Simplified version of the rules - The English Tiddlywinks Association

The Rules of Tiddlywinks (Simplified Version)

As approved by the English Tiddlywinks Association

This is a condensed version of the full official rules of tiddlywinks.

These rules are © Copyright the English Tiddlywinks Association. The English Tiddlywinks Association permits copying of the rules provided that (1) this copyright notice is retained together with attribution to the English

Tiddlywinks Association; (2) copying is only for non-commercial purposes; (3) no derivative works are based on these rules.

The full official rules of tiddlywinks and information on the English Tiddlywinks Association can be found on the web site www.etwa.org

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Introduction

1. Tiddlywinks is a game for 2-4 people involving playing pieces of four different colours.

1.1 When four people play, it is a partnership game with each person controlling one of the four colours. The person playing blue partners the person playing red, while the person playing green partners the person playing yellow. This version of the game is called pairs.

1.2 When two people play, each person controls both colours of a partnership. One player controls blue and red, while the other player controls green and yellow. This version of the game is called singles.

1.3 When three people play, one person controls both colours of a partnership (i.e. plays singles), while the other two people each control one colour (i.e. play pairs).

Equipment

2. The following equipment is used in a game of tiddlywinks.

2.1 Winks: the six plastic discs of each colour that are used as playing pieces.

2.2 Squidgers: the discs that are used to play the winks.

2.3 The mat: the playing surface on which the game takes place.

2.4 The pot: the container into which winks may be played.

The Squidge-Off

3. The “squidge-off” takes place as follows.

3.1 The pot is placed in the centre of the mat.

3.2 The winks are placed behind the baselines so that each corner of the mat contains winks of only one colour. The arrangement of colours in a clockwise direction should correspond to their alphabetical order in the English language (i.e. blue –green–red–yellow).

3.3 One wink of each colour is played from behind the baseline towards the pot. The colour of the wink that ends up nearest the pot is deemed to have won the squidge-off.

3.4 Once the squidge-off winner has been determined, the winks are replaced behind the baselines before the start of the game.

The Game

4. Play begins starting with the colour that won the squidge-off.

5. Play proceeds with the colours having turns in sequence. The sequence should correspond to alphabetical order of the colours in the English language.

6. During the course of a game, winks fall into the following categories.

© The English Tiddlywinks Association

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6.1 A wink may come to rest inside the pot. Such a wink is referred to as a potted wink.

6.2. An unpotted wink may come to rest in a position where it is vertically above all or part of another unpotted wink. In this situation, the upper wink is referred to as a squopping wink and the lower wink as a squopped wink.

6.3. A wink that is neither potted nor squopped is referred to as a free wink.

7. For a particular shot, the player must exert downward pressure of squidger onto a free wink of the colour to be played. The squidger may subsequently hit those winks squopped by the first wink played provided that the movement of the squidger is quick and continuous from the moment when the first wink moves.

8. If a person pots one of the winks of the colour being played in a particular shot, then the person gets an extra shot as part of the same turn.

9. If any wink is sent off the mat then it is replaced on the mat at the position that it went off before the start of the next shot.

10. If a person’s shot causes one or more winks of the colour being played to go off the mat, then the next shot to be played with that colour is forfeited.

The End of the Game

11. If all six winks of one colour become potted, that colour is said to have “potted out”.

12. The game ends in one of two ways:

(i) after a timed period followed by a round limit period;

(ii) after a colour has potted out, followed by a period in which the other colours pot out;

13. The timed period of a game starts from the first shot played after the squidge-off and normally lasts 25 minutes for pairs games, 20 minutes for singles games, and 22½ minutes for games involving three players.

14. After the timed period has ended, a round limit period is played. Play continues up to and including the turn of the colour that won the squidge-off, after which five further rounds of the colours are played, each round ending after the turn of the colour that won the squidge-off.

15. If no colour has potted out during either the timed period or the round limit period, the game is declared ended and the winner is decided by counting tiddlies. Three tiddlies are awarded for each wink in the pot, and one tiddly is awarded for each free wink that has been played from behind the baseline. The tiddlies for each colour are counted separately. The partnership controlling the colour with the greatest number of tiddlies wins the game.

16. If all six winks of one colour become potted, whether by the person controlling them or not, that colour has potted out. The partnership controlling the first colour to be potted out wins the game.

Other Rules

17. The full official rules of tiddlywinks enlarge on the basic rules above, and include:

Dimensions of equipment

Definition of a legal shot

How the game is scored

What to do if a partnership has no free winks

What to do if a foul shot is played

Etiquette rules

Notes and guidance

© The English Tiddlywinks Association

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