The Herring-bone
THE HERRING-BONE
Two Entire Packs of Cards
RULES
- The foundations follow suit.
- The lowest (or twenty-eighth) card of the herring-bone is alone available until its removal releases the next one (i.e., the uppermost card of the fan above it), then the second card of the fan becomes the available one, then the third, then the single card above the fan just played, and so on, the removal of each card rendering the next one available.
- All the cards in the side scenes and the four bars are available.
- Vacancies on the bars are refilled from cards of the herring-bone (Rule II), but vacancies on the side scenes may only be refilled from the pack or talon.
PLAY
Deal out twenty-eight cards, beginning from the top (see tableau), thus: Three at the top, placed fan shape, then a single card half covering the fan, then another fan half covering the single card, then another single card, and so on till you have seven fans and seven single cards: this is called the herring-bone, the last card being a single one and available. (Rule II.)
You next deal out eight cards, four on each side the herring-bone: these are called side scenes. Then place one card horizontally above and below each side scene: these are called bars. When these forty cards are placed, the next card dealt becomes the foundation, and is placed in one of the allotted spaces, the other seven cards of similar value being placed as they appear on the tableau, or during the deal.
Four of the foundations ascend in sequence and four descend (Rule I), and it is best to place the ascending on the right side, the descending on the left.
When the tableau is complete, and the first foundation has been played, examine the whole and play from the herring-bone, bars, or side scenes any foundations or other suitable cards. Always choose, in preference, cards from the herring-bone or bars, as on the removal of the herring-bone the success of the game mainly depends, and if a bar is removed, the available card on the herring-bone replaces it, thus releasing the next. (Rules II and III.)
Having played and refilled all spaces, proceed to deal out the entire pack, playing all suitable cards, and refilling spaces; the unsuitable cards forming the talon. In forming the foundations, one card at a time may be exchanged from the ascending to the descending sequence, and
vice versâ.
The talon may be taken up, shuffled, and re-dealt twice.
Note.—It is so exceedingly disadvantageous that there should be duplicate cards in the herring-bone, that in the German variety of this game the herring-bone is set out from a single pack before the two packs are shuffled.
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The Olga
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The Queens
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