in my schools, the closest analog was probably using the school-supplied sporks to engage in "Spork Wars" (not the best example but it will do https://youtu.be/vO7SclBfpZ8?t=145 )

though through the "draft" nature of which spork you would receive, we never had a controversy on the level of the article's:

> "There are also suggestions that King Conker had marked the strings of harder nuts"