From: ucca61b@ucl.ac.uk (Patrick J Barrie)
Newsgroups: alt.games.tiddlywinks
Subject: A brief history of winks
Keywords: tiddlywinks
Date: 24 Jan 93 15:53:42 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium


 A  BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  GAME  OF  TIDDLYWINKS

   The game of tiddlywinks can be traced back to late Victorian times, and 
the earliest patent application (for 'tiddledywinks') was filed by Joseph 
Fincher in 1888. However, the birth of the modern game can be traced to a 
group of Cambridge undergraduates meeting in Christ's College on January 
16th 1955. The group was assembled by Bill Stein to devise a sport at which 
they could represent the university. Within three years Oxford had taken up 
the challenge and the founders of the game had achieved their aim. The 
popularity of the game they invented continued to spread and it is now 
played internationally.
   Following the foundation of the Cambridge club, Oxford formed a side 
in 1957. The first varsity match was played a year later. The Winks Varsity 
Match has continued to be contested to this day. Tiddlywinks has given 
Cambridge their most consistent Varsity record in any sport- Oxford have 
only been Varsity champions three times in the competition's 32 year history, 
the last occasion being 1966. The game created in Cambridge spread far beyond 
Oxbridge. Winks became particularly popular in other universities. Some of 
the most notable sides during the sixties came from Bristol, Manchester, 
Aberwystwyth and Southampton. A British Universities Championship was 
established by HRH Prince Philip in 1961, when he presented the Silver Wink 
trophy. During the early sixties as many as 37 universities fought for the 
Silver Wink. Sadly at present only Cambridge, Oxford (and more recently St. 
Andrews ) are capable of fielding university teams of eight players. Cambridge 
have taken the title for the last six years. 
   Prince Philip became involved in winks at the time of the Royal 
Charity Match of 1958. This match played an important part in establishing 
recognition for the game in its early days. The match resulted in a challenge 
to the Duke from the Cambridge club after a press article posed the question 
"Does Prince Philip Cheat at Tiddlywinks?". The Duke nominated the Goons 
as Royal Champions and massive publicity surrounded the ensuing match. 
The match was easily won by the university, but not without more than a 
little controversy. Cambridge objected to the then more ample proportions of 
Harry Secombe interfering with winks in play. The referee, John Snagge, was 
called but ruled that Secombe's gut was outside the three mile limit and 
therefore not under his jurisdiction. Later, the Goons' captain, Spike 
Milligan, revealed that his side was lucky to have Secombe at all - an 
undergraduate plot to kidnap him as the helicopter bringing him to 
Cambridge from a pantomime engagement in Coventry touched down was 
only narrowly foiled.
   After the Royal Match the game of winks spread not only to the 
universities, but to other clubs up and down the country. A number still 
survive and there are a few hundred active players in Britain today. The 
game spread across the Atlantic in 1961, when Oxford University went on a 
Guinness sponsored tour of the United States. The game took strongest root 
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The early development of most 
American players can still be traced to MIT today.
   While the basic elements of the adult game were devised by Cambridge 
University Tiddlywinks Club in its early years, the rules have continued to be 
modified under the auspices of the English and North American Tiddlywinks 
Associations. The English Tiddlywinks Association (ETwA) was formed in 
1958. ETwA coordinated the game throughout the boom period of the sixties 
when winks flourished on both sides of the Atlantic. A decline in interest in 
1969-70 led to the establishment of the three national competitions which 
have been contested to date, namely the National Singles, National Pairs and 
the Teams of Four. There are also annual Open Competitions, notably in 
Oxford, Manchester, Cambridge and London. 
   The first serious trans-Atlantic contact was established in 1972, when a 
team from MIT toured the UK. The success of the Americans shocked 
complacent Britons. Competition started at the highest level, the World 
Singles, in 1973. A challenge system was agreed between ETwA and the 
corresponding North American equivalent (NATwA). The supreme ruling 
body in world contests is the International Federation of Tiddlywinks 
Associations (IFTwA). To challenge at world level, a player must win one of 
the national titles, or finish as the highest placed home player behind a 
foreign winner. There have been 37 World Singles contests to date. The 
Americans dominated all the early matches, and it was not until the 22nd 
contest when Alan Dean became the first Briton to take the world title. Since 
then Jon Mapley and Andy Purvis have also held the title for Britain, and in 
the next-to-last World Singles match Geoff Myers became the fourth Briton to 
hold the title when he dramatically beat Larry Kahn of America by a single 
point.  Larry Kahn of Washington DC has the record number of world singles 
wins (12), while Dave Lockwood (also of Washington DC) has the record 
number of successive wins (9).
   After the establishment of the World Singles, a World Pairs event 
followed. In common with the World Singles tournament, the Americans 
had the early successes, but the current holders are the British pairing of 
Andy Purvis and Geoff Myers, who have now won three consecutive World Pair 
matches. International matches have been played occasionally since 1972, the 
last full contest being in 1985 when the United States beat England. However, 
recent tours of America, notably by Cambridge University teams, suggest that 
the British strength-in-depth would make England favourites in any future 
match.
   During its brief history, winks has enjoyed variable levels of interest. 
Today the game seems on a very firm footing. New clubs are forming in 
Britain to boost the traditional strongholds at Oxford and Cambridge. 
National competitions are now better attended than ever before, with a group 
of enthusiastic young players joining the stock of experienced British players 
who have now proved themselves at the highest level in world competition.

(The above history is part of the standard ETwA handout, first written by Stew
Sage and subsequently updated by me.)