Competitive Play
Although tiddlywinks nowadays is a singles or pairs game, competition in the 1950s through the 1980s centred on team competition, with teams consisting of several (three or four) pairs. There were a number of university teams, and international matches were also played. More recently, singles and pairs tournaments have come to be the focus of competitive tiddlywinks, with only a few team matches being played each year. The four most prestigious tournaments are the National Singles and National Pairs tournaments held in England and the USA. The World Singles and World Pairs championships operate on a challenge basis; anyone winning a national tournament (or being the highest-placed home player behind a foreign winner) is entitled to challenge the current champion.
There are several other less prestigious tournaments in England and the USA throughout the year, often with a format designed to encourage inexperienced players. The results of tournaments and World Championship matches are used to calculate Tiddlywinks Ratings, which give a ranking of players. Typically there are about 120 players in the Ratings system.
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