For long winter nights

Press, 16 June 1979, Page 17

For long winter nights

All the Best Card Games. By David Partleft. Bats ford. 1978. 180 pp. Index. $13.95 Creative Puzzles of the World. By Pieter van Delft and Jack Botermans. Cassell, Australia, 1978. 200 pp. $13.35. To write a book about card games is to invite trouble. Readers are going to test the book by what it has to say about their favourite games. And because card games — especially popular ones — have almost as many variations as there are “schools,” no book can hope to do them justice. David Partlett has attempted to meet this difficulty by pointing out that card games are like living languages, subject to constant pressure in their rules from the preferences of the people who play them. "A game fossilised by rules is dead by definition” he writes, and he offers readers a basic set of rules for each game, a selection of the more common variations, and repeated warnings that many more variations are going to be found in play. The essence cf a friendly game of cards is to agree on the details of the rules before starting, or to have handy a good reference book which all will accept as a guide, at least for that occasion. “All the Best Card Games” would ne admirable as such a guide. The language is clear, definitions are precise, good use is made of bold illustrations to demonstrate sample hands or play. Nearly 100 games ate included, some of them as familiar as

poker or bridge, others as strange as Le True and Quinto which, the auth. r writes, he included because they aie very good games. That is the essence of Dav id Partlett's intention — to increase everyone’s enjoyment of cards byoffering new games that are worth learning, and by providing adv ice which will enhance the fun oi familiar games, whether they are forms of patience. varieties of poker. or complications of canasta The division of the book into sections depending on the best number of players tot me games described is an added advantage to a clear, helpful book that should speed winter evenings and act as a gentle moderator in card-table arguments. “Creative Puzzles" also includes more than enough variety to fill the prolonged gloom of a Christchurch winter. As its name suggests, it s not just a source of games to play or puzzles to solve, but a text for ambitious home carpenters and metalworkers looking for new ideas. String, matchsticks, wire, dominoes, wooden blocks, mazes, and shapes in a bewildering variety are used to mystify, instruct and delight. This bool, also makes copious use of clear illustrations as a guide to constructing and solving hundreds of puzzles One deceptively simple sample from the book is shown here — a bridge made from 18 matches without the help of glue or any fasteners. As the authors suggest, building it calls for "steadyhands and a sober mind."