of CARDS played with two full packs. The player lays the first four cards played in his left hand in a vertical line, and four more on ais right, and then places six piles of four each, one pile at a time, in a row between. The Aces and Kings in the side rows, or on top of the piles, are now removed and placed in two rows below, Aces in one row, Kings in another. Any Ace or King thus uncovered in a pile is placed in like manner. The player's object is to build up families by suits, downward from the Kings and upward from the Aces. He may use, in building, the top card of any pile, or any card in the side rows. Vacancies in the side rows are filled either from the top of the piles or from the pack. When all possible cards have thus been used in building, four more are placed on each pile, and so on till the pack has been used. The piles may be shuffled and relaid till the families are completed, the number of times the player is obliged to do so being a measure of his skill. NOBLESSE OBLIGE, a game of CARDS played by three persons with a EUCHRE pack. The dealer, who is determined by the lowest cut, lays aside the four Áces, and then deals the other cards one by one, placing the last, or twenty-eighth card, face upward on the table. The dealer, if he can, leads a card of the same suit as the twenty-eighth card. If he cannot, the lead passes to the next, and if the next cannot, to the third player. Who ever leads thus places the twenty-eighth card in front of him and counts it as a trick. Play now goes on, as in WHIST, but with the following differences: If a player hold both court cards and plain cards in any suit, he cannot win a trick second or third hand unless a court card has already been played in that trick. If no court card has been played, he must play his lowest plain card, losing the trick. If he hold only plain cards, or only court cards, in any suit, there is no limitation on his play. The winner of the last trick takes also the four Aces. The score is one for each trick won (including the twenty-eighth card), two for the four Aces, and one for each court card held at the opening of the hand. The player with the highest score wins, each hand being a game by itself, or the players may agree on a number of points to be played for. RULES OF THE GAME. I. If there is a misdeal, the deal is lost, and passes to the next player on the left. 2. If a card be exposed, it is named, and the dealer takes possession of it, placing it on one side. The exposer loses one point. 3. A revoke, or attempt to win a trick where the rules forbid, loses the offender all score for honors, and the tricks gained, by thus breaking the rules. 4. The dealer must see all penalties enforced. 5. Only the trick preceding the one in play may be seen. Noblesse Oblige is a French proverb, meaning "Rank imposes obligation," that is, more is expected of a noble than of a common citizen. The name is given to this game on account of the obligation not to take the trick which the holding of "nobles" (court cards) imposes on a player. NONSENSE, a game played by any number of persons, sitting in a circle, who make a comical sentence by each furnishing one part of speech. One of the players begins by whispering to his left-hand neighbor an article; the latter whispers to his left hand neighbor an adjective, and then in turn the others whisper in like manner a noun singulur, a verb, an adverb, a number, an adjective, and a noun plural. Each in order then tells the word whispered to him, and a sentence is thus formed; for instance, "The cards or less, and supplying their solemn grasshopper ate gleefully places from the stock. The elder forty-three infuriated lobsters." The hand discards first, and if he take parts of speech may be varied to less than three, the dealer may take suit the players. what he leaves in addition to his own three. Either or both may refuse to discard at all. Both must discard before either take cards from the stock. After the discard, each of the players throws two dice, one with red and one with black spots. The sum of the spots on the two black and two red dice, respectively, determine two cards, one in the black and one in the red trump suit, which are the highest trumps in those suits for that hand. These are called Rovers, or Special Trumps. Thus, if one player throw a red five and a black four, and the other a red four and a black six, the Nine They are sometimes printed on cards of different colors, the nouns, for instance, being blue, the adjectives red, and so on. These are dealt to the players, and then each one reads a card of the proper color at random. A kind of SOLITAIRE may be played with these cards, the player arranging them in rows, backs upward, in the proper succession of colors, and then turning them over. The following are examples of other arrangements of the parts of speech. Article, adverb, adjective, | noun, adverb, verb, article, noun. Adverb, adjective, noun-plural. of the red trump suit and the Ten of verb, noun-plural, conjunction, verb, adjective, adjective, noun. NORSEMAN, a game of CARDS played by two to ten persons, with a full pack. Only a EUCHRE pack of 32 cards is used in playing, the remainder, called the "Low Pack," being used only to determine the trump. The two-handed game will be described first. The deal is decided by cutting, the lowest card dealing. In both cutting and playing the cards rank as in ECARTÉ, the Ace ranking between the Ten and the Knave. The dealer gives each player five cards, one at a time, and then cuts the Low Pack for his opponent to turn the trumps, of which there are two, one in a red and the other in a black suit. The top card of those remaining on the table is turned for the first trump, and the next one of a different color for the other. Each of these trump suits counts as such only in its own color. Thus, if Spades and Hearts be the trumps, a Spade will take any Club, but is treated like a card of an ordinary suit with regard to Hearts and Diamonds. When the trumps are turned, each player has the privilege of discarding three the black trump suit are the Rovers. The Ace counts as either one or eleven, and the Knave as twelve. The King and Queen are never Rovers. If the sum of the spots in either color should be less than seven, there is of course no Rover in that color, since seven is the lowest card in the Euchre pack. When the dice of one color are Ace and Ace, or Ace and Two, the trumps of that color are degraded to the rank of ordinary cards for that hand. When Spades are trumps, the Knave of Spades is called Norseman," and will take any card in the pack. Norseman is the only card that is a trump outside its own color. Each player now looks at his hand, and if either has both Rovers, or Norseman and a Rover, he wins the game at once, without playing a card. This is called winning" by hand." If Norseman be also a Rover, his holder also wins by hand. If no one wins thus, the elder hand leads, and the cards are played as in Euchre, or any ordinary two-handed game of cards. Suit must be followed if possible; if not, a trump of the same color as the card led must be played. If neither of these things can be done, a card of the other color may be thrown away. Norseman and the Rovers may be "reneged," that is, their holder is not obliged to follow suit with them, but may play them when he pleases. Each trick taken counts one, and the same player continues as dealer till one of them has won the game, either by making five points, or "by hand," as described above. Four-handed Norseman. Two play as partners against the other two, partners sitting opposite, as in WHIST. Five cards are dealt to each. The dealer and elder hand throw the dice to determine the Rovers. The players discard in order, beginning with the elder hand. He and the next player may not discard more than three apiece; but if they take less, the others may each take what his partner left. Thus, if the best player takes two cards and the second none, the third may take four and the fourth six. In this way twelve cards, all that remain in the stock, may be taken. In other respects the game is played like two-handed Norse man. Three handed The holder of a Rover, or Norseman, must lead it at the first opportunity. Norseman as a Round Game. Any number less than ten may play, and five cards are dealt to each from the full pack. Each player has two dice, one with red and one with black spots. To determine the dealer, the cards are thrown around, and he to whom the first Ace falls, deals. The trumps are determined before dealing, the player on the dealer's right cutting while the dealer turns them up. After the deal, each player throws his dice, and each one's dice, with those of the dealer, determine the Rovers for his own hand. Before playing begins, each one in turn, beginning with the eldest hand, either lays his Rovers face upward on the table, securing one for each, or declares that he has none. Rovers thus laid down remain so till played. In play, the Rover last played is always considered the highest. Thus, if one player put down the Ten of Hearts, it being a Rover, and the next the Three of Hearts, it being also a Rover, the latter takes the trick, unless some one else plays another Heart, Rover, or Norseafterward. Each trick counts Norseman. The man, Low Pack is not used. After deal-one point, except the last, which ing, the dealer places the stock be- counts two. Whenever Norseman fore the player on his right, who is is played, its holder scores two at called Poney, and cuts. Poney once. The first player to score ten turns up the top card of those re- wins the game. The elder hands maining on the table, as first trump, thus have an advantage, which is and the next of the other color as offset by that given the younger the other trump. The intermediate hands in allowing the later Rover cards, if there be any, he takes into always to take the earlier. The his own hand, where they are called deal does not pass to the left, but is Reserved Cards. Each player must determined anew each hand, as at discard his whole hand, or none at first. all, and if Poney discard, he must reckon the Reserved Cards as part, or all, of the cards he takes in. Should there be more than five Reserved Cards, he may return which he pleases to the stock. If Poney does not wish to discard, he must lay aside all his Reserved Cards. Instead of turning trumps before the deal, there may be no trumps at all, in which case the sum of the red spots, for instance, on the dice thrown by any player and the dealer makes a red card of either suit in that player's hand a Rover. In this case, two Rovers of the same color count only one point, though they must both be laid on the table. RULES OF THE GAME. 1. A misdeal loses the deal, and one point is deducted from the dealer's score. 2. No hand can be altered after all have discarded. 3. A revoke or a neglect to play a trump of the same color, where it is possible, loses the offender one point. 4. The dice must remain on the table, as thrown, throughout the hand. 5. A card played out of turn cannot be taken back. 6. Any player may count the stock, or ask about exposed or played Rovers (This rule applies particularly to the Round Game). NORTHERN SPELL. See KNURR AND SPELL. NOUGHTS AND CROSSES. See TIT-TAT-TO. NOVELS. A game played by any number of persons, with pencil and paper. The players usually sit around a table, and after they have agreed on the title of the novel they are to write, one of them begins it, writing a given number of lines. He then folds over the paper so as to hide what he has written, and then hands it to the player on his left, telling him only the last word he wrote. That player must continue the story as well as he can, and then each in turn takes it up, each writing the same number of lines and each telling his neighbor the last word. The last player must write an ending to the story, which is then unfolded and read aloud. If it is desired, more than one story can be written at the same time, each beginning and ending at different players from the others. Besides the subject of the novel, the names of its hero and heroine can also be agreed upon beforehand. NUMBER ELEVEN, a SOLITAIRE game of CARDS, played with one or two full packs. The cards are played so as to form two rows, six in one and and five in the other. Any two cards on the table, the sum of whose pips is II, are now laid aside, and their places filled from the pack. If King, Queen, and Knave are in one row, or of one suit, they also may be removed. This goes on till the pack is out, or there are no cards on the table which can be removed. If the former is the case, the player has won. OATS - PEAS - BEANS, a game dance about a boy who stands played by any number of children, within. As they dance they sing who join hands in a circle and You nor I nor no - body knows how oats, peas, beans and barley grows. Then they stop, and letting go of hands sing to the same tune, Thus the farmer sows his seed, While the first line is sung, each swings his hands as in sowing seed; during the second, each rests his hand son his hips; during the third, each stamps his foot and claps his hands; and in the fourth, each turns Waiting for a partner, ers, whom he kisses, and who must read in like manner. When a dispute arises as to whether any article has been sufficiently or properly described, it may be decided by a majority vote, or by an umpire, not one of the players, especially chosen for the purpose. Unconscious Counting, a kind of tries to tell at a single glance the Observation, in which each player number of dots on a piece of paper. The dots, from 10 to 15 in number, are made in irregular order, and the paper is then shown quickly to each player for so short a time that it is impossible for him to count them one by one. The best plan is to The boy now joins the other play-make large dots and hold the paper ers in the circle, leaving the girl up for an instant where all can see alone within, and the game begins it at once. If it is shown to each anew, the only difference being that separately, it is hard to make the a boy is chosen from the circle in-intervals of time exactly equal, and stead of a girl. Now you're married you must obey, This game is said to be unknown in Great Britain, but it is common in most of the other countries of Europe. It is mentioned by the chronicler Froissart in the 14th century. In France, Spain, and Italy, there are also verses telling how the farmer reaps, and describing his other labors. Some people think the game was originally played by peasants in seed-time, in the belief that it would make the corn grow. OBSERVATION, a game played by any number of persons, each with a pencil and paper. Any number of articles, of any kind are placed on a table in the centre of a room, and the players, forming in line, march into the room, around the table, and out again. Each then writes on his paper the names of as many of the articles on the table as he can recollect. The longest list is then read, and the reader scores for each article as many points as the number of players who have not its name on their lists. As each article is read, its name is crossed off by all who have it, and, when the longest list has been exhausted, any remaining names on other lists are therefore strictly fair to all. He who comes nearest to the right number scores a point; or if the nearest guess is made by two or more players, each scores a point. Another group of dots is then made and shown to the players. After this has been repeated a number of times agreed on beforehand, he who has made most points is declared winner. The one who makes and shows the points does not take part in the guessing, and is chosen from among the players for each game. Another method of scoring is to give each player the difference between his guess and the real number of dots. The one who has the fewest points at the end of the game is then the winner. To avoid the influence one player's estimate might have on the others, each must write his guess on a piece of paper before any of the guesses are announced. The power of thus estimating, or unconsciously counting a number of objects, is largely increased by practice. An English arithmetician named Dase could thus give the number of sheep in a flock, or of books on a shelf, up to thirty, at a |