If it’s a good idea, why not try it ten times the size?
It’s an attitude that gets some people into trouble, but with this game the result is a lot of laughs. Giant Pick-up Sticks is that old-time favourite, except instead of little yellow plastic sticks, walking canes and crutches on a table-top, we at Wessie play it with metre lengths of dowel in the playground. We rework the rules just a little, but the aim of the game is still the same, pick up as many as you can, one at a time, without moving anything else in the pile. here’s how we play it:
1. Three kids play at a time, in the centre of a foursquare court. Everyone else stands around outside the lines, waiting for their turn. I drop the sticks in a big heap in the middle.
2. Youngest starts, and they pick up a stick. If successful, they keep it and play rotates to the next player, if they are unsuccessful then I get that stick. Note – I can’t ever win!
3. Play continues until the last of the thirty sticks is taken, we compare scores. The winner(s) get to drop their sticks for the start of the next batch of three players.
4. Crucially important – I’m the only judge as to whether other sticks moved. You don’t want a chorus of “they moved, they moved!”
So that’s how we play Giant Pickup Sticks, Wessie style. Thanks go to Gary Lewis for the inspiration.
Now quick – Go find a big bunch of dowel or bamboo!