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World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

theguardian.com

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Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#141

Post by tankenmate »

riffraff wrote: post #106
Nursie wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's more or less it. You make a hole through your 'conker' (horse chestnut, not the edible type) and thread a string or a bootlace through it. Then you take turns. One holds their string still and lets the conker hang down, the other gets a swing at it with their conker. Whoever's conker lasts the longest is the winner. There were all sorts of rumours about baking them, or soaking in vinegar or what have you to ha…

Ho do you drill the hole? I'm having trouble imagining kids with needles in their pockets, do you do it with a pencil or toothpick? We've got a ton of horse chestnuts in my neighborhood but I've never heard of this game and I'm eager to introduce it to my kids. Also, doesn't the conker spiral around your hand hitting it and hurting you?

Horse chestnut shells are very hard, normally you would drill the hole.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#142

Post by 256_ »

School-Cotton wrote: post #2

Is this game well-known enough in Britain and Ireland that readers will know what on earth is being alleged just from reading this article? Or are you expected to have to google it? Apparently it’s a game where you take turns swinging a chestnut on a string and trying to hit the opponent’s chestnut and break it. Yes, I can see how a steel fake chestnut would be an advantage here, though I’m amazed it wouldn’t be inst…

I'm British. I only have a very vague memory of the game from my childhood. I didn't remember what the goal was, but I remembered you have to hit the opponent's one. I don't remember if I ever played it or not.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#143

Post by fer »

tomxor wrote: post #19
School-Cotton wrote: post #2

Is this game well-known enough in Britain and Ireland that readers will know what on earth is being alleged just from reading this article? Or are you expected to have to google it? Apparently it’s a game where you take turns swinging a chestnut on a string and trying to hit the opponent’s chestnut and break it. Yes, I can see how a steel fake chestnut would be an advantage here, though I’m amazed it wouldn’t be inst…

Yes. Although the last time I played or heard anyone discuss conkers as a game was in the 1990s at school. My dad seemed to find the concept of fake conkers amusing enough to take it upon himself to craft me a resin filled one, although it didn't fool any kids. In more recent years a bus driver complained to me conkers are not legal tender as I placed some down while in search of change. Around this time of year you…

> Although the last time I played or heard anyone discuss conkers as a game was in the 1990s at school.

Same, but with peonzas/trompos[0]. It's interesting since it's also about breaking the other player's item thanks to the inertia provided by a string.

In short, they're hardcore spinning tops: large, generally with a metal tip, spun much faster due to the string winding, and as mentioned, the objective is to crack the other player's.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompo

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#146

Post by jalk »

throwup238 wrote: post #60
Finbarr wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is. It’s a game most news-reading-age adults will have played when they were at school as children.

Geez, we just had tetherball. No one tried to destroy each other’s nuts.

If we had those in my schoolyard, that would literally happen within 5 minutes -"spinny-spinny-whack-to-the-sack"

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#147

Post by raffraffraff »

conductr wrote: post #83
lock_enthusiast wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel there is enough in the article to build an image of the game in your head: I'm imagining a game game where two people trying to destroy the other person's chestnut by whirring and hitting the chestnuts on the end of strings. Now I'm going to go check my mental image against wikipedia.

I’m American and never heard of this sport in my life yet article painted a similar picture in my mind.

It's not a sport, it's something that kids used to do pre 1950s. People were poor, didn't have manufactured "stuff", so they made their own toys out of simple things like stones, sticks, old wheels etc Football was likely popular because a single ball could keep a while bunch of kids happy for an afternoon (if someone could actually afford a ball).

I'm almost 50, and to me the image of boys playing conkers only comes from books or TV based in early 1900s UK. I've never actually seen anyone play it.

And nowadays people don't really grow up at all. They continue playing right into adulthood and old age, with luxury toys.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#148

Post by defrost »

JoachimS wrote: post #125
defrost wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not going to hold you down and break it with a tire iron .. but I'll bet for certain that Swans are responsible for arms being broken. They've got a pretty savage and scary charge to them, it's highly likely they've startled more than one person in a park who've turned to run, tripped and fallen across steps or rockery edges and come out badly injured.

They are also able to swing their wings quite rapidly while charging you. In this way they can throw a surprisingly hard punch. But not break bones in healthy humans - kids included. https://outdoorswimmer.com/coach/myth-busting-can-a-swan-bre... The beak is probably more dangerous, or at least give you a nasty pinch or nibbing.

Black Swans in Perth, herdsman Lake and elsewhere, in the 1980s during breeding season (and likely still today) fully charged people and had the mass to knock over more than one kid or small teenager .. and scare the bejeebus out of many adults.

As I said, and supported by your link, I can't see a swan directly breaking a human bone - but they sure as hell can knock one arse over by charging and causing a step back fall over. That'll do some damge in some cases, easy.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#149

Post by Ntrails »

pixxel wrote: post #135
Nursie wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's more or less it. You make a hole through your 'conker' (horse chestnut, not the edible type) and thread a string or a bootlace through it. Then you take turns. One holds their string still and lets the conker hang down, the other gets a swing at it with their conker. Whoever's conker lasts the longest is the winner. There were all sorts of rumours about baking them, or soaking in vinegar or what have you to ha…

If my memory serves me: you used to announce your conker as a “two-er”, or “three-er”, for example, to inform your opponent how many conkers your particular conker had previously claimed. If your opponent decided to challenge you and won then they would claim your “three-er” and add its win total to their own. So a “two-er” would become a “five-er”.

I also recall this, but suspect sometimes numbers may have been inflated...

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#150

Post by walthamstow »

thebruce87m wrote: post #132
mikeodds wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Innate knowledge to Brits, similar to knowing a swan might break your arm

Don’t draw on your hand with a pen or you’ll get ink poisoning

Don't make that silly face. If the wind changes, it'll stay like that forever.
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