History Main / Calvinball

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has Blernsball, which is like baseball, but with so many new rules and gimmicks added -- including the ball being attached to a bungee cord, a "multi-ball" mode, and a giant spider that runs the bases -- that hardly anyone can tell what's going on. It's quite obviously a spectator sport, because it at least [[RuleOfCool looks really cool]]. We see it twice... and it changes near-completely between viewings.

* A card game called Fluxx begins with one rule: during your turn, you draw one card, then play one card. Cards to be played include new rules. With cards like X=X+1 (any rule card with a numeral is treated as though that numeral were one higher), it can get very complicated very quickly.

** In [[{{Filler}} Episode 303]], the shinigami play a New Year's karuta card game. It's originally supposed to be based on a real game but [[KillerRabbit Yachiru]] doesn't bother explaining the rules. Players get ejected on the basis of made-up rules and things quickly degenerate into chaos with [[FunctionalMagic kidou]] and [[PersonalityPowers shikai]] being liberally thrown around. And then [[FinishingMove bankai]] reduces everything to [[LawOfDisproportionateResponse rubble]]...
** In [[{{Filler}} Episode 335]], Kira GotVolunteered by Hisagi to host an New Year's divisional kite-flying bonding exercise, but Hisagi sabotages it to spice things up. Things escalate from gentle bonding to all-out war, until [[OnlySaneMan Kira's]] attempt to end it accidentally destroys [[BadassGrandpa Yamamoto's]] barracks. Yamamoto's UnstoppableRage ends the chaos with the effectiveness of a FantasticNuke.

** Series two offers the home version, which comes with the rulebook in twenty volumes; it also has a history segment which shows a 1930's episode where "the boffins" take several hours to work out whether the first move was Numberwang or not, and even a German Version of the show.

** Actually, there is one discernible rule: Julie (portrayed by Olivia Colman) always loses (and suffers some humiliation such as having a paper bag put over her head) while Simon (portrayed by Paterson Joseph) always wins (Except for the one episode where the game went to SuddenDeath).

->''Other kids' games are such a bore!\\

You know that it's great, 'cause it's named after me''!

* In the ''WhateleyUniverse'', there's Dis-chess, which is something like 3-D chess where the rules change every few minutes.
* ''BaratsAndBereta'', makers of the Man-tage, give us ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycM844Bfzsk Mouse-mate]]''

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* Reddit has [[http://www.reddit.com/r/scoreball r/scoreball]], created in response to [[http://i.imgur.com/2BiXV.jpg this 6th-grade paper]].

*** ...and by the end of the episode, there are many more pieces, including the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin catapult, the transporter pad]], the go-cart (which also, presumably, has a MeaningfulName), a [[TimeTravel Time Machine]], the beekeeper, the jetpack... ''and those are just the pieces we either know or can guess how they work''. The [[NoodleImplements gorilla and pope]] pieces are also mentioned, but good luck guessing how they work.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Frazz}}'' had a week dedicated to [[http://comics.com/frazz/2006-05-01/ Bedlamball]]. Not surprising, considering the Wild Mass Guessing that Frazz is, in fact, adult Calvin.

* Switch can get like this if the exact rules haven't been agreed on before play (it's been known to cause fights where this happens). There are so many different variants of the game, it puts ''FinalFantasyVIII'''s card game to shame.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', there is Randy's idea of "Sarcastaball". The players wear bras and tinfoil hats.

*** Sheldon could have saved himself the effort, as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-way_chess three-way chess]] [[AluminumChristmasTrees has actually been around in one form or another [[OlderThanTheyThink since 1722]]. Of course, being Sheldon, he probably wants [[NoTrueScotsman to ensure that he'll always win]].

* The Gundam Fight in ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]'' actually does have a set of codified rules; however, in the Finals, the host nation (whomever won the previous Fight) has ''carte blanche'' to alter the rules at will. In the 13th Fight (the one depicted in the anime), Neo Hong Kong's Prime Minister throws all sorts of rules around, such as lifting the prohibition on going for deathblows. Fitting more in line with this trope, he comes up with a number of unusual rules and handicap matches on the spot all with the intent of defeating and/or killing TheHero Domon.

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* [[WideOpenSandbox Forge Mode]] in ''HaloReach'' and ''{{Halo 3}}'' has a propensity to devolve into this. Unless a single person or dedicated group is trying to create something specific (thus keep everyone on task). It seldom takes long before everyone starts aiming gravity lifts to hurl Scorpion Tanks at each other. Targets of these Monty Python style attacks then spawn walls to block the incoming tanks. When its realized how they sometimes bounce errantly from a certain angle it becomes an accuracy challenge to land the tank on top of a rock over an ocean. So on and so forth, until the map has been filled with whatever caught the occupants fancy in their item spawn frenzy. These maps are almost always deleted and the blank canvas is restored until another nights session.

* The sport of Cricket is often seen as this by those who don't have a history of playing it, due to its [[WeAllLiveInAmerica complex ruleset and arcane terminology]]. This has often been a source of humour for Americans in particular.

* ''{{Friends}}'' featured Cups, a card game invented by Chandler to transfer money to Joey without him recognising it as charity. BeginnersLuck is a vitally important feature.

** Chandler and Joey, as the typical "boys will be boys" characters, have invented a number of their own games, including "Hammer Darts", of which we know nothing beyond [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin beyond what can be intuited from the name]], and which cost them their insurance and part of the wall; and "Fireball", which involves [[NoodleImplements oven gloves, lighter fluid and a tennis ball.]] Or better yet, a bowling ball and acetylene torch for '''Ultimate Fireball!'''

* The ''{{Stella}}'' comedy group performs a sketch in which one of them suggests they play a "logic game" in which the players take turns saying one of two nonsense words in a unspecified pattern. The second member quickly grasps the pattern and is able to play along, but the third member always guesses wrong. It becomes increasingly obvious that the "pattern" is completely random, and the third member will be deemed wrong no matter what he says.