My ship sails, also called my bird sings, is an English

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

for children that is played 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. In ...

in which the aim is to collect a

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

of cards in one

suit A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt su ...

History and names

My ship sails appears related to the 17th-century gambling game, my sow's pigg'd, which is mentioned by

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...

the "Water Poet" in a 1630 poem. The rules of a three-card version called whehee appear in

Francis Willughby Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, ) Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithology, ornithologist, ichthyology, ichthyologist and mathematician, and an early student of linguistics an ...

's ''Book of Plaies'', written between 1665 and 1670.Willughby (1665–70). This may be the origin of a form of my ship sails that appeared in 19th century

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

and was called wizzy, wizzy, wee. The aim was to be first to collect a hand of cards of the same suit, each time saying "Change a card for a card, wizzy, wizzy, wee!", the first to do so throwing the cards down on the table and exclaiming "My sow's pigged!"

Whehee

Each player is dealt 3 cards in one go. A player with all three of the same suit is 'whehee' and wins; if two have whehee, the eldest (first in clockwise order after the dealer) wins. If none has whehee, eldest exchanges a card with

second hand Used goods, also known as secondhand goods, are any item of personal property that have been previously owned by someone else and are offered for sale not as new, including metals in any form except coins that are legal tender. Used goods may ...

, second with third and so on round to the dealer. If still no-one has whehee to the left.

My ship sails

My ship sails may be played by four to seven players with a 52-card

. 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 hands and each discards 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 his or her cards, 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 may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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'', ''Laub ...

). 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 ...

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

South Bohemia The South Bohemian Region () is an administrative unit (''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part of the South Bohemian Reg ...

prior to their expulsion after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and was known there as Ox, liach de! 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 is a shot used in most racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and pickleball, where the palm of the hand precedes the back of the hand when swinging the racket. 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. Among

Danube Swabian The Danube Swabians ( ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary in east-central Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in greater numbers in the 17 ...

s the game was called Esel ("donkey") and a player called "''Esel''" on going out. The last player to lay cards down cards was the ''Esel'' and became the next dealer.

Speculation/matrimony

In 1831,

Eliza Leslie Eliza Leslie (1787 – 1858), frequently referred to as Miss Leslie, was an American author of popular cookbooks during the nineteenth century. She also wrote household management books, etiquette books, novels, short stories and articles for maga ...

describes a game for girls which she calls speculation or matrimony that is essentially my ship sails with a full pack of 52 cards. After cutting for first deal (highest wins, Aces high), the cards are shuffled, cut and then fully dealt out. The aim is to be first to collect a full suit of 13 cards. The player to the left of the dealer passes a card she does not want, face down, to her left-hand neighbour. This continues in turn and the first player with 13 cards in suit lays them down and is the winner. This game is unrelated to the

gambling game Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

of the

same name ''Same Name'' is an American reality television series in which an average person swaps lives with a celebrity of the same first and last name. It premiered on July 24, 2011 on CBS. The series received low ratings, and CBS pulled it after four-ep ...

.Leslie (1831), pp. 146–148.

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. 3. ed. by Charlotte Sophia Burne. London: Trübner. *

Leslie, Eliza Eliza Leslie (1787 – 1858), frequently referred to as Miss Leslie, was an American author of popular cookbooks during the nineteenth century. She also wrote household management books, etiquette books, novels, short stories and articles for maga ...

(1831)
''The American Girl's Book.''
Boston: Munroe & Francis; NY: C.S. Francis. *

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. Life David Sidney Parlett was bo ...

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

(2008). ''The Penguin Book of Card Games'', Penguin, London. * Taylor, John (1630). ''Motto''. *

Willughby, Francis Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, ) FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithologist, ichthyologist and mathematician, and an early student of linguistics and games. He was born and raised at Middleton Hall, Wa ...

. ''A Volume of Plaies.'' (Manuscript in the Middleton collection, University of Nottingham, shelfmark Li 113.) c1665-70. {{Children's card games Catch and collect games English card games French deck card games German deck card games Card games for children 17th-century card games Round games