About CUTwC

Who we are

Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club has been the home of the modern adult game of tiddlywinks since 1955. In this time, CUTwC (pronounced "cut-wick", despite the impression of some screen readers) has seen hundreds of members, numerous World Champions and the development of the game to a global sport. Tiddlywinks is also one of Cambridge's most successful sports in Varsity competition, with an exemplary track record against Oxford.

Members

CUTwC is open to members of the University of Cambridge and other higher and further educational establishments (such as Anglia Ruskin) in Cambridge (the one in the UK — interested members of Harvard, MIT etc. should contact NATwA). Membership includes current and former undergraduates, graduate students and lecturers.

Anyone interested in learning about the game, about how a child's game could occupy the minds of graduates and lecturers, about what might drive someone to be involved in tiddlywinks, or in how to get a World Rating is welcome to attend and be shown the ropes.

Note that those not associated with Cambridge in any way may wish to reach out to ETwA (the English Tiddlywinks Association) or, if not in the UK, NATwA (for North Americans) or IFTwA (for everyone else).

Fees

After attending three meetings and hopefully deciding that you like winks (or are masochistic and want to turn up anyway), you may be encouraged to pay to join the Club — which will cost you £8.88 if you are a new student member (and a little more to stay paid up in subsequent years once you've been persuaded of how brilliant the Club is).

You may notice that this amount equates to one of every (non-commemorative) coin of the realm, plus a recent £5 addition to allow for genius government fiscal policy (or since there have now been quite a large number of commemorative £5 coins you could just ignore the disclaimer). Yes, membership was at one point £1.88½. Historically, if you actually provide one of every coin (although a £5 note is now considered a valid substitute for a coin) you will receive a 1p (once ½p, don't say things aren't improving) discount, although not necessarily the appreciation of the Treasurer who will have to deal with it.

Membership fees can be paid to the Treasurer at any meeting (or by bank transfer on request). Being a paid-up member will afford you, for the academic year, the right to vote (or vote to abstain, or not vote at all, as you prefer) for members of the Committee and rule changes at the AGM, allows you a discount at the Club Dinner, may gain you a term card, and will stop people pestering you to join.

Meetings

CUTwC traditionally meets on Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm. Play normally continues (be it with practice or whatever tournament is being contested) until between 9 and 10pm, after which members typically decamp to a convenient drinking establishment, normally for further competition.

See the site home page for the meeting venue, which tends to change by event and sometimes term.

Virtual meetings via Zoom are also being held regularly, at least in post-COVID times; see the mailing list for details.

Additional (national) tournaments are typically held on weekends to accommodate more players and a longer time to play.

Inclusivity

Tiddlywinks is a sport which is very accommodating to most potential players. Unlike many sports, tiddlywinks has no gender divisions: all participants compete on an equal footing in the same tournaments. So long as you can see and reach the winks and control a squidger, there is no reason you can't play the game. We've had colour-blind players (including a President), we've had hearing-impaired players (some of the drinking games are particularly accommodating as well), we've had members who are mobility-impaired — and certainly physical fitness is not a factor.

Please be aware that, while normal play is reasonably quiet so as to avoid distraction, some social activities can be loud and somewhat crowded. Tiddlywinks is a moderately intellectually stressful game which operates under time limits; please bear this in mind and notify your fellow players if you need special consideration. The same applies if you are concerned at the strength of your English: please don't be afraid to ask if you need explanation of rules or activities (although, especially in drinking games, there is an emphasis on learning by doing), or if you need additional time to communicate with a partner. (Also, don't worry: many of the CUTwC in-jokes are so obscure that everyone will need them to be explained.)

CUTwC is welcoming to people of all gender identities and sexualities, all faiths (and none), all races and ethnicities (although we can't pretend that the membership is uninfluenced by the demographics of the University); we ask that new members try to be equally accommodating, including avoiding any contentious topics (including politics, if this is likely to cause aggravation) when necessary. Despite the focus on drinking games, several members do not drink (alcohol — drinking something is an important part of drinking games, although not everyone participates in those) and others have unusual dietary requirements.

Most CUTwC members are students, who are learning how to be adults. (Those who are ex-students should still be learning this too.) Hanlon's Razor applies: we would hope that most offence not caused by a simple misunderstanding would be rooted in ignorance rather than malice. If you feel a member has behaved inappropriately to you, please first raise this with them if you feel able to — we would expect members to hear any complaint calmly and, unless it turns out to be a misunderstanding that can be resolved, apologise and change their behaviour; it is not acceptable to make any members feel uncomfortable, however inadvertently or well-intentioned the transgressor. If you are not happy to discuss the issue with whoever cause offence directly, please talk to the Committee. Should you wish to report anything anonymously, please use the contact form (which goes to the web site maintainer for further action). Note that this does not contain tracking information other than IP address (to simplify replies), and this would obviously not be used in the case of any report; in case of concern, a cell phone using the web site will typically have a temporary and untraceable IP address in any case.

Please note that the above does not preclude teasing between members who know each other well. CUTwC has a robust sense of humour when interlocutors know that it can be taken affectionately (e.g. "you know... well, you don't, obviously... that feeling of having eaten too much?", "miss short"/"that's Doctor Short" or, pointing at a target wink, "big red, Stew; you don't mind being called “Big Red Stew”, do you?") or when a moment of excitement causes an uncharacteristic outburst ("you've subbed, you silly cow" has gone down in legend) — and some apparent extreme rudeness may simply be a reference to tradition and should not be taken seriously. Tiddlywinks is a fun activity, and therefore very informal. This extends to the use of language, which, as befits a largely student society, can be risqé and heavy on double-entendres; CUTwC is, in some ways, an extended episode of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. If this is likely to offend you, please be warned, although the emphasis is more on clever word-play than rudeness for the sake of it.

CUTwC logos

In the interests of consistency, and more importantly of saving duplicated effort, there is a repository of logos for anyone needing to represent CUTwC. Please use these as appropriate for CUTwC events/publicity/merch.