# What is the name of the game where stab intbetween your fingers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026 "2004-03-24T00:27:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![conczepts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@conczepts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conczepts)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/1 "2004-03-24T00:27:00Z")
I heard that it had a name once years ago, but don’t know what it is called. Also, where did it start? It seems like something bored soldiers would do in a trench in WWI. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/2 "2004-03-24T00:30:42Z")
I never knew it was a game. It has rules? A scoring system? Or is it just the first guy that bleeds loses? Or is it wins? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/3 "2004-03-24T00:31:37Z")
I know it as mumble the peg or somthing like that. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/4 "2004-03-24T00:39:00Z")
[Mumbleypeg!](http://www.makaimedia.com/?gid=36) ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/5 "2004-03-24T00:51:12Z")
The Mumbleypeg I remember had nothing to do with stabbing between the fingers. IIRC…it had to do with flipping your knife and it sticking in the ground between the other player feet. ---
**Author:** ![SeagullCrap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SeagullCrap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeagullCrap)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/6 "2004-03-24T00:52:28Z")
Here’s another game with the same objective! [Five Finger Filet](http://www.gamespyarcade.com/software/webgames/sicktwisted/fivefinger/fivefinger_index.htm) Sorry that this doesn’t help you with the name… ---
**Author:** ![Saranga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Saranga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saranga)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/7 "2004-03-24T01:13:03Z")
I tried to find the name of this “game” a while ago on the internet and turned up nothing. How it got confused with Mumble-The-Peg I have no idea (and I have seen it referred to that way a couple times), but from name alone you should be able to tell that Mumbletypeg is a completely different game. I could only find that the ‘knife trick’ performed by Bishop in Aliens was taken from a Roman Polanski movie called [Knife in Water](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0056291/) . Beyond that I have no clue as to its origin… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/8 "2004-03-24T01:16:06Z")
I’ve seen it as [mumblety-peg](http://www.bartleby.com/61/16/M0481600.html) (spelled various ways, probably originally something like “mumble-the-peg”). It could also be played with the feet, as **Reeder** has described. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/9 "2004-03-24T02:53:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’ve seen it as [mumblety-peg](http://www.bartleby.com/61/16/M0481600.html) (spelled various ways, probably originally something like “mumble-the-peg”). It could also be played with the feet, as **Reeder** has described. I’m sure there are threads in the search engine about this. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-game-where-stab-intbetween-your-fingers/236026/10 "2004-03-24T03:30:44Z")
> [@conczepts](#): > > I heard that it had a name once years ago, but don’t know what it is called. Also, where did it start? It seems like something bored soldiers would do in a trench in WWI. I remember being introduced to the game in Junior High (prior to 1986). I think that it was called “chicken”. But “chicken” has other forms. Most commonly where a pocket knife was thrown close to another’s foot while facing each other at a distance. I had the spey blade of an Schrade Old Timer trapper (brand and type of a slip joint poclet knife) stuck into my boot and foot doing this while in high school. :eek: I didn’t “chicken” (move) BTW. The knife between finger game wasn’t too popular since it was more dangerous. I played it a few times and got cut once (didn’t “chicken” either). Most often someone chickened out.