Conkers

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A selection of fresh conkers from a horse-chestnut tree.

Conkers or conker is a game traditionally played mostly by children in Britain, Ireland and some former British colonies using the seeds of horse-chestnut trees – the name conker is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself. The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns to strike each other's conker until one breaks.

Origin of name

The name may come from the dialect word conker, meaning "hard" (perhaps related to French conque meaning a conch, as the game was originally played using snail shells^{[citation needed]}). The name may also be influenced by the verb conquer, as the game has also been called conquerors, but this may be a back-formation. Another possibility is that it is onomatopoeia, representing the sound made by a horse chestnut as it hits another hard object, such as a skull (another children's "game", also called conkers, consists of simply throwing the seeds at one another over a fence or wall). Conkers are also known regionally as obblyonkers, cheggies or cheesers.

The game

• A hole is drilled in a large, hard conker using a nail, gimlet, or small screwdriver. A piece of string is threaded through it about 25 cm (10 inches) long (often a shoelace is used). A large knot at one or both ends of the string secures the conker.
• The game is played between two people, each with a conker.
• They take turns hitting each other's conker using their own. One player lets the conker dangle on the full length of the string while the other player swings their conker and hits.

Scoring

• The conker eventually breaking the other's conker gains a point. This may be either the attacking conker or (more often) the defending one.
• A new conker is a none-er meaning that it has conquered none yet.
• If a none-er breaks another none-er then it becomes a one-er, if it was a one-er then it becomes a two-er etc. In some areas of Scotland, conker victories are counted using the terms bully-one, bully-two, etc. In some areas of the United States, conker victories are counted using the terms one-kinger, two-kinger, etc.
• The winning conker assimilates the previous score of the losing conker, as well as gaining the score from that particular game. For example, if a two-er plays a three-er, the surviving conker will become a six-er (the two previous scores plus one for the current game).

Variations

• A player is allowed to keep taking shots at the opponent's conker until they miss. When the player misses, the roles swap. If a player just slices the opponent's conker (i.e. does not get a clean hit, often because wind causes the opponent's conker to sway), then both players quickly shout "tips" and the one who in the opinion of onlookers shouted it first, gets to take shots.
• The rules played at the World Conker Championships state that each player has three swings at the opponents conker before the roles are reversed.
• If a player should let go of the string when the hit occurs (which often results in the conker travelling quite some distance), whosoever gets to it first wins it (but not the lace).
• If a conker should come off the string, but is otherwise undamaged, the attacking player may shout "stampsies" and attempt to stamp on the defending player's conker before they are able to retrieve it.
• In some areas, a rule is played whereby if a player takes his shot and the two laces become tangled, the first player who shouts "clinks", "strings", "snags" or "jinks" (depending on the region), gets to take shots. In the Midlands in the 1950s the cry was tingle-tangle five knocks which allowed the fouled player five free knocks and in Dublin and Liverpool"tanglies tanglies one-two-three" allowed the first to take three free shots.

Hardening conkers

The hardest conkers usually win. Hardening conkers is often done by keeping them for a year (called laggies in many areas or seasoners in Ireland and Liverpool), baking them briefly, soaking or boiling in vinegar, or painting with clear nail varnish.

Such hardening is however usually regarded as cheating. At the British Junior Conkers Championships on the Isle of Wight in October 2005, contestants were banned from bringing their own conkers due to fears that they might harden them. The Campaign For Real Conkers claimed this was an example of over-regulation which was causing a drop in interest in the game. In the World Conker Championship contestants are also restricted to using the conkers provided.

One factor affecting the strength of a conker is the shape of the hole – a clean cylindrical hole is stronger, as it has no notches that can begin a crack or split.

Similar game

A similar Puerto Rican game (played with the smaller seed of the jatobá, Hymenaea courbaril) is called gallitos (meaning small roosters or cocks, as in cockfighting). The opponents face each other and the defending gallito is laid in the center of a circle drawn in the dirt. Not until the attacking player misses will the defending player take a turn. Upon missing, if the attacking player is quick enough, they will try to swing at the defending gallito before the defendant removes it from within the circle. If the defending gallito is struck it must remain in the circle until the attacker misses again. This move is called a "paso de paloma".^[1]

History of Conkers

The first recorded game of Conkers using horse chestnuts was on the Isle of Wight in 1848 – the horse chestnut tree is not native to Britain, but was introduced from the Balkans in the late 16th century; it was not widely planted until the early 19th century. Previously, children played with snail shells or hazelnuts.^[2]

In 1965 the World Conker Championships were set up in Ashton (near Oundle) Northamptonshire, England, and still take place on the second Sunday of October every year. In 2004, an audience of 5,000 turned up to watch more than 500 competitors from all over the world.

1976 was the first time that a non-British contestant won the Men's World Conker Championship. The Mexican Jorge Ramirez Carrillo took the place of a contestant that was unable to arrive on time at Ashton, and defeated the 1975 champion at the finals. The Men's champion has been British in every other year except 1998 when Helmut Kern from Nauort, Germany, won.

In 1993 ex-Python Michael Palin was disqualified from a Conkers competition in the United Kingdom for baking his conker and soaking it in vinegar.^[3]

In 1999, the British charity ActionAid applied for a patent on hardening conkers, in protest at the patenting of life forms by large companies.

2000 saw the first Ladies' champion from outside the UK. Selma Becker, originally from Austria, to take the title. Again, the title of Queen of Conkers has remained in the UK, except in 2001 when Frenchwoman Celine Parachou won.

In North America, the game currently has no official status or competitions. Its popularity has surely declined, but it is not thought to be an extinct game. It was played during the late 1940s and early 1950s in New York in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and in the 1950s and early 1960s in the Amalgamated section of the Bronx and a winning chestnut was referred to as a "killer". It was also played in Queens, the upper West Side of Manhattan, in the Mohawk Valley area of upstate New York and in Westmount, Quebec and other English-speaking parts of Montreal into the 1970s. It was being played in the 1960s in Rhode Island ^[4] and into the early 1980s in Smithfield, RI.^{[citation needed]}

Safety concerns

In 2000 a survey of British schools showed that many were not allowing children to play Conkers as head teachers were afraid of the legal consequences if children were injured from shards while playing the game.^{[citation needed]} In 2004 a headmaster bought goggles for pupils to wear while playing the game.^[3][5] This in turn prompted DJs on BBC Radio 1 to start their own Radio 1 Conker Championships.^{[citation needed]} The TV programme Top Gear later staged a game of conkers using caravans (travel trailers) suspended from cranes.^[6] After putting on safety goggles, presenter James May commented "I now feel perfectly happy about being hit in the face by a caravan." Top Gear, along with other media commentators, mistakenly stated that the wearing of goggles during the game was due to an official Health and Safety Executive (HSE) edict when it was in fact an initiative which the schools themselves had put in place independently. In response to such concerns, the HSE stated that the goggles requirement was a myth,^[7] and sponsored a Conkers tournament.^[8]

In 2004, several schools banned Conkers over concerns that they may cause problems (such as anaphylactic shock) for pupils with nut allergies.^[9] Health advisers said that there were no known dangers from conkers for nut-allergy sufferers, although some may experience a mild rash through handling them.^[9]

See also

• Egg tapping, a similar game with eggs

References

1. ^ Monograph on Hymenaea courbaril (Spanish), p1
2. ^ Royal Forestry Society web site
3. ^ ^{a b} BBC News: Action to tackle conkers cheats (8 October 2005) Accessed: 2009-03-18
4. ^ http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers2.htm
5. ^ BBC News: Pupils wear goggles for conkers 04 October 2004 (Accessed 2009-03-18)
6. ^ "Van conkers". Top Gear. http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/van-conkers. Retrieved 2008-11-19. 
7. ^ "Myth: Kids must wear goggles to play conkers". Health and Safety Executive. http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/september.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
8. ^ "Conkers get safety group backing". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7637605.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
9. ^ ^{a b} BBC News: School bans 'nut allergy' conkers (7 October 2009) (Accessed 2009-03-18)

External links

• World Conker Championships site includes details of how to play in the championships
• Conkers - A Favourite Children's Game
• Fédération Française de Conkers in French and (mal-translated) English