Magic Fingers

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Magic Fingers (also called Chopsticks) is a commonly played two player children's hand game.

1 Gameplay
2 Variations of Play
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The goal of Magic Fingers is to knockout the other opponent's "hands" by giving both hands five or more points thus "knocking out" the hands.

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 hand and what is on the player's hand to get the sum of the fingers that your opponent has on his 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 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. 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. An opponent cannot revive or tap a eliminated hand.

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

[edit] Variations of Play

Magic Fingers can also be played in a variation where "transferring" (the act of tapping your own hand and moving points) is not allowed. Instead, players are allowed to evenly divide an even number of points in one hand to an empty hand, an action known as "split". (e.g., a player with a 4:0 point distribution can use their turn to "split" the points 2:2) In addition to splitting, players are allowed to hit their own hands to add points as they would for an opponent's. However, it is subject to certain situations which end in infinite recursion.