Mikado is a pick-up sticks game originating in Europe. In 1936 it was brought from Hungary to the USA and was mostly called pick-up sticks. This term is not very specific in respect to existing stick game variations. Probably the "Mikado" name was not used because it was a brand name of a game producer. The game got its name from the highest scoring (blue) stick "Mikado" (jpn. emperor, tenno). The buddhistic Chien Tung also contains a stick called "emperor"..

The classic Mikado game consists of 41 sticks. They are coded with different values that have a total of 170 points and are around 15 cm long.
 

Name	Traditional wood type	Coding	Point value	Number of sticks
Mikado	walnut	blue	20 pts	1
Mandarin	cherry	yellow/black, middle wide two narrow stripes on the ends	10 pts	5
Bonzen (jp. bouzu)	oak	orange, five stripes	5 pts	5
Samurai	beech	green, three stripes	3 pts	15
Kuli (cn. guli) / Worker	ash	red, two stripes	2 pts	15

The sticks are bundled and taken in one hand that touches the table/ground. The release creates a circular jumble. Now one stick after another should be taken up without moving/touching others. The take away could be by hand, possibly through pressing on a stick's tip or if one has already picked up a special stick (Mikado/Mandarin), it could be used as a helper, possibly to throw up another stick.

It is allowed to stand up on but not to leave the own place. A bad throw could be rerun and the rules should be kept strict in respect to moving sticks to enjoy the game.

On a fault the turn ends (the last stick taken is not counted). The next player bundles and drops the sticks again. After several rounds, normally five, the one with the highest score is the winner.