from the starting-point. Every time Jack is knocked off his stand, that player who has so knocked him off scores one.

When a player has delivered his ball he has then to fetch it back to the starting-point in so doing he must pass within either of the pegs defining Jack's ground.

If Jack's master capture any player in returning to the starting-point whilst Jack is alive or on his stand, that player becomes Jack's master. Jack is alive when on his stand; but if knocked off he is dead, and, when dead, any player can return with his ball to the starting-point with safety.

In returning to the starting-point each player must take up his ball fairly with his hand or hands: if he once touch it, his ball is alive or in play, and Jack's master can capture the player.

The game may be made twenty-five, fifty, or any number up. If a sweepstake be played for, the player who first scores the number agreed upon as game claims the stake. If all players should have delivered their balls, so that no player remains within the starting-point, Jack's master may in that case- -Jack being alive-regain the starting-point if he can, and if he does so before any other player he ceases to be Jack's master. A new master is determined as at first.

Any player going outside the pegs defining Jack's ground in returning to the starting-point is guilty of foul play.

Any attempt to remove the balls by kicking, or other means than the one above expressed, is foul.

Any player detected at foul play must at once become Jack's master; and in all cases of dispute the matter must be instantly decided "fair" or "foul" by a show of hands of all the players.

When Jack is replaced upon his stand, the next player, before delivering his ball, must call out." Play!"

Modifications of these rules can be arranged and agreed to, but they should be clearly understood at the commencement of the game. This exciting pastime can be played almost anywhere if there be space enough. It requires no previous tuition, and it invariably provokes laughter and good spirits: the exercise, though not fatiguing, is sufficient to circulate the blood and produce good health.

CANNONADE.

This game depends mostly on chance, but there is still some skill required in the player.

The castles being placed in their respective positions, and the balls placed in the centre of the board--whither they converge on account of the sloping surface the teetotum is wound and spun just like a humming-top, and allowed to fall into the board.

As soon as it does so, it flies about as if it were alive, dashing from one part of the board to another, and driving the balls about as if fired from cannons. Some of them are sure to strike the castles and knock them down, and for each fallen castle the player scores one point.

The great object in the game is to wind up the teetotum properly, and to give it as much spin as possible, as the destruction of the castles depends greatly on the length of time during which it spins. Owing to the slope of the board, the teetotum, as well as the balls, has a tendency to seek the centre, so that the last few turns of the teetotum are often as useful as the first.

While it is in full spin the balls and teetotum dash about in the most ludicrous manner, looking as if every castle must be down in an moment. The wires, however, protect the castles unless they are struck in front, and the consequence is, that two or three generally hold out for a considerable time. Sometimes they are all knocked down except one, which seems to bear a charmed life in spite of all the balls that are dashing about the board. Gradually the teetotum becomes slower and slower in i s movements-it staggersrecovers itself-staggers again-rolls over-and, just as it gives its last turn, off flies a single ball, and knocks down the remaining castle.

There are various modes of playing this exciting game.

By one method eich player takes a castle, and stakes on it as many counters as he chooses to venture upon it, while one takes the teetotum and is called the Gunner.

When a castle is knocked down the owner waits until the teetotum has fallen, and then pays to the gunner the number of counters which he staked, multiplied by the number on the uppermost side of the teetotum. Thus, if the owner of a fallen castle had originally staked five counters, and the uppermost figure of the teetotum happened to be 5, the owner of the castle will have to pay twenty-five counters to the gunner.

Whenever a castle is left standing the gunner has to pay double its stake to the owner.

Should, perchance, the gunner knock down all the castles, he receives double the stakes from each player; so that if, as before, the player had staked five, and the teetotum falls with its number 5 uppermost after knocking down all the castles, the player will have to pay to the gunner fifty counters instead of twenty-five.

Each player becomes gunner in succession.

By another mode of play, as soon as the teetotum has ceased to spin the owner of each fallen castle pays to the gunner a number of counters equal to the uppermost number of the teetotum, while the gunner has to pay six counters to the owner of every castle which is left standing.

The value of counters can be settled among the players. The usual plan is

to arrange that all white counters rank as one, all red counters as six, and all blue counters as twelve. This, however, is left entirely to the discretion of the players. Should there be fewer players than castles, the best plan is that cach player in succession should take two or more castles.

This game is identical in principle with the bridge-board, figured on p. 157. Instead of marbles, the players use circular discs of wood, sometimes painted of different colours, and sometimes all coloured alike. The colour, however, matters but little.

The bridge has arches large enough to allow the discs to pass easily, and the best bridges have the arches leading into boxes, so that there can be no doubt respecting the arch through which the disc has passed. The usual mode of playing this game is, that each player in turn takes the disc, and tries to bowl from a stated distance through the numbered arches. When he has delivered all his bowls, the numbers are added together, and he who has the highest score wins.

Sometimes it is played by fixing a definite number-say 100-as the winning number, and he who first reaches it wins the game.

This game is in many places a very popular one, as it combines a certain amount of skill with a good deal of chance. It is played with a cue or mace, and two balls of different colours. Place the red ball on the cup marked No. 10; the white ball to be thrown up on either side of the board by means of

the cue. Endeavour to strike the red ball, which counts ten: if you succeed in removing it, it multiplies ten times wherever it may go.

If the white ball be struck too hard, and rolls down the opposite side, the adversary counts ten; and if not sufficiently hard to prevent its returning, the adversary will also count ten: if it pass under the bell so as to ring it, into whatever number it may go, it will count double. If it pass into any hole without either of the above, it will only count the number of the cup or figure. If the white ball should lodge against any wire or bridge in its passage down the board, the adversary counts five.

The game may be 300 or 500 up, according to the discretion of the players.

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GERMAN BILLIARDS.

The construction of the board for German Billiards is similar in principle to that which is used for cockamaroo, but the game is played in a different manner. In the first place, a greater number of balls are used, and in the second, they are struck with a spring, and not with a cue. The rules are as follow:

The game is played with seven balls, thus: Place one of the balls on the spot at the top of the board, the remaining six balls to be played singly by the spring at the side of the board. Endeavour to strike the ball at the top, which counts double wherever it may go. Any ball returning into the channel at the side is lost. When the balls are played out, the numbers to be counted: whoever gets the highest number wins the game.

Any number of persons may play, or any number may be played for-300 or 500-as agreed upon.

GERMAN BALLS.

In this, as in many other games, the principal charm lies in the mixture of skill and chance-the former being employed in order to obtain the latter. A very lucky player may, perhaps, win against a more skilful but less patient one, but a certain amount of skill is necessary in order to score at all.

The game is a very simple one, and is in reality little more than an extension of the die-shot at marbles.

The die is placed on the ground, with the figure 8 downwards, and the players each take a ball and bowl at it in succession. If they miss it they score nothing (in some places paying a stake to a pool), and if they hit it they score the number on the side which comes uppermost.

By some rules each player puts a stake into a pool, and he who attains the

highest number in a certain number of throws wins the pool. If, however, any one succeed in turning up the number 8, he takes the pool at once, and the game begins afresh.

This game may be played equally in or out of doors

SKITTLE CANNONADE.

This game is played much after the same principle as the cannonade game already described. No balls, however, are used, the skittles being in themseives sufficiently heavy to cause the top to fly about in a most amusing manner as soon as it touches them.

Nine skittles are used, each of them being placed on a small circle inscribed with a number. In playing the game, the skittles are first set up in their places, and the top is carefully wound up. The top is then placed inside the little gallery that projects from the board, and the string drawn through the groove. The top is held in its place by the left hand, while the handle of the string is grasped in the right. The player then draws the string smartly towards him, so as to cause the top to spin, and then leaves it to its devices.

Even were the board a circular one, the course of the top would be erratic enough as it bounces from one skittle to another, pushing them down, and flying off them as they roll over the board; but, in order to increase this eccentricity of movement, three curved additions are made to the board, so that there are eight angles, inclusive of those formed by the ends of the gallery. Each player spins the top in succession, and scores according to the numbers which are laid bare by the skittles being knocked off them. In this game, as in cannonade, the great point is to give the top a smart jerk when spinning it, so as to make it retain its power of movement as long as possible. Very often the last roll of the top as it falls knocks down a skittle that has escaped the top while it was flying and spinning about the table.