Ericksen - Bar Games, Bets, and Challenges

Q If you’ve found the bar
and you’ve got the beer

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90-648
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Liar’s Poker Dollar Bingo

Dollar Nim Match Games
Coin Games Skill Games
Word, Guessing and Numbers Games
Paper & Pencil Challenges
Birds don’t do it,
bees don’t do it,
but at watering spots
all over the world
people play at
BAR GAMES
Bets 8c Challenges.
Many are played in variations from Bangkok to

Bennu^ Most people like to try their luck as they
sip thdr liquor. Only a few are lucky enough to
win almost all the time. You can be one of the\
players who knows many games and wins most of
the time. Alan Ericksen riiows you how. All you
need is some money, smne coaster^ a pendl or two,
matches, paper napkin^ the fingers on your hand—
and someone on a stool nearby to play the game
with you, accept the bet or answer the challenge!
\
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BAR GAMES,
BETS AND
CHAUENGES
ALANERICKSEN
, V
o
VARNER BOOKS
A Warner Communications Company

■ 1... ■
WARNER BOOKS EDITION
Copyright © 1981 by Alan Ericksen

All rights reserved.
Cover photo by Bill Cadge
Warner Books, Inc., 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10019
A Warner Communications Company
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing; January, 1981
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 '
Contents
Introduction 9
1. Liar’s Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
2. Dollar Bingo and Dollar Nim 35
3. Amore and Other Games for People
with Ten Fingers 49
4. Coasters and Swizzle Sticks 55
5. One Thin Dime (or more);
Games with Goins 65
6. Got a Matdi? Games with Matches 81
7. Bet You Can’t . ... Skill Games 89
8. Words to the Wise: Word Games 97
9. Send More Money: Paper and
Pencil Challenges ,119
BAR GAMES,
BETS AND
CHALLENGES
V /.
V.
! /
- . r' '
/
Introduction:
Bets, Bars, Beers
We Americans are bom bettors. We’re willing

to take a chance on jxist about anything, from the
guy who buys his weekly lottery ticket to the one
who puts every cent he has into a business scheme
that’s going to make millions. Sometimes they both
come up winners, if Lady Luck is watching over
their shoulders, or their hunches and skill are work¬
ing. But if they lose their bets today—well, they’re
going to try again tomorrow.
People bet big and they bet small. We all
believe we’re going to beat the odds, that luck is on
our side, we have a system, we’ve got the skill where
it counts.
And we lose between twenty and thirty billion
dollars a year in bets, lotteries, and games of chance.
Still, we want to take the chance, and for most
people, what gets the money on the table is simply
9
Bar Games, Bets & Challenges
the fun of the bet, the challenge of taking a chance.

Gambling and betting, in all their multitude
of forms, from racetracks and casinos to a night of
poker, have become one of our most popular forms
of recreation. Betting is a great equalizer—luck is as
much on the side of the fellow with a few dollars
in his pocket as for the hi^ rollers in Las Vegas.
Kings can win or lose as much as the next person,
although they sometimes make up their own rules.
Henry the Eighth was a famous gambler in his
time, and,'on one notable occaaon, lost the bells
of St. Paul’s Church to Sir Miles Partridge. It
turned out not to be an especially satisfactory wiu
for Sir Miles. Elings are notoiioudy bad losers.
Henry took back the bells he had gambled away
and had Sir Miles executed.
Whoever is doing the betting and wherever, it
has been a constant human activity from the be¬
ginning of time and among people of the i^plest
as well as the most complex cultures. Anthropol¬
ogist John E. Pfeiffer puts it this way: “Gambling
probably arose as an antimonotony device, a way
of creating xmpredictable events imder all-too-
predictable living conditions. Australian aborigines
living on government reservations where there is
little to do have taken to a weird form of poker with
rules that seem to change from hand to hand.”
We find that the Sumerians of six thousand
years ago used dice much like the modem version.
Egyptians of three or four thousand years back
tossed carved wands instead of dice to play popular
board games, Senit and Tsahu (“Robbers”). The
ancient Greeks had dice—and playwright Sophodes
10
Introduction: Bets, Bars, Beers
once wrote some lines that ought to be kept in m^nf^

by anyone who makes a bet:
A wise gamester ought to take the dice

Even as they fail, and pay down quietly,
Rather than grumble at his luck.
In fact, the whole universe got divided up, accord¬

ing to Greek mythology, by the throw of the dice,
with Zeus winning heaven, Poseidon the sea, and
Hades the underworld.
In Roman times, gambling was sufficiently
prevalent to have laws made against it—and a
Roman slave was considered to be of less value if
he was a gambler. Betting even has a place in
religious tradition. The fom Gospels each mention
'that the Roman soldiers present at the crucifixion
cast lots to divide up Christ’s robes. The Chinese
language doesn’t have a word for playing cards,
but refers to them, along with dice, dominoes, and
' so forth as “objects for gambling.” The Aztecs of
Mexico were so passionately devoted to betting on
a violent football game called Tlachtli and a board
game using a form of dice, called Patolli, that it
wasn’t uncommon for an individual to gamble
away everything he owned and end up selling him¬
self as a slave.
Almost every civilization, every country, has
left artifacts relating to betting. Almost every couh-
try today has some form of betting, public or private.
While gambling in its several forms has fre¬
quently been frowned on by the public conscience,
governments large and small have taken advantage
of our propensity for trying out luck by using
11
lotteries to raise money for the public welfare. The

idea of taldng a chance on buying into a lucky
number and winning the big prize is apparently
irresistible. Many countries around the world (and
many states in the U.SÂ.) hold lotteries—^West
Germany, Italy, Egypt, Russia, Poland, and Can¬
ada, to name only a few. It all adds up to their
considerable profit.
It ^ was only a matter of organizational mis¬
management that prevented the entire American
Revolution from being financed by a national lot¬
tery, although the Continental Congress held a
lottery in 1777 to raise funds.
The General Court of the Province of Massa¬
chusetts Bay granted Harvard College four lotteries
back in the 1700s to finance that institution. In
1772, such a lottery hdped to build Harvard’s
Stoughton Hall (still in use today), and in a sub¬
sequent lottery. Harvard won its own first prize of
$10,000. Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, and other
institutions of higher learning also used lotteries to
help their fund-raising efforts. There is some poetic
justice in this, as it is said that college-educated
men in the higher income brackets are the most
likely gamblers.
Apparently, even the Pilgrim founders of the
nation had a tendency to brighten cold New
England winters with a little betting. The first anti¬
gambling legislation in Colonial America was
passed in 1630 in Boston, only a decade or so after
the Pilgrims landed. ‘‘It is . . . ordered that all per¬
sons whatsoever that have cards, dice, or tables in
their houses, shall make away with them before the
nejct court under pain of punishment.”
12
The Virginia Assembly in 1624 passed an early

Blue Law concerning gambling among clerics:
“Mynisters shall not give themselves to excesse in
drinking or yette spend their tyme idelie by day or
by night, playing at dice, cards or any unlawful
game.”
If the “Mynisters” of Virginia sought relaxa¬
tion from the rigors of life with drinks and a few
bets, the same is quite as true today. We go off to
bet at places created for just that purpose, but
many people enjoy the informal atmosphere of a
gathering place of friaids and strangers.
The institution of the neighborhood bar as a
place for relaxation and sociability has been around
for a long time. And it’s always been a place where
friendly bets are made; we win or lose and don’t
really care which. Usually, that is. Wild Bill Hickok,
who was a devoted lover of gambling, probably
spent a lot of happy hours in his neighborhood
saloon—except for that fateful day in 1876 when
he was shot from behind by Jack McCall at Dead-
wood, Dakota Territory. Wild Bill was holding a
poker hand at the time that gave poker the term
“dead man’s hand”—a. pair of aces and a pair of
eights.
Mostly, however, the neighborhood bar is a
haven of rest from the turmoil of life, and, like
betting, it has a long and continuous history. Some
English pubs can claim to go back to the eleventh
century on the same site—now thafs a loyal follow¬
ing. The legendary Mermaid Tavern of Elizabethan
times claimed such regulars as Ben Jonson, Beau¬
mont and Fletcher, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Shake¬
speare himself. Belgium today, with a population
13
of aroimd ten million, manages to find room for
some sixty thousand cafes—a number equal to
England’s pubs. However, England’s population is
perhaps five times as large! The Dutch have their
kroegje, the Viennese their Heurigen (along with
their coffediouses). The Italians and the French
gather daily at their favorite cafes, the Germans
and the Gzechoslovaldans have their beer halls,
ranging from the vast Mimidi Hofbrauhaus to cozy
dark-paneled spots. Ihe riiady porches of Carib¬
bean rum shops are always crowded with people
enjoying an icy beer or a glass of “grog,” talking,
playing cards or dominoes, and talking some more.
From Australia to Africa to the Silver Palace in
Tombstone, Arizona (Wyatt Eaip and Doc Holli¬
day’s neighborhood bar, and still a going concern),
men and women gather to quench their thirsts,
strike up conversations, and play a few games to
pass the time. In Japan, the institution of the neigh¬
borhood bar reaches the status of essential feature
of the social structure. “Each evening in Tokyo,”
writes sociologist Ohie Nakane, “after the offices
close many office workers stop at bars on their way
home, and some of them remain drinking there
until well after the last train. It is not the drink
itself that attracts them so much as the chance of
relaxation after the tension and competition in the
office; bars are thought to be soothing to the nerves.
... It is a very personal atmosphere: no matter how
stupid a man is, he is accepted.”
Part of the attraction of bars, taverns, saloons,
pubs, cafes, or whatever they may be called across
the world, is as a regular meeting place for friends,
for conversations, for relaxation, or for a couple
14
of friendly bets. Part, one suspects, has to do wilh

the tradition of good beer at a good bar. In the days
before beer was mass-produced and refrigeration
was widely available, best beer was found in
quantity at bars. And the tradition has stuck.
Some say that mankind had beer before it had
bread. We know that by the time of the Babylonians
and the Egyptians, the brewing of beer was an
established art, and it has continued to be so down
through long centuries. Although some countries
drink wine more commonly than beer, almost every
country in the world produces it, even China,
where a recent traveler to the People’s Republic
noted that the neighborhood bar doesn’t presently
exist. (The Chinese, of course, don’t think of drink
widiout food—so they tend to gather for both, and
the results are similar.)
Perhaps the fascinating and complicated his¬
tory of beer comes down to a comment another
traveler made: “I figure I can get along happily in
any country in the world as long as I know how to
say in any language, yes, no, and beer.”
If you put bets, bars, and beer together, you
have the prescription for a tranquilizer that can’t
be topped. You have to find the bar and pick your
beer, and in the following pages, we’ll give you
some bets that will pass many happy and even chal¬
lenging hours. You need money, some coasters, a
pencil or two, matches, paper napkins, the fingers
on your hand—and very little else.
Oh, yes. You may need some luck. One of our
favorite lucky charms is from the South, and it goes
like this:
15
Prepare a bag full of lodestone, cayenne, black

pepper, and sugar* Put a live frog in witb it
and sprinkle some more cayenne pepper over
it. It will jump. Every time you go out to
gamble, sprinkle some more cayenne pepper
into the bag. The fi?og will die in time, but for
the period he lives you will be extremely lucky,
[(Jim Haskins, VooSoo & Hoodoo)'
So get your matches and coins together and

enjoy that beer, make your bets. And if you have
your live frog in your pocket as well, you might
have an edge on your feUow bettors—^but we
wouldn’t bet on it.
16
1. Liar’s Poker:
The Ultimate Bar Game
liar’s Poker is played from Miami to California,

by rich and the not-so-rich. Xhere are hundreds
of variations, but it all comes down to using the
serial numb^ found on the face side of U.S. paper
currency.
All you need is a supply of dollar tills (or fives
or tens or hundreds), and two or more players.
We’ve been pla^ng the game for years, usually
the modest games at some of our favorite bars where
singles are used. We showed up at a place we
hadn’t been for a while, and sure oiough, the usual
■ game was in progress. Naturally, we joined in. Hire
only problem was, we (Quickly discovered, that mfla*
tifvrt had had its impact on Liar^s Poker, at least in
fTiTs particular bar. Instead of a game with dollar
bills, we were sitting in on one that was being
played with $100 bills.
17
. Bar Games, Bets & Challenges
The first rule of Liar^s P.oker is to make sure

you know whefiier those bills on the table are $1 or
$1,000. Otherwise, the game couldn’t be simpler.
THE BASIC RULES
With each player holding a biU, the object of

the game is to make the final bid as to the total
number of any given digit in the combined serial
numbers of all the players.
The serial numbers are found on the upper
right and lower left comers of U.S. paper currency.
Every bill has eight digits in its serial number, and
the number is preceded and followed by a letter.
This is important to remember, because a D or an O
can easily be confused with a zero. The letter I can
be confused with the number one.
18
Liafs Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
Liar’s Pokex is played by two or more players.

There is no limit to the number, but the ideal is
four to six players in a single game.
PRELIMINARIES
1. Dedde what stakes you’re playing for.

2. Decide the ranking of the numbers: will 1
be considCTed an ace (the highest number)
or a 1 (the lowest)? If it is 1 then the 0
(which equals a 10) is the highest number,
e.g., 1234567890 (or 10). If the 1
is called an ace (this is the traditional rank¬
ing in Liai^s Poker), the munbers raidi as
follows: 234567890 (equals 10)
ace (1). ^
3. Select the first player. The easiest way is to
have each player take a bill from his pocket.
The player widi the highest first digit in his
serial number starts the game. If two or
more have the same munber, use the highest
second number. In case of further ties, use
the third, and so on. The bill is put away
and not used in play. (If a new player
^ters the game at any point, he usually
goes first.)
4. To start the game, each player puts in a
munber of bills (iisually five or tai $1 bills.
So that none of the players can identify any
of the bills, they are generally exchanged
19
Bar Gaines, Bets & Challenges
for other bills, and then shuffled and placed

face (serial number) side down on the table
or bar.
5. In clockwise order, starting witb the player
who is to bid first, each player takes one
bill from the pile—^the bills are usually
folded into quarters to prevent other players-
from spotting the numbers.
DESCRIPTION OF PLAY
The basic game of Liar’s Poker is simple. It

depends a lot on bluffs and strategy—and what we
mean by that is that it depends a lot on how well
you can lie.
We’ll run through a game for four players,
very simply, to give you an idea of ihe way ê bids
and challenges work. AH you have to remember is
this: every bid after ihe opening bid must be higher
than the previous one—a higher number of the
same digit, or the same number of a higher digit.
For example, an opening bid of two 2s can be fol¬
lowed by three (or more) 2s or two 3s (4s, 5s, etc.).
When a player draws his bill, he notes the
individual numbers of Ihe eight-digit serial number
to determine his strength or weakness. If you hold a
bill with four of any one number, you have strength.
Pairs are common, and if you do not have any pairs
at all, you have a weak bill and will have to be
careful with your bidding (the discussion of prob¬
abilities at the end of this chapter and the charts
20
Liai^s Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
at the end of the book will give you an idea of the

probable occiirrence of digits in a hand of Liar’s v
Poker).
A game for four players

1. Player One makes the opening bid, two 2s.
2. Player Two (clockwise) has the following
options:
a. to challenge the bid (signifying that he
doesn’t believe that the hand totals the
number of digits bid). This is unlikely in
the first go-roimd, unless the initial bid is
very high, say eight aces.
b. to bid—either the same number of a hiêr
digit (e.g., two 3s, two 4s, etc.) or a higher
number of the same digit (e.g., three 2s,
four 2s, etc.)
For this game, by the way, you don’t actually have
to have any of the numbers you bid in your hand.
You can lie.
3. Player Three has the same options:
a. If Player Two has challenged Player One’s
bid. Player Two may also challenge Player
One.
b. If Player Two has made a bid, say three 2s,
Player Three may challenge the bid, or
c. He may ofifer a bid of his own, higher num¬
ber of the same digit (four 2s, five 2s), or
the same number of a higher di^t (three
3s, three 4s, three 5s).
21
\
4. Player Four has several options, too:

a. If Players Two and Three have challenged
the bid of Player One, he may also chal¬
lenge. In this case, the hand is over, and
the total number of digits of the one bid are
counted up. If the exact number of digits
bid appears in the entire hand, the bidder
is a winner, and each player must pay him
a dollar, or whatever stakes have been de¬
cided upon. If the total munber of the digit
in the hand is less than the number bid.
Player One is also a winner. However, if
the total number of the digit is more than
the bid. Player One is a loser, and must pay
the stakes amount to each of the other
^ players.
b. If Player Two and Player Three have made
bids. Player Four may challenge the player
immediately before him (Player Three);
if Player Two had been challenged by
Player Three, Player Four may also chal¬
lenge Player Two. In other words, you may
challenge _ the bid immediately preceding
your turn.
c. Finally, if he wishes. Player Four may make
his own bid, higher of the same digit of the
last bid (the hand might go; Player One,
two 2s; Player Two, challenge; Player
Three, challenge; Player Four, four 2s).
Or J;he same number of a higher digit, e.g.
two aces.
22
Lidias Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
5. Now we’re back to Player One, who has ê
same options as Player Four, challenge or bid.
Of course, in the first round, challenges are
rare, except for purposes of strategy, especially
whfiTi the bids are,low, as the players try to
figure who is bluffing. The game proc^ds,
with bids going higher, and bluffs (a nice way
to refer to lies) getting more refined, until one
player is challenged by all the others. At that
point the digits in the hand axe totaled to
determine whether the high bidder has won
(exact number or higher than the number in
the hand) or lost (lower bid than the number
in the hand).
That’s the baac game, and a couple of h^ds

will give you an idea of how it works. You’ll quickly
grasp the rn^m points and a lot of the finer points.
It’s a simple game, but...
liai^s Poker has engaged the interest of serious
barroom bettors for years. After all, where better to
find a supply of fresh money and a lot of congenial
company to kill time with? Beades, there s an in-
fonnality possible about the game that you dont
find in somebody’s poker night, plus the chance to
refine your strategy, test your ability to bluff, and
see how well you can learn to figure probabilities
in a given hand.
You also get to meet a lot of interesting people.
Now that we’ve given you a simple (and, we
admit, fairly simple-minded) game of Liar’s Poker,
let’s look at one that’s a bit more complicated-
chances are, if you’re a beginner at the game, you’re
23
going to end up playing with more experienced
players.
Before we get to that, however, we might men¬
tion the question of cheating. It’s not easy to do
with Liar’s Poker, especially since one of the un¬
written (and now we’ve written it) rules is that the
loser is entitled to see the bills and add up the digits
for himself. A game among friends is one thing, but
in a game of strangers—^well, you have the right to
ask to see the bills for yourself.
You’re well-advised, too, to be sure to fold the
bill you draw into quarters. Fold it in half and
somebody across the bar is going to see the serial
number, not on purpose necessarily, but there’s no
point m letting an opponent know what you hold.
The only serious and succe^ful cheater at
Liar’s Poker we know of was a bartender we’ll call
Jack for the purposes of this anecdote (and to all
the bartenders in the world named Jack, be assured
that we’re not referring to you).
Jack worked in a bar with a lot of regulars
who liked to drop in after work, and inevitably
someone would suggest a game of Liar’s Poker.
Between pouring drinks, for customers, Jack would
play with us. He was marvelous, and a consistent
winner; not every time, of course, but more often
than not. Jack used to pick his bill from the pile on
the bar and then hold it below the bar at arm’s
length. We always thought he was a bit far-sighted
and could only see the serial numbers at a distance;
Not true, of course.
Old Jack was setting us up for a clever switdh
that went undetected for months until somebody at
the other end of the bar saw it happen. After the
24
Liafs Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
first bid, when Jack had an idea of the way Ihe bids
were going, he’d lay his bill down in the well of the
bar while he went off to mix drinks. When he came
back to make his bid, he’d pick up the bill and hold
it at arm’s length, again below the level of the bar.
The only thing was, he had a pile of ones with serial
numbers that had four or five of a kind stashed
down there. He’d simply switch the bill he’d drawn
for one of his prescreened ones, and sure enough,
he’d come up a winner.
We don’t play with Jack any more.
Such things don’t happen too often, but if you
do get into a game of Liar^s Poker in a bar with
people you don’t know, just remember that for this '
game, as in any other, the experts have figured out
all the angles. If there’s a way at cheating at tic tac
toe, somebody’s figured it out.
O.K., here’s a slightly more complicated game,
and since we know a lot of women who are pretty
good liars when it comes to this game, we’ve divided
this foin-handed game equally between the sexes.
(The odds are against so many 9s turning up, but
it will give you a good idea of the possibilities for
play.)
GEORGE
69900719
JANE SUSIE
10992243 45099663
LARRY
70991181
25
When the players draw bills to choose the opening

bidder, George happens to have the highest initial
digit, so he starts. He has three 93 in his hand, but
he doesn’t necessarily want to give that fact away
on his first bid. In fact, he’s going to bid two 2s,
even though he doesn’t have a two in his hand.
1. Susie bids two aces (Is).
2. Larry has diree aces in his hand, but his bid is
three 9s.
3. Jane isn’t going to diallenge; idie has one ace,
and chances axe there are at least three (given
''Suae’s bid), and die has a couple of 93; she
says fom 9s.
4. We’re back to George. He holds three 9s, so he
bids six 9s, thinking he a>uld make that, but
pretty sine, from the way Susie sort of looked
when he said it, that she was going to make a
bid and not challenge.
5. Susie bids seven 9s, and Larry and Jane
challenge.
6. George makes a bid: nine 9s, and he’s dial-
lenged by the otheis.
7. George is a winner, and collects his dollar from
each of the others—^there were a total of nine
9s in the bills. If he had bid ten 9s he would
have lost; if he’d bid eight 9s, he would still have^
won, since his bid was lower than the total.
A few hands will make devotees of beginners,
we promise yoti.
We suggest that you use different bills for
26
Liar’s Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
every gzime, instead of tossing tlie ones just played

back into the pile to be drawn again later. You may
not think you’ll remember those eight-digit num¬
bers, but you will, and there’s a chance that a worn
or tom bill will be remembered. If you’re playing
with your kids for matchsticks on a rainy day, it
doesn’t matter so much if the bills are recycled for
a few hands, but when you’re betting money for
money, it’s best to keep the game as straight as pos¬
sible. (And as we’ve said, where better to find a
fresh supply of bills to exchange than your favorite
bar’s cash register?)
VARIATIONS
There are a niimber of variations to the basic

game of Liar’s Poker. Some we’ve incorporated into
our basic game, and others we toss in from time to
time to vary the play. If you start checking out
games of Liar’s Poker in bars here and there across
the country, you’ll encounter other variations and
special rules, or maybe you’ll think up some of your
own.
Last Bid Option

This variation to the basic game is one we use
all the time, since it makes the hands far more
interesting.
In Last Bid Option, the player who has been
challenged by all the other players has the option
of raising his bid (but only once in a hand) or ac¬
cepting the challenge.
27
For example if a player says six aces, and the

other players all challenge, that player can stand
by his bid, believing there are at least six aces in all
the bills or he can make a higher bid, say seven 9s.
The game then proceeds as before, imtil the same
or another player is challenged by all the players. If
it’s the same player, he must meet the chênge,
but another player who’s been challenged has the
chance to raise his bid once.
This variation adds a lot of excitement to the
game, ance the posabDity of bluff bids is much
greater—^you can make a bluff bid and still have
the option of changing it to what you thought was a
winning bid in the first place.
Now and then, as we play our games of Last
Bid Option, we’H include a hand with yet another
variation just to make things interesting.
Blind Bill
Sometimes, especially when there are only two
or three players (although it’s possible with any
number) one biU is taken from the supply of ones
and placed face down to one side.
The game proceeds as usual,^ but when the
final count of digits is made, the ones on the blind
bill are included.
Win Double
This is more of a standing rule than a varia¬
tion—îf a player bids a certain digit and is chal¬
lenged all arormd, and that digit does not appear in
any hand (say he bid six 6s, although he didn’t
have a 6 in his hand) and it turns out that nobody
has any 6s, the bidder wins double the stakes.
28
Liar’s Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
This, isn’t the kind of thing you can plan for¬

k’s a matter of pure chance, but it does happen
from time to time.
Dead Number
In this variation, before the first bid, one num¬
ber is declared dead, that is, it can t be bid at all.
There are various ways of deciding what it will be,
but one way is to draw a random bill from the
supply on the bar and use the first number of the
serial number for the dead digit.
Wild Number
Yet another variation is to choose one number
(it can be done the same way as for a dead num¬
ber) to be wild; it can stand for anything or for
itself. It’s fim to do now and then in a regular bar
game and it’s invaluable for that aforementioned
rainy’day in the house with the kids when your
supply of ones may be fairly limited and you need
to add a little excitement to the same old bills.
PSYCHOLOGY OF PLAY
Amarillo Slim, who knows a lot more than we

do about the psychology of gambling, says, I play
the playere more than I play the cards.” It s true of
pote, and it’s also true of Liar’s Poker. You have
to use psychology, intelligent observation of your
opponents, and some common sense. A httle ham
acting and some salesmanship dont hurt, either.
You must get to know the people you re play-
9Q
ing with. If they’re already friends, you have some

clues to the way they think and act; if they’re
strangers, start studying them right away. Why?
Most people don’t Ke easily, and they’ll usually give
themselves away when they do, especially if they’re
amateurs at gambling. (If you’re up against pro-
fesaonals, and you’re not one yourself, you’re well
on your way to losing, and not necessarily because
you have a bad hand. The pro ox expert’s ability to
win has a lot to do with his understanding of
psychology.)
Appearances count for everything—ît’s true
that a man’s eyes mirror his soul, and there are
other giveaways that tdl the ecpert what’s going
on in an opponent’s mind. One player may talk a
lot if he’s holding a good bill in Liar^s Poker, ox he
may get anxious to make a call (beware the player
who jmnps in impulsively with a bid out of turn—
he may be trying to psych you out into thinking
he’s holding a good bill). Another player may be¬
come very quiet if he’s holding something good, ox
something bad. Slight movements, such as a drift
in the seat or scratching the ear ox nose may indi¬
cate a player is lying. ^
As we’ve said, lying smoothly doesn’t come
easily to most of irs.
That means that if you want to keep from
^ving away what you’re holding or thinking, you
have to make a conscious effort to vary your style
of play and to leam to control yoxu' features or
actions. If you play the same way all the time, your
tdls become obvious to sharp eyes (you have to
assume that everybody else in the game is checking
30
Liar^s Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
you out for giveaways, just as hard as you are

checking them). •
That’s the point of Liar’s Poker, after ail—
you’re entitled to lie when you make a call; bluff is
the name of the game.
The best liar is the surest winner in Liai^s
Poker.
PROBABILITIES AND ODDS IN

LIAR’S POKER
Chance is either for or against the event hap¬

pening; the probability is always for it. Chances
are expressed by the frax^tion of Ae probability, the
denominator being the total number of events pos¬
sible, the munerator the number of events favorable.
For instance, with dice, the probability of throwing
an ace with one cast of a angle die is expressed by
the fraction, 1/6. That is, six different numbers
may be thrown, and. they are all equally probable,
but only one of them can be an ace. Odds are
found by deducting the favorable events from the
total nxunber of events (the munerator subtracted
from the denominator). In the example we’ve just
given, the odds against throwing an ace are there¬
fore 5 to 1. •
The greater the odds against any event occur¬
ring, the more improbable it is said to be' and the
more hazardous it is to risk anything on it.
You can figure probabilities for Liar’s Poker
so that you will have an idea of how many of a
given number are probably on the bills in a hand.
31
A ample way to do this is to take the total

number of players and multiply it by the number
of digits on a bill (dght), and divide the answer
by ten. For example if there are five players in the
gam^ you would calculate the probability that each
number will appear as follows:!
Number of players 5
Numbers on each bill X 8
“40 10 = 4
Knowing this, if you are holding three of a

kind, you can figure out how many of that nimiber
there should be on the other players’ biUs.
Number of other players 4

Nimibers on each bill X 8
^ 10 = 3.2
Number of given digit on

your bill (rounded)] 3
Nmnber of given digit

on four oflier bills
(rounded) 4* 3
Probable total of digit 6

on all five bills
At the end of die book, you’ll find a table giv¬

ing probable totals for two to seven players. You
can’t refer to tables during a game, of axurse, so
32
Ltai^s Poker: The Ultimate Bar Game
it’s a good idea to get accustomed to figuring tiie

probabilities in your bead.
Certain calls axe made with the odds and some
are against the odds. To do this knovêdgeably, it’s
necessary to know the odds of the various combina¬
tions that appear.
In the following example fox the odds for a
given number in Liar’s Poker, we’re using 5s;,
Combination Odds
0 5s 1 chance out of 1.934
15 1 chance out of 2.071
45s 1 chance out of 204.217
5 5s 1 chance out of ' 2,118.375
6 5s 1 chance out of 42,553.191
7 5s 1 chance out of 1,219,512.195
8 5s 1 chance out of 100,000,000.000
As you can see, the odds are very good that a

bill will have 0, 1, or two of a kind in the serial
number. The odds against increase rapidly as the
number of a digit on a bill increases. The chances
are very poor indeed that you will get a bill with
eight 5s.
You can use this knowledge to advantage in
Liar’s Poker, since you have an idea whether a
given f-all is reasonable or against the odds.
That’s Liar’s Poker, and all you need to play is

money.
33
2. Dollar Bingo and Dollar Nim
Bingo, it is said, involves some two ibillion dollars

a year, a hefty sum for a game sponsored mostly
by churches and dvic groups. It’s an easy game—
imTpss you’re one of the inveterate players who tries
to handle a half a dozen or more Bingo cards at
once. Winning depends on the luck of the cards and
thfi luck of the numbers called out. You can play a
variation of Bingo without any of the equipment
required for the formal game. All you need is paper
and pencil, a supply of dollar bills, and, if desired,
coins or matchsticks to use as counters to cover the
numbers.
\
35
\
THE BASIC RULES
Each player (two or more; the caller may play

or not) draws a square divided into five boxes by
five boxes, twenty-five squares in all, and blocks out
a diagonal from upper left: to lower right These are
free squares. In the remaining twenty squares, he
writes in numbers between 0 and 9, in any order,
any combination.
Dollar Bingo and Dollar Nim
The object of the game is to cover all the numbers

(or a certain pattern, such as two horizontals, two
verticals, etc., decided by the caller before play
begins). The numbers called are determined by the
serial'numbers found on the upper right and lower
left comers of U.S. paper currency.
PRELIMINARIES
1. Decide what the ante is to be and what

stakes you are playing for. For example, it
may cost a dollar in the pot to play.
2. Decide when players can bet or drop out,

for example, after four mnnbers have been
read out, eight (the number of digits on a
biU).
3. Decide whether the number caller will play
along or just call numbers. The caller has
a number of bills and determines what the
pattern wiU be and whether he will caU
from a maximmn number of bills (say,
three) or continue until someone wins.
DESCRIPTION OF PLAY
The first bill used for calling numbers has, for

example, the serial number 12352066. The game
wiU be all numbeis covered. The caller gives the
37
numbers one at a time imtil aJl eight have been

read. The player who has the Bingo card above
would then appear as follov^ (the player has the
option of dimmating any 1, any 2, etc., he has
written into his card),
This player has been able to eliminate all eight

numbers, and now the players can make bets on the
basis of their cards. Our player may figure he’s
doing well, and put in another dollar. Tlie other
players may put in a dollar or raise it, or even drop
out.
38
' The caller now reads the serial number of a

second bill, say 60392119.
Our player^s card now looks like this:
Another bet is mad.e by all players, dependmg

on how they tbiuk their chances are for covering
aU numbeis with the next bill. Obwously, if a player
has more than eight numbers still uncovered, he
may choose to drop out, if the game is three-bill
]Ti?<YTTrmm, or he may be willing to bet that he will
cover more numbers than the others, even without
completing the entire card. If on the reading of tiie
third bill, someone does cover all numbers before
39
the entire serial number is read out, he wins at once.

If no one covers all numbers, the person with the
fewest numbers uncovered wins the pot.
VARIATIONS
The caller can decide that instead of covering

aH numbers, the first player to get one or two hori¬
zontal or vertical rows or any other pattern is the
winner.
It’s also posdble to draw the card with only a
center square as a freeisquare—this means that
there are twenty-four squares to cover, and a mini¬
mum of three bills with eight-digit serial numbers
must be used.
It can be decided before the game begins that
a minimum of six numbers must have been covered
at the end of the first serial number to stay in the
game and bet.
Flayers can also use two game cards, and it is
possible to draw a game with a larger number of
horizontal and vertical squares (say, six by ax—
which would mean a minimum of four serial num¬
bers to cover thirty squares with a free diagonal of
six Squares). However, the traditional Bingo game
is five by five squares, and we prefer to stick with
tradition.
40
\
DOLLAR NIM
Nim is a game that computers play well because the

winning combination is 1-0-0 in any order, and
Os and Is are the native binary language of ODm-
putera. All figûres are express^ by computers in
combinations of Os and Is.
The usual game of Nun requires two players,
paper, and pendL Tlie first player writes down any
three numbers between 1 and 9, for example,
8-3-9. Each of the two players lien alternately
subtract, from one of the numbers at a time, any
amount between 1 and 9. The player to leave the
combination of 1-0-0 (or any order of two Os and
a 1) is the winner.
Dollar Nim is a variation, using, oqce again,
the digits of serial numbers on paper currency.
THE BASIC RULES
The object is to subtract from a combination

of three numbers chosen by each player for himsdf
to leave the combination of 1—0—0, in any order.
As many people as deared can play, with one per¬
son acting as caller.
41
' Bar Gaines, Bets & Challenges
DESCRIPTION OF PLAY
Each player writes down a three-number com¬

bination between 1 and 9, and antes up whatever
has been decided upon.
The caller reads off the serial number of a
dollar bill, and the players subtract the number
from any of the three they’ve written down. If the
caller reads a number larger than the digits the
player has, he must add the number to one of the
figures, but anything that would total more than
nine gives only a nine. Play continues until one
player comes up with 1-0-0, and bets can be made
after each serial number has been read off.
To take an example, say Player A chooses a
three-figure combination at random of 7-5-9. He
writes that down on the top of his sheet of paper,
and the caller takes a bill from the pile. The cêr
reads off the serial munber, one digit at a time, not
too slow, not too fast, but fast enough so that play¬
ers have to make rapid decisions about which of the
three munbers to subtract from. (Or add to, if it
comes to that.)
Say our caEer has a serial number that reads
25140787. Play for Player A might go as follows;.
42
CALLER PLAYER A
■*
rails 7-5-9
subtracts 2
2 - 2 from any digit
5-5-9
subtracts 5
5 - 5 from any digit
0-5-9
subtracts 1
I ^ ' 1 from any digit
0-4-9
etc.
4 - 4
0-0-9
At this point, if the caller should call an 8,

Player A would be a winner, because 9 — 8 == 1,
and he would have 0-0-1. However, if the next caH
on the serial number is 0, then:,
1 0-0-9 adds 7 to
^7 either 0
7-0-9
8 - _8
7-0-1 subtracts 7
7 from remaining
0-0-1 digit
This time Player A does win—although usually the

chances that a random number chosen by a player
and the random serial number on a bill chosen from
a pile won’t subtract to a combination of 0-0-1 (or
' : 43
/
1-0-0 or 0-1-0). Part of the skill in playing Dollar

Nim is in making quick decision^ about what digit
to subtract from or, if necessary, add to, as the caller
reads off the nmnbers.
Try playing it between two people, caller and
player, a few times to get a feeling for the way the
game is played.
If no one reaches 0-0—1 in one serial ninnber,
go on to the nect.
The original game of Nim (sometimes called
Nimo), both the paper and pencil game described
at the beginning ctf this section, and the kind played
with matches (described in the chapter on games
with matches) is a losing proposition when played
against a computer. The game was used by the early
computer designers in the 1950s to show how clever
their “electronic brains” were as compared to mere
human beings. The computers always won, because
they could figure on up ahead for all the possibilities.
Nowadays, one assumes that Nim in any form
is beneath any self-respecting computer’s contempt,
and the game in its various forms is the province of
the people who sit around the neighborhood bar en¬
try to find some entertainment to pass the time for
their kids.
OTHER GAMES WITH PAPER MONEY
Since everyone has a few bills in his pocket, al¬

though nowadays probably fewer than he’d like, he
can put them to use for a couple of other challenges
that are worth a small bet
44
DOLLAR DROP
You r.aTi use any denomination of paper money for

this game—ît’s not a matter of what it’s worth but
the dexterity of the two opponents.
Hold the end of a 'MQ between the thumb and
forefinger of one hand so it is suspended lengthwise
a few inches above the open thumb and forefinger
of your opponent.
The object is for your opponent to close his
thumb and forefinger on the bill as you drop it. Bet
he can’t do it—in actual fact it’s damn near
imposable.
DENOMINATIONS
The pa]^ money we carry around with us is so

familiar that we don’t pay much attention to what
appears on the bills. If you pay attention and can
remember what’s on our paper money for the de-
nominatioDS between $1 and $100, you can bet
your exponent that he can’t answer the following
three questions:
1. Which two men Who were not Presidents
of the United States appear on paper money
between $1 and $100?
2. Name the people who do appear on the $1,
$2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills.
45
3. Name wlhat appears on the reverse side of

each bill.
The answers;
1. Alexander Hamilton appears on the $ 10 biU.
He was the first Secretary of the Treasury.
Benjamin Franklin appears on the $100 bill.
2. $1 == Washington
$2 = Jefferson
$5 == Lincoln
$10 = Hamilton
$20 = Jackson
$50 = Grant
$100 = Franklin
3. $1 = The word ONE with the two sides of
. the Great Seal of the United States.
$2 = Monticello
$5 = Lincoln Memoiial
$10 = U.S. Treasury Building
$20 = The White House
$50 = U.S. Oapitol
$100 = Independence Hall
What about the other denominations of paper

currency?
$500 = McKmley, with an ornate Five Thou¬
sand on the reverse
$1000 = Cleveland, with an ornate One Thou¬
sand
$5000 = Madison, with an ornate Five Thou¬
sand
$10,000 = Chase, with an ornate Ten Thou¬
sand
46
A $100,000 bill also exists, but doesn’t show up in

games of Liar^s Poker. It’s used oidy in transactions
between the Federal Reserve System and the Trea¬
sury Department. A portrait of Wilson appears on
one side, and an ornate One Hundred Thousand
on the reverse.
The first bill with a portrait of a woman, inci¬
dentally, was a $1 silver certificate issued in 1886—
Martha Washington was the woman.
The first paper money in America was issued
in 1690 by Massachusetts in denominations from
two shillings to five poimds.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST ..«
Here’s a bet you can make (but not too often with
the same person). Have the person you’re betti^
faTfff out a single and look at the serial number. Fide
any two figures you wan^ but bet hhn that his bill
dther one (say, a 3 and a 5). Since there are
only ten possible numbers in the eight-figured serial
number, the odds are 5 to 1 that you will be right.
47
3. Amore and Other Games for
People with Ten Fingers
It’s not hard to imagine a couple of cavemen sitting

around the neighborhood fireplace, after a long
day’s hunting, idling away the time discovering the
combinations that two hands and ten fingers can
make.
Caveman Number One shows three fingers,
but Caveman Number Two diows only two. Num¬
ber One wins—^whatever a caveman might bet. A
nice rock, maybe?
We don’t know if that scene ever took place,
but it probably did at some point in the history of
mankind, and it’s still going on today.
It’s called variously Mora, Morra, Amore, or
just Fingers, and some people believe it’s the oldest
guessing game in the world. You find it played
commonly in bars in Italian neighborhoods in large
cities like New York—but you see kids everywhere
49
Bar GameSj Bets & Challenges
playing "odds and evens” to choose up sides or

settle disputes.
THE BASIC RULES
The game is usually played with two players,

each using one hand. The object is to call out the
correct totd number of fingers shown. A fist is 0,
and each player may ôw any number from 0 to 5.
The player who ealTa the ooiTect nmnber wins. If
neither player calls the correct total, the game does
not count. Both players calling the correct total also
means the game doesn’t onmt.
PRELIMINARIES
1. Decide what the bet will be.

2. Decide how many games the match will
con!^ of (three wins, or five, or fifteen).
DESCRIPTION OF PLAY
^ The two players face each other, and raise one

fist. As they “throw ouiP* five, four, three, two, ox
one finger ox a fist indicating 0, each simultaneously
calls out a number he bdieves will be the total num¬
ber shown by both players. _
If Player A calls 6 and throws out three fingers.
50
Amore and Other Games for People with Ten Fingers
■vvlule Player B throws two fingers and calls 5,

Player B wins the game. If neither or both call 5,
the game is disregarded and play begins again.
The amplicity is probably the appeal of Amore.
You don’t have to collect matchstidis or coasters,
have a dime in your pocket, or even be able to
read the numbers off a dollar bifl. AH you need are
the fingers on one hand.
Traditionally, each player keeps track of his
wins, and calls out the total after each win. The
first player to reach the agreed-upon number of
wins wins the match and the money, or whatever
the bet was.
VARIATIONS
As players gain skill, they might add a rule or

two, such as that 6 doesn’t count. If a player calls 6
at any time by mistake, he loses, even if the total
number of fingers shown by the two players is six.
The game can also be played with each player
using both hands. Thus the calls may range from 0
(all four hands showing fists or Os) to 20.
It is possible to play with three players, but
rather than having all three show fingers and mê
rallg at once (a possible variation, of course), it’s
more interesting to have only two of the three play
each game, with the loser in each game giving way
to the nonplayer. The first player to win the pre¬
determined niimber of games wins the match. To
decide the firet nonplayer, all three may throw out
fingers and call a number. The player who calls a
51
' Bar Games, Bets & Challenges
correct total is the first player and the next closest'
is the second.
Or, the players may pick at random one of the
\ players to start die coimt. Xhen all three throw out
fingers without making a call. Starting with the
person picked to start the count, the three players
count off 1, 2, 3, etc. in order, with the person who
calls the number of the total in the throw becoming
the nonplayer for the first game.
Four-handed Amore can be played by two sets
of partners, but each partner plays against one
opponent, and the partners score as one. Generally,
the partners play alternate opponents, but other¬
wise, the basic rules of two-person Amore apply.
Jacob Bronowski, in the Ascent of Man, de¬
scribes a form of Amore (he falls it Morra) in dis¬
cussing John von Neumann’s complex theory of
games and the mathematics behind the winning
strategy.
In this simple incarnation of die game, the two
players diow only one or two fingers and try to
guess the number the oppmient will diow. The one
who guesses correctly wins chips totalling the num¬
ber of fingers shown by the two players.
Thus, each player can call 1 and show one;
call 2 and show one; call 1 and show two; call 2
and diow two. ^
The strategy ( and it can be verified by trying
it) is to call 2 and iôw one or call 1 and show two.
In any twelve calls, with average luck, calling 2 and
showing one will win seven times; by calling 1 and
showing two, he will win on the average five times.
With the exchange of chips involve^ the player
foUowing this strategy will only lose an average of
52-
Amore and Other Games for People with Ten Fingers
one chip in twelve calls. The other will average a

higher loss.
The mathematics, as we have said, are com¬
plicated, but as Bronowski remarks, “This strategy
is unlikely to be guessed by a gambler who plays
himches.”
Try it.
SCISSORS, PAPER, STONE
The Scissors, Paper, Stpne game is an even simpler

form of Amore, which doesn’t evfen require mun-
bers or adding up totals. We think of it as a chil¬
dren’s game, but it has a long, time-honored
tradition that ties it up with Amore.
Instead of numbers, the fingers represent
objects—
A V made with two fingers represents scissors.
An open hand represents paper.
A fist represents stone.
The winner of a game is determined by the rela¬
tionship between the objects. Thus—
Scissors cuts paper.
Paper may be wrapped around a stone.
Stone can blunt scissors.
If both players show the same sign, the game is a
draw. Again, before play begins, the players de¬
termine how many winning games make up a match
—^two out of three, five, ten or fifteen wins.
This type of game has a history longer than
you might imagine. The idea that one element or
object can claim a superiority over another goes
53
back many thousands of years in Chinese culture.

Decorated bronze mirrors from the Han Dynasty of
more than two thousand years ago illustrate the
interaction of the yin and yang principles that give
birth to the five elements from which all events and
objects are derived. In this system— —
Water puts out fire.
Fire melts metaL
Metal destro^^ wood.
Wood overcomes earth.
Earth absorbs water.
The mirrors themselves were apparently also the
basis for a game called Liu-po, where the object
was to capture your opponents men and achieve a
symbolic control of the universe. Since the Chinese
have traditionally been great gamblers, it may not
be too farfetched to imagine them sitting over then:
wine cups making a few bets on the outcome of a
game of Liu-po.
54
4. Coasters and Swizzle Sticks
All kinds of games can be played (and bet on)

while you’re sitting aroxmd the neighborhood bar.
They don’t need anything more than what you’d
normally find there—cardboard coasters, swizzle
sticks, matches, toothpidas, glasses, paper napkins,
straws. They’re all short and ample, but we’re
warning you tibat some of them can be so engrossing
that you’ll hang around for hours trying to figure
them out or beat the system.
COASTERS
Coasters is as easy as can be, and it’s one of our

favorite bar games. There s a heavy element of
chance involved, along with a little common sense.
• 55.
The diance part makes it one of those games you

can easily get hooked on. In fact, if you’re one of
those people who*d rather sit alone, you can even
play it by yourself. But we ought to warn you—îf
you start off playing alone, we bet somebody’s going
to wonder what you’re dchig, and you’ll soon have
an opponent.
Two players are the usual number for Coast¬
ers, but any number can play. You don’t even have
to bet—^just keep score to determine the winner.
DESCRIPTION OF PLAY
All you need for a game of Coasters is nine

cardboard coasters found in almost every bar.. You
can play the game using squares of paper, provided
they are absolutely idaiticail, and the paper is heavy
enough so you can’t read niunbers written on them
when they’re lined up number side down on the
table or bar. You might even use nine small paper
napkins—again heavy enough so that the nmnbers
don’t show through.
The nine coasters are numbered from 1 to 9
on one side and turned over, number side down.
Player A shuffles them well and puts them in a row,
still with numbers down, in front of Player B.
Player B chooses a coaster and turns it over.
Let’s say he chooses the fourth coaster from the
right and finds it’s munbered 3. The nmnber gov¬
erns his nejct move—he can take the third coaster
in from either end of the row.
56
Coasters and Swizzle Sticks
• -<-1st move
_
„_ooo
move or ^ ^
When he trims over this coaster, his neict move

'is determined by the number on it. If it happens to
be a 4, for example, he has only one posible move
—the fourth coaster from the left, since the fourth
from the right is already out of the game. Player B
continues untU no further moves are possible.
The numbers on the coasters that remain are
added up to give Player B his score. The object of
the game is to get the lowest total, so ideally, you
want to eliminate all the coasters for a score of 0.
Player A then takes his turn, after Player B has
shuffled the nine coasters and placed them number
side down in front of Player A. Player A makes his
first choice, and proceeds with the game. To win, he
just has to end up with a lower score than Player B.
Gmng back to Player B’s game shown earlier,
here’s how a complete series of moves might go;
FIRST MOVE: Choose any coaster. Player
turns up a 3;
oooo6*ooo
SECOND MOVE: Player choose three coast¬
ers in from the left, and turns up a 4:
57
00000^000
THIRD MOVE: Since coaster four in from
the right has already been eliminated. Player must
take fourth coaster from the left, turning up a 9:
FOURTH MOVE: Player has the option of

taking the ninth coaster from either end (first or
last in the row—^nine from either end). He chooses
nine in from tihe right, and gets a 6. Now no further
moves are possible, rince the sixth coaster counting
from either the right or the left has already been
eliminated:
SCORING: Player totals up the numbers on

the coasters which have not been turned over, for
a score of 23. His opponent must score lower than
23 to win:
58 /
r
Coasters and Swizzle Sticks ^ ,

>
-Z5
Strategy hint: it’s unwise to dioose the middle
coaster for your first move—there’s a 1 out of 9
rharirf! that it will be a 9. Since it’s the fifth coaster
from either end, you have no possible second move,
and you wiU end up with a total score of 40, which
is the highest you can get. In other words, you’re a
certain loser.
SWIZZLE BEND
Some bar games are infinitely simple.

Here’s simplicity itself—^wizade Bend. Mahe
your bet with your opponent and get yourselves a
pile of hollow swizzle sticks (don’t use the solid
kind) or plastic straws. The object of the game is to
bend a swizzle stick with one hand so that the bend
comes exactly in the middle and both ends meet.
The player with the bend closest to the middle wins.
59
OLIVE IN A GLASS
This is a trick with swizzle sticks and a coin.

Lay out four swizzle sticks and a coin as shown
—so that it looks like an olive in a glass.
60
Bet your opponent that he can’t move two swizzle

sticks so that the “olive” is outside of the “glass,”
but the “glass” is the same ^pe. (We’ve numbered
the swizzle sticks above to explain the solution.)
Puzzle over the problem for a while and see if
61
Bar Gês, Bets & Challenges
you can figure it out. No luck? Try this—remem¬

ber, you move only two of the swizzle sticks.
Move swizzle number 3 to the right so that the
left end lines up with the number 4 swizzle. Move
die number 1 swizde to the right end of number 3,
so that it’s paralld with number 4. The^ “olive” is
out of the “glass” and the “gla^’ has been re¬
constructed. Number 2 becomes the stem of the
glass.
c=;c::z*.2c:£z;z:r;cx=u:; Ft
M
13
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H
I
S
62
SWIZZLE FULCRUM
Here’s a tricky bet to make with someone like an

enginftftr who fancies bimsRilf well-veised in prin¬
ciples of spatial rdationships, and the like.
You need two straws or hollow swizzle sticks
and a couple of paper napkins.
Bend one of the swiê sticks in the middle so
the ends meet From the second, cut off a piece
about a third the length of the swizzle stick. On one
of the napkins, set up a pyramid with the bent
swizzle resting on the smaller piece. AAHien the sticks
are balanced, bet your opponent that he can’t move
' f
63
the two pieces from the napkin to another a few
inches away without using more than another
swizzle stick.
The tiick is to dip a swizzle stick behind the un¬
attached leg so that it rests on the bend. Then lift
and move ê triangle to the second napkin.
5. One Thin Dime (or more):
Games with Goins
Benjamin Franidm designed the first Continental

coin back in 1787, the copper Franklin cent or
Fugio, after the motto on one ade—fuô, “I fly.
The samp coin also bore the words “Mind Your
Business,” advice players of some of these games
might wush diey had taken.
Some coin games are matters of skill and
<.T7gTirp. to be played over and over again, win or
lose. Others are puzders that are challenges to those
who don’t know the trick (and sure winners for
those who do).
65
EIGHT-POINTED STAR
One of otir favorite puzzlers has a ample solu¬

tion, but imtil your opponent figures it out (if he
ever does), you*re gtmg to wm every round.
You need paper and pendl and eight coins.
Draw an eight-pointed star on the paper, like the
illustration. (Draw a tic-tac-toe diagram, and con¬
nect the ends of the lines diaganafiy as shown.
The object is to end up with a coin at each point

of the star, by placing a coin first at any point and
riiding it along either of the straight lines to the
opiKxsite point Once a coin has been moved, it can-
66
One Thin Dime (or more): Games with Coins
not be moved again. The last coin is simply placed

on the remaining empty space. Thus, if the player
elects to start at Point A, he can move to eithCT
Point B or Point G. Then he places a second coin
on any point he chooses and slides it along one of
the a\âble straight' lines, and so on.
Unless your opponent is extremely lucky or

sees die solution at once, he is going to end up with
two or three or even four coins to place ydth no
line open to slide them along to another point.
Try the game yoursdf a few times before read¬
ing the solution, and you’ll see how challenging—
and frustrating—it can be. If you or your opponent
67
is good at spatial rdations, you may figure it out. K
not^ here’s the trick.
You can start at any point and dide the coin
to one of the oppoate poinla along one of the two
available straight lines. The next coin, however,
must start at a point that brings it bacX; to fill the
g>ace just vacated by the previous coin. K you do
this consistently with all the remaining <x>insi, you
will always end up with one coin to place in the last
remaining empty space.
68
If you start at Point A and make your first move to

Point B, your next move mvst be from Point G back
to Point A. The third move must be from Point D
to fill Point G, then from Point E to fill Point D,
and so forth- Following the diagram, you will finally
have only Point H open to place the last coin.
Of course, when you’re playing a series of these
games with an unsuspecting opponent, you would
pick a different Point A each time and spend a
little time blufiBng—as if you were trying to decide
which point to choose next, although in reality
there’s only one possible choice to move a coin back
to your chosen Point A.
PYRAMID
While we’re at it, there’s another tricky coin

puzzle with coins that takes advantage of our
tendency to see only what’s in front of us.
Make a pyramid out of ten pennies or ten
dimes in rows of 1-2-3-4.
69
1
/
\
The problem is to move three coins to change the

apex of the pyramid. We*ve seen praple puzzle
over the pyramid for a long time and stifl not see
that if you take away the three coins at each comer
of the pyramid, you are left with a circle of seven
coins—and the apex can be placed anywhere with
the three remaining coins.
70
SlilLw
71
Incidentally, gamblers* “ludty coins’* probably
go back to very ancient times when coins had
sacred or mystical symbols on them and weê thus
considered “luck bringens.”
MATCHING GOINS
Matching Goins is more of a game of chance, where

the odds are pretty even.
Two players each have an equal number of a
given coin, say fifteen dimes each. They choose who
win have odds and who will have evens (perhaps
by the toss of a coin).
The players then shake the pfle of coins in
their hands and stack them in a pile in front of
them, keeping the top coin hidden until play begins.
Because they have been diaken, there is no way of
telling whe&er the corns in the stadc are lying—
heads up or heads down.
Both players reveal their top com. If two heads
or two tails show, the person who has even wins. If
the top coins on the two stacks are a heads a
tails, the aUd player wins. The players stay with
their choice of odd or even throughout the gamei,
with the person having the highest number of wins
in the stack winning ^ game. Of couisei it*a pos-
^le to bet on each pair of coins as it is revealed to
;make the game more interesting.
72
PENNY TOSS
Another game that depends on whether heads or

to-ila show IS the Penny Toss. Actually, the game is
sometimes played professionally under the auîces
of bookmakers, but we suggest you might enjoy it
just as a friendly game to pass some time with
friends. It ori^nated, by the way, in Australia,
where it was called Two Up.
The game required some penmes and in its
organized form, a small paddle a few inches long
and an inch or so wide. We suggest you mi^t u^
a sturdy cardboard coasto:, either as is or cut in
Although a regular game has the players
standing in a circle, in your neighborhood bar or
the like you can just at around a table—ând if you
lose a few pennies on the floor, it’s not going to
matter much.
The first player puts two pennies oirthe coaster
up^ thpu tosses them into the arr so that they
q)ih at least a couple of times. If they fall \rith both
heads up, the player wins. K ihey fall with both
tails up, he loses and must pass the play to the n^
player. One heads and one tails make a no-decirion
play, and the same player continues.
The other players may want to bet on the out¬
come of each tosS”““dither a wm or a loss.
People who become fascinated with the Penny
Toss win often practice controlling the toss, and
although it^s probably not possible to end up with
73
heads up every time, a diligent tosser can gain a

little advantage over less dedicated players.
Be sure to determine beforehand what will
constitute an invalid toss—for example, a coin that
doesn’t spin in the air—and have someone (the
player or another in the group) be required to call
“No toss” as the coins are dropping, if the toss
doesn’t meet the rules.
A possible variation is to use three coins instead
of two, so that every toss will give at least two heads
or two tails.
You might also, if you are iiang a coaster, play
the game so that the two coins must land back on
the coaster after they are tossed. (In this case, you’ll
have to specify a certain number of spins in the air
for a valid toss.)
TWO OUT OF THREE
While we’re on the subject of flipping coins, it’s a

50-50 bet that you can call a heads or tails when
you toss a coin. However, you might see if you can
persuade someone to take a bet on whether you can
call heads or tails two out of three times. It sounds
like a good bet—but the odds are still 50-50 that
you’ll be able to call two out of three—either you or
your opponent will be right at least two out of three
times. And if you lose, he has to get two out of three.
74
SPOOF
Many vaiiations of Spoof can be played, using

matches, bottle caps, toothpicks.
Each player has three coins. The players hide .
any number (or none) in their right fists. One by
one, moving clockwise, each player calls out the
total number of coins in all the players’ hands—^but
no two players can call the same number.
The one who guesses correctly or is closest to
the total without going over wins. If all are over,
the closest to the number wins (or the game may be
void).
The interest in the game is learning to tell if
a player is blufiSng—he may not have any coins in
his hand, yet he calls a hi^ number, or he has a
large number of coins but calls a low number.
You can, of course, use a large number of
coins for each player.
75
\
BURNING DIMES
Burning Dimes is a combination of luck and skill.

It can be played with two to four people, and while
there are a number of rules and variations, the fol¬
lowing method is probably the most interesting (and
safest, since you don’t want to set the bar on fire).
A glass is placed upright on the bar and a
paper napkin is placed over die top of the glass,
drawn tightly and secured with a rubber band. It’s
best to use four thicknesses of paper, as bar napkins
tend to be thin.
A dime is placed on the napkin exactly in the
middle. The object of the game is for each player in
turn to bum a small hole in the napkin, and the
player who causes the dime to fall into the glass is
the loser.
Although it is posable to use burning matches
for this, and to specify that you must see flame, this
usually means a very short game, as the napkin may
bum entirely with the first match. Better to use a
lighted cigarette, and specify that it must be held
perpendicular to the napkin for a count of five.
With the four layers of paper, a circle will smoulder
through the napkin, ^ged in glowing ash that
quickly bums out. The challenge is to find a place
to bum a new hole as the number of bums increases
—sometimes the napkin hangs on by a thread be¬
fore the dime eventually falls.
76
DIME DROP
The Dime Drop is a chaflenge game you stand a

good, chance of winning unless you happen to be
trying it on someone who is exceptionally steady of
Tign«^ (in which case, maJce it two out of three
tries!).
Place a dime on the rims of two pony gla^
or other small glasses (without stems), and put a
77
taller gla^s in front of them. There should be a
space of a quarter of an inch or so between the
pony glasses, with the dime bridging the two, and
an inch or so between the pony glasses and the tall
glass.
The object is to lift the pony glasses together
and dump the dime into the tall glass. Sounds easy,
doesn’t it? Try it a few times, and you’ll see how
difficult it is. ‘
What’s the trick? When you pick up the glasses,
your fingers must meet around the two glasses so
that you can hold them steady and dmnp the Himfi
into the tall glass. The first few times you do it
against an opponent, he may not notice at all what
you’re doing with your hands—especially if he’s
frustrated with his own failed attempts to hold the
glasses steady enough to raise them witiiout drop¬
ping the dime on the table. Be sure to use small
enough glasses to balance the dime so that you can
easily get your fingers around them.
PENNY GRAB
Your opponent places a penny on the pahn of his

outstretched right hand, while you, sitting opposite,
put your open right hand beside it, pinky to pinky.
When you move your hand to grab the penny, he
must dose his fist over it to prevent you from doing
so.
You can usually talk someone into this chal¬
lenge, but luck and reflexes are on your side—^you’re
making the first move that he must respond to—so
78
you’ll almost alwa.ys be able to grab the peimy.

A114 by the way, not only was a penny the first
Continental coin, it was also the first coin to bear
the portrait of a President—the 1909 lincoln
penny.
You might bet someone that he can’t name the
first foreign monarch to appear on a United States
coin—ând even give him an additional hint: it was
a woman. Unless he’s a coin collector, he probably
won’t come close to guessing that it was Que^
of Spain, who sent Columbus off to dis¬
cover America. It was the Isabdla alver quarter
issued in 1893 to oMnniemorate the Chicago C<>
Imnbian Expodtion, celebrating the 400th aimi-
veisary of Colund>uds voyage. (The Columbian
half dollar, issued the year before, was &e first com¬
memorative coinage issued fay the United Statra.)
Has a Black ever appeared on a U.S. coin?
Booker T. Wadungton—on a half-dollar com¬
memorative silver coin issued in 1946.
79
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/
6. Got A Match? Games with Matches
There are hundreds of games to be played with a

pile of matches. Like the coins games, some are
simply puzzlers that test the logic of your opponents.
Others are the sort of games you can play over and
over again, matching your skill and luck against
that of your fellow players.
In passing, it’s interestmg to note that “matdi”
games cannot have been played for very long.
Wooden friction matches have only been around
since the mid ISSQs, and book matches weren’t
manufactured until 1896. In some parts of the
world today, matches in books are almost un¬
known. In the GarSbbean, for instance, tourist
holds have them, but the local people use wooden
box matches. The reason? In hot tropical climate^
cardboard match books tend to become quickly un¬
usable as they get limper and Ihnper in the damp-
81
ness, while wooden safety matches hold up wdL

Remember that any game played with matches
can as easfly be played with to^piciks, and many
' of them can also be played with coins or bottle caps
as wdl.
LAST MATCH LOSES (NIM or NIMOy
One of the most fascinating and challenging games

to play is Last Mateh Loses. There is a syst^ to
winning, dnce it is based on numbers and games
theory, but there’s also an dement of unpredict¬
ability, since inilially you can’t control what your
opponent will do. However, if you imdeistand the
system for winning in Last Match Loses, you have
a far better than even diance of winning—espe¬
cially if your opponent has no idea that there is a
system.
First, you need fifteai matches, whidi you
place in the shape of a pyramid: 1-2-3-4-5. And
two players.
Each player in turn removes from any row as many
matches as he chooses. The player who must take
the last match loses.
At first, it’s a good idea to play a few random
games. Scmietimes you’ll win and sometimes you’ll
lose, and you might even be able to figure out why.
Practice a couple of games by yourself even, Idt
band against right, in the amplest form—rows of
1-2-3.
The point is to take away matches so that you
82
Got a Match? Games with Matches
leave your opponent 1-1-1 in three rows, or equal

nmnbers in two rows, for example, 2-2 or 3-3. If
this happens, you will always win (true no matter
how many rows you start with).
If yoru* opponent leaves you 1-2-3, you will
usually win, unless your opponent, in a subsequent
move, leaves you with 2-2. This, of course, depends
on whether he knows the principles of the game or
simply happens to remove a match to give that
pattern (or 1-1-1).
You can use any arrangement of matdhsticks—
1-3-5-7, for example. Changing the pattern can
put your opponent off guard.
The game can also be played as Last Match
Wins. In this case, you will win if you leave your
opponent two groups containing the same number
83
of matches. If he takes away a number from one

group, you then take away the same number from
Sie oêr and so on. If he happens to remove all
the matches from a group, you do the same with
the otha:—ând you will have taken the last match.
This game can go on for hours.
MATCH FAN TAN
Fan Tan has been a popular Chinese game for cen- ^

tuiies, and a variation played with cards was played
in the early West as Chinese laborers brought in to
build the railroads introduced the game to gamblers
of the American frontier.
Instead of using cards or tokens (or often
beans) as the early players did, you can use a pile
of mfltfihfiH (or even toothjucfe). You will need
about fifty to seventy-five. One player acts as the
baidrer, and the other players place bets on the
numbers 1,2,3, or 4.
The bajêr takes a handful of matches from
the pile and counts them out in piles of four. Each
completed pile of four is put aside, and the number
of matchsticks remaining at the end of the count
(1, 2, 3, or 4 if the last matches make up a com¬
pleted pile) determines the winner.
84
4
Got a Match? Games zvith Matches
MATCHES
Matches is played like Spoof, described in the chap¬

ter on coin games.
Each player (there should be two or more) is
given three matches. Bdiind his back, or in any
manner that prevaits his opponents from seeing
what he is doing, he puts none, one, two, or three
matches in his right hand. All players then put thdr
closed hands on the table, and the playo: desig¬
nated to make the first call tries to guess the exact
number of matches contained in all the hands. The
other players then make their calls in rotation.
The way we’ve seen the game played, the rules
for Matches go as follows:
A player cannot make an impossible call. For
example, if three are playing, and Player A has no
matches in his hand, he can’t call 7, 8, or 9.
The first player to make two correct calls wins.
A number may be called only once in a roxmd.
If Player A calls 6, Player B and the others may
not use that number.
The first call rotates around the group in sub¬
sequent games, no matter who wins.
You can decide beforehand whether an exact
call must be made to win, or whether the person
closest to the total in a roimd wins.
85
EQUATION
For this puzzler, you need axteen matches and

someone to make a bet with. Line up the matches
in the following equation.
flU"!!!
In other words, 12 + 3 ^ 4. The challenge is
to move only one mateh to make it an equal equa*
tion. There are two solutions:
1. Move one match from the row of three and
add it to the four to get:i
or 1+ 2 + 2 “5
2. Move one match from the group of two, and
use it to form a plus agn with the middle match
of the group of three:
Got a Match? Games with Matches
MATCH SQUARES
Lay out twelve matches to make four adjoining

squares like the diagram.
L 11
I
/ ifc, ^ Ul
Now diallenge someone to change the diagram to

make seven squares—by moving only two matches.
The solution is simple, but your opponent is
going to spend a lot of time thinking.
/ ■
87
r »
H nl
1 11 ' ^
“ i:I
Simply make a cross witih two of the matches within

one of the remaining stpiares.
f
7. Bet You Can’t... Skill Games
We*ve seen people come into bare and do some

amaang tiiciks that obviously rûired some prac¬
tice at home to bring to perfection.
The challenge usually b^ns, “I bet you can’t
» . followed by some appaxendy imposable feat
with glasses, water, eggs, matdies, you name it.
Sometimes ê trick has to do with common sense
[(hke using your fingers to hold Ihe glarees steady
for the Dime Drop, described earlier), but a guy
who shows up with a really difficult dhalloige has
probably ênt some time working on the skills
needed to bring it off. Quite often, there are scien¬
tific principles involved that everybody is quite well
aware of, but fails to apply to the situation at hand.
We’ll give you a few of these challenges, but
suggest you spend some time practicing them before
you try them out at the neighborhood bar.
89
CIGARETTE TOSS
\
This particular trick requires quite a bit of pi^

tice, but it be mastered, without too much diffi-
culty. Once you’ve got it down, you can walk in
any place with a smile on your face and a sure wm-
ning bet in the palm of your hand.
Here’s the bet and the trick. Bet your oppo¬
nent that he can’t rest a i)ony gla® on the palm of
his hand and a cigarette on his outstretched fingers
(parallel to the fingers, not across) and toss them
both into the air at the same time and catch the
falling cigarette in the glass. The glass must make
at least one revolution in the air.
Bet You Can’t.. .Skill Games
Your opponent is probably gwng to have a stab at

doing the trick—it doesn’t sound all that hard—but
unless he’s done it before^ chances are he’ll miss.
(Be sure to use a sturdy glass in case he misses catch¬
ing it—he’s sure to miss the cigarette.)
While you’re practicing at home, remember
this trick. Flip the dgarette so that it goes up some¬
what higher than the glass. This gives you enough
time to catch the glass while the cigarette is still in
the air. When you show off the trick to prove that it
can be done, nobody is going to notice the differmt
heights the glass and cigarette are tossed. And you’ll
have a winning bet and impress all the folks in the
bar.
GLASS ON CHEEK
This challenge starts out with an imposable-sound-

ing bet. Put two pony glasses on the bar, one empty
and one fuU. (You decide what it’s filled with—
brandy, water, or any other preferred liquid.)
Here’s the bet: “I bet you can’t lift the empty
glass off the bar without using your hands, and
drink the one with the liquid. And I bet / can....”
It does sound imposribl^ and your oppon^t is
going to puzzle over the problem for a while. (He’ll
be thinking that there’s got to be a trick to it, and
there is, but he’s not going to come up with an easy
answer.)
Try this a couple of times at home before you
display your skill—it works.
Drop a lighted match into the empty glass, and
91
Bar Grames, Bets & Challenges
immediately press your cheek against the rim. As

the match has used up the oxygen, a vacuum has
been created, and the glass is firmly fixed to your
cheek. You can then drink Ihe liquid in the ffled
glass, lifting it up with your teeth to finish it off.
Some people rub their cheek with an ice cube be¬
fore dropping in the match, but with a small gla^
the match goes out quickly with no danger of a
bum, so it’s not really necessary.
FLOATING EGG
The Floating Egg trick always fascinates kids, but

you can do it in a bar where there’s a raw egg and
plenty of salt available.
Gan your opponent make a raw egg float on
the surface of a glass of water? Bet him he can’t,
and demonstrate first that an egg put into a glass
half full of water will sink to the bottom. (By the
way, if the egg does happen to float—get rid of it
gendy. It’s a very bad egg.)
After your opponent has tried to figure out
how to maice the egg float for a while, show him
how, and win the bet.
Stir in plenty of salt into a glass half full of.
water. Add salt until no more salt with dissolve.
Then gently lower the egg on a spoon into the brin^
which is denser than the egg and—the egg will
float!
For an extra fillip, show your opponent and
the spectators that you can also make the egg stay
suspended under the surface of the water. Simply
92
Bet You Can’t.Skill Games
add fresh water slowly to the glass. With the dense

brine at the bottom and the lighter pure water on
top, the egg will remain peacefully in the middle of
die glass.
A CURIOUS FACT ABOUT EGGS
This is a feat that can only be achieved at certain

times of the year, like pre^cting a solar eclipse to
primitive people to escape their clutches. (Gome to
think of it, Mark Twain used the idea in A Con¬
necticut Yankee in King Arthufs Court to good
effect)
Twice a year, on the spring and autumn equi¬
noxes, the earth is the least tilted on its axis. On
those two days, it’s possible to balance an egg on its
broad end, and it will remain upright. Now, all you
have to do is know when it’s the first day of ^ring
or the first day of autumn, show up at the neigh¬
borhood bar with a raw egg, and bet somebody you
can do it. (But don’t let him try it first—he’ll be
able to do it as well as you can.)
STRAW IN THE BOTTLE
Bet you can’t remove a straw with a toothpick

through it from an empty bottle (the toothpick
rests on the rim) without touching bottle, straw, or
toothpick.
Another “impos^le” bet to pull on someone
- 93
—ibut try it out at home to get an idea of how it

works.
Get one of the empty botdes from the bar¬

tender, and make sure it’s dry inside. Insert the
toothpick through the straw. Have the bartender
run hot water over the bottle without getting any
and rest the straw as diown. Now drop a
lighted match into the bottle, and the straw will
ôot out. You’ve removed the straw without touch¬
ing itl
94
Bet You CarCt... Sk^l Games
SCOTCH AND BOURBON
Did you ever notice that d[id> soda in bourbon seems

to bubble more than it does in scotch? You can bet
someone that it does—and it does seem to.
Pour out equal amounts of scotch and bourbon
into glasses with the same amount ice and watch
what happens. The bourbon does appear to have
more bubbles and a longer Tasting head.
Impress your friends by explaining that the
dub soda doesn’t bubble *‘mord* in one the
other. Bombon amply has more constituents (acids,
tannins, etc.), giving more and longer-lasting sur¬
face tension to keep the bubbles from fi77Ting out
quickly, as they do in scotch. No trick to it at all
STEADY HAND
Is that guy atting next to you boasting about how

steady his hand is? Try this one on him.
Bet him that he can’t fill a glass with water
and float a cork on the top, lift the glass, and hold
it so steady that the cork wfll float in tiie middle
without touching the sides of the glass.
He’ll probdfly fill up the glass nearly to the
top, place the onk gently on the surface of the
water, lift the glass (steadily, of comse)—and the
cork bumps up against the side of the glass, no
matter how steady ids hand is.
95
/
Bar Games, Bets & Challenges^
Let him fool around with the glass and cork
for a while, then show him how it’s done.
Using the same glass, dowly pour in more
water until it actually is a fraction higher than the
rim of the glass. The cork will be floating on the
surface without touching the sides of the glass as
you lift it (again, steadily, of course), and win the
bet.
<
96
8. Words to the Wise:
Word Games
Any bets on bow many words get tos^d around

while a group of friends sit around for an evening?
A lot of foolish ones, thafs for sure, and maybe
some profound thoughts, as well—^jokes and fact^
boasts and even bets.
For a game of words, you don’t need anydiing
except your wits and some of those words that come
pouring out of your mouth anyhow when there’s at
least one other person around. You can always
make up challenges with words about subjects you
know backward and forward, and nobody else is
likely to know as well as you do. You will win the
bet every time. Orie fdlow we know ‘happened to
be interested in odd subjects like European royalty,
used to casually bet people who fancied them¬
selves well-informed about world affairs that they
97
couldn’t name the countries of Europe where the

head of state is royalty.
Sotmds easy—^there’s England and ... and ...
Actually, liiere are ten:
1. England 6. Sweden
2. The Netherlands 7. Liechtenstein
3. Belgixmi 8. Luxembourg
4. ' Denmark 9. Monaco -
5. Norway 10. Spain
And for the rest of the world, go East: Japan,

Nepal, Jordan, Thailand, Morocco, Sikkim, Saudi
Arabia...
BODY WORDS
k '' N
Here’s an idle challenge, naming parts of the

body (it’s fun for kids, too, on long drives with
nothing to do). Name ten parts of the human body
spelled with three letters. (No slang allowed—e.g.,
"ass”—or contractions or shortened forms, such as
"lid” for eyelid.) Hint: start at the top and work
down, or the bottom and work up, to get th^ all.
1. ear 6. rib
2. eye 7. hip
3. gum 8. arm
4. Hp - 9. leg
5. jaw 10. toe
Words to the Wise: Word Gaines
Try naming the parts of the body spelled widi

four letters. There are sbcteen; if you can quickly
name more tba-n a dozen, you’re doing weU.
1. head 9. lung
2. hair 10. hand
3. skin 11. palm
4. nose 12. nail
5. chin 13. knee
6. neck 14. foot
7. vein 15. heel
8. back 16. arch
Somebody is going to name “face,” 1
it as a body part for a seventeenth, if you wish.
WINE INTO BEER; LADDERGRAMS
Liaddergrams is an old word game in which

tTiP! players are challenged to change one letter of a
given word at a time until the original word is
transformed into an entirely new (but somehow
related) word.
For example, turn cat into dog in three moves.
It words out this way: cat, cot, cog, cfog.
You can easily make up your own—just
member that the first word and the last in the senes
have to have the same number of letters, and it’s
better if the first and last words share the sanm
pattern of consonants and vowels. The challenge is
99
to make the transformation in the fewest number of

moves.
Here are a few more examples.
1. Turn tvine into beer in six moves.
(wine, wind, went, weed, seed, seer, beer)
2. Turn lead into gold in five' moves.
(lead, read, road, toad, told, gold)
3. Turn run into sit in five moves.
(run, rub, rib, nib, nit, sit)
4. Turn black into white in seven moves,
(black, brack, brace, trace, trice, trite,
write, white)
5. Turn check into money in ten moves,
(check, chick, chink, chins, coins, corns,
cores, cones, hones, honey, money)
And finally, how about turning bets into lose in a

mere four moves? (bets, lets, lots, loss, lose) Or bet
into vein in three? (bet, bit, bin, win)
GEOGRAPHY
The countries, cities, moimtains, rivers of the world

can provide hundreds of challenges to fill the horns.
Some are simple (or not so simple) games of: lists,
that everybody thiriks he can toss off without a
problem. Take Central and South America, for
example. It should be a snap to name the six coun¬
tries of Central America besides Mexico—but is it?
100
Words to the Wise: Word Games
1. Guatemala 4. Costa Rica ^

2. K Salvador 5. Honduras
3. Nicaragua 6. Panama
And then there’s Belize, formerly British Honduras,

a point of dispute between England and Guatemala.
How about the countries of South America? There
are deven independent coimtries on that continent,
and two that are still politically attached to coun¬
tries in Europe. Just to mahe it a little harder, how
about naming the countries and their capital cities?
1. Argentina (Buenos Aires)

2. Bolivia (LaPaz)
3. Brazil (Brasilia)
4. Chile (Santiago)
5. Colombia (BogotaJ
6. Ecuador (Quito)
7. Guyana (Georgetown)
8. Paraguay (Asundon)
9. Peru (lima)
10. Uruguay (Montevideo)
11. Venezuda (Caracas)
Surinam (Paramaraibo) is a coequal member

of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, and French
Guyana (Cayenne), where the infamous DeviTs
T<tlan'd prison was located until 1947, is a depart¬
ment of France.
While we’re on the subject of world capital^
how many national capitals with two words in their
names can you list? There are about dghteen or so,
although the way the world keeps changing and
101
\ Bar Games, Bets & Challenges
places keep getting renamed, the list is always
changing. z
1. Buenos Aires (Argentina)]

2. La Paz (Bolivia)
3. San Jose (Costa Rica) -
4. Porto Novo (Dahomey)’
5. Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)]
6. San Salvador (El Salvador)
7. Addis Abba (Ethiopia)
8. St. George’s (Grenada)
9. Guatemala City (Guatemala)’
10. New Delhi (India)
11. Phnom Penh (Khmer/Cambodia)]
12. Kuwait City (Kuwait)
13. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
14. Port Louis (Mauritius)
15. Mexico City (Mexico)
16. Ulan Bator (Mongoliay
17. Panama City (Panama)
18. Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)’
The Geography Game is an old favorite, a

good way to pass the time for grownups and kids.
It starts with the first player naming a country,
for example, Denmark. The second player must
then name a country beginning with the last letter
of the previously named country, in this case, K.
Player Two names Kenya, and Player Three must
name a country beginning with A. (You’ll quickly
find that a fof of countries end with the letter A.)
The next player names Afghanistan, for ex¬
ample, and the next must name a country begin¬
ning with N. (Norway, Namibia, Nicaragua, etc.)
102
You can expand the scope of the game by

allowing not only (xxuntries but capital cities—and
the person who fails to answer must pay in what¬
ever bet has been agreed upon and drop out. The
last remaining person who can give an answer wins
the pot.
Remember, it’s a good idea to brush up on
countries beginning with the letter A, if you’re going
to play the Geography Game I (Afghanistan, Al¬
bania, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Aus¬
tria and you might get away widi Antarctica,
Antigua, Anguilla, Armenia, and Abu Dhabi as
wdL).
TWO DOZEN WAYS TO SAY YES, NO, AND

BEER.
We wouldn’t advise you to plunge into barroom

betting games in a country where you’re not fluent
in the language—aud we wouldn’t even suggest that
you take up challenges from rûlars for a game of
whatever is commonly played in the bar. Daits in
Rnglfeh pubs^ for exam^^ don’t look tricky, but
the regiflais have been playing for years—and if
they don’t have their personal darts with them, they
know the balance and fliît of the bar darts better
tban you ever will.
Still, the ndghborhood bar in any part of the
world is a good place to meet new people and get a
feel for the country. And almost every country in
the world has beer and a friendly place to drink it.
All you need to know is how to say yes, no, and beer
103
—and you’re likely to learn as much about a place

as a visit to the local museum. (And if you pay
attention here, you’ll be able to bet your friends
that they can’t say yes, no, and beer in as many
languages as you can!)
You’re all set for England, Scotland, and Ire¬
land—except for beer. Although lager beers like the
American brands are gaining in popularity, the
British drink not-too-cold ales and stouts (the ales
brewed by a top-fermented process as opposed to
the bottom-fermented lager), of a wide variety of
colors, tastes, styles. An ale or a stout comes in a
pint glass—and when the English go out to the
' pub, they’re “going for a pint.” Even in this day
of mass production, many pubs still have locally
brewed beer to go with the dart boards and crib-
bage boards and games of draughts.
Although in France, Spain, and Italy, vin and
vino may be the most popular drink in cafes, espe¬
cially where the vineyards are covering the hTlls
right down the village street, beer is always to be
found, and you can say yes or no, as you choose. >
yes no beer
French oui non biere ,
Italian si no birra
Spanish si no cerveza
Portuguese sim nab cerveja
The last two, of course, will also take you through

Mexico and Central America and aU through South
America, as well as Europe. Cerveza is also a handy
word in places like New York, Los Angeles, and
104
V
Texas, where the Spanish-speaJdng populations set

the tone in some neighborhoods.
Italy has the lowest beer consumption per per¬
son in all of Europe, and France and Spain aren’t
too much higher on the list—but the latter are
among the top twenty producers of beer in the
world, with Italy just coming in at the end. Mexico,
of course, produces a lot of beer—and it seems to
be the perfect complement to the national cuisine.
The great beer-drinking countries are Germany,
Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Austria—^with West Ger¬
many topping the consumption per person and
in strong competition to the United States in
production.
yes no "beer
German ja neia bier
Czech ano ne pivo
Dutch ja near bier
Polish tak nie piwo
Hungarian igen nem sor
/
Serbo-
Croatian da ne pivo
The Vikings had a brewed barley drink way

back when they were raiding (they called it aul,
which comes down to us m English as ale). There’s
-Still beer to be had in the far North.
yes no beer
Norwegian ja nei 01
Swedish ja nej ol
DanMi ja nej 01
Finnish kylla ei olut
105
There’s beer to be had almost everywhere. Even in

a country like Rusaa, where vodka is the national
drink, or in Muslim anmtries where alcohol is for¬
bidden by the faith, in Africa, India, the Far £a^
there axe bats, beers-^d probably bets.
* yes no beef
Russian da nyet pivo
Greek ne o’chi bi’ra
Turkish evet hayir bira
Arabic naam la bira
Indoneân ja lidak bir
Japanese hai iya hiiru
But remember, the Japanese are too polite actually

to say no. However, Japan has become one of the
world’s "ipadiTig producers of beer in recent years.
H you happen to find yourself in Africa, the
Swahili words for yes, no, and beer are: ndiOf
hapana, pombe. In Israel, the Hebrew words are
ken, la, and birah (YiddMx is ye, nit, and bier).
When all else fails, try Eq)a:anto: jes, ne, and
biero.
GEOGRAPHY TRIVIA
Bet you can’t name four states that border on

Mexico?
This is an easy one: California, Arizona, New
Mexico, and Texas.
It sets up youtf opponent for a harder one:
deven states that touch the Canadian border.
106
(Get them fiimly in mind yourself before you ask

the question, of course, so you can display your
wisdom when he doesn’t get them all.)
Your geographical expert will start on the east
or west coast and name the states across: Washing¬
ton, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota,
Michigan (in spite of all those Great Lakes, there’s
a land border in the eastern part of the state).
New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine.
Hiat’s ten—^but don’t forget the eleventh, Alaska,
which borders on the Yukon Territory.
MOVIE TRIVIA
AU movie buffs have their favorite trivia questions

about the movies. One bit of trivia that doesn’t
require you to have seen every faded old black-and-
white movie ever shown on The Late Show is Real
Names.
Who, for example, is Leonard Slye? (Roy
Rogers)
Chuck Carter? (He became Charlton Heston)
Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr.? (Richard Burton)
EUa Geisman? (June Allyson)
Gladys Smith? (Mary Pickford) '
Repaid Truscott-Jones? (Ray MiUand)’
William Beedle? (William Holden)
Vera Jane Palmer? (Jayne Mansfield)
Lasdo Loewenstein? (Peter Lorre)
In this era of ethnic and odd names, from Richard
Dreyfuss, Robert DeNiro, and Meryl Streep, to
Xovah Feldshuh and Sissy Spacek, we sometimes
107
Bar Games, Bets & (jhallenges
forget how quickly Hollywood used to change its

budding stars to Rock and Tab and Lana.
Anybody ready to name Snow White’s Seven
Dwarfs in ten seconds or less?
1. Grumpy 4. Happy
2. Smiley 5. Bashful
3. Sneezy 6. Doc
^ 7. Dopey
PRESHDENTIAL TRIVIA /
Only two United States Presidents are buried in

Arlington National Cemetery.
John F. Kennedy comes quiddy to mind. The
other? William Howard Taft.
Five American Preridents have been married
twice and one was a bachdor. Does anyone remem«
ber who they were? (If you memorize the list, it’s a
good bet that you’ll knov^ and nobody else wiO.)
Twice-married Preridents were;
John Tyler
Millard Fillmore
Benjamin Harrison
Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
The bachelor President was James Buchanan.
Presidents are known for choosing their public
words to be remembered by posterity. Perhaps much
more to the point was President Zachary Tayloris
statement to Mexican General Santa Anna in 1847
108
when he demanded surrender during the Mexican

War:
“Tdl him to go to hell.”
Two Vice-Presid^ts reagned from office duiing
their term of service. One was Spiro Agnew, as
everyone is likdy to remonber.
The other was John G. Calhoun, Andrew
Jackson’s Vice-President, who resigned back in
1832 to become a United States Senator.
Eight Presidents have died in office. Keep this
list in mind, and then bet someone to name them.
William Henry Harrison
Zachary Taylor
Abraham Lincoln
James A. Garfield
William McKinley
Warren G. Harding
Franklin D. Roosevdt *
John F. Kennedy -
NUMBERS GAME
Try betting someone they can’t tell you (quickly)’

how many nines there are between 0 and 100.
And the quick (and wrong) answer is usually
iO—but actually there are 20, induding 90, 91, 92,
and so forth.
109
\
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
Remember the Stamp Act that riled up the Col¬

onists when the Britii^ imposed a tax in the fonn
of a stamp placed on legal documents, newspapers,
and so forth? The card players and gamhlers of
early America had good reason to join in the pro¬
test—^the Stamp Tax also included cards and dice.
BEITING ON ANYTHING THAT MOVES
Teople will make bets on just about anything racing

against the clock or ano&er creature of the same
species.
There are the jinnping frogs, of course, which
are almost as reqiectable as horses and dogs.
There are also comi>etitions between chicikens
in Bight, rats in mazes, cockroaches in the kitchen^
and on one Mand in the West Indies, every Easter
Monday, the fans turn out to watch a few dis¬
gruntled and extremdy vicious land crabs ccanx>ete
in a race that draws everyone for miles around (the
other featured event & a goat race, which is realty
recognized by the odor as the compedtors line up).
In Belgium, you cân even bet on bird-calling—
on how long a rooster or canary will sing or crow
after the csloth covering the cages are removed I
no
BETS FOR PEOPLE WHO "KNOW ALL

ABOUT SPORTS” ’
1. What is the score of a forfeited baseball game?
2. Who are two baseball players after whom candy

bars have been named?
3. What professional athlete played for three
Boston teams?
4. Why is Walker Smith an important figure in
boxing?
The answers, for those who have given up, are:

1. The score of a forfeited baseball game is always
9-0, regardless of Who was ahead, or what the
score was at the time of the forfeit.
2. Most people will come up with Reggie Jackson
(the “Reggie”) and Babe Ruth. Reggie is cor-
' rect, but the Baby Ruth wasn’t named for the
baseball player, but President Grover Cleve¬
land’s daughter, Ruth. The other player, whose
candy bar has since disappeared, was Ty Cobb.
3. The player was Gene Conley, who played for

the Red Sox, the Boston Braves, and the Boston
Celtics. Bostonians like to phrase that question
as "two men who 'have played for three Boston
teams,” and add to Conley, the popular and
locally well-known organist, John lUdy, who
111
has long played at Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins

games. Thafs a fair bet only in Boston.
4. “Sugar Ray” Robinson’s real name was Walker
Smith.
A NEW YORK BET
This is a bet that’s fair only in New York City.

Write down (with some serious thought between
numbers) the following sequence:
14-23-34-42-50-59-125
and ask your opponent to explain die relationsihip
between the numbers.
Sometimes he’ll cateh it light away, but some^
times never—^the “relationship” is that the numbers
are the street stops on the uptown “A” train on the
IND line in New York.
BET YOU CAN’T . . .
Bet you can’t come up with more tiian two com¬

monly used English words that end in -gry.
Unless you’re a scholarly type who happens to
read the dictionary, you won’t be able to think of
more than two: hungry and angry* The dictionary
reader might come up with a-hungry, and would
win the bet only under strong protest.
112
ANOTHER BET YOU CAN’T . * ,
There axe only three cammonly used words ill

English that end in 4lity, Bet you can’t name them,
tranquillity
jollity ^
nullity
If you run into that dictionary reader agaiOj tdl
him that you don’t consider intranquillity, youth-
fullity, or dullity fair guesses for commonly used
words.
HOW TO SAY “YES” . . .
Did you ever stop to think how many dang phrases

we have to say yes also use the word bet?
You het your boots.
You bet your hat.
You bet yom life.
You bet your ibottom dollar.
You bet you.
And just plain—^you bet I
113
\
WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT THING ###?
The symbol # is used eight different ways to mean

eight different things. It’s a pretty safe bet that nc^-
body can name all eight.
1. # is the symbol for the game of tic-tac-toe.
That’s one of the eaaest.
2. # before a number means “number.”
3. # after a number means pounds.
4. # means space to a printer or proofreader.
5. # ia music signifies a sharp.
6. # in medicine means a fracture.
7. # in busines indicates “nonadd.”
8. # is the symbol used on the button to the
right of the 0 on push button telephones. It’s
used increasingly in dialing complicated
nmnbers, and it’s about the only # that has
a real name. It’s called an octothorp.
GOOD LUCK!
“There are few sporting men who are not in the

habit of wearing charms' or talismans.”—^Thoistein
Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class. Here are
some of them:
Lucky stones, lucky bones, lucky coins.
114
Words to the Wise: Word Gcanes
Rabbit’s foot—^front paw, please. The hind

foot has a mixed press; some say it drives away evil,
some say it draws evil.
Jade, the gambler’s stone (gives success in any
game of chance, but especially racing).
Red onions.
“Money-drawing” candles (nowadays, truth-in-
advertising sentiments find them labeled “zdleged”).
For long-haired gamblers, an amulet in the
form of a trident made of silver, gold, copper, and
gray and yellow bronze, worn in a knot of h^ at
the back of the head (or in a hat)—bill’s the way it
used to be done in Ceylon.
But don’t forget the best philosophy for betting,
the old Persian proverb that goes: “Luck is in¬
fatuated with the eflScient.”
WHAT’S LUCK, ANYHOW?
“Shallow men believe in luck,” Ralph Waldo Emer¬

son once said.
But everybody hopes that if luck fe around, it
will be sticking dose to the game.
People bom in the Chinese Year of the Hare
(1903, 1915, 1927,^939, 1951, 1963, 1975—and
for future lôrs, 1987, 1999, and 2011) are
blessed with good fortune, not only in business, but
also in games of diance.
The Chinese also believe that a tiger’s tooth
is a lucky charm—maybe because if you survive
acquiring the tooth from the living source, you just
have to be lucky.
115
' B2ir GameSj Bets & Challenges
A SURE LOSING BET
Anyone who happens to come across a three-card

monte player on a city street, drawing crowds and
parting suckers from their money, ought to remem¬
ber “Canada Bill” Jones’s memorable pronounce¬
ment ; “Suckers have no business with money
anyway.”
LOADED DICE
Almost as soon as people discovered that betting

was a good way to pass the time, they thought of
ways to give themselves an edge in the game and
ensure that their “luck” was good. Loaded dice
were foimd in the ruins of Pompeii. Playing card
manufacturers in mid-nineteenth century America
- did a lively business in marked playing cards, which
were especially welcome to the riverboat gamblers
along the Mississippi.
In organized gcimes of Penny Toss patronized
by professional gamblers, special coins with two
heads are sometimes slipped into the game. And
anyone who has seen a favorite horse stroll across
the finish line after the field is already back in the
paddock will read the stories in the sports pages
about fixed races with a litde closer attention.
116
A SURE WINNING BET
Here’s a bet you can’t lose, and if you make it

tempting enough, you’re going to find a taker,
wherever you are.
Bet $10 to $1 that you can come closer to
gue^dng the exact number of some collection of
objects in the bar, say the number of swizzle sticks
in the bartender’s container or the total number of
bottles liriftd up behind the bar—anything you
dioose. You get two guises; he gets one, but he
gets to guess first (and no fair spending time esti¬
mating; it has to be a fast guess for both of you).
Whatever he guesses, of course, your two
guesses are one higher than his and one lower—îf
he guesses 50, you gu^ 51 or 49, and in either
case, you’ll be closer to the correct number, unless
your luck is poor and he happens to guess the num¬
ber on the nose.
117
9. Send More Money:
Paper and Pencil Challenges
Anyone who’s sat around the neighborhood bar

regularly knows that feeling of despair when the
neig^hborhood bore decides to sit down. Maybe he^s
the guy whose opinions on the Monday ni^t foot¬
ball game or the American League pennant race
hold no surprises and very little wii^m. Or his
thoughts on jKilitics, the economy, his job, or the
state of young people today produce yawns and a
strong desire for him to just go away.
The answer? Give him somethiug to do. Our
suggestion is to tdl him to try to work out the fol¬
lowing problem in addition:
S END
I 0 9 s
+ MORE
hi S N is y
119
Each letter represents a number; there is only
one possible solution, and tmless the neighborhood
bore (or a devoted puzzle solver) has the kind of
mind that figures out cyphers and cryptograms in a
flash, you’ll be rid of him for a good long time.
We’U give you the solution—but try it your¬
self and see if you can work it out. (Hint: start at
the left to figure out what S and M above the line
have to be to add up to M and O below.)
K you’ve given up, here’s the answer:
9 5 6 7
'+ 10 8 5
1 0 6 5 2 \
FOUR LINES
Here’s another pencil and paper bet that shoulck

leave your opponent puzzling for a good long time.
Draw three rows of three cirdes on a piece of paper.
120
Send More Money: Paper and Pencil Challenges
Bet your opponent that he can’t draw four

straight lines, with the pencil never leaving the
paper, and touch all nine circles. He’s not going to
solve the problem easily, if at all—^because most
pa>ple look at the circles themselves and don’t see
the possible iâtial relationshii» beyond them.
The solution lies in not confining the pencil
just to the square made up by the circles, but going
beyond it. Here’s the answer—^remember to start
and continue beyond the circles.
SINKING SUBMARINES
J
Sinking Submarines is a paper and pencil game that

a lot of people seem to recall from younger days,
es^cially if those younger days took place when
submaiines were in the news (along with battle-
121
\
ships, cruisera, destroyers). It turns into a betting

game simply by assigning a value to each of the
ships as they are “sunL**
Sinking Submarines is basically a two-player
game. Each player needs two.laige squares marked
off in smaller squares, each one with ten squares to
a side. Long lined legal pads are good, or graph
paper. The vertical side of each square is numbered
from the top, 1 to 10. The top is numbered across
from left to right A to J. The ten by ten top square
is the player^s “battlefidd,” the second ten by ten
square is the opponent’s ‘*battlefidd.”
PRELIMINARIES
Each player draws in with X’s his fleet:

One battleship (four adjoining squares, ver¬
tical or horizontal)
Two cruisers (three adjoining squares, verti¬
cal or horizontal)
Three destroyers (two adjoining squares)
Four submarines (one square per submarine)
Ships cannot touch; at least one square of **water^*
must separate the ships unless êy are placed
against the edge of the large square.
The purpose of the game is to ‘hit” and ffien
“sink” your opponent’s shi^ by asking information
about one square at a time (designated by the ver*
deal number and horizontal letter).
Below is a diagram of a player’s board at the
start of a game:
122
Send More Money: Paper and Pencil Challenges
ABODE F6H I J
g ,Siteiarine8
— —
gg
._
Oestroyen^
>
g ^Cnlsar
^ —
ggg §
j
s V
g UlJm□□□
/BatUaslit)
THE GAME
The first player starts by asking' his opponent a

square by number and letter, say 1-d. If the op¬
ponent has no ship or part of a sMp in square 1-G,
he says “Water,” and in the blank diagram. Player
One puts a dot to represent water. If however, the
opponent says “Hit,” Player One knows he has
named a part of a ship, and makes an X in that
square. Player Two al^ puts a dot if the square
named is water or shades out the part of his ship
that has been “hit.”
If Player One has guessed water, it is now
Player Two’s turn. If Player One has scored a “hit,”
he can name another square. logically, it should
be adjacent to the “hit,” (if it had been a sub¬
marine, of course, the answer would have been
123
“sunk”) and botit players, as whenever a ship is

sunk, mark out “water” all the way aroimd the
sunk ship.
The strategy of the game is to narrow down
options as you guess the position of your opponent’s
ships. Since at least one square of water must sepa/-
rate all ships, even a guess of “watei^* will narrow
than down. A response of “hit,” followed by water
(and remember, you’re filling in the poation of
your opponent’s ships as you guess them on the
blank board) indicates that the ship must extend in
an opposite direction.
When a ship is “sunk,” the squares all the way
around are filled in with dots to indicate water,
narrowing the possibilities even further.
Whatever you do, spread out your fleet in a
random fashion, and iorget whatever you knew
about naval strategy. For tins game, it doesn’t work.
ONE-TO-A-THOUSAND
One-to-a-Thousand isn’t exactly a pencil and paper

game, but the person who thinks of “the munbei'*
has to keep track on paper of the niunbers that have
been called, so it’s induded here.
One person chooses a number between 1 and
1,000. The other players—two or more—in turn
call out a number beêen 1 and 1,000, to which
the person who has thought of the munber replies
oifly “Higher^’ or “Lower” as appropriate. The aim
of i&e game is not to guess the correct number. That
player is the loser. If the call is “Higher,” the next
124
Send More Money: Taper and Pencil Challenges
person must guess higher, “Lower” and he must

guess lower, and once a number has been called, it
can’t'be called again.
Eventually, somebody is going to be required
to guess the correct number as the po^ble range
narrows to—^that one number.
A SIMPLE SQUARE
Draw a square made of niiie smaller squares, three

across and three up and down. Each square is to be
numbered between 1 and 9 and none can be used
more than once.
The point is to mate every row add up to 15 in
all directions, horizontally, vertically, diagonally.
This will also keep the bar bore occupied for a good _
long time.
If he gives up eventually, here’s the solution:)
125
Bar Games, Beta & Challenges
There are other possible solutions, which axe vaiiar

tions on the same arrangement of nxnnbers.
Did we leave out your favorite bar game? bet?,
challenge?
It is a big world and this is a small booL If one of

your bar pastimes is missing, why not send it along?
Should your entry see print in any sequel, you will
be notified and receive a free copy of the book. In
case of duplicates it will, of course, be first com^
first served.
Send to:
John F. Kinney
c/ o Warner Books
^ 75 Rockefeller Plaza
j New York, New York 10019
Submission of Favorite Bar Games Bets and Chal¬

lenges constitutes your permôn for accepted en¬
tries to be published by Warner Books, and yoiur
representation that your entry was not taken from
any other publication.
.1
126
MORE HELPFUL BOOKS
FROM WARNER...
A HANDBOOK OF YOGA FOR MODERN LIVING
by Eugene S. Rawls (89-596, $1.95)
Your entire family can follow the Yoga disciplines together.
There are back-breaking exercises—instead, you enjoy the
gentle, relaxed stretching of muscles and learn how to breathe
properly. Begin to use this dynamic new approach to self-
development today! The definitive guidebook to health and
happiness for everyone in the entire family. Fully illustrated.
YOGA FOR BEAUTY AND HEALTH

by Eugene Rawls and Eve Diskin (82-972, $2.25)
Become more alive, more confident, serene and attractive-
burst with energy and ambition as you follow the proved teach¬
ings of Eugene Rawls and Eve Oiskin, two of America’s most
famous and expert Yoga instructors. Give new youth to your
face and body with a modem method that is 4,000 years old!
Fully illustrated with step-by-step instructions.
YOGA FOR PHYSICAL FITNESS

by Richard L Hittleman (91-281, $2.50)
Enjoy vibrant good health and sparkling energy with this ef¬
fective program geared for those whose work prevents them
from getting enough exercise. Learn to stimulate circulation,
improve muscle tone, eliminate headaches and more. Fully
illustrated.
BIORHYTHM
by Bernard Gittelson (93-469, $2.95)
Plan your life with confidence! Forecast your good and bad
days In seconds with BIORHYTHM. Construct your own bio-
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of yourself today and benefit fromyour BIORHYTHM!
THE BEST OF BESTSELLERS
FROM WARNER BOOKS
THE WOMAN'S DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOOK
by John T. Molloy (97-572, $4.95)
After reading this book, you’ll never look at women's clothing the
same way. You will gain assurance in knowing what is right for
your wardrobe, learn about fabrics, colors, cut, workmanship and
value—and how to put them all together to convey a sense of
presence, authority, believability, and likability.
HOW TO MAKE A HABIT OF SUCCESS

Bernard Haldane (91-658, $2.50)
The Haldane system opens your eyes to abilities you never knew
you had. You can change your career by using your personal
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in this book help you to break out of “failure" walls that box
you in.
YOUR CHECK IS IN THE MAIL

by Bruce Goldman, Robert Franklin &
Kenneth Pepper, Esq. (81-956, $2.50)
Let three masters of the art of deferred payment show you how
to lead a better life on other people’s money, protect yourself
from shoddy goods and service, and use business methods to
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WARNER BOOKS
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I
STOP
brooding over your beer,
weeping into your wine,
sighing over your scotch.
START
LEARN
how to play barroom games using coins or paper
money, matches, swizzle sticks, coasters and
even the spurned olive left in the glass. Discover how
to make bets and win, do “impossible” tricks. Here
are all the basic rules, preliminaries, descriptions of
play, psychology of play, variations and tips. And,
how to figure probabilities and odds. You’ll be such
a hit at the pub with your entertaining ideas, you
might even want to use this book to increase your
popularity at home!
90 64
70 993 195
ISBN Q-MMb-TDbMfl-M
COVEK

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Q If you’ve found the bar

and you’ve got the beer

WE’yE GOT THE GAMES

Liar’s Poker Dollar Bingo

Many are played in variations from Bangkok to

mENTlOH: SCHOOLS AND CORPOBAnONS

WARNER books are available at quantity discbunts with bulk

ARE THERE WARNER BOOKS

A Warner Communications Company

WARNER BOOKS EDITION

Copyright © 1981 by Alan Ericksen

Cover photo by Bill Cadge

Warner Books, Inc., 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10019

A Warner Communications Company

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing; January, 1981

We Americans are bom bettors. We’re willing

the fun of the bet, the challenge of taking a chance.

once wrote some lines that ought to be kept in m^nf^

A wise gamester ought to take the dice

In fact, the whole universe got divided up, accord¬

lotteries to raise money for the public welfare. The

The Virginia Assembly in 1624 passed an early

of friendly bets. Part, one suspects, has to do wilh

Prepare a bag full of lodestone, cayenne, black

So get your matches and coins together and

liar’s Poker is played from Miami to California,

The first rule of Liar^s P.oker is to make sure

THE BASIC RULES

With each player holding a biU, the object of

Liar’s Pokex is played by two or more players.

1. Dedde what stakes you’re playing for.

for other bills, and then shuffled and placed

The basic game of Liar’s Poker is simple. It

at the end of the book will give you an idea of the

A game for four players

Bar Games, Bets & Challenges

4. Player Four has several options, too:

That’s the baac game, and a couple of h^ds

When the players draw bills to choose the opening

every gzime, instead of tossing tlie ones just played

There are a niimber of variations to the basic

Last Bid Option

For example if a player says six aces, and the

This, isn’t the kind of thing you can plan for¬

Amarillo Slim, who knows a lot more than we

ing with. If they’re already friends, you have some

you out for giveaways, just as hard as you are

PROBABILITIES AND ODDS IN

Chance is either for or against the event hap¬

A ample way to do this is to take the total

Knowing this, if you are holding three of a

Number of other players 4

Number of given digit on

Nmnber of given digit

Probable total of digit 6

At the end of die book, you’ll find a table giv¬

it’s a good idea to get accustomed to figuring tiie

As you can see, the odds are very good that a

That’s Liar’s Poker, and all you need to play is

Bingo, it is said, involves some two ibillion dollars

THE BASIC RULES

Each player (two or more; the caller may play