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Pistachios is a game played on a table using Pistachio nuts. The concept of the game is similar to marbles, and is popular mainly in Europe and Asia, and the world cup features eight countries, and is currently held by Switzerland. Pistachio nuts are used for their hardness, shape and easiness to dye. One of the most popular playing points of Pistachios is the unpredictablity, due to the shapes of the nuts meaning they often seem to disobey the laws of physics. Countries often paint the flag of their country onto a nut to use, especially for tournaments.

Contents 1 Concept 2 Rules 3 Terms and Tactics 4 Rankings 5 Successful Countries 6 Governing Bodies

The concept of the game is to knock the opponents' nuts off of the table, using their own nut, similar to marbles. The players may flick or push their nut across the table with their hand only, and the players take turns going clockwise around the table.

3+ Players
Each game is called a round, and a game can consist of many rounds. The player who came last in the previous round begins, and play continues around the table in a clockwise direction. The first shot of each player must enter the centre circle of the table, from the corner of the table. If not, this counts as a foul, and the player misses their next turn. However, if there are no markings, then the players may hit their nut anywhere unless is enters an area within a handspan of another nut. This counts as a foul, and therefore the player misses a go. There are several ways for a player to score a foul and miss a go:
-Hitting the nut less than 2 inches. This is not a foul if the nut touches another one, or if the nut is upside down
-Touching someone elses nut, unless it is clearly accidental.
-Touching your own nut out of turn. This includes touching your nut twice, and missing another players turn.

Some fouls cause the player to be instantly removed, such as not hitting another nut in three goes, and fouling on 3 occasions. Should a player miss a turn, the turn they missed counts towards their miss count. This means that should a player miss, then foul, they have automatically lost, but the nut does not leave the table until the foul is completed.
The table is of no particular size, but must be rectangular, and it can have a centre circle, to which players aim in the first shot, and corners which are marked off, though these markings are not necessary. It is also usual to have a wall along one side, which the players may hit their nut at, and as long as the nut lands back onto the table it is a perfectly legal shot. Walls are always part of the table in tournaments.
2 Players
In 2 player pistachios the players have 2 nuts each. They play the two nuts alternatively on their turns, and can hit their own nut in order to make sure they do not foul. This means that a player can win with two nuts remaining on the table, and so scores a double-pointer, a great advantage in a tournament.

There are several simple terms in Pistachios, most of which can be worked out from their name.
'Knockoff' - When a player knocks an opponent's nut off of the table.
'Runaway' - A tactic used when the player attempts to move to a position so the opponent may miss, and therefore cause the player to have their nut removed for missing 3 turns in a row.
'Table' - The court or pitch of Pistachios, also including walls and other obstacles not actually on the table.
'Double-Pointer' - When a player has 2 nuts remaining at the end of a game and so scores 2 points.
'Sacrifice' - A tactic used in doubles or 2 player, in which the player smashes their nut, and the opponent's nut off of the table. Usually done when the team or player has 2 nuts when the opponent has just 1, and ensures a win, unless the team requires a double-pointer.
'Suicide' - When a player knocks their own nut off of the table, often refers to failed Sacrifices.
'Wimp' - A tag given to any player who often uses Runaways or Sacrifices to help them win games. There is a lot of arguments between Wimps and 'Non-Wimps' about which tactic is better, but there is no definite evidence about which is.
'Right' - When a player attempts to turn their nut up the right way.

The countries that take part in an event, whether it is ranking or not, are added to 4 different types of ranking system. These are Tournament Ranking, World Ranking, Percentage Ranking and Average Ranking.

Tournament Rankings For every tournament that the country takes part in, their positition is added to an overall score, and the tournament number is increased by one. For example if a country finished 5th, a score of 5 is added. To get the rank, the overall score is divided by the number. This means that finishing last in a tournament of 5 is better than finishing 6th in a tournament of 10, and therefore is not very representative, except perhaps for the top 5 teams in the rankings. Should 2 countries be drawing on ranking points, the country which has participated in the most tournaments goes higher.

Current Table

Position	Country	Rank
1	Scotland	1.36
2	Switzerland	2.16
3	Japan	2.33
4	England	2.86
5	China	4
6	Romania	4
7	Greece	4.33
8	Germany	4.5
9	Cyprus	6
10	Ireland	6.5
11	Poland	7
12	Wales	7

World Ranking The world rankings only take into account ranking tournaments such as the World Cup, the Slonhat Trophy, the World Doubles and Knockout.

Results from the latest World Cup, held in England.

Position	Country	Seeding
1	Switzerland	2
2	China	8
3	Japan	3
4	Scotland	1
5	Ireland	4
6	Cyprus	5
7	Wales	6
8	Germany	7

The world cup works with the top 8 teams on the world rankings qualifying, then they are drawn randomly into two groups. These countries then play 5 rounds of pistachios, and for each position they finish in each round, a certain amount of points are scored. For winning the round, the country gains four points, 2nd gains 3 points, third 2 points and fourth 1 point. The results from every round are then totalled. At the end of the 5 rounds, the countries are sorted by points, then by knockoff differences, then number of knockoffs, then number of wins, number of seconds, etcetera. This means that the chances of two teams drawing and having to have a playoff is very slim indeed. The final tables with points and knockoffs are below:
Group A:

Country	Points	Knockoff Difference
Switzerland	14	+1
Scotland	14	0
Cyprus	11	0
Wales	11	-1

Group B:

Country	Points	Knockoff Difference
China	15	0
Japan	15	0
Ireland	13	+1
Germany	10	-1

China top on number of knockoffs
After this, the top team of group A plays the runner-up of B, and the runner-up of A plays the winner of group B. The Semi-Finals consist of 3 rounds, but as the game is two player double pointers are achievable so draws are possible. In this case the winner is by number of knockoffs, and if that is the same there is another playoff round. China being top was already a shock, with them being a late entrant and bottom seed, but in the Semi-Final they caused a bigger upset by knocking out top seeds Scotland 3-0, whereas Switzerland beat Japan 2-1. The Final was the same as the semis, but with 2 more rounds. China couldn't go the full way and cause the biggest shock in Pistachios history, as they bravely went down 4-2 to Switzerland, with Switzerland getting a double pointer and not a single knockoff in the game. Scotland's 2-1 loss to Japan in the playoff capped off an awful tournament for them.
The overall world rankings taking are as follows:

Position	Country	Rank
1	Switzerland	1
2	Scotland	3
3	England	3
4	Japan	3.5
5	China	4
6	Romania	5
7	Cyprus	6
8	Ireland	6.5
9	Wales	7
10	Greece	7
11	Germany	8
12	Poland	9

In the case of a tie in the rankings, the country which has finished higher in any competition goes higher. For example, England and Scotland are tied on three, but with England finishing 3rd in all the tournaments they have participated in and Scotland achieving a 2nd position and a 4th position, Scotland goes top due to their 2nd place finish in the Slonhat Trophy.

The most successful countries at Pistachios are Switzerland, Scotland, Japan and China. Switzerland so far has won every ranking tournament, Scotland has won the most tournaments in total and percentage of games, Japan has never failed to reach a semi-final, and China came second in the world cup, defeating top seed Scotland in the Semi Final, despite being ranked bottom. China was a late entrant due to the dropping out of England, who came third in Slonhat Trophy, in which the top four were Switzerland, Scotland, England and Japan, with China defeated in the first round by England. Next World Cup The qualifiers for the next world cup are the top 8 teams in the world rankings, which are currently Switzerland, Scotland, England, Japan, China, Romania, Cyprus and Ireland, in the order of seedings.

The main governing body of Pistachios is PIPA, the Professional International Pistachios Association. This body was founded by the four countries who first invented the game, Switzerland, Scotland, Japan and England, which are the best countries at the game due to their extra experience. PIPA has the power to add or remove rules, and must be unanimous in the decision. Current Members of PIPA include Scotland, Switzerland, Japan, England and Romania, with more expected to join soon, and it is expected that the first decision likely to be taken is that the world cup is limited to the top 8 PIPA members in the world rankings. Currently PIPA has no president.


The only country currently to have its own separate governing body is Scotland, and is called the Scottish Association of Pistachios (SAP). The President is Mark Carter, who represents Scotland in world tournaments and the vice-president is Anthony Jakob, who represents Scotland in doubles, but is also applicable to represent Switzerland in singles. This means that potentially Scotland has a doubles team consisting of the top two players in the world currently.