North American Tiddlywinks Association

NATwA founded • 27 February 1966


Entries are Ordered First by the Location, then the Title.
Canada
Ontario • (province)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Carleton University press release (press release)
associated with · 
Carleton University
location · 
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
tw-pub-ID · 
407

Toggle showing 1 tiddlywinks reference for Carleton University press release.
published in · 
Carleton University press release
date · 
27 April 1971
citation · 
page 61
tw-ref-ID · 
1648
United States
Massachusetts • (state)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
MIT News Office Press Releases (press release)
publisher · 
MIT News Office
associated with · 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
location · 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
tw-pub-ID · 
302

Toggle showing 6 tiddlywinks references for MIT News Office Press Releases.
published in · 
MIT News Office Press Releases
date · 
25 February 1972
title · 
MIT Captures Tiddlywinks Crown
collection · 
photocopy (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1133
published in · 
MIT News Office Press Releases
date · 
10 March 1972
title · 
MIT Tiddlywinkers Headed for World Match
collection · 
photocopy (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1134
published in · 
MIT News Office Press Releases
date · 
4 April 1972
title · 
MIT Tiddlywinkers Return as World Champs
summary

Letter by News Office Director in file of press releases

collection · 
photocopy (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1135
published in · 
MIT News Office Press Releases
date · 
6 March 1973
tw-ref-ID · 
1136
published in · 
MIT News Office Press Releases
date · 
24 January 1975
title · 
Tiddledy, winken and nod
tw-ref-ID · 
1137
published in · 
MIT News Office Press Releases
date · 
10 January 2007
title · 
Tiddlywinks team plans return to former glory
by · 
Sasha Brown
citation · 
section online
content
Color stroboscopic photograph of a yellow wink being potted into a red pot.

A tiddlywinks player uses a squidger to flip a wink into the cup.

Photo / Rob Ochshorn

Black and white photograph of six MIT winkers at Logan Airport, holding their squidgers out in front of them.

MIT defeated Southampton University in 1972 to win the World Championship. Team members, clockwise from upper left: David Lockwood; William Renke; James Martin; Craig Sweinhart; Timothy Schiller, captain; and J. Frank Christ displayed their victory squidgers.

Photo / Margo Foote

The first thing the newly revived MIT Tiddlywinks Association wants people to know about the game of flicking small plastic discs into a cup is that it is not just a game of flicking small plastic discs into a cup.

Instead, according to the North American Tiddlywinks Association's web site, tiddlywinks is a "complex game of strategy and tactics, which involves a fascinating mixture of manual dexterity and intellectual activity as well."

Tiddlywinks started in the late 1800s in England. In 1955, it resurfaced at Cambridge University, where a group of undergraduates were looking for a game to represent their school. Tim Berners-Lee, father of the World Wide Web and recent recipient of the Draper Prize, played tiddlywinks.

The game is played with sets of small, thin discs, known as winks, which are lined up on a mat. Using the larger disc, called the squidger, players pop the smaller discs into flight by snapping one side of the smaller disc with the edge of the larger one.

There are two different versions. The first is the informal child's game in which the small discs are launched into a cup. The formal game is much more complicated with a series of rules and strategies.

Yan Wang, president of the MIT Tiddlywinks Association (MITTwA), said that adult players like to compare tiddlywinks to golf, "because it requires physical dexterity in making shots," and also to chess, "because it requires thinking in turns and trying to maximize your strategy based on what your opponent could do." MITTwA is awaiting formal recognition from MIT's Association of Student Activities.

MIT has a bright tiddlywinks history, beginning when the game spread across the Atlantic from Britain during the 1960s. "Although tiddlywinks was formalized in England, the dominant team throughout the 1960s through 1980s was MIT," said Wang. "There was much intercollegiate play with Harvard and Cornell, in addition to international trips to visit Cambridge and Oxford."

In recent years, the game had fallen out of favor at MIT because not enough effort was devoted to bringing in new players, Wang explained.

MITTwA, which was reborn this past September thanks to Wang, is hoping to change that with an Independent Activities Period (IAP) "Introduction to Tiddlywinks" that starts on Jan. 10 and ends on Jan. 12, each evening from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Room 4-145.

Members of the MITTwA who have been playing the game for years will teach the class. On Jan. 13 and 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the MITTwA will be holding a tournament for novices and more advanced players alike in the Student Center (W20).

"The tournament will hopefully attract students, staff and faculty who are eager to learn about this piece of MIT history and take part in it. There will be significant attendance by alumni from across the country who all look forward to reviving this part of their student experience," Wang said.

For more information, please visit student.mit.edu/searchiap/iap-7491.html.

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on January 10, 2007.

Written by: Sasha Brown, News Office

collection · 
digital webpage (NATwA)
links · 
MIT News – web page (free) (tw-ref-link-id 702)
tw-ref-ID · 
1132
MIT Observer (press release)
associated with · 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
location · 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Notes

Most are reprints of articles about MIT from newspapers.

tw-pub-ID · 
303

Toggle showing 6 tiddlywinks references for MIT Observer.
published in · 
MIT Observer
date · 
January 1969
title · 
Squidges and Squops
citation · 
page 3 to 4
notes · 
Not a reprint from another news source.
tw-ref-ID · 
1138
published in · 
MIT Observer
date · 
March 1972
citation · 
page 4
summary

Reprint from 2 March 1972 Christian Science Monitor, and reprint from 16 March 1972 Cambridge Chronicle

collection · 
original (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1139
published in · 
MIT Observer
date · 
September 1972
citation · 
page 8
summary

Reprint from 31 March 1972 Los Angeles Times.

collection · 
original (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1140
published in · 
MIT Observer
date · 
February 1973
citation · 
page 5
summary

Reprint from 14 February 1973 Tech Talk from MIT

collection · 
original (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1141
published in · 
MIT Observer
date · 
February 1973
citation · 
page 21
summary

Reprint from 8 April 1973 New York Times (date is correct)

collection · 
original (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1142
published in · 
MIT Observer
date · 
March 1973
citation · 
page 17
summary

Reprint from 12 February 1973 Cornell Sun

tw-ref-ID · 
1143
MIT Today (press release)
associated with · 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
location · 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Notes

Pamphlet directed at potential students.

tw-pub-ID · 
304

Toggle showing 1 tiddlywinks reference for MIT Today.
published in · 
MIT Today
date · 
(unknown date)
summary

Listing of MITTwA in a selective list of student activities.

collection · 
original (NATwA)
tw-ref-ID · 
1144
New Jersey • (state)
Ocean City, New Jersey, United States
 (press release)
associated with · 
City of Ocean City, New Jersey
location · 
Ocean City, New Jersey, USA
tw-pub-ID · 
788

Toggle showing 3 tiddlywinks references for .
published in · 
date · 
December 1986
title · 
Children's Concert
subtitle · 
Tiddly Winks, December 13th
collection · 
original (NATwA)
notability rating · 
minor
type · 
press release
tw-ref-ID · 
2850
published in · 
date · 
December 1986
title · 
Many Holiday Activities Set for Ocean City
collection · 
original (NATwA)
notability rating · 
minor
type · 
press release
tw-ref-ID · 
2851
published in · 
date · 
December 1986
title · 
Anyone for Tiddly WInks?
subtitle · 
City Introduces Old Game to New Jersey's Sport's [sic] Scene
collection · 
original (NATwA)
type · 
press release
tw-ref-ID · 
2852
title · 
Children's Concert
subtitle · 
Tiddly Winks, December 13th
date · 
December 1986
collection · 
original (NATwA)
notability rating · 
minor
type · 
press release
tw-ref-ID · 
2850
title · 
Many Holiday Activities Set for Ocean City
date · 
December 1986
collection · 
original (NATwA)
notability rating · 
minor
type · 
press release
tw-ref-ID · 
2851
title · 
Anyone for Tiddly WInks?
subtitle · 
City Introduces Old Game to New Jersey's Sport's [sic] Scene
date · 
December 1986
collection · 
original (NATwA)
type · 
press release
tw-ref-ID · 
2852