My Book of Indoor Games eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 138 pages of information about My Book of Indoor Games.

My Book of Indoor Games eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 138 pages of information about My Book of Indoor Games.

If the next player should chance to have another six, he plays it and says “Snap,” and the one who is snapped must pay in his turn, but the fine is increased to two counters.  Should the fourth player have the fourth six, he plays it, and says, “Snorum,” and the third player must now pay; his fine is three counters to the pool.  No person may play out of his turn, and every one must “snip” when it is in his power.  When any one has paid the whole of his five counters to the pool he retires from the game; the pool becomes the property of the one whose counters last the longest.

* * * * *

OLD MAID

From a pack of cards take out one queen, shuffle the cards and deal them, face downward, equally among all the players.  The cards should then be taken, the pairs sorted out and thrown upon the table.  By “pairs” is meant two kings, or two fives, and so on.  When all the pairs have been sorted out, the dealer offers the remainder of his cards to his felt-hand neighbor, who draws any card he chooses to select, though he is only allowed to see the backs of them.  The player who has drawn then looks at the cards to see if he can pair it with one he holds in his hand; if he can, he throws out the pair; if not, he must place it with his other cards.  It is now his turn to offer his cards to his neighbor, and so the game goes on until all the cards are paired, except, of course, the odd card which is the companion to the banished queen.  The holder of this card is “the old maid.”

* * * * *

POPE JOAN

This amusing game is for any number of players, and is played with a wooden board which is divided into compartments or pools, and can be bought cheaply at any toy shop for a small sum.  Failing a board, use a sheet of paper marked out in squares.

Before dealing, the eight of diamonds is taken out of the pack, and the deal is settled by cutting the cards, and whoever turns up the first jack is dealer.

The dealer then shuffles the cards and his left-hand neighbor cuts them.  The dealer must next “dress the board,” that is, he must put counters into the pools, which are all marked differently.  This is the way to dress the board:  One counter to each ace, king, queen, jack, and game, two to matrimony (king and queen), two to intrigue (queen and jack), and six to the nine of diamonds, which is the Pope.  On a proper board you will see these marked on it.

The cards are now dealt round to the players, with the exception of one card, which is turned up for trumps, and six or eight, which are put aside to form the stops; the four kings and the seven of diamonds are also always stops.

If either ace, king, queen, or jack happen to be turned up for trumps, the dealer may take whatever is in the compartment with that mark; but when Pope is turned up for trumps, the dealer takes all the counters in Pope’s compartment as well as those in the “game” compartment, besides a counter for every card dealt to each player, which must, of course, be paid by the players.  There is then a fresh deal.

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My Book of Indoor Games from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.