# I don't understand the game Mornington Crescent. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 24, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306 "2015-12-24T23:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/41 "2016-01-03T20:06:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I daresay you’re making light of the Gdansk Conference of '58 wherein the British and Soviet representatives, by way of an interpreter who spoke only English and Portugese, and another who spoke only Russian and Korean but whose Korean secretary had summered in Lisbon before the war, hammered out the agreement that lead to the formation of the definitive Code of Laws of the Game that would be applied at the Rome Olympics (which ended up with South Africa taking the gold). We should all look at the flat lizards as an example for how we should conduct territorial disputes. I’ll go ahead and flaut wildly and wait for your answer. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/42 "2016-01-03T20:14:36Z")
> [@Plumpudding](#): > > We should all look at the flat lizards as an example for how we should conduct territorial disputes. I’ll go ahead and flaut wildly and wait for your answer. Notting Hill. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/43 "2016-01-03T20:17:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Notting Hill. A perfect example, from recent cinematic history no less. We have much to flaunt about behind closed curtains. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/44 "2016-01-03T20:24:30Z")
> [@Plumpudding](#): > > A perfect example, from recent cinematic history no less. We have much to flaunt about behind closed curtains. Oh, please. That station was discontinued in '57. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/45 "2016-01-03T21:44:31Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Oh, please. That station was discontinued in '57. As I said earlier; Avoid the river at all cost! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/46 "2016-01-04T16:49:32Z")
It’s true that [Thorold Gossett’s theoretical work](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thorold_Gosset&oldid=388850158) has taken some of the excitement out of Mornington Crescent, but there are plenty of variations still to be analyzed. [Marie of Romania](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=584837) has long been a popular game at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, but now we’re experimenting with playing Mornington Crescent and Marie of Romania _simultaneously_. You can’t play unless you make legal moves in _both_ games at once, and you don’t get full victory unless you are Marie of Romania _at the Mornington station_. It’s a very tough game: the closest we’ve come to a full victory is when Marie of Romania made it to Warrington Crescent. To make the game workable at all, each player starts with an extra 12 red stickers, 5 large chocolate toffees, and a Get Out of Heathrow Free card. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/47 "2016-01-04T17:56:15Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > To make the game workable at all, each player starts with an extra 12 red stickers, 5 large chocolate toffees, and a Get Out of Heathrow Free card. 12? _That’s numberwang!_ ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/48 "2016-01-04T22:51:04Z")
I’d like to respond to the OP, but I’m in Nidd. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/49 "2016-01-04T22:56:43Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > I’d like to respond to the OP, but I’m in Nidd. In your case, I would recommend taking Tooting Bec to Charing Cross, as Queen Anne’s Dispensation applies for persons in your condition during the period between New Year’s and Three Kings Day. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/50 "2016-01-05T02:47:13Z")
I was quite under the impression that Queen Anne’s Dispensation only counted if the penultimate player’s turn had landed him or her in West Acton or East Putney, according to the Landsdale Maneuver of 1958. Allowing the use of the Dispensation without either of the preceding conditions is clearly a violation of the spirit – if not the actual letter – of Landsdale’s addendum. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/51 "2016-01-05T03:47:39Z")
Landsdale’s addendum? Bloody heathens… ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/52 "2016-01-05T05:41:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > In your case, I would recommend taking Tooting Bec to Charing Cross, as Queen Anne’s Dispensation applies for persons in your condition during the period between New Year’s and Three Kings Day. Doesn’t that only apply if the next opposition player is on a cross-diagonal? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/53 "2016-01-05T13:47:18Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I daresay you’re making light of the Gdansk Conference of '58 wherein the British and Soviet representatives, by way of an interpreter who spoke only English and Portugese, and another who spoke only Russian and Korean but whose Korean secretary had summered in Lisbon before the war, hammered out the agreement that lead to the formation of the definitive Code of Laws of the Game that would be applied at the Rome Olympics (which ended up with South Africa taking the gold). During the Lewis and Clark expedition, \*three \*translaters were needed to negotiate the purchase of horses and other supplies from the Shoshone Indians. Capt. Meriwether Lewis spoke English to François Labiche (whom they’d picked up as a boatman on the Missouri River), who spoke French to Sacagawea’s husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, who spoke Hidatsa (a Siouan language) to his wife, who spoke Shoshone (an Uto-Aztecan language) with the chieftain (Sacagawea’s own brother). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/54 "2016-01-05T18:06:50Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > During the Lewis and Clark expedition, \*three \*translaters were needed to negotiate the purchase of horses and other supplies from the Shoshone Indians. Capt. Meriwether Lewis spoke English to François Labiche (whom they’d picked up as a boatman on the Missouri River), who spoke French to Sacagawea’s husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, who spoke Hidatsa (a Siouan language) to his wife, who spoke Shoshone (an Uto-Aztecan language) with the chieftain (Sacagawea’s own brother). I don’t see what that has do with the Acton Road gambit, since none of those people were married to a Catholic nor did they have a special dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306/55 "2016-01-05T19:10:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I don’t see what that has do with the Acton Road gambit, since none of those people were married to a Catholic nor did they have a special dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury. But if you view the Mississippi River as the Bakerloo Line, the Missouri as the Piccadilly, the Yellowstone as the Northern, the Clearwater River as the Jubilee, and of course the Columbia maps to the Hammersmith; from there it’s obvious St Louis is East Ham, Fort Mandan is Hyde Park Corner, and Fort Clatsop represents Willesden Green; finally, Sacagawea is a clear stand in for the Archbishop, as are the Shoshone for the CoE. From that obvious analogy, I would think the application of the Acton Road gambit should be clear, and the implications of the winter rules for Shepherd’s Bush Market crossover shunt become self-apparent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-the-game-mornington-crescent/741306.md?page=2)