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Hand Games
Hand games are games played using only the hands of the players. Hand games exist in a variety of cultures internationally, and are of interest to academic studies in ethnomusicology and music education. Hand games are used to teach music literacy skills and socio-emotional learning in elementary music classrooms internationally. Examples of hand games * Chopsticks (sticks) * Clapping games * Mercy * Morra (finger counting) * Odds and evens * Pat-a-cake and variations: ** Mary Mack * Red hands (or hand-slap game) * Rock paper scissors * Thumb war (or thumb wrestling) * " Where are your keys?" (language acquisition game) Less strictly, the following may be considered hand games: * Bloody knuckles * Fingers (drinking game) * Jacks * Knife game * Spellbinder * Stick gambling * String games, such as cat's cradle ''Cat's Cradle'' is a satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements, by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's fourth novel, it was first ...
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Mary Mack
"Mary Mack", also known as "Miss Mary Mack", is a clapping game of unknown origin. It is well known in various parts of the United States, Australia, Canada, and in New Zealand and has been called "the most common hand-clapping game in the English-speaking world". Description In the game, two children stand or sit opposite to each other, and clap hands according to the rhyming song. In some places, the repeated notes are given a quarter note triplet rhythmic value or sounded early to syncopate the rhythm. The same song is also used as a skipping-rope rhyme, although rarely so, according to one source. History An early version of a verse of "Mary Mack" collected in West Chester, Pennsylvania appears in the book The ''Counting Out Rhymes of Children'' by Henry Carrington Bolton (1888). Other early sources (1902, 1905) show variations of "She asked her mother for fifty cents to see the elephant jump the fence" with no mention of Mary Mack. The origin of the name Mary Mack is ...
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String Game
A string figure is a design formed by manipulating string on, around, and using one's fingers or sometimes between the fingers of multiple people. String figures may also involve the use of the mouth, wrist, and feet. They may consist of singular images or be created and altered as a game, known as a string game, or as part of a story involving various figures made in sequence (string story). String figures have also been used for divination, such as to predict the sex of an unborn child. A popular string game is cat's cradle, but many string figures are known in many places under different names, and string figures are well distributed throughout the world.Elffers, Joost and Schuyt, Michael (1978/1979). ''Cat's Cradles and Other String Figures'', p.197. . History According to Camilla Gryski, a Canadian librarian and author of numerous string figure books, "We don't know when people first started playing with string, or which primitive people invented this ancient art. We do ...
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Stick Gambling
Stick gambling is a traditional hand game played by many indigenous people in the Northern Regions of Canada and Alaska, with the rules varying among each group. It would typically be played when diverse groups met on the trail. Games could last for several days during which prized matches, shot, gunpowder, or tobacco would be staked. Traditionally, only men would take part. However in modern games, both genders are able to play. The Yukon Territory First Nations in Canada holds many annual hand games, or stick gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ... tournaments, in which both genders play. Game Rules Two equally sized teams kneel on the ground facing one another. On one side, the players hide a token (idzi) in their fist. The token is passed back and forth be ...
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Spellbinder (paper-and-pencil Game)
Richard Allan Bartle (born 10 January 1960) is a British writer, professor and game researcher in the massively multiplayer online game industry. He co-created ''MUD1'' (the first MUD) in 1978, and is the author of the 2003 book ''Designing Virtual Worlds''. Life and career In 1988, Bartle received a PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Essex, where as an undergraduate, he created ''MUD1'' with Roy Trubshaw in 1978. He lectured at Essex until 1987, when he left to work full-time on ''MUD'' (known as '' MUD2'' in its present version). Several years later he returned to the university as a part-time professor and principal teaching fellow in the Department of Computing and Electronic Systems, supervising courses on computer game design as part of the department's degree course on computer game development. He retired from teaching at the end of April 2025 and is now Emeritus Professor. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2003, he wrote ''Designing ...
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Knife Game
The knife game, pinfinger, nerve, bishop, hand roulette, five finger fillet (FFF), or chicken is a game wherein, placing the palm of one's hand down on a table with fingers apart, using a knife or other sharp object, one attempt to stab back and forth between one's fingers, trying not to hit one's fingers. The game is intentionally dangerous, exposing players to the risks of incision or penetration; it may be played much more safely by using another object, such as the eraser side of a pencil. In European culture, it is traditionally considered a boys' game. It appears in various media across popular culture, including '' Knife in the Water,'' ''Aliens'', and '' Red Dead Redemption.'' Description The knife game is a game where a player uses a knife (or other sharp object) to stab at the spaces between the fingers on their unarmed hand atop a hard surface. The game is also referred to by the names ''pinfinger'', ''nerve'', ''bishop'', ''hand roulette'', ''stabscotch'', ''fiv ...
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Jacks (game)
Knucklebones, also known as scatter jacks, snobs, astragaloi (''singular'': astragalus), tali, dibs, fivestones, jacks, jackstones, or jinks, among many other names, is a game of dexterity played with a number of small objects that are thrown up, caught, and manipulated in various manners. It is ancient in origin and is found in various cultures worldwide. The name "knucklebones" is derived from the Ancient Greek version of the game, which uses the astragalus (a bone in the ankle, or hock) of a sheep. However, different variants of the game from various cultures use other objects, including stones, seashells, seeds, and cubes. Modern knucklebones consist of six points, or knobs, projecting from a common base and are usually made of metal or plastic. The winner is the first player to successfully complete a prescribed series of throws, which, though similar, differ widely in detail. The simplest throw consists in either tossing up one stone, the jack, or bouncing a ball and ...
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Fingers (game)
Fingers or finger spoof is a drinking game where players guess the number of participating players who will keep their finger on a cup at the end of a countdown. A correct guess eliminates the player from the game and ensures they will not have to drink the cup. The last person in the game loses and must consume the cup contents. The cup could be a pint glass, pitcher, or other vessel (large enough for all players to put one finger on the rim) that is filled with a sip or small sample of all players' own beverage prior to the start of the game. Rules and setup Equipment *Alcoholic beverages, typically wine, beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ... or mixed spirits *A pint glass, pitcher, or other vessel, but ideally a bowl. Setup and common rules Fingers starts by ...
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Bloody Knuckles
Bloody knuckles is a game in which each player makes a fist with the thumb wrapped around the other fingers. Then each fist punches the other's fist. Players who flinch are out of the game. Whoever lasts the longest before quitting wins the game. The game is played until someone's knuckles are bleeding or they quit due to excessive pain. Variations include simultaneous or alternate punching, and games in which the strike is the loser's punishment/winner's privilege. In the first two ways of playing the game, violence, though essentially consensual, is inherent, not a risk. Almost all ways of playing are dangerous, carrying the risk of injury, scarring, and damage to one's bones and hand. The point is to make them bleed. "Bloody knuckles" may refer to any game where the loser is punished: punched, slapped, or struck with an object. For example, in the card game, the winner strikes the loser's hand with the deck of cards.Salamone, Nancy (2010). ''Victory Over Violence: Nancy's ...
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Thumb War
A thumb war or thumb fight, also known as thumb wrestling, is a game played by two players in which the thumbs are used to simulate fighting. The objective of the game is to "pin" the opponent's thumb, often to a count of four. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' called the game "the miniature golf of martial arts, martial sports." Gameplay The players face each other and each holds out their left hand or right hand in a "thumbs signal, thumbs up", and they link hands such that each player's fingers curl around the other player's fingers. Players may not use any of the fingers except the thumb to pin down their opponent's thumb. Gameplay has several tactics such as "playing possum", aiming for the knuckle rather than the nail for a pin, going for a quick strike, and waiting for one's opponent to tire. Variations include making the thumbs "bow", "kiss", or both before warring, and to war with both hands at once; or sneak attacks, which involve using your pointer finger to take over t ...
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Rock Paper Scissors
Rock, Paper, Scissors (also known by #Names, several other names and word orders) is an Intransitive game, intransitive hand game, usually played between two people, in which each player simultaneously forms one of three shapes with an outstretched hand. These shapes are "rock" (a closed fist: ✊), "paper" (a flat hand: ✋), and "scissors" (a fist with the index finger and middle finger extended, forming a V: ✌). The earliest form of "rock paper scissors"-style game originated in China and was subsequently imported into Japan, where it reached its modern standardized form, before being spread throughout the world in the early 20th century. A simultaneous game, simultaneous, zero-sum game, it has three possible outcomes: a draw, a win, or a loss. A player who decides to play rock will beat another player who chooses scissors ("rock crushes scissors" or "breaks scissors" or sometimes "blunts scissors"), but will lose to one who has played paper ("paper covers rock"); a play of ...
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