Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-24


/
three or four players as with two. and the
rules do not undergo any change worth
speaking of.
Rest" Games in Order.
II one were asked to pick out the best
games for a given number of players il
might be a rather difficult matter. depend
ing on the skill possessed by the person
selecting them and his demand for the In
tellectual enjoyment that a game should
afford.
Piquet, conquian, sixty-six. bezique or
pinochle, in the order named, would prob
ably be the popular selection for two play
ers, and skat, calabrasella and five hum
dred for three persons. Whist, bridge,
boston, vint, frog and cinch are probably
the leading favorites for four players.
Among those suitable alike for two, three
or four, which retain their interest under
all conditions. auction plnochle, cribbagA,
hearts and euchre are the favorites.
Among round games poker easily leads
the list in this country. although baccarat
is a great favorite among those who have
lived abroad. Euchre has been stretched
to meet the demands of five, six or seven
/ PLAYERS, the variety known as call ace
euchre being probably better than seven
hand. In England euchre is almost UNI
known, the game there being nap, and in
Ireland spoil five.
An the games in the foregoing list have,
Of course, a great many variations, most OF
them bearing special names. There are,
for instance, eighteen varieties of bridge,
each with its own rules. Euchre has
twenty variations. all named. There are
eight varieties of bezlque. eleven of hearts,
1 nirbt ~ papolaop aight ~ pipogbIa thir-
teen OF poker, nine ways Of playing stops
and thirteen kinds Of whist.
Bidding Games Lead.
Fashions In games change with the times.
At present it is all bidding games, the
only notable exception being bridge, and
that game shows signs of being carried
away with the current and turning into
auction bridge. Those who have tried it
think that II needs only TO be better known
to become the rage here, as it is already
in England. The charm o fskat is its va
riety and the opportunity of bidding for
the privilege Of choosing from that variety
TO suit yourself.
The modern player has little use for
games in which the trump is turned up by
chance and afterward taken into the
dealers hand. Euchre is about the only
survivor and It Is seldom seen outside the
big games for charity.
Another peculiar thing about modern
card games is that so many of them pro-
vide for playing without any trump suit.
There have always been games in which
there never was a trump, such as poker,
cribbage, calabrasella. conquian, casino
and hearts, but now there are a number
of games in which it is optional with the
declarer to play with a trump or without it.
Whatever else the card-playing public
may have to complain of, there is certainly
not wanting material from which to
choose. Among the wonderful increases in
popular resources during the last century
not the least remarkable is the number of
indoor games which are known and played
today as compared with those OF the eight
zenith century, in which the first handbook
of games in the English language appeared.
Growth in Numbers.
The first edition Of Hoyle's Games,
which was printed in l742, was supposed to
contain all the popular games worth writ
ing about that were played at that time
4 vet only five were given-whist, piquet,
3 auadrille, chess and b~ackgammon' A few
wears later brag was added, making six.
; In 1902 the edition of Hoyle's Games was
E enlarged and contained fifteen games. The
, first edition printed in America by Cotton
' of Boston. in 1914, contained twenty-five
games and was advertised as complete
Bohn's Handbook Of Games, which was
the standard in England from 1850 TO 1880
= contained only thirty-four games. Long
. edition OF Hoyle's Games. printed in Ne"
! York fifteen years after Cotton's, made no
: additions to the twenty-five first imported
! Anner's edition, printed in Philadelphia II
1914 gives fortV-One games,
Dick q Fltzgerald's Hoyle' which came
- out twenty years after Cotton's. gradually
T increased its games year by year until i
4 had seventy-six in 1884. Today there arr
o Hoyles on the market which have between
$50 and 400 titles in their tables OF contents
: all Of which are games played more or les
y at the present day.