” _=Theory of the Move.=_ When the position is such that you will be able to force your adversary into a situation from which he cannot escape without sacrificing a piece or losing the game, you are said to have the move; and if he does not change it by capturing one of your men he must lose the game. As the move is often of the greatest importance in the end game, every checker-player should understand its theory, so that he may know when it is necessary to make an exchange of men in order to secure the move, and when he should avoid an exchange which would lose it. The move is only important when the number of men on each side is equal. In order to calculate the move, the board is supposed to be divided into two systems of squares, sixteen in each. The first system is formed by the four vertical rows running from your own side of the board, as shown by the dotted lines in Diagram No. 8. The second system runs from your adversary’s side of the board, as shown in Diagram No. 9. FIRST SYSTEM.
At the beginning of the game each player should be provided with an equal number of these counters. They are usually white and red, the red being worth five times as much as the white. Twenty white and sixteen red is the usual allotment to each player when the game begins. Some one player should be the banker, to sell and redeem all counters. _=PLAYERS.=_ Solo Whist is played by four persons. If there are five candidates for play, they all sit at the same table, each taking his turn to sit out for one hand while the four others play. The dealer is usually selected to sit out. If there are only three players, one suit must be deleted from the pack, or the 2, 3, and 4 of each suit must be thrown out. _=CUTTING.
If he wishes to stand on the merits of the hand dealt to him, without drawing to it, he _=knocks=_ on the table, which also passes the option of taking the widow to the next player on his left. If any player takes the widow, the next player on his left can do any one of three things: He may discard from his own hand any card he pleases, taking one from the widow in its stead; the card which he discards being placed on the table face upward, and becoming part of the widow; or he may exchange his entire hand for the widow; or he may stand on the hand dealt him, and knock. Whether he draws one card, exchanges his entire hand, or knocks, the next player on his left has the option of drawing, exchanging, or knocking; and so on, until some player does knock. Should no player take the widow until it comes to the dealer’s turn, he must either take it, or turn it face upward on the table. Even if the dealer knocks, he must turn up the widow, and allow each player an opportunity to draw from it, or to exchange his entire hand for it. When a player knocks, he signifies that no matter what the players following him may do, when it comes to his turn again the hands must be shown. A player cannot draw and knock at the same time; but a player can refuse to draw or exchange after another player has knocked, not before. In some localities it is the rule to turn the widow face up at once if any player knocks before it is taken; allowing all those after the knock an opportunity to draw or exchange; but this is not the usual custom. Suppose five play. E deals, and A passes; B takes the widow; C and D draw from B’s abandoned hand, and E knocks; without drawing, of course.
Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, if your legs are long and light. Please to let me go? Not without you bend and bow [pronounced bo]. Here s my bend [curtseys], And here s my bow [touches forehead], Now will you let me go? --Fernham and Longcot (Miss I. Barclay). IV. How many miles to Babylon? Three score and ten. Can we get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again. Open your gates as wide as you can, And let King George and his family go through. Not without a back, not without a bow, Not without a curtsey, and then I ll let you through. --South Shields (Miss Blair).
When eight play, all four sixes are deleted. The deal passes to the left, each player dealing in turn until the game is finished. The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as at Whist. _=STAKES.=_ When stakes are played for, they are for so much a game. Rubbers are not played. It is usual to form a pool, each player depositing the stake agreed upon, and the winner taking all. In partnership games, each losing player pays the successful adversary who sits to his right. If three pairs were engaged, and A-A won, C and B would each pay the A sitting next him. Before play begins, it should be understood who pays for revokes; the side or the player.
--Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. V. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself, As the wheel went round he made his wealth; One hand in the upper and the other in the bank, As the wheel went round he made his wealth. --Earls Heaton, Yorks. (Herbert Hardy). VI. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself, As the wheel went round he made his grab; One hand in the other, and the other in the bag, As the wheel went round he made his grab. --Nottinghamshire (Miss Winfield). VII. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself (or by the Dee), The sails went round, he made his ground; One hand in his pocket, the other in his bag.
| | 33.| -- | -- | -- | | 34.| -- | -- | -- | | 35.|Bells will ring and | -- |The bells will ring, | | |birds sing. | |birds will sing. | | 36.| -- | -- | -- | | 37.|We ll all clap hands | -- |We ll clap hands | | |together. | |together. | | 38.
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The hands were held in the posture described by Halliwell, but any child was pitched upon for the first finder, and afterwards the child in whose hands the ring was found had to be finder. There was no guessing; the closed hands were looked into (A. B. Gomme). Mr. 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.
Click, Clock, Cluck. Clowt-clowt. Clubby. Coal under Candlestick. Cob. Cobbin-match. Cobble. Cobbler s Hornpipe. Cob-nut. Cock.
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.
Will I be there by Candlemass? Yes, and back again. A curtsey to you, another to you, And pray, fair maids, will you let us through? Thro and thro shall you go for the king s sake, But take care the last man does not meet a mistake. --Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln). XI. How many miles to Burslem? Three score and ten. Can we get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again. Open the gates so wide, so wide, And let King George aside, aside; The night is so dark we cannot see, Thread the needle and go through. --Isle of Man (A. W.
_=MARKERS=_ are necessary, and are of the same description as those used in whist. _=PLAYERS.=_ According to the English usage, double dummy is played by two persons, and the table is complete with that number. _=CUTTING.=_ The players cut for the deal; the player cutting the lowest card deals for his dummy first, and has the choice of sitting to the right or left of his opponent. It is usual to select the seat on the right of the living player, because it is possible that one may forget whether or not certain cards have been played, and under such circumstances it is better to lead up to an exposed hand than to one whose contents you are not sure of. The methods of spreading, cutting, deciding ties, etc., are the same as those employed at whist. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ It is not usually considered necessary to distinguish the players further than to indicate which hand had the original lead.
Tin murder. The advance of civilisation has swept such rude contests altogether from the playroom. We know them no more.... II THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN LITTLE WARFARE THE beginning of the game of Little War, as we know it, became possible with the invention of the spring breechloader gun. This priceless gift to boyhood appeared somewhen towards the end of the last century, a gun capable of hitting a toy soldier nine times out of ten at a distance of nine yards. It has completely superseded all the spiral-spring and other makes of gun hitherto used in playroom warfare. These spring breechloaders are made in various sizes and patterns, but the one used in our game is that known in England as the four-point-seven gun.
Moreover, soldiers who have got in front of the fire of their own guns may lie down while the guns fire over them. At the end of the move the gun must be left without altering its elevation and pointing in the direction of the last shot. And after firing, two men must be placed exactly at the end of the trail of the gun, one on either side in a line directly behind the wheels. So much for firing. If the gun is moved and not fired, then at least four men who are with the gun must move up with it to its new position, and be placed within six inches of it in its new position. The gun itself must be placed trail forward and the muzzle pointing back in the direction from which it came, and so it must remain until it is swung round on its axis to fire. Obviously the distance which a gun can move will be determined by the men it is with; if there are at least four cavalry-men with it, they can take the gun two feet, but if there are fewer cavalry-men than four and the rest infantry, or no cavalry and all infantry, the gun will be movable only one foot. (V) Every man must be placed fairly clear of hills, buildings, trees, guns, etc. He must not be jammed into interstices, and either player may insist upon a clear distance between any man and any gun or other object of at least one-sixteenth of an inch. Nor must men be packed in contact with men.
In this variety of Vingt-et-un only one card is dealt to each player; court cards and tens count nothing, and the Ace is always worth one. The number to be reached is 9, instead of 21, and if a player has a 9 natural, he receives from the banker three times his stake; if an 8 natural, he receives double, and for a 7 natural, he is paid. If the banker has an equal number of points natural, it is a tie; and if the banker has a 7, 8, or 9 natural he receives from each of the others once, twice, or three times the amount of their stakes. If none of these naturals are shown, the players draw in turn, as at Vingt-et-un, and the dealer receives from those who have less points than he, or who are créve, and pays those who have more, but have not passed 9. FARMER. Any number of persons may play. All the 8’s and all the 6’s but the ♡6 are discarded from a pack of fifty-two cards. All court cards count for 10, the ace for 1, and all others at their face value. A pool is then made up by each player contributing one counter. This is the farm, and it is sold to the highest bidder, who must put into it the price he pays for it.
A and B have passed out, but C has made a bet which D has called. Neither has a brelan, so all four players show their cards, and it is found that they lie thus:-- [Illustration: 🂮 🂭 🂨 +-------+ | B | 🂱 🂾 🂹 |C A| 🂡 🂩 🃙 | D | +-------+ 🃑 🃞 🃝 🂸 ] Spades are the winning suit: but neither C nor D has a spade, and as neither A nor B is in the call, the spade suit cannot win anything. As between clubs and hearts, D’s point is 40, and C’s 38; so D wins the pool. C of course had a great advantage in betting, as he knew four hearts were out, his own and the retourne; and all he feared was a brelan. A would have won the pool if he had backed his hand, because he would have had the highest card of the winning suit. _=Calling for a Sight.=_ Suppose four players have the following caves in front of them: A, 35; B, 60; C, 120; and D, 185. D blinds five, deals, and turns the heart 9. A puts up all his 35 counters. B passes out.
| | |26.|Get a man to watch all| -- | -- | | |night. | | | |27.|Perhaps that man might| -- | -- | | |fall asleep. | | | |28.| -- | -- | -- | |29.| -- | -- |What has this poor | | | | |prisoner done? | |30.| -- | -- |Stole my watch and | | | | |lost my key. | |31.| -- | -- | -- | |32.