Conker: Live and Renutted

On our sister site Team Engrish Hyperforce Go!, there was a post about the banning of certain childhood games and nursery rhymes in th UK for being politically incorrect. One of the examples of this was a game called "Conkers", which Whackly and Myself had absolutely no clue about. Our friend from the UK Metallicorphan posted a link describing exactly what Conkers is. I read it, and am now informed about this game, it turns out a conker is a brown firm nut from the horse chestnut tree. Having an eye for hilarity, I re-read the article mentally replacing "conker" with the word nut. Taken out of context, some of the entries in this article are pretty hilarious.

"It is a hard brown nut which is found in a prickly casing"

"The best nuts to play with are uncracked, firm and symmetrical"

"Each player has a nut hanging on its string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent's nut. If you are the one whose nut is to be hit first, let it hang down from the string which is wrapped round your hand. The nut is held at the height your opponent chooses and is held perfectly still."

"The game goes on in turns until one or other of the two nuts is completely destroyed."

Hints on how to make your Nuts Harder

You could try one of the following:

• Soak your nuts in vinegar.
• Bake your nuts in the oven.
• Use an old nut from previous years.

"Contestants are not allowed to use their own nuts. Nuts are supplied for each game after being gathered and strung by the organisers."