=_ This is the most interesting form of competition, especially for domestic parties, as the arrangement of the players will allow of great latitude in the number engaged, table after table being added as long as players offer to fill them. _=Two Pairs.=_ When only four players are engaged at a single table, the game is called Memory Duplicate; which is forbidden in all first-class clubs. The players retain their seats until they have played an agreed number of hands, which are laid aside one by one in trays. No trump is turned in Memory Duplicate; one suit being declared trumps for the entire sitting. Instead of the players changing positions for the overplay, the trays are reversed. If the indicators pointed N & S on the original deals, they must lie E & W for the overplay. [Illustration: A A +---------+ +---------+ | ^ | | | | | | | | B| | |B B| DE --- |B | | | AL | | DEALER| | ER | +---------+ +---------+ A A ORIGINAL POSITION OF TRAYS. POSITION FOR OVERPLAY. ] _=Scoring.
Fippeny Morrell Twice three stones, set in a crossed square, where he wins the game that can set his three along in a row, and that is fippeny morrell I trow. --_Apollo Shroving_, 1626. See Nine Men s Morice, Noughts and Crosses. Fire, Air, and Water The players seat themselves in a circle. One of the players has a ball, to which a string is fastened. He holds the string that he may easily draw the ball back again after it is thrown. The possessor of the ball then throws it to one in the circle, calling out the name of either of the elements he pleases. This player must, before ten can be counted, give the name of an inhabitant of that element. When Fire is called, strict silence must be observed or a forfeit paid.--Cork, Ireland (Miss Keane).
In cutting, the cards rank as in play, the ace being the highest. 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 dealer then distributes the cards three at a time, first to his adversary and then to himself, for three rounds, so that each player receives nine cards. No trump is turned; but the first marriage declared and scored is the trump suit for that deal. The undealt portion of the pack, called the _=stock=_ or _=talon=_, is slightly spread between the two players, and a little to the left of the dealer. If in spreading the stock any card is found to be exposed, there must be a new deal by the same dealer. _=Misdealing.
(See Two-hand Jass.) _=CUTTING.=_ The first deal is cut for, high wins. The cards rank as in plain suit, and ties cut again, to decide the tie. _=DEALING.=_ When the pack is cut, at least four cards must be left in each packet. (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.
Gomme. A probable explanation of this game is that it illustrates some of the practices and customs connected with fire-worship and the worship of the hearth, and that the pot is a magical one, and would only boil over when something wrong had occurred and the Mother s presence was necessary. The pot boils over directly a child is taken away, and appears to cease doing this when the Mother comes in. It is remarkable, too, that the Witch should want to borrow a light from the fire; the objection to the giving of fire out of the house is a well-known and widely-diffused superstition, the possession of a brand from the house-fire giving power to the possessor over the inmates of a house. The mention of the spitting on the hearth in the Sheffield version, and dirtying the hearth in the London version, give confirmation to the theory that the desecration of the fire or hearth is the cause of the pot boiling over, and that the spirit of the hearth or fire is offended at the sacrilege. The Witch, too, may be unable to get possession of a child until she has something belonging to the house. The journey of the Mother to the Witch s house in search of her children, the obstacles put in her path, and the mention of the spilling of blood on the threshold, are incidents which have great significance. Why the keeling or skimming of the contents of the pot should be so difficult a task for the eldest daughter that the Mother is obliged to come herself, is not so clear; the skimming is of course to prevent the pot boiling over, and the pot may be supposed to take the place of the Mother or Guardian of the hearth, and tell when misfortune or trouble is at hand. Or the boiling over (which, if continued, would extinguish the fire and sully the stone) may be an offence to the hearth spirit, who ceases then to protect the inmates of the house. Fairies are said to have power over the inmates of a house when the threshold and kitchen utensils are left dirty and uncared for.
e._, the trump) card, face downwards, on his own, or any other pack. III. Should the trump card not come in its regular order to the dealer; but he does not lose his deal if the pack be proved imperfect. IV. Should a player have fourteen cards, and either of the other three less than thirteen. V. Should the dealer, under an impression that he has made a mistake, either count the cards on the table or the remainder of the pack. VI. Should the dealer deal two cards at once, or two cards to the same hand, and then deal a third; but if, prior to dealing that third card, the dealer can, by altering the position of one card only, rectify such error, he may do so, except as provided by the second paragraph of this Law.
=_ The player with the original lead should have a double object in view; to secure the best results for his own hand, and to indicate to his partner where he is in need of assistance. The first matter for his consideration will be whether to begin with a trump or with a plain suit. There are two principal uses for trumps. The most attractive to the beginner is that of ruffing the adversaries’ winning cards; and the most important to the expert is leading trumps to prevent this. No matter how strong or well established a plain suit may be, it is of uncertain value as long as the adversaries have any trumps with which to stop it. A suit is established when you can probably take every trick in it. If a player with a good established suit is sufficiently strong to make it probable that he can, with his partner’s assistance, exhaust the adverse trumps, he should do so by leading trumps. If they are probably stronger than he, he must _=force=_ them, by leading the established suit which they will be compelled to trump, weakening their hands and gradually reducing their trump strength until it is possible to exhaust what remains by leading. It being to the advantage of the player with a good suit to exhaust the trumps, it must be desirable to his adversaries to keep theirs, if possible, for the purpose of ruffing this good suit. Trumps are also useful as cards of re-entry, when a player has an established suit, but has not the lead; their most important use, however, is in defending or stopping established suits.
All Open Grands are compulsory “schwarz announced.” 40. The manner of taking up the skat cards, when the player uses them, is sufficient announcement for a Tournée, Passt-mir-nicht, or Guckser; but a Gucki Nullo must be announced before the skat cards are touched, and open Gucki Nullo must be announced before the skat cards are seen. 41. The player is not allowed to announce either schneider or schwarz in any game in which he uses the skat cards. 42. The adversaries cannot announce schneider or schwarz under any circumstances. 43. No player but Vorhand can announce Ramsch, and then only when no bid has been made. PLAYING.
Each child as she goes says, Good-bye, mother, good-bye, and pretends to cry. Finally they all cry, and the game ends in a tug of war. This tug is clearly out of place unless only half the children are selected by one side. Miss Thoyts does not say how this is done. (_c_) This game is called School-teacher in Belfast. The corruption of Lady of the Land, to Babyland, Babylon, and Sandiland, is manifest. It appears to be only fragmentary in its present form, but the versions undoubtedly indicate that the origin of the game arises from the practice of hiring servants. Mr. Halliwell has preserved another fragmentary rhyme, which he thinks may belong to this game. I can make diet bread Thick and thin, I can make diet bread Fit for the king; (No.
--Harland and Wilkinson s _Lancashire Folk-lore_, p. 150. III. Blackthorn! New milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to sell? More nor yo can catch and fly away wi . --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. IV. Blackthorn! Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to-day? As many as you catch and carry away. --Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert Hardy). (_b_) One set of children stand against a wall, another set stand opposite, facing them. The first set sing the first line, the others replying with the second line, and so with the third and fourth lines.
Where s the cat? In the wood. Where s the wood? Fire burnt it. Where s the fire? Moo-cow drank it. Where s the moo-cow? Butcher killed it. Where s the butcher? Eating nuts behind the door, and you may have the nutshells. --London (Miss Dendy, from a maid-servant). II. Please, mother, may I go a-maying? Why, daughter, why? Because it is my sister s birthday. Make three pretty curtseys and walk away. Where is your may? I met puss, and puss met me, and puss took all my may away.
--_The Dancing Master_: London, printed by J. P., and sold by John Playford at his shop near the Temple Church, 1686, 7th edition. Another version gives the words as follows:-- We ve got a new sister in our degree, And she s welcome into our companee, companee. Mrs. Sargesson says she weänt come to, We ll make her whether she will or no, Will or no, will or no, We ll maäke her whether she will or no. Children form a ring with one in the middle, who lays a cushion on the ground. They sing the first two lines, and the child in the centre points at one, and the others dance round singing the other lines, the centre child dragging the imaginary Mrs. Sargesson on to the cushion by force, kissing her, and leaving her in the centre. Then Mrs.
The players may either agree that all the N & S pairs shall sit still, all the E & W pairs moving one table; or they may arrange for the winners to move in a certain direction. In all progressive games, sometimes called _=Drive Bridge=_, there are no rubbers or games, as one table would keep all the others waiting. An even number of deals, usually four, is the rule for each round before moving. _=DUPLICATE BRIDGE.=_ This is bridge with the hands kept separate and put into trays to be carried from table to table. The methods will be found fully described under the titles for duplicate whist. In order to prevent the players from giving too much attention to the honours in declaring, it is sometimes the rule to add a certain number of points to the trick scores, as a bonus. This is called _=Bridge to the Score=_. Four deals is a round, before changing adversaries, and fifty points are added to the score of the side having the greater trick score. Another method is to add fifty points to the side winning a game, if a game is won before moving, and then to add a definite number of points for every trick point that one side may be ahead of the other on unfinished games; or as many points as the higher score below the line.
_, to play and lift up your taile when you have lost the game, and let another sit down in your place. Coles, in his _English Dictionary_, seems to derive it from the Italian _leva il culo_, and calls it also Pitch-buttock. In his _Latin Dictionary_ he has _level-coil_, alternation, cession; and to play at _level coil_, vices ludendi præbere. Skinner is a little more particular and says, Vox tesseris globulosis ludentium propria: an expression belonging to a game played with little round tesseræ. He also derives it from French and Italian. It is mentioned by Jonson, _Tale of a Tub_, iii. 2:-- Young Justice Bramble has kept _level-coyl_ Here in our quarters, stole away our daughter. Gifford says that, in our old dramatists, it implies riot and disturbance. The same sport is mentioned by Sylvester, _Dubartas_, IV. iv.
RUM. There are several varieties of this game, and quite a number of ways of playing them, but the standard method, as adopted by the best clubs, is that here given. The principal divisions of the game are those played with the single pack, and those played with the double pack and two jokers. SINGLE-PACK RUM. _=CARDS.=_ The full pack of fifty-two cards is used, ranking from the K Q J down to the ace, the suits having no rank. The ace may also be used in sequence with the king as the top of a sequence. _=PLAYERS.=_ Any number from two to six may play, but four or five makes the best game. _=CUTTING.