Hand game

This article is about games played with the hands. For the feature in card games, see Hand game (cards).

Hand games are games played using only the hands of the players.^[1] Hand games exist in a variety of cultures internationally, and are of interest to academic studies in ethnomusicology and music education.^[1][2] Hand games are used to teach music literacy skills and socio-emotional learning in elementary music classrooms internationally.^[3][4][5]

Mushi-ken, a Japanese hand game (1809)

Examples of hand games

• Chopsticks (sticks)
• Clapping games
• Mercy
• Morra (finger counting)
• Odds and evens
• Pat-a-cake and variations:
  • Mary Mack
• Red hands (or hand-slap game)
• Rock paper scissors
• Thumb war (or thumb wrestling)
• "Where are your keys?" (language acquisition game)

Less strictly, the following may be considered hand games:

• Bloody knuckles
• Fingers (drinking game)
• Jacks
• Knife game
• Spellbinder
• Stick gambling
• String games, such as cat's cradle