Queen. A shrew or gossip. _=R.=_ She will make you tired. Jack. A bearer of bad news. _=R.=_ Worse than you expected. Ten. An unexpected journey.
They had places chalked on the pavement where they recorded their successful goes, and the game was played in a ring.--A. B. Gomme. An account sent me from Deptford (Miss Chase) is doubtless the same game. It begins with taking two gobs at once, and apparently there are eight stones or gobs to play with. The marble or round stone which is thrown up is called a tally. The directions for playing are-- We take twoses, We take threeses, We take fourses, We take sixes, We take eights. Chain eggs--_i.e.
_=Howell Pair System.=_ A very popular system of managing pairs in club games, and also in the national tournaments for the Minneapolis trophy, is called the Howell Pairs. Indicator cards are placed on the tables, which show each player the number of the table and the position at that table to which he should move next. Sometimes he will sit N, sometimes S, and sometimes E or W, but he always finds his partner opposite him, and at the end of the game he will have had every other pair in the game for an adversary once, and will have played all the hands dealt. A different set of indicator cards is required for every different number of tables in the game. They are the invention of the late E.C. Howell of Washington, D.C., and have been arranged for any number of pairs from four to thirty-four.
H. Franklin, _Midland Garner_, vol. ii. p. 32). XV. Round the green gravel the grass grows green, All pretty fair maids are fit to be seen; Wash them in milk, and clothe them in silk, And write down their names with pen and black ink-- Choose one, choose two, choose the fairest daughter. Now, my daughter, married to-day, Like father and mother they should be, To love one another like sister and brother-- I pray you now to kiss one another. Now my daughter Mary s gone, With her pockets all lined with gold; On my finger a gay gold ring-- Good-bye, Mary, good-bye. Now this poor widow is left alone, Nobody could marry a better one; Choose one, choose two-- Choose the fairest daughter.
This game should not be confounded with Black Pool. It is simply English Pyramids, but instead of making the player with the lowest score at the end pay for the table, each player equally shares the expense, and the balls are pocketed for so much apiece. If the amount of the shell-out was a shilling, and there were six players, any person pocketing a ball would receive a shilling from each of the others, and would play again. A losing hazard or a miss would compel the striker to pay a shilling to each of the others, instead of putting a ball back on the table. The last ball pays double. HIGH-LOW-JACK-GAME. This game is played with a set of balls the same as used in Fifteen-Ball Pool. Any number of persons may play, the order of play being determined by the rolling of the small numbered balls. The fifteen-ball is High; the one-ball is Low; the nine-ball is Jack; and the highest aggregate is Game. Seven points generally constitute a game.
Better bids than “nap” are sometimes allowed, on the understanding that the bidder will pay double or treble stakes if he fails, but will receive only the usual amount if successful. For instance: One player bids _=Nap=_, and another holds what he considers a certainty for five tricks. In order not to lose such an opportunity the latter bids _=Wellington=_, which binds him to pay ten counters to each player if he fails. Another may outbid this again by bidding _=Blucher=_, which binds him to pay twenty to each if he loses, but to receive only ten if he wins. In England, the bidder, if successful, receives double or treble stakes for a Wellington or a Blucher, which is simply another way of allowing any person with a nap hand to increase the stakes at pleasure, for a player with a certain five tricks would of course bid a Blucher at once, trebling his gains and shutting off all competition at the same time. This variation is not to be recommended, and benefits no one but the gambler. _=Pools.=_ Napoleon is sometimes played with a pool, each player contributing a certain amount, usually two counters, on the first deal. Each dealer in turn adds two more; revokes pay five, and leads out of turn three. The player who first succeeds in winning five tricks on a nap bid takes the pool, and a fresh one is formed.
Each player picks out his seven of clubs and places it on the table in front of him, face up, as a starter for his tableau. 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.