Bunny hands is a reaction game. There is a finesmaster, who keeps track of mistakes and who is responsible for inviting someone to start (typically with a beckoning motion).
The player whose turn it currently is (henceforth the “active player”) should place the thumb of each hand on the opposite side of his head and wave his fingers in a manner simulating (usually poorly) the twitching of a rabbit’s ears. The player may do this as long as he wishes, so long as the thumbs do not leave the sides of the head. The player to the left of the active player must show a similar “right ear” (right hand raised and wiggling, with a thumb on the right side of the head) and the player to the right of the active player must similarly show a “left ear” - that is, the adjacent players show an “ear” on the side nearest to the active player.
The active player may make another player active in one of two ways: Firstly, he may remove both thumbs from his head and point at the new player to become active with both hands. Secondly, he may drop one “ear” — in which case the player adjacent to the remaining “ear” becomes active.
If a player is too slow to perform the appropriate action with his hands, or if a player makes an inappropriate action (even twitching), he will incur a fine. It is common to “play the let” for minor infractions so that the game continues, but the player may be encouraged to drink when the game next breaks down.
Since part of the aim of the game is to bluff a player into making a mistake, action is often fast. There is therefore typically a “two wiggle rule” to ensure that a player must be active for at least a minimum time before making another player active.
Variants of bunny hands include “Brussels metro doors” (in which the active player moves his fists together in the style of doors on an underground train and the adjacent players emulate a single door by moving their outermost hands toward the active player, while a noise of a stuck door is made) and “gay mutant ninja charioteers” in which the active player cracks a whip (making a cracking noise) and the adjacent players whinny and emulate rearing horses — the active player being passed by “releasing the whip”. For some reason, these games seem to attract odd looks.