Tiddledy Winks (Tiddlywinks) Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Tiddledy Winks (Tiddlywinks) is a very old game (over 100 years old). Over the years there have been many different versions of the game released. While the rules are mostly the same between versions of the game, some versions do have slightly different rules. I will try to note where the rules differ between versions of Tiddledly Winks, but as I don’t have access to all of the versions of the game there will likely be some variant rules that are missing.

Setup

Each player chooses a color and takes the Tiddledy (the large disc) and all of the Winks (small discs) of their chosen color.
Every player also takes one of the small pads (usually green and made of felt).
Place the cup/tub in the middle of the play area.
Everyone should place their small pad around the same distance from the cup/tub.

How to Play Tiddledy Winks

The players take turns using the Tiddledy disc to fling one of their Winks towards the cup. You will place one of your Winks on your pad. Take your Tiddledy and press down on the Wink. You should slide the Tiddledy Winks towards you as you press down. This should launch the Wink into the air. The objective is to try and get the Wink to land inside the cup.

Preparing to shoot a wink — To shoot a Wink you first place it on the pad. You then press down on it with the Tiddledy. To shoot you will slide the Tiddledy back which should launch the Wink into the air.

Should you successfully launch your Wink into the cup, you get to take another turn. Take another of your Winks and launch it towards the cup. Each time you get a Wink into the cup, you get to take another turn.

Shooting a Wink into the cup — The yellow player successfully shot one of their Winks into the cup.

After you initially launch each of your Winks, you will have to shoot them on future turns from where they landed after the last time they were launched. Pick up the Wink and place your pad underneath it. You will then launch the Wink from its current position. Should a Wink fall off the table, you will have to shoot it from the edge of the table near where it fell off.

In some versions of the game if your Wink covers up some of another player’s Wink, the other player can’t shoot their Wink until you shoot the Wink that is covering it.

Covering up a Wink — The red Wink is on top of the blue Wink. The blue Wink can’t be shot until the red Wink is shot by the red player.

After you fail to shoot one of your Winks into the cup, your turn ends. The next player then takes their turn.

Winning the Game

The first player to get all of the Winks into the cup wins Tiddledy Winks.

Winning Tiddlywinks — The yellow player has gotten all of their Winks into the cup. They have won the game.

Scoring

One of the most common ways to play Tiddlywinks is by scoring each shot. Included with most versions of the game is a score frame that is placed around the cup.

Each turn you will flip one of your Winks towards the cup. If the Wink lands in the cup, you score 25 points.

Scoring in Tiddlywinks — The blue player has shot one of their Winks into the cup. They will score 25 points for shooting the Wink into the cup.

Should it fail to land in the cup, you will see where it lands. If it lands in one of the scoring areas, you will score the corresponding number of points. If it should land on the line between two scoring areas, you will score the total of the two spaces it is on.

Scoring a shot in Tiddley Winks — The red player shot their Wink and it landed in the five point area. They will score five points. The yellow player shot their Wink and it landed between the five and ten point areas. They will score 15 points for the Wink.

After all of the Winks have been shot, the players total their scores. The player that scores the most points wins the game.

Partner Game

If there are four players, you can choose to play the game in teams. Traditionally the blue and red players play together. The game plays basically the same as the normal game except you are playing as a team. You can only shoot your own Winks during the game.

Party Tiddledy Winks

For a more silly game, you can choose to play the party version of the game. Instead of trying to shoot Winks into the cup, you will try to complete various challenges.

To begin the game you will make a list of different challenges that the players have to complete. Some example challenges include shooting a Wink over a pile of pillows/stool, launching a Wink onto a chair, and other challenges.

One player is tasked with keeping score. Each player chooses which challenge they want to complete first. You can complete the challenges in any order, but must complete all of them.

It may take you several turns in order to complete a challenge. When you fail a shot, your next shot takes place from where the Wink landed from the previous shot.

Players take only one shot at a time. Different players could be trying to complete different challenges at the same time.

When you complete a challenge, you will write down how many shots it took to complete the challenge.

The game ends when one player has completed all of the challenges. The player that has completed all of the challenges and has the lowest number of shots, wins the game.

Components

Cup/Tub
4 Tiddledy (one of each color)
24 Winks (six of each color)
Scoring Area (only included in some versions of the game)

Year: 1888 | Designer: Joseph Assheton Fincher

Genres: Children’s, Dexterity, Family

Ages: 4+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 10-20 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate-High

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.