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Sarmizegetusa Regia

Sarmizegetusa Regia (also known as Sarmisegetusa, Sarmisegethusa, Sarmisegethuza; Ζαρμιζεγεθούσα) was the capital and the most important military, religious and political centre of the Dacians before the wars with the Roman Empire. Built on top of a 1200 m high mountain, the fortress, consisting of six citadels, was the core of a strategic and defensive system in the Orăștie Mountains (in present-day Romania).

Sarmizegetusa Regia should not be confused with Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, the Roman capital of Dacia built by Roman Emperor Trajan some 40 km away, which was not the Dacian capital. Sarmizegetusa Ulpia was discovered earlier, was known already in the early 1900s, and was initially mistaken for the Dacian capital, a confusion which led to incorrect conclusions being made regarding the military history and organization of the Dacians.

Etymology
Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origin of the name Sarmizegetusa. The most important of these ascribe the following possible meanings to the city's name:

 * 'Center where horse-mounted archers meet' from sar 'horse' (Getian and Sarmatian) combined with gethusa 'arrow' (cognate with Sarmatian sageta) and gethate 'center' (cognate Sarmatian cetate)
 * ‘Citadel built of palisades on a mountain peak’ from zermi (*gher-mi ‘mountain peak, top’, cf. *gher ‘stone; high’) and zeget (*geg(H)t)
 * ‘City of the warm river’ from zarmi ‘warm’ (cognate with Sanskrit gharma ‘warm’) and  zeget ‘flow’ (cognate with Sanskrit sarj- in  sarjana- ‘flow’ and Bactrian harez- in harezâna ‘id.’), the city being named after the nearby river Sargetia
 * ‘Palace illuminating the world of life’ from zaryma ‘palace’ (cf. Sanskrit harmya ‘palace’), zegeth ‘world of life’ (cf. Sanskrit jagat- ‘go’, and jigat- ‘mobility; world of life’) and usa ‘illuminating, enlightening; burning’)
 * 'SARMIS.E[T].GETUSA REGIA' is an alternate spelling of the full Latin name of the location. It translates to, the capital city/royal court of the Sarmatian and Getae/Gets. Getae and Dacians were interchangeable terms. The -A after GETUS is part of the genitive case in Latin, indicating ownership. This is plausible as the Dacians were allied with the Sarmatians (e.g., Roxolani) during the Dacian Wars in the early first century CE.

Layout

Sarmizegetusa Regia contained a citadel and residential areas with dwellings and workshops as well as a sacred zone.
 * The fortress, a quadrilateral formed by massive stone blocks (murus dacicus), was constructed on five terraces, on an area of almost 30,000 m².
 * The sacred zone — among the most important and largest circular and rectangular Dacian sanctuaries – includes a number of rectangular temples, the bases of their supporting columns still visible in regular arrays. Perhaps the most enigmatic construction at the site is the large circular sanctuary. It consisted of a setting of timber posts in the shape of a D, surrounded by a timber circle which in turn was surrounded by a low stone kerb. The layout of the timber settings bears some resemblance to the stone monument at Stonehenge in England.
 * An artifact referred to as the “Andesite Sun" seems to have been used as a sundial. Since it is known that Dacian culture was influenced by contact with Hellenisitic Greece, the sundial may have resulted from the Dacians' exposure to Hellenistic learning in geometry and astronomy.
 * Civilians lived below the citadel itself in settlements built on artificial terraces, such as the one at Feţele Albe. A system of ceramic pipes channeled running water into the residences of the nobility.

The archaeological inventory found at the site demonstrates that Dacian society had a relatively high standard of living.

Variants of the name of the city

Historical records show considerable variation in the spelling of the name of the Dacian capital:

 * Zarmigethusa, Sarmisegethusa (Ptolemy, Geography, 2nd century AD)
 * Zermizegethusa (Dio Cassius 2nd-3rd century)
 * Sarmazege (Anonymous Geographer from Ravenna, around 700 AD)
 * Sarmategte (Tabula Peutingeriana, 13th century)
 * Zarmizegetusa and Sarmizegetusa (from inscriptions)
 * Sargetia (name of the river nearby)

Pre-Roman era
Towards the end of his reign, Burebista transferred the Geto-Dacian capital from Argedava to Sarmizegetusa. Serving as the Dacian capital for at least one and a half centuries, Sarmizegethusa reached its zenith under King Decebal. Archeological findings suggest that the Dacian god Zalmoxis and his chief priest had an important role in Dacian society at this time. They have also shed new light on the political, economic and scientific development of the Dacians and their successful assimilation of technical and scientific knowledge from the Greek and Romans.

The site has yielded two especially notable finds:
 * A medical kit, in a brassbound wooden box with an iron handle, containing a scalpel, tweezers, powdered pumice and miniature pots for pharmaceuticals
 * A huge vase, 24 in (0.6 m) high and 41 in (1.04 m) across, bearing an inscription in the Roman alphabet: DECEBAL PER SCORILO, i.e. ‘Decebalus, son (cf. Latin puer) of Scorilus’

The smithies north of the sanctuary also provide evidence of the Dacians' skill in metalworking: findings include tools such as metre-long tongs, hammers and anvils which were used to make some 400 metallic artefacts — scythes, sickles, hoes, rakes, picks, pruning hooks, knives, plowshares, and carpenters' tools — as well as weapons such as daggers, curved Dacian scimitars, spearpoints, and shields.

Nevertheless, the flowering of Dacian civilization apparently underway during the reign of Decebalus came to an abrupt end when Trajan's legions destroyed the city and deported its population.

The defensive system
The Dacian capital’s defensive system includes six Dacian fortresses — Sarmizegetusa, Costești-Blidaru, Piatra Roșie, Costești-Cetățuie, Căpâlna and Bănița. All six have been named UNESCO World heritage sites.

Roman era
Sarmizegetusa's walls were partly dismantled at the end of the First Dacian War in AD 102, when Dacia was invaded by the Emperor Trajan of the Roman Empire and rebuilt as Roman fortifications. The latter were subsequently destroyed, possibly by the Dacians, and then rebuilt again following the successful siege of the site in AD 105–6.

The Roman conquerors established a military garrison at Sarmizegetusa Regia. Later, the capital of Roman Dacia was established 40 km from the ruined Dacian capital, and was named after it - Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa.

title: Sarmizegetusa Regia


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Unification Theological Seminary

Massena Campus of Bard College formerly known as Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) from its founding in 1975 until July 2023 is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 1984 and received accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in November 1996.

UTS also had a larger, 250-acre campus located in Dutchess County, New York from September 1975, until it was sold in January 2024 to nearby Bard College. Since then, all instruction is now conducted through the seminary’s New York City headquarters.

Students and alumni
While the majority of UTS students have been Unification Church members, there are also students from other faiths. Historically, the UTS faculty has included academics representing the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian faiths, as well as Unificationist faculty with degrees from Harvard University, Columbia University, Graduate Theological Union, The New School, Vanderbilt University, and Drew University, among others. The seminary has over 125 students enrolled in its three Master degrees and in its Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program. Most Unification Church leaders in the United States hold UTS degrees. UTS graduates have also played major leadership roles in many of the Unification Church-related organizations in the United States, as well as Unification-inspired civil society and corporate entities including the Universal Peace Federation, the Family Federation for World Peace, World Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP), the American Clergy Leadership Conference, World & I Magazine, Paragon Publishers, the Professors World Peace Academy, Unification Theological Seminary, and the Women’s Federation for World Peace. As of 2022, there are over 1,550 UTS graduates.

Research and publication
Since its inception, the Unification Theological Seminary has served as the principal venue to provide formal, academic religious and theological training for its Church leaders. It has offered courses in New Testament, Old Testament, the Pauline Epistles, Patristics, Hermeneutics, Church History, Apologetics as well as Islam, East Asian Religion, Religious Education, Peace Studies, as well as in the Unification Church’s own canon of Divine Principle, Unification Thought, the Teachings and Writings of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han Moon and their applications, and other related sources.

The seminary has played an important role in Unification apologetics, academic research related to the movement’s historical development, and in the articulation of the Unificationist perspective. Young Oon Kim, the Unification Church’s first theologian and the first Korean missionary to the United States, taught at Unification Theological Seminary from its founding in 1975 until just prior to her death in 1989. Kim authored several seminal church academic texts including Unification Principle and its Applications (1980) and Unification Theology (1980), Unification Thought and Christian Theology (date), and Systematic Theology. David S.C. Kim, an early missionary, who served as President of the Unification Theological Seminary from 1975-1994 edited the authoritative three-volume Day of Hope in Review texts, comprehensive collections of the press coverage of the early years of Moon's speaking tours in the United States. Andrew Wilson, a Harvard-trained Old Testament Scholar, oversaw the selection of texts and the editing of World Scriptures (1991) and also served as co-author together with Joong Hyun Pak of True Family Values. Wilson is currently working with Hee Hun Standard in the translation, editing, preparation for publication of 원리 원본 (Wolli Wonbon), the original draft of Unification teachings personally drafted by Sun Myung Moon. Michael Mickler’s History of the Unification Church in America (1993) and his 40 Years in America: An Intimate History of the Unification Movement 1959-1999 (2000) are authoritative texts on the Unification Movement, documenting both its achievements and challenges. Over the past five decades, numerous volumes on Theology, Church History, Religious Education, Inter-Religious Dialogue, Peace Studies, Evolution, Threats to Ecosystems, and on the Philosophy of Science have been published by UTS faculty and alums, including Jonathan Wells, Thomas Walsh, Karen Smith, Keisuke Noda, Frank Kaufmann, Frederick Swarts, and Kathy Winings, who currently serves as National President of the Religious Education Association. The seminary also sponsors The Journal of Unification Studies, an academic journal.

Academics
The seminary offers four distinct degree programs:

Notable alumni

 * Daniel Fefferman, executive director of the International Coalition for Religious Freedom.
 * Michael Jenkins, president of U.S. Unification Church (2000–2009)
 * Lee Shapiro, documentarian killed while filming in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War.
 * Jonathan Wells (1978), biologist, author and proponent of Intelligent design.
 * Andrew Wilson, academic dean of UTS; editor of World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts
 * Mike Yakawich, member of the Montana House of Representatives

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Unification Theological Seminary


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Piquet

Piquet is an early 16th-century plain-trick card game for two players that became France's national game. David Parlett calls it a "classic game of relatively great antiquity... still one of the most skill-rewarding card games for two" but one which is now only played by "aficionados and connoisseurs." Historically also known as Sant or Saunt from the French Cent.

History
Piquet is one of the oldest card games still being played. It is first mentioned, as Le Cent, in a written reference dating to 1535, in Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais. Although legend attributes the game's creation to Stephen de Vignolles, also known as La Hire, a knight in the service of Charles VII during the Hundred Years' War, it may possibly have come into France from Spain because the words "pique" and "repique", the main features of the game, are of Spanish origin. The earliest clear mention of the game – leaving aside various predecessors – is in 1585 by Jacques Perrache, described as a "Provençal gentleman", who refers to two unusual games, "premieres, & piquets".

The game was introduced in Germany during the Thirty Years' War, and texts of that period provide substantial evidence of its vogue, like the metaphorical use of the word "repique" in the 1634–8 political poem Allamodisch Picket Spiel ("Piquet Game à la mode"), which reflects the growing popularity of the game at that time. As with other games like Bête, the substantive form of the word "piquet" was turned into a verb and this is used substantially by Rist's 1640 Spiele, die man Picquetten heißet, who gives the word his grudging assent. Historical sources also distinguish between Rummel-Piquet, the normal game in which Rummel referred to the feature of point, and Offenherziges Piquet (lit.: "Open-hearted Piquet"), which was played ouverte. Mizka states that the former was known as Ronfelspiel (French: Ronfler) until 1664.

Until the early twentieth century, piquet was perhaps the most popular card game in France, occupying a similar position to cribbage in England. It first became popular in England after the marriage of Mary I of England to Philip II of Spain in 1554. During this period the game was known as cent, after the Spanish game cientos, referring to the fact that one of the chief goals of piquet is to reach 100 points. Following the marriage of King Charles I of England to Henrietta Maria of France in 1625, the British adopted the French name for the game. It went in and out of fashion among the upper classes in Britain between the 17th and early 20th centuries, its demise from the end of the First World War being put down to the rise of Gin Rummy "and other lowbrow games that are easier to learn and faster to play."

Rules
Piquet is played with a 32-card pack, normally referred to as a piquet pack or piquet deck. The pack comprises the 7s through to 10s, the face cards, and the aces in each suit, and can be created by removing all 2–6 values from a 52-card poker pack. Each game consists of a partie of six deals (partie meaning match in French). The player scoring the most points wins (see the scoring section for further details).

Cards
In Piquet cards rank as follows (from highest to lowest) :

Cut
The player who cuts the higher card has to deal, and the dealer has the choice of cards at the commencement of each partie. A partie consists of six deals. The players deal alternately for each hand in the partie. It is preferable to deal first so as not to deal the last hand. Dealing puts a player at a disadvantage.

Deal
Twelve cards are dealt to each player, with the remaining eight forming the talon, which is placed face-down between the players. The talon may be split by the dealer into two piles of five and three cards, respectively. The dealer is referred to as the younger hand and the non-dealer as the elder hand.

Exchanging cards
The goal of exchanging cards is to improve one's hand before the declaration and the play. The elder hand exchanges first. This is done by taking one to five cards from the hand and placing them face down. An equal number is then drawn from the talon. At least one card must be exchanged. The player must state how many cards he intends to exchange if fewer than the maximum. If the elder chooses to take fewer than the maximum, he may then look at the remainder from the five (which are the first ones that the younger will take).

The younger hand exchanges next. Again, at least one card must be exchanged. The younger may also exchange up to five cards, depending on how many the elder exchanged. If the elder exchanged all five, then the younger may only exchange up to the three remaining in the talon.

Carte blanche
After the deal, players sort their cards in their hands. A player with no court cards (J, Q, K) may declare "carte blanche," which is worth 10 points. Carte blanche should be declared immediately. Either player declaring carte blanche must show their hand to the other. However, to preserve fairness, a formal protocol should be followed:

Elder has carte blanche

 * Elder declares the number of cards that will be exchanged, and sets them to the side.
 * Younger chooses cards to be exchanged, and sets them to the side.
 * Elder displays entire hand, including cards set aside.

Younger has carte blanche

 * Younger displays after elder has exchanged cards.

A hand of this type is fairly rare, appearing roughly once every 1,800 hands. Although it often scores poorly, it is usually advantageous to declare it to prevent the opponent from scoring pique or repique, despite the tactical disadvantage of giving information to the opponent.

Note: It is impossible for both players to hold carte blanche, so it will never happen that both players declare 'carte blanche. (There are 12 face cards in the pack (J,Q,K x 4). There are only 8 cards in the talon, so at least one player's hand must hold some face cards.)

Declaration phase
In the declaration phase, the players ascertain who has the better hand in each of three categories: point, sequence, and set. This is done in an oblique sort of way that leads to some of the intrigue of piquet. Elder hand declares first always, with younger responding. In each part of the declaration, the younger hand may choose to contest the elder's claim. By doing so, the younger may reveal information that would be useful during the trick-taking phase, called the play. Likewise, the elder may choose not to reveal information in one or more parts of the declaration.

Point
If the elder has at least four cards in a suit, he may make a declaration: for example, "Point of four". The younger would then respond indicating that he has more, fewer, or the same number of cards in a suit. This is done by saying "Good" (the elder has more and wins the point), "Not good" (the elder has fewer), or "Making?" or "How many?", indicating that the younger has the same number of cards in a suit, which requires clarification.

If both players have the same number of cards in a suit, then they must tally the value of the cards. The values of the cards are as follows: ace = 11, face cards = 10, and face value for the rest. After adding the values of the cards, the elder calls out the number. The younger may then say "Good", if the elder's value is greater, or "Not good" and the number that wins the point. For example: "Not good: 39" or "Not good, I have 39". If the values are the same, younger says "Equal".

The player with the better point scores the number of cards in the suit, not their value. If the values are the same, neither player scores. Note that younger does not actually score for any declarations until elder has led to the first trick in the play (see below).

Sequence
The next part of the declaration is the sequence, in which the longest consecutive run of cards is valued. A sequence must have at least three cards and they must all be in the same suit. Again, the elder hand starts. For example, "Run of three" or "Sequence of four". The younger than responds with "Good" or "Not good", in the same way as before, or by contesting. To contest, the younger says "How high?", to which the elder responds with the highest card in the sequence. For example, "To the queen". Younger replies with "Good", "Not good" or "Equal".

In keeping with the game's ancestry, one may utilize the historical names for sequences in this part of the declaration, instead of the prosaic "Run of three", for example. The following are the proper names and their associated values; those from 6 up are obsolete in English:

The person winning the sequence may declare any additional sequences that he has, if desired. If both players' best sequences are equal then neither player may score for any sequences.

Set
A set is three or four of a kind, ten or greater (7s, 8s, and 9s don't count, and aces are highest). Sets of three are called trios or brelans and are worth 3 points, and sets of four, quatorzes ("cat-orz"), are worth 14 points. The declarations take place in the same manner as "point" and "sequence", with elder stating his best set (for example, "Three kings"), to which younger replies "Good" or "Not good". The player with the best set may declare any additional sets that he has if desired.

Carte rouge
A variation is sometimes played in which 20 points are received if every card in a player's hand is used at some point while making up one or more "good" declarations, carte blanche excluded. The points are scored at the time this occurs and are not subject to the order of point counting, below.

The following example should illustrate one way carte rouge may apply during a hand.

Six cards were good in points, and the other six were good in sequences.

The 20 points would then be awarded at that stage of the counting towards a repique.

Pique and repique
If a player scores 30 points during the declaration phase prior to his opponent scoring anything, that player gains a repique, which is worth an additional 60 points. If elder scores 30 points in declarations and play combined, before younger scores any points, then elder gains a pique and scores an additional 30 points. A player can only score either repique or pique, not both.

All declaration scoring must be evaluated in the following order, after the play of the first card by elder:

 * 1) Carte blanche
 * 2) Points
 * 3) Sequences
 * 4) Sets

If a player were to score more than 30 points in points and sequences before the other might score in sets, then the player would receive a repique.

For example: elder has a quatorze of aces for 14 points; younger has a point of 7 and two quints for a total of 37 points. According to the order of scoring, above, younger would receive the repique bonus.

Note that younger can never gain a pique because elder always scores one point for leading to the first trick (see below). By the end of the declaration, each player will have a pretty good idea of the other's hand (to the degree that each chooses to claim their points).

Additionally, should elder achieve "cards"—more than 6 tricks—prior to younger winning any tricks, then the 10 points for "cards" may immediately be applied to a pique. If elder subsequently wins all the tricks, elder only receives the remaining 30 of the 40 points awarded for capot. The capot does not count towards a pique.

Equality has no effect on pique or repique.

Carte rouge is applied as soon as it occurs, and is not subject to the ordering, above; however, a common variation is that a "pique" or "repique" cannot be scored as the result of a "Carte Rouge" by the younger hand, once elder has played a first card.

Play
The play is the trick-taking part of the game. Players must follow suits with the elder hand placing a card face up and scoring one point. The younger than scores for their declarations and plays a card that follows suit, if possible. If not, he may discard anything he chooses. The winner of the trick (the player with the highest card in the suit led), takes the trick, placing it face-down (usually; see variations) in front of themself. The winner of the trick leads the next. When forced to discard, it is important to choose the right card. See tactics.

The score is usually kept verbally as play progresses. Trick score counts as follows:
 * 1 point for leading a trick
 * If the second player (the player who doesn't lead) wins a trick, they get a point.
 * The winner of the last trick wins a 1-point bonus (see variations).

Cards
The player with the greater number of tricks won at the end of play scores 10 for cards. If there is a tie, then neither player scores the additional points.

Capot
If all 12 tricks are won by one player, that player scores 40 points for capot ("capot" is the origin of the word kaput).

Scoring

 * Rubicon piquet: Six hands are played regardless of final score. The winner's margin is computed as winner's score – loser's score + 100. If, however, the loser fails to score at least 100 points, then the final score is computed as: winner's score + loser's score + 100; since the loser failed to "cross the Rubicon".

E.g. 105 to 101 = 4 + 100 = 104 to the winner; 97 to 89 = 97 + 89 + 100 = 286 to the winner

 * Classic piquet, also known as piquet au cent: Played to 100 or 101 points, regardless of how many hands it takes to reach 100, usually five or six, uses a pack that includes the sixes of all four suits, and allows up to seven cards to be exchanged by the elder hand. In this variation, it is possible for both hands to score carte blanche, since the six of each suit is available to be used in a sequence of 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, A in each player's hand, two suits each.  Additionally, points are not accumulated for leading to a trick, but are rather earned by the winner of the trick, one point per 10-card or higher; thus, a person could win a trick, and earn 0, 1, or 2 points.  There is no point for winning the last trick.

Variations

 * Players may choose to keep tricks face up in front of them.
 * Players may look through both players' winning tricks.
 * The winner of the last trick may score 10 points instead of 1, making the choice of how to close the play more significant.
 * Declarations state the total card values for points each time it is declared, not just when the dealer says "Equal".
 * Carte rouge may award 10 or 40 points instead of 20, at the players' discretion.

Tactics
Players discard low cards (nine or lower) even if this means getting rid of four or more of one suit. This diminishes the chances of winning the point round, but this round is the lowest scoring one. Getting rid of these lower cards to get straights of five or more is very beneficial and will increase one's score greatly. Players may attempt to hold "stop" cards (usually queens or kings in their opponent's strong suit) for the last stage of play, in order to block their opponent's run of tricks with their long sequences.

Background
In The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims author Andrew Steinmetz (1816–1877) describes how the game is played:

The card game piquet is said to have derived its name from that of its inventor, who contrived it to amuse Charles VI of France. The game was played with thirty two cards, that is, discarding out of the pack all the deuces, treys, fours, fives, and sixes. Regular piquet-packs were sold. In reckoning up the points, every card counted for its value, as ten for ten, nine for nine, and so on down to seven, which was, of course, the lowest; but the ace reckoned for eleven. All court cards reckoned for ten. As in other games, the ace won the king, the king the queen, and so on, to the knave, which won the ten. The cards were dealt at option by fours, threes, or twos, to the number of twelve, which was the hand— 'discarding' being allowed; but both the dealer and he that led were obliged to discard at least one card. When the cards were played out, each counted his tricks; and he that had most reckoned 10 for winning the cards; if the tricks were equal, neither reckoned at all. He who, without playing (that is, according to the various terms of the game), could reckon up 30 in hand, when his antagonist reckoned nothing, scored 90 for them; this was called a repic; and all above 30 counted so many—32 counting 92, and so on. He who could make up 30, part in hand and part by play, before the other made anything, scored 60; this was called a pic.

The game was also played as pool precisely according to the rules briefly sketched as above, the penalty for losing being a guinea to the pool. Piquet required much practice to play it well. It became so great a favourite that, by the middle of the 18th century, the meanest people were well acquainted with it, and 'let into all the tricks and secrets of it, in order to render them complete sharpers.' Such are the words of an old author, who adds that the game was liable to great imposition, and he explains the methods in use. Short cards were used for cutting, as in whist, at the time. Of these cards there were two sorts, one longer than the rest; and the advantage gained by them was as the adversary managed it, by cutting the longer or broader, as best suited his purpose, or imposing on the dealer, when it was his turn, to cut those that made most against him. The aces, kings, queens, and knaves were marked with dots at the corners, and in the very old book from which I am quoting precise directions are given how this marking can be effected in such a manner 'as not to be discovered by your adversary, and at the same time appear plain to yourself. With a fine pointed pen and some clear spring water, players made dots upon the glazed card at the corners according to the above method; or they coloured the water with India ink, to make the marks more conspicuous. The work concludes as follows: There are but 32 cards made use of at piquet, so that just half of them will be known to you; and in dealing you may have an opportunity to give yourself those you like best; and if you cannot conveniently change the pack according to your desire, you will commonly know what you are to take in, which is a demonstrative advantage to win any one's money.

He also describes a "card telegraphy" signalling system used by cheaters. The 32 cards used in the game can be described using a combination of twelve signals—eight for the value of the card and four for its color. Steinmetz lists some signals and their meaning:

 * Player looks at his confederate: A king.
 * Player looks at the play of his adversary: A queen.
 * Player looks at the stake: A knave.
 * Player looks at the opposite: An ace.
 * Player's mouth is slightly open: Hearts.
 * Player's mouth is closed: Diamonds.
 * Player's upper lip is "slightly pouting over the lower": Clubs
 * Player's lower lip is drawn over the upper: Spades

Should a cheater wish to announce the knave and ace of hearts, he would glance at the stake and then to the opposite side, whilst keeping his mouth slightly open.

Steinmetz adds:

It is evident that this telegraphy may be employed at all games where there is a gallery. In effect, nothing is easier at piquet than to indicate, by the aid of these signals, the colour in which the player should discard and that in which he should keep what cards he has.

These are the simplest signs; but some of the [cheaters] have a great number of them, to designate everything; and even sometimes to communicate and receive intelligence, when necessary. This telegraphy is so imperceptible that it is difficult to describe it, and altogether impossible to detect it.

title: Piquet


text:
Basset (banking game)

Basset (French bassette, from the Italian bassetta), also known as barbacole and hocca, is a gambling game using cards, that was considered one of the most polite. It was intended for persons of the highest rank because of the great losses or gains that might be accrued by players.

Basset in Italy
According to DELI (Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana), the word Basetta is first recorded in the first half of the 15th century. The game Basset is described by a few authors as having been invented in 1593 by a noble Venetian named Pietro Cellini, who was punished with exile in Corsica for his contrivance. It may have been devised out of the game of Hocca, Hoca or even Hoc, considered the precursor and an outlawed form of Italian roulette at which people lost considerable sums of money and also an early iteration of Biribi, which was brought into fashion by Cardinal Mazarin.

Basset in France
Basset was first introduced into France by Signior Justiniani, ambassador of Venice, in 1674. The game was very popular at the court of King Charles II, and even after 15 January 1691 when Louis XIV issued an order from the privy council, by which he expressly forbade not only the officers belonging to his army, but likewise all other persons of whatever sex or denomination to play at Hoca, Pharaoh, Barbacole and Basset. The sums of money lost in France at this game were so considerable that the nobility were in danger of being undone after many persons of distinction were ruined. Later the law against gambling was tightened eluding which they disguised Basset under the name of "pour et contre", that is, "for and against".

By the constitution of Basset, large advantages were secured to the tailleur (the dealer / keeper of the bank) and so vast were their gains, that the privilege of keeping a bank at Basset, where the stakes were unlimited, was granted only to cadets or other members of great families. It was basically certain that a considerable fortune could be realized by the tailleur in a short time. The advantages of the dealer arise in many ways, but mainly from the temptations for adventurous players to increase their stakes on certain desperate chances, which rarely turn up, and which in the long run told largely in favor of the bank. Where licenses were otherwise conceded for keeping a public Basset table in France, the stakes were strictly limited to twelve pence.

Basset in England
Basset migrated to England in about 1677, introduced by a croupier called Morin, but never caught on outside Court circles on account of its costliness and the heavy risks it entailed on the players. Its heyday seems to have been in the early 18th century. It has no place in Cotton's 1674 The Complete Gamester, but rates a lengthy entry in the 1721 edition where the fierceness of the gambling is stressed. It is there described as a "French Game", presumably because it was imported from France. The game's high stakes, along with its devastations, is the subject of Susanna Centlivre's 1705 comedy The Basset Table.

The English made Basset quite different from what it was in France where, by royal edict, the public at large were not allowed to play at more than a franc or ten-penny bank, – and the losses or gains could not bring desolation to a family. In England the punters (gamblers) could do as they liked, staking from one guinea to one hundred guineas and more, upon a card. After three or four years, many players had impoverished their families to such an extent that Parliament enacted a prohibition with severe penalties against both games. However, it was "of so bewitching a nature," says our old writer, "by reason of the several multiplications and advantages which it seemingly offered to the unwary punter, that a great many like it so well that they would play at small game rather than give out; and rather than not play at all would punt at six-penny, three-penny, nay, a two-penny bank, – so much did the hope of winning the quinze-et-le-va and the trente-et-le-va intoxicate them."

The Edge
The play in Basset resulted in, basically, a lottery. A player might occasionally win, but the big winner was the dealer (banker). The dealer had a number of privileges under the rules, including having the sole disposal of the first and last card; this gave them a significant edge. This was a truth so acknowledged in France that the king ordered, by public edict, that the privilege of a tallière (banker) should be allowed only to the chief cadets (sons of noblemen). His assumption was that whoever kept the bank must, in a very short time, acquire a considerable fortune.

Modern Rules
This interpretation is based on the glossary and the rules in The Compleat Gamester as described in the 5th edition (1725).

Each player (punter) takes a "book" of cards from another deck (13 cards of the same suit). Players place cards whose rank they wish to bet on to the table. They can place as many (or as few) cards as they wish. The amount wagered (couch) on each card can also vary according to the player's choice. No new cards may be added once play begins.

The banker (talliere) shuffles a deck of 52 cards (without jokers) and lifts the deck to reveal the bottom card (fasse). Any players who have bets on this rank must pay half the value of their wager to the banker (from their personal stock, not from the cards themselves). This bottom card is then discarded. The banker then reveals the first players’ card (winning). Any players who have wagered on that card's rank may receive a payout of 1:1. The banker then reveals a second card, the bank's card (losing). Any players who wagered on this rank lose their wager and their card of that rank is removed from play (this rank can no longer truly "win" wagers on any draw for the rest of this round as all players' wagers on this rank have now been lost). The banker continues in this manner, drawing a players’ (winning) card, then a bank’s (losing) card, calling out the values and resolving wagers.

If a rank is revealed as both the players' and the bank's (twins, a tie) the draw is null and no wagers (or parlays) are lost or paid. However, if a rank is drawn as the players' "winning" card twice in a row (including after a tie), it instead loses.

If a player's wager wins, instead of accepting the payout (1:1), they may place a token (small die, coin, etc.) on a corner of a card to parlay (paroli) their bet. If this card wins again (before being drawn as the bank's), the player wins an increased payout (see Parlay Table below). Instead of accepting this increased winning, the player may again refuse the payout to push their luck further by placing another token on a second corner. The player may continue in this manner on subsequent wins, either accepting the payout or continuing to parlay with tokens added to the card. If the deck runs out and the player still has a parlayed card on the table, that card must carry over into the next round until it either pays or loses. Any wager that has been parlayed may not be altered until it either wins or loses. If a parlayed card ever loses (drawn as the bank's), the player only loses the original wager that was placed on the card regardless of any current parlay.

Alternatively, after a card wins (either for a 1:1 payout or after the payout of any parlay), the player may remove their card of that rank from play and place no more wagers on it. Or, the player may accept the payout (either 1:1 or after any successful parlay) and place the same wager as their original bet (or higher) on that same card as a new bet (masse) with any previous parlay tokens removed.

The final card in the deck is null and pays nothing, no wagers (or parlays) are lost or paid. Players then prepare for the next round by placing new cards and wagers or removing others from the table. However, any standing parlays may not be removed or altered until the next round reveals whether they win or lose.

Paroli System
Sources differ on whether the first parlay pays 2:1 or is the sept-et-le-va of 7:1. Many sources, including Andrew Steinmetz's 1870 work, source back to the ruleset described in the later editions of The Compleat Gamester. The second parlay is most commonly depicted as being the sept-et-le-va, per these rules. However, this would give a mathematical edge to the players with approximately a 25% chance to win 7 times their wager.

In all editions of The Compleat Gamester which include Basset, this issue is confused by the wording of the glossary. This includes that to achieve a soissant-et-le-va requires carrying the parlay into the next round, but not the trent-et-le-va. However, the same glossary describes the player adjusting the third corner of their card for a quinze-et-le-va and the fourth corner of their card for a trent-et-le-va. If the sept-et-le-va follows the original paroli, only one corner would have been adjusted, suggesting another parlay that is not well described.

The glossary entry for The Pay in The Compleat Gamester mentions the doubling of the player's wager if "by this adventure Fortune favors him" after having already established the 1:1 payout of whatever their first stake may be on their first win. This suggests a 2:1 payout that precedes the 7:1 sept-et-leva. This accounts for both the number of corners altered before the described quinze-et-le-va (the first being the 2:1, then the 7:1, and third the 15:1) and gives the mathematical edge to the bank for which the game of Basset is historically infamous. Additionally, this interpretation of the parlay system is more consistent in the use of odds as associated with other games of chance that include parlays.

Variants
The Compleat Gamester states that a masse is only permitted on winning cards. However, in Act IV of Susanna Centlivre's 1705 comedy The Basset Table (in which the characters are playing Basset), losing cards are not removed from the table and players seem to be permitted to masse a further couch on them (as in Faro).

Source Rules
The players sat round a table, the talliere (banker/dealer) in the midst of them, with the bank of gold before him, and the punters or players each having a book of 13 cards. Each laid down one, two, three, or more, as they pleased, with money upon them, as stakes. The talliere took the remaining pack in his hand and turned them up, with the bottom card appearing being called the fasse; he was then paid half the value of the stakes laid down by the punters upon any card of that sort (rank).

After the fasse was turned up, and the talliere and croupiere (bet collector, similar to a stickman) had looked round the cards on the table, and taken advantage of the money laid on them, the former proceeded with his deal; and the next card appearing, whether the king, queen, ace, or whatever it might be, won for the player (1–1 payout), the latter might receive it, or making paroli (parlay their bet), as before said, go on to sept-et-le-va (7–1 payout). The card after that won for the talliere, who took money from each player's card of that sort, and brought it into his bank, an obvious and prodigious advantage over the players.

The talliere, if the winning card was a king, and the next after it was a ten, said (showing the cards all round): 'King wins, ten loses,' paying the money to such cards and taking the money from those who lost, adding it to his bank. This done, he went on with the deal: 'Ace wins, five loses; 'Knave (Jack) wins, seven loses;' and so on, every other card alternately winning and losing, till all the pack was dealt but the last card. According to the rules of the game, the last card turned up was for the advantage of the talliere; although a player might have one of the same sort, still it was allowed to him as one of the dues of his office, he (the tallière) paid nothing on it.

The bold player who was lucky and adventurous, and could push on his couch with a considerable stake to sept-et-le-va (7–1 payout), quinze-et-le-va (15–1 payout), trente-et-le-va (33–1 payout), etc., must in a wonderful manner have multiplied his couch, or first stake up to soissante-et-le-va (67-1 payout); but this was seldom done; and the loss of the players, by the very nature of the game, invariably exceeded that of the bank; in fact, this game was altogether in favour of the bank; and yet it is evident that, in spite of this obvious conviction, the game must have been one of the most tempting and fascinating that was ever invented.

Suppose ten, or any other card wins for the punter, if another ten comes up just after in the winning card's place, it does not win for him, but for the bank, but if it comes up three or four cards after that, it wins for the punter. For example, if ace or any other card wins at first, and afterwards come up again in the next winning card's place, it does not go for the punters, but by a term they have for that part of the game is said to retire, till the next opportunity, because by the rule of the game it must go for the bank before the punter. But then in return of this, and subtly to gain the esteem of all the young adventurers who are apt to let their money briskly, if the same card happens to come in the next losing place (tie), it does not lose, because it has not gone for the punter but also retires without paying the bank, having won a couch, which the talliere saves, and should have paid.

Frauds
Of course there were frauds practiced at Basset by the talliere, or banker, in addition to his prescriptive advantages. The cards might be dealt so as not to allow the punter any winning throughout the pack; and it was in the power of the dealer to let the punter have as many winnings as he thought convenient.

Glossary
By 1870 the game as described in England used a mixture of French and English words and spellings:
 * The tallière (banker), who laid down a sum of money to answer every winning card which might turn up.
 * The croupière (assistant of the former), standing by to supervise the losing cards, so that when there were many at play, he might not lose by overlooking anything which might turn up to his profit.
 * The punter: (in French, ponter – to bet), hence, each player.
 * The fasse: the first card turned up by the tallière, by which he gained half the value of the money laid upon every card of that sort by the punters or players.
 * The couch (from couche, stake): which was the first stake that each punter laid upon each card. Each player had a book of 13 cards before him, upon which he must lay his money.
 * The paroli (probably from parole, to "give your word" - parlay the bet): whoever won the couch, and intended to go on for another advantage, crooked the corner of his card to indicate he would let his money lie, without being paid the value by the tallière.
 * The masse: when those who had won the couch, would venture more money on the same card.
 * The pay: when the player had won the couch, and, being doubtful of making the paroli, left off; for by going for the pay, if the card turned up wrong, he lost nothing, having won the couch before; but if by this adventure, fortune favoured him, he won double the money he had staked.
 * The alpieu: when the couch was won by turning up, or crooking, the corner of the winning card.
 * The sept-et-le-va (seven and the go): the first great chance that showed the advantages of the game, namely, if the player had won the couch, and then made a paroli by crooking the corner of his card, and going on to a second chance, if his winning card turned up again, it became a sept-et-le-va, which was seven times as much as he had laid upon his card.
 * The quinze-et-le-va (fifteen and the go): attending the player's humour, who, perhaps, was resolved to follow his fancy, and still lay his money upon the same card, which was done by crooking the third corner of his card. If this card came up by the dealing of the talliere, it made him win 15 times as much money as he staked.
 * The trent-et-le-va (trente – thirty and the go): marked by the lucky player by crooking the end of the fourth corner of his card, which, coming up, made him win three and thirty (33) times as much money as he staked.
 * The soissante-et-le-va (soixante -sixty and the go): is the highest and greatest chance that could happen in the game, for it paid sixty seven (67) times as much money as was staked. It was seldom won except by some player who pushed his good fortune to the utmost.

Mathematical calculations
Basset has been the object of mathematical calculations. Abraham de Moivre estimated the loss of the punter under any circumstance of cards remaining in the stock when he lays his stake, and of any number of times that his card is repeated in the stock. De Moivre created a table showing the several losses of the punter in whatsoever circumstances he may happen to be. From this table it appears:
 * 1) That the fewer the cards are in the stock, the greater is the loss of the punter.
 * 2) That the least loss of the punter, under the same circumstances of cards remaining in the stock, is when the card is but twice in it; the next greater when but three times; still greater when four times; and the greatest when but once. The gain of the banker upon all the money adventured at Basset is 15s 3d. per cent.

title: Basset (banking game)


text:
Faro (banking game)

Faro, Pharaoh, Pharao, or Farobank is a late 17th-century French gambling game using cards. It is descended from Basset, and belongs to the Lansquenet and Monte Bank family of games due to the use of a banker and several players. Winning or losing occurs when cards turned up by the banker match those already exposed.

It is not a direct relative of poker, but Faro was often just as popular due to its fast action, easy-to-learn rules, and better odds than most games of chance. The game of Faro is played with only one deck of cards and admits any number of players.

Popular in North America during the 19th century, Faro was eventually overtaken by poker as the preferred card game of gamblers in the early 20th century.

Variants include German Faro, Jewish Faro, and Ladies' Faro.

History
The earliest references to a card game named Pharaon (French for "Pharaoh") are found in Southwestern France during the reign of Louis XIV. Basset was outlawed in 1691, and Pharaoh emerged several years later as a derivative of Basset, before it too was outlawed.

Despite the French ban, Pharaoh and Basset continued to be widely played in England during the 18th century, where it was known as Pharo, an English alternate spelling of Pharaoh. The game was easy to learn, quick, and when played honestly, the odds for a player were considered by some to be the best of all gambling games, as Gilly Williams records in a letter to George Selwyn in 1752.

With its name shortened to Faro, it spread to the United States in the 19th century to become the most widespread and popularly favored gambling game. It was played in almost every gambling hall in the Old West from 1825 to 1915. Faro could be played in over 150 places in Washington, D.C. alone during the Civil War. An 1882 study considered faro to be the most popular form of gambling, surpassing all others forms combined in terms of money wagered each year.

It was also widespread in the German states during the 19th century, where it was known as Pharao or Pharo. A simplified version played with 32 German-suited cards was known as Deutsches Pharao ("German Pharo") or Süßmilch (Sweet Milk). It is recorded in card game compendia from at least 1810 to 1975. In Low German the game was also referred to as Pitje-Patje (= "money" + "small heaps").

In the US, Faro was also called "bucking the tiger" or "twisting the tiger's tail", a reference to early card backs that featured a drawing of a Bengal tiger. By the mid 19th century, the tiger was so commonly associated with the game that gambling districts where faro was popular became known as "tiger town", or in the case of smaller venues, "tiger alley". Some gambling houses would simply hang a picture of a tiger in their windows to advertise that a game could be played there.

Faro's detractors regarded it as a dangerous scam that destroyed families and reduced men to poverty because of rampant rigging of the dealing box. Crooked faro equipment was so popular that many sporting-house companies began to supply gaffed dealing boxes specially designed so that the bankers could cheat their players; methods of cheating in faro are detailed below. Cheating was so prevalent that editions of Hoyle's Rules of Games began their faro section by warning readers that not a single honest faro bank could be found in the United States. Criminal prosecutions of faro were involved in the Supreme Court cases of United States v. Simms, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 252 (1803), and Ex parte Milburn, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 704 (1835).

Although the game became scarce after World War II, it continued to be played at a few Las Vegas and Reno casinos through 1985.

Etymology
Historians have suggested that the name Pharaon comes from Louis XIV's royal gamblers, who chose the name from the motif that commonly adorned one of the French-made court cards.

Description
A game of faro was often called a "faro bank". It was played with an entire deck of playing cards. One person was designated the "banker" and an indeterminate number of players, known as "punters", could be admitted. Chips (called "checks") were purchased by the punter from the banker (or house) from which the game originated. Bet values and limits were set by the house. Usual check values in the US were 50 cents to $10 each.

The faro table was typically oval, covered with green baize, and had a cutout for the banker. A board was placed on top of the table with one suit of cards (traditionally spades) pasted to it in numerical order, representing a standardized betting "layout". Each player laid his stake on one of the 13 cards on the layout. Players could place multiple bets and could bet on multiple cards simultaneously by placing their bet between cards or on specific card edges. A player could reverse the intent of his bet by placing a hexagonal (6-sided) token called a "copper" on it. Some histories said a penny was sometimes used in place of a copper. This was known as "coppering" the bet, and reversed the meaning of the win/loss piles for that particular bet. Players also had the choice of betting on the "high card" bar located at the top of the layout.

Procedure

 * A deck of cards was shuffled and placed inside a "dealing box", a mechanical device also known as a "shoe", which was used to prevent manipulations of the draw by the banker and intended to assure players of a fair game.
 * The first card in the dealing box was called the "soda" and was "burned off", leaving 51 cards in play. The dealer then drew two cards: the first was called the "banker's card" and was placed on the right side of the dealing box. The next card after the banker's card was called the carte anglaise (English card) or simply the "player's card", and it was placed on the left of the shoe.
 * The banker's card was the bettor's "losing card"; regardless of its suit, all bets placed on the layout's card that had the same denomination as the banker's card were lost by the players and won by the bank. The player's card was the "winning card". All bets placed on the card that had that denomination were returned to the players with a 1 to 1 (even money) payout by the bank (e.g., a dollar bet won a dollar). A "high card" bet won if the player's card had a higher value than the banker's card.
 * The dealer settled all bets after each two cards drawn. This allowed players to bet before drawing the next two cards. Bets that neither won nor lost remained on the table, and could be picked up or changed by the player prior to the next draw.
 * When only three cards remained in the dealing box, the dealer would "call the turn", which was a special type of bet that occurred at the end of each round. The object now was to predict the exact order that the three remaining cards, Bankers, Players, and the final card called the Hock, would be drawn. The player's odds here were 5 to 1, while a successful bet paid off at 4 to 1 (or 1 to 1 if there were a pair among the three, known as a "cat-hop"). This provided one of the dealer's few advantages in faro. If it happened that the three remaining cards were all the same, there would be no final bet, as the outcome was not in question.

Certain advantages were reserved to the banker: if he drew a doublet, that is, two equal cards, he won half of the stakes upon the card which equaled the doublet. In a fair game, this provided the only "house edge". If the banker drew the last card of the pack, he was exempt from doubling the stakes deposited on that card. These and the advantage from the odds on the turn bet provided a slight financial advantage to the dealer or house.

A device, called a "casekeep" was employed to assist the players and prevent dealer cheating by counting cards. The casekeep resembled an abacus, with one spindle for each card denomination, with four counters on each spindle. As a card was played, either winning or losing, one of four counters would be moved to indicate that a card of that denomination had been played. This allowed players to plan their bets by keeping track of what cards remained available in the dealing box. The operator of the case keep is called the "casekeeper" or, colloquially in the American West, the "coffin driver".

Cheating
To give themselves more of an advantage, and to counter the losses from players cheating, dealers would also often cheat. In a fair game the house's edge was low, so dealers increasingly resorted to cheating the players to increase the profitability of the game for the house. This, too, was acknowledged by Hoyle editors when describing how faro banks were opened and operated: "To justify the initial expenditure, a dealer must have some permanent advantage."

By dealers
Dealers employed several methods of cheating:
 * Stacked or rigged decks: A stacked deck would consist of many paired cards, allowing the dealer to claim half of the bets on that card, as per the rules. A rigged deck would contain textured cards that allowed dealers to create paired cards in the deck while giving the illusion of thorough shuffling.
 * Rigged dealing boxes: Rigged, or "gaffed", dealing boxes came in several variants. Typically, they allowed the dealer to see the next card prior to the deal, by use of a small mirror or prism visible only to the dealer. If the next card was heavily bet, the box could also allow the dealer to draw two cards in one draw, thus hiding the card that would have paid. This would result in the casekeep not accounting for the hidden card, however. If the casekeeper were employed by the house, though, he could take the blame for "accidentally" not logging that card when it was drawn.
 * Sleight of hand: In concert with the rigged dealing box, the dealer could, when he knew the next card to win, surreptitiously slide a player's bet off of the winning card if it was on the dealer's side of the layout. At a hectic faro table he could often get away with this, though it was obviously a risky move.

By players
Players would routinely cheat as well. Their techniques employed distraction and sleight-of-hand, and usually involved moving their stake to a winning card, or at the very least off the losing card, without being detected. Their methods ranged from crude to creative, and worked best at a busy, fast-paced table: Being caught cheating often resulted in a fight, or even gunfire.
 * Simple move of their bet: The most basic cheat was simply to move one's bet to the adjacent card on the layout while avoiding the banker noticing. While the simplest, it also carried the greatest risk of detection.
 * Moving with a thread: A silk thread or single horse hair would be affixed to the bottom check in the bet, and allowed the stack to be pulled across the table to another card on the layout. This was less risky, as the cheating player would not have to make an overt action.
 * Removing the copper: A variant on the use of the thread was to affix it to the copper token used to reverse the bet. If the losing card matched the player's bet, the copper made it a winning bet and no cheat was needed. If, however, the winning card, dealt second, were to match the player's bet the copper would ordinarily make it a loser, but quickly snatching the copper from the stack with the invisible thread turned it into a winner. This held the least risk, as once the copper was yanked from the stack, there was no thread left attached to the bet.

Etymology

 * The old phrase "from soda to hock", meaning "from beginning to end" derives from the first and last cards dealt in a round of faro. The phrase evolved from the better known "from soup to nuts". In turn, "soda" and "hock" are probably themselves derived from "hock and soda", a popular nineteenth-century drink consisting of hock (a sweet German wine) combined with soda water.

Geography

 * The town of Faro, Yukon, Canada was named after the game.

History

 * The 18th-century adventurer and author Casanova was known to be a great player of faro. He mentions the game frequently in his autobiography.
 * The 18th-century Prussian officer, adventurer, and author Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck makes mention of playing faro in his memoirs (February 1726 – 25 July 1794).
 * The 18th-century Dutch cavalry commander Casimir Abraham von Schlippenbach (1682–1755) also mentions the game (as Pharaon) in his memoirs. Apparently, he was able to win considerable sums of money with the game.
 * The 18th century Whig radical Charles James Fox preferred faro to any other game.
 * The 19th-century American con man Soapy Smith was a faro dealer. It was said that every faro table in Soapy's Tivoli Club in Denver, Colorado, in 1889 was gaffed (made to cheat).
 * The 19th-century scam artist Canada Bill Jones loved the game so much that, when he was asked why he played at one game that was known to be rigged, he replied, "It's the only game in town."
 * The 19th-century lawman Wyatt Earp dealt faro for a short time after arriving in Tombstone, Arizona, having acquired controlling interest in a game out of the Oriental Saloon.
 * The 19th-century dentist and gambler John "Doc" Holliday dealt faro in the Bird Cage Theater as an additional source of income while living in Tombstone, Arizona.

In popular culture

 * Literature and its adaptations

 * The well-known author of Regency romances, Georgette Heyer, wrote a novel entitled Faro's Daughter; it tells of a young lady forced to deal faro to support her family and her ensuing romance with one of the gaming hall's patrons.

 * In Edna Ferber's novel Show Boat, the gambler Gaylord Ravenal specializes in the game of faro.
 * Faro is mentioned extensively in John D. Fitzgerald's semi-autobiographical Silverlode/Adenville trilogy, which consists of the books Papa Married a Mormon, Mama's Boarding House, and Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse. It is one of the primary games played at the Whitehorse Saloon, owned by the character Uncle Will. In Mama's Boarding House the character Floyd Thompson, one of the tenants in the boarding house, is a faro dealer.
 * Faro is also occasionally mentioned in Fitzgerald's corresponding Great Brain series, which focuses on the children of Adenville.
 * In Oliver La Farge's story "Spud and Cochise" (1935), the cowboy Spud plays faro when he is in a very good mood. Aware of the widespread dishonesty of American faro dealers in his time, he nevertheless bets heavily, viewing his gambling losses as a form of charity.
 * In Jack London's novel White Fang, the owner of the bulldog, Tim Keenan, is a faro dealer.
 * In the Giulietta act of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann (based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann), Giulietta invites Schlemil to take his place at the table of Pharaoh.
 * In Massenet's opera Manon, the game at the Hotel Transylvania is faro, and Guillot accuses des Grieux and Manon of cheating at it.
 * Lord Ruthven in John William Polidori's "The Vampyre" plays faro in Brussels.
 * The miners in Puccini's opera La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), based on David Belasco's play The Girl of the Golden West, play a contentious game of faro in Act One.
 * Faro is central to the plot of Alexander Pushkin's story "The Queen of Spades" and Tchaikovsky's opera adaptation, The Queen of Spades.
 * In Wesley Stace's Misfortune, the character "Pharaoh" is named after his father's profession, a faro dealer.
 * In Thackeray's novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, the main character runs a crooked faro bank, alternatively to his great fortune or ruin. In its film adaptation, Barry Lyndon, one of the famous candlelit scenes shows Barry and his employer cheating at faro. In the background a Moorish servant holds a casekeep showing which cards have been played.
 * In a famous scene from Leo Tolstoy's book War and Peace, Nicholas Rostov loses 43,000 rubles to Dolokhov playing faro.
 * In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "The Brothers Karamazov", Dmitri Karamazov is cheated out of 200 rubles by two Polish officers in a game of faro when they switch an unopened deck of cards for a marked set.
 * Games
 * In the video game Assassin's Creed Unity (2014), the main character Arno Dorian, in the early stages of the game, plays a game of Faro with a blacksmith but loses after the blacksmith cheats. Arno loses his deceased father's pocket watch and breaks into the blacksmith's house to steal it back.
 * Radio and motion pictures
 * In the HBO TV series Deadwood, Al Swearengen mentions Faro, rather than poker, is played in his Gem Saloon, and Faro The game is referred to frequently throughout the series.
 * Numerous references to Faro are made in both the Western radio drama Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad, and the television drama Gunsmoke starring James Arness.
 * The Murdoch Mysteries episode "Staircase to Heaven" involves a murder during a game of Faro.
 * In the American western The Shootist (1976), Jack Pulford (Hugh O'Brian) is a professional gambler and a Faro dealer at the Metropole Saloon.
 * When planning The Sting on New York gangster Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), one of the conmen researching their mark mentions that he "only goes out to play Faro", making him a hard target for the big con.
 * In the film Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, played by Kurt Russell, becomes a Faro dealer after arriving in Tombstone.
 * Australian TV series Harrow episode "Alea lacta est", features a murder plot centered around the fictional Brisbane Faro Society.

title: Faro (banking game)


text:
Windom

Windom may refer to:

Places

 * United States
 * Windom, Indiana
 * Windom, Kansas
 * Windom, Minnesota
 * Windom, Minneapolis, Minnesota
 * Windom Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota
 * Windom Township, Minnesota
 * Windom, Missouri
 * Windom, North Carolina
 * Windom, New York
 * Windom, Oklahoma
 * Windom, Pennsylvania
 * Windom, South Dakota
 * Windom, Texas
 * Windom, West Virginia
 * Windom Peak in Colorado

People with the surname

 * Steve Windom, American politician
 * William Windom, American politician
 * William Windom (actor)

Other uses

 * Toyota Windom
 * USS Windom (1896)
 * a multi-band dipole antenna used in amateur radio

title: Windom


text:
Wolf Pen

Wolf Pen or Wolfpen may refer to:
 * Wolf Pen, Arkansas in Carroll County, Arkansas
 * Wolfpen (Mallie, Kentucky), listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Knott County, Kentucky
 * Wolf Pen, West Virginia in Wyoming County
 * Wolfpen Creek (Kansas), a stream in Kansas
 * Wolfpen Creek (Indian Creek tributary), a stream in Missouri
 * Wolfpen Ridge, a ridge in Georgia

title: Wolf Pen


text:
Hazard (game)

Hazard is an early English game played with two dice; it was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the 14th century.

Despite its complicated rules, hazard was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries and was often played for money. At Crockford's Club in London, hazard was especially popular. In the 19th century, the game craps developed from hazard through a simplification of the rules. Craps is now popular in North America but neither game remains popular amongst the rest of the world.

Rules
Any number may play, but only one player – the caster – has the dice at any one time.

In each round, the caster specifies a number between 5 and 9 inclusive: this is the main. They then throw two dice.

 * If they roll the main, they win (throwing in or nicking).
 * If they roll a 2 or a 3, they lose (throwing out or outing).
 * If they roll an 11 or 12, the result depends on the main:
 * with a main of 5 or 9, they throw out with both an 11 and a 12;
 * with a main of 6 or 8, they throw out with an 11 but nick with a 12;
 * with a main of 7, they nick with an 11 but throw out with a 12.
 * If they neither nick nor throw out, the number thrown is called the chance. They throw the dice again:
 * if they roll the chance, they win;
 * if they roll the main, they lose (unlike on the first throw);
 * if they roll neither, they keep throwing until they roll one or the other, winning with the chance and losing with the main.

This may be simpler to follow in a table:

The caster keeps their role until losing three times in succession. After the third loss, they must pass the dice to the left, that player becoming the new caster.

Betting
Bets are between the caster and the bank (the setter), which may be the remaining players acting as a group.

If the caster nicks on the first throw, they win an amount equal to their stake. After the first throw, the caster wins their stake if they get their chance before their main.

After the first throw, the caster (and others, via side bets) may wager an additional sum that the chance will come before the main. These bets are made at odds determined by the relative proportions of the main and the chance.

For example, with an odds stake of £10, a main of 7 and a chance of 5, a caster stands to win £15 (3/2 × £10); with the same stake, a main of 5 and a chance of 6, they could win £8 (4/5 × £10).

Probability of winning
For each main the probability of winning can be calculated:

In some reports on the rules of the game, the main is determined randomly by tossing the dice until a valid main appears. In this case, the overall player disadvantage is 1.84%.

If the caster can choose a main, they should always choose 7 (resulting in the lowest disadvantage, with 1.41%). This is the origin of a similar dice game, craps, since if 7 is always chosen, the game is played under the rules of craps.

Etymology of the name
The name "hazard" is borrowed from Old French. The origin of the French word is unclear, but probably derives from Spanish azar ("an unfortunate card or dice roll"), with the final -d by analogy with the common French suffix -ard. The Spanish word has been supposed in turn to come from Arabic, either from the name of a castle in Palestine, or from the word az-zahr (الزهر) meaning "dice". However, early evidence for this word in Arabic is lacking, as it is absent from Classical Arabic dictionaries, making the etymology doubtful (although any other source is unknown). Another possibility is Arabic yasara ("he played at dice").

Derivations from Hazard
From the game of Hazard came the modern terms:

 * Possibly, the phrase "at sixes and sevens" (another possible derivation is discussed under that article). "Set upon six and seven" first appeared in Chaucer's Tales relating to betting one's entire fortune on a single throw of the dice. Over time the phrase became associated with any circumstances involving general confusion or disorder.
 * The word "hazard" in its modern sense of "risk" or "danger".
 * "An eye for (on / to) the main chance": habitually looking for opportunities to take advantage of a situation for personal gain, especially financial gain.
 * This expression is taken from the use of the terms "main" and "chance" in "Hazard"—a game of gambling with dice, from which "Craps" is derived.

title: Hazard (game)


text:
Passe-dix

Passe-dix, also called passage in English, is a game of chance using dice.

Gameplay
It was described by Charles Cotton in The Compleat Gamester (1674) thus:

"Passage is a Game at dice to be played at but by two, and it is performed with three Dice. The Caster throws continually until he hath thrown Dubblets under ten, and then he is out and loseth; or Dubblets above ten, and then he passeth and wins."

Andrew Steinmetz, in The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims, described it at greater length but somewhat ambiguously (the results of rolling a 10 are unclear, depending on whether it wins for the bank or is a push, the house advantage is at best 0, and at worst negative):

Passe-dix is one of the, possibly the, most ancient of all games of chance, is said to have actually been made use of by the executioners at the crucifixion of our Saviour, when they parted his garments, casting lots, Matt. xxvii. 35.

It is played with three dice. There is always a banker, and the number of players is unlimited. Each gamester holds the box by turns, and the other players follow his chance; every time he throws a point under ten he, as well as the other players, loses the entire stakes, which go to the banker. Every time he throws a point above ten (or passes ten -- whence the name of the game), the banker must double the player's stakes and the stakes of all those who have risked their money on the same chance. When the game is played by many together, each gamester is banker in his turn.

In Germany
In southern Germany, playing passe-dix (or "Paschen") is a New Year's Eve tradition, which dates to the Late Middle Ages.

The rules of Paschen vary, but the following account, found in the 1896 Brockhaus Konversationslexikon is typical. The banker first wagers an ante, known as the banco. The punters either place their own bets, the sum of which must equal the banco, or one punter goes alone and wagers a stake equal to the banco themselves before the banker rolls three dice. If the sum of the dice is eleven or higher, then the banker wins; if the sum is between 3 and 10, the punters win by a ratio of 1:1. It is typical for the role of the banker to pass to their right-hand neighbour on a loss. Another typical rule is that the banker must re-roll if triples of any number are rolled.

In the present, it is common for wins to be pooled, and for sweet pastries to be bought with them and eaten by the entire party.

title: Passe-dix


text:
Pineville

Pineville may refer to a place in the United States:

 * Pineville, Arkansas
 * Pineville, Kentucky
 * Pineville, Louisiana
 * Pineville, Missouri
 * Pineville, North Carolina
 * Pineville, Pennsylvania
 * Pineville, West Virginia
 * Pineville, South Carolina

title: Pineville


text:
Talk:Jules Richard (mathematician)

Untitled
Axel added "an investigation of the nature of axioms in geometry: are they necessarily true, are they arbitrary assumptions, are they definitions?"

Well this is part of the flawed work I am talking about. I think these questions had been answered several years prior to his writing, and he reached some incorrect conclusions.

"are they necessarily true" - yes, by definition all axioms are true, I mean that is simply what they *are*

"are they arbitrary assumptions" - we know this to be true as well.

"a variant of Cantor's diagonal argument."

No, I don't think this is correct. The diagnoal arguement was on the nature of infinite numbers, the Richard paradox was basically a restatement of the old Epimenides argument on self-negating recursion.

Richard used Cantor's diagonal argument. The failure of his argument is due to the change of language. A very well written article. Hippasos 16:40, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Please help to prevent or revert vandalism of user Haldir, which is a well-known vandal.141.82.28.22 14:10, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

I would argue that 111777 is nameable in 13 syllables: "three times nineteen times thirty-seven times fifty-three".

This article is of highest quality, in particular the paradoxon is given here in its original formulation due to Jules Richard, contrary to the paradox given in the article Richard's paradox. Further all known different versions are sampled here.

It seems however, that two vandals who are already actice in German Wikipedia have contacted each other to conspire to destroy this article. You can find the conspiracy here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer_Diskussion:Mathemaduenn

or here:

Könntest Du auch mal schauen, ob er bei Jules Richard bzw. Potentielle und aktuale Unendlichkeit wieder rumfurwerkt und gegebenenfalls reverten. So sieht es nach Kleinkrieg zwischen ihm und mir aus.

Was denkst Du? Haldir 19:12, 16. Jul. 2007 (CEST)

Na das hat sich ja getroffen. ;-) Jules Richard war ohnehin noch auf meiner Beobachtungsliste. Potentielle und aktuale Unendlichkeit hab ich mal mit aufgenommen. --Mathemaduenn 19:18, 16. Jul. 2007 (CEST) Danke! Haldir 20:52, 16. Jul. 2007 (CEST)

For those who speak german maybe also this should be interesting. It's not really clear if the article "Richard's paradox" is wrong or your version and it's also not clear who is the vandal here.

Grüße --Mathemaduenn 10:44, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Read the original by Jules Richard. Then you will know which version is wrong and who is the vandal - here and in the German Wiki. 217.94.228.116 16:42, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
 * For this article it's enough to have a short version of the paradox. If the article about the paradox is wrong, it should be corrected. --Mathemaduenn 21:00, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Article about Jules Richard <-> article about the paradoxon
This should be an article about Jules Richard not about the paradox. The paradox(including versions and reactions) should be explained in Richard's paradox --Mathemaduenn 07:02, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

 * The present article about the paradox is wrong. Better have the correct material in the article about Jules Richard than nowhere. Further all that is interesting about Jules Richard is his paradox. I propose the article Richards paradox should be eliminated and a link put to this article. But not being a vandal ...
 * If the article is wrong it should be corrected. Talk:Richard's paradox is the right place therefor. --Mathemaduenn 15:22, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

 * Correct it, if you feel able to do it and have enough time. Unless it is as informative as the paradox section here we will not agree to your vandalism. Why are you always deleting only without adding something valuable by yourself?
 * If it's really wrong you can simply replace it by your version, but it doesn't make sense to have different articles with different versions. --Mathemaduenn 08:26, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

 * I am not the author of that article. I only appreciate having a correct one.

I think the articles about Richard and his paradox should be separated (a mathematician is not the same as his mathematics): A short article about Richard and a link to the article about the paradox. I also think the article about the paradox is poorly written and that the more formal and complete treatment in this article should be moved to that article and replace it. If no one objects I will do this in a couple of days.Alterationx10 (talk) 15:46, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Changes
Basically I interchanged the info in the articles about Richard and the paradox. The description of the paradox in the article about Richard was much the better than the description previously given in the article about the paradox. I didn´t modify the text at all, just swapt the articles. Alterationx10 (talk) 19:40, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
 * You did not do a careful job, with Richard's paradox being categorized as a mathematician at the bottom, and you also did not handle the interwiki links properly. Can you try again, please, with more care (e.g., reading the whole text after the change). Thanks. Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 15:17, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Deleted "Solution" Section
i've taken the liberty to delete the entire section called "solutions to Richard's paradox"

It's a fairly substantial edit, however, i think it's justified.

First, i am almost 100% sure that it's original research. I've read just about every paper with the phrase "Richard's paradox" in jstor and i haven't came across anything remotely like it.

and secondly, and more importantly, it basically says: let's ignore the paradox because it screws up our language... which really doesn't offer anything... that's not a solution... Philosophy.dude (talk) 04:09, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 20:41, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Jules Richard (mathematician)


text:
Talk:Heads or Tails

Removed Material
Removed:
 * It is the favourite game of the boys of London and the vicinity, now, however, considerably, if not entirely, discontinued through the vigilance of the police and the severity of the magistrates. Not long ago, however, I witnessed a sad and striking scene of it at Twickenham. It was on a Sunday morning. Several boys surrounded two players, one of the latter being about 14 years of age, well dressed, and the other of about 10 years, all in tatters and shoeless. The younger urchin had a long run of good luck, whereat his antagonist exhibited much annoyance, swearing intemperately. At length, however, his luck changed in turn, and he went on winning until the former refused to play any longer, saying -- 'There, you've got back all I won from you.' The bigger boy became enraged at this refusal to continue the play, and seemed inclined to resort to fisticuff, but I interposed and put a stop to the affray. I then questioned the elder boy, and gathered from him that he played as often as he could, sometimes winning or losing from eight to ten shillings. 'And do you generally win? was my next question.' 'No, sir,' he replied, 'I oftener lose.' I shuddered to conjecture what would be the future of this boy. The word of warning I gave him was received with a shrug of the shoulder, and he walked off with the greatest unconcern.

This sort of material is inappropriate for a modern encyclopedia. I recommend that we go through and update these articles before adding more - the source is obviously old, and can't be dumped in verbatim. Critical review and editing are needed. -- April 16:35 Oct 2, 2002 (UTC)

Does anyone know why the non-heads side of a coin is called "tails"? Growing up in Australia, I had always assumed it was because the other side of the coin had an image of an animal on it - but now that I see this article and think about it, it's obvious that this is not true for many other nations' coins. So where does "tails" come from? - dmmaus 09:25, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * I have added a note to this article about the origins - the British 10p coin, which is always used for this game in the UK, has a lion on the back with a big tail. However, this is only since decimalisation, so it's not certain... --taras 22:07, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The reference to tails coming from the lion on the English ten pence has been removed as this does not reflect the true origin of the expression. Heads or Tails predates decimalisation of the Pound in the UK. Ozdaren 14:55, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Anyone think that this article should be merged with Coin flipping for organization's sake?
 * I think so.--Ssola (talk) 17:24, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

What about the expression "can't make heads or tails of this"?
Seems to me there needs to be some kind of entry / subsection on this colloquialism but I have no idea how to cite and or insert such a topic. 66.102.206.234 (talk) 02:16, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Heads or Tails


text:
Limavady

Limavady is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying 17 mi east of Derry and 14 mi southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 11,279 people at the 2021 Census. In the 40 years between 1971 and 2011, Limavady's population nearly doubled. Limavady is within Causeway Coast and Glens Borough.

From 1988 to 2004, a total of 1,332 dwellings were built in the town, mainly at Bovally along the southeastern edge of the town. The large industrial estate at Aghanloo is 2 miles (3 km) north of the town.

History
Limavady and its surrounding settlements derive from Celtic roots, although no-one is sure about the exact date of Limavady's origins. Estimates date from around 5 CE. Early records tell of Saint Columba, who presided over a meeting of the Kings at Mullagh Hill near Limavady in 575 CE, a location which is now part of the Roe Park Resort.

Gaelic Ireland was divided into kingdoms, each ruled by its own family or clan. In the Limavady area, the predominant family was the O'Cahans. Their mark is found everywhere in the town and surrounding area. O'Cahan's Rock is one of Limavady's main historical points. This is where, according to local myth, a dog belonging to one of the Chiefs jumped the river to get help from nearby clans after a surprise enemy attack. This gave Limavady its name, Limavady being the anglicised version of Leim an Mhadaidh, which means leap of the dog. This rock, along with other relics of Limavady's history, can be seen at Roe Valley Country Park.

The town developed from a small Plantation settlement founded by Sir Thomas Phillips. In 1610 Sir Thomas Phillips was granted 13,100 acres of land at Limavady which included an O’Cahan castle. He commenced the building of the 'Newtown of Limavady' which was laid out in a cruciform road pattern. Newtown Limavady was incorporated, with the appointment of a Provost and 12 Burgesses, on 31 March 1613 with a charter granted by King James I. By 1622, 18 one-storey houses and an inn had been built and they were centred on the crossroads which contained a flagpole, a cross and stocks.

Limavady had an early association with the linen and Irish whiskey industries. In 1608, a licence was granted to Sir Thomas Phillips by King James I to distil whiskey.

"for the next seven years, within the countie of Colrane, otherwise called O Cahanes countrey, or within the territorie called Rowte, in County Antrim, by himselfe or his servauntes, to make, drawe, and distil such and soe great quantities of aquavite, usquabagh and aqua composita, as he or his assignes shall thinke fitt; and the same to sell, vent, and dispose of to any persons, yeeldinge yerelie the somme 13s 4d..."

The Limavady Distillery was founded in 1750 on the banks of the River Roe. Limavady, however, did not benefit from subsequent expansion of linen manufacturing in the 19th century. As a result, it remained a modest sized market town until the late 20th century. Limavady Town Hall, later known as the Alexander Memorial Hall and now part of the Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, was completed in 1872.

In 1941 RAF Limavady, a base for air patrols over the Atlantic during World War II, was opened just to the north of the town. The RAF left the base in 1945 but it continued as a naval air station until 1958, when the land was returned to agricultural use.

During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, four people were killed in or near Limavady by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Two were members of the security forces and two were civilians who were killed by a bomb as they drove past Limavady Royal Ulster Constabulary station.

In 1987, Limavady became famous as the unintended arrival point for the world's first transatlantic hot air balloon crossing by Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand.

Townlands
Limavady sprang up within the townland of Rathbrady Beg in the parish of Drumachose and was originally known as Newtown Limavady. Over time, the urban area has expanded into the surrounding townlands. These include:
 * Bovally
 * Coolessan
 * Enagh
 * Killane
 * Rathbrady Beg
 * Rathbrady More

Politics
Limavady is in both the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area and the East Londonderry constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. In 2023, the residents of Limavady district elected 2 Democratic Unionist Party, 1 Social Democratic and Labour Party, 1 Sinn Féin and 1 Alliance Party councillor to the borough council.

Places of interest

 * Limavady lies in the scenic Roe Valley area and the Roe Valley Country Park on the River Roe lies to the southwest of the town.
 * The birthplace of New Zealand Prime Minister Rt. Hon. William Massey is on Irish Green Street. Nearby Massey Avenue is named after him.
 * The archaeologically significant Broighter Gold collection was found nearby in 1896. It is currently in the National Museum in Dublin.
 * Jane Ross, who first transcribed Londonderry Air, was born and lived in Limavady. A plaque is shown above her old house on Main Street.

Danny Boy
Limavady is most famous for the tune "Londonderry Air" collected by Jane Ross in the mid-19th century from a local fiddle player. The tune was later (ca. 1913) used for the song "Danny Boy".

Events
The town hosts events such as the NI Super Cup, the Danny Boy Jazz and Blues Festival, the Roe Valley Folk Festival the Stendhal Festival of Art, and the Bishop Hervey International Summer School.

Transport
Limavady is in close proximity to City of Derry Airport, 9 miles (15 km) to the west, and the Port of Londonderry, 13 miles (22 km) to the west.

Road
In 2003 a road bypass was completed to the north of Limavady at a cost of £11.5 million. This bypass aimed to reduce the time taken to travel on the A2 between Derry and Coleraine.

Rail
The Limavady Railway was a branch line to the main Derry – Belfast line. Limavady railway station opened on 29 December 1852, closed for passenger traffic on 3 July 1950 and finally closed altogether on 2 May 1955. Limavady Junction railway station opened on 1 March 1855 and finally closed on 17 October 1976. Limavady is no longer served by the branch line – the nearest station is at Bellarena, approximately 5 mi from the town.

Bellarena railway station has direct trains west to Derry~Londonderry and east to Castlerock, Coleraine (for stations to Portrush), and stations to Belfast Lanyon Place and Belfast Grand Central.

An All-Island Review on railways commissioned in 2021 recommended that a short spur of the Limavady branch line be reinstated up to Limavady to restore services.

Canal
The Broharris Canal was constructed in the 1820s when a cut, some 2 mi long on the south shore of Lough Foyle near Ballykelly was made in the direction of Limavady. The inhabitants of Limavady appealed for the building of a canal from Lough Foyle to the town but were turned down, and the Broharris Canal was the nearest they came to achieving such a navigable link.

Education
There are four primary schools, three secondary schools, a regional college and a special needs school in Limavady. Limavady's schools are closely located in an 'education circle'. The three secondary schools are all located along the same stretch of road (Ballyquin Road and Irish Green Street), with Rossmar Special School opposite Limavady Grammar School, Termoncanice Primary opposite Limavady High School and St. Mary's High School. Limavady Central Primary School is located a short distance from the other schools.

Primary schools

 * Termoncanice Primary School
 * Roe Valley Integrated Primary
 * Limavady Central Primary School
 * Drumachose Primary School
 * Gaelscoil Leim an mhadaidh

Secondary schools

 * St Mary's High School
 * Limavady Grammar School
 * Limavady High School

Regional college

 * North West Regional College

Special needs schools

 * Rossmar Special School (formerly Limegrove/Greystone Hall)

Sport

 * Wolfhounds GAC is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club
 * Limavady United F.C.
 * Roe Valley F.C.
 * Roe Rovers F.C.
 * Newtowne F.C.
 * Drummond Cricket Club

2011 Census
On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 12,032 people living in Limavady (4,759 households), accounting for 0.66% of the NI total. Of these:

 * 21.52% were aged under 16 years and 13.54% were aged 65 and over
 * 51.37% of the usually resident population were female and 48.63% were male
 * 51.83% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' religion and 44.41% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic religion
 * 56.27% indicated that they had a British national identity, 31.08% had a Northern Irish national identity and 18.47% had an Irish national identity (respondents could indicate more than one national identity)
 * 37 years was the average (median) age of the population
 * 9.20% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots and 6.43% had some knowledge of Irish (Gaeilge).

2021 Census
On Census day (21 March 2021) there were 11,729 people living in Limavady. Of these:

 * 19.26% were aged under 16, 62.83% were aged between 16-65, and 17.90% were aged 66 and over.
 * 51.4% of the usually resident were female and 48.6% were male.
 * 47.6% belong to or were brought up Protestant (including other Christian-related denominations), 45.65% belong to or were brought up Catholic, 0.45% belong to or were brought up in an 'other' religion, and 6.3% did not adhere to or weren't brought up in any religion.
 * 39.93% indicated that they had a British only identity, 26.47% had a Northern Irish only identity, 18.51% had an Irish only identity, 3.78% had an 'other' national identity and the remaining 11.31% indicated a mixture of identities. When accounting for the fact respondents could select multiple national identities, 50.6% indicated that they had a British identity, 37.45% had a Northern Irish identity, and 22.20% had an Irish identity.
 * 10.24% had some knowledge of Ulster Scots and 8.15% had some knowledge of Irish (Gaeilge).

Notable people

 * Rev. Robert Bradford MP - Methodist Minister and MP for South Belfast. Murdered by the Provisional IRA on 14 November 1981.
 * David Brewster LLB - noted Solicitor and former UUP Forum member for East Londonderry 1996.
 * John Deighan – Derry GAA Gaelic footballer and SDLP Councillor.
 * Sir Denis Desmond, KCVO, CBE (Born 1943), is a retired British company director and public administrator, who was Lord Lieutenant of County Londonderry from 2000 to 2018. Lives in Bellarena House just outside Limavady.
 * Boyd Douglas (born 13 July 1950) - Councillor on Limavady Borough Council and later Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council from 1997 - 2014. He also served as MLA for East Londonderry from 1998 to 2003.
 * William Douglas - Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He rose to prominence as Limavady District Master in the Orange Order. From 1960 to 1973, he served on Limavady Rural District Council. He was then elected in Londonderry for the Ulster Unionist Party at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, and held his seat on the Constitutional Convention and at the 1982 Assembly.
 * George Downing – seventeenth-century politician.
 * Senator John Cherry Drennan CBE JP born 1899 died 1983) Drennan studied at Foyle College before working as a farmer in the Limavady area. He became active in the Ulster Unionist Party, and served for it in the Senate of Northern Ireland from 1961 until it was prorogued in 1972. Lord Lieutenant for County Londonderry 1965 - 1974.
 * Very. Rev. Victor Griffin – formerly Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
 * Ruth Kelly – Labour MP and former Cabinet Minister.
 * Andrew Kinnear - (ca 1750 – May 23, 1818) was an Irish-born political figure in New Brunswick. He represented Westmorland in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1786 to 1792.
 * Senator John Andrew Long - Former Chairman of Limavady Rural Council and Northern Ireland Senator 1921-1941 (elected) Deputy Speaker 1927–28; Deputy Leader 1930–41, Parliamentary Secretary in the Department of the Prime Minister from 1930 to 1941.
 * Professor Charles Gibson Lowry FRCOG (1880 - 1951) surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Royal Maternity Hospital in Belfast. In 1921 he became professor of midwifery at Belfast and a Pro-Chancellor of, Queen's University, Belfast. He was a foundation fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War.
 * Rt. Hon. William Lowry MP - (19 March 1884 – 14 December 1949) was an Irish barrister, judge, Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament, and Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
 * William Ferguson Massey – 19th Prime Minister of New Zealand (from 1912 to 1925) was born and educated in the town before migrating.
 * Thomas St George McCarthy (1862–1943) – was an Ireland rugby union international and founder member of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He also played soccer for Limavady FC when he was stationed in the town in 1888, and captained both the town's football and cricket clubs. He was a double winner of the County Londonderry senior cup in football and the inaugural County Londonderry Senior cricket cup final in 1888. He rose to become vice-president of the North West of Ireland Football Association and captain of the County Londonderry representative cricket side that played against the Northern Cricket Union.
 * Rt. Hon. Maurice Marcus McCausland - He was High Sheriff of County Londonderry in 1908, and in 1926, he was appointed as Lord Lieutenant of County Londonderry, serving until his death. In 1934, he was appointed to the Privy Council of Northern Ireland.
 * Judge John McCunn (1820–1872) Judge of the Superior Court New York from 1863 to 1870
 * Jimmy McCurry (1830–1910) – folk musician, traditionally associated with the Londonderry Air.
 * Gerry Mullan – Former Glentoran, Everton and Northern Ireland footballer.
 * Sir David Ogilby (1755 - 1834) was born in Limavady, County Londonderry, and went to India to serve with the East India Company. After twenty-two years he was knighted and returned to Ireland. He wrote and published poems, which included translations of Indian poets, in Walker's Hibernian Magazine in 1804.
 * John Scott Porter (31 December 1801 – 5 July 1880) educated locally and at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. For a time he was a schoolteacher and edited The Christian Observer in London. In 1826 he became a Presbyterian minister, and from 1831 he had a congregation at Rosemary Street, Belfast. In 1838 he was appointed Professor of Theology and in 1851 Professor of Hebrew to the Association of Irish Non-Subscribing Presbyterians. He edited the Christian Moderator and the Bible Christian and was a prolific theological writer. Among his works was Principles of Textual Criticism, published in 1848. He was devoted to the preservation of the Irish language.
 * William Porter – His Majesty's Attorney General at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
 * Dr. Muriel Robertson FRS, protozoologist and bacteriologist
 * Willie Ross - Former Limavady Councillor and MP for Londonderry then East Londonderry 1974–2001.
 * Thomas Teevan LLB MP - West Belfast MP and youngest Limavady Urban Council Chairman.
 * Samuel Young (1822–1918), MP, was Limavady Brewery's founder.

title: Limavady