Quote:
Say it once and I think "what?
" But twice...
What are these Mickey Mouse games? Games for new pros? First prelims? Some other slang that I don't get?
And what's the time limit for those games?
First I'll quote the Oxford English Dictionary on Mickey Mouse. "[as modifier]
informal of inferior quality."
In Britain, at least, it is also connected with a phrase from Glasgow which describes systems that don't work, i.e. they are in Disnaeland (this disnae work, that disnae work; disnae = 'does not' in Scots).
In go I have applied it often to games that have ridiculously shortened time limits just to pander to tv (or, nowadays, YouTube type) audiences. I have not been alone. Many top pros have voiced their disapproval, most notably Cho Hun-hyeon. These games were especially common in Korea, which is why his disapproval counts for more than most. However, Japan and China also flirted with these MM games. But there has been a fairly large pushback against them. If anything, time limits are creeping back up even in the already slowish tournaments (e.g. 2 hours to 2.5 hours).
It's a subjective matter as to what constitutes ridiculously short, but as a rule of thumb if the players don't have time count properly at least a couple of times, they are unable to show the full range of their talents. Such games may be exciting for exhibitions and the like, but to award titles and promotions on the basis of such games has to be questionable.
The acceptable lower limit as far as I can judge is the old but still popular NHK format of 30 seconds a move plus 10 x 1 minute. The 1-minute sessions (which of course can be used consecutively) allow plenty of scope for counting. Such games tend to take about 2 hours. Games at 20 minutes each and 10 seconds byoyomi belong in Disnaeland as far as I'm concerned.