Editing Mornington Crescent (game) (section)

==Gameplay on ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''==
[[File:I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.jpg|thumb|Panellists taking part at a BBC Radio recording of ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'']]
[[File:London Underground Zone 2.svg|thumb|Mornington Crescent gameplay involves announcing random place names in [[London]], usually a station on the [[London Underground|Underground]] system, for humorous effect]]
The objective of Mornington Crescent is to give the appearance of a game of skill and strategy, with complex and long-winded rules and strategies, to parody games in which similarly circuitous systems have evolved. The apparent rules are fictional, and its appeal to audiences lies in the ability of players to create an entertaining illusion of competitive gameplay.<ref name="Bateman">{{cite book |last1=Bateman |first1=Chris |title=Imaginary Games |date=2011 |publisher=John Hunt Publishing |isbn=9781846949425 |pages=72–73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KDvtBAAAQBAJ&dq=Mornington%20Crescent%20(game)%20closed%20station&pg=PA72 |access-date=4 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

Humorous variations to the rules have been introduced to games. Humphrey Lyttelton would describe special rules to apply to that session, such as "Trumpington's Variations" or "Tudor Court Rules", so that almost every episode featuring Mornington Crescent introduced a variant. In one of them, first introduced in North Yorkshire, a player whose movement is blocked is considered to be "[[River Nidd|in Nidd]]" and is forced to remain in place for the next three moves. This tends to block the other players, putting them into Nidd as well and causing a roadblock. In one episode, every player ended up in Nidd and the rule had to be suspended so that the round could continue.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

Over time, the destinations named by the panellists expanded beyond the Underground, in accordance with various regional expansions of the game. ''ISIHAC'' is recorded around the United Kingdom, and the game is occasionally modified accordingly. There have been versions in [[Slough]] and [[Leeds]], as well as one in Scotland, played during the [[Edinburgh Fringe]] arts festival and a 2016 recording in Glasgow (where the name was changed to "[[Morningside, Edinburgh|Morningside]] Crescent")<ref>''I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'', BBC Radio Collection #2, Volume 6. {{ISBN|978-0-563-49484-3}}</ref> and another variation played at recordings in Wales (called "[[Morganstown]] Crescent"). In one episode, recorded in [[Luton]], panellists named locations as far afield as the [[Charles de Gaulle – Étoile|Place de l'Étoile]] in Paris, [[Nevsky Prospekt (Saint Petersburg Metro)|Nevsky Prospekt]] in [[St. Petersburg]], and [[Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.)#Washington Metro|Pennsylvania Avenue]] in [[Washington, DC]], but a move to Luton High Street was ruled invalid for being too remote. In other episodes, an attempt was supposedly made to expand the territory to [[Manhattan]] (via Heathrow and JFK) but there was some disagreement as to whether or not the [[New York City Subway]] system was suited to the game. References have been made in various episodes of ''ISIHAC'' to international versions of the game, including "Mornington Croissant", supposedly based on the [[Paris Métro]], and "[[Mornington Peninsula]]", the [[Australia]]n variant. At least one full game of Mornington Croissant was played on air.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

A regular feature that introduces Mornington Crescent is a letters section which begins with the chairman's comments ("I notice from the sheer weight of this week's postbag, we've received a little over no letters" and "I see from the number of letters raining down on us this week that the Scrabble factory has exploded again"). The selected letter each week is invariably from "A Mrs. Trellis of North Wales", whose incoherent letters usually mistake the chairman for another Radio 4 presenter or media personality. "Dear [[Libby Purves|Libby]]," (she writes), "why oh why ... very nearly spells YOYO", or "Dear [[Alan Titchmarsh|Mr. Titchmarsh]], never let them tell you that [[Sizing|size]] isn't important. My aunt told me that, but then all my new wallpaper fell off."{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}