# Isn't it time for Mornington Crescent? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 20, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786 "2008-10-20T20:08:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/121 "2008-10-24T20:42:29Z")
Ah, there’s no situation so bad that it can’t get worse, I see. I’ll give away the rather major target of Picadilly Circus, redoubled, in oughts. The only other choice would be an unplayed Hammersmith station, and that would lead to MC on the next play. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/122 "2008-10-25T00:33:46Z")
I’m very glad we’ve avoided a nasty Dollis Hill Loop situation; the one that arose in the British Honduras Championships in 1912 went on for a full day before Carruthers finally broke it with a masterful play of **British Museum** station. The old chaps at the Mornington Crescent Society still talk fondly of that one… I must confess that my play style thus far has been a bit more conservative than usual- it’s hard not to be with **Wargamer** and **Bricker** and other such luminaries amongst us! As tempting as the option is to invoke the Blue Oyster Play to head for **Charing Cross** , making for an easy transfer onto Mornington Crescent from there in perhaps two moves, the diagonal switchback that I can see some other players developing means the likelihood of someone playing **Surrey Quays** and nobbling that move is too high to risk it. Instead, I shall play the Pimlico Passport- a move not seen since the 1947 Royal Malay Straits Open tournament, but as valid now as it was then according to my copy of _Holsons_- and play **Ealing Broadway**. Now in glorious ExtraColour™! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/123 "2008-10-25T01:59:12Z")
**East Broadway** leaves me in Non-Museum and hence totally paralysed. Mind you, I always got off at **Holborn** for the British Museum. Was there a station I missed? I shall await my chance to get back on track, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/124 "2008-10-25T02:56:30Z")
Holborn, eh? An invitation to draw on the genius of one of my heroes, the Russian master Petrov playing in a DPRK jersey _(Petrov v. Fernandez, Manila Championship semis [Asia-Pacific League] 1972)_, with a semi-shunted reversal (non-bank holiday) to **Lancaster Gate**. MC in four. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/125 "2008-10-25T03:47:36Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Holborn, eh? An invitation to draw on the genius of one of my heroes, the Russian master Petrov playing in a DPRK jersey _(Petrov v. Fernandez, Manila Championship semis [Asia-Pacific League] 1972)_, with a semi-shunted reversal (non-bank holiday) to **Lancaster Gate**. MC in four. Obsevers watching this game might find it interesting to note that Petrov later defected to the West and vanished in Helsinki in 1983; some say that the KGB got him, others that he was given a new identity in South Africa, and there are those who say that he went mad with obssession over the Game and lived for many years in the Men’s room of Mornington Crescent station, before finally ending up in a loony bin in the UK. Even now they still debated whether Petrov’s semi-shunted reversal was genius or madness… but if **TLD** thinks he can to the Mornington Crescent in four moves he’s sadly mistaken, as it’s 4:45am in the UK and the it’s inadvisable to be on the Tube at that time, meaning he has to take a cab and that’s specifically disallowed under the rules established at the Alexandria Convention in 1932. Nice try though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/126 "2008-10-25T14:35:19Z")
**Piccadilly Circus**. I’ve decided my astrologer doesn’t know Mornington Crescent that well when he advised me to play **Bayswater**. I mean really? Bayswater? In this crowd. The game would’ve been over immediately, as any imbecile could see a side-shunt would open through Bayswater directly to MC because it’s now a weekend, and bus fare passes can be doubled and substituted for a British Rail Inversion, which, allows Direct Access to ANY station on the Northern Line. And you know what that means, since there is this one Very Important Northern Line Station. So now, having fired my astrologer, I’m following the advice of this nice young lady who usedto work at Lehman Bros. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/127 "2008-10-25T16:12:32Z")
A ray of hope! Picadilly Circus to Seven Sisters, and I can declare down two overdraft tokens. Now, who will be so kind as to make a move that provides one or both? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/128 "2008-10-25T17:49:06Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > A ray of hope! Picadilly Circus to Seven Sisters, and I can declare down two overdraft tokens. > > Now, who will be so kind as to make a move that provides one or both? 🙂 I like the way this is going. Finsbury Park. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/129 "2008-10-25T20:49:42Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I like the way this is going. > > Finsbury Park. Can’t make an omlette without breaking eggs. **Chalk Farm** and another two overdraft tokens declared. ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/130 "2008-10-25T23:23:24Z")
Thank you! Back in. What a gorgeous sequence of play. **Waterloo.** ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/131 "2008-10-26T04:02:52Z")
Gorgeous, yes. Unfortunately, the only legal move left that avoids the Dollis Hill Loop is **Fairlop**. And we all know what that means, don’t we Sven? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/132 "2008-10-26T04:38:25Z")
A nice simple one, as trying to get a complex Forsyth Countermand happening here would just open up **Canary Wharf** and from there we’d all end up at **Kew Gardens** with no way out this side of a Tidal Flood Gate Override, and the last time anyone tried that was back in '03 and it didn’t work out well for them either. So, instead, it’s time for a visit to **London Bridge** , I think. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/133 "2008-10-26T13:39:22Z")
**Silverton & London City Airport** thanks **Martini Enfield** , I appreciate you forgoing the selfish play of **Canary Wharf**. And now that the second airport stop has been played, let’s see where that leads us now. (HINT- See Bueller v. Whalesdollf in last years epic Commonwealth quarters, as reported in the _Commonwealth Reports of Mornington Crescent_. I found that most instructional.) ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/134 "2008-10-26T21:59:59Z")
**Wargamer** - on page 237 of the _Commonwealth Reports of Mornington Crescent,_ I am convinced that the move of Whalesdollf after Bueller played **Paddington** is illegal. As Singh had already declared wolf-hammers three rounds before, I can’t see how Whalesdollf can possibly have declared a delay on the Northern Line. We have debated this many a time at the Melbourne Mornington Crescent Association meetings, but I am sure that I am right. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/135 "2008-10-27T05:56:31Z")
A nice simple one before I duck off to work: **Bond Street**. Well, OK, maybe it’s not as simple as it looks- the possibilities it unlocks will confound, astound, and amaze- but I think you’ll all be able to work with it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/136 "2008-10-27T07:32:28Z")
Too hard for me. I look forward to seeing what some of the more experienced players can do with it. I can’t imagine how your brain worked its way to that one! ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/137 "2008-10-27T13:32:41Z")
**Burnt Oak** Obviously my ploy to try an Off-Map didn’t work, as **Bond Street** definitely closed the **Custom House** stop, which as all know MUST be open to utilize Airports . With both airports open a hop to Paris/Washington DC Metro for a **Place de la Concorde** or a **L’Enfant Plaza** would have thrown Aunt Sally knickers in the wash. Oh well, perhaps we’ll get a chance later to go flying around. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/138 "2008-10-27T13:39:08Z")
As usual, (along with many others before me), I have come to the thread 5 minutes too late. **Goodge Street** redoubled, consequences be damned! ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/139 "2008-10-27T13:59:44Z")
> [@Wargamer](#): > > **Place de la Concorde** or a **L’Enfant Plaza** It’s Mornington Crescent, not Mornington Croissant :mad: 😉 **East Acton** ---
**Author:** ![EristicKallistic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@EristicKallistic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EristicKallistic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786/140 "2008-10-27T14:06:09Z")
I’ll re-redouble on the slant-lines and take advantage of the Pedestrian Scramble at Pudding Mill Lane to sneak across to the Fourth Quadrant. From there I can play **Ravenscourt Park** and ride it to MC in three-and-a-half. My favorite anecdote about this type of play comes from the 1878 Burmese Invitational (Burma at that time being part of the British Raj). Lord Locke was down 16 tokens and in the knip, but managed to get to Shaftesbury Road (as Ravenscourt was known at that time) through a cunning use of a straddle-cross, a Pedestrian Scramble, three transfers and a well-timed rickshaw collision. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-it-time-for-mornington-crescent/468786.md?page=8)