History Main / Calvinball

* One issue of ''[[Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Legionnaires]]'' features Triad and Bouncing Boy watching a game that looks almost exactly like UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}}, until you notice the UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}} wickets.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Lumberjanes}}'' #49, Molly, Barney, Hes, Diane and Jo are invited to play a game of Emily's making called Panterra, a "multi-tiered, world-building and conquest strategy game". It's ''definitely'' the complicated rules variation (it took twenty five minutes to explain), and it can only be described as Settlers Of Catan taken up to eleven....thousand, out of a possible three. And it is '''awesome'''.
* In ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic My Little Pony: Fiendship Is Magic #1]]'', Young Sombra and Radiant Hope play a version of an imagination game that Radiant seems to make up rules for on the fly.
* In ''ComicBook/TheMuppetShowComicBook'', [[CaptainErsatz not-Statler-and-Waldorf]] are playing a strange board game in the "Family Reunion" arc. It looks like chess, and the goal is apparently to create chaos by introducing new pieces, but beyond that, who knows.

* In ''[[FanFic/ThreeSlytherinMarauders 3 Slytherin Marauders]]'', Harry, his cousin, some friends, and a couple adults play water polo with a Frisbee instead of a ball and rules that were made up on the spot.

* A ridiculously complex board game named "Cloak and Dagger" is significant in ''Batman: Melody for a Mockingbird''. When Bruce hung out at the hospital where his father practised as boy, all the games in the lounge were missing pieces, so he and [[spoiler:his friend Tommy]] used them to make up a new game. [[spoiler:As an adult, Tommy styles his climactic clash with Bruce as a real life version of C&D, and brags how often he would beat him. Bruce [[ShutUpHannibal shoots back]] that Tommy was always adding new rules to keep winning, which only shows what he was then and is now: A brat who crosses any line to get what he wants.]]
* The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is frequently played in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries''.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12050196/2/A-Day-in-the-Life A Day in the Life]]'', Ben finds a box of assorted trading cards, playing cards, tarot cards, game pieces, and other assorted game implements in [=DexLab=]'s halls. Not wanting to further delay a visit with Dexter by bringing it to the lost and found, he brings it with him, and an impromptu game of ad hoc Duel Monsters breaks out between the two boys.

* In ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfTotalDramaIsland'', the first canon season's iconic dodgeball match takes on [[DownplayedTrope shades of]] Calvinball. When Chris briefs the teams before the match, he warns them that the rules might not remain constant throughout. When he decides that a game is going too quickly, he springs a new rule on the players and tells them he can restore the teams to full strength whenever he wants. He later changes the number of balls on the court, without bothering to call time out, to counter hoarding. The match is largely described [[BloodlessCarnage in the style of a battle scene]] from ''Literature/TheIliad'', and Chris' fluid rules parallel ''The Iliad'''s divine interventions.
* Interlude 10 of ''FanFic/MyFamilyAndOtherEquestrians'' has Celestia, Luna, Discord and the protagonist's father play a game of Mornington Crescent (from ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'', described in Radio below). Discord is apparently very good at it.
* The ''Fanfic/OversaturatedWorld'' has Criffleball, which has utterly nonsensical terminology and rules. People who watch it are incredibly confused. Oddly, though, the group forum hashed out a perfectly comprehensible ruleset in RealLife.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Calvinball's Trope Namer is the anti-game invented by ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. There were only two consistent rules: you couldn't play the same way twice, and you couldn't [[CoolMask question the masks]]. Calvin just doesn't have the patience for games with rigid rules, hierarchies, and scorekeeping; the rules are made up as the players go along, and the main point seemed to just be to have the most fun (or annoy your opponent as much as possible). Although Calvin invented it, Hobbes is very good at it too, and Rosalyn picked it up quickly as well. Calvin also notes that virtually every ''real'' game he tries to play eventually turns into Calvinball (like his variant of baseball with over two dozen bases spread out around the whole neighborhood):
-->'''Calvin:''' I mean, it's fun playing baseball with just ''you'', because we both get to pitch, bat, run and catch all at once. We get to ''do'' everything.\\
'''Hobbes:''' Mostly we just argue over the rules we make up! That's the part ''I'' like!
* ''ComicStrip/{{Frazz}}'' had a week dedicated to [[https://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2006/05/01 Bedlamball]], which has no discernible rules. It's not surprising, especially considering the {{Epileptic Tree|s}} that Frazz is, in fact, an adult Calvin.
* A RunningGag in ''ComicStrip/SallyForthHoward'' is Ted getting the TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}} board out and describing increasingly bizarre and arcane HouseRules, to the point that it barely resembles Monopoly anymore. Sally and Hil have usually given up by then.
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* In ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'', the animated animals play a game that's nominally supposed to be [[UsefulNotes/TheBeautifulGame soccer]]. It's implied that the king makes up the rules as he goes along, and HilarityEnsues. One thing the king insists on is that the game can't be played without a referee – for which Creator/DavidTomlinson's character volunteers, and quickly regrets.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'' crossover ''ComicBook/XOfSwords'' is this. The contest of swords between Krakoa and Arakko was originally presumed by the Champions and the readers alike to be a series of [[TournamentArc sword duels to the death]]. But the person in charge of the contest has their own interests in mind and so only a few of the contests even involve swords at all, with the others being racing, armwrestling, dancing, eating, drinking and even a ''jiggsaw puzzle''. Even then, the rules remain unpredictable: "a fight to the death" turns out to be "the first one to die wins" while a drinking game between two people on the same side means that they get a point no matter what but still feel the effect of the drinks during the next match.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}'': The aptly named sport of "Mutilation Ball". It's very vaguely similar to American football, except if it was made to be as nonsensically violent as possible, where, aside from the opposing team, [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou everything]] from your own teammates, the coaches, the field, the ball, and random monsters will try and kill you. Not even being a benchwarmer, a fan in the bleachers, or the announcer keeps you from getting mutilated. It's not clear how one "wins" the game outside of causing as much destruction as possible; despite having over ''seventy-three thousand'' rules, it's completely allowed and even actively encouraged for players to cheat. There's also "Professional Mutilation Ball", which is explicitly a pointless ForeverWar masquerading as a "game".

* The students of Third Street School on ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' play a couple of games like this. One is called "Battle Tag"; we don't see it played, but we do see all the kids on the playground sprawled on the ground afterwards with their clothes all ripped and covered with dirt. In another episode, the kids become hooked on a ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''-esque card game called "Ajimbo"; most of its rules are nonsensical and inconsistent, so much so that when ChildProdigy Gretchen works out a system to winning, it falls apart seconds after working perfectly to her confusion and aggravation.
* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' "[[Recap/RegularShowS02Ep12ButIHaveAReceipt But I Have A Receipt]]", Mordecai and Rigby have to face off against a dungeon master in a D&D style fight where they have to use their imaginations. Needless to say, the game eventually turns into Calvinball, with rule changes occurring every half second, with it only ending when Mordecai summons an "Immunity Sword" which is immune to all rule changes. What makes the whole thing even more absurd is that Mordecai, Rigby, and the DM are fighting over a $7 refund for a game.
* The aptly named sport of 'Mutilation Ball' on ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}''. It's very vaguely similar to American football, except if it was made to be as nonsensically violent as possible, where, aside from the opposing team, [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou everything]] from your own teammates, the coaches, the field, the ball, and random monsters will try and kill you. Not even being a benchwarmer, a fan in the bleachers, or the announcer keeps you from getting mutilated. It's not clear how one "wins" the game outside of causing as much destruction as possible; despite having over ''seventy-three thousand'' rules, it's completely allowed and even actively encouraged for players to cheat. There's also "Professional Mutilation Ball", which is explicitly a pointless ForeverWar masquerading as a "game".
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' has the kids trying to invent their own sport, "Rocketball". Although it starts out very simple ("hit the ball into the trash can"), more people gradually join in, and, to make it "fairer", so many rules are added that it degrades into Calvinball.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' had a B-plot with the adults all trying out a board game called "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Neurosis]]" that follows a long list of byzantine rules depending on the current state of the game, such as "Player One can only move counter-clockwise when all the other players are in the Penalty Zone." By the second or third time it cuts back to them, they're all bored and confused out of their minds, but for some reason, they still keep playing.

%%* The aptly named sport of 'Mutilation Ball' on ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}''.

If the basic rules are described ''to the audience'' in any way (or if the game already exists in RealLife) then it's not Calvinball. You may instead be dealing with ThePointsMeanNothing (where the game is explained but the scoring is arbitrary); MovingTheGoalposts (where the game is explained but characters try to change the rules to their own advantage); GretzkyHasTheBall (where the sport is real but the characters play it like Calvinball); ArtisticLicenseSports (where the sport is real but just inaccurately portrayed); NewRulesAsThePlotDemands (where the fictional game is ''technically'' defined but inconsistently portrayed); or GameplayRoulette (where the rules are defined, but the game itself unpredictably changes them on the players).

* ''Card: The Game'' has one basic rule: if it's card-sized, card-shaped, and has a number and/or picture on it somewhere, it’s a card. Play starts with each player putting down three cards, one representing their "character", one being their "mode of transportation", and the third being their "location". The idea is that the players improvise what those cards actually ''do'' based on what's on them; if they're even vaguely related, then that's what the card does.

* Would you believe that one of these could be an ''Website/SCPFoundation'' entry? Behold [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2206 SCP-2206]], "Maximum League Baseball," a phenomenally bizarre series of radio broadcasts that are apparently the results of baseball games in an alternate universe. The rules have little to no bearing on baseball rules from our reality, and permitted participants include a team of Aztec warriors who perform blood sacrifices before every game, ''actual'' ghosts, a collection of autonomous vehicles, clones, and a bunch of literal RedShirts who die in droves every game. The rules include mentions of invocation of weather gods, assassination attempts, Catholic clergy used as mascots, and Atlantis.

* ''TabletopGame/PerplexCity'': #140 ''Mornington Crescent'' is based on a game of the infamous [[Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue Mornington Crescent]]. The aim is to determine the winning move based on the moves previously played (the rules are, of course, not provided).

* Wizard's Sudoku in ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' combines sudoku, live chess, jousting, ''VideoGame/QBert'', ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', cube-building, and teapot cars. In addition, the video game elements of ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' itself are [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001163 needlessly complicated and completely nonsensical]].

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' "[[Recap/RegularShowS02Ep12ButIHaveAReceipt But I Have A Receipt]]", Mordecai and Rigby have to face off against a dungeon master in a D&D style fight where they have to use their imaginations. Needless to say, the game eventually turns into Calvinball, with rule changes occurring every half second. What makes the whole thing even more absurd is that Mordecai, Rigby, and the DM are fighting over a $7 refund for a game.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with the]] BallIndex.

* ''Film/DeathRace2000'': The Trans-Continental Death Race seems to have only two rules: make it to the finish line first ([[DeathSport if at all]]) and get additional points by running over people. And which is the actual thing that makes you the winner seems to change as necessary. And so does the rules of what makes you ineligible for winning (such as running over the Deacon of the Bi-Partisan Church). When the "Calvin" of the tale is [[OppresiveStatesOfAmerica the government]], all you can do is [[InternalRetcon shut up and keep playing]].

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' "But I Have a Receipt", Mordecai and Rigby have to face off against a dungeon master in a D&D style fight where they have to use their imaginations. Needless to say, the game eventually turns into Calvinball, with rule changes occurring every half second. What makes the whole thing even more absurd is that Mordecai, Rigby, and the DM are fighting over a $7 refund for a game.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'': In "Let's Play Turnipball!", the eponymous game of Turnipball uses [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a raw turnip as the ball]], a random assortment of sports equipment including golf clubs, croquet mallets and cricket bats, and puts some players on unicycles. Scoring seems to be completely random and arbitrary.

* ''TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'': Turnipball uses [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a raw turnip as the ball]], a random assortment of sports equipment including golf clubs, croquet mallets and cricket backs, and puts some players on unicycles. Scoring seems to be completely random and arbitrary.

* ''TheGhostAndMollyMcgee'': Turnipball uses [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a raw turnip as the ball]], a random assortment of sports equipment including golf clubs, croquet mallets and cricket backs, and puts some players on unicycles. Scoring seems to be completely random and arbitrary.