Pick-up sticks, pick-a-stick, jackstraws, jack straws, spillikins, spellicans, or fiddlesticks is a game of physical and mental skill in which a bundle of sticks, between 8 and 20 centimeters long, is dropped as a loose bunch onto a table top into a random pile. Each player, in turn, tries to remove a stick from the pile without disturbing any of the others. The object of the game is to pick up the most sticks or to score the most points based on the color of the sticks.
The game is believed to have developed from the
yarrow
''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal.
T ...
stalks used for divination with the Chinese ''
I Ching''. It was first published in Germany about 1850. The sticks may be made of almost any material, such as
ivory,
bone,
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
,
bamboo,
straw
Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...
,
reed
Reed or Reeds may refer to:
Science, technology, biology, and medicine
* Reed bird (disambiguation)
* Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times
* Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales
* R ...
,
rush,
yarrow
''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal.
T ...
, or
plastics
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their Plasticity (physics), plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be Injection moulding, moulded, Extrusion, e ...
. Some
Haida First Nation pick-up sticks are plain
maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
wood decorated with
abalone
Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae. Other common names are ear shells, sea ears, and, rarely, muttonfish or m ...
shell and copper.
Today, the most common pick-up sticks game is
Mikado
Mikado may refer to:
* Emperor of Japan or
Arts and entertainment
* ''The Mikado'', an 1885 comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan
* ''The Mikado'' (1939 film), an adaptation of the opera, directed by Victor Schertzinger
* ''The Mikado'' (1967 f ...
. It remains difficult in all variations.
Play
There are different versions of the game. Typically, there are 30 or more sticks and at least two players. At the beginning of game play, the bundle of sticks is randomly distributed or dropped so the sticks end up in a tangled pile. The more tangled the pile, the more challenging the game. In some versions of the game any sticks not touching at least one other stick are removed. The first player (sometimes the youngest) attempts to remove a single stick at a time, without moving any other stick. If the player succeeds, that player's turn continues. If a player moves another stick, the turn immediately passes clockwise to the next player.
In some versions of the game, the next player can opt to begin a turn by asking the player after that to pick up all the sticks and randomly remake the pile.
In some versions of the game, players may use only their fingers to move the desired stick. In other versions, players may use a tool to move one stick away from the pile; this tool may be one of the sticks, held aside before the game begins, or a particular colored stick, typically black, that may be won by a player who successfully moves it.
The object of the game is for a player to pick up more sticks than picked up by any other players. In more complex games, different-colored sticks are worth different numbers of points, and the winner is the person with the highest score.
Variants
Mikado
Mikado is a pick-up-sticks game originating in Europe, played with a set of longer sticks which can measure between , all having the same length. The game is named for the highest-scoring (blue) stick, the "Mikado" (Emperor of Japan).
Mikado Scoring
Farm Tools
The pieces in a Farm tools set are related to farmyard tools, such as ladders, rakes, shovels, and hoes. Typically, around 45 pieces are in a set, made of wood, plastic, bone, or ivory. In addition to the tools, typically a helper piece with a hooked end is included for use in snagging and manipulating pieces. Each piece has a point value, with more challenging pieces being worth more points.
Farm Tools Scoring
See also
*
Jenga
Jenga is a game of physical skill created by British board game designer and author Leslie Scott and marketed by Hasbro. Players take turns removing one block at a time from a tower constructed of 54 blocks. Each block removed is then placed on ...
*
Jonchets
''Jonchets'' or ''onchets'' is a pick-up sticks game from France played with carved sticks. References to the game date back as far as the 17th century, and it was quite popular at the start of the 20th century. The sticks were originally ma ...
*
Blockhead!
Blockhead! is a simple tabletop game suitable for children four years of age or older. It was invented in 1952 by G.W. "Jerry" D'Arcey and developed by G.W. and Alice D'Arcey in San Jose, California. Originally consisting of 20 brightly colored ...
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Children's games
Tabletop games