List of games with concealed rules
Encyclopedia
These are games where the rules are intentionally concealed from new players, either because their discovery is part of the game itself, or because the game is a hoax and the rules do not exist. In fiction, the counterpart of the first category are games that supposedly do have a rule set, but that rule set is not disclosed.
Discovery games
- Army of ZeroArmy Of ZeroArmy of Zero is a puzzle and two-player card game, published by Point Zero Games. A cash prize is on offer to the person who can provide the best solution to the puzzle. Army of Zero is an armchair treasure hunt, similar in concept to Masquerade and The Key To The Kingdom.-Game contents:The game...
: A card gameCard gameA card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
in which the cards also form a series of puzzles, leading to a particular answer. Would-be solvers are not told what they are trying to discover, and must derive their objective as well as unravel the puzzles. - Bartok: A game similar to MaoMao (game)Mao is a card game of the Shedding family, in which the aim is to get rid of all of the cards in hand without breaking certain unspoken rules...
and Uno, and new players are not told the rules. In addition, new rules may be introduced. - Big Blue Moon: A game that involves saying "Big Blue Moon X Y Z", where X Y and Z are words following the rule to the game.
- Seven Eleven Doubles: A game played with two dice and alcohol. One of the rules is that no one explains the rules, and if a rule is broken by a player, that player must take a drink. A player who rolls 7, 11, or doubles (any pair) gets to choose another player and make them drink. The player chosen to drink cannot start drinking until the dice are touched. If their roll is something else, the dice must not be touched and the player to the right gets to go next.
- Bobby's WorldBobby's World (game)Bobby's World is a game most commonly played at parties or on long trips. The game is similar to the game Scissors in that at least two players know the secret of the game, while the other players attempt to guess it...
(or My World): A game where players declare an item that is "in" their world, and those knowing the rule confirm or deny whether it is part of their world. - Elephant's foot umbrella standElephant's foot umbrella standElephant's foot umbrella stand is a parlour game that can be played with a various number of players, in which preferably only one of the participating players is familiar with the game.-Game play:...
: A parlour game in which items are added to the end of a list. Only items that follow the rule are accepted. - Eleusis: A card game where the object of the game is to deduce, by studying which cards have been successfully played onto a layout, the rules by which subsequent placements may be made.
- Gestalt Number Theory: A game in which one or more objects are positioned so as to represent various numbers between zero and ten (or possibly eleven). Those in the know can readily confirm the value indicated.
- The Green Glass Door: A word game that has a single rule that needs to be guessed by other players. Typically, players who know the rule will give a thematically matched pair of words, one of which "is" behind the green glass doors, and the other of which "is not."
- Jewels in the sand: A verbal version of EleusisEleusis (game)Eleusis is a multi-genre card game where one player chooses a secret rule to determine which cards can be played on top of others, and the other players attempt to determine the rule using inductive logic....
. - Mao: A card game in which a new player must try to learn the rules by observations and it is taboo to spell out the rules.
- NetHackNetHackNetHack is a single-player roguelike video game originally released in 1987. It is a descendant of an earlier game called Hack , which is a descendant of Rogue...
: A rogue-like computer game in which discovery of the rules is a fundamental gameplay aspect. Descriptions of NetHack's mechanics are often called "spoilers". In addition, on each playthrough items and levels are randomized, so that one cannot simply learn what each thing does without identifying it each time. - One Hand Up: a game that has a single rule that is known to some but not others. Players take turns, and those who know correct those who do not. As people figure out the rule they are encouraged to take the lead in correcting those who do not, until one person is left in the dark.
- One Up, One Down: a drinking gameDrinking gameDrinking games are games which involve the consumption of alcoholic beverages. These games vary widely in scope and complexity, although the purpose of most is to become intoxicated as quickly as possible...
with improvised jargon. - ParanoiaParanoia (role-playing game)Paranoia is a dystopian science-fiction tabletop role-playing game originally designed and written by Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber, and Eric Goldberg, and first published in 1984 by West End Games. Since 2004 the game has been published under licence by Mongoose Publishing...
: A role-playing game set in an Orwellian dystopian future. The actual rules of the game are secret from the players (but not the GamemasterGamemasterA gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer game...
), while the rules presented to the players are incomplete and inaccurate, and players are penalized for showing knowledge of the actual rules. Keeping this knowledge of the rules hidden, and using it to put a player's character in a more favourable position while back stabbing others without them knowing is one of the themes of the game, in keeping with the setting. - PenultimaPenultimaPenultima is a game of inductive logic, played on a chess board. It was invented by Michael Greene and Adam Chalcraft in Cambridge in 1994. The game is derived from the chess variant Ultima , and played with a standard chess board and pieces, each piece having different movement and capture rules...
: a chess variant in which the moves of the pieces vary, and are initially kept secret from the players. - Petals Around the RosePetals Around the RosePetals Around the Rose is a lateral thinking mind game traditionally played with five dice.It is played by computer program or with physical dice that are rolled by a Potentate of the Rose, a person who knows the secret of the game. For each roll of all dice, there is a single numerical solution....
: Is played with five dice. The unknowing part shall guess the number to be derived from the throw. It is also taboo to write the rules. It is also known by other names. - ScissorsScissors (game)- Play :The players sit on chairs in a circle, preferably without a table in the way, and have an object such as an empty plastic drink bottle or even a genuine pair of scissors. In turn, each player passes the object to the player on their left stating whether they are passing the scissors open or...
: A game where a pair of scissors is passed, with the passer declaring that they are being passed "open" or "closed", and the players must figure out the rule determining which is the correct declaration. - SkitgubbeSkitgubbeSkitgubbe is a multi-genre card game that originated in Sweden. The game occurs in two phases. The first phase is a multi-player version of War, in which players accumulate a hand. The second phase is a rummy game, where players attempt to discard the accumulated hand. The last player to go out is...
: one variant of Skitgubbe requires that a new player infer the (complex) rules of the card game. - ZendoZendo (game)Zendo is a game of inductive logic designed by Kory Heath in which one player creates a rule for structures to follow, and the other players try to discover it by building and studying various koans which follow or break the rule...
: A "3d" version of Eleusis that can be played with blocks or sticks or other bits.
Hoax or joke games
- 52 Pickup52 Pickup52 Pickup or 52-Card Pickup is a children's game, using a standard deck of 52 playing cards, that verges on a practical joke. The name has also been used for solitaire versions and for legitimate educational children's games that are based on the fundamental principle of picking up scattered cards...
: A card game in which dealer scatters the cards on the floor and non-dealer must pick them up. - Kamoulox: A joke game created by Kad MeradKad MeradKad Merad, real name Kaddour Merad, is a French-Algerian actor who has acted both on stage and on screen.-As actor:* 2001: La Grande Vie ! - le motard* 2003: Bloody Christmas - l'homme...
and Olivier Baroux, presented on FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
radio and television. The aim of the game is to be the first to say "Kamoulox". - Mornington CrescentMornington Crescent (game)Mornington Crescent is a spoof game, featured in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which satirises complicated strategy games....
: Originally a round in the Radio 4 comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't A ClueI'm Sorry I Haven't a ClueI'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
, Mornington Crescent involves naming stations on the London UndergroundLondon UndergroundThe London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
, roads and streets until Mornington Crescent is "reached". The game parodies games such as contract bridgeContract bridgeContract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
or chessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
. - Progress QuestProgress QuestProgress Quest is an application created as a parody of EverQuest and other massively multiplayer online role-playing games. It is loosely considered a zero-player game, in the sense that once the player has set up his artificial character, there is no user interaction at all; the game "plays"...
: A satire of MMORPGMMORPGMassively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
s, Progress Quest discussions will include gameplay tips, strategies, and hints, or give favorable reviews and boast of in-game accomplishments. However, the game is not interactive at all. - Stanley Random Chess: A computer moderated chess game where 50% of the moves are made randomly from a list of all possible legal moves in the current position. Players are told that their original moves were illegal, under obscurely-named rules, and have been adjusted to the closest possible legal move. Players of SRC perpetuate the belief that the rules are all real, and that the game in fact predates standard chess.
- Inspector: A game in which a new player, who does not know the rules, is picked to be the inspector and is told to leave the room while the rest of the group comes up with a scene. A person in the group who does know the rules quickly explains to those left who do not. The inspector is brought back into the room and instructed to ask yes or no questions to try and figure out the scene. All questions ending in a consonant are answered 'no', all questions ending in a vowel are answered 'yes', and all questions ending with a y are answered 'maybe'. This goes on until either the inspector catches on, or the other players break character or give up.
Games with undisclosed rules
- The Glass Bead Game: Hermann HesseHermann HesseHermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
's eponymous novel includes this game. To properly play requires synthesizing all societal knowledge. - Calvinball: In the Calvin and HobbesCalvin and HobbesCalvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
comic, Calvinball is an improvised sport played by the two main characters, where the only rule is that rules cannot be the same twice. - Cripple Mr Onion: This game is referred to in various books in Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's DiscworldDiscworldDiscworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
series. It is a card game whose rules are never directly specified, but are very complex. - Double Fanucci: Featured in the computer game Zork ZeroZork ZeroZork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz is an interactive fiction computer game, written by Steve Meretzky over nearly 18 months and published by Infocom in 1988, with an original retail price of $59.95...
, Double Fanucci has mind-bogglingly complex "rules". Legal play can depend on things like the phase of the Moon and the ancestry of the players. - Dragon PokerDragon PokerDragon Poker is a fictional card game from the "MythAdventures" series by Robert Asprin, featured primarily in the book Little Myth Marker. The game is an absurdly complex Poker variant, with the same basic rules as stud poker but with different names for the suits and face cards and the added...
: A fictional card game by Robert AsprinRobert AsprinRobert Lynn Asprin was an American science fiction and fantasy author and active fan, best known for his humorous MythAdventures and Phule's Company series.- Background :...
in the MythAdventuresMythAdventuresMythAdventures or Myth Adventures is a fantasy series by Robert Lynn Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye. After twelve novels by Asprin, published 1978 to 2002, he and Nye continued the series with seven more books...
series. The rules change depending on weather, seating position, time of day, and undisclosed other modifiers. However, a playable version has been created by fans, based on the rules and play that are presented in the books. - GuyballGuyballGuyball is a fictional game featured in the British sitcom Green Wing. The rules of Guyball are never fully explained, and are designed to be as confusing and as difficult to understand as possible. However, Green Wing fans have attempted to create their own rules and Guyball societies...
: A sport played in the British sitcom Green WingGreen WingGreen Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
, Guyball is a complex game where each player wears a basket on top of a helmet, while other players attempt to throw balls into it. - House Rules ParcheesiParcheesiParcheesi is a brand name American adaptation of the Indian Cross and Circle game Pachisi. Created in India perhaps as early as 500 AD, the board game is subtitled Royal Game of India because royalty played using color-costumed members of their harems as pieces on large outdoor boards. Such a court...
: The characters in DC Simpson's online comic Ozy and MillieOzy and MillieOzy and Millie is a webcomic, created by D. C. Simpson, which debuted in January 1997. The comic was part of Keenspot from 2001 to 2003, going independent for several years before returning to Keenspot in November 2006. It follows the adventures of assorted anthropomorphized animals...
play "House Rules Parcheesi", which always ends with the house strewn with tennis rackets, socks, couch cushions stacked in complicated positions, etc. - Numberwang: A sketch, created for the radio series That Mitchell and Webb SoundThat Mitchell and Webb SoundThat Mitchell and Webb Sound is a comedy sketch show on BBC Radio 4 which started on 28 August 2003. A second series was broadcast in 2005 with a third starting on 24 May 2007. The series became adapted for television as That Mitchell and Webb Look in 2006. The series is seen in some ways a...
and later included in the television version That Mitchell and Webb LookThat Mitchell and Webb LookThat Mitchell and Webb Look is a British television sketch show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Shown on BBC Two since 2006, its first two series were directed by David Kerr, who also directed Mitchell and Webb's previous television sketch show The Mitchell and Webb Situation, whereas...
, where players call out numbers until the host declares, "That's Numberwang!" - SeahorseSeahorseSeahorses compose the fish genus Hippocampus within the family Syngnathidae, in order Syngnathiformes. Syngnathidae also includes the pipefishes. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek hippos meaning "horse" and kampos meaning “sea monster”.There are nearly 50 species of seahorse...
: In the novel Seahorse: A Novel by Graham Petrie a complicated game played by island natives using cards depicting grotesque themes and colored stones, whose rules are never disclosed. - Xing Haishi Bu Xing: In the episode "Atlantic CityAtlantic City (How I Met Your Mother episode)"Atlantic City" is the 8th episode in the second season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on November 13, 2006.- Plot :...
" of How I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
, Barney plays a game entirely in Chinese. Marshall, however, figures out how to play the game, giving Barney clues as to how to play. Barney wins by going all in, spinning a roulette wheel, and choosing the girl who is holding the Jelly Bean. He shows this victory by declaring "Ying le". - In Fairly OddParents, Timmy invents a game called 'Timmyball', in which Timmy makes up the rules and changes them as he pleases, and Timmy always wins - breaking the 'Timmy always wins' rule is not possible. This is very much like Calvinball, as made famous by Calvin and HobbesCalvin and HobbesCalvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
by Bill Watterson. - Several invented games feature in Star Trek episodes. For instance, throughout The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
, repeated references are made to Parrises Squares, a game that is never explained but is apparently quite dangerous. - In Fallout 2Fallout 2Fallout 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay in 1998. The game's story takes place in 2241, 80 years after the events of Fallout...
the player is able to play a game called 'Tragic: The Garnering' (a pun on Magic: The GatheringMagic: The GatheringMagic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
) that uses ridiculous rules that alter gameplay such as the day, and position to dealer. - In Anne TylerAnne TylerAnne Tyler is an American novelist.Tyler, the eldest of four children, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father was a chemist and her mother a social worker. Her early childhood was spent in a succession of Quaker communities in the mountains of North Carolina and in Raleigh...
's The Accidental TouristThe Accidental TouristThe Accidental Tourist is a 1985 novel by Anne Tyler that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction...
, the Leary children invented a card game called Vaccination—which as adults they still play—so incomprehensible that nobody else can play it, and which it is possible they are still making up as they go along: "In fact, more than one outsider had accused them of altering the rules to suit the circumstances." - "Stars and Comets", a game that is briefly mentioned in many of Andre NortonAndre NortonAndre Alice Norton, née Alice Mary Norton was an American science fiction and fantasy author under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston...
's science fiction stories. - Blernsball in FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
is kept intentionally confusing and overly-complicated. It resembles baseball, but with a tethered ball, the potential for multiball, and other strange addenda. - A chess with strange pieces (e.g. Ape) and exotic rules is featured in Haruki MurakamiHaruki Murakamiis a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the WorldHard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the Worldis a 1985 novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. The English translation by Alfred Birnbaum was released in 1991. A strange and dreamlike novel, its chapters alternate between two bizarre narratives — the 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland' and 'The End of the World' parts.-Plot summary:The story is split...
.
Hoax games
- Chinaman's Whist: Featured in the Hancock's Half HourHancock's Half HourHancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
episode, The Tycoon, the fictional card game is invented by Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
to fleece Hancock and his rival, Aristotle Thermopylae, of their great wealth. Additional rules are revealed by Sid after each round to give him the winning hand. - Clique: The online satirical gaming magazine Critical Miss featured rules for a card game called Clique, a parody of collectible card games that used printed cards and spurious spoken rules to confuse onlookers.
- Cups: An episode of FriendsFriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
featured a card game called Cups, which one character (Chandler) had devised as a method of giving money to another character (Joey) without Joey realizing it. Thus, Chandler made up rules on the fly so that he would always lose. (Unfortunately, Joey then played the game with another character (Ross), and lost all the money he had won.) - Double Cranko, Triple Cranko: The episode of M*A*S*H "Your Hit Parade" (1978) featured Hawkeye Pierce and B. J. Hunnicutt playing an incomprehensible game called "Double Cranko", and alluded to the presumably more complex "Triple Cranko".
- Creebage: In one episode of the television series The MonkeesThe MonkeesThe Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, the character of Micky DolenzMicky DolenzGeorge Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:...
invents a card game on the fly with incomprehensible rules known as Creebage, to distract an old-style gangster holding him captive. While the gangster is distracted, Micky escapes, with the gangster holding up some cards and shouting, "But, I have a creebage!" - Fizzbin: In the 1968 Star TrekStar Trek: The Original SeriesStar Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episode "A Piece of the Action", Captain Kirk spontaneously invents a card game called fizzbin after being captured, in order to distract the henchmen guarding him. - Go Johnny Go Go Go Go: The British sitcom The League of GentlemenThe League of GentlemenThe League of Gentlemen are a group of British comedians formed in 1995, best known for their radio and television series.The League of Gentlemen may also refer to:* The League of Gentlemen ,...
features a card game indirectly inspired by Mornington Crescent called Go Johnny Go Go Go Go which has rules that appear to be entirely fictional (or deliberately overcomplex and obfuscated) for the purposes of defrauding naive players. - I Win!: In Big Daddy, Nazo (Rob SchneiderRob SchneiderRobert Michael "Rob" Schneider is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live, Schneider has gone on to a successful career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedy films Deuce Bigalow:...
) attempts to play cards with Julian (Cole and Dylan Sprouse). Whatever card combination Julian has, he declares, "I win!" A frustrated Nazo asks Julian what the name of the card game they're playing is. Says Julian, "I win!" - Kleebob: In the very first episode of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) George tries to trick Gracie with a made-up card game called "Kleebob".
- Jiggly ball: In the ScrubsScrubs (TV series)Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
episode "My Jiggly Ball", Janitor tricks the main character J.D. into claiming that he knows how to play the nonexistent game "Jiggly Ball." Janitor then challenges J.D. to a game in which hospital staff members pelt him with tennis balls. J.D. then realizes that there is no actual game called Jiggly Ball, but his pride prevented him from conceding to Janitor earlier. - Pai Tai: In The Bob Newhart ShowThe Bob Newhart ShowThe Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...
, a group is playing poker, and Howard never wins a hand. When it becomes his turn to deal and call the game, Howard announced they are going to play Pai Tai - Chinese poker. He deals each player a different number of cards, and explains that no kings are allowed in Pai Tai, and if any player has kings, they must be thrown away. If this leaves a player with no cards, they cannot fold and must sit in place until they lose. There are no raises and no bluffing, everyone bets, then reveals their cards, and whatever cards Howard was holding turned out to be a "Pai Tai" and won. Jerry then deals and announces a game of "Klotski", or Polish poker, for which every player needs a banana. - Spat: This card game could be seen as a precursor to Mornington Crescent. It was played in the episode of The GoodiesThe GoodiesThe Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
entitled "HolidaysHoliday (Goodies episode)Holiday is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies — a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme....
" (from the LWT series). Tim and Graeme knew all sorts of "secret rules" while Bill had never played before and consequently lost every round. - TEGWAR: The book Bang the Drum SlowlyBang the Drum SlowlyBang the Drum Slowly is a novel by Mark Harris, a sequel to The Southpaw . It was first published in 1956, and was later made into a 1956 U.S...
by Mark HarrisMark Harris (author)Mark Harris was an American novelist, literary biographer, and educator.-Early life:Harris was born Mark Harris Finklestein in Mount Vernon, New York to Carlyle and Ruth Klausner Finkelstein...
includes a game called TEGWAR, The Exciting Game Without Any Rules. Played by professional baseball players as a way to dupe unsuspecting fans out of their money, the game features rules that are made up on the spot. Each time a non-initiate thinks he has understood how to play, he is told of a new wrinkle in the rules that he somehow did not catch. (The game also appears in the 1973 film of the same name.) - In the Young OnesThe Young Ones (TV series)The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
, Rik, Mike and Vyvyan play a card game where Rik consistently loses as "people with an R in their name are only allowed one card". - In an episode of the second seriesCulture (Bottom episode)Culture is the second episode of the second series of British TV sitcom Bottom. It was first broadcast on 8 October 1992. It is the second episode to feature only the two main characters.- Synopsis :...
of BottomBottom (TV series)Bottom was a British sitcom television series that originally aired on BBC2 between 1991 and 1995. It was written by comic duo Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson who star as Richie and Eddie, two flatmates living on the dole in Hammersmith, London...
, Richie asks Eddie to suggest a card-game, and Eddie suggests "One-Card Slam"; he immediately slams one card down on the table, and says "Ooh! 12 quid!". Demonstrating extraordinary gullibility, Richie pays up, promising that one day he'll discover the rules.