Ghoodminton

Irish Fandom's Ghoodminton was a fannish equivalent of badminton; the only place you could play it was in the attic of Oblique House, the Willis home at 170 Upper Newtownards Road in Belfast. It was born while Walt Willis was recovering from pneumonia after his 1952 trip to the US.

The net was stretched between a printing press and a chair; a decrepit shuttlecock and two squares of cardboard were only equipment. The bounds were the belly-button of athe picture of the undressed Marilyn Monroe and the edge of a mirror bearing the sign "#1 Fan Face." There was only one enforced regulation for the game: you couldn't throw heavy objects at your opponent.

Ghoodminton gained fame in the pages of Hyphen, and later in other fanzines, as one of the things in Irish Fandom that made it fun and special. Players include Willis Himself, James White, Bob Shaw and John Berry.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

(Willis) The game of heroes. It is played indoors on whatever table you have that is capable of bearing a ping-pong net across the middle and the shock of hurtling bodies. Scoring resembles that of more mundane tennis Willis, the inventor, is a tennis fan too]. Only equipment beyond table and net: a badminton bird, some sort of rectangular device (to strike the bird with) and a lofty contempt for human life.

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