When I were a lass the rules of conkers was as follows.
Pierce your carefully considered conker and thread with one strand of string. No pickling or baking allowed!! To play take turns to swing your conker to hit an opponent's. The winner was the one who shattered or cracked the other's conker.
Now to the difficult scoring system. As your conker vanquished other conkers it became a oner, two-er thee-er etc. If your three-er beat a fiver it immediatetly became a niner! (3+5+this victory).Easy- you just needed to be honest- however bragging about the prowess of your conker, and that it's a kinger, made your conker the one to be annhilated. I'm pretty sure I had a 35er once, and very bruised fingers from conquering conkers!
However here is a more succinct, and 'official' description on the rules of conkers
@phil_sandford well I wouldn't have played my little brother would I??!!! @megpicatilly I heard Somme schools insisted on goggles to protect eyes!! @susanharvey many thanks Susan, wish now I'd made a kinger to complete montage @roachling thank you Louise
It's sad in some ways that it is becoming a cotton wool world. Thank you for the social history of the conker and for the great still life photo to go with it.
@megpicatilly I heard Somme schools insisted on goggles to protect eyes!!
@susanharvey many thanks Susan, wish now I'd made a kinger to complete montage
@roachling thank you Louise
@josiegilbert urban myth!!! But they feel so lovely don't they!!
I wanted to collect them ......but I have no idea why