Beggar-My-Neighbour
Encyclopedia
Beggar-My-Neighbour, also known as Beggar-Your-Neighbour, Beat Jack Out of Doors, Beat Your Neighbour Out of Doors, Beat your Neighbour Out of Town, Strip Jack Naked, Picture and Draw the Well Dry, is a simple card game
somewhat similar in nature to War
, and has spawned a more complicated variant, Egyptian Ratscrew
.
and has been known there since at least the 1860s. It appears in Charles Dickens
's 1861 novel Great Expectations
, as the only card game Pip, the book's protagonist, as a child seems to know how to play.
is divided equally between two players, and the two stacks of cards
are placed on the table face down. The first player lays down his top card face up, and the opponent plays his top card on it, and this goes on alternately as long as no ace
or face card (King
, Queen
, or Jack
) appears.
If either player turns up such a card, his opponent has to pay a penalty: four cards for an ace, three for a King, two for a Queen, or one for a Jack. When he has done so, the player of the penalty card wins the hand, takes all the cards in the pile and places them under his pack. The game continues in the same fashion, the winner having the advantage of placing the first card. However, if the second player turns up another ace or face card in the course of paying to the original penalty card, his payment ceases and the first player must pay to this new card. This changing of penalization can continue indefinitely. The hand is lost by the player who, in playing his penalty, turns up neither an ace nor a face card. Then, his opponent acquires all of the cards in the pile. When a single player has all of the cards in the deck
in his stack, he has won.
asks whether there is a game of Beggar-My-Neighbour that goes on forever. This can happen only if the game is eventually periodic—that is, if it eventually reaches some state
it has been in before. Some smaller decks of cards have infinite games, while others do not. John Conway
once listed this among his anti-Hilbert problems
, open questions whose pursuit should emphatically not drive the future of mathematical research.
employed by governments.
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...
somewhat similar in nature to War
War (card game)
War is a card game typically involving two players. It uses a standard French playing card deck. Due to its simplicity, it is played most often by children.-Gameplay:The deck is divided evenly among the two players, giving each a down stack...
, and has spawned a more complicated variant, Egyptian Ratscrew
Egyptian Ratscrew
Egyptian Ratscrew is a card game of the matching family of games, reminiscent of Slapjack and Beggar-My-Neighbour, but more complex.The game appears to be a combination of Beggar-My-Neighbour, mentioned by Charles Dickens in his Great...
.
Origins
The game was probably invented in BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and has been known there since at least the 1860s. It appears in Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's 1861 novel Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
, as the only card game Pip, the book's protagonist, as a child seems to know how to play.
Gameplay
A standard 52-card deckStandard 52-card deck
The primary deck of fifty-two playing cards in use today, usually known as the French deck, includes thirteen ranks of each of the four French suits, clubs , diamonds , hearts and spades , with reversible Rouennais "court" or face cards. Some modern designs, however, have done away with reversible...
is divided equally between two players, and the two stacks of cards
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
are placed on the table face down. The first player lays down his top card face up, and the opponent plays his top card on it, and this goes on alternately as long as no ace
Ace
An ace is a playing card. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the Ace of Spades...
or face card (King
King (playing card)
The king is a playing card with a picture of a king on it. The usual rank of a king is as if it were a 13; that is, above the queen. In some games, the king is the highest-ranked card; in others, the ace is higher...
, Queen
Queen (playing card)
The Queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. The usual rank of a queen is as if it were 12 ....
, or Jack
Jack (playing card)
A Jack, also Knave, is a playing card with a picture of a man on it. The usual rank of a jack, within its suit, is as if it were an 11 ....
) appears.
If either player turns up such a card, his opponent has to pay a penalty: four cards for an ace, three for a King, two for a Queen, or one for a Jack. When he has done so, the player of the penalty card wins the hand, takes all the cards in the pile and places them under his pack. The game continues in the same fashion, the winner having the advantage of placing the first card. However, if the second player turns up another ace or face card in the course of paying to the original penalty card, his payment ceases and the first player must pay to this new card. This changing of penalization can continue indefinitely. The hand is lost by the player who, in playing his penalty, turns up neither an ace nor a face card. Then, his opponent acquires all of the cards in the pile. When a single player has all of the cards in the deck
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
in his stack, he has won.
Relation to mathematics
A longstanding question in combinatorial game theoryCombinatorial game theory
Combinatorial game theory is a branch of applied mathematics and theoretical computer science that studies sequential games with perfect information, that is, two-player games which have a position in which the players take turns changing in defined ways or moves to achieve a defined winning...
asks whether there is a game of Beggar-My-Neighbour that goes on forever. This can happen only if the game is eventually periodic—that is, if it eventually reaches some state
State (computer science)
In computer science and automata theory, a state is a unique configuration of information in a program or machine. It is a concept that occasionally extends into some forms of systems programming such as lexers and parsers....
it has been in before. Some smaller decks of cards have infinite games, while others do not. John Conway
John Horton Conway
John Horton Conway is a prolific mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory...
once listed this among his anti-Hilbert problems
Hilbert's problems
Hilbert's problems form a list of twenty-three problems in mathematics published by German mathematician David Hilbert in 1900. The problems were all unsolved at the time, and several of them were very influential for 20th century mathematics...
, open questions whose pursuit should emphatically not drive the future of mathematical research.
Protectionism
The term Beggar-My-Neighbour has been used to describe the mutually destructive side effects of Protectionist economic policyEconomic policy
Economic policy refers to the actions that governments take in the economic field. It covers the systems for setting interest rates and government budget as well as the labor market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the economy.Such policies are often...
employed by governments.