Guide to playing conkers UK

Conkers is a popular game in the UK, played around the autumn period - as horse chestnuts - otherwise known as conkers in the UK - fall from the trees.

Unlike many nuts, the conker is a poisonous nut and is therefore inedible.

Therefore the question is - what can you do with a conker?

And the question is if you can’t eat it - play with it!  And so was born the game of conkers, now a staple bit of autumnal fun in the UK.

So how do you play conkers?

The rules of conkers are fairly simple, and involve two people standing opposite each other with their conkers on strings - trying to hit each others conkers.  The idea is that the first person to have their conker smashed - loses.

From the simplicity of this game, the game has evolved with various spins off evolving - as happens with games.

The first is how scoring works in conkers.  The short of this is basically points are won from the opponent - i.e. if you play someone who has a two-er and you’ve got a two-er, then your conker becomes a four-er.  The ‘er’ moniker is a standard way of talking about conkers.

The second is around conker equipment - and what people play conkers with.  Of course the main ‘tool’ other than the conker itself is the string which the conker hangs on.  Typically kids would steal / borrow the shoelaces of friends to play with.  This has evolved into custom conker strings being developed, to create the best string possible for playing conkers.

Finally as with all good games there are conker competitions.  And the biggest of these conker competitions is the World Conker Championships - which is held in a village in Northamptonshire in the UK.

Conker tips and tricks

 The conker season maybe a few months off, however we're getting ready to for the season by researching different facts around the game of conkers.

What is a conker

The first thing to know is that a conker is a nut that comes from the Horsechestnut tree, and falls off around autumn time - covered in a spikey shell, with a brown nut - the conker - inside.

How to play conkers

Conkers involves sticking a nut on the end of a string, and then trying to smash your opponents conker.  The rules of conkers have been developed up over time, and are pretty consistent across the UK - with the general idea being to take hits in turns - every 3 - and to play until the other person's conker is smashed.

Of course, scoring in conkers is really important - as you want to win and want to know when you've won your game of conkers.  There's tips here on how conker scoring works if you're interested.

The nice people at Peckham Conker Club have put together this video explaining how to play conkers:

How prepare your conker for a game

The general chat in conker circles, is that to win a game of conkers you have to prepare well - which involves first off trying to make a hole in your conker - by drilling a hole and not spearing your hand!  The other key thing to consider is preparing your conker by stringing it - and using the right string so that your conker doesn't fall off!

If you're a complete conker nut, then you could go to extremes and prepare your conker like these guys from the London-based Peckham Conker Club ;-)

We hope this short guide to the tips and tricks of conkers was useful . . .

Book on boat

Photo of me reading my friend's new book on a yacht (in the Solent) ;-)

It's not the type of book I'd read normally (as it's a teen book) but all in all I really enjoyed it ;-)

Tube Rank - interesting way to analyse YouTube videos

I've been working in the Viral advertising space for the last 10 years and so have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't.

Based on this thinking we've developed up *Viral Rank*, which is an easy to way to analyse how viral a video is (or not).

There's more information about how Viral Rank works on our blog - however, in short it's based around Conversation triggers and communities.  And of course, if you need some viral seeding then go to the Viral Ad Network!

Alarm Monitoring Company review summary

When someone buys anything these days - in the advent of the internet - reviews are super important, as they're a great way to get an idea of what a service / product is like.

When it comes to something like an alarm system - i.e. something you wouldn't necessarily know anything about - online community reviews are even more useful.

Luckily for AMCO there are a growing amount of reviews of their alarm systems, so here's a quick summary of the best reviews.

DooYoo: here are series of Alarm Monitoring Company reviews (AMCO)

Hot UK deals: another quick Alarm Monitoring Company review

Google: Google reviews of AMCO

Hope these are useful in helping you make a purchasing decision . . .

24/7 medical alarm

AMCO's burglar alarm systems are pretty darn good - as they not only stop burglars, but also provide fire and medical cover.
For more information on AMCO's 24/7 medical emergency alarm, check out our website.

Banham business alarm

When you own a small business it's important to pick the right burglar alarm for you, to ensure it's well protected but at the same time ensure that it's value for money.
As money's becoming increasingly tight, then low cost security which returns high value is increasingly important - that's why we'd recommend having a look at alarms from AMCO - as AMCO's monitored alarms offer great value - especially compared to more expensive competitors like Banham.
For more info, check the alternative to a Banham business alarm - the  AMCO Alarm  - here.