The double colored wooden pegs are placed at random in rows in the spaces between the fingers of the hand sculpture, and the hoop is placed over the thumb. Players positions themselves around the hand so that they each can see only one side of the hand and thus only one end and one color of the wooden pegs.Each player tries to take as many matching pegs (both colors must match) as possible from out of the hand. Here, of course, is where the Handicap comes in. Only the player skilled enough to extract the pairs of pegs of his choice, without letting the others fall out, is likely to win. If the player is successful he can put these pegs aside for the moment.These pegs are ideally kept until the end of the game, but may be lost during the game if the player is challenged to a Hoop-la Duel. The player can also increase his own collection of pegs by challenging opponents with the same color combination as his own to a duel. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game is the winner. - BoardGameGeek