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This rhyme is also given by Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 122). Halliwell gives the rhyme as-- Hitty titty indoors, Hitty titty out, You touch Hitty titty, And Hitty titty will bite you. --_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 213. At Ashford-in-the-Water the words used were-- One a bin, two a bin, three a bin, four, Five a bin, six a bin, seven, gie o er; A bunch of pins, come prick my shins, A loaf brown bread, come knock me down. I m coming! --_Reliquary_, viii. 57. The words are said by the one who has to find the person hidden. In Scotland the game is called Hospy, and is played by boys only, and it can be played only in a village or hamlet in which there is the means of hiding.
Should the brelan be formed by uniting the retourne with two cards in the player’s hand, it is a _=brelan favori=_, and the holder of it receives an extra counter from every player at the table, whether he wins the pool or not. For instance: The retourne is an eight; a brelan of Queens is shown, and wins the pool. Another player holds a pair of eights, and claims brelan favori. He does not pay the winning brelan, but receives one counter from its holder, and also from each of the other players. If the brelan favori wins the pool, it is paid two counters by each player. If two simple brelans are shown, the higher wins the pool; but both must be paid by each of the other two players, who did not hold brelans. _=The Point.=_ If no brelan is shown, the hands of all the players are shown, including those who passed out during the betting. This will expose thirteen cards, including the retourne. The pips in each suit are then counted, the ace reckoning for 11, court cards for 10 each, and the 9 and 8 at their face value.
The holes made in the carpet by removing the aces are then filled up from the pack. Cards are then taken from the carpet to build upon the aces in ascending sequence, following suit, and the holes in the carpet are continually filled up with fresh cards from the top of the pack. As other aces appear they are laid aside to start the sequence in the suit to which they belong. When you are stopped, deal the cards remaining in the pack in a pile on the table by themselves, face upward. If any card appears which can be used in the ascending sequences, take it, and if this enables you to make more holes in the carpet, do so. But after having been driven to deal this extra pile, holes in the carpet can no longer be filled from the pack; they must be patched up with the top cards on the extra pile until it is exhausted. _=FOUR OF A KIND.=_ Shuffle and cut the pack, then deal out thirteen cards face down in two rows of five each and one row of three. Deal on the top of these until the pack is exhausted, which will give you four cards in each pile, face down. Imagine that these piles represent respectively the A 2 3 4 5 in the first row; the 6 7 8 9 10 in the second, and the J Q K in the third.
The decision of the Umpire is final, and binds both and all the players. RULES FOR PLAYING THE GAME AT ODDS. I. In games where one player gives the odds of a piece, or “the exchange,” or allows his opponent to count drawn games as won, or agrees to check-mate with a particular man, or on a particular square, he has the right to choose the men, and to move first, unless an arrangement to the contrary is agreed to between the combatants. II. When the odds of Pawn and one move, or Pawn and more than one move are given, the Pawn given must be the King’s Bishop’s Pawn when not otherwise previously agreed on. III. When a player gives the odds of his King’s or Queen’s Rook, he must not Castle (or more properly speaking leap his King) on the side from which the Rook is removed, unless before commencing the game or match he stipulates to have the privilege of so doing. IV. When a player undertakes to give check-mate with one of his Pawns, or with a particular Pawn, the said Pawn must not be converted into a piece.
See Bull in the Park, Frog in the Middle. Fox in the Hole All the players are armed with handkerchiefs. One of the players is chosen for Fox, who has his den marked out. The Fox hops out on one leg, with his handkerchief ready to strike. The players gather round him and attack him. If he can strike one of his assailants without putting his foot to the ground from his hopping position, the player so struck is chased by the others into the den, and he then becomes the Fox for another round of the game.--Cork (Miss Keane). Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 228) describes the game in practically the same manner, but adds that when the Fox is coming out he says-- The Fox gives warning It s a cold and frosty morning, after which he is at liberty to hop out and use his handkerchief. _(b)_ This game is alluded to in _Soliman and Perseda_, 1599; _Florio_, p.
He can not only play the upper faces of the dice twice over, as in the ordinary game, but the faces opposite them also, and can then throw again before his adversary. Should he again throw doublets, he would play both faces of the dice, and throw again, and so on. As the opposite face is always the complement of seven, it is not necessary to turn the dice over to see what it is. A player throwing double four knows that he has four fours and four threes to play and will then get another throw. The upper faces of the dice must be played first, and if all four cannot be played the opposites and the second throw are lost. If the upper faces can be played, but not all the opposites, the second throw is lost. If the first throw of the game made by either player is a doublet, it is played as in the ordinary game, without playing the opposite faces or getting a second throw. The chief tactics of the game are in getting your men together in advance of your adversary, and covering as many consecutive points as possible, so that he cannot pass you except singly, and then only at the risk of being hit. After getting home, the men should be piled on the ace and deuce points unless there is very little time to waste in securing position. TEXT BOOKS.
When only one card of any denomination is in the box, it is obvious that such a card cannot be split, and that the bank has no advantage of the player. Such cards are called _=cases=_, and the betting limit on cases is only half the amount allowed on other cards. It is not considered _comme il faut_ for a player to wait for cases, and those who play regularly usually make a number of small bets during the early part of the deal, and then bet high on the cases as they come along. A player who goes upon the principle that the dealer can cheat those who bet high, and who follows and goes against the big bets with small ones, or who plays one-chip bets all over the board, hoping to strike a good spot to fish on, is called a piker; and when a game runs small this way, the dealers call it a _=piking game=_. _=Keeping Tab.=_ In addition to the case-keeper, score sheets are provided on which the players may keep a record of what cards win and lose on each turn. These tabs are printed in vertical columns, about five deals to a sheet. A dot indicates the soda card; a dash, hoc. All winners are marked with a down stroke, and all losers with a cypher. The diagram in the margin will give a very good idea of a faro tab for a complete deal.
If the total of the tricks taken by the same team on the N & S and the E & W hands is not 13, it must be a loss or a gain. At the end of the 24 hands, the result of the match can be immediately ascertained by laying side by side the score cards of the East and West hands played at the same table. The North and South scores are not compared, because the laws say they may be incorrect, but the East and West must be, officially, right. We give on the two preceding pages an illustration of the full score of a match. The check marks in the 6th column show that the N & S players compared the score with the E & W before turning down their cards. The figures in the 2nd column are the gains on the various hands. The figures in the 7th column show which of the four players whose names appear at the top of the score-card were partners for that series of hands. The result shows that the O team had a majority of one trick at table No. 1, while the X team had a majority of three tricks at table No. 2, leaving them the winners of the match by two tricks.
=_ In this variety of the game, before the cards are dealt, the age puts up, for a blind, any amount he pleases within the limit. Those who are willing to bet a similar amount on the possibilities of their hands put up a similar amount. Those who decline are not given any cards. There are no straddles, raises, or antes. Immediately after the deal each player who is in the pool draws cards, the age first. There are then two ways to play: The hands are shown and the best wins; or, beginning with the age, each player may say if he will back his hand against the field; _i.e._, all the others in the pool. If he will, he must put up as much as their combined stakes. He cannot be raised; but if any one player or combination of players call him, and one of them can beat his hand, the field divide the pool.
The Game of Rat and Dragon By CORDWAINER SMITH _Only partners could fight this deadliest of wars--and the one way to dissolve the partnership was to be personally dissolved!_ Illustrated by HUNTER * * * * * THE TABLE [Illustration] Pinlighting is a hell of a way to earn a living. Underhill was furious as he closed the door behind himself. It didn t make much sense to wear a uniform and look like a soldier if people didn t appreciate what you did. He sat down in his chair, laid his head back in the headrest and pulled the helmet down over his forehead. As he waited for the pin-set to warm up, he remembered the girl in the outer corridor. She had looked at it, then looked at him scornfully. Meow. That was all she had said. Yet it had cut him like a knife. What did she think he was--a fool, a loafer, a uniformed nonentity? Didn t she know that for every half hour of pinlighting, he got a minimum of two months recuperation in the hospital? By now the set was warm.
Those drawing the same denomination of Hearts and Clubs, or of Spades and Diamonds are partners. Before play begins, the number of hands which it is proposed to play should be announced, or a time set for adjournment. _=Driving.=_ There is no rank attached to the tables, but they should be arranged in such a manner that players may know which table to go to next. The partners seat themselves wherever they please, and at the tap of the bell at the head of the table the deal is cut for, and play begins. The winners of the majority of the thirteen tricks at each table go to the next table. Here they may either continue to play as partners, or may divide, which ever has been the style of play decided upon by the hostess. When the partnerships have been drawn for, it is usual to preserve them for the evening. The losing gentleman at each table has the deal for the next hand. _=Scoring.
What has this poor prisoner done? Stole my watch and broke my chain. How many pounds will set him free? Three hundred pounds will set him free. The half of that I have not got. Then off to prison he must go. --Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss E. Chase). (_b_) This game is now generally played like Oranges and Lemons, only there is no tug-of-war at the end. Two children hold up their clasped hands to form an arch. The other children form a long line by holding to each other s dresses or waists, and run under. Those who are running under sing the first verse; the two who form the arch sing the second and alternate verses.
63. If any player lead out of turn, and the three others have followed him, the trick is complete, and the error cannot be rectified; but if only the second, or the second and third, have played to the false lead, their cards, on discovery of the mistake, are taken back; there is no penalty against any one, excepting the original offender, whose card may be called, or he, or his partner, when either of them has next the lead, may be compelled to play any suit demanded by the adversaries. 64. In no case can a player be compelled to play a card which would oblige him to revoke. 65. The call of a card may be repeated until such card has been played. 66. If a player called on to lead a suit have none of it, the penalty is paid. CARDS PLAYED IN ERROR, OR NOT PLAYED TO A TRICK. 67.
To Mr W. was broached the idea: I believe that if one set up a few obstacles on the floor, volumes of the British Encyclopedia and so forth, to make a Country, and moved these soldiers and guns about, one could have rather a good game, a kind of kriegspiel. ... Primitive attempts to realise the dream were interrupted by a great rustle and chattering of lady visitors. They regarded the objects upon the floor with the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things. But the writer had in those days a very dear friend, a man too ill for long excursions or vigorous sports (he has been dead now these six years), of a very sweet companionable disposition, a hearty jester and full of the spirit of play. To him the idea was broached more fruitfully. We got two forces of toy soldiers, set out a lumpish Encyclopaedic land upon the carpet, and began to play.
If three players take four tricks apiece, they each pay the fourth man a red counter. _=WINNING THE POOL.=_ Besides the white counters won and lost by the players individually, the successful caller takes the pool, provided he has made a bid of seven tricks or better, which is called _=a pool bid=_. Any lower bid does not entitle him to the pool, unless the other players compel him to play the hand out. In order to save the pool, it is usual for the adversaries, before playing to the second trick, to say: “_=I pay.=_” If all agree to pay, the bidder must accept the amount of his bid without any over-tricks, and the pool is not touched. If a player has made a pool bid, and the adversaries, before playing to the second trick, agree to pay, they cannot prevent the caller from taking the pool; but they save possible over-tricks. The agreement of the adversaries to pay must be unanimous. Misère Partout does not touch the pool. If the hand is played out, and the caller fails, he must double the pool, whether he has made a pool bid or not.
The cards rank in the order of their numerical value, the 10 being the highest, and the ace the lowest. Two packs may be used alternately. _=Players.=_ Any number from two to six may form the table, and the arrangements for seats, first deal, etc., should be decided as at Bouillotte. _=Stakes.=_ Each player begins with an equal number of counters, the value of which must be determined beforehand. A betting limit should be agreed upon, and one player should be the banker for the evening. _=Blind.=_ Before the cards are dealt, each player deposits one counter in the pool; there is no straddle.
The thrower calls out at the same time either mineral, animal, or vegetable, and counts from one to ten rather quickly. If the player who is touched by the ball does not name something belonging to that kingdom called before the number ten is reached, a forfeit has to be paid.--London (A. B. Gomme). This is more usually called Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral. See Air, Fire, and Water. Minister s Cat The first player begins by saying, The minister s cat is an ambitious cat, the next player an artful cat, and so on, until they have all named an adjective beginning with A. The next time of going round the adjectives must begin with B, the next time C, and so on, until the whole of the alphabet has been gone through.--Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews); Anderby, Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock).
If the cue ball is struck very hard, however, and very slightly below the centre, it will slide for a certain distance before beginning to roll, and if it reaches the object ball before this sliding motion ceases it will simply come to a stop, or go off at a right angle if the object ball is not struck exactly in the centre. This method of forcing a ball to go off at a right angle is called “screwing” in England. [Illustration] _=The Follow Shot.=_ If the cue ball is struck above the centre, the rolling motion is set up at once, no matter how hard the ball is struck, and the effect of contact with the object ball is simply to check the motion for a moment, after which the cue ball rolls forward again, deflected only by the angle at which the object ball was struck. The great art in making follow shots is to let the cue follow the ball, the tip passing at least three inches beyond where the ball stood, as shown by the dotted lines in the diagram. When the balls are very close together the cue must be lifted, and the ball struck very much on one side, the cue being behind the centre, as shown in the third position in the diagram of pinch shots. [Illustration] _=The Draw Shot.=_ This is exactly the reverse of the follow shot, the ball being struck below the centre, and the cue passing at least three inches beyond where the ball stood, as shown in the diagram. This gives the cue ball a retrograde motion, similar to that imparted to a child’s hoop by spinning it backward while throwing it forward, so as to make it return. If the object ball is reached before this retrograde motion is exhausted, the effect will be to stop the forward motion of the cue ball, and to give what is left of the retrograde motion full play, making the cue ball return.
The pack is then turned face down, the gate is drawn off and thrown aside and two fresh layouts are made, as before and the bets placed before the new gate is shown. This is continued until the pack is exhausted. THREE-CARD MONTE. This is a purely gambling game, chiefly useful for separating fools from their money. The dealer takes three cards, slightly bent lengthwise, so as to be more easily picked up by the ends. One of these is shown, and the players are told to watch it. After a few skilful passes, the three cards come to rest on the layout, and the players are asked to bet that they can pick out the card shown. If the dealer will lay two to one, it is a fair gamble; but if he lays even money only, the player is betting two to one against himself. There are endless ways of pretending to mark the shown card, so that it may be known by the back; but the dealer or his confederate always knows that this is done, and the mark is shifted during the passes. UNDER AND OVER SEVEN.
The player who does so is hoisted on the back of another, and pelted by all the others with their bonnets.--Keith, Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor). Booman [Music] --Norfolk. Dill doule for Booman, Booman is dead and gone, Left his wife all alone, and all his children. Where shall we bury him? Carry him to London; By his grandfather s grave grows a green onion. Dig his grave wide and deep, strow it with flowers; Toll the bell, toll the bell, twenty-four hours. --Norfolk, 1825-30 (J. Doe).
_=Following King=_, which has been led from these combinations:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂭 🂫 | 🂱 🂾 🂻 🂷 🃁 🃎 🃍 🃆 | 🃑 🃞 🃔 🃓 ] Leading the Jack on the second round would show both Ace and Queen remaining. Leading Queen would show Ace, but not the Jack. Leading Ace would show that the leader had not the Queen. In combinations which do not contain the best card, the lead may be varied in some cases to show the number remaining in the leader’s hand, or to indicate cards not shown by the first lead. _=Following King=_, which has been led from these combinations:-- [Illustration: 🃎 🃍 🃋 🃊 | 🃞 🃝 🃛 🃖 ] Leading the Ten on the second round would show both Queen and Jack remaining. Leading the Jack would show the Queen; but not the ten. _=Following the Jack=_, led from this combination:-- [Illustration: 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂷 🂶 ] Leading King on the second round would show five cards in the suit originally. Leading the Queen would show more than five. _=Following the Queen=_, led from this combination:-- [Illustration: 🃍 🃋 🃊 🃄 🃃 ] Leading Jack on the second round shows the suit to have originally contained only four cards; the Ten would show more than four. _=Following the Ace=_, led from these combinations:-- [Illustration: 🃑 🃝 🃛 🃖 | 🂡 🂭 🂫 🂦 🂥 ] Leading the Queen shows the suit was short.
These payments do not go into the farm, but are clear profits. Those who have less than 16 pay nothing to the farmer; but the one who is nearest 16 receives a counter from each of the others. Ties are decided by the possession of the ♡ 6, or the fewest cards, or the eldest hand, as already described. If the farm remains in the same hands, the farmer deals again, and collects his profits until he loses his farm. When the farm is won, it is emptied, and resold as in the beginning. QUINZE. This is a form of Vingt-et-un for two players, but the number to be reached is 15 instead of 21. Court cards are reckoned as 10, and the ace as 1 only. Each player stakes an agreed amount every time, and the dealer then gives one card to his adversary and one to himself. The pone may stand on the first card, or draw; but he does not say anything if he overdraws.
All thirteen hearts having been paid for, any player having taken no hearts wins the entire pool; two having taken none, divide it. If all the players have taken hearts, or if one player has taken all thirteen, the pool remains, and forms a _=Jack=_. This can be won only by a single player in some subsequent deal taking no hearts, all the others having taken at least one. These jack pools are of course increased thirteen counters every deal until some player wins the whole amount. Some clubs make it a Jack after two players have divided a pool, using the odd counter as a starter. It will be found that natural Jacks occur quite frequently enough without resorting to this expedient. _=HOWELL’S SETTLING.=_ The great objection to the method of settling at Sweepstake Hearts is that it makes the game almost entirely one of chance. No matter how good a player one may be, good luck alone will bring success. In a four-handed game it is possible for one player to take in only 58 hearts in 60 deals, and still to be 46 counters behind; while another player may take in 500 hearts in 60 deals and be 46 counters ahead.
Another version is given in _Notes and Queries_, 3rd Series, vii. 285. (_d_) This is a dramatic game, in which the children seem to personate animals, and to depict events belonging to the history of the flock. Miss Burne groups it under her dramatic games. Blind Bell A game formerly common in Berwickshire, in which all the players were hoodwinked except the person who was called the Bell. He carried a bell, which he rung, still endeavouring to keep out of the way of his hoodwinked partners in the game. When he was taken, the person who seized him was released from the bandage, and got possession of the bell, the bandage being transferred to him who was laid hold of.--Jamieson. (_b_) In The Modern Playmate, edited by Rev. J.
If the best sequence is a tie, no sequences can be scored by either player. The value of a sequence is ten more than the number of cards that go to form it, provided that number exceeds four. A tierce counts 3 only, and a quatrième 4 only; but a quinte is worth 15, a sixième 16, and so on. _=Fours, and Triplets.=_ Any four cards of the same denomination, higher than a Nine, is called a Quatorze; three of any kind higher than the Nine is called a Trio, or sometimes a Brelan. As a trio is seldom mentioned without naming the denomination, it is usual to say; “Three Kings,” or “Three Jacks,” as the case may be. The 7 8 and 9 have no value except in point and sequence. The player holding the quatorze of the highest rank may score any inferior ones that he may hold, and also any trios. Should his adversary hold any intermediate ones, they are of no value. In the absence of any quatorze, the best trio decides which player shall count all the trios he may have in his hand, his adversary counting none.
--Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 88). (_b_) There are two methods of playing this game, one in which a King and Queen are represented, and the other in which gates of a city are represented. Of the first Chambers and Mactaggart practically give the same account. The latter says, Two of the swiftest boys are placed between two doons or places of safety; these, perhaps, are two hundred yards distant. All the other boys stand in one of these places or doons, when the two fleet youths come forward and address them with the rhyme. When out, they run in hopes to get to Babylon or the other doon, but many get not near that place before they are caught by the runners, who taens them, that is, lay their hands upon their heads, when they are not allowed to run any more in that game, that is, until they all be taened or taken. The Norfolk game seems to resemble the Scotch, though in a much less complete form. Miss Matthews describes it as follows:-- A line of children is formed, and the two standing opposite it sing the questions, to which the line reply; then the two start off running in any direction they please, and the others try to catch them. [Illustration: Fig.