"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."
Beyond this point lie spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include midgame or minor Fate-locked content. Proceed with caution.
You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.
"They say that once every nine years there's a card game where you can gamble your soul and win your heart's desire. That sounds like tremendous fun."[6]
The Marvellous is an esoteric, high-stakes game of cards, held at rare intervals and played by a select few individuals who each seek to claim their heart’s desire.
"First," Pages says, "you must understand that the Marvellous is not a single game. What a disappointment that would be! No, it is a tournament – a series of contests in which two players face one another. One is knocked from the running; the other advances."[7]
The Marvellous is played only at precise celestial alignments, determined by planetary conjunctions.[8] However, if all the players agree to it, then they can start the game whenever.[9]
The Marvellous is not a single game but a tournament—a high-stakes series of duels where players face off in elimination rounds. The tournament begins with the Honour, an opening round in which all players compete simultaneously. The results of this melee determines the order of eliminations, the pairings for subsequent rounds, and the first player to advance by default. Whoever wins the Honour is granted a free pass into the second round, skipping the first elimination duel entirely.[10]
After the Honour, the tournament progresses in a series of head-to-head matches: The first player eliminated in the Honour competes against the second eliminated. The winner advances, while the loser is knocked out of the tournament. This continues up the chain until the final showdown.[10]
At the end of the tournament, only two players remain. They play a final, decisive hand of the Marvellous at the heart of the Bazaar.[11] The winner is granted their heart’s desire to the best of the Masters' abilities.[12]
The Players
"The Marvellous has seven players, traditionally."[13]
The game requires seven players, each one an individual of remarkable ambition. Some of the known players in recent iterations of the game are:
The Cardsharp Monkey – A highly intelligent simian with an uncanny ability for games of chance. Its name is Gregory Beechwood, a prior winner of the Marvellous. Regretting his Wish to become a monkey,[14] he now seeks to destroy the game with another Wish.[15]
The Topsy King – The self-proclaimed ruler of the Flit, once a musician and scholar, now a madman. Tristram Bagley played the Marvellous intending to use his Wish to finish his magnum opus of an opera, but lost his mind in the process.[17] Now he plays to get it back.[18]
"In the end, your head is full of rules, rulings, conventions, revisions and variations. How on earth are you meant to translate this gibberish into a winning strategy?"[22]
The Marvellous is played in a series of hands, and follows a structure reminiscent of poker.[23] The deck consists of four Suits—Cats, Rats, Bats, and Hats—and distinctive face cards known as Trumps—Jacks, Queens, and Kings. Each face card carries a unique identity within its suit. For instance, the Jack of Cats is a Tiger, while the King of Bats is a Master.[24]
Each player begins by paying an ante of 7 coins and receives a five-card hand. They can then choose to call (pay the current bet), raise (increase (double) the current bet) or fold (lose the current stake, and the hand, but bet no more coins).[25] If a player raises, their opponent may either call, raise again, or fold. If both players call, hands are revealed, and the highest-ranking hand wins. However, if at least one player raises, both must eventually match the highest bet or fold. At that point, players may discard and redraw cards—up to one more than they discarded—before continuing the cycle. The hand progresses until a showdown determines the winner, who claims the entire stake.[26]
A player is eliminated when they lose all their coins. When that happens they have two choices. Accept defeat and leave the game. Or they can offer a Chance and wager something beyond the game itself. This could be wealth, property,[27] or something more abstract—sanity, destiny, or even humanity.[18] If their opponent declines, they win by default. If they accept, one final 'all or nothing' round is played. If the challenger wins, they take the game.[28] If they lose, their opponent claims both victory and the staked Chance.[29]
The Marvellous incorporates a river, similar to poker. Cards from the river are revealed gradually, allowing players to build their hands using both their own cards and those from the river.[30]
The game also adheres to an array of arcane rules and bylaws, including: Footsteps of Salt (Never interpreted in the same way), Jochi’s Reversal (Outlawed since the Fourth City—swaps hands, but can be countered by a Parliament)[31], The Third that Walks Beside You (A hand cannot end in a fold three times in a row),[32] The Debauchery of Fourth (Permits excessive drunkenness). Raises, and the order of folds are kept track of by a player at the table. There's also a time limit on each round to discourage players from dallying.[33] The Marvellous is never played masked—all players know each other. The winner traditionally leaves the game, though this is a convention, not a rule.[34] After that, a new candidate is either found or enter into the game on their own. The only way to leave the game is to win.[35] The responsibilities of procuring a venue to host the games and consecrating their own card deck falls on the newest player inducted into the game.[36]
The Origins
"The Marvellous has been played a long time, you see. All the way back to the First City. The stake was seventy-seven of their coins then. It's the same stake now."[37]
The Marvellous traces its lineage back to the days of the Third City. An old man from the First City, weary with eternity, sought relief. Bored beyond measure, he petitioned Mr Hearts, then known as the Lord of Blood, begging it to grant him his heart’s desire. The Lord of Blood, alongside the other Lords, devised a solution: a game. Drawing inspiration from a creation of the College of Mortality, they shaped the Marvellous.[38] They gathered six other players and set the stakes at seventy-seven First City Coins to commemorate the man who had first approached them.[39]
The man won the first game, but when the time came for the Lords to grant his heart’s desire, he faltered—he no longer knew what he wanted. So the Lords gave him purpose instead. The Yearning Custodian, the eternal keeper of the Marvellous and the chronicler of its history.[39]
Now, he resides in Parabola, at the Root of Need, down the Wanting Way.[40] There, he consecrates new players’ decks,[41] instructs them in the rules,[42] and watches over the game that was, in many ways, born from his own yearning.
The card form of the Marvellous was a recent invention. In older days, it was played with tiles and boxes of scales with searing glyphs.[43]
Historical & Cultural Inspirations
Many of the rules of the Marvellous draw inspiration from Mornington Crescent,[44] a beloved British parlour game popularized by the BBC Radio 4 show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Mornington Crescent is an improvisational comedy game in which players take turns naming London Underground stations, aiming to be the first to declare "Mornington Crescent." The humor lies in the elaborate yet entirely fictional rules, which satirize the complexities of traditional strategy games. Since its first appearance on the show in 1978, the game has become a fan-favorite segment, celebrated for its witty, freeform nature. Though it presents the illusion of intricate regulations, the true essence of Mornington Crescent lies in improvisation, with players crafting the experience through spontaneous creativity and comedic timing.
References
↑Piece your clues together (1), Fallen London"By itself, the Monkey is useless. Not the first time you've had cause to think that. But, Virginia intimated that the winner in question was a radical – and deliberately or through some bias on her part – she also let slip that the winner was female. Why would the Monkey mimic sleep? The Calendar Council is composed of twelve members: each opposes the purview of one of the Masters. Of that twelve, one stands in opposition to Mr Mirrors and its bailiwick over dreams: October."
↑Piece your clues together (2), Fallen London"On its own, the name Pages gave you isn't worth a great deal. 'Gregory Beechwood' – there must be a dozen resident in London at some time or another. But! The Topsy King kindly identified a location for you: the spire of All Christs in Spite. It is an afternoon of dusty archival work in the bowels of Southwark Cathedral but you do indeed find reference to a Reverend G. Beechwood in residence at All Christs until around a decade ago. It is a start."
↑Piece your clues together (3), Fallen London"The Manager stated an intense dislike, derived from the profligacy of this winner's affections – that could refer to anyone in London. However, the Bishop referred to this person as a colleague – and not in the cloth. You're aware of a certain club to which the Bishop belongs: a place for radical academics, thinkers and explorers. The Dilmun Club. Among their number, the Implacable Detective is circumspect in her affairs, while Feducci, the bandaged duellist, keeps things under wraps. That leaves His Amused Lordship a man possessed with a notorious zest for life. Perhaps he is one of the former winners of the Marvellous?"
↑Try and deduce the final sign, Fallen London"There is only one you can think of with the tenacity to win the Marvellous, the ingenuity and implacable will to achieve his heart's desire, while also possessed of a skeletal visage, is the Boatman who plies the slow river. You do not know if he would be willing to share with you what he knows – but there is only one method to finding out."
↑Pay the Blind Astronomer his due, Fallen London"You're looking for the Marvellous, aren't you. There's no other reason you'd have that monkey with you. Well, you're out of luck. They only play at very specific planetary conjunctions. That's why they come to us. Find out what and when. There won't be another one for at least...ooh, five years. I'd compose your soul in patience, if I were you."
↑"Do you know what an unsupervised monkey could do to our equipment?", Fallen London"I was saying," he begins, "that if you could persuade the other six players to come together for the game, then, well, it's only their custom that determines the game's timing. I know they grow impatient between games. If you could convince them to start early, you wouldn't have to wait the five years."
↑ 10.010.1Ask about the next step, Fallen London"First," Pages says, "you must understand that the Marvellous is not a single game. What a disappointment that would be! No, it is a tournament – a series of contests in which two players face one another. One is knocked from the running; the other advances. Beforehand, however, comes the Honour: an initial grande mêlée in which all players compete. Its results determine the order and pairings of the ensuing rounds. So the first to drop out plays the second, and so on. Whomsoever wins the Honour's defaultomatically advances to the second round of contests. But my excitement has mastered me. To begin with, as you so eruditically observe, we need a venue. And cards."
↑Ambition: in the Heart of the Bazaar, Fallen London"The heart of the Bazaar contains several chambers. Mr Hearts escorts you to the chamber that is reserved for the Marvellous: a close, fibrous room the approximate shape of a garlic bulb. A midnight altar, wrought from some superterrestrial metal, stands at its centre. The cards of the Marvellous have been laid upon it, along with a carafe of dark wine and a plate of biscuits. Two chairs face each other across the altar. No – not chairs: thrones. Thrones of antiquity, gold and looming, salvaged from the halls of forgotten kings. They look very uncomfortable. The Monkey is already slouched in one of them. He waves to you."
↑Ask about the prize, Fallen London"A sensible question; to which I owe a comprehensive answer. When a winner expresses their heart's desire, we – that is the Masters – gather, and turn all our ingenuities and resourcements to its fulfilment. If it is possible, we shall grant it. We have never failed yet. After all, we have moved cities in pursuit of desire. I fear to be immodest, but our capabilities are significant."
↑Ask about Cora, Fallen London"He regrets his decision. Cora was right. Being a monkey isn't a state of grace, and is in fact – pardon my French – bl__dy awful. (I rather feel I should object, there.) Anyway, he says is still fond of her, but that he failed her. She is better off without him."
↑Ask after its new heart's desire, Fallen London"Ah. My apologies. No. He says there is no going back for him. His bridges are burned. Instead, his heart's desire is to bring an end to the Marvellous. It has done enough harm. He considers it entirely inhumane. To that end, he hopes – though he respects that it is your decision – that you will consider letting him win."
↑Ask about the Bishop's own heart's desire, Fallen London"The Bishop smiles, though he is no longer looking at you, instead off into some middle distance. "South," he says at last, his voice low as though thickened with honeyed wine. "To be forgiven. To be welcomed. To end all these darkened days of wandering. To taste sweet fruit upon my tongue and walk in pastures gold. I would lie down upon that splendid glade like cloth of emerald and feel my cares mist away, like dew on a cold morning. And I would not walk there alone. I would open the gates, and lay a path so that others could follow, those who knew the signs." Thin tears streak his face."
↑Heart's Desire – Desperate Intentions, Fallen London"That damnable opera," she says. "And the Correspondence. He was a driven man. I'd never seen him like that. The Marvellous is a family affair for us, but Tristram never wanted to... until then. He gambled his mind away. What was left of it."
↑ 18.018.1Ask about the Topsy King's own heart's desire, Fallen London"He taps his head, thrice. "Staked it," he says, "Hadn't got enough coins to stay in the game. Staked what was left. What was left was what was left of my mind. All aflame it was but best I had. In safe keeping now, with the Priest-King of Bethlehem. Kept, like he'd keep me if he could." The King drops his gaze, returning to his pages and his coals."
↑Ask about the Manager's heart's desire, Fallen London"My needs are simplicity itself. I want a bright diamond. I will make it my heart and grow from there into something strange and wild. Like my beloved. I will carry the seed of a new city. Perhaps I could be of sandstone and gold. That would look very splendid, don't you think?"
↑Ask about Virginia's own heart's desire, Fallen London"Virginia gives you the thinnest smile you have ever seen. "Sanctuary," she says, in a voice as soft as bare feet on snow. She looks away, indicating the end of the discussion."
↑Collect the cards, Fallen London"The Antiquarian talks you through the suits: the standard set of Cats, Rats, Bats and Hats. Then there are the trumps: the trinity of face cards which tops each suit: the Jacks, smiling and stern, the Queens, sober and wild, the Kings, magisterial and melancholy. Each face is unique to its suit, a Tiger for a Jack of Cats, a Master for a King of Bats."
↑Learn how to play the Marvellous, Fallen London"Briefly, the Custodian sketches out the basic rules. Each hand you pay an initial ante (7 coins) and are dealt a hand of cards. You then chose to call (pay the current bet), raise (double the current bet) or fold (lose your current stake, and the hand, but bet no more coins)."
↑Learn how to play the Marvellous, Fallen London"Each game is played in a series of hands, during which you stake some of your First City Coins. Hands are compared, with different combinations of cards have different values. At the end of each hand, the winner takes the loser's stake. When one player's coins are gone, they lose the game. In its essence, it is not dissimilar to poker – a fact which the Custodian claims is no coincidence."
↑Ask for His Lordship's advice, Fallen London"[...] My coins were spent. So I staked the last thing I could – my title and all its estates. [...] They allow that, you know. In fact, I think they want it to happen." He does not qualify who 'they' are. But, he continues. "Remember, if you run out of coins, you can stake something else. If your opponent accepts, you may play one more hand. All or nothing. They call it the Chance."
↑Accompany the Monkey, Fallen London"The Helmsman is packed. It seems the Monkey made Mr Pages a very public challenge. A table has been prepared, and the cards are in place. Mr Pages teeters on an inadequate stool, its robes drawn about it. It seems eager to begin, and directs the pub's clientele to be silent, or to face 'vivimemberment'. The Monkey takes its seat, and the game begins. Pages hunches over its cards like a sorcerer over a crystal ball. It opens cautiously. The Monkey raises. And raises. And raises again. Soon the entirety of the Monkey's store of coins is piled in the centre of the table, all of it staked on this first hand. Pages is flustered. But its own pile of coins is larger. It can cover the bet and have plenty left. The risk is worth it. Pages lays down a Stone Pig and a Conspiracy of Kings. The Monkeys blinks. Sheepishly, it reveals its Murder of Queens. A losing hand. Its simian impatience has cost it the entire match in the first round! Pages preens. Its voice is silky. "Of course, being a soul of unmeasured charity, I might consider accepting a Chance. If you had something to offer." The Monkey scratches its chin. Its eyes flick to you. "Accepted," Pages declares, immediately. Now hang on a minute— you protest, but Pages raises a talon. "Quiet please! It is inapproprisiderate for the stake to speak. The Chance has been offered and accepted. One more round; all or nothing." The Monkey gives you a wink, then darts a glance at Pages' now useless mountain of remaining coins. Was that the play? To tempt Pages into giving up his stake advantage? To even the odds by risking everything on a single hand? With you as the prize? Well, it could have bl__dy asked! Cards are drawn, discarded, drawn again. The Monkey does not stand on ceremony now; there is no showmanship. It calmly puts down a straightforward Ascension of Cats: the three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine. Pages stares. It contorts beneath its robes. "I offer a Chance of my own!" it screeches, in panic. The Monkey shakes its head, but Pages persists. "Name a price! A flask of Hesperidean Cider! A vial of my own blood! The very robe from my back!" The Monkey hesitates. It is obviously tempted. To disrobe a Master, to expose its true nature here, before Londoners... But no. The Monkey keeps its eyes on the prize. It picks its nose, dismissively. Thwarted, Pages emits a strangled noise, and jerks spasmodically to its feet. "Impuderagous!" it squeaks, and hurls its cards across the room before sweeping from the Helmsman. Curious, you collect Mr Pages' cards from the floor. It had an Ascension of Bats – the two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. The Monkey tugs at your sleeve. It's done now. It wants to go home."
↑Insist on something else instead..., Fallen London"He rises, and opens his jacket. From the inside pocket peers a bright green lizard. It flickers its tongue at you, its eyes wheeling. "Your prize," the Manager says, hoarsely, handing it over."
↑Give him the wink, Fallen London"The Topsy King invokes Jochi's Reversal, which has been outlawed since the Fourth City, and swaps his had with yours. Then he plays one of your rats, making a Parliament, and uses it to swap the hands back."
↑Ambition: Against the Bishop, Fallen London"According to the Rule of The Third that Walks Beside You, you must both play on the third. You win, but narrowly. The Bishop risks little."
↑Take your seat, Fallen London"Rose-strewn servants wait with a vast selection of bottles, for any refreshment you care to request (though the rules forbid excessive drunkenness unless the Debauchery of Fourth is in play). Slates and gold chalk are placed in front of Mr Pages, so that it may keep track of raises, and the order of folds. Behind Pages an enormous hourglass is set in a frame like a guillotine – to mark the rounds and to discourage prevarication."
↑Consider how to find past winners of the Marvellous, Fallen London"Every winner leaves the game – after all, they have their heart's desire. This is convention, not law, but it can be assumed most follow tradition. The Marvellous is not played masked – everyone knows the other players."
↑Ask Mr Pages about the previous seventh player, Fallen London"The seventh player? Why, he won! Succeeded! He was triumphious! Having achieved his heart's desire, he has no need to play again. This is protocol: when a player wins, they depart. A new candidate is found, or occasionally, like your delecterious self, presents themselves." Pages lets out a long faux-melancholy sigh. "The rest of us must keep playing, of course. Victory is the only escape."
↑"As the most recent player to join the game, it is your responsibility to host your first game. You will need a suitable residence to accommodate it, and appropriate inducements."
↑Consult the Thirsty Croupier, Fallen London"Their version," says the Croupier. "But the Bishop of St Fiacre's remembers. I remember. Before the Lord of Blood rewrote the rules, the College of Mortality played a much simpler game. Live too long and you'll grow inured to certainty, start craving risk."
↑ 39.039.1Ask him who he is, Fallen London"I was very old then. Lived too long, bored out of my gourd. I went to one of the Lords: the Lord of Blood," the Custodian pauses. "I beseeched it. Begged it to give me my heart's desire. The Lords, who had themselves grown restless, devised the game: the Marvellous. They found six others, as afflicted as I was. I imagine it was not difficult to do so." He smiles. "We played for First City Coins. Their joke, to commemorate me. I'm afraid that requirement is my fault. The last person here cursed me vociferously." He sighs. "We played that first game and I won. The Lords were surprised, I think. They asked me my heart's desire – the thing I had wanted most. But when the time came, I had no answer. I did not know! So they devised one for me. They gave me purpose: this task. Keeper of the Marvellous, chronicler of its history and rulings. Its high priest."
↑Discuss the cards further, Fallen London"As to the cards. "They must be consecrated, naturalously, in the Kingdom of the Is-Not. Parabola is a terrible place, but needs must. You must follow the Wanting Way to the very Root of Need, where you will find one who knows the rites." Mr Pages sighs. "It is, admittedly, something of a palaver. Still: tradition!"
↑Learn how to play the Marvellous, Fallen London"Tracing one long finger across the bottom of the stone, and working his way, slowly, patiently, upward, the Custodian begins to relate to you the rules of the Marvellous as written on the stones, updated over the years as the game has changed."
↑Ask about the Marvellous, Fallen London"The Yearning Custodian lets out a laugh, dry as risen dust. "The cards are a recent convention. It changes with the fashion of the cities. It was a game played with tiles once, and I remember a terrible box of scales and searing glyphs..." The Custodian drifts in memory for a few moments."
↑Chris Gardiner, Discord"It might be useful to know that many of the rules for the Marvellous are derived from the old and popular British parlour game Mornington Crescent."
