Morning journal and courier., 1890-02-26
sOmETHluG AROUr FOOL.
The Different Games and How They Are Played.

The Different Games and How They
 Are Played.
 [From the New York sun.l
 Tho games of pool and billiards have in- | creased in popularity in this country to . yurprising extent during tke last twenty | popular indoor or winter game for many | years, but pool has supplanted it as . gene- ral amusement on account of its being so | much easier to play. Room keepers began | to encourage pool about fifteen years ago. | There was need for it, and nothing can better exemplify the truth of this assertion than the fact that there are more who are expert at pool than at billiards. Tho sim plicity of pool makes 1t popular, for there is an absence of the intrieaoies which are found In billiards. There are several different styles of the game. They arc known as pyramid, sixty-ons and continuous. Other minor styles are Chicago pool, forty-one and high low jack. All of these six games are 50 far as expertness is concerned. by the general principles of ordinary or pyr- amid pool, 1. e., the balls must be pocketed.
 Pyramid pool Is played with sixteen balls on table which has six pockets, one at each corner and one at the center of each side. The ordinary size of the table is four and one-half by nine feet, but the standard or regulation size is five by ten feet. The pock- cts vary in size, and the smaller they arc the harder the game. The corner pockets are anywhere from four and one-hat to hve inches wide, and tho side pockets are about . quarter of an inch wider than the corner ones on the same table. Some of the pro- fessional experts play in practice with pockA cts smaller than these, and one table which was owned by the late Albert Frey had cor ner pockets which measured only four and one-fourth inches. The balls arc about tho size of the ordinary billiard sphere. although AL ~I,, usv of an inch smaller.
 A game that does away with the ob1ec- tionable features of the usual pool game is the one called "continuous," which came into vogue several years ago and was intro duced in Q professional tournament. The rules, so far as poeketing the balls Is con- cerned, are about the same as any other style, but the games generally consist Of anywhere from fifty to one hundred and hf- ty points, and tho points are counted just as in game of billiards. Tho numbers on the balls have nothing to do with the game, and no matter whether one player has pocketed eight balls or not, which would settle frame in pyramid pool, he goes on shooting and at tempts to pocket as many as he can. When all the balls of frame are pocketed each player scores on his string tho respective number of balls put in. The balls arc set up in the frame again, and the one putting the last ball in of tho previous frame shoots the opening stroke of the next one. This game is very popular with experts, for if ono is really ekilful in pocketing balls he is bound to play this style well. and the ele- ment of luck such as exists to certain ex- tent in pyramid or sixty-ono pool is not found in the continuous game. J. L. Malone, the celebrated professional expert, Is firm believer in the fairness of the "eontinuousn game. Al an example of h !. fa ability, he tells how he and the late Albert Frey were playing the old game of eixty-one pool and he managed to pocket ten balls, which in all did not aggregate sixty-one, and then Frey secured the other five and won the series. They were playing the best eleven in twenty one games, and previous to this last game the score stood ten each, and yet Frey won. An enthusiast remarked after the series that Malone pooketed at least twenty balls more than Frey during tho whole series, for he had kept count. This, 30 Malone says, sst him to thinking, and he challenged Frey to play c game of bis own construction, which was 200 points to con- stitute game, and each was to count point as in billiards. Frey agreed and Malone won by a score of 200 to 181. Another point is that under the old rules when player re- quirsd only eight balls to win interest in the contest Jagged if his unlueky opponent made break and left the balls In such petition that any amateur could secure the victory. In continuous pool 1t is to the players ad- vantage to clean the table. The possibility of making frequent long runs in the contin- uous game adds to the interest, and notwith. standing one player might have . big lead there Is always hope left for tho hind man to catch him.
 Another feature of this style is that sci. ence is much more often displayed than in the other games, for 1t is much harder to pocket the last five or six balls of . frame than the first seven or eight, on account of having e lees number to play for position on. Chicago pool Is the sixty-one game, only the balls have to be taken of in numerical order. They are spread around the table against the cushions, opposite tho small ivo- " diamonds on the wooden edge. The game is pocketed the 9 ball is taken. and 50 on until 1t is "pool" The players do not have to call tho pockets, and if any other ball is pooketed besides the one aimed at the player owns 1t, but tho ball shot for must be hit first by the cue ball, or else 1t is a scratch, which means three points off. High, low, jack consists of the 1, 9 and 15 bali, being named respectively low, jack, high. and. with two playing. whichever secures seven points first wins the series. Game ia deoi- ded on the sixty-one principle. It is exactly l like tho game of cards by the same name, and is very interssting on account of tho un- certainty attached to 1t. Forty one Is on odd game. and is played by distributing | among the player the little ivory marbles which the pool attendant passes round to determine the order of play, and whoever has points enough first In his rack, which, with the number on the marble in his pos session aggregates exactly forty-one, takes | certain amount stipulated beforehand from each player. If player should by accident pocket balls which aggregated more than forty-one, he, of course, has no show to win the money. It h very good gambling to be successful, although there 1s grsal element of luck In 1t, for . player might have balls which count thirty-nins and mia on the 9 ball, and the player following him pocket that ball, which Tsndsrs 1t inpoasibl, for him to get the right number.
 These minor games are played generally by private parties only. for on tho open tablsl in the different public rooms pyramid ol sixty-one pool Is the game used, on account of their shortnees. Continuous pool has
 styles in deciding matches, for it is so fal
 ahead in opportunities for showing genuine
 skill. American pool has come to stay, and
 there are more tsbles for playing it in Cana
 da than tue English game can show, although
 at one time both the English game and ta Dies were entirely used there. Q0lte mum
 bsr of amateur billiard experts commenced
 welding the cue by playing pool, and al
 though pool stroke differs very much from
 the kind used for billiards, still 1t is far bet ter practice than nothing, and where . be
 ginner can find no interest in billiards on ae
 count of the difficulty in making shots, h.
 may take great pleasure in knocking thl
 balls in the pockets, and thereby gradually acquire skill in handling . cue.
 The breath of chronic catarrh patient i
 Is often SO offensive that he becomes al
 object of disgust. After time ulosratiol
 sets in, the spongy bones are attacked am
 frequently entirely destroyed. A oonstan
 source of discomfort is the dripping of tn purulent sscretions into the throat, some times producing inveterate bronchitis, whiol
 in it's turn has been the exciting cause o pulmonary disease The brilliant result
 which have attended its use for years pas
 properly designate Ely's Cream Balm as b.
 far the best and only cure.
 Aav1ee 70 Mothers.
 ] Ar.. Windows Soothing Syrup for chi
 drer teething is the prescription of one Q
 ths best female nurses and physicians in tu
 United States, and has been used for fort
 years with never failing success by million
 ef mothers for their children. During thu