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Carnelli© - the Real Rules
by De Freshwater
Note: These are the real rules as given to me by Jim Lange.
Carnelli has morphed in several directions, depending on
who
is in charge. So if you're at an AG or RG and Carnelli is on the
schedule, you may be playing by different rules.
"Carnelli" is a party game invented by Jan Carnell, a long-time
member of Metropolitan Washington Mensa. A little like Charades,
a little like Ghost, and a lot like free association, Carnelli requires
no materials or props; players only need quick-wittedness, a good
memory, and an acquaintance with modern culture.
The directions are printed here by permission of Jan Carnell and
Jim Lange (a former LocSec of MWM), who own joint copyright.
Carnelli is the game of titles. It is played in a circle; four players
is about the minimum. The first person gives a title; the next responds
with a title connected to the first in one of the ways specified below;
and so on around the circle. If a player fails to give a valid response
(also see below), s/he is out. The last player to survive is the winner
-- the quickest-witted of them all.
In big groups, there is a timekeeper/judge whose decisions are arbitrary,
capricious, and absolutely final. The time allowed for response is
decreased at the whim of the timekeeper; it generally starts out
at 30
seconds, and toward the end of a game can be as short as five seconds.
Valid Title Connecters
(1) Mutual Word or Word-Element - From Bride of Frankenstein,
The Princess Bride is perfectly good; so is Young Einstein. Here's
another: from Outpost in Malaya to The Postman Always Rings Twice.
Word/Word-Element is the most common Carnelli transition.
(2) Mutual Star - From Stage Door to The Mothers-in-Law is perfectly
good, since both featured Eve Arden in a prominent role. Be careful,
though; don't try to go from Movie A to Movie B merely on the basis
that Jane Schmuck was an extra in both (unless, of course, everyone
in the group knows that Jane Schmuck was in both movies - that
once actually happened with movies featuring as an extra a
well-known member of MWM).
(3) Mutual Author - From Romeo and Juliet to Timon of Athens is good
(both by Shakespeare); so are Interiors to (Woody Allen).
(4) Mutual Director/Performer/Participant - From Cocoon to Parenthood
is perfectly good; both were directed by Ron Howard. To continue the
chain, there wouldn't be anything wrong going from Parenthood to
Happy Days - and it would probably get a laugh. It's perfectly all
right to mix, too. For example, it would also be all right to go from
Cocoon to The Andy Griffith Show.
(5) Mutual Concept - From Casablanca to Play It Again, Sam is
valid, since the latter title is "son of" the former.
(6) Mutual Producer - For example, The Greatest American Hero,
The A-Team, and Tenspeed and Brownshoe were all
produced by Stephen J. Cannell.
(7) Pun - One of the all-time classic Carnelli jumps was from
The Trojan Women to Condominium. Another good one was
from Camelot to Lawrence of Arabia. Be careful, though; puns
are dangerous - it's too easy to get booed right out of the game.
Ways to Get Yourself Eliminated
(1) Repeat a title that was used earlier in the round. This is
probably the most common way of flubbing up. Particularly
in very large groups, it gets hard to remember which title was
used earlier in the round you're in and which title was used
two or three hours ago in a previous game.
(2) State the title incorrectly. The Postal Carrier Always Rings
Twice
might be non-sexist, but it is also not the title of the
book or the
movie. Similarly, The Bareback Contessa can't be borne.
(3) The word or phrase you gave wasn't a title but a trademark.
For example, don't try to go from Where's Poppa? to
Snap, Crackle, Pop - or you'll flop.
(4) Take too much time trying to think of something,
anything, to stay in the game.
(5) Make a double jump. For example, if the title is Nights in
White Satin, the next title may not be My Living Doll - that's
a double jump. Satin Doll is the perfectly good intermediate
step, but just thinking of it isn't enough; it has to be said.
Unless you're playing mandatory double-jump Carnelli
(generally reserved for the seriously deranged), when
you make a double or triple jump, you're out of the game.
(6) Make an inappropriate jump - for example, if it's Sixteen
Tons (and What Do You Get) to you, you may say Sixteen Candles,
but you may not say Eight is Enough. Similarly, you may NOT
go from The Taming of the Shrew to 8 just because Zeffirelli
and Fellini are both Italians.
(7) Invent a title you think sounds plausible and get caught doing it.
The player immediately after you is allowed to challenge you.
If s/he challenges you and you gave a real title, he/she is out;
if you made it up, you're out. A woman once challenged her
own newly married husband (and the challenge was sustained
by the judge) because her groom tried to jump from All About
Jeeves to The Vanishing Cow-Creamer.
Here is a Carnelli chain written by Jim Lange and Katherine
De Witt, Jr. in December 1980 and featured on the cover of
the
January 1981 Cap-M (newsletter of Metropolitan Washington Mensa):
Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Day of the Triffids, Night of the Living
Dead, We the Living, Atlas Shrugged, Earthquake, The Day the Earth
Stood Still, A Stillness at Appotomax, Mr. Lincoln's Army, Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington, Portuguese Washer Woman, The Trojan Women,
Condominium, Outpost in Malaya, The Postman Always Rings Twice,
Two Women, Woman of the Year, Years of Lightning - Day of Drums,
Long Day's Journey Into Night.
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American Mensa - Region 3