Description

Orthoepy, which means the study of correct pronunciation, is an educational card game published in Chicago in 1899. It consists of two numbered decks each of 50 cards. One of these decks has Sentence cards, each with six numbered sentences; the other deck has the matching Master cards, showing the proper pronunciation of each difficult word in the sentences.

The rules provide several variations of the game. In the most basic, the Social Game, each deck is distributed evenly among the players. In turn, each player calls out the number of a Master card in his hand. The player holding the corresponding Sentence card then must slowly and distinctly read the sentence on that card of the Master's choice. If the Master player notices any mistakes, he must confirm what the Sentence player said, and then claims the pair of cards as a "book"; if he notices no mistakes, then the reading player gets the cards. Play then passes to the left, and the player with the most "books" when the cards run out is the winner.

The deck includes an Arbiter card, with whoever holds it being empowered to decide any disputes. In the Commercial game, the Arbiter card initially counts as a single point, and failed cards go to the Arbiter and count to his score. However, if the Arbiter makes a mistake, the Arbiter card goes to the successful Master player, and its value increases by one.

In the Professional game, the number of points won is equal to the number of test words correctly pronounced rather than the number of cards; a player missing even a single word scores nothing while the Master gets all the points for the sentence. This introduces an element of strategy for Masters: whether to challenge a given Reader with a long and difficult sentence that could mean a big swing one way or the other, or to choose a short and easier one with less risk and less reward. There are additional rules for Club play and Contests.