Hacker News Reader

Comment by voidUpdate | Hacker News Reader

There's a british comedy radio show called "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" that plays a game called "Mornington Crescent", which can be viewed as a similar sort of game, but it only really works in the specific context of the radio show. In theory, it's just comedians listing off london tube stations until one says "Mornington Crescent", and then they "win". In practice, it's played as though there is a vastly complex rulebook of secret rules, and players will react as though the current player may have made a clever play or a mistake or something

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)

EDIT: I've also just remembered "Numberwang", which is a similar game with supposedly complex hidden rules from the comedy TV show "That Mitchell and Webb Look", where the players have to pick a number until they choose one that is "Numberwang"

View on HN

> it's just comedians listing off london tube stations

I'd prefer to view it as comedians parodying games that do have complex rules.

There's also a parallel to Zork's "Double Fanucci" [0] and the League of Gentlemen's sketch "Go Johnny Go Go Go Go" [1] which dwells on the uncomfortable feeling of playing a game you don't know with enthusiastic people who know it well, and insist you'll easily pick up the rules as you play.

[0] https://zork.fandom.com/wiki/Double_Fanucci

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtSvaSZ-xLU

Ah! Right after submitting 1000 Blank White Cards to HN I thought of Finchley Central[1] which (I think) is the game that Mornington Crescent comes from. I learned about Finchley Central a few years ago while reading about the history of The Game[2] (sorry).

I've had ideas off and on for the last 2 years about how to translate Finchley Central into something you could play over the internet with strangers but I've never quite figured out how to make it work; I think a key aspect of these games is having shared context with your friends and trying to make them laugh.

Anyway, fun that your mind went to the same place!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finchley_Central_(game) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(mind_game)

Link to the sketch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0obMRztklqU

English comedy at it's finest.

My favorite thing about Mornington Crescent is that, if you're not careful, you could end up "in spoon."

This post is 2/3 of the way through naming my three favorite fictional games! The 3rd member is, of course, 43-Man Squamish, the rules of which I cannot read without laughing so hard I weep.

https://madcoversite.com/quiz_olympics.html

Reminds me of that one messed up game[0] in 17776[1] (which I highly recommend reading from the start) Specifically in that the rules for an entirely different kind of game seem to have grown out of control.

[0] https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football/you-know-what-neve...

[1] https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football/

Numberwang is really a tribute to Mornington Crescent and a parody of a specific type of low cost British game show, exemplified by “Countdown” which has now been on 40 years.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com