It is very common for a chessplayer to look at White's first few moves in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and ask himself, "What is White thinking??" Sometimes the first player has a head full of fever dreams like the following games, which I turned up while looking through The Database for 8-move contests containing the "essence" of the Jerome Gambit, or at least an insight into how it "works".
decent - fulldecent
lightning, FICS, 2003
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Kf8 7.Qf3+ Ke8 8.Qf7#
soulman - tobinskov
standard, FICS, 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Qf3 h6 8.Qf7#
drumme - jherman
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Qf3 h6 8.Qf7#
Odizzel - narciso
blitz, FICS, 2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 d6 6.Ng5+ Kf8 7.Qh5 Nf6 8.Qf7#
braken - klonka59
2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kf8 5.Bd5 Nf6 6.Ng5 Nxe4 7.Nxe4 Ne7 8.Qf3+ Black resigned
Yes, indeed, things frequently go differently, if Black defends properly; but these games reinforce the lesson Tartakower liked to pronounce about some opening ideas, that is "dubious, therefore playable". Black relaxed and told himself that he would get around to defending, any time now – to his misfortune.
Every once in a while I have to post some games, to caution those who experiment with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) that a certain line just is not playable.*
Kaarvek - LuigiBot
standard, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ White resigned
burraburra - chintoo
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d4 Qxg2 White resigned
darumsdad - MRKumar
standard, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d3 Qxg2 White resigned
FURST - cubs
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.Qf3+ Qf6 7.Qxf6+ Nxf6 White resigned
roadcyclist - roomys
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.Qf3+ Nf6 7.0-0 Nd4 8.Qc3 Ne2+ White resigned
Why do players continue to try an early Nf3-g5+ ? Perhaps because of games like the following
drumme - jherman
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Qf3 h6 8.Qf7 checkmate
(*-The Database has 379 games with the 5.Ng5+ line, including 81 wins and 10 draws for White, scoring 23%, so I guess that it is not completely unplayable.)
