As conker fighting season draws to a close it is time that the world relearned the joys of its distant cousin...Walnut Fighting - the true king of seed related fight games was last big around the 1900's and not many people today realise that capital contests can be had with just the 
empty halves of a walnut shell.
A dinner plate is turned upside down (the 'ring') and two fighters place their walnuts (empty halves of the nut shell) point to point in the middle. They then begin to push one against the other using steady pressure of finger and thumb on the stern of the shell. The game is over when the prow of one shell crashes through the prow of the other which happens sooner or later. Like conkers some battles are long and hard fought.
The owner of the victorious walnut can then write the number of victories on his walnut half shell. Also like conkers if he has beaten, for example, a 23-er then 23 is added to his previous number of conquests.
weird web: Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum
strange games no:81 category: indoor games
My recent post concerning Mangelwurzel Skittles led to a reader telling me about another weird and wonderful game involving them: Mangelwurzel Throwing. This in turn led me to research into the use of vegetable and other foodstuffs in Strange Games. Some of these merge into Strange Sports but they are all bizarre enough to be included here.Below are the greatest Strange Games / Strange Sports involving food ever.
Mangelwurzel Throwing:A traditional Somerset game that requires skill, strength and cunning. Mangold Hurling has a well developed set of rules. Players take it in turns to stand in a pitching basket and hurl a Mangold / Mangelwurzel at a Norman (A Norman being a pre-placed fixed position Mangold) The player that gets his Mangold the closest is declared the winner... it's what you get if you mix boules and strong cider. Mangold Hurling is usually performed during October each year.
official Mangold Hurling Website - unbelievably brilliant site - includes full rules and faq and pictures!!!
Strange Games no:80...category:new olympic sports?
An Pythonesque American game/sport. A one and a half pound mullet(the fish not t
he hairstyle) is thrown by competitors from the Florida side of the state border into the Alabama side. Throws of around 150 feet are commonplace. It happens in April.
Interstate Mullet Toss Strange Games no:79...category: new olympic sports?
There are various forms of egg throwing games: Egg Relay, Distance, Accuracy and Throwing and Catching.In 'Throwing and Catching' teams of two stand 10 metres apart and throw a
n egg to each other. The distance between the players is increased with each successive, successful throw. Greatest distance for an unbroken egg throw wins. The world record was established in 1978 Texas, when Johnie Dell Foley threw an egg the almost incredible distance of 323ft 2in (98.51m) to his cousin, Keith Thomas.
In the discipline 'Distance', obviously, the greatest distance thrown with the egg remaining intact wins - here the egg is not caught but must land on grassy ground and remain unbroken.
The World Egg Throwing Championships are held in Lincolnshire, England in June.
World Egg Throwing FederationStrange Games no 78..category: new olympic sport?
Strange Games the Videos: Egg Throwing
A superb game / sport, Pea Throwing involves finding out who can throw a frozen pea the furthest. The current world record is amazingly around the 38m (around 124 feet) mark.World championships (now in the eighth year) occur in a Sussex pub in October of each year.If any sport deserves olympic status it is Pea Throwing.
article on 2006 Pea Throwing World Championshipstrange games no:77...category: new olympic sport?
Baseball is just Rounders dressed up, Basketball is a gaudy facsimile of Netball and American Football is just a confused version of Rugby...but in Cherry Pit Spitting, America has created a true sporting classic.The rules: simply spit a cherry pip as far as possible. Current world record a staggering 93 feet.
Cherry Pit Spitting HandbookStrange Games no:76...category: new olympic sport?
World reknowned and extremely popular, Cheese Rolling takes place annually
in Gloucestershire, England in May. Simple, fast, brutal; a large, disc of cheese is rolled from the top of a very steep hill. Competitors, of which there are a large number, hurl themselves down the hill after the cheese. The first person to the bottom wins. The hill, varies in gradient between 1 in 1 and 1 in 2 and has been described as "so steep is it, that the rays of the sun rarely fall on the slope itself!"
Official Cheese Rolling Site - lots of pictures and detailsStrange Games no: 75...category:new olympic sports?
Strange Games the Videos: Cheese Rolling
I am indebted to Strange Games German correspondent - Heinrich Guntergarten - for telling me about this very odd party game. Warring Couples is an ice-breaking party game that H
einrich has played at an adults party - but it would be suitable for children too.
Players are paired up and have their adjacent legs tied together (as in a three legged race) and stand with their adjacent arms over each others shoulders. One player is give a desert spoon to carry in his free hand. On a table at one end of the room is a pile of tangerines. The objective for each player in the pair is different: the player with the spoon has to walk to the table, collect a tangerine on his spoon and return to the start. His 'partner' must try to stop him, which they can do by using their free hand to knock his orange off his spoon or stopping him picking one up in the first place. However they must comply with any leg movement he makes - they must walk wherever he wants to walk. As can be imagined, pandemonium quickly ensues with players, tangerines and spoons scattered all over the floor.
A most unusual party game - thank you Heinrich.
strange games no:74...category: party games
