Mornington Crescent (game)

Mornington Crescent is a game created and popularized by the BBC Radio 4 programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (ISIHAC), a parody of panel games. The game's obscure rules and complex strategies were devised as a parody of the deep analysis favored by afficionados of chess and other such games.

Miscellaneous

Science fiction writer Michael Moorcock included a reference to the game in a comic book which he scripted, entitled Michael Moorcock's Multiverse. Since the comic was published in the US, the reference was clearly an in-joke for any British readers who happened to get hold of an imported copy, or US readers who are fans of the radio show.

Related Topics:
Science fiction - Michael Moorcock - Comic book

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The Glass Bead Game in Hermann Hesse's eponymous novel bears some resemblance to Mornington Crescent, although the spoken game moves in the book are supposed to be genuinely deep and meaningful.

Related Topics:
Glass Bead Game - Hermann Hesse

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In the 1980s postal gaming hobbyists invented a variant of Mornington Crescent for postal play, called Finchley Central. This is also the name of a very similar game described by the mathematician John Conway in his book On Numbers and Games in 1976.

Related Topics:
1980s - Postal gaming - Finchley Central - Mathematician - John Conway - On Numbers and Games

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In Sweden the game is sometimes played by science fiction fans and uses the Stockholm Metro map and Stora Mossen as the target.

Related Topics:
Sweden - Science fiction - Fans - Stockholm Metro - Stora Mossen

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While most variations of the game featured in the programme use the London Underground, some episodes recorded at the Edinburgh Fringe feature a local variation — called Morningside Crescent, after a residential neighborhood of Edinburgh. Likewise the Paris variation is Château d'Eau, named for a station on the Paris Métro.

Related Topics:
Edinburgh Fringe - Morningside Crescent - Paris - Château d'Eau - Paris Métro

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Calvin and Hobbes' Calvinball bears some resemblance to this game.

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One episode of Garden and Brooke-Taylor's television series, The Goodies (also starring Bill Oddie) featured a card game called "Spat", which bore many similarities to Mornington Crescent. In it a hapless Bill was being taught Spat by Graeme and Tim but kept on accidentally breaking the increasingly surreal rules.

Related Topics:
The Goodies - Bill Oddie

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The British sitcom The League of Gentlemen features a card game indirectly inspired by Mornington Crescent called Go Johnny Go Go Go Go which has rules which appear to be entirely fictional (or deliberately overcomplex and obfuscated) for the purposes of defrauding naive players.

Related Topics:
Sitcom - The League of Gentlemen

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In the ' episode "A Piece of the Action" (broadcast in 1968), Captain Kirk spontaneously invents a card game called fizzbin after being captured, in order to distract the henchmen guarding him. Fizzbin supposedly has extremely complex and confusing rules, similar to Mornington Crescent.

Related Topics:
A Piece of the Action - 1968 - Fizzbin

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The card game Mao includes rules similar to Mornington Crescent in that the new player must try to learn the rules by observations and it is taboo to spell out the rules. Unlike Mornington Crescent, the rules of Mao are very rigid, though they change from round to round, and from group to group as well.

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Online satirical gaming magazine Critical Miss featured a description of a card game called Clique. To begin, players download pictures of monsters, weapons, battles, etc, from the Internet or books, then print them on invented playing cards with a random, official-sounding description such as 'Add 3F with action card.' These are then taken to a convention , and the players appear to play the game by placing cards and making statements such as 'I take three meaningful sighs,' or 'I intercept your attack and engage strategic demoralization'; however, much like Mornington Crescent, the players simply make up the rules as they go along. A point at which Clique differs from Mornington Crescent is that it is not taboo to explain the rules to novices; in fact, it is encouraged. When explaining rules, they are also made up as the player goes along, but are made to sound very complicated. When the listener either glazes over or says "Why don't I just watch, and see if I can pick it up," the players have scored one point. Clique can be played in teams, with the winning team being either the first to get a prearranged number of points, or the one to get the most points in a prearranged time.

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In the 1995 the British indie band My Life Story released an album called Mornington Crescent. This was partly a reference to the station (which at the time was closed for repairs, prompting widespread - though ultimately incorrect - rumours that it would not be re-opening) and partly to the game, whose esoteric, "in-joke" nature seemed to fit well with the group's unusual orchestral sound.

Related Topics:
Indie - My Life Story

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The Mornington Crescent Underground Station was closed for many years, so that it was, in reality, impossible to reach the station. This seems to be the reason why MC was chosen as the "destination" in the game. The station is now open again, reducing (slightly) the game's surrealism.

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An episode of Friends featured a card game called "Cups", which one character (Chandler) had devised as a method of giving money to another character (Joey) without Joey realizing it. Thus, Chandler made up rules on the fly so that he would always lose. (Unfortunately, Joey then played the game with another character, and lost all the money he had won.)

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Progress Quest, a satire of MMORPGs, is discussed as a deep and involving game despite being a program with no interactivity. Forum discussions will include gameplay tips, strategies, and hints, or give favorable reviews and boast of in-game accomplishments, while those who question the program as not being a real game are derided. Hidden features, including a fully 3D version, are also mentioned.

Related Topics:
Progress Quest - MMORPG

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Item #101 of the 2005 University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt was for one player on each team to "participate in an email adaptation of the classic game Mornington Crescent", using the CTA rail system. Participants were warned, "We shall follow the standard Thurgood-Hamilton conversion algorithm, but banning semi-lateral shunts." http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/2005.pdf

Related Topics:
2005 - University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt - CTA rail system

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After the death of Willie Rushton, one of ISIHAC's long-time-particpants, in 1996, his life was commemorated by a blue plaque opposite Mornington Crescent Tube Station.

Related Topics:
Willie Rushton - Blue plaque

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