players get goldfish, they can take them home in bags provided by the stall keeper. Goldfish The varieties of goldfish often used in goldfish scooping are "Koaka", "Demekin", and "Anekin". History This game started in the late Edo period, around 1810. In those days, pois were made with nets, and it was a game played by children. Pois came to be made with paper and stalls were started in the Taishō period, around 1910. The game became more and more popular, and the National Goldfish Scooping Championship began in 1995. Today it is so popular that stalls can be found at many ennichi 縁日 "summer festivals" in Japan. Variants Various scooping game variants are found, including , , which features small jelly-like rubber balls, , which features bouncy balls, and , which features small plastic figurines in the shapes of various cartoon characters, particularly manga and anime. National Goldfish Scooping Championship The is the biggest official competition managed by the National Goldfish Scooping Association and Yamatokōriyama city in Nara Prefecture (Yamatokōriyama is famous for producing goldfish). It is held on the third Saturday and Sunday in August every year. In 2007, the 13th championship was held and 1116 people participated in it. It consisted of three sections: Children section: competition by children who are under 15 General section: competition by people ages 15 and up Group section: competition for the sum number of the goldfish scooped by a team of three people There are area trials and the first and second in every section can participate in National Championship. Extraordinarily in the Nara trials, 60 people in the child section, 80 people in the ordinary section and 40 groups in the group section can participate. The rules are detailed and include the size of goldfish, poi and pool, and the number of umpires. Contestants compete for the number of goldfish scooped in three minutes. If the paper of poi is completely broken, the game is over and the score is the number of goldfish scooped until then. In the tenth championship (2004) a player scooped 61 goldfish in three minutes in the semifinal, a new high and averaging one goldfish per three seconds. In 2011, 2,400 players competed. The team title went to 3 players who scooped 173 goldfish. Notes and references External links National Championship of Goldfish Scooping(in Japanese) Technique of Goldfish Scooping(in Japanese) Japanese popular culture Japanese games