Carnelli

Infobox_Game
subject_name=Carnelli
image_link=
image_caption=Game of Carnelli at 2007 American Mensa Annual Gathering
players=4 or more
ages=12 and up
setup_time= A few minutes to get chairs arranged in a circle
playing_time= 30 minutes or so per round (depending on how many players are involved)
complexity=Medium
strategy=Low
random_chance=None
skills=Knowledge of trivia
footnotes =

Carnelli is a parlor game created by Jan Carnell, a member of the Metropolitan Washington chapter of Mensa. This game has been popular at Mensa gatherings for years [ [http://www.ag2007.org/program/saturday.htm 2007 Mensa Annual Gathering activities schedule] ] , and has turned up at science fiction conventions as well. [ [http://www.torcon3.on.ca/blogs/Sunday%20AM%20damwrite.pdf Dam Write Daily, the newsletter of Torcon 3, Aug. 31, 2003] ] . It can be called a "title association" game, like "word association" only using titles, such as those of a book, play, movie, or song.

It is played by a group of people who arrange themselves in a circle, with the nonplaying judge (or "Carnelli Master") standing in the center of the circle. The Carnelli Master starts the game by pointing to one of the players and saying a title. The pointed-to player must continue the game by saying a title himself, which must connect to the previous title in some way, such as having a word in common ("The Time Machine" and "Time Enough for Love"), having a common author ("Hamlet" and "Macbeth"), a common actor or producer, or other linkages of a similar nature -- different groups of Carnelli players can vary in exactly what kinds of links are permissible. A common rule is to allow pun linkages as long as they draw sufficient groans from the other people present -- the link from "Tequila Sunrise" to "To Kill a Mockingbird" (pronounced "Tequila Mockingbird" for effect) is a popular one. The links "The Night of the Iguana" to "Iguana Hold Your Hand" and The Trojan Women to Condominium have also been done.

Play proceeds around the circle, with each player naming a title that connects to the last one said. If a player is unable to come up with any title within the allotted time (kept by the Carnelli Master; generally, the time limit reduces as the game proceeds) he or she is eliminated and must move outside the circle. If a player names a nonexistent or incorrect title, a title that does not legitimately connect with the preceding one, or a title that has already been used in the current game, another player may challenge it, and such challenges are ruled upon by the Carnelli Master, whose judgments are said to be "arbitrary, capricious, and final". If the challenge is upheld, the challenged player is eliminated, but if the challenge is rejected, the challenger is instead eliminated. The winner is the last player remaining after all other players have been eliminated.

There is no strict one-to-one relationship between titles and works — "What a Girl Wants" is, unrelatedly, a Christina Aguilera song and an Amanda Bynes movie, while the first Harry Potter book is known both as "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Since it is "titles" that aren't allowed to be repeated in the course of a game rather than "works", players may only say "What a Girl Wants" once, but may use both Potter titles separately -- unless, of course, the current Carnelli Master decides otherwise.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.mwm.org/carnelli.html Metropolitan Washington Mensa page on Carnelli]