Last modified: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 2:19 AM EDT McAVOY: From conkers to trading cards and 'King' game BY THOMAS McAVOY "Conkers" redux - more feedback continues to come in on horse chestnut memories. Dave and Jan Weeman shared pleasant memories of trips to LaSalette Shrine each fall so their sons could play conkers just as he recalled from his school days. Bob "Mac" McKearney told of a majestic old horse chestnut tree near Leach's barn, and in an entertaining letter to the editor Don Doucette related how he and his brother Paul would rise early after windy evenings so they could gather conkers candidates from a tree near the Twin Village fire station. Apparently the Doucette brothers and I have experience that same "sinking of the heart" that comes from one day finding the horse chestnut tree of youth suddenly gone. I can thank childhood pal Rich Stenfeldt for the horse chestnuts that are currently all over my house; upon seeing the column he gathered up a good number of them. I now have enough to challenge the priest to a game as he reads the last rites over me. A final word of warning: These are not the "chestnuts roasting over an open fire" of the Christmas son. Try eating a horse chestnut and you will have an unpleasant holiday surprise. Other games Another old playground pursuit which has passed from fashion are the games we played with trading cards - chiefly baseball, but also football, basketball, and I even recall one complete set of Elvis Presley cards from his early days. I had thousands of cards, but of course my mother tossed them out about the time I was 16. "You didn't want that kid stuff, did you?" While accompanying my grandson Brec to a baseball card store in North Attleboro, I asked the owner if he remembered the Presley cards and what they would be worth today. Leaving the store, I just couldn't tell Brec the college educations of him, his mother and two sisters were tossed away in his beloved great grandmother's housecleaning 47 years ago. Three games we played were "Tops," where winning an opponet's cards meant lining up 10 feet from the school wall and flipping cards alternately until one player's cards landed on top of the others. In "closest to the wall," just as the name implies, the players each flipped a card and the nearest to the wall won both cards. Quite a few cards could change hands in "Leaners," where cards were alternately flipped until a player was able to land his card leaning against the school wall. I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of confiscated items in a teacher's desk in the '50s and '60s were conkers and trading cards, plus the occasional transistor radio (with earphones) seized during the World Series. Of course we played batball, dodgeball and in my day former Feehan hoops coach Leo Charron was foot racing champion. We also played a game taught to us by the late great Bob Coelho, which was called "King." I seem to recall that there were six or nine squares with a player in each and a ball batted into a player's square had to be batted on one bounce into another square. King was probably played only at Bliss School, where Bob taught, but if anyone recalls the complete rules and scoring, please write me at tommcavoy48@yahoo.com. Help Nick Nick Otrando came into the world at 2 pounds and has been battling courageously since. Some of you probably know his parents, Attleboro Police Lt. John Otrando and his lovely wife Nanci. Nick is physically challenged and confined to a wheelchair and now has reached the point where moving him about for simple daily needs is very difficult. A golf tournament fundraiser to get Nick a mechanical lift will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, at Chemawa Golf Course. To play or contribute, phone Ken Collins at 508-386-5464 or Dave Silvia at 774-259-1692. The tournament is limited to 25 foursomes. Wishes for quick recoveries go to Max Volterra, Rob Churchill and Dave Hardt and condolences to the family of John LaValley. Our sympathy to the families of Donald Clegg and Al LeMaistre, whose children were schoolmates, and to Marie Burke on her mother's passing. Condolences also to the families of Peter Rego and John Nimiroski. Please, let's be good to one another and do someone a good turn daily. THOMAS McAVOY of Attleboro is a community columnist. His commentary appears every other Tuesday.