I used to assume that if you were really getting relentlessly tickled, unable to escape or stop the onslaught, that it didn't really matter whether there was one person tickling you or four or five. The experience of succumbing to ticklishness is all-enveloping, I figured, so what does it matter how many people's fingers are driving you into that state? And there's a degree to which that's true. But upon reflection, I've realized -- especially if you're not physically restrained in any way -- it does make a difference: if only two hands are wreaking havoc on you, you have two hands to try (and probably fail) to block or repel them; the giddy torment will be less constant, less relentless. With four hands tickling you, you're out of luck -- you can still defend yourself but there will always be at least two hands darting at your ticklish spots unimpeded, and the ticklish experience is more completely all-consuming. (Is there a difference between, say, three ticklers or six? I don't have any personal anecdotal evidence to offer there but I'm guessing you do reach a point of diminishing returns, where each additional tickler can add only fractionally to your total hysteria.)
