Pick-up Sticks

Draw one out without moving the rest

You0

Computer0

Sticks left0

Hauls

Opponent

Steadiness

Pile

Show what's looseOutlines the sticks that nothing is lying across — the ones that will come out.

How to play

The sticks are dropped in a heap. On your turn you draw them out one at a time, and you keep going for as long as you keep getting them out cleanly.
Press a stick and pull it straight along its own length, either way, until it is clear of the pile. It is then yours, and you go again.
Anything lying across it stops you. If a stick above it crosses its path — where it lies now, or anywhere it would have to travel — the pile shifts, the stick goes back and your turn is over.
Pull straight. Wander too far off the line of the stick and your hand has nudged the pile: same result, turn over.
Let go before it is out and nothing happens. You can look before you leap — but only the pull tells you for certain.
The mikado, the black-and-gold stick, is worth 20 on its own. Whoever holds it has a steadier hand: the first slip of each turn is forgiven.
The pile is gone when the last stick is out. Most points wins — not most sticks.
Online friend sends a link. You each play on your own device, and both piles are dealt from the same number, so they are the same pile.

Strategy

Look at both ends. A stick pinned for one direction is often free the other way — the pull only has to be clear the way you are going.
Take the loose ends first, the ones lying off the edge of the heap. They cost nothing and they uncover what is underneath.
Go for the mikado early when it is reachable. Twenty points is worth nine kulis, and the forgiven slip is worth more than that over a long turn.
Stop reading, start pulling — but not the other way round. Every stick you get out is a stick your opponent cannot have, and a turn ends the moment you rush one.
Late in the pile almost everything is free, so the player who is ahead when the heap opens up usually stays ahead. Spend your steady turns early.
Stuck? Hint shows the best stick it can see, and which way to pull it.