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SMUGGLE THE GIG |
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on a level piece of ground. On this stone each player placed an old button, for buttons were the stakes. A point was fixed several yards from the stone, and a line was drawn. Along this line, " the stance," the players took their stand, each holding in his hand a small flat stone named " the pitcher." This stone was thrown so as to strike "the bob" and make the buttons fall on " the pitcher," or nearer it than 0 the bob." The button or buttons that lay nearer w the pitcher " than " the bob" fell to the lot of the player. The second player did the same, but he had to guard against driving any of the buttons nearer the first player's stone. If a button was nearer his stone than "the bob," or the first player's stone, he claimed it. The third player followed the same course if all the buttons had not been won by the two players. If the buttons were not all won at the first throw, the first player had a second chance, and so on till all the buttons were won. If two played, if each won a button, they alternately began, but if one gained the two buttons, the other began. When three played, if one had two for his share he played last in the following game, and the one that had nothing played first. If the players, when three played, were experts, the one whose lot it was to play second, who was called the " poust," lost heavily, and to be " pousted " was always looked upon as a misfortune, for the reason that the first player often by the first throw gained the whole stake, and then in the following game the last player became the first, and the gainer in the foregoing game became the last. If this player carried off the whole stake, he in the next game took the last place, and the last took the first, and so between the two good players the " poust " had no chance.—Aberdeenshire (Rev. W. Gregor). —See " Buttons."
Smuggle the Gig
Mr. Ballantyne describes the game as played in his young days at Biggar as follows:—Two boys would each select his own side. " First pick " was decided by lot. A third boy took two straws, one shorter than the other, and held them between his finger and thumb in such a way that only equal |
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