Chapter I: Doubt It

This is a good round game, any number taking part. The full pack of fifty-two cards is dealt round, one card at a time as far as it will go equally, the remainder being left in the centre of the table, face down. Any one can deal.

The player to the left of the dealer starts the game by taking from his hand any three cards he pleases and laying them on the table in front of him face down. He then announces, “These are three jacks,” or anything he likes to call them, there being no obligation to tell the truth about it, so the cards might actually be a six four and a deuce.

Each player in turn to the left can doubt the statement that the cards are three jacks, or he can pass. If any player in his proper turn says, “I doubt it,” the three cards are at once turned face up. If the statement is not correct, the three cards are at once taken back into the player’s hand, together with all the cards lying face down in the centre of the table at the time. Should the statement turn out to be true, the player who doubted it must take the three jacks and all the cards on the table.

That settled, the next player to the left lays out three cards and announces that they are three of a kind of something or other, each player to the left passing or doubting it. If no one questions the correctness of a statement, no explanation is given by the player who laid out the cards. He simply pushes them to the centre of the table with the others, face down. If he shows them, or any one of them, as some may do in a spirit of bravado, he must take all three back into his hand and all on the table with them. The object of doubting is simply to prevent a player from getting rid of three cards, but toward the end of the game one must be careful, as triplets are gradually gathered for that stage.

If any player has less than three cards in his hand when it comes to his turn to lay down, he must draw from the table, face down, enough to make three. He may look at what he draws before announcing. If there are no cards on the table, he must pass his turn.

The first to get rid of all his cards gets a chip from each of the others for each card they hold.

JASS.

This is popularly supposed to be the progenitor of the American game of pinochle, and is still very popular in Switzerland.

_=CARDS.=_ Jass is played with the thirty-six card pack, the 5 4 3 2 of each suit being thrown out. The cards rank from the A K Q down to the 6, both in cutting and in play. The cards have a pip value in scoring, aces 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3 and jacks 2. In the trump suit, the jack is the highest card, and is worth 20 points instead of 2. The nine of trumps comes next, being worth 14 points, and is called “Nell.” The remaining trumps rank as in plain suits.

The jack of trumps has the special privilege of being allowed to renege, even when the holder of the jack can follow suit.

_=MARKERS.=_ The score is usually kept on a slate.

_=PLAYERS.=_ Any number from two to four can take part, but each is always for himself. The rules for two-hand differ slightly from those for three or four. (See Two-hand Jass.)

_=CUTTING.=_ The first deal is cut for, high wins. The cards rank as in plain suit, and ties cut again, to decide the tie.

_=DEALING.=_ When the pack is cut, at least four cards must be left in each packet. (In Switzerland they cut to the left and deal to the right; but in America this is not necessary.) The cards are dealt three at a time for three rounds, so that each player receives nine cards. When four play, the last card must be turned up for the trump. When three play, the twenty-eighth card is the trump.

_=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ The play is to win tricks with cards of pip value in them, especially aces and tens, called game points, and also to meld certain combinations of cards that are found in the player’s hand.

When three play, the dealer may exchange his nine cards for the nine that are left on the table, but he must surrender the turned up trump among those nine cards to any player that holds the six. If the dealer does not wish to exchange, each player in turn to the left may do so. In making the exchange, no card of the nine originally dealt to the player may be kept, not even the six of trumps.

The pip value of the cards won in tricks count for the player at the end of the hand. The following values are for the melds:

Four jacks are worth 200
Four aces, kings, queens, or tens 100
Five cards of any suit in sequence 100
Four cards of any suit in sequence 50
Three cards of any suit in sequence 20
King and queen of trumps 20

The melds are made after the player has played his card to the first trick, whether he wins that trick or not, but the melds are not credited to him on the slate unless he wins at least one trick during the play of the hand.

_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ When four play it is sometimes permissible for one to pass out, each in turn to the left having the right. The first thing is for the holder of the six of trumps to exchange it for the turned-up trump. The player to the left of the dealer then leads any card he pleases, and each player in turn must follow suit and must head the trick if he can; by trumping if he has none of the suit led. As soon as a card is played, the player makes his meld, announcing its pip value. The winner of the last trick scores five points for it.

_=SCORING.=_ Sometimes 1,000 points is a game, as in pinochle, and the first player to call out wins if he is correct; if not he loses. Sometimes in three or four-hand, it is agreed to play some number of deals divisible by four, usually 12 or 16. These are indicated by cross marks on the slate, each arm representing a deal. The two players with the higher scores at the end of the hand each rub off a mark and the one who is first to rub off all his marks is the winner, or the last to wipe off is stuck, according to agreement. Any one failing to get as many as 21 points in meld and play is set back a mark.

TWO-HAND JASS.

When only two play, the game closely resembles American pinochle, the winner of each trick drawing a card from the top of the stock, the loser drawing the next one. All melds are made immediately after winning a trick and before drawing from the stock, only one meld at a time being allowed. It is not necessary to follow suit to anything until the stock is exhausted, after which all melds cease and the second player to each trick must win it if he can, but the jack of trumps still has the privilege of renouncing if a plain suit is led.

PATIENCE POKER

As its name implies, this is a form of solitaire, but it may be managed so as to provide a pleasing competition for any number of players. Both forms of the game will be described, the solitaire first.

_=CARDS.=_ The full pack of fifty-two cards is shuffled and cut. Keeping it face down in the left hand, the top card is turned up and laid upon the table. The next card is turned up and laid in such a position that it touches the first one, either on one of its four edges, or one of its four corners. The third card must touch one or other of the two already on the table in the same manner, and so on until twenty-five cards have been drawn and placed, but the twenty-five must be so arranged as to form a square of five cards each way.

As no card can be moved from its original position, as soon as there are cards enough in either direction, up and down, or from left to right, to make a row of five, no more cards can be laid beyond that point, as it would transgress the limits of the square.

_=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ The aim of the player is to place each card as it comes from the top of the pack in the most advantageous position for combining with other cards, either already there or hoped for, so that each row of five cards, up and down, or right to left, shall be a poker hand of some value.

_=VALUE OF THE HANDS.=_ The various hands possible in poker are given a counting value, supposed to be in proportion to the difficulty of getting them. There are three systems of counting in common use, the English differing slightly from the American, both in value and in rank. The various scoring values are here given:

One pair 2 1 1
Two pairs 5 2 3
Triplets 10 7 6
Straights 15 9 12
Flushes 20 5 5
Full hands 25 12 10
Four of a kind 50 20 16
Straight flush 75 30 30
Royal flush 100 50 30

The first column given is the American system of counting by fives, after one pair, retaining the regular poker rank of the hands. The second column is the American system that puts the straight next to the full hand, and the flush between two pairs and a triplet. The third column is the English system, which ranks the straight above the full hand.

As no person has as yet come forward with any figures to show which combination is easier to get in patience poker, nor the proportion of one hand to the other, these figures are all guess work; and players may adopt any values they please.

As soon as the tableau is complete, with five rows of five cards each, the value of each of the ten hands the tableau contains is found and the total put down. The object of the solitaire player usually is to see how many tableaus he needs to reach a grand total of 500 points.

_=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ Experience has shown that it pays to keep certain classes of hand in one section, either left to right or up and down. Many players put all the flushes in the vertical columns, and build the pairs, triplets and fours from right to left. Straights are uncertain quantities unless they are flush also and are seldom played for.

Each card has a double value, and it may help to make up two hands of high scoring power, if well placed. The highest possible point value for a tableau would probably be five hands of four of a kind and five straight flushes, four of which would be royal, like this:

🂱 🃑 🃁 🂡 🃉
🂾 🃞 🃎 🂮 🃈
🂽 🃝 🃍 🂭 🃇
🂻 🃛 🃋 🂫 🃆
🂺 🃚 🃊 🂪 🃅
]

The odds against the cards coming from the stock in such order as to make a tableau like this possible would be enormous, but there are many sets of twenty-five cards that can be rearranged so as to make a much higher count than that actually arrived at in the solitaire. The player’s skill consists in anticipating the possibilities that certain cards will be drawn and in so arranging his table that if the hoped for card comes out, the most advantageous place will be found open for it.

_=TWO OR MORE PLAYERS.=_ Any number can play this game, the only limitation being the number of packs available and space enough on the table for each one to lay out his own tableau. One player is selected as the “caller” and he shuffles his pack and presents it to be cut. In the meantime each of the others sorts his individual pack into sequence and suit, so as to be able to pick out any named card without unnecessary delay.

_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The caller starts by taking off his top card and placing it face up on the table, at the same time announcing aloud its suit and rank, as “Seven of clubs.” This makes it unnecessary for the others to watch the cards the caller draws.

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. The pack is then cut for the starter.

There is no play, and the hand is turned up and counted, scoring it on a regular cribbage board. The crib is then counted and scored. Leaving the starter still face up on the top of the pack, the eight cards in hand and crib are thrown aside. For the next deal, the player gives himself three cards from the top of the pack, one of which was the starter on the last deal, then two for the crib and three more for himself, discarding for the crib, cutting a starter, counting and scoring hand and crib as before.

This is continued until only four cards are left, one of them being the starter for the last deal. Turn up these four cards and count them as a hand.

The game is usually 91 points, and the object of the solitaire player is to see if he can reach the game hole without going through the pack more than once. If he does not reach with six hands and cribs, each with a starter, and one hand of four cards without a starter, he has failed to get the solitaire.

_=WHEN TWO OR MORE PLAY.=_ The object is now to see which player or partnership can get the greatest number of points in going through the pack once, each playing his own solitaire with his individual pack, but keeping level with his opponents in the matter of hands and deals.

It is usual for each to cut the starter for the other and then to verify the count of the other’s hands and cribs. If one reaches 91 before the other gets round past 60, it is reckoned as a double game. If neither side reaches 91 before the pack runs out, the player that comes nearer to it wins. When two play against two as partners, each takes an adversary and plays against him individually, the scores being balanced at the end by adding those of the partners together.