Broadwood, and others, for kindly obtaining variants and tunes I should not otherwise have received. To the many versions now printed for the first time I have added either a complete transcript of, where necessary, or a reference to, where that was sufficient, printed versions of games to be found in the well-known collections of Halliwell and Chambers, the publications of the Folk-lore and Dialect Societies, Jamieson s, Nares , and Halliwell s Dictionaries, and other printed sources of information. When quoting from a printed authority, I have as far as possible given the exact words, and have always given the reference. I had hoped to have covered in my collection the whole field of games as played by children in the United Kingdom, but it will be seen that many counties in each country are still unrepresented; and I shall be greatly indebted for any games from other places, which would help to make this collection more complete. The tunes of the games have been taken down, as sung by the children, either by myself or correspondents (except where otherwise stated), and are unaltered. The games consist of two main divisions, which may be called descriptive, and singing or choral. The descriptive games are arranged so as to give the most perfect type, and, where they occur, variable types in succession, followed, where possible, by any suggestions I have to make as to the possible origin of the game. The singing games are arranged so as to give, first, the tunes; secondly, the different versions of the game-rhymes; thirdly, the method of playing; fourthly, an analysis of the game-rhymes on a plan arranged by my husband, and which is an entirely novel feature in discussing the history of games; fifthly, a discussion of the results of the analysis of the rhymes so far as the different versions allow; and sixthly, an attempt to deduce from the evidence thus collected suggestions as to the probable origin of the game, together with such references to early authorities and other facts bearing upon the subject as help to elucidate the views expressed. Where the method of playing the game is involved, or where there are several changes in the forms, diagrams or illustrations, which have been drawn by Mr. J.
French and English. French Blindman s Buff. Friar-rush. Frincy-francy. Frog-lope. Frog in the Middle. GAP. Garden Gate. Gegg. Genteel Lady.
Strutt (_Sports_, p. 387) also describes this game. Hunt the Staigie A boys game. One is chosen to be the Staigie (little stallion). The other players scatter themselves over the playground. The Staigie locks his fingers into each other. He then repeats the words-- Hunt the Staigie, Huntie, untie, staige, Ailleman, ailleman, aigie, and rushes off with his hands locked, and tries to touch one of the players. He must not unlock his hands till he has caught one. When he has captured one, the two join hands and hunt for another. When another is caught, he joins the two.
In Diagram No. 12, for instance, the English notation for the first two moves made by white would be:--P-K 4, and K Kt-B 3, or, Kt-K B 3. The German notation would be:--e 2-e 4; and S g 1-f 3. The move of the Knight, it will be observed, gives the initial of the piece and the square upon which it stands, and then the square to which it is moved. A capture is indicated by the letter “n” taking the place of the dash. If the white Knight took the black King’s Pawn in Diagram No. 12, for instance, the move would be recorded: S f 3 n e 5, that is, the Springer at f 3 “nimmt” whatever it found at e 5. A check is indicated by a plus sign, +, following the move. In Diagram No. 11, for instance, the last move of the white Queen would be: D e 8-c 6 +; and Black’s reply would be: D b 8-b 7.
The one who is willing to put up the largest amount of money to be played for is usually selected as the banker. He is provided with a large bowlful of beans, counters, buttons, small coins, or some objects of which a large number of similar size and shape can be easily obtained. An oblong card is placed in the centre of the table, and the players stake their money upon its corners or upon its edges. These corners are supposed to be numbered in rotation from 1 to 4, the figure 1 being on the right of the banker. A bet placed on any of the corners takes in the number it is placed upon and the next higher also; so that a bet upon the corner 1 would be upon the numbers 1 and 2; upon 2 it would be upon 2 and 3; and upon 4 it would be upon 4 and 1. [Illustration: +---------------+X |3 2| | | |4 1| +---------------+ ] In the illustration the bet would be upon 2 and 3. If the bet is placed upon the edge of the card, it takes in the next higher number only. [Illustration: +---------------+ |3 2| | |X |4 1| +---------------+ ] In the illustration the bet is upon the number 2, and no other. After all the bets have been placed, the banker takes a large handful of the beans or counters from the bowl, and places them on the table, counting them off rapidly into fours. The number of odd counters remaining decides which number wins; if none remain, 4 wins.
But this is not correct, as will be immediately apparent if we write out all the 36 possible throws with two dice; for we shall find that only 11 of the 36 contain an ace, and 25 do not. The proper way to calculate this is to take the chances against the ace on each die separately, and then to multiply them together. There are five other numbers that might come up, and the fraction of their probability is ⅚ × ⅚ = 25/36, or 25 to 11 in their favour. Take the case of three dice: As three numbers out of six must come up, it might be supposed that it was an even thing that one would be an ace. But the possible throws with three dice are 6 × 6 × 6 = 216; and those that do not contain an ace are 5 × 5 × 5 = 125; so that the odds against getting an ace in one throw with three dice, or three throws with one die, are 125/216, or 125 to 91 against it. To find the probability of getting a given total on the faces of two or three dice we must find the number of ways that the desired number can come. In the 36 possible throws with two dice there are 6 which will show a total of seven pips. The probability of throwing seven is therefore 6/36, or 5 to 1 against it. A complete list of the combinations with two dice were given in connection with Craps. _=Poker.
Suppose A has 1740 and B 850. The brisques are counted, and it is found that B has eighteen, making his score 1030, and saving his rubicon. A adds his fourteen brisques, making his total 1880, which makes the value of his game 1800, minus B’s 1000, plus 500 for the game, or 1300 altogether. If B’s brisques did not prove sufficient to save the rubicon, A would count them all. Suppose that in the foregoing case B had taken in only eleven brisques, leaving his total 990. As this does not save the rubicon the game is reckoned as if the brisques had not been counted at all, and A wins 1800, plus B’s 800, plus 1300 for rubicon and brisques; 3900 altogether. If the player who is rubiconed has scored less than 100 points, the winner takes 100 for bonus, in addition to the 1300 for rubicon and brisques. When a series of games is played between the same individuals, it is usual to keep the net results on a sheet of paper, setting down the hundreds only, and to settle at the end of the sitting. _=Suggestions for Good Play=_ will be found in Binocle. * * * * * _=CHINESE BÉZIQUE=_ is Rubicon Bézique with six packs of cards shuffled together and used as one.
See Cold Deck. Robbing, exchanging a card in the hand for the turn-up trump, or discarding several for the trumps remaining in the pack. See Cinch and Spoil Five. Rooking, hustling, inveigling a person into a game for the purpose of cheating him. Round, a round is complete when each player has had equal advantages with regard to deal, dummy, etc. Round Games, those which do not admit of partnerships. Rubber, winning two out of three games. F., Robre. Rubiconed, lurched, defeated before getting half way.
The chief difference these leads make in the play of the Third Hand is that he should not trump any court card led, even if weak in trumps. The misunderstanding as to the meaning of the first lead, especially if it is a Queen, often occasions confusion and loss; but this is claimed to be offset by the value of the information given. Some lead 10 from Q J 10; 4th-best from K J 10. To the adversaries these leads are often of value, as they are frequently enabled to place the cards very accurately from the information given by the lead itself, regardless of the fall of the cards from the other hands. For instance: Second Hand holds A J of a suit in which King is led; Third Hand plays the Four; Fourth Hand plays the Nine. The leader remains with Q 3 2; Third Hand still has 8 7 6 5; and if he has also the 10, Fourth Hand has no more. Again: The leader shows a suit of six; Second Hand holding two only. If the suit is led a third time it is a doubtful trick, and with four trumps the Second Hand should pass. If the leader shows the exact number of the suit originally led, and then changes to a four-card suit, the adversaries know at least nine of his cards. So obvious is this that it is an almost invariable rule for a player, on quitting his suit, to conceal the length of the second suit led by leading the highest card of a short suit.
ILLUSTRATIVE GAMES. The asterisk shows the losing move. +-----------------------+-------------------------------+ | Play with Black Men. | Play with White Men. | +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | _1_ | _2_ | _3_ | _4_ | _5_ | _6_ | _7_ | +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 11-15 | 11-15 | 10-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 10-15 | | 22 18 | 23 19 | 22 18 | 24 20 | 22 18 | 23 19 | 23 18 | | 15-22 | 8-11 | 15-22 | 8-11 | 15-22 | 8-11 | 12-16 | | 25 18 | 22 17 | 25 18 | 28 24 | 25 18 | 26 23 | 21 17 | | 8-11 | 3- 8 | 6-10 | 4- 8 | 8-11 | 4- 8 | 16-19 | | 29 25 |*17 14 | 29 25 | 23 19 | 29 25 | 30 26 | 17 14 | | 4- 8 | 9-18 | 10-15 |* 9-13 | 4- 8 |* 9-13 | 9-13 | | 24 20 | 21 17 |*25 22 | 20 16 | 24 20 | 19 16 | 24 20 | | 10-15 | 18-22 | 15-19 | 11-20 | 10-15 | 12-19 | 8-12 | | 25 22 | 25 18 | 23 16 | 22 17 | 25 22 | 23 16 | 25 21 | | 12-16 | 15-22 | 12-19 | 13-22 |* 9-13 | 11-20 | 12-16 | |*27 24 | 26 23 | 24 15 | 25 4 | 20 16 | 22 17 | 21 17 | | 15-19 | 5- 9 | 9-14 |W wins.| 12-19 | 13-22 | 4- 8 | | 24 15 | 17 13 | 18 9 | | 23 16 | 25 4 | 29 25 | | 16-19 | 11-15 | 11-25 | | 11-20 |W wins.| 6- 9 | | 23 16 | 23 18 |B wins.| | 18 4 | | 27 24 | | 9-14 | 1- 5 | | |W wins.| | 1- 6 | | 18 9 | 18 11 | | | | | 32 27 | | 11-25 | 7-23 | | | | | 6-10 | | 28 24 | 27 18 | | | | | 27 23 | | 5-14 | 9-14 | | | | | 8-12 | | 24 19 | 18 9| | | | | 25 21 | | 6-10 | 5-14 | | | | | 2- 6 | |B wins.|B wins.
Halliwell describes this game differently. He says it consists in pitching at a row of nuts piled up in heaps of four, three at the bottom and one at the top of each heap. The nut used for the pitching is called the Cob. All the nuts knocked down are the property of the pitcher. Alluding to the first described form, he says it is probably a more modern game, and quotes Cotgrave _sub voce_ Chastelet as authority for the earlier form in the way he describes it (_Dictionary_). Addy says the nuts were hardened for the purpose. When a nut was broken it was said to be cobbered or cobbled (_Sheffield Glossary_). Evans _Leicestershire Glossary_ also describes it. Darlington (_South Cheshire Words_) says this game only differs from Cobblety-cuts in the use of small nuts instead of chestnuts. George Eliot in _Adam Bede_ has, Gathering the large unripe nuts to play at Cob-nut with (p.
The Bridge Manual, by John Doe, 1900. Bridge Abridged, by W. Dalton, 1901. Elwell on Bridge, by J.B. Elwell, 1902. Foster’s Bridge Tactics, by R.F. Foster, 1903. Foster’s Self-playing Bridge Cards, 1903.
Beds. Bell-horses. Bellie-mantie. Belly-blind. Bend-leather. Betsy Bungay. Bicky. Biddy-base. Biggly. Billet.
. . . After supper must they begin to pipe and daunce again of anew. And though the young persons come once towards their rest, yet can they have no quietness. --1575 edit., fol. 59, rev. 60. Edward L.
It is there described as a forfeit game. King William [Music] --Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy). I. King William was King David s son, And all the royal race is run; Choose from the east, choose from the west, Choose the one you love the best. Down on this carpet you shall kneel While the grass grows in yonder field; Salute your bride and kiss her sweet, Rise again upon your feet. --Hanging Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy).
All combinations announced and scored must be laid face upward on the table; but the cards still form part of the player’s hand, and may be led or played at any time, although they must not again be taken in hand until the stock is exhausted. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ The reasons for winning or not winning certain tricks will be better understood in connection with the description of the various combinations that count toward game, and the manner of scoring them. _=Brisques.=_ The aces and Tens of each suit are called brisques, and count ten points each towards game. Except for the purpose of getting or keeping the lead, there is no object in winning any trick which does not contain a brisque. Every brisque taken in should be scored at once by the player winning the trick; 10 points for an ace or Ten; 20 points if there are two such cards in the same trick. A player holding or drawing the _=Seven of trumps=_ has the privilege of exchanging it for the turn-up trump, and scoring 10 points at the same time; but he must make the exchange immediately after winning a trick, and before drawing his card from the stock. Should the turn-up card be a Seven, or one exchange have already been made, the exchange can still be made and scored. He cannot score the Seven and make a declaration at the same time.
6b--Battle of Hook s Farm. Position of Armies at end of Blue s third move.] [Illustration: Fig. 7--Battle of Hook s Farm. Red s Left Wing attempting to join the Main Body.] Figure 1 shows the country of the battlefield put out; on the right is the church, on the left (near the centre of the plate) is the farm. In the hollow between the two is a small outbuilding. Directly behind the farm in the line of vision is another outbuilding. This is more distinctly seen in other photographs. Behind, the chalk back line is clear.
Although barbers forfeits are not of the same nature as the nursery forfeits, it is possible that this general custom among so important a class of the community in early times as barbers may have suggested the game. Both Forby in his _Vocabulary of East Anglia_ and Moor in his _Suffolk Words_ bear testimony to the general prevalence of barbers forfeits, and it must be borne in mind that barbers were also surgeons in early days. A curious custom is also recorded in another East Anglian word-list, which may throw light upon the origin of the game from popular custom. A forfeit is incurred by using the word water in a brew-house, where you must say liquor; or by using the word grease in a chandlery, where it is stuff or metal. The forfeit is to propitiate the offended _genius loci_ (Spurden s _East Anglian Vocabulary_). The element of divination in the custom is perhaps indicated by a curious note from Waldron, in his _Description of the Isle of Man_ (_Works_, p. 55), There is not a barn unoccupied the whole twelve days, every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge. On Twelfth Day the fiddler lays his head on some of the wenches laps, and a third person asks who such a maid or such a maid shall marry, naming the girls then present one after another; to which he answers according to his own whim, or agreeable to the intimacies he has taken notice of during this time of merriment. But whatever he says is as absolutely depended on as an oracle; and if he happen to couple two people who have an aversion to each other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth. This they call cutting off the fiddler s head; for after this he is dead for the whole year.
--Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase). VI. Drawing a bucket of water For my lady s daughter; Put it in a chestnut tree, And let it stay an hour. One of you rush, two may rush, Please, old woman, creep under the bush; The bush is too high, the bush is too low, Please, old woman, creep under the bush. --Hampshire (Miss Mendham). VII. Draw a pail of water For a lady s daughter; Give a silver pin for a golden ring-- Oh pray, young lady, pop under. --Northants (Rev. W. D.
4) the game is:--Throw stone into No. 1. Pick it up. Hop from No. 1 to No. 8, not touching lines. So successively into Nos. 2, 3, 4, &c. Walk into No. 1 with stone on foot, and out at No.
And as for precognition, as Simonetti said, more than their fair share is possessed by wild-looking women. Like Sniffles, I thought suddenly. Well, Rose said, turning back to his partner. Let Sime and me talk it over. Maybe we should get a PC. Nuts, Simonetti told him. I ll think it over, too, I said. See you tomorrow. I turned to go. Simonetti and Smythe followed me out, each for his own reasons, I guess, leaving Rose behind in the cube of glass on the roof, looking like he was going to turn belly-up and take a bite out of the PBX on his desk.
A player winning three tricks out of the five possible, counts one point toward game; winning all five tricks, which is called _=the vole=_, counts two points. The player holding or turning up the King of trumps may mark one point for it, but he is not compelled to do so. If the pone plays without proposing, and makes three or four tricks, he counts one point; if he makes the vole he counts two points; but if he fails to make three tricks the dealer counts two. If the dealer refuses the first proposal, he must make three tricks to count one point; if he makes the vole he counts two points; but if he fails to win three tricks the player who was refused counts two points. If the dealer accepts the first proposal, and gives cards, subsequent proposals and refusals do not affect the score; the winner of the odd trick scoring one point, and the winner of the vole two points. In no case can a player make more than two points in one hand by tricks. If the dealer refuses the first proposal, and the pone makes the vole, it counts two points only. If the pone should play without proposing, and the dealer should mark the King and win the vole, it would count him only three points altogether. The player first reaching five points wins the game. If a player has four scored, and turns the King, that wins the game, provided the King was the eleventh card.