Nikolai Sim, a Year 13 student at Logan Park High School, reviews the game of knucklebones as it makes a comeback among senior students at the school.
With captivation often comes frustration, especially at the repetition of what seems like a simple task.
Throw a knucklebone, pick up another, catch the original knucklebone.
Simple.
However those who have played this ancient game will know the torment and frustration inflicted upon the player.
It is the drive and determination to move forward that must overcome the increasingly difficult task of picking up knucklebones in forever changing rituals.
The origins of the game are unclear.
It is thought that Sophocles a Greek playwright taught Palamedes knucklebones along with the game we know as checkers, and he in turn taught his fellow Greek soldiers during the Trojan War.
However in mythology both the Greek God Zeus and the Egyptian God Thor are credited with the invention of similar games.
These godly origins may hold the weight of truth explained only by the difficulty, which is beyond the players' understanding.
The basic game play of the first round is easy and the following rounds follow this archetype.
In your hand you hold five knucklebones; you toss these in the air and attempt to catch as many on the back of your hand as possible this is called jockeying.
Failing to catch any knucklebones causes your turn to be over.
If you succeed at catching one you use this in the next step, and any excess knucklebones are placed to the side.
The remaining knucklebones that have not been caught lie where they fall and with a previously caught knucklebone (the jack) you attempt to individually pick up the remaining knucklebones.
The process in which you do this is throwing the Jack, picking up the next and then catching the Jack.
Once complete you place one to the side and repeat.
After clearing this you move on to picking up two at a time after the jockey and you are able to move them around whilst the Jack is in the air.
Slowly as your skill builds the early rounds become easy and you move onto increasingly difficult rounds.
The rounds progress as follows:Overhand 1-4 - Overhand ones through to fours is the basic round described previously.
Overhand scatters 1-4 - The same as the previous round but the player is unable to move the knucklebones around post-jockey.
Dumps - All five knucklebones are held in the palm of one's hand then are dumped into a pile.
The player must remove one to use as the Jack without disturbing the pile.
All knucklebones must then be picked up.
Scatters 1-4 - This round is the same as over hand scatters but the jockey is removed and replaced by scattering the knucklebones.
These four rounds are reasonably simple and as the game continues the tasks you must complete, become increasingly obscure and difficult.
However it is not the game itself that provides the greatest difficulty that one must overcome.
But rather it is an abstract force colloquially coined as "The Stress."
"The Stress" comes on slowly and players often do not notice it creep upon them.
The impact "The Stress" has on one's game becomes apparent however upon the repetition of the same stage multiplied by turns until the player snaps.
At this point the player may yell, slam the knucklebones down, or simply give up hurling themselves away from game.
Post knucklebone stress can also occur as even the cold weight of the knucklebones or the sight of another playing can cause a discomfort in the stomachs of the most collected of players.
There is however a solution, a cure for the stress.
Ironically to overcome the stress in order to continue in the game the player must lose interest in the game.
Only once a player is indifferent to whether they proceed or fail can they play without "The Stress" affecting their game.
Much like the progressions through the game overcoming "The Stress" leads only to the next hurdle, apathy.
Once apathetic, effort towards the game is difficult and failure comes with the territory of laziness.
Luckily the solution is within the problem itself as the player simply doesn't care.
Being a game of such grand origins that has survived centuries of human development it is difficult to find faults.
The game itself has many levels on which it is played, with plenty of twists and turns pulling players in.
But like most games interest comes in waves and eventually is lost proving the humour of the game.
7/10
