No notice is taken of the scores made by the N & S hands in the last set; as it is simply a match between the a and d pairs.
Scoring. Each pair against each is considered a match, and the winner of the most matches wins, tricks deciding ties.
Compass Whist. When we come to handle large numbers, the changes of position become too complicated, and the simplest plan is to arrange them at as many tables as they will fill, and to place on each table an equal number of trays. At the Knickerbocker Whist Club, New York, which is still famous for its compass games, they play a minimum of 24 trays, or get as near that number as possible. If there are 14 tables, they play two deals at each. If there are only 10 tables, they play 30 trays.
All the N & S players sit still, and at the end of each round, two or three deals as the case may be, all the E & W players move up one table, 2 going to 1, 3 to 2, etc. Each pair keeps its own score card, on which is put down the number of the tray, the number of the pair played against, which is always the number of the table at which they started; one of the pairs remaining there being No. 3 N & S, the other moving away, being No. 3 E & W.
Each pair adds up its score card at the end, and puts down the total number of tricks they have won. The names of the players having been previously written on the blackboard, their scores are put down opposite their names, each side, N & S and E & W, is then added up in order to find the average, and all scores above average are plus, while all below average are minus.
The following is an example of the averaging of a game in which five tables took part, playing 30 deals:—
| N & S | E & W | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | 201 | -6 | f | 189 | +6 | |
| b | 204 | -3 | g | 186 | +3 | |
| c | 211 | +4 | h | 179 | -4 | |
| d | 207 | = | j | 183 | = | |
| e | 212 | +5 | k | 178 | -5 | |
| 5 | 1035 | 5 | 915 | |||
| Aver. | 207, | N & S. | Aver. | 183, | E & W. | |
The e and f pairs make the best scores N & S and E & W respectively; the f pair, having won the greatest number of tricks above the average of the hands, would be the winners.
Howell Pair System. A very popular system of managing pairs in club games, and also in the national tournaments for the Minneapolis trophy, is called the Howell Pairs. Indicator cards are placed on the tables, which show each player the number of the table and the position at that table to which he should move next. Sometimes he will sit N, sometimes S, and sometimes E or W, but he always finds his partner opposite him, and at the end of the game he will have had every other pair in the game for an adversary once, and will have played all the hands dealt.
A different set of indicator cards is required for every different number of tables in the game. They are the invention of the late E.C. Howell of Washington, D.C., and have been arranged for any number of pairs from four to thirty-four.