Dwyle flunking

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Dwyle flunking (or more correctly dwile flonking) is an outdoor game, which typically involves two teams of twelve players, though there is great flexibility in numbers, terminology and rules. One of the teams gathers in a circle, called a girter, enclosing a member of the other team, the flonker. He holds a broom handle (usually called the driveller), on top of which is a rag soaked with (usually stale) beer, called the dwile or dwyle.

At a signal, the girter dances around the flonker in a circle. He must flick (or flonk) the dwile with the driveller so it hits a girter team member. The score depends on which part of the body he hits. The usual scoring is three points for a hit on the head (a wanton), two for a hit on the body (a marther), and just one for a leg strike (a ripple). If after two shots the flonker fails to score he is swadged, or potted, which means he has to drink a quantity of beer from a chamber pot within a given time. After all the members of one team have flonked, the other team is put in. The winner is the team with the most points after two innings, usually the one with more members still upright.

An activity that appears to be dwyle flunking is depicted in the painting Children's games by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, which suggests that something like this game was being played in Flanders in the 16th century. [1]