The Rules of the Wolrd Thumb Wrestling Championships

The Beauty of Thumb Wrestling is the shear simplicity of the sport. The World Thumb Wrestling Championships do not wish to restrict any purity of the sport, however as this is a prestigious national event, it is clear that rules need to be understood and adhered to by all competitors in order to have a fair and fun championships.

When competing in a Thumb Wrestling contest players hook the four fingers of their right (or left) hands together such that both hands are clasped tightly. Then a short pre-contest starting chant is repeated, the variant as used for UK Events follows:

One, two, three, four,
I declare a thumb-a-war!

Then the 60 second contest begins. Please remember we are playing “World rules” so no over hyped southern European or US style pre-contest chants will be acceptable and using such may result in a disqualification from the contest.

To win a contest 1 player must pin their opponents thumb down for as long as it takes to say:

one, two, three, four,
I win thumb-o-war!

If the referee agrees that this has been achieved then that player is the winner, and when competing in the World championship you would then progress to the next round of the tournament.

If this cannot be achieved within 2 separate 60 second rounds then the tie will be settled with a game of sudden death “scissors, paper, stone”.

Additional Thumb Wrestling Match Rules:

• Elbows must be on surface at all times
• Please keep fingernails to a short length
• Thumb decoration is encouraged [although nothing that is deemed performance enhancing will be aloud]