pick-up sticks

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. History The origin of the game of pick-up sticks is disputed, but it is believed to have developed from the yarrow stalks used for divination with the Chinese I Ching. The game became popular in the 1800s in Germany, the United Kingdom (where it was played at least as early as 1945 at Windsor Castle), and the United States. A particularly popular version of the game during the 1930s-50s, 456 Pickup Sticks, was manufactured by O. Schoenhut Inc, an offshoot of the US-based Schoenhut Piano Company. In the 1800s, pick-up sticks were generally made from ivory or bone; modern sticks may be made of almost any material, such as wood, bamboo, straw, reed, rush, yarrow, or plastics. A game similar to pick-up sticks is also played by the Haida First Nation, with sticks made of plain maple wood decorated with abalone shell and copper.