Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-11-21

he aS kccnly enjoyed by
! Your friend,
PC. HALE.
A New Game with Letters.
\ new game, which affords good
deal of amusement to many people,
and also imparts considerable instruc-
ton to the young in the formation of
words, is played in the following man
| ncr with the letters OF the alphabet (:
Half Il Gozcn sets Of all the letters
OF the alphabet are provided, each
letter on 4 small piece OF paste
board or wood. One player then
gathers all the letters before him
on the table, and the other players
sit around the table rs at cards
The player who has all the letters
then turns them face downward, and
proceeds to deal them out, one by one,
to the others, beginning with the
player sitting at his right hand, and
continuing around the table in order
As he deals letter out he turns its
face up, so that all may see it is "n"
for instance. The next player gets an
"o," suppose, and he quickly sees that
his letter Joined to the an" received
by the first player, will form the word
"no." He announces that fact and
claims the IN" This i, surrendered
to him and he forms the word no"
on the table i'll front OF him, and must
leave it there undisturbed until some
other player gets letter, which,
added to the word "no," will form
some other word.
Suppose, for instance, that the third
letter d ALT out is Il "w." Then the
owner Of the "w" may claim the word
"no," and adding his "w" to it make
it now" The fourth letter turned
up may be a "y," and the owner of
"now" breathcs sigh of relief as he
thinks he will hold on to his word for
little while anyway, for the "now"
and the "y" don't seem to make any
thing. Perhaps several letters follow
out of which no combination can be
made which will spell correct word,
until some one gets an as" This
letter, in connection with "now," will
spell "snow," but if the lucky owner
of the "s' is sharp enough, he will
also claim the "y" f.om his other
rival and spell snowy"
Tho examples given here are sample
words, us they show more clearly to
young minds how the game may be
played easily, but when a number of
letters have been dealt out the most
skillful spoilers may find scope for
their abilities, and many are the COM
binations which will escape the notice
of all who are gathered around the
table for time, until some one dis
covers them, as if by accident, and
then the wonder will be that they
were not seen before.
One player may not claim from
another any letter or letters which
have been worked up into word
without taking that whole word and
using it all, though its letters may be
entirely transposed to make different
word. The range of words may wan
der over half dozen languages if the
players so agree, and then the game
becomes difficult enough for Boston
blue-stocking or college professor.
The winner of the game is the player
who has the most complete words
spread out on the table in front of
him when the dealer has turned up
the last letter he has in his pile. Long
words count no more than short words,
and if two players "tie," they set to
work breaking up their long words
into short ones, and this disposes of
the tie nine times out OF ten. For
large number of players large num-
Der OF letters is, of course, required,
but two people will often play the
game for half an hour before exhaust
ing half-dozen complete alphabets-
". y. Tribune.