Mercy is a game of strength, skill, endurance, and pain tolerance popular in Britain, Canada, Pakistan, India, the United States, and elsewhere.
On the word "go", each player attempts to bend back the opponent's hand and inflict pain.
[citation needed] Sportsmanship etiquette includes the prompt release of the hand grip after defeating the opponent.
Skilled Mercy players often use specific strategies to get their opponents into painful positions, such as twisting the arm around so that the elbow is pointed towards the neck, against the back, and then pushing up on the arm[citation needed].
However painful this may be to the unsuspecting opponent, this may run the risk of dislocating or breaking one or both parties fingers.
Beware, 2 strong players could make each other's fingers numb and cause hand marks over them.
The remaining players rejoin hands and play resumes until only one person is left.
One variation of this involves several people sitting in a row, and having only one person push with their back.