House rules

Every classroom played it a little differently. Online games use the host’s rules.

How to play

• Player 1 stands at the left end of the desk and Player 2 at the right. Share one screen or pass the phone.
• Take turns. You get one flick, then it's their go.
• Touch your pen where you want to hit it, pull back, and let go. Hit near the end to spin it, hit the middle to send it straight.
• Or tap Guide: your finger rests on the pen and pushes it steadily, so it goes where you point. A guided push can’t knock their pen off. Some classrooms play flicks only: pick that in the house rules.
• Pens stay wherever they stop. A pen hanging over the edge only falls once its middle goes past.
• Knock their pen off the desk to win a point.
• If your own pen goes off, they get the point, even if theirs went off too.
• Whoever lost the point flicks first next.
• In the divider game, an open divider from a maths set stands across the middle of the desk. Your biro has to go through between its legs before it can knock theirs off; until then a knock doesn’t count and their pen goes back. Going through gives you another flick. The gap is narrower than a biro, so turn yours to slip through.
• To play friends in other places, tap Play online, create a game and send them the link. Or start a knockout cup for up to 8.