Nut Corp Trip the Light Fantastic at Conker Raves

Since the 1990s, conkers has been linked with techno, hardcore, house, nutstep and post-industrial dance music: in other words, with raves. Conker swingers originally performed alongside go-go dancers and fire-eaters, but before long, bouts were breaking out spontaneously between highly charged ravers.

“A conker game is taken to another level when conducted within a rave,” said Lloyd Tripper, a regular at conker raves. “The music is amplified with large, powerful sound systems. This unique bass causes conkers to resonate in a unique way, which subtly changes the way they swing and make contact.” It is said that a direct hit between two rave conkers can produce feelings of euphoria in the swingers.

Event organisers became concerned that people were attending raves solely to rub nuts together in an attempt to get high. The practice, which became known as “chasing the nut”, was banned in the early 2000s as a result of countless injuries. The decision to ban rave matches was taken in consultation with the Conker Federation.

In a statement at the time, Bobby Seywatt said: “The main issue was that darkness, combined with laser light shows, projected coloured images and fog machines, made it impossible to see the conker. As a result, people were getting hit with flying nuts and garrotted by laces.”

Police raids have long presented a challenge to the rave scene in many countries, owing to its association with illegal drugs such as MDMA. With the ban on conkers, raves were pushed underground in several cities, including Berlin, Milan and Patras, and held in basements, warehouses and forests.

Thanks to Nut Corp, the story has a happy ending. Over the past 20 years, the company’s scientists have been working on a solution, and it has arrived in the form of laces that glow in the dark.

“When the breakthrough came, we all just looked at each other in silence. The green glow of the laces illuminating our smiles. It was so simple: by making the laces visible in the dark, we solve all the problems,” said Dr Morocco, Head of Conker Division at Nut Corp.

The Conker Federation has already begun the process of repealing the laws, and conker raves are expected to be in full swing before the end of the summer.