texts: What is the status of Fruitcake elemental?

texts:
I have found a card called fruitcake elemental.

This card does that does not appear to be on gatherer, but is on magiccardinfo.com.  It is a 7/7 green indestructable creature costing: 1{G}{G}.
At the end of your turn it does 7 damage to you, and for 3: you can change control.

Apparently this is a promotional card?  What is it's status?


texts:
Say you have 7 enchantments on the field, including two Starfield of Nyx and a creature that cares about creatures entering the battlefield (e.g.Soul Warden). You cast Eerie Interlude targeting some number of the enchantment creatures to flicker them.

I know that if you flicker 1 enchantment creature, it'll trigger Soul Warden once.

If you flicker the two Starfield of Nyx, will they enter as creatures?
If you flicker three non-Starfield enchantment creatures, will they re-enter as creatures?


texts: Spades - is the rule "Second hand plays low, Third hand plays high" important?

texts:
In the game of Spades, is the rule of thumb: "Third player play high" exists? (as in the game of Bridge)

The logic behind playing third high is is to prevents opponents winning a trick cheaply.

In what situation this rule apply?
What are the exceptions?

If the highest card in the suit (known as the Boss) wasn't played yet, should the third player play:

her highest card?
her highest card below the Boss-1?
Never play the King before the Ace is out but do play the Queen?


texts: Does removing a creature from the battlefield during the blockers declaration phase affect the damage the player will take?

texts:
First example: When a creature is going to attack me alone and I use Vapor Snag to return it to the other player's hand, is the combat damage prevented?

Second example: If three 1/1 Soldier creatures are going to attack me while Veteran Swordsmith (which gives other Soldier Creatures +1/+0) is on the board and I use Doom Blade to kill the Veteran Swordsmith, do I take 3 damage or 6?

Third example: I control a creature, but couldn't use it to block a sliver my opponent controls because he just put a Shifting Sliver into play. If I use Path to Exile to exile his Shifting Sliver during the blockers declaration phase, does this make me able to block the other sliver?

Also, would this kind of play work in response to triggered/activated abilities? (for example, trying to prevent a triggered/activated ability from resolving by removing the permanent from the battlefield in response to the opponent trying to trigger/activate it)


texts: How does one set up a 1/4 board for Go – and is it a good way to start?

texts:
As a beginner, I was handed a full go board. And, somehow figured it out.

A beginner friend wants to start "small" on something like 1/4 of the board.

Personally, I think that we should start with the entire board.


texts:
I'm playing the 2004 Avalon Hill Revised rules.

Scenario: It is the UK player's turn. They use their Atlantic fleet (without any destroyers) to attack the German Atlantic fleet. Most of the German fleet is destroyed except for two submarines which choose to submerge. At the end of the UK player's non-combat move, the German submarines resurface and remain in the same sea zone as the UK fleet.

Fast-forward to the USA player's turn. They want to use their Atlantic fleet to attack the remaining German submarines. These submarines are still parked in the same sea zone as the UK fleet.

Question: If the USA player attacks the German submarines in the same sea zone as the UK fleet, does the UK fleet participate in the attack?

Commentary: I'm leaning towards no because of the "Defend together. Attack separately." principle. However, I can't find where this scenario is clarified in the rules.


texts: In Diplomacy, is it good strategy to have a primary alliance with a country on the opposite of the board?

texts:
The countries I'm thinking about are England and Turkey (northwest and southeast).  This type of alliance seems unlikely to develop "naturally" in the real world, since they're nowhere near each other, but they have a common enemy, Russia.

I have to assume that more pressing concerns for each are "taken care of" by "natural" rivalries, Italy vs. Austria, and Germany vs. France.

But if England and Turkey succeed in partitioning Russia, can they find "common ground" in a war against say, the Germanic countries, Germany and Austria-Hungary? Or possibly in alliances with them against the "Latins," Italy and France?


texts: Am I allowed to shortcut two abilities that allow me to search my deck?

texts:
If I have two abilities that allow me to search my deck for something and shuffle, may I use a shortcut to grab both to save time on shuffling?

Say I have two Polluted Delta on the field, and I attempt to activate both of them. I know I can put them both on the stack at the same time and cause them to resolve back to back, but is there any way I can skip over the first shuffle process since I'm about to search again anyway?


texts: what happens with commanders and o ring effects?

texts:
I know that when a commander is exiled, the owner has the option of putting it in
exile or back in the command zone, but what about effects that only remove it as
long as a permanent is in play, like o ring, or angel of serenity. does the
commander leave play until the mentioned permanents leave play or can the opp bypass them and just put the commander in the command zone.


texts: Swap Plays For Draws and Play X with fewer than X cards on hand

texts:
Lets say the rules are Draw 1 / Play 4, and the Swap Plays For Draws promotional rule card is in play:

My turn begins and I have zero cards in my hand.
So I draw one card.

If I now want to make use of the Swap Plays For Draws rule, how many cards should I draw?

The rules say "Play 4", but I can only play one card, because I only have one card in my hand. So should I draw 4 cards or one card?

Also, if I first play my only card, can I after that use the Swap Plays For Draws rule and exchange my remaining 3 plays for 3 draws (even though I don't actually have 3 more cards to play)?


texts:
In the Villages card game, we did not understand a few rules.

Can you pick up cards from your villages during your turn?
Can multicolor/light units switch which village they are in if possible?
if there is a village made of light units, what color is that village?
Just how much is the game like gin rummy?


texts: Does "cards with the same name can't be played" affect tokens?

texts:
So a friend of mine has a card with the ability "Name a card. Cards that share a name with that card cannot be played."

My question is does this work on tokens?

I play a zombie token deck mainly, and this would cause a big hiccup to my ability to win the game.


texts: Are professional ranks representative for how many stones of handicap players can give each other?

texts:
It was mentioned elsewhere that a 9p could not give 7 stones to a 2p. I have no databases available and wondered if this is correct.

Bonus:  If they aren't representative, why not? And is there a historical reason for it developing that way?


texts: If multiple players must make a choice, in what order are the choices made?

texts: For example, if Merciless Executioner enters the battlefield, and both players have multiple creatures, which player chooses a creature to sacrifice first? Obviously the latter will have an advantage. Technically it can't be done simultaneously, so who should go first?


texts: You have a joker in your hand, can you play it by adding to an existing run or set? Or do you have to play it with at least 2 additional tiles from your hand?


texts: What happens to auras that come back from exile?

texts:
Let's suppose I control a creature that my opponent owns, that I got under my control because of my Custody Battle on it. I also have a Synod Sanctum in play.

If I exile the creature with Synod Sanctum, and sacrifice it afterwards, I become the controller of that creature indefinitely, right? But a better move seems to exile Custody Battle. I remain the controler of the creature and don't need to sacrifice Synod Sanctum to keep it on the battlefield.

But what happens to the enchantment once I sacrifice the Synod? I saw on the gatherer page of the Synod a user that says:

  if an Aura is put onto the battlefield via an effect apart from it
  being cast, you choose something for it to enchant when it comes into
  play. You can even enchant permanents with shroud this way, because
  getting an aura into play this way doesn't count as targeting with a
  spell/ability.

Is that right?


texts: Ignition Effect Priority in Old Yu-Gi-Oh!

texts:
I am trying to remember the details of the old mechanic in Yu-Gi-Oh! which was referred to borderline-erroneously as priority, but was actually an ability to use ignition effects in response to Summons.  According to my recollection:

Only the turn player could use it
It could only be used if the monster Summoned was the turn player's
It could only be used during Main Phase 1 or Main Phase 2, the game phases when ignition effect can normally be used
It could be used to activate the ignition effect of one monster anywhere in the turn player's possession (hand, field, Graveyard, etc.)
It could be used in response to any type of Summon (Normal, Flip, or Special)
It could only be used if the Summon was the last event to occur, in exactly the same sense as "When...you can" trigger effects.

Are there any mistakes so far?  Also, to further expand on the meaning of #2:

Could the turn player activate an ignition effect in response to Special Summoning Lava Golem to the non-turn player's field?
Could the turn player activate an ignition effect in response to the non-turn player resolving Ojama Trio as Chain link 1 during the Main Phase (Ojama Trio uses a "you Special Summon to your opponent's field" wording)?
Could the turn player activate an ignition effect in response to the non-turn player resolving Inferno Reckless Summon as Chain link 1 during the Main Phase (Inferno Reckless Summon uses a "your opponent Special Summons to their own field" wording)?
If Remove Brainwashing was active, could the turn player activate an ignition effect in response to their Summoning a monster to their own field that was owned by the non-turn player (after control of the Summoned monster immediately shifted to the non-turn player)?
If Remove Brainwashing was active, could the turn player activate an ignition effect in response to the non-turn player Summoning a monster to the non-turn player's field that was owned by the turn player (after control of the Summoned monster immediately shifted to the turn player)?


texts: In Genotype, do the market rows for Tools, Pea plants and Assistants refill immediately or only at the end of each round?


texts: Can I exile a token copy of Greenwarden of Murasa for its second ability?

texts:
I have a Greenwarden of Murasa out, and I make a token copy of it with Fated Infatuation or Progenitor Mimic or something along those lines.

When the token dies it will immediately vanish from the graveyard per token rules, but this ability will also trigger:

  When Greenwarden of Murasa dies, you may exile it. If you do, return target card from your graveyard to your hand.

Will I have no option to return a card via this ability? It vanishes too soon for me to exile it, and I don't have the ability to meet that "if" with a token, right?


texts: A Game of Thrones Feast breaking ties for objectives

texts:
In A Game of Thrones the board game the player who holds the iron throne breaks ties. In the expansion A Feast for Crows, objective cards are introduced such as

  Control more land areas than any other house

If two players are tied for most number of land areas, is a player able to score this objective? If so does the iron throne player decide who has the "most" land areas?


texts: Responding to partner's double in Party Bridge

texts:
The dealer bid 1♣.

I am the second chair and had no high card points and no 5 card major. My highest card was a ♥9 therefore, I passed.

The dealer's partner raised her bid to 2♠. My partner doubled the 2♠ and the dealer re-doubled.

Recap:
  1C   P   2S   Dbl
  RDbl ?

Based on 0 high card points and no 5 card major I pass or bid. If I bid what should I bid?


texts: Can monsters with no speed cross barrier rooms?

texts:
We encountered this in Haunt 23: Tentacled Horror. After the heroes discovered the location of the head (a monster), they placed it on one side of the chasm. The head has no speed. On the head's monster turn, can it move across the chasm? I see three reasons this is true:

"monsters can ignore any harmful text on a room tile" (Rulebook, p19)
"[m]onsters always ignore barriers" (ibid, p7)
"[c]rossing the barrier [of a barrier room] doesn't count as moving a space." (ibid, p7)


texts: Layers: Lose abilities vs creatures have ability

texts:
My opponent had a Archetype of Finality and a Borderland Minotaur.

I attacked with my Ancient Crab and casted Turn to Frog on her Borderland Minotaur once she blocked.

Am I correct that both the

  Creatures you control have deathtouch.

and the

  ...target creature loses all abilities...

happen on layer 6 (Ability Adding or Removing Effects) and with the timestamps in mind, the Borderland Minotaur first gained deathtouch and then lost it?

Thanks and "Ribbit"!


texts: What was the first Infinite Combo in Magic: The Gathering?

texts:
I started wondering when the first time an infinite combo was possible in Magic: The Gathering.  I went through Alpha and, as far as I could tell, there wasn't an infinite combo available among the cards there, although there were a couple pieces to well known infinite combos.

The first two cards that I noticed from Alpha were Basalt Monolith and Time Vault but I didn't notice any way to go infinite with them using just Alpha.

Looking into their famous combos, the first one that I could come up with was the Basalt Monolith / Power Artifact combo that existed as far back as Antiquities, the fifth set to be released by Wizards.

Are there any infinite combos that existed before this two card combo?  Specifically, I'm looking for infinite combos that are legal to execute by tournament standards.  So for example, using Basalt Monolith to tap and untap itself repeatedly wouldn't count as it doesn't advance the board state.


texts: How to win with Greyjoy in Game of Thrones board game?

texts:
Seems like Greyjoy have a massive disadvantage. No special orders, so no mustering. When the cards for possible mustering or bidding on the tracks came up, other players declined those options. So as Greyjoy, I had no possible way of replacing any losses. Whilst my neighbours kept mustering more and more units. Resulting in an inevitable overwhelming attack. Am I missing something?

I know they have an early advantage, the +1 sword and win on combat ties, but this is eclipsed by the fact others can field more, and stronger, units.


texts: South African and Mozambican board games?

texts:
As I love both traveling and board games, I always try to buy a local made game with roots from, or great popularity, in that specific country/region.
E.g. I got Shogi when I was in Japan, and Dominoes from a trip to Cuba.

Now I'm going to South Africa and Mozambique and would like to get my hands on a local game.

Do you know of any board games that are native to South Africa or Mozambique, besides different types of Mancala?

I already have a Mancala-type game called Omweso from Zambia, but I guess I wouldn't turn down a more original type Mancala from Mozambique if that's the only alternative.


texts:
Whilst playing, an opponent pocketed the queen but the striker followed the queen into the pocket.
Does the player put the queen back in the middle plus one of his pieces or just the queen?


texts: What happens to a destroyed creature with two totem armors on it?

texts: If I have a creature, with two different totem armors on it, and it's destroyed somehow (not sacrificed, not killed by -x,-x effects) what happens? Are both totem armors destroyed to save it, or just one? Can I choose which one?


texts: In Hogwart's Battle, do villain cards negate rewards from defeating a villain?

texts:
The scenario we had was:

Dementor: reward is - gain 1 heart, remove 1 from location
Fenrik: heros can not gain hearts
Crouch: heros can not remove from location

So, if we defeat the Dementor first, is the reward essentially wasted, due to the other villains, or does the reward still apply since it is not a 'hero' triggering the effect?


texts: You can play a land but you can't cast a land

texts: I was playing a game with some friends and I played a Mosswort Bridge and whiffed, hitting all lands. But then I noticed that Mosswort Bridge lets you play a card without paying its mana cost so could I still put a land under the Mosswort Bridge and play it when the conditions are fulfilled?


texts: How does Magic the Gathering play differently with proxies?

texts:
I was once a kitchen table Magic: the Gathering player, but I quit because the cost of buying enough singles and packs to create a competitive deck (or even a fun kitchen table deck) was simply too high. Furthermore, it seemed like the person who spent the most money on packs and singles would win the most games, and I did not want to spend ~$300 on just one deck.

So I was wondering, if I convinced my friends to use proxies instead of using regular cards, would it make the game play solely based on who is the best deckbuilder (or netdecker!), or would using proxies hurt the game by ruining the TCG aspect of the game? Also, what house rules permitting proxies have you used?


texts: In Commander, does color identity prevent me from taking control of a different colored permanent?

texts:
In trying out EDH for the first time last night we ran into a confusing issue. I was using Olivia Voldaren as my commander.

One opponent activated Ajani Goldmane's 6 point ability to summon a white avatar creature, which I then used Olivia to vampire and steal. I think this is okay because despite being white the avatar wouldn't have any non-black, non-red dots on the face.

I then wanted to steal another one of his creatures that was white and had white mana on the face, but I wasn't sure if this was allowed.

So in EDH, I know that I can't construct my deck with cards outside of my commander's colour identity, but does this stop me taking control of creatures outside of my colour range?


texts: Is there a viable corn-only strategy for Puerto Rico?

texts:
In the last Puerto Rico game I played I wound up with all corn. I tried to make this work with the following strategy:

Office + large market + small market for income
Harbor + wharf to ship all my corn for maximum points

This didn't work as well as I had hoped. In particular, even with the markets my income was lower than any other players, so it took me a long time to build the other buildings I needed for this strategy. I didn't get the large building I wanted, and I never occupied it. At the end of the game I did have the most point chips of any player, but the other players more than made up for it with their large buildings and other bonuses.

Is there an alternate strategy that would make all-corn a viable route to victory?


texts:
What is a month in Pandemic Legacy? We are not sure.
We were new to Legacy version so we first played the game simply like Pandemic and are now ready to play first round as a Legacy version.


texts: Which Seven Wonders Leaders Should I Be Hoping To Recruit?

texts:
I got to play with the Seven Wonders Leaders expansion for the first time last night, and it certainly adds an extra dimension to the game.  I was able to assemble a lethal combo of Xenophon (2 extra coins every time I built a commercial structure), Hatshepsut (1 coin back for each neighbour I bought resources from each turn) and Midas (+1 victory point per 3 coins at end of game) to finish with 38 coins in my coffers, and a narrow 73-72 point win over the guy who'd amassed 52 points of science alone (gulp)!

If this was Agricola or Race for the Galaxy there would be acres of statistics out there on which leaders are likely to give the biggest boost in the hands of a skilled player.  So I was wondering, if anyone else has drafted the Leaders, which cards should one be looking out for as likely to put your game into overdrive?  Are there any leader combos that are potentially broken or unfair?


texts: In Articulate would using Girl Band as the description for Girls Aloud violate the rules

texts:
Could the good people of Stack Exchange settle an argument - "not so recent girl band" was used as a description for Girls Aloud. Does the fact girl is a word in both the clue and the question violate the rules, or is the fact it's clearly meant more generally in the clue (e.g. it could have just as easily been Sugababes) mean it's ok?

Thanks.


texts: Determine the solubility of peg-solitaire (solo-noble)

texts: Are there specific patterns we can look in a single configuration of a square peg solitaire game which we can use to determine whether we can win the game from there or not?


texts: Is it legal to continue building a route after it has been cut off by an opponent's settlement?

texts:
Say I have a 6 road segment path with only a settlement at one of the ends.
If an opponent were to intercept at halfway and place a settlement, splitting my road in half of 3 segments, can I continue developing (placing more roads, building new settlements) the half which has been cut off from the origin settlement?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Are the virus counters on Datasucker only for the current turn?

texts:
When playing Datasucker virus (anarchs), are the virus counters permanent or do you have to clear them at the end of the turn?  Even worst, do you have to clear them at the end of a run?

  Datasucker: Whenever you make a successful run on a central server, place 1 virus counter on Datasucker.  Hosted virus counter: Rezzed piece of ice currently being encountered has -1 strength until the end of the encounter.


texts:
Does trample ability have any effect during a fight between two creatures out of combat?

I'll explain better.
When any card or effect allows two creatures to fight each other - for example, when a Territorial Allosaurus is summoned by paying its kicker cost -  it is good to clarify how the various creatures' abilities still have an effect.

The question is this:
-"Does trample ability have any effect during or after a fight between two creatures out of combat?".
I give an example.
If two creatures are invited to fight each other, let's say a War Mammoth and a Scryb Sprites, after the fight ended normally with the Mammoth's victory, the fact that there are two points left that the Mammoth could deal with the trample ability, does it have any relevance in a case like this?
That is,following the same example: does the Mammoth's controller have the chance of dealing them to the opponent?


texts: What changes to the game will the "On The Brink" Pandemic expansion offer me?

texts:
I'm trying to decide if I should get the pandemic expansion on the brink. Here's the obvious advantages I can see:

lets you play with 5 people
adds some variety with new cards
options to make the game harder

Is there anything else I should know before buying on the brink? Does it add enough to pandemic that its worth getting even instead of an entirely new game? Does it really make the game last about 15 minutes longer? Does it give the opportunity to stretch the game to 6 or 7 people without breaking?


texts: In Le Havre, is it a good idea to feed with money?

texts:
As a general rule, is it better to overpay food by 1, or to use a coin? This situation usually comes up when I have a stack of bread or steaks and some money.  I have the food to pay, but usually feel cheap and use a coin instead, which wastes VP.

I realize there are many specific decisions where the decision is obvious, but I feel like pretty often the decision is moot, and requires falling back on a general rule.

Does this decision change if paying a player?


texts: Do I own a token that I create under somebody else's control?

texts:
I was reading somewhere a few days ago that when a player creates a token using a spell like Rapid Hybridization they own the token, even though they never had control of it. I can't seem to find the discussion or the relevant rule.

When I create a token that comes into play under another players control, do I own the token?


texts: Can you remove a 'Personal Workshop' 'Power Counter' during an encounter with ICE?

texts:
Personal Workshop

  When your turn begins, remove 1 power counter from a hosted card.
  When there are no power counters left on a hosted card, install it, ignoring all costs.

  [Click]: Host a program or a piece of hardware from your grip on Personal Workshop and place power counters on it equal to its install cost.

  1 [credit]: Remove 1 power counter from a hosted card.

I am the Runner.
I have nothing but Personal Workshop installed.
I have 20 [credits].
I have 1 of each icebreaker hosted on Personal Workshop with a variable amount of power counters on them.
I start a run.
The Corp rezzes an ICE of type X.
I pay Y [credits] to remove all the remaining Y [power counters] from icebreaker Z.
Icebreaker Z is now installed per the last listed ability on Personal Workshop.

  1 [credit] : Remove 1 [power counter] from a hosted card.

I can continue my run, but now with the icebreaker I need installed.

Is this correct?


texts: Is the Chancellor + Harbinger combo a viable Dominion strategy?

texts: From what I can see, the Chancellor (base set; allows you to immediately move your deck into your discard pile) coupled with an extra action and the Harbinger (Dominion Update Pack; allows you to take any card from the discard pile and put it into your hand) could make a pretty fantastic combo, giving you any card from your deck (as well as giving any reason to use the Chancellor). Is this a viable strategy?


texts: Ramses and Babel tile 23: are Guilds free or do you have to pay coins?

texts:
If you have recruited the Leader Ramses and the Babel tile 23 is active, can you build Guilds for free, or do you have to pay coins?

Leader Ramses: (Leaders, page 6)

  As soon as Ramses enters play, the player can build all of his or her Guilds for free, without having to pay their resource costs.

Babel tile 23 (Babel, page 5):

  The construction of […] Guilds (purple cards) via resources is forbidden. Their construction requires a number of coins equal to the number of resources present in their construction cost. […]


texts: Does "-5 on your next combat" include helping someone?

texts: So this was a huge dispute a while back and still is. If you play a curse or trap on someone that gives a “-5 on your next combat” would you consider your next combat to be the one on your next turn or could you help someone else in combat and then get rid of the curse? From my thinking, since you had to add that -5 to you combat strength when helping someone, it would go away but others think that since it says YOUR next combat it specifically has to be on your next turn. Please help us settle this!


texts: I played the other day with a very experienced player who held the 2(same) of the 1 tile that I needed to go win - she stated based upon where she knew I was playing, she was declaring my hand dead and that I would need to sit out the rest of the game and then pay whoever wins.  Upon reading the info here, am I wrong, but, shouldn't I have been able to continue to play in the event that I would have thrown a tile someone else might me wanting.  If she had thrown the tile I needed, she would have paid $1.60 to me.  If my hand is dead because she didn't want to throw the needed tile, then wouldn't her hand be dead and she unable to play too?  Very confused on this rule.


texts: Puerto Rico - Custom gameplay tweaks to introduce player interactions

texts:
We have been playing Puerto Rico for on a regular basis. It's an excellent game, and one of the few well balanced games in buildup genre as:

There is almost no luck factor involved.
All of the Information about game and players buildup is revealed entirely. It makes the game highly strategic.
Not much of dirty tactics used by players. Say when player(s) tries to favor or screw certain other player, or delay other players winning.

We have been playing other resource management games like Le Havre, Agricola. Settlers of Catan has lots of player-to-player interaction, which makes the game more competitive. I was wondering if we could discuss and share some custom rules to modify the gameplay to have such player interactions; and would it be possible to introduce same new rules to create extra strategies.

Say by allowing other players to use production and service buildings for a fee. Player when in need of money or resources can mark only a building 'open for use' when selecting the role. Once open it can't be closed until her next turn. This fee could be really high 20%-30% of the service building cost, or one-third of production. Production building: Tobacco, Sugar, etc. Service: Harbor, Market, etc.

Many a times I find players getting blocked or waited to gather sufficient gold. Even when they have some of the good buildings.
Please share your thoughts.
Thanks.


texts: In bridge, does it make sense to "shade" one's bidding standards with a part score?

texts:
For instance, most players today bid five card majors, because that's (probably) the best way to get to a major suit game of ten tricks.

But suppose my team has a part score of 40. That means that two of a major or three of a minor will give us game. Under those circumstances, does it make sense to say that a one level bid implies four of a suit, major or minor? Because I no longer see the need for a five card major, and likewise, don't see the need for a "convenient" three card minor. Instead, every bid could be "gamegoing."

Likewise, I prefer strong no trumps. But could a weak 1NT (12-14 hcps) be better if we need to go only to the two level to complete the game?

Are there any systems or experts that advocate modifying one's bids in these, or similar fashions, with a part score?


texts: For the "whisper" pilot of the tie phantom in x-wing, can someone please give an example of how the pilot ability works?


texts: Babel tower tile #15 (ignore resource cost for Wonder) overpowered?

texts:
In our recent 7 Wonders play session we've tried playing Babel extension, which triggered a question/thoughts about babel tower add-on.

Specifically tower tile nr. 2 and 15 which states:

  These two tiles allow players to ignore the resource cost when constructing military buildings or for a Wonder stage.

Now, while building military buildings virtually for free seems to be very powerful, especially if you are lagging behind in a 3rd age and want to catch up with at least one neighbour, but it felt okay-ish.
However, building Wonder stages for free felt like completely messing up game mechanics - some wonders require a lot more of resources to build than others, with a cost and reward system being quite balanced, but with this card open, everyone would just built their wonders within few turns. It felt as if someone switch on god mode. Besides, it wasn't a fair game from that point on, considering how different rewards for Wonders are.

So my question is, whether we've misread/misinterpreted the rules, or does this card really effectively permits building Wonders completely for free for every player, apart from the money, that aren't required for the most of wonder stages?

P.S. And while we are here, tile nr. 20 - " Raw materials cards (brown cards) which produce a unique resource (Lumber Yard, Stone Pit, Clay Pool and Ore Vein) produce an infinite number of resources." felt overpowered as well, just maybe by a lesser degree than the previous ones.


texts:
In the Descent 2nd Edition expansion pack Call of the Wild there is a new hero named Ronan of the Wild. His hero ability gives him the familiar named Pico.

Pico's card states:

  During another hero's turn, if that hero is adjacent to Pico, he may search a search token in the space containing Pico (this does not require an action).

Does this mean that Ronan himself cannot use Pico's ability, or is Pico being considered the hero in this sentence?

If Ronan cannot use this ability himself, what was possibly the balance decision behind that? Would it hurt the game much to allow Ronan to use Pico's ability himself? I understand that the #1 reason heroes get too strong is from gear, which is obtained by getting search tokens, and that getting them basically for free is fairly powerful, but I do not understand why Ronan himself can't do it, when it is his own ability.


texts:
We're playing our yearly Advanced Civilization game this Saturday, and we may have 9 people.  Does anyone have any 9-player rules?

We have all the extension maps.


texts: What is the starting side of the "SYNC: Everything, Everywhere"?

texts: What side of card should I use when starting the game with the "SYNC: Everything, Everywhere" Id?


texts:
Wookiee Loyalty: Exhaust this card while you or an adjacent friendly figure is defending to apply +1 Block to the defense results.

An issue came up with in our recent game about the timing of using this ability. Do you need to declare it and exhaust it before the dice are rolled? Or can you wait to see the results of the dice roll and then choose to use it?


texts: How Specific Does Card Naming Have to Be

texts: My son likes to play Conundrum Sphinx because of the "mini game" its ability triggers.  When naming the card on top of your library, how specific do you have to be?


texts: After an amphibious assault can overland attacking aircraft stay in newly captured territory?

texts: Germany attacks England with transports(loaded with infantry) and overland fighters, captures the territory. Can the fighters stay in England or need to fly back to mainland?


texts: Trying to find the name of this patience-style game

texts:
I was taught this two-pack version of patience a few years ago and want to know if it has an official name or not.

Two packs are shuffled together. 8 columns of 8 rows of cards are layed out face up on the table- 64 cards in total. The rest of the cards are faced down to the side of the table and turned over one at a time.

Any card may be placed on any other card with a value one above it (ie. Any 3 can be played on any 4 etc) but only if they are the same suit can cards be moved in groups. The only cards that can be placed on an empty column is one of the kings.

The aim is to clear the table into 8 stacks from ace to king above the table like in 'traditional' solitaire games.

Does anyone know if it has an official name?


texts: Identifying a word-guessing game based on the players' role

texts:
A couple of years ago, I learned a game from a Chinese grad student that he didn't know an English name for. I'd love to know if anybody knows about it and has a name I could use when explaining it to others. Here's the way it works:

There need to be at least four people playing, but I don't know if there's a maximum number of players. The game takes place in rounds where one person is the game master (GM) for each round.

The GM writes words on pieces of paper. Every paper except for one has the same word on it, but the remaining paper has a related, distinct word. The GM puts the papers in a bowl so that players pick without anybody knowing who has what word, even the GM.

Then players go around and say something about the word on their paper. After everyone has said something, the GM calls for the players to vote on the count of three by pointing to who they believe has the distinct word.

The GM checks to see if the player with the most votes has the distinct word or not. If it's not somebody with the distinct word, that player is eliminated and the remaining players go around again and say something else.

This continues until either the player with the distinct word is caught or there are only two players left, at which point the distinct word player wins.

There were only six of us playing when I learned about the game, but the guy who taught us the game said that there were additional rules to keep it competitive when there were more players. I think he said a third word would be added or something like that.

I just watched a video on YouTube of people playing a Japanese card game called "A Fake Artist Goes To New York" which was similar to my game (link to that video). The most obvious difference is that mine requires no drawing. But another significant difference is that in my game, nobody knows whether they have the distinct word or not. Everyone wants to be vague in case theirs is the distinct one, and it may continue to be hard to tell if things are kept vague enough.

Is anybody familiar with this game?


texts: i.e. Player needs 4 points to go out.  The hand value is 3.  Does the Player get to go out with the added 1 point "Go"?


texts: I have a card that basically says any creature with power or toughness = one is Unblockable, is it possible to buff them after declaring blockers? Thanks ahead of time for the info


texts:
I've been thinking about getting the board game Eclipse, but before I actually take the plunge and buy the game, I would like to get a better idea of whether or not I would actually be able to get my friends to play with me.  I have gotten them to play things like 7 Wonders and Settlers of Catan, and they seemed to have enjoyed it, but I would definitely not consider them "gamers" and I know they have a tendency to prefer games that are not overly complicated.

I have taken a look at the rules, and honestly, it seems quite complicated.  That being said, a lot of games I've played have seem complicated at first sight, but upon actually learning the game, are actually quite easy.  In the case of Eclipse, I'm having a hard time really learning the game without any actual pieces in front of me, so it's more difficult for me to decide.

Is Eclipse the sort of game you can convince nongamers to play and actually enjoy?  In particular, it would be nice to have a rough estimate as to the amount of time it would take to teach someone completely new to the game (and the genre) how to play (assuming I have already learned everything myself).

(Apologizes in advance if this question is too subjective or vague.)


texts: Can you sacrifice Animate Dead AND the creature it enchants?

texts: My opponent has a creature with Animate Dead attached to it. I attacked him with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, forcing him to sacrifice 6 permanents to Annihilator. He wanted to sacrifice both Animate Dead and the creature it was enchanting. I said that was impossible, as sacrificing either one would cause the other to leave the battlefield. Which of us is right?


texts:
I was recently playing a game of crazy. We had a dispute over the rules I said:

A 2 means that you have to pick up two more cards
A Jack means that you skip town

My friends disagree. So I was wondering if I was correct it was or not.


texts: Are "ties" considering "successful" checks in Firefly Adventures?

texts:
So, for example in combat, ties mean that both targets take damage.

However, the Martial Artist says

  Reroll successful Brawling against Martial Artist.

Does this mean, that since both targets, including the Martial Artist, takes a wound, is that a success, and therefore must be re-rolled?


texts: Has Hive already been completely 'solved' for AI?

texts: According to some calculations, Hive has not too many positions to check them all out through programming, and basically make the best possible AI for it. Has it been done yet?


texts: How are vehicles costed, and how do I tell if the crew cost is worth it?

texts:
The Kaladesh expansion vehicle cards are artifacts that have a cost to turn them from artifacts into artifact creatures.

I'm trying to understand how to factor in the crew cost with the converted mana cost, when deciding if the card is good or not.

For instance, Irontread Crusher is 4 colourless, 3 to crew and is a 6/6, whereas Consulate Dreadnought is 1 colourless, 6 to crew and is 7/11!

That last one seems unbelievably cheap. How do I figure out if it's a great card or if I've underestimated the cost of crewing?

How does crew cost affect CMC?


texts: How should I group rare Magic cards when selling them online?

texts:
[Background: this was previously part of a longer question which has been edited into multiple smaller questions. I’ve already researched selling Magic cards, including reading through How do I find out a fair price for my Magic the Gathering cards? and Where can I sell my Magic: The Gathering cards?, and am getting into finer detail.]

Question: I’ve divided my cards by rarity and I'm now deciding between selling the Rares individually or in small groups. My plan is to start with individual sales and then group the unsold Rares. Any suggestions for what these groupings should be, such as Color or Expansion?


texts: When planeswalkers become creatures, are they no longer planeswalkers?

texts:
Sarkhan the Masterless has the ability:

+1: Until end of turn, each planeswalker you control becomes a 4/4 red Dragon creature and gains flying.

There is a ruling associated with this Sarkhan that says:

Once Sarkhan’s first loyalty ability has resolved, each planeswalker you control (including Sarkhan) is no longer a planeswalker for the rest of the turn. They don’t lose any loyalty counters or abilities, and you can still activate their loyalty abilities if you haven’t done so yet this turn. They don’t lose loyalty if they’re dealt damage while they’re not planeswalkers.

Question:  I was under the impression that rulings are all derivable from the comprehensive rules, but I can find no rules reference to "back up" this ruling.
The ruling makes sense to me, if a planeswalker is a creature, you don't want it to start losing loyalty counters for being in combat, but the above ruling makes it seem that Sarkhan has removed the "planeswalker" type from the planeswalkers.  Which comprehensive rule supports that statement?  I was unable to find it.
Note: This question is similar to: What are the ramifications of turning a planeswalker into a creature?, but it is different.  In that question, it appears the creatures maintain their planeswalker status, where as Sarkhan removes it.  So, ideally, an answer could address why in that context planeswalkers remain planeswalkers, while Sarkhan removes planeswalker status.


texts: Can I play/use a card that can't fully resolve?

texts: Some cards (e.g. Anger - "Ready and fight with a friendly creature.") say to do multiple things. What if not all of those things are possible (e.g. if my opponent has no creatures for me to fight) - can I still play the card? Does it do anything?


texts: Does the Traitor automatically get all items that a dead Hero had?

texts: I'm the Traitor and I've just killed a Hero who had two Items and an Omen card. Do I get to immediately pick up and use both the Items and the Omen?


texts: Can I use Settlers of Catan (older edition) with Catan: Explorers and Pirates (2015 ed.)?

texts:
I have an older version of The Settlers of Catan (part number 483), and an older version of The Cities and Knights of Catan (part number 494), which were purchased sometime around the late 1990s.

I recently purchased Catan: Explorers and Pirates, but the game box says "You must have The Settlers of Catan (MFG3061) in order to use this game expansion".

Can I use this newer expansion of Catan with my older versions of the base game and expansion?


texts:
I noticed that MTG has an update to the rules for targeting. I don't know how long ago it was changed (the post containing this rule was from 2015), but there used to be this rule:

  114.2 Only permanents are legal targets for spells and abilities, unless a spell or ability (a) specifies that it can target an object in another zone or a player, (b) targets an object that can't exist on the battlefield, such as a spell or ability, or (c) targets a zone.

This rule has now been changed:

  115.2. Only permanents are legal targets for spells and abilities, unless a spell or ability (a) specifies that it can target an object in another zone or a player, or (b) targets an object that can’t exist on the battlefield, such as a spell or ability. See also rule 115.4.

Was the "targets a zone" text ever relevant? I am pretty sure that no card currently targets a zone (and if such a card existed, it would be strange to remove that part of the rules). But was there ever an old wording on a card (or just a weird rules situation) where a zone would be targeted?

Note that "target player's library" or "target player's hand" targets the player, not the zone (at least under the current rules).


texts: When playing with the Moloch army, would it ever be advantageous to use the medic tile on another medic tile when playing the game?


texts: Hidden Schemes if third location is a sea zone?

texts:
The Hidden Schemes Event card states:

  If there is a hideout on the third space of the trail, place an encounter card on it.

The rules don't seem to be clear about how to resolve this event when the third location on the trail is a sea zone.

If the third location on the trail is a sea zone when Hidden Schemes is played, should an encounter card be placed?


texts: Can you choose NOT to activate a trap card?

texts:
For example, I have played Widespread Ruin, which reads:

  When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Destroy the Attack Position monster your opponent controls with the highest ATK (your choice, if tied).

Do I have to activate it the next time my opponent attacks, or can I wait and activate it on any future occasion of my choice where my opponent attacks?


texts:
It seems likely that I may be involved in a game of Monopoly soon.  I'm not a big fan of Monopoly for a number of reasons, one of which is that part way through the game someone will reveal that they assumed we were playing with a house rule that no one else has heard of.

Obviously the most straightforward way to deal with this is to collectively read through the rule book before the start of the game.  In practice this is going to be very unpopular, and will add a significant amount of time to an already long game.

What house rules have you encountered and what set makes for a better more well rounded game?


texts: If Ink-Eyes brings a creature back and then her owner loses in a multiplayer game, does the rezzed creature go to graveyard?

texts: So say I have a creature in my graveyard in a 3-player game, and one of my opponents uses Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni to bring it back from the dead. That player then goes on to lose. Does my creature come back under my control, or go back to my graveyard?


texts: Can a creature be tapped to prevent its activated ability?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do twitch effects work with the stack vs activated tap abilities?

If I have a creature with a tap to activate ability, can my opponent use an ability to tap it in response to my tapping it to prevent it from being activated?


texts: What's the most effective storage solution for x-wing to keep bases, dials and templates next to ships?

texts:
I have a small x-wing collection, which consists of 2 base sets, 1 of everything in waves 1, 2 and 3, 1 of each "aces" set and a couple of other small ships.

I am looking for a storage solution which will:

Store all these ships in one or more boxes.
Store them safely in transit, so that the paint doesn't chip/scratch
Store the base, 4 base templates and manoeuvre dial in the same compartment as or directly next to the model
Can be purchased at a reasonable price in the UK.

Most of the popular solutions I see violate one or more of these principles, particularly number 3 - which is vitally important to me because I'm sick of digging through boxes looking for the relevant cardboard when setting up.

Is there anything that would suit my needs?


texts: Can you play Dixit cooperatively with only 2 players?

texts:
My son (age 5) enjoys Dixit, but often it's just the two of us. I've come up with my own variant, below, but I want to hear more from the community.

We play with a hand of four cards, and we take turns as active player. The active player gives a hint, as normal, and plays a card face-down. The other player plays, and then two cards from the top of the deck are added to the mix before we shuffle and deal face-up. We play co-op, aiming to have us both guess correctly what the other player chose.


texts:
recently moved from standard and began playing Commander last weekend using two of the new 2016 sets. Mine is Breed Lethality vs opponent's Entropic Uprising. So far I've lost 5 out of 6 games, and I'm not a bad player! Once he gets the cascade going, especially with multiple recurrences using Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder, I'm essentially dead.

So then, what is the best tactic to combat cascade!?!? Especially given my deck. I really don't want to break up the deck, but if I have to. Perhaps these two are just mismatched.

Restating the above question, what is the best tactic to combat cascade? (I thought this was evident already...)

Thanks & happy holidays.


texts: How do I create a deck of cards that generates a dungeon of an average particular size?

texts:
I want to create a deck of cards where each card is a room in a dungeon. Each will have between 1-4 doors, one door per side of a card. This will create corners, T intersections, hallways, open rooms with a door on each side, and dead-ends.

How may I go about this (or what sort of math can I do) to show me how many cards of each number of exits to make (or how many of each type of intersection, preferably) so that a dungeon caps off after an average number of draws. Say I wanted a game to last 50 turns, I'd make a 50 card deck and want to know I'd draw at least 45 of them before there are no exits to connect on the board.

It wouldn't need to fit inside a grid, but limiting it's size to fit on a coffee table (instead of generating an overly horizontal or vertical bias) would be preferable. How would the math change if I were to fit it inside a grid, say 5X5 (max 25 cards), 5X9 (max 45 cards) or 10X10 (max 100 cards)? Assuming the edge of the grid would place a cap on an exit.

How do other games go about estimating this ratio?

I say cards, but the concept would be the same using square tiles or something similar.


texts: What happens to a losing player's cards in Exploding Kittens?

texts:
When a player draws an Exploding Kitten and cannot defuse they are out. Do their cards go back into the draw pile or discard pile?

So if you have a Streaking Kitten and an Exploding Kitten and you pick up a second Exploding Kitten, then you end up discarding 2 Exploding Kittens. So this means there are 2 less Exploding Kittens than number of people remaining.

So there is no clear winner?


texts: How is damage dealt if a blocker is removed and the attacker has double strike?

texts:
I understand that if a creature that has been declared as blocking is removed it will still "block" the attacking creature it declared it was blocking (Comprehensive Rules for Declare Blockers Step, 509.1h). However, what does this mean if the attacking creature has double strike? Does it hit the "ghost blocker" twice? My question extends to other abilities such as lifelink. Is the damage still dealt and life still gained?

I guess my fundamental confusion is, I don't understand what the "ghost blocker is". Can it just be understood as a 0/0 with no abilities?


texts: Can you build a settlement anywhere if you have the resources for a settlement and a road?

texts: In Settlers of Catan, it says you need a road to build a new settlement (placement rules apply). If you have the resources available to build both at the same time, can this settlement be played wherever the player wants it to go?


texts: Unstable Unicorns - what is the definition of "effect"?

texts:
There is a card 'blinding light' that says 'all your unicorns are treated as basic unicorns with no special effects' -  But what is a special effect?  The rules define obvious words like "draw" and "play" but not "effect".
For example, 'annoying flying unicorn' has the text:

When this card enters your Stable, you may choose a player. That
player must DISCARD a card. If this card is sacrificed or destroyed,
return it to your hand.

What part of that is an effect? Is it the second half of the sentence, "discard a card"?  Is it the whole sentence, "That player must DISCARD a card"?  Is it only the condition?  The action?  Sentences with "may" in it?  Maybe its the second sentence - "Return it to your hand"!?
(I have a friend who says the second part is not an effect.  Therefore if I play 'blinding light' and then 'unicorn poison' on her card, she gets to put the card back in her hand.  The reasonings are many - there is an element of choice in the second part, or because the card is no long in the stable, or maybe because it is the third sentence in the card.  Point is, 'effect' is not defined.')
So can anyone define 'effect'?


texts: In Monopoly, Can I mortgage the property I land on in order raise sufficient funds for its purchase?

texts:
While discussing What happens if the auction winner cannot pay his/her bid? I concluded that the winning bidder cannot use the mortgage value of the property being auctioned to fund his bid.
Does the person landing on a property have the right to mortgage this property in order to buy it?

The official rules state

  Buying Property Whenever a player lands on an
  unowned property, the player may buy that property from
  the Bank at its printed price. The player receives the Title
  Deed card showing ownership and places it face up in
  front of him/her. If he/she does not wish to buy the
  property, it is sold at auction by the Banker to the highest
  bidder. The buyer pays to the Bank the amount of the bid
  in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property.
  Any player, including the one who declined the option of
  buying it at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start
  at any price.

The "face up" terminology seems to indicate that the property will not be in a mortgaged state at time of purchase.


texts:
Ainoa and some other general have an ability which reads:

  Force an opponent to move an Agent he just played to a different District

Does this mean I have to use the ability at the same time as the player is playing the Agent? Or can I wait a another players turn, or right before they place another Agent to refer to the "Just played" agent from previously?

For instance, if it is possible to wait, then a tactic that could be used is to wait and see what other players place first, or if the player next turn uses a relic - the ability can be used then on the previous Agent.

The rules are not clear on this.


texts:
Let's say I get two creatures to fight. One is a 4/4 the other is a 1/1. The 4/4 destroys the 1/1, but does the 4/4 become effectively a 3/3, so that later in the combat step it will only be able to assign 3 damage? Or does it get its power back after the fight so it is effectively a 4/3 (a 4/4 with 1 dmg counter on it)?

Or say a 4/4 attacks and a 3/3 blocks. Combat resolves, the 3/3 is dead and the 4/4 is now a 1/1, so if a 2/2 then fights the 1/1 (4/4) it dies? Or does the 4/4 just become a 4/1 after combat resolves?

I'm just trying to understand whether power can be used up like toughness in a turn, or if it just assigns it for the fight or combat step then resets back to full power. I understand fight is totally different to combat.


texts: What are good general strategies for Forbidden Desert?

texts:
In the same vein as the question "What are some good general strategies for Pandemic?", and what the consensus is on the luck-difficulty curve (how luck-based the game is as a function of difficulty) of Forbidden Desert. In this context "difficulty" includes the initial storm level, however one could also make an argument for how difficulty scales with player count. It would be interesting to consider this for all of the Matt Leacock games or the Forbidden series itself.
Generally the game seems to be more manageable at higher difficulty settings for lower player counts, since for example in a 2p game there is less variation of the board state between turns. The two largest effects of this is

when spending a turn outside a tunnel (or solar shield) you have fewer opportunities to be exposed to Sun Beats Down cards before being given another chance to move again.
the board changes less between your turns, so your plans don't need to account for as many changes (and less variance allows leads to lower risks).

However this second effect could be a downside if strategies which take advantage of variance prove to be highly effective. Strategies which rely on near-static board states are simpler however they fail to utilise a part of the game's environment.
Higher player counts start with higher storm levels, however they also have a more reliable draw of the different player roles. Further, with more players it's possible to spread them out further. This can be advantageous, such as allowing for faster exploration, however to me aspect of this which opens up new strategic decisions as player count increases is the exploitation of tile movements. With enough players you can place someone on tiles in each cardinal direction of the storm (or further out) to "ride the storm". Whilst this is random, players can use knowledge of storm cards already drawn and tiles they'd rather get closer to improve their odds of getting a favourable outcome. However this might be a weak strategy as it requires taking on risk of sun exposure to get everyone into position, although depending on the position of the tunnels it may be worthwhile (such as if tunnels are of little use for transport).


texts: Imagine the following setup. There are 3 (or more) players with an equally long road. What would happen if the longest road was broken? How is it decided who obtains the longest road from there on?


texts:
A strange one, for sure.

After the hand was played, cards returned to board but before the next round was called, the defenders realized, in discussing the hand, that the declarer had revoked.

The declarer did not agree and the dummy couldn't remember (!).  One declarer (very good memory and very honest - ex-director of the club) explained card by card the play.

The declarer said "I don't remember it that way" but had no other explanation of how the cards had been played.  Both defenders agreed (of course) on the way things had gone.

The defender said:

  "10 of clubs lead, won by K in other defender's hand (agreed by all),
  Jack of hearts lead, ducked by declarer, allowed to win the trick
  (dummy had two small hearts).

  Next heart lead, trumped by declarer (diamonds trump).

  Next few tricks and then a heart lead again, won by declarer with the
  Ace he should have played on the first trick (he having only two
  hearts also).

So, 3 diamonds making 4.

Scored and then director called.  I believe that it is still a revoke since it was the last hand in a round and the next round was not called yet.  But the penalty?  Since the declarer doesn't agree?  But has no other explanation except "I wouldn't have let the first heart ride" kinda bewilderingly.

I thought a one trick penalty (since he seems to have revoked and later had the Ace left to play and win a trick) was in order with an adjustment if necessary later.

However, he made 4, would have made 4 if he had played correctly, so is making 3 fair when he doesn't agree?  I don't know what to do.  I am a fill in director and haven't had this come about before.


texts: What happens when I copy a creature whose characteristics change before the copy resolves?

texts: If I cast a spell to copy a target creature and then a second spell is put on the stack, say one which changes the creature to a 0/1 red Weird. What creature does the copy spell create?


texts:
Rainbow's talent says, "If you have played another minion here, draw a card."

Does this mean that any other minion I have played on the same base, regardless of which turn it was played on, allows me to activate the talent?  Or does this mean that when you play another minion on the same base after Rainbow is already on the base that you can activate the talent?


texts: What is the safest way to approach discussing a prize split?

texts:
This came up for me at a tournament this weekend. I made it into the final where the first prize was sealed product with a value for the sake of discussion to be $100, and second prize was store credit to the value of $50.

I discussed with the store owner prior to discussing with my opponent, because I did not want to put myself into the position of accidentally offering a bribe and being disqualified.

after this discussion the split was offered, my exact words being "shall we split?", the response being essentially "yes" and we then discussed resolving that. We split the $50 store credit quite easily, and agreed that the best solution was for one of us to take and sell the sealed product and then split the proceeds after the fact.

this seemed like an optimal solution in this situation, but there are plenty of situations where apportioning prizes can be much more challenging. a prime example being when one player wants "bye"s to a tournament that the other is not attending.

1. What is the safest way to evaluate the value of the prizes during a split, without accidentally offering a bribe.

2. If players initially agree to a split, is the subsequent debating of the value of prizes vs byes potentially still going to lead to bribery?


texts: Strategies for playing The Masochist in Cosmic Encounter?

texts:
Some of the Aliens in Cosmic Encounter have alternate win conditions, some of which are very beneficial as they allow you to simultaneously pursue two paths to victory. However, I haven't really been able to figure out the real benefit of The Masochist's power:

  You have the power to Hurt Yourself. At the start of any player's
  regroup phase, before the offense retrieves a ship from the warp, use
  this power to win the game if you have lost all of your ships. Lost
  ships include those in the warp, those removed from the game, and
  those captured by other players.

  You do not lose this power because of having too few home colonies,
  and you may still win the game via the normal manner.

At first, I thought this would be awesome because all encounters become a win-win situation. If I win, I either get a colony or prevent my opponent from getting one, and if I lose, I lose more ships and get closer to winning. However, the 2 paths to victory seem pretty mutually exclusive, and I haven't really thought of a way to move toward both of them. Obviously moving towards just one is all I need to do for victory, but whenever I try to lose a lot of ships I worry that a Mobius Tubes will destroy all my hard-earned self-destruction, and whenever I play towards getting a lot of colonies I feel like I'm playing without a power.

I suppose the best way to play the Masochist would be to work primarily toward colonies without much deliberate self-destruction, and view any lost ships earned along the way as an added benefit. How do I take advantage of this power with maximum benefit to myself and minimum benefit to my opponents? How do I determine when to deliberately hurt myself? Is it just me, or is this one of the weaker powers?


texts: How are Scrabble Bingo's calculated with regard to word multipliers?

texts: Are bingos added to the basic score of the word and then modified by multipliers or are they added on after the play is scored?


texts: Can a Thief Steal a Really Impressive Title?

texts:
I thought that this one was pretty simple, but the argument got heated after multiple instances of challenging the rule that a thief can only steal something tangible, like weapons/potions/etc. The notion that a thief could steal your title is akin to (according to my argument) stealing someone's job.

What's the verdict?


texts: Is the pandemic + on the brink expansion easier than the standard game? (no challenges)

texts:
The On the Brink expansion adds the following to the base game:

More event cards.
More roles.

It also adds the possibility of playing with 5 players and some extra challenges with their own set of rules.

If you are playing with 4 players, and no extra challenges, is the game strictly easier than the base game with no expansion?

The rules say that you pick 2 x #players event cards, so there's 8 event cards instead of 5.

Event cards increase the size of the players deck, and are usually very useful. A larger players deck means more cards between Epidemic cards and more rounds to finish the game.

I'm not sure if the new roles make the game easier of harder.


texts: Can I use more than one Theft card in Saboteur 2?


texts: I know cards like Nissa, Worldwaker will get a whole bunch of new lands and make them into Elementals, but are there any way to make all the lands you currently have on the battlefield into Elementals, even for a turn?


texts: Does a tapped or removed attacking creature still deal its damage?

texts: If an attacking creature gets tapped, removed from the game, returned to hand, put in the library or destroyed during combat, does its damage still get through to the blocking creature or player?


texts: What Dominion kingdom-card setups tend to lead to the longest games?

texts:
Most dominion players notice early on that different kingdom sets have GIGANTIC effects on how the game ends up being played. This also means that some games will end fairly quickly, while others will go on longer.

What Dominion kingdom-card setups tend to lead to the longest games when all players are trying to win? What kingdom-cards specifically tend to contribute most to making games longer? Feel free to give specific setups if you like, but I'm also interested in what cards/combos make for longer games and why/how they do this.

I get that a player in the lead should try to end the game and win as soon as possible, making very long games highly unlikely, but there is still a strong variation in game length due to the cards used and I'm curious what cards tend to be in the setups that are toward the longer end of the spectrum.

Related: What Dominion kingdom-card setups tend to lead to the SHORTEST games?


texts: Help identify an old board game with three rooms in a castle and a ghost

texts:
Some things that I can remember:

There is a castle with 3 rooms. There are tree treasures in each of the rooms
Maximum about 4 players
Someone plays as a Ghost and others as people
Ghost is hunting on humans and may kill them
There are some cards with some actions, players should do that actions
Goal: visit all three rooms in a castle, gather 3 treasures from each and leave the castle. Ghost's goal: kill all people before they leave the castle with treasures.
Gameplay: each player roll the dice, moves his chip on a map. Some cells may has some specific rules (extramoves, take a card. etc).
Initially I played it in Belarus and I'm not sure if it was just a localized version of an existing game or if it was invented there and is only played in Ex-USSR region.

Some pictures:


texts:
I just played my first game of BSG (solo using the official fully cooperative rules). I've got the german edition so my card names might be a bit off...

In my version the "weapons control" locations says something like:

Action: Attack a cylon ship using the Galactica.

Is it possible to attack a raider or heavy raider with Galactica's guns? It doesn't say it has to be a basestar and in the show the Galactica is seen doing this IIRC...

I conceed that vipers are usually better suited for this job but what if:

I'm out of vipers
Raiders are about to attack a civilian ship an there's no viper to intercept them in time
Or if I simply want to get a head start on those heavy raiders


texts: How do I replace lost plastic tiles for Scrabble?

texts:
Two of the letter tiles from my Hungarian language Scrabble set are lost.  These are bright gray plastic tiles with the letters etched and painted on them.  Is there a way I can obtain replacement for just those tiles?

Obviously I'm interested only if replacement is significantly cheaper than buying a complete new set.


texts: The new Amonkhet card Lay Bare the Heart says it can remove a non-land, non-legendary card from the opponent's hand. I'm curious if it can hit planeswalkers. I know they suffer from the "legendary rule", but as they don't explicitly say "legendary" on the card I'm inclined to believe that they can be targeted. Does anyone have an official ruling?


texts: What is the most mana that can be produced by tapping a single permanent in future standard?

texts:
After Theros: Beyond Death is added to standard, what will be the most mana a permanent can be tapped to produce?

Rules:

Current standard sets and Theros: Beyond Death are legal
No infinite combos of any sort. This INCLUDES loops that could be repeated turn after turn
Your deck must contain exactly 60 cards
You have set-up time limited only by decking yourself (53 turns, less or more with shenanigans)
You may not use your opponent's deck at all. For the purposes of this challenge, your opponent does not have a deck.
Mirror March is a card that, depending on luck, can technically get any number of mana produced. This came up when I asked a friend about this challenge, but I forgot to put it in the rules before. Any card that creates an "arbitrarily large" amount is ruled out for this challenge (Apologies Arcanist Lupus, although thanks for reminding me)

Answer with the number and the set-up required to do so. After I get a few answers, if mine is still the largest, I will post it. (Hint: I can't express it as a straight number)


texts: When do I discard a card for Skeleton Key?

texts:
Skeleton Key states: "whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card."

My question is - do you discard the card before you draw the card or do you get to see the drawn card before you discard?


texts:
This came up in an online game I was playing yesterday and I wasn't confident in what would happen...

I have the Pieceworker Occupation:

Whenever you receive wood, clay, reed, stone or grain on an action space, you can buy one more of the same good for 1 food...

as well as the Landing Net Minor Improvement:

Whenever you receive reed on an action space, you receive an additional 2 food...

Suppose I have no food  in my supply and take the Reed action space. Can I use the additional 2 food gained with the Landing Net to buy an additional Reed with the Pieceworker?


texts: Can investigators easily avoid being stuck in the Bent Pyramid and avoid the Sanity loss from Nephre-Ka's reckoning?

texts:
This is a multi-faceted question and revolves around Nephren-Ka's reckoning which says

  Each investigator may move 1 space toward the Bent Pyramid. Then each investigator that did not move loses 1 Sanity.

If I end up moved to the Bent Pyramid, I can spend 0 actions moving away from it as far as Tel El-Amarna, Cairo, or Alexandria as a function of the rule enabling me to

  ...move along any number of interconnected Local paths without performing an action.

If the reckoning hits when I am in Cairo, I end up moving one space toward the Bent Pyramid and end up in The Pyramids, correct?

It seems trivially easy to avoid being caught there. Am I misunderstanding any part of this?  Part of my confusion may be not understanding why being drawn toward the Bent Pyramid is such a big deal apart from some of the time working against the movement objectives of my investigators.


texts: How do you select wonders at the beginning of a 7 Wonders game?

texts:
At the start of your 7 Wonders game how do you decide which wonder each player gets?

What is the intended default rule?
Something I'm unsure about is if you are supposed to mix sides A and B. Is it fair and balanced if some players are playing side B?
Are there other ways that your group decides how to pick wonders, which work and are fair?


texts: Strategy for studying professional games?

texts: I recently took A. Dinershtein's Go style test. It was useful to me, as the test is aimed at finding professional players who might think the way you do, for study purposes. It has definitely worked for me. But what should I bear in mind while studying professional games?


texts: Can I throw more than one cargo overboard during a single Traitor's turn?

texts:
In Mad Zeppelin, during each turn, each player gets two chances to play a Traitor card and take actions with that Traitor. Each traitor searches for cargo and gold, then activates their ability and/or throws cargo overboard.

The exact phrasing for throwing cargo is just slightly vague, though:

  Throw Cargo overboard. If your current Traitor’s color has been rolled on the dice, show a Cargo card from your hand. You must then pay Gold to the Safe equal to the number of Gold coins on the card.This represents bribing the ever-present guards on the Nostria. After paying the guards, the Cargo card is “thrown overboard.” Keep it face-up in front of you.

Does this mean only throwing one cargo overboard per Traitor played, or can a Traitor throw cargo overboard more than once per turn?


texts: A question about Morophon, the Boundless

texts: The question is simple if an effect caused Morophon, the Boundless' enter the battlefield effect, "As Morophon, the Boundless enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.", to trigger twice would the second choice replace the first choice? Or would they both stick?


texts: How does Sundering Titan handle snow lands?

texts: My doubt is about Sundering Titan; what happens when it enters and leaves the battlefield if there are snow lands in play? Does it destroy basic lands and snow basic lands and how much of each of them?


texts: Does a permanent that was a creature until end of turn remain tapped after it stops being one?

texts:
If a non-creature permanent turns into a creature until end of turn and attacks, does it remain tapped after it stops being one?

For example, if I activate Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker's first ability, then attack with him, and then end my turn, will Sarkhan remain tapped when he stops being a dragon?


texts: How to respond to publishers when they ask for rules?

texts:
I have a game in development, and I obviously think that it's good. It's fairly easy to play, but it's complex to balance. I have worked long and hard so far to make it almost ready for playtesting.

I have been promoting the game in adequate circles in hopes of getting publisher attention. And so I got, from a major one. All they asked is to send over the rules...

I'm not sure if I should. I don't want a game that is similar to mine popping in the future - I rather not lose this opportunity.

I have no experience, as this would be my first game I attempt to publish. What do you think? How should I approach my answer? I don't want to be disrespectful.

I thought along the lines of expressing how complex the mechanics are in the development background, show some screenshots, thank for the interest, explain how a game would look like to players (trying to think with the reader's mind), and ask for feedback.


texts:
A friend of mine spoke about a game with rules a little bit similar to Quoridor but different.

The rules are the following:

you have a board constituted of squares
each player has a pawn which he has to move until the opposite side
each player has several walls consisting of two square pieces
each move a player can either:

move his pawn of one square
place a wall to a position on the board but always let an escape route for the opponent: unlike Quoridor the walls are placed on the square rather than between them.

the game is won when the pawn reaches the opposite side

I'm curious if you know the name of this game.

edit :

It was actually qoridor but the rules was wrongly explained you can close the question as incorrect.


texts: In Gin-Rummy, what is the bonus points for Gin and Undercut?

texts:
In the traditional rules of Gin-Rummy:

Is going Gin worth 20 or 25 points?
Is undercutting worth 10 points?
If a player knocks and is undercut by their opponent and this opponent lays off and has no deadwood, do they get a Gin bonus of having no deadwood?


texts: What is “looking for a place to resign” in go?

texts:
In a number of commentaries on professional games I have read that one of the players was “looking for a place to resign”. My impression was that this meant that they considered the game lost, and just wanted to finish the game according to certain essentially stylistic conventions. Are there such conventions, in Japan in particular? What is considered a good place to resign? Are there different conventions in clubs, amateur tournaments and professional play or in different cultures?

If my impression is right, this is not a matter of whether the game is lost or how hopeless the position should be, but of style, of a certain sort of move and response after which resignation is thought appropriate.

I imagine one might try a few desperate looking things that (unless they work) make the situation more unambiguously lost, and then resign, but that one would want to avoid moves that appear to insult one’s opponent’s intelligence. Am I on the right track?

N.B. I have wondered about this for some time, and was reminded of it by the question Do go players play to minimize score difference after realizing they cannot win?.

Some examples

I have found the following examples of players’ attitudes to resignation (my emphasis):

Invincible, the Games of Shusaku, game 33 (1851–1852): ‘Black 49 is presumably just setting the scene for resignation, as Black cannot ignore White 48.’
Invincible, the Games of Shusaku, game 63 (1854): ‘Black 19 is of course too late, but actually Black is looking for a quick exit from an embarassing situation. White 30 gives Black his cue.’
1971 Honinbo Tournament, Sakata–Ishida: ‘The game was already decided, but Sakata does not like to resign, so he played it to the bitter end. Ishida had won by 9½ points.’
1971 Honinbo Sen, Third game: ‘… was the largest point, but Ishida realised that even if he played there he would lose the game … Ishida played 86, giving Rin a chance to end the game by playing 93. Rin coyly played 89 instead, waiting to see what … Ishida would try … Ishida tried … Ishida now resigned.’
Go World Number 46, p. 30 (41st Honinbo, game 4, 1986): ‘The game ends when Black lives up to 53, but White could have prevented this; he was just looking for a way to resign’
Go World Number 46, p. 36 (41st Honinbo, game 5, 1986): ‘[With 155, Black decides to go out fighting. He cannot hope to win the ko: White has too many ko threats.] Black resigns after White 202.’
Go World Number 50, p. 74 (Sakata – Kitani Minoru, 1958): ‘White 86 is a do-or-die move, but Black cuts it off with the brilliant sequence to 105. White resigns after Black 119.’
An Younggil commenting on Ke Jie vs Lee Sedol (2016-01-05) at gogameguru.com  says ‘White couldn't keep going, because White requires so many ko threats for this battle. White connected at 172 to finish the game, which means Park just gave up. Black 173 was the most simple way to finish the game, and White resigned here.’

Even if I had the time and skill to analyse the given positions this would not tell me the general conventions.

The delightful The Treasure Chest Enigma by Noriyuki Nakayama (© 1984, privately printed) has an 11-page essay on The Art of Resigning, but while he praises some players for the perfect timing of their resignations, castigates those (amateurs) whose refusal to resign means ‘he’s saying “You’re such an imbecile that I can easily catch up 100 points”’ and says how hard it is to strike the balance, he indicates neither the right moment nor the appropriate style of play for resigning.


texts:
I thorougly enjoy playing the Milton Bradley game Crack the Case with friends.

For smaller groups (up to 5 people), I find that without teams or keeping track of time or points is already more fun than playing according to the rules. For years, I've played simply by taking turns playing the storyteller. Especially if children are joining in, we'll award the storyteller role to the person who asked the "bingo!" question.

In bigger groups, however, I've found that this style is too chaotic, and I'd prefer to go back to more of a team-based strategy. The conventional rules literally have one team sitting around waiting as only one of the members play the role of storyteller. Does anybody have any suggestions for increasing group engagement while playing in groups of six or more?


texts: Does this have an official name and rule set?

texts:
At work during lunch break, me and my colleagues often play a game using a cup and poker dice. We use five poker dice, which have the traditional faces (9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace). Contrary to liar's dice, each player does not have a cup and dice. There's only one set. The rules are very much like Mia, but instead of using two regular dice, the five poker dice are used. The rules are roughly as follows:

The first player shakes the cup and looks at the combination under it without revealing it to other players.
This player passes it onto the next player (can be clockwise or counter-clockwise, established before the start of the game) and announces a combination. For example, a pair of kings.
The receiving player may choose to believe this by looking at the dice under the cup (again, covertly) or not believing it by lifting the cup and showing what's under it.
If the receiving player called a bluff and lifted the cup, he/she wins if the shown combination is of a lower value than that called by the passing player. He/she loses if it matches the value or is higher.
If the receiving player accepted, they can do a number of things. They're allowed to take one or more dice from under the cup and roll those openly on the table. Or, place one or more dice from under the cup on the table without changing their value and then shake the cup. They're allowed to look at what's under it before passing it on. If there's dice on the table already, combinations are possible. For example, rolling those on the table in addition to one from under the cup, or placing some on the table from under the cup, putting others back and shaking.
The receiving player, after taking an above action (they don't have to, they may just pass things on without changing the situation) will then pass the cup onto the next player while announcing a new combination. It must be higher than what he/she received. We're then back at step 3.

The combinations used are those from poker: high dice, pair, double pair, low straight, three of a kind, full house, high straight, four of a kind, five of a kind (not really a poker combo but possible with dice). You're allowed to stay with the same combination but of a higher value. So for example, two pair of aces and nines will beat two pair of kings and jacks. A dice not forming the combination can be used as a kicker (there may even be two or three, like in a single pair). In that respect it's like liar's dice, but played more in the style of Mia.

Looking around at dice games I'm not finding anything exactly like this. Mia is the closest in rules. Is there an official name and/or rule set for this game? Is it a commonly played game or did someone cook it up and it got passed onto my colleagues via playing?


texts: In Pandemic, at the end of your turn can you discard even when you have fewer than 7 cards, so the Archivist can pick up that card on his next turn?

texts: In Pandemic, at the end of your turn can you discard a card even when you have fewer than 7 cards, so that the Archivist can pick up that card on his next turn?


texts: Is it legal to announce results of an opponent's hidden card?

texts:
I was playing a round of Love Letter with my friends. When it came to my turn I had a Princess and King. I was forced to play the King and trade the Princess with another player.

My question is, is it legal to then announce to the other players that I had the princess, so it is known that my opponent now has that card? The announcement allows other players to potentially take advantage of this information, saving me from being a target in the next round.

Some of my friends think this violates the spirit of the game, but we couldn't find any rules one way or another. What do you guys think?


texts: Remove bestow target, does it become a creature?

texts: If my opponent was to cast bestow onto a creature, and i then remove the creature, does the bestow get countered and go to the graveyard, or does it become a creature?


texts:
The gaming group that introduced me to Dominion plays with a houserule known as Phantom Provinces, explained as such:

  After the normal condition for ending the game is reached (including running out of provinces), the game continues until all players have had an equal number of turns instead of ending immediately.  During this time, there are an effectively infinite number of provinces to buy (even if the pile ran out as said condition).

This is designed to counter a perceived advantage with going first and disadvantage with going last.  Is there statistical evidence for or against the validity of this rule?  Is this rule in popular use?


texts: When do you increment the 'Successful run' counters?

texts:
Do you increment your 'Successful run' counters at the moment you successfully went through the ice(s) and are accessing a server or do you increment your counters after a run is completed?

For example: With Medium virus (anarchs), incrementing during the run would affect the number of card you can access.

  Medium: Whenever you make a successful run on R&D, place 1 virus counter on Medium.
  Each virus counter after the first on Medium allows you to access 1 additional card from R&D whenever you access cards from R&D.


texts: What sources of damage are not caused by players?

texts:
In the character list, it's states in El Gringo description that

Note that Dynamite damages are not caused by any player.

So my question is: there are other cards which damage is not caused by any player?
Gatling and Indians!
In BANG! FAQ it's stated that Gatling and Indians! are caused by the player who played them.

Q05. Who is considered to be responsible of the elimination of a player with cards like Indians! and Gatling?
A. Unlike the Dynamite, the player who played the Gatling or the Indians! is  considered to  be responsible of the elimination of a player. All special actions due to this elimination apply to him (for example, if he just killed an Outlaw this way, he draws the 3 cards reward).


texts: Illusionist's bracers and werewolf rulings

texts:
Lets assume that I equip an Illusionist's Bracers on Mayor Of Avabruck.

When he flips on the trigger of not casting a spell, can he technically flip twice, meaning that he would turn into a werewolf and then back again, or does he remain as a werewolf permanently?


texts: Can you give an example why the active player wants to have priority in Beginning of Combat first?

texts:
I've read this article published on blogs.magicjudges.org explaining the combat shortcut which is about (contrary to the normal proceeding) the Not Active Player (NAP) receiving priority prior to the Active Player (AP) in the Beginning of Combat step (BoC).

This is also stated in the Magic Tournament Rules:

  If the active player passes priority with an empty stack during their
  first main phase, the non-activeplayer is assumed to be acting in
  beginning of combat unless they are affecting whether a beginning of
  combat ability triggers.Then, after those actions resolve or no
  actions took place, the active player receives priority at the
  beginning of combat. Beginning of combat triggered abilities (even ones  that target) may be announced at this time.

At the end of the article the author mentions that normally this is not a problem since most of the time the AP does not want to act first anyway. However, one scenario in which the AP wants to be the first one to receive priorioty in the BoC step is mentioned:

  AP Acting First in Combat

  The new structure makes it look like the active player can’t be the
  first person to act in the beginning of combat step. That’s not true,
  but it does reflect the fact that the active player needing to act
  first is unlikely. The only scenario I’m aware of is holding a split
  second spell while your opponent is floating mana, which is not
  something that’s going to come up every day! In that situation, the
  protocol is the same as ever – you ask your opponent if they want to
  do something with that mana in the main phase. If they do, you’re
  still in main phase, since they used mana they couldn’t use in
  beginning of combat, nullifying the default.

  Otherwise, there is a way to do it, but it does give the opponent some
  information. While in your main phase, simply say “I do this thing in
  Beginning of Combat”. Done! Of course, the non-active player has the
  ability to interrupt and do something in your main phase. That’s not
  really any different than it was under the previous shortcut.

However, I can't reconstruct an example for such a scenario from the information given in these two paragraphs. The following information is given as stated in the paragraphs:

NAP has mana floating in the first main phase
AP has a split second spell

Question: Can you give an example for this scenario in which in order to reach his or hear goal, AP needs to be the first one to to receive priority in BoC to then cast the split second spell?

To illustrate the difficulties I have with this, here is an example which doesn't work:

AP is in his main phase, controls a Grizzly Bears enchanted with a Rancor. He has a Sudden Spoiling in his hand and enough mana to cast it.
NAP has 2 life, controls an Endbringer and has one mana floating.
AP wants to have priority in BoC to then cast Sudden Spoiling. He does not want to cast Sudden Spoiling in the main phase because NAP has floating mana he or she can use to respond. If everything goes well, AP then can attack with his bear (4/2, trample) and win the game (NAP now has a 0/2 creature).

This example doesn't work because of several aspects:

Why does AP need to have priority in BoC to cast Sudden Spoiling before NAP receives priority? Why does AP not let  NAP have priority first in BoC, NAP then passes priority, then AP uses his priority to cast Sudden Spoiling?
Why doesn't AP cast Sudden Spoiling in his main phase? Sure, NAP has mana floating, but he can't use it to activate Endbringer's cant-attack-ability in response anyway because Sudden Spoiling has split second.


texts: What are the differences between first and second edition Yomi?

texts:
I have the first edition of Yomi, but recently encountered cards from the second. I noticed that normal attacks draw you cards, but I didn't know if this is true in general. I haven't been able to find a list of differences between the two editions.

What are the rules changes from first to second edition?

If relevant, are the characters changed in other ways, as well?


texts:
Right now I'm the game master and we discuss the following scenario:

Greece is empty
all troops move at the same time
Austrian fleet:  Ionian Sea - Greece
Osmanian fleet: Aegean Sea - Greece
Italian fleet: East Mediterranean - Aegean Sea

So the result is that Greece stays empty but what happens to the Aegean Sea?
In my opinion the Osmanian fleet gets defeated in Greece and comes back to the Aegean Sea but there is the Italian fleet waiting.


texts: Was I unlucky or outplayed in Afrika Korps?

texts:
This is a reference to an Avalon Hill game I played decades ago as "Rommel." My opponent, "Chuck" was one of the best players in our group, I was considered above average, but an underdog compared to Chuck. (This evaluation applied to chess, monopoly and other games, not just AK.)

Playing England, Chuck left a token force in Tobruk, and dared me (Rommel) to capture it. I did so in June, 1941 (basically the first opportunity), using my whole force. He then besieged me in Tobruk, counting on the mountains to double the defense value of his forces. I had two turns to roll for resupply. I would fail only if I rolled a one or two (on a six sided die) BOTH times, one chance in nine. I failed, lost the Afrika Korps, and the game. We had discussed the possible outcomes during the dare so I went in with eyes wide open.

Do you like those (presumed) 8 to 1 odds for Rommel? Did Chuck know what he was doing when he made the dare? Even if this is the case, was my strategy a reasonable do or die strategy that gave me the best chance to win against a better player?

I would give the most weight to answers from people who have actually played the game, but would consider answers based on real life. E.g. "Tobruk was such a major objective historically that it's worth staking everything on it, if the game mirrors real life." Or, "you needed to do something before England receives reinforcements in November."

More tidbits about the game. 1) The British have more combat factors overall. 2) The Germans have more combat factors until November, 1941 when the British receive heavy reinforcements. 3) The Germans have fewer, but more powerful units (e.g. tank divisions with a value of 7, versus a maximum of 4 for British armor, and 3 for British infantry. 4) The British have "automatic" supply, the Germans have to roll for  supplies.


texts: How does Ithaqua's "Icy Winds" ability work with Healing Stone?

texts:
The Ancient One Ithaqua's "Icy Winds" ability reads as follows:

  Each time an investigator uses either a unique item or a spell, he loses 1 stamina.

The unique item "Healing Stone" reads as follows:

  Before rolling, discard to fully restore your stamina and sanity.

If my investigator has max 5 stamina and I use the Healing Stone, will my resulting stamina be 4 or 5? Additionally, can I use the Healing Stone if my investigator only has one stamina remaining?


texts: Does this dice mechanic exist in other games and does it have any drawbacks?

texts:
Forgive me if this is an obvious question: I've only just started looking at board game design, so I'm still learning of the different game mechanics.

I have a concept for a dice mechanic and I as hoping to find out if it's used in any other games and whether it has any noticeable drawbacks.

For any particular skill, the play can create a pool of n number of dice, but they can be any type of dice (D4, D6 etc.). n being representative of their character's abilities, so the greater the character's ability the more dice they get.
It works on a min/max = fumble/critical basis: 1 is always a fail. A max roll is equivalent to a critical hit. Any other number is moderately successful.
The conceit here is that the player can attempt to increase the odds of a critical hit by opting for a smaller die (such as a D4 or D6), but this also increases the risk of a complete failure. Or they can play it safe and use a larger die (D12 or D20) with much lower risk of failure, but also lower odds of a critical.

In my concept for a game the successful dice are effectively used to 'buy' clues, with any critical dice being inherently more valuable.

EDIT: Here's a example of how it might be applied:

Player One wants to search for clues. Their search ability is 3× dice.
The player is feeling cocky, and really wants to find something good, so they opt to roll 3D4.
They roll a 1, a 2, and a 4: so that's 1x fail, 1x success, and 1x critical
As a result they discover 1x somewhat mediocre clue, and 1x excellent clue.
Player Two wants to search: they have a better search ability, so they get 4x dice.
Player Two decides to roll more conservatively, and opts to roll 4D12.
They get a 3, a 4, a 6, and a 9. So, 4x mediocre clues.


texts:
Partner opened with 2C -- I responded with 2D (I have 2 pts)-- Partner responded with 3C.

Is the rebid 3C by partner forcing me to bid (I don’t have enough clubs) or can I pass here?

It's just that I heard from some sources the advice "with strong hand '2C' - the partnership must get to game."

On the other hand however, we might have 25 pts, but not have 8-card fit, or stopper in suit for NT play.

Is it legal to pass?


texts: Are +1/+1 counters different from +1/+1 effects?

texts: Is a +1/+1 counter I get from, say Unleash or Undying different than +1/+1 from something like Spear of Heliod or Master of Waves?


texts: Which game came first?  According to Wikipedia, Uno was invented in 1971, but I cannot find anything giving a date for Last Card


texts: Thebes: extending your turn past the end of the last year

texts:
In the game Thebes, does my last turn have to end exactly on the last week of 1903, or can I extend it into 1904?

If it can be extended, is there a limit on how far into 1904 I may go?


texts: At regular REL can players rewind the game state?

texts:
Suppose that at a regular REL (Rules Enforcement Level) event, you have an experienced player, and an inexperienced player, and the in-experienced player has a gideon's lawkeeper on the battlefield.

The experienced player declares the beginning of the combat phase, and the game then proceeds to the Declare Attackers step.  The in-experienced player tries to tap down an experienced player's creature during the Declare Attackers step.

The experienced player explains to the inexperienced player that in order for the tapping to stop the attack, he has to do it during the Beginning of Combat step.

Are the players authorized to agree to rewind the game back to the Beginning of Combat step so that the in-experienced player can do his action correctly, or would the players have to ask a Judge's permission?


texts: What is the penalty for the dummy failing to follow suit?

texts: I failed to have the dummy follow suit because the remaining card of that suit was accidentally hidden under a card of another suit. This was discovered later in the game, and treated as a normal revoke. Should the penalty have been reduced because the dummy is face up and everyone (opponents included) failed to notice that it had only 12 visible cards to begin with?


texts:
Scenario:
I control Cavalcade of Calamity, three Tin Street Dodgers and Chandra's Pyreling enchanted with So Tiny. I have two cards in my graveyard. So now, my Chandra's Pyreling is -1/3. If I get it right, when I attack with all these creatures, Cavalcade's ability triggers four times, and in the result of that Chandra's Pyreling becomes 3/3 creature with double strike until the end of turn. Am I right?