World Conker Championships: Your ultimate guide

An international sporting event like no other - the World Conker Championships - took place this weekend.

The competition, which marked its 60th anniversary, welcomed hundreds of competitors from across the world to take part.

There were 256 adults from nine countries competing for the title of conker King and Queen, and 60 children took part in the junior category.

Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the competition and this year's winners.

What is the event all about?

The World Conker Championships has been taking place since 1965, although women were not allowed to play in the competition until 1988.

It takes place at Shickburgh Arms in Southwick in the UK, although competitors travel from across the world to compete.

As well as hundreds of competitors the event attracts lot of spectators and it raises a lot of money for charity.

Organisers told the BBC they have seen record numbers of entrants this year after the worldwide publicity following last year's cheating claims.

How do you play conkers?

The game is a fight between two people using conkers, also known as horse chestnuts. You'll see and find them on the floor a lot at this time of year.

Players make a hole in a conker and put a string through it.

Then they flick their conkers back to whack against the opponent's conker.

They take turns doing this, trying to break the other person's conker.

Whichever conker survives the longest wins.

You can read a full guide on how to play and find some top tips and facts - here.

2025's winners:

With 60 competitors, it was a tough fight in this year's junior and intermediate categories of the competition.

The junior competition is for children aged between 6 and 10 and the intermediate category is for those aged 11 to 15.

This years winners were...

Intermediate World Champion - Felix and runner up - James

Junior World champ (left) - Nicoda and Junior runner up - Fitzy (right)

The new King and Queen Conker were crowned after a day of closely-fought competition.

Hundreds went into the battle but only two came out on top...

(drum roll....)

Ladies' World Champion and Queen Conker - Mags Blake from Northamptonshire, UK and Men's World Champion, King Conker - Matt Cross from Lincolnshire, UK

Some of the outfits of the day:

Spectators Dawn and Gary really got into the spirit of the competition

This competitor hoped his stormtrooper costume might help him in his first competition

One competitor wore necklaces made out of conkers