(In Switzerland they cut to the left and deal to the right; but in America this is not necessary.) The cards are dealt three at a time for three rounds, so that each player receives nine cards. When four play, the last card must be turned up for the trump. When three play, the twenty-eighth card is the trump. _=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ The play is to win tricks with cards of pip value in them, especially aces and tens, called game points, and also to meld certain combinations of cards that are found in the player’s hand. When three play, the dealer may exchange his nine cards for the nine that are left on the table, but he must surrender the turned up trump among those nine cards to any player that holds the six. If the dealer does not wish to exchange, each player in turn to the left may do so. In making the exchange, no card of the nine originally dealt to the player may be kept, not even the six of trumps. The pip value of the cards won in tricks count for the player at the end of the hand.
III. Each party must be bound by the move communicated in writing, or by word of mouth, to the adversary whether or not it be made on the adversary’s board. If the move so communicated should prove to be different from that actually made on the party’s own board, the latter must be altered to accord with the former. IV. If either party be detected in moving the men when it is not their turn to play, or in moving more than one man (except in castling) when it is their turn to play, they shall forfeit the game, unless they can show that the man was moved for the purpose of adjusting or replacing it. V. If either party has, accidentally or otherwise, removed a man from the board, which has not been captured in the course of the game, and made certain moves under the impression that such man was no longer in play, the moves must stand, but the man may be replaced whenever the error is discovered. VI. If either party permit a bystander to take part in the contest, that party shall forfeit the game. * * * * * The foregoing laws differ very slightly from those of the British Chess Association, and it is to be hoped that an international code will be agreed upon before a second edition of this work is issued.
Opening.=_ After the cards are dealt, each player in turn, beginning on the dealer’s left, may open the pot for any amount he pleases within the betting limit, provided he holds a pair of Jacks, or some hand better than a pair of Jacks. If he does not hold openers, or does not wish to open the pot with them, he must say: “I pass;” but must not abandon his hand, under penalty of paying five counters to the pool. _=39. False Openers.=_ Should a player open a jack without the hand to justify it, and discover his error before he draws, his hand is foul, and he forfeits whatever amount he may have already placed in the pool. Those who have come into the pool after the false opening, stay in and play for the pot, regardless of the value of the hands dealt them. _=40. Fattening.=_ If no player will open, the cards are reshuffled, cut, and dealt, usually by the same dealer, and each player adds one counter to the pool.
Sequences may run to any length, and four, five, or six of a kind is in order. The cards in hand that do not fit any combination of three or more are deadwood, and the object is to reduce this deadwood to less than fifteen. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ Each player in turn to the left of the dealer draws a card from the stock or the discard pile and discards one in its place, face up. No player is allowed to lay down anything until he can show his whole hand, and then only when his deadwood is fifteen or less, and he is not obliged to lay down even then if he prefers to wait until he can reduce his deadwood still further. _=THE SHOW-DOWN.=_ As soon as any player can show down his hand, the game is at an end. He lays out his combinations and pushes them aside. Then he announces the pip value of his deadwood, after discarding a card in place of the one drawn. Suppose he draws the seven of hearts, and lays down the 6 7 8 9 of that suit; J Q K of clubs; discards the king of spades and leaves two deuces and a five for his deadwood.
If each side has two honours, neither can count them. It is not enough to score them; after the last card has been played, they must be claimed by word of mouth. If they are not claimed before the trump is turned for the following deal, they cannot be scored. Partners who, at the beginning of a deal, are at the score of four, cannot count honours; they must get the odd trick to win the game. Should one side be out by tricks, and the other by honours, the tricks win the game, the honours counting nothing. _=Rubber Points.=_ At the conclusion of each game, the rubber points are scored, either with the oblong counters, or on the small keys of the whist-marker. If the winners of a game are five points to their adversaries’ nothing, they win a _=treble=_, and count three rubber points. If the adversaries have scored, but have one or two points only, the winners mark two points, for a _=double=_. If the adversaries have reached three or four, the winners mark one, for a _=single=_.