A test of the player's skill at removing sticks from a pile, one at a time and without disturbing any of its neighbours. Each player takes it in turns to pick up a specified colour stick.
The blue stick, or Mikado, is the most important one and may be used to help pick up the other sticks, once the player has at least one stick of all the other colours. If any other stick is moved in this process, the player will lose their turn.
The remaining players continue to pick up sticks until none remain.