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39-588: The origin of the name Esquiline is still under much debate. One view is that the hill was named after the abundance of aesculi ( Italian oaks ) growing there. Another view is that, during Rome's infancy, the Capitolium , the Palatinum , and the northern fringes of the Caelian were the most-populated areas of the city, whose inhabitants were considered inquilini ("in-towners"); those who inhabited

78-451: A conch , as the game was originally played using snail shells and small bits of string ). The name may also be influenced by the verb conquer , as earlier games involving shells and hazelnuts have also been called conquerors . Compton MacKenzie's 1913 novel Sinister Street uses the name Conquerors. Another possibility is that it is an onomatopoeia , representing the sound made by a horse chestnut as it hits another hard object, such as

117-467: A nut ) per capsule. Capsules containing more than one seed result in flatness on one side of the seeds. The point of attachment of the seed in the capsule (hilum) shows as a large, circular, whitish scar. The capsule epidermis has "spines" (botanically: prickles) in some species, while other capsules are warty or smooth. At maturity, the capsule splits into three sections to release the seeds. Aesculus seeds were traditionally eaten, after leaching , by

156-420: A game of conkers using caravans suspended from cranes. After putting on safety goggles, presenter James May commented "I now feel perfectly happy about being hit in the face by a caravan." Top Gear , along with other media commentators, wrongly stated that the wearing of goggles during the game was due to an official Health and Safety Executive (HSE) edict when it was in fact due to a myth which started when

195-590: A log cabin made of buckeye logs and drinking hard cider, causing Ohio to become known as "the Buckeye State". In Geneva , Switzerland , an official chestnut tree is used to indicate the beginning of the Spring ; every year since 1818, the tree is observed by the secretary of the Grand Council of Geneva (the local parliament), and the opening of the first leaf is recorded and announced publicly. Over

234-493: A skull (another children's "game", also called conkers, consists of simply throwing the seeds at one another over a fence or wall). Conkers are also known regionally as cheesers , a "cheeser" being a conker with one or more flat sides, which comes about due to it sharing its pod with other conkers (twins or triplets). Also Cheggers was used in Lancaster, England in the 1920s. In D. H. Lawrence 's book Sons and Lovers ,

273-479: Is scored irrespective of whether the surviving conker was attacking or defending at the time. The scoring of the game is considered to be a property of the conkers themselves. A new conker is a none-er , meaning that it has not defeated any others yet and thus has no score. As a conker accumulates points, its designation changes to reflect the total: a none-er becomes a one-er , then a two-er , and so on. (In some areas of Scotland, conker victories are counted using

312-489: Is the bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora , a flowering shrub. Several other members of the genus are used as ornamentals, and several horticultural hybrids have also been developed, most notably the red horse chestnut Aesculus × carnea , a hybrid between A. hippocastanum and A. pavia . Interpretations of the tree leaves can be seen in architectural details in the Reims Cathedral . The horse chestnut

351-427: Is threaded through it. A large knot at one or both ends of the string secures the conker. The game is played between two people, each with a conker. They take turns hitting each other's conker using their own. One player lets the conker dangle on the full length of the string and the other player swings their conker to hit it. A point is scored for a conker surviving a hit that causes the other one to break. The point

390-472: The Aceraceae ( maples and Dipteronia ), to be included in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae). The species of Aesculus include: The most familiar member of the genus worldwide is the common horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum . The yellow buckeye, Aesculus flava (syn. A. octandra ), is also a valuable ornamental tree with yellow flowers, but is less widely planted. Among the smaller species

429-472: The Jōmon people of Japan over about four millennia, until 300 AD. All parts of the buckeye or horse chestnut tree are moderately toxic, including the nut-like seeds. The toxin affects the gastrointestinal system, causing gastrointestinal disturbances. The USDA notes that the toxicity is due to saponin aescin and glucoside aesculin , with alkaloids possibly contributing. Native Americans used to crush

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468-468: The Oppius , Nero (37 AD–68 AD) confiscated property to build his extravagant, mile-long Golden House , and later still Trajan (53–117) constructed his bath complex , both of whose remains are visible today. The 3rd-century Horti Liciniani , a group of gardens (including the relatively well-preserved nymphaeum formerly identified as the non-extant Temple of Minerva Medica ), were probably constructed on

507-592: The temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species native to North America and seven to 13 species native to Eurasia. Several hybrids occur. Aesculus exhibits a classical Arcto-Tertiary distribution . Mexican buckeye seedpods resemble the Aesculus seedpods, but belong to a different genus. Carl Linnaeus named the genus Aesculus after the Roman name for an edible acorn. Common names for these trees include "buckeye" and "horse chestnut", though they are not in

546-698: The Annapolis Royal Conker Club. The Peckham Conker Championships was first held in October 2017 in Peckham , London , playing a more extreme version of the game with Battle Royale rules which was organised by Peckham Conker Club. In 2023, more than 500 people from different parts of the UK took part in this championship. At the 2024 World Conker Championship, controversy arose when the winner, veteran competitor David Jakins, dubbed "King Conker",

585-726: The British Junior Conkers Championships on the Isle of Wight in October 2005, contestants were banned from bringing their own conkers out of fears that they might harden them. The Campaign for Real Conkers claimed this was an example of over-regulation which was causing a drop in interest in the game. In both the World Conker Championship and the North American Championship, contestants are also restricted to using

624-813: The Bronx and nearby Mt.Vernon. It was also played in Queens, the upper West Side of Manhattan, in the Mohawk Valley area of upstate New York and in Westmount, Quebec and other English-speaking parts of Montreal into the 1970s. It was played in the Catholic areas of North Cambridge, MA in the late 1950s. It was being played in the 1960s in Rhode Island, and into the early 1980s in Smithfield, RI. The game

663-544: The Esquiline Hill. 41°53′44″N 12°29′48″E  /  41.89556°N 12.49667°E  / 41.89556; 12.49667 aesculus#Latin The genus Aesculus ( / ˈ ɛ s k j ʊ l ə s / or / ˈ aɪ s k j ʊ l ə s / ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut , comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae . They are trees and shrubs native to

702-758: The Esquiline Hill. Farther to the northeast, at the summit of the Cispius , is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore . In 1781, the first known copy of the marble statue of a discus thrower – the Discobolus of Myron – was discovered on the Roman property of the Massimo family , the Villa Palombara, on the Esquiline Hill. The famous Esquiline Treasure , now in the British Museum , was found on

741-727: The Irish Conker Championships began in Freshford, County Kilkenny , in Ireland. Selma Becker, originally from Austria, was the first ladies' champion from outside the UK, in 2000. The title of Queen of Conkers has remained in the UK, except in 2001 when Frenchwoman Celine Parachou won. Eamonn Dooley from Freshford in County Kilkenny, Ireland broke the world record in 2000 by smashing 306 conkers in one hour. In 2004, an alternative World Conker Championships

780-477: The Japanese horse chestnut, A. turbinata . Species are deciduous or evergreen. Flowers are showy, insect- or bird-pollinated, with four or five petals fused into a lobed corolla tube , arranged in a panicle inflorescence. Flowering starts after 80–110 growing degree days . The fruit matures to a capsule 2–5 cm (1–2 in) diameter, usually globose, containing one to three seeds (often erroneously called

819-523: The compounds would stun or kill the fish, allowing for easier capture. Conkers Conkers is a traditional children's game in Great Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of horse chestnut trees—the name 'conker' is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself. The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns striking each other's conker until one breaks. The first mention of

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858-483: The conkers provided by the organisers. One factor affecting the strength of a conker is the shape of the hole. A clean cylindrical hole is stronger, as it has no notches or chips that can begin a crack or split. The Peckham Conker Championships allow artificially hardened conkers, with some players even coating their conkers in epoxy resin . This competition follows Battle Royale rules and also allows stampsies and stringies. A similar Puerto Rican game (played with

897-519: The defeat. For example, a two-er that defeats a three-er would become a six-er (2 + 3 + 1). Other regions only award one point to the winner, regardless of the loser's score. The hardest conkers usually win. Hardening conkers is often done by keeping them for a year (aged conkers are called laggies in many areas or seasoners in Ireland and Liverpool), baking them briefly, soaking or boiling in vinegar, or painting with clear nail varnish. Such hardening is, however, usually regarded as cheating. At

936-618: The defending gallito before the defendant removes it from within the circle. If the defending gallito is struck it must remain in the circle until the attacker misses again. This move is called a " paso de paloma ". In 1965, the World Conker Championships were set up in Ashton (near Oundle ) Northamptonshire , England , and still take place on the second Sunday of October every year. In 2004, an audience of 5,000 turned up to watch more than 500 competitors from all over

975-516: The external regions – Aurelian, Oppius, Cispius, Fagutal – were considered exquilini ("suburbanites"). The Esquiline Hill includes three prominent spurs, which are sometimes called "hills" as well: Rising above the valley in which was later built the Colosseum , the Esquiline was a fashionable residential district. According to Livy , the settlement on the Esquiline was expanded during

1014-466: The game is in Robert Southey 's memoirs published in 1821. He describes a similar game, but played with snail shells or hazelnuts . It was only from the 1850s that using horse chestnuts was regularly referred to in certain regions. There is uncertainty of the origins of the name. The name may come from the dialect word conker , meaning "knock out" (perhaps related to French conque meaning

1053-513: The game is referred to as cobblers by William Morel. The first recorded game of conkers using horse chestnuts was on the Isle of Wight in 1848. The game grew in popularity in the 19th century, and spread beyond England . Conkers was played during the late 1940s and early 1950s in New York in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and in the 1950s and early 1960s in the amalgamated section of

1092-633: The reign of Servius Tullius , Rome's sixth king, in the 6th century BC. The king also moved his residence to the hill in order to increase its respectability. The political advisor and art patron Maecenas (70–8 BC) sited his gardens , the first in the Hellenistic-Persian garden style in Rome, on the Esquiline Hill, atop the Servian Wall and its adjoining necropolis . It contained terraces, libraries and other aspects of Roman culture. At

1131-489: The same order as the true chestnuts, Castanea in the Fagales . Some are also called white chestnut or red chestnut. In Britain, they are sometimes called conker trees because of their link with the game of conkers , played with the seeds, also called conkers. Aesculus species have stout shoots with resinous, often sticky, buds, with opposite, palmately divided leaves, often very large—to 65 cm (26 in) across in

1170-487: The seeds and the resulting mash was thrown into still or sluggish waterbodies to stun or kill fish. They then boiled and drained (leached) the fish at least three times to dilute the toxin's effects. New shoots from the seeds also have been known to kill grazing cattle. The genus was considered to be in the ditypic family Hippocastanaceae along with Billia , but phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data have more recently caused this family, along with

1209-400: The smaller seed of the jatobá, Hymenaea courbaril ) is called gallitos (meaning small roosters or cocks, as in cockfighting ). The opponents face each other and the defending gallito is laid in the center of a circle drawn in the dirt. Not until the attacking player misses will the defending player take a turn. Upon missing, if the attacking player is quick enough, they will try to swing at

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1248-511: The terms bully-one , bully-two , etc. In some areas of the United States and Canada, conker victories are counted using the terms one-kinger , two-kinger , etc. In 1940s Brooklyn, New York , a winning chestnut was referred to as a killer and the value of a chestnut was defined by its number of "kills".) In some regions, the winning conker receives all the points accumulated by the losing one, in addition to gaining one more point for

1287-447: The town's common (and adjacent to town hall) that was used as a source for the chestnuts. The Leicester variant on the name for the game was "Horse Cobblers"(presumably a variant of "Horse Conkers"). Before the game, each player must prepare a conker. A hole is bored in a large, hard conker using a nail, gimlet , small screwdriver, or electric drill. A piece of string (often a shoelace is used), about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long,

1326-559: The world. The 2016 Championship was featured on the BBC programme "Countryfile". The first time that a non-British contestant won the Men's World Conker Championship was in 1976. The Mexican Jorge Ramirez Carrillo took the place of a contestant who was unable to arrive on time at Ashton, and defeated the 1975 champion at the finals. The men's champion has been British in every other year except 1998, when Helmut Kern from Nauort, Germany, won. In 1999,

1365-489: The years, four different horse chestnut trees have been used for these recordings. In North America, several native American tribes, particularly in the western and central United States, such as Miwok , Pomo, Yokut, Maidu, historically used Buckeye trees ( Aesculus spp. ) like California Buckeye to harvest fish by utilizing the saponins , which had been extracted by the plant's seeds. These tribes used crushed Buckeye nuts to release saponins into streams or shallow water, where

1404-453: Was accused of cheating. Jakins was alleged to have used a replica conker made from steel. He has been exonerated. In 2000, a survey of British schools by Keele University showed that many were not allowing children to play conkers, as head teachers were afraid of the legal consequences if children were injured while playing the game, or because they thought that the conkers might be used as weapons. The TV programme Top Gear later staged

1443-533: Was also played in Leicester, Massachusetts in the late 1970s and into the 1980s (and presumably much earlier, given the town's age and predominantly English/Irish settlers) by the children of the Primary School of the town (typically 4th and 5th graders). Leicester's seat of government ("town hall") was a dual use building, serving as both town hall and school. There is a large horse chestnut tree located on

1482-623: Was first hosted at Pill Harriers Rugby Club, Newport, Wales. This championship, known as the World Annual National Conker Championships, has been held every year since and is sanctioned by Dogfish Promotions. Contestants from the United States, Italy, England and Wales have taken part. The North American Conker Championship was inaugurated on 20 October 2012 at the Historic Gardens in the town of Annapolis Royal , Nova Scotia , Canada, hosted by

1521-452: Was not native to Britain and was only introduced from Europe in 1650 (on the estates of both Dawyck House and Stobo Castle ). The leaf of Aesculus was the official symbol of Kyiv on its coat of arms used from 1969 to 1995. It remains an official symbol of Kyiv to this day. In the 1840 U.S. presidential campaign , candidate William Henry Harrison called himself the "log cabin and hard cider candidate", portraying himself sitting in

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