“HOUSIE-HOUSIE.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 12 May 1925, Page 2

“HOUSIE-HOUSIE.”

MELBOURNE’S NEW CRAZE. COURT DECLARES LEGAL. The game of “house” is becoming all the rage since a Melbourne Court decision that it is legal. Promoters are obtaining shops in.many of the suburbs, and business is flourishing. The W.C.T.U. is urging the AttorneyGeneral to prohibit the game. The Attorney-General (Mr Eggleston) said that steps were being taken to' test the legality of the game. Promoters are said to be making £lO a night. GREAT ARMY GAME. “House,” or more popularly “housiehousie,” is a game that needs no introduction to the Diggers, for it was the only game with a spic© of gambling that was legal in the army. It did not have the thrill of two-up, crown and anchor, or many of the other games but it could be played right under the nose of the 0.0., the stakes could be as high as one liked, and there was no “fourteen days C. 8.” or cancelled leave as a reward. The game is simplicity itself. Each player “buys” a card, marked in squares, each square bearing a number. The “banker” has a bag containing marbles, each numbered, the highest being 100. As the banker pulls a marble out of the bag he calls out the number. Any player having a corresponding number on his card ticks it off, or otherwise marks it. This continues till all the numbers on one player’s card are called. He immediately shouts, “House here!” his card is checked over, and he gets all the money subscribed for the cards, less usually 10 per cent —the “banker’s ’ dividend. Of course, each card usually has a different set of numbers, though m some cases there may only be_ one or two different. It is easy to imagine the excitement, when' two or three players have ticked off all the squares except the last, and are only waiting for the winning number. “House” was a great game on the troopships, but there was almost as much fun for th© onlookers as the players, because of the weird titles the Diggers evolved for various numbers. Thus No. 1 was “Kelly’s Eye,” why nobody apparently knew; No. 9 was “crossing the line”; No. 11 “leg’s eleven”; No. 66, “Click-ity-cliclc”; and No. 100, “Top of the house.” Those are only a few. There were others, perhaps more expressive, but aot so polite.