spillikins
Noun: 1. A game of skill and steady hands: Spillikins is a traditional tabletop game. Players take turns attempting to remove a single thin rod (called a spillikin or jackstraw) from a scattered pile without disturbing any of the others.
The word "spillikins" functions as a singular noun when referring to the game itself, but it is typically used with a plural verb form as it describes a set of pieces. * Spillikins is a classic family game. (Here, "spillikins" is treated as the singular name of the game.) * These antique spillikins are made of ivory. (Here, "spillikins" refers to the plural set of rods.)
- On rainy afternoons, the children would play spillikins on the parlor floor.
- The objective in spillikins is to have the most points from collected sticks at the end.
- She carefully lifted a blue spillikin from the tangled heap during their game of spillikins.
- The term can be used metonymically to refer to the set of rods used in the game.
- He inherited a box of beautifully carved spillikins from his grandfather.
- Spillikin (noun): The singular form for one of the individual rods used in the game of spillikins.
- She successfully removed the most valuable spillikin.
- Jackstraws (noun): A common synonym for the game of spillikins.
- Pick-up sticks: A modern, widely recognized name for the same type of game.
- Jackstraws
- Pick-up sticks
- Mikado (a specific variant with colored sticks and different point values)
"Spillikins" refers specifically to the game. It does not describe the act of spilling something. The word's origin is related to an archaic meaning of "spill" as a thin piece of wood or splinter.
- a game in which players try to pick each jackstraw (or spillikin) off of a pile without moving any of the others