Jinx is a
game
A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...
, typically a schoolyard or children's game, with varying rules and penalties that occur when two people unintentionally speak the same word or phrase simultaneously. It can also be used to refer to the general phenomenon of uttering the same content at the same time.
Rules
A jinx can be initiated when at least two people say any same word or phrase at the same time. Typically, after the coincidental voicing of the same content, the individuals compete to say the word "jinx" before the other, with the slower respondent being the "loser" or "jinxee."
There are different variations on what is required of the jinxee. A report in 1973 described that the loser should remain silent until they are freed by the winner. In another, the winner will say, "Jinx, buy me a
soda" or "pinch poke, you owe me a
Coke" first and the loser must comply.
There is also a version where the name of the jinxee has to be uttered a number of times, and/or in full to "free" the jinxee.
See also
*
Pinky swear
To make a pinky promise, or pinky swear, is a traditional gesture most commonly practiced amongst children involving the locking of the pinkies of two people to signify that a promise has been made. The gesture is taken to signify that the pers ...
*
Punch buggy
A car-spotting game is one that is car game, played during a car ride, especially a road trip, where occupants of a vehicle compete to be the first to spot a car of a certain description. Many variations exist around the world. The first to call a ...
References
External links
*
*{{cite news , last=McSpaden , first=Cheri , url=http://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20080713/NEWS/307139912 , title=Even Johnny Depp got jinxed , publisher=
The Holland Sentinel , date=July 13, 2008 , access-date=July 12, 2013
December 17, 2006 comic stripfrom ''
Big Nate
''Big Nate'' (stylized as ''big NATE'' in the List of Big Nate collections, comic collections and ''BiG NATE'' in the Big Nate#Book series, books) is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Lincoln Peirce, syndicated since January ...
'' in which the characters play a game of Jinx
Children's games