Tiddlywinks (or TIDDLEDY WINKS as it was known at the time) was an incredible craze in the 1890s.
Check out Rick Tucker’s online book, Tiddlywinks • Origins and Evolution of the Noble & Royal Game for further information on the origins and early history of the game.
Tucker’s Tiddlywinks Game Catalog contains an extensive listing of all known tiddlywinks games, illuminating the wide variations of the game through the past century and more.
Competitive tiddlywinks in the modern era originated at Cambridge University in 1954 (although precursors are known at Cambridge in 1947 and even before). Guy Consterdine authored the seminal history of the origins of competitive tiddlywinks, On the Mat (1954 to 1958), and also Winks Rampant (1958) about the expansion of winks to UK-wide public recognition. In 1962, Oxford toured the US, and a number of US collegiate teams were formed. Severin Drix reports on the early years of NATwA and Fred Shapiro reports on the history of US winks overall.
A detailed chronology of tiddlywinks is also available.