In Britain and Ireland autumn is the season for playing conkers, but do you know how the game first developed?
According to the Ashton Conker Club, based in Northamptonshire and home of the World Conker Championships, it’s thought to have originated from a game called “conquerors”, which was originally played with snail (conch) shells. Later, the shells were replaced with hazelnuts (on strings), which, in turn, were replaced by horse chestnuts, or conkers.
The rules of the game vary from region to region, as does its name. In parts of the Midlands, for instance, it was known as “oblionker”, a name supposedly made up to rhyme with “conker”. That’s because rhymes such as “obli, obli, onker, my first conker (conquer)” accompanied play.
In other regions the game is known as…
