My Book of Indoor Games Part 11

This is a first-rate game and very exciting. Any number of players may take part in it, and the whole of the fifty-two cards are dealt out.

Each player has five counters, and there is a pool in the middle, which is empty at the commencement of the game.

The first player plays a card--say it is a six--then the one next to him looks through his cards, and if he has another six he puts it down and says, "Snip"; the first player must then pay a counter into the pool.

If the next player should chance to have another six, he plays it and says "Snap," and the one who is snapped must pay in his turn, but the fine is increased to two counters. Should the fourth player have the fourth six, he plays it, and says, "Snorum," and the third player must now pay; his fine is three counters to the pool. No person may play out of his turn, and every one must "snip" when it is in his power.

When any one has paid the whole of his five counters to the pool he retires from the game; the pool becomes the property of the one whose counters last the longest.

OLD MAID

From a pack of cards take out one queen, shuffle the cards and deal them, face downward, equally among all the players. The cards should then be taken, the pairs sorted out and thrown upon the table. By "pairs" is meant two kings, or two fives, and so on. When all the pairs have been sorted out, the dealer offers the remainder of his cards to his felt-hand neighbor, who draws any card he chooses to select, though he is only allowed to see the backs of them. The player who has drawn then looks at the cards to see if he can pair it with one he holds in his hand; if he can, he throws out the pair; if not, he must place it with his other cards. It is now his turn to offer his cards to his neighbor, and so the game goes on until all the cards are paired, except, of course, the odd card which is the companion to the banished queen. The holder of this card is "the old maid."

POPE JOAN

This amusing game is for any number of players, and is played with a wooden board which is divided into compartments or pools, and can be bought cheaply at any toy shop for a small sum. Failing a board, use a sheet of paper marked out in squares.

Before dealing, the eight of diamonds is taken out of the pack, and the deal is settled by cutting the cards, and whoever turns up the first jack is dealer.

The dealer then shuffles the cards and his left-hand neighbor cuts them. The dealer must next "dress the board," that is, he must put counters into the pools, which are all marked differently. This is the way to dress the board: One counter to each ace, king, queen, jack, and game, two to matrimony (king and queen), two to intrigue (queen and jack), and six to the nine of diamonds, which is the Pope. On a proper board you will see these marked on it.

The cards are now dealt round to the players, with the exception of one card, which is turned up for trumps, and six or eight, which are put aside to form the stops; the four kings and the seven of diamonds are also always stops.

If either ace, king, queen, or jack happen to be turned up for trumps, the dealer may take whatever is in the compartment with that mark; but when Pope is turned up for trumps, the dealer takes all the counters in Pope's compartment as well as those in the "game" compartment, besides a counter for every card dealt to each player, which must, of course, be paid by the players. There is then a fresh deal.

It is very seldom, however, that Pope does turn up for trumps; when it does not happen, the player next to the dealer begins to play, trying to get rid of as many cards as possible. First he leads cards which he knows will be stops, then Pope, if he has it, and afterward the lowest card in his suit, particularly an ace, for that can never be led up to. The other players follow when they can; for instance, if the leader plays the two of diamonds, whoever holds the three plays it, some one follows with the four, and so on until a stop occurs; whoever plays the card which makes a stop becomes leader and can play what he chooses.

This goes on until some person has parted with all his cards, by which he wins the counters in the "game" compartment and receives from the players a counter for every card they hold. Should any one hold the Pope he is excused from paying, unless he happens to have played it.

Whoever plays any of the cards which have pools or compartments takes the counters in that pool. If any of these cards are not played, the counters remain over for the next game.

"I SUSPECT YOU"

This game may be played by any number of persons. As soon as the cards have been dealt and the players have examined their hands, the one on the left of the dealer plays the lowest card he has (the ace counting lowest). He must place the card face downward on the table, at the same time calling out what it is. The next player also puts down a card, face downward, and calls the next number; for instance, if No. 1 puts down a card and says "One," No. 2 says "Two," No. 3 "Three," and so on.

It is not necessary for the card laid down to be actually the one called out. The fun of the game is to put down the wrong card without, any one suspecting you. Naturally, it is not often that the cards run straight on, as no one may play out of turn, and if one player thinks another has put down the wrong card, he says, "I suspect you." The player must then show his card, and if it should not be the one he said, he must take all the cards laid down and add them to his pack; if, however, the card happens to be the right one, then the accuser must take the cards. The player who first succeeds in getting rid of his cards wins the game.

BEGGAR MY NEIGHBOR

The cards are dealt equally to the players. The first player puts down a card, face upward, upon the table. If it be a common card, that is, a two, or three, or anything but a picture card or an ace, his neighbors put down in turn their cards until a court card (that is, a picture card or an ace) turns up.

If at last an ace be played, the neighbor of the one who plays it must pay him four cards; if a king three cards, if a queen two, and if a jack one. The one who played the court card also takes all the cards that have been played, and puts them under his own pack. If, however, in playing for a court card, one of the players puts down another court card, then his neighbor must pay him, and he takes the whole pack instead of the previous player. Sometimes it happens that a second player in paying puts down a court card, and the third player in paying him puts down another, and so on, until perhaps the fourth or fifth player actually gets the cards in the end.

RIDDLES

Few children think they will ever tire of playing games; but all the same, toward the end of a long evening, spent merrily in dancing and playing, the little ones begin to get too weary to play any longer, and it is very difficult to keep them amused.

Then comes the time for riddles! The children can sit quietly round the room, resting after their romps and laughter, and yet be kept thoroughly interested, trying to guess riddles.

It is, however, very difficult to remember a number of good and laughable ones, so we will give a list of some, which will be quite sufficient to puzzle a roomful of little folk for several hours.

Why are weary people like carriage wheels? Answer: Because they are tired.

An old woman in a red cloak was pa.s.sing a field in which a goat was feeding. What strange transformation suddenly took place? Answer: The goat turned to b.u.t.ter (b.u.t.t her), and the woman into a scarlet runner.

Why does a duck go into the water? Answer: For divers reasons.

Spell "blind pig" in two letters. P G; a pig without an I.

Which bird can lift the heaviest weights? The crane.

Why is a wise man like a pin? He has a head and comes to a point.

Why is a Jew in a fever like a diamond? Because he is a Jew-ill.

Why may carpenters reasonably believe there is no such thing as stone?

Because they never saw it.

What is that which is put on the table and cut, but never eaten? A pack of cards.

When does a farmer double up a sheep without hurting it? When he folds it.

What lives upon its own substance and dies when it has devoured itself? A candle.

Why is a dog biting his tail like a good manager? Because he makes both ends meet.

What thing is it that is lower with a head than without one? A pillow.

Which is the left side of a plum pudding? That which is not eaten.

What letter of the alphabet is necessary to make a shoe? The last.

If all the seas were dried up, what would everybody say? We haven't a notion (an ocean).

Why is it certain that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was not written by the hand of its reputed author? Because it was written by Mrs. Beecher's toe (Stowe).