Conkers

In response to public demand, the answer to the question "what are conkers?" ...

Conkers are nuts from the horse chestnut tree - not edible (unless you are a squirrel!) but beautifully shiny and satisfyingly round. Somehow it isn't possible to see a conker on the ground and not pick it up and stuff it into your pocket. Unless you have no soul, that is. Or are no longer still a child at heart. Horse chestnuts are one of our most common trees, so conkers are easy to find in the autumn.

When I was a child everyone used to play a game unimaginatively called conkers. You prepare your conkers by skewering a hole through them and threading them onto individual pieces of string. One player holds a conker still, dangling on its string; the other player then swings their conker at it, trying to break it. The players take turns until one conker breaks, leaving the intact conker the winner. The game of conkers seems to have gone out of fashion, but kids still collect them.

You can find more about conkers here and here.