# Any "fictional" games that are widely played? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142 "2010-12-06T14:15:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/1 "2010-12-06T14:15:05Z")
The discussion about Quidditch making no effing sense as led me to think: are there any widely played, well thought out, games or sports that only existed in the first place as background to a fictional setting? I’d exclude games like 3D Chess and Thud! in which the rules were never given within the work of fiction, but were created retrospectively. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/2 "2010-12-06T14:58:00Z")
_Jetan_ – Martian Chess from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars novels, has been played by enthiusiasts (although I’ve never known any). ERB gave the rules in, appropriately enough, _The Chessmen of Mars_ > **[Jetan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetan)** > > Jetan, also known as Martian chess, is a chess variant first published in 1922. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series. Its rules are described in Chapter 2 and in the Appendix of the book, with an actual game partly described in Chapter 17. > Jetan is played on a black and orange checkered board of 10 ranks by 10 files, with orange pieces on the "north"... The Wiki page gives similar “invented” games ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/3 "2010-12-06T15:14:42Z")
There were some 43-man squamish squads in the 60s, but I don’t know if they actually ever played a game. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/4 "2010-12-06T15:38:17Z")
I honestly like Three-Cornered Pitney more than 43-Man Squamish. “I now roll my whirtling toward the kitchen.” ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/5 "2010-12-06T15:50:08Z")
There is a comic book called _Knights of the Dinner Table_, which depicts 4 people sitting around a table playing a game called “Hackmaster”, which is a parody/homage of _Advanced Dungeons and Dragons_. Despite the fact that it sounds absolutely dire, it is a pretty good comic, or at least it was when I read it years ago. At a certain point, the publishers of the comic decided to go ahead and publish the rules to _Hackmaster_. I never looked at it, since I thought they were pushing the joke a little farther than was prudent. However, I think that at least some people might have started playing the game. I would guess that > [@](#): > > I’d exclude games like 3D Chess and Thud! in which the rules were never given within the work of fiction, but were created retrospectively is not going to work, because no work of fiction is going to give the rules in complete enough form to play the game without some additional work. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/6 "2010-12-06T16:20:17Z")
> [@](#): > > is not going to work, because no work of fiction is going to give the rules in complete enough form to play the game without some additional work. > Reply With Quote Not true – Burroughs gave the rules for _Jetan_ in the story and an appendix to the book, as it states in the linked Wiki article. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/7 "2010-12-06T16:36:31Z")
Calvinball ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/8 "2010-12-06T16:39:06Z")
Does Mornington Crescent count? Apparently Assumption Poker is popular at some science fiction writers’ workshops, which just weirds the hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/9 "2010-12-06T17:01:29Z")
Quidditch is actually really popular right now. No, seriously, it’s being played in high schools and colleges (recreationally). You have to be straddling a broom as you run the whole time. The snitch is represented as some guy runnning around with a gold flag in his pocket. Sensibly, catching the snitch is only 50 points. I don’t know if catching it ends the game or not. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/10 "2010-12-06T17:07:55Z")
[You know I just had to go and find a link for that, dontcha know.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/11 "2010-12-06T17:15:27Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > At a certain point, the publishers of the comic decided to go ahead and publish the rules to _Hackmaster_. I never looked at it, since I thought they were pushing the joke a little farther than was prudent. However, I think that at least some people might have started playing the game. The Hackmaster RPG is largely based on the 1E AD&D rules (and, yes, indeed, there are people who play it). As I understand it, Wizards of the Coast ran into a copyright problem with Kenzer & Company (the KotDT folks)…KotDT ran for a while in WotC’s Dragon Magazine; when WotC issued a CD compilation of old Dragon issues, they included the KotDT strips which had run in old issues. Apparently, they didn’t have the right to do so, and Kenzer filed suit. At any rate, the settlement included allowing Kenzer to use the old 1E AD&D rules as the basis for Hackmaster. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/12 "2010-12-06T17:22:48Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [You know I just had to go and find a link for that, dontcha know.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo) How. Fucking. Lame. And that’s coming from a fat, geeky, lame-ass loser. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/13 "2010-12-06T21:23:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Jetan – Martian Chess from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars novels, has been played by enthiusiasts (although I’ve never known any). ERB gave the rules in, appropriately enough, The Chessmen of Mars Has anyone ever managed to actually win a game? By the rules as written, it should be ridiculously easy to play for a draw. Just send your Warlord on a rampage through the enemy pieces while you let your opponent do the same. If you never move your Warlord into range of your opponent’s (and really, why would you?), then that win condition becomes irrelevant, which means that the only way it’s even possible to win is by caging in the enemy Princess, a feat which would be approximately as difficult as checkmate in conventional chess, except that because of the Escape special move, you effectively have to do it _twice_. While you’re rapidly losing pieces to the enemy Warlord that you dare not kill, of course. I figure that the only reason it even works as a game at all is that Barsoomians are all too testosterone-poisoned to even consider the possibility of playing to a draw. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/14 "2010-12-06T21:26:43Z")
As I said, I don’t know anyone who’s played it. The afterwords to the Mars books _claim_ that there have been enthusiast fans, and if you google _jetan_ or follow the links in the article I link to you can find sites of _jetan_ players. Presumably they’re smitten by the joy of playing a Burroughs game, or else have worked out some dodges that make the game interesting. I know that some folks make some minor changes in the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/15 "2010-12-06T21:33:29Z")
A simplistic view. Using your Warlord defensively would assume a strategic importance similar to King versus King play in chess endgames. King and Pawns versus King and Pawns doesn’t usually result in a mad pawn massacre by both Kings blind to what the other is doing. I’ve never played _Jetan_, but I’ve heard it described as playable by enough people to convince me that before you write it off you should attempt your killer stratagem against them. It’s a shame that Kaissa, the Gorean equivalent, is never fully described. Enough of the rules are stated to allow a couple of game fragments to be meaningfully presented in _Beasts of Gor_ and _Players of Gor_, but there are pieces left undescribed in both cases and, for instance, the Tarnsman and the Scribe are never fully actualised although from context they are of similar value and differing power just as are Knight and Bishop respectively in Earth chess. Some people have attempted to codify a playable game, but it’s not quite canonical. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/16 "2010-12-06T21:40:26Z")
[Intercollegiate Quidditch Rules and Guidebook](http://sites.google.com/site/savannahquidditchleague/IQARulebook) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/17 "2010-12-06T22:43:10Z")
> [@](#): > > A simplistic view. Using your Warlord defensively would assume a strategic importance similar to King versus King play in chess endgames. King and Pawns versus King and Pawns doesn’t usually result in a mad pawn massacre by both Kings blind to what the other is doing. I’ve never played Jetan, but I’ve heard it described as playable by enough people to convince me that before you write it off you should attempt your killer stratagem against them. The difference between the Warlord and the King is that any piece, even a lowly pawn, can attack a King with the same effect, but if any piece other than the enemy Warlord captures your Warlord, that’s a draw. You can’t massacre your enemy’s pawns with your king because the pawns are likely to be protecting each other, and you’re not allowed to move into check (and even if you were allowed, it’d be suicidally foolish to do so). You _are_, however, allowed to move your Warlord into a threatened space, and if your opponent is playing for a win, there’s nothing he can do about it. Nor do I claim to have a killer strategem, just that I can force draws. I certainly couldn’t win against someone else attempting to force a draw, and I probably couldn’t even win against someone who was also trying for a win. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/18 "2010-12-06T22:52:48Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [You know I just had to go and find a link for that, dontcha know.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo) Double you tee eff? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/19 "2010-12-06T23:43:09Z")
Cripple Mr. Onion and Thud both apparently have devotees. > **[Games of the Discworld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_of_the_Discworld)** > > The fictional universe of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett features a number of invented games, some of which have gone on to spawn real-world variants. > Stealth chess is a chess variant, played in the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild, according to The Discworld Companion. > It is similar to normal chess, with the exception of an extra piece and the widening of the board by two specially-colored fields (red and white are described, as opposed to the normal black and white) on either side, know... ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142/20 "2010-12-06T23:50:31Z")
Diamondback from the Cerebus comic books by David Sim [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-fictional-games-that-are-widely-played/563142.md?page=2)