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The North American Tiddlywinks Association T i d d l y w i n k s ! |
Newswink10 was the first Newswink edited by Rick Tucker. It was prepared on computers at the MIT AI Lab using the document markup and macro language called "R" and was printed on the Xerox Dover printer on the 9th floor of MIT's Tech Square (there was only one laser printer (or maybe two, counting the original XGP) at MIT at the time. The fonts of the title, "Newswink 10", were prepared using transparent font transfer sheets purchased from Charrette's in Cambridge, Mass. Rick was on the verge of graduating from MIT with a Bachelors Degree (S.B.) in Computer Science and Engineering... well, a few months away.
-- Rick Tucker, 20 April 1997, updated 3 January 1999.
Newswink 10
An official publication of the North American Tiddlywinks Association
16 February 1980
Edited by Rick Tucker
- Paper Tiger Completes Triple Crown by Dave Lockwood
- Sunshine on Sec-Genesis
- Lockwood Keeps World Singles
Edges Mapley by Dave Lockwood - 25 Years
- Quarter Century Classic by Rick Tucker
- Spring 1979 Tourneys by Rick Tucker
- Leaving the 70s Behind by Rick Tucker
- Sunshine on Continentals Format
- Sparse Report on the 1979 Congress
- Anti-Renaissance Movement / Free Agents Situation by Sunshine
- ... snippets (part 1) ...
- An Apology to Novices and Other Newcomers
- ... snippets (part 2) ...
- Philosophy from Winks by Dave Lockwood
- ... snippets (part 3) ...
- Stats Rampant by Sunshine
- More States Rampant by Fred Shapiro
- enihsnuS yb aedi statS eroM teY
retupmoc yb statS - The Dragon Cup
- Winkers' Return Awaited
- World All Stars: U. S. Collapses at the Tape!
- World Teams: Renaissance back to dark ages?
- Historical Gleanings by Fred Shapiro
- A New and Improved Game
- Au Crapault, Puceaux! by Rick Tucker
- Carnovsky Legend Clarified?
- Late Breaking Report
- Sit Down Idly by Rick Tucker
- Piaget on Winks
- Tiddledywink Tales
- The Zen of Tiddlywinks by Mark Childs
- Incomplete Play by Dave Lockwood
- Sharp Metal Disks
- Quotes from Chairman Eggs
- Conversion of America
- Snippets
- Through the Ages
- (Drawing from Fincher's 1888 patent)
- NATwA Address List, 9 February 1980
Paper Tiger Completes Triple Crown
by Dave Lockwood
Severin Drix, recently described as a "paper tiger" by Dave "The Dragon" Lockwood in US magazine (29 May 1979, page 22), responded to the challenge by winning the 1979 NATwA Singles crown for an unprecedented third time. Drix's championship completed the first Triple Crown [ed. - Team (Continentals), Pairs, and Singles, for the hard of thinking] since Bill Renke in 1973. The Singles featured a start-studded field with four former champions (Bob Henninge, Severin Drix, *, and the Dragon), the number two ETwA winker (Jon Mapley), and other miscellaneous heavies (Larry "Horsemeat" Kahn, Ferd, and Joe Sachs). The only superstar not in attendance was, of course, Big Billy, a hopefully not perennial holdout. Filling out the field [ed. - what is this, a horse race?] were Rick Tucker, Nan Brady, Arye Gittelman, Fred Shapiro, Moishe, and Matt Sola.
[ed. - 26 May 1979 in the MIT Mezzanine Lounge, the 83rd NATwA-sanctioned tournament.]
Round 1
Mapley gets 6 from Nan; Rick gets 2 from Sunsch; The Dragon beats Arye 6-1; Sev take[s] Ferd 6-1; Larry-Fred 6-1; and - big game - Joe takes Bob 5-2.
Round 2
Joe, Sev, & Larry take 6s off Ferd, Fred, & Moishe. The Dragon edges Jon 4-3; * doesn't like taking 7 from Nan and (the shape of things to come) Arye 4 1/2 - Bob 2 1/2.
Round 3
Joe, Sev get 7 each out of Fred & Moishe. Arye gets a lesson from Ferd 6-1 and Nan stuns Rick by the same. Dave with a fine finish [ed. - who wrote this, again?] takes 5 1/2 from *; and Jon fails in his second attempt to beat an American superstar 2-5 to Bob.
Round 4
Sev, Joe, Arye, Jon, The Dragon get 6 from Larry, Moishe, Fred, Ferd, Rick; and * becomes relevant 5-2 over Bob. Score: Sev 25, Joe 24, The Dragon 21 1/2, * 18 1/2, Larry 13 in 3, Jon 17, Arye 12 1/2, Bob 11 1/2, Nan 7 in 3, Ferd 9, Rick 4 in 3, Fred 3, and Moishe 2 in 3.
Round 5
Joe, Jon, Dave, Bob take 6 from Larry, Fred, Nan, and Rick. Arye takes 4 from Moishe and * gets a big 7 over Ferd. Joe-Larry game also big.
Round 6
*, Rick, and Larry get 6 from Fred, Ferd, and Arye. Jon gets 7 from Moishe, Bob edges Nan 4-3 and - look who's rolling - Joe gets a big 6 over Sev. Joe, *, and Jon have 36, 31 1/2, and 30 with 6 games, and Dave and Sev have 27 1/2 and 26 in 5.
Round 7
*, Rick, Larry, Sev get 6 from Moishe, Fred, Jon, and Arye. Bob takes Dave 5 in a pot-out (The Dragon's first loss) and Nan comes close in a loss to Ferd 3-4. Joe starts to look unbeatable - only all-win player left although * is coming up before going down with 4 successive 1s.
Round 8
Larry, Rick, Fred, and Jon take 6 from *, Moishe, Matt, and Sev (?!). Sev pays obeisance to his idol. The Dragon eats up the Bull 7-0 and gasp, is he vulnerable? Arye upsets Joe 5-2 [note from Fred, who is not the editor: "This ended Joe's streak of 24 wins in a row, tying Tim's record if you believe what * says now as opposed to what he used to say (25). The streak was bracketed at both ends by Arye, beginning after the famous Pizza Game."]
Round 9
THe Dragon and Ferd take 5 1/2 from Fred and Bob. Sev, Larry, and Joe (what elese is new?) get 6 from *, Rick, and Jon. End of Day 1.
Score (in PPG order):
Joe 44 in 8 games, Dave 42 in 8, Sev 39 in 8, Larry 38 in 8, * 39 1/2 in 9, Jon 38 in 9, Bob 28 in 8, Rick 24 in 8, Arye 23 1/2 in 8, Nan 14 in 6 (left tournament), Ferd 19 1/2 in 9, Fred 13 1/2 in 9, Moishe 7 in 7, Matt 1 in 1.
Sunday 27 May 1979
Round 10
The biggies come out smokin' in Round 1 on Sunday. Joe, Sev, The Dragon, Larry, Bob, and Arye get 6, 6, 7, 5, 7, and 6 respectively against *, Rick, Moishe, Matt, Fred, and Jon respectively. Upset of round - Arye over Jon 6-1.
Round 11
Arye and Joe roll 6 over * and Rick. (Look at Arye!). Dave, Bob and Ferd struggle to 4 1/2, 5, and 5 wins over Larry, Moishe and Fred.
Round 12
Arye, Larry, and * get 6 versus Rick, Bob, and Jon. The Dragon edges The Paper Tiger 4-3 and Ferd gets 5 in a potout against Moishe
Round 13 (Last ROund of Prelims)
Games to watch - Dave-Joe [ed. - with muc pre-game hassle over equipment selection, color preference, you name it.]. Joe is 4 1/2 points ahead of Dave with Sev and Larry 8 and 9 1/2 back respectively. Joe tries to pot out, gets 5 in and misses - Dave gets #6 and two rounds later loses it to let Joe get a 7 and puts Dave 11 1/2 points back with 3 to go. Ferd becomes relevant and gets 6 against Larry to drop Mr. Meat 15 1/2 back. Meanwhile, Jon, Arye, Sev (remember him?) and Fred get 6, 7, 6, and 5 against Rick, Matt, Bob, and Moishe. (Note: Nan and Matt games are not relevant to the tournament results).
Score at the end of Preliminaries
Full 11 games: Joe 63, Sev 54, The Dragon 51 1/2, Larry 47 1/2, Arye 41 1/2, * 40 1/2, Jon 40, Bob 38, Ferd 31 1/2, Rick 27, Fred 14 1/2, Moishe 13. Nan had 14 in 6 and Matt had 3 in 3.
Finals: Joe, Sev -9, The Dragon -11 1/2, Horsemeat -15 1/2
Finals Round 1
Larry gives Joe his second only loss of the tournament - an impressive 6-1 potout. Dave & Sev battle to a 4-3, Sev winning to tie Dave in the Singles 7-7 for the 4th time in 6 years.
Standings: Joe, Sev -6, The Dragon -9 1/2, Larry -10 1/2
Finals Round 2
Sev takes Larry 6-1 and Joe gets only 5 in a quadruple blitz game when he should have had a 6. A 6 would have kept Joe 6 points ahead of Sev forcing him to try for 7 to win; the 5 he got left Sev with a chance for 6 to tie. One thing is certain ... there will be a Triple Crown winner in 1979.
Standings: Joe, Sev -5, The Dragon -12 1/2, Larry -14 1/2
Finals Round 3
Sev needs 6. Larry and Dave play for 3rd. The Dragon beats Horsemeat 5-2 in a bad potout game and Sev, driving hard, squeaks a 6.
After all 3 playoff rounds and the 13 preliminary rounds, Joe and Severin are tied. A tie-breaker game is necessary. Momentum has shifted and a tense game expected.
Final Game
Joe has a tough pot off a wink for 5 to end the game, misses and gets 3 to give victory to Mr. Drix, the man with more NACs [ed. - North American Championships, for the hard of understanding]. than anybody, the 1979 Triple Crown winner, and the challenger to regain his World Singles crown stolen last year by the Dragon.
[ed. - The Other Playoff
While the top Renfour were involved in a playoff to determine the tournament champion, the second four had themselves a playoff (Arye, *, Jon, and Bob, except *'s scores seem to have been nulled from the minds of all concerned.) Arye 6-1'ed Bob, and Jon took a 4 1/2 from Bob. Then Jon won the playoff with a 6 over Arye.
The final numbers:
| Winker | Points/Games | PPG |
| Sev | 74 in 15 | (4.933) |
| Joe | 73 in 15 | (4.866) |
| Dave-L | 61 1/2 in 14 | (4.393) |
| Larry | 56 1/2 in 14 | (4.036) |
| Jon | 50 1/2 in 13 | (3.885) |
| Arye | 48 1/2 in 13 | (3.731) |
| * | 40 1/2 in 11 | (3.682) |
| Bob | 41 1/2 in 13 | (3.192) |
| Ferd | 31 1/2 in 11 | (2.864) |
| Rick | 24 in 11 | (2.455) |
| Fred | 14 1/2 in 11 | (1.318) |
| Moishe | 13 in 11 | (1.182) |
| -- Above exclude Nan & Matt games | ||
| -- and exclude * playoff games | ||
| Nan | 14 in 6 | (2.333) |
| Matt | 3 in 3 | (1.000) |
]
Epilogue
[ed. - A Quinn Martin production]
Subsequent to this match, in July 1979, Dave beat Alan Dean in England by a score of 62-9 [1997 Editor's errata: this should be 32-9!] in a stunning 1-6, 6-1, 7-0, 6-1, 6-1 series. The total time elapsed was 1:40. This means that Mr. Drix and Mr. Lockwood will meet for an unprecedented third time for the World Singles, this time on The Dragon's turf.
Epilogue's Epilogue
IFTwA decides to let The Dragon play Jon Mapley for the World Singles in Cambridge, England during the Silver Anniversary of the founding of modern winks.
Sunshine on Sec-Genesis
Changes in NATwA team and Continental structure have been fairly common - NATwA being a small enough body to attempt to find the best format for its membership in any given year. In not quite as consciously executed a fashion, the post of Sec-Gen has also been evolving. The question now is what is needed/desired/possible from this leadership position in 1980.
Most Sec-Gens have had a large connection to the winx publication. Equipment and publicity have been major work areas. Chairing the Congress is an annual duty. However, fading away has also been a commmon action. Carl "Spike" Chenkin, elected on a platform of "Put the Fun back in Winx", left the job with a cry of "Put the Fun back in Spike". Both Bill Renke and Joe Sachs stayed on much longer than they wished because no one seemed willing or able to replace them. In Joe's case it is also true that he has not been able to keep up his early fervor and contributions. Mumblings of impeachment have been heard both in Ithaca and in Boston. As the PBTT [ed. - Power behind the throne, for those not in the know] for many Sec-Gens, I am quite familiar with the position. However, being in New Jersey makes me more of a PFF (far from) TT, and the change from frequent seeings to ineffective phone calls has been noted. This has increased the difficulty of being Sec-Gen and our next leader i hereby forewarned.
In recent months many of the traditional functions of the Sec-Gen have been delegated to others [ed. - actually, they have been assumed by others] - MITTwA is handling equipment, many sets have been sold in Ithaca, Rick Tucker is in charge of Newswink, and Fred Shapiro has done work on publicity. The major need this season, and probably next year as well, has been in the area of decision making and the necessary preliminary and follow-up communications. The location/structure of this year's Continentals has been a most tricky issue and the choice selected is far from a group consensus. With a less active and less accessible Joe the communication has been far from optimal, resulting in the Ithaca area membership feeling ignored and, midway through January, with everyone waiting for a decision on where to go in February. Our basic decision process outside of the Congress is a vote of team representatives after discussion with the Sec-Gen, or if a vote is not possible or desired, simply a Sec-Gen decision. We have a strong need for a Sec-Gen who can be in touch with both East and West and who can also serve to oversee the execution of the decisions and the various activities of NATwA.
The favourite for the role is Arye Gittelman. As captain of MIT he has good contact with the East, the paper, and equipment. Conveniently, he is also from Ithaca. Arye, or whoever is elected, should be aware of the dangers of the post. Trying to organize people/things in NATwA can place one in situations that will reduce one's interest in winx and in serving NATwA. The job is often a thankless one. Getting NATwA members to do things is often difficult, and overseeing can be frustrating, as is trying to do everything by oneself.
Theoretically, being Sec-Gen can also be nonproblematic. There have been periods that NATwA has pretty much run itself with little or no decisions/changes being necessary. Reducing the scope of the office (the delegation of responsibility) and utilizing the often ignored or empty posts of Regional Coordinators should help our next Sec-Gen deal with whatever problems 1980 will present.
I think that a shift of political influence in NATwA is a good thing... Actually, the main thing I'm retiring from is total involvement in Winks.
-- Rosie Wain, in Newswink 4; April 1971, page 3.
Lockwood Keeps World Singles
Edges Mapley
by Dave Lockwood
Dave Lockwood vs. Jon Mapley, challenger from ETwA
Cambridge, England
2 February 1980
Odd games 25 minutes, even 20 minutes, 30 second rule throughout.
Game 1. 3-3-3-1 (no winks in cup) 4 2/3 - 2 1/3 Dave
Any 4 2/3 is an extremely tight game and I had to come back from a very bad position. I made two good Bristols in rounds and belw a pile consolidation shote. Jon blew a two inch squop he should have made.
Game 2. 7-0 Jon [Cumulative Jon 9 1/3, Dave 4 2/3]
Blitz. Jon missed his sixth wink well, then was able to bring it close to cup safe and pot it the next round.
Lunch break.
Game 3. 5-2 Dave [Jon 11 1/3, Dave 9 2/3]
Jon tries to pot out and misses. I eventually pot out and should have had 6 which would have put me 1/3 point ahead but I don't make some easy pots and only get 5.
Game 4. 4-3 Jon [Jon 15 1/3, Dave 12 2/3]
Jon makes 2 foot pot in the 5th to win 4-3 instead of losing 5-2. The 5-2 would have put me ahead but instead Jon increases his lead to 2 2/3 points.
Game 5. 5-2 Dave [Dave 17 2/3, Jon 17 1/3]
Close game which ends up with one big pile (about 18 winks). After this game it is noted that I can win in one game but Jon can't even though we're only 1/3 point apart.
Game 6. 7-0 Dave [Dave 24 2/3, Jon 17 1/3]
Blitz. Jon goes off with one color and I throw one of my non-potting color at his other color. Jon doesn't bring in and shoots for my potting color and misses. I have six yellows in very reasonable potting position and the pot out would be a sure 7 because Jon has two of each color at the line. I run 5 then miss the 6th yellow (big wink from about 4 1/2 inches) long to leave Jon about an 8 inch squop with blue or a 4 inch squop with red. He misses both (lucky for me), I put it in and get 7.
A great match overall, perhaps the best ever. Well organized. Sponsored by Greene King brewery (local to Cambridge area). The superior level of strategy and shot making was maintained throughout the day. Alan Dean was referee. David Rose ran the clock part of the time and Cyril Edwards did his own write-up of the match which we can get sometime.
25 Years
16 January 1980 was the 25th anniversary of the first tiddlywinks club, the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club. Guy Consterdine relates the tale of its founding in his pamphlet On the Mat (March 1967). Here are some excerpts:
Tiddlywinks as we know it today can be traced from November 1954.
Then like a thunderbolt both [R. C.] Martin and I [Bill Steen] realised it must be tiddlywinks, a game we had both enjoyed greatly in our early life. This was November 1954.
So it came about that on 16th January 1955 six undergraduates and a chaplain assembled in Bill Steen's rooms in Christ's College [at Cambridge University], to found the world's first tiddlywinks club.
In those days the Marchant Rules in full were: "Remove the cup from the box and place it on a table covered with a thick cloth. Each player takes one of the large counters and all the small ones of the same colour. The latter are placed in a row at an agreed distance from the cup and players take it in turn to flip them into the cup with the large counter. If a counter is covered by one of the opponent's, it remains out of play until the opponent plays the covering counter and the player loses his turn if there is not another counter he can play. The player who first gets all his counters into the cup is the winner."
It was at this, the Club's second meeting [26 January 1955] that the important decision was made about the sizes of the counters to be used. Article 10 in the Minutes sums up the proceedings thus: "After some discussion, and some practice, a proposal that the counter sizes be 4 medium and 2 large was passed by 5 votes to 3." Had this electorate of 8 not passed the motion, the game might even today be played with 3 small winks + 3 medium + 1 large.
"This Club aims at creating history for this much-neglected yet skilful game, a
game which requires self-control, dexterity, and a keen sense of direction."
-- Bill Steen, reported by Nuala Stanley in the Cambridge Daily News, around 4
February 1955.
This programme [the Thesis, The Science of Tiddlywinks] was "an attempt to determine the mechanics of this sport. Thereby it is hoped to gain a knowledge of the factors which affect the play of the game, and thus to eradicate, if possible, random factors for which the player is not capable of allowing, and so to prove that the game is essentially one of dexterity and skill."
"Tuesday 14th June 1955 was the historic date of the Club's first match ... against Whitcomb's Winkers [of the Daily Mirror]. The rendezvous was the Cook Tavern, Fleet Street, the time seven o'clock."
It was undoubtedly discouraging to find no opponents at all for 1 1/2 years: after June 1955 no match appeared until December 1956.
Quarter Century Classic by Rick Tucker
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club on 16 January 1955, the MIT Tiddlywinks Association hosted the Quarter Century Classic on 26 January 1980. Nine Boston-area winkers turned out for the full round-robin singles tournaments.
Arye Gittelman, MIT Captain and ender of Joe Sachs' 24 game winning streak last May (see Lockwood's Singles article), was himself upset by MIT frosh David desJardins 5-2 in a pot-out. The Arye-Rick Tucker game was a tense and exciting one: a superb Good shot by Arye with blue starting the 5th round sent 2 greens off the table, revealing a red controlling 3 other reds. Rick squopped the quad reds with a green from 5-6 inches to defuse the red threat and take the game 4-3. The Ross Callon-Jim Roberts game ended in the 5th round with one end of the table collapsing and winks skittering off about the room (influenced by the Great White Wink?). Ross easily won the tournament with 8 wins and a 6.06 ppg.
Results:
| A | F | I | Ri | D | E | J | M | Ro | Total | |
| Arye [Gittelman] | - | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 37 |
| Fred [Shapiro] | 2 | - | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| Ira S[hapiro] | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| Rick [Tucker] | 4 | 4 | 6 | - | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 1.5 | 39.5 |
| David d[es]J[ardins] | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | 5 | 5 | 5.5 | 1 | 28.5 |
| Ed Seim | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Jim R | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | 4 | 1 | 19 |
| Moishe | 2 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1.5 | 6 | 3 | - | 1 | 26.5 |
| Ross [Callon] | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5.5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | - | 48.5 |
Spring 1979 Tourneys by Rick Tucker
SCHOLASTICS
The scholastics Championship on 21 April 1979 saw Ithaca High School win over Cornell by the score of 17-11, with the Arye Gittelman-Mike Moore pair outshining all with 12 points in 2 games.
PAIRS
The North American Pairs Championship on the weekend of 12-13 May 1979 in the mirrored room at the top of the Straight tower at Cornell saw Sev Drix win his 5th Pairs title in a row, this year going undefeated with Joe Sachs. Final scores: Sev - Joe 57.5 points (10-0); * - Bob Henninge 45.5 (7-3); Dave Lockwood - Larry Kahn 43.5 (7-3); Arye Gittelman - Rick Tucker 28.5 (3-7) [Arye 22.5 (2-7)]; Dave & Phyllis Barbano 25 (3-7); Mike Moore - Matt Sola 10 (0-10 [Matt 4 (0-2)]. Celebration at Cabbagetown.