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A Favourite Children's Game | |
During the months of September and October, a favourite playground game is conkers. It is a game which has been played every autumn for generations but nowadays fewer children are playing it. We hope to revive this British custom by telling you more about it. Children playing the game of conkers
On finding your first conker of the season, you should say: " Oddly oddly onker my first conker". This ensures good fortune and few tangles throughout the coming season. The game of conkers is known as 'Kingers' in some parts of the world. Find out more...
What is a conker?
A conker is the seed of the horse chestnut tree (not the sweet chestnut tree where we get edible chestnuts from).Conkers
It is a hard brown nut which is found in a prickly casing.
Conkers, not yet ready, on a horse chestnut tree Seed pod split revealing conkers inside
Each seed pod can house many conkers.
Conkers is also the name given to a game played between two people at a time.
How to prepare your conker for playing.
The best conkers to play with are uncracked, firm and symmetrical. Make a hole through the middle of of your chosen conker. Thread a strong piece of string about 25cm long, through the hole and tie a knot at one end, so that it doesn't pull through.
How to play conkers?
Each player has a conker hanging on its string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent's conker. text taken from and copyright of projcetbritain.comIf a player misses hitting his/her opponents conker they are allowed up to two further goes. If the strings tangle, the first player to call "strings" gets an extra shot. If a player hits his/her opponents conker in such a way that it completes a whole circle after being hit - known as ‘round the world’ – the player gets another go. If a player drops his conker, or it is knocked out of his hand the other player can shout 'stamps' and jump on it; but should its owner first cry 'no stamps' then the conker, hopefully, remains intact. The game goes on in turns until one or other of the two conkers is completely destroyed. Scoring (by Steve, a visitor to our website) A victorious conker assumes the score of all its victim's precedent foes. Thus, in a contest between two fresh conkers, the winner would then have a score of 1 (known as a 'one-er'). If it then beat another three one-ers, it would become a four-er. However, if the same conker then beat a conker which had previously conquered (no pun intended) 5 fresh opponents (and thus was a 'five-er'), our steadfast nut would then become a ten-er (its own four, plus its latest victim (1) *plus* its victim's previous count of 5). You won't find this rule for a world championship as it doesn't make sense for a one-day event. But it certainly does at school, where a good conker could go for several seasons or even be passed on to a younger sibling. I remember there being sixty-ers around in my youth but, sadly, have no recollection of ever beating one...
Best wishes from Switzerland,
Steve
How to choose a good conker.
Ever wondered why some conkers float in water but most sink? When placed in water, all the conkers that have damage inside them will, due to their lack of density, float to the surface.For children who wish for 'killer' Conkers. you simply discard the floaters and concentrate on the much harder ones at the bottom of the bucket.
Hints on how to make your conkers harder.
You could try one of the following, although it is considered cheating:
World Conker Championships
This event is held every year on the second Sunday in October on the Village Green at Ashton in Northamptonshire. Contestants are not allowed to use their own conkers. Nuts are supplied for each game after being gathered and strung by the organisers. Each game lasts five minutes. If neither conker has broken a shoot out takes place. Each player has three sets of three hits and the one who lands most clean hits is the winner.Visit the official World Conker Championship website for more details.
Interesting facts about Conkers
Britain is believed to be the only country in the world where the game of conkers is traditionally played with horse chestnuts in the autumn. | |
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