conkers - playground games

[Sarah]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "stbjohn2" <stbjohn2 at y...> 
wrote:
So what the heck is Conkers? 
> Sandy

Conkers are the fruit from the horse chestnut tree.  Not edible to 
humans (actually quite poisenous I think).
You drill a hole through the middle and thread string through it, 
tying a knot at the end.  Then you hold it dangling in the air and 
let your opponent hit your conker with theirs, by sort of flicking 
it.  The object of the game is to smash your opponent's conker.
Various measures have in the past been employed to strengthen conkers 
involving slow cooking in the oven and soaking in vinegar.  Every 
autumn my son had hundreds drying out on his windowsill, and it is a 
favourite pastime of parents up and down the country, picking up 
soggy but promising looking conkers from the wet leaf mulch on the 
pavement below the trees.
I believe a few schools have banned it because of the potential risk -
 but children have been playing conkers in the playground for 
generations.  Society has got more violent, not the conkers!!!
Do you play hopscotch in the US?  What about french skipping?

Sarah xx