_=THEORY.=_ It may briefly be stated that duplicate proceeds upon the principle that if two partners have made a certain number of tricks with certain cards, under certain conditions with respect to the lead, distribution of the other cards in the adversaries’ hands, etc., the only way to decide whether or not two other players could have done better, or cannot do so well, is to let them try it, by giving them the same cards, under exactly similar conditions. This comparison may be carried out in various ways; but in every instance it depends entirely upon the number and arrangement of the players engaged. The most common forms are: club against club; team against team; pair against pair; or man against man. The reason for the arrangement of the players will be better understood if we first describe the method. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ There is no cutting for partners, and choice of seats and cards as at whist, because the players take their places and deal according to a pre-arranged schedule. The player to the left of the dealer begins by placing the card he leads face up on the table, and in front of him. The second player follows by placing his card in front of him in the same manner; and so the third, and so the fourth.
The verses are then begun again, and repeated afresh for each of the troop marching through the arch until all of them are placed behind one or other of the two girls. The two sides thus formed then proceed to tug against each other, and the strongest side wins the game. The Belfast version is practically the same, except that the verses are not sung as a dialogue, but by all the players together, and the prisoner, when caught, has the choice of sides, by being asked, Which will you have, a golden apple or golden pear? and according to the answer given is sent behind one of the leaders. The Norfolk and Shropshire games are different. Miss Matthews thus describes the Norfolk game: Two girls take hold of hands, and another, the prisoner, stands between them. The rest form themselves into a line opposite, and advance and retreat while singing the first verse, the gaolers singing the next verse, and so on alternately. [At the end of the last verse but one] the children break the line, form themselves into a ring, and dance round the prisoner, singing the final verse. Miss Harley describes the Shropshire version as follows: The first six verses are sung by the alternate parties, who advance and retire, tramping their feet, at first, to imitate the robbers. The last verse is sung altogether going round in a ring. In the Shipley version, Miss Busk says: The children form themselves into two lines, while two or three, representing the robbers, swagger along between them.
This is inflicted for playing with more or less than five cards; for exposing any card; for leading or playing out of turn; for renouncing; and for refusing to head or trump a trick when able to do so. _=DIVIDING THE POOL.=_ Pools may be simple or double. The usual custom is to compel every one to play when the pool is a simple, containing nothing but the five counters put up by the dealer. When there are more than five counters in the pool they must be some multiple of five, and the pool is called a double. In double pools the players may play or pass as they please. No matter how many counters are already in the pool, the dealer must add five. Each player gathers in the tricks he wins, and at the end of the hand he is entitled to take one-fifth of the contents of the pool for every trick he has won. If he has played his hand, and failed to get a trick, he is ramsed, and forfeits five counters to form the next pool, in addition to those which will be put up by the next dealer. If two or more players fail to win a trick, they must each pay five counters, and if the player whose turn it will be to deal next is ramsed, he will have to put up ten; five for his deal, and five for the rams.
_=CUTTING.=_ One of the packs having been spread on the table, face down, each of the four players draws a card; the two lowest pairing against the two highest. The lowest of the four is the dealer, and has the choice of seats and cards. Ties are decided in the same manner as at Whist. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ The partners sit opposite each other, and the players are distinguished, as at Whist, by the letters A-B and Y-Z. Z is the dealer, and A has the original lead. _=DEALING.=_ One pack of cards is shuffled and cut as at Whist. The dealer then gives four cards to each player, beginning on his left; then four more, and finally five, no trump being turned.
] (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. You move in from any points you like on the back line and try to kill, capture, or drive over his back line the whole of the enemy s force. You play the game for points; you score 100 for the victory, and 10 for every gun you hold or are in a position to take, 1-1/2 for every cavalry-man, 1 for every infantry-man still alive and uncaptured, 1/2 for every man of yours prisoner in the hands of the enemy, and 1/2 for every prisoner you have taken. If the battle is still undecided when both forces are reduced below fifteen men, the battle is drawn and the 100 points for victory are divided.
The telepaths were trained to become ultrasensitive, trained to become aware of the Dragons in less than a millisecond. But it was found that the Dragons could move a million miles in just under two milliseconds and that this was not enough for the human mind to activate the light beams. Attempts had been made to sheath the ships in light at all times. This defense wore out. As mankind learned about the Dragons, so too, apparently, the Dragons learned about mankind. Somehow they flattened their own bulk and came in on extremely flat trajectories very quickly. Intense light was needed, light of sunlike intensity. This could be provided only by light bombs. Pinlighting came into existence. Pinlighting consisted of the detonation of ultra-vivid miniature photonuclear bombs, which converted a few ounces of a magnesium isotope into pure visible radiance.
A handkerchief is then placed in the back part of each territory to represent a flag. The object is to obtain as many flags from the opposite side as possible. If a person is captured before having seized a flag, he is taken prisoner, and must be rescued by one of his own side. Thus, for instance, an Englishman enters the French territory and tries to reach the flag. If he is seen by the French before he reaches the flag, he is taken prisoner and is placed near the flags, and the next Englishman rescues him instead of taking a flag. As soon as the flag is taken, one of the party must put another handkerchief in its place. A player cannot be taken prisoner after having obtained the handkerchief or flag. The winning side is decided by counting the flags and prisoners.--Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford).
When a player bids six, seven, or eight tricks, he is supposed to be still willing to take a partner, unless he specifies solo. When a partner accepts him, the combination must make four tricks more than the original proposal. Four honours are paid for as four over-tricks; three honours as two over-tricks. Piccolissimo is played, and comes between the bids of seven and eight tricks. GERMAN WHIST. _=CARDS.=_ German Whist is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing. _=PLAYERS.=_ Two persons play. They cut for the first deal, and the choice of seats.
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. The game is always played in lines, and the principal incidents running throughout all the versions are the same, _i.
If twelve cards are dealt to each player, the game is the same as the one about to be described, but with eight cards added to the pack, and the Seven taking the place of the Nine for dix. _=Misdealing.=_ If the dealer exposes a card belonging to his adversary or to the stock, the pone may demand a new deal; but if either player exposes any of his own cards the deal stands good. If too many cards are given to either player, and the error is discovered before the dealer plays to the first trick, there must be a new deal. If either player has too few cards, the pone may demand a new deal, or may allow the dealer to supply the deficiency from the top of the stock. If any card is found exposed in the pack, there must be a new deal. If a card faced in the stock is not discovered until the first trick has been played to by the dealer, the exposed card must be turned face down, without disturbing its position. If the pack is found to be imperfect, the deal in which it is discovered is void; but all previous scores and cuts made with that pack stand good. In all misdeals the same dealer deals again. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.
--(J. W.) Jamieson (_Dictionary_) says, To do Dingle-dousie, a stick is ignited at one end and given as a plaything to a child. Elworthy (_West Somerset Words_) does not give this as a game, but says a burning stick was whirled round and round very quickly, so as to keep up the appearance of a ribbon of fire. Miss Burne (_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 530), says, Children wave a burning stick in the air, saying-- A girdle o gold, a saddle o silk, A horse for me as white as milk, an evident relic of divinations or incantations practised with bonfires. Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 213) gives the rhyme as-- Jack s alive, and in very good health, If he dies in your hand you must look to yourself; the game being played in the same way as the Sheffield version (see also Halliwell s _Dictionary_ and Moor s _Suffolk Words_). (_b_) This is a very significant game, and its similarity in miniature to the old tribal custom of carrying the fiery cross to rouse the clans at once suggests the possible origin of it. The detention of the fiery cross through neglect or other impediment was regarded with much dread by the inhabitants of the place in which it should occur.
] See Dump, Green Grass, Hot Cockles. Doddart A game played in a large level field with a bent stick called doddart. Two parties, headed by two captains, endeavour to drive a wooden ball to their respective boundaries (Halliwell s _Dictionary_). Brockett (_North Country Words_) adds to this that the captains are entitled to choose their followers by alternate votes. A piece of globular wood called an orr or coit is thrown down in the middle of the field and driven to one of two opposite hedges--the alley, hail-goal, or boundary. The same game as Clubby, Hockey, Shinney, Shinneyhaw. Doncaster Cherries One boy kneels, holding a long rope, the other end of which is held by another boy; the other players stand round about with handkerchiefs in hands, knotted. The one who holds the rope-end and standing cries out-- Doncaster cherries, ripe and sound; Touch em or taste em-- Down, you dogs! --Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy). This is evidently a version of Badger the Bear, with a different and apparently degraded formula.
LEADS OUT OF TURN. 76. If either adversary of the declarer’s lead out of turn, the declarer may either treat the card so led as exposed or may call a suit as soon as it is the turn of either adversary to lead. Should they lead simultaneously, the lead from the proper hand stands, and the other card is exposed. 77. If the declarer lead out of turn, either from his own hand or dummy, he incurs no penalty, but he may not rectify the error unless directed to do so by an adversary.[16] If the second hand play, the lead is accepted. 78. If an adversary of the declarer lead out of turn, and the declarer follow either from his own hand or dummy, the trick stands. If the declarer before playing refuse to accept the lead, the leader may be penalized as provided in Law 76.
A few general hints may be of assistance in showing the principles that govern the more common situations. _=The Dealer’s Bids=_ may be divided into four parts; a spade, a losing suit, a winning suit, and no trumps. The one-spade bid simply means, “I pass,” but it does not signify that he will not be willing to bid on the second round. It has nothing whatever to do with the spade suit. The dealer should never call any suit on the first round of bids unless he has two sure tricks in it. If it is a losing suit, he may have just those two tricks and nothing else, and the shorter the suit the better, but the tricks must be A K, or K Q J, or A Q J. If it is a winning suit he must have at least five cards of it and a trick or two in some other suit to back it up. If the dealer bids two spades, he shows two sure tricks in a short spade suit and a sure trick outside. If he bids three spades he shows five or more spades and strength enough outside for royals, but denies two sure tricks in the spade suit itself. The dealer should bid no trumps when he has not length enough to bid hearts or royals, but has a hand as good as three aces, well protected in three suits.
] [Illustration: Fig. 4.] (_c_) The analysis of the game rhymes is as follows:-- +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ |No.| Halliwell s Version. | Liphook (Hants). | Shropshire. | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.|Draw a pail of water. |Draw a pail of water. |Draw, draw water.
For instance: A player has declared royal sequence, and scored 250 points for it. He may play away the Ace, breaking up the sequence, and upon winning the trick lay down another Ace, re-forming the sequence, and scoring 250 points again. He might repeat the same process with the Ten, King, Queen and Jack, and in six successive tricks he would score this royal sequence six times, making 1500 points out of it. In actual play it is not necessary to go through the formality of playing away a card from the combination on the table, and then replacing it, for it amounts to the same thing if the new card in the hand is led or played, and the fresh combination claimed. Marriages, béziques and fours may be broken up and re-formed in the same way. After declaring 100 Aces, the player may lead or play another Ace, and claim another 100 Aces, scoring them when he wins a trick. In this way, eight Aces actually held might score 500 points. In the bézique combinations, a new card simply re-forms the single bézique. In order to score double, triple, or quadruple bézique, all the cards forming the combination must be on the table at one time, but they may be played and scored one after the other, cumulatively. For instance: A player holding quadruple bézique and showing all eight cards at once would score 4500 only; the minor béziques would be lost.
Cambridge Dict. MDCXCIII.-- _Ascol._ A kind of play wherein boys hopping on one leg beat one another with gloves or pieces of leather, and is called Fox to thy hole. Coles, 7th ed. 1711.-- _Ascol._ The play called Fox to the hole.--_Empus._ Ludus Empusæ.
Practical Billiards, by W. Dufton. The Spot Stroke, by Joseph Bennet. CHANCE AND PROBABILITY. In calculating the probability of any event, the difficulty is not, as many persons imagine, in the process, but in the statement of the proposition, and the great trouble with many of those who dispute on questions of chance is that they are unable to think clearly. The chance is either for or against the event; the probability is always for it. The chances are expressed by the fraction of this probability, the denominator being the total number of events possible, and the numerator the number of events favourable. For instance: The probability of throwing an ace with one cast of a single die is expressed by the fraction ⅙; because six different numbers may be thrown, and they are all equally probable, but only one of them would be an ace. Odds are found by deducting the favourable events from the total, or the numerator from the denominator. In the example, the odds against throwing an ace are therefore 5 to 1.
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.
Each player when it is his turn to play, must place his card face up before him and towards the center of the table and allow it to remain in this position until all have played to the trick, when he must turn it over and place its face down and nearer to himself, placing each successive card as he turns it, so that it overlaps the last card played by him and with the ends towards the winners of the trick. After he has played his card and also after he has turned it, he must quit it by removing his hand. SEC. 2. The cards must be left in the order in which they were played and quitted until the scores for the deal are recorded. SEC. 3. During the play of a deal a player must not pick up or turn another player’s card. SEC. 4.
Lead Aces, Twos and Threes, which cannot be made into fifteens. Do not pair his cards unless you have a card which will make you a double pair royal, (without passing 31,) if he should make a pair royal on you. Do not play close cards which he may turn into sequences. Never play a card which will allow the adversary to make a double score, such as a pair and a fifteen, or a sequence and a fifteen at the same time. Such as the following are all bad plays: 9 on 3; 7 on A; 6 on 3, 4, or 5; 5 on 5; 4 on 7; 3 on 9; A on 7. All these expose you to the immediate rejoinder of a double count. Of course, if you have the card to make a pair royal in return, that is another matter, and is playing on, not playing off. Do not play a card which brings the pip count to 5 or 21 if you can help it; because any tenth card will enable your adversary to peg two holes. Be a little wary about pairing the first card played, unless you have a third of the same denomination. If you have a choice between a pair and a sequence, your decision will depend on whether you are playing off or on.
Whist rapidly became a “newspaper game.” The New York Sunday Sun devoted two columns every Sunday to the discussion and illustration of moot points in whist tactics, and the analysis of hands played in important matches. In a series of articles begun February 23, 1896, this paper gave to the world the first systematic statement of the theory and practice of the short suit game. In 1898 there were at least forty whist columns published in the United States. Two magazines devoted to whist and bridge are now published, one in Boston and the other in New York. While the parent game has been pursuing this prosperous course, many variations have been introduced. One of the most radical changes in the game itself has been cutting down the points from ten to five, which occurred about 1810. Mathews mentions it in 1813 as having occurred since the publication of his first edition in 1804, and Lord Peterborough, the unlucky gambler, for whose benefit the change was introduced, died in 1814. Another great change took place in America, where they played for the tricks alone, the honours not being counted at all. Turning the trump from the still pack was first tried by a Welsh baronet, and is mentioned by Southey in his “Letters of Espriella.
I put four chips on the Don t Pass side of the line, shook left-handed because of my weak right arm, and got ready to come out. Sniffles seized me. Don t Billy Joe! she said suddenly. You ll lose! She pushed my chips across the line to the Pass side. That burned me up. Get your hands off my chips, I said, annoyed by bad gambling manners. Her face was all resignation and sadness. Well, not quite all. A lot of it was thin, red nose and buck teeth. You ll lose, darlin Billy, she said.
If the declarer leads out of turn, from his own hand or dummy’s, there is no penalty, but he may not correct the error unless directed to do so by an adversary. If the second hand plays to the false lead, it must stand. If the declarer plays from his own hand or from dummy to a false lead, the trick stands. In case the dealer calls a suit and the player has none, the penalty is paid. _=Cards Played in Error.=_ If any player but dummy omits to play to a trick, and does not correct the error until he has played to the next trick, the other side may claim a new deal. If the deal stands, the surplus card at the end is supposed to belong to the short trick, but is not a revoke. _=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ The object in auction is for the declarer to fulfil his contract, and for the adversaries to defeat it. The highest card played to the trick, if of the suit led, wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | 18| 17| 16| 15| 14| 13| 12| 11| 10| 9| 8| 7| 6| 5| 4| 3| +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |180| 60| 29| 18| 12| 8| 6| 6| 6| 6| 8| 12| 18| 29| 60|180| +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ +-----------------------+ | Raffles. | ODD. +---+---+---+---+---+---+ EVEN. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] The Raffles are sometimes indicated by a representation of one face of a die. Bets on single numbers pay even money, if the number bet on comes up on the face of any of the three dice. If it comes up on two of them, such as two deuces, it pays double; but if all three dice are alike it is a _=raffle=_, and the house takes all bets not placed on raffles. Bets on the numbers from 18 to 3 are upon the total count of the pips on the upper faces of the three dice. The small figures under these numbers show the odds paid; 14, for instance, pays twelve for one. All raffles pay 180 for one; the same as 18 or 3. Bets on High and Low, Odd or Even, pay even money.
_=18.=_ No person except an opponent has a right to tell the player that he is using the wrong ball, or to inform the non-striker that his opponent has used the wrong ball; and if the opponent does not see the striker use the ball, or, seeing him, does not claim the penalty, the marker is bound to score to the striker any points made. _=19.=_ Should the striker [whose ball is in hand], in playing up the table on a ball or balls in baulk, either by accident or design, strike one of them [with his own ball] without first going out of baulk, his opponent may have the balls replaced, score a miss, and follow on; or may cause the striker to play again, or may claim a foul, and have the red spotted and the balls broken again. _=20.=_ The striker, when in hand, may not play at a cushion within the baulk (except by going first up the table) so as to hit balls that are within or without the line. _=21.=_ If in hand, and in the act of playing, the striker shall move his ball with insufficient strength to take it out of baulk, it shall be counted as a miss to the opponent, who, however, may oblige him to replace his ball and play again. [Failing to play out of baulk, the player may be compelled to play his stroke over again.] _=22.