The three balls employed in both the English and American games are known as the _=red=_, _=white=_, and _=spot white.=_ In play they are distinguished as the _=cue ball=_, which is the one struck by the player; the _=object ball=_, which is the one that the cue ball first comes into contact with; and the _=carrom ball=_, which is the second ball struck by the cue ball in making a carrom. _=THE SHOTS.=_ There are three shots common to billiards: The _=carrom=_ or _=cannon=_, in which a count is made by the cue ball striking both the other balls on the table. The _=winning hazard=_, in which the object or the carrom ball is driven into a pocket. The _=losing hazard=_, in which the cue ball goes into a pocket after contact with another ball. There are five ways of making the principal shots at billiards, and they should be thoroughly mastered by every player. These are: The force, the follow, the draw, the massé, and the side stroke. [Illustration] The first great principle in billiards is that the cue ball will always travel in the _=direction=_ in which the cue is pointed. Holding the cue upward, downward or sidewise makes no difference; the line of travel will be a prolongation of the line of the cue.
These are all comparatively modern games, but are descended from very old stock, the best known of the ancestors being Marriage, Matrimony, and Cinq-Cents. The etymology of the word Bézique is very much disputed. Some claim that it is from the Spanish basa, afterwards basico, a little kiss; referring to the union of the spade Queen and the diamond Jack, and the various marriages in the game. This was afterwards Basique, transformed by the French to Bésique, and by the English to Bézique. One English writer thinks the word is from bésaigne, the double-headed axe. Judging from the rank of the cards, which is peculiar to German games, Bézique may have originated in an attempt to play Binocle with a piquet pack, for Binocle seems to have been originally played with a full pack of fifty-two cards. One German writer says the game is of Swiss origin, and that they probably got it from Spain. In one writer’s opinion, the name Binocle, is derived from _bis_, until, and _knochle_, the knuckle, which would imply that the original meaning was, until some one knuckled; _i.e._, stopped the game by knocking on the table with his knuckles.
Pins and needles they will break. Mend it up with bricks and mortar, Bricks and mortar, that will do. [After these verses have been sung--] What has this great prisoner done, Prisoner done, prisoner done, What has this great prisoner done? My fair lady. Stole a watch and lost the key, Lost the key, lost the key, Stole a watch and lost the key, My fair lady. Off to prison you must go, You must go, you must go, Off to prison you must go, My fair lady. --Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase). V. Over London Bridge we go, Over London Bridge we go, Over London Bridge we go, Gay ladies, gay! London Bridge is broken down, London Bridge is broken down, London Bridge is broken down, Gay ladies, gay! Build it up with lime and sand, Build it up with lime and sand, Build it up with lime and sand, Gay ladies, gay! [Then follow verses sung in the same manner and with the same refrain, beginning with--] Lime and sand will wash away. Build it up with penny loaves. Penny loaves ll get stole away.
Most of all, I watched the skinny gal dope the dice, sniffle and wipe the end of her nose. She was one homely sharecropper, that was a fact, but she had a nice feel for Lady Luck. Or for what I planned next. * * * * * Wanting to come out with an even thousand, I adjusted the size of her last bet. When I won it, I pulled my chips off the table, which Sniffles didn t resist. She used the lull to grab a handful of sandwiches from another waiter s tray. A gambler at the far end of the table came out, calling loudly to the dice. The cubes made the length of the table, bounced off the rail and came to a stop dead center, between me and the three stick-men in the black aprons. That s the instant when every eye is on the dice, trying to read the spots. And that s when the dice jumped straight up off the baize, a good six-inch hop into the air, and came down Snake Eyes, the old signal.
NINE UP AND NINE DOWN. THE PINS ARE SET UP THE SAME AS FOR THE GAME OF AMERICAN TEN PINS. Three balls (not exceeding 6 inches in size) are bowled in each inning. The player must knock down a single pin, which counts 1; then with two remaining balls he endeavors to leave one pin standing, which counts 1. Failure to do either, the inning goes for nothing. No penalties are attached. Dead wood must be removed. Any pins knocked down through the dead wood remaining on the alley cannot be placed to the credit of the player. Ten innings constitute a game. The maximum is 20.
The first player disposed of in this manner, the dealer goes on to the next one, and so on until he comes to himself. He turns his two cards face upward, and draws or stands to suit himself. If he overdraws, all the other players expose their first two cards to show that they have 21 or less, and he then pays each of them the amount they have staked. If he stands, either before or after drawing, the others expose their cards in the same way, and those that have the same number are tied, and win or lose nothing. Those who have less than the dealer lose their stake; those that have more than the dealer, but still not more than 21, he must pay. When the result is a tie, it is called _=paying in cards=_. _=The Banker.=_ The banker for the next deal may be decided upon in various ways. The old rule was for one player to continue to act as banker and to deal the cards until one of his adversaries held a natural, the dealer having none to offset it. When this occurred, the player who held the natural took the bank and the deal until some one else held a natural.
=_ When the cue-ball is very near another, the player shall not play without warning his adversary that they do not touch, and giving him sufficient time to satisfy himself on that point. _=9.=_ When the cue-ball is in contact with another, the balls are spotted and the player plays with his ball in hand. _=10.=_ Playing with the wrong ball is foul. However, should the player using the wrong ball play more than one shot with it, he shall be entitled to his score just the same as if he had played with his own; as soon as his hand is out, the white balls must change places, and the game proceed as usual. ON FOUL STROKES.--It is a foul, and no count can be made: _=1.=_ If a stroke is made except with the point of the cue. _=2.
=_ Any player has the right to shuffle the cards, the dealer last. The pack must be presented to the pone to be cut, and he must leave at least four cards in each packet. Beginning on his left, the dealer distributes the cards either two at a time and then three, or three and then two to each player in rotation, until all have five cards. Whichever number, two or three, the dealer begins with, he must continue giving the same number to every player, including himself, for the first round. After the cards are dealt, the next card is turned face up on the remainder of the pack, except in five and seven-handed Euchre, in which no trump is turned. Each player deals in turn to the left, until the conclusion of the game or rubber. _=Irregularities in the Deal.=_ If any card is found faced in the pack, the dealer must deal again. Should the dealer expose any card but the trump while dealing, the adversaries may demand a new deal by the same dealer. Should any adversary of the dealer expose a card, the dealer may elect to deal again.
The girls seek for daisies or any wild flowers, and join in the singing of the second verse, while the boys raise the prostrate Booman and carry him about. When singing the third verse the boys act digging a grave, and the dead boy is lowered. The girls strew flowers over the body. When finished another boy becomes Booman. (_c_) This game is clearly dramatic, to imitate a funeral. Mr. Doe writes, I have seen somewhere [in Norfolk] a tomb with a crest on it--a leek--and the name Beaumont, but it does not seem necessary to thus account for the game. Boss-out A game at marbles. Strutt describes it as follows:-- One bowls a marble to any distance that he pleases, which serves as a mark for his antagonist to bowl at, whose business it is to hit the marble first bowled, or lay his own near enough to it for him to span the space between them and touch both the marbles. In either case he wins.