International Rules of Tiddlywinks • late 1960s, early 1970s

THE INTERNATIONAL RULES OF TIDDLYWINKS

THE RULES OF TIDDLYWINKS

1. TIDDLYWINKS is a game for 4 players, those who play opposite each other being partners. The aim of the game is to flick the winks into the pot.
2. THE MAT should have a surface of a felt-like, non-pile structure, e.g. blanket, carpet, or rug, large enough to permit the winks to be placed 3 feet from the pot. Where possible, matches should be played on felt mats measuring 2 yards by 1 yard. Authorised felt mats are available from the official manufacturers. The surface on which the mat is placed should be hard, smooth and horizontal. Visiting captains are entitled to refuse to play on tables only if the table surface measures less than 2 yards by 1 yard. The base lines, to be marked at each corner of the mat, are straight lines crossing the mat’s diagonals at right angles 3 feet from their mid-point.
3. THE POT should be 1½ in. high, with a top diameter of 1⅞ in. It is placed at the centre of the mat. Nothing may be allowed inside the pot other than potted winks, and potted winks may not be removed from the pot.
4. THE WINKS. Each player plays with 6 counters, called winks:
   2 large ones, thickness ³⁄₃₂ in., diameter ⅞ in.
   4 small ones, thickness ¹⁄₁₆ in., diameter ⅝ in.
   A circular plastic counter, between 1 and 2 inches in diameter, should be used to flick the winks, and is called a “squidger”.
5. THE SCORE.
   The first player to pot all his winks scores 4 points.
   The second player to pot all his winks scores 2 points.
   The third player to pot all his winks scores 1 point.
   The fourth player does not score.
   Partners add their scores together. If the game has been won by “potting out” (see para. 10) one point is transferred from the losing pair to the winning pair.
6. SQUIDGE-OFF. Initially, each player puts the 6 winks of one colour behind his base line, and squidges one of them towards the pot. These winks are replaced behind the base lines, and the player whose wink was nearest the pot has first squidge into play. Should there be a tie those concerned have a re-squidge.
7. PLAY proceeds in a clockwise direction. Each player may play only his winks and has one shot per turn, with an extra shot for for each of his own winks that he pots in that turn. A wink is deemed to be potted only when it has come to rest in the pot, or balanced on the rim. Potted winks are replaced if knocked out by another wink. If a wink comes to rest leaning against the pot it is moved down to lie flat, just touching the pot, even if this results in it squopping another wink.
8. BOUNDARIES. The base lines and the edges of the mat are the mat’s boundaries. If at any time a player squidges one or more winks over or onto a boundary (or so near the edge as to be unplayable) they are immediately replaced into play a large wink’s width in from the boundary, near the point of departure. If one or more of these are the player’s own winks, he misses his next shot. No winks crossing a boundary in the same shot may be replaced nearer than 4 inches apart and no wink may be replaced on top of another wink.
9. SQUOPPING. (a) Any wink or winks covered, however slightly, by another wink may not be played. The act of covering another wink is called “squopping.”

   (b) In a pile of two or more winks, the squidger must first touch only the player’s uncovered wink, and a short continuous stroke must be made. During the stroke the squidger may also touch only those winks vertically below the wink first played. When this shot frees some or all of the squopped winks it is known as “desquopping”.
   
   (c) When all the remaining winks of one pair are squopped, the opposing pair counts its free winks (neither squopping nor squopped) in play, and has the same number of free turns. If one member has no playable winks the free turns are all taken by the other member, otherwise they are shared between the two players in normal rotation. The next shot must free one of the opponent’s winks. If it does not, the squopping wink must be moved aside to allow the opponent to play. If in freeing the opponent’s wink the player pots it, he must move another wink aside, if necessary one of his partner’s. A squopped pair whose wink or winks have thus been freed, must be allowed at least one shot taken by the opponent next in turn before being squopped again. If a squopped opponent is freed during the free turns, they cease at once.
   

10. POTTING OUT. The first player to pot all his winks is said to have “potted out”. When this occurs, squopping ceases to have any effect, and all squopped winks are immediately uncovered, as are any which may subsequently become squopped. This uncovering is done by moving aside the squopping wink, always at the same distance from the pot, until it no longer squops any wink. On potting out, all further restrictions on the duration of the game (see below) cease.
11. THE TIME LIMIT. It is suggested that a Time Limit of about 20 minutes per game be imposed. If and when this expires, play continues until the player who won the squidge-off has had his turn. Five complete rounds of turns are then played. If after these rounds the game is still undecided, it is adjudicated as follows:
    Each player receives 3 time-limit-points for each of his winks in the pot, and 1 for each wink in play not squopped. Players total these points individually. The player with the highest total then receives 4 points, the next 2, the third 1, and the lowest none, and partners add their scores together, as in paragraph 5. In the event of a tie, each player receives the appropriate average score.
12. DISTURBANCE OF WINKS. Any winks disturbed accidentally, e.g. by the follow-through of a shot or by bodily contact, should be replaced in their former positions. If a wink in motion is accidentally obstructed, it is replaced in a mutually agreed position and the next player continues with his turn. If a foul shot is committed, the opponents of the player have the option of making the player play again, or leaving the winks as they stand. A wink may be turned over unless it is squoppingorsquopped but otherwise if a player deliberately interferes with any wink in play, or impedes his opponent, the game ceases and the opponents receive all 7 points.
13. MATCH PROCEDURE. A Tiddlywinks team normally consists of 4 pairs of players. Each pair plays one game against each pair of the opposing team, making 16 games in all. The winning team is the one which scores most points (not necessarily the one which wins most games).