Daily Life in Elizabethan England (41 page)

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The board for Fox and Geese. [Forgeng]

One player has the Geese, which start on points a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o. The other player has the Fox, starting on point z. Each player moves in turn, along the lines to adjacent intersections. The Geese can move only sideways, downward, or diagonally downward. The Fox can

move in any direction. The Fox can also jump over a Goose and capture it, as in checkers; multiple jumps are allowed in a single move. The Geese win if they pen up the Fox so that it cannot move; the Fox wins by capturing all the Geese.

Irish

Equipment

—1 backgammon set

Irish was one of the commonest
games at tables
(i.e., games played on a backgammon board). The rules are exactly the same as for modern backgammon, save that the special rules for doubles do not apply. The 15 men are placed as indicated by the numbers on the diagram, the upright numbers belonging to player 1, the upside-down ones to player 2. Player 1

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The setup for Irish. [Forgeng]

moves his men clockwise around the board from z toward a (his
home
point
), player 2 counterclockwise from a toward z (his home point). The six points from a to f are player 1’s home points, the six from z to t are player 2’s home points.

The players each roll one die, and the higher roll moves first (if the rolls are equal, roll again). The first player rolls two dice for his move and may move one man for the number on each die (the same man may move for both). Once touched, a man must be played. After the first player has moved, it is the second player’s turn.

A man cannot be moved onto a point already occupied by two or more opponents. If a man is left alone on a point and an opponent’s man lands on it at the end of one die’s move, that man is removed from the board and must be played on again from the far end.

Any player who has a man off the board must play it on before he can move any other men. This means that if the roll would require placing the entering man onto a point already occupied by two or more opponents, he must forfeit his turn. If a player has two or more men on all of his six home points and his opponent has a man to enter, one of those points must be
broken
: both players roll two dice, and the higher chooses a point
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from which all but one of the men are removed. The removed men must reenter the board again.

The player who removes all his men from the board first wins. No man may be played off the board until all of the player’s men are in the six home points. It does not require an exact roll to play a man off the board.

Hazard

This was by far the most popular and enduring game at dice. The rules here derive from 17th-century sources.

Order of play is determined by the roll of one die—the highest roll goes first.

The first player rolls two dice until he gets a
Main,
which can be any number from 5 through 9.

He then rolls again.

—On a 2 or 3, he loses (a roll of 2 was called
ames-ace
).

—If the Main is 5 or 9 and the player again rolls the Main, he wins. This is called a
nick.
If he rolls an 11 or 12, he loses.

—If the Main is 6 or 8 and the player rolls the Main or a 12, it is a nick. If he rolls 11, he loses.

—If the Main is 7 and the player rolls the Main or an 11, it is a nick. If he rolls a 12, he loses.

—Any other roll is called the
Mark.
The player continues to roll until he gets the Mark and wins, or gets the Main and loses. If the player wins, he starts again rolling for a Main; if he loses, play moves clockwise to the next player.

Card Games

To determine order of play in any card game, each player lifts a random number of cards from the deck and looks at the bottom card. The highest card deals; ties lift again. As in modern usage, cards are shuffled and cut before play. The player to the left of the dealer is called the
eldest.
The eldest hand plays first and will be the next dealer.

Put

This game had a particularly low reputation as an alehouse pastime.

All cards are used, of which the 3 ranks highest, the 2 next, and then the Ace, King, Queen, and so on. Suits are irrelevant to this game. This game is usually played with two players but can be played with more.

Each player is dealt one more card than there are players. The eldest leads a card, and the other players play cards to it until all players have laid down a card. Whoever plays the highest card takes the trick. Ties go to nobody. Each round consists of as many tricks as the players have cards,

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A party at cards in the early 1600s. [By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library]

and whoever wins two of the tricks scores 1 point. If nobody wins two tricks, nobody scores a point. Once the round is played, the next player deals. Play is normally to either 5 or 7 points, as agreed on by the players before the game.

At any point a player may knock on the table and say “Put!” If the other says, “I see it,” whoever wins that round wins the game, regardless of the score, and takes the stakes. If the other does not see, the first player auto-matically wins the round and scores a point.

Maw

This is perhaps the simplest of trick-taking games involving suits. Each player pays one chip or coin to the pot and receives five cards. The aim is to either sweep the pool by winning three or more tricks, or, at least, to prevent anyone else from doing the same, thereby carrying the pot into the next round. The ordinary ranking of cards is Ace high and Deuce low.

The eldest hand plays a card to the table. Each player in turn must
follow suit,
if possible, by playing any card of the same suit led by the eldest.

If the player does not have a card of that suit, he may play any card he chooses. The highest card in the suit led wins the trick. That player places all the cards from that trick next to him to keep score and leads the first card of the next trick. Once the current hand is played out, the deal passes to the eldest hand.

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A player winning the first three tricks may claim the pot without further play, but if he leads to the fourth he is said to
jink
it, thus undertaking to win all five tricks. If he succeeds, all players must pay a second stake; if he fails, he loses the pot and it carries over into the next round.

This basic idea can be elaborated with all sorts of complications to make it more amusing to play. One version involves ranking two of the suits (usually the black suits or the red suits) in reverse order (Deuce high and Ace low).

Trumps can also be added. When the cards have been shuffled and

dealt, turn over the top card of the deck. The suit of that card is the trump suit, and cards of that suit will beat cards of the suit led in any trick, with higher trumps beating lower trumps. Another variation is to have the top three cards of the deck be the Five of Trumps (called Five Fingers), Jack of Trumps, and Ace of Hearts (regardless of current trump suit), in that order.

Primero

To judge by contemporary references, this appears to have been one of the most popular card games in Elizabethan England. It is obviously related to modern poker.

Discard the 8s, 9s, and 10s of each suit. All players ante in. The dealer deals two cards to each, proceeding counterclockwise. Starting on the dealer’s right, each player may choose to bet or to trade in one or both cards. As soon as one player bets, no one else may trade in cards. Once a player trades cards, the play passes to the next player. If all players trade cards (including the dealer), the hand is redealt.

Once a player bets, the others may play with the cards they have or drop out of the hand. However, if no other player chooses to continue, the last player after the one who laid the bet must match it and continue.

Except for the ante and the above provision, any bet may be refused.

If each subsequent player refuses the bet, it must be withdrawn and play continues with the betting at the previous level.

After the initial round of betting, each player remaining receives two more cards. At this point, there is another round of betting, during which players declare the rank of their hands as they place their bets. Players may declare their hands at a level equal to or higher than what they actually have, but not lower. The one exception is if a previous player has declared a Flush or Primero and your hand is a Chorus (see hand rankings below), in which case you may declare your hand to be equal to the hand already declared.

After this round of betting, players may trade in one or two cards.

Finally all remaining players reveal their hands, and the highest hand takes the pot.

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The ranks of hands are as follows:

Numerus,
the lowest hand, consists of two or three cards of the same suit.

The point value is equal to the sum of the cards in that one suit.

Primero,
or
Prime,
ranks next, consisting of one card of each suit. The value of a Primero is the sum of the cards in the hand.

Supreme,
or
Fifty-Five,
is a hand containing the Ace, 6, and 7 of one suit. The value of this hand is always 55.

Flush
consists of four cards of the same suit. Its value is the sum of the cards in the hand.

Chorus,
the highest hand, is four of a kind.

Card values are as follows:

7:

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