Ruleset

Mornington Crescent rulesets are usually named after the year in which they were ratified, and the name of the primary street or station that was in use at the end of the testing and ratification stages of that ruleset.

Testing generally commences with the station used at the end of the previous ratification round. The IMCS has decades of expertise as to the station(s) most likely to highlight weaknesses in a given ruleset, and after a few iterations a new test station is selected in the area of the network in which the new ruleset is at its weakest. At the end of several rounds of testing, the new ruleset is traditionally named in honour of this station. It is also common to publish an acknowledgment to the staff at that station for their help and assistance during the development of the ruleset, without which further development of the game would not be possible.

Historically, it has been very rare for the weakest point of two consecutive rulesets to remain at the same location. This is a testament to the excellent troubleshooting work of the IMCS. The sole exception thus far has been the two consecutive rulesets of [Chalk Farm '83]? and Chalk Farm '84, and the former ruleset was always intended as a stepping-stone to the exceptionally stable and long-lived CF84 ruleset.

A list of rulesets has been compiled here.

[SM]

---

Categories: A to Z, Rulesets