Two persons play. Each must have twelve pegs, or twelve pieces of anything which can be distinguished. The Morris was usually marked on a board or stone with chalk, and consists of twenty-four points. The pegs are put down one at a time alternately upon any point upon the Morris, and the first person who makes a consecutive row of three impounds one of his opponent s pegs. The pegs must only be moved on the lines. The game is continued until one or other of the players has only two pegs left, when the game is won (1st ser., i. 20). Another correspondent in the same journal (ii. 2) says, The game was very generally played in the midland counties under the name of Merrilpeg or Merelles.
The call may be repeated at each trick until the card is played. A player cannot be prevented from leading or playing a card liable to be called; if he can get rid of it in the course of play, no penalty remains. In _=Boston=_ and in _=Solo Whist=_, if the exposed card is a trump, the owner may be called upon by his adversary not to use it for ruffing. If the suit of the exposed card is led, whether trump or not, the adversary may demand that the card be played or not played; or that the highest or lowest of the suit be played. If the owner of the exposed card has no other of the suit, the penalty is paid. Penalties must be exacted by players in their proper turn, or the right to exact them is lost. For instance: In Solo Whist, A is the proposer, B the acceptor, and B has an exposed card in front of him. When Y plays he should say whether or not he wishes to call the exposed card. If he says nothing, B must await Z’s decision. 22.
In the trump suit the Jack is the best card, the order being, J A K Q 10 9 8 7 6. _=MARKERS.=_ There are no suitable counters for Scotch Whist, and the score is usually kept on a sheet of paper. _=PLAYERS.=_ Any number from two to eight may play. When there are five or seven players, the spade 6 must be removed from the pack. In some places this is not done; the thirty-fifth card being turned up for the trump, the thirty-sixth shown to the table, and then laid aside. _=CUTTING.=_ Whatever the number of persons offering for play, the table is formed by cutting from the outspread pack for partners, seats, and deal. When two play, the one cutting the lowest card has the choice of seats and cards, (if there are two packs).
Doublets are not placed crosswise, and count only for the suit to which they belong; a double three cannot be played to an ace, because it counts as three only. The trumps are usually placed at right angles to the line. The game is decided and settled for as in the ordinary Block Game. _=SEBASTOPOL.=_ In this variety of the Block Game, four persons play. Each takes seven bones, and the double six sets. Nothing but sixes can be played until both sides and both ends of the first set have been played to. When these five dominoes have been set, any of the four ends may be played to. Each player in turn must play or say, “go.” The game is decided and settled for as in the ordinary Block Game.
VIII. How many miles to Banbury? Three score and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again. But mind the old witch doesn t catch you. --London (Miss Dendy). IX. How many miles to Barley Bridge? Three score and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, if your legs be long. A courtesy to you, and a courtesy to you, If you please will you let the king s horses through? Through and through shall they go, For the king s sake; But the one that is the hindmost Will meet with a great mistake. --Halliwell s _Popular Rhymes_, p.
It is a notorious fact that even the shrewdest gamblers are continually being taken in by others more expert than themselves. What chance then has the honest card player? There are black sheep in all flocks, and it may be well to give a few hints to those who are in the habit of playing in mixed companies. Never play with a man who looks attentively at the faces of the cards as he gathers them for his deal; or who stands the pack on edge, with the faces of the cards towards him, and evens up the bunch by picking out certain cards, apparently because they are sticking up. Any pack can be straightened by pushing the cards down with the hand. The man who lifts them up is more than probably a cheat. Never play with a man who looks intently at the pack and shuffles the cards slowly. If he is not locating the cards for the ensuing deal he is wasting time, and should be hurried a little. Never play with a person who leaves the cut portion of the pack on the table, and deals off the other part. In small parties this is a very common way of working what is known as _=the top stock=_. If such a dealer is carefully watched it will usually be found that he seizes the first opportunity to place the part cut off on the top of the part dealt from.
_=THE KNIGHT’S TOUR.=_ Owing to the peculiarity of the Knight’s move, many persons have amused themselves in trying to cover the entire chess board with a Knight, touching the same square once only, and returning to the starting-point again. There are several ways of doing this, one of the simplest being the following:-- [Illustration: +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |14|29|34|55|12|27|24|49| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |35|56|13|28|33|50|11|26| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |30|15|54|51|58|25|48|23| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |41|36|57|32|61|52|63|10| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |16|31|40|53|64|59|22|47| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |37|42| 1|60|19|62| 9| 6| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | 2|17|44|39| 4| 7|46|21| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |43|38| 3|18|45|20| 5| 8| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ ] _=TEXT BOOKS.=_ Among the very large number of works on Chess there is abundant room for choice, but the following works are considered standard authorities on the game:-- Freeborough’s Chess Openings, 1896. Cook’s Synopsis. Minor Tactics of Chess, by Young and Howell. Modern Chess Instructor, by W. Steinitz. Common Sense in Chess, by E. Lasker.
_=WHEN TWO PLAY=_, twelve cards are dealt to each player, and arranged face down; then twelve more, arranged face up, and then two down cards to each. It is usual to deal all the cards two at a time. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ Chinese Whist very closely resembles Dummy, and the chief element of success is the skilful use of tenace. Memory also plays an important part, it being especially necessary to remember what cards are still unplayed in each suit. While the down cards are held a player cannot be sure of taking a trick by leading a card higher than any his adversary has exposed, because one of the down cards may be better. If a player is short of trumps, but has as many and better than those of his adversary, it is often good play to lead and draw the weaker trumps before the adversary turns up higher ones to protect them. For instance: one player may have 10 8, and his adversary the 9 alone. If the 10 is led the 9 will probably be caught, unless one of the adverse down cards is better. If the 10 is not led the adversary may turn up an honour, and will then have major tenace over the 10 and 8.
Scientific Auction Bridge, by E.V. Shepard, 1913. Auction of To-day, by Milton Work, 1913. Royal Auction and Nullos, by R.F. Foster, 1914. Auction Developments, by Milton Work, 1914. Whitehead’s Conventions of Auction Bridge, by Wilbur C. Whitehead, 1914.
_=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.
--Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler). III. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself, As the wheel goes round he makes his wealth; One hand in his hopper, and the other in his bag, As we go round he makes his grab. --Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy). IV. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself, As the mill went round he gained his wealth; One hand in the hopper, and the other in the bag, As the mill went round he made his grab. Sandy he belongs to the mill, And the mill belongs to Sandy still, And the mill belongs to Sandy. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. V. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself, As the wheel went round he made his wealth; One hand in the upper and the other in the bank, As the wheel went round he made his wealth.
_The Laws and Principles of Cinch_, by G.W. Hall, 1891. _The Laws and Etiquette of Cinch_, issued by the Chicago Cinch Club, 1890. HEARTS. Hearts is supposed by some persons to be an entirely new game; but its leading principle, losing instead of winning tricks, is to be found in many other card games, some of which are quite old. Slobberhannes, Enflé, Schwellen, Polignac, and The Four Jacks, all belong to the same family, but most of them have given way to the more popular game of Hearts. There are several varieties of Hearts, but the principal arrangements are the same in all, and the chief differences are in the manner of settling at the end of the hand. _=CARDS.=_ Hearts is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2: the ace is the highest in play, but in cutting it ranks below the deuce.
_=18.=_ No person except an opponent has a right to tell the player that he is using the wrong ball, or to inform the non-striker that his opponent has used the wrong ball; and if the opponent does not see the striker use the ball, or, seeing him, does not claim the penalty, the marker is bound to score to the striker any points made. _=19.=_ Should the striker [whose ball is in hand], in playing up the table on a ball or balls in baulk, either by accident or design, strike one of them [with his own ball] without first going out of baulk, his opponent may have the balls replaced, score a miss, and follow on; or may cause the striker to play again, or may claim a foul, and have the red spotted and the balls broken again. _=20.=_ The striker, when in hand, may not play at a cushion within the baulk (except by going first up the table) so as to hit balls that are within or without the line. _=21.=_ If in hand, and in the act of playing, the striker shall move his ball with insufficient strength to take it out of baulk, it shall be counted as a miss to the opponent, who, however, may oblige him to replace his ball and play again. [Failing to play out of baulk, the player may be compelled to play his stroke over again.] _=22.
We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses.
. O . . . . . O ] Balls not exceeding six inches must be bowled, and they must be rolled down the alley (not cast or thrown). The rules of American Ten Pins except in St. Louis, where there is a special association with local rules, generally govern this game also, with the exception of three balls instead of two to the frame, but strikes and spares count three instead of ten, and each pin counts one as in Ten Pins. If the bowler knocks down three pins with the ball which is first bowled, in any frame in the game of Cocked Hat, it is a strike, and counts three, and is marked on the blackboard the same as in Ten Pins.
20). Another correspondent in the same journal (ii. 2) says, The game was very generally played in the midland counties under the name of Merrilpeg or Merelles. The twelve pieces I have never seen used, though I have often played with nine. We generally used marbles or draught pieces, and not pegs. The following are the accounts of this game given by the commentators on Shakespeare:-- In that part of Warwickshire where Shakespeare was educated, and the neighbouring parts of Northamptonshire, the shepherds and other boys dig up the turf with their knives to represent a sort of imperfect chess-board. It consists of a square, sometimes only a foot diameter, sometimes three or four yards. Within this is another square, every side of which is parallel to the external square; and these squares are joined by lines drawn from each corner of both squares, and the middle of each line. One party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other stones, which they move in such a manner as to take up each other s men, as they are called, and the area of the inner square is called the pound, in which the men taken up are impounded. These figures are by the country people called _nine men s morris_, or _merrils_; and are so called because each party has nine men.
Cutters and Trucklers. DAB. Dab-an-thricker. Dab-at-the-hole. Dalies. Davie-drap. Deadily. Diamond Ring. Dibbs. Dinah.
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. Two important incidents occur in the Bocking and Symondsbury versions. In the Bocking game the side which is victorious has the right to begin the next game first: this also occurs in the Barnes version.