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World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

(www.theguardian.com)
424 points notamy | 4 comments | 15 Oct 24 03:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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umanwizard ◴[15 Oct 24 03:33 UTC] No.41844648[source]▶
Is this game well-known enough in Britain and Ireland that readers will know what on earth is being alleged just from reading this article? Or are you expected to have to google it?

Apparently it’s a game where you take turns swinging a chestnut on a string and trying to hit the opponent’s chestnut and break it. Yes, I can see how a steel fake chestnut would be an advantage here, though I’m amazed it wouldn’t be instantly obvious to even a casual observer that the look and sound were wrong. So maybe I’m still missing something.

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1. thih9 ◴[15 Oct 24 06:50 UTC] No.41845668[source]▶
Can you cheat by purposefully missing the opponent’s conker? Thus reducing the total impact on conkers in this match vs conkers in other matches and getting an advantage?
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2. bluehatbrit ◴[15 Oct 24 07:55 UTC] No.41845998[source]▶
I can't imagine so. A match is over when one persons conker is destroyed. If you were purposefully missing, you'd be throwing the game. Theirs would still take a battering from hitting yours as well.
3. krisoft ◴[15 Oct 24 08:00 UTC] No.41846058[source]▶
But then how would you smash theirs? That sounds a bit like cheating by staying at home and not playing.
4. lmm ◴[15 Oct 24 12:42 UTC] No.41847969[source]▶
You take it in turns to hit, moving yours on their turn is cheating. Given that you have a lot more control over what kind of hit happens on your turn than on theirs, skipping your turn is never going to give you an advantage (unless your opponent is somehow anti-competent).