BOSTON DE FONTAINEBLEAU. This game is sometimes, but incorrectly, called French Boston. The latter will be described in its proper place. _=CARDS.=_ Boston de Fontainebleau is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards. Two packs are generally used. The cards rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing. _=MARKERS=_ are not used, counters taking their place. These are usually of the colours and values, and are distributed among the players as already described in Boston. _=STAKES.
Having quitted such discard, it cannot be taken back. If the dealer has not discarded until he has played to the first trick, he and his partner cannot score any points for that hand. _=18.=_ If the eldest hand leads before the dealer has quitted his discard, the dealer may amend his discard, but the eldest hand cannot take back the card led. _=19.=_ If the dealer takes up the trump to play alone, he must pass his discard across the table to his partner. If he fails to do so, the adversaries may insist that his partner play with him, preventing the lone hand. _=20.=_ _=MAKING THE TRUMP.=_ If the dealer does not take up the trump, he must place it under the remainder of the pack, face upward, so that it can be distinctly seen.
=_ The higher cut has the choice of seats, and the lower cut deals the first hand. _=Dealing.=_ After the cards have been cut by the pone the dealer gives one card to his adversary, then one to the stock, and then one to himself, all face down. Two more are then given to the stock, one to the pone, two to the stock again, and one to the dealer. This is continued, giving two cards to the stock between the ones given to each player, until the last round, when only one card is dealt to the stock. This will result in each player receiving six cards, and twenty being left in the centre of the table for the talon. No trump is turned. Very few players trouble themselves with this method of dealing, preferring to deal three cards to each player alternately, leaving the remaining twenty for the stock. _=Playing.=_ All the regulations for leading, following suit, drawing from the talon, etc.
To players with the time and space available I would suggest using a quite large country, beginning with treble moves, and, with the exception of a select number of cavalry scouts, keeping the soldiers in their boxes with the lids on, and moving the boxes as units. (This boxing idea is a new one, and affords a very good substitute for the curtain; I have tried it twice for games in the open air where the curtain was not available.) Neither side would, of course, know what the other had in its boxes; they might be packed regiments or a mere skeleton force. Each side would advance on the other by double or treble moves behind a screen of cavalry scouts, until a scout was within ten feet of a box on the opposite side. Then the contents of that particular box would have to be disclosed and the men stood out. Troops without any enemy within twenty feet could be returned to their boxes for facility in moving. Playing on such a scale would admit also of the introduction of the problem of provisions and supplies. Little toy Army Service waggons can be bought, and it could be ruled that troops must have one such waggon for every fifty men within at least six moves. Moreover, ammunition carts may be got, and it may be ruled that one must be within two moves of a gun before the latter can be fired. All these are complications of the War Game, and so far I have not been able to get together sufficient experienced players to play on this larger, more elaborate scale.
=_ As these are equally proper to any form of dummy, we shall postpone their consideration until we have described the other varieties of the game; French dummy, and Bridge; giving them all at the end of the chapter on “Bridge.” DOUBLE DUMMY. _=CARDS.=_ Double Dummy is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, ranking as at whist both for cutting and playing. Two packs are generally used. _=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.
An additional incident occurs in the Liphook version, which represents her being swung to life again by two of the players. These differences may perhaps be immaterial to the meaning and origin of the game, but they are sufficiently indicative of early custom to suggest the divergence of the game in modern times towards modern custom. Thus the players divided line-by-line follow the general form for children playing singing games, and it would therefore suggest itself as the earlier form for this game. The change of the game from the line-by-line action to the mother-and-line action would indicate a corresponding change in the prevailing custom which influenced the game. This custom was the wooing by a band of suitors of girls surrounded by their fellow-villagers, which became obsolete in favour of ordinary marriage custom. The dropping out of this custom would cause the game to change from a representation of both wooing and burial to one of burial only. As burial only the mother-and-line action is sufficient, but the presence of a wooing incident in the earlier form of the game is plainly revealed by the verse which sings, Fare ye well, ladies, or, as it has become in the English variant, Very well, ladies. The difference in the wording of the versions is slight, and does not need formal analysis. Domestic occupation is shown throughout, washing and its attendants, drying, folding, starching and ironing being by far the most numerous, brewing, and baking only occurring in one. Illness, dying, and death are the usual forms for the later verses, but illness and dying are lost in several versions.
They are:-- 1st. To win 8 of the 13 tricks, with the assistance of a partner. This is called a _=Proposal=_; the partner’s share is an _=Acceptance=_. 2nd. To win 5 of the 13 tricks, against the three other players combined. This is called a _=Solo=_. 3rd. To take no tricks, there being no trump suit, and the three other players being opposed. This is called _=Misère=_, or Nullo. 4th.
Probably the same as Duckstone. Duck Dance [Music] --London (A. B. Gomme). I saw a ship a sailin , A sailin on the sea, And oh, it was laden With pretty things for me [thee]. There were comfits in the cabin, And apples in the hold; The sails were made of silk, And the masts were made of gold. Four and twenty sailors That sat upon the deck, Were four and twenty white mice With chains about their necks. The captain was a duck, With a packet on his back; And when the ship began to move, The captain cried Quack! quack! --Northamptonshire, _Revue Celtique_, iv. 200; Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, No. ccclxxvii.
But any decent TK, even a Fowler Smythe, can spot them. There was TK in this, but not tipping dice. Smythe is a skunk. He s no Twenty-fifth, or he wouldn t have any need to go crooked. He saw a chance to make a killing. He suggested it to Rose, who fell for it and went along. Rose decided to steal Simonetti s half of the business from his partner with Smythe s help. It was no more complicated than smuggling thousand dollar bills off the table in false bottoms of trays that drinks were being served on. Smythe was using TK to lift the bills into those false bottoms, well screened by the trays from the TV monitors. Barney was in on it, of course.
Carrying the Queen a Letter The King and Queen have a throne formed by placing two chairs a little apart, with a shawl spread from chair to chair. A messenger is sent into the room with a letter to the Queen, who reads it, and joins the King in a courteous entreaty that the bearer of the missive will place himself between them. When he has seated himself on the shawl, up jumps the King and Queen, and down goes the messenger on the floor.--Bottesford and Anderly (Lincolnshire), and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock). (_b_) This is virtually the same game as Ambassador, described by Grose as played by sailors on some inexperienced fellow or landsman. Between the two chairs is placed a pail of water, into which the victim falls. Cashhornie A game played with clubs by two opposite parties of boys, the aim of each party being to drive a ball into a hole belonging to their antagonists, while the latter strain every nerve to prevent this.--Jamieson. Castles A game at marbles.
If both the five and deuce points were covered, Black could not enter on either of them, and as he cannot play until the man on the bar is entered, the throw would be lost, and he would have to wait until his adversary threw and moved in his turn. If two men are upon the bar, both must be entered before any man can be moved. A man may enter and hit a blot at the same time. If a player could get his men round the board without any of them being hit, seventy-seven points on the dice thrown would bring them all home; but as every man hit has to start all over again from his adversary’s home table, it may take a great many throws to get all the men home. For this reason it is obvious that each player should leave as few blots as possible, in order to save his men from being hit; and at the same time he should strive to cover as many points as possible, in order to prevent his adversary from moving round the board freely. It is still more important to cover points in the home table, so that when an adverse man is hit he will have fewer points upon which to enter. It is, of course, unnecessary to say that one can always enter or play on points covered by his own men. [Illustration: +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ | |⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|| | | | | | | | |⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|| | | | | | | | | | |⛀| |⛀|| | | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂ || | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | |⛂|⛂| || | | | | | | |⛂|⛀|⛂|⛂|⛂| || | | | | | | |⛂|⛀|⛂|⛂|⛂| || | | | | |⛀| +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ ] _=Throwing Off.=_ When either player has succeeded in getting all his men home, he removes them from the board two or four at a time, according to the throws of the dice, provided he has men on the points in his home table corresponding to the numbers thrown. If not, he must move his men up toward the ace point.
The reason for this is that from stand hands trumps should never be led unless there are three of them; they are to be kept for ruffing, and when you have to ruff it does not matter whether you use a seven or a Queen. The King of trumps is of course led; but a player does not stand on a hand containing the King. The first suit given is always the trump, and the next suit is always the one that should be led, beginning with the best card of it if there is more than one. The figures on the right show the number of hands in which the player or the dealer will win out of the 65,780 possible distributions of the twenty-six unknown cards. These calculations are taken, by permission of Mr. Charles Mossop, from the eighth volume of the “_Westminster Papers_,” in which all the variations and their results are given in full. PLAYER WINS. DEALER WINS. 2 [Illustration: 🃗 🃘 🂷 🂸 🂹] 47,768 18,012 3 [Illustration: 🂷 🂸 🂮 🂧 🃇] 46,039 19,741 4 [Illustration: 🂧 🂨 🃇 🃗 🃞] 43,764 22,016 5 [Illustration: 🃇 🃈 🃘 🃗 🂾] 45,374 20,406 6 [Illustration: 🃗 🃘 🃈 🃉 🂭] 44,169 21,611 7 [Illustration: 🂷 🂸 🃙 🃚 🃋] 43,478 22,302 8 [Illustration: 🂧 🂨 🂺 🂱 🃑] 44,243 21,537 9 [Illustration: 🃇 🃈 🂡 🂫 🂸] 44,766 21,014 10 [Illustration: 🃗 🃘 🂾 🂫 🃇] 44,459 21,321 11 [Illustration: 🂷 🂸 🂮 🃁 🃙] 44,034 21,746 12 [Illustration: 🂧 🂨 🃎 🃚 🂺] 43,434 22,346 13 [Illustration: 🃇 🃈 🂨 🂽 🃞] 44,766 21,014 14 [Illustration: 🃗 🃘 🃁 🂭 🂻] 46,779 19,001 15 [Illustration: 🂷 🂸 🃛 🃋 🂫] 45,929 19,851 The player should always stand on a hand containing three trumps, not including the King, and should lead the trump:-- 16 [Illustration: 🂷 🂸 🂹 🂧 🃇] 42,014 to 23,766 An example of a hand containing only one trump has already been given, and some hands are jeux de règle which contain no trumps. The strongest of these is the King of each plain suit, and any queen.
Some players progress, but never pinch, keeping account on a piece of paper how many bets they are behind, and playing the maximum until they have won as many bets as they have lost. Against a perfectly fair game, with no percentage and no limit, and with capital enough to follow the system to the end, playing progression would pay a man about as much as he could make in any good business with the same capital and with half the worry; but as things really are in gambling houses and casinos, all martingales are a delusion and a snare. It is much better, if one must gamble, to trust to luck alone, and it is an old saying that the player without a system is seldom without a dollar. It is the men with systems who have to borrow a stake before they can begin to play. Such matters as calculating the probability of a certain horse getting a place, the odds against all the horses at the post being given, would be out of place in a work of this kind; but those interested in such chances may find rules for ascertaining their probability in some of the following text books. TEXT BOOKS. Calcul de Probabilité, by Bertrand. Philosophy of Whist, by Dr. Pole. Winning Whist, by Emory Boardman.
--Brand s _Pop. Antiq._, ii. 409. (_b_) Dr. Jamieson says this is a game well-known in Lothian and in the South of Scotland. Sir Walter Scott, in _Rob Roy_, iii. 153, says, Here auld ordering and counter-ordering--but patience! patience!--We may ae day play at _Change seats, the king s coming_. This game is supposed to ridicule the political scramble for places on occasion of a change of government, or in the succession. See Musical Chairs, Turn the Trencher.