Pick-up sticks

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For the 2007 album by They Shoot Horses, Don't They? see Pick Up Sticks

For the song "Pick Up Sticks" by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, see Time Out

Pick-up sticks (or pick-a-stick) is a game of physical and mental skill in which sticks have to be removed from a pile without disturbing the remaining ones. One root of the name "pick-up sticks" may be the line of a children's nursery rhyme, "...five, six, pick-up sticks!"

A few of the many variations/names:

• Mikado (from Europe) (also sometimes called pick-up sticks, jackstraws, spellicans)
• Biriulky (Russia)
• Jackstraws (orig. jerk-straws) (America)
• Spellicans (Britain), Spilikins/Spillikins (orig. spelleken) (Canada)
• Jonchets (France)
• Shanghai (Italy)
• Jenga (America)
• Haida pick-up sticks (Haida native Americans)
• Selahtikan or Scattering Straws (Lenape native Americans)
• Kau Cim sticks (China/Hong Kong)
• Casting of lots/Kaiserspiel/Federspiel/Zitterwackel (Germany).
• Plockepinn (Sweden)
• Dukim (Israel)
• Palitos Chinos (Cuba)
• Pega Varetas (Brazil)
• Bierki (Poland)

The sticks are made out of ivory, bone, wood (walnut, cherry, oak, beech, ash, pine, bamboo, maple), straw, reed, rush, yarrow, or plastics.

Contents 1 Play 2 History 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Play

This is a game for two or more players. The object of the game is to pick up the most sticks.

To begin the game, we need to get the sticks somewhat randomly distributed so that they end up in a tangled pile. One way to do this (if the sticks are small), is to gather the sticks into a bundle in one hand, as shown in the image, with the bottoms of the sticks touching a flat table. Gently release your grip on the sticks, letting the sticks fall randomly onto the table. Move your hand away as you release your grip so that the sticks have the chance to fall in all directions, in a full circle.

The first player attempts to remove a single stick, without letting any other stick move. In some versions of the game, the player uses a "tool" to move the stick away from the pile (to make it harder); this "tool" is usually just one of the sticks, held aside before the game begins. In other versions, the player just picks up the stick by hand. In either case, the player must not cause any other sticks to move while attempting to remove the chosen stick; if any other stick moves, her turn ends immediately. Otherwise, she continues moving the stick out of the pile until it is completely out of the pile, and then picks it up.

Optional: The player who successfully picks up a stick can "go again"; the player keeps removing sticks until and unless she causes a secondary stick to move. Play then passes to the next player.

Optional: Before the first turn, any isolated sticks (sticks lying alone, not touching any other stick) are removed.

The game is over when the last stick is removed.

[edit] History

Stick games are ancient and prevalent in all cultures. In India, the Buddha games list, which dates back to the time of Gautama Buddha (c. 563-483 BCE), mentions the game of pick-up sticks. In China, the sticks were used for divination, then later on as a gambling game. The game spread to Korea and Japan, and even to North America - the Haida Native Americans of British Columbia, and certain tribes in California (e.g., the Lenape). It's not clear if, how or when these Asian games were introduced to North America, though if they were not simply invented another time in America, it had to be very early, via the land bridge across the Bering Strait or by ship across the Pacific Ocean.

Herodotus wrote that he had seen in 450 BCE a game played by the Scythians that was also known by the Teutons as a play of oracle named "Zitterwackel" (jitter whobble) [doubtful claim: a modern German word in Herodotus??]. There is also a resemblance to the "casting of lots" mentioned in the Bible.

In China (and Japan), a similar oracle was known, based on the Book of Changes (I Ching, Yijing, eki divination). A handful of sticks is scattered to base the reading of destiny (also in respect to the calendar) called "Chien Tung" in which a stick is called an "emperor stick." This oracle practice was most common around the 12th century during the civil wars, when Zen Buddhist monks were advisors of the warlords.

In the 16th century, the Tsuchimikado house in Japan adapted the astrology and calendar sciences from China and possibly also the Chien Tung oracle. A dated term for the Japanese emperor is Mikado.

In the 17th century, the Jonchets (French) game is mentioned in references.

The Haida (Native Americans) had also a pick-up sticks (Haida) game.

The Mikado pick-up sticks variant was brought from Europe (Hungary) in 1936 to the United States and became quite popular and remains so today.

[edit] References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008)

• Culin, Stewart; printed by the United States Government (1907). Games of North American Indians (rev. ed. 1975). Dover Publications. 867 pages. ISBN 0-486-23125-9.
• Culin, Stewart; University of Pennsylvania (1895). Korean Games With Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan. (Ed. 1958/1960) Games of The Orient. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company. 177 pages. (orig. Ed. 1991) Korean Games With Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan. Dover Publications. 256 pages. ISBN 0-486-26593-5
• Bell, Robert Charles; Oxford University Press (1960 & 1969). 2 volumes. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations (rev. ed. 1979). Dover Publications. 448 pages. ISBN 0-486-23855-5.
• Glonneger, Erwin. Das Spiele-Buch. Drei Magier Verlag. ISBN 3-9806792-0-9

[edit] External links

• Jackstraws, Pick-up-Sticks, Spellicans Game museum entry on pick-up sticks
• Play the Jackstraws game online
• Play the Pick Up Sticks flash game online
•  "spillikins". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.