1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spillikins
|←Spikenard||1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 25
|See also Pick-up sticks on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.|
SPILLIKINS (M.D., spelleken, little pin), or Jackstraws (originally “jerk-straws”), a game of some antiquity played with a set of slender sticks of wood, bone or ivory, from 3 to 6 in. long, generally carved to represent weapons and utensils of various kinds, which are thrown in a heap haphazard upon the table. The players then endeavour in turn to extricate from the heap, one at a time, as many straws as possible, without moving any except the one angled for. The player obtaining the most straws wins. The game is called in French jonchets and in German Federspiel.