Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878] WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1892. SOLO WHIST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4235, 5 October 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878]

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1892. SOLO WHIST.

gEIKG THE EXTENDED XITLB OF TH£ W-AiRi.EAj'A Daily, with which it is IDBNHOAIi.

! The man who popularises a new game of cards r3es ß r*eß well'of his country and his club, la the matter of bur recreations we move liowly; and one anight esßilj run the gamut of the games of cards affected in these days by the average citizen, and even then " ask for more." . Yet moat men, whether tbey have enjoyed'.Pope's' "yoqth of frolics" or notj settle down m " an: old age of cards "; or let us rathur say—since this way of putting things may touoh some of our neighbours on the raw—that thern comes a grand elimacterie in our lives, a chastened maturity of experience if not of actual years, when the card-table with its quorum of congenial .companions furnishes enjoyment and relaxation of a "very real and permanent kind. So far as numbers go, no doobt the card„playmg population of the Colony is very large; but just now we ace not thinking of the games of hot. and occasionally hare-brained youth—of Loo, JKap, ■Euchre, poker—where skill is fieeidedly overweighted, by chance as a condition of success. Our 'middleaged mind is disposed to linger onwell, on whist j.for, when one eomes to reflectfiwhisthashad very nearly a, monopoly of attention for generations, ' Not for worlds would we depreciate the fine;old gaihe over which our grandparents, wrangled at their' case, which our parents played perhaps with greater dignity—"pouring Hoyle on troubled waters" when disputes arose—and which ws ourselves have learnt to venerate'not more for its antiquity; than for its delicate balance of calculation .' with the fortune of the cards; Whist mil hold its own among ■ capable players, aus a Truly groat game;' and we do not deny that it baa fairly earned the. universal honour accorded to it. Still, we are sometimes tempted to thinkeven now we hardlydaretosay—that it is ease of (oiy'ours'perdrtai. What with Cavendish ".and Proctor end the march oiihteilcot, our "whist is

in danger of getting the leant bitio the 1 world''Lide-bounaV'fio to sp_e»k. Its permutations and combinations are, after all, Bornotbing abort,of infinite; and to play it every'night with the name ibree scientists 5b calculated to iunko » plain man hope that after all there ?iiaj! be.more things in heaven and earth than are-dreatni ofiu the philosophy at prseont dominating the card-room, And thus-itis that we hail, rather timidly—as deprecating the displeasure of our old friends the wMBt-playets—yet "with a sense of relief and expectation; theippiaraoce of a qdw dovelcptasat. ; Solo' Whist ianot; heifc understood, in the sense/of bring on its trial before tho world. A It has won its way to favour at home among the keenest: and moat-Consemfivo critics; it is muehpl&yedjQ Melbourne; we believe; and it has beeii domiciled Sot some 'little ' time itt New Zealand, lliougbohicfly in esoteric cirolß3, But it is entitled toa very aauoh wider \ welcome, tliau wo : fani>y_ it Lua , hitherto, gaiufd,*' : and the aurest ; swans . of■■: popularizing it •'-- ii to put its caaa ' altiarly ; before cardplayei'B.lhiß has now been done. We ] am been fftToured with a copy of ' " SbeEulea of Solo Whist," publialiad;; th»:other day in Wellington. : It is , 4ajijt?ljr got up| iiideerj -the sow

fwura inset graceful pietsra—w* samgtea it to be the rrarimil of a tyj>*«al sappoiter of Ilia ii«»ejit Oottifijwetii_{uto wLials ih* UU» of iaewmk (s adultly imrot!uu»ii. Tbs Ut'Js Mk is #dmlralilo far de&n-.sim sn4 soticusmiki of expression. Ho ois« reading it eewt'uily will fail ts tile iboory and pWioe of the game j and tlw author ty.i sensibly iiicorpertiidd mo leading rules of wiifct< ft.-aa to render any references beyond hU book uunetwasnb. Tba author of this ihtroduotiori to solo wliiist writes, uudur (he Tclawical ft?*? 8 &f sonMi$ onM i fr om »M -CMitfttt UlUb, Wellington, It Is'generally tiiwlerstowl that this priprtTar Oltib nUmbem a ijood ninny devotees of the gaiaej and we ma y be pfcrtoiited to say ibattha tai^koicou^me^ldiug;"«e-le , ' to tbs'.bitter world has beeti wisely entrusted to g mouiber who is not only an uncommonly goad player Mffißelf, but a vefy high authority "on the subject. The book before us is s second and revised edition i Embodying Certain alterations of the tales as originally pot forth by the Author. We regret that our spues does not permit as to enter ioto iv detailed account of this very exculh nt game ; but, uince there is na doui- before long it will bi .played everywhere, we will si etch its salient points of dili'erenee 1 rom whist proper. Two paoke of can s are used in eaoli deal, of which ouo is dealt to the four players, unci the o bar in oat to determine the trump lor that-deal.' The player to the left of the d«aler can " propose."' If anotl er ; player " accepts," tie two raußt jointly make at least eight tricks, Inetjjad of proposing, however, a player may declare to win ut " solo "- -iivo tricks at least, against a]l others; or an ''iibonQanoa" —nine tricks, trumps in this cage bmng determined by tho caller; or a " miaora "—ln which the ialler muni not take a single triek. The value of the stake is, of course, v. matter ior arrauMmoot, but, wbWver bo. the unit determined upon, th ore are certain fixed values attaolufd to aaoli event; thoro in hlbo a periodical contribution to the pool—although tbsre is nothing to prevent the abandonment of a pool if players wish it. This bare outline i«, wo fear, all that we can indulge in ; and it may seem to call ior si twu-fold npoJogy— to tltosa, cu tba one hand, who kuow aomatuiuff of the game already and would wish us to didcusH the many minute snd intonating points not forth, by "Monoa"—and, again, to those who hour of nolo whist for the flat time and look to us to justify our recotctnendiiliou of it by a full description of the game. To the latter class of readers we must reply that wo only pretend to be & fingcr-poßt, pointing them to Monos's exhaustive little book. It is well worth reading ; and the game to which it introduces ua is well worth playing. Wo have onjojled the ad* vantage of seeing eolo whist played by four competent persons ; and the opportunities whxh it affords to intelligence and memory are little short of fascinating. That it will supersede whist, we do not suppose; and we liave do reason to think that anyone wishes it to do so.- But that it will be a formidable, rival to the older game, with men tor whom whist is attractive in ptoportion as it is clever, we feel tolerably certain. We beg, then, to repeat our thanks to Monoabf the Central Club, for his lucid and thorough exposition of the card-game of tho future.