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matthewb03 remembers...you have to flick it like this like your snapping your fingers. More »
Posted on 09/15/08
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For those uninitiated in the ways of tiddlywinks, it may seem like simple child’s play – and it’s true – it is a child’s game… now. Tiddlywinks lead a double-life, one on the shelves of stores like Toys ‘R Us and one in small pubs and associations of adults who have come to know and love the game that’s been around well over a century.
Tiddlywinks is played on a 6-foot by 3-foot felt mat with a pot in the middle. The game takes place with two teams, one typically using red and blue and the other using yellow and green. There are six winks for each color: four small and two large. There are a variety of squidgers available, which you use to flip your winks over to the pot. Think of squidgers like you might think of golf clubs: a golfer has a variety available for making different types of shots and so do… umm… tiddly-winkers. Play is made complex depending on the strategies and skills applied by opponents. With the added dimension of height (ever been squopped? That’s when an opponent has landed a wink on top of yours…) the game is unlike just about any other out there! What order you play your winks is entirely up to you, turning Tiddlywinks into an intellectual battle of strategy and wills.
The goal is to get as many “tiddlies,” or points, as you can. For every wink in the pot you get three points and for everyone on the mat that’s uncovered you get one. First place gets three “game points,” second gets two, third gets one and fourth gets zilch. You can win by “potting out,” though that’s rare, and not necessarily the best way to go. With a bunch of winks in the pot, any that didn’t quite make it might get squopped, rendering them unplayable. Games typically end at around 25 minutes for pairs and 20 minutes for singles, so strategy is king in Tiddlywinks.
Tiddlywinks came out of English pubs in the late 1800s. Like darts, checkers and billiards, tiddlywinks was a great way to pass the time while letting a few pints pass through your body. The first patent application appeared in 1888, submitted by Joseph Fincher with another one to follow in 1889. He called it “Tiddledy Winks,” which happens to be one of the accepted spellings of the game. After Tiddledy Winks fell into the public domain, game manufacturers picked up the scent and soon started producing their own versions of the game, trying to pick up new public interest with tie-ins to other sports, from tennis to football, baseball and even horseshoes!
For many years, tiddlywinks was the game to play, with some people even throwing tiddlywink parties. As with most quickly rising trends, interest soon waned and by the first World War, most adults moved onto other interests. Luckily for the many new tiddlywinks enthusiasts, the game was kept alive as a children’s game. The modern game of tiddlywinks hearkens back to
Today, there are associations around the globe with National and World Tiddlywink Championships for the most dedicated of players and allowing adults to extract as much competitive fun out of the game, even if the game’s popularity fades in and out from time to time. After all, few games get to have cool names for plays, like the blitz, the bomb, the boondock or even the John Lennon Memorial Shot (yes, that’s a real tiddlywink term). Child’s play or no, tiddlywinks has proven itself to be a fierce competitor in the world of games and is sure to make yet another comeback in the wild world of pub sports.
