Mornington Crescent (game)

Mornington Crescent is an imaginary Geoffrey Perkins game that became famous in the BBC Radio 4 show I'm Sorry I Have not a Clue ( ISIHAC ). It was named after the London subway station Mornington Crescent. The players take their turns by naming names of London Underground stations. The winner is the one who calls first " Mornington Crescent ".

The game is intended as a parody of complicated strategy games and is particularly the complex rules and terminology of Skat or Chess satirical dar.

Playing

Players take turns placing a " train " that exists in the name of a station of the London Underground, during a game master ( in ISIHAC it was Humphrey Lyttelton ) moderated the game. The first player to " Mornington Crescent " called wins.

Over time, the selection of the directions is much more spread out than the London Underground network, mainly to make the game funnier. There were also local variations such as the Slough version and Scottish variants during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In a game that was recorded in Luton, the moves even went to the airport Paris -Charles de Gaulle, Nevsky Prospekt and Pennsylvania Avenue. A train to Luton High Street was declared because of too great a distance to be invalid.

Because of the cult status of the show the game is played also by fans on Usenet and web forums, which has the myth still increased by the game rules.

Game rules

There are about 200 people a year, writing on the show and ask about the rules. Usually they are at 'NF Stovold 's Mornington Crescent: Rules and Origins " and referred further pointed out that it is out of print. It is advised them to ask " at the local bookstore " for a copy of The Little Book of Mornington Crescent by Tim, Graeme, Barry and Humph.

This leads to the main joke of the game further: there are really no rules or a ' game' - the game is played just for the entertainment value, one gets while watching the audience reactions as a player. The hidden goal is to maintain a semblance of great skill and strategy, which using almost absurdly complex and lengthy rules and strategies is achieved. The game works as a parody of games and sports in which similarly complicated systems have evolved. This is an open secret and few, if any at all, viewers succumb to the illusion. Nevertheless, it is possible that people are involved in the game, without realizing it, and then try to play the game seriously. In this way, it has some similarity with party games, where only a few know the secret rules. But unlike these games, the particular, but have secret rules that need to find new players is the sense in Mornington Crescent, maintain the fiction that the rules well defined, but are numerous and that the moves not at any are.

How Humphrey Lyttelton says: " The rulebook is run by the lovely Samantha with inimitable accuracy and she sleeps with the rules under their pillows. Since there are 17 volumes in the meantime, you go slowly from the pillow. "

The following selection of Graeme Garden at strategic advice gives a good indication of the kind of "rules" that will be presented:

• If the stations that start with F, J, O, and W to knock out, forcing the players to be an elliptical progression from north to south.
• Defensively, it is extremely important to an already strong outer quadrant, for example, Pentonville Road to consolidate.
• In a game with straightforward rules, it is illegal reversed to draw, which is a strong tactic in other cases.
• The triangular opening will block any of the three possible reverse trains and is usually employed early in the game ( before the line of credit was quartered), so that the risk of a diagonal train is negligible, as is the possibility of a quartered.
• The lateral shift decisively breaks the horizontal and vertical tests of the opponent.

There is not some evidence that there are some simple rules existed in the early days who knew the players, but the audience. The fact that the audience did not know the rules, was an inside joke for the players. But since no one would notice the difference, these rules have been followed only free and later abandoned completely. Since all that have long been involved in the game, very mysteriously do its rules, it is quite difficult, the original out, but they could have passed on the street atlas of London and a few simple rules which pages you could open from the previous and which are not. The point of the game was to prevent the opponent from raising her side with Mornington Crescent in the next turn.

Recurring themes

By the game has evolved, some rules have emerged and these are mentioned in addition to the comments of players:

• Basically, a train to Mornington Crescent is not allowed early in the game - it is implied that it requires some time or Points. Tim Brooke- Taylor began once a round with " Mornington Crescent ", which was disapproved because he had thus broken the basic code of conduct of the game ( the audience was still excited and Tim was declared the winner after Humph on the " public - Klatschometer " had referred ).
• Different rule sets as the " Finsbury rules" are called and are usually the subject of further asides in the game.
• Certain traits are rewarded by the audience through applause or perceived with audible astonishment. The reaction of the public can also shape the game. In a broadcast one man Willie Rushton, which meant that Rushton was cut by Graeme Garden applauded.
• Players can be "in the bucket ", which limits their trains at an unspecified manner. During a broadcast in 1995 the GM explained that this is a corruption of the actual term " in Spain" (English: " in spoon " - "in Spain" ) is. As that happens, what effect it has, or how the game leader pondered what the player could do in Spain, was never revealed.
• There are similar conditions that " Knip " (English nip = dt ' gap ', ' trick ') ( or " KNID ") and " prig " hot.
• A train to Mornington Crescent can be predicted in some trains in advance, as in chess, " Mornington Crescent in two moves ."
• Aldwych is always a dangerous train.
• Changes to the U- Bahn network from reality are sometimes mentioned in the play, was closed especially when the real Station Mornington Crescent, because the elevators had to be replaced. Supposedly was very quickly established a " Rules Committee " to carry out the necessary improvements in order to be able to continue playing the game. ( The situation was only seen when Graeme Gardens triumphant win was declared invalid. ) The ISIHAC team formed a spoof charity club, the " Mornington Crescent Elevator Repair Fund ".

In Fanspielen the rules and their variations are removed routinely and varied.

Secret Culture

Part of the fun (and almost the sense ) is to pretend as if the rules of real ( ie fixed) is. There are hints of an elusive set of rules and Stovold, and the great uncertainty of the rules is the main source of humor. Players sometimes refer to the International Mornington Crescent Society ( IMCS ), reputed to be the dominant company for the setting and monitoring of the rules.

Under Mornington Crescent fans it is good manners not to add the fictional character of the rules. The reason is that it is true that the rules of the game are fictitious, but that Mornington Crescent - like any complex social activity - designed inevitable social rules that are not fictional, although they may well vary from one clique to another. To take the simplest case: a player who is constantly with his first train, wins ', will very quickly either lose the desire to play or not to be more popular among the players who play the game, right' play. One of the lovely paradox of the game is that you can play it in spite of, a lack of ' rules - but only if it cooperates with the central illusion of the game.

Publications

In the 1990s, Radio 4 broadcast a Christmas special Mornington Crescent Explained (German: Mornington Crescent says ) a " two-part documentary " about Mornington Crescent. Part one was a story of the game and part two of the rules. At the end of the broadcast of part one, there was an announcement that part had to be postponed because of two planning problems.

Part two was sent Christmas Eve 2005. It was called " In Search of Mornington Crescent " and was spoken by Andrew Marr.

Two books about the 'rules' and the story have been published:

• The Little Book of Mornington Crescent (2001, ISBN 0-7528-1864-3 ) Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke- Taylor, Barry Cryer and Humphrey Lyttelton
• Stovold 's Mornington Crescent Almanac (2001, ISBN 0-7528-4815-1 ) Graeme Garden

In the late 1980s, presented Roger Heyworth, a director of Gibson's Games, the idea of ​​debate, a Mornington Crescent game to sell. This game should be an empty box with a note in it, would have been on the publicity for a club of lovers. The plan was rejected because of the expected high number of complaints. In the late 1990s he hit the BBC a card game before, but this too was rejected because it was too serious for a spin-off from a comedy game.

From 1997, an attempt was made ​​to develop a truly playable version of the game, with the means of a Nomics. This idea was inspired by the inclination of Nomics to develop Subspiele, and the observation that Nomic player always complicate their games to keep them interesting. Mornington was a successful Nomic Nomic for some time and was actually an interesting and playable game that corresponded to the shape of Mornington Crescent. But while the Nomic in 2001 fizzled, the resulting rules for Mornington Crescent remained.

Variants

If Humphrey Lyttelton ( Humph ) a round of Mornington Crescent announces during a ISIHAC broadcast, he usually calls to a set of special rules for this round with, for example, Trumpington Variations ', or, Tudor Hofregeln '. This means that any sequence of ISIHAC, in Mornington Crescent is played, a new variant introduced. Various ISIHAC fan sites on the internet have documented these rules as they are described by Humph. Like inventing and further development can also be observed in groups that play Mornington Crescent outside the show.

Finally, you can play Mornington Crescent after each schedule, whether underground, bus or tram, the players have available. It can actually even play after every sufficiently arbitrary list (for example, organ pipes Crescent ' or, pubs name - Crescent '). All that is needed is sufficient copies of the map or the list and an agreement corresponds to which point on the map Mornington Crescent.

Some game variations:

• In Sweden, the game is sometimes played by science fiction fans who use the Tunnelbanan network and Stora Mossen than the destination.

• In Québec, the route network of the Metro Montreal and Lucien- L'Allier is used as the target.

• The Paris Métro game has Château d' Eau as the target. Sources:. See also ' Mornington Croissant ' -.

• Some consequences of ISIHAC sent at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, playing with the local variant - called Morningside Crescent, according to a residential area in Edinburgh.

• There is also a variant which is played on street names on the Isle of Thanet and the Wellington Crescent is called.

In the output sent on June 11, 2007, a, ' introduced computer players ( with a female voice ). However, they spent more time, the player Stephen Fry to make compliments to play to its clever way than actually play along.

Cultural references

• Science fiction author Michael Moorcock used in a comic book called Michael Moorcock's Multiverse a reference to the game.
• Task # 101 of the 2005 University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, it was for a player of each team, " participate in an email - adaptation of the classic game Mornington Crescent ", using the Chicago rail network. Participants were warned, "we will follow the standard Thurgood -Hamilton conversion algorithm, but does not allow half-page turns. "
• After the death of Willie Rushton in 1996, one of the longtime ISIHAC player, his life in 2002 was commemorated with a blue plaque at the ticket counter of the metro station Mornington Crescent. ( " Willie Rushton: Satirist " )
• In the alternate reality game Perplex City, there is a card in the blue Bannset # 140 named " Mornington Crescent ". The mystery is the real game, based on stations in Perplex City, to find out. The map does not explain the rules - on the grounds that it would insult the intelligence of the players.
• " The Steep Approach to Garbadale " by Iain Banks mentioned the game as an invention of a fictitious company Wopuld Ltd.. and is described as "on the basis of the route map of the London Underground with a complex double game board game ".
• In the 11-day Empire Faction Paradox important relics are kept in stacks, a maze, which was built from ghosts of London Underground stations. The stations " can only be achieved by following a complex series of ritual trains "; Mornington Crescent is particularly difficult to achieve.

Swell