SNIP-SNAP-SNORUM.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
There are two distinct methods of playing this game, so unlike as to lead to the conclusion that at some time or other two separate games must have been confused by being called under the same name, and have since been so associated with each other. There is hardly one point in common between the two methods in vogue; and while one is entirely different from anything yet described in the present volume, the other is, to a great extent, played on the lines of Pope Joan, Spin, and Newmarket, and may be regarded as an offshoot of those games—rather than as an independent one—which has got mixed with the one known under the title of Snip-Snap-Snorum, and has come to be recognised under that name. As preference in such a case should be given to the independent game, we shall first describe that, and afterwards devote attention to the other system. In doing so we must excuse ourselves for the manifest inconsistency of associating two distinct games under the one title, on the ground of custom and practice among different individuals, and in order to avoid confusion as far as possible, we have re-named the game we shall describe last, as Jig, that being one of the terms used in the game, and sufficiently distinctive for every purpose.
Snip-Snap-Snorum is a round game, available for any number, of players from two to ten, when the full pack of fifty-two cards is played with, or for any number up to six [91] when the smaller pack of thirty-two is used. Probably the best number of players is five or six in the former case, and three or four in the latter; the greatest objection to a large number of players being that those first out have to wait until the others have exhausted their stakes, which may not occur until several more rounds have been completed.
At the commencement of the game each player has to be provided with five coins or counters, of equal value, and the game is decided when all but one of the players has exhausted those five stakes. The player who holds out the longest becomes the winner, and secures the whole of the pool, which is contributed to during the progress of the game as described later on.
The deal is decided in the ordinary way, the player to whom the first knave is turned up having the first right to deal the cards. He shuffles the pack, has it cut, and then distributes five cards to each player, one at a time, and commencing with the one on his left-hand side. There is no turn-up card needed; when all have received their five cards the hands are looked at, and the game begins. The object of the players is to play cards of equal value to those of their right-hand adversaries, and if they do so the player has to pay a penalty into the pool; one stake for Snip, which is the first pairing of a card; two stakes for Snap, the second pairing of the same card; and three stakes for Snorum, the third pairing. For instance, suppose there are five players, A, B, C, D, and E. A is the dealer, and, the cards having been dealt, B has to lead; he plays a nine, and calls it when he places it on the table face upwards in front of him; C likewise has a nine, which he must play by also placing it face upwards on the table in front of him, and says “Snip,” upon which B has to pay a stake into the pool, his card having been paired D also has [92] a nine, which he plays in similar manner, and says “Snap,” upon which C has to pay two stakes into the pool, his card having been also paired; E then has to follow on, and also having a nine in hand, he must play it, and says “Snorum,” which imposes a penalty of three stakes upon D. This having disposed of the four nines in the pack, A, whose turn it now is to play, has to start upon a new card, and he has the option of playing whichever of the five in his hand he chooses.
The penalties of Snip-Snap-Snorum do not remain in force if any other card intervenes between the pairs, so that it is only the player next in order of play who has the opportunity of securing a stack& for the pool from any of the others. Taking the illustration given above, we will suppose that D had no nine, and was accordingly compelled to play, say, a ten. B would have had to pay the penalty for Snip, as before; but C could have nothing to pay, his card not having been paired. Then suppose E, in his turn, played a nine, and A also played one, that would only “snip” E’s nine, although the other two nines had just been played; E would have to pay one stake to the pool.
As soon as the five cards dealt to each player are exhausted, the next in order becomes the dealer, and distributes five cards to each player, as before, and the game is conducted round and round on exactly similar lines until one of the party has lost the last of his five stakes. He is then out of the game, and if he has any cards left he must add them, face downwards and unexposed, to the top of the undealt portion of the pack. The other players proceed with the game, and as each loses his last stake he is left out, and no fresh cards are dealt him. This goes on until all but one have lost their stakes, when, as already described, the game is finished, and the last in takes the pool. [93]
If a new game is started on, the first out in the previous game becomes the new dealer.