Frog. In this, hearts must be trumps. The single player turns the widow face up to show what it contained, and then takes the three cards into his hand. He must then discard to reduce his playing hand to eleven cards again. Any points in the cards he lays away will count for him at the end of the play.
The player on the dealer’s left always leads for the first trick, any card he pleases. The others must follow suit if they can, but they are not obliged to head the trick. If a player cannot follow suit, he must trump, and if the third player cannot follow suit either, he must play a trump, but he is not obliged to over-trump unless he likes.
The eleven tricks played, each side turns over the cards taken in and counts the points. For every point the single player gets over 60 he must be paid a counter by each of the others who held cards. But if he does not get 60, he must pay each of the others at the table, including those who held no cards, if any, a counter for every point his adversaries get over 60.
Chico outbids Frog. The player offering this game can name any suit for the trump except hearts, but he must not touch the widow, although the points in it will count for him at the end. Each point under or over 60 is worth two counters in Chico.
Grand outbids Chico, and is the highest bid possible. Hearts must be trumps, and the player offering this game must not touch the widow until the play is finished. Every point under or over 60 in a Grand is worth four counters.
The bidder must play the game he names. He cannot bid Frog and play Chico, or bid Chico and play Grand. The settling up of the scores at the end, if the payments are not made at once in counters, is the same as in Skat.
CRIBBAGE.
Cribbage is not only one of the oldest of the games upon the cards, but enjoys the distinction of being quite unlike any other game, both in the manner of playing it, and in the system of reckoning the points. It is also peculiar from the fact that it is one of the very few really good games which require no effort of the memory; judgment and finesse being the qualities chiefly requisite for success.
There are two principal varieties of the game; Five and Six-card Cribbage; and these again are divided according to the number of players. The old writers agree in speaking of the five-card game as the more scientific; but the modern verdict is in favour of the six-card game, which is certainly the more common and popular. The skill in Five-card Cribbage is limited to laying out for the crib and securing the “go”; but in Six-card Cribbage, while the scientific principles applicable to the crib remain the same as in the five-card game, there is abundant room for the display of skill all through, the hand being as important as the crib, and the play sometimes more important than either. The six-card game will be first described.