Mornington Crescent
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@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
As the pencil of destiny penetrates the cassette spool of fate, and the magnetic tape of eternity turns itself into a mobius strip, there's just time for a game of Mornington Crescent. Evesham Rules apply unless directed otherwise by Botham's Razor. Special rulings officiated by Van Tam in his new position. Unauthorised participants must return to Belgrade. Youngest player starts.
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@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Dressed as the youngest player, in a yellow recorder print, I unfold my much-thumbed tubes map and set to figuring it out. What AM I about this year. Well, one start is often as good as another. It's how it ends that matters.
Mitcham. Heading in. -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
I would skip to the bottom, but a court order prevents it. A bold opening from the gilet-jaune. I'll have to counter it with Blunkett's blanket (see 1998 ruling). North Finchley.
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@elesimo Jan 2022
As a former South American (under 17) champion, I'll start my game with the traditional Bocolé opening, even though it's been considered a weak move since the 2015 semifinal.
Harrow & Wealdstone. -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Oh, such a joy that a spirited game has started at just the first opening of the gathering. I'm quite chuffed. Now, having to follow @elesimo's clever start (oh, the wonders of youth) is having me rethink my initial play, but, damn the torpedoes, I'm in for
Ealing Broadway -
@celineellis Jan 2022
Literally just read over the 1997 Blair alterations to make sure I am fully up to speed. As I see the chronologically deficient among us has played their safe opener, with subsequent moves being of equal unimaginative effort. I give you this little nugget of audacity from yours truely…..
Maida Vale
(Licks finger and smooths eyebrow in smugness) -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Wait, I thought Botham's Razor said, in effect, "Never play Evesham Rules in January"?? Or am I misremembering, and that was actually the Leeds Convention Codicil? Someone will no doubt set me straight either way.
Anyway, I think I shall take the safe play here:
Tooting Bec -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
You lot haven't left me very much in the way of a good opening gambit here.. I will however vociferously contest any attempt to dismiss me to Belgrade, which as far as I know is not Coventry.
With that out of the way, Bel*size* Park. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Representing Queensland since the age of 15 and having seen Bothams razor in action, i feel obliged to mention i have a cylindrical grealote which prevents my removal to Belgrade. Off for some kosher salt, Golders Green
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@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Nice to see yinz guys all using your words.
Now maybe try using ones that are allowable per Leeds, and you won't be rerouted to Bayswater.
Tooting Bec. -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
I call foul on @elainedimasi, as Tooting Bec was just played three plays before her play. According to Eversham Rules, Section 3, Article 35, if a player repeats a play within the same round, they must sing "O Canada" and "God Save the Queen" at the same time in Trafalgar Square, and they miss a turn. Am I following that correctly? Judges, please confer.
Anyway, I, not to be outdone by @celineellis and to show that I can play something more imaginative...
Cockfosters -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
@kenmattsson
Tooting Bec was a legal safe play for @tuneslayer, I agree my move looked odd BUT, you must know I was ~forced~ off the Northern Line one stop before Balham because of @rickatfulcrum 's stop at Belsize. It's another Botham's Razor thing, you can trust me. -
@erikdidriksen Jan 2022
Cockfosters? A worthy play, certainly, but it's vulnerable to the Đinđić Gambit. It seems we've got a lot of youth in the game so far; it'd be worth your time to study the classics. The 1991 Midlands Regional Semifinals are a wonderful primer for the Đinđić Gambit, particularly if you're interested in the Hofstadter Counteroffense as a response, although there have been other successful countermeasures in the ensuing years (and a few theoretical moves that have yet to see official tournament play).
Ravenscourt Park. -
@celineellis Jan 2022
Ah ha! I see @kenmattsson is starting as he means to go on, in challenging my superior plays with his smut! Welcome to the game sir, I doth my hat to you.
Now in response to @erikdidriksen, Im going to take us from zone 2 right the way out to zone 4 with a reverse birds s of a feather move.....
Chigwell -
@elesimo Jan 2022
Hmmm, @celineellis, I have to confess I was *not* expecting to see an application of the Rorschach riposte so early in the game! Well played... well played.
That doesn't leave me much, does it? And forces me to play a similar strong move (I assume we're not following the Athena Pentacanon?)
Mudchute it is, then. -
@candle Jan 2022
A little late the the match (my train was derailed somewhere east of Liverpool on my way here), but it seems this is already quite spirited! Jolly good stuff gents & ladies! Now how to put myself into an advantageous position this far into the match without ruffling too many feathers… hmmm… yes, I do see one move that might be an appropriate opening at this point in the game:
Ruislip Manor
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
So joyous to have our 50/90 champion @candle joining us for this round (although he did spend 57.4% of the play in Nidd). And quite the sly opening move to you good Sir.
I can see that players have been planning their opening plays for months, as there's much thought and crafting going into these moves. I haven't heard of people playing the Rorschach Riposte, the Athena Pentacanon, the Đinđić Gambit or the Bocolé Opening at the opening of a match since the 1987 Northumbrian Slump Invitational, where the Hon. Rev. Charles "Pinky" Sheffield won with a move so unexpected, it knocked the sherry off the waiter's tray. In deference to that grand move, I shall play, as he did:
Acton Central -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Holy cow, so much high powered MC talent in one place, more than I think I've seen since last year's thread! You all know how to keep a Yank on his toes, and no mistake.
Given the current situation I'm going to have to invoke Pennyfarthing:
Tower Hill -
@elesimo Jan 2022
Tower Hill?
I'm not sure if this is a trap or not, but I'll bite it. The game is still in the beginning and moving east should be safe here (or is there's something I'm not seeing?).
Ah, let's do it: Tower Gateway. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
[@elesimo ] hard to tell what you are not seeing! Do you have the “Plago glasses” as used by the honorable Reefus Mendskin at the “Avesbury incident” in 49 . I follow his move
Canary Wharf -
@celineellis Jan 2022
Ahhhh @elesimo i don’t know if you know, but you have inadvertently blocked me from making a Geoff Marshall zone 1 tiptoe manoeuvre which would have undoubtedly seen me victorious in 3 moves or less. Bugger. So I will drop an ‘apples and pairs’ move to throw more spanner’s in the works…..
South Ruislip -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
Ah, the Vicky Rejoinder. Actually, I expected that. So:
Bermondsey. -
@swampjaw Jan 2022
This reminds me of the second set played in Fostwick, back in '73, between Nigel Tramville and Claude Eaton. Nigel pushed the third trumble, opening up a sinchet on the flank. Claude took advantage of the misstep, scoring a half-corner that really sort of sealed the whole match for him. I'm not as savvy of a player as Claude, really just following the play-by-play transcripts and trying to emulate the old great ones.
Arkham. -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
I will jump in here, as with the Arkham play I see my chance to execute the Peas Pudding Stretch, and then jump on the Piccadilly Line to:
Arnos Grove -
@elesimo Jan 2022
Edit: I take back my move, since @kenmattson played before me. Per the Antwerp rules I lose my turn.
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@candle Jan 2022
Well, following an old strategy used by the late-great Philo Solomon Bucket Esq. in a match back in '64 at the Hastings Community Club in Alford. So, flying on those distinguished lorals, I present my next move:
Northwick Park
See You In The Shadows… -
@dreamscuba Jan 2022
Ever since the Falkner "potato" ruse of '62 was ruled legal a move such as "Dhoby Ghaut" (on the North South, North East and Circle lines of the Singapore MRT) would be perfectly valid, as long as the previous move was to a Metropolitan line station with a "W" in the name.
Dhoby Ghaut -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Gunnersbury, I think. Should be sufficiently indirect. Yes.
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@elesimo Jan 2022
It's not late for a complete switcheroo — it's actually quite early, in fact, before even my first tea of the day.
I play the long double-step all the way to Seven Sisters (since lateral crossings have been considered valid since the pedestrian underpass was added to the Thames).
Seven Sisters it is. -
@candle Jan 2022
Well, a quick transfer & a stop that, in my neck of the woods is the seat of the Provincial Parliament. But in good ol'London Towne is just another station on the Bakerloo line. At least I won't see Doug Ford (Premier of Ontario & brother of the late, not-so-great & infamous Rob Ford, former crack-smoking Mayor of Toronto) whilst I'm there…
Queen's Park
See You In The Shadows… -
@celineellis Jan 2022
I recall a chance meeting I had with Robert Fulcrum III in Knightsbridge after a rather drunken poker game a few summers ago. He told me of his penchant for a game of Mornington Crescent wheneer he was in London. A great conversation of our favourite all time players and of course our preferred rule sets ensued, naturally. It was here that i learned of the now fabled Dot Matrix counter move that was made infamous in the 1980's by the sublime Reginald Epson. Without giving away too much detail, I can say that it allows me to skip the normally customary avoidance of the central line following a Q. This means i can drop straight in on Mrs McCluskey and arrive at....
Grange Hill -
@fonte Jan 2022
I've been watching from the side lines as I was schooled in the Hampton Court rules, under the tutelage of the late, great Sir Nigel Spaffington. Funny thing about Sir Nigel, is he always said there was a point at which Hampton Court/Evesham rules intersect. I thought he was mad of course, which of course he was, clinically. @celineellis I believe he and Fulcrum served together in the South American Badger wars in the late 1750s? That was, of course, of course, before the time of the other thing that happened, of course. But, anyway:
Black. Horse. Road. -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Dang, You lot are either as tricky or as lucky as advertised, and both wouldn't surprise me. I doff my cap (actually a Team Terwilliger bowler, signed by you-know-who himself) in your general direction.
I was all set up to win on the next-but-one move with a semi-lateral petit jeté, inspired by Wellingham's comeback win over Estevez in the Buenos Aires Open of 1999, but that would have required me to move through Borough on this turn, and what with the Northern Line closure making Borough off limits (we *are* playing Evesham, after all) I'm out of luck on that score. Too bad, that would have been a totally brilliant move last week before the closure.
( I know you all know this, I'm just explaining for the fans at home who might not remember Buenos Aires, or have drunk enough alcohol to have forgotten.)
*Sigh.* So since I don't yet have a brass token I'm blocked at Stockwell, and that might as well be my move.
Stockwell. -
@fonte Jan 2022
@tuneslayer touche. Who could forget Buenos Aires.
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@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
My uncle Robert says he doesn't remember you @celineellis . Of course it was a drunken poker game, and he *was* fond of those even if he couldn't quite remember all that transpired on the night. That story about Epson was one of his wilder shaggy dog stories, and I suspect he was trying to throw you off the scent with a bit of subterfuge.
Marylebone. -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
As a point of speaking up for the rules, I believe that @celineellis has inadvertently won this round with her move previous to @fonte. I'm assuming that the drunk poker game has had lingering effects up until this time.
I believe that this makes @rickatfulcrum, @fonte, and @tuneslayer's moves null and void. All that reminiscing about Buenos Aires must have gotten you off your game. That @celineellis is a sneaky one!
Given that, I'll start off the new round with:
Parsons Green -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Is that really how it's happening? Surely the rules in play require a quorum of 4 opponents to void out that many moves. Comparing to the Buenos Aires style I'm more familiar with, folks are really taking off the gloves here!
Holborn. -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
No smoke without fire.
Old Holborn. -
@celineellis Jan 2022
@rickatfulcrum - That old sly dog, Robert has never left a poker game sober in his life and forgets half his families names most days of the week - Im sure you will atest to that Rickat?
Also - I want to point out the clever little play that old @kenmattsson thinks hes getting away with. I am 3 moves away from a superfluous victory and earning this years first brass token at the same time - and he knows it, so seeks to shut me down by faking a win in my name. well i never! Arnold copperwagon will be turning in his grave. such an insubordination for both the platinum jubilee revision and the aintree 1934 rules are just un heard of so early in a game.
Good job i am here to spot such behaviour - as we were chaps, as we were!
Canary Wharf
(licks pencil and puts a mark next to Kens name) -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Back to Canary Wharf so soon after my visit, [@celineellis]
luckily we are playing under “Druids Semblance Rules! I do agree they do work so well using the “Buenos Aires style” i think i will go back to my NME musical roots and visit the Sloane Ranger
Sloane Square -
@elesimo Jan 2022
@coolparadiso ¿sabes que, según las reglas de Buenos Aires, necesitas hablar español después de mudarte al oeste? El difunto El Salvador siempre hizo cumplir esa regla, incluso si el jugador no estaba familiarizado con el idioma de Cervantes.
I'll take my luck up North.
Marylebone. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
That was Spanish [@elesimo ] its just my barbarian accent! eu estava de fato andando para trás, então estava indo para o leste! I think thats Portuguese but of course not Brasilian Portugese so the Buenos Aires rule is not in play!
I think Arthrights law applies now as two people have repeated a stop in the last 10 moves. Do we need to form a counsel! Meanwhile
South Kensington -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Well, it seems that I am getting on the bad side of @celineellis just by holding to the rules. I am unblemished and the model of propriety, and will not have my name be sullied. Harumph!
I didn't realize that we had switched to Druids Semblance Rules @coolparadiso, but I am happy for the diversion, as I had quite a good luck with that ruleset while playing in the most recent Upper Tidwell Invitational. It does allow for the Suffringham Slide that is a most advantageous move when on the outer Bakerloo line, which seems to happen quite a lot in this game, and therefore will play
Elephant & Castle -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Unfortunately my computer is in the shop and I foolishly left all of my MC PDF rulebooks, maps and notes on its hard drive. (I'm using my tablet at the moment.) So I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a disadvantage, stuck here in my study with only hard copies of my rulebooks . Do you remember what a chore it is to plow your way through over 300 rulebooks (only about half of wtich are indexed)? Yeah, so do I, which is why I can't wait to get my computer back.
So if this move seems out of date, keep in mind that my most recent hard copy rulebook is Banger's 2nd edition, and not even Timonen's revision, more's the pity.
Archway -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
@celineellis while he did occasionally forget his wife's name after the odd vicious bender, I take it as a point of pride that Uncle Robert never forgot mine. Mostly because he couldn't get me to sing basso profundo the way he could. After a few lessons he finally sussed that I'm actually a baritone.. and he never spoke about it again.
Meanwhile I would like it known that I'm playing old school here, and that I have neither paid for nor downloaded any of the DLC that exists elsewhere for this game. Stovold would be proud.. proud I tell you. Although it seems some of us are playing Buenos Aires Rules and some of us aren't? I'll try this and hope I don't land in Nidd.
Shepherds Bush. -
@candle Jan 2022
Druid's Semblance & Shepherd's Bush? I dare say, this is certainly getting interesting. You'll have to forgive my bad Spanish (which most Europeans & some North Amerians would actually call French), but I got completely lost in translation there for a few moves. Reminds me of the time I was in central London trying to get to the 1999 International Open. I had been given a buy-in by none-other than Sir Humphrey Radslast IV who had bequeathed it to me after a jolly night in a pub in Whitecastle. Anyway, I was lost & (being a Canuk foreigner) quite confused when a lovely lass (she was Scottish after all) pointed me in the direction of:
Covent Garden
See You In The Shadows…
p.s. I did tell her I was a MacLeod & we had a wonderful time riding the tube that night… um, err… that is what you Brits call a Subway, right? -
@fonte Jan 2022
@kenmattsson whilst I think you could make a case for this interpretation, given that within 17 moves we seemed to have incorporated Druid Semblance rules I think your point no longer applies? See the state of Ontario vs Danny ‘The Tapestry Weaver’ McCallister. I therefore consider myself still ‘in the game’. Incidentally @candle i believe Sir Humphrey was the lead QC in that case for the prosecution? I do hope we are not heading for courts here ourselves as the last thing we all need in February is a lengthy legal battle....
Earl’s Caught -
@celineellis Jan 2022
Well, never let it be said that I don’t acknowledge fellow genius whilst playing this game. The way in which rules sets are being. Switched in and out in this game are some of the best uses I have ever seen. But I do rain pity on poor @tuneslayer though for having no access to digitised rule sets. Personally I operate a voice controlled iPad app of my own design that allows me to research and plan moves 3 steps ahead at all times whilst maintaining full rule set compatibility at all times. You may call it a competitive advantage. I call it cunning genius and will back up this claim with this little gem….
Boston Manor
(Sips earl grey from a bone China cup with pinky held high wrapped in self confidence) -
@elesimo Jan 2022
@celineellis, Earl's Caught to Boston Manor reminds me of the classic match between Maya Reid, Emily Ball, Reuben Jordan, and — what's their face? — Robin Hunter, in the midterm qualifiers at Narrow Lewbury in 1987. I caught the replay on the telly, of course, but I remember how entranced I was, a gray cloudy day going on outside while I happily drank my tea.
Aged 9, it was hard to follow along, and even harder to understand the underlying strategies as the competitors *breezed* through stations, drawing a pattern that I still remember to this day: Peckham Rye, Brockley, Cyprus, then Ruislip (what?!?) — followed by Latimer Road, Barons Court, an the coup-de-grace: Earl's Caught to Boston Manor. I had tears in my eyes.
I don't know if you played your move intentionally, as a homage to that day, but nothing could remove the brilliance of that move, echoed 35 years in the future.
Forest Hill. -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
@elesimo you should remember how that all turned out though. I hate to bring up unpleasant memories but the Deboree Roundabout employed by Jordan on the penultimate move was just sheer absent-mindedness on his part. @celineellis's DLC app could have told you as much.
Turning my attention back to the game at hand, though, and not reliant on DLCs, Forest Hill means that an immediate jump to MC isn't possible.. but I can get close by sticking to Zone 2 and sacrificing a clue token.
Arsenal. -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Ah, I've been waiting for an Arsenal play! As I learned from my years of study with Sir Humphrey Humphries Esq, the Arsenal Gambit is crucial to setting the board all higgly-piggly while simultaneously baffling fellow players.
As this is such a fast moving and cunning field of players, I shant lose my chance to play
Hatton Cross -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
I like dead trees as much as the next guy, but c'mon, if I tried to replace all the PDFs and Kindle books in my Mornington Crescent collection with paper copies, I'd need a warehouse the size of Waterloo Station to house them all. Still, as convenient as digital is, there's much to be said for holding an actual paper book in one's hands, and doubly so when it's signed by one of the Masters (as is my copy of Through The Bakerloo Line With Pen And Camera, signed by Sir Clive Clapham-Bennett himself -- beat THAT if you can!).
Anyway having to stick with safe and/or outmoded plays until I get back up and running, so . . .
Kensington -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
The Arsenal Gambit? Surely the days of six at the back ended when the Highbury rule was declared unsafe? I hope this is not going to descend into fracas.
Gunnersbury -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
Oh God, @tuneslayer what have you done? Take it back! For the love of God, man, take it back!
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@tuneslayer Jan 2022
[Imagine me looking more puzzled than usual . . . )
Wow @hornesgiftshop I didn't intend to trigger your memories of the Mepham Street incident, and for that I am truly sorry, and I take it back. I would actually need a library more the size of Charing Cross station. -
@candle Jan 2022
@tuneslayer, I think you're just stirring the pot. But that's half the fun of the game, right? ;)
This is quite the match. It might just go down in the annals of the game, but perhaps I'm getting ahead of things here…
Well, the crossings are all tied up & there's a switch track just past Arsenal that seems to be out due to a motor vehicle accident. That opens up the field to the Diamond Gambit, which I'd be a fool (or perhaps overly cunning?) to pass up. I mean, what's the worse that could happen? (Ending up in Nidd as I did this past summer… I guess). Well, here goes nothing (Sir Humphrey eat your heart out!):
Kentish Town
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Again, being the stickler for the ever changing rules, it seems that @tuneslayer has won this round in his play before @hornesgiftshop. Congratulations. Seems that we have such an esteemed group here that people win even when they don't mean to.
I will let someone else start and set the rules for the next round, as I don't want to again be unfairly charged with being opportunistic.
(looks slightly side-eyed at @celineellis ) -
@celineellis Jan 2022
My word @tuneslayer - An intact copy of Through The Bakerloo Line With Pen And Camera is worth a packet in Crescent circles alone, but a signed one? signed by Sir Clive Clapham-Bennett himself? I would bet (and i do, frequently) you could make a small fortune if you were to sell. I recently sold one of my spare copies of Life On The Northern Line (first edition no less) by Talulah Trenchcoat. A FASCINATING read about the 36 days she spent on a single northern Line train before TFL evicted her for health and hygeine reasons. To be fair she had started to look gaunt and the smell wasnt something I ever want to experience ever again. but that fetched a princely sum and has enabled me to reinvest the cash into my collection of old worn tube maps and a set of seat covers from the old Hammersmith and City refurbishments from a few years back. But i digress.....
Heathrow Terminal 3 -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Have to say (sotto voce) I can't remember a game where I've been so completely outclassed. But with me currently at Holborn and an idiosyncratic front-runner at Heathrow, there's a nearly rules-neutral confluence that will serve me very well indeed (and it's very nearly MC-adjacent):
King's Cross & St Pancras International
(Now I only have to find that disused elevator shaft - can play to my strengths finally! Yes, there's the service door where the simple lockpick will do me...) -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
Well that move blew up in my face didn't it. I guess I could justify it by suggesting that Arsenal was my best shot out of a number of inferior options.. yeah, I'll go with that. But I refuse to cede my place in Zone 2 now that I'm so close. It'll just mean I throw a hail Mary and hope for an LBW.
Swiss Cottage. -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
@tuneslayer Mepham St was a long time ago. I know that and have discussed it with my personal trainer. The tears come though. The tears come.
Orpington. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
[@rickatfulcrum ] i am afraid to inform you that ball tracker suggests bails only and therefore as the current umpire on the Jubilee Line i stay with my original decision “not out”. Page 3 sub paragraph 2 of the Diamante Scrolls allows me as a devotee of the honorable Twiggy Nuttsworth to retain my umpire position whether in residence or not. i am taking my time machine and slipping back to 1939 when Lords underground station was still open
Lords
Ps if you dont see me for a while i may be stuck in the past (some say the story of my life) -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
Thus triggering Tufnell Park, itself triggering Dernbach's ellipse.
Oval -
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
* gasps for breath * So sorry I'm late...overslept and missed the train I originally intended to catch. Brilliant plays all around so far, and I'm concerned I may be joining too late to have any hope of a chance, but I think I see an opening here for a Hexagonal South-by-Southwest Rejoinder, and I'll make my opening play at...
Knightsbridge. -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Ah @alyxanderjames, you are certainly arrives in fine time. We're already on round three with some very exciting plays and skills back and forth and rule adjustments. There are so many surprises I wouldn't question if Miriam Margolyes dropped in for a round. I'm still waiting for news from Mrs. Trellis from North Wales. I'm sure she will make her presence known shortly.
Here's a play that so cunning you can brush your teeth with it:
Highbury & Islington -
@candle Jan 2022
My dentist certainly approves, @kenmattsson , incisers not-withstanding of course. My my, how the board has developed over the past few moves. The crossings are still a mess & I understand that there's another garden party at number 10 causing some issues… be that as it may (& correct me if I'm wrong), but since the full moon was this past Monday & @alyxanderjames performed a successful Hexagonal South-by-Southwest Rejoinder, that allows me (under the 1978 revision of the Druid's Semblance's rules) to make this next move (which normally would land me in Nidd, but opens me up to a chance at winning the match in three turns, haha!):
Baker Street
See You In The Shadows…
p.s. ee gad, that last sentance went on forever, didn't it? Sorry! -
@candle Jan 2022
p.p.s.: Say hello to Mrs. Trellis for me, @kenmattsson. And ask her how Clive is faring now that he's graduated from Oxford.
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@kenmattsson Jan 2022
@candle, At your prompting I reached out to Mrs. Trellis, and passed along your inquiry. Her response was:
"I only use Granny Smith apples in my Apple Slump, and do not skimp on the cinnamon!"
Take that as you will. -
@candle Jan 2022
@kenmattsson, well I'm so glad to hear that Desmond found his lost spanner. Now, back to the match!
See You In The Shadows… -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Now is my chance! UNburdened by hundred year old rulebooks and fancy rolodexes, NOT having been distracted by "private lessons with Uncle Robert," I use my grappling hook NOW! With dexterity, I ascend the abandoned elevator shaft. It's a fairly quick run in the overhead utility chases, for someone accustomed to such spaces, as I am.
I arrive at a dome with open rafters (legacy of a bizarre and dubious import of Craftsman concepts from the colonies - see, I ~do~ know some lore!) and dive down using my trademark fast rappel. This is it!!!
Hear it and weep, losers: MORN----
[sees the placards]
Augh! Augh! I --- I came down in Euston!
Ooooohhhhhh, crap, dammit.
Even *I* know that this is a breach of the Quentin Protocol. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Ah well[@elainedimasi ] the Quentin protocol was put in place for good reason. Hoppy Carmichael lost a leg trying that move at the 72 all England invitation. My grappling hook gathers dust in the garage. Think I will mak3 an early call at
Wimbledon -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
Brixton. Don't ask.
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@celineellis Jan 2022
I step away for 5 minutes and look what has happened!!! If Mrs Trellis from North Wales saw this games plays she would curdle her custard - and you cant have apple slump without custard! Seeing as you lot have quite honestly make a mockery of my game winning plan, I realise now that I must play dirty. you leave me no choice!
Leicester Square! -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
The screaming voices. The burning pit. The pleading eyes. The dark, silent void.
Ruislip -
@celineellis Jan 2022
Hello?! (Taps glass) is everyone still here?! Did you all run and hide at the thought of @hornesgiftshop last move?! I realise now that it is an inspired move which doesn’t leave much in the way of counter plays this deep into a game, but come on people. Surely a quick glance at the Wogan Annals volume 3 will give you all enough options to not only make a play but also create a smooth 2 move check out!! Well you lot snoozed so I’m taking it….
Kensington (Olympia) -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
Kensington, eh? Pity you couldn't see your way clear out of @hornesgiftshop's Tetrahedronal Reverse to Ruislip, though frankly I doubt any of us could have done. But Kensington was probably just the feint sought by that move, and the most vulnerable to a cunning post attack on the target itself.
In other news Mrs Trellis wrote me:
"Dear Fiona Bruce, I just saw the Prime Minister down my local with a few of his cabinet. He ordered steak, the waiter asked well what about the vegetables, and Boris said they'll just have the same as me."
I can see that stalling for time hasn't gotten me anywhere, so:
Bethnal Green. -
@fonte Jan 2022
@celineellis thanks for rousing us from what I think was the classic Day 4 stupor. I believe in early MC matches, before refreshments were a 'thing' and before Earl Grey invented tea, many perished at this stage.
@rickatfulcrum oddly I received the exact same letter from Trellis. It may be a circular from his office, I believe they are putting all their funds into the Winstanton By-election, which, come next Thursday should tell us all we need to know. @candle there was a P.S. in my version of the letter, and Clive is doing well, working for the Foreign Office and is posted in Doncaster, just until he learns to read.
And so, aptly:
Oxford Circus -
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
I see what you’re trying to do there, @fonte, and you won’t trick me! I’m employing a Spoolington’s Corkscrew and heading this nonsense off at the pass:
Blackfrairs -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Oh my. A Spoolington's Corkscrew offense, and after a Tetrahedronal Reverse to Ruislip. Such a combination of clever and simplistic. Makes me think that I could do the Headondown's Stamp to make it a trifecta, but I know that you would expect that, so I'm going with
Bank -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Well, you all must surely know that my drop to Euston required a restart from all the way out Metropolitan at Amersham. I didn't see any need to announce that and my two following moves since all that was prescribed by protocol. But I can see there are those here who are thinking only of themselves.
By the way @coolparadiso not everybody knows that Hoppy got his nickname way before his accident that you mentioned. But I admit we called him "Poppy Hoppy" then, and, after he couldn't actually work the hopfield any longer we did shorten it to Hoppy. See, you fellows think I don't have lore! I DO!
When you follow a corkscrew with a tetrahedral, you all know, you permit a straight line down Jubilee. I hope no one here thought those terms were simply there for color. Thanks for re-centering my trajectory.
Finchley Road. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Bank on a Saturday wow you must have a Urastillian Sceptre Key. Not since Storm Riceman the famous foreign correspondant to Quamar tried it in 78 have i seen that move on a weekend. An inspired move!? Or suicidal , the throne or Nidd lapping at your ankles! Bravo
All i have is Temple -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
Bank? Then Finchley Road? Then (cor blimey) Temple? You lot gunning old Betsy in the mud then? Get a horse. Or a hound.
Hounslow West. -
@candle Jan 2022
This match keeps getting more complex everytime I return from my sojourns in Essex… at any rate, I'm glad to hear Clive got on with the Foreign Office, thank you for the update @fonte. I'll be sure to write him & give him my regards next time I'm in Liverpool.
Bank, Finchley, Temple, Hounslow… how to follow that up (since I'm still lost in central London at the moment). It seems my only viable option (again to avoid the dregdes that are the river Nidd) is to enact a Round-About-Reversal (only allowed after Temple is played, of course!) & hop over to:
Aldgate
See You In The Shadows… -
@celineellis Jan 2022
I can not believe that you have left me W I D E open to drop straight in with this awe inspiring move after all that too-ing and fro-ing you lot have done. If you had done your homework you would know that Finchely following a stop at Bank triggers the Houston Collective Renaissance rule set in allowing me to ignore the stops in Hounslow and Aldgate stops and move straight into the Cambridge University Netball Team Supporters rule set of 2003 (they can no longer go by their chosen acronym for obvious reasons) catch me if you can....
Chalfont & Latimer -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
[@rickatfulcrum ] temple was supposed to follow Bank but the swiftness of players in typing skills threw my move into chaos! my horses hooves are nearly bare, not since the Dilma Ride of Claude De Longly has smoke been seen coming off the tracks! And now an outstanding play using The HCR rules leaves me no option but to trigger the football rules of Finsbury University Carnival Kickers (also no acronym) of course meaning
Finsbury Park -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Ah @coolparadiso, you have neglected to notice that @celineellis outwitted you and snuck in a rule set before you got to your play. Granted, I believe @celineellis did show, as RuPaul has mentioned, Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent in her play (again, no acronym). Yet, the Finsbury Park does get us from the Metropolitan to the Victoria line, so I'll do my best to throw a spanner into the play and go
Golders Green (Ha! Weren't expecting that, were you?) -
@candle Jan 2022
@kenmattsson, no I wasn't expecting that at all. Now I'm in a pickle. Your move to Golders Green has blocked my next intended move to Moorgate because of that old clause in the Paddington Straights Ruleset that says you can't transfer from the Circle Line to the Northern Line after Golders Green has been played. So now I need to re-think my entire strategy. My only recourse is to take the Central Line to:
Bond Street
See You In The Shadows… -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Green Park.
-
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
Oh dear, I seem to be falling a bit behind. Ah, but if @elainedimasi is at Green Park, that means I can employ the Zeppelin Addenda rule set from ‘77, and find my way ahead to:
Archway -
@tomslatter Jan 2022
Newbury park
-
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Well Guvnor, i see we are in the dodgy part of Essex
Putting on me pearls and having a knees up so staying at a nearby manor
Bethnal Green -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
[[ File this under Real Life Intrudes: I actually did have to take my main computer, a Macbook Pro circa 2015, to the shop because the battery wasn't charging. Good thing I did too. the tech told me that the case popped open as he got the last screws off. The battery had started giving off gas and was all distended, and could have caused damage to the laptop, or possibly me.
I had to work from my phone and tablet for all that time. I don't know how people who live on their phones do it. It's great for mail but sites like this make my eyes hurt, and it's not just the erstwhile font.
Let me come up to speed on the game since my last move and I'll jump back in. In game character. ]] -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
@celineellis Right, I keep that copy of Through The Bakerloo Line in my book safe along with a few other rarities I've collected over the years. It could easily have been the third most valuable piece in my collection if I hadn't had to sell my copy of District Line Days to try to finance a copy of The Young Person's Guide to Great Portland Street that came on the market. (Ah for the days before the Bournemouth Council when the initial rules to MC were codified, when there were about a half-dozen variants of the game dating back to 1863. It was a much simpler game back then, of course, what with there only being six stations and all.)
So in honor of those halcyon days . . . Great Portland Street. -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
I have found that having all the codices in digital form, has certainly upped my game, as I can randomly access just about any ruleset (Upper Doncaster Ruleset of 1983 anyone?), and can quickly find what I can and cannot do. That, with the compendium of all moves that have been done in all the major tournaments (we won't talk about how the Walthamstow Invitational is now neither in Walthamstow nor an invitational), it makes it so much easier to find the appropriate play.
Gants Hill -
@candle Jan 2022
Ee gants! Great Portland goes way back, indeed, And yes, let us not talk about the so-called "Walthamstow Invitaional", @kenmattsson
@tuneslayer, I do believe I have a copy of District Line Days somewhere. It's not a first edition - unfortunately, but a second edition that also contains footnotes added by hand by none other than Sir Cornelis Octavius Gushlow (or Super-COG as he's known in MC circles). I paid only fifty quid for it in a little used bookstore on Barley Mow Passage. Well, since I'm in the neighbourhood, I guess that means my next move will be:
Chiswick Park
See You In The Shadows… -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
It amuses me that @tuneslayer had been taken in by the COG forgery, especially as the forger was none but myself. Quite apart from the money, it amuses me to watch them endlessly buffering between Chiswick and Hammersmith, apparently unaware of the back passage through Fulham. Still, buffet away if you wish.
Craven Cottage. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Ah that is an inspired move, I guess you are able to access the back way into the underground from the cottage itself, i recall back in the early 80s Teddy Maybank and the full substitutes bench disappearing that way midway through the second half of a Division 1 game. I am not actually sure where the portal comes out but im taking a punt on
Putney Bridge -
@tomslatter Jan 2022
Newbury park.
(Been here 5 years so far. Slow and steady wins the race). -
@celineellis Jan 2022
@tomslatter I have read all the Annals, all the editions of Galafreys Gambit Guides, and multiple editions of rule sets dating back to 1896 (the year of the great fire of wandsworth street - RIP Toby the cat) and never, ever have i seen anything remotely like the approach you have been using in these FAWM-MC bouts. I take my hat off to you in fact. its not often i cant anticipate a strategy or at least work out a players intentions. You sir, have me well and truely baffled. but if you are sat at Newbury Park (still!) it means I can envoke a move not to dissimilar to @alyxanderjames Zeppelin move and jump straight too......
Swiss Cottage -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
@coolparadiso the portal comes out at New Barnet. They just got distracted after that and went to York iirc.
Bounds Green -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
@hornesgiftshop I have no idea what you're on about. I've never owned any Super-COG memorabilia. I've shied away from them ever since Garden's Gazette reported that forgeries ("well done" ones, in the magazine's words) were hitting the market. My District L:ioe Days was a first edition signed by all the participants at the Selsey Round Robin, at which I won Miss Congeniality (don't ask). I now wish I had kept it, although it's all worked out for the best, as that volume is now on display at the Crescent and Castle pub in Pocklington where it draws tens of visitors annually.
Where was I? Oh yes, following up Swiss Cottage and Bounds Green. Only two possible moves if Bell is in play, and one leads to disaster. Now if I only knew which one. Ah well, toujours l'audace and all that.
Buckhurst Hill -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
@tuneslayer you know how you were saying that one move led to disaster? That one was it. I'm dangerously close now and I have options:
Euston. -
@candle Jan 2022
Buckhurst Hill, that works @tuneslayer. You chose the best of the two options for sure. Now, that move siphons off some of the ale that I was going to drink in order to figure out my next move. Pity… oh well, the game must continue (even beyond Swinss Cottage & Bounds Green!) & I still have a crumpet in my cupboard that I was supposed to deliver to Mr. Barnabas Maxwell Flint Esq. last Tuesday but got side tracked on account of the Daisies blooming. At any rate, i guess I should stop trying to distract you all from my next board re-configuring move & see how gobsmacked you all will be when I declare:
Goldhawk Road
See You In The Shadows… -
@candle Jan 2022
Well… err, it was a good move @tuneslayer, until @rickatfulcrum moved to Euston. Sorry, mate…
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
I have to say that there have been so many twists and turns in this game that I feel like my best move now is to just randomly choose my next move and hope for the best (and then ask Jeeves for a G&T)
Gunnersbury -
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
While you're all pondering your next move, allow me to throw a fresh spanner in the works! Oh, but I'm fresh out of spanners. Hmm. Well, I suppose one must work with what one's got, so off I go, to...
Hammersmith -
@rickatfulcrum Jan 2022
Dash it all! Retrenching at
Kings Cross/St Pancras. -
@candle Jan 2022
We seem to have stalled at King's Cross/St Pancras… well, I guess I'll remedy that with a Kensingston Shuffle (just to make things interesting again!):
Sloan Square
See You In The Shadows… -
@celineellis Jan 2022
Yes @candle YES!!!! I was sat patiently waiting for someone to come along and make a Kensington shuffle from St Pancras. Hours I have sat here refreshing the thread waiting after that move. Patience isnt normally my virtue seeing as I am more bull in a china shop. and especially after that round of play with Dakota Washington in Seattle a few years back. I can tell you now, she created a monster in me with her swiftness of play, it was all i could do to counter act it with slow, deliberate plays to keep myself in the game.
Anyway i digress, as usual, This means i can skip the normal retort of a Spinster Slide manouveur and take a switchback follow through and end up at.....
MORNINGTON CRESCENT!
14 cups of coffee and too many sugars means i will now be awake until February 1st but it was worth it. Does anyone know if its damaging to your eyes not to blink? -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Holy cow, I go offline for a few hours and look what happens. Well done @celineellis , that experience with Dakota Washington served you well. (You're not the only one. I remember being in the press box for that match during my brief stint as an analyst for MCTV. I think I learned more than I analyzed, which is one reason why my tenure was brief.)
Anyway I propose we stay with Evesham, but I'd like to add in the Euston Square variation. If that's acceptable to everyone, I'll start with an edge move:
Watford -
@andpow81 Jan 2022
Well if it's the Euston Square variation, I don't think there's been a game played since 1951 where the winner didn't play this very move, so I will hasten to get in there before anyone else does. (Incidentally, I do believe that game in 1951 started with Watford so maybe everyone else does still have a chance).
Hyde Park Corner -
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
Wow, nicely done winning that one, @celineellis - truly some brilliant, coffee-fueled play.
I'm feeling confident, jumping into this game earlier than the last, so I'm going to make a truly daring move that I learned from a retired anarchist many years ago:
Angel -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Oh, I'm energized by this fresh start. Especially with Venus at waxing crescent - bright, bright!
Brent Cross -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Wow, @celineellis starts with two wins even before FAWM starts. This is bold playing and is certainly throwing down the gauntlet (which I hope not to trip over.)
Battersea Power Station -
@candle Jan 2022
Congrats @celineellis, I should have seen that move coming, but I've been under the weather all week & my normally keen MC senses obviously were clouded. But I'm glad my fuzzy state was able to help you to the win.
Euston Square Variation, I haven't played that since the Ol'Hansforths Invitational back in '93. I'll have to refresh my memory, but I do believe a good opening under that Variation (especially following Battersea Power Station, pig on the wing not-withstanding!) should be:
Elephant & Castle
See You In The Shadows… -
@jtsteam Jan 2022
I'm a bit rusty but I think if I invert the diagonal (even at this early stage) it leads to a nice open game. So...
Swiss Cottage -
@celineellis Jan 2022
After being awake for 36 hours I finally fell asleep. I had the weirdest dreams which I can’t share because, well, let’s just say they made my eyes water, so goodness knows how you would all feel after hearing me decant them vividly. As a side note, does anyone have any idea if there is any way of removing coffee drool stains from a pillow case?! Anyone? No? Ok let’s move on. I’m going to take a more sedate approach to this round, and Euston Square variant is an inspired decision Tuneslayer
Tower Hill -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Euston Square over Evesham is the Ruy Lopez of MC. Just when you think it's been analyzed to death, a new avenue opens up with all sorts of possibilities.
I'm going to keep as many of my options open as possible.
Goodge Street -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
A Goodge Street play does allow for a narrow transfer from the Barkingham Strategy of 1991 to the more simplified version of the Eversham Shake (made famous by Sir Hillary Hillary), so given that, I'll throw myself into
Nine Elms -
@berni1954 Jan 2022
Basing my first move this year on the famed Southgate vs Merton debate of 1937, I am going to play the Tardis Card, yes, I know it's not customary on an opening move and yes, I am a bit of an iconoclast, but I have recourse to further disputes to argue my case, should the need arise. Pedantry will get you everywhere as my old tutor used to say before his debilitating stroke on the Circle line. He was there three days before anyone thought to ask him how he was. A spinster from High Wickham finally informed the Transport Police who, in turn, called an ambulance. Sadly, Cedric was never to play again.
Anyway, all that is to say:
British Museum. -
@hornesgiftshop Jan 2022
If we're using @berni1954's Tardis card for the customary 15 turns ('customary' by Southgate declaration - I refuse to accept the Merton and I'll die on that hill), it falls to me to do the...
Strand. -
@candle Jan 2022
It's early & my old eyes have yet to fully adjust to reality. I thought @hornesgiftshop played "Stand" not "Strand" & was going to call for a review! But, it seems it was my very own eyes that were mistaken so I withdraw my complaint even before it was issued. No harm, no fowl… er, foul? At any rate, with @berni1954's Tardis card still in effect that means I only have one move. Hoping it doesn't make me fall down:
London Bridge
See You In The Shadows… -
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
That Tardis card was a clever play, @berni1954 - sets you up with quite the advantage out the gate and leaves me scrambling for purchase. Still, I think I can take a page out of the late, great Dr. Wombly-Toombs’s book and use this play she snuck into a 1947 match under similar circumstances. I’ll see myself to:
Barking -
@tomslatter Jan 2022
I interrupt the game for some sad news. Barry Cryer, one of the most famous players of the game, has sadly passed away. Here's a randomly chosen recording of him and others playing on the Yorkshire rules: https://youtu.be/FqLIvLCwxLo
Very nice move from Toksvig early on.
Back to the game:
Newbury Park. -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Definitely sad news about Barry Cryer. I have access to a pretty substantial library of ISIHAC episodes and sometimes put on three or four in a row just to listen to him, Humph, TBT and the rest.
Tower Hill -
@candle Jan 2022
That is very sad news indeed. Another of the greats we have lost. But that was an excellent round of MC - quite entertaining. Though, i did learn a bit of strategy from that match, which leads me to:
Earl's Court
See You In The Shadows… -
@celineellis Jan 2022
A further 16 hours of sleep and the redness in my eyes has started to wain (The stinging sensation when I use the bathroom, however, is not. But that’s another story) and now to hear of the passing of one of my close personal friends Bazza. Sad news for the world of MC. Barry was a shining example of the old adage of ‘if you play enough games, you will eventually win’. Oh and boy did he play some games. I’ve spoken to his wife and she seems to be taking it really hard. Mentioned something about taking some time away to clear her head. Cancun apparently, at a retreat called Coco Bongo. Sounds idillic. She’s taking her sister and some other female friends for moral support.
So to honour Baz in a way only he will understand….
Beconstree -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Hm. I try to avoid the crowd-pleasers, but this is really the best play,
Aldgate East -
@fonte Jan 2022
@celineellis I have been to Coco Bongo. I was working for the government at the time. Foreign Affairs. Irregular petroleum activities. Investigations department. I remember there was a jazz pianist playing the lobby. I asked him how long he'd been playing. '15 years Sir', he said with a weak smile. 'Well, you're very good', I replied. It was only later that I learnt that he meant consecutively, non-stop, without rest. Part of the illegal light jazz piano trade that was popular at the time. He died later that evening from malnutrition. If only I'd done something...
Wonderful cocktails there. They will have a blast.
Chalk Farm -
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
Aha! A perfect opportunity to throw a Cantankerous Scythe Maneuver into play here (first performed, of course, by William Bottlebrush back in ‘67). Which, naturally, sees me clear to this power move:
Chancery Lane -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Ah, so sad when the giants of our community find their way in the great Nidd of the beyond. Listening to that tremendous round was awe inspiring. To hear the way Toksvig maneuvered her way around snickets was genius. Inspiring, nonetheless.
I shall see if I can make such an inspired move to
Blackfriars -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
And as you can see by my post at https://fawm.org/forums/topic/12311/, I'm hosting a virtual cocktail party this Saturday, and we could probably have an actual live round of Mornington Crescent if we have enough players!
-
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
ohhhhh @kenmattsson . . . I don't think I can be there. There's a major online filk event going on this weekend, and I don't have the bandwidth to do both.
And I'm afraid that's going to put me in Nidd for a turn or two. -
@candle Jan 2022
I'll have to see if I can make it for a bit, @kenmattsson. I hope that means I can avoid Nidd, as I spent enough time rowing along its troublesome flows this past summer…
Wait, I see an opening that allows me to avoid Nidd!
Bermondsey
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
@candle it seems that your fantastic play of Bermondsey has set everyone in shock and awe mode, and they are completely unable to set in a play. So, to the rescue I come to reawaken the masses.
And therefore I will posit that we are now shifting to the Brainsbury Codex (Tesco subset), where laterals are only allowed if a Piccadilly transfer point has been played within the previous three plays, and all plays that contain 8 letters are wild.
I will lead with
Oxford Circus -
@elainedimasi Jan 2022
Oxford Circus, hmm. @kenmattsson I'll have to watch how you handle the followup, I always get draughted into the Baker Street 'Muse when I try that play. Granted, never with the Tesco gone live.
Considering my current position, I can certainly blockade your east central flank by playing:
Holborn -
@berni1954 Jan 2022
I seem to have been caught in a time trap. I think it was my over confident reliance on playing the Tardis card to justify my opening move. The problem was I was relying on the result of a dispute that became canon two years after the station in question closed. Now I have been contacted by a shadowy figure who claims to represent the MC Universal Rules Committee. As punishment for my overweening and quite illegal (I am informed) audacity, when I wanted to go to Hounslow East I find myself in:
Hounslow Town -
@pooka Jan 2022
Jumping in here because there's an obvious double straddle which nobody has noticed. I really have no idea why this was ignored.
Elephant & Castle. -
@jtsteam Jan 2022
This game has got quite tricky already although I think if I give up two of my tokens and get myself into a tactical knip I can open it up a bit. Risky for me, but we'll see where it leads us.
Dollis Hill -
@celineellis Jan 2022
I am yet to find my stride in this round, and I’m getting more infuriated with every passing move. You folks are playing some serious ‘off piste’ Moves that are making a reputable MC expert like myself feel like a fledgeling in their first game. Not to worry, perhaps if I just go back to basic principles from the Encyclopaedic Annals I will be able to turn this around. So I give you…..
Borough -
@candle Jan 2022
Well, @tuneslayer is still in Nidd, while @celineellis & @jtsteam feel hemmed in. This seems a perfect opportunity for a Jubilee Charge (& why wouldn't I take advantage of that?):
Canary Wharf
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Canary Wharf? I haven't seen that combined with a Jubilee Charge in all the annals that I've reviewing. If we all can make @celineellis feel like a fledgeling, we know we're deep into it this round.
As I have been the rules-stickler recently, I'm going to out myself as, like has happened in the previous two rounds, someone inadvertently won, and this time it was myself two plays ago. Given my oversight (and the fact no one caught my winning mistake), I will return to my humble play and retreat to review Stovold, Chapter 74, as I believe I need to find some other "old school" plays, such as
Bromley-by-Bow -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Old school plays @kenmattsson Ha im not falling for that if you read between the lines of chapter 74 Stovold you will see that a cross line manoeuvre after a canary wharf move should have taken you south. I think you may be stuck in the loop! Hmm or is it me. Oooo who is that in the shadows?
Off on the Greenwich loop
North Greenwich -
@berni1954 Jan 2022
How did the virtual meet go? Sorry I couldn't make it. I had other commitments at the time.
-
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
@berni1954, it was a wonderful gathering, but no MC playing. I'll be doing another gathering on February 13th, so we may have another chance.
-
@alyxanderjames Jan 2022
Sneaking in another play here that I'm sure none of you expected (because I am nothing if not full of surprises):
Becontree -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Heh, I rolled double sixes just in time to break out of Nidd . . . or was that Monopoly? No matter, I'm here now, and sorry to have to tell @alyxanderjames that I saw Becontree coming, mostly because I was in the gallery when Morgenthau played it against Birkhalter in the 2006 Heidelberg Open. That also allows me to avoid Cockfosters, which was a disaster Birkhalter never recovered from.
I prefer to create my own disasters.
Maida Vale -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Oh Maida Vale! the stories it could tell! Not least the day Claude Villenueve got Brian St James with an Erkstater Maneuver sending him round to Blake hall station which simultaneously closed. Brian is purported to still be trapped there! Therefore my only move is to the terminus near Blake Hall to check out the stories
North Weald -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
Ah, I'm not going to fall into that trap! It's been the case of too many trips to Nidd following North Weald without being very careful to make sure all my diagonals were in order. As I should say safe by staying on the Victoria line and play
Brixton -
@candle Jan 2022
Well, my diagonals have all been muddled & I'm nowhere near where I had hoped to be at this stage of the game… pity, I thought I had such a sound strategy. Still, given the calibre of players currently crossing wits, I'm not surprised that my plan has fallen apart. Well, about all I can do is head out to the far end of the District Line & take refuge at:
Upminster
See You In The Shadows… -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Like Candle, to quote an old aussie saying, “i am all over the place like a madmans Sxxt. My strategy to not have one has been as useful as the proverbial 1 legged man!
Not falling into the trap of Upminster as its a tricky terminus
So going to wait nearby
Hornchurch -
@pooka Feb 2022
Well, that puts the next player in Spune. It's difficult to get out once you're there, and while in Spune all terraces and crescents are wild. Which means that I can't invoke a win right now.
With the limited options available to me, I'll do a backflip...
Mill Hill East. -
@tuneslayer Feb 2022
Cowley's Guide says this is a strong move after Mill Hill East; on the other hand Cowley's was published in 1926 so it may be a bit out of date.
Aldwych -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
My, hasn't this game slacked off! You'd think that people had better things to do that to keep their strategy up. Well, I'm going to take advantage to the lull to put through a play that includes a double lateral (yes!) and was played in the 1998 Bexley Invitational by Henry "Snapper" Organs to defeat Reginald Piecemeal, who was distracted by a lovely bit of Battenberg Cake.
High Street Kensington -
@digitig Feb 2022
It looks as if Foulcault's variant *might* be in play, so, er, Gare Montparnasse?
-
@jtsteam Feb 2022
I don't know about anyone else but I'm trying to work out if I can get "Mornington Crescent" into a song. It has a nice rhythm to it and I know of a couple of songs with that as the title... I have a whole day of meetings to sleep through today so maybe that'll help :). Anyway... interesting twist to invoke Focault's variation. I feel the need to simplify a little though, so let's get back to....
King's Cross St Pancras -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Well, it seems that accidentally winning is the theme of this year's MC tournament. Congratulations to @jtsteam for the "coming out of nowhere, and surprising all of us" win.
To get us going again, I'll invoke the Sir Francis Drake variation where all laterals are wild and diagonals are doubled after three transfers.
Wembley Park -
@jtsteam Feb 2022
Oh dear, I wasn't meaning to do that but I've just checked my rule book and it does seem to be technically valid. Sorry everyone! Anyway, if we're playing the Sir Francis Drake variation I'm going to start by straddling a diagonal and see where that takes us.
Edgware -
@tuneslayer Feb 2022
@jtsteam I actually did a song last year that described a game of MC. I was told Londoners were somewhat amused by hearing me sing the names of stations in a distinctly American accent -- to the tune of Lillibullero, no less.
Francis Drake. Interesting choice after all that Evesham. Wel let's open it up wide.
Victoria -
@candle Feb 2022
Congratulations @jtsteam! Well, Francis Drake, eh? I always got him mixed up with Francis Bacon for some reason… dragons & pigs, sounds like a pub name, maybe? At any rate, I should get my head back in the game & make an opening gambit of sorts (laterals & diagonals not-withstanding, of course!):
Buckhurst Hill
See You In The Shadows… -
@celineellis Feb 2022
My creativity has really kicked in on the chiming of Big Ben on Feb 1st, so i have left the beautiful game in all your hands while I churn out choons. Well i take a glance back at the state of play and I see you have all been incredibly versitile in your use of left field rule variations. I like it! So with that in mind, I will throw a simple detour in whilst using the lesser known HS2 rule set (thats Herbert Smithe II for all you MC infants out there) and make a quick dash to zone for and to....
Boston Manor
(incidentally, Boston Manor was Herberts 'home' station and there was rumblings in the MC circles that we would petition TFL to rename the station after him, but apparently there is another HS2 thing happening so they werent on board) -
@tomslatter Feb 2022
Newbury park
-
@alyxanderjames Feb 2022
Oh dear, I've been distracted and now I seem to be teetering on the edge of landing in Nidd! I'll muster courage and make a daring attempt at escaping that fate, with a perpendicular move to...
Seven Sisters -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Ah @alyxanderjames, Seven Sisters is always a strong move. I'm sure you've avoided Nidd.
I know that we've all been distracted a bit by that whole "writing and listening to songs" thingee happening, so I'm going to take advantage of the wild lateral and go for
Richmond -
@jtsteam Feb 2022
Well I've got my MC song out of the way now, and I think it won't cause me to win by accident this time because it's not a valid move at this point, what with me being in Spoon and all. I'd love to hear yours some time @tuneslayer! Anyway, since I am in Spoon and would prefer not to be, and since I believe Escalators are in play but only above the diagonal:
Bank -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Seven Sisters to Richmond was once disputed by the 1922 committee. I believe Winston Churchill cast the deciding vote. I believe that's where he coined the phrase "Never have so many owed so much to so few".
It was disputed again by a young Boris Johnson, but when he saw it had been his hero who had settled the issue, he did a U-Turn, floundered a bit and then withdrew his objection.
Curse that opening move with the Tardis card! I seem to be stuck at various dead ends in time. I wanted to move to Earl's Court, but I find myself in 1884 at:
Hanwell -
@tuneslayer Feb 2022
@jtsteam (and everyone else) Here's my MC song from last year, "The Game's Afoot".
https://files.fawmers.org/FAWM_2021/tuneslayer/The%20Games%20Afoot.mp3
Let me know if you can't see it and I'll find another way to share it out.
Oh yeah, we're playing here aren't we? Well this is what I've recently heard referred to as a Tory move.
Why is it a Tory move?
Because it gets you as far away from Boris Johnson as possible.
Thank you, thank you, you've been a lovely audience.
Uxbridge -
@hornesgiftshop Feb 2022
While we're in Uxbridge, a quick game of Mountain Uxbridge English.
Everest - the longest time
K2 - prototype dog robot
Snowdon - sometimes but it's usually rained on
In case anyone else needs to offload, I'll play the Hobbs' double reverse (via Pinner)
Uxbridge -
@jtsteam Feb 2022
@tuneslayer Badum tish! And I enjoyed hearing those stations in an American accent too :).
One more lap of the Uxbridge loop won't do any harm, so I'm going to extend to a triple Hobbs, just in case:
Creche - a car accident in Woking.
Uxbridge -
-
@candle Feb 2022
We seem to be caught in a loop, oh well. At least it happened as a triple Hobbs, which really, could have been much worse given how the tokens are spread around the board at the moment. So, with that in mind, I think I'll tip-toe away from the loop & take a ride on the Bakerloo Line (performing an Overland Highpass in the process ;-> ) & then take a break at:
Willesden Junction
See You In The Shadows… -
@candle Feb 2022
Bump…
Just so the 3:15 train doesn't get derailed as it lumbers into the next station…
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Ah, I'm sorry but I seem to have fallen asleep and missed my station...
Thank you @candle for being a good chap and alerting me to my turn.
Seenin ght Willesden Junctions is now past, I'll have see if I can take one of the wide laterals (and I believe I can play the diagonal as we have had three transfers) so this should send me all the way to
Boston Manor (said the man from Massachusetts) -
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Staying with the Massachusetts idea, i take an artist leap using a damson diagonal allowing the use of disused stations
Marlborough (road) -
@candle Feb 2022
I've gotten myself turned around a wee bit & don't quite know which way I'm going. So I think I'm just going to get off at the next station & hope for the best. Now let's see, what does the placard say? Oh, well that works!
Paddington
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Ah @coolparadiso, how striking that you mention Marlborough Road, as I grew up on Old Marlborough Road, which Henry David Thoreau wrote. a poem about (https://monadnock.net/thoreau/marlborough.html). Brings back memories..
As does Paddington. It was that play that set me up for victory in the 2021 FAWM MC Classic, but I was foiled from winning by a particularly fiendish play, the play of which I will hold in confidence. Anyway, with a few months of therapy and a dram or 80 of single malt whisky, I'm doing fine so I can now with confidence play
Finchley Road -
@candle Feb 2022
Well, it looks like I need to jump-start this stalled automobile… oh wait, sorry, that's a different game. But I have to say, the game does need some life injected into it. In that regard, I'll undertake a southern switchback & transfer to the Circle Line and make a stop at:
Notting Hill Gate
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Ah @candle, I'm so glad that you interrupted out little break. I think that we've all been enjoying the sherry a bit too much.
To really get people to see that the game has gotten back to its level best, I'm going to go outside (way outside) the box and play
Heathrow Terminal 4
PS - I invite all players to join me at the Mid-FAWM Virtual Reception tomorrow at 4 p.m. EST/9 p.m. GMT. https://fawm.org/forums/topic/12446/ for more information. I hope that many of our esteemed players can make it. -
@jtsteam Feb 2022
Ooh, yes, back to important matters. I think that inverted loop up to Heathrow has done wonders for my line velocity. Now then, I can't remember which token I get for elevator only stations in the Sir Francis Drake variant but I'll find out if I play one, so here goes nothing:
Goodge Street -
@pooka Feb 2022
Goodge Street? That doesn't really open things up. I was hoping for a wide shot, as employed by Smith v. Jones in the 1985 major lob-off. Now I can't play one, which annoys me.
Let's go for
Hainault -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
I think your memory is playing tricks on you @pooka, I'm afraid Smith v Jones was found in favour of the Welshman. If you ever get to see the photo of his triumphant emergence form the International Rules Committee's Chambers, you will see what true smugness looks like.
As for me, well, things are looking up on the Tardis front. I have just attended the closing ceremony for Great Missenden in 1961, so I am only 61 years from getting back on track. Meanwhile I am off on the Northern Line to:
Drayton Park -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Ah @berni1954, your Drayton Park play does allow for me to do a double lateral, which is getting me perilously close to a winning move. I'll have to keep my secret plans to myself (granted, if you come to the Reception tomorrow, I might take you in confidence), but regardless will make the bold play of:
Arnos Grove -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Damn, I should have seen that coming. Troughton vs Baker! Why didn't I remember that? I mean I'm playing the bloody Tardis card for Zephod's sake! I should have remembered that dispute and gone for Bushy on the Bakerloo, that would have foxed you. Now I am nervous about what my last move has left you open to do and it's not even my turn. Curses!
-
@candle Feb 2022
Seems I've missed a few important plays. Sorry, I was away having tea with Mrs Trellis. She was telling me about that infamous match back in '69 when Sir Wilfred Humblefuss beat Desmond J. Shacklebottoms III using a Twin Switchback Transfer. This was allowed because they were using the Tower Ravens Ruleset (including the Henry VIII Executioner's Revison), which I know has long since been replaced by the West Thames Variant. But anyway, it was a lovely visit (tho I drank far too much earl grey). Though, that conversation with Mrs Trellis has given me an idea to get me out of the predicament I find myself in. There's that play from that same match where Humblefuss outflanked Shacklebottoms III with a Circle District Gambit. A play I'm going to steal to hopefully put me in an excellent position to make a run for the win:
Mansion House
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Well @candle, I think that Mrs. Trellis might have really been an asset to you, although I usually have a bit of difficulty following her train of thought.
Anywho, brilliant move with Mansion House. I will have to be careful and try a risky triple lateral with
Vauxhall -
@celineellis Feb 2022
What-oh chaps and chapess's and of course the chapless's too!
I return to your company after a frightfully jolly time away where I was awarded the Completely Unique Navigational Tube award for 2022 in recognition of my brilliance at the glorious game of MC no doubt. To be fair, no one was able to tell me exactly why I received this award, and we laughed a lot when I mentioned why I thought I deserved it. What fun!
Anyway, as I am now a decorated veteran of the game, I will sweep through and land where winners go....
Stratford -
@hornesgiftshop Feb 2022
After a respectful period of mourning for the late Mr Cryer, I return to find the peleton circling Stratford like there's no tomorrow, which if Eunice has her way, there won't be. Does no one remember the fate of the Barton Upon Humber under-12s XI in 1983? Some of them are still circling Stratford to this day. You can tell by the beards and penny farthings. Time for an emergency shunt:
Bermondsey. -
@tomslatter Feb 2022
Newbury park
-
@pooka Feb 2022
Newbury Park. Hmmm.
[teeter, totter, teeter, totter]
Hmmmmmmmmm.....
...
...
...
...Oakwood. -
@tomslatter Feb 2022
@pooka I stayed at Newbury Park (once again. Been there five years) and you chose Oakwood? Are you sure? Have you considered the opening this leaves @celineellis who is at Stratford right now, but only three widdershins throws short of a triangular brass token, with all the consequences that would entail.
I believe unless another player engages a full chunter you can still reconsider.
But it is up to you.
...
Newbury Park. -
@pooka Feb 2022
Oakwood.
-
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Oh i remember having a brass token in my youth and spending it on wine women and song and wasting the rest! Im off down the road to the Hart Lounge for the best shisha smoke since Pudding Lane went up! So for me its
Southgate -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Now, I believe the owners of Wisden once edited and published the Cricketers' Edition of the Post-Beecham rules governing our beloved game and they stressed that Southgate can never follow Oakwood because it was the equivalent of an LBW. I would therefore respectfully request @coolparadiso to withdraw that last move or risk an appeal to Lord's, which can take up to five days in deliberation. Meanwhile, I am still trying to get my piece back in the 21st Century. Oh the hubris of playing the TARDIS card on my opening move. Never again. If the trump card committee even allow its use after my fumbling attempt at cleverness so spectacularly backfired. My apologies dear comrades. I have been informed by a line judge from Gallifrey that I am to miss a turn. It seems just.
-
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Dear @berni1954 you have missed reading the explanatory notes! It clearly states that rule 7.2. LBW does not apply if using the same line on a Friday in the appropriate hemisphere!
I have spent many pleasant hours at Lords as a reciprocal member. 5 days is no time at all, well except for an English team which never lasts that long! I have engaged Messrs Hapworth & Larrikan in this matter! Please deal directly with them in future. -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Well, I will take the opportunity while @coolparadiso and @berni1954 kibitz about the proper rule placement, and I'm going to blissfully feel like everything has played out and I will take my chance to confound the Newbury Park-Oakwood gambit to set myself up for the Shropshire Switch move (made famous in the 2003 Midlands Invitational upset by Sir Horatio Stebbins), and hope that no one can figure out my fiendesh plan:
High Street Kensington -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
@coolparadiso Ah you poor sap. Hapworth & Larrikan? I was at Eton with Clive H and later at Oxford with Cecil L. They're even on a social media platform whose existence we do not reveal to the hoi polloi. I will be contacting them privately and reminding Cecil of our mutual affection in the dorm and Clive of that incident in the showers when our Ruggers team were visiting Rugby. I saved his bacon back then. He owes me one. So I am sure they will find a counter argument among their walls of massive ledgers.
@kenmattsson You have given too much information mentioning the Shropshire Switch. If I am correct in my assumptions of where you plan to go next, I will be able to block that easily with a swift visit to Cockfosters. Snookered? But first I have to get back into the 21st Century.
Still missing a turn. -
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Fortunately Larrikan is Australian and despises public school boys . However you are correct @kenmattsson has shown his hand. I can intercept him at south Kensington, play the rubix polarity card and be away before he knows I have been. Too late mate I'm already in
Wimbledon -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
@coolparadiso "Despises Public School Boys" - That's just a front!
At Oxford Larrikan had more of an interest in us ex-public schoolboys than his bravado about despising us claims. Remind him about Tompkins Minor and the Parrot, if you see him before I do. If he blushes, you will see that I am right.
However, our rules issues aside, may I congratulate you on a fine play. That'll stop @kenmattson in his tracks!
I would be more worried about @pooka who may be planning a master stroke we have not prepared for with that move to Oakwood.
Ah the Tardis has just shut down. I am on the move again. Maybe I am not too late to make some headway in the game because I am back in the 21st C. Not sure exactly when, but I'm at:
Canary Wharf -
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
A fine move to Canary wharf hopefully you really are there as your memory seems to be failing! Larrikin has never been further north than Bali as alcohol gets dearer after that! but that is another story, maybe worth telling one day. I rather like Canary wharf so much i seem to be stuck here, darn you its a trap!
-
@tomslatter Feb 2022
Newbury park
-
@celineellis Feb 2022
Just for reference, I’ve made it back here again in real life!
-
@tuneslayer Feb 2022
@celineellis "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable"
I think that means I'm stuck at Canary Wharf as well. Bummer. -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Well the good old Tardis seems to have used its extraordinary power to strand you guys.
This gives me a chance to advance, I am definitely back in the present. Lots of mask wearers on the tube... and lots not wearing them. Long live King Boris, eh?
@coolparadiso How many Australian lawyers called Larrikan can there be? Despite any such protestations he was definitely at Oxford when I was there. He was reading Law at Balliol. It may have been me who put him in touch with Clive Hapworth ( jolly old school tie network you know). There are certain things a gentleman may not reveal about another, so I will choose not to be too indiscreet.
Chalk Farm -
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Most Australian lawyers are Larrikans its a badge of honour- That wind is getting up hmmm might blow the glue off my feet. oh and in my experience gentleman reveal everything thats just a saying and means i am not telling you! Ah free at last hmm just passed the Amy Winehouse statue so i must be coming to wait for it
Drinks at the Underground club anyone yes it is
Camden Town! -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Well, I don't know if that play by @celineellis counts as a play, but I'm going to consider it an aside instead.
Anyway, I can see that @berni1954 may have an inkling of my deviousness, but I think it's too late in this matter, as I play:
Cockfosters! -
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Fortunately @kenmattsson has fallen for @berni1954 and I’s pretend stoush! We have joined forces used his Tardis and were waiting at cockfosters and have now invoked Hamiltons rebound move as used by Rog Hagstroen in the 63 Byewash Classic. And here we are at
Piccadilly Circus -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
@coolparadiso Curses, man! Never reveal your strategy till the hand is won! @kenmattson can be ruthless. Remember one time his back flip with twist from Goodge Street? That was sheer genius.
PS Was that two years ago? or last year? I lose track of time and being on the Tardis doesn't help in that quarter.
" And a foreign student said to me
Was it really true
There were elephants and lions too in:
Piccadilly Circus" -
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Just a move not a strategy
You really are a "mother goose"! Do I hear a flute! Of course there are both
Charing Cross -
@candle Feb 2022
Sorry everyone, I was tarried at Mrs. Trellis' far longer than I had originally planned, & it seems the game has really developed during my absence. @berni1954, I did enjoy your Jethro Tull reference, all the while my wife spilt some crumbs on the bed, & all I could do was shake my head. Because, it's only the giving that makes us, what we are, wouldn't you say?
Well, a lovely flute solo later & I find myself stepping through the Locomotive Breath at:
Tower Gateway
See You In The Shadows…
p.s. Old Charlie didn't steal the handle, I did ;-> -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Ha ha @coolparadiso, my spilling the beans was just a ruse to get you to think that I was letting on, but you will now see that as you and @berni1954 have both done yourself in by both playing Piccadilly Circus in consecutive orders, and after I have played Cockfosters, which allow me (according to Stovold, Chapter 238, Section 43, Article 71) to advance onto:
Mornington Crescent!!!
And the crowd are loving it. I'd like to thank all the fans and the little people who have made this victory possible. -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Fiendish cunning @kenmattsson But I should have issued a challenge before your move since I didn't voluntarily make a move to Piccadilly Circus that was @coolparadiso appropriating my Tardis card and dragging me along with him. If I remember Klatch vs Warner (Appendix 6,241 C. 1965) the use of the Tardis card (recently introduced at that date due to the popularity of Dr Who) by a player not holding it before the start of his turn is deemed null and void). Therefore I should still have been at Chalk Farm just two stops from victory!
Oh well. I should have issued my challenge before I guess. I am being wise after the fact and I'd hate to be seen as a poor sport.
Congratulations on a game masterfully played.
PS I doubt I will have time for another round. I am due in Paris on Friday till Tuesday and will probably miss the closing acts of FAWM, much to my chagrin.
As the narcoleptic mists of time envelop the avuncular terrain of space, it is time for me to bid you fare thee well till the heliacal disk returns to these coordinates in February to come. -
@candle Feb 2022
Well played @kenmattsson, and congratulations! Shall we start a new round? As such, I'll lead with:
High Barnet
See You In The Shadows… -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Yes, I will certainly jump in, I'm on a high right now. Just to confound things in this round:
Newbury Park -
@celineellis Feb 2022
Congrats Ken - a fiendish use of Stovolds play. bravo!
so lets see what i picked up during my MC mind and body retreat this weekend in Woodside park
so here is my opener..... CHALK FARM -
@tuneslayer Feb 2022
Tower Gateway??!!?? I should have seen that coming. But no, I was busy doing irrelevant, time-wasting activities like writing songs.
Ah well, water under the bridge. Speaking of which, I think this would be a good time for a Northern Jump:
Borough -
@pooka Feb 2022
That's a good Northern Jump, but it also means I can backstraddle to High Barnet. I could do that, but I could double leap from there to New Barnet, so I'm doing that.
New Barnet. -
@jtsteam Feb 2022
Hmm, I think I need to try a different opening strategy this time because I got myself into all sorts of trouble in the last game. Something tried and tested, perhaps. I don't want to give too much away, but I imagine you're all familiar with Rushton's Gambit which can help nullify the double-Barnet.
London Bridge -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
And just like that I'll send us off to
Uxbridge -
@candle Feb 2022
I'll slither south along the north, if I may (since we've had two bridges played in the past two moves, I'm going to stay away from the water so i don't end up in Nid :D ):
Kentish Town -
@pooka Feb 2022
If you're in heading towards the south, you can still cross the water if you approach cautiously via the Isle of Dogs. Like this:
King George V -
@jtsteam Feb 2022
I'm going to sneak in a trick move while nobody else seems to be paying attention. Maybe I'll get away with it, or maybe it'll put me out of contention if someone's seen this kind of shenanigan before. And has anyone ever seen a singular shenanigan before anyway?
Farringdon -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Ah @jtsteam, I've seen those shenanigans before I know just the play that will help me to avoid Nidd
King's Cross St Pancras -
@coolparadiso Mar 2022
Goodness those shenanigins are darned tricky, I heard the lapping of Nidd for just a second before applying a reverse trapezium vortex maneuver and et voila
On the french side
Swiss Cottage -
@dragondreams Mar 2022
Time to make my move, having lurked for a month!
Mornington Crescent! -
@beacon Mar 2022
Talk about a come out of nowhere win! Congratulations @dragondreams! That was so unexpected. The simplicity and ease was just astounding. I'm speechless.
Given that, and in the spirit of keeping going, I'll start off the next game with the Cambridge Ruleset (1985 edition) where you need to play a lateral if the player before you plays a station on the Piccadilly line that junctions with another line. I'll start with
Oxford Circus -
@jtsteam Mar 2022
Well played @dragondreams! I knew my trick play was risky, but now I know I'm up against some real experts! I think I will open by forcing a lateral, just to keep things tight in the early stages.
Earl's Court. -
@dragondreams Mar 2022
Stretching exercises over. I had cramp in my left fipple from crouching unseen in the bushes for a month!
Sadly, my copy of the Cambridge Ruleset (1985 Edition) proved too tempting as a matter of personal hygiene following an unfortunate incident with a stale baklava snack I munched on during The Night of The Pink Pages!
So, alas, I'm working strictly from an imperfect memory here. But, reading the runes (not really runes, just discarded sweet wrappers), my next, fiendishly deceptive sleight of hand move has to be...
Cockfosters! -
@blindsheepdog Mar 2022
Forgive me, my handwritten, coffee stained, copy of The Real Book of Mornington Crescent, is missing some crucial pages, ever since next doors dog groomer went on her diet. I never thought when Uncle Bungle left me the article back in the autumn of 84, that I’d one day be facing Cockfosters…. on aTuesday no less, for my inevitable debut. Well Bungle, old sausage, this one’s for you……
Temple! -
@tuneslayer Mar 2022
I see what you lot are trying to do, lie low all month and then jump into the game while we aren't paying attention. I regret to inform you that it's going to be completely successful. And blast my luck, there's a copy of Mrs, Trellis' Guide To North Wales in my library where Blarmey's Annotated Cockfosters and Temple Variations ought to be. I wonder how that got there, hmmmmmmm??
Well if I do this I should be able to avoid Nidd, at least for another round.
Chancery Lane -
@blindsheepdog Mar 2022
Given the Aldwych vacuum flangeabilty paradox, I believe it’s possible to jump back on the turkey early doors, so to speak, and volley an off kilter, herring bone shoulder to stave off any Cambridge 4-8.2’s being thrown back in my face prematurely.
Luck be a Lady tonight…… Tottenham Court Road -
@dragondreams Mar 2022
It could be my failing memory (as I previously stated... I think... or maybe that wasn't me... and where did I leave my glasses?) but I thought the flangeability paradox exception gambit had been outlawed under section 3.1, para 4 of the Cambridge Ruleset? However, I stand to be corrected by m'learned peers. I also stand for a few other things, but my probation officer warned me not to talk about those after the incident with the marmalade and the trunnion pump.
So, now that @blindsheepdog has decided to jump a turkey (I wonder if we have the same probation officer?), that leaves me two choices.
I'll toss a coin.
Couldn't find a coin, so playing rock, paper, scissors with the cats...
Just back from A and E and neatly stitched up. The cats are sore losers. Not as sore as the lacerations on my genitals, but that's maybe something I should keep under wraps.
Ealing! -
@candle Mar 2022
I slither off to finish some songs before the end o'the month & come back to the Grand Game to these shenanigans! My god, what am I to do (tho, I'm allergic to cats so I won't be following in @dragondreams's footsteps & trying to apease the felines)? Instead, I'll just open with a (hopefully) safe gambit:
Ealing Common
See You In The Shadows… -
@dragondreams Mar 2022
Dammit!
I may have to reconsider my move, while I sit here with a bag of frozen peas to help the swelling subside. I thought that Ealing sideslip was going to open up the field of play. Yet I find myself stymied by @candle's blocking manoeuvre.
I'll head in search of relief.
Seven Sisters! -
@beacon Mar 2022
Ah @candle I see that you haven't lost your cunning ways, even though you've been sidelined with that songwriting-thingy. Quite a brilliant counter move to @dragondreams. I'll have to do my own brilliant move that no one will expect (like the Spanish Inquisition):
Caledonian Road -
@jtsteam Mar 2022
Hmm, Caledonian Road. It's on the Picadilly Line but there's no junction with another line, at least not directly, so I don't need to play a lateral. However, because I'm contrary like that, I'm going to play a lateral anyway. Take that!
Kentish Town -
@candle Mar 2022
Speaking of the Spanish, @beacon (& no, I did not expect tha Spanish Inquisition, I might just have to call the Church Police, tho. Seems there's another dead Bishop upon the landing…) & knowing that we've finally gotten off the Picadilly Line (thank you @jtsteam :D ), I can now make a move I've been wanting to play since first seeing it in the 1976 Undertaker's Invitational in Barcelona. Harkening back to the medieval times when Spain was ruled by the Moors, I'll take a stroll through their gate:
Moorgate
See You In The Shadows…
p.s. Sorry for spoiling your scheme, @dragondreams, but I had to make a sporting entrance after missing the last half of the previous match ;-> -
@blindsheepdog Mar 2022
My my, but isn’t this round an onion swinging from the belt in the shadows. The Infamous Barcelona UI76 of which you speak puts me in mind of the renown Gateshead Gambit played by the Colonel in ‘32. A two point conversion, based on footfall and an (at the time unheard of) access to a disabled toilet….. frightening.
would that I forge such devout path after Moorgate…….
Well fortune favours the lactose intolerant……
Covent Garden -
@beacon Mar 2022
My my. We have gotten into so deep MC strategy. I'm going to be flippant and play
North Acton -
@coolparadiso Mar 2022
Thats not flippant thats outrageous. I had no idea you had watched the 94 Southend alternate semi final between Carradean and Grench where that move was used with devastating effect. Fortunately Hesquiths Dilema handbook gives a possible out which worked in practice so i will try
Ealing Broadway -
@celineellis Mar 2022
Sigh, I have been somewhat distracted from the glorious game this past month. Ive finally signed a book deal surrounding my 72 hour long tournament with Derek Jacobson OBE back in December 1999 which lasted into the wee hours of the Y2K celebrations. There are some tales to tell, moves to breakdown and analyse, and alcoholic beverage choices to discuss at length. It will be riveting, as I am sure you can imagine! Anyway, it seems I missed another victorious round, so I will take a tentative step this month and cast off to....
Cutty Sark (Maritime Greenwich) -
@candle Mar 2022
@celineellis that book sounds like one that any astute MC afficinato should have on their shelf. Speaking of shelves, I might just have to shelve my strategy after your move to Cutty Sark (such a beautiful Clipper ship!). Well, what am I to do then, since my next move has been thwarted. Hmmm… I guess all that I can do is the Byway Lateral that takes me to:
Bow Road
See You In The Shadows… -
@blindsheepdog Mar 2022
A Byway Lateral, without so much as a by your leave. Consider my wings Clippered. Convention, at least as far as The Cambridge Ruleset would have me believe, with things standing so acutely on the farside of the field of play…. that a ByLat is always followed by a singulation…. but……. it feels like a trap, not unlike Jacobson’s Christmas fury of 99. A shrewder reintergration might just squeeze the pickle that little bit more.
So whilst I’m not vexed in the slightest…….Hatton Cross -
@blindsheepdog Mar 2022
…. confound Oden’s nipple ring. My rookie status belies me. A simple speed read of the 74 volumes of Blagdon’s Almanac, ( yes I know…. but only a blithering idiot considers volumes 75 through to 804 anything other than candyfloss on the donkeys retina) has alerted me to a self induced hexosopheric wedge (the bad kind)…clearly my mistake renders my last move interqualistal , in monumental proportions….... I can only apologise, and throw myself at the feet of your collective mercies…… no one wants to see the game slip into those sort of realms again….or did we learn nothing? Vulgarity will not win!
If indeed you’ll have it, I humbly offer instead……….Barbican -
@beacon Mar 2022
Well I have to say I'm a bit confounded by @blindsheepdog's double play, and I have never thought of Odin's nipple ring so much as in the past day.
Anyway, my play for any time I'm confounded is:
Tooting Bec -
@coolparadiso Mar 2022
Are tooting bec I recall Luigi Ugolini (natural scientist ) found a new plant beyond classification there it was as tall as person, with thick and fleshy leaves, reddish branches, and long white hair. Funny what you see there. It is next to the micro brewery hmmmm. Best get away to
Aldwych. -
@candle Mar 2022
Aldwych, that's pretty sly @coolparadiso. It's been closed since '94 (which incidently is the same year that the infamous Greenwich Open was held where Sir Austin Quagmir III defeated Aldous Privy Fitzcaron in a 78½ hour long match. Sir Austin used a Victoria Switchback to move from Finsbury Park to the winning station, completely confounding Fitzcaron whose counter was stuck on a siding somewhere east of West Hampstead). Perhaps you have a bit of a Vendetta, or maybe are on a Quest for Peace? Either way, I'll be a Good Shepard & in the Darkest Hour, I'll Take It Or Leave It - but only 28 Weeks Later. ;-> As there's still a physical connection with the Piccadilly Line (albeit the connection requires manual operation…), you have forced me hand:
Holborn
See You In The Shadows… -
@coolparadiso Mar 2022
Ah i guessed thats where you might go nice use of “the Aldwych Slide”. You have been studying the history! Well played! Leaves me know choice i have to follow the old Knight Templars route to the western edge of the City and also visit Maughans library! Some great rule books here! - but beware of the Lawyers
Chancery Lane -
@blindsheepdog Mar 2022
waiiiiiiiit a minute…..Tooting Bec, Aldwych, Holborn, Chancery Lane…..? If I’m not very much mistaken I’m about to Mornington my Cresc……… ah no sorry, had my board upside down. As you were….
Oakwood -
@dragondreams Mar 2022
Time to flognosticate and throw caution to the winds. I see that I'm up against some stiff opposition (probably just their age and general inability to move quickly these days - it's important to stay mobile as you get further along life's journey).
Consulting Fitchley, Fitchley and Scrote (1847 ed) I can see that my options are somewhat limited.
Tower Hamlets. -
@blindsheepdog Mar 2022
1847 ed…. shrewd [strokes chin…. lights pipe]… I find the later editions, with the addition of input from messrs Fitchley, Fitchley, Fitchley, Fitchley-Felchington, and Twernt, began to somewhat “over egg the pudding”….. and yet how fondly I remember the heady summer of 96 in ‘The Hamlets’, ironically spent with a descendant of Fitchley…..the 3rd one (far classier family)…… but I digress…..
Things being as they are, and armed with nothing but the original Mornington Move 4 U app…. (running only on IOS v2.6.1 I might add), I must consider myself backed into a corner, with scant hope of any Bylatteral Inversion theory bringing anything other than abject misery.
[blows dice]….. c’mon snake eyes, Papa needs a brand new bag….
Marylebone -
@candle Mar 2022
Eee gads! Marylebone following Tower Hamlets! And I'm still stuck on the Piccadilly line it seems. Hmmmm… I don't have a copy of any of the Fitchley tomes, but I'll consult my ragged copy of Bryson's "Definitive Guide To MC & The Moves That Will Make Your Enemies Envious" (including some notes written in the margins supposedly written by Sir Edmund Lilac, but I've never found any proof that it's his handwritting…) & hopefully find a solution to this strategic cunumdrum… oh, here's something on p.37, just underneath a tea stain. Yes, I think that just might work. Alright, let's give it an ol'college try:
Green Park
See You In The Shadows… -
@beacon Mar 2022
Well, well well. Take a little break to have a lovely cup of tea and come back to find all hell has broken loose in the game. It's just the like the Isle of Wight Regionals in 1974 when the team from Upper Darby built a treehouse in the middle of the Queen's Birthday Cake display and took shots at the team from Wen, Shropshire. Icing everywhere and the hotel still won't host an event these many years later.
But I digress.....
Goodge Street -
@dragondreams Mar 2022
Good grief! I thought we'd buried the '74 incident deep within the annals... My therapist will be working overtime to expunge that memory. I still hear the screams echoing down those corridors whenever the moonlight strikes at a certain angle the Sellotape holding my glazing in place in the Castle's West Wing.
It appears I need a diversion to occupy my peers while I sit and ponder, nay cogitate deeply upon, my strategic options.
Aldgate! -
@jtsteam Mar 2022
Oof, I wandered off for a few days and this has got exciting. Let's see if I can untangle things and make a move that doesn't embarrass myself, or at least play something that doesn't accidentally land me in Nidd...
Heathrow Terminal 5.
Take that, 1974! -
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@candle Mar 2022
Please remember this is a game about trains, specifically the underground, @jtsteam & @beacon. Yet the both of you have taken to the skies it seems… well, I think I need to bring this back down to ground & get us back on track (literally & figuratively, of course), so that means I my next move needs to be:
Paddington
See You In The Shadows… -
@dragondreams Mar 2022
Paddington. Bear with me while I ponder life's mysteries...
Totteridge & Whetstone. -
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@beacon Mar 2022
Well, I see that we've had a little pause in the play (I'm sure that Mrs. Trellis' Garden Party where she's serving only Victoria Sponge petit fors is keeping everyone occupied. But the game must continue.....
Buckhurst Hill -
@beacon Apr 2022
Well, given the complete lack of play for the past 4 weeks, I'm just going to round this out, and play
Mornington Crescent
And call it a closed game for FAWM 2002. Just wait until 50/90! -
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