Conkers, a traditional English playground game

CONKERS

During the months of September and October, a favourite playground game is conkers. But... What is a conker??

A conker is a seed of a Horse chestnut tree

Aesculus Hippocastanum

● Species: Hippocastanaceae

● Type: Deciduous

● Height: Up to 80' (25m)

● Fruit: “conkers” or

● horse chestnuts (inedible chestnuts)

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●

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The young shoots of the horse chestnut are large sticky buds. These open in May into large leaves each with five to seven fingers.

Where do conkers come from?

● The flowers are pink or white and they bloom in May

Dozens of tiny flowers in large spikes, In the shape of a pyramid

The green outer casing of the seed will turn brown and crack open with the conkers inside

IN THE AUTUMN,

SEEDS OR CONKERS

FRUIT

the spiky green fruits appear

containing the shiny brown "conkers".

Conkers is also the name of a game played between two people

at a time

● How to prepare your conker for playing.

● Choose a good conker, firm and symmetrical.

● Make a hole through the middle of your conker

● Thread a piece of string about 50 cm long through the hole and tie a knot at the end.

●

How to play CONKERSEach player has a conker hanging on

its string.

● Players take turns at hitting their opponent's conker

● Let your conker hang down from the string. Your opponent chooses the height and waits your conker is held perfectly still

● He's got three goes

● If the string tangles, the first player to call “strings” gets an extra shot

● If a player drops his/her conker, or it's knocked out of his hand the other player can shout “STAMPS” and jump on it.

●

● But if the owner first shout

“NO STAMPS” then the conker, hopefully, remains intact

● The game goes in turns until one of the two conkers is completely destroyed.

SCORING● ONE-ER is the winner conker

between two fresh conkers

● If the conker beats another three one-ers, it becomes a FOUR-ER

● If the same conker beats a FIVE-ER conker, our seed would become a TEN-ER

●

● A GOOD CONKER CAN GO FOR SEVERAL SEASONS OR EVEN BE PASSED FROM PARENTS TO SONS AND DAUGHERS

How to make your conker harder(considered cheating)

● Soak your conker in vinegar

● Bake your conker in the oven for 25 minutes

● Use an old conker from previous years

When you find your first conker of the season you should cast the spell 'ODDLYODDLY ONKER MY FRIST CONKER'

Did you know?● The United Kingdom is the only country in the world where

the game of conkers is traditionally played with horse chestnuts in autumn

● Horse chestnut trees were first introduced in England in the late 16th century from Eastern Europe

● Conkers are not edible for humans.

● Conkers are edible for deer, cattle and horses

● Extracts from horse chestnuts are used in medicine to treat malaria, diarrhea, varicose veins and other diseases

Daniela Martínez SomozaCep Salustiano Rey Eiras

A Pobra do Caramiñal. Curso 2011-2012

from the page http://woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html

Videos to watch:'Bonkers for Conkers' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knLhVVeAX18'How to win at conkers' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cQ-eZOWgvI&feature=related'the game of conkers' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lpuvblzpoo&feature=relatedhttp://youtu.be/6Lpuvblzpoo