If this is so, we have interesting evidence of the spread or transmission of one game from at least two centres. Professor Attwell, in _Notes and Queries_, 8th ser., iv. 201, suggests that Hucklebones was introduced into Europe by the Romans, and was spread throughout the countries which formed the empire by means of Roman colonists and soldiers. Mr. Newell (_Games_, pp. 190-93) describes a similar game to Fivestones played in Boston under the name of Otadama, or Japanese Jacks. This game is of Japanese origin, Tedama (that is, Handballs ) being its proper name. He says there can be no doubt that the two forms of this amusement are branches of the same root; and we thus have an example of a game which, having preserved its essential characteristics for thousands of years, has fairly circumnavigated the globe, so that the two currents of tradition, westward and eastward, from Europe and Asia, have met in America. See Checkstones, Dibs, Hucklebones, Jackstones.
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PASSE DIX. 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.
The player who draws to nothing because he can do so cheaply, will usually have nothing to draw at the end of the game. The age can usually afford to draw to four-card flushes, and to straights open at both ends, but should not do so when there are less than three who have paid to draw cards, or when the ante has been raised. If the age holds Kings or better before the draw, he should invariably raise the ante unless there are five players in the pool besides himself, or unless some other player has already raised. If he holds two pairs, he should do all his betting before the draw. If any other player has raised, or his own raise is re-raised, the age must use his judgment of the player and the circumstances. It is useless for the age to disguise his hand by such manœuvres as holding up an odd card to a pair, unless he raises the blind at the same time. If he draws one or two cards only, and has not raised the blind, every one will credit him for a small pair and an ace, or for a bobtail, and will inevitably call any bluff he may make. The age is the poorest position at the table for a bluff, but it is decidedly the best in which to win large pots with moderate hands. _=The Dealer=_ has the next best position to the age, and in large parties there is very little difference in the way in which the two positions should be played. The _=first bettor=_ has the worst position at the table and he should seldom come in on less than Queens.
_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The elder hand begins by leading any card he pleases, at the same time announcing the suit; “hearts;” “spades;” or whatever it may be. This announcement must be continued at every trick. If a player announces one suit and leads another, his adversary may demand that he take back the card played, and lead the suit announced. If he has none of the announced suit, the adversary may call a suit. If the adversary is satisfied with the card led, but improperly announced, he may demand that it remain as played. _=RENOUNCING.=_ When a card is led the adversary must not only follow suit, but must win the trick if he can. If he can neither follow suit nor trump, he may discard any card he pleases. Should a player not follow suit, or should he decline to win the trick, when able to do so, it is a renounce, and if he makes the odd trick he counts nothing; if he makes all five tricks, he counts one point only, instead of two.
W. S. Sykes. Sharleston Miss Fowler, Rev. G. T. Royds. Sheffield Mr. S. O.
My long, freckled face ends in a chin as sharp and pointed as her nose. And there s always something about a cripple, even if my powerless right arm doesn t exactly show. My days on the Crap Patrol came back to me. That s where the Lodge had found me, down on my knees in an alley, making the spots come up my way without even knowing I could do it. And when they d convinced me I was really a TK, and started me on the training that finally led to the Thirty-third degree, they d put me right back in those alleys, and cheap hotel rooms, watching for some other unknowing TK tipping the dice his way. Did Sniffles have it? She wasn t tipping dice, exactly, but she sure was calling the turn. She was tall, as well as skinny, and our eyes weren t far apart. Billy Joe, she whispered above the racket of the gambler in the casino, putting her mouth close to my ear. I told you, sugar. And now you lost.