52 pickup, also called 52-card pickup, is a practical joke or prank presented as a card game to an unsuspecting participant. The setup typically involves one person, often a child unfamiliar with card games, being told that the game called 52 pickup is being played, at which point the prankster throws a full deck of 52 playing cards onto the floor and states that the object of the game is for the other person to pick every card back up. Unlike genuine card games, 52 pickup has no actual rules, scoring, or competitive structure beyond the implied task of gathering the scattered cards, and its humor relies on the target's realization that no real game was ever intended. The activity is widely referenced in English-language popular culture as shorthand for a pointless or trivial task disguised as an activity, and it appears frequently in lists of classic practical jokes and in discussions of card game folklore.
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1. Pagat (John McLeod): 52 pick-up
Pagat (John McLeod)IntroductionQuote, Introduction
Two players and a pack of 52 cards are needed.
2. 52 pickup (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia intro: "52 pickup or 52-card pickup is a card game which consists entirely of picking up a scattered deck of playing cards."View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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