Pick-up Sticks

Pick-up Sticks (Mikado in Europe, Jackstraws in America, Spillikins in Britain) is a game of physical and mental skill. A bundle of thin coloured sticks is dropped in a jumbled pile; players take turns to try to pick sticks out one by one without moving any other stick in the pile. Each colour of stick scores different points. Ancient origins in China and India; the modern Mikado version (with a 200-point 'Emperor' stick) was standardised in Hungary in 1936.