Scorecard

ONE FOR CHILDREN'S LIB

Sign on the entrance to the International Toy Fair, presented at the New York Hilton:

NO CHILDREN ADMITTED.

OONTZ OF PREVENTION

In the throes of a reform movement, with grand juries probing gambling and vice, the city of Louisville has discovered that a game called "oontz" is illegal in Kentucky. What, Mayor Frank Burke asked, is oontz? He has received a lot of answers, all different: a form of gamecock fighting; betting on how many leaves are under a cup (a variation on the old shell game); betting on unhatched eggs (how many hens, how many roosters will result); a Japanese bean game in which a jar of beans is spilled on a table and guesses are made as to how many there are; pitching pennies.

Some dictionaries describe oontz as a crap game. The Dictionary of American Slang says oontz means craps when used as a noun but the verb means "to crowd, push or force."

Mayor Burke tends to favor oontz as an Americanized term for a French card game called "Onze et demie," meaning 11�. The game is similar to the American blackjack or "21."

Whatever the final decision, it is fair to say that oontz is a word that one encounters only oontz in a while.

HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

Fans of the Johnstown ( Ohio) Monroe High School basketball team were ecstatic as they listened to a broadcast of the game with Marion Ridgedale High. At halftime Announcer Robert Pricer reported Johnstown leading 34-16 and, with four minutes left to play, he had it 67-27, Johnstown leading.