A horse chestnut, a shoelace and a willing opponent: that is the whole game. Conkers has been part of British autumns for a very long time, and while the house rules change from street to street, the essentials do not. Two players take turns swinging a conker on a string at each other's conker until one of them breaks. Here is a straightforward version you can set up in a few minutes, covering the strikes that count, the way scores are kept, and the habits that keep everyone's fingers and eyes intact.

Choosing and Stringing Your Conker

Use horse chestnuts: the glossy brown ones that come in spiky green cases in September and October. Sweet chestnuts and acorns are not conkers, whatever your little brother says.

Pick one that feels firm and heavy for its size, with a dark, even shell and no cracks, soft patches or small holes. Weigh it in your palm. A light, hollow-feeling conker will shatter on the first good hit.

To string it, make a hole straight through the middle, top to bottom. A skewer, a thin nail or a small drill all work, but get an adult to help if you are using anything sharp. Thread a shoelace or a length of thin cord through the hole and knot it firmly underneath, so the conker sits against the knot. Aim for roughly 25 to 30 centimetres of lace between your hand and the conker: long enough to swing properly, short enough to control. Knot the top end as well, and wrap the spare lace around your fingers for grip.

About "hardening"

You will hear about baking conkers, soaking them in vinegar or coating them in varnish. Most organised competitions insist on plain, untreated conkers, and the shortcuts tend to backfire anyway. Heat makes the shell brittle, and soaking softens it. A few days in a cool, dry place, such as a shed, a cupboard or a paper bag, does the job perfectly well.

Setting Up a Match

Decide who strikes first. A coin toss works, or have one player hide a conker in each hand and the other guess which one it is.

Stand about two paces apart, facing each other. The striker holds their lace with the conker dangling free. The opponent holds their conker out at chest height, arm straight, lace wrapped so the conker hangs still and steady. Chest height is not a suggestion; it keeps heads and faces well clear of the swing.

Then agree your rules out loud before the first strike. Whether twists are allowed. What happens if you swing and miss. Whether a conker that moves counts as hit. Thirty seconds of arguing now saves ten minutes of arguing later.

The Strikes You Are Allowed to Use

Different rule sets allow different strikes, but these are the traditional ones:

  • Full swing — a long swing from well behind you. Powerful, but hard to aim and easy to miss.
  • Three-quarter swing — a shorter backswing with most of the power still there. The best all-round choice.
  • Half swing — a short, sharp tap. Accurate, controlled, and useful when the target is small or the lace is long.
  • The twist — instead of swinging, the striker winds the lace around the conker and twists it into the opponent's conker at close range. Not every group allows it, so check first.

Keep your eyes on the opponent's conker, not their hand or their face, and aim for the middle of the shell rather than the lace. Follow through, but never wind up so far that you cannot stop the swing. One strike per turn, then swap over.

What Counts as a Hit

A strike counts when your conker hits the opponent's conker. Contact with the lace, the fingers or the knuckles does not count, which is why the non-striker should hold their hand behind and below the target, out of the way.

The non-striker must hold still. In most versions of the game, moving your conker to dodge a strike means the strike counts as a hit anyway. If a conker falls off its lace, breaks, or is smashed clean off the string, that player loses the match. If the striker's own conker breaks on impact, the non-striker wins the point.

Scoring: One-ers, Sixers and Stamps

A brand new conker that has never won is a "none-er" or "zero-er". Beat another conker and yours becomes a "one-er". The number simply records how many victories that conker has to its name.

When a scored conker beats another scored conker, the totals add up, plus one for the win. So a two-er beating a three-er becomes a six-er: two plus three plus one. Any conker reaching double figures has earned bragging rights for the season.

To keep count, many players tie a knot in the lace or mark the shell for each win, sometimes called stamps. A pencil mark on the conker or a note on your phone works just as well, and saves confusion when four people are all claiming to be on their seventh.

Playing Safely

Conkers is a gentle game played with a hard object on a length of string, so a little care goes a long way.

  • Never strike at head height. Chest height, every single time.
  • Keep spectators behind the striker or several paces to the side, never behind the target conker.
  • Check the lace before each match. A frayed lace snaps mid-swing and sends the conker flying.
  • Throw away mouldy, cracked or soft conkers; they break apart unpredictably.
  • Stop immediately if anyone walks into the space between you.
  • Younger players should have an adult nearby, and eye protection is never a silly idea.

If anyone is hit in the eye, do not rub it, and seek medical advice promptly. For any injury that seems more than a sting, treat it as you would any other knock and get it looked at properly.

Your First Match in Five Steps

  1. Pick two sound conkers and string each on its own lace.
  2. Agree the rules: who strikes first, whether twists count, what a miss costs.
  3. Stand two paces apart and hold the target conker still at chest height.
  4. Take one strike each, swapping over after every attempt.
  5. Play until a conker breaks or slips its lace. Note the score, shake hands, and find another conker.

That is the whole game. Play it on soft ground, keep the swings low, and remember that the best conker of the season is usually the plain one you left in a cupboard for a week and forgot about.

Photo: Ri_Ya / Pixabay