_), and Moor as played in Suffolk with bricks usually, or, in their absence, with bats in place of bails or stumps (_Suffolk Words_). Banger Each boy provides himself with a button. One of the boys lays his button on the ground, near a wall. The other boys snap their buttons in turn against the wall. If the button drops within one span or hand-reach of the button laid down, it counts two (fig. 2); if within two spans, it counts one. When it hits the button and bounces within one span, it counts four (fig. 1); within two spans, three; and above three spans, one. Each player snaps in turn for an agreed number; the first to score this number wins the game.--Deptford, Kent, and generally in London streets (Miss Chase).
How long since you ve tackled a twenty-ounce sirloin? * * * * * The Lodge has unmentioned influence. No, Psi powers aren t a secret government. But what high official can afford to be at odds with us? They know where the Lodge stands. A little while on the visor as the east pinked up got me what I wanted. Because of the three-hour time difference, the Washington brass got me _carte blanche_ before banking hours at the Tahoe bank that supplied the Sky Hi Club with its cash. Working with the cashier, who hadn t even taken time to shave after getting his orders from the Federal Reserve Bank, I went over their stock of thousand dollar bills, as Pheola had PC d I would, and marked down the edges of the stacks with grease pencil. Mostly I did it to make my grip firmer. When the time came, I could make that money jump. Pheola let me get her a cocktail dress in one of the women s shops. The right dress helped, but more steaks would have helped even more.
=_ Each of the players should be provided with a certain number of counters, all of which must be sold and redeemed by the banker or his assistant. _=Cards.=_ Three packs of fifty-two cards each are shuffled together and used as one. The players shuffle as much as they please, the banker last, and the banker then presents them to any player he pleases to have them cut. The banker may burn one or two cards if he pleases; that is, turn them face upward on the bottom of the pack. _=Object of the Game.=_ The court cards and Tens count nothing, but all others, including the Ace, are reckoned at their face value. The object is to secure cards whose total pip value will most closely approach the number 8 or 9. An 8 made with two cards is better than a 9 made with three. _=Stakes.
Skat is the most modern, and to-day the most popular, many persons thinking it superior to Whist. The game seems to have originated among the farmers of Thuringia, a province of Saxony, and was probably a variation of the Wendish game of Schapskopf. The first mention of Skat that we can find is in an article in the “Osterländer Blättern,” in 1818. Thirty years later Professor Hempel of Altenburg published the rules and principles of the game under the title: “Das Skatspiel, von J.F.L.H.” It is said that he learned the game from a friend, who had been taught it by a Wendish coachman in his employ. The game spread rapidly, and soon became popular all over Germany, but with many minor variations in the details of play. To settle these, a Skat congress was finally held in Altenburg in 1886.
ii. SHROPSHIRE Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_. Madeley, Middleton Miss Burne. Tong Miss R. Harley. { Elworthy s _Dialect_, _Somerset and SOMERSETSHIRE { Dorset Notes and Queries_, Holloway s { _Dictionary_. Bath Miss Large. STAFFORDSHIRE-- Hanbury Miss E. Hollis. Cheadle Miss Burne.
Cop-halfpenny The game of Chuck-farthing. --Norfolk and Suffolk (Holloway s _Dict. of Provincialisms_). Corsicrown A square figure is divided by four lines, which cross each other in the crown or centre. Two of these lines connect the opposite angles, and two the sides at the point of bisection. Two players play; each has three men or flitchers. Now there are seven points for these men to move about on, six on the edges of the square and one at the centre. The men belonging to each player are not set together as at draughts, but mingled with each other. The one who has the first move may always have the game, which is won by getting the three men on a line.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_.
_=PLAYERS.=_ The number of players, methods of _=Cutting=_, _Dealing_, etc., are the same as those already described in connection with Boston, except that no trump is turned for first preference, the suits always having a determined rank; diamonds being first, hearts next, then clubs, and last spades. No-trump, or “grand,” outranks diamonds. Twelve deals is a game; after which the players cut out if there are more than four belonging to the table, or if other candidates are waiting to play. _=PENALTIES=_, for playing with more or less than the proper number of cards, etc., are the same as at Boston. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ These are identical with Boston, but instead of doubling the pool, the player who is unsuccessful in his undertaking pays into the pool the same amount that he loses to each of the other players. _=ANNOUNCEMENTS.
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The winner of one trick leads for the next, and so on, and each player in turn must follow suit if he can. 46. If, during the play of the hand, any player is found to have a wrong number of cards, the others having their right number, only those who have their right number can win the game. If it is the player who has a wrong number, his game is lost. If it is one of his adversaries, the player’s game is won. 47. If the single player leads out of turn, the cards must be taken back if the trick is not complete and the adversary who has not played demands it. If both adversaries have played to the false lead, the trick stands. If an adversary has played to his false lead, the player cannot take it back unless the other adversary permit it. 48.
When one makes domino he wins the pool. If all are blocked, the smallest number of pips left in hand wins; ties divide. _=MUGGINS, OR ALL FIVES.=_ This is a game for two, three, or four players. The object is to make the two ends of the line some multiple of five, and for every five so made the player scores five points toward game, which is usually 100 up. If only one point is scored for each five, 20 or 21 may be game. Each player draws seven bones, and the highest double sets, each person afterward playing in turn. If double five is the first set it counts 10. The 5-0 played to this would count 10 for the second player, because one end of the line being 10 and the other 0, the total value of the two ends is still 10. Double blank played to this would count 10 more.
=_ Should the striker pocket the ball he plays at, and by the same stroke pocket his own or force it over the table, _he_ loses a life and not the person whose ball he pocketed. _=8.=_ Should the player strike the wrong ball, he pays the same forfeit to the person whose ball he should have played at as he would have done if he had pocketed it himself. _=9.=_ If the striker miss the ball he ought to play at, and by the same stroke pocket another ball, _he_ loses a life, and not the person whose ball he pocketed; in which case the striker’s ball must be taken up, and both balls remain in hand until it be their several turns to play. _=10.=_ If the player inquire as to which is his ball, or if it be his turn to play, the marker or the players must give him the information sought. _=11.=_ If the striker, while taking aim, inquire which is the ball he ought to play at, and should be misinformed by the marker or by any of the company, he does not lose a life. His ball must in this case be replaced and the stroke played again.
Dismounted cavalry charged is equivalent to infantry in extended order. If cavalry charges cavalry and the numbers are equal and the ground level, the result must be decided by the toss of a coin; the loser losing three-quarters of his men and obliged to retire, the winner losing one-quarter of his men. If the numbers are unequal, the melee rules for Little Wars obtain if the ground is level. If the ground slopes, the cavalry charging downhill will be multiplied according to the number of contours crossed. If it is one contour, it must be multiplied by two; two contours, multiplied by three; three contours, multiplied by four. If cavalry retires before cavalry instead of accepting a charge, it must continue to retire so long as it is pursued--the pursuers can only be arrested by fresh cavalry or by infantry or artillery fire. If driven off the field or into an unfordable river, the retreating body is destroyed. If infantry find hostile cavalry within charging distance at the end of the enemy s move, and this infantry retires and yet is still within charging distance, it will receive double losses if in extended order if charged; and if in two ranks or in fours, will lose at three feet two men for each charging sabre; at two feet, three men for each charging sabre. The cavalry in these circumstances will lose nothing. The infantry will have to continue to retire until their tormentors have exterminated them or been driven off by someone else.
] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] [Illustration: Fig. 3.] [Illustration: Fig. 4.] (_c_) The analysis of the game rhymes is as follows:-- +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ |No.| Halliwell s Version. | Liphook (Hants). | Shropshire.
But if he fails to win three tricks, he is euchred, and the adversaries score two points. _=When three play=_, a lone hand counts three if the player wins all five tricks. _=When two play=_, five tricks is simply a march, and counts two points. _=When five or seven play=_, there are special scores for lone hands. When all five tricks are taken by one side, but not by an individual playing a lone hand, it is simply a march, and counts two points, no matter how many are playing. When two or three are playing, a march must of course be a lone hand, as there are no partnerships. As we shall see later, there are some varieties of Euchre in which a lone hand may play against a lone hand, but this is not permitted in the ordinary game. No one but the individual player who makes the trump can play alone. 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.
One stands facing them and calls out-- My mother sits on yonder chimney, And she says she _must_ have a chicken. The others answer-- She _can t_ have a chicken. The one then endeavours to catch the last child of the tail, who when caught comes behind the captor; repeat until all have changed sides.--Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy). A version of this game played at Eckington, Derbyshire, is played as follows:--A den is chalked out or marked out for the Fox. A larger den, opposite to this, is marked out for the Geese. A boy or a girl represents the Fox, and a number of others the Geese. Then the Fox shouts, Geese, Geese, gannio, and the Geese answer, Fox, Fox, fannio. Then the Fox says, How many Geese have you to-day? The Geese reply, More than you can catch and carry away. Then the Geese run out of the den, and the Fox tries to catch them.
In the plan (fig. 8) the players first lay the stone on the back of the hand, and _walk_ through the plan, stepping into each division, throw it up and catch it. Then the stone is _thrown_ back from No. 7 outside No. 1. Now it is placed on the toe, and the child walks through again, throwing up the foot when out, to catch the stone in the hand. Another way, done on the same plan, is for the player to place the stone in No. 1, leave it there, and hop into each division and back, then place it in No. 2, and repeat the hopping, and so on through all the figures. There is no _kicking_ of the stone, as is usual in London.
This old son of a gun and I will take over for a while. Twice again the twinge, the skip. He had no idea where he was until the lights of the Caledonia space board shone below. [Illustration] With a weariness that lay almost beyond the limits of thought, he threw his mind back into rapport with the pin-set, fixing the Lady May s projectile gently and neatly in its launching tube. She was half dead with fatigue, but he could feel the beat of her heart, could listen to her panting, and he grasped the grateful edge of a thanks reaching from her mind to his. THE SCORE They put him in the hospital at Caledonia. The doctor was friendly but firm. You actually got touched by that Dragon. That s as close a shave as I ve ever seen. It s all so quick that it ll be a long time before we know what happened scientifically, but I suppose you d be ready for the insane asylum now if the contact had lasted several tenths of a millisecond longer.
If it is red, he is strong, and plays to win; if it is black, he is taking to the woods. A further element may enter into his calculations, the state of the score. If he feels sure of the few points necessary to win the game or the rubber with a black trump, there is no necessity to risk making it red. This is a part of the subject which we shall go into further when we come to the suggestions for good play. The dealer has the first say in making the trump. If he does not feel himself strong enough to make it no trump, or red, although his hand may be black enough to promise a good score in clubs or spades, he should transfer to his partner the privilege of making the trump by saying: “I leave it to you, partner.” Guided by this indication, his partner must fix on some suit for the trump or go no-trumps, and must announce it. Either the dealer or his partner may elect to play without a trump, if he has sufficient strength in all the suits to do so. _=IRREGULARITIES IN DECLARING.=_ If the dealer’s partner makes a declaration before being asked to do so, either adversary may demand that the declaration shall stand, or that there shall be a new deal.
The second example shows the importance of preserving a re-entry card in the hand which is longer in the suit the dealer intends playing for. If the dealer lets the heart come up to him, it is true that he will make win the first trick with the Jack; but he will never win a trick with the Queen, and therefore he can never get in to make his clubs, even if he establishes them. By putting up the Ace of hearts, and keeping both Q and J in his own hand, he is certain of a re-entry in hearts. On the second round of clubs, the adversary still holding up or underplaying, the dealer must be careful to overtake Dummy’s ten with his own Jack, so as to continue the suit without losing the lead. VARIETIES OF BRIDGE. _=THREE HAND AUCTION.=_ This is a game for three active players only, but four may form a table. Each player is for himself, there being no partnerships except the temporary combination against the declarer for each deal. The player who cuts the lowest card chooses his seat and cards and the player with the next lower cut sits on his left, the other on his right. 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.
If a player exposes more than one card, he must cut again. _=DEALING.=_ The cards are thoroughly shuffled, and presented to the pone to be cut. At least five cards must be left in each packet. The cards are then dealt three at a time for the first round, two for the next, and three for the last, each player receiving eight cards. The seventeenth is then turned up for the trump. If this card is a Seven, the dealer scores 10 points for it at once. The trump card is laid on the table by itself, the remainder of the pack, which is called the _=stock=_ or _=talon=_, is slightly spread, to facilitate the process of drawing cards from it, and to be sure that none of the cards remaining in the undealt portion are exposed. In sixty-four-card Binocle twelve cards are sometimes dealt to each player. _=Misdealing.
THREE. FOUR. ] The number of pips exposed on the card which is face up is immaterial; the relative position of the two cards will always determine the score. Rubber or game scores must be kept on a whist marker, or on a sheet of paper. _=PLAYERS.=_ Euchre may be played by any number of persons from two to seven; but in the seven-handed game the full pack of fifty-three cards is used. Whatever the number of players, they cut for positions at the table, for partners, and for the deal. _=CUTTING.=_ The cards are usually spread, face down, and each candidate for play draws a card. [Illustration: SPREADING THE PACK.
Ties cut again; but the new cut decides nothing but the tie. _=STAKES.=_ If there is any stake, it is for so much a game. Rubbers are never played. _=DEALING.=_ Each player has the right to shuffle the pack, the dealer last, and the cards are then presented to the pone to be cut. At least four cards must be left in each packet. Beginning on his left, the dealer gives six cards to each player, three on the first round, and three more on the second round, turning up the next card for the trump, and leaving it on the remainder of the pack. If this card is a Jack, the dealer counts one point for it immediately; but if any player is found to have an incorrect number of cards, and announces it before he plays to the first trick, the Jack cannot be counted, as it could not have been the proper trump. In _=Pitch, or Blind All Fours=_, no trump is turned.
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. In order to prove any calculation of this kind all that is necessary is to ascertain the number of remaining events, and if their sum, added to that already found, equals unity, the calculation must be correct. For instance: The probability of turning a black trump at whist is 13/52 + 13/52 = 26/52; because there are two black suits of 13 cards each. The only other event which can happen is a red trump, the probability of which is also 26/52, and the sum of these two probabilities is therefore 26/52 + 26/52 = 52/52, or unity. Another fallacy in connection with the maturity of the chances is shown in betting against two successive events, both improbable, one of which has happened. The odds against drawing two aces in succession from a pack of 52 cards are 220 to 1; but after an ace has been drawn the odds against the second card being an ace also are only 16 to 1, although some persons would be mad enough to bet 1000 to 1 against it, on the principle that the first draw was a great piece of luck and the second ace was practically impossible. While the four aces were in the pack the probability of drawing one was 4/52. One ace having been drawn, 3 remain in 51 cards, so the probability of getting the second is 3/51, or 1/17.
If by the player himself, the card played in error must be taken back, and if only one adversary has played to the false lead, he may also take back his card. If both have played, the trick stands good. The single player suffers no penalty, as it is only to his own disadvantage to expose his hand. _=The Revoke.=_ If a player revokes, and he is one of the adversaries of the single player, the game is lost for the player in error; but he may count the points in his tricks up to the time the revoke occurred, in order to save schneider or schwarz. In Nullos, the game is lost the moment the revoke is discovered. _=Seeing Tricks.=_ The tricks must be kept separate as they are taken in, and any player is allowed to look at the last trick turned and quitted. Any player looking at any other trick but the last may be penalized ten points. _=Playing Ouverts.
O have you seen the Shah, O have you seen the Shah? He lights his pipe on a star-light night, O have you seen the Shah? For a-hunting we will go, A-hunting we will go; We ll catch a fox and put him in a box, A-hunting we will go. --Epworth, Doncaster (C. C. Bell). (_b_) The players march two by two, all singing. The first pair let go hands, separate, and skip widely apart, still singing. Gradually, in this manner, two separate lines are formed, until, following each other and singing, the pairs come together again, join hands, and march and sing in couplets linked. The Bath game is played by the children standing in two rows facing each other, and clapping hands and singing the verse. At the same time the two children facing each other at the top of the lines join hands and trip down and up between the lines. Their hands are unclasped, and the two children run down the outside of the lines, one running on each side, and meet at the bottom of the lines, where they stand.