The Red Monkey Guide to Conkers

It's the season kids everywhere love - conker season! The game of conkers has been an English pastime for generations, and there're few things more natural than some healthy conker competition on the playground. To give your kids an edge this autumn, we've compiled a quick guide to the game so you know they're conkering the right way!

First you need a conker! From September through to November, your local Horse Chestnut trees will provide for you - you can find conkers lying beneath them in abundance. Extract the conker from its spiky green shell and you're ready to go.

You're looking for a conker that is roughly round and symmetrical. Make a hole through the centre and thread through a piece of string about 25cm in length. Now you're ready to play!

Players take turns striking at each other's conker, with the goal being to shatter your opponent's conker with yours.

Flip a coin to decide who strikes first. If you are the player whose conker is to be hit first, then let it
hang down from the string which should be wrapped around your hand. The striking player chooses the height at which your conker should be held.

The striking player should wrap the string around one hand, hold the conker in the other, then flick it towards the defending conker. If they hit, and the defending conker remains intact, then play turns over to the other player. If the striking player misses their opponent's conker, they are allowed up to two more attempts, then play turns over to the other player.

Conker pro tip! If the striking player hits their opponent's conker in such a way that the conker travels in a full circle on its string, then that player gets another strike. This trick is known as 'around the world.'

Advanced rules:

If the strings get tangled after a shot, the first player to shout 'strings' is awarded an extra shot.

If a conker falls to the ground at any time during play, then the opposing player can shout 'stamps' and jump on it! However, if the player who dropped the conked shouts 'no stamps' first then stamping becomes illegal, and that player can retrieve their conker in peace.

And that's all there is to it! Player continue to take turns until one player's conker is completely shattered. The victorious player can go on to challenge other players, and become the conker champion of the playground. Who knows; one day they could be competing in the World Conker Championship!

Conkers is a simple and fun game for children to play in the playground; it makes use of natural resources and can teach kids a little bit about nature at the same time. And for anyone worried about the health and safety risks of conkers, the Health & Safety Executive has some reassuring words for us.

So now you're equipped with all the conker knowledge you'll need; get conker hunter and see if you can't forage up a champion conker!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.