Evening journal., 1897-09-11
NATIONAL GAMES.
Antiquity of Many OF Modern
Times.
Poker Played I'm Persia In Ancient
Times-IBdians had sLayouts" BE-
fore Columbus Landed In
America.


is compiling on the games of the world |
has attracted so much attention, has |
been spending a few days at the Ma
tional Museum in pursuit of his stud
les. For the past eight years Director |
Culin has been collecting data and spec
linens of games which are played by all
the nations of the world, and has also |
made as complete a collection as possi-
BILE of specimens extant Of the games
played by the most ancient peoples.
Games generally" said Mr.. Culin,s
"are remarkable for their similarity.
which extends practically to Identity,
in all parts of the earth, in all times and
among people of the highest and the
lowest culture. Any differences in ref
erence TO the contact of races and mi
grations must be made with extreme
caution, as we find pretty much the
same games everywhere. The games of
amusement played at the present day
by civilized people are clearly survivals
of divinitary rites, this fact being
shown by the position which all games
occupy among the people whom we call
savages. The more complicated games
such as playing cards, appear TO have
direct relations with the divinitary
calendar. And the counting boards or
cables. upon which pieces of wood are
moved, as in backgammon or chess.
have similar relations.
"The collection shown at Atlanta,
while occupying a great deal of space
and apparently diversified in character,
merely represented an attempt TO illus
trate the development Of two types OF
games which are represented to-day
by playing cards and chess. In the
course OF these Investigations IL is
shown that in sense playing cards in
one form or another are practically uni
versal, and were known to many OF the
tribes of the American continent ante
dating the discovery. Their most high
" artistic form occurs in the gambling
sticks of the Indians of our northwest
coast. These gambling sticks, IL is dem
onstrated, were derived from arrow
, shaftments marked with emblems OF
place and personality.
2 "The cards of northeast Asia, such as
! are used in Corea, reveal precisely the
same origin as these arrow shaftments.
Chinese cards connect with them, and
our own cards may be regarded as the
legitimate issues of the same series"
, Incidentally in the collection a num-
! Der Of highly artistic packs of playing
. cards are exhibited, intended 10 illus
e trate the ancient and existing cards OF
e the principal nations. A Persian SCI
among the oriental cards is OF strik
/, ingly artistic beauty. The card pieces
are painted with delicate miniatures eX
q ecuted upon q ground of gold foil. Gu
i riously enough the game played witt
y them Is our familiar game of poker
o Gen. A. Houtum-Schindler of Teher
e an, in reply TO letter Of inquiry, has
= furnished the following account Of th'
Persian game: The game Is calle'
- AS" and is exactly like poker, bu
= without any fushes orsequences. Ther'
I are four players and each player get
five cards. dealt to the right The deal
j. or puts down a stake. The first playe
o then looks at his cards; If he goes
e he SAYS "di dam" q have seen), and h
d covers the stake or raises il. If he doe
Is not wish 10 play he says "Nadi dam {
have not seem. and throws away hi
cards.
It lie may also "go" without looking a
d his cards, that is. in poker parlanct
i "straddles," and says "Nadid di dam
= mot seeing, L have seem. The secon'
d player, e he wishes 10 play, must cove
Z the stakes, and can also raise. Th
" third player and the dealer then act /
- the same way, just as in poker, an
i when the stakes of all players are equa
d and no one raises any more, the card
Of are turned up and the player holdin
the best hand wins the stakes. Th
or hands in the order Of their value AZ
L three Of kind and a pair, a "fuil.
=, three. ace, king. etc; two pair, acc
"a highest; one pair, aces highest Whe
m two players have the same pair OF pair
Of the other cards decide. For instance
pair of kings, ace, soldier, and SON
ce card of little value. Blufiing is
" feature Of the game and is called zadan
ed literally, "Fire off n gun"
backgammon is one Of the few elias
~ ~ ical games to which the present da
~ attnins. 1t is extremely interestin
pr from the fact that it is identical wit
n the Roman gaming, dice being ca
~ from a dice box into little tower. n
he Turiccula of the classical writers.
ey the museum a backgammon board
shown from the Malay peninsula, whi'
is used in game identical with OF
own. a Syrian specimen is beautifr
e " inlaid with mother-of-peurl.
- "Modern ingenuity" said Mr.. Gull
- cannot be said 10 have risen 10 q
ed point of inventing q game. All gam
by were invented ages and ages ago, al
X it is to be questioned whether sing
ITS application for a patent upon the id
on of a game would be granted in our pl
as ent Office were the history of primlti
no games fully known and accessible
=" Washington Post.