There are two distinct classes of banking games; those that can be played without any apparatus but a pack of cards and some counters; and those which require a permanent establishment and expensive paraphernalia. Among the first, probably the best known banking games are: Vingt-et-un, Baccara, Blind Hookey, and Fan Tan, the latter requiring only one card, the face of which is never seen. In the second class, which are often called table games, probably the best known are: Faro, Keno, Roulette, Rouge et Noir, and Chuck Luck. Each of these games has a number of offshoots, and the distinctions between the original and the variation are sometimes so minute as to be hardly worth mentioning. As a matter of reference, and for the convenience of those who hear these variations spoken of, their names and chief characteristics are here given. Banking games, properly so-called, are those in which one player is continually opposed to all the others. In round games, each player is for himself, but no player is selected for the common enemy. In partnership games, the sides are equally divided, and any advantage in the deal or lead passes alternately from one to the other. In other games, the single player that may be opposed to two or three others usually takes the responsibility upon himself, and for one deal only, so that any advantage he may have is temporary. In banking games, on the contrary, one player is selected as opposed to all others, and the opposition is continual.
_=5.=_ Each player must throw the dice into the table on his right hand, and if either die jumps into the other table, or off the board, both dice must be taken up and thrown again. _=6.=_ To constitute a fair throw, each die must rest flat upon the board, and if either die is “cocked” against the other, or against the edge of the board or of a man, both dice must be taken up and thrown again. _=7.=_ If the caster interferes with the dice in any way, or touches them after they have left the box, and before they come absolutely to rest and the throw is called by the caster, the adversary may place face upward on the die or dice so interfered with, any number he chooses, and the caster must play it as if thrown. _=8.=_ Before playing, the throw must be announced by the caster, and if the throw is played as called it stands good, unless an error in the call is discovered before the dice have been touched for the purpose of putting them in the box again. _=9.=_ If a player moves a man a wrong number of points, the throw being correctly called, the adversary must demand that the error be rectified before he throws himself, or the erroneous move stands good.
I made a break for it with the rest of the crowd, trying to keep my eye on Sniffles. But she had the sure-loser s touch of slipping away from any authority. She vanished into the milling mob. My last glimpse had been of a skinny arm reaching up to pluck some more free _hors d oeuvres_ from a tray as she fled. I should have saved myself the trouble. They had a bouncer on each of my elbows before I had moved five feet. They carried more than dragged me into a private dining room behind the bar. It went along with the ersatz rustic _decor_ of the rest of the Sky Hi Club. There was sawdust on the genuine wood floor, big brass spittoons and a life-sized oil-color of a reclining nude, done with meaty attention to detail, behind a small mahogany topped bar. Stacks of clean glasses vied for space with labeled bottles on the back-bar.
| | | | 9.|My two little sisters | -- | -- | | |are dressed in green. | | | |10.|Stamping grass and | -- | -- | | |parsley. | | | |11.|Marigold leaves and | -- | -- | | |daisies. | | | |12.|One rush, two rush. |One o my rush, two o |One in a rush, two in | | | |my rush. |a bush.
I won t rise up upon my feet, To see my father go through the street. Rise up, rise up, Betsy Brown, To see your mother go through the town. I won t rise up upon my feet, To see my mother go through the street. [Then follow verses for sister, brother, and lover. When this last is sung, she says--] I will rise up upon my feet, To see my lover go through the street. --Ninfield, Sussex, about sixty years ago (Charles Wise). III. Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet, To see your dear mother lie dead at your feet. I won t rise, I won t rise off of my poor feet, To see my dear mother lie dead at my feet. Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet, To see your poor father lie dead at your feet.
Jamieson also gives it without description. Compare the rhyme in the game Fool, fool, come to School, Little Dog, I call you. All the Boys in our Town I. All the boys in our town Shall lead a happy life, Except tis ----, and he wants a wife. A wife he shall have, and a-courting he shall go, Along with ----, because he loves her so. He huddles her, he cuddles her, He sits her on his knee; He says, My dear, do you love me? I love you, and you love me, And we shall be as happy As a bird upon a tree. The wife makes the pudding, And she makes it nice and soft-- In comes the husband and cuts a slice off. Tas-el-um, Tos-el-um, don t say Nay, For next Monday morning shall be our wedding day; The wife in the carriage, The husband in the cart. --Hampshire (from friend of Miss Mendham). II.
Hungry and sniffly. We idled away the afternoon and waited until nearly midnight to go back to the Sky Hi Club. Action is about at its peak then, and if the cross-roader had been tipping dice again, as they suspected, they would have had time to notice which table wasn t making its vigorish. Plain enough where they were having trouble. Fowler Smythe was scowling through his glasses behind a table with Barney, the dealer I d hit with the Blackout. Their faces were sweating in the dry desert air. The table was being taken. Now watch it, Pheola, I said, as we squeezed into the crowd, opposite the dealers. Almost anything can happen. I want to know the instant you get a feeling.
=_ _=Z=_ plays to win what cards he can. _=Trick 5.=_ _=B=_ throws ♢A to avoid the lead, knowing _=Y=_ has the trump Ten; for _=A=_ would have made it on the second round of Spades. _=A=_ also marks it with _=Y=_, as _=B=_ does not save it. _=Trick 6.=_ _=B=_ is not sure whether _=Y=_ has a Diamond or a Club left, and discards the winning card. _=Trick 7.=_ _=Z=_ plays Queen to shut out the Ten, if with _=A=_. _=A=_ knows each player has two trumps left, and that as the turn-up is still with _=Z=_, _=B=_ must have J or K; for if he held only 7 and 6 he would have trumped in to make cards. _=Trick 8.
_=DISCARD HEARTS.=_ This is sometimes called _=Black Jack=_, or _=Black Lady=_. If it is the Jack, it is worth ten hearts; if it is the Queen, it is worth thirteen hearts. After the cards are dealt, each player in turn lays out three cards which he does not want, and the player on his left is obliged to take them, after having discarded himself. No player may look at what he is going to get until he has discarded himself. The Black Jack or Lady holds its rank as a spade when spades are led; but the moment any other suit is led, of which the player is void, he can discard the Black Jack or Lady, just as he would get rid of a heart. If hearts are led and the player has no hearts, he can play the Black Jack or Lady to the trick, as it ranks below the deuce of hearts. _=PROGRESSIVE HEARTS.=_ The general arrangements for the players and their positions are exactly the same as those already described in connection with Progressive Euchre. The players at each table cut for the deal, and play begins with the tap of the bell at the head table.
In the same manner he may have announced four Kings, and after playing away two of them, leaving two Kings of spades, he may declare double bézique, and claim the two marriages “to score.” In all such cases it must be remembered that the cards declared must still be on the table when the time comes to score them. If, in the case just given, one of the cards forming either of the marriages was got rid of in the course of play, that marriage could not afterward be scored, although it had been properly announced. If the stock is exhausted before the player with a score in abeyance can win another trick, the score is lost. It is often very important for a player to know how much time he has to score. When the talon is spread it is comparatively easy to judge how many more tricks remain to be played. The English laws allow a player to count the stock, the French do not. A trick once turned and quitted cannot again be seen, and the players are not allowed to count the number of tricks they have won. The last card of the stock is taken by the player winning the trick, and the turn-up trump goes to his adversary. _=The Last Eight Tricks.
There are also a number of smaller matters, such as the payment for refreshments or cigars, which are settled by thousands of persons every day, simply by throwing dice. The various methods of throwing, and the rules governing all such games are as follows:-- _=THE DICE.=_ Although dice may be of any size, the standard pattern are half an inch square, of ivory or bone, with black spots one tenth of an inch in diameter. The opposite sides of the die always equal seven, and if the die is placed upon the table with the ace uppermost and the deuce nearest you, the four will be on the left and the three on the right. The positions of the three and four are sometimes reversed to enable sharpers to distinguish fair dice from those which have been doctored. At the beginning of any dice game, it is quite unnecessary to examine the dice to be used, because they are always fair. Crooked dice are _=rung in=_ during the game, and the player should make it a point to examine the dice frequently if he has any suspicions. First see that each die has all six figures upon it, for some dice are _=dispatchers=_, made with double numbers, so as to secure higher throws than the natural average. Double fives are great favourites with backgammon sharps. The next thing is to place the dice together in pairs, to be sure that they are exactly the same height each way.
But if he feels that his adversary is not skilful enough to take advantage of these losing moves, a winning position may sometimes be rapidly obtained by departing from the regular development of the opening. The beginner should be satisfied with learning only one or two forms of the openings, committing to memory as many variations as possible. When he meets with a line of play that beats him, he should study out the variation in his text books, and see at what point he made the losing move. To be perfect in any one opening a person must know at least five hundred variations by heart; but if he finds himself caught in a variation which he does not remember, or has never learned, he should trust to good judgment rather than to defective memory. _=The End Game=_ usually resolves itself into one of four well-known positions. These four positions are those in which there is a win for one side or the other owing to the peculiar position occupied by the opposing forces, although they may be numerically equal. Every checker player must know these four positions thoroughly, or he may abandon many a game as drawn which he could win, and may lose many a game which he could draw. These four positions are here given as they are usually found in the books, but the player must be able to recognize at once any position which resembles them, or can be made to lead up to them. The student will find many games marked as “won” in which he cannot see any winning position unless he is familiar with the four endings. The expert strives to exchange his men so as to bring about one of these positions, after which he knows he has a won game, although his less skilful adversary may be unconscious of his advantage.
He is not allowed to play in a plain suit if he has made a simple “demand.” The only solo bids allowed are those for six, eight, or nine tricks, which outrank one another. A player cannot bid seven to over-call six; he must go to eight; and a player cannot _=bid=_ five tricks without a partner, although, as we have just seen, he may be forced to _=play=_ in that manner. When six, eight, or nine tricks are bid, the suits outrank one another for equal numbers of tricks; but as the suit called need not be the bidder’s true intention, nor the same as the card laid on the table, the proposer must be careful that his play will be as good as his bid. For instance: He intends nine tricks in spades, but proposes eight in diamonds. He cannot bid nine in diamonds, for that would be a better bid than he intends to play; but the ruse may succeed in inducing a player not to bid against him, hoping diamonds is the true suit. It is a common artifice to bid the true suit, because few will believe it to be such. If clubs are belle, and diamonds petite, and a player who “demands” is over-called by a demand in belle, or a call of six tricks, the first caller cannot advance his bid to six tricks except in the suit which he has already laid on the table; but he may accept the player over-calling him, instead of bidding against him. After a player has once accepted or passed, he cannot bid misère. If no one makes a proposition of any kind, the hands are thrown up; the next dealer contributes to the pool, and a fresh hand is dealt.
=_ The bets made, the cards are shuffled and presented to the pone to be cut; four must be left in each packet. Two cards are given to each player, including the dealer, one at a time in two rounds. If the dealer gives too many cards to any player, either in the first deal or in the draw, he must correct the error at once. If the player has seen the superfluous card he may keep any two he chooses of those dealt him. If the dealer gives himself too many he must keep them all. The last card in the pack must not be dealt. If there are not enough cards to supply the players, the discards must be gathered up, shuffled together, and cut. _=Naturals.=_ The cards all dealt, the dealer first examines his hand. If he has exactly 21, an Ace and a tenth card, which is called a natural, he shows it at once, and the players must pay him twice the amount they have staked in front of them, unless they also have a natural, when it is a stand-off.
--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. Where is puss? Run up the wood. Where is the wood? Fire burnt it. Where is the fire? Water quenched it. Where is the water? Ducks have drunk it. Where are the ducks? Butcher killed them.
T. Micklethwaite (_Archæological { Journal_, vol. xlix.), _Strand { Magazine_, vol. ii. NORFOLK { Forby s _Vocabulary_, Spurden s { _Vocabulary_, Mr. J. Doe. Sporle, Swaffham Miss Matthews. { Baker s _Glossary_, _Northants Notes NORTHAMPTONSHIRE { and Queries_, _Revue Celtique_, vol.
, f. 91. Buckey-how For this the boys divide into sides. One stops at home, the other goes off to a certain distance agreed on beforehand and shouts Buckey-how. The boys at home then give chase, and when they succeed in catching an adversary, they bring him home, and there he stays until all on his side are caught, when they in turn become the chasers.--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 60). Buff 1st player, thumping the floor with a stick: Knock, knock! 2nd ditto: Who s there? 1st: Buff. 2nd: What says Buff? 1st: Buff says Buff to all his men, And I say Buff to you again! 2nd: Methinks Buff smiles? 1st: Buff neither laughs nor smiles, But looks in your face With a comical grace, And delivers the staff to you again (handing it over). --Shropshire (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p.
=_ Although intended for a special board of 100 squares this game can be played on a common checker board. It differs from ordinary draughts in two particulars: Although the men can move only forward, they can take backward, and Kings can go any distance at one move. If in taking a piece, a man arrives at the king row, that does not end the move if he can capture another piece by jumping backward out of the king row again. As this brings him away from the king row before the move is complete, he will not be a king until he can get to the king row at the end of a move. Kings can go any number of squares in a straight line, and can capture any piece which is on the diagonal, not protected by another piece behind it. Kings can also go on for any number of squares beyond the captured piece, and then turn a corner to capture another piece. In Diagram No. 12, for instance, the black King could capture all six of the white men by going over the first one only, and then turning to the left, and continuing to turn to the left after every capture, as shown by the squares with the numbers on them, which indicate his five successive turning-points. [Illustration: No. 12.
-- Wait for your sister. --Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase). IX. Please, mother, please, mother, may I go out to play? No, child, no, child, tis such a cold day. Why, mother, why, mother, I won t stay long. Make three pretty curtseys and off you run. --Northants (Rev. W. D. Sweeting).
” 45. A player in his turn may overbid the previous adverse declaration any number of times, and may also overbid his partner, but he cannot overbid his own declaration which has been passed by the three others. 46. The player who makes the final declaration[9] must play the combined hands, his partner becoming dummy, unless the suit or no trump finally declared was bid by the partner before it was called by the final declarer, in which case the partner, no matter what bids have intervened, must play the combined hands. 47. When the player of the two hands (hereinafter termed “the declarer”) wins at least as many tricks as he declared, he scores the full value of the tricks won (see Law 3).[10] 47_a_. When the declarer fails to win as many tricks as he declares, neither he nor his adversaries score anything toward the game, but his adversaries score in their honour column 50 points for each under-trick (_i.e._, each trick short of the number declared).
It is better to keep sequences open at both ends than those open in the middle. With two Sevens and two Eights, either a Six or a Nine will make your hand worth 24; but with two Eights and two Sixes, nothing but a Seven will improve your hand more than 4 points. Sequences are the best to keep, especially those of three cards with a duplicate. After them pairs royal are valuable, and next to them cards which will make a number of fives in various combinations, such as two Threes and two deuces. _=Leading.=_ There are two systems of playing, known as _=playing off=_, and _=playing on=_, and they are selected according to the player’s position in the score. Long experience has shown that in six-card Cribbage the average expectation of the non-dealer for his hand and play is 12 points; and for the dealer, in hand, crib, and play, is 17. This being so, each player having had a deal, their scores should be about 29. If a player is 29 or more, he is said to be _=at home=_; and if he is seven or more points ahead of his adversary on even deals, he is said to be _=safe at home=_. When a player is safe at home, he should play off; that is, take no chances of scoring himself that might give his adversary a chance to make a still better score.
H. Patterson). III. Hark the robbers Coming through, coming through, My fair lady. They have stolen my watch and chain, Watch and chain, watch and chain. Off to prison they shall go, They shall go, they shall go, My fair lady. --Wolstanton, Stoke-on-Trent (Miss A. A. Keary). IV.
They cut for the choice of seats and deal, and the player cutting the higher card may deal or not, as he pleases. It is usual for the player having the choice to make his adversary deal. A player exposing more than one card must cut again. _=DEALING.=_ After the cards are thoroughly shuffled, they are presented to the pone to be cut. At least five cards must be left in each packet. The dealer then distributes the cards four at a time for three rounds, giving to his adversary first, and then to himself. The twenty-fifth card is turned up for the trump. If this card is a Nine, the dealer claims _=dix=_, and counts ten for it immediately. The trump card is laid aside, and the remainder of the pack, which is called the _=stock=_, or _=talon=_, is slightly spread, to facilitate the process of drawing cards from it, and to be sure that none of the cards remaining in the stock are exposed.
It s just as effective as wrapping your fingers around the throat. But Pheola upset the apple cart. She grabbed my right arm, so newly powerful. No, Billy Joe! she cried. I _don t_ want to die! Who s dying? I snapped. He s shooting me! she gasped. Shoot? With what? I had one terrified moment--what to lift? What was aimed at her? At the last possible moment I saw it. His crap-stick was a hollow tube, and he was raising it toward _me_, not toward Pheola. I d heard of things like that--a gas-powered dart gun. Silent, and shooting a tiny needle with a nerve poison in grooves cut in its tip.