A broad variety of tiddlywinks record events have been conceived, conducted, and claimed since 1960. This article documents these record events and claims, so far as we have discerned.
Some tiddlywinks records have been recognized by the Guinness Book of (World) Records; plus some were recognized by them in the past but are no longer; and additional ones are recognized by them now but weren’t in the past. Some tiddlywinks records have never been recognized by Guinness.
Some tiddlywinks records historically have been recognized by NATwA and/or ETwA, regardless of whether Guinness has recognized them. These records are also described in this article.
Plus, a variety of additional tiddlywinks record events have been invented by winkers throughout winking history along with records of achievement claimed that may or may not have been recognized by any authority.
All of the tiddlywinks record events described in this article should be considered to be valid attempts at setting an interesting record. However, it is not always the case that suitable evidence was recorded at the event, or retained for posterity, to validate the actual record performance. Therefore, some of the tiddlywinks records described on this page, while generally considered bona fide according to the norms of the times when claimed, and still accepted as records, cannot always be revalidated as records based on retained affidavits and evidence.
Please also note that the statistics resulting from analyzing data across a variety of individual games played in tournament events are considered to be winks statistics rather than tiddlywinks records. Hence, having the highest points-per-game in a particular tournament or season would be noted in a statistical analysis report, not in a tiddlywinks record.
Guinness Book of Records—Tiddlywinks World Records
The Guinness Book of Records organization has recognized a variety of tiddlywinks world records since the 1960s, though the selection of which tiddlywinks world record events are recognized by them has changed quite significantly over time. (Note: Guinness began publishing world records in August 1955.) The current tiddlywinks world records included in the Guinness Book of Records online database (though some haven’t been updated in a number of years) as of 13 September 2022 are:
- Fastest potting of 24 winks
- Fastest potting of 10,000 winks
- Most tiddlywinks potted in 3 minutes
- Fastest 100 m tiddlywinks
- Most wins of Tiddlywinks World Championships singles
- Most wins of Tiddlywinks World Championships Pairs
- North American Championships (Tiddlywinks)
- English National Championships (Tiddlywinks)
- Tiddlywinks, fastest mile (individual)
- Tiddlywinks – fastest mile (team of two)
- Longest wink shot in tiddlywinks
- Farthest distance travelled playing tiddlywinks in 24 hours
- Highest wink shot in tiddlywinks
The above records haven’t always been recognized nor published by Guinness over the years. In addition, a wide variety of additional tiddlywinks records have been published by Guinness in the past. It should also be noted that in some years, Guinness published different tiddlywinks records in its American books than in its British books.
Larry Kahn, who had won 23 world tiddlywinks championships from 1983 through 2011, including 16 World Pairs from 1978 to 2011.
Source: 2013 Guinness Book of Records
Please note that IFTwA, NATwA, and ETwA are not party to selecting the tiddlywinks world record events selected for publication by the Guinness Book of Records (as it has typically been titled in the UK) nor the Guinness Book of World Records (as it was for many years titled in the USA).
Should anyone be interested in attempting to exceed current Guinness-recognized world records for any tiddlywinks events, we recommend that you investigate Guinness requirements before embarking upon any attempt to set or break a world record.
As apropos, historical documentation of Guinness-recognized tiddlywinks world records will be noted elsewhere on this page once discovered and validated. We observe that some tiddlywinks world records published by Guinness in some cases do not reflect tiddlywinks world records recognized by NATwA or ETwA.
In addition to records elsewhere identified on this web page as published by Guinness, here are a couple more Guinness-published records (and this is just a small sample, given the many years that the Guinness Book of (World) Records have been published:
- Guinness Trophy
1980: England has remained unbeaten against Scotland, Ireland, and Wales since the Trophy’s inception on 7 May 1960 - Silver Wink Trophy
1980: Has been won a record six times by Cambridge University to 1979
Official Records—Generally Accepted by NATwA and ETwA
Following are tiddlywinks records that generally have been recognized by NATwA and/or ETwA , along with guidelines for setting such records. In some cases, these records were reported in an informal way, and verification of them retrospectively may not be possible.
Some or all of the following records may or may not be currently recognized by the Guinness Book of Records though some may have been recognized by them in the past.
See also the English Tiddlywinks Association records page.
Accuracy—Pot from the Line
Objective: pot 12 small winks from 3 feet in the minimum number of shots.
Reported Records
- 21 shots, by Larry Kahn, in July 1978;
equaled later by Dave Lockwood in 1987 (to be confirmed) - 23 shots, by Michael Brogden of Hull University, in October 1962 (per Winking World 3);
equaled by Alan Cooper of the Altrincham Grammar School, on 3 January 1964;
equaled by Jim King of Ealing Grammar School, on 2 May 1965;
equaled by Gerry Courtney of Exeter University, on 18 January 1967 (per Winking World 11, page 7);
equaled by Nick Inglis and Andy Purvis, on 21 October 1989 (per Winking World 55, page 60) - 24 shots, by Peter Kershaw of the Manchester Grammar School, as of March 1961 (per Winking World 1):
- 25 shots, by Peter Downes, as of October 1960 (per Winking World 0)
The fateful night occurred sometime in early July of 1978, shortly after I had moved into my new house. I was practicing potting while a couple of my roommates casually watched while having a bull session. I was beginning a twelve wink attempt and Carnovskied the first wink. Somebody noticed and said ‘that wasn't bad’. I gave them a quick rundown of the twelve wink record and they watched as I lined up the second wink. Another Carnovsky! I couldn't believe it! Now I got really excited because I could get a 22 and there would be someone there to see it. I continued, very carefully, and after 7 or 8 winks I had two in and all the others well within range. Then lightning struck for the third time, another Carnovsky! Now I was really sweating but I managed to get the last few in quite close to the cup.So here I was, in twelve shots I had put three winks in, had one ten incher, one eight incher and everything else closer than six. I could feel that if I missed even once it was all over because the magic would be gone. I started with the close ones, as is my style, and all went in. I was terribly afraid of a bounce out because I couldn't stand the thought of losing it that way. I lined up the eight incher and in it went. For the last one I was more nervous than for any other pot I ever tried but somehow it went in.I was absolutely stunned. Not being winkers, my roommates were somewhat impressed but soon drifted away to do something else. I literally couldn't move for about ten minutes while I contemplated the feat.
Larry Kahn, in the article, 21?, Newswink 11, page 6, 2 August 1980
Speed—24 Small Winks
Objective: pot 24 small winks from 18 inches in the shortest time possible.
Reported Records
- 21.8 seconds, by Steve Williams of the Altrincham Grammar School, as of October 1966 (per Winking World 10, page 9)—which equates to 1.1 winks per second
- 23.7 seconds, by Steve Williams of the Altrincham Grammar School, on 5 January 1966 (per Winking World 9, page 7)
- 26.5 seconds, by Allen Astles of the Altrincham Grammar School, on 3 January 1964 (per Winking World 5)
- 33 seconds, by Allen Astles of the Altrincham Grammar School, on 15 June 1963 (per Winking World 4)
- 35 seconds, by Robert Goodsman of the Flying Disc Tiddlywinks Club, as of March 1961 (per Winking World 1)
equalled by Allen Astles of the Altrincham Grammar School, on 2 January 1962 (per Winking World 3) - 39 seconds, by J. K. Bardsley of the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, as of October 1960 (per Winking World 0)
The record for potting 24 winks from 18 in 45 cm is 21.8 sec by Stephen Williams, Altrincham Grammar School) in May 1966.
Guinness Book of Records, 26th edition (for British distribution), 1980, page 297 (photocopy in NATwA Archives)
Four-Pot Relay
Rules: 12 winks are placed 15 inches from the first of a row of four pots. One winker is stationed at each of the four pots. At the word “go”, the player on number one pot squidges the winks as fast as possible into the pot. As soon as he gets one in, player no. 2 removes it and places it 15 inches from pot 2, and squidges it for his pot. So on all the way through the four pots. The object is to get as many winks as possible through all four pots in three minutes. A second set of 12 winks can only be started when all of the first 12 are in the fourth pot, in which case they are removed from the fourth pot.
Reported Records
- 44 winks by Graham J. Stamper, John Bartholomew, Gerry Courtney, and Derek Ringer of Exeter University, on 15 February 1967 (per Winking World 11, page 7)
- 42 winks, by Andy Noakes, Jones, Steve Williams and Allen Astles of Altrincham Grammar School, on 7 July 1964 (per Winking World 6)
equalled by Graham Stamper, John Bartholomew, Gerry Courtney, and Derek Ringer of Exeter University, on 11 February 1967 (per Winking World 11, page 7) - 41 winks, by Patrick Barrie, Nick Inglis, Geoff Myers, and Andy Purvis, on 21 October 1989 (per Winking World 55, page 60, and per ETwA.org, retrieved 20 January 2020)
- 40 winks, by the Altrincham Grammar School team, on 18 June 1963 (per Winking World 4)
- 39 winks, by the Flying Disk Tiddlywinks Club, Birmingham, as of March 1961 (per Winking World 1)
- 39 winks, by Larry Kahn, Jim Marlin, Dave Lockwood, and Rick Tucker, 10 May 1988; here’s a video made for the Australian television show, Just for the Record, planned to air in July 1988.
- 36 winks, by the Queensbury Casuals, as of October 1960 (per Winking World 0)
- 33 winks by Ferd Wulkan, Bob Henninge, Sunshine, and Severin Drix, performed four times. Source: Newswink 3, September 1970, page 8, as corrected to be four times in Newswink 4, April 1971, page 2
- 29 winks by Paul Light, Paul Hoffman, Andrew James, and Geoff Thorpe, on 6 December 1974 (published in the Guinness Book of Records, 26th edition (for British distribution), 1980, page 297)
Most World and National Titles
As of 13 September 2022.
World Championships
- World Singles: Larry Kahn (USA) has won the title 24 times (1983–2016)
- World Pairs: Larry Kahn (USA) has won the title 20 times (1978–2022)
North American Championships
- NATwA Singles: Larry Kahn (USA) has won the title 31 times (1981–2019), including 18 times in a row (2002-2019)
- NATwA Pairs: Larry Kahn (USA) has won the title 26 times (1976–2019)
English National Championships
Current
- ETwA Singles: Patrick Barrie (UK) has won the title 10 times (1993–2018)
- ETwA Pairs: Matthew Rose (UK) has won the title 11 times (1996–2017)
Historical
Alan Dean (Southampton) has won the singles title a record five times, 1971-3, 1976, 1978. He has also won the pairs title three times, as have Jon Mapley and Keith Seaman.
Source: Guinness Book of Records, 26th edition (for British distribution), 1980, page 297 (photocopy in NATwA Archives)
Tiddlywinks Marathons • Claimed Records
No, it’s not 26.2 miles; it’s measured in hours and minutes of continuous tiddlywinks play. While not an official record event, a variety of winks marathons have been played with a range of individuals involved (2, 4, 6, 8, or more), with or without breaks, and so on, as follows. Though Guinness doesn’t have separate categories for tiddlywinks marathons, NATwA at least would suggest that there should be separate records for 2 person tiddlywinks marathons during which both winkers play the entire time, versus marathons involving more than 2 winkers, versus marathons involving more than 2 winkers during which some winkers do not play and hence may be resting. In any case, here are some reports of tiddlywinks marathons. Yawn!
240 Hours • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 6 Winkers
TIDDLYWINKS MARATHON The most protracted game on record is one of 240 hours by six players from St. Anselm's College, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, August 2-12, 1977.
Source: Guinness cartoon, published in the Times-Advocate (Escondido, California), 27 July 1980, in the comics section.
Beating 168 Hours and 9 Minutes • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 6 Winkers
LONDON (UPI)—Six students at Quintin Kynaston school started a nonstop tiddlywinks marathon Monday to beat the 168 hour, nine minute world record claimed last year by Southampton.
United Press International, appearing in Daily Facts, Redlands, California, 2 January 1973, page B2, column 4
I was one of the six mentioned. Sorry memory a bit weak but there’s was Chris Robinson, Simon Poltawski, he punctured a lunge in the the last six hour stint ! That’s dedication for you. Ray Stevens ? We did it six hours on, six hours off, played in pairs, varying the players to suit. Contacted by American Radio, so thus the note in the paper below. I think we held the record for six years, before Merseyside University took it up to 240 hours.
Post by Del James on 26 May 2020 at 20:35 on Kynaston School website
Just a note on the tiddlywinks marathon of 1973, there were two others Laurence Caluori and Simon Gould. Seem to remember a lot of hangers on making the most of staying overnight in school, Mark Elder etc.
Laurence Caluori post on 6 June 2020 at 17:49 on the Kynaston School website
144 Hours and 2 Minutes • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 8 Winkers
Do you keep up with record performances? If so, you no doubt will be interested to learn that eight students from Lane Technical High School in Chicago, who held the marathon Tiddlywinks records, lost it to a team of six from Cornwall, England, who played for 144 hours and two minutes.—Wacil McNair
The Snyder Daily News (Snyder, Texas), 5 May 1972, page
120 Hours • Marathon Record • 8 Winkers
The longest game of tiddlywinks was played in 1970 by eight Chicago students. The game lasted more than 120 hours.
The Medicine Hat News (Canada), 12 November 1973, page 13, column 3
82 Hours • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 8 Winkers
Boys Claim Record Tiddlywink Marathon LONDON (AP)—Eight British schoolboys finished 85 hours of nonstop tiddlywinks Sunday night and did a little something for charity. The boys, aged 17 and 18, started potting winks New Year’s Day in an attempt to raise funds for the British charity Oxfam. [...] Guinness lists the previous record as 72 hours, set by a team of British Young Conservatives in July 1968.
Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Kentucky), 5 January 1970, page 5, column 1
67 Hours • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 4 Winkers
Four winkers from the University of Toronto winked for 67 hours from 19 to 21 January 1967, eclipsing the previous record of 56 hours held by a team from the University of Waterloo.
Eight guys started at 11 a.m. (Thursday January 19th) [...] at 8 p.m. on Saturday January 21, after we had played for 57 hours, four of the eight members, myself included, decided to continue for another ten hours to set a new record of 67 hours. These four were [Byron] Alexandroff, [Paul] Zutautus, [Ken] Clarke, and [Al] Laucke. [...] There were two witnesses who stayed the extra ten hours with us until 6 a.m. on Sunday.
Winking World 11, page 6, March 1967
This marathon event by University of Toronto winkers took place at Towne & Countrye Square in North Toronto. The team sold honorary associate memberships, will proceeds donated to the Heart Fund charity.
The 67 hour tiddlywinks marathon was reported to be published as a new world record in the Guinness Book of Records’ 1967 edition.
Additional Sources
- Toike Oike, 9 February 1967, page 2, published by the Engineering Society of the University of Toronto
- Toike Oike, 2 March 1967, page 7
56 Hours • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 4 Winkers
Four players from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, nudged the record up to 56 hours in mid-October last. The gentlemen concerned, Andy Tomaino, Helmut Roth, Henry Shields and Ronald Rumm, started at 10 a.m. Thursday, October 13th, 1966, finishing at 6 p.m. Saturday 15th. Meanwhile, four others[,] Marie Kennedy, Paul Gardner,
ThorIhorGawdenGawdan and Barry Gillespie, who started half an hour later, played for 55½ hours.Winking World 11, page 6, March 1967
A world sporting record was set in October by four University of Waterloo students. They played tiddlywinks for 56 hours—straight from Thursday, October 13 at 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday October 15. This broke the previous world record of 54 hours.
Source: University of Waterloo Archives. University of Waterloo Quarterly, December 1966, page 8
55 Hours • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 8 Winkers
The marathon, though an unofficial record, is an extremely popular feature of Rag Weeks, and was broken by eight members of the Lanchester College Tiddlywinks Group during Coventry Rag Week. The eight players played as two teams of four, continuously from 10.30 a.m. on Monday to 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, a total of 55 hours.
Winking World 10, page 9, October 1966
50 Hours and 30 Minutes • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 4 Winkers
The University of Strathclyde beat the unofficial winking marathon record by having 4 people who winked continuously for 50 hours 30 minutes.
Winking World 8, page 12, October 1965
40 Hours • Tiddlywinks Marathon Records • 4 Winkers
Also, four winkers from the University of London Union club played each other according to full ETwA Rules for 40 hours non-stop, in a Regent Street shop window.
Winking World 7, page 9, March 1965
32 Hours and 12 Minutes • Tiddlywinks Marathon Record • 2 Winkers
Josef Sachs and Rich Steidle of the MIT Tiddlywinks Association winked continuously for 32 hours and 12 minutes. This remains the longest marathon reported involving only two winkers.
This marathon was held in the lobby of MIT’s Building 10, starting at noon on 21 January 1975 and ending at 8:12 pm the next day.
55 games were played—41 won by Josef Sachs and 14 by Rich Steidle.
Rich Steidle won 30 of the squidge-offs, while Josef Sachs won 25.
22 of the games ended in putouts, with Josef Sachs winning 18 and Rich Steidle, 4.
The points-per-win was 5.512, and points-per-loss, 2. The overall points-per-game was 4.618.
6 of the games ended in a 7-0, all won by Josef Sachs.
30 Hours • Tiddlywinks Marathon Records • 2 Winkers
Both the following records were set up during Rag Weeks, in 1963. Two students from Leicester University winked non-stop for 30 hours, in a shop front in Leicester, against a succession of challengers (and won the majority of their games).
Winking World 7, page 9, March 1965
24¾ Hours • Earliest Known Tiddlywinks Marathon Record
In 1961 two Bancroftian sixth-formers, David Holding and I, approached the managing director of a department store in Ilford High Streeet with a view to staging a tiddlywinks marathon in his front window and thereby creating a world record. The department store was Moultons and its managing director was the eponymous Alex, better known for his invention of the Moulton bicycle. To our surprise he agreed. However he made one stipulation, which in the event proved ill-advised. We had envisaged the marathon as purely a test of stamina, without any serious competitive scoring, much like the accuracy and speed competitions. Alex Moulton however insisted that it be a match and so we had to recruit another school against whom to play. The choice fell upon St Ignatius of Tottenham, tho’ I cannot recall how or why. The marathon commenced at 1000 on Friday 14th April 1961 and continued through the night and into Saturday morning, attracting substantial crowds of curious shoppers (and late-night drinkers during the small hours). The snag was that St Ignatius, having no previous winks experience, regarded the whole event as a bit of a lark, whereas we saw ourselves as serious players intent on accomplishing the marathon with full attention to the rules and conventions of play. The consequence was that the event deteriorated somewhat and the store management concluded that the publicity value was fast diminishing and so turfed us out at 1045 on the Saturday. So the marathon lasted for just 24¾ hours—nonetheless a world record. Such was my indignation at this turn of events that I walked the seven miles home just to demonstrate (at any rate to myself) that we could have gone on. The good news was that the London Evening News carried the event in its edition of Saturday 15th April. It's reporting was almost wholly inaccurate; nonetheless it featured a picture of us. Unfortunately we were kept off the front page by another world record achieved that day—that of Yuri Gagarin’s 90 minute journey round the earth.
Richard Ackland email to Rick Tucker and others, 7 March 2016
Squidging Records
Long-Distance Squidging
[...] there is no official long-distance squidging record, nor official rules governing it. There are, however, some unofficial performances. The distance between Bradford Town Hall and Leeds Town Hall is 10.4 miles. In 1964 students from Bradford Institute of Technology winked, along the road in just over 19 hours. Then Leeds College of Technology students covered the same journey in 6 hours 58 minutes (excluding 20 minutes of coffee breaks). They used one-foot square felt-covered boards, the wink being squidged off the board into the distance; another board is placed beside the wink when it comes to rest and the wink is moved sideways onto the board and squidged again. A team of five did this, unsupported by vehicles, refreshments and spare winks being carried in a rucksack. They fractured two winks; three went down drains; one was lost in the grass, another in the dark, another in Leeds canal, and two more were cracked beyond use.
Winking World 7, page 9, March 1965
Furthest Distance Traveled By Tiddlywinks The furthest distance for a tiddlywink to travel is 3.5 km (2.2 miles) over a period of 5 hrs 41 mins 4 secs, by AGS Home improvements Ltd of Newton Abbot, Devon, UK, on November 20, 1999. The record-breaking participants built a ‘tiddlywagon’ to enable the tiddlywinker to be carried along by colleagues, leaving the player's hands free to tiddlywink along the ground.
Yan Wang email to [email protected], sent on 11 October 2004, quoting Guinness records from its books
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP)—Instead of braving subzero cold for a 50-mile hike, a group of Notre Dame freshmen were exerting their vigor today on a tiddlywink marathon. Second-floor residents of Breen-Phillips Hall reported a distance of 30 miles covered in continuous flipping up and down their corridor since 7 a.m. yesterday. They expected to finish their 50-mile distance tonight.
The News Blue Streak (Indianapolis, Indiana), 22 February 1963, page 1, column 2
Fastest Tiddlywinks Mile
Fastest Tiddlywinks Mile The record for the fastest tiddlywink mile is 52 minutes 10 seconds and was set by Edward Wynn and James Cullingham (both UK) in Stradbroke, Suffolk, UK on 31 August 2002.
Yan Wang email to [email protected], sent on 11 October 2004, quoting Guinness records from its books
Long Jump
Achieving the greatest horizontal distance from a wink’s original position on a mat after shooting it, to the position where the wink initially strikes a surface of nearly comparable height.
The tiddlywinks "long jump" record of 31 feet 3 inches is held by Ben Soares. It wasn't a pot, merely the distance to the first bounce for a wink squidged from ground level.
Patrick Barrie email to [email protected], sent on 11 October 2004
TIDDLYWINKS Longest wink shot 9.52 m (31 ft 3 in) Ben Soares (UK)
Guinness World Records 2017, page 124
Farthest Wink Shot In Tiddlywinks The record for the farthest wink shot in tiddlywinks is 9.52 m (31 ft 3 in), accomplished by Ben Soares of the St. Andrew's Tiddlywinks Society at Queen's College Tournament, Cambridge, England, on January 14, 1995.
Yan Wang email to [email protected], sent on 11 October 2004, quoting Guinness records from its books
in the Long Jump, Andy [Purvis] managed to overcome the psychological 30' barrier before anyone had even thought of its existence, with a squidge of 30' 1".
Winking World 55, page 60, October 1990; record set on 21 October 1989
In the autumn of 1965 Nottingham University Tiddlywinks Society made an attempt on the long-distance squidge record, which stood at 21' 1½". This was beaten several times, the best distance being achieved by Bob Thomson with 27' 5½". While brute force is not the object of winks, it is interesting to know that winkers have strength as well as skill.
Winking World 9, page 7, March 1966
The longest known single squidge was achieved in 1960 or 1961 by a winker in Hull, who squidged a wink 21 feet 1½ inches.
Winking World 7, page 9, March 1965
High Jump
Achieving the highest vertical distance above a mat during a shot from a wink’s original position on the mat.
Adrian Jones, Dave Smith and Ed Wynn skilfully cleared 3.49m in the High Jump
Winking World 55, page 60, October 1990; record set on 21 October 1989
TIDDLYWINKS Highest wink shot 3.49 m (11 ft 5 in) Adrian Jones (UK), David Smith (UK), Ed Wynn (UK)
Guinness World Records 2017, page 124
Highest Wink Shot In Tiddlywinks The Tiddlywinks record for the highest wink shot is 3.49 m. (11 ft. 5 in.), and is jointly held by Adrian Jones, David Smith, and Ed Wynn, all of Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, on October 21, 1989.
Yan Wang email to [email protected], sent on 11 October 2004, quoting Guinness records from its books
Potting Records
Shortest Time to Pot 10,000 Winks
10,000 winks to be potted from 18 inches in the shortest time possible, in as many shots as needed.
- 3 hours, 41 minutes, 45.5 seconds, by Allen Astles, 11 February 1967 (Winking World 11, page 7)—which equates to 1⅓ winks potted per second
- 3 hours, 51 minutes, 46 seconds, by Allen Astles, February 1966 (Winking World 9, page 7)
- 3 hours, 59 minutes, by Allen Astles, on 12 February 1965 (Winking World 7, page 12)
The unofficial record for potting 10,000 winks (invented and held by Allen Astles) was beaten by Allen Astles on Feb 11th [1967], when he potted them in precisely 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 45.5 seconds.
Winking World 11, page 7, March 1967
Unofficial records continue to provide a challenge to winkers; Allen Astles, who in 1965 potted 10,000 winks from 18", repeated this preformance performance in February 1966, and actually beat his own record; the present time is 3 hours 51 minutes 46 seconds, if anyone cares to try to beat it!
Winking World 9, page 7, March 1966
Allen R. Astles (University of Wales) potted 10,000 winks in 3 hours 51 min 46 sec at Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire in February 1966.
Guinness Book of Records, 26th edtion (for British distribution), 1980, page 297 (photocopy in NATwA Archives)
College Rag Days seem to inspire a good many offbeat unofficial records. The latest was an attempt to pot 10,000 winks from 18 inches in the shortest time on a standard surface. The attempt was made in a shop window in Aberystwyth on Friday 12th February by Allen Astles, holder of the world record of 26.5 seconds for potting 24 winks from 18 inches. The 10,000 winks record was set up using two tables with a pot and 30 winks on each. While Astles was potting the 30 winks on one table, someone else was setting up the winks on the other, so that Astles could squidge continuously. The 10,000 winks were potted in 3 hours 59 minutes, this time including about 15 minutes of resting. ‘As a consequence,’ Allen writes, ‘I suffered from a stiff back, blurred vision, stiff left hand, and a sore and bruised thumb.’
Winking World 7, page 12, March 1965
Shortest Time to Pot 1500 Winks
Another record that N.U.T.S. claim is that of potting 1,500 winks in 3 hours 43 minutes, playing according to Queensberry rules.
Winking World 9, page 7, March 1966
Shortest Time to Pot 50,000 Winks
Manchester G.S. have succeeded in potting 50,000 winks in 29 hours 11 minutes, which for sheer numbers is the best achievement so far, but the conditions are not known.
Winking World 9, page 7, March 1966
Most Winks Potted in 3 Hours
Easily the most impressive achievement of the day was Patrick’s [Barrie]; he potted 6158 winks from 18” in three hours.
Winking World 55, page 60, October 1990; record set on 21 October 1989
Most Winks Potted in 1000 Attempts
Sunshine potted 996 of 1000 winks at a distance of 2 in. (Ed. note - where did Sunshine get the 1000 winks?)
Newswink 3, page 8, September 1970, as corrected to be 996 in Newswink 4, page 2, April 1971
Most Winks Potted from Various Distances For Various Numbers of Winks
Sunshine describes a range of additional potting records in his Alleghany Airlines Book Club Presents perversions catalog.
Longest Consecutive Potting Streak
The number of winks potted successively without missing, without a break.
Ray Mears of Aldershot [...] claims the record for the largest number of winks potted successively with legal shots without missing. He has potted 292 small winks and 382 big winks.
Winking World 15, page 5, July 1969
Long Pot
Achieving the longest distance in potting a wink, from the original position of the wink on a mat to the position of the pot into which it was shot. The pot is placed beyond the borders of a regulation-sized mat, perhaps on another table. Any records for Long Pot should be conducted with both the wink and pot at roughly the same height.
No records have been identified for the Long Pot, other than 3 feet during a Carnovsky, since 3 feet is the distance between a corner baseline on a regulation mat and the pot at center. Many winkers have accomplished a Carnovsky.
Most Winks Potted Onto an Inverted Pot
Ray Mears [...] claims to have squidged 32 small winks onto an inverted pot with legal shots.
Winking World 15, page 5, July 1969