My Ship Sails, also called My Bird Sings, is an English

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

for children that is played with a 52-card French pack. It appears related to the 17th-century gambling game, My Sow's Pigg'd. In 19th century

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, the latter game went under the name of Wizzy, Wizzy, Wee; the aim was to collect cards of the same suit, the first to do so throwing their hand on the table and crying "My sow's pigged!" or "Wizzy, wizzy, wee!".

Rules

My Ship Sails may be played by four to seven players with a 52-card

French-suited pack French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...

. The aim of the game is to be the first player to collect seven cards all of one suit.Parlett (2008), p. 399 Each player is dealt 7 cards and the rest are set aside. Players pick up their hand and discard one card to the table. When everyone has done that, each player picks up the discard on his right, which becomes part of his hand. The first player to collect 7 cards of the same suit, says "my ship sails" and lays her hand, face up, on the table. If two players go out simultaneously, there are two options for deciding the winner: either the first player to say "my ship sails" wins or the player with the highest ranking card wins.

Ochse, leg dich!

Ochse, leg dich! ("Ox, lie down!") is a German and Austrian variant played with 32

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

cards (

Skat pack German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suits of Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (''Grün'', ''Blatt'', ''Lau ...

). It is a simple, family

that is often played with children and is useful for learning the card values and

card suit In playing cards, a suit is one of the categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several pips (symbols) showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or additionally be indicated by ...

s.Gööck (1967), pp. 27/28 It was popular with the German-speaking population of

South Bohemia The South Bohemian Region ( cs, Jihočeský kraj; , ) is an administrative unit (''Regions of the Czech Republic, kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwes ...

prior to their expulsion after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and was known there as Ox, liach de!.Jungbauer, Dr. Gustav (1928). ''Sudetendeutsche Zeitschrift für Volkskunde'', Prague: J. G. Calve. p. 279. The aim of the game is to collect all eight cards of one suit. Dealer deals 8 cards to each of the four players.

Forehand The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racket across one's body with the hand moving palm-first. In tennis, except in the context of the phrase ''forehand volley ...

leads by passing a card of his choice to the player on his left -

middlehand Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...

. Middlehand then passes a card to

rearhand Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...

and so on in clockwise order. Play continues in this way until a player has collected all eight cards of one suit in his hand, whereupon he lays them face up on the table and declares "''Ochse, leg dich!''" or "Ox, lie down!" The winner then receives as many chips or gaming counters from each other player as that player has fallen short in collecting eight cards of the same suit. For example, if a player has only collected five cards of one suit, he pays 3 chips to the winner.

References

Literature

* ''

Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English auth ...

'' (1875). ''Round Games at Cards''. London: de la Rue. * Gööck, Roland (1967). ''Freude am Kartenspiel'', Bertelsmann, Gütersloh * Jackson, Georgina Frederica (1883). ''Shropshire Folk-Lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings'', Vol. 1. ed. by Charlotte Sophia Burne. London: Trübner. *

Parlett, David David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. His published works include many pop ...

(1991). ''A History of Card Games'', OUP, Oxford. *

(2008). ''The Penguin Book of Card Games'', Penguin, London. {{Children's card games Catch and collect games English card games French deck card games German deck card games Card games for children