Except in five and seven-handed Euchre, the player or side first reaching five points wins the game. If three are playing, and two of them reach five points simultaneously by euchreing the third, they both win a game. If they are playing for stakes, they divide the pool. _=TAKING UP THE TRUMP.=_ After the trump is turned up, each player in turn examines his cards, and if he does not care whether the trump suit remains unchanged or not, he says: “_=I pass=_.” If all pass, the dealer must decide. The dealer has the advantage of being allowed to take the trump card into his own hand, discarding one of his worthless cards in its place. If he thinks he can make three tricks with the turn-up suit for trumps, and his partner’s probable assistance, or can win five tricks by playing alone, he discards any card he pleases, placing it under the remainder of the pack, face down, and without showing or naming it. If the dealer decides to play alone, it is usual for him to pass his discard across the table to his partner, face down, so that there may be no misunderstanding his intention. The dealer may take up the trump card at any time during the play of the hand; but it is usual to leave it on the pack until it is played to a trick.
We ll break the table! I rammed a hard lift under his heart, and then, ashamed of myself, quit it. He turned pale before I took it off him. What s the matter? I asked him, supporting his sagging elbow, still mad at myself for acting so childish. Nothing, nothing, he gasped, starting to recover. He d only been dying, that s all. But it came in second-best compared to holding the dice. No point calling too much attention to him. I decided four passes were enough while he held the dice. What do you know, as he came out for the fifth time, Sniffles pulled my stack of chips to the Don t Pass side of the line, while scraping at the chapped end of her skinny nose with the back of her free hand. Like every compulsive gambler I ve ever seen, the roller next to me was sure he was on a rampage.
If Black succeeds in picking up this man, he should then complete his home table as rapidly as possible, still keeping his outside men spread, and not disturbing the two men on White’s trey point until necessary. _=Throwing Off.=_ Always throw off every man possible; never move up instead of throwing off, unless there are some adverse men in your home table. If you make a throw which will not take off a man, do not move two men, but move up and take off one man if possible. _=Chances.=_ Some players profess to attach great importance to the chances of the dice, but such matters are of little practical value except in a general way. It may be interesting to know that the odds were thirty-five to one against a certain throw, but that knowledge does not prevent your adversary from winning the game. It should always be remembered that it is more difficult for your adversary to hit a man that is very close to him or very far from him, than one that is about half way. The odds against being hit by a given number, either on one or on both dice, are given in the margin. The throws given in the second column cannot be made without counting both dice, and a player is therefore safer when it takes “double dice” to hit him.
[Illustration: 🃈 🃇 🃆 🃅 🃄] 72192 to 1 _=Royal Flush.=_ A straight flush which is ace high. [Illustration: 🃑 🃞 🃝 🃛 🃚] 649739 to 1 When hands are of the same rank, their relative value is determined by the denomination of the cards they contain. For instance: A hand without a pair, sequence, or flush is called by its highest card; “ace high,” or “Jack high,” as the case may be. As between two such hands, the one containing the highest card would be the better, but either would be outclassed by a hand with a pair in it, however small. A hand with a pair of nines in it would outrank one with a pair of sevens, even though the cards accompanying the nines were only a deuce, three and four, while those with the sevens were an ace, King and Queen. But should the pairs be alike in both hands; such as tens, the highest card outside the pair would decide the rank of the hands, and if those were also alike, the next card, or perhaps the fifth would have to be considered. Should the three odd cards in each hand be identical, the hands would be a tie, and would divide any pool to which each had a claim. Two flushes would decide their rank in the same manner. If both were ace and Jack high, the third card in one being a nine, and in the other an eight, the nine would win.
F. Foster. * Foster’s Self-Playing Cards, by R.F. Foster. x Foster’s Duplicate Whist, by R.F. Foster. Foster’s American Leads, by R.F.
Any player can be the banker for the first round, and he holds his position as long as he wins. When he loses, he passes the box to the player on his left hand. He has three dice, which he throws in one cast, after the players have made their bets. If he gets ten or more, he wins. If he gets less than ten, he loses. His advantage lies in winning when he gets ten exactly; because that gives him nine throws that win for him out of the sixteen possible with three dice. SHUFFLE BOARD. Shuffle Board is played on a table 30 feet long and 20 inches wide, with a gutter running all round it. The board is sprinkled with very fine sand. Four weights are used by each side, marked A and B to distinguish them.
+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+ | | . | | . | | ⛀ | | . | +---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.
So in the _Dutchesse of Suffolke_, 1631: Well done, my masters, lends your hands, _Draw Dun out of the ditch_, Draw, pull, helpe all, so, so, well done. [_They pull him out._] They had shoved Bishop Bonner into a well, and were pulling him out. We find this game noticed at least as early as Chaucer s time, in the _Manciple s Prologue_: Then gan our hoste to jape and to play, And sayd, sires, what? _Dun is in the mire._ Nares (_Glossary_) says this game was a rural pastime, in which _Dun_ meant a dun horse, supposed to be stuck in the mire, and sometimes represented by one of the persons who played. Gifford (_Ben Jonson_, vol. vii. p. 283), who remembered having played at the game (doubtless in his native county, Devonshire), thus describes it:-- A log of wood is brought into the midst of the room: this is Dun (the cart horse), and a cry is raised that he is stuck in the mire. Two of the company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out.
Twenty-fifth degree? Since when could a gambling casino afford a full-time Twenty-fifth? TK s in the upper degrees come high. I had already figured my fee at a hundred thousand a day, if I straightened out the casino s losses to the cross-roader. Wally Bupp, I said at last, deciding there was no point to trying some cover identity. My gimpy right wing was a dead giveaway. Thirty-_third_ degree, I added. He had a crooked grin, out of place beneath his scholarly glasses. I ve heard of Wally Bupp, he admitted. Well, he should have. There aren t so many Thirty-thirds hanging around. And you are young, smug and snotty enough to play the part, he concluded without heat.
Britton (_Beauties of Wiltshire_, Glossary) says the game in London schools is called Scratch-scratch or Scratch-cradle. [Illustration: Cat s Cradle Taking off Soldier s Bed Taking off Candles Taking off Cat s Cradle (upside down) Cat s Eyes Fish.] The game is known to savage peoples. Professor Haddon noted it among the Torres Straits people, who start the game in the same manner as we do, but continue it differently (_Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, vol. xix. p. 361); and Dr.
Thimble won t hold your father s shirt, Daughter, daughter, Thimble won t hold your father s shirt, Gentle sweet daughter o mine. Wash in the river, Mother, mother, Wash in the river, Gentle sweet mother o mine. Suppose the clothes should blow away, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the clothes should blow away, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Set a man to watch them, Mother, mother, Set a man to watch them, Gentle sweet mother o mine. Suppose the man should go to sleep, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the man should go to sleep, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Take a boat and go after them, Mother, mother, Take a boat and go after them, Gentle sweet mother o mine. Suppose the boat should be upset, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the boat should be upset, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Then that would be an end of you, Mother, mother, Then that would be an end of you, Gentle sweet mother o mine. --London Nursemaid, 1876 (A. B. Gomme). II. Mary s gone a-milking, a-milking, a-milking, Mary s gone a-milking, mother, dear mother of mine.
=_ If a player leads out of turn, and his adversary plays to the lead, whether intentionally or otherwise, the trick stands good. If the adversary calls attention to the error, the card led out of turn may be taken back without penalty. If a player has too many cards after playing to the first trick, his adversary may either claim a fresh deal or may compel him to play without drawing from the talon, until the number of cards in his hand is reduced to eight; the player with too many cards not being allowed to make any announcements until he has his right number of cards. If a player has too few cards, his adversary may either claim a fresh deal, or may allow him to make good the deficiency by drawing from the stock. After the stock is exhausted, any player failing to follow suit or to win a trick, when able to do so, may be compelled to take back his cards to the point where the error occurred, and to replay the hand. In France he is penalised by counting nothing from that point on, either for brisques or for the last trick. _=Irregularities in Drawing.=_ If a player has forgotten to take a card from the talon, and has played to the next trick, his adversary may elect to call the deal void, or to allow him to draw two cards next time. If a player has drawn two cards from the stock, instead of one, he must show the second one to his adversary if he has seen it himself. If he has not seen it, he may put it back without penalty.
--J. T. Micklethwaite (_Arch. Journ._, xlix. 327-28). I am told that in the iron districts of Staffordshire, the round bits of iron punched out in making rivet holes in boiler plates are the modern representatives of hucklebones.--_Ibid._ In Westminster four stones are held in the right hand, a marble is thrown up, and all four stones thrown down, and the marble allowed to bounce on the hearthstone or pavement, and then caught in the same hand after it has rebounded. The marble is then thrown up again, and one of the four stones picked up, and the marble caught again after it has rebounded.
If any player holds both K and Q of trumps, he takes the pool for marriage. The player holding the highest and longest sequence in any suit takes the pool for sequence; but the sequence must be at least three cards. Pools not won remain until the next deal. After the pools round the edge are all decided, the players bet for the centre pool, or pochen. Any player with a pair, or three of a kind, wishing to bet on them, puts as many counters as he pleases into the centre pool, and any player willing to bet against him must put in a like amount. There is no raising these bets, and the players in order to the left of the dealer have the first say as to betting, or passing. The higher pair wins. Threes beat pairs, and four of a kind is the best hand possible. This pool settled, the play of the cards follows. Eldest hand leads any card he pleases and each in turn to the left must follow in sequence and suit, playing the 10 on the 9, the J on the 10, etc.
Failure to follow suit when able is called _=revoking=_; the penalty for which, under the American laws, is the loss of two tricks; under the English laws, three tricks or points. Any player having none of the suit led may either trump it or throw away a card of another suit, which is called _=discarding=_. When it is the dealer’s turn to play to the first trick, he should take the trump card into his hand. After it has been taken up it must not be named, and any player naming it is subject to a penalty, (see Laws;) but a player may ask what the trump _=suit=_ is. If all follow suit, the highest card played wins the trick; trumps win against all other suits, and a higher trump wins a lower. The winner of the trick may lead any card he pleases for the next trick, and so on until all thirteen tricks have been played. _=Cards Played in Error=_, or dropped face upward on the table, or two or more played at once, are called _=exposed cards=_, and must be left on the table. They can be _=called=_ by the adversaries; but the fact of their being exposed does not prevent their being played when the opportunity offers. Some persons imagine that the adversaries can prevent an exposed card from being played; but such is not the case. _=Leading out of Turn.
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. If any card is found faced in the pack, or if the pack be proved incorrect or imperfect, there must be a new deal. An imperfect pack is one in which there are duplicate or missing cards, or cards so torn or marked that they can be identified by the backs. 20. Should a player deal out of his turn, the deal must stand if it is complete; otherwise there must be a new deal by the right dealer. When the deal stands, the next deal must be by the player who should have dealt, and subsequent deals must be so arranged that there shall be the right number to each round.
|We ll give him a horse| -- | -- | | |to gallop around. | | | |49.| -- |Here comes my lord | -- | | | |Duke, let everyone | | | | |pass by but the very | | | | |last one. | | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ (_d_) This game is universally acknowledged to be a very ancient one, but its origin is a subject of some diversity of opinion. The special feature of the rhymes is that considerable difficulty occurs in the building of the bridge by _ordinary_ means, but without exactly suggesting that extraordinary means are to be adopted, a prisoner is suddenly taken. The question is, What does this indicate? Looking to the fact of the widespread superstition of the foundation sacrifice, it would seem that we may have here a tradition of this rite. So recently as 1872, there was a scare in Calcutta when the Hooghly Bridge was being constructed. The natives then got hold of the idea that Mother Ganges, indignant at being bridged, had at last consented to submit to the insult on condition that each pier of the structure was founded on a layer of children s heads (Gomme s _Early Village Life_, p. 29). Formerly, in Siam, when a new city gate was being erected, it was customary for a number of officers to lie in wait and seize the first four or eight persons who happened to pass by, and who were then buried alive under the gate-posts to serve as guardian angels (Tylor s _Primitive Culture_, i.
After the last line the girl tries to pull one whom she has chosen from the line toward her. If not successful, she must try again. If she is, they both stand in the middle, and commence singing the words again with-- Here come _two_ virgins on their knees, &c. Probably a degraded version of Three Lords from Spain. Here I sit on a Cold Green Bank Here I sit on a cold green bank On a cold and frosty morning. We ll send a young man [_or_ woman] to take you away, To take you away, We ll send a young man to take you away, On a cold and frosty morning. Pray tell me what his name shall be? [_or_] Pray, whom will you send to take me away? We ll send Mr. ---- to take you away. The children form a ring around one of the party, who sits in the middle, and says the two first lines. Then those in the circle dance round her, singing the next four lines.
When the game closed the banker informed them that the green had come up more than twenty times earlier in the evening. They thought the maturity of the chances would compel the green to come; whereas the chances really were that it would not come, as it had over-run its average so much earlier in the evening. The pendulum swings as far one way as the other, but no method of catching it on the turn has ever yet been discovered. _=Compound Events.=_ In order to ascertain the probability of compound or concurrent events, we must find the product of their separate probability. For instance: The odds against your cutting an ace from a pack of 52 cards are 48 to 4, or 12 to 1; because there are 52 cards and only 4 of them are aces. The probability fraction is therefore 1/13. But the probabilities of drawing an ace from two separate packs are 1/13 × 1/13 = 1/169, or 168 to 1 against it. Suppose a person bets that you will not cut a court card, K Q or J, from a pack of 52 cards, what are the odds against you? In this case there are three favourable events, but only one can happen, and as any of them will preclude the others, they are called _=conflicting events=_, and the probability of one of them is the sum of the probability of all of them. In this case the probability of any one event separately is 1/13, and the sum of the three is therefore 1/13 + 1/13 + 1/13 = 3/13; or ten to 3 against it.
The Lanarkshire version is quite a different one, and contains rather remarkable features. Mr. Black says that the game was played entirely by girls, never by boys, and generally in the months of May or June, about forty years ago. The children sang with rather mincing and refined voices, evidently making an effort in this direction. They walked, with their hands clasped behind their backs, up and down the road. Each child was crowned with rushes, and also had sashes or girdles of rushes. Mr. Ballantyne says in his boyhood it was played by a row of boys on one side and another of girls opposite. The boys selected a girl when singing the third verse. In the Roxton version, one child at the end of the line of children acts as mother.
These are worth collectively 20 points, and on leading one of his Aces he announces “Twenty-one.” The dealer, before playing a card, proceeds to claim the count for the combinations which are good in his own hand, which is as follows:-- ♣ J 10 9 8: ♢ J 10 9: ♠ K Q J 10 9. The point is worth 5; the quinte 15, the quatrième 4, and the tierce 3; 27 altogether. His trios of Jacks and Tens are shut out by the superior combinations in the elder hand. Having claimed these 27 points, and their correctness having been admitted by the elder hand, the dealer proceeds to play a card. If either player has forgotten to declare anything before he plays, the count is lost. _=Sinking.=_ A player is not obliged to declare any combination unless he wishes to do so, and he may sink a card if he thinks it would be to his advantage to conceal his hand. Sinking is calling only part of a combination, as, for instance, calling 51 for his point when he really has 61; calling a quinte when he has a sixième, or a trio when he has a quatorze. Sinking is usually resorted to only when the player knows from his own hand and discards that what he declares is still better than anything his adversary can hold; but it must be remembered that the part of the declaration which is sunk in this manner is lost.
Yes, she said softly. And I m the one? Yes! Not that again! I growled, grabbing her thin shoulders and shaking her. Her glasses bobbled on her nose. I m _not_ your darlin Billy, and you well know it. Admit it! She closed her lips over her buck teeth and sniffled. I reckon not, she said, raising her head and looking at me without flinching. I lied to you. Why? Kind of made me feel more decent about bein divorced. I gave her a last shake for the lie. Let s have it, I went after her.