Mornington Crescent (game): Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Improvisational comedy game}}

[[image:morncrescenttube.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Mornington Crescent tube station]], the game's namesake]]

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}

{{About|the game as featured on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue||Mornington Crescent (disambiguation)|}}

[[File:MorningtonCrescent roundel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|An enamel sign at [[Mornington Crescent tube station|Mornington Crescent station]], the game's namesake]]

'''Mornington Crescent''' is a game created by [[Geoffrey Perkins]]<ref>''The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts'', Pan Publishing. ISBN 0330419574</ref> and popularised by the [[BBC Radio 4]] programme ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' (''ISIHAC''). Named after the [[Mornington Crescent tube station|Mornington Crescent]] [[tube station]], players make moves by announcing the names of stations on the [[London Underground]], the winner being the first to announce "Mornington Crescent".

'''Mornington Crescent''' is an improvisational comedy game featured in the [[BBC Radio 4]] comedy panel show ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' (ISIHAC), a series that satirises [[panel game]]s.<ref name="DPF">{{cite book|chapter=Mornington Crescent|editor=Elizabeth Knowles|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2006|title=A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable}}</ref>

<div class="notice metadata" id="spoiler">'''[[Wikipedia:Spoiler warning|Spoiler warning]]: ''Those unfamiliar with the game may prefer not to read the following explanations.'''''</div>

The game is intended as a [[parody]] of complicated [[strategy]] games, and particularly satirises the complex rules and terminology that evolve around games such as [[contract bridge]] or [[chess]].

The game consists of each panellist in turn announcing a landmark or street, most often a [[tube station]] on the [[London Underground]] system. The ostensible aim is to be the first to announce "[[Mornington Crescent tube station|Mornington Crescent]]", a station on the [[Northern line]].<ref name="DPF"/> Interspersed with the turns is humorous discussion amongst the panellists and host regarding the rules and legality of each move, as well as the strategy the panellists are using. The actual aim of the game is to entertain the other participants and listeners with amusing discussion of the fictional rules and strategies.<ref name="Bateman"/>

==Gameplay==

Players take turns making a "play" or "move", each of which consists of the name of a station on the London Underground, while a chairman (on ''ISIHAC'', [[Humphrey Lyttelton]]) officiates. The first player to announce "Mornington Crescent" wins.

== Origins ==

Over time the selection of destinations has strayed well beyond the stations of the London Underground, generally for comic effect. There have also been local variants such as the [[Slough]] version and [[Scotland|Scottish]] variants during the [[Edinburgh Fringe]] (the show is often recorded on ___location). In one game, recorded in [[Luton]], the moves ranged as far afield as the [[Charles de Gaulle - Etoile|Place de l'Etoile]], [[Nevsky_Prospekt_%28Saint_Petersburg_Metro%29|Nevsky Prospekt]] and [[Pennsylvania Avenue]]. A move to Luton High Street was ruled invalid, as being too geographically remote.

Mornington Crescent first appeared in the opening episode of the [[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue#Broadcast list|sixth series]] of [[BBC Radio 4]]'s comedy panel show ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'', broadcast on 22 August 1978. Although five episodes transmitted in 1974–1975 are lost, Mornington Crescent seems to have made no appearance before 1978. It was played in every surviving episode of the sixth series. It has been played ever since.

There is also a variation based on road names on the [[Isle of Thanet]] named [[Wellington Crescent|Wellington Crescent]].

The origins of the game are not clear. One claim is that it was invented by [[Geoffrey Perkins]],<ref>''The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts'', Pan Publishing. {{ISBN|0-330-41957-9}}</ref> who stated in an interview that Mornington Crescent was created as a non-game.<ref>''[[Loose Ends (radio)|Loose Ends]]'', BBC Radio 4, Saturday 22 March 2008</ref> [[Barry Cryer]], a panellist on the programme from 1972 until shortly before his death in 2022, said that Geoffrey Perkins did not invent the game, and that it had been around since the 1960s.<ref>Radio 4 ''[[Today programme]]'' interview.</ref> According to Chairman [[Humphrey Lyttelton]], the game was invented to vex a series producer who was unpopular with the panellists. One day, the team members were drinking, when they heard him coming. "Quick," said one, "let's invent a game with rules he'll never understand."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/may/03/3 | title=Simon Hoggart's Week | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=3 May 2008 | access-date=2008-05-18 |author-link=Simon Hoggart| first=Simon | last=Hoggart}}</ref>

Due to the show's cult status it is also played by fans on Usenet and in web forums, and this has increased the mythology surrounding the rules.

A similar game called "[[Finchley Central (game)|Finchley Central]]" was described in the Spring 1969 issue of the mathematical magazine ''[[Manifold (magazine)|Manifold]]'', edited by [[Ian Stewart (mathematician)|Ian Stewart]] and John Jaworski at the [[University of Warwick]]. [[Douglas Hofstadter]] referred to the article in his 1985 book ''[[Metamagical Themas]]''. The game is referred to as an "English game" in an article on "non-games" as follows:

==Rules==

<blockquote>

Those who write in to the show asking for the rules (as apparently around 200 people a year do) are usually referred to "NF Stovold’s ''Mornington Crescent: Rules and Origins''" and told it is out of print. They are also advised that "your local bookshop might have a copy of ''The Little Book of Mornington Crescent'' by Tim, Graeme, Barry and Humph."

Two players alternate naming the stations of the London Underground. The first to say "[[Finchley Central tube station|Finchley Central]]" wins. It is clear that the "best" time to say "Finchley Central" is exactly before your opponent does. Failing that, it is good that he should be considering it. You could, of course, say "Finchley Central" on your second turn. In that case, your opponent puffs on his cigarette and says, "Well,... Shame on you."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Beck|first=Anatole|author-link=Anatole Beck|author2=David Fowler|author2-link=David Fowler (mathematician)|date=Spring 1969|title=A Pandora's Box of non-games|journal=[[Manifold (magazine)|Manifold]]|___location=Warwick Mathematics Institute|issue=3|pages=31–34|url=http://www.jaworski.co.uk/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227154441/http://www.jaworski.co.uk/index.html|archive-date=27 February 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref><!---The article is not available online, but is available from John Jaworksi by email--->

</blockquote>

==Gameplay on ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''==

This perpetuates the main joke behind Mornington Crescent: that there are actually no rules nor 'game' at all — the game as such is played purely for entertainment value gained by watching others' reactions. The covert objective is to give the appearance of a game of great skill and strategy, with detailed and almost absurdly complex and long-winded rules and strategies, in parody of games and sports in which similarly circuitous systems have evolved. This is an open secret, and few if any of the audience are under any illusion otherwise, but it is possible for people to become involved in the game without realising this, and thus to attempt to play the game seriously. In this way, it bears some resemblance to the [[party game]]s [[Take a plane]], [[scissors (game)|Scissors]], and [[Mao (game)|Mao]], in which certain players know "secret" rules. Unlike these games, which actually do have specific but secret rules that new players are expected to figure out, the spirit of Mornington Crescent is to maintain the fiction that the rules are well-defined but numerous, and that gameplay is not arbitrary at all.

[[File:I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.jpg|thumb|Panellists taking part at a BBC Radio recording of ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'']]

[[File:London Underground Zone 2.svg|thumb|Mornington Crescent gameplay involves announcing random place names in [[London]], usually a station on the [[London Underground|Underground]] system, for humorous effect]]

The objective of Mornington Crescent is to give the appearance of a game of skill and strategy, with complex and long-winded rules and strategies, to parody games in which similarly circuitous systems have evolved. The apparent rules are fictional, and its appeal to audiences lies in the ability of players to create an entertaining illusion of competitive gameplay.<ref name="Bateman">{{cite book |last1=Bateman |first1=Chris |title=Imaginary Games |date=2011 |publisher=John Hunt Publishing |isbn=9781846949425 |pages=72–73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KDvtBAAAQBAJ&dq=Mornington%20Crescent%20(game)%20closed%20station&pg=PA72 |access-date=4 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

Humorous variations to the rules have been introduced to games. Humphrey Lyttelton would describe special rules to apply to that session, such as "Trumpington's Variations" or "Tudor Court Rules", so that almost every episode featuring Mornington Crescent introduced a variant. In one of them, first introduced in North Yorkshire, a player whose movement is blocked is considered to be "[[River Nidd|in Nidd]]" and is forced to remain in place for the next three moves. This tends to block the other players, putting them into Nidd as well and causing a roadblock. In one episode, every player ended up in Nidd and the rule had to be suspended so that the round could continue.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

As Humphrey Lyttelton says: "[the rulebook is maintained with] inimitable accuracy by the lovely Samantha, who sleeps with it under her pillow. As it now runs to 17 volumes, she is running out of pillows." (Samantha, the beautiful scorer for ''ISIHAC'', is equally fictitious, as is her occasional deputy and male counterpart, Sven.)

Over time, the destinations named by the panellists expanded beyond the Underground, in accordance with various regional expansions of the game. ''ISIHAC'' is recorded around the United Kingdom, and the game is occasionally modified accordingly. There have been versions in [[Slough]] and [[Leeds]], as well as one in Scotland, played during the [[Edinburgh Fringe]] arts festival and a 2016 recording in Glasgow (where the name was changed to "[[Morningside, Edinburgh|Morningside]] Crescent")<ref>''I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'', BBC Radio Collection #2, Volume 6. {{ISBN|978-0-563-49484-3}}</ref> and another variation played at recordings in Wales (called "[[Morganstown]] Crescent"). In one episode, recorded in [[Luton]], panellists named locations as far afield as the [[Charles de Gaulle – Étoile|Place de l'Étoile]] in Paris, [[Nevsky Prospekt (Saint Petersburg Metro)|Nevsky Prospekt]] in [[St. Petersburg]], and [[Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.)#Washington Metro|Pennsylvania Avenue]] in [[Washington, DC]], but a move to Luton High Street was ruled invalid for being too remote. In other episodes, an attempt was supposedly made to expand the territory to [[Manhattan]] (via Heathrow and JFK) but there was some disagreement as to whether or not the [[New York City Subway]] system was suited to the game. References have been made in various episodes of ''ISIHAC'' to international versions of the game, including "Mornington Croissant", supposedly based on the [[Paris Métro]], and "[[Mornington Peninsula]]", the [[Australia]]n variant. At least one full game of Mornington Croissant was played on air.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

The following selection of strategy tips by Graeme Garden gives a good indication of the kinds of "rules" which are propounded:

* Boxing out the F, J, O and W placings draws the partner into an elliptical progression north to south

* In weak positional play, it is vital to consolidate an already strong outer square, e.g., Pentonville Road

* In a straight rules game, it's inadmissible to transfer inversely, which is otherwise a powerful tactic

* Opening the triangle will block any of the three possible reverse draws and is usually played early in the game (before the Central Line has been quartered) so that the risk of a diagonal move is negligible, as is the possibility of quartering

* The lateral shift decisively breaks opponents' horizontal and vertical approaches.

* The [[A40 road|A40]] northbound used as a counter-play offers rear access to suburban bidding

A regular feature that introduces Mornington Crescent is a letters section which begins with the chairman's comments ("I notice from the sheer weight of this week's postbag, we've received a little over no letters" and "I see from the number of letters raining down on us this week that the Scrabble factory has exploded again"). The selected letter each week is invariably from "A Mrs. Trellis of North Wales", whose incoherent letters usually mistake the chairman for another Radio 4 presenter or media personality. "Dear [[Libby Purves|Libby]]," (she writes), "why oh why ... very nearly spells YOYO", or "Dear [[Alan Titchmarsh|Mr. Titchmarsh]], never let them tell you that [[Sizing|size]] isn't important. My aunt told me that, but then all my new wallpaper fell off."{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

There is some evidence to suggest that in the early days there were a few simple rules which the panellists knew and the audience did not. The fact that the audience did not know the rules was an [[in-joke]] for the panel. Since no one would be able to tell the difference, these rules were only loosely followed, and were eventually abandoned altogether. Given that all those intimately connected with the game naturally dissemble about its nature, it is quite hard to pin down what they were, but they may have been based on a 1952 A&ndash;Z of London, plus a few basic rules about which pages you could (or could not) turn to from the page you were on. The point of the game was to prevent the opponent turning to the page with Mornington Crescent on it in their next move. <ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.mornington-crescent-rule.fsnet.co.uk/mornington-crescent-rules.htm| title=Mornington Crescent Rules| accessdate=2006-11-12}}</ref>

== Further popularity ==

===Recurrent themes===

[[File:MORNINGTON CRESCENT-03 230612 CPS (7567936326).jpg|thumb|A [[blue plaque]] commemorating [[Willie Rushton]] in Mornington Crescent station]]

As the game has evolved, a number of common themes within the imaginary rules have arisen, and these are referred to in asides by the players:

Finchley Central and Mornington Crescent have been played as a [[play-by-mail]] pastime, and in the 1980s were played by post in a number of play-by-mail magazines. One format involved a series of elimination rounds, with everyone except the winner of the current round going forward onto the next. A "type-in" computer version of the game for the [[BBC Micro]] was included in the April 1985 edition of ''[[The Micro User]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Mike Cook |title=Take the Northern Line to MORNINGTON CRESCENT |magazine=[[The Micro User]] |___location=Stockport, Greater Manchester |publisher= Database Publications |date= April 1985 |access-date=2018-11-27 |url=http://8bs.com/tmucovers.htm }}</ref> Mornington Crescent can now be played online, in the spirit of the radio series. Games are played by fans on [[Usenet]], in diverse web forums,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.dunx.org/cgi-bin/orange-mc| title=Orange MC|website=Dunx.org }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://enquirer.improbableisland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=18204| title=Improbable Island Enquirer|website=Enquirer.improbableisland.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,14345.0.html| title=The Steampunk Forum at Brass Goggles: Mornington Crescent|website=Brassgoogles.co.uk }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://mc.pathetech.com/| title=Mornington Crescent In Outer Space|website=Mc.pathetech.com }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fawm.org/|title=FAWM|website=Fawm.org|access-date=12 May 2023}}</ref> and on the [[London Underground]] itself. A [[Facebook]] application has also been produced.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?api_key=fd7aeae0bc900217f6599b1868d6aa01| title=Facebook Mornington Crescent| website=[[Facebook]]| access-date=2008-01-18}}</ref>

* In general, a move to Mornington Crescent is not allowed very early in the game – the implication being that it takes some time or accumulation of points to reach. [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]] once started a game with "Mornington Crescent" and this was severely frowned upon as a breach of the general [[code of conduct]] of the game (the audience, however, found the whole thing hilarious and Tim was declared victorious after Humphrey referred to the "audience clap-o-meter"). An immediate victory ''did'' occur once on air in ''ISIHAC'', but only after the player claiming it had spent four minutes explaining the particular "rules" he was invoking, therefore making the move acceptable, but the loophole was quickly removed.

* Varied rule sets such as "Finsbury rules" are invoked, generally being the subject for further asides in the game.

* Certain moves will be applauded by the audience, or greeted with intakes of breath. Audience reaction can also help shape the game. In one broadcast, a lone clapper applauded Willie Rushton, which resulted in Rushton being "huffed" by Graeme Garden.

* There are set and established plays, similar to openings in chess, occasionally named after players of the game on ''ISIHAC'', such as "[[Willie Rushton|Rushton's]] Gambit". Knightsbridge to Ongar is said to be a favourite move.

* Once a player has named [[Dollis Hill tube station|Dollis Hill]], other players will often groan in anguish in anticipation of the forthcoming "Dollis Hill loop"; thereafter every alternate move will be Dollis Hill until the loop is "escaped" somehow.

* Players may be "in Spoon", which limits their actions in unspecified ways. During a game broadcast in 1995, the Chairman explained that this was a corruption of the original term, "in [[Spain]]". How this might occur, what effect it has or, indeed, as the chairman mused, what a player might be doing in Spain, however, remained unrevealed.

* There is a similar state called "Knip", or "Knid".

* A move to Mornington Crescent may be predicted some number of moves in advance, as in [[chess]]: "Mornington Crescent in two."

* Aldwych is always a dangerous move.

* Real-life changes to the London tube network are sometimes alluded to in the game, most notably when the actual tube station at Mornington Crescent was closed when the lifts failed and a "rules committee" was said to have rushed through an amendment required for the game to stay playable. (The situation came to light only when Graeme Garden's triumphant winning move was declared invalid.) The ''ISIHAC'' team launched a spoof charity, the "Mornington Crescent Elevator Repair Fund".

When [[Mornington Crescent tube station|Mornington Crescent Underground station]] was reopened in 1998 after six years of closure for lift repairs, London Transport invited the ''Clue'' team to perform an opening ceremony.<ref name="bbc-1998">{{cite news |title=Mornington Crescent - the legend is reborn |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/79273.stm |access-date=4 October 2018 |work=BBC News |date=27 April 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004141656/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/79273.stm |archive-date=4 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> A memorial plaque to the late [[Willie Rushton]], one of the show's longest-serving panelists, was installed at the station in 2002.<ref name="bbc-2002">{{cite news |title=Mornington Crescent honours Rushton |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1885736.stm |access-date=4 October 2018 |work=BBC News |date=21 March 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004141938/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1885736.stm |archive-date=4 October 2018}}</ref>

In play by fans these rules and variations are routinely extended and embellished.

== Spin-offs and publications ==

===Culture of secrecy===

At Christmas 1984, Radio 4 broadcast a special programme, ''Everyman's Guide to Mornington Crescent'', a "two-part documentary" on the history of the game and its rules, presented by [[Raymond Baxter]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Roberts | first=J. | title=The Fully Authorised History of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue: The Clue Bible from Footlights to Mornington Crescent | publisher=Random House | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4070-8780-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ldEQYB39GSsC | access-date=June 24, 2023 | page=265}}</ref> At the end of part one (concentrating on the history), it was announced that part two (about the rules) had been postponed due to "scheduling difficulties".

Part of the fun (and most of the point) is pretending the rules are real (i.e. set in stone). Allusions are made to an elusive rulebook, and to Stovold, and the supreme obscurity of the rules is a principal source of humour. Players may make reference to the International Mornington Crescent Society (IMCS), allegedly the dominant rule-making body for the game.

Another documentary was broadcast on [[Christmas Eve]] 2005. It was named ''In Search of Mornington Crescent'', and narrated by [[Andrew Marr]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/pip/mwasz/| title=BBC – Radio 4 – Comedy and Quizzes – In Search of Mornington Crescent|access-date=2006-11-12}}</ref> This has since also been released on a BBC Audiobook CD.

Among Mornington Crescent fans it is very bad form to admit that the rules are fictitious. This is because while it may be true that the ''game'' rules are fictitious, Mornington Crescent - like any complex social activity - inevitably accumulates social rules, which are ''not'' fictitious, although they may well vary from one clique to another. To take the most simplistic case, a player who persistently 'wins' with his or her first move will very soon either lose interest in the game, or cease to be welcome among those who play 'properly'. One of the charming paradoxes of Mornington Crescent is that it is actually playable as a game despite its lack of 'real' rules - but only provided one cooperates with the game's central conceit.

Two books of rules and history have been published, ''The Little Book of Mornington Crescent'' (2001; {{ISBN|0-7528-1864-3}}), by [[Graeme Garden]], [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]], [[Barry Cryer]] and [[Humphrey Lyttelton]], and ''Stovold's Mornington Crescent Almanac'' (2001; {{ISBN|0-7528-4815-1}}), by Graeme Garden.

===Publications===

In the 1990s, Radio 4 broadcast a Christmas special: ''Mornington Crescent Explained'', a "two-part documentary" on Mornington Crescent, with part one being a history of the game through the ages and part two being the rules. At the end of the broadcast of part one it was announced that part two had been postponed due to "scheduling difficulties".

== Cultural references ==

Part two was broadcast on [[Christmas Eve]] [[2005]]. It was named "In Search of Mornington Crescent" and narrated by [[Andrew Marr]]. <ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/pip/mwasz/| title=BBC - Radio 4 - Comedy and Quizzes - In Search of Mornington Crescent|accessdate=2006-11-12}}</ref>

The code for the first ever Mornington Crescent computer game, on a BBC Micro, was presented on p154 of the April 1985 edition of ''The Micro User'', an early computer magazine.<ref>{{Cite periodical |date=April 1985 |title=Take the Northern Line to Mornington Crescent |url=http://8bs.com/othrdnld/tmu/scans/tmu026.zip |access-date=2024-05-16 |magazine=[[The Micro User]] |pages=121-125 |volume=3 |issue=2 |issn=0265-4040}}</ref> Due to space restrictions, the rules for the game were not published but were promised for the next month's edition, along with an explanation by a member of the Society for the Support of Mornington Crescent, Dr. Richard Taylor-Fischel. Unfortunately, in that edition on the Letters page, p121, he took umbrage at the modifications to the game that had been necessary to produce a computer program and consequently withdrew his collaboration, using the name Dr. R. T. Fischel PhD and bar. <ref>{{Cite periodical |last=Fischel |first=R.T. |date=May 1985 |title=Shocks on the Line |url=https://8bs.com/othrdnld/tmu/scans/tmu027.zip |access-date=2024-05-16 |magazine=[[The Micro User]] |page=154 |volume=3 |issue=3 |issn=0265-4040}}</ref>

Two books of 'rules' and history have been published, ''The Little Book of Mornington Crescent'' (2001; ISBN 0-7528-1864-3) by [[Graeme Garden]], [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]], [[Barry Cryer]] and [[Humphrey Lyttelton]], and ''Stovold's Mornington Crescent Almanac'' (2001; ISBN 0-7528-4815-1) by Graeme Garden.

==See also==

In the late 1980s, [[Roger Heyworth]], a director of [[Gibson's Games]], mooted the idea of publishing a Mornington Crescent game consisting of an empty box containing a flyer promoting a club for aficionados. The plan was abandoned because of the number of customer complaints that it was expected to generate. In the late 1990s, he approached the BBC with a card game design but this was rejected because it was too serious for a spinoff from a comedy game. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

* [[Calvinball]]

* [[Guyball]], from the sitcom ''Green Wing''

* [[List of games with concealed rules]]

* [[Nomic]]

* [[Numberwang]], from the television show ''That Mitchell and Webb Look''

* [[Zendo (game)]]

* Tegwar, from the novel ''[[Bang the Drum Slowly]]'' and [[Bang the Drum Slowly (film)|its film adaptation]]

== References ==

Starting in 1997 an attempt was made to create an actual serious playable version of Mornington Crescent, by means of a [[nomic]]. This was inspired by the propensity of nomics to create subgames and the observation that nomic players keep tweaking their nomics to keep them interesting to play. [http://dunx.org/mornomic/ Mornington Nomic] was a successful nomic for a while, and indeed succeeded in producing an interesting and playable game that matched the form of Mornington Crescent. While the nomic wound down in 2001, the resulting set of rules for Mornington Crescent remains.

{{Reflist}}

==Variants==

In general, when [[Humphrey Lyttelton]] (Humph) announces a game of Mornington Crescent during an ISIHAC broadcast, he will usually describe a set of special rules that are deemed to apply to that session of the game. For example, 'Trumpington's Variations', or 'Tudor Court Rules'. This means that almost every episode of ISIHAC in which Mornington Crescent is played introduces a new variant. Several ISIHAC fan sites on the web have taken it upon themselves to document these variants as they are described. (See links section.)

In similar vein, among groups that play Mornington Crescent (such as the BBC and Parslow.com web site in the links section) the same tendency to invent and describe new rules variants is also seen.

Finally, it is possible to play Mornington Crescent on any tube, rail, bus, etc. map the players may have available, or even a sufficiently varied arbitrary list of items. (For example, 'Organ Pipe Crescent' or 'Pub Name Crescent'.) All that is required is sufficient copies of the map or list, and an agreement as to which entry on the map corresponds to Mornington Crescent and thus triggers a win.

Some example game variants:

* In [[Sweden]] the game is sometimes played by [[science fiction]] [[fandom|fans]] and uses the [[Stockholm Metro]] map and [[Stora Mossen]] as the target.<ref>[http://forum.karspexet.se/viewtopic.php?t=1413&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=e22c4ddab90513bfa520dbfe79412b2a Archived Stora Mossen game transcript, in Swedish]</ref> <ref>[http://www.dunx.org/cgi-bin/white-rose/forum?forum=Game653&groupBy=id&group=600&before=162&end= Archived Stora Mossen game transcript, in English]</ref>

* In [[Québec]] the game uses the [[Montréal Métro]] map and [[Lucien-L'Allier (Montreal Metro)|Lucien-L'Allier]] as the target.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}

* The [[Paris Métro]] game uses [[Château d'Eau (Paris Métro)|Château d'Eau]] station as the target. References: <ref>[http://www.dunx.org/cgi-bin/white-rose/forum?forum=Game569&groupBy=id&group=500&before=80&end= Archived Chateau d'Eau game transcript]</ref>, <ref>[http://www.kevan.org/morningtonia.pl?Chateau_D'Eau Description of Chateau d'Eau ruleset]</ref>. See also 'Mornington Croissant' &mdash; <ref>[http://www.kevan.org/morningtonia/morningtonia.pl?Mornington_Croissant Description of 'Mornington Croissant']</ref>.

* Some episodes of [[ISIHAC]] recorded at the Edinburgh Fringe featured a local variation &mdash; called [[Morningside, Edinburgh|Morningside Crescent]], after a residential neighbourhood of Edinburgh.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}

* [[Wikipedia:Wikington Crescent|Wikington Crescent]] is a version played using the on-line encyclopedia [[Wikipedia]]. <!--revised to Avoid Self-Reference!!--> Players start with a 'Random Article' and must navigate to the [[Mornington Crescent tube station]] article by clicking through links on the random article and subsequent articles. The fewer links used, the better the play. For example: [[Matterhorn]] to [[Mornington Crescent tube station]] can be played in four links.

==Cultural references==

* [[Science fiction]] writer [[Michael Moorcock]] included a reference to the game in a [[comic book]] which he scripted, entitled ''Michael Moorcock's Multiverse''.

* 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 [[Chicago Transit Authority|CTA rail system]]. Participants were warned, "We shall follow the standard Thurgood-Hamilton conversion algorithm, but banning semi-lateral shunts." <ref>{{cite web|url=http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/2005.pdf|pdf|title=[[University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt]] 2005 list}}</ref>

* After the death of [[Willie Rushton]], one of ''ISIHAC'''s long-time participants, in 1996, his life was commemorated by a [[blue plaque]] in the ticket office of Mornington Crescent Tube Station in 2002. ("Willie Rushton: Satirist")

* In the [[alternate reality game]] [[Perplex City]], [http://perplexcitycardcatalog.com/1/140/ card #140] in the blue hex set is entitled "Mornington Crescent". The puzzle is to determine the proper play based on stations in Perplex City. The card does not explain the rules, claiming that it would insult the player's intelligence.

* "[[The Steep Approach to Garbadale]]" by [[Iain Banks]] mentions the game as a creation of fictional company Wopuld Ltd., described as "a game based on the map of the [[London underground]] with a complicated double-level board".

* In [[Faction Paradox]]'s Eleven-Day Empire, important relics are stored in the Stacks, a labyrinth constructed from ghosts of London Underground stations. The stations "can only be approached by following a complex sequence of ritual moves"; Mornington Crescent is particularly difficult to reach.

==Similar games==

===Actual games===

* [[Mao (game)|Mao]]: A card game with 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.

* "One Up, One Down": a [[drinking game]] with Crescent-like elements.

* [[Progress Quest]]: A satire of [[MMORPG]]s, Progress Quest 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.

* [[Rock, Paper, Scissors]]: The World Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS) Society maintains a [http://www.worldrps.com/ website] with elaborate strategy guides for the game, descriptions of tournaments, the RPS Strategy Guide, and the like.

* Tig Tag: A commentary on the extended version of [[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film)|The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]] includes [[Elijah Wood]], [[Billy Boyd]], and [[Dominic Monaghan]] talking about an imaginary game called "tig tag". Apparently, Boyd and Monaghan were messing around, saying "tig" and "tag" randomly, when Wood walked up and asked them what they were doing - whereupon they quickly invented a whole set of fake rules, like "No! you can't put a double tag before a tig!" It seems Wood thought the game was genuine, and a few years later asked the others why they didn't play it anymore.

* Skuk: A fictitious real-life version of Chess, where everything you do is considered a move. "Skuk" is a garbling of the Danish word for check, "skak", and only when your move places your opponent in check are you required to announce it, often by nature of a postcard or phone message only including the word "skuk". "Check mate" becomes "skuk mut", again from the Danish "skak mat". {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

* Stanley Random Chess: A chess variant, played with a computer referee which randomly "corrects" at least 50% of each players' moves by replacing it with a "legal" move from its extensive rule database. Despite numerous references to books and "official" tournaments, none of these rules actually exist, and the players explain their moves by making up rules on the spot (often using references to fictional similar situations during equally fictional tournaments). <ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.chessvariants.org/link2.dir/srchess.html| title=Stanley Random Chess| accessdate=2007-02-08}}</ref>

* Goobos: a parody of clapping games where different members have to find out the rules. This game includes a complicated backstory, one in which the main theme is that once you have your back to the woods you cannot turn round, for if you do you show that you are a coward. It is played by each member saying a word and 'passing' to another player by making eye contact, and then they saying a word. If it is not 'correct' everyone playing takes their left foot in their right hand and exclaims this fact. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

* Provost: A card game played by students of The Queen's College, Oxford, has complicated rules which change the order in which cards may be played, and has several variations. {{fact}}

===Games in works of fiction===

* Calvinball: [[Calvin and Hobbes]]' Calvinball bears some resemblance to Mornington Crescent.

* Clique: The online satirical gaming magazine ''Critical Miss'' featured rules for a card game called Clique, a parody of collectible card games that used printed cards and spurious spoken rules to confuse onlookers.

* Double Cranko, Triple Cranko: The episode of [[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]] "Your Hit Parade" (1978) featured [[Hawkeye Pierce]] and [[B. J. Hunnicutt]] playing an incomprehensible game called "Cranko", and alluded to the presumably more complex "Triple Cranko".

* [[Creebage]]: In one episode of the television series ''[[The Monkees]]'', the character of [[Micky Dolenz]] (played by the actor of the same name) invents a card game known as Creebage on the fly, also, as in the ''Star Trek'' episode, to distract an old-style gangster holding him captive. This game also has incomprehensible rules. While the gangster is distracted, Micky escapes, with the gangster holding up some cards and shouting, "But, I have a creebage!"

* [[Cripple Mr Onion]]: This game is referred to in various books in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Discworld]] series. It is a card game whose rules are never directly specified, but are very complex.

* Cry Bastion: A game improvised by Dave Garver ([[Clint Eastwood]]) and Murphy ([[Donald Siegel]]) in the film [[Play Misty For Me]]

* Cups: 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.)

* Double Fanucci: The computer game [[Zork Zero]] features a game called [[Double Fanucci]] which has similarly mind-bogglingly complex (and similarly ultimately irrelevant) "rules", with the actual way to "win" the game having nothing at all to do with score or supposed game position. It is unknown whether or not Double Fanucci was inspired by Mornington Crescent.

* Fizzbin: In the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "[[A Piece of the Action (TOS 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.

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

* [[Go Johnny Go Go Go Go]]: The British [[sitcom]] ''[[The League of Gentlemen (comedy)|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.

* [[Guyball]]: A sport played in the British sitcom ''[[Green Wing]]'', Guyball is, like Mornington Crescent, a very complex game with no set rules but with some recurring themes, and is based on sports played in British [[public school]]s such as the [[Eton Wall Game]]. In the game, each player wears a "Topmiler", a basket on top of a helmet, while other players attempt to throw balls into it.

* House Rules Parcheesi: in DC Simpson's online comic [[Ozy and Millie]], characters play "House Rules Parcheesi", the specifics of which are left to the reader's imagination, but which always ends with the house strewn with tennis rackets, socks, couch cushions stacked in complicated positions, etc.

*[[How I Met Your Mother]]: In the episode "Atlantic City", Barney plays a game entirely in chinese called Shing Hai Si Bu Shing. Marshall, however, figures out how to play the game, giving Barney clues as to how to play. Barney wins by going all in, spinning a roulette wheel, and choosing the girl who is holding the Jelly Bean. He shows this victory by declaring "Ning Na".

* "I Ruff, I Huff": The [[Tom Stoppard]] play [[The Real Inspector Hound]] has several scenes where people in a seaside mansion are playing a card game that has commentaries such as "I Ruff" and "I Huff", and follows no obvious known card game's rules. The objective seems to be that the 'odd person out' in the scene loses.

* [[Numberwang]]: A sketch, created for the radio series ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Sound]]'', and later appearing as a series of sketches on the television version, ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]''. Numberwang is a fictional maths-based game show that "Makes very little sense". Each contestant shouts out numbers until someone reaches "Numberwang".

* ''Sink'': A game generally played by [[Discordianism|Discordians]] (and people of much ilk). The rules are defined in the ''[[Principia Discordia]]''. <ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/73.php| title=Sink (Principia Discordia)| accessdate=2007-02-11}}</ref>

* Spat: One episode of Garden and Brooke-Taylor's television series, ''[[The Goodies (TV 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.

* TEGWAR: The book ''[[Bang the Drum Slowly]]'' by [[Mark Harris (author)|Mark Harris]] includes a game called TEGWAR, The Exciting Game Without Any Rules. Played by professional baseball players as a way to dupe unsuspecting fans out of their money, the game features rules that are made up on the spot. Each time a non-inititate thinks he's understood how to play, he's told of a new wrinkle in the rules that he somehow didn't catch. (The game also appears in the 1973 film of the same name.)

==References==

{{FootnotesSmall}}

==External links==

*[httphttps://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbradio4h2g2/F2766775A769395 The BBC Radio 4H2G2 Mornington Crescent messageAppreciation boardSociety]

*[http://www.isihac.co.uk/games/mcvariations/index.html A list of variations mentioned in ''ISIHAC'' games]

*[http://metta.org.uk/light/crescent/ Automated version of the game, against a server, following the short rules and rule 7b.]

*[http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/mc1.html Mornington Crescent Simplified and Explained for Novices]

*Encyclopaedia Morningtonia [http://kevan.org/morningtonia Wiki] and [http://www.dunx.org/white-rose/mc_em.html the original] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061015090646/http://www.dunx.org/white-rose/mc_em.html |date=15 October 2006 }}

*[http://metta.org.uk/light/crescent/ Automated version of the game, against the server, following the short rules and rule 7b.]

*[httphttps://parslowgithub.com/morningtonpete-rai/ Forummornington-style multicrescent-playergame-archive Mornington Crescent andGame other ''ISIHAC'' gamesArchive] dataset.

*[http://kevan.org/morningtonia?HomePage Encyclopaedia Morningtonia (wiki)]

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