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SECTION I. (For Two Players)
CUT for precedence. Highest is `first-hand´; lowest `dealer´. Dealer gives 6 cards to each, one by one, beginning with first-hand, and turns up the 13th, which is called the `Lead´. It is convenient that the same player should be dealer for the whole of each game.
First-hand then plays a card; then the other player, and so on, until 6 cards have been played, when the trick is complete, and he who can make (out of the 3 cards he has played, with or without the Lead), the best `Line´, wins it.
A `Line´ consists of 2, or all 3, of the cards put down by either player, with or without the Lead. In making a Line, it does not matter in what order the 3 cards have been put down. Lines rank as follows:
Trio--i.e. 3 of a sort, (e.g. 3 Kings, or 3 Nines.)
Sequence--i.e. 3, or 4, in Sequence, (e.g. Eight, Nine, Ten, Knave.)
Sympathy--i.e. 3, or 4, Hearts.
Court--i.e. 3, or 4, Court-cards, (if 4, it is called Court Circular.)
N.B. In this Class a Line of 4 cards beats a similar Line of 3. The Lead must not be reckoned in the middle of a Sequence.
Names as above.
N.B. In making a Sequence, the Ace may be reckoned either with King, Queen, or with Two, Three.
Pair--i.e. 2 of a sort.
Valentine--i.e. 2 Hearts.
Etiquette--i.e. 2 Court-cards.
If both have made Lines of the same kind, he whose Line contains the best card wins the trick; and if neither has made a Line, he who has played the best card wins it. Cards rank as follows:
(1) Hearts.
(2) The rest of the pack, in order Aces, Kings, &c.
N.B. If no Hearts have been played, and the highest cards on each side are equal, (e.g. if each have played an Ace), they rank in the order Diamonds, Clubs, Spades.
The winner of a trick chooses, as Lead for the next trick, any one of the cards on the table, except the old Lead; he then takes the rest, turning them face upwards, if he be first-hand, but if not, face downwards; and he becomes first-hand for the next trick.
The dealer then gives cards to each, one by one, beginning with first-hand, until each hand is made up again to 6 cards.
At any time during a trick, after the first card of it has been played, and before either has played 3 cards, he whose turn it is to play may `resign´ instead; in which case no more cards are played in that trick, and the other player wins it and proceeds as in Rule V. But when either has played 3 cards, the other must not resign.
When the pack is exhausted neither player may resign. The winner of the last trick clears the board. Each then reckons up the cards he has won, which count as follows:
Cards face upwards ..... 2 each.
downwards ... 1
Hearts ................. 1
Court-card ............. 1
The same rules apply with the following necessary changes. The Lead is placed in the middle; first-hand then plays a card; then the player on his left-hand, and so on all round, each putting down his 3 cards in a row from the Lead towards himself. He who makes the best Line wins the trick, and is first-hand for the next trick. At any time during a trick, after the first card of it has been played, and before any one has played 3 cards, he whose turn it is to play may `resign´ instead; in which case he loses his chance of winning that trick, and the other players go on without him. But when any one has played 3 cards, no other player may resign. In the case where all players but one `resign´, he who is left to the last wins the trick. At the end of each game all the players but the lowest score the difference between their own marks and those of the lowest, the lowest scoring nothing. Game is 50.
Jan., 1860.
CUT for deal; highest is `first-hand´, lowest is dealer, gives 6 cards to each, 3 at a time, turning up 13th as `Lead´. First-hand plays a card, then dealer, and so on, as numbered in the diagram, till 6 have been played, when the trick is complete. No. 5 is kept face down until No. 6 has been played.
Whichever has, on his side of the trick, (Lead reckoning on each side) the best `Line´ of 3 cards, (`Lines´ being of 3 kinds, which rank as follows: Trio, e.g. 3 Kings or 3 Nines; Sequence, e.g. Nine of Hearts, Eight of Spades, Seven of Hearts; Suit, e.g. 3 Diamonds) wins it. It does not matter in what order the cards have been played, (e.g. if `Lead´ be Five of Hearts, and one of the players play Ace of Spades, Seven of Clubs, Six of Diamonds, his side contains a sequence). Trio containing `Lead´ ranks above Trio not containing it, and so of Sequence and Suit. `Lead´ must not be reckoned as middle card of a Sequence. An Ace will form a Sequence with Two, Three, or with King, Queen.
If equal Lines be made, he who has played, among the cards forming his Line, the best card (cards ranking thus: Ace of Hearts, of Diamonds, of Clubs, of Spades, King of Hearts, etc.) wins the trick; if no Line be made, he who has played the best card wins it.
When the trick is won by superiority of Line, the winner adds the value of his own Line, (reckoned thus: Trio 1, Sequence 2, Suit 3,) to that of the loser's, if any, (reckoned thus: Trio 5, Sequence 3, Suit 1) and takes so many cards; when by superiority of cards, he takes one only. Lead for the next trick is then chosen from the cards left on the table, (by the winner, if both or neither have made a Line; otherwise by the loser), and the others laid aside. The loser is dealer for the next trick, and gives 3 cards to each.
When only 3 cards remain to be dealt, they are turned up, and each plays, either from the 3 cards in his hand, or from these 3, supplying its place from his own hand.
When the pack is out, every trick (after four) counts 1; most cards, 2; most court-cards, (Aces reckoning as court-cards) 1. A Hit is 5, and two Hits make a Rubber.
April, 1862