The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Jackstraw \Jack"straw`\, n.
   1. An effigy stuffed with straw; a scarecrow; hence, a man
      without property or influence. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One of a set of straws of strips of ivory, bone, wood,
      etc., for playing a child's game, the jackstraws being
      thrown confusedly together on a table, to be gathered up
      singly by a hooked instrument, without touching or
      disturbing the rest of the pile. See Spilikin. A modern
      variation, called pick-up-sticks (U.S. 1940+), is played
      with thin wooden sticks of different colors, each color
      having different values for scoring; the sticks are
      dislodged from the pile with the hand or with one of the
      sticks.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

jackstraw
    n 1: a thin strip of wood used in playing the game of jackstraws
         [syn: jackstraw, spillikin]