Conker Smashing
What is a conker? It is a nut of the horse chestnut tree, which is threaded onto a piece of string. Conker smashing is a game in which the objective is to break other player’s conker (a horse-chestnut). The game originated in the UK as a pass time activity. Currently it is practiced in many countries around the world.
The only equipment required for the sport are conkers and laces. One player called the receiver holds the end of the lace on which his conker hangs while the striker swings his conker to smash the receiver’s conker.
A game starts with a coin toss to decide the first receiver and the striker. Players switch roles after every three strikes. The game ends as soon as one player smashes the other's nut. If the game goes beyond five minutes, each player gets nine final strikes from which the one with most strikes or the one to crack the nut is the winner.
In competitions, two players play head-to-head, and the player who smashes the other player's conker moves to the next round while the other gets eliminated. Winning players continue to move on to the subsequent rounds until the final winner is decided.
A World Conker Championship event is conducted for conker smashing every year in England in which 500 players from 13 countries take part.
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