It is necessary now to explain what is done with the scores made in the
successive hands, and how the final adjustment is effected.
According to the original mode of playing, the game consisted of 100
points; indeed, in early times the name _Cent_ (corrupted into Sant or
Saunt) appears to have been applied to it. Hoyle adhered to this, but at
some later period the 100 was altered to 101. This was also the ordinary
way of playing the game in France, and has been generally adhered to in
England until the last few years. According to this, the score of each hand
is registered, either by writing it down, or by some kind of marking
contrivance, and the whole added up until the 100 limit is reached by one
of the parties. The game may extend over several hands, or it may, by the
aid of the extraordinary scores, be completed in one. {114}
It will, however, often happen that both parties may arrive simultaneously
near the 100 score, and it then becomes necessary to register carefully and
in proper order the scores made at the different stages of the hand by the
two parties respectively. The laws prescribe that the scores, whether
obtained by the elder hand or by the dealer, shall be reckoned in the
following order of precedence--viz.:
1. Carte blanche.
2. Point.
3. Sequences.
4. Quatorzes and trios.
5. Points made in play.
6. The cards.
Applying, therefore, the scores made by either player under each of these
heads, in the order named, the one who first reaches 100 will have won the
game.
This simple game of 100 may suffice for domestic amusement; but a few years
ago an alteration was made in the practice of the clubs, by the
introduction of what is called the _Rubicon Game_, which is as follows:
There is no definite number of points constituting a game, but the players
play six deals, forming what is called a "partie." The scores made by each
player in each deal are registered on a card, and at the end of the partie
they are added together. The partie is won by the player who has made the
highest aggregate score. The winner then deducts his adversary's score from
his own, and 100 is added to the difference, which makes the number of
points won.
Thus, suppose A has scored in the six deals 120 {115} points, and B 102, A
wins 120 - 102 + 100 = 118 points, for which he has to be paid.
But there is another condition, namely, the establishment of 100 as a
"Rubicon." The law says that, if the loser fail to reach this amount, the
winner reverses the rule, and instead of _deducting_ the loser's score
_adds_ it to his own.
Thus, if A has scored 120, and B only 98, A wins 120 + 98 + 100 = 318,
although the loser is only four short of his former score.
This mode of scoring has now superseded, at the clubs, the original 100
game. It certainly adds a new feature to the play; for if a player finds,
towards the end of the partie, that he is not likely to reach the Rubicon,
it is his interest to score as few points as possible, instead of trying to
win.