Chopsticks (hand game)

Chopsticks (also called Swords, Sticks, Split, Cherries, Koo Koo Katchoo, and Bananas) hand game for two players. It is commonly played in India, Canada, Ireland and the United States. This game was invented by Bayan Ashoori, an ancient Persian philosopher.

Chopsticks is a solved game in which the second player can always force a win when playing with the original rules.

Rules

Each player uses both hands to play the game, the number of digits extended on a hand showing the number of points that the hand has. Both hands of both players start with one point each - one finger extended. The goal of the game is for a player to force their opponent to extend all of their fingers and thumbs on both hands. A hand with all fingers and its thumb extended is said to be a "dead hand".

Player take turns to tap one of their hands against another hand (either their own other hand, or one of their opponent's). The number of points on the tapping hand is added to the number on the tapped hand, and the player with the tapped hand should extend their digits to show the new score. The tapping hand remains unchanged.

A player may tap their own hand to transfer points from one hand to the other, so long as they are not simply swapping the scores on their two hands. For example, if a player had three points on his or her right hand and one on his or her left, the player could rearrange them to have two on each hand. A "dead hand" is treated as having no points, for this purpose, which allows a player to bring a dead hand back into play by transferring points to it.

Variations of play

Leftovers/Overlap

Chopsticks can also be played the way mentioned above except if one hand gets more than five points the leftover points are left on the hand. This means you subtract five from the number of points one hand gets and the only way a hand can get knocked out is if it accumulates exactly five points. This way of playing is generally for more advanced players and requires more strategy.

Exact Play

Similar to Leftovers/Overlap, Exact Play is where for a hand to be knocked out, it must equal exactly five points. It therefore becomes an illegal move for a player to give points to an opposition hand if it will result in its total exceeding five. This variation adds a stalemate end-game (e.g. If both players have two hands of four points - neither can transfer points between hands or give points to an opposition hand) where the game is often restarted. This adds a new dimension of strategy, as poor choices by a player who may appear to be in a strong position can lead to a stalemate. The player 1 or player 2 can hit their own hand if it is still in play(known as a sacrifice)

Splits

Players are allowed to evenly divide an even number of points in one hand to an empty hand, an action known as "split" when a player with a dead hand and four fingers on the other can use their turn to "split" the points 2:2, and if you only have two fingers to split to 1:1). This variation is quite commonly played in India. The players can split the finger count any way they want. If they have a 4/1 distribution, they can split that to 3/2. This variation is sometimes played instead of allowing transfers/redistributions.

Knubs

The knubs variation is played the same as regular Chopsticks except that there can now be half-fingers or "knubs". A knub is created by extending the finger upwards and curling it down. Since a knub represents a half of a finger, two knubs will equal one regular finger, which means that everything can be split, so 1:0 would become 0.5:0.5 and 3:0 would become 1.5:1.5 and 4.5:0 becomes 2.5:2, etc. Because of all of the possible splits the game can last a while. A good strategy to use while playing knubs is to reduce the opponent's hands to 0:0.5 and transfer until you have 4.5:4.5.

In the Irish version of the game knubs and quarters are not used.

Quarters

This variation is played the same way as Knubs except that each knub can further be divided into half-knubs which represents a quarter of a finger. This variation is very confusing and will last a long time.

Game of Five

In this variation, a player does not lose when he gets 5 fingers on one hand, instead losing when they have more than 5 fingers on a hand. When this variation is played in conjunction with the Splits variation, the game is a win for the second player to go.

See also

• Solved game
• Abstract strategy game
• Computer chess
• Game complexity
• Morra (game)

External links

• Chopsticks
• How to Play Chopsticks at wikiHow
• How to Always Win Chopsticks at wikiHow
• Chopsticks Alternative Ways to Play
• Chopsticks in The Art of Problem Solving
• Pointing Fingers Game
• Article About Chopsticks