SIX DEGREES OF TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR

THE G.R.O.K. RULE BOOK

(adapted and edited by Kirri Liepins)

1. The Object of the Game

• To find and map out a professional link from any actor/actress to Tim Brooke-Taylor.
• To be the player standing at the end of the game with the lowest number of points.

2. Why Tim Brooke-Taylor?

For one thing, his is the only name of all the Goodies that has four syllables, so he is the natural choice.

Secondly, there is a great amount of TBT worship at “The Goodies Rule – OK!” Website, and the concept of Tim being the centre of the entertainment universe is one that many fans may enjoy, possibly even TBT himself!

This game isn’t insinuating that Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie could not also hold the coveted Centre of the Universe title. But if The Goodies were a royal family, then Tim would surely be the Queen!

3. How To Play

• Nominate an actor/actress in any medium (see Performance Mediums).
• Link this actor/actress to Tim Brooke-Taylor via the movies they have shared with other actors/actresses until you end up with Tim himself.
• Achieve and map out this link in six or less steps.
• The end of the game occurs at the discretion of the group who is playing. Depending on the amount of players that join in during the course of the game, it could quite possibly go on forever.

4. Performance Mediums and Time Periods

The nominated actor/actress can be from television, film, theatre or radio. During any round, the players are not limited to selecting one medium through which to establish their link – one actor can be primarily from television whilst the next player can be prominent in theatre. The point is to find a person that has made a legitimate professional appearance with TBT.

When dealing with these mediums, anything goes – it doesn’t matter if the nominated actor/actress plays a lead role, has a brief cameo or even appears as him or her self. If they made an appearance, they can be used. This also applies to well-known musicians (Mick Jagger, for the sake of example) who have appeared in a film, TV show, on the stage or as a guest on an entertainment-based radio program (like I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue).

Time periods are also unrestricted, thus making the bi-directional linking more flexible – eg. A player using John Cleese can toggle between Doris Day and Gwyneth Paltrow for the purpose of mapping out a link.

As you can see, finding increasingly obscure links is half the fun of the game!

5. What Counts As A Step/Link?

Look at this example:

Clint Eastwood was in "Every Which Way But Loose" with Beverly D'Angelo...
...who was in "High Spirits" with Connie Booth...
...who appeared in "In Two Minds" with Tim Brooke-Taylor!

Clint Eastwood does not count as a step, whereas Beverly D’Angelo, Connie Booth and TBT count as three individual steps. TBT is included as a step because he is the end of the chain. The nominated actor/actress that starts the link does not count as a step.

Consider this: a paper clip does not create a chain unless there is one or more clips attached to it. Thus a paper clip standing alone is just…a paper clip. The same applies to the actors/actresses.

6. The TBT Factor

Any actors/actresses used in a challenge is given a TBT Factor, defined by the amount of steps it takes for him/her to reach Tim Brooke-Taylor.

Using the above example, Clint Eastwood has a TBT Factor of 2.

Actors such as Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie have a TBT Factor of 1, given that they have actually appeared with Tim himself and you don’t have to go to any great lengths to connect them. For the sake of the game being a fun challenge, it is best to nominate an actor/actress that is not obviously connected with Tim; this doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t use other personalities to lead up to a Bill/Graeme-to-TBT link. If it works, great!

Tim Brooke-Taylor has a TBT Factor of 0.

7. Players’ Points

As well as the actors/actresses receiving a TBT Factor, the player who successfully creates a link is awarded points, which are the same numbers as the TBT Factor – eg. If a player creates a link and assigns a TBT Factor of 5, then that player adds that same number to their total score. These points are accumulated until the game is mutually concluded by all players, at which point the group determines the winner based on these points.

8. Points Deductions

If a player fails to correctly name an actor or actress (eg. “that guy with the curly hair” or “the one with the droopy eyelids), half a point is deducted from their points in that round. If more than one actor or actress is incorrectly named, half a point is removed from each incorrect name.

9. More Than One Link?

During the course of the game, several players have pointed out numerous alternative links for a nominated actor/actress. This can happen in two ways: The player creating a link could post his or her response, only to find another (shorter) route; or a second player could interject and claim to have a shorter link. In both cases, only the first correct response is accepted and the successful player receives the points for that round.  

10. Disqualification

Disqualification from any round can take place if a player does not successfully create a link. After the current player delivers their response, another player can call them out on a factual error and thus deem the challenge incomplete. This, in turns, leaves the challenge open for all players to attempt (whichever one of you gets in first, see “More Than One Link?”).

Players can voluntarily disqualify themselves if they post their challenge response, but then realize that the link doesn’t work, or that another error has occurred. This game works on the honour system, so if you feel you’ve made a right muck-up of it, then it’s best to bow out of that round and try again in the next one.

11. The Winner

The winner can be determined at any point in the game at which the participating players agree to call the overall score. Each player’s score is then divided by the amount of rounds they have played – eg. Edna has 15 points and has participated in 3 rounds. 15 divided by 3 equals 5. The number 5 then becomes Edna’s overall score for the game. Once all players’ scores are divided and their overall scores determined, the winner is the person with the lowest number. (Thanks to jodievdw for suggesting this method.)

12. Outside Sources

When a player is presented with a particularly difficult challenge, they are permitted to consult outside sources – eg. IMDB and Google. However, restrictions apply. The onus is on each individual player to be honest in how they have achieved the final link, so it is helpful to include a footnote with your challenge response naming your sources and whom you were sourcing. For example: “I used IMDB to find a link between Julie Andrews and Glenn Close.” (See: The Honour System)

13. Extra Challenges

Any one of these challenges can be given during any round in the course of a game. The two may be used in conjunction with one another as the challenger sees fit (or: as much as the challenger wants to see another player suffer).

CHALLENGE #1: In any round of the game, a player that is nominating an actor/actress can restrict (and further challenge) another player by specifying that no outside sources can be used. This restriction can be placed at any player’s discretion/amusement, but the restriction only applies to the following round, after which the game returns to normal.

CHALLENGE #2: In any round of the game, a player that is nominating an actor/actress can request for a specific contender to take the challenge, eg. Bramble can give a challenge to Hollycat. The target contender then becomes the only player who can give a response. If the contender cannot complete the challenge successfully, or if they outright refuse, the round becomes open to all players.

14. The Honour System

We’re on the honour system here, since we are not in the same room to verify if a player is cheating. It is difficult to know in an online environment when a player may be using outside sources to establish their entire links from beginning to end. If you as a player find yourself relying far too much on sources like IMDB or Google, please remember that the fun of this game is to dust off the part of your brain that houses your TBT love and pop trivia, and create a seemingly impossible link. At this point you should lay off the Googling and see how far you can go with your own brain!

15. Credits

Six Degrees of Tim Brooke-Taylor was adapted and edited by Kirri Liepins (kirri@bigpond.net.au), aka. Skinhead Skippy.

The pop trivia game from which this game is derived is Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon was created by Craig Fass, Mike Ginelli and Brian Turtle.

The original game is based on the Six Degrees of Separation theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. This theory developed to become the Small World Phenomenon. For more information regarding these theories, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org and search for these terms.