I was at Darren’s Sports Meet. Our little one was not at all impatient while waiting for his turn to play Captain’s Ball. Instead, he was maximising the usage of his free time SILENTLY engaging in a game of fingers with his schoolmate.

So, both boys will stretch out their fingers and then one will tap the other’s hand. To and fro, to and fro…..

Highly engrossed and full of enjoyments as both stretched their faces into wide grins every now and then - not affecting a single moment of the Sports Meet.

While at home, I have observed  Brendan and Darren engaging themselves in this SILENT game. Then, Brendan told me that they would be considered weirdo if they do not know how to play this “CHOPSTICKS ( hand game)” in school.  It’s considered a “Mathematical” game. So, I had my game of “SCISSORS PAPER STONE” during my childhood days and our boys have “CHOPSTICKS”.  It is interesting how this game has bonded the students in our boys’ school regardless of classes, ages and genders:)

Good job boys! For a friendly interaction with each other without creating any rowdiness or noisy chatting throughout this silent game. Just don’t silently play the game while teachers are giving lessons.

I later found out that this game has not been as commonly played in Southeast Asia (including Singapore) as countries like United States, India, Ireland and Canada.  The game has other names like Swords, Sticks, Split, Cherries and Bananas. Wonder whether it was started being named as ”Chopsticks” only after reaching Southeast Asia.

Ha!Ha! I should start learning more of our youngsters’ games before being considered a DINOSAUR:)

So, what is CHOPSTICKS hand game? Do your kids play this game too?

Source: Wikipedia

The goal of Chopsticks is to knock out the other opponent’s “hands” by giving both hands five or more points thus “knocking out” or knocking apart the hands of the opponent.

Each finger is equivalent to one point. Each player starts out with two points (one finger on each hand). A player must tap a hand in order to give it points. When a player taps an opponent’s hand, the player adds what the opponent originally had on his/her hand and what is on the player’s hand to get the sum. The sum is the number of fingers that the opponent now has on his/her hand. A player’s hands do not change when the opponent’s hand is tapped. The option of being able to transfer points from one hand to another is available. 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. The points must be distributed differently after they tap their hands together; a player may not simply swap which fingers are on which hands.

The players take turns giving each other points. Both hands of an opponent must be knocked out (both hands receive five or more points) in order for a victory. This is called a dead hand. If a single hand receives five or more points, the hand is eliminated (an eliminated hand is equivalent to zero points) and the hand is useless unless it is revived by transferring points from a hand that is alive.

 
For how to play the game, refer to this.

Here’s an youtube video of the game.  

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