ALL ABOUT POOHSTICKS

Pooh sticks is a game Pooh and friends play together on a warm and sunny day.  Before we get into the rules of the game, lets us first learn the 'history;' of Poohsticks. How was the game invented and who was the inventor?

A BRIEF HISTORY:     One day, when Pooh bear was just walking along the bridge with a fir cone in his paw, in his own world, not looking where he was going (probably thinking about honey), he tripped over something. This made the fir-cone jerk out of his paw into the river. 

"Bother", said Pooh, as it floated slowly under the bridge. So Pooh went to get another fir cone, but then thought that he would just look at the river instead, because it was a peaceful sort of day. So, he lay down and looked at it, and it slipped slowly away beneath him, and suddenly, there was his fir-cone slipping away too. 'That's funny,' said Pooh. 'I dropped it on the other side,' said Pooh, 'and it came out on this side! I wonder if it would do it again?' 

And he went back for some more fir-cones. It did. It kept on doing it. Then he dropped two in at once, and leant over the bridge to see which of them would come out first; and one of them did; but as they were both the same size, he didn't know if it was the one which he wanted to win, or the other one. So the next time he dropped one big one and one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what he had said it would do, and the little one came out last, which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice ... and then he went home for tea.

And that was the beginning of the game called Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends used to play on the edge of the Forest. But they played with sticks instead of fir-cones, because they were easier to mark.'

Poohsticks Bridge is the way into Posingford if you come up the lane that takes you to Cotchford.

There are four very very important things you need to do, before you start with the game:

1. Find a Friend (The more friends-the more fun).

2. Find a Bridge over a stream (To find a bridge you may need a map)

3. Find some Sticks (You must do this before you arrive at the bridge).

4. Find a supply of Food. (Ask everyone to bring some along).

Once you do this, you can start with the game, bearing in mind the following rules:

1. Select a stick and show it to your competitor and make sure you are clear which stick is whose.

2. Check which way the stream is flowing and face the stream upstream.

3. Choose someone to start the game, he is the Starter.

4.All competitors stand side by side facing 'upstream'.

5. Each one hold his/her stick at arms length over the stream.

6. Starter must cal "Ready-Steady-Go!" and all competitors  drop (and not throw) their sticks in the water simultaneously.

7.At this point all the players must cross to the downstream side of the stream

8. Look over the edge for the sticks to emerge.

THE OWNER OF THE FIRST STICK TO FLOAT FROM UNDER THE BRIDGE IS THE WINNER!!!

(*  Eeyore, our Champion at winning Poohsticks gives us a small tip: 'The trick is to drop the stick in a 'twitchy' sort of way.')

An Excerpt from Christopher Robin Milne's 'The Enchanted Places'

Its difficult to be sure which came first. Did I do something, and did my father than write a story around it? Or was it the other way about, and did the story come first? Certainly my father was on the lookout for ideas; but so too was I. He wanted ideas for his stories, I wanted them for my games, and each looked toward the other for inspiration, But in the end it was all the same: the stories became a part of our lives; we lives them, thought them, spoke them. And so, possibly before, but certainly after that particular story, we used to stand on Pooh sticks Bridge-throwing sticks into the water and watching them float away out of sight until they re-emerged on the other side.

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