Each player having provided himself with a well-sharpened pencil, the game is played as follows: The players decide the order of play, and the first selected being supposed to be a Turk, places the point of his pencil at the spot marked in the smaller compartment of the Turkish division of the slate and draws it quickly across the slate in the direction of the opposing army.
The pencil will, of course, leave a line marking its track, and all the men of the opposite side through which the track passes count as dead. Each player plays alternately, and he wins who first kills all the men on the opposite side.
The track of the pencil must be rapidly made and must be either straight or curved; any track in which there is an angle does not count. Sometimes the players turn their heads or close their eyes when making the track.
THIRTY-ONE.
Although this game is usually played upon a board similar to the one in the cut, and with small wooden blocks made for the purpose, a slate properly marked off would answer very well for the board, and bits of pasteboard, marked with the necessary figures, do equally well for the blocks.
The game consists of playing these bricks or squares of pasteboard, so that the column added up makes just thirty-one.
As only two persons play together, suppose William and Mary are contestants. Mary commences the game by playing a six; that is, she slides one of the blocks numbered six over to the right-hand side of the board. Then William plays block No. 4. This makes ten. Mary then plays two, and William follows with a five, making seventeen total. Now, some calculation is necessary if either will win. Mary, after some study, ventures a five, and William plays a six. It is now only necessary for Mary to slide No. 3 over to the right side, to make the total thirty-one and beat.
That move of Mary’s—which was made after considerable deliberation—was not a safe one, as William could have moved over a one and made the total only twenty-three. This would require eight more to complete the required thirty-one, and as six is the largest number on the blocks, William would have had the last play and gained the contest.