chuck-a-luck (1830, 1831)

[David A. Daniel]

This is from my copy of
The AMERICAN HOYLE or
GENTLEMAN'S HANDBOOK OF GAMES:
containing :
ALL THE GAMES PLAYED IN THE UNITED STATES
By "TRUMPS"
Seventh Edition
Dick & Fitzgerald, Publishers, New York, 1864
Pages 486,487

SWEAT, OR CHUCKER LUCK

This game is extensively played on our western rivers, upon racefields, and
at all large gatherings of men. The per centage of the game, when fairly
played, is very strong, but the low gamblers who generally play it, add to
its strength by skilful cheating. It is played with dice upon a cloth
numbered thus :
1 2 3 4 5 6
        The money bet is deposited upon these numbers, according to the
choice or fancy of the player. The bets being made, the "dicer" puts three
dice into a cup, shakes them up, and throws them upon the table; the numbers
thrown win for the player, while the bank takes all the money not upon the
fortunate numbers.
        For Example: If a bet be placed upon the six, and one six is thrown,
the amount bet is paid-if two sixes have been thrown, the bet is paid
double, and triple if three sixes have been thrown.
        This constitutes the well-known game of "Sweat," over which many an
unlucky player has sweat "more than the law allows."

Above is the entire entry. This book is one of, if not the, first to discuss
the debate raging among poker players over whether straights and straight
flushes should be allowed in the game.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 11:51 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: chuck-a-luck (1830, 1831)


These antedate OED's 1836.

  1830 _Baltimore Patriot_  (Feb. 20) 2: Michael Miller was lately fined by
the court of Fayette county, Ken., in the sum of $500, for gambling at
_Chuck-a-luck_....We know not what kind of game is meant by _chuckaluck_
[sic], but the _luck_ attending to it seems to accord well with that of the
more famed species of gambling, and of gamblers generally.

  1831 in _American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine_ (Apr. 1832) 427:
Col. Bingaman's gr. f. Madge Wildfire; by Mercury; dam Chuckaluck; three
years old.

  (The race described took place in Adams Co., Miss., Dec. 28, 1831.)

  JL


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