A fast-paced bluffing game of “hide the coin” that will make you question your senses (and your friends). One player tries to guess who has the coin while they command players to slap the table or lift their hands. You may have also heard it called “Up Chickens” or just “Jenkins.”
The Junk You Need:
- 1 coin (or coin-sized object like a ring or pebble)
- Something to keep score (like a notes app on your phone)
How to Play
Setup
Sit around the table so that everyone can easily see each other, then pick a player to be Jenkins — they’re the active player.
Start the round
Jenkins gives the coin to any other player, then starts counting down slowly from 10.
Under the table so that Jenkins can’t see, the other players secretly pass the coin between each other during the countdown. Jenkins can watch peoples’ expressions and body language, but cannot watch what their hands are doing under the table.
Up and Down Jenkins
After they finish the countdown, Jenkins says “Up Jenkins!” forcing everyone to stop passing the coin and put their elbows on the table with their closed fists raised.
NOTE: The player left holding the coin should make sure it’s not visible in their fist, and everyone else should try to look like they’re trying to hide the coin.
Jenkins can take a moment to look at the fists before saying “Down Jenkins!” forcing everyone to slap the table in front of them—open-palmed with both hands—keeping the coin hidden.
Guess the Location
Jenkins immediately points to the hand they think is hiding the coin. That person reveals ONLY WHAT IS IN THAT ONE HAND.
NOTE: Do NOT reveal or change the location of the coin until Jenkins correctly guesses the hand that’s hiding it.
If the coin is in that hand:
Jenkins earns 1 point.
Jenkins’ turn is over. The player to their left starts a new round as Jenkins, counting down from 10 while everyone else hides the coin.
If the coin is NOT in that hand:
The player who fooled Jenkins earns 1 point.
Jenkins then says “Up Jenkins!” again (fists up!), followed by “Down Jenkins!” (slap!) before pointing to another hand to guess again.
Jenkins repeats this cycle as many times as it takes to guess the correct location of the coin and end their turn.
Winning
The first player to earn 3 points wins.
(You can increase the points to win if you want to play longer!)
Notes and Sources:
Unknown designer. Rules written by Carol Mertz.
You may recognize this from an episode of The Office (s3 e17)! This is often played as a drinking game where instead of gaining points, players drink when they mess up. You can play it like that if you wanna, but this version as-written is both family-friendly and easier on your liver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Jenkins
https://www.databaseofgames.com/physical-games/team-wars-and-battle/297/up-jenkins
Leave a Reply