Upon skimming through Twain's story list in the collection, one story jumped out at me. The short story was called "Science vs Luck." I have had many arguments between friends about this exact notion, of certain gambling games boasting nothing but an element of luck, and that any man can win as long as he is lucky. (I am on the other side, vouching that games do in fact have elements of skill.) Perhaps Twain's story pertained to this idea?
I quickly read through the story and I was right. The story was a classic example of these gambling games to be not games of luck, but games of certain skill.
In a nutshell, some kids are put in trail for playing a game of "old sledge," a game considered at the time in Kentucky law a game of luck, and hence illegal. In the end, the kid's lawyer argues it is a game a science, calls for a jury panel of 12, 6 casual players vs 6 expert veteran players of the exact game. What happens? The 6 veteran sledge players on the jury take the other 6 casual gamer's money, proving the validity of sledge being a game of science or skill, and furthermore proving the kid's innocence.
I can only speculate Twain wrote this story as a justification that many gambling games do indeed have an element of skill. Notice how when the lawyer Sturgis proclaimed old sledge was a game of science, the entire crowd and judge immediately dismissed his claim as ridiculous, absurd. Twain made the public out to be ignorant and typically one-sided on the matter. I speculate Twain may have played many of these games, and this story was his outlet of rebutal to all of these people (the general public). This story is a testament to the validity of the argument that many gambling games involve a certain aspect of skill, not just luck.
Twain was probably sick and tired of hearing people heckling him about playing in these games, hearing the same old same old "Ahhh the game is all luck, why do you even play it?" As a fellow player of some of these games (poker would be the number one example), it was nice to read Twain's "justification" to the general public's view about "games of luck."
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1 comment:
Good post, Chris.
I think it's funny how it's okay to gamble but it's not okay to gamble on a game that's based on chance or luck. Yet, we are talking 1867 here--there weren't slot machines or roulette wheels. Perhaps slot machines and roulette wheels are a game with a science--some people may think so.
The trial itself becomes a gamble for the attorney--who has to rely on both science and luck to win this case.
And I love how the jury is set up to play the game of "old sledge" and it takes some hours to play--and some money is lost.
Again, Twain is showing the hypocrisy of laws and the judicial system. Why must a "game" be illegal? And I wonder if "luck" has something to do with an evil power, and that's why it's made illegal.
There's a lot packed into this short story. I could spend hours dissecting it.
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