I m coming! --_Reliquary_, viii. 57. The words are said by the one who has to find the person hidden. In Scotland the game is called Hospy, and is played by boys only, and it can be played only in a village or hamlet in which there is the means of hiding. A Spy is chosen, and a spot, called Parley, is fixed upon at which the Spy stands till all the other players are hid, and to which he can run when pursued. When the players are hid, the cry, Hospy, _i.e._, Ho! spy! is raised by them. The Spy then sets out to find them. The moment he detects one he turns and runs with all his might to the Parley, pursued by the one he has discovered.
--Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford). See Wolf. Giddy Giddy, giddy, gander, Who stands yonder? Little Bessy Baker, Pick her up and shake her; Give her a bit of bread and cheese, And throw her over the water. --Warwickshire. _(b)_ A girl being blindfolded, her companions join hands and form a ring round her. At the word Yonder the blindfolded girl points in any direction she pleases, and at line three names one of the girls. If the one pointed at and the one named be the same, she is the next to be blinded; but, curiously enough, if they be not the same, the one named is the one. Meanwhile, at line four, she is not picked up, but is shaken by the shoulders by the still blindfolded girl; and at line five she is given by the same bread and cheese, _i.e.
... Primitive attempts to realise the dream were interrupted by a great rustle and chattering of lady visitors. They regarded the objects upon the floor with the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things. But the writer had in those days a very dear friend, a man too ill for long excursions or vigorous sports (he has been dead now these six years), of a very sweet companionable disposition, a hearty jester and full of the spirit of play. To him the idea was broached more fruitfully. We got two forces of toy soldiers, set out a lumpish Encyclopaedic land upon the carpet, and began to play. We arranged to move in alternate moves: first one moved all his force and then the other; an infantry-man could move one foot at each move, a cavalry-man two, a gun two, and it might fire six shots; and if a man was moved up to touch another man, then we tossed up and decided which man was dead. So we made a game, which was not a good game, but which was very amusing once or twice.
He is not then allowed to call any cards his adversaries may have exposed, nor to take any finesse not previously proved a winner unless he announce it when making his claim. 73. If a player who has rendered himself liable to have the highest or lowest of a suit called (Laws 80, 86, and 92) fail to play as directed, or if, when called on to lead one suit, he lead another, having in his hand one or more cards of the suit demanded (Laws 66, 76, and 93), or if, when called upon to win or lose a trick, he fail to do so when he can (Laws 71, 80, and 92), or if, when called upon not to play a suit, he fail to play as directed (Laws 65 and 66), he is liable to the penalty for revoke (Law 84) unless such play be corrected before the trick be turned and quitted. 74. A player cannot be compelled to play a card which would oblige him to revoke. 75. The call of an exposed card may be repeated until it be played. LEADS OUT OF TURN. 76. If either adversary of the declarer’s lead out of turn, the declarer may either treat the card so led as exposed or may call a suit as soon as it is the turn of either adversary to lead.
When _=rubbers=_ are played, it is usual to make the stake so much a rubber point. If the winners of the game are five points to their adversaries’ nothing, they win a _=treble=_, and count three rubber points. If the losers have scored one or two points only, the winners mark two points for a _=double=_. If the losers have reached three or four, the winners mark one for a _=single=_. The side winning the rubber adds two points to its score for so doing; so that the largest rubber possible is one of eight points;--two triples to nothing, and two added for the rubber. The smallest possible is one point;--two singles and the rubber, against a triple. If the first two games are won by the same partners, the third is not played. _=DEALING.=_ Any player has the right to shuffle the cards, the dealer last. The pack must be presented to the pone to be cut, and he must leave at least four cards in each packet.
|night. | |27.|Suppose the man should|If the man should fall| -- | | |fall asleep. |asleep. | | |28.| -- | -- | -- | |29.| -- | -- |What has this poor | | | | |prisoner done? | |30.| -- | -- |Stole my watch and | | | | |broke my chain. | |31.| -- | -- | -- | |32.
141) suggests that this incident was introduced for the purpose of beginning the game again, but this seems extremely doubtful, in consideration of the Liphook variant, in which Miss Fowler says, It is no uncommon thing for Jenny Jones to be swung into life again; and the still more significant Southampton version, where Jenny Jones appears in the character of the Ghost, and scatters and pursues the surrounding mourners. This detail is also used by the Northants and Barnes children, the version of whose game is very like the Southampton one. On the whole, the analysis would suggest that there has been a game played by the children of both England and Scotland, the leading incidents of which have been varied in accordance with the conditions of life. Mr. Napier (_Folk-lore Record_, iv. 474), in his description of the West Scotland example, evidently considered the game to be thoroughly representative of Scottish life, and this, indeed, seems to be the most striking feature of the game in all the variants. The domestic economy which they reveal is in no case out of keeping with the known facts of everyday peasant life, and many a mother has denied to her child s friends the companionship they desired because of the work to be done. In most cases the burden of the song rests upon the question of health, but in two cases, namely, Colchester and Deptford, the question is put as to where Jenny Jones is at the time of the visit. It is curious that the refrain of Farewell, ladies, should appear in such widely separated districts as Scotland, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Middlesex, Hants, Lincoln, and Barnes. With reference to the colours for mourning, there is an obvious addition of crape introduced into the Deptford version which is very suggestive of the decadence going on.
The Block Game will be described first. _=THE BLOCK GAME.=_ Each player draws seven dominoes, and the one whose turn it is to set lays down any domino he pleases. If a good player, he will select one of his longest suit, especially if he has three or more, and his object will be to get the line back to his suit as often as possible. If a player had to set with the hand of dominoes shown in the foregoing diagram, he would select the 5-0, because he has four of the 5 suit, and three of the 0 suit. This would compel his adversary to play some domino having upon it a 5 or a 0. 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.
After deducting the revoke penalty, 3 tricks, the callers still have 8 tricks left, enough to make good the call. They each lose a red counter; but no white ones, having saved their over-tricks. Had they taken only 8 tricks altogether, the penalty for the revoke would have left them only 5, and they would each have had to pay one red and three whites. If either adversary of the callers revokes, the individual player in fault must pay for all the consequences of the error. If the player in fault can show that the callers would have won in spite of the revoke, his partners must pay their share; but the revoking player must settle for the three tricks lost by the revoke. For instance: Z calls solo; A revokes; Z makes 6 tricks, which it can be shown he must have done in spite of the revoke. A, Y, and B each pay Z 1 red and 1 white counter, and then A pays Z 9 white counters in addition for the tricks taken as revoke penalty. If the single player revokes, either on solo or abundance, he loses the red counters involved, and must pay whatever white counters are due after three of his tricks have been added to those of the adversaries as penalty for the revoke. For instance: A calls solo, and revokes, but wins 6 tricks in all. He pays two red counters to each adversary.
Do not assist your partner’s suit bids with less than three tricks if second hand over-calls. _=Fourth Hand=_ bids on the bidding much more than on his cards. He should never take the dealer out of a spade that both second and third hand have passed unless he can go game. If the dealer bids a losing suit, second and third hands passing, leave him in unless you can go game and are not afraid of a shift. If the dealer bids a winning suit, second and third hands passing, make any sound declaration. If the dealer starts with no trumps, show any suit that might save the game if led at once by your partner. _=Subsequent Bids.=_ Any suit bid on the second round but not on the first, shows length without the tops. When a winning suit is taken out by the partner, a losing suit bid on the second round shows tops in it. Any suit rebid on the second round, without waiting for the partner’s assistance, shows six or seven sure tricks in hand.
, three cards of the same denomination. Brelan Carré, F., four cards of the same denomination. Bringing in a Suit, making tricks in a plain suit after the adverse trumps are exhausted. Brûler, F., to burn a card. Bûche, F., cards that count for nothing, such as the tens and court cards in Baccara; equivalent to the G. Ladons, or Fehlkarten. Bucking the Tiger, playing against the bank at Faro.
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. The cards are dealt by twos and threes until each has ten, two cards remaining for the talon. The dealer may lay out any two cards in exchange for these, but no other player is allowed to touch them, nor to see the discards. The elder hand makes the first declarations. He makes repic and counts 90 if he can reach 20 without playing a card; and he makes pic, 60, if he can reach 20 in hand and play, under the same conditions as in the game for two players. The majority of tricks counts 10; if it is a tie, each counts 5.
=_ If the striker, while taking aim, inquire which is the ball he ought to play at, and should be misinformed by the marker or by any of the company, he does not lose a life. His ball must in this case be replaced and the stroke played again. _=12.=_ When a ball or balls touch the striker’s ball, or are in line between it and the ball he has to play at, so that it will prevent him hitting _any part of the object-ball_, such ball or balls must be taken up until the stroke be played, and, after the balls have ceased running, they must be replaced. _=13.=_ If a ball or balls are in the way of a striker’s cue, so that he cannot play at his ball, he can have them taken up. _=14.=_ When the striker _takes_ a life, he continues to play on as long as he can pocket a ball, or until the balls are all off the table, in which latter case he places his own ball on the spot as at the commencement. _=15.=_ The first player who loses his three lives is entitled to purchase, or _star_, by paying into the pool a sum equal to his original stake, for which he receives lives equal in number to the lowest number of lives on the board.
Thimble s not big enough. Wash by the river side. Suppose the things should float away? Get a boat and go after them. Suppose the boat should be upset? Then you ll be drowned, Drowned, drowned, Then you ll be drowned, And a good job too. --Enborne, Berks. (Miss M. Kimber). XI. Please, mother, buy me a milk-can, A milk-can, a milk-can, Please, mother, do. Where s the money coming from, Coming from, coming from, What shall I do? Sell father s feather bed, Feather bed, feather bed, Please mother, do.
H. Low). This game belongs apparently to the ball games used for purposes of divination. Mr. Newell (_Games_, p. 181) describes a similar game to this, in which the player whose name is called drops the ball; he must pick it up as quickly as possible while the rest scatter. He then calls Stand! upon which the players halt, and he flings it at whom he pleases. If he misses his aim, he must place himself in a bent position with his hands against a wall until every player has taken a shot at him. The idea of naming children after the days of the week occurs also in the games of Gipsy, Witch, and Mother, Mother, the Pot boils over. See Ball, Burly Whush, Keppy Ball.
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=_ In all games it must be assumed that the player’s intentions are honest, and that any errors that arise are committed through inadvertence. Some of our law-makers have attempted so to adjust their codes as to provide against the manœuvres of the blackleg. This is simply impossible. Laws are made for gentlemen, and when it is obvious that a player does not belong to that class the remedy is not to appeal to the laws of the game for protection, but to decline to play with him. _=Etiquette.=_ It should be quite unnecessary to legislate against acts which annoy or do injustice to individuals, but there should be some provision in the laws of every game which will secure to each individual equal rights with others in the enjoyment of the game. Some games are especially selfish; Boston, for instance, in which the four players originally forming the table may monopolise the game for the entire evening, without offering newcomers any chance to cut in. All such games should be limited to a certain number of tournées, at the conclusion of which fresh candidates should be allowed to cut into the table. Technical Terms. G.
Don’t get discouraged, you can learn. Any able-bodied person, with ordinary nerve and a good eye, can become quite expert with little practice. Don’t let an alley owner use pins that are worn out. Don’t think you can sandpaper a ball without injuring it. It takes an expert mechanic to true up a lignum-vitæ ball. Don’t lay a lignum-vitæ ball away DRY, if you don’t want it to crack. GENERAL LAWS, FOR ALL CARD GAMES. Very few games have their own code of laws, and only one or two of these have the stamp of any recognised authority. In minor games, questions are continually arising which could be easily settled if the players were familiar with a few general principles which are common to the laws of all games, and which might be considered as the basis of a general code of card laws. The most important of these principles are as follows:-- _=Players.
All balls pocketed on the opening stroke count for the player, and it is not necessary for him to call the numbers of the balls he intends pocketing before making the opening stroke. _=3.=_ Before making any other stroke except the opening stroke the player must _distinctly_ call the number of the ball he intends to pocket, but he need not designate the particular pocket into which he intends to put it. Unless he calls the ball pocketed it does not count for him, and must be placed on the deep-red spot, or if that be occupied, as nearly below it as possible. The player loses his hand but does not forfeit any points, and the next player plays. Should he call more than one ball he must pocket all the balls he calls, otherwise none of them can be counted for him. _=4.=_ After the opening stroke each player must either pocket a ball, make an _object_-ball strike a cushion, or the cue-ball strike a cushion after contact with an object-ball, under penalty of forfeiture of three points. Three forfeitures in succession loses the game for the player making them. _=5.
_=CUTTING.=_ The player cutting the highest écarté card deals the first hand, and has the choice of seats and cards. If a person exposes more than one card in cutting, the lowest is taken to be his cut. If he does not cut, or will not show his cut, he loses the first deal. _=STAKES.=_ Écarté is played for so much a game. If the gallery is betting, all money offered must be placed on the table, and if the bets are not taken by the players, they may be covered by the opposing gallery. _=DEALING.=_ It is usual for the dealer to invite his adversary to shuffle the cards, but if two packs are used this is not necessary. The dealer must shuffle the pack and present it to his adversary to be cut.
In Nullo, every trick over the book is counted by the adversaries. Players cannot count out by honours alone; they must win the odd trick or stop at the score of nine. If one side goes out by cards, the other cannot score honours. The rubber is won by the side that first wins four games of ten points each. The value of the rubber is determined by adding 8 points to the winners’ score for tricks, honours, and slams, and then deducting the score of the losers. In _=Solo Whist=_, the game is complete in one deal, and the value of it is determined by the player’s success or failure in his undertaking, and must be settled for at the end of the hand, according to the table of payments. FORMING THE TABLE. 2. Those first in the room have the preference. If, by reason of two or more arriving at the same time, more than four assemble, the preference among the last comers is determined by cutting, a lower cut giving the preference over all cutting higher.
_=The English Game.=_ When the players count double and triple games, it is not an uncommon thing to play for the gammon, especially against inferior adversaries, or when one gets a decided advantage at the start. The first thing is to secure your own or your adversary’s five point, or both, and if you succeed in that you should play a very forward game, and endeavour to gammon your opponent. After the five-points, secure your bar point, so as to prevent your opponent from “running” with double sixes. Some players think the bar point better than the five point, but it must be remembered that points in the home table are usually better than any outside. If you get the five and bar points made up, try for the four point, and after that you may take some risks to get your men home, and do not take up your opponent’s men if you are ahead of him, because they may give you trouble when they re-enter in your home table. _=The American Game.=_ When a gammon or backgammon counts you nothing more if you win it, and costs you nothing more if you lose it, the tactics of the game are entirely changed. It is folly to take any risks for the sake of a gammon, and any plays which leave unnecessary blots are very bad; for which reason the three throws shown in the foregoing diagram would be absurd in the American game. On the other hand, you may risk being gammoned, or even backgammoned, if it is the only way to save the game.
There were nine sets of tricks. First One-ers (of which there were five in the set), then Two-ers (two in set), Three-ers (three in set), Four-ers (four in set), Four Squares (four in set), Trotting Donkeys (eight in set, I believe), Fly-catchers (six or seven in set), Magic (five in set), and Magic Fly-catchers (five in set). One-ers is played thus:--The five stones are thrown into the air and caught on the back of the hand. If all are caught they are simply tossed up again and caught in the hollow of the hand, but if any are not caught they have to be picked up, one by one, another stone being at the same time thrown into the air and caught with the one picked up in the hand. Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers, are played in the same way, except that the stones not caught on the back of the hand have to be arranged in twos, threes, and fours respectively by the hand on which the caught stones are lying meanwhile, and then each lot has to be picked up altogether. If the number that fall when the stones are first thrown up won t allow of this, the player has to drop the required number (but no more) from his hand. In Magic the play is just the same as in One-ers, except that instead of only throwing up a single stone and catching it as the others are in turn picked up, the whole number, except those remaining to be picked up, are thrown and caught. In Four Squares, four of the stones are arranged in a square, each of them is then picked up, whilst the remaining stone is flung upwards and caught; the one picked up is then tossed up, and the one originally tossed up is put down in the place of the other, which is caught as it descends, and the process repeated all round the square. Trotting Donkeys is similarly played, except that the four stones are arranged in a line--not in a square--and I believe there is some other slight difference, but I forget what. Fly-catchers is played like One-ers, except that the stone thrown into the air while the others are being picked up, is not simply caught by being allowed to fall into the hand, but by an outward movement of the hand is _pounced on_, hawk-fashion, from above.
Properly speaking, Poker is not the founder, but simply the most famous representative of a very ancient and always very popular family of games, all of which can be traced to one source, the old French game of Gilet, which was undoubtedly of Italian origin, perhaps a variety of Primero. Gilet we find changed to Brelan in the time of Charles IX., and although Brelan is no longer played, the word is still used in all French games to signify triplets, and “brelan-carré” is the common French term for four of a kind in _le poker Américain_. From Brelan we trace the French games of Bouillotte, and Ambigu, and the English game of Brag; but the game of poker, as first played in the United States, five cards to each player from a twenty-card pack, is undoubtedly the Persian game of _as nas_. The peculiar and distinguishing characteristic of Poker we find well described by Seymour, in his chapter on “Brag,” in the “Court Gamester,” 1719: “The endeavour to impose on the judgment of the rest who play, and particularly on the person who chiefly offers to oppose you, by boasting or bragging of the cards in your hand. Those who by fashioning their looks and gestures, can give a proper air to their actions, as will so deceive an unskilful antagonist, that sometimes a pair of fives, trays or deuces, in such a hand, with the advantage of his composed countenance, and subtle manner of over-awing the other, shall out-brag a much greater hand, and win the stakes, with great applause and laughter on his side from the whole company.” Quite a number of card games retain the feature of pairs, triplets, sequences, and flushes, but omit the element of brag or bluff, and can therefore hardly be considered full-blooded members of the poker family. Whiskey Poker, for instance, has really little or nothing in common with the true spirit of poker, and is simply the very ancient game of Commerce, played with five cards instead of three. The descriptions of this game in the earliest Hoyles betray its French origin; particularly in the use of the piquet pack; the French custom of cutting to the left and dealing to the right; and the use of the words “brelan,” and “tricon.” In later descriptions of the “new form” of Commerce, about 1835, we find 52 cards are used, and dealt from left to right, and the names of the combinations are changed to “pairs-royal,” “sequences,” and “flushes.
Should both fail, the nearest goes first. He may now lay his taw about the hole or fire at the other, on hitting which he counts another 10. He now goes for the hole again, and failing, lies where he happens to stop. If he misses, B. from his present position tries to get into the hole, and failing, lies still; but if he reaches the hole, he counts 10, and proceeds as A. had done. The one who first gets the 100 (or other number) now goes in for his pizings, which performance takes place thus:--The loser, so far, is lying about, and the winner goes back to drakes, and again tries to lodge in the hole; and if he succeeds, the game is up. If not, he lies still, and the loser tries for the hole; if he gets in he counts another 10, or if he should succeed in hitting the winner he scores his adversary s 100 to his own number, and then goes on for his pizings as the other had done. In failure of either securing the game thus, the process is repeated at drakes. When, however, the one who is on for his pizings manages to taw into the hole, the game is concluded.
Nederluddi_, p. 202). Nares says the simpler plan here represented (fig. 2), which he had also seen cut on small boards, is more like the game than the one referred to in the variorem notes of Shakespeare. [Illustration: Fig. 2.] Forby has, _Morris_, an ancient game, in very common modern use. In Shakespeare it is called nine men s _morris_, from its being played with nine men, as they were then, and still are called. We call it simply _morris_. Probably it took the name from a fancied resemblance to a dance, in the motions of the men.