Let me get this straight, the guy who just got conked on the noggin is the leader? Also note that although Star Boy, Sun Boy and Element Lad are shown in the first panel, they are not among those seated around the table. So much for the supposed fairness of the practice.
Of course, this is a nod to the seemingly infinite variety of ways that kids had of deciding who went first back then, from the old "one-potato" to "engine, engine, number nine, rolling down the Chicago Line" to grabbing the bat handle to rock, paper, scissors.
Similar bits in the DC Silver Age include the Wheel of Lexorian Justice and the Bowl of Doom. An equally nutty invention was the Cosmic Clock of Krypton.
