Pick-up Sticks: how to play Mikado, where it came from, and how to win

Hold the sticks upright, let them fall, and the heap they make is the whole game. You take them out one at a time, pulling each one straight along its own length, and you keep going for as long as nothing else moves. The moment something does, the stick goes back and it is the other player's heap.

That single rule is the reason pick-up sticks has outlasted almost every other toy in the cupboard. Nothing to learn, nothing to set up, and a decision on every pull: this stick or that one, this end or the other, one more or stop while you are ahead.

The scoring version, Mikado, is where it becomes a game rather than a test of nerve. A standard set is 41 sticks in five ranks — one mikado worth 20, five mandarins worth 10, five bonzes worth 5, fifteen samurai worth 3 and fifteen kuli worth 2 — which is 170 points on the table, and half of them sitting in eleven sticks. Most points wins, not most sticks, so a haul of seven kuli loses to a haul of one mandarin and nothing else.

The strategy follows from one fact about a heap: it is a stack. Every stick landed at a moment, and the ones that landed last lie on top. Sweep the sticks lying clear of the pile, then take the top of the heap, always check both ends before you commit — most pinned sticks are pinned one way only — and go for the mikado early, while it is still lying across the tangle rather than buried in it.

How to play

Drop the bundle, draw one stick at a time, and stop the moment anything else moves. The full rules, the 41-stick Mikado scoring, and the variants worth agreeing before you start.

Pick-up Sticks rules: how to play, and how Mikado scoring works →

Where it comes from

Carved ivory sets out of China, jackstraws in the American parlour, and the 1930s scoring that turned a test of nerve into a game of choices.

• Thin stalks were cast and read long before they were played with, though a direct line to the game cannot be shown.
• Carved ivory spillikins reached Europe from China in the eighteenth century.
• America called the same game jackstraws and kept the hooked implements longest.
• The Mikado ranks and 170-point scoring spread across Europe in the 1930s.

The history of pick-up sticks: from ivory spillikins to Mikado →

How to win

Free sticks first, both ends before you commit, the mikado early, and why the bridging stick is the trap. Basic, intermediate and advanced tactics for a heap of sticks.

• Take the sticks lying clear of the heap first — they are free points and they uncover the pile.
• A stick pinned in one direction is usually free in the other; choose the end deliberately.
• Go for the mikado early, while it is still on top of the heap.
• Prefer removals that free other sticks over removals that merely score.

Pick-up Sticks strategy: read the heap, then take it apart →

Common questions

How do you play pick-up sticks?

Drop the bundle into a heap, then take turns drawing sticks out one at a time, pulling each straight along its own length. A clean pull earns another; move any other stick and your turn ends.

What are the point values in Mikado?

Mikado 20, Mandarin 10, Bonze 5, Samurai 3, Kuli 2. A full set of 41 sticks holds 170 points, and you can read the value off the number of coloured bands.

What is the difference between Mikado and pick-up sticks?

Mikado is the scoring version: a standard 41-stick set with five named ranks and point values. Plain pick-up sticks often has no scoring beyond counting sticks.

What is the best strategy?

Take the sticks lying clear of the heap first, then the ones on top of it. Choose the pull direction that faces open table, prefer removals that free other sticks, and never pull a stick that is bridging across others.

Why is it called Mikado?

After the highest-scoring stick. Mikado was the European word for the Emperor of Japan, and the five ranks — mikado, mandarin, bonze, samurai, kuli — run from the top of a stylised court hierarchy to the bottom.

Can you play pick-up sticks online?

Yes — you can play free here, alone or against a friend. Both piles are dealt from the same number, so you are racing the identical heap.