B. _Irregularities in the Hands._ If a player have either more or less than his correct number of cards, the course to be pursued is determined by the time of the discovery of the irregularity. (1) When the irregularity is discovered before or during the original play: There must be a new deal. (2) When the irregularity is discovered at the time the cards are taken up for overplay and before such overplay has begun: It must be sent back to the table from which it came, and the error be there rectified. (3) When the irregularity is not discovered until after the overplay has begun: In two-table duplicate there must be a new deal; but in a game in which the same deals are played at more than two tables, the hands must be rectified as is provided above and then passed to the next table without overplay at the table at which the error was discovered; in which case, if a player have less than thirteen cards and his adversary the corresponding surplus, each pair takes the average score for that deal; if, however, his partner have the corresponding surplus, his pair is given the lowest score and his opponents the highest score made at any table for that deal. C. _Playing the cards._ Each player, when it is his turn to play, must place his card, face upward, before him and toward the centre of the table. He must allow it to remain upon the table in this position until all have played to the trick, when he must turn it over and place it face downward, nearer to himself; if he or his partner have won the trick, the card should point toward his partner and himself; otherwise it should point toward the adversaries.
In cutting, the ace is low. _=PLAYERS.=_ Four persons cut for partners, the two highest playing against the two lowest, the lowest cut having the choice of seats and cards and dealing the first hand. _=DEALING.=_ The cards shuffled and cut, thirteen are given to each player, one at a time in rotation to the left. No trump is turned, as every hand is played without a trump. _=MISDEALING.=_ In case of any irregularity in the deal, the same dealer must deal again. The laws governing misdeals are the same as at whist or bridge. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.
--Keith, Fochabers (Rev. W. Gregor). This is probably the same game as that printed by Halliwell, No. cccxxxv., to which the following rhyme applied:-- My father was a Frenchman, He bought for me a fiddle; He cut me here, he cut me here, He cut me right in the middle. Feed the Dove An undescribed game mentioned in an old poem called _Christmas_ (i. 285), quoted in Ellis s Brand, i. 517: Young men and maidens now at Feed the Dove (with laurel leaf in mouth) play. Find the Ring O the grand old Duke of York He had ten thousand men, He marched them up the hill ago And he marched them down again.
For instance: If the leads have been Ace, then Jack, Third Hand holding only one of the suit; he should pass if the Second Hand does not play King. _=Third Hand on Strengthening Cards.=_ Unless Third Hand has both Ace and King of the suit, he should pass any forced or strengthening lead which is not covered by the Second Hand. This obliges the Fourth Hand to open another suit, or to continue at a disadvantage. Third Hand winning first round has the choice of four lines of play: 1st. To lead trumps, if he is strong enough. 2nd. To return the best card of his partner’s suit if he has it. This is imperative before opening any other suit but trumps. 3rd.
76. If a player discover his mistake in time to save a revoke, the adversaries, whenever they think fit, may call the card thus played in error, or may require him to play his highest or lowest card to that trick in which he has renounced; any player or players who have played after him may withdraw their cards and substitute others: the cards withdrawn are not liable to be called. 77. If a revoke be claimed, and the accused player or his partner mix the cards before they have been sufficiently examined by the adversaries, the revoke is established. The mixing of the cards only renders the proof of a revoke difficult; but does not prevent the claim and possible establishment of the penalty. 78. A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards have been cut for the following deal. 79. The revoking player and his partner may, under all circumstances, require the hand in which the revoke has been detected to be played out. 80.
These counters are placed on the left of the player at the beginning of the game, and are moved over to his right as the points accrue. The game is sometimes kept on a cribbage board, each player starting at 21, and going twice round to the game-hole, reckoning each peg as 10 points. _=STAKES.=_ Binocle is played for so much a game of 1000 points, and the moment either player either actually reaches or claims to have reached that number, the game is at an end. If his claim is correct, he wins; if it is not, his adversary takes the stakes, no matter what the score may be. _=PLAYERS.=_ Binocle is played by two persons, one of whom is known as the _=dealer=_, and the other as the _=pone=_. They cut for the choice of seats and deal, and the player cutting the higher card may deal or not, as he pleases. It is usual for the player having the choice to make his adversary deal. A player exposing more than one card must cut again.
No player is allowed to bid more than fourteen. If he will not bid, he must say: “I pass.” A bid having been regularly made, any following player must bid higher or pass. There are no second bids. A bid once made can neither be amended nor withdrawn. _=Irregular Bids.=_ If any player bids before the eldest hand has bid or passed, both the player in error and his partner lose their right to bid; but the side not in error must bid to decide which of them shall name the trump. If the eldest hand has decided, and the pone bids without waiting for the dealer’s partner, the pone loses his bid, and the dealer may bid before his partner. If the dealer bids without waiting for his partner, both lose their bids; but the pone may overbid the eldest hand. If the dealer’s partner has bid, and the dealer bids without waiting for the pone, the dealer loses his bid.
All balls pocketed on the opening stroke count for the player, and it is not necessary for him to call the numbers of the balls he intends pocketing before making the opening stroke. _=3.=_ Before making any other stroke except the opening stroke the player must _distinctly_ call the number of the ball he intends to pocket, but he need not designate the particular pocket into which he intends to put it. Unless he calls the ball pocketed it does not count for him, and must be placed on the deep-red spot, or if that be occupied, as nearly below it as possible. The player loses his hand but does not forfeit any points, and the next player plays. Should he call more than one ball he must pocket all the balls he calls, otherwise none of them can be counted for him. _=4.=_ After the opening stroke each player must either pocket a ball, make an _object_-ball strike a cushion, or the cue-ball strike a cushion after contact with an object-ball, under penalty of forfeiture of three points. Three forfeitures in succession loses the game for the player making them. _=5.
The player who makes the final declaration[9] must play the combined hands, his partner becoming dummy, unless the suit or no trump finally declared was bid by the partner before it was called by the final declarer, in which case the partner, no matter what bids have intervened, must play the combined hands. 47. When the player of the two hands (hereinafter termed “the declarer”) wins at least as many tricks as he declared, he scores the full value of the tricks won (see Law 3).[10] 47_a_. When the declarer fails to win as many tricks as he declares, neither he nor his adversaries score anything toward the game, but his adversaries score in their honour column 50 points for each under-trick (_i.e._, each trick short of the number declared). If the declaration be doubled, the adversaries score 100 points; if redoubled, 200 points for each under-trick. 48. The loss on the dealer’s original declaration of “one spade” is limited to 100 points, whether doubled or not, unless redoubled.
All the cards are dealt, twelve to each player, four at a time, and the last is turned up for the trump. _=Melds=_ are not made until the player holding them has played to the first trick. The eldest hand leads and then melds; the second player plays and then melds, and so on. The card played to the first trick may still be reckoned in the melds. _=Playing.=_ The general rules of play are the same as in the three-handed game; players being obliged to follow suit and to win the trick if able to do so. The fourth player must win his partner’s trick if he can, and any player who cannot follow suit to a trick that is already trumped must under-trump if he is unable to over-trump. _=Scoring.=_ There are three ways to score: In the first, each player must individually win a trick in order to score his melds. In the second, when either partner wins a trick, the melds in both hands may be scored.
Exposed Cards, cards played in error, or dropped face upward on the table, or held so that the partner can see them. Face Cards, K, Q and J. Faire les Cartes, F., to shuffle; or to make the majority of cards or tricks in a game. Fall of the Cards, the order in which they are played. False Cards, cards played to deceive the adversary as to the true holding in the suit. Fattening, discarding counting cards on partner’s tricks. Feind, G., an adversary; Gegner is the more common word. Figure, F.
23. If the dealer gives too many or too few cards to any player, or neglects to lay out the skat cards in their proper turn, or does not give the right number of cards in each round, or gives three to one player and four to another, or fails to present the pack to be cut, there must be a new deal, and the dealer is charged 10 points for the error. THE SKAT CARDS. 24. Any active player taking up or seeing either or both the skat cards when he is not entitled to do so shall be debarred from bidding that deal. If any but an active player look at either of the skat cards, 10 points shall be deducted from his score. 25. If any Kiebitz (an onlooker not belonging to the table) looks at either of the skat cards, he may be called upon to pay the value of the game. 26. If an active player look at the skat cards during the play, he not having laid out those cards from his own hand, his game is lost if he is the single player.