Today is

By: Ikedi Ani-okoye.

Tiddlywinks

Tiddlywinks is an indoor game played with sets of small discs called "winks" lying on a surface, usually a flat mat. Players use a larger disc called a "squidger" to pop a wink into flight by pressing down on one side of the wink. The objective of the game is to cause the winks to land either on top of opponents' winks, or ultimately inside a pot or cup.

The game began in Victorian England as Tiddledy-winks, and has enjoyed some popularity ever since as a child's game, in numerous proprietary versions involving very simple rules and poor-quality equipment. The modern adult game was first codified at Cambridge university in 1955, and utilises far more complex rules and higher-grade equipment. The rest of this article concerns the adult game.

Why play tiddlywinks

Why did most people start playing tiddlywinks, not the children's game, but what has developed into Tournament Tiddlywinks? Probably as a joke: they would try something unusual that no-one could take seriously. The more important question is ‘Why did they go on?’. Here are some reasons.

It is a good game. Since the rest of this pamphlet tries to convince you of this, we will move on to the other reasons! It is fun. Some games are taken so seriously these days that the fun seems to have gone out of them. The fun is still in Tiddlywinks. Many Tiddlywinks players also play games like chess and bridge, and find tiddlywinks more relaxing.

Tiddlywinks the childrens game

The game of Tiddlywinks - sometimes written Tiddly Winks - has something of a poor reputation as an activity suited only to kids. Many people are surprised to discover that it is played very seriously by adults and can be a game of great skill.

There have been various games played under the tiddlywinks banner over the years. The game was first invented towards the end of the 19th century when it was called Tiddledy Winks and became very popular parlour game. The history of the game might have ended soon after when the craze passed.

CONCLUSION

Tiddlywinks is a game played with sets of small, thin discs (called winks) lying on a surface, usually a felt mat. Players use a larger disc (called a squidger) to pop a smaller disc into flight by pressing down on one side of the smaller disc. The basic goal of an informal game (easily playable by young children) is to cause the smaller discs to land inside a pot or cup.