# A friendly game of Mornington Crescent **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [December 29, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179 "2020-12-29T14:45:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/381 "2025-08-08T12:42:02Z")
Coincidence or intentional? I’m fairly sure a player of **penultima\_thule** ’s experience will be quite familiar with Carlson’s Gambit, but I suppose it’s a remote possibility he just wants to gaze at the fountain in Manor Park. Best play it safe and derail any plans by getting off the trams and on to **West Croyden.** ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/382 "2025-08-08T13:28:26Z")
Looking for Circle Line’s terminus I ended up in **Embankment**. Nice here. I think I will some tokens on ice-cream. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/383 "2025-08-08T19:14:55Z")
Ha ! My plan is working. **St James’s Park** ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/384 "2025-08-08T20:25:16Z")
Maybe I’m missing some nuance, but your plan seems pretty straightforward, and suggests and obvious counter to **Ravenscourt Park**. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/385 "2025-08-08T21:40:51Z")
**Elmers End** ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/386 "2025-08-11T09:52:49Z")
Ok, nearly there … **Imperial Wharf** ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/387 "2025-08-11T11:25:38Z")
Indeed it is … in fact coming out of a self-induced funk I am astounded to believe I can call MC in two moves … if only I had one of those bloody lost gold tokens. So lets park the rolling stock at **Gospel Oak** ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/388 "2025-08-11T11:51:14Z")
**Hackney Downs.** That places **pjd** in Nid for at least the next two rounds. Quarters continues. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/389 "2025-08-11T12:44:57Z")
Oh, ffs. 😠 ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/390 "2025-08-13T09:45:00Z")
Right, just the barest glimpse of an opening opens. Essential now methinks to keep Thameside of the Victoria Line, and within Zone 2 at most. This reduces the available options substantially and the best of them, though unconventional is **Dalston Kingsland**. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/391 "2025-08-13T13:00:44Z")
Let’s push posh: **Highbury and Islington**. I swap two blue and one red token for a golden one. I smell a trap. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/392 "2025-08-14T00:26:53Z")
The fact that the trap smells implies we’ve shunted into the wrong set of Tubes. **Thames Tideway**. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/393 "2025-08-14T11:52:52Z")
Using my remaining gold….. **Gant’s Hill** As an aside, I trust all players understand that the faux indignation above was just that….._faux_ ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/394 "2025-08-14T14:12:25Z")
Still alive… Collindale ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/395 "2025-08-14T15:08:51Z")
Faux accounting, rounders alive… did we really land in the sewers? Made me think of going to Pontoon Dock, but **Caledonian Road & Bransbury** is the better way to go then. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/396 "2025-08-14T23:02:45Z")
Yes, it would seem that threading the current needle will require more than usual dexterity. The sharks are circling and anyone who attempts a home run but falls short will surely be kibbled. Further @Pardel-Lux’s astute placement blocks access to all the premium localities on the Mildmay Line. Yes, both Camden Road and Belsize Park would be prescient, but equally likely to cause one’s vitals to be singed. Methinks the prevailing strategy is good, and while **Hamstead Heath** is a tad too far out in the sticks, it might be the magus option. And in regard to the pro tempore olive branch regarding any _faux faux_ indignation expressed, I have made a detailed consultation of my copy of “The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language” (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002). Naturally, being a pedant of the first water, in such cases I would normally refer to Fowler’s 1926 opus “Dictionary of Modern English Usage” but my 1st Edition is currently out being rebound in buckram. The reference is incontrovertible. Consequently I reject the offer as being well intentioned but maladroit. Sir, it was genuine _faux_ indignation. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/397 "2025-08-15T13:00:58Z")
**Archway** ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/398 "2025-08-15T13:32:52Z")
OK, now @pjd is out of Nid and circling with intent … options, options, options … **Finsbury Park** ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/399 "2025-08-15T14:07:32Z")
It would seem to me that keeping play on the Picadilly line provides the most positional advantages at this stage, and while **Seven Sisters** doesn’t provide direct access to MC, it’s near enough to plausibly threaten Wallace’s Gambit at any time. Oh, and this also marks a countdown on Quarters. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179/400 "2025-08-15T15:24:31Z")
I was thinking of Kentish Town, but **Kentish Town West** is more promising and obviates the Gambit. Evident, with hindsight, that I should have tried to block the Picadilly Line in my last move at Caledonian Road from Caledonian Road & Barnsbury. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-game-of-mornington-crescent/929179.md?page=21)