CEB students and staff defend British University Tiddlywinks championship
Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club (CUTwC) return victorious from Silver Wink challenge in Oxford
The Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club (CUTwC) has once again proven its dominance, winning the recent challenge match against the Oxford University Tiddlywinks Society (OUTS) with a final score of 72½ to 39½. The decisive victory means CUTwC retains the prestigious Silver Wink trophy and holds onto its title as British Universities Champion.
You wouldn't think there would be much linking a children’s game with origins in Victorian parlours to chemical engineering, but as the CUTwC squad defended their crown, it became clear that the two share surprising parallels. With multiple members from the department in the line-up, the overlap is more than coincidence. Perhaps it’s the necessity of thinking outside the box, strategic planning, or the ability to apply complex tactics that brings them together.
Tiddlywinks, a game played by two to four players taking turns around a table, requires many skills needed by a chemical engineer. The idea is to get small, coloured counters (winks) into a cup by flicking them using a larger counter (squidger). You can stop a wink being played by covering it with one of your own and points are awarded for any winks you’ve launched into the pot, as well as any winks outside the pot that your opponent hasn’t covered.
On paper, it is not that complex to play but, like chess, strategy and forward planning are key.
In its current form, tiddlywinks in the UK can even trace its origins to CUTwC (pronounced ‘cut-wick’) as well as the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB). It is a history, and link, that Dr Zach Bond, a graduate turned teaching associate at CEB, is deeply proud.
Dr Zach Bond in action. (c) Andrew Garrard, CUTwC & ETwA
“The first president was a Chem Eng student,” said Zach, who lined up alongside other club members to face old rivals the Oxford University Tiddlywinks Society (OUTS). “It’s actually a really absorbing strategy game, like chess. The great thing about tiddlywinks is that anyone can be good at it,” he added.
“It is very accessible, more so than most other sports and we emphasise our inclusivity as a club, and as a sport. As long as you can see the winks and hold a plastic disk, you can enjoy the fun.”
Founded on January 16 1955 in the rooms of Bill Steen, a chemical engineering student at Christ’s College, Cambridge, the club’s original members were keen to earn a Blue but were uninterested in the more traditional sports of rugby or rowing. Instead, they decided to co-opt the hand-to-hand combat of tiddlywinks, in hopes of achieving the prestigious Cambridge athletic award.
CEB’s own Dr Zach Bond joined the club during his undergraduate years at the university and rose to become the president of CUTwC in 2016 , ‘quite unintentionally’.
“I won a novice tournament in 2015, and not long after I was elected as Junior Treasurer,” he explained. “This was despite the fact I was not in the room when the vote took place, nor had I expressed any interest in the position. When the president of the club left in 2016, I was chosen as the replacement.”
Nonetheless, during Zach’s tenure as president, CUTwC was involved in the re-creation of the Oxford University Tiddlywinks Society so they would ‘have someone to play a Varsity match against’. As CUTwC’s website notes, the Varsity match occurs annually ‘when the Oxford club exists’.
Since the first 'vaguely' annual, as Dr Bond describes it, Varsity tiddlywinks match in 1958, Oxford has triumphed on only four occasions.
In addition to a dominant record against their arch-rivals, CUTwC have long held the prestigious Silver Wink – a ‘priceless, uninsurable trophy’ gifted by Prince Philip – which marks the best University squad in the UK. The Wink is awarded based on a challenge system, where any British university may challenge the holder for the Wink. The challenge was thrown down by OUTS for their chance to claim the Silver Wink on Saturday 16 November, 2024, but CUTwC were once more able to retain the title.
From left: Alex, Romy, Yathaarth and Aryan practice their skills. All are CEB undergrads except Romy (Medieval History)
The Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club meets every Wednesday at 7:30 pm at Newnham College. Though it is a student-run society, the club is open to all members of the university.
Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, all members of the CUTwC varsity squad will be entitled to a quarter-Blue, fulfilling the original founders’ intention.
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