AUTHORS.
This game was originally played with cards bearing the names of various authors, and other famous personages, arranged in groups, but the game is much simpler when played with an ordinary pack of fifty-two cards.
Any number of persons can play. The cards are shuffled and spread, and the person drawing the lowest card deals the first hand. The ace is low. Each player then deposits a counter in the pool, and the cards are distributed one at a time until the pack is exhausted. If some players have a card more than others it makes no difference.
The object of the game is to secure tricks consisting of four cards of the same denomination; such as four 6’s or four K’s, and the player having the most tricks of this kind wins the pool. Ties divide it.
The player on the left of the dealer begins by asking for a certain card, which must be of the same denomination as one already in his hand. For instance: He holds the spade Ten. He may ask any one at the table for either of the three other Tens; but he must designate the suit, and must ask a particular player for the card wanted. If the player asked has the card, he must immediately surrender it, and the player to whom it is given can then ask again—any player for any card, always provided that the asker has one of the same denomination in his own hand.
If the person asked has not the card demanded, the privilege of asking is transferred to him, and he may ask any person at the table for any card of the same denomination as one already in his own hand. If he has just been asked for a Ten, for instance, and has a Ten, but not of the suit asked for, he might turn upon his questioner and get a Ten from him, if he could guess the right suit.
As soon as any player gets together four cards of the same denomination, he lays them face down upon the table in front of him, and they form a trick.
A good memory is necessary to play this game well, as it is very important to recall who has asked for certain cards, and which players were unable to supply them. It is a legitimate artifice in the game to ask for a card you already have in your own hand, although you know it will lose your guess, because it may be the only way to prevent another player from drawing several valuable cards from you. For instance: You hold the Fives of diamonds and spades, and have asked for and received the Five of clubs. If you ask for the heart Five, and miss it, the player with that card may draw all yours; but if you ask for the spade Five, and he gets into the ask, he will at once betray the fact that he holds the fourth Five by asking you for the club Five; but he will never think of asking you for the spade Five, because you asked for it yourself. If you can get into the ask again you can immediately make a trick in Fives.