North American Tiddlywinks Association

NATwA founded • 27 February 1966


Tiddlywinks • Origins & Evolution of the Noble & Royal Game

© 2023 Rick Tucker • All Rights Reserved



In addition to tiddlywinks games issued in rectangular wooden boxes, several other varieties of tiddlywinks games were produced in wooden containers in other shapes, notably in mushroom containers plus also in cylindrical wooden containers.

 

German Mushroom • Flohspiel Games

Predominantly in Germany (and also West Germany), tiddlywinks games were produced in wooden mushroom-shaped containers (both tops and bottoms) that traditionally had red mushroom tops that sometimes sported white splotches. While the years this games came out isn’t precisely known, they are believed to have been produced from the 1950s to the the 1970s, at least, and perhaps before and after. The quality of the winks in these mushroom tiddlywinks games is top-notch, since the winks in these games do not exhibit cheap burrs that were typical starting in the 1970s and thereafter.

Here’s DAS GUTE FLOH-SPIEL (The Good Tiddlywinks Game).

Tucker Tw ID • UNK-154v1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOH SPIEL
UNK-154v1 _ G-38290c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOH SPIEL -item cover
Tucker Tw ID • UNK-154v1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOH SPIEL
UNK-154v1 _ G-38290c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOH SPIEL -item container and contents

And NEUES FLOHSPIEL (New Tiddlywinks).

Tucker Tw ID • UNK-163c1 — AGPI ID • G-38345c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • NEUES FLOHSPIEL — notes • Natural wooden mushroom-style container.
UNK-163c1 _ G-38345c1 _ Unknown, German _ NEUES FLOHSPIEL -cover
Tucker Tw ID • UNK-163c1 — AGPI ID • G-38345c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • NEUES FLOHSPIEL — notes • Natural wooden mushroom-style container.
UNK-163c1 _ G-38345c1 _ Unknown, German _ NEUES FLOHSPIEL

And here’s another traditional FLOH-SPIEL tiddlywinks mushroom game from Germany. This version not only sports the traditional red painted wooden cover, but also a simple illustration of a yellow wink on a blue background at left plus a blue wink on a yellow background at right.

Tucker Tw ID • UNK-164c1 — AGPI ID • G-38349c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOH-SPIEL — notes • Red wooden mushroom container. Yellow and blue illustration on top.
UNK-164c1 _ G-38349c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOH-SPIEL -item cover and contents
Tucker Tw ID • UNK-165c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOHSPIEL (on rules, not container)
UNK-165c1 _ G-38350c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOHSPIEL (on rules, not container) -rules

Oh, and there’s lots more of the German mushroom tiddlywinks games on this front! Let’s continue to explore them.

Here’s one with FLOH Spiel on the top of the mushroom wooden container, with each of the letters of FLOH on a differently colored wink, and Spiel on a squidger. This game came with 6 plastic winks and 1 squidger in each of the 6 colors.

Tucker Tw ID • UNK-101c1 — AGPI ID • G-30820c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOH Spiel — notes • Red wooden mushroom container. Letters of "FLOH" on different colored winks.
UNK-101c1 _ G-30820c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOH Spiel -cover
Tucker Tw ID • UNK-101c1 — AGPI ID • G-30820c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOH Spiel — notes • Red wooden mushroom container. Letters of "FLOH" on different colored winks.
UNK-101c1 _ G-30820c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOH Spiel -contents

Ah, yes! There are so many more wooden tiddlywinks games. Here you go! Here’s the FLOH SPIEL 4×4.

It is all-too-common for tiddlywinks games to be missing winks and also for nonoriginal winks to be added to them. In this case, this game should have four winks in four colors (hence “4×4” on the cover). The plastic winks and squidgers shown at the bottom of the image below appear to be original, while the winks at top are not original.

Tucker Tw ID • UNK-167c1 — AGPI ID • G-38355c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOH SPIEL 4x4 — notes • Red wooden mushroom container. "FLOH" on blue wink, "SPIEL" on yellow wink, "4x4" on green wink.
UNK-167c1 _ G-38355c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOH SPIEL 4x4 -cover =DSC06761
Tucker Tw ID • UNK-167c1 — AGPI ID • G-38355c1 — publisher • (unknown, German) — title • FLOH SPIEL 4x4 — notes • Red wooden mushroom container. "FLOH" on blue wink, "SPIEL" on yellow wink, "4x4" on green wink.
UNK-167c1 _ G-38355c1 _ Unknown, German _ FLOH SPIEL 4x4 -contents =DSC06766