Crazy Eddie
Genial drunkard
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2001
- Messages
- 880
Mornington Crescent
- Thread starter stormerne
- Start date
No hostility intended Ohwell. Quite the reverse. My quote:
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to"
is from the 1969 hit single song called "Oh Well" by Fleetwood Mac. I was attempting to be gentlemanly by acknowledging a potential origin of your name.
Sixchan
Emperor
Want to have a go at guessing MY name's origins?
Ohwell
Deity
Ah. My apologies, I never heard of the song. I do tend to take things the wrong way
I really have no Idea where my name came from, but I like it.
Not to post off topic- I am even more confused with the concept of tokens... Maybe I will buy the book...
Surely something to do with Dolby Digital products (?).
Sixchan
Emperor
What? Why the hell would it be that? No.
Because perhaps you are a discerning listener to high quality music and own one of these predigious systems. But apparantly not!
Well I really have no idea.
Unless of course you come from a place where six rivers or channels flow together into the sea.
Well I really have no idea.
Unless of course you come from a place where six rivers or channels flow together into the sea.Sixchan
Emperor
Okay, I'll explain the name.
the suffix -chan simply means little in Japanese. Many Otaku use this suffix for some reason (don't ask, we just do).
Six comes from that REALLY old TV show the Prisoner. I'm sure you've seen that before.
the suffix -chan simply means little in Japanese. Many Otaku use this suffix for some reason (don't ask, we just do).
Six comes from that REALLY old TV show the Prisoner. I'm sure you've seen that before.
I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, so being the semi-resourceful web surfer, I slapped "mornington crescent" and rules into google and came back with this, courtesy of some gent named Paul Crowley (homepage www.ciphergoth.org). written in May '01. Here's his take:
"OK, so your favourite newsgroup or mailing list has become infected with people listing seemingly random London Underground stations, each annotated with justification to a rule that no-one's mentioned before. They're playing some sort of game! But oddly enough, they can't tell you where you can find a copy of the rules. And you've done a search for the rules, but with no success - you seemed close one time, but ended up on a 404. Hopefully, you also found this page.
The reason you didn't succeed is the obvious one. There are no rules to Mornington Crescent. The whole thing is an elaborate wind-up, a form of trolling [emphasis mine] which for some reason has become socically acceptable."
So is this some sort of joke? C'mon, admit it ...
"OK, so your favourite newsgroup or mailing list has become infected with people listing seemingly random London Underground stations, each annotated with justification to a rule that no-one's mentioned before. They're playing some sort of game! But oddly enough, they can't tell you where you can find a copy of the rules. And you've done a search for the rules, but with no success - you seemed close one time, but ended up on a 404. Hopefully, you also found this page.
The reason you didn't succeed is the obvious one. There are no rules to Mornington Crescent. The whole thing is an elaborate wind-up, a form of trolling [emphasis mine] which for some reason has become socically acceptable."
So is this some sort of joke? C'mon, admit it ...
duke o' york
It don't mean a thing....
Youngsters these days.I apologise for inadvertently giving the game a totally undeserved hiatus, but I spent the weekend with my girlfriend in Edinburgh doing touristy things. I did have a look at the Edinburgh bus map for a potential quick MC variation, but was not suitably inspired. And my girlfriend hasn't anything but the most basic grasp of the rules and will concede defeat before my pincer movement has even begun to take effect. Please do not make any lewd jokes apropos de what I have written here - I have tried to minimise the possibility of double entendres and would appreciate some restraint. This is a gentlemanly game and certain standards of conduct are expected.
Very well then. It seems a long time since the last move was played and with a combination of Notting Hill Gate and Bow Road, it would appear that several options present themselves for my consideration. From the lively haunts of the Notting Hillbillies an equally jaunty twostep would take us to Alperton on the Northern side of the Piccadilly fork, but at this time of the afternoon the switch at Turnham Green is not an option so instead I am forced to take the more pedestrian approach and sidestep to Stockwell.
I am tempted to make an obsequious pun here but will resist! From Bow then: while a speedy knip to Bermondsey would knerdle Stormerne, after much musing I decide that my chances of victory would be better served by taking the upper hand at Rayner's Lane. While this allows Stormerne the possibility of executing a perfect riposte at Leytonstone, he will have to be quick and make it before rush hour begins or else the move loses most of its potency and becomes downright risky.
Nice to see Crazy Eddie posting in this thread again, and the map will no doubt prove useful, but I was hoping for a late entry into the game really. But there is yet time.....
[edit]: My spelling is a shadow of its former self
.
I only discovered MC a few weeks ago. Over at Apolyton, no less. However, since that time I have scoured the web looking for threads. An absolutely amazing game, gentlemen! Would that my skills were up to the task, but Crazy Eddie's post above is the first map I have been able to find, so while I have learned many of the names, I have had no real idea of their spatial layout.
Perhaps the next game, a Beginners Challenge, maybe? Meanwhile, I will follow this game eagerly.
For other lurkers, such as that Philistine, Franklyn, there is a very serious long game going on at the MC Is No Longer At York site. I have spent a couple of hours reading that thread, and am less than half through it. It has opened my eyes to many possibilities in play. During play, the IMCS even bumped it from a level 2b to a level 3a game, indicative of the high quality of play going on. A prime example being when one player drew six others into joining him at Seven Sisters, resulting in a Septimal Convergence, which is much less common than a septimal divergance. Truly a delight to witness.
Perhaps the next game, a Beginners Challenge, maybe? Meanwhile, I will follow this game eagerly.
For other lurkers, such as that Philistine, Franklyn, there is a very serious long game going on at the MC Is No Longer At York site. I have spent a couple of hours reading that thread, and am less than half through it. It has opened my eyes to many possibilities in play. During play, the IMCS even bumped it from a level 2b to a level 3a game, indicative of the high quality of play going on. A prime example being when one player drew six others into joining him at Seven Sisters, resulting in a Septimal Convergence, which is much less common than a septimal divergance. Truly a delight to witness.
Philistine? Ouch. That hurt.
I'm up for a challenge. So, over my lunch hour, I wandered over to the library, where I stumbled upon a dusty volume entitled "Mornington Crescent: Abridged Rules." (The "Annotated Mornington Crescent" was out -- I checked.) I had enough time over a sandwich (and my fourth cup o' joe) to get through the first couple of chapters -- it's complicated stuff, though I'm not surprised, as the game comes from the country that invented the incomprehensible game of cricket.
Unfortunately, my knowledge of the London Underground is zip. However, if someone allowed me to start off in Kew Gardens, I could perhaps transfer to the NYC subway system, with which I'm better acquainted.
I'm up for a challenge. So, over my lunch hour, I wandered over to the library, where I stumbled upon a dusty volume entitled "Mornington Crescent: Abridged Rules." (The "Annotated Mornington Crescent" was out -- I checked.) I had enough time over a sandwich (and my fourth cup o' joe) to get through the first couple of chapters -- it's complicated stuff, though I'm not surprised, as the game comes from the country that invented the incomprehensible game of cricket.
Unfortunately, my knowledge of the London Underground is zip. However, if someone allowed me to start off in Kew Gardens, I could perhaps transfer to the NYC subway system, with which I'm better acquainted.
Crazy Eddie
Genial drunkard
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2001
- Messages
- 880
It's nice to see the map was appreciated - I was half expecting a flame because of it's large size...
My surfing is limited at the moment Duke, so I was going to sit this one out, though I have been lurking, and a very fine game it's been.
PS. My spelling is often poor, and as I'm too lazy to reach for the dictionary I let Google spell the word for me. I couldn't spell appreciated by myself if it was tattooed inside my eyelids.
My surfing is limited at the moment Duke, so I was going to sit this one out, though I have been lurking, and a very fine game it's been.
PS. My spelling is often poor, and as I'm too lazy to reach for the dictionary I let Google spell the word for me. I couldn't spell appreciated by myself if it was tattooed inside my eyelids.
Sixchan: thank you for the explanation of your name. I wouldn't have guessed. I haven't seen this "Prisoner" thing because I am one of the elite few who choose not to have a television in their house (and preferably none within bowshot, if the truth be known).
Franklyn: you are not alone in your struggle to find the rules for Mornington Crescent. The inference is clear, which is why generations of MC players have found the best way to learn or even teach MC is by osmosis. And I have to agree: there really is no substitute for the leap-in-and-have-a-go approach, all the while keeping a deferential ear open for the words of more experienced players. When you're more experienced yourself, that's when you can debate the finer points and browse through great works like Encyclopaedia Morningtonia and learn more advanced techniques. May I also suggest that, if you wish to join in, you start a new "MC beginners" topic? An opening move of Kew Gardens is a good beginner's ploy but, gentleman though he is, I fear Duke would treat such a move quite mercilessly.
Padma: I think a beginner's challenge thread would be good (see above).
Duke: Your Edinburgh jaunt sounds most delightful. You could have returned refreshed with a new perspective on this game, but do I detect just a glimmer of (dare I day it) overconfidence? Stockwell was a tempting play I concede, but don't you think a little too obvious? Time for a reality check: St. James's Park.
I quite like your move of Rayners Lane, but a reply of Leytonstone isn't really my style (at least not at this time of day), and I have to say that because of my recent training course I've had enough of the Central Line for one week. And why do it anyway? After all, I have the powerful resource of a Sling-Shunt to
South Wimbledon. The risk of inadvertently getting into knip I don't see as significant, especially with the interchange vector being so well toffed in that quadrant at the moment.
Franklyn: you are not alone in your struggle to find the rules for Mornington Crescent. The inference is clear, which is why generations of MC players have found the best way to learn or even teach MC is by osmosis. And I have to agree: there really is no substitute for the leap-in-and-have-a-go approach, all the while keeping a deferential ear open for the words of more experienced players. When you're more experienced yourself, that's when you can debate the finer points and browse through great works like Encyclopaedia Morningtonia and learn more advanced techniques. May I also suggest that, if you wish to join in, you start a new "MC beginners" topic? An opening move of Kew Gardens is a good beginner's ploy but, gentleman though he is, I fear Duke would treat such a move quite mercilessly.
Padma: I think a beginner's challenge thread would be good (see above).
Duke: Your Edinburgh jaunt sounds most delightful. You could have returned refreshed with a new perspective on this game, but do I detect just a glimmer of (dare I day it) overconfidence? Stockwell was a tempting play I concede, but don't you think a little too obvious? Time for a reality check: St. James's Park.
I quite like your move of Rayners Lane, but a reply of Leytonstone isn't really my style (at least not at this time of day), and I have to say that because of my recent training course I've had enough of the Central Line for one week. And why do it anyway? After all, I have the powerful resource of a Sling-Shunt to
South Wimbledon. The risk of inadvertently getting into knip I don't see as significant, especially with the interchange vector being so well toffed in that quadrant at the moment.
duke o' york
It don't mean a thing....
No-one is surprised to see the Duke stagger into the MC free house shortly after opening time, mutter "Ushual pleesh" in the general direction of the bar and then collapse into his customary corner seat and begin poring over an Underground map.
Once his first draught of Chuzzlewit's Old Baby-Eater has been appropriately savoured, a new life comes over this sozzled old aristocrat. He takes out a pad of paper and a pen and begins to scribble away at an astonishing rate. Nearer closing time, when they are satisfied that the Duke is asleep, one of the glass collectors is brave enough to go and pry this piece of paper from the gnarled hand. It was covered in a remarkable scrawl which seemed to make little sense, but a cryptologist who was stood at the bar taking too long to choose a cigar claimed to make some sense of it. The transcription of his interpretation is as follows:
"St James' Park eh? Clever, damnably clever. Crikey, my coefficients are all over the place and I may need to hole up somewhere quiet for a turn to recuperate. But where? If I adjust the angle of abstrusion a little then I have an easy three-quarter to Surrey Quays, but this will leave me open to a riposte on my left flank so is perhaps not the wisest strategy at this time. But if I activate the "sleeping" tokens I left at Green Park then I can bend the velocity to an extent that will leave me quite safe at Russell Square and knerdle that aquiline bounder into the bargain!
His other move was to South Wimbledon, which might lead the casual observer to a conclusion that this was some kind of retreat. Ah, if only 'twere so! Alas, his move into the quadrant in question if anything leaves him in a much stronger position and I'll need to be on my toes to guard against any shunting toward zone 3 next time. The best response here would be to move directly to the Cutty Sark, but the rules chosen will not allow use of the DLR so I'll have to come up with something more sneaky. Perhaps a swift straddle of both Chalk Farm and Kentish Town will leave me with enough LV to cruise comfortably on to Colindale and also apply pressure on my opponent by means of the little-known Selsey Squeeze."
I should warn that this is what sense could be made of the scribblings and may not convey the real intentions of the old sot, but since he is currently asleep under the table by the fire then who are we to presume he thought otherwise?
Once his first draught of Chuzzlewit's Old Baby-Eater has been appropriately savoured, a new life comes over this sozzled old aristocrat. He takes out a pad of paper and a pen and begins to scribble away at an astonishing rate. Nearer closing time, when they are satisfied that the Duke is asleep, one of the glass collectors is brave enough to go and pry this piece of paper from the gnarled hand. It was covered in a remarkable scrawl which seemed to make little sense, but a cryptologist who was stood at the bar taking too long to choose a cigar claimed to make some sense of it. The transcription of his interpretation is as follows:
"St James' Park eh? Clever, damnably clever. Crikey, my coefficients are all over the place and I may need to hole up somewhere quiet for a turn to recuperate. But where? If I adjust the angle of abstrusion a little then I have an easy three-quarter to Surrey Quays, but this will leave me open to a riposte on my left flank so is perhaps not the wisest strategy at this time. But if I activate the "sleeping" tokens I left at Green Park then I can bend the velocity to an extent that will leave me quite safe at Russell Square and knerdle that aquiline bounder into the bargain!
His other move was to South Wimbledon, which might lead the casual observer to a conclusion that this was some kind of retreat. Ah, if only 'twere so! Alas, his move into the quadrant in question if anything leaves him in a much stronger position and I'll need to be on my toes to guard against any shunting toward zone 3 next time. The best response here would be to move directly to the Cutty Sark, but the rules chosen will not allow use of the DLR so I'll have to come up with something more sneaky. Perhaps a swift straddle of both Chalk Farm and Kentish Town will leave me with enough LV to cruise comfortably on to Colindale and also apply pressure on my opponent by means of the little-known Selsey Squeeze."
I should warn that this is what sense could be made of the scribblings and may not convey the real intentions of the old sot, but since he is currently asleep under the table by the fire then who are we to presume he thought otherwise?
Sixchan
Emperor
Why not take a look at the Glasgow train map?
I might get out the rules on Mornington Crescent tommorow, so mabye we could start a beginners thread.
GenghisK
...
Count me in for it was quite a job trying to beat Stormy and the Great Duke together Now I'll add a new rule for the beginner's game: No Duke nor Eagle allowed!
for it was quite a job trying to beat Stormy and the Great Duke together Now I'll add a new rule for the beginner's game: No Duke nor Eagle allowed!
Not even kibitzing?
GenghisK
...
Of course yes 
Always welcomed. Btw, you're away from chess forum for a while
Always welcomed. Btw, you're away from chess forum for a while
So you deflected my St. James's Park with Russell Square? Very neat and nicely knerdled. I have a fond affection for Russell Square, as you will remember from our last game and my visit to the less wholesome corners of the British Museum.
For our audience, a knerdle is "A move which deflects an opponent's attack, rather than blocking it completely, so that the new direction of the attack is advantageous to the knerdler. A way of using the opponent's strength against him. (Thus, most knerdles are "sideways", "diagonal" or "reverse", the latter meaning that the attack bounces back the way it came. A "forwards" knerdle, which is rare, forces the opponent's attack to overshoot.) -- Encyclopaedia Morningtonia.
Once more I am forced to dig deep to keep any initiative. Cannon Street is the next stop, for digging is exactly what is on my mind. It is no coincidence that the remains of that great but dark Mornington Crescent player Eamon Ruttsborough were thought have been found there recently. I go to commune with the spirit of a genius.
Meanwhile, Colindale has to be a poor substitute for a move. There is of course a reason that your Selsey Squeeze is little known, and that is because it's out-of-date! The North London overland line has sucked all the juice out of that old chestnut.
However, talk of Selsey reminds me of my old friend the astronomer Patrick Moore. Perhaps a visit to the Planetarium is in order and so off we go to Baker Street. Actually, we are not going stargazing. The real reason is to visit Madame Tussauds Waxworks and in particular the Chamber of Horrors where we may learn something to Duke's disadvantage.
These games are taking a decidedly sinister turn again.
For our audience, a knerdle is "A move which deflects an opponent's attack, rather than blocking it completely, so that the new direction of the attack is advantageous to the knerdler. A way of using the opponent's strength against him. (Thus, most knerdles are "sideways", "diagonal" or "reverse", the latter meaning that the attack bounces back the way it came. A "forwards" knerdle, which is rare, forces the opponent's attack to overshoot.) -- Encyclopaedia Morningtonia.
Once more I am forced to dig deep to keep any initiative. Cannon Street is the next stop, for digging is exactly what is on my mind. It is no coincidence that the remains of that great but dark Mornington Crescent player Eamon Ruttsborough were thought have been found there recently. I go to commune with the spirit of a genius.
Meanwhile, Colindale has to be a poor substitute for a move. There is of course a reason that your Selsey Squeeze is little known, and that is because it's out-of-date! The North London overland line has sucked all the juice out of that old chestnut.
However, talk of Selsey reminds me of my old friend the astronomer Patrick Moore. Perhaps a visit to the Planetarium is in order and so off we go to Baker Street. Actually, we are not going stargazing. The real reason is to visit Madame Tussauds Waxworks and in particular the Chamber of Horrors where we may learn something to Duke's disadvantage.
These games are taking a decidedly sinister turn again.
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