Another favourite system is colours. The player takes some definite card, such as the soda, or the first winner or loser, as his starter, and whatever the colour of the third card of each denomination, that is, the card that makes it a case, he plays it to win or lose, according to the system of colours he is playing. Many players reverse on the last turn. When a player bets one card to lose and another to win, and loses both bets on the same turn, he is _=whipsawed=_. _=The Last Turn.=_ If three different cards are left in for the last turn, the players can _=call the turn=_, naming the order in which they think the cards will be found. Suppose the three cards left in the box are the 9 8 2, these may come in six different ways:-- 9 8 2 9 2 8 8 9 2 8 2 9 2 9 8 2 8 9 The odds against any one of these ways are 5 to 1; but the dealer pays 4 for 1 only. In calling the turn, the bet is strung from the selected loser to the selected winner. If the third card intervenes, the bet is strung away from it, to show that it goes round the layout to the other card. If there are two cards of the same denomination in the last turn, it is called a _=cat-hop=_; and as it can come only three ways, the dealer pays 2 for 1.
Many players object to these methods as unfair; but they are now too deeply rooted to yield to protest; and the best thing for a player to do is to familiarise himself with his adversaries’ weapons. _=The Trump Signal.=_ A player anxious to have trumps led, but who has no immediate prospect of the lead, may call on his partner to lead trumps at the first opportunity, by playing any two cards of a suit led, the higher before the lower. Let us suppose him to hold five good trumps, with the Six and Two of a suit of which his partner leads King, then Jack. By playing first the Six, and then the Two, he calls upon his partner to quit the suit, and lead a trump. Among some players, the lead of a strengthening card when an honour is turned, is a call for trumps to be led through that honour at the first opportunity, but it is not good play. Passing a certain winning card is regarded by most players as an imperative call for trumps. The discard of any card higher than a Seven is known as a single-card-call. Even if it was not so intended, it is assumed that a trump lead cannot injure a player with nothing smaller than a Nine in his hand. _=Answering Trump Signals.
=_ If the player is forced before he can answer the call, he may indicate the number of trumps originally held by playing them in this manner:-- With 3 or less; trumping with the lowest; leading the highest. With 4 exactly; trumping with the 3rd-best; leading the highest. With 5 or more; trumping with the 3rd-best; leading the 4th-best. These methods of taking the force must not be carried to extremes. For instance: A player holding K J 10 2, would hardly be justified in trumping with the 10 to show number. Some experts, holding the best trump with at least four others, will not lead it; preferring to show number first, by leading the fourth-best. Others, holding four, lead the lowest after trumping with the third-best. _=The Echo in Trumps.=_ When the partner leads high trumps, the Third Hand should echo with four or more, by signalling in the trump suit. The universal form of the echo is to play first the third-best, then the fourth-best.
.. Primitive attempts to realise the dream were interrupted by a great rustle and chattering of lady visitors. They regarded the objects upon the floor with the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things. But the writer had in those days a very dear friend, a man too ill for long excursions or vigorous sports (he has been dead now these six years), of a very sweet companionable disposition, a hearty jester and full of the spirit of play. To him the idea was broached more fruitfully. We got two forces of toy soldiers, set out a lumpish Encyclopaedic land upon the carpet, and began to play. We arranged to move in alternate moves: first one moved all his force and then the other; an infantry-man could move one foot at each move, a cavalry-man two, a gun two, and it might fire six shots; and if a man was moved up to touch another man, then we tossed up and decided which man was dead. So we made a game, which was not a good game, but which was very amusing once or twice. The men were packed under the lee of fat volumes, while the guns, animated by a spirit of their own, banged away at any exposed head, or prowled about in search of a shot.
Bicky In Somersetshire the game of Hide and Seek. To _bik ee_ is for the seekers to go and lean their heads against a wall, so as not to see where the others go to hide.--Elworthy s _Dialect_. See Hide and Seek. Biddy-base A Lincolnshire name for Prisoner s Base. --Halliwell s _Dictionary_; Peacock s _Manley and Corringham Glossary_; Cole s _S. W. Lincolnshire Glossary_. Biggly Name for Blind Man s Buff. --Dickinson s _Cumberland Glossary_.
_=A Tricon=_, or three of a kind, is better than a straight, and entitles the holder to _=four counters=_ from each of the other players. Pairs have no value. _=A Flush=_ is four cards of the same suit, not necessarily in sequence, and is better than a tricon. The holder is paid _=five counters=_ by each of the other players, in addition to winning the pool. _=Doublets.=_ Any hand containing a double combination will beat any single combination. For instance: A player holds three of a kind, and the fourth card in his hand is of a different suit from any of his triplet. His hand is a double combination, prime and tricon, and will beat a flush. A sequence of four cards of the same suit is a double combination, and will beat anything but a fredon. When doublets are shown, the holder is paid for both combinations, _=six=_ for tricon and prime, or _=eight=_ for sequence and flush, as the case may be.
Quatorze, F., four cards of the same denomination. Quatrième, F., a sequence of four cards. Queue, F., the points added for winning the rubber. Quinte, F., a sequence of five cards. Quitted. A trick is quitted when the fingers are removed from it after it is turned down.
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. This is the rule in Vingt-et-un, Baccara, and Blind Hookey. If the banker is not changed occasionally, he retains his position on account of the expense he has been put to to provide the apparatus for the play, as in Faro, Keno, Roulette, and Rouge et Noir. To justify this expenditure he must have some permanent advantage, and if no such advantage or “percentage” is inherent in the principles of the game, any person playing against such a banker is probably being cheated. At Monte Carlo, everything is perfectly fair and straightforward, but no games are played except those in which the percentage in favour of the bank is evident, and is openly acknowledged. In Faro there is no such advantage, and no honest faro bank can live. It is for that reason that the game is not played at Monte Carlo, in spite of the many thousands of Americans who have begged the management to introduce it.
Another version seems to be Headim and Corsim. Pins are hid with fingers in the palms of the hands; the same number is laid alongside them, and either Headim or Corsim called out by those who do so. When the fingers are lifted, if the heads of the pins hid and those beside them be lying one way when the crier cried Headim, then that player wins; but if Corsim, the one who hid the pins wins. This is the king of all the games at the preens.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. The editors of Jamieson s _Dictionary_ say that the name should be Headum and Corsum. Heads and Tails That plan for deciding matters by the birl o a bawbee. The one side cries Heads (when the piece is whirling in the air) and the other Tails, so whichever is uppermost when the piece alights that gains or settles the matter, heads standing for the King s head and tails for the figure who represents Britannia.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. This is a general form of determining sides or beginning a game all over the country.
W. Gregor). At Barnes this game is called Gap. It is known as French Tag in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews), and Tap-back at Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Adam). French and English The children choose sides under a leader, and a boundary line is made in the middle of the ground dividing the French and English territory. 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.
Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, pp. 134, 135) gives the game as a form of the Merry-ma-tanzie --a kind of dance. They sing while moving round to the tune of Nancy Dawson, and stopping short with courtesy at the conclusion. Here we go round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, Here we go round the mulberry bush, And round the merry-ma-tanzie. Disjoining hands, they then begin, with skirts held daintily up behind, to walk singly along, singing-- This is the way the ladies walk, The ladies walk, the ladies walk; This is the way the ladies walk, And round the merry-ma-tanzie. At the last line they reunite, and again wheel round in a ring, singing as before-- Here we go round the mulberry bush, &c. After which, they perhaps simulate the walk of gentlemen, the chief feature of which is length of stride, concluding with the ring dance as before. Probably the next movement may be-- This is the way they wash the clothes, Wash the clothes, wash the clothes; This is the way they wash the clothes, And round the merry-ma-tanzie. After which there is, as usual, the ring dance. They then represent washing, ironing clothes, baking bread, washing the house, and a number of other familiar proceedings.