In 1966, apprentice printers in Beccles, Suffolk revived a pub game for the town's summer fête, claiming its rules came from a 1585 manuscript rediscovered in an attic. The game was dwile flonking, and the manuscript never existed. According to Wikipedia, "the Suffolk county archivist was unable to find any evidence for the game before 1966, and the supposed 1585 rules are a hoax."
The rules, hoax or not: two teams of twelve. One team dances in a circle while a player from the other team, the flonker, "stands in the centre of the circle and rotates in the opposite direction, holding a beer-soaked cloth" — the dwile — on a pole. "The flonker flings the cloth at the dancers, scoring points depending on where on the body they are hit; if they miss they must drink as a penalty."
Pathé News filmed a match after the 1966 debut, television followed, and the game is still played annually in Ufford, Beccles, and Lewes. In 2010, one competition "replaced this drinking penalty with non-alcoholic drinks, following a local council decision that it would violate licensing restrictions intended to prevent binge drinking."
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