When I had calmed down, I stepped through the door into the cool of the desert night. * * * * * The gravel on the built-up roof crunched in the darkness under my feet as I walked cautiously to the parapet and looked over its edge to the hunk of desert that stretched away toward Reno, out behind the motel. The third story, behind me, cut off the neon glare from the Strip and left the place in inky darkness. There was silence and invisibility out behind the motel. Feeling a little creaky about falling a couple stories to the ground, I lay down on my back on the narrow parapet, with my hands behind my head to soften the concrete a little, and looked straight up into the night sky. A dawdling August Perseid scratched a thin mark of light across the blackness. I heard a coyote howl. This was desert. This was peace. The dice and chuck-a-luck seemed ten thousand miles away.
This was desert. This was peace. The dice and chuck-a-luck seemed ten thousand miles away. I heard a sound. Gravel crunched dimly under another foot. Somebody had stepped invisibly onto the roof. It scared the daylights out of me, more so because I was flat on my back. Cautiously I turned my head toward the door I had come through. I could see the fuzzy redness of a cigarette in the dark. It brightened as the smoker took a drag.
Bad. Baddin. Badger the Bear. Bag o Malt. Ball. Ball and Bonnets. Ball in the Decker. Ball of Primrose. Baloon. Bandy-ball.
=_ The right of first move must be determined by lot. The player having the first move must always play with the white men. The right of move shall alternate, whether the game be won, lost or drawn. The game is legally begun when each player shall have made his first move. Whenever a game shall be annulled, the party having the move in that game shall have it in the next game. An annulled game must be considered, in every respect, the same as if it had never been begun. _=Concessions.=_ The concession of an indulgence by one player does not give him the right of a similar, or other, indulgence from his opponent. _=Errors.=_ If, during the course of the game, it be discovered that any error or illegality has been committed, the moves must be retraced and the necessary correction made, without penalty.
2. When there are trumps, the unit value of the game shall be multiplied as follows: 1 for game; 2 for schneider; 3 for announcing schneider, or for making schwarz without having made any announcement; 4 for schwarz after having announced schneider; and 5 for announcing schwarz. To each of these multipliers shall be added one for each matadore, “with” or “without.” 3. In tournées, if the player says “passt-mir-nicht” to the first card and takes the second, he loses double if he loses his game. In guckis, whether grand or nullo, the player loses double if he loses his game. 4. The value of Ramsch shall be 20 points, to be charged to the player losing the game. If one player takes no trick, the loser shall be charged 30 points. If two players take no trick, the loser shall be charged 50 points.
In Pegge s _Alphabet of Kenticisms_ the game is given as Hide and Fox. _Cf._ Hide Fox, and all after, _i.e._, let the fox hide and the others go to seek him; Hamlet, iv. 2, 32. In Stead s _Holderness Glossary_, Hed-o. In the North Riding it is Lam-pie-sote-it, also called Felto in Robinson s _Whitby Glossary_. He also mentions that the hidden child cries How-ly to the finder. Apparently the same as the south country Whoop, a signal to the finder to begin the search.
The first rank says: Here comes an old oman from the wood. The second party answers: What cans t thee do? First Party: Do anythin . Second Party: Work away. This the children proceed to do, some by pretending to sew, some to wash, some to dig, some to knit, without any instruments to do it with. If the opposite side guess what they are doing, they change sides. This game, Miss Summers believes, is very old, and has been played by several generations in the village of Hazelbury Bryan.--Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 230). See Trades. Dump A boys amusement in Yorkshire, in vogue about half a century ago, but now believed to be nearly obsolete.
Solo Whist, by R.F. Green. How to Play Solo Whist, by Wilks & Pardon. For the Laws of Solo Whist, see Whist Family Laws. ILLUSTRATIVE SOLO WHIST HANDS. The dealer, Z, turns up the heart 3 in both hands, and A leads. The underlined card wins the trick, and the card under it is the next one led. | T| _=A Solo.=_ | R| _=A Misère.
You may follow her in crape, crape, You may follow her in crape, That will do. --Deptford (Miss E. Chase). XVI. I ve come to see Georgina, Georgina, Georgina, I ve come to see Georgina, how s she to-day? She s upstairs washing, washing, washing, She s upstairs washing, and can t get away. O very well, ladies, ladies, ladies, We ll come another day. We ve come to see Georgina, Georgina, Georgina, We ve come to see Georgina, how s she to-day? She s upstairs ironing, ironing, ironing, She s upstairs ironing, and can t get away. [Then the two verses are repeated-- O very well, ladies. We ve come to see Georgina. Then follows--] She was coming downstairs with a basin of water, and she fell down and broke her toe, and she s dead.
The pawns are designated by the pieces in front of which they stand; King’s Pawn; Queen’s Knight’s Pawn, etc. The comparative _=value of the pieces=_ changes a little in the course of play, the Rooks especially not being so valuable early in the game. Authorities differ a little as to the exact value of the pieces, but if we take the Pawn as a unit, the fighting value of the others will be about as follows:-- A Knight is worth 3½ Pawns. A Bishop is worth 5¼ Pawns. A Rook is worth 9½ Pawns. A Queen is worth 15 Pawns. A King is worth 4½ Pawns. _=THE MOVES.=_ Each piece has a movement peculiar to itself, and, with the exception of the Pawns, any piece can capture and remove from the board any opposing piece which it finds in its line of movement. The captured piece is not jumped over, but the capturing piece simply occupies the square on which the captured piece stood.
The cards are dealt one at a time into four packets, of thirteen each, just as in the ordinary game of auction, the odd hand remaining untouched until the winning declaration is decided. The dealer makes the first bid and then each bids in turn until two pass. The penalty for bidding out of turn is 50 points added to the score of each opponent, for doubling out of turn it is 100. If both pass the irregularity there is no penalty, but if only one passes, the third may call attention to it. The highest bidder takes up the dummy hand, sorts it and lays it on the table opposite him, face up, as soon as the eldest hand leads a card. If there is a player sitting opposite the highest bidder, he moves to the vacant seat. The game is 30 points, and the winner of a game adds 125 points to his score at once. The first player to win two games not only adds the 125 for the second game, but 250 more for winning the rubber. Honours are scored by each player separately, every honour being worth as much as a trick in that suit. Four or five in one hand count double.
VI. In the odds of check-mating on a particular square it must be the square occupied by the King mated, not by the man giving the mate. VII. The player who undertakes to win in a particular manner, and either draws the game, or wins in some other manner, must be adjudged to be the loser. In all other respects, the play in games at odds must be governed by the regulations before laid down. RULES FOR PLAYING CORRESPONDENCE AND CONSULTATION GAMES. I. In playing a game by correspondence or in consultation, the two parties shall always agree beforehand in writing or otherwise as to the persons who are to take part in the contest, as to the time and mode of transmitting the moves, as to the penalties to be inflicted for any breach of the contract, and as to the umpire or referee. II. In games of this description each party is bound by the move dispatched; and in this connection the word move refers to what is intelligibly written, or delivered _viva voce_.
|Your grass is so |Your grass is so |The grass is so green.| | |green. |green. | | | 7.|Fairest damsel ever | -- | -- | | |seen. | | | | 8.| -- |Prettiest young lady | -- | | | |ever seen. | | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.| -- | -- | -- | |11.
Euchre, unlike the other members of the family, is not essentially a gambling game, but belongs rather to the intellectual group of card games; a position which we hope it may long maintain. EUCHRE. _=CARDS.=_ Euchre is played with what is commonly known as the piquet pack, 32 cards, all below the 7 being deleted. In plain suits the cards rank as at Whist; but in the trump suit the Jack is the best, and it is called the _=Right Bower=_. The Jack of the same colour as the trump suit, red or black, is the second-best trump, and it is called the _=Left Bower=_; so that if clubs were trumps the rank of the nine cards in the trump suit would be as follows:-- [Illustration: 🃛 🂫 🃑 🃞 🃝 🃚 🃙 🃘 🃗 ] The rank of the cards in the other suits would be:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂭 🂪 🂩 🂨 🂧 🂱 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂺 🂹 🂸 🂷 🃁 🃎 🃍 🃋 🃊 🃉 🃈 🃇 ] When the _=Joker=_, or blank card is used, it is always the best trump, ranking above the right bower. In cutting, the ace is low, the other cards ranking as in plain suits. A player cutting the Joker must cut again. _=COUNTERS=_ or whist markers may be used for keeping the score, but it is much more common to use the small cards from the deleted portion of the pack. The game is five points, and the best method of scoring is to use the 4 and 3 of any suit.
[Illustration: 🂾 🂻 🂺 🂵 ] The Ten led is an indication to partner that both Ace and Queen are against the leader. Combinations from which the _=Ace=_ is led contain at least five cards in suit, or both Queen and Jack. [Illustration: 🂱 🂷 🂶 🂴 🂲 | 🃑 🃝 🃛 🃖 ] This lead is an indication to partner that the leader has not the King, and that the suit is either long, or contains three honours. _=Rules for Leading Low Cards.=_ If the suit selected for the lead contains none of the combinations from which a high card should be led, it is customary with good players to begin with the 4th-best, counting from the top of the suit. This is called the card of uniformity; because it indicates to the partner that there are remaining in the leader’s hand exactly three cards higher than the one led. From any of the following combinations the proper lead would be the Four:-- [Illustration: 🃞 🃛 🃘 🃔 🃓 | 🃑 🃝 🃚 🃔 🂽 🂻 🂶 🂴 🂲 | 🂱 🂻 🂺 🂴 ] [Illustration: 🂫 🂪 🂩 🂤 🂢 | 🂮 🂨 🂧 🂤 🃊 🃉 🃈 🃄 🃃 | 🃍 🃆 🃅 🃄 ] _=Rules for Leading Short Suits.=_ It will sometimes happen that the only four-card suit in the leader’s hand will be trumps, which it is not desirable to lead. In such cases, if there is no high-card combination in any of the short suits, it is usual to lead the highest card, unless it is an Ace or King. Many good players will not lead the Queen from a three card suit, unless it is accompanied by the Jack.
--Cork (Miss Keane). Black Thorn [Music] --Earls Heaton, Yorks. I. Blackthorn! Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many geese have you to-day? As many as you can catch and carry away. --Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy). II. Blackthorn! Blackthorn! Blue milk and barley-corn; How many geese have you to-day? More than you can catch and carry away. --Harland and Wilkinson s _Lancashire Folk-lore_, p. 150. III.
The whist laws are usually enforced for all such irregularities as exposed cards, leading out of turn, etc. The most important matter is the revoke, and it should be clearly understood before play begins whether the revoke penalty is to be paid by the individual in fault, or by the side to which he belongs. Some players think there should be some regulation for penalties in such cases as that of a player taking up the wrong hand, when two or more are dealt to each player; but as no advantage can be gained by the exchange, it is hard to see what right the adversary would have to impose a penalty. ILLUSTRATIVE SCOTCH WHIST HAND. We give a simple example hand, as an illustration of the manner of playing with four persons; two being partners against the other two. _Z deals and turns heart 8_ +-------+-------+-------+-------+ | A Y B Z | +-------+-------+-------+-------+ 1 | Q♢ | _K♢_ | 8♢ | 9♢ | 2 | _♣A_ | ♣K | ♣J | ♣8 | 3 | ♣7 | _♣9_ | ♣6 | 6♠ | 4 | 8♠ | J♠ | K♠ | _A♠_ | 5 | J♢ | 9♠ | A♢ | _Q♠_ | 6 | 7♢ | _10♠_ | ♣Q | 7♠ | 7 | _♡A_ | 10♢ | 6♢ | ♡Q | 8 | ♡9 | ♡6 | _♡K_ | ♡7 | 9 | ♣10 | ♡10 | _♡J_ | ♡8 | +-------+-------+-------+-------+ _A-B win 30 by honours._ _Y-Z win 2 by cards._ _=Trick 1.=_ _=Y=_ plays King second hand, hoping it will be taken by the Ace, so that he may become third or fourth player, and perhaps save his Ten. _=B=_, with the minor tenace in trumps, plays to avoid the lead as long as possible.
, to lead trumps. Fourchette, the two cards immediately above and below the one led, such as K J in the second hand on a Q led. Four Signal, a method of showing four trumps, without asking for them; usually made by playing three small cards, such as 4 6 2, in that order. Fourth-best, the fourth card of a suit, counting from the top. The modern substitute for the terms penultimate, and antepenultimate. Front Stall, one who makes acquaintances for gamblers to fleece. Frozen, balls touching at billiards. Frozen Out, a player who has lost his original stake, and cannot continue in the game. Fuzzing, milking the cards instead of shuffling them. Gallery, the spectators who are betting on the game.
Bandy-wicket. Banger. Bar. Barbarie, King of the. Barley-break. Barnes (Mr.). Base-ball. Basket. Battledore and Shuttlecock.
| -- |Maycanameecan. | -- | | 23.| -- | -- | -- | |[8.]| -- | -- | -- | | 24.|You shall have a nice | -- |You shall have a nice | | |young man. | |young man. | | 25.| -- |Pray tell me the name | -- | | | |of your young man. | | | 26.| -- | -- | -- | | 27.
=_ If the single player loses, he loses to both adversaries, and if he wins he wins from both. His score is the only one put down, and the amount is preceded with a minus or plus sign according to the result. If he secures 23 points, he wins 11; if he takes in 16 only, he loses 3. If the amount is less than 18 it must be a loss; if it is 18 or more it must be a gain. The method of balancing the scores at the end will be found fully explained in connection with Skat. _=Irregularities.=_ The penalty for a revoke is the loss of 9 points, which are taken from the score of the side in error at the end of the hand, and added to the side not in fault. If the final score is 24 to 11, for instance, in favour of the single player, and one of the partners has revoked, the score is 33 to 2, and the player wins 31 points. If any player turns over the stock before he has announced to stand and has discarded at least one card, he loses 35 points to each adversary, and the deal is void. If an adversary of the single player turns over the stock before the player has discarded, there is no penalty, and the player may discard as he pleases.
| +---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+ ] In Diagram No. 11, if you count up the men on either your own or your adversary’s system, you will find that the number is even, and as you have not the move you should force an exchange immediately, which will give it to you, and win the game. Every single exchange of man for man _=changes the move=_ when only one of the capturing pieces remains on the board, and the following rule is given for ascertaining how proposed exchanges in complicated positions will affect the move:--The capturing pieces of both black and white in both systems must first be added together, and if the number agrees--in the matter of being odd or even--with that of the number of captured pieces in each system, the move will not be changed; but if one number so found is odd, and the other is even, the move will be changed. ILLUSTRATIVE GAMES. The asterisk shows the losing move. +-----------------------+-------------------------------+ | Play with Black Men.
=_ These may be divided into two parts: those used by the partners who attack, either with their strong suits, or by leading out trumps; and those employed by their adversaries, who are defending themselves against such suits, or wishing to prevent their trumps being drawn. We shall first consider the conventionalities used in attack. _=Leading.=_ The player with the original lead should have a double object in view; to secure the best results for his own hand, and to indicate to his partner where he is in need of assistance. The first matter for his consideration will be whether to begin with a trump or with a plain suit. There are two principal uses for trumps. The most attractive to the beginner is that of ruffing the adversaries’ winning cards; and the most important to the expert is leading trumps to prevent this. No matter how strong or well established a plain suit may be, it is of uncertain value as long as the adversaries have any trumps with which to stop it. A suit is established when you can probably take every trick in it. If a player with a good established suit is sufficiently strong to make it probable that he can, with his partner’s assistance, exhaust the adverse trumps, he should do so by leading trumps.
Another variety of this custom is when the blind is opposed by only one ante, to allow the age to make this player take down his two counters, and to pay two counters for him, to make it a jack. For instance: Five play, and A has the age. B and C pass, and D antes two counters. The dealer, E, says: “I pass for a jack.” A then puts up three counters, one of which is added to his blind, the other two paying D’s ante in the ensuing jack. D takes down his two counters, and the cards are redealt. This cannot be done if more than one player has anted, nor if the ante has been raised or the blind straddled. In the example just given, had D raised the ante to five counters and E passed, the age would have had to put up four more white counters and draw cards, or allow D to win his blind. _=Progressive Jacks.=_ In some localities it is the custom to make the pair necessary to open a jack pot progress in value; Jacks or better to open the first round; Queens the next; then Kings; then Aces; and then back to Kings, Queens, and Jacks again.
I figured you should handle our money, Billy Joe, she said. Anyway, can t take money for my gift. She had me shaking with excitement. You have a gift? I said, trying to keep my voice calm. Just some nights. Since I broke my vow, I ve lost most of my prophecy. My real gift is healing. Lost _all_ of that, she concluded, not bitterly. God is punishing me. Gravel crunched as she came slowly across the roof toward me.