The British and World Marbles Championship is a marbles knock-out tournament that takes place annually on Good Friday and dates back to 1588. It is held at the Greyhound public house in Tinsley Green, West Sussex. Teams of six players participate to win the title and a silver trophy. The event is open to anyone of any age or nationality. Over the years, players from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Wales and the United States have participated alongside English teams.
The event took place on World Marbles Day, Bank Holiday Good Friday, April 3, 2026. The tournament was won by the Turners Hill Tollymen, their first ever win.
History
The tournament dates back to 1588 during the reign of Elizabeth I, when marbles was chosen as the deciding game of a legendary sporting encounter between two young suitors, Giles and Hodge, over the hand of a Tinsley Green milk maiden named Joan. Every popular sport of the day was played in an Olympic style contest lasting one week. Hodge had been victorious at singlestick, backsword, quarter staff, cudgel play, wrestling and cock throwing, while Giles had won at archery, cricket-a-wicket, tilting at quintain (jousting targets), Turk's head, stoolball and tipcat. With the score level at 6–6, Good Friday was the date chosen for the final event. Marbles was chosen by the girl to be the deciding game, and Giles defeated Hodge.
Marble tournaments have purportedly been played at Tinsley Green since the late 1500s, until the launching of the current event in 1932. Local historians have concluded that around that time, many individual county marble championships were amalgamated to create the British Marble Championships, which was only renamed as the British and World Marbles Championship for the first time in 1938.
The 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The championship resumed in 2022.
Rules, marble "jargon" and tactics
The championships are organized by the British Marbles Board of Control (BMBC) and the version of marbles played is Ring Taw, known in the United States as "Ringer" and in Germany as "Englisches Ringspiel". Forty-nine target marbles are grouped closely together in 6-foot diameter (1.8-metre) raised concrete ring covered with sand, each of the target marbles being a coloured glass or ceramic sphere having a diameter of approximately 12mm (half an inch).
Two teams of six players of any age, gender or skill level, take turns using the tip of the finger to aim and project the "tolley", a larger marble (commonly referred to as the "shooter" or "taw"), which is a glass or ceramic sphere of 18mm diameter (three-quarters of an inch), deploying top spin, back spin and side spin, to drive other marbles out of the ring.
A player's knuckle must be touching the ground when shooting, known as "knuckling down". Moving the tolley closer to the target marbles, known as "cabbaging", is forbidden - as is any other advantageous movement of a players shooting hand during shooting. These would constitute a foul known as "fudging". Any intentional or persistent contact between a player's clothing and a marble or tolley while it is motion would be a foul called "blocking". No score results from a foul shot. A foul shot ends the turn of the offending player, though the score achieved in that turn stands. Any player who makes three foul shots during a game is eliminated from that game. The first team to knock out 25 marbles from the ring is the winner.
Historical timeline 1588 – Giles defeated Hodge at marbles to claim the hand of a local young maiden of Tinsley Green. 1888 – Sam Spooner wins the title on the 300th year of the event (as British Pathé video 1938). 1932 – The Black Horse from Hookwood, were the first winners of the modern event. 1935 – 6-foot concrete ring used for the first time 1938 - British Marbles Championship renamed as the "British and World Marbles Championship". 1942–1945 – No tournaments took place due to World War II. March 1951 – The coldest recorded conditions for tournament, the Tinsley Green Tigers beat the Arundel Mullets in the final. April 1953 - First ever international match at Tinsley Green, 'Governor Gobs' played a team of players from Sussex teams. April 1962 – Glass marbles were used for the first time in place of older clay marbles. March 1970 – Controversially the BMBC banned women from the main tournament because of the wearing of mini-skirts. March 1972 – Teams of women played in the main event for the first time, the Prima Donnas from Crawley, and the Kernockers from London. April 1973 - Len Smith Interview for BBC Nationwide Sport - 12 April, 1973 He wins 12th individual title. April 1974 - Heavy rain halts the tournament, which resumed 2 weeks later on Sunday 28 April. March 1975 – Snow had to be swept from the ring in temperatures of −2 °C. The "Terribles" win a record 19th title. April 1976 - In a separate international championship, USA defeated England (represented by the "Terribles"); USA were Ray Jarrel aged 17, Larry Kakos 16, Susan Regan 15, Rick Unser 15, Ray Morgano 19, and Jerry Magers 16. April 1977 – The tournament was moved to the Crawley Leisure Centre for one single time. April 1984 - Shortest final ever 2 minutes. Tony Jones 6, Paddy Graham 18, Taffy Holmes with the winner. April 1987 – A Trophy was introduced for "the women's best individual player" and won by Jackie Hodge. 14 Sept 1987 - Black Dog boozers enter Guinness World Records for ring clearance (2 mins 56 seconds) for BBC's Record Breakers. 1989 and 1991 – Highest number of teams ever entered, 28 teams of six totalling 168 players competing. March 1992 – The TennKy Sharpshooters are the first overseas team to win the trophy.'Note: Junior B. Strong won the 1992 World Marbles Championship in England' March 1994 – Blue target marbles were used for the first and only time. April 2000 – Team USA won the international Fen Cup with a team made up almost entirely of shooters under the age of 18. April 2002 – Golden Oldies tournament added for competitors aged 50 over, first one won by Barry Ray. April 2002 – Saxonia Globe Snippers become the first German team to win the tournament. September 2008 - the Greyhound Pub closed, only re-opening shortly before the next tournament. April 2010 – Jen McGowan (formerly Jen LeBon) wins a twelfth ladies individual title. March 2013 – Crawley-based Black Dog Boozers win the tournament for a 13th time, just 6 off the record of 19 set in 1975. March 2018 – The Johnson Jets set the record for being runners up 11 times. 2020 and 2021 – Events cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. July 2021 - Sad loss of Sam McCarthy-Fox, long time organiser of the event and ambassador of the game of marbles for over forty years. 15 April 2022 - The event returned to The Greyhound after three years, organised by Julia McCarthy-Fox. 7 April 2023 - The longest streak of different winning teams in history, with 5 different teams having won the last five tournaments. 18 April 2025 - Alison Reimer(Ray) sets the all time most wins: 13 in the individual ladies
Championship results Year Date Teams Entered Team winner Runners up Individual winner Best Lady Golden Oldie Weather 1932 24 Mar 5 Black Horse – – – – 1933 14 Apr – – – – – – 1934 29 Mar 7 – – Jack Arnold – – 1935 19 Apr 4 Tinsley Green – Big Bert Botting – – 1936 10 Apr 4 Crawley Busmen Southern Railways F.S.'Champ' Harding – – 1937 26 Apr 6 Tinsley Green Rustington Rambles George Burberry – – 1938 15 Apr 5 Copthorne Sharpshooters Crawley Busmen Tom Weekes – – 1939 7 Apr 8 Old Comrades Crawley Busmen Fred Rowe (Copthorne Sharpshooters) – Sunny / Note: 4000 spectators 1940 (A) 25 Mar 10 Copthorne Sharpshooters Old Comrades Fred Rowe (Copthorne Sharpshooters) – – 1940 (B) 22 Mar 2 Crawley Busmen The Army F.S.'Champ'Harding – – 1941 11 Apr 7 Copthorne Spitfires Crawley Busmen Jack Carman – – 1942–1945 colspan="8" 1946 19 Apr 7 Copthorne Sharpshooters Copthorne Spitfires Harry Langridge – – 1947 4 Apr 4 Copthorne Sharpshooters Crawley Tools Harry Langridge – Rain 1948 26 Mar 5 Copthorne Spitfires Copthorne Sharpshooters Harry Langridge – Fine 1949 15 Apr 6 Tinsley Green Tigers Arundel Mullets Harry Langridge – Sunny 1950 7 Apr 8 Arundel Mullets Tinsley Green Tigers Wee Willie Wright (TG Tigers) – Sunny 1951 23 Mar 4 Tinsley Green Tigers Arundel Mullets Big Bernard Wilcock – Very cold 1952 11 Apr 6 Tinsley Green Tigers Handcross Bulldogs Cyril Wilcock – Best weather for years 1953 3 Apr 6 Tinsley Green Tigers Copthorne Spitfires Cyril Wilcock – – 1954 16 Apr 5 Tinsley Green Tigers Arundel Mullets Aurthur Chamberlain – Sunny and cold