The pinlighters threw the Partners--quite literally threw--by means of mind-to-firing relays direct at the Dragons. What seemed to be Dragons to the human mind appeared in the form of gigantic Rats in the minds of the Partners. Out in the pitiless nothingness of space, the Partners minds responded to an instinct as old as life. The Partners attacked, striking with a speed faster than Man s, going from attack to attack until the Rats or themselves were destroyed. Almost all the time, it was the Partners who won. With the safety of the inter-stellar skip, skip, skip of the ships, commerce increased immensely, the population of all the colonies went up, and the demand for trained Partners increased. Underhill and Woodley were a part of the third generation of pinlighters and yet, to them, it seemed as though their craft had endured forever. [Illustration] Gearing space into minds by means of the pin-set, adding the Partners to those minds, keying up the mind for the tension of a fight on which all depended--this was more than human synapses could stand for long. Underhill needed his two months rest after half an hour of fighting. Woodley needed his retirement after ten years of service.
As the opener always places his discard under the chips in the pool, it is not necessary for him to betray his game by telling the whole table that he is drawing to a bobtail. _=False Openers.=_ Should a player open a jack without the hand to justify it, and discover his error before he draws, the best usage demands that his hand is foul, and that he forfeits to the pool whatever amount he may have opened for, and any raises that he may have stood. There are then three ways to play: _=First.=_ Those who have come in under the impression that the pot had been legitimately opened but who have not openers themselves, can withdraw their money, and allow any one to open it who has openers. This is very unfair to those on the left of the false opener who have abandoned their hands. _=Second.=_ Those who have come into the pot after the false opening are allowed to stay in, and play for it, no matter what their hands are. _=Third.=_ On discovery of the false opening, each player is allowed to take down whatever amount he may have paid into the pool, including his original ante and all fatteners, and the false opener must then make the entire amount good.
_, xlix. 322), where diagrams of this game are given which have been found cut in several places on the benches of the cloisters at Gloucester, Salisbury, and elsewhere. See Noughts and Crosses. Nip-srat-and-bite A children s game, in which nuts, pence, gingerbread, &c, are squandered.--Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. Nitch, Notch, No-Notch Children cut a number of slices from an apple, extending from the eye to the tail, broader on the outside than on the inner, which reaches nearly to the core; one piece has a part cut out, making a notch--this is called Notch; another is not cut at all--this is called No-Notch; while a third has an incision made on it, but not cut out--this is called Nitch. The pieces when thus marked are replaced, and the game consists in one child holding the apple, and pointing to one of the pieces, asking another child which he will have, Nitch, Notch, or No-Notch; if he guesses right, he has it and eats it; if wrong, the other eats it.--Sussex (Holloway s _Dict. of Provincialisms_). Not A game where the parties, ranged on opposite sides, with each a bat in their hands, endeavour to strike a ball to opposite goals.
(_d_) This game is probably, unless we except Mulberry Bush, the most popular and the most widely played of any singing game. It might almost be called universal. This is shown by the fact that there are few counties where it is not known, and also that important variants, either in the words or in the method of playing, are rarely met with. In all the versions which have been sent there are only the following variations in the words, and these are principally in the refrain, or last line of each verse: On a cold and frosty morning ends by far the greater number of versions; On a fine summer s morning, So early in the morning, All on a summer s morning, Five o clock in the morning, On a cold and sunny morning, coming next in number. The Belfast version ends, May! May! May! and a Newbury and Marlborough fourth line is simply a repetition of the second, Nuts in May, nuts in May. In the first line of the verse the only important variant seems to be the Symondsbury Gathering nuts away and Gathering nuts to-day. Gathering nuts away also occurs in one version from Newbury (Berks), Nuts and May appearing in the larger number after the more usual Nuts in May. In only one version is a specific place mentioned for the gathering. This is in the Bocking version, where Galloway Hill is named, in reply to the unusual question, Where do you gather your nuts in May? A player is usually gathered for Nuts in May. In three or four cases only is this altered to gathering a player s nuts away, which is obviously an alteration to try and make the action coincide exactly with the words.
After the fifth verse is sung the Rover skips round the long row, singing the sixth verse to the tune of Nancy Dawson, or Round the Mulberry bush. He chooses one of them, who goes to the opposite side with him, and the game goes on until all are rovers like himself. See Here comes a Lusty Wooer, Jolly Hooper. Jolly Sailors I. Here comes one [some] jolly, jolly sailor boy, Who lately came on shore; He [they] spent his time in drinking wine As we have done before. We are the Pam-a-ram-a-ram, We are the Pam-a-ram-a-ram, And those who want a pretty, pretty girl, Must kiss her on the shore, Must kiss her on the shore. --Warwick (from a little girl, through Mr. C. C. Bell).
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.=_ The cards are spread and drawn for choice of seats and first deal. The lowest cut has first choice, the next lowest sitting on his left and so on round the table. _=DEALING.
The weak place. I flopped on the bed, stretched my arm out against the counterpane. She ran her fingers over it--the old laying on of hands. If she were the real thing, I knew what it was--perception at a level a TK can t match. The real healers feel the nerves themselves. I d been worked on before. The more hysterical healers, some really creepy witches, had given me some signs of relief, but none could ever find the real weak place, as she called it. She was mumbling to herself. I guess you could call it an incantation. I got a picture of a nubile waif, too freakish to fit where she d been raised.
| | 5.|Huddles and cuddles, |Kisses and cuddles, |Huggled andguggled, | | |and sits on his knee. |and sits on his knee. |and took on his knee. | | 6.| -- | -- | -- | | 7.|Mutual expressions of |Mutual expressions of | -- | | |love. |love. | | | 8.| -- | -- |Asking to marry.
| DYKE. | IRREGULAR OPENINGS. | | | | | | | | | | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 10-15 | | 21 17 | 23 19 | 23 19 | 22 17 | 22 17 | 23 19 | 22 18 | | | 9-14 | 9-13 | 8-11 | 8-11 | 8-11 | 15-22 | | | 22 17 | | 17 14 | 25 22 | 22 17 | 25 18 | | | 7-11 | | | | | | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ _=The Middle Game.=_ The best way for the student to learn the manner in which the various openings are followed up, is to play over illustrative games, and in doing so he should be careful always to play with the winning side next him. In selecting openings, take those that show the greatest number of wins for the side you propose to play. In all checker books there are marks at the foot of the column to show which side has an advantage, if any exists, at the end of each variation. The Alma, for instance, shows a great many more winning variations for the black men than for the white, and is consequently one of the best openings for Black. Any person who plays correctly can always be sure of avoiding defeat; that is, no one can beat him if he makes no slips, and the worst he can get is a draw. It is a common error to suppose that the first move is an advantage. [See Illustrative Game No.
AMBIGU. _=Cards.=_ Ambigu is played with a pack of forty cards, the K Q J of each suit being deleted. The cards rank in the order of their numerical value, the 10 being the highest, and the ace the lowest. Two packs may be used alternately. _=Players.=_ Any number from two to six may form the table, and the arrangements for seats, first deal, etc., should be decided as at Bouillotte. _=Stakes.=_ Each player begins with an equal number of counters, the value of which must be determined beforehand.
[Illustration: +--------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------++-+-+-+ +-+ | | +-+-+ | | | | | | | | | +--------+---+-+ +-----+-+ N +-------+ +----------+ | | | | +-------+ | | | | | | +-------+--+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +-------+ | +----------+ | | | | | +-------+ | +--+-------+ | | | | | | +-------+ | | +-------+ | | | | | +-------+--+ W E +--+-------+ | | | | | +-------+ | | +-------+ | | | | | | +-------+--+ | +-------+ | | |X | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +--+-------+ | | | | | | +-------+ | | | | +----------+ +-------+ S +-+-----+-+-+---+--------+ | | | | | | | | | +-+-+ | | +-+ +-+-+-++-------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--------+ ] N & S 6; E & W 7. East has made a mistake in turning the fifth trick. _=COUNTERS.=_ In some places 13 counters are placed on the table, the winner of each trick taking down one. This system often leads to disputes, as there can be no check upon it, and there is nothing to show in which trick the error occurred. _=COUNTING TRICKS.=_ At the end of each hand, the players sitting North and South score the _=total=_ number of tricks they have taken; instead of the number in excess of a book. Their adversaries, sitting East and West, do the same. Each player then slightly shuffles his 13 cards; so as to conceal the order in which they were played, and the four separate hands of 13 cards each are then left on the table, face down; the trump being turned at the dealer’s place. _=TRAYS.
Frances, Colchester, through Miss Morris). IX. We ve come to see Jenny Jones, Jenny Jones, We ve come to see Jenny Jones. How is she now? Jenny is washing, washing, washing, Jenny is washing, you can t see her now. [Then follow the alternate question and answer; the questions in the same words as the first verse, and the answers in the same form as the second verse, stating that Jenny is (1) folding, (2) starching, (3) ironing, (4) ill, (5) dying, (6) dead; then the verses proceed with--] May we come to the funeral? Yes. May we come in red? Red is for soldiers, you can t come in red. May we come in blue? Blue is for sailors, you can t come in blue. May we come in white? White is for weddings, you can t come in white. May we come in black? Black is for funerals, so you can come in that. --Bocking, Essex (_Folk-lore Record_, iii.
This is done by an apparatus under the cloth, the dealer looking down the funnel to see how the dice lie, and then adjusting them to suit himself. Another method is to hold out one die, throwing only two down the funnel, and slipping the third down the outside, turning it so that when it is combined with the two already in the funnel it will beat the big bets on the layout. Raffles can be forced in this way whenever the two dice in the funnel are paired. RONDEAU. This game is played on a pocket billiard table. The banker asks for bets on the _=inside=_ and _=outside=_, and the amounts staked on each side must balance. So long as they do not balance, the banker must ask for what he wants: “Give me fourteen dollars on the outside to make the game,” etc. As soon as the amounts balance, and no more bets are offered, he says: “Roll. The game is made.” A round stick, about a foot long, is placed behind nine small ivory balls.
227, gives the game of Drop Glove, in which a glove is used. For the use of handkerchiefs as love-tokens see Brand, ii. 92. See Drop Handkerchief, French Jackie. Kit-Cat A game played by boys. Three small holes are made in the ground, triangularly about twenty feet apart, to mark the position of as many boys, each of whom holds a small stick, about two feet long. Three other boys of the adverse side pitch successively a piece of stick, a little bigger than one s thumb, called Cat, to be struck by those holding the sticks. On its being struck, the boys run from hole to hole, dipping the ends of their sticks in as they pass, and counting one, two, three, &c., as they do so, up to thirty-one, which is game. Or the greater number of holes gained in the innings may indicate the winners, as at cricket.
| | | |33.|Suppose the pipe | -- | -- | | |should fall and break.| | | |34.|We ll give him a bag | -- | -- | | |of nuts to crack. | | | |35.|Suppose the nuts were | -- | -- | | |rotten and bad. | | | |36.| -- |Set a dog to bark all | -- | | | |night. | | |37.| -- |If the dog should meet| -- | | | |a bone.
A couple seconds of reflection told him I was too tough for him. He went for his partner, his face darkening with rage now that his heart could get some blood to it. He had his hands out, for Rose s throat, I guess. For my dough it took guts to put fingers that close to all those teeth. But he never got a chance to try it. An ashtray, one of those things with a shot-loaded cloth bag under it, flew off a desk, smacked him in the back of the head, and dropped to the floor with a thump. It wasn t a hard blow, but an upsetting one. Fowler Smythe grinned at him from where he was sitting in one of the leather divans. Sit down and shut up, Sime, he suggested coolly. Simonetti sagged with defeat.
_=Under-calling.=_ If a player holds an inferior sequence, quatorze or trio, which he knows is better than any his adversary can possibly hold, he may call it, and afterward score the better combination, provided he is correct in estimating the inferior one that he called as _=good against the cards=_. But if the adversary can demonstrate that the inferior announcement was not actually good against the cards, and that it was possible for him to hold a better, the score for the higher combination is lost. For instance: A player holds four Kings and three Aces, and on glancing over his hand and discards, sees that his adversary cannot hold any quatorze, so he declares the three Kings, instead of the four Aces. Suppose he mistook a Nine for a Ten, and overlooked the fact that his adversary might have had four Tens, the score for the four Kings would be lost, but the three Aces would be good if his adversary had discarded a Ten, and did not actually hold four. In the ordinary game, the higher combination is lost if it is not called. In play, every card led, whatever its value, counts one, and winning the trick counts one also. The last trick counts two, and the capot forty. Pic and repic are reckoned as in the ordinary game. _=Scoring.
.... gold and silver.|Some will give us | -- | | | |silver .....
Should the dealer forget himself in dealing for the discard, and turn up another trump, he cannot refuse his adversary another discard, if he demands it, and the exposed card must be put aside with the discards. If any cards are found faced in the pack when dealing for the discard, the deal stands good if they will fall to the dealer. But if the exposed card will go to the pone, he has the option of taking it, or claiming a fresh deal by the same dealer. During all the discards the trump card remains the same. _=MARKING THE KING.=_ The discards settled, the first and most important thing before play begins is to mark the King. If the King is turned up, the dealer marks one point for it immediately. If the pone holds it, he must _=announce=_ and mark it before he plays a card. If he leads the King for the first trick, he must still announce it by saying distinctly: “I mark the King;” and unless this announcement is made before the King touches the table, it cannot be marked. So important is this rule that in some European Casinos it is found printed on the card tables.
Addy has collected a similar game called My lady s lost a gold ring, and Mr. Newell (_Games and Songs of American Children_, p. 150) has another, Hold fast my gold ring. Dibbs A game played with the small knuckle-bones taken from legs of mutton; these bones are themselves called dibs (Lowsley s _Glossary of Berkshire Words_). Holloway s _Dictionary_ says five of these bones are used by boys, with which they play a game called Dibs in West Sussex. See Check-stones, Fivestones, Hucklebones. Dinah [Music] No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah, No one in the house I know, I know; No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah, Playing on the old banjo. A ring is formed, and a girl stands blindfolded inside. As the verse is sung and finished, Dinah goes to any one in the ring, and, if successful in guessing her name, takes her place, the other taking the place of Dinah, the game going on as before.--Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).
| | . | | +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | . | | . | | . | | +-.
Whenever, except on the final stroke, the cue ball is pocketed or forced off the table, the hand is out, the points scored on that run are lost, and the cue ball is in hand for the following player, who must play on a ball outside the string line, or else on some point of the cushion outside the line. 12. Should the spot on which any pocketed ball belongs be occupied, said ball shall be left off the table until the spot is free and the balls are at rest, with this exception--that should the 1 ball be pocketed, and its spot occupied, any player who is exactly 100, and whose turn it is to play, may demand that all the object balls be spotted and he shall play with ball in hand. 13. It is a foul if the player touch any ball with his person or clothing. It is a foul if he strike the cue ball twice or with anything but the point of the cue. It is a miss if he shoot without causing the cue ball to strike any object ball. It is a scratch if he cause the cue ball to enter a pocket except on the 101st point, or leave the table. 14. Carroms obtained by pushing during the first 90 points are legitimate, but not during the following ten points; and the 101st shot must be a clean stroke, and a push shot will not be allowed.
F. Foster, appeared in 1890; “Practical Guide to Whist,” by Fisher Ames, in 1891; Hamilton’s “Modern Scientific Whist,” in 1894, and in the same year, Coffin’s “Gist of Whist,” and “Foster’s Whist Strategy.” In 1895, Milton C. Work’s “Whist of To-day,” and “Foster’s Whist Tactics,” giving the play in the first match by correspondence; and in 1896, Val Starnes’ “Short-suit Whist,” and Howell’s “Whist Openings.” In 1897, Mitchell’s “Duplicate Whist.” In 1898, Foster’s “Common Sense in Whist,” and in 1900, Fisher Ames’ “Standard Whist.” Since then whist literature has given place to bridge. In periodical literature we find whist taken up in the pages of the “Sporting Magazine” in 1793. The London “Field” has had a card column since December 6, 1862. Proctor’s work first appeared in “Knowledge.
=_ The chief difference between the play of the Dummy and partner, and that of their adversaries, is that there is no occasion for the former to play on the probability of partner’s holding certain cards, because a glance will show whether he holds them or not. There is no hoping that he may have certain cards of re-entry, or strength in trumps, or that he will be able to stop an adverse suit, or anything of that sort, for the facts are exposed from the first. Instead of adapting his play to the slowly ascertained conditions of partner’s hand, the declarer should have it mapped out and determined upon before he plays a card. He may see two courses open to him; to draw the trumps and make a long suit, or to secure such discards as will give him a good cross-ruff. A rapid estimate of the probable results of each line of play, a glance at the score, and his mind should be made up. Several examples of this foresight will be found in the example hands. Another point of difference is, that the declarer should play false cards whenever possible. He has not a partner who, if he plays the King, might jump to the conclusion that he can trump a suit, or has not the Queen. The more thoroughly the adversaries are confused, the greater the advantage to the declarer, especially in the end game. _=With a Trump.
--Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase). The game as given above is obviously incomplete, and no description as to how the game was played was sent me. Newell (_Games_, p. 145), describes a game, The Cardinal s Hat, which is probably a variant of the original game, of which the above is only a fragment. I remember once witnessing a game in which a ball was passed from player to player, and in which the dialogue was similar. When one player was told that the ball was in his possession, the answer was, What, me, sir? Yes, you, sir. Not I, sir. Who then, sir? White Cap, sir; the questions and answers were again repeated for Red Cap, and Blue Cap. When it was Black Cap s turn, I think the ball was thrown by this player to some one else; whoever was hit by the ball had to chase and capture one, who became questioner; but my recollection of the game is too slight for me to be certain either of the dialogue or the way the game terminated (A. B.