For example: Holding A Q 3 of a suit led by the partner, to play Q is a finesse against fourth hand having the King. Each of these systems has its advantages, and almost every hand will offer opportunities for practice in all of them. The most important thing to impress on the beginner is that whist cannot be played by machinery. Some authorities would have us believe that certain theories alone are sound; that certain systems of play alone are good; and that if one will persevere in following certain precepts, in such matters as leading, management of trumps, etc., that the result will be more than average success at the whist table. Nothing can be further from the truth. As in all other matters largely controlled by chance, there is no system, as a system, which will win at whist. One cannot succeed by slavish adherence to either the long or the short-suit game; by the invariable giving of information, or the continual playing of false cards. The true elements of success in whist lie in the happy combination of all the resources of long and short suits, of finesse and tenace, of candour and deception, continually adjusted to varying circumstances, so as to result in the adversaries’ losing tricks. _=HOW TO STUDY WHIST.
=_ Instead of passing the turn-up trump on the first round, any player who thinks it would be to his advantage to have the turn-up remain the trump, may order the dealer to take it up. In doing so he says: “_=I order it=_,” if he is an adversary; or: “_=I assist=_,” if he is the dealer’s partner. In either case the player making the trump may announce a lone hand at the same time. His side must make at least three tricks, whether he plays alone or not, or it is a euchre, and the adversaries will count two points. In case an adversary of the dealer plays alone, he must distinctly announce it when he orders up the trump. The usual expression is: “_=I order it alone=_.” His partner then lays his cards face downward on the table and takes no further part in the play of that hand. If he exposes any card of the abandoned hand, the adversaries can call upon him to take up the hand and play it, leaving the exposed card on the table as liable to be called. This of course prevents the lone hand. If the dealer’s partner wishes to play alone, instead of assisting, he says: “_=I play this alone=_,” and the dealer lays down his cards, leaving the trump on the pack.
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. If there is any advantage in being the banker, it is supposed to be a permanent one, and if the banker has not been at any special expense in securing the advantages of his position he is obliged to surrender it from time to time and give other players a chance.
26. A revoke must be claimed before the tricks have been mixed, preparatory to shuffling for the next deal. 27. If a player is lawfully called upon to lead a certain suit, or to play the highest of it, and unnecessarily fails to comply, he is liable to the penalties for a revoke. 28. Any trick once turned and quitted must not again be seen until the hand is played. Any player violating this rule is subject to the same penalties as for a lead out of turn. 29. In settling at the end of the hand, the player having taken no hearts, [each of the others having taken at least one,] wins the pool. Two players having taken none, the other two having each at least one, divide it, the odd counter remaining until the next pool.
If a player makes a carrom and a losing hazard on the same stroke, it counts 5 if the red was the object ball; 4 if the white was the object ball. A player may make 10 on one stroke by playing on the red, making a carrom, and pocketing all three balls. A miss counts one for the adversary; but if the player who makes a miss runs into a pocket or jumps off the table, his adversary counts 3. The secret of success in the English game is not in gathering shots or rail nursing, but in repeated position; that is, playing shots so that the object ball returns to its position, the cue ball falling into a pocket and being played again from an advantageous position in the D. If the red ball is left in a good position for a losing hazard in either of the side pockets, the player should place his own ball in such a position in the D that he can drive the red to the bottom cushion and back again, leaving himself another easy hazard in the side pockets. If the red is near a bottom pocket, and the player’s ball is in hands, the beginner will invariably leave the red ball in baulk, even if he makes the hazard. The reason is that he strikes with just force enough to reach the red and go into the pocket, and this force is just enough to drive the red about the same distance in the opposite direction, leaving it where the cue ball came from--in baulk. The English do not understand gathering shots, nursing, and cushion carroms so well as the Americans, and play chiefly for the winning and losing hazards. The objective point of the expert is the _=spot stroke=_, which consists in getting exactly behind the red ball when it is on its spot, and then driving it into the corner pocket, returning the cue ball to its position with a light draw shot. If the cue ball fails to come back exactly behind the red the position may be recovered in several ways, some of which are shown in the diagrams.
The movement of each piece should be studied separately. ♟ _=The Pawns=_ move straight forward, one square at a time, except on the first move, when they have the privilege of moving either one or two squares, at the option of the player. In capturing, the Pawn does not take the piece directly in its path, but the one diagonally in front of it on either side. Such a capture of course takes the Pawn from the file it originally occupied, and it must then continue to advance in a straight line on its new file. In Diagram No. 2, the white Pawns could not capture either of the black Bishops or Rooks, but the Pawn on the left could take either of the black Knights:-- [Illustration: _No. 2._ | ♞ | | ♞ | | | | ♙ | ♜ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ♙ | | | ♝ | | ♜ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | ♙ | ♝ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ WHITE. ] After a Pawn has crossed the middle line of the board into the adversary’s territory, it is called a _=passed Pawn=_. If an adverse Pawn attempts to pass this Pawn by availing itself of the privilege of moving two squares the first time, that would not prevent the passed Pawn from capturing it _=en passant=_.
Some judgment is necessary in making announcements, the question of time being often important. Suppose hearts are trumps, and the winner of the trick holds double bézique, sixty Queens, and a royal marriage:-- [Illustration: 🃋 🃋 🂭 🂭 🃍 🂽 🂾 ] He cannot lay all these cards down at once, and claim 600 points. Neither can he lay down four Queens and two Jacks, and score 560; nor four Queens and a King and score 100. He may announce them if he chooses to expose his hand in that manner, but he can score only one combination, and must win a separate trick to score each of the others. It would be better for him to select some one of the combinations, and declare it, waiting until he won another trick to declare the next one. A beginner would be apt to declare the highest count first, 500 for the double bézique; but under the rule which prevents a player from making a declaration which forms part of a higher one of the same class already made, he would lose the 40 points for the single bézique. It would be better to declare the single bézique first, scoring 40 points for it, and after winning another trick to show the other bézique, scoring 500 points more for the double combination. A player is not allowed to score 40 for the second bézique, and then 500 for the two combined; because if new announcements are made in the same class, at least one new card must be added from the player’s hand when the announcement is made, even if it is not scored until later. _=Double Declarations.=_ It frequently happens that a player is forced to make two declarations at the same time, although he can score only one of them.
_Error in Score._ A proved error in the trick or honour score may be corrected at any time before the final score of the contestants for the deal or deals played before changing opponents has been made up and agreed upon. F. _A New Deal._ A new deal is not allowed for any reason, except as provided in Laws of Auction 36 and 37. If there be an impossible declaration some other penalty must be selected.[24] A declaration (other than passing) out of turn must stand;[25] as a penalty, the adversaries score 50 honour points in their honour column and the partner of the offending player cannot thereafter participate in the bidding of that deal. The penalty for the offence mentioned in Law 81 is 50 points in the adverse honour score. G. _Team Matches.
_=Forcing.=_ A player need not use any card drawn, but if he has upon the table any combination in which it can be used, his adversary may force him with it, even after it has been declined. For instance: A player has eight cards down, two sequences of four small cards each, and in his hand a pair of Kings. Another King will make him game; but if he has to depend on his sequences to put him out, he will have to get three more cards. Suppose he draws a card that will fit one of his sequences; it is to his advantage to pass it; but upon laying it on the table his adversary may take it up and force him with it, by placing it at the end of his sequence, at the same time saying: “Discard.” In the same manner a player holding one of the cards of his adversary’s show-down sequence or triplet may force after using a card, by placing his discard on his adversary’s sequence, instead of laying it on the table. If it is laid on the table, the adversary may pass it at once, by turning it down, and it is then too late to compel him to use it. Suppose you think your adversary holds two cards of an unplayed sequence, and has a triplet on the table. If you can use one of those sequence cards in his hand to advantage, and can force him by giving him the fourth card of his triplet, which is of no use to you, you should do so; but you must remember that you cannot force except after using a card yourself, because you are not allowed to discard under any other circumstances. If a player looks at any of the cards that have been passed and turned down, his adversary may take up and examine the remainder of the stock, but without disturbing the position of the cards therein, and without showing them.
LOUTH-- Annaverna, Ravendale Miss R. Stephen. QUEEN S COUNTY-- Portarlington { G. H. Kinahan (_Folk-lore Journal_, { vol. ii.) WATERFORD-- Lismore Miss Keane. WALES. _Byegones._ Folk-lore Society Publications.
] [Illustration: Fig. 5a--Battle of Hook s Farm. Red Cavalry charging the Blue Guns.] (4) Any isolated body may hoist the white flag and surrender at any time. (5) A gun is captured when there is no man whatever of its original side within six inches of it, and when at least four men of the antagonist side have moved up to it and have passed its wheel axis going in the direction of their attack. This latter point is important. An antagonist s gun may be out of action, and you may have a score of men coming up to it and within six inches of it, but it is not yet captured; and you may have brought up a dozen men all round the hostile gun, but if there is still one enemy just out of their reach and within six inches of the end of the trail of the gun, that gun is not captured: it is still in dispute and out of action, and you may not fire it or move it at the next move. But once a gun is fully captured, it follows all the rules of your own guns. VARIETIES OF THE BATTLE-GAME You may play various types of game. (1) One is the Fight to the Finish.
But if he holds the Ace, or cards in sequence with it, such A K, he should cover any card higher than a Ten. If he holds K Q he should cover a J, 10, or 9 led; but it is useless for him to cover an honour with a single honour, unless it is the Ace. _=Low Cards Led.=_ High cards are played by the Second Hand when he has any combination from which he would have led a high one if he had opened the suit. The fact that a player on his right has already laid a small card of the suit on the table should not prevent the Second Hand from making the best use of any combinations he may hold. The only difference between leading from such combinations, and playing them Second Hand, is that in the latter case no attempt is made to indicate to the partner the exact nature of the combination held. The general rule is to win the trick as cheaply as possible, by playing the lowest of the high cards which form the combination from which a high card would be led. Such are the following:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂭 🂫 | 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂸 🂱 🂾 🂽 🂳 | 🃞 🃝 🃘 🃔 🃑 🃞 🃕 🃒 | 🃎 🃋 🃊 🃅 🃁 🃍 🃋 🃂 | 🂭 🂫 🂪 🂣 ] The beginner must be careful with these:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂫 🂢 | 🃎 🃍 🃊 🃆 ] The combination which makes the first of these a high-card lead is the A K, and the King must be played Second Hand. The Jack has nothing to do with it. In the second, the Ten does not form any part of the combination, and the Queen is the card to play Second Hand.
_ The play called Fox to the hole.--_Empus._ Ludus Empusæ. Scotch hoppers, or Fox in the hole. A similar game to this is played at Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Mr. Hardy), and called Goose and Gander. Two players, the Goose and the Gander, stand in a ring, each on one leg. They hop out in turn, and try to catch one of the other players without letting their other leg touch the ground. If they fail in this they get strapped back to the ring. When either are successful, the player who is caught takes the place of either Goose or Gander in turn.
A player having once refused to buy, or having named the number of cards he wishes to exchange, cannot amend his decision. Any player winning five tricks on a nap bid takes the entire pool. This is a very good game, and increases both the bids and the play against them. _=Widows.=_ Another variation is to deal five cards in the centre of the table, face downward, the dealer giving the cards to the widow just before helping himself in each round. Any player in his proper turn to bid may take the widow, and from the total of ten cards so obtained select five on which he must bid nap, discarding the others face downward. _=Peep Nap.=_ In this variety of the pool game one card only is dealt to the widow, usually on the first round. Each player in turn, before bidding or passing, has the privilege of taking a private peep at this down card, on paying one counter to the pool. The card is left on the table until the highest bidder is known, and he then takes it into his hand, whether he has paid to peep at it or not.
| -- | -- | -- | | 4.|For a lady s daughter.|For my lady s |For a lady s daughter.| | | |daughter. | | | 5.| -- | -- | -- | | 6.| -- |Put it in a chestnut | -- | | | |tree. | | | 7.| -- |Let it stay an hour. | -- | | 8.
If a player demand that the cards be placed, he should do so for his own information and not to call his partner’s attention to any card or play. 4. An opponent of the declarer should not lead until the preceding trick has been turned and quitted; nor, after having led a winning card, should he draw another from his hand before his partner has played to the current trick. 5. A card should not be played with such emphasis as to draw attention to it, nor should a player detach one card from his hand and subsequently play another. 6. A player should not purposely incur a penalty because he is willing to pay it, nor should he make a second revoke to conceal a first. 7. Conversation during the play should be avoided, as it may annoy players at the table or at other tables in the room. 8.
For this reason, many players _=discard the suit they are not afraid of=_; that is, their best protected suit, and keep what protection they have in the weak suits, even if it is nothing but three to a Jack or ten. Unfortunately, no one has yet been able to advance any argument sufficiently convincing for either system to demonstrate that it is better than the other. Some of the best teachers of the game advocate the discard from strength against no-trumps; others teach the weak discard. _=ENCOURAGING DISCARDS.=_ In order to distinguish between discards from weakness and those from strength, many players use what is called an encouraging card. This is anything higher than a six, if they have protection in the suit, or want it led. A player with an established suit, and A 8 2 of another suit, for instance, would discard the 8, to encourage his partner to lead that suit and put him in. In case there is no card higher than the six, the _=reverse discard=_ is used. With A 4 2, the play would be the 4 and then the 2. Some use this reverse or encouraging card to induce the partner to continue the suit he is leading, but the practice is confusing.
The player with the last counter in front of him must throw both dice three times in succession, and if he succeeds in avoiding a six, he keeps the counter and wins the pool. If he throws a six, the player who gets the counter must throw three times, and so on, until some one throws three times without getting a six. Instead of a pool, it is sometimes agreed that the final holder of the last counter shall pay for the refreshments. MULTIPLICATION. Any number can play, and three dice are used. Each player throws in turn, and the highest die is left on the table; if two are equally high, only one remains. The two other dice are thrown again, and the higher left. The sum of these two is then added together, and the third die is thrown as a multiplier, the result of the multiplication being the player’s score. ROUND THE SPOT. Any number can play, and three dice are used.
Green). IX. London Bridge is broken down, Broken down, broken down, London Bridge is broken down, My fair lady. [Other verses commence with one of the following lines, and are sung in the same manner--] Build it up with penny loaves. Penny loaves will melt away. Build it up with iron and steel. Iron and steel will bend and bow. Build it up with silver and gold. Silver and gold I have not got. What has this poor prisoner done? Stole my watch and broke my chain.
[Illustration: The war game in the open air] [Illustration: Fig. 1--Battle of Hook s Farm. General View of the Battlefield and Red Army] We also found difficulties about the capturing of guns. At first we had merely provided that a gun was captured when it was out of action and four men of the opposite force were within six inches of it, but we found a number of cases for which this rule was too vague. A gun, for example, would be disabled and left with only three men within six inches; the enemy would then come up eight or ten strong within six inches on the other side, but not really reaching the gun. At the next move the original possessor of the gun would bring up half a dozen men within six inches. To whom did the gun belong? By the original wording of our rule, it might be supposed to belong to the attack which had never really touched the gun yet, and they could claim to turn it upon its original side. We had to meet a number of such cases. We met them by requiring the capturing force--or, to be precise, four men of it--actually to pass the axle of the gun before it could be taken. All sorts of odd little difficulties arose too, connected with the use of the guns as a shelter from fire, and very exact rules had to be made to avoid tilting the nose and raising the breech of a gun in order to use it as cover.
But if he answers in the negative, there is no remedy. _=Drawing Cards.=_ Any player may ask the others to indicate the cards played by them to the current trick; but he must confine himself to the expression: “Draw cards.” _=Irregular Remarks.=_ A player calling attention in any manner to the trick or to the score, may be called upon to play his highest or lowest of the suit led; or to trump or not to trump the trick during the play of which the remark is made. _=Scoring.=_ A game consists of fifty-one points; fourteen of which must be made on every deal, as follows:-- 1 for _=High=_, or the Ace of trumps. 1 for _=Low=_, or the Deuce of trumps. 1 for the _=Jack=_ of trumps. 1 for _=Game=_, or the Ten of trumps.
Some persons imagine that the adversaries can prevent an exposed card from being played; but such is not the case in Euchre. A person playing a lone hand is not liable to any penalty for exposing his cards, nor for leading out of turn, for he has no partner to derive any benefit from the information conveyed. _=Leading Out of Turn.=_ Should any person, not playing alone, lead out of turn, the adversaries may call a suit from the player in error, or from his partner, when it is next the turn of either of them to lead. The demand must be made by the person who will be the last player on the trick in which the suit is called. If all have played to the lead before discovering the error, it cannot be rectified; but if all have not played, those who have followed the false lead must take back their cards, which are not liable to be called. Any player may ask the others to _=draw cards=_ in any trick, provided he does so before the cards are touched for the purpose of gathering them. In answer to this demand, each player should indicate which card of those on the table he played. No one is allowed to see any trick that has been turned and quitted. _=Taking Tricks.
Chambers (_Pop. Rhymes_, p. 148) gives a similar verse, used for starting a race:-- Race horses, race horses, what time of day? One o clock, two o clock, three, and away; and these lines are also used for the same purpose in Cheshire (Holland s _Glossary_) and Somersetshire (Elworthy s _Glossary_). Halliwell, on the strength of the corrupted word Bellasay, connects the game with a proverbial saying applied to the family of Bellasis; but there is no evidence of such a connection except the word-corruption. The rhyme occurs in _Gammer Gurton s Garland_, 1783, the last words of the second line being time to away. Bellie-mantie The name for Blind Man s Buff in Upper Clydesdale. As anciently in this game he who was the chief actor was not only hoodwinked, but enveloped in the skin of an animal.--Jamieson. See Blind Man s Buff. Belly-blind The name for Blind Man s Buff in Roxburgh, Clydesdale, and other counties of the border.
Suppose the next card called is the ten of diamonds. As each player can place that card in any one of eight different positions with regard to the seven of clubs, and the next card after that in any one of a dozen positions, it must be evident that although the twenty-five cards called will be the same for every tableau, the resulting poker combinations may be vastly different. _=SCORING.=_ Each player is credited with the value of his tableau, and then the duty of being caller passes to the left. The game is at an end when an agreed number of deals have been played, or at the expiration of a specified time, the highest total score being the winner. SOLITAIRE CRIBBAGE. This game may be played by one person or by several, two to four making an interesting game, either as partners or each for himself. The individual player takes a full pack of fifty-two cards, shuffles and cuts, and deals off three for himself, two for his crib, and then three more for himself. Taking up the six, he sorts them and discards for the crib, just as if the two cards already there had been laid off by an opponent. The pack is then cut for the starter.
Hurling. Hurly-burly. Huss. Hustle Cap. Hynny-pynny. ISABELLA. JACK S Alive. Jack, Jack, the Bread s a-burning. Jack upon the Mopstick. Jackysteauns.
| 14TH. |PAISLEY. | CORNER. | CORNER. | SOUTER. | | | | | | | | | | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-16 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | | 23 19 | 22 17 | 23 19 | 24 19 | 24 19 | 22 18 | 23 19 | | 8-11 | 8-11 | 8-11 | | | | 9-14 | | 22 17 | 17 13 | 22 17 | | | | 22 17 | | 9-13 | 15-18 | 4- 8 | | | | 6- 9 | +=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+ | | | WILL O’ | WHITE | | |SWITCHER.|WHILTER. |THE WISP.| DYKE. | IRREGULAR OPENINGS.
Page 51: reference to Wind Up Jack: this game is not mentioned separately, but under Wind Up the Bush Faggot. Page 120: reference to Wind up the Watch, which is not listed as a separate game, but as a local name for Wind up the Bush Faggot. Page 137: reference to Crosspurposes: according to the description and Vol. II, this could be Cross-questions. Page 300: reference to How many miles to Barley Bridge?, which is not listed as a separate game; the phrase occurs in some of the versions of How many miles to Babylon? Page 318, section (c): The author refers to the Belfast version, but describes the Isle of Man version. This has not been changed. Page 328: reference to the game Spanish Fly, which does not occur in either volume (nor does the phrase). Page 402: reference to Ghost in the Garden and Ghost in the Copper. Neither is described as a separate game; probably the reference is to Ghost at the Well. Textual remarks: At least some of the quotations presented by the author are not verbatim quotations, they have been edited by the author (for example Aubrey on cockle-bread).