NEWSWINK

No. 1
The official publication of the North American Tiddlywinks Association. 20 ¢.
April 1969
Editor: Rosie Wain, 292 First Ave., Ottawa 1, Ontario.
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EDITORIAL

Tiddlywinks was first introduced to North America several years ago, when the team from Oxford England squidged their way across the continent, challenging any university that was interested. It became quite popular in localised areas of Canada and the United States but it has never been so widespread amongst so many institutions as it is now.

In 1967, the first of the North American championships was held at Waterloo, Ontario and Cornell University won the trophy presented by CHYM radio station. In 1968, MIT took the trophy from Cornell and N.A.Tw.A. was reorganised with new enthusiasm.

During the beginning of 1969, MIT gained a great deal of publicity for N.A.Tw.A. and after the appearance of the MIT captain on “What’s My Line”, the proceeds were spent on Tiddlywink sets and invitations to the 1969 championships. As a result of this, six clubs in the eastern part of the continent were represented. Admittedly this is only a small area in comparison with the whole of the United States and Canada, but it is a good start and in order to unite Tiddlywinkers further, N.A.Tw.A. has decided to
produce this magazine. This will ordinarily cost 20 cents per copy but it is free to members of N.ATw.A.; it was decided to fix a team membership at $2 and an individual membership at $1 per annum.

Please do not hesitate to send your contributions or enquiries to Mitchell Wand at MIT or myself in Ottawa. The names and addresses of all team captains can be found elsewhere in this issue.

On a very limited budget I hope we can produce a worthwhile magazine so please submit any articles that you feel may be of interest, and all letters to the Editor will be most welcome.

MINUTES of the Second Congress of N.A.Tw.A.

These minutes were submitted and signed by the Secretary of N.A.Tw.A., Mitchell Wand.

MIT Student Center.
23 February 1969.

The meeting was called to order at 9:50 by Mike Crick.

Mitchell Wand was elected Secretary. Seeing no sentiment to the effect that he should take the chair, Mr. Wand allowed Mr. Crick to stay in the chair, despite the Chairman’s lack of any office in the association.

It was agreed that the rules of “Squop” as proposed by Mr. Crick, with modifications to follow the latest amendments to the International Rules of Tiddlywinks, should be accepted as a temporary standard for purposes of experimentation only. Amendments to this standard will be made by 1) Agreement of Mr. Crick and the Secretary after all members of N.A.Tw.A. have been notified or 2) future Congresses of N.A.Tw.A.

The merit of the game of “Squop” was neither discussed or decided, and no resolution whatsoever was passed concerning its desireability [sic, should be desirability], nor was any recommendation made to E.Tw.A. Neither was there any announcement of plans to hold any matches in accordance with the proposed standard.

Mr. Wand, Severin Drix, Rosie Wain and Phil Villar were appointed to investigate finding a sponsor for sending an All-Star team of some sort to England, and to organise the team.

Mr. Wand proposed that N.A.Tw.A. endorse the proposal before E.Tw.A. to change the name of Tiddlywinks to ‘Winks”. In view of strong dissention [sic, should be dissension] to the proposal, it was withdrawn.

Rosie Wain agreed to produce a newsletter of some sort, with the working name of “Winking Universe.”

Possible changes in the structure of N.A.Tw.A. competition were discussed. It was agreed that, as in the past, this should be left to the captain of the Championship team. It was also agreed that the finals of any Championship competition should be held on the third weekend in February to take advantage of Washington’s Birthday.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 am.

1969 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 1969 North American Tiddlywink Championships were held at MIT on Feb. 22nd. and was the biggest Inter-Wink event ever held in North America.

The teams present were from Cornell University, Harpur College, Binghamton, Ottawa, Canada, Case Western Reserve, Regis College and MIT (two teams). The most efficient method of competition was a double elimination tournament, with the three pairs in each team playing only two games per match.

There were some tense and exciting matches, but the superior winkmanship of the MIT ‘A’ team enabled them to take the trophy for the second year in succession. The final match was between MIT and Cornell with a score of 44½–18½.

Mitchell Wand and Tim Schiller were the overall top pair by scoring 68 out of a possible 77 points, any they remained undefeated in every game. In fact, the MIT ‘A’ team lost only 2 games throughout the weekend.

Most of the North American Big Wink personalities were present at the Championships. The ex-England champion Phil Villar played for the Ottawa team and his ex-partner Mike Crick assumed the role of general supervisor and Independent Witness throughout the weekend. The original Secretary General of N.ATw.A. [sic], Mike Gottesman, was able to put in an appearance on Sunday, and even a representative from the Harvard team was present.

One of Cornell’s players [,] Richard Garson, was flown in from New York City for the final match on Sunday, but the green T-shirted team from Toronto were unable to attend at all, since the distance was just too great.

We were pleased to have competition from four new teams, and John Colizza and his co-winkers from Case put up an excellent performance considering that they are a newly formed team.

The presence of Charles Kuralt from the CBS Walter Cronkite programme provided an added interest to the weekend. Even if he was perhaps a little skeptical at first, he and his camera crew were obvious enthusiasts by Sunday morning and this was reflected in the excellent five minute documentary that was televised on March 3rd.

Above all we must thank MIT for their kind hospitality and in particular we must congratulate Mitchell Wand—”the hard-driving intense field general of MIT” (as CBS put it)—for his efficiency and tremendous organisation.

WINKLE

In the trials for an All-Star Tiddlywinks team, the following results were obtained:

Pete was the overall best player; Jim beat Frank and John; Frank beat Joe, Tom
and John; Joe beat Jim and Tom; Tom beat Jim and John; and John beat Joe.

Rank the players according to their winning ability.

Answer on back page.

OFFICIAL RESULTS · 1969 NORTH AMERICAN TIDDLYWINKS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Ottawa  38 \
           1>  Ottawa   6½\
Regis    4 /               \
                           5> MIT A   32 \
MIT A   39 \               /              \
           2>  MIT A   35½/                \                          (if nec)
Case     3 /                               9> MIT A 36 \              --------
                                           /            \                     |
               MIT B   16½ \              /              \                    |
Cornell 33½ \              6> Cornell 10 /                \                   |
            4> Cornell 25½ /                             13> MIT A  46½     18|
Harpur   8½ /                                             /            |      |
                                                         /             |      |
                              Ottawa 18½ \              /              |      |
                                        11>  MIT B   6 /             16| MIT A
                              MIT B  23½ /                             |
                                                                       |
                                            Cornell 23½ \              |
                              Harpur 17  \             14>  Cornell 16½
               Case    36½ \            10> Case    18½ /
                           7> Case   25  /
               Regis    5½ /

                                                            Case    21½ \
                                                                       17>
                                                            MIT B   20½ /

                                            Ottawa  30 \
                                                      15>
                                            Harpur  12 /

FINAL STANDINGS
1. MIT A
2. Cornell
3. Case Western Reserve
4. MIT B
5. Ottawa
6. Harpur
7. Regis

SQUOP

A variation on a Tiddlywink theme has been devised by Mike Crick. The basic difference in this new game is the reduction of the number of winks to four and the prime intention is to re-create a game whereby the pot-squop strategy is a little more effective.

It is an interesting change from Tiddlywinks and further details of the rules may be obtained from Mike Crick.

NEWSWINK No. 2

‘Newswink’ 2 will probably be printed in the Fall. Copies will be sent free of charge to all members of N.A.Tw.A. [;] otherwise the charge is 20 cents per copy. As mentioned elsewhere in this issue, the team membership costs $2 and the individual membership is $1 and this is payable annually to the Secretary General at the Washington’s Birthday weekend gathering. If you wish to receive copies of ‘Newswink’ but have not considered joining N.A.Tw.A., I hasten to add that only members of N.A.Tw.A. are eligible for voting rights on winking policy.

I should like to receive your views and comments on Winking events and ideas. For example, what is the general opinion in North America on changing the name of the game from Tiddlywinks to Winks?, Or have you devised any new Winking theories?

Please let me know!

FUTURE PLANS

Every year there have been vague plans to organise an Inter-national match against England.

Originally it was rumoured that “Wheaties” and “Cheerios” were interested in sponsoring a team to go across the Atlantic, and then there were promised from “Canada Dry” but nothing further ever materialised.

This year we have decided to put together an All-Star team and try once again to find a suitable sponsor. The rough cost to field a team would be about $4,500.

At the time of going to press, the weekend of May 3rd. has been selected for the All-Star team trials. These will be held at Cornell University and we hope that new players will not feel shy about coming.

Further details may be obtained from Severin Drix at Cornell and all clubs will be notified if there is a change of plan.

During this year we also hope to arrange the first United States / Canada International match. This may even take place during the weekend of May 3rd., but again the details must still be finalised.

EQUIPMENT

MIT often have a stock of Tiddlywinks sets and mats to sell, but the official source is:

Marchant Games Ltd.,
Loughton,
Essex,
England.

ADDRESS LIST

MIT:
Mitchell Wand,
Box 5442
420 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, Mass. 02139
617 864 6900 x 3270

CORNELL:
Severin Drix
124, Catherine Street
Ithaca, N.Y. 14850
607 277 1965

TORONTO:
Bryon Alexandroff
8 Burmont Road
Toronto 19
Ontario
416 783 9207

OTTAWA:
Rosie Wain
292 First Avenue
Ottawa 1
Ontario
613 235 6539

HARPUR:
Mark R. Snyder
Box 297
Harpur College
Binghamton N.Y.

CASE:
John R. Colizza
Box 410 House 3
11904 Carlton Road
Cleveland
Ohio 44106

REGIS:
Ruth Keady [sic]
Box 655 Regis College
Weston, Mass. 02193

Michael Crick
19 Cottage Street
Cambridge, Mass. 02139

Phil Villar
30 James Street
Hartford
Conn. 06106
203 232 9354

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[Upside-down:]

Answer to ‘Winkle.’

Pete, Frank, Joe, Jim, Tom and John.