An academic from Cambridge University has successfully defended his world tiddlywinks crown after defeating an American competitor nicknamed the Dragon.
The sport requires players to propel small plastic discs into a target cup by pressing one piece against another.
While its origins date back to the late Victorian era, the English Tiddlywinks Association notes that the modern competitive game originated in 1955 when Cambridge undergraduates convened at Christ’s College.
Prof Patrick Barrie, 61, triumphed in the World Singles Tiddlywinks Championships on Thursday after a seven-hour match at the Castle Inn pub in Cambridge.
Prof Barrie, from Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, compared the challenger format to "like a boxing world title".
"You have a champion and only a national singles winner can challenge you," he said.
His opponent was American tiddlywinks veteran Dave Lockwood, who lives just outside Washington DC.
Prof Barrie said of his 26-23 victory: “It’s a curious mixture of elation and relief. I’m very pleased.”
He continued: “It was a long old match, it went on for seven hours. It was close, hard-fought.
“The relief is because I was favourite to win and expected to win, which puts you under a different type of pressure.
“I know Dave, I’ve known him a long time, and he’s a formidable opponent on his day.
“I had to do my best to make sure it wasn’t his day.”
He said that the pair “have a rivalry” and he was “glad to come out on top” and win the trophy.
Prof Barrie said tiddlywinks is “a nice mixture of physical skill, but with some intellectual thinking”.
“You’ve got to think about strategy and tactics, you have to control your nerves,” he said.
“It doesn’t take long to become good at all the shots.
“If you practice the shots a lot you become good at the shots fairly quickly, within six months or so.
“But knowing when to play the shots is what takes quite a lot of years to develop.
“When I was young I took up lots and lots of hobbies and I little thought the only one I would still be doing decades later would be playing tiddlywinks, and competitively.”
American challenger Mr Lockwood said he had been due to play the fixture earlier this year but was admitted to hospital with a subdural haematoma – bleeding inside the brain – so it was postponed until this month.
The 73-year-old, who has worked for three airlines and been an entrepreneur, said he had “10 staples in my skull, there’s still a two-inch trench where the incision was, it was significant”.
He said he was “at least 99 if not 100% recovered” but “I will probably greatly reduce my winking activity after 56 years of doing it after this series of matches”.
He added: “I have been the best in the world in the past and I can’t quite match the level of skill and consistency that the best players can, so I think it’s a good time for me to emphasise some other parts, grandchildren and maybe some more travel.”
Mr Lockwood said of his opponent: “I give all congratulations to Patrick, he’s possibly the best player of all time and I’m glad I gave him a challenge, a good battle.”
He said he was “putting myself under four intensive days of massive winks” while visiting the UK, competing in pairs championships in the coming days, separately alongside two of his sons.
Harley Jones, who is chairman of the English Tiddlywinks Association, was the umpire of the championships.
The 34-year-old, of Ely, Cambridgeshire, said tiddlywinks was “like chess if you could miss” and Thursday’s game was “really nail-biting”.
He said there are just two national singles championships, the English and the American, and there are “about 120 people in the world ratings which is the number of people who’ve played in a tournament in the last year”.
Mr Jones said it was a “privilege” to umpire and “observe this high level of play”, adding: “I think I learn a lot myself for my own game by watching these things.”
He continued: “It’s a game that really rewards the time you put in and the thought you put in, the training and practice.”
Titleholder Prof Barrie said he has a challenge booked against Tim Hunt, “the current British champion – I only came second last year”.
He said the pair will meet this weekend to discuss arrangements for the next World Singles Tiddlywinks Championships, possibly to be held in the spring.
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