Pick Up Sticks (1850)

Long, thin sticks are scattered on the table in a heap. The black one is used as a tool to pick up the others. The player picks up sticks one at a time, until he causes any other stick to move besides the one he is attempting to pick up. Score points based on the color retrieved.

The game is believed to have developed from the yarrow stalks used for divination with the Chinese I Ching.

Published in Germany about 1850. This concept has been re-published in Germany, 2003, by HABA as Mikado, a game Ages 5 and up