Up Jenkins
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Up Jenkins, also known by the shortened name Jenkins, is a
party game Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.Frankel, Lillian; ...
in which players conceal a coin (or ring, button, etc.) in their palm as they slap it on a table with their bare hands. The goal of the game is for the players on the team without the coin to correctly identify which hand the coin is under. The game typically consists of two- to four-player teams, one on each side of a table. There are no official rules, so rules may vary widely, the game is often played with alcohol beverages with which to drink as a forfeit.


Gameplay

The captain of one team takes a coin and passes it under the table to the second person of the team. The players on that team pass the coin under the table back and forth from one player to another. The object of the game is to do it so carefully that the opposing team cannot guess which player has the coin. Once this selection is made, the opposing team's captain yells "Up Jenkins" at which point all players on the team with the coin place their elbows on the table with their hands, closed in a fist, pointing straight toward the ceiling. The opposing team's captain then yells "Down Jenkins" or "Bang Ems", at which point the "coin" team slams their palms face-down on the table. The goal of this stage of the game is to conceal the "clink" of the coin on the table to confuse the other team as to where the coin is. In some variants of the game, other commands can be given before the palms are slammed onto the table. A request of "Open Windows" requires selected finger gaps to be opened, and "Creepy Crawlies" requires players to curl their hands and move them around on the table in the manner of a crab. In the guessing phase of the game, the non-coin team selects palms, one by one, in an attempt to isolate the coin as the "last palm standing." Where the games is played in conjunction with alcohol, successful isolation results in the coin team drinking. Failure to do so results in the non-coin team drinking. The quantity of alcohol consumed per round is a matter of house rules or local variation. The game can also be played as a children's party game.


Alternative versions

*A similar game in Wales is
Tippit Tippit is a Wales, Welsh game played with a single coin, that dates back hundreds of years. Similar games - including Up Jenkins - are played elsewhere in Europe and the United States. The game The game is played using a small coin. Two teams o ...
, which was used as the basis for the S4C television game show ''
Tipit Tipit is a game show broadcast on S4C, hosted by Alex Jones and Morgan Jones. Tipit (also spelled "tippit") is a traditional Welsh pub game A pub game is one which is traditionally played inside or outside a pub or bar. Most pub games dat ...
''. * Mheibes or Mhebiss in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, often played during
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and was also once televised. *
Handgame Handgame, also known as stickgame, is a Native American guessing game, in which marked "bones" are concealed in the hands of one team while another team guesses their location. Gameplay Any number of people can play the Hand Game, but each team ...
is a native American guessing game where bones are concealed in a team's hands *Referred to as "Up Chickens" in many Midwestern states, especially Ohio.


In popular culture

* Up Jenkins is played by the office workers at Poor Richards Pub in the episode "
Cocktails A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...
" of ''The Office''. * Up Jenkins is played by members of the newsroom at a party in the show ''The Newsroom'' (Season 1 episode 7) (titled "5/1") * Up Jenkins is referred to as a 'lesser known' alternative to 'Hide the Thimble' in chapter 10 of Sir
Henry Howarth Bashford Sir Henry Howarth Bashford (13 January 1880 – 15 August 1961) was a distinguished English physician, becoming Honorary Physician to King George VI. He was also an author, most notably of satirical novels. Early life Bashford was born in Ke ...
's 1924 satirical novel, '' Augustus Carp Esq., by Himself - Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man.'' * Up Jenkins is referred to by Major Burnaby in Agatha Christie's 1931 novel ''
The Sittaford Mystery ''The Sittaford Mystery'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of ''The Murder at Hazelmoor'' and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 Sep ...
'' (published in the U.S. as ''The Murder at Hazelmoor''): "in my day it was 'Up Jenkins'" when the subject of table turning was raised. * Up Jenkins is referred to by Margot Beste-Chetwynde in Evelyn Waugh's 1928 novel ''
Decline and Fall ''Decline and Fall'' is a novel by the English author Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1928. It was Waugh's first published novel; an earlier attempt, titled '' The Temple at Thatch'', was destroyed by Waugh while still in manuscript form. '' ...
'' when she visits her former fiancé Paul Pennyfeather in prison and they are asked by the warder to both put their hands on the table in front of them. * Up Jenkins is referred to in Evelyn Waugh's 1957 novel ''
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold ''The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold'' is a novel by the British writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in July 1957. It is Waugh's penultimate full-length work of fiction, which the author called his "mad book"—a largely autobiographical account ...
'' as a game Pinfold plays with his children at Christmas. * Up Jenkins is referred to in
Grace Livingston Hill Grace Livingston Hill (April 16, 1865 – February 23, 1947) was an early 20th-century novelist and wrote both under her real name and the pseudonym Marcia Macdonald. She wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories. Her characters were mos ...
's 1920 novel ''Cloudy Jewel'': "the entire company would gather around he tablewith uplifted thumbs and eager faces uproariously playing "up Jenkins" for an hour or two." * Referred to as 'Up-Jenkins' in a list of party games in chapter 15 of
Penelope Mortimer Penelope Ruth Mortimer (née Fletcher; 19 September 1918 – 19 October 1999) was a Welsh-born English journalist, biographer, and novelist. Her semi-autobiographical novel ''The Pumpkin Eater'' (1962) was made into a 1964 film of the same name. ...
's 1971 novel ''The Home'': "...but at home he had been submissive... teaching them to play Up-Jenkins and Hunt the Thimble..." * Up Jenkins is mentioned in a well-known scene in
David Nobbs David Gordon Nobbs (13 March 1935 – 8 August 2015"C ...
's 1976 BBC TV comedy series ''
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' is a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role. It is based on a series of novels written by David Nobbs and produced from 1976 to 1979. Nobbs adapted the screenplay for the first series ...
''. It forms part of Jimmy's list of the kinds of people his secret army will be against: "Clive Jenkins, Roy Jenkins, Up Jenkins, up everybody's..." * The game is called Hands Up, Jenkins in the description of Christmas in New Zealand in the 1890s in the book The Making of a New Zealander by Alan Mulgan (Wellington 1958)


See also

*
List of drinking games This is a list of drinking games. Drinking games involve the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Evidence of the existence of drinking games dates back to antiquity. They have been banned at some institutions, particularly colleges and univer ...


References

{{reflist, 2 Drinking games Party games Coin games