The Thumb Game

Okay, so this blog entry is primarily for the Erickson family, but anyone else is free to read if interested.  On Sunday, April 28, the Ericksons treated Ardith and me to an ice cream treat after our Gospel Meeting in Petersburg.  We enjoyed visiting about various and sundry things, and before it was time to go, I decided to show a couple of the kids a game that my sister and I had been taught when we were young.  The game goes something like this:

• All participants "stack thumbs."  (Person #1 sets fist on table in "thumbs up" position.  Person #2 curls fingers around the thumb of person #1 with his/her thumb sticking up.  Continue until all players are connected to the "tower of thumbs."  If there are only a few players, both hands may be used to make the tower higher.)  
• Now there is a series of questions that follows.  The person whose thumb is on bottom asks the person whose thumb is on top, "Whatcha got there?"  (Now, I must insert here, that in this point in my game with the Ericksons, I completely and totally forgot how the rest of the game went.  I didn't know how the person whose thumb was on top was supposed to answer the question.  I was at a complete loss.  So there we all sat at the table with our thumbs stacked in a great tower and others in the restaurant likely wondering what in the world was going on, and I didn't know how to get us out of that position!  This post has the purpose of informing my young friends - and their parents - what was actually supposed to happen once we got "all set up.")  :-) 
• The answer to "Whatcha got there?" is "Clubfist."  To which the asker replies, "Take it off, or I'll knock it off."  The person whose thumb is on top then has the option to remove his/her thumb from the stack or have it knocked off by the person who threatened to do such.  :-) 
• Now the person whose thumb has just been removed from the tower asks the owner of the next thumb, "Whatcha got there?"  This step is repeated until the bottom thumb is reached.  
• The question asked to the owner of the last thumb is really a conversation, so I will type it as such for ease of both writing and reading.
• Q: Whatcha got there?
• A: Ham and cheese.
• Q: Where's my share?
• A: The rat got it.
• Q: Where's the rat?
• A: The cat got it.
• Q: Where's the cat?
• A: The dog got it.
• Q: Where's the dog?
• A: The gun shot it.
• Q: Where's the gun?
• A: In the woods.
• Q: Where's the woods?
• A: Fire burned it.
• Q: Where's the fire?
• A: Water quenched it.
• Q: Where's the water?
• A: Ox drank it.
• Q: Where's the ox?
• A: Butcher killed it.
• Q: Where's the butcher?
• A: Out behind my grandma's kitchen door crackin' nuts, and the first one to show their teeth gets their nose pulled.
• At this point, all players must press their lips tightly together so no teeth are shown.  Laughing makes this difficult, and often lots of noses end up getting pulled.

I don't really know what makes this game so entertaining, but I remember a great deal of hilarity when we were little trying to keep our teeth well hidden and usually not succeeding.  Then after the nose pulling, we would immediately start stacking thumbs again.  I hadn't thought of that game in years when it came to mind that evening.  Needless to say, until I got it all figured back out, it was on my mind a good deal the next few days.  Now I'll have my blog as a reference the next time I forget how it goes!