Nature's Mystery Toy: Why Younger Generations Love Discovering Conkers?

Name: Horse chestnuts.

History: Brought into the UK over four centuries back.

Look: Nature's Labubu.

That can't be accurate. It is. Go and watch a social media video of someone revealing a conker, and you’ll probably hear them call it “the earth's Labubu”.

Unboxing conkers? What on earth are you talking about? Oh wow, you really are out of the loop, aren’t you? Young people are taking to TikTok to record videos unpeeling conkers from their spiky capsules.

What's the reason? Because of the feeling of amazement! When you open up a conker, you never know what you’re going to get. Could it be large? Will it be flat? How shiny will it be? It is similar to a surprise package every time!

Do Labubu dolls share those traits? No, they’re somewhat eerie dolls that have become collectible because they are sold in mystery boxes.

Can someone please tell the younger crowd that they’re doing conkers wrong? Are they? How do you play with horse chestnuts, then?

You put a shoelace through the middle of them, and try to destroy everyone else’s conkers. Wow, really? That’s bizarre.

Yes. You’ll have a much better chance of winning if you soak the conker in vinegar overnight and then heat it in the oven. You're not joking?

Truly. And if you end up collecting too many conkers, you can toss them in the schoolyard and all the other kids will fight each other for them. A lovely item from nature like a conker, and you use it as a weapon? A weapon that comes with a long set of arcane and bewildering rules?

It’s traditional! King Charles literally just presented the World Conker Championships with three hundred horse chestnuts! At least young people are just recording videos.

How are you unaware of this? At a guess, because some schools started banning conkers two decades ago, due to various health and safety fears.

The modern world never fails to amaze me. Maybe unboxing conkers just isn’t your thing. In which case, perhaps you would be more interested in some other popular youth fads.

Is that so? Like what? Well, there’s this thing called knitting, and something else called pottery that I can describe for you.

We’ve had knitting and pottery for centuries! Let me guess, you heat tools in apple drink and then use them to poke each other?

Certainly not! OK, relax. I thought all older generation's pastimes involved some type of aggression, after that horse chestnut game.

I feel stressed. Take a breath. If you need me, I’ll be opening plant seeds online.

Do say: “Social media loves showcasing nut discoveries.”

What to avoid: “That's crazy.”