Conkers - games with horse chestnuts
Ranked #8,187 in Hobbies, Games & Toys, #106,306 overall
Playing Conkers
Conkers is a traditional children's game played in Autumn with Horse Chestnut seeds. Common in Britain, it (and variants) are played around the world, and there is even a world championship in it! The risks of stung fingers and exploding conker shrapnel have sadly ended up with it being banned in some schools, but it is still played in parks, on streets and at home.
Lens Image from http://www.public-domain-image.com/
Lens Image from http://www.public-domain-image.com/
Contents
- About Conkers
- Why call them conkers?
- Toughening up your conker
- Ways to toughen conkers - a.k.a cheat
- Have you ever played conkers?
- Sweet chestnut or Horse chestnut
- Conkers today
- Caravan conkers
- Similar games worldwide
- Conker News
- Conkers is not the only game...
- Like this Lens
- Leave your comments
- About the lensmaster
About Conkers
Playing the game
Horse Chestnut in Summer, UK - Mike England
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It is usually a two person game, although rounds of three players or more aren't unknown. You play by taking a conker (the tree's seed) and threading a lace though it.
Then one person lets their conker dangle while the other person tries to hit it with theirs. If they miss, then they have to let their conker dangle for the other one to attack. Eventually one (or sometimes both conkers) will break. The surviving conker is the victor. Conkers are ranked by the number of other conkers they destroyed.
Of course, if that was all there was to it, the game would be simple. This leads to the topic of cheating...
Kiss Chase and Conkers: The Games We Played
Amazon Price: $30.34 (as of 05/31/2012)
Used Price: $4.66
The rules and descriptions of many now virtually lost childhood games, including conkers and more.
Why call them conkers?
Well, if you've ever walked under a chestnut tree and had one fall on your head...
Toughening up your conker
The many ways to cheat at conkers
HORSE - CHESTNUTS ~ Print by shirleypoppy
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However, many ways of toughening up your conker were invented and the cheats are almost part of the game (getting caught cheating isn't). This is why the conker championsips ended up issuing pre-checked conkers to participants one year.
- soaking it in vinegar
- varnishing it
- cutting it open and putting a stone inside
Ways to toughen conkers - a.k.a cheat
Just don't get caught
Cheating is not allowed in formal conkers competitions, but otherwise anything goes. Micheal Palin (from Monty Python) was disqualified from competitive conkers for use of the vinegar trick. Cheating is so rife that some competitions now issue children with conkers to prevent them using these tricks. (BBC report here)
- Soak it in vinegar This shrivels the conker and removes moisture, making it tougher but less resilient.
- Bake it in an oven Again removing moisture and hardening it. (Not microwave - conkers sometimes blow up!)
- Insert a stone. Cut round the seed scab, hollow the conker and put a stone in. Hard to do without it being obvious.
- Paint with clear varnish Make sure it's matt or you will get caught - conkers aren't that shiny!
Have you ever played conkers?
Are you a conker fiend? Any good cheats or secrets to share?
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Jamshed jogezai
Sweet chestnut or Horse chestnut
One you eat, one you play conkers with. The sweet chestnut fruit look similar but have finer spines.
Conkers today
Still a common game
Hedgehog #2 by Russ_Billington
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Here's a few links to the game of conkers in the modern day.
- Conkers - How to play this Traditional Game
- Rules of the game, interesting facts, and how conkers is played over the world. (From Woodlands Junior School)
- Official Home of the World Conker Championships
- WorldConkerChampionships.Com is the official home of the World Conker Championships and Ashton Conker Club. The World Conker Championships take place on the second Sunday in October every year near the picturesque Northamptonshire village of Ashton.
- strange games: World Conker Championships: Conker Facts & Terminology
- Conker facts and tales
Caravan conkers
Top Gear's unusual game
In their usual style the Top Gear team played their own game of conkers - with their own particular spin on it...
"We are grown men, playing cokers with caravans."
"It's better than working in a bank."
The Top Gear Crew
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Similar games worldwide
Similar games are played worldwide using snail shells and other alternatvies to the horse chestnut fruit.
Conker News
Conkers in the here and now.
The game of conkers is, bizarrely to some, a matter of occassional news and national concern. Here are the latest headlines on conkers.
- Newton Abbot shooter is on target for Paralympics
- A PISTOL shooter from Newton Abbot has been named in this summer's London 2012 Paralympic Games. Adrian Bunclark was this week included in the 12-person GB Paralympic shooting squad, alongside Britain's most experienced Paralympian, Di Coates, ...
- Finding health and happiness
- While playing conkers (a game involving chestnuts on strings) might not be among the top 50 Canadian pastimes, the list includes cool activities that are worthwhile for any age. The joys of rolling down a big hill, eating an apple picked fresh from a ...
- Has Pratini had a word with him?
- Last saturday they just ran into a team of destiny that played the game of their collective lives. Its incredible the amount of people that are jealus of us. Tiddlywinks, conkers or rock paper scissors great alternatives I think.
- 5 Key Decisions for Eden Hazard
- I'd love hazard, but playing games is not particularly nice. Slight change in tac, if sepp blatter wants to find an alternative to penalties then I would suggest rock, paper scissors or conkers! Not challenging for EPL? It will be our primary emphasis.
Important!
Conkers is not the only game...
If you can get enough round ones, you can also play marbles or mini-bowls with them quite easily.
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Leave your comments
Macro Photo Of Brown Conker by lifesphere
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Know any good cheats to toughen your conkers up? Share them here.
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andru Sep 20, 2011 @ 4:16 am | delete
- nice lens, my sons (5 and 3) are collecting a bag full of conkers every day on the way to school at the moment. Its just not right! in my youth there wouldn't be ANY conkers on the ground, unless you were really lucky, so you would have to chuck sticks at the trees and then race everyone else to the ones you knocked out. Whereas now 3 school loads of kids walk past them not having a clue about the game of conkers....shame.
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Tempus
Oct 17, 2010 @ 9:46 am | delete
- Ah the humble art of conkers. A minute to learn but a lifetime to master. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they play the game. Nice lens. Thanks
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DinosaurEgg
Sep 26, 2010 @ 7:10 am | delete
- We had great fun collecting conkers yesterday. My boys are a bit too young for a game of conkers (2 and nearly 4) but it won't be long. I remember playing conkers at school and with my cousins. Enjoyed the lens.
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About the lensmaster
Tirial&Error Lensography
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