They rode beside them in their six-pound craft ready to attack. The tiny ships of the Partners were swift. Each carried a dozen pinlights, bombs no bigger than thimbles. The pinlighters threw the Partners--quite literally threw--by means of mind-to-firing relays direct at the Dragons. What seemed to be Dragons to the human mind appeared in the form of gigantic Rats in the minds of the Partners. Out in the pitiless nothingness of space, the Partners minds responded to an instinct as old as life. The Partners attacked, striking with a speed faster than Man s, going from attack to attack until the Rats or themselves were destroyed. Almost all the time, it was the Partners who won. With the safety of the inter-stellar skip, skip, skip of the ships, commerce increased immensely, the population of all the colonies went up, and the demand for trained Partners increased. Underhill and Woodley were a part of the third generation of pinlighters and yet, to them, it seemed as though their craft had endured forever.
If he throws an ace he pushes one of his counters into the pot; two aces gets rid of both. If he throws a six on either die, he passes a counter to his left-hand neighbour, who will have the next throw. Two sixes passes both counters if the caster still has so many. The players throw in turn until all the counters but one have been placed in the pot. If a player has no counters, the throw passes him to the next player on his left who has counters in front of him. The last counter of all cannot be put in the pot by throwing an ace; but it must be passed along to the left when a six is thrown. The player with the last counter in front of him must throw both dice three times in succession, and if he succeeds in avoiding a six, he keeps the counter and wins the pool. If he throws a six, the player who gets the counter must throw three times, and so on, until some one throws three times without getting a six. Instead of a pool, it is sometimes agreed that the final holder of the last counter shall pay for the refreshments. MULTIPLICATION.
If a player whose partner has not yet bid names the trump suit, his partner loses the right to bid. If no bid is made, the dealer may name any suit he pleases, without bidding. If any player exposes a card before the trump suit is named, the adversaries may elect to have a new deal by the same dealer. _=DISCARDING AND DRAWING.=_ The trump suit named, each player discards and leaves _=face upward=_ on the table as many cards as he pleases. He must discard three, to reduce his hand to six cards. If he discards more than three he must draw from the remainder of the pack to restore the number of his cards to six; so that after the discard and draw each player at the table will have exactly six cards, although nine were originally dealt him. The dealer, beginning on his left, gives to each player in turn as many cards from the top of the pack as may be necessary to restore the number in his hand to six. When it comes to the dealer’s turn, instead of taking cards from the top of the pack, he may search the remainder of the pack, and take from it any cards that he pleases. This is called _=robbing the deck=_.
First, that the dance was originally the indication at a marriage ceremony for the bride and bridegroom to retire with the bowster to the nuptial couch. Secondly, that it has degenerated in Southern Britain to the ordinary Drop Handkerchief games of kiss in the ring. The preservation of this Bab at the Bowster example gives the clue both to the origin of the present game in an obsolete marriage custom, and to the descent of the game to its latest form. See Cushion Dance. Bad A rude kind of Cricket, played with a bat and a ball, usually with wall toppings for wickets. Bad seems to be the pronunciation or variation of Bat. Halliwell says it was a rude game, formerly common in Yorkshire, and probably resembling the game of Cat. There is such a game played now, but it is called Pig. --Easther s _Almondbury Glossary_. Baddin The game of Hockey in Cheshire.
THE DEAL. 31. Players deal in turn; the order of dealing is to the left. 32. Immediately before the deal, the player on the dealer’s right cuts, so that each packet contains at least four cards. If, in or after cutting and prior to the beginning of the deal, a card be exposed, or if any doubt exist as to the place of the cut, the dealer must reshuffle and the same player must cut again. 33. After the pack has been properly cut, it should not be reshuffled or recut except as provided in Law 32. 34. Should the dealer shuffle after the cut, his adversaries may also shuffle and the pack must be cut again.
Strutt describes it as Harry-Racket, or Hide and Seek (_Sports_, p. 381). At Cork two sides are chosen for Spy; one side hides while the other side hunts. When the hunters see one of the hidden players, they call out, I spy ----, and the child s name. The player called must run after the Spy and try to catch him before he reaches his Den; if he succeeds, the one caught must go to the opposite side of players, then next time the spies hide, and those who have been hiding, spy (Miss Keane). A more general form of the game is for one child to hide, and to make a noise in a disguised voice to give notice of his whereabouts, or to call out Whoop! or Coo! Until this noise or call is made, the searchers may not seek him. If when spied or discovered the hider cannot reach home before being caught, he again has to hide (A. B. Gomme). (_b_) In the parish church of Bawdrip is a monument to Edward Lovell, his wife Eleanor (_née_ Bradford), and their two daughters Maria and Eleanor.
A break is made in all cases where the player does not secure either a strike or a spare in a frame, and in such cases only the number of pins knocked down are credited in the frame where the break is made. If at the end of the tenth frame the team scores shall be a tie, another frame shall be immediately bowled, and play is so continued until at the close of even frames one of the teams shall have a greater number of pins than their opponents, which shall conclude the game. COCKED HAT. The game is played with a head pin and the right and left corner pins as shown in the following diagram: [Illustration: O . . O . . . . .
If no triplet is shown, the cards are redealt. A misdeal does not lose the deal. The deal passes to the right; but should the player whose turn it is to deal have lost everything on the previous deal, and have just purchased another stake, the deal passes to the player beyond him. If a player withdraws from the table when it is his turn to deal, the deal passes any newcomer who may take his place. _=Betting.=_ The cards dealt, each player in turn, beginning with the one to the right of the dealer, or to the right of the last straddler, if any, can do one of three things: Equal the amount of the ante; increase it as much as he pleases within the limits of his cave; or pass, retaining his cards but betting nothing. If any player _=opens=_ the game by making a bet, the player on his right may equal or raise it; but he cannot pass after the game is opened, unless he withdraws from the pool. Any player may call for a sight for the amount in front of him, but that does not prevent the others from continuing the betting. If no one will open, the deal is void, and each player puts five counters in the pool for the next deal. If a player opens, and no one will equal or raise him, he wins the antes and straddles, if any.
Players cannot score a slam in a hand in which they have revoked. A slam counts 20 points to the side making it; but these 20 points have nothing to do with the game score. For instance: The score is 4 all. Vivant and Mort make a slam. This does not win the game; but the 20 points are debited and credited on the score-sheet; the deal passes to the left, and the game proceeds with the score still 4 all, as if nothing had happened. _=SCORING.=_ The number of points won on each game are put down on the score-sheet, each side being credited with the number of points appearing on their markers when the game is finished. To the winners’ score is added: 3 points, for a triple game, if their opponents have not scored; 2 points, for a double game, if their opponents are not half way, or 1 point, for a simple game, if their opponents are 3 or 4. In addition to this, the winners add 4 points, for bonus or consolation, in every instance. From the total thus found must be deducted whatever points have been scored by the losers, whether game points, slams, or both.
=_ Vivant is not liable to any penalty for dropping his cards face up on the table; but if he or Mort plays two cards at once to a trick, the adversaries may select which they will allow to be played. The adversaries are subject to the same penalties as in whist for all cards played in error. _=Leading Out of Turn.=_ If Vivant or Mort lead out of turn, the adversaries may let the lead stand, or demand it be taken back. If it was the turn of neither, no penalty can be enforced, and if all have played to the trick, the error cannot be corrected. _=Taking Tricks.=_ The methods of taking tricks, and placing them so that they can be easily counted, have been fully described in connection with whist. _=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ As in whist, the object is to take tricks; the highest card played of the suit led wins, and trumps win against all other suits. The first six tricks taken by one side, and forming a _=book=_, do not count; but all above that number count toward game.
11. No ball shall, under any circumstances, be taken up. 12. Should the spot allotted to any pool ball be occupied when it becomes necessary to respot it, it shall be placed upon the _nearest unoccupied spot_, and, failing that, as near as possible to its proper spot in the direction of the centre spot. If the middle spot of the baulk line is occupied, the brown ball after being pocketed shall, if possible, be placed on the left-hand spot of the baulk line, and, failing that, the rule as above applies. 13. If the striker’s ball is touching another, such ball not being playable, and he disturb the ball touching his own, the stroke is foul. 14. Should the striker’s ball be so placed that he cannot play direct on the object ball, he is said to be “snookered.” FOUL STROKES AND PENALTIES.
_=Free Doubles=_ are opportunities to double when the declarer will go game anyhow if he makes his contract, but they should never be made if there is any chance that he may shift. _=Free Bids=_ are anything better than a spade by the dealer, or anything that over-calls a previous bid, because no one is forced to bid on the first round. A _=Shout=_ is a bid that is a trick more than necessary to over-call the previous bid. It shows a solid suit, or five or six sure tricks in hand. In a losing suit it is a loud call for the partner to go no trumps if he can. A free bid in a losing suit shows the high cards; in a winning suit it shows the tricks in hand. _=A Forced Bid=_ is one that is necessary to over-call, such as two diamonds over a heart. This does not mean that the caller would have bid two diamonds originally. A player who must indicate a lead against a no-trumper makes a forced bid. _=The Original Lead.
When a rubber is started with the agreement that the play shall terminate (_i.e._, no new deal shall commence) at a specified time, and the rubber is unfinished at that hour, the score is made up as it stands, 125 being added to the score of the winners of a game. A deal if started must be finished. 12. A proved error in the honour score may be corrected at any time before the score of the rubber has been made up and agreed upon. 13. A proved error in the trick score may be corrected at any time before a declaration has been made in the following game, or, if it occur in the final game of the rubber, before the score has been made up and agreed upon. CUTTING. 14.