Sticks and Stones is a Wager game mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops and a Party game mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It was featured as a limited time mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops IIIandCall of Duty: Black Ops 4. Sticks and Stones consists of six players competing in a Free-For-All style game. Everyone's loadout consists of a Crossbow, Ballistic knife, and a Tomahawk/Combat Axe. The crossbow has an explosive tip, and is able to cause multi-kills. Like a Free-For-All game, points are earned from kills, and the match ends when the time runs out. However, if a player manages to kill another with a Tomahawk/Combat Axe, they will "bankrupt" the target. Also, if a player commits suicide with Crossbow, they humiliate themselves and get "bankrupted". If a player is "bankrupted", they lose all points earned so far in the match; they will have to start over from zero points. To win, a player must reach one of the three highest scores once the time limit is reached.
The BO3 version used the NX Shadowclaw instead of the Explosive Tip Crossbow, providing a slightly different experience than previous versions. The shadowclaw is not explosive and can fire arrows in rapid succession, unlike the previous crossbows which need to load a new arrow after each shot.
Any form of suicide, such as falling from the map, results in humiliation. This includes death by the player's own crossbow.
On the Wii version of this game, players do not bankrupt themselves if they are within the blast radius of a crossbow bolt fired from their own crossbow.
