The chairperson selects an object/idea/whatever and announces whether it's animal, vegetable, mineral, and/or abstract. The others have to ask questions to figure out what it is. Whomever guesses the object correctly is given the chair for the next round; repeat ad nauseam.
[Brendan] No. [Chalky] applause from audience That could be part of it. [Darren] silence from audience That could be part of it as well, but it's probably not what you would first think of. [ZK] No.
[Brendan] No. [Inkspot] Not a name, and not all that extreme.
A hint about the fictional connection: there are actually two fictional connections: one a specific work which mentions it, and the other a body of fictional work in which it recurs from time to time.