Lansd._ 1033) gives this name as a term for Prisoner s Base. --Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Black Man s Tig A long rope is tied to a gate or pole, and one of the players holds the end of the rope, and tries to catch another player. When he succeeds in doing so the one captured joins him (by holding hands) and helps to catch the other players. The game is finished when all are caught.--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.
Pray, who will you send to take them away, To take them away, take them away? Pray, who will you send to take them away, So early in the morning? We ll send Miss B---- to take them away, To take them away, take them away, We ll send Miss B---- to take them away, So early in the morning. --Symondsbury, Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 226-7). [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] (_b_) The children form in two lines of equal length, facing one another, with sufficient space between the lines to admit of their walking in line backwards and forwards towards and away from each other, as each line sings the verses allotted to it (fig. 1). The first line sings the first, third, and fifth verses, and the opposite line the second and fourth.
The deal passes in regular order to the left. 17. After being thoroughly shuffled, the pack must be presented to the pone (the player sitting on the dealer’s right) to be cut, and at least three cards must be left in each packet. Any player may demand a right to shuffle the cards before they are dealt, but the dealer shall have the last shuffle before presenting the cards to be cut. If any card is exposed in cutting, there must be a new cut. 18. The dealer shall give each active player cards, three at a time for the first round, face down, beginning on his left. He shall then lay aside, face down, two cards for the skat. Each player shall then receive four cards at a time for the second round, and finally three cards at a time for the last round. 19.
(_b_) The Berrington version of this game is played as follows:--Two girls face each other, holding each other by both hands. Two others face each other, holding both hands across the other two. They see-saw backwards and forwards, singing the lines (fig. 1). One girl gets inside the enclosing hands (fig. 2), and they repeat till all four have popped under (fig. 3), when they jog up and down till they fall on the floor! (fig. 4). At Ellesmere only _two_ girls join hands, and as many pop under as they can encircle. The Lincolnshire and Norfolk versions are played practically in the same way.
The last one to stoop has to name her sweetheart. When this is done, the children all dance round and sing the other lines. (_d_) The analysis of the game-rhymes is on pp. 178-181. The most constant formulæ of this game-rhyme are shown by this analysis to be Nos. 1, 6, 7, 13, 15, 18, 23, and the variants, though important, are not sufficient to detract from the significance of the normal version. It is evidently a funeral game. The green gravel and the green grass indicate the locality of the scene; green, as applied to gravel, may mean freshly disturbed, just as green grave means a freshly made grave. The tenant of the new grave is the well-loved lady of a disconsolate lover, and probably the incidents of washing and dressing the corpse, and putting an inscription on the place where it is laid, are indicated by Nos. 13 and 15.
A version played at Barnes is almost identical with the Southampton version, and another collected by Miss Thoyts in Berkshire (_Antiquary_, vol. xxvii. p. 193) is similar to the Hanbury version. The first lines run--Choose your lover; Open the gates; Go to church, love; Kneel down, love; Say your prayers, love; Put on the ring; Stand up, love; In the ring, love; Kiss together, love. (_d_) The words of all the versions are sufficiently similar to analyse without a special form. The game appears to be purely a love and marriage game, and has probably had its origin in a ballad, and this idea is strengthened by the fact that only one version (London) has the marriage formula sung at the end, and this is probably an arbitrary addition. The lover is represented as lonely and disconsolate, and the remedy suggested is to choose a sweetheart. The marriage ceremony is of the simplest description--the clasping of hands and the kissing within the circle probably implying the betrothal at a spot sacred to such functions, similar to the Standing Stones of Stenness. Whatever may have been the original intention of these stones, they came in more recent times to be the resort of lovers, who joined their right hands through the hole in the altar stones in the belief that this ceremony would add additional solemnity to the betrothal.
| 3rd Round.| | A | B | C | +-----------+-----------+-----------+ +----+----+----+ | A won 33 | A lost 16 | C lost 36 | | +33| +40| +55| | C won 55 | B won 40 | B won 48 | | +17| +88| +67| | C won 12 | A lost 24 | C lost 12 | | -7| | +31| | | | | +----+ +----+ | | | | | | | +19| At the end of the second round a line was drawn under A’s account, which then contained three items; and after the first game in the third round a line was drawn under C’s account. If we suppose the game to be stopped at this point, the scores would be balanced as follows: We take the three scores and bring them down on one line. We draw a line under them, and proceed as follows: First we take A, who has lost 7 to B, and from whom B has also won 88. This gives us 95 minus for A and 95 plus for B. We then compare A and C, and find that A owes C 26; put down as minus for A, plus for C. We now compare B and C, and find that B wins the difference, which is 69 points; put down plus for B, minus for C. Then we add up to see that the scores balance. +-----+-----+-----+ | A | B | C | +-----+-----+-----+ | -7 | +88 | +19 | +-----+-----+-----+ | -95 | +95 | +26 | | -26 | +69 | -69 | +-----+-----+-----+ |-121 |+164 | -43 | +-----+-----+-----+ The same method may be used when four play; but some prefer to call the lowest score zero, and so make all the others plus. Suppose the final scores were as follows: ------+------+------+------------ A | B | C | D ------+------+------+------------ +186 | +42 | +344 | +116 ------+------+------+------------ +144 | 0 | +302 | +74 = 520 +4 | 4 | 4 | 4 ------+------+------+------------ +576 | 0 |+1208 | +296 -520 | -520 | -520 | -520 ------+------+------+------------ +56 | -520 | +688 | -224 ------+------+------+------------ If B is zero, his points are to be taken from those of each of the others, as B is plus.
The Snow System of movement, where practicable, is preferable. Where the Howell pair system of movement is used, the scores do not require “equating”, as they are equalised on the replay. Under other systems, only the North and South scores need be kept, as the comparison can be made quite as readily as by direct comparison of these scores. DUMMY. There are three forms of Dummy: The English game, for three players; the French game, for three or four: and the game now generally known as Bridge, or Bridge Whist. Dummy is not recognized in any form by the American Whist League, and there are no American Laws governing it. We shall describe each variety of the game in its turn; beginning with the English. _=Cards.=_ _=ENGLISH DUMMY=_, is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, ranking as at whist both for cutting and playing. Two packs are generally used.
There was no string attached to the ball, but it was necessary that it should hit the child it was thrown to. When Fire was called, Salamander and Ph[oe]nix were allowed to be said. The third time Fire was called, silence was observed, and every player bowed the head. We called it Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. A forfeit had to be paid for every mistake.--London (A. B. Gomme). It seems probable that a survival of fire-worship is shown by this game. Fivestones This game was played by a newspaper boy at Richmond Station for me as follows:--He had five square pieces of tile or stone about the size of dice.
--Easther s _Almondbury and Huddersfield Glossary_. Gipsy I charge my children, every one, To keep good house while I am gone. You, and you [points], but specially you [or sometimes, but specially Sue], Or else I ll beat you black and blue. One child is selected for Gipsy, one for Mother, and one for Daughter Sue. The Mother says the lines, and points to several children to emphasise her words. During her absence the Gipsy comes in, entices a child away, and hides her. This process is repeated till all the children are hidden, when the mother has to find them.--Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 228). See Mother, Mother, the Pot Boils Over, Witch.
On arriving at the next table, the partners divide, and another game of four deals is played, the winning pair again progressing. The general arrangements for the original positions of the players, and the prizes to be given, are the same as in Progressive Euchre, and have been fully described in connection with that game. _=Blind Cinch.=_ Instead of giving each player thirteen cards at once, the hands are dealt in two parts. First of all, nine cards are dealt to each player, three at a time. Then four cards are dealt in front of each player, but not to be touched until the bidding is finished. The highest bidder takes up his four extra cards and then names the trump, after which he discards down to six cards for play. The others then take up their four cards and discard down to six, and the game proceeds like regular cinch. _=Sixty-three.=_ In this variation, nine cards are dealt to each player, three at a time.
This game is called King-sealing in Dorsetshire. See King of Cantland, Lamploo. King Come-a-lay A game played by boys. Two sets of boys, or sides, strive which can secure most prisoners for the King.--Shetland (Jamieson). King of Cantland A game of children, in which one of a company, being chosen King o Cantland, and two goals appointed at a considerable distance from each other, all the rest endeavoured to run from one goal to the other; and those whom the King can seize in their course, so as to lay his hand upon their heads (which operation is called winning them), become his subjects, and assist him in catching the remainder.--Dumfries (Jamieson). Jamieson adds: This game is called King s Covenanter in Roxburgh. He also refers to the game of King and Queen of Cantelon, recorded by Mactaggart. He considers the origin of this game to be representative of the contentions about the Debatable Lands on the border.
Nonsense, child! it was only your father s nightshirt I have washed and hung out to dry. Go again. The child goes, and the same thing happens. She returns, saying-- Yes! mother! I have seen a ghost. M. Nonsense, child! we will take a candle, and all go together to search for it. The mother picks up a twig for a candle, and they set off. When they come near to the Ghost, she appears from her hiding-place, mother and children rush away in different directions, the Ghost chases them until she has caught one, who in her turn becomes Ghost.--West Cornwall (Miss Courtney, _Folk-lore Journal_, v. 55).
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. The average hand and crib is the same as at six-card Cribbage, 7 for the hand and 5 for the crib, but the play for the partners will run to 8 or 10 holes. Either side should be at home with 48 to 50 on two deals; four individual hands of 7 each, four plays of five each, and one crib of 5. SEVEN-CARD CRIBBAGE.
E. take one move; to repair R.E. take five moves. To destroy a river road bridge R.E. take one move; to repair, R.E. take five moves. A supply depot can be destroyed by one man in two moves, no matter how large (by fire).
He cut off the sight of her mind and, as he buried his face in the pillow, he caught an image of the Lady May. She _is_ a cat, he thought. That s all she is--a _cat_! But that was not how his mind saw her--quick beyond all dreams of speed, sharp, clever, unbelievably graceful, beautiful, wordless and undemanding. Where would he ever find a woman who could compare with her? --CORDWAINER SMITH [Illustration] * * * * * End of Project Gutenberg s The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAME OF RAT AND DRAGON *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy.
Bummers A play of children. Bummers--a thin piece of wood swung round by a cord (_Blackwood s Magazine_, Aug. 1821, p. 35). Jamieson says the word is evidently denominated from the booming sound produced. Bun-hole A hole is scooped out in the ground with the heel in the shape of a small dish, and the game consists in throwing a marble as near to this hole as possible. Sometimes, when several holes are made, the game is called Holy. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_; _Notes and Queries_, xii. 344. Bunch of Ivy Played by children in pairs (one kneeling and one standing) in a ring.
V. When a player accepts the odds of two or more moves, he must not play any man beyond the fourth square, _i.e._, he must not cross the middle line of the board, before his adversary makes his first move. Such several moves are to be collectively considered as the first move of the player accepting the odds. 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.
The cards may be distributed in several ways, but whichever manner the first dealer selects must be continued during the game, both by the original dealer, and by the others at the table. Ten cards are given to each player, and two are dealt face downward in the centre of the table for the Skat. No trump is turned. The cards must be dealt, three cards to each player, then two to the Skat; then four to each player again, and finally three. _=Irregularities in the Deal.=_ If the pack is found to be imperfect, the deal in which the error is discovered is void; but any previous scores or cuts made with that pack stand good. If the cards have not been cut, or if a card is found faced in the pack, or if the dealer exposes a card in dealing, any active player who has not looked at his cards may demand a fresh deal by the same dealer. If the dealer gives too many or too few cards to any player, he must shuffle and deal again. If the error is not discovered until the hand is partly played out, the deal is void, and the misdealer deals again. A misdeal does not lose the deal under any circumstances, but it is usual to exact a penalty of ten points for a misdeal.
In the latter case there will be only one set, of two tables, and only four score-cards to compare. The change of partners should be exhaustive in team matches; which will require six sets. _=TEAMS AGAINST TEAMS.=_ When several quartette teams compete with one another, Howell’s system of arrangement will be found the best. There are two methods; for odd and for even numbers of teams. _=Odd Numbers of Teams.=_ This is the simplest form of contest. Let us suppose five teams to offer for play, which we shall distinguish by the letters, _=a=_, _=b=_, _=c=_, _=d=_, _=e=_, arranging each at its own table thus:-- N a b c d e W + E a 1 a b 2 b c 3 c d 4 d e 5 e S a b c d e [Illustration: +---------------------------------+ +---------------------------------+ | MANHATTAN WHIST CLUB | | MANHATTAN WHIST CLUB | |Table No 1 May 6 1895 | |Table No 1 May 6 1895 | | O Team | | X Team | | 1 Chinery 3 Bullock | | 1 D. Jones 3 M. Boyce | | 2 Lewis 4 Izard | | 2 E.
This is imperative before opening any other suit but trumps. 3rd. To lead his own suit, if he can do anything with it. It is considered better play for the Third Hand to return the original leader’s suit than to open a long weak suit of his own such as one headed by a single honour. 4th. To return his partner’s suit even with a losing card, in preference to changing. When the original lead is a trump, it should be returned in every case, either immediately, or as soon as the player can obtain the lead. The same reasons for changing suits as those given for the original leader will apply to the Third Hand. _=RULES FOR RETURNING PARTNER’S SUITS.=_ When the original leader’s suit is returned by his partner, either immediately or upon his regaining the lead, it is usual to show, if possible, how many cards remain in the Third Hand, so that by adding them to his own, the leader may estimate the number held by his adversaries.
=_ If a player is found to have too many or too few cards, after he has laid out for the crib, his adversary pegs two points, and may also claim a fresh deal. If the deal is allowed to stand, superfluous cards must be drawn at random by the adversary, who may look at the card or cards so drawn before placing them in the pack. If either player is found to have too few cards after having laid out for the crib, he has no remedy. His adversary pegs two points, and the short hand must be played and shown for what it is worth. _=Irregular Cribs.=_ If the superfluous card is found in the crib, and the non-dealer had the short hand, the dealer may reckon all the combinations he can make in the six-card crib; but if it was the dealer who had the short hand, the superfluous crib is void. If the crib contains a superfluous card, both the players having their right number, the non-dealer pegs two holes for the evident misdeal, and the crib is void. If both players have their right number, and the crib is short, it must be shown for what it is worth; but the non-dealer pegs two holes for the evident misdeal. _=Irregular Announcements.=_ There is no penalty if a player announces a wrong number as the total of the cards played, provided he does not peg an erroneous fifteen or thirty-one.
Skat, by L.V. Diehl. 1891. Skat, by E.E. Lemcke. 1887. All but the first two on the list treat of the old game, bidding by suits, and making no mention of Guckis; but some of them, especially Buhle’s, contain some very fine examples of good play. The first two on the list and the last two are in English.
The table of payments will be given later. _=ANNOUNCEMENTS.=_ The proposals rank in the order following, beginning with the lowest. The French terms are given in _=italics=_:-- Five tricks; or eight with a partner, in petite. _=Simple in petite=_. Five tricks; or eight with a partner, in belle. _=Simple in belle=_. Six tricks solo, in any suit. _=Petite independence=_. Little misère.
Bad enough that our losses can t be stopped by this creep Smythe. Now you drag in another TK. Buy me out! What s a business worth that s losing its shirt? Rose sneered. We were in clover, you fool, till this cross-roader got to us. This is our only chance to get even. That finished Simonetti. He went back to his desk and slumped against it, scowling at the points of his handtooled boots. * * * * * Rose looked over at me. Let s make sense, he said quietly. We watched you on the TV monitor from the time you came in.
The Second Player shall then do the same. But if a curtain is available both first and second player may put down their men at the same time. Both players may take unlimited time for the putting down of their men; if there is a curtain it is drawn back when they are ready, and the game then begins. [Illustration: Fig. 2--Battle of Hook s Farm. A Near View of the Blue Army] [Illustration: Fig. 3--Battle of Hook s Farm. Position of both Armies after first move.] (3) The subsequent moves after the putting down are timed. The length of time given for each move is determined by the size of the forces engaged.
If he is known to be a player who draws at 5, it is useless for the banker to stand at 5, unless he thinks he can beat the player on the other side of the table, and there is more money on that side. If the player demanding a card has been given a 10, the banker should stand, even at 3 or 4. If he has been given an ace, the banker should stand at 4; if a 2 or 3, the banker should stand at 5; if the player is given a 4, the banker should draw, even if he has 5. If a player has drawn a 5, 6 or 7, the banker should draw, even if he has 5 or 6. If the player draws an 8 or 9, the banker should stand at 4 or 5, sometimes even with 3. It must be remembered that the banker should have a sharp eye to the relative amounts staked on each side of the table, which will often decide which player he should try to beat. For example: The banker has 5, and the player on his right has drawn a 10, the one on his left a 7. The banker has an excellent chance to win all the bets on the right, and should have a certainty of standing off with them, and unless those on the left very much exceeded them, the banker would be very foolish to risk losing everything by drawing to 5, simply to beat the player on his left. _=BACCARA CHEMIN DE FER.=_ In this variation, each player in turn on the left becomes the banker, taking the deal as soon as the first banker loses a coup.
If the dealer reshuffles the pack after it has been properly cut, he loses his deal. In _=Boston=_, _=Cayenne=_, and _=Solo Whist=_, the misdealer must deal again. DEALING. 13. When the pack has been properly cut and reunited, the dealer must distribute the cards, one at a time, to each player in regular rotation, beginning at his left. The last, which is the trump card, must be turned up before the dealer. At the end of the hand, or when the deal is lost, the deal passes to the player next to the dealer on his left, and so on to each in turn. In _=Solo Whist=_, the cards are distributed three at a time until only four remain in the pack. These are dealt one at a time, and the last turned up for trump. In _=Boston=_ and in _=Cayenne=_, the cards are dealt four at a time for two rounds, and then five at a time.
Limit is 560 francs. 5. _=Transversale Six=_, placed on the line at the end, taking in the three numbers horizontally above and below. This pays 5 for 1. Limit is 1,200 francs. 6. _=Bas.=_ At the bottom of any of the three vertical columns, taking in the twelve numbers. This pays 2 for 1. Limit is 3,000 francs.
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