Thumb war

A thumb war

A thumb war or thumb wrestling is a children's game played by two players in a tournament called a thumb-a-war (or thumb war) using the thumbs to simulate fighting.^[1] The object of the game is to pin the opponent's thumb, often to a count of three.^[2][3] The San Francisco Chronicle called the game "the miniature golf of martial sports."^[2]

The players face each other and each holds out their left hand or right hand in a "thumbs up",^[4] and they link hands in a monkey grip. Gameplay has several tactics such as "playing possum", aiming for the knuckle rather than the nail for a pin,^[3] going for a quick strike, and waiting for one's opponent to tire.^[5] Variations include making the thumbs "bow", "kiss", or both before warring, and to war with both hands at once; or sneak attacks, which involve using your pointer finger to take over the opponent.^[6]

The game is typically initiated with both the players uttering the rhyme "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war", and their thumbs passing over each other in time with this rhyme.^[7] The rhyme is sometimes extended with "Five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight."^[8] Variations of the second half of the rhyme include: "Five, six, seven, eight, you are stupid, I am great." or "Five, six, seven, eight, you are going down, mate. " and "Five, six, seven, eight, this is going to be a piece of cake." In Spanish, the starting song is "ésta es la pulseada china", with the same thumb dance as in English.

US army MP playing thumb war with an Iraqi boy in Baghdad

Competitive matches on thumb wrestling have been held in Long Island^[9] and Lowestoft.^[10] The 826 Valencia Foundation holds an annual thumb-wrestling competition, which has been won three times by San Francisco Chronicle book editor Oscar Villalon.^[11]

History

Writer Norman Mailer was passionate about thumb wrestling.^[12] Author and humorist Paul Davidson claims that his grandfather Bernard Davidson invented the thumb war in the 1940s.^[13] American copywriter Julian Koenig claimed to have invented thumb wrestling in 1936 as a boy at Camp Greylock.^[14]

A thumb wrestling ring is a toy used for thumb wrestling.^[15] The players insert their thumbs in opposite sides and proceed with the thumb war.

See also

• Rock-paper-scissors
• Thumb twiddling
• Thumb Wrestling Federation
• Arm wrestling

References

Further reading

• Villalon, Oscar (2006). The Way Of The Thumb. 826 Valencia. p. 16. 
• Mayer, Andy; James Becker (January 9, 1983). The Official Book of Thumb Wrestling. Carl Muller (illustrator). Workman Publishing Company. p. 16. ISBN 0-89480-363-8.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)

External links

• "UK Thumb Wrestling Championships". 

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