# Longest game ever played (relative to regulation)? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 11, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494 "2009-06-11T21:40:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/21 "2009-06-12T15:43:21Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > If this isn’t the record I’m not sure what would be. Playing an equivalent of 6 matches is pretty astounding. Playing 6 matches on 6 consecutive days has to be pretty grueling, but I wonder if it is less grueling than the 6 overtime game in hockey or the monster tennis matches mentioned above. I don’t think the Alvechurch/Oxford City series would have taken place on _consecutive_ days. Matches such as these need a little time to arrange, so two per week would have been a more likely scenario, three per week absolute tops. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/22 "2009-06-12T15:49:56Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > This is a total of 112 games or 3.5 matches! > > If this isn’t the record I’m not sure what would be. Playing an equivalent of 6 matches is pretty astounding. Playing 6 matches on 6 consecutive days has to be pretty grueling, but I wonder if it is less grueling than the 6 overtime game in hockey or the monster tennis matches mentioned above. That one match essentially ushered in the tie breaker era in professional tennis. For what it’s worth Pancho Gonzalez was 41 at the time, and beat his next two opponents in straight sets before losing to Arthur Ashe in the 4th round. > [@](#): > > I don’t think the Alvechurch/Oxford City series would have taken place on consecutive days. Matches such as these need a little time to arrange, so two per week would have been a more likely scenario, three per week absolute tops. Not really; FA Cup replays in Rounds 1-3 are currently played the next day. ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/23 "2009-06-12T16:18:28Z")
deleted duplicate post ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/24 "2009-06-12T16:22:00Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > I don’t think the Alvechurch/Oxford City series would have taken place on _consecutive_ days. Matches such as these need a little time to arrange, so two per week would have been a more likely scenario, three per week absolute tops. My mistake. I misread your original post. Still.. 5 overtimes to settle a match is amazing. I would think by the end of the 3rd or 4th match they’d know each other pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/25 "2009-06-12T17:04:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > FA Cup replays in Rounds 1-3 are currently played the next day. I don’t think so. Round one of the 2008/2009 competition was played on the weekend of 7-9 November. Taking five random replays of drawn games, the Oxford/Dorchester, Hartlepool/Brighton, Barrow/ Eastbourne,and Stockport/Yeovil matches were all held 10 days later on 18 November. The Tranmere/Accrington replay was held 5 days later on 13 November. I am sure the other replays in round one, and those in rounds two, three, and upwards, followed a similar pattern. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/26 "2009-06-12T19:39:20Z")
I know the OP specifically exclude college football OT, but I will bring it back into scope just because it is so awesome. 🙂 The record for most OT periods is 7, which has happened 3 times. I personally witnessed a 6 OT game (Cal over Arizona, 1996). It was wonderful fun. Given the rule change that a team must attempt a 2 pt conversion after a TD, starting in the 3rd OT, I doubt the 7 OT record will ever be broken. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/27 "2009-06-12T19:45:10Z")
The Giants - Mets game on Memorial Day 1964 held the record for a long time. Amazingly, it was the 2nd game of a double-header. Here’s what Wikipedia says: > [@](#): > > The longest doubleheader in Major League history came on May 31, 1964. The San Francisco Giants beat the New York Mets 5-3 in nine innings in the day’s first game at Shea Stadium, and then won the nightcap 8-6 after 23 innings (despite a rare triple play turned by the Mets in the 14th). The two games lasted a combined nine hours, 52 minutes. The Mets’ Ed Kranepool played in all 32 innings of the two games; Kranepool had been called up to the team that day after having played in both games of a doubleheader the day before for their Triple-A farm club in Buffalo. I listened on the radio as a little kid Giants fan. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/28 "2009-06-12T22:59:51Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > The article says the match was called after 10 days. If the usual time is 5 days, that means they played the equivalent of 2 matches. Certainly a very long match. And England came close to the unparalleled achievement of scoring 696 runs in the last innings to win. Very very rarely in all Tests ever played has a team even chased down a target of 400-odd, let alone nearly another 300 on top of it. Phenomenal. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494/29 "2009-06-15T03:20:59Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > In golf I think a tie at the US Open is decided by an extra round the next day, so that is 1 extra round. Has it ever gone to nearly 2 extra rounds? I think the US open had an add’l 18 hole playoff structure at one time. They now play sudden death if the players are still tied after 90 holes. Tiger beat Rocco on the 91st hole last year. I do know that the masters played a 36 hole playoff in 1935. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-game-ever-played-relative-to-regulation/499494.md?page=1)