The rule is not one that has ever become very popular, because it tends very much to deteriorate from the uncertainty of the game, a feature in all card-playing that possesses a greater charm than perhaps any other. The vicissitudes of fortune in Ranter Go Round are wonderful.
For instance, a player may have kept his three lives till all but one are out, and then lose them in three successive rounds, while a player who has only had one life for a long time will win the game.
As each life is lost a counter of the player belonging to it is placed in the pool, and as the lives decrease in number they increase in value.
ÉCARTÉ.
The game of Écarté is a real French game; it originated first in Paris, and at one time was one of the most fashionable games in that city.
It has been devoted so extensively by some players to gambling purposes, that its reputation has unmistakably suffered thereby, and any one professing to have a preference for Écarté was, at one time, suspected immediately of not being a very desirable associate.
It would have been a matter of regret if, because of any unfortunate association connected with the game, we should have been deprived of the benefit of it, for it is second to none in its power of affording amusement. It is easy to learn, and yet it is a scientific, clever game, and one that we can well imagine would be selected as a favourite among all other card games by proficient card-players.
It is played by two persons with a pack of thirty-two cards, all the twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes being thrown out in preparing the pack.