Talk:Conkers

Canadian variation
In Canada, we play "chestnuts". It's mainly the same, except that rather than dangling your chestnut from its string, you place it in a shallow pit on the ground. I don't recall any scoring/rating system. Since this is "original research", I'm just mentioning it here. Somegeek 16:59, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

In Newfoundland (at least in the 1960s), conkers was played as described in this article. Silverchemist (talk) 15:03, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

In rural southern Ontario in the 1950's, we (males) played a radically different version in which we hit each other with the nut. alternatively, we amassed a large number of nuts and just threw them at each other from some distance. great fun!Toyokuni3 (talk) 16:45, 3 October 2015 (UTC)

Radio 1 Conker Championships
The stuff about Radio 1 is of very limited value or interest and should be reduced to a one-line mention.


 * Agreed. The Radio 1 competition is barely notable and will probably fizzle out after a couple of years. I've moved the whole section to Radio 1 Conker Championships where it might be VfD'able but probably harmless. -- Solipsist 07:53, 3 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I think its at least interesting enough to leave in the article, is it really breaking anything to mention a bit of pop culture which relates to conkers?

Terminology
When I was young, I remember that sometimes you got 'deformed' conkers, shaped a bit like a wedge. We called these cheese-cutters (and very useful weapons if you could strike with the 'sharp' edge).


 * Yes. This occurs when two are encased together. In fact, I'm tempted to request a citation for the assertion (in the opening paragraph) that ordinary conkers are known as cheesers. Grant (talk) 12:49, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Requested move
I propose that this article is moved from Conker to Conkers. The article is about the game, which is called conkers. A conker is the seed of a conker tree, and therefore has its own article, horse chestnut. The general convention for singular article titles does not apply in this case, as the game is "conkers" in the plural. I've entered the proposal in WP:Requested Moves. Richard New Forest (talk) 13:21, 4 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Yep. Agree. Do it. Sarah777 (talk) 18:04, 4 August 2008 (UTC)


 * No objection, but I think the lead needs some work first. It's not obvious from reading the intro that this is an article about the game. PC78 (talk) 03:29, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, quite right – will do after name change, if no-one beats me to it. Richard New Forest (talk) 13:20, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * OK - that's a promise?! As we seem to be stuck I'll change the name. Sarah777 (talk) 19:51, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Already done - 'cept for this page....Sarah777 (talk) 19:54, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Have no fear, I've moved the talk-page (to correspond with the page). GoodDay (talk) 22:06, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I think we have a classic "too many cooks" situation here! Sarah777 (talk) 09:02, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Page move now done successfully, after old "Conkers" page kindly deleted by admin. Lead para adjusted and rename tag removed. Richard New Forest (talk) 08:43, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Origin of name

"The name comes from the dialect word conker, meaning snail-shell (related to French conque meaning a conch), as the game was originally played using snail shells. The name may also be influenced by the verb conquer, as the game was also called conquerors. Conkers are also known regionally as obblyonkers, cheggies or cheesers. In America the nuts are simply known as chestnuts or as buckeyes, and the game is not played."

I grew up in Buffalo, NY and certainly in the 1950's and 1960's the game was played. We also played "clackers" where two chestnuts would be tied at either end of a string. Holding the string in the middle and yanking it up and down would cause the two chestnuts to clack together. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Damercer (talk • contribs) 18:41, 7 September 2008 (UTC)


 * More likely the word conker derives from the verb form of conk, to hit (on the head) http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/conk, also in the OED.96.54.53.165 (talk) 22:28, 19 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I have no citation, so this amounts to OR, but the verb "to conk" is extremely common throughout North America, where it means "to hit [hard]". (I.e., "the bowling ball conked me on the head.") In fact, there was a toy in the 1970s that looked very much like two British conkers tied together -- except the chestnuts were spheres of hard fibreglass resin about the size of golf balls -- which the operator made bounce off each other repeatedly, generating a series of loud "clacks". I don't remember what the trademark name was, but we called them "conkers" or "clackers", in spite of the fact that few of us had ever heard of the chestnut game. Therefore I suspect the term "conkers" for the British game comes from whatever region of the UK gave North America "to conk", and that it simply means "thing you hit something else with". Laodah 00:32, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Additional citations needed
This subject highlights a general problem with the Wikipedia rules: you can have an assertion that literally thousands of people (in this case British schoolchildren) know from first-hand experience to be true; but because it isn't written down anywhere, it's not eligible for Wikipedia.

Rugby songs are another such subject. There are probably lots more. Paul Magnussen (talk) 18:20, 28 October 2009 (UTC)


 * This may be Wiki's single biggest weakness; it misses a crucial part of every picture. Sarah777 (talk) 14:27, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Ref date
At time of my writing these words, it is 21 Sep 09. Reference 10 on the page is a date in the future (7 Oct 09). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.26.3.26 (talk • contribs) 11:35, 21 September 2009
 * If you look at the actual item cited, it's dated 7 Oct 2004.96.54.53.165 (talk) 22:22, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Use of British Isles
TFOWR 16:36, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

If source number 2 has the game as a traditional game of England Scotland and Ireland why is the article just having the game as a game played in England? --Bigmeuprudeboy (talk) 11:03, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

Locations where conkers (or variations) are played?
I think this would be an interesting section to add, stating where conkers variants are played and what the different names are. We have the Canadian chestnuts, the South American game already mentioned and I've just seen mention that in the US it is called Kingers. This short story (fictional I think) talks about a Kingers tournament: http://www.abctales.com/story/jxmartin/the-iron-kinger. Here's another page on conkers from a British school with more mention of Kingers: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html Kaleeyed (talk) 23:36, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

Pictures of people playing conkers
SO there's pictures of Horse Chestnuts, but it would be great to source a picture of the game in action. This page I referenced earlier has some great photos, but I suppose they can't be used. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html Kaleeyed (talk) 23:39, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

Origin of name
The first sentence of the section Origin of name is confused

'The name may come from the dialect word conker, meaning "hardnut" (perhaps related to French conque meaning a conch, as the game was originally played using snail shells and small bits of string, you used to put the conkers in vinegar and in oven to toughen them up.[1][2])'

Perhaps it should read

'The name may come from the dialect word conker, meaning "hardnut", or it perhaps related to French conque meaning a conch, as the game was originally played using snail shells and small bits of string. Conkers may be put in vinegar and in oven to toughen them up.' — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.131.30.63 (talk) 21:35, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Boy killed in argument over game of conkers
The link about that story doesn't claim that the boy was killed over a game of conkers, just that there was a gang of people throwing conkers. That's a very big difference.128.138.138.122 (talk) 04:18, 27 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree, so I quickly changed the sentence. Maybe someone else can write the sentence better. It's questionable whether it belongs in the article at all, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. --ImizuCIR (talk) 00:32, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

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another regional variation
Another regional rule, is that when the strings tangle, it turns into a tug of war situation, and you can rip the opponents conker either off the string, or out of their hand - once it then fell out of their hand, you could shout Stampsies and win — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.202.245.164 (talk) 10:34, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

"Conker-er"
I have heard people recently starting to call winning conkers "conker-ers" as a pun on conquerers. Sea Captain Cormac 22:39, 5 November 2017 (UTC)

"My first conker"
This source says: "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." However, this blog source says "There was a rhyme to sing when playing conkers: Obbly obbly onker, my first conker, Ack ack ack my first crack." And this later incantation chimes with the way I remember playing conkers as a child in South Wales. Any other views on this? Martinevans123 (talk) 19:56, 27 November 2021 (UTC)