Kiss in the Ring. Kit-cat. Kit-cat-cannio. Kittlie-cout. Knapsack. Knights. Knocked at the Rapper. Knor and Spell. LAB. Lady of the Land.
A good memory is necessary to play this game well, as it is very important to recall who has asked for certain cards, and which players were unable to supply them. It is a legitimate artifice in the game to ask for a card you already have in your own hand, although you know it will lose your guess, because it may be the only way to prevent another player from drawing several valuable cards from you. For instance: You hold the Fives of diamonds and spades, and have asked for and received the Five of clubs. If you ask for the heart Five, and miss it, the player with that card may draw all yours; but if you ask for the spade Five, and he gets into the ask, he will at once betray the fact that he holds the fourth Five by asking you for the club Five; but he will never think of asking you for the spade Five, because you asked for it yourself. If you can get into the ask again you can immediately make a trick in Fives. SPECULATION. Any number of persons less than ten can play, each contributing an agreed number of counters to the pool, the dealer paying double. The full pack of fifty-two cards is used, and the cards rank from the A K Q down to the 2. In _=dealing=_, the cards are distributed from left to right, one at a time, until each player has received three. The next card on the top of the pack is turned up, and the suit to which it belongs is the trump, and forms the basis of speculation for that deal.
The _=b=_ and _=c=_ teams score a half match; so do the _=c=_ and _=e=_ teams. [Illustration: +-----+----+----+----+----+----++-------+------+ |Teams| a | b | c | d | e ||Matches|Tricks| +-----+----+----+----+----+----++-------+------+ | a | \ | +5 | -1 | +1 | +4 || 3 | +9 | +-----+----+----+----+----|----++-------+------+ | b | -5 | \ | 0 | -1 | +2 || 1½ | -4 | +-----+----+----+----+----|----++-------+------+ | c | +1 | 0 | \ | -2 | 0 || 2 | -1 | +-----+----+----+----+----|----++-------+------+ | d | -1 | +1 | +2 | \ | -2 || 2 | 0 | +-----+----+----+----+----|----++-------+------+ | e | -4 | -2 | 0 | +2 | \ || 1½ | -4 | +-----+----+----+----+----+----++-------+------+ ] _=PAIR AGAINST PAIR.=_ This is the most interesting form of competition, especially for domestic parties, as the arrangement of the players will allow of great latitude in the number engaged, table after table being added as long as players offer to fill them. _=Two Pairs.=_ When only four players are engaged at a single table, the game is called Memory Duplicate; which is forbidden in all first-class clubs. The players retain their seats until they have played an agreed number of hands, which are laid aside one by one in trays. No trump is turned in Memory Duplicate; one suit being declared trumps for the entire sitting. Instead of the players changing positions for the overplay, the trays are reversed. If the indicators pointed N & S on the original deals, they must lie E & W for the overplay. [Illustration: A A +---------+ +---------+ | ^ | | | | | | | | B| | |B B| DE --- |B | | | AL | | DEALER| | ER | +---------+ +---------+ A A ORIGINAL POSITION OF TRAYS.
The starter is cut by the player on the dealer’s left, and the game proceeds as at six-card Cribbage, the eldest hand having the first show, the dealer the last. FOUR-HANDED CRIBBAGE. When four play, they cut for partners, choice of seats, and deal; the two lowest pairing against the two highest, and the lowest taking the first deal and crib. The game is usually 121 points up, or twice round the board, and only one player on each side keeps the score. Five cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, and one of these is discarded from each hand to form the crib, leaving four cards with which to play. The right-hand adversary of the dealer cuts for deal; the left-hand adversary for the starter. The eldest hand plays first, and all pairs, sequences, and fifteens are scored by the side making them. If a player says “go,” his left-hand neighbour must play, or pass the go to the next player on his left. In this way it may pass entirely round the table to the last player, who will then peg for it. At this game there is a great deal more in the play than in either hand or crib.
_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The successful bidder having disposed of the skat cards and announced his game, the Vorhand leads any card he pleases for the first trick. Vorhand should be careful not to lead until the player has laid out or discarded for the Skat in a Gucki or a Tourné. Players must follow suit if they can, but are not obliged to win the trick. Having none of the suit led, they may trump or discard at pleasure. The highest card played, if of the suit led, wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits. The winner of the first trick leads for the next, and so on, until all the cards have been played, or the game is acknowledged as won or lost, and abandoned. In a Grand, if a Jack is led, players must follow suit with the other Jacks, they being trumps. _=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.