Ernest Bucket is related to Dropintha, his niece once removed (and twice shy).

However, this jocularity is somewhat disheartening. You lot--the regular ne'er-do-wells in whose company I am privileged to place myself--are avoiding the crux of the matter:

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No one has yet mentioned the potential for tiddlywinks to solve the problem of war. Armies would be of equal number, and troops would play their opposition in sudden death (pardon the turn of phrase) games. The winner of the war would be decided by total point counts. We could work out a handicapping system, something functional yet simple. There is real potential in this and I hope you'll take the idea seriously.

About the empty space after "crux of the matter", I forgot what I was gonna say.