I believe this was a popular radio game in Britain from the 90s - 10s. The "moves" in this game are stations on the Underground. Most competitions are over in a few minutes. There are a few others on YouTube.
And, since they explicitly declined to explain the rules, ancient or modern, I have no idea how that worked, except that each move appeared to be saying the name of a station. It reminded me of two things:
First, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, first a BBC TV script, then a novel, and I think it's gone on to other formats. It's certainly inspired at least one role-playing game. The premise is that there exists a realm called "London Below," which is inhabited by all the people who have, one way or another, falled out of normal London, London Above. The homeless beggars you studiously ignore are the fringes of this population. If you are well and truly Fallen into London Below, you are unnoticeable by normals. There is a nightmarish scene (one of many nightmarish scenes in the tale) where our hero finds out how this works when he's taking a bath and his landlord walks in with a couple, showing them the apartment, all three oblivious to the naked, wet, shouting man, making it clear from their conversation that our hero is supposed to have simply skipped (or maybe they don't remember him at all), and they absolutely fail to notice him.
Underground stations come into this as the basis of the society. There really are shepherds at Shepherds' Bush, and like that. You want to avoid Night's Bridge (spelling deliberate); it's a toll bridge...
Don't go to Islington.
The other thing it reminds me of is "The Slow Train" by Flanders & Swann:
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And, since they explicitly declined to explain the rules, ancient or modern, I have no idea how that worked, except that each move appeared to be saying the name of a station. It reminded me of two things:
First, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, first a BBC TV script, then a novel, and I think it's gone on to other formats. It's certainly inspired at least one role-playing game. The premise is that there exists a realm called "London Below," which is inhabited by all the people who have, one way or another, falled out of normal London, London Above. The homeless beggars you studiously ignore are the fringes of this population. If you are well and truly Fallen into London Below, you are unnoticeable by normals. There is a nightmarish scene (one of many nightmarish scenes in the tale) where our hero finds out how this works when he's taking a bath and his landlord walks in with a couple, showing them the apartment, all three oblivious to the naked, wet, shouting man, making it clear from their conversation that our hero is supposed to have simply skipped (or maybe they don't remember him at all), and they absolutely fail to notice him.
Underground stations come into this as the basis of the society. There really are shepherds at Shepherds' Bush, and like that. You want to avoid Night's Bridge (spelling deliberate); it's a toll bridge...
Don't go to Islington.
The other thing it reminds me of is "The Slow Train" by Flanders & Swann:
Slow Train
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