to any other player. The hand he abandons then becomes the widow. If he prefers to draw to his hand, he says: “_=I pass=_,” which transfers to the next player the option of taking the widow. If he wishes to stand on the merits of the hand dealt to him, without drawing to it, he _=knocks=_ on the table, which also passes the option of taking the widow to the next player on his left. If any player takes the widow, the next player on his left can do any one of three things: He may discard from his own hand any card he pleases, taking one from the widow in its stead; the card which he discards being placed on the table face upward, and becoming part of the widow; or he may exchange his entire hand for the widow; or he may stand on the hand dealt him, and knock. Whether he draws one card, exchanges his entire hand, or knocks, the next player on his left has the option of drawing, exchanging, or knocking; and so on, until some player does knock. Should no player take the widow until it comes to the dealer’s turn, he must either take it, or turn it face upward on the table. Even if the dealer knocks, he must turn up the widow, and allow each player an opportunity to draw from it, or to exchange his entire hand for it. When a player knocks, he signifies that no matter what the players following him may do, when it comes to his turn again the hands must be shown. A player cannot draw and knock at the same time; but a player can refuse to draw or exchange after another player has knocked, not before.
If any player stands, he asks for the 3 of any suit he pleases, and if either adversary holds it, he must give it up. If it is in the stock, the player cannot ask for any other card. If he has all four 3’s in his hand he may ask for a 2, but for no lower card. The adversary giving the card asked for must receive a card in exchange from the hand of the single player, but this card must not be shown to the other adversary. _=Discarding.=_ Having given a card in exchange for the 3 asked for, the single player must discard at least one more card, face downward on the table, and he may discard as many as four. The four cards remaining in the stock are then turned face up, and the single player may select from them as many cards as he has discarded; but he is not allowed to amend his discard in any way. The cards he does not take, if any, are turned down again, and are placed with his discards, forming a stock of four cards, which must not be seen or touched until the last card is played, when it becomes the property of the side that wins the last trick, and any counting cards it may contain are reckoned for that side. _=Playing.=_ The discards settled, the eldest hand leads any card he pleases, and the others must follow suit if they can, but no one is obliged to win a trick if he has a smaller card of the suit led, and does not want the lead.
CUTTING. 13. The Ace is the lowest card. 14. In all cases, every one must cut from the same pack. 15. Should a player expose more than one card, he must cut again. FORMATION OF TABLE. 16. If there are more than four candidates, the players are selected by cutting; those first in the room having the preference.
I have been told instances of this. Gregor, in _Folk-lore of East of Scotland_, p. 52, describes the Scottish box-bed. The truckle bed and footman s bed probably refers to the small bed under a large one, which was only pulled out at night for use, and pushed under during the day. Illustrations of these beds and the children s bed are given in old tales. The proximity of the pig-sty to the house is manifest. The mention of washing-tubs calls to mind the large wooden tubs formerly always used for the family wash. Before the era of laundresses washing-tubs must have constituted an important part of the family plenishing. Washing in the rivers and streams was also a thing of frequent occurrence, hot water for the purpose of cleansing clothes not being considered necessary, or in many cases desirable. Chambers gives a version of the game (_Popular Rhymes_, p.
When we played this game we said always genteel after genteel lady, and varied the formula. 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.
V EXTENSIONS AND AMPLIFICATIONS OF LITTLE WAR Now that battle of Hook s Farm is, as I have explained, a simplification of the game, set out entirely to illustrate the method of playing; there is scarcely a battle that will not prove more elaborate (and eventful) than this little encounter. If a number of players and a sufficiently large room can be got, there is no reason why armies of many hundreds of soldiers should not fight over many square yards of model country. So long as each player has about a hundred men and three guns there is no need to lengthen the duration of a game on that account. But it is too laborious and confusing for a single player to handle more than that number of men. Moreover, on a big floor with an extensive country it is possible to begin moving with moves double or treble the length here specified, and to come down to moves of the ordinary lengths when the troops are within fifteen or twelve or ten feet of each other. To players with the time and space available I would suggest using a quite large country, beginning with treble moves, and, with the exception of a select number of cavalry scouts, keeping the soldiers in their boxes with the lids on, and moving the boxes as units. (This boxing idea is a new one, and affords a very good substitute for the curtain; I have tried it twice for games in the open air where the curtain was not available.) Neither side would, of course, know what the other had in its boxes; they might be packed regiments or a mere skeleton force. Each side would advance on the other by double or treble moves behind a screen of cavalry scouts, until a scout was within ten feet of a box on the opposite side. Then the contents of that particular box would have to be disclosed and the men stood out.
In the first place, luck attaches to persons and not to things. It is useless for an unlucky man to change the seats or the cards, for no matter which he chooses the personal equation of good or bad luck adhering to him for the time being cannot be shaken off. In the second place, all men are lucky in some things, and not in others; and they are lucky or unlucky in those things at certain times and for certain seasons. This element of luck seems to come and go like the swell of the ocean. In the lives of some men the tide of fortune appears to be a long steady flood, without a ripple on the surface. In others it rises and falls in waves of greater or lesser length; while in others it is irregular in the extreme; splashing choppy seas to-day; a storm to-morrow that smashes everything; and then calm enough to make ducks and drakes with the pebbles on the shore. In the lives of all the tide of fortune is uncertain; for the man has never lived who could be sure of the weather a week ahead. In the nature of things this must be so, for if there were no ups and downs in life, there would be no such things as chance and luck, and the laws of probability would not exist. The greatest fallacy in connection with luck is the belief that certain men _are_ lucky, whereas the truth is simply that they _have been_ lucky up to that time. They have succeeded so far, but that is no guarantee that they will succeed again in any matter of pure chance.
As soon as either side reaches or passes 30, they win the game; but the hand must be played out, and all tricks taken must be counted. The total is written on the score-sheet; the score of the losers standing to their credit until the final accounting at the end of the rubber. _=RUBBERS.=_ Three games, of 30 points each, constitute a rubber; but if the first two are won by the same players, the third is not played. The side winning the majority of the games adds 100 (rubber) points to its score. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ The points which the beginner may profitably study in Bridge are chiefly in making the trump, and in the methods by which the hands of the partners are combined, so as to work together. _=Making the Trump.=_ The bridge player’s first consideration should be the state of the score, which will show how many points he needs to win the game. Let us suppose this number to be 12, he having already scored 18.