texts: What is the difference between lands and mana?

texts:
What is the relationship between lands and mana in Magic and what do each of them do?  A good answer should especially include how a new player should think about them.

Note:

This is an attempt to create a canonical question about the relationship between lands and mana in Magic.

Beginners are often confused about this given the same symbols are used to mean different things across basic lands, non-basic lands, and mana costs.  This can lead to confusion about lands being mana, about non-basic lands putting basic lands into play, or even about what mana is.


texts: Is there WSOP (or other organisation) Texas Hold-em chip and blind schedule?

texts:
Is there a WSOP (or other organisation) agreed hold-'em tournament set-up for chips and blinds schedule:

e.g. something that lays out:

Chips arrangement:
Players start with 2000 worth of chips:
200 in 5
200 in 10
500 in 25
600 in 50
500 in 100

Blinds schedule:
5-10
10-20
20-40
25-50
30-60
50-100
100-200
200-400
250-500 (max)

Blind increase:
Blinds increase every 15 minutes/per knock out?

Do any sites recommend set-ups for home games for varying numbers of players (under 10)?


texts: Can I cast Mizzium Mortars for its alternate cost with Fires of Invention?


texts: Does the wording "each land" also include Basic Lands?

texts:
I have a Bountiful Harvest. It's a Sorcery that reads "You gain l life for each land you control."

Does this refer to only cards that say Land and not Basic Land, or does it count for both?


texts: What are the key strategy differences between Settlers of Catan and Seafarers?

texts: Just starting out with Seafarers of Catan—what are the key strategy differences between Settlers of Catan and Seafarers?


texts:
San Juan is a admittedly a game with a good deal of luck involved.  However the luck element seems to be emphasised when we play, as some of the cards seem significantly better than other cards of the same value.  For example, given the choice we would always pick a smithy over an archive, a poor house over a crane or a prefecture over a carpenter.

Does anyone know or have experience of a variant that attempts to balance the cost-to-quality ratio of the buildings?  Or is our perception wrong - are the buildings priced appropriately?


texts: Can Link monsters be switched to defense?

texts: One thing I've noticed is that Link monsters don't even have defense points. A card I like to use is Book of Moon, which lets me switch a monster into face-down defense mode. Since Link monsters don't even Def category, is it still possible to switch them into face-down or face-up defense?


texts: Is there a free program, preferably executable, that allow me to play Quoridor against an AI? There isn't a publicly available one for the Zillions engine, even if it doesn't seem that hard to write one, despite workarounds being required. Programming the game has already been the subject of academic papers (here and here) and a university course (here).


texts: When do dead Evil Elders join the villain?

texts:
The rules say that dead elders should keep their Secrets.

  The reason that they keep their Secrets is that if they turn out to be evil, it is assumed that they faked their own death and still join the Villain.

But so far, the only way I can see of this ever coming into play is if a player uses Accusation at the beginning of a Showdown and points at a dead elder, who turns out to be evil. Is that it? Are there other possibilities and which game modes are they valid for?

Note: I've played one Basic game so far, so maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I did read advanced rules and didn't see anything about this.


texts: How is 6-player Castle Panic (with wizard tower) supposed to work?

texts:
Has anyone played Castle Panic with 6 players?

I've tried and I think that the rules don't make sense. With more players you actually need more cards, not fewer. Sure you can trade two cards, but even if you use all your cards each turn, the amount of damage just won't equate to the amount of hit-points of the incoming monsters.

Did you house rule the number of cards? If so, how many?


texts: Is a player limited to four In-Town Deed cards?

texts:
Doomtown: Reloaded comes with a very helpful player board that looks like this:

(Original image source)

Notably, there are four spots for In-Town Deed cards. Is this a hard limit? I didn't spot anything in the rules regarding the maximum number of deeds and since the board is optional, I'm not sure if it meant that this was a true limit or if it was just how many they decided to print on the board.

So is a player limited to four In-Town Deed cards? Or can they have as many as they want?


texts: When is a battalion trigger considered "missed" at Competitive REL?

texts:
At exactly what stage of combat would a Competitive REL judge change his ruling from "The trigger happens" to "Your opponent decides" to "The trigger was missed"?

  The trigger happens -> Your opponent decides -> The trigger was missed

To help answer this question, I have enumerated a few stages of combat. Feel free to reference these in your answer. Please assume a clean slate - no judge warnings, no prior history of poor conduct, and a generally positive but strict attitude from both players involved.

Declare Attackers Step

My opponent declares Ash Zealot, Ash Zealot, and Legion Loyalist as attackers
My opponent pauses for five seconds
My opponent passes
I pass

Declare Blockers Step

I block Legion Loyalist with Elvish Mystic
My opponent pauses for five seconds
My opponent passes
I pass

Combat Damage Step

My opponent assigns first strike damage from the two Ash Zealots. He neglects to assign Legion Loyalist's damage.

I shouldn't need to continue. Once we arrive at the combat damage step, the trigger has clearly been forgotten. If for some reason the trigger could still be "remembered" after first strike damage has already been dealt, please explain why.

In a real game, players generally do not explicitly pass priority. Generally, one of the players will simply offer "Declare blockers?" If this would have an effect on the judge's ruling, please explain. I suspect that explicit priority passes would be more incriminating than shortcuts.

Why am I asking this question?

When I declare blockers, I need to determine if the trigger occurred without reminding my opponent while he still has a chance to "remember" it.


texts: In multiplayer, does Dictate of Erebos still take effect if the combat that kills its owner's creature defeats the owner?

texts:
I was playing a 4 way standard multiplayer match. One player had 3/3 on the field, and Dictate of Erebos which says:

  Whenever a creature you control dies, each opponent sacrifices a creature.

I attacked him with two creatures. He blocked one with the 3/3, which died, and my remaining creature still dealt enough damage to his life to kill him.

The question we have is whether or not the player dies and thus is removed from the game before Dictate of Erebos's ability triggers.


texts: Are the number and colours of cards in player's hands private information?

texts:
Is a player allowed to ask, and get an accurate answer for, the number of a given colour of card in an opponents hand?

For example: I want to know the number of yellow (summer visitor) cards in an opponents hand, to decide if I can safely make other actions and wait to play my own yellow card, is my opponent obligated to tell me this information, or at least show me their hand (face down) so I can see for myself?


texts: Which language of Scrabble scores the most points on average per game?

texts:
Some languages have more words than others, especially 2-3 letter words, which would probably allow for a higher average game score.
For example, although the same language, English, the Collins 2019 UK dictionary, compared to the NASPA 2018 US dictionary has much more words in general, especially game-changer 2 and 3-letter words like "ze", "zo", "ja", "qin", and "zea". https://scrabbleplayers.org/w/How_Collins_differs
In fact, top players/computers will score an average of 450 playing CSW (Collins UK) versus playing 425 NSW/TWL (NASPA US).
I'd like to know what language allows for most scoring potential. I would assume the language with the largest dictionary, heavily biased toward 2-3 letter words for hooks and parallel plays, would score the most. I'm not sure what language that would be.


texts:
My opponent moved his pawn to the 7th rank. It was blocked by my bishop. He captures the bishop and promotes the pawn to a queen.

I was under the impression that a pawn captures diagonally and not in the same direction of movement.

Is there a rule that allows a pawn to capture a piece directly in front of it?


texts: I just started playing Nine Men's Morris. I have tried playing with both the computer and on online multiplayer settings and have been doing abysmally. I tried finding some good resource on the net that could give me some in depth study of useful strategies for this board game but I found very basic guides that were basically just a rehash of the rules. Could somebody help me in my dilemma, I want to start winning at least a few of the games.


texts: Damage to player when activating Flying ability after 'Declare Blockers' step

texts:
If I attack with a Leaping Master and my opponent blocks it with an Alpine Grizzly and I then activate the Leaping Master's Flying ability (i.e. at the end of the 'Declare Blockers' step), the Alpine Grizzly can, presumably, no longer block the (now flying) Leaping Master.

However, would Leaping Master deal damage to my opponent in this case or does rule 509.1h prevent this?

  509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

My feeling is that Leaping Master's damage is assigned to the player as the Alpine Grizzly is not "removed from combat"?


texts: Is it a valid strategy to accumulate cards then swap hand?

texts:
If I have a "Swap hand" card, can I repeatedly accuse other people of not shouting "Uno!" (when they actually have multiple cards) in order to cause myself to draw the 2-card penalty for incorrectly accusing them, then dump my entire hand to another person?

It seems to follow all the rules, yet I've never seen it being used.

Is it a legal move? Is it a valid strategy to win?


texts: In Jokers and Pegs Game can I use a joker to help my partner after all my pegs are home safe?

texts: Can I use a joker to help my partner after all my pegs are home safe?


texts: Cause of abbreviations on Yu-gi-oh! cards

texts:
Why are certain Yu-gi-oh! cards abbreviated in unusual and inconsistent ways?

A number of Yu-gi-oh! cards have unusual, inconsistent abbreviations in their card names that stand out.

Perhaps the most notable is the Lord of D.:

This card abbreviates the word which is clearly supposed to represent "dragon" without apparent reason for doing so.  The word is definitely not too long to fit - other card names can testify to that.  The word itself is also not taboo - it appears in the names of other cards, as well as in it's own body text in describing a creature type (Dragon-Type, a core creature type).

Speaking of dragons, another example comes in the form of the Red Eyes B. Dragon.  Here, the word "black" has been abbreviated.  Again, proof that the name wouldn't have been too long otherwise can be seen by comparing it to the Blue Eyes White Dragon, which is slightly longer in its first word and identical in length in the third word in question.  The name "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" is also spoken aloud prominently in the show, as it is a trademark card held by main character Joey Wheeler.

Perhaps the most awkward is the card, "The A. Forces."  In this particular case, I can not even tell what this letter stands for despite analyzing the context (perhaps its the same word as the one found here?  Joking, of course, but that would actually give it a reason to be censored!)

What is the reasoning behind this haphazard abbreviating of seemingly random words on these cards?


texts:
We were playing A Game of Thrones, 2 ed, by FFG last weekend. One table was using the Battle Tide cards. This situation occurred:

Attacking force of one unit won the battle but defender drew a Battle Tide card with a skull, meaning the attacking unit is killed.

What happens with the region? Does the defender lose control of it? Does the attacker gain control of it?


texts: If I have a prevent all damage from a green source and I am attacked with a creature who is black green and the opponent has paid for its hexproof ability, will I still be protected?


texts: Can the Wasabi card and a Nigiri card be played together at once?

texts: If I use a chopsticks card to play two cards, can a Wasabi I play simultaneously with a Nigiri be used together to triple the Nigiri points? My inclination from a strict reading of the rules is to think no, but from a sushi eating perspective, it seems reasonable to be able to.


texts: Play before a base score: deciding the order

texts:
I can read in the manual that the active player plays first whenever there's a decision about who first resolves an action.

But in this case, what if many players have MULTIPLE cards that can be played? That is with the description 'play before a base scores'

Would each player have to play all the cards he wishes to play? Or could he play one, wait for others to decide what to play and then play the next?

It happened to me with I think the Cthulu faction, there's a minion that lets you draw a madness card for extra power; if you have played several it makes a huge diference since waiting for other players is what decides how many madness cards you'd get


texts: Is anyone the "captain" of the partnership after the following bidding sequence?

texts:
Non vulnerable and playing five card majors, South opened onw spade. West passed. North raised to 3 spades. This was a "Bergen" raise, which is to say that North promised only four spades (Law of Total Tricks), but could have 0-9 high card points, not 6-9.

S
W
N
E

1S
P
3S1

Who, if anyone, is the "captain" of the partnership if the bidding goes further after this sequence? Or is one of the disadvantages of a Bergen raise the fact that strength ranges are so wide that it is hard to identify a "captain" even after another bid or two?


texts: Can I make a planeswalker harder to attack by making it a creature with flying?

texts:
So a weird combo popped into my head. If I use Memnarch to turn Nicol Bolas, the Arisen into an artifact, then use March of the Machines to turn him into Artifact Creature Planeswalker and tap Dragon Blood to put a +1/+1 counter on him and I have a Sapphire Drake on the field, is he still a legitimate target?

Since, you know, you can’t attack something with flying?

I know at the very least that only creatures with flying and reach will be able to block him. But other than that, this is rather puzzeling.


texts:
In Scrabble, If on the board there is:

PICKLE

If you start at the E tile, go down one tile, then right one tile there is a triple word score.

If you put SO vertically at the end of pickles (So the O would  be on the triple word score):

  PICKLES
        O

Does just SO get triple word score, or does PICKLES and SO both get their score tripled?


texts: When is the winning condition checked in Fluxx?

texts:
New Rule "Draw 4" is in play.

One opponent changes the Goal to "10 cards in hand".

I have six cards in my hand. It's my turn and I draw four cards.

I contend that the game is now over, as I have met the winning condition. (I don't have any Creepers.)

Another opponent says "no, you have to finish your turn".

Who is correct?

I don't see how he can be right. For one thing you can win on someone else's turn assuming you have the winning combo.


texts: Choose a leader when copying the Courtesan's Guild with Olympia (B)?

texts:
7 Wonders with Leaders extension

Situation

Alice has the wonder Olympia (B) and builds her 3rd wonder stage (= at the end of the game she can copy a guild card of one of her neighbours).
Bob plays the Courtesan's Guild and places the Courtesan token at a leader card of his neighbour Carol.
At the end of the game, Alice copies Bob's Courtesan's Guild.

What to do?

{Variant 1}: Alice gets another (virtual) Courtesan token and has to choose a leader card of one of her neighbours herself.

{Variant 2}: The leader card chosen by Bob is "imprinted" in the Courtesan's Guild and therefor Alice copies this leader card by copying the guild. (However, the points for this leader card are calculated as if she would have played it herself)

Or something else?

Follow-up questions if {Variant 2} would be correct

Let's say Bob would have placed the Courtesan token at a leader card of Alice instead of Carol. Would Alice get points (if any) for this leader card two times?

Let's say there weren't any other leader cards in play when Bob built the Courtesan's Guild, so he could not use the Courtesan token. Can Alice now use the token at the end of the game?

Discussion elsewhere

boardgamegeek.com: Olympia vs. Courtesans' guild
boardgamegeek.com: Olympia (B) stage 3 copying Courtesan's Guild?
boardgamegeek.com: Courtesan's Guild (And yes, Olympia B)


texts: How does the pool work in Glory to Rome?

texts:
I am reading my Glory to Rome instruction booklet and I do not understand how the pool works.

Are players free to choose any card they wish from the pool, or are they just supposed to draw the top card?


texts: Does a creature's ability trigger while it's in the hand or graveyard?

texts: When a creature card like Agent of the Fates is not on the battlefield but for example in the hand or graveyard, will its triggered abilities still trigger when I play Animate Dead or my opponent plays Ostracize and chooses the Agent?


texts: Can you build a house on a colour group property while another property of that colour group is mortgaged?

texts: Say I have mortgaged Old Kent Road, can I still build a house on Whitechapel Road? Or would I need to unmortgage Old Kent before building a house on Whitechapel? Both of these properties are in the brown property group


texts: I am not a bridge player. I have a question about bidding in contract bridge. The question isn't about the mechanics of bidding or what is the ”best” bid given a particular hand. My question is about  the ”communication process” in the bidding phase. I am aware that partners communicate information about the cards in their hands by bidding things like “1 Heart” or “ 3 No trumps” and hence to arrive at some “agreement” about how tricks they are likely to win in the playing phase . What I don't understand is all this information about bid is “public” so surely the opponents will make the same deductions as the partner as to the likely distribution of cards in the hands? So won't this end up with a sort of ”zero sum” where all players pretty much know what cards are held before the play starts and the playing of the hands is rendered pretty ”mechanical”? Also as I understand, bidding must be a fair representation of the cards held. Any attempt at “bluffing” or "misdirection" in bidding is considered at least “poor play” and at worst some kind of act against the whole ethos of contract bridge. Is that correct or an unfair characterisation?


texts: Monopoly Stock Exchange add-on: How does the add-on change the probability of landing on the properties?

texts:
[tl;dr] Go to section «The Question», at the end...

In 1936 and 1937, Parker Brothers published a «Stock Exchange» add-on for Monopoly, Easy Money, and Finance; it was re-released for Monopoly, by Chessex, in 1992. This add-on replaces the «Free Parking» square with a «Stock Exchange» square.

Also, see The Monopoly Stock Exchange Add-On Is the Only Way to Play

The Card Decks

The add-on adds «Advance to Stock Exchange» cards to each of the Chance and Community Chest decks. The 1936 version added 3 cards to each deck. In the 1992 version, the number of Advance to Stock Exchange cards used varies according to the number of players
Also added to the Chance card deck is a «Go To Jail» card that applies only if you own stock.

The Probabilities

The probability of landing on any of the squares in Monopoly has been well documented.
For example, see Probabilities in the Game of Monopoly®
This reveals that Jail, Go, and New York are the most visited squares in the game.

The addition of the cards «Go To Stock Exchange» and a «Go To Jail» card will certainly change these probabilities. Will the Orange properties no longer be the most visited? By how much will the probability of landing on the the Yellow properties be increased?

[tl;dr] Advance to the Question

Has anyone written a computer program to compute the probabilities of landing on the various squares when the add-on is used?


texts: Does Unsubstantiate work on graveyard or exiled cards?

texts:
Unsubstantiate says, "Return target spell or creature to its owner's hand."

It seems to me like it should allow you to return it from the graveyard.


texts: Let's say that I have an Ensnaring Bridge in play, and no cards in my hand. My opponent has a 0/2 Ornithopter in play, and also a Cranial Plating (and some other artifacts to pump it up). Can he attack and then attach the Cranial Plating to the Ornithopter after announcing his attackers by using the "Attach" ability (The one for BB)?


texts: Can I go for both Tichu types in one round?

texts:
The rules seem to imply that people cannot call two or more tichus of the same kind. Doing this would also take the fun out of the game, as the first player to have a strong hand simply calls for enough tichus to reach the limit and win (or lose, if unlucky) the game.

The grand tichu, however, is presented as an additional mechanism. Does this mean that I can go for both and score 300 bonus points in a single round?


texts: Simple games that involve psychological factors?

texts:
I need to find a simple game in which several people need to interact with each other. The game should be simple for an analysis (it should be simple to describe what happens in the game, what players did). Because of this last reason, video games are not appropriate for my purposes. I am thinking of a simple, schematic, strategic game where people can make a limited set of simple moves.

Moreover, the moves of the game should not be conditioned only by a pure logic (like in chess or go). The behavior in the game should depend on psychological factors, on relations between people. In more detail, I think it should be a cooperation game where people make their decisions based on mutual trust. It would be nice if players can express punishment and forgiveness in the game.

Does anybody knows a game that is close to what I have described above?

ADDED

As requested, I would like to provide more details. I do want to use a game for experimental purposes. To elaborate, my hypothesis is that people play differently depending on who their partner is in the game. Or, in other words, a player's strategies depend on their interpersonal relations. It is a very general statement. At the moment I do not know what kind of interpersonal relations can exist. In the simplest case we can speak about "friends" and "strangers" (people who know or do not know each other). Another aspect of interpersonal relations I can think of is trust. People can play differently depending on the level of trust between them.

I am looking for a game that captures several aspects of interpersonal relations. The repeated Prisoner Dilemma game is close to what I need. But I am afraid that it is too trivial (people will just cooperate).


texts: What does the expansion symbol of From the Vault: Transform mean?

texts:
What does the expansion symbol of From the Vault: Transform depicts? Looks like feathers in a circle to me.

MTG Gamepedia says:

  "The cards use their original transformation symbols. However, the
  expansion symbol is uniquely mirrored in color on the cards' back
  sides."

And Wikipedia lists it as

  unrevealed

in the Expansion Symbol column at List of Magic: The Gathering Sets article


texts: What happens if your only pawn can't move as many spaces as required?

texts: If you have just started and you draw a move backwards 4 card, on your next turn you get a move forward 12. You have no other pawns out to move. Do you have to move The original pawn (the one you backed up 4) forward or can you refuse the move?


texts:
In Arkham Horror, tomes require movement points to use, e.g. Old Journal:

  Tome
  Movement: Exhaust and spend 1 movement point to make a Lore (-1) check. If you pass, gain 3 Clue tokens and discard Old Journal. If you fail, nothing happens.

Because I never receive movement points in Other Worlds, is it possible to use a tome?


texts: How do other auras interact with Gift of Immortality?

texts: I'm pretty sure that if a creature is enchanted with some other aura, say Rancor, and then you put Gift of Immortality on it and the creature dies, Rancor falls off when it comes back to the battlefield. Is this true? My instinct is yes because the creature goes to the graveyard and becomes a new object and all that but I'd like to be sure. As an added question would Rancor's and Angelic Destiny abilities work off a creature that dies while enchanted by Gift of Immortality?


texts: Granting 1 point to opponent after saying GO

texts: In Cribbage play, people tell me that the rule for granting an opponent one point when you say "Go" has been done away with in tournament play. Is this true?


texts: Priority during declare blockers and attackers step

texts: If I decide not to attack my opponent, do players still gain priority in declare attackers step? And the same with blockers, if there are no blockers declared for some reason, can players do anything? Or maybe these steps are just skipped in these cases?


texts: bridge question regarding answering opening of 1 of a major

texts: If opener opens 1s how many hearts does responder need to respond with 2h (has 10 points).  If opener opens 1h how many spades does responder need to respond 1 spade (6-9 points)


texts:
I was looking at Etali, Primal Storm, and one of the rulings listed surprised me; the card didn't work the way I thought it would based on the wording.

The ability:

  Whenever Etali, Primal Storm attacks, exile the top card of each player's library, then you may cast any number of nonland cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs.

And the ruling:

  Any cards not cast, including land cards, remain in exile. They can’t be cast on later turns, even if Etali attacks again.

I expected "cards exiled this way" to mean "cards exiled by Etali, Primal Storm's ability". Meaning that if I exiled a card by attacking this turn, and exiled a second card by attacking next turn, then both those cards would have been "exiled this way".

However, based on that ruling, it seems that "exiled this way" means "exiled by the resolution of the current instance of this ability".

Either of the two readings seem like they are valid interpretations based on the English meaning of the words. So it there a comprehensive rule that backs up that ruling; where "this way" is defined?

It would be really nice if all Gatherer rulings included a citation for a comprehensive rule that backs up the ruling.


texts: Ticket to Ride multiplayer between OS X and iOS

texts: We've purchased Ticket to Ride for iPhone/iPad iOS and I was wondering if I purchase the desktop version for OS X would we be able to play locally between the two devices.


texts:
During my opponent's turn, he plays Fumigate to wipe the board. I respond with Repel the Abominable.  Do all of our creatures die, or do none die?

Fumigate:

  Destroy all creatures. You gain 1 life for each creature destroyed this way.

Repel the Abominable:

  Prevent all damage that would be dealt this turn by non-Human sources.


texts: What happens when I remove Mistbind Clique with its champion trigger still on the stack?

texts:
So, this recently happened to me in playtesting:

It's my upkeep. My opponent casts Mistbind Clique.

I don't have a relevant counter, but I do have Path to Exile. He has multiple fairies on the field, as well as enough mana to animate his Mutavault, so I can't get a two-for-one by Pathing anything before the Clique resolves. I let the Clique resolve.

Mistbind Clique's champion trigger goes on the stack. In response, I Path the Clique before its champion trigger resolves.

Path resolves.

What happens when the Clique's champion ability resolves after it's already been exiled?

My understanding is that my opponent still gets the option to exile a faerie (which would stay exiled, since the Clique has already left the battlefield). If he does so, though, does the Clique's tap-down ability apply?

  When a Faerie is championed with Mistbind Clique, tap all lands target player controls.


texts: What Are the Requirements for a "Jump" Bid Opposite a Takeout Double in Bridge?

texts:
My left hand opponent opened one diamond. Partner doubled. Right hand opponent passed. I was sitting in fourth seat with eight points, and something like

(s) KJxxx  (h) Jxx (d) xx (c) Kxx.

I "jumped" to TWO spades (instead of bidding the minimum one spade). With Qxx in spades and 13 points, partner took us to four, which went down two.

Partner said, "I thought your jump meant you had an opening hand. That, opposite my 13 means game." My opponents were also confused by the sequence.

My reply was that since I was forced to bid one spade with "nothing," a jump to two spades (which was the right level), meant that I was making a "non-forced" bid with a real (intermediate) hand of 7-10 points. Given that he had a minimum takeout double (and a minimum spade holding), I expected partner to pass.

Opposite a takeout double, does a jump bid of "one more than necessary" in a suit indicate moderate values? Or was partner right to expect an opening hand?


texts: Unable to destroy monster after negating its effects

texts:
So, 10 minutes ago I played with friend in Dueling Nexus. I used Infinite Impermanence on his Number 101: Silent Honor ARK and he wasn't able to detach two materials in order to take one of my special summoned monsters. However, he could actually prevent destruction by detaching one material.

I activated Infinite Impermanence, then chained with Torrential Tribute; I assume that the problem comes from that both effects are in the same Chain Link. Could this be the case?


texts: Multiple games in same box using same components. What was it?

texts:
Several years ago I was at a friends house and he had this particular item.

It was a box full of simple components, a board, and rules for multiple games. The idea behind it was the components were given to several designers (4 or 5 I think), and they each created a game using the components in the box. I don't remember the name of it, or the names of any of the game designers.

Things I remember about the games:

Some of the components were wooden pegs. The pegs were of various heights, and there were the same set of pegs for multiple colours (4 or 5?)
One of the games was about (or a major component of it was) holding elections
One of the games (I think) was about building stonehenge
One of the games awarded the title "Mighty Beard" to the winner. I believe in this game each player was a druid
The passage of Day and Night was relevant to some games. Things that were good at night were bad during the day, and vis versa.
I think the board had circles of various sizes on it, with smaller circles inside the larger circles


texts:
Playing Uno this weekend, one of the players played a Wild+4 but chose the same color that was in play (this led to a successful challenge). I had thought that, regardless of what's in the player's hand, the player could not choose the same color after playing a Wild+4 - it had to change to one of the other 3 colors. A player could choose the same color after playing a regular Wild, though.

Looking at the rules, though, I did not see this restriction; only that the player playing the Wild+4 must not have any cards of the same color in play. Given that my Uno deck is a fairly recent version, I'm wondering if older versions did have that rule? Or maybe it was just a house rule. If so, is that a common house rule? Or maybe it just stemmed from the need to not have the current color in your hand...


texts: Which expansions should not be used together in Carcassonne?

texts:
I have really been into Carcassonne lately and have purchased many expansions, even though I'm still missing some of the rarer ones. I have the following:

Base Game
Expansion 1: Inns and Cathedrals
Expansion 2: Traders and Builders
Expansion 3: Princess and the Dragon
Expansion 4: The Tower
Expansion 5: Abbey & Mayor
Expansion 6: Count, King & Robber
Expansion 8: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars
All 6 mini expansions

I have since realized that many expansions have rulings that contradict and/or cause ambiguous situations together and that some just cannot be played at the same time. Are there expansions that should just not be played or are there known combinations of expansions that are the ideal game? I'm looking to have the most fun possible without having arguments over how the expansions work together.

Edit: Here is an example of problems that can occur with some expansions. This is a question I posted a few days ago: Carcassonne interaction between "The Robbers" and "The Messages"

Thanks
L-P


texts: Does an increase in monster Toughness also mean an increase in monster trophy value?

texts:
There are several things that change a monster's Toughness. For instance:

Azathoth gives +1 Toughness to all Maniacs for the duration of the game
Heat Wave gives +1 Toughness to all Fire Vampires while the environment is active
Shub-Niggurath gives all monsters +1 Toughness for the duration of the game

When effects like these are in play, the monster's Toughness in combat is higher than printed on the monster token. Does this also increase the monster's trophy value?

If yes, what happens in the event of temporary changes to the monster's Toughness? For instance, if a Fire Vampire was killed before a Heat Wave, is the trophy worth one extra point if a Heat Wave strikes later? And if a Fire Vampire is killed during a Heat Wave and then the environment is replaced with something else, is the trophy back to the original value?


texts: Is there a term for: "Doesn't untap during next untap step"?

texts:
There are a lot of cards that have the effect

  Target permanent does not untap during next untap step

For example:Kashi-Tribe Elite and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger.

Is there a term for this? Because it's kind of a mouthful to say "that permanent is not allowed to untap during the next untap step."


texts:
Ok scenario:
8 9 8 9 9 on table.
Player 1 has 8/4 in hand.
Player 2 has K/2 in hand.
Who wins?
I personally say split since table has higher full house. Am I right?


texts: Why are the pips on dice organized the way they are?

texts: Is there any particular reason why the pips (the little dots) on a die are arranged in those patterns (3 is a diagonal line, 6 is two horizontal lines, etc.)? And also why any face plus its opposite equals 7?


texts: Can you play your numbers in Backgammon in a way to block one of them?

texts:
First of all I apologize if my question is hard to understand, I'm not familiar with Backgammon glossary.

Let's say you rolled 3 and 6. In a certain situation the only way to play both 3 and 6 is to play them from one of your checkers from which you have to play 3 then 6 (6 is initially blocked). Now my question is are you allowed to play 3 from another checker into a position where you can't play 6 from any position anymore? And if there's a rule regarding this, can you please tell me what is it called?


texts: What game is this with colored tokens, a dice, and what looks like a spoon?

texts:
I bought it secondhand and it came with one red die with a devil, a woman, a man, a club, a fan, and a wooden paddle, and each side is numbered. It also came with 6 red chips, 5 yellow chips, and 4 blue chips. Finally it came with what looks like a little metal flat spoon. All of these things came in a small box labeled "Couple Dice".

Does anyone know what this game is called and/or the rules?


texts: Oregon Trail Card Game: What happens when you run out of supply cards?

texts: So I was playing with my friends the other night and we ran into an issue: We ran out of supply cards in our hands and then came to a river. By the rules of the card, we had to roll an even number to cross or discard a supply card, but we had no supply cards to discard. After scouring the manual we couldn't find an answer to this scenario. Clearly something bad should be happening to us here, but because we couldn't find a ruling we just decided to call it good and forded the river with no consequences. We assume we probably should have died there, but is there a proper ruling to this that we missed somewhere?


texts: Do conquered locations still help the Resistance?

texts:
In Conquest of Planet Earth, the foolish Humans are resisting the implacable might of several alien overlords, who go about conquering various Locations until the Humans finally give up their doomed efforts. Several Locations give bonuses to the Human Resistance, such as the Train Station, which gives +1 Resistance to adjacent Locations.

Does this bonus still apply after the Train Station has been conquered by the ravening alien hordes? Are the Aliens dumb enough to keep the trains running on time, even if the trains are chock-full of weapons, ammunition, recruits, intrepid reporters, Meals Rejected By Ethiopians, teddy bears, and other material that the Resistance needs? Similarly, does the text of other Locations still apply after they've been conquered?

Also, do Demolished locations keep their text? (It should be obvious, but I couldn't find anything explicit in the rulebook about this.)


texts: (MTG) Can Trespasser’s Curse revive a player?

texts: After I died, one of my opponents that I previously enchanted played a creature which supposedly heals me by one. Does that cause me to come back to life with one hp? If not, why not?


texts: in Klondike-Solitaire, how likely is a deal with no legal moves?

texts:
In Klondike solitaire with standard rules (Draw 3 cards, Re-Deal infinite), a 'null' hand is a hand where you cannot play any card.
Statistically, is it more common to win the game, or have a null game?


texts: Do Combat Celebrant and Helm of the Host give me infinite combat phases?

texts:
I have a Combat Celebrant equipped with a Helm of the Host. At the start of combat on my turn, Helm of the Host creates a token copy of my Combat Celebrant. I attack with the copy, exerting to gain another combat phase. After damage, I move to another combat phase.

Here's where the wording on the Helm has me questioning the next steps. I assume another token will be created, and I can repeat the exert and the additional combat phases. But the Helm specifies that the token is created at "the beginning of combat on your turn...." Do each of these additional combat phases create another beginning of combat trigger?


texts: Is it possible to play league games with the base Ninja-all-stars game?

texts:
I'm quite interested in a very lightweight skirmish game with chibi miniatures, and it seems Ninja all-stars has it all.

What I'm wondering (and no ressources online talks about it) is, are clan boxes mandatory for league play ? Can I play Clan Ika(or whatever special clans there is) ninjas with the generic minis? Is the "core" box made only for one-shots plays?


texts:
When a creature is summoned I understand this card has “Summoning Sickness”, where the card is not “tapped” but just cannot attack or use any abilities until the next turn.

How does this work with Rabid Bite? If I play a creature, can I then immediately use Rabid Bite with that creature to have it use that damage as the damage it assigns to the target creature?


texts:
Scenario-> I have pro-red creature like Burrenton forge-tender.  I cast Divine Deflection for 2, targeting the forgetender and my opponent.  I then cast Pyroclasm  Does the 2 damage to the forgetender get prevented by Divine Deflection or by the protection from red?  Does my opponent take 2 damage from Divine Deflection?

Also, if the damage would just be redirected, would it work the same?  For example, replace Divine Deflection in the last scenario with Harm's Way.  Is the damage prevented by protection from red or is it redirected?


texts: Can I respond to my infinite loop by casting a creature spell?

texts: Can I respond to my own triggered infinite loop with Sporemound and Life and Limb by casting Acidic Slime to destroy Life and Limb or by paying to activate Gobbling Ooze ability to destroy Sporemound?


texts: is there card game prototyping platform to track, change, print?

texts:
this
and
this
and
this
and this
all give good leads, but I'm looking for something with a few specific features:

I want a database that does all the basic database things--store cards, find cards, add cards, modify cards, etc.I don't need a rigid schema system, and I want the flexibility to add features to the (game) system more or less at will.
I don't need any evaluation or resolution features (just want to be able to track and edit the game in a quasi-sane manner, not play it on the computer).
I do want a collection of cards -> printable sheet feature. Nothing fancy, but I would like to be able to specify a group of cards from the database, and produce something that can be printed out, cut up, and stuck in sleeves
Bonus points for flexibility and extensibility, as usual, so that as I move out of pure prototyping I don't have to reinvest in a whole system. For example, at the moment, art is not critical, but I imagine that I'll want to handle that once I have mechanics of play working
GUIs are optional
Even more bonus points for Mac (or *nix) and open source

Thus far, the various systems I've seen all seem to address one or more of the problems but are missing another major component.

I'm a fair hand at programming and systems design, so I may end up building a simple(ish) command-line tool, but here's to hoping someone else thinks like me...


texts: Casting creatures as spells - searching for the rules

texts:
I need to find the ruling where it says, when I want to put a creature from my hand onto the battlefield, that I have to cast it and that it's a spell on the stack.

  302.1. A player who has priority may cast a creature card from theirhand during a main phase of theirturn when the stack is empty. Casting a creature as a spell uses the stack. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”)

So now I have to find the rule where it says how to cast a creature as a spell:

  601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell includes proposal of the spell (rules 601.2a–d) and determination and payment of costs (rules 601.2f–h). To cast a spell, a player follows the steps listed below, in order. A player must be legally allowed to cast thespell to begin this process(see rule 601.3).If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before the casting of that spell was proposed(see rule 721, “Handling Illegal Actions”).

Problem here is that a guy just didn't want to accept that a creature is a spell before it enters the battlefield if cast from the hand, he meant that you don't have to cast the spell, just pay mana and there it goes onto the field.

Background: Forgotten Ancient triggers whenever a player casts a spell. He didn't accept that creatures trigger here.

Are there some more definite rules? Or a line where it says to play cards that you have to cast them, if nothing else stands on the card.


texts: Sequence of turns after two Emrakul, the Promised End

texts: Player A and Player B both have an Emrakul, the Promised End and Player A casts his Emrakul and on Player B's turn, that he now controls, casts Player B's Emrakul. Does Player B get to control Player A's turn or not as the card states "When you cast Emrakul, you gain control of target opponent during that player's next turn". Who is you in this case? And what would the sequence of the following turns be?


texts: Is it valid to bid on a cargo with zero coins?

texts: In Cargo Noir, when one sends ships to the ports to bid on the cargo there, is it valid to bid zero coins?  The wording of the rules in various places seems to expect that at least one coin is always there, but we couldn't find anything that flat-out says so.


texts:
Does anyone know what the game pictured in the background of this scene is? It's got the logo from the fictitious toy company from the movie in it, so it's plausible the game is fictitious too. If it is, it really reminds me of a game from my childhood but I can't figure out what!

I've sharpened and brightened the image as best I can.


texts: What happens if the auction nominator is outbid?

texts:
Seeking clarification on this issue:

In Powergrid, at the Auction phase, a player has the choice of passing, or nominating a powerplant for auction.

If they nominate the powerplant for auction, they must put the first bid on it.

If someone subsequently outbids them, what happens?
My understanding, is that the player then nominates a second powerplant (or still has the option of passing?).


texts:
A question about the rules on Shadowborn Demon:

  When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield, destroy target non-Demon creature.

  At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are fewer than six creature cards in your graveyard, sacrifice a creature.

Firstly, I understand that you have to destroy a creature (even if it's your own), what if there are no other non-demon creatures out? Can you play the card?

If Shadowborn Demon is the only card on your side and you don't have six or more creatures in your graveyard do you have to sacrifice it?


texts: What happens if I double Meddling Mage's 'enter the battlefield' trigger?

texts: Let's say I play Meddling Mage while I have Panharmonicon out. What happens? Do I get to name two cards that can not be cast? Or does the second card I name overwrite the first one?


texts:
In certain cases in Descent, a good player (in particular with the Overlord) can destroy the other side. However, I feel that Descent is most fun when it is well balanced right up to the end.

What handicaps, with emphasis on the Overload, are good to balance the play?

Ideally, I would like handicaps that would still allow both parties to play their best and still try to win (i.e. one side going easy does not count). I realize a lot of handicaps could also be scenario/expansion specific, but for now let's just stick to the base rules; or at least only suggest such handicaps as a secondary solution.


texts: In The Resistance, how does In the Spotlight work?

texts:
The card says "You can choose another player to submit their Mission card face up."

If 4 people are on the mission, and 1 player has this card played on them, do the other 3 players get to see what card he played before choosing the cards they will submit?


texts: I got my first Dice Throne box yesterday and want to do a component check. But I can't find the information on what's supposed to be included.


texts: Can my opponent and I decide on a victory condition to avoid a draw?

texts:
Say I'm playing against a player and we finish game 2 with 5 minutes left in the round. If we draw, both of us will be knocked down, and most likely neither will be eligible for prizes.

I know bribery is against the rules, but could we agree (before the match starts) to something along the lines of "If we draw, whoever has fewer life points will concede so at least one of us can have a chance at prizes"?

As I understand it the answer will come down to if this is defined as collusion, but I'm having a hard time determining how Wizards defines it.


texts: What is the best 18xx game to teach someone?

texts:
There are several 18xx games easily available, maybe 8 or so that have mass produced and a few dozen kits that can be purchased or downloaded.

I love 18xx games, but I've found that not everyone I teach shares my enthusiasm.  I understand that some games will never appeal to certain folks but I think that part of the problem is the relative complexity of 18xx games.  As a group, they have several different mechanics that have to be learned for a new player to play a credible game.

With this question I'm looking for recommendations for the best 18xx game to teach a new player.  The game should have the best chance of hooking new players and getting them to want to explore the genre deeper.  I think that the best game would have:

a shorter playing time
The importance of Private companies should be minimized. I've found that asking people to bid right at the start of the game on things they don't understand is very intimidating.
tolerance for mistakes (I'm thinking of the ease of sliding into bankruptcy for even experienced players in 1830 here)


texts: What's the difference between Pandemic Legacy Red and Blue?

texts:
So, basically what the title says. Is there any difference at all in the contents of the boxes or anything else? (without spoilers!)

Maybe it'll make a difference in "Season 2"? (it does say "Season 1" on the box after all).


texts: How would Solemnity and Dark Depths interact?

texts: If I have Solemnity on the battlefield and someone plays Dark Depths, what happens? Dark Depths says that it enters with the ice counters, but could they even be placed on it in the first place?


texts: Buying houses and selling hotels in a housing shortage

texts:
Here's a hypothetical situation:

There are 12 houses left in the bank.  Alice states she wishes to buy 6 of them for her red property group for $900.  Bob owns the light blues with 3 hotels, and states that he wants to sell his hotels down to 4 houses each to get $75 cash.

What happens?  These actions would require 18 houses and there are only 12 in the bank, so the rules state there is an auction for those houses, but how does it work?


texts: What is this game involving moving circular levels and small balls that get moved up and down them?

texts: I remember a childhood game for many player, with each player receiving multiple small plastic balls. The balls were placed on the game board, a circle with many moving levels, each with indentations for the ball. On each turn, a player could move a level as far as they wanted until a ball fell from the level above. Any idea what game this is?


texts:
I was looking through the Wikipedia page for POG and noticed the following under the "Sets" section.

  Pepsi (occasionally referred to as "Forbidden Pepsi Pogs")

Despite having grown up in the 90's with quite the collection of POGs, I'd never heard them called "Forbidden Pepsi Pogs".  I searched Google but none of the results seem to explain why they were referred to as such.

Why are Pepsi POGs referred to as "Forbidden"?


texts: Does Stony Silence stop Salvage Titan's activated ability from the graveyard?

texts:
Salvage Titan is a black artifact with the ability "Exile three artifact cards from your graveyard: Return Salvage Titan from your graveyard to your hand."
If Salvage Titan is in the graveyard and opponent has Stony Silence in play (which says "activated abilities of artifacts can't be activated"), can I still activate Salvage Titan's ability to return it from graveyard to hand? In other words, does Stony Silence's ability extend to artifacts in the graveyard?


texts: In Puerto Rico If only one prospector is chosen during a round, does the other one get a coin placed on it?


texts: Does exchanging a dead card count as a move for loss of a card?

texts:
I was recently playing Sequence at a friend's house. At one point in the game a player (player B) discarded a dead card and drew a new card before the previous player (player A) remembered to draw a card. Player A contended that since player B hadn't placed a token on the board yet they were still allowed to draw their card. The rules state:

Dead Card
If you hold a card in your hand which does not have an open space on the game board because both spaces representing that card are covered by a marker chip, you are holding a DEAD CARD and you may turn it in for a new card. When it is your turn, place the dead card on your discard pile, announce that you are turning in a Dead Card and take a replacement card (one card per turn). You then proceed to play your normal turn.
Loss of Card
Once you have taken your turn and placed your marker chip on the game board, you must take a card from the draw deck. If you fail to take a card before the next player makes a move AND takes his/her card, you lose the right to take a card and you must finish the game with less cards than the other players – a disadvantage.

In my mind exchanging a dead card counts as a move for the purposes of the "Loss of Card" rule. Otherwise the "Loss of Card" rule would have specified completing your turn. Is this the correct interpretation or should player A have been allowed to draw a card?


texts: Revealing an effect of a card after player makes their choice

texts:
I'm working on designing a money management board game that features different event cards where players must make choices. The trouble I'm having is that I can't figure out how to reveal the effect of a player's choice without having the player know about the effect beforehand. For example, say you have a scenario like this:

Your phone bill is due today. You can choose to:
A) Pay the minimum ($30)
B) Pay the full amount ($100)

If the player picks choice B, then their credit will improve (+1 Credit) because they have paid the bill in full.

How do I reveal the effect of the player's choice until after they have made their decision? If I wrote it as
B) Pay the full amount (+1Credit) then everyone would pick Choice B because it is so obvious.

Btw, this is a serious game so players should be able to learn something from it.


texts: Do you get bonus points at the end or during play for these quest rewards?

texts:
With the exception of Larissa Neathal, all Lords of Waterdeep give a bonus for completed quests if they are of a certain type. These points are scored at the end of the game - in part because your Lord is hidden.
There's also several Plot Quests that reward you with a bonus for completing certain types of quests. For instance:

Quell Mercenary Uprising

Reward: 8 VP
Whenever you complete a Warfare quest, you score 2 VP

Is this bonus added at the end, also applying to each Warfare quest you've completed before? Or is this quest popped up open next to your tavern to provide the bonus for every Warfare quest completed from then on? And, if the second interpretation is the right one, would this quest qualify for its own bonus?


texts: Power Grid removing lowest plant if first player passes

texts:
A friend of mine (a bit of a board game geek) says that this following rule is wrong, imbalanced, and is changed in one of the expansions:

  (Auction phase)
  If, in later rounds, no power plant is sold in a round, the players
  remove the lowest numbered power plant from the market, placing it
  back in the box, and replace it by drawing a power plant from the draw
  stack. They then rearrange the market according to the rules.

He says that if the first player (the one leading) passes, then right after his pass we should get rid of the lowest power plant and get a new one, before the rest of the players would start their auctions.

He claims this makes the game more balanced, as otherwise the leader could "freeze" a bad board, and get even more advantage.

The way I see it though, the leader is heavily penalized in this game, and putting even more burden is just too much. We had games this way where everyone tried to stay behind, and basically the game was an endless tier one with a quick burst of 9-10 buildings /player in one round.

My questions are: anyone else heard of this modification? Is it really part of an official expansion? Do you think the leader needs more penalty?


texts: Count Theft card as card in front on the player

texts:
In the rules of the first Saboteur is specified that each player can have in front of them a maximum of 3 cards ( doesn't specify if blocking cards or other ).

In case I use a Theft card and I put it in front of me, does it occupy a slot for the number cards in front of me ? If the answer is yes, means that I can be blocked with maximum of 2 blocking cards.


texts: If a Hero makes a Speed/Sanity/other non-Might attack, when does the Traitor reveal that the target lacks that trait and can't be attacked that way?

texts:
This came up in a game involving Haunt 23, Tentacled Horror. (Spoilers will be kept to a minimum.) There are multiple different types of monsters in that Haunt: some of them have a Sanity trait, and others don't. One of the Heroes had the Ring, which let him attack with Sanity instead of Might. He attacked a monster that had a Might trait, but no Sanity trait, using the Ring. At the time, I told him that the monster had no Sanity trait and that he'd need to try a different type of attack, and he ended up doing a Might attack using the Sacrificial Dagger instead.

Was this the right thing to do, or should the initial attack have failed entirely? Or should we have explained which traits the monster does and doesn't have the instant the monster went on the map? The rules just say "you can't use a trait to attack against a monster that doesn't have that trait," but it's unclear on how to handle the attempt. This is particularly vexing, because all monsters have hidden traits and this is going to come up again.

(I looked at the updated Secrets of Survival and Traitor's Tome, and it turns out that the specific Haunt I was looking at no longer has that problem, but I'm sure this question will still apply to other monsters.)


texts: Does End of Days affect cards underneath another card (e.g. The Dreamer's defeated Projections)?

texts:
Fanatic has a card called "End of Days" that destroys most every card in play:

At the start of the Environment turn, destroy all cards in play, other than this card, character cards, and Relics.
Then, destroy this card.

Several villains, such as the Dreamer, can place cards underneath them:

Whenever a Projection card is destroyed, it is placed under this card. At the start of the Villain turn, if there are (H) times 2 cards underneath this card, the heroes win the game.

Does End of Days affect these "underneath" cards?


texts:
The rules of Scattergories state:

  Players score zero points for an answer that duplicates another answer in that round.

However, how do you define "duplicates another answer"? Should only the exact same words be considered "duplicate"? Or is there some room for interpretation? For example, if the category is "Professional Sports Teams", are "Jaguars" and "Jacksonville Jaguars" considered duplicate answers, since "Jaguars" is the operative word in both cases? Or do they both count, since they are not exactly the same words?


texts:
Underrealm Lich's static ability reads:

  If you would draw a card, instead look at the top three cards of your library, then put one into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.

Divination reads:

  Draw two cards.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A) Do I look at the top three cards of my library, then put one into my hand and the rest into my graveyard, and do the same again?
B) Or do I look at the top six cards of my library, then put two into my hand and the rest into my graveyard?

I guess option A is true, but where is this clarified in the rules?


texts: What is this tile set with the card suites and numbers set in a 6x6 grid?

texts:
What is the name of this game?

How do you play it? (if instructions cannot be easily found online)

Board and Game Pieces:

Board and Back of Game Pieces:

The game also includes:

12 White Poker Chips
8 Maroon Poker Chips
4 Blue Poker Chips

Notes:

The pieces in the first image may not be in their proper places


texts: Can you run away without losing against a monster?

texts:
In Munchkin, I found the following for running away (source)

  If nobody will help you . . . or if somebody tries to help, and your fellow
  party members interfere so the two of you still cannot win . . . you must Run
  Away. You don’t get any levels or Treasure. You don’t even get to Loot the
  Room. And you don’t always escape unharmed . . .
  Roll the die. You escape on a 5 or more. Some Class and Race abilities
  and some Treasures make it easier or harder to Run Away from all
  monsters. And some monsters give you a bonus or penalty to
  your roll for that monster only.

However, it is not clear to me if you can run away if you would win.

For example, if you don't have cards on your hand and if you have "die hard" ("Hart im Nehmen" in German; it prevents you from losing your stuff when you die) you might actually want to die. Or if you are forced to help somebody and you can run away easily, you might rather try that.

Can you choose to run away even if you would win?


texts: What does The Saharan Republic's power mean?

texts:
One of the starting powers for The Saharan Republic says

  You can make your maneuver at any point during your turn.

Does this mean they can attack, maneuver, and then continue to attack?


texts: Does Leonin Arbiter affect Karn, The Great Creator from choosing a card outside of the game?

texts:
You have Leonin Arbiter with the static effect that players cannot search their libraries unless they pay 2 to ignore it. But Karn, The Great Creator
ability for -2 is "You may choose". Does sideboard count as library? Then if so, I assume then Leoning Arbiter affects this?


texts:
I'm not sure how playing Desertion on a commander works. I did a quick search and got even more confused, do the EDH rules overwrite it?

Commander Ruling:

If Commander would be put into a library, hand, graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the command zone instead.

  This is a replacement effect. It applies last (!!) and may apply multiple times to an event.

  The creature never goes to the original destination zone and will not
     trigger triggering abilities based on going there (e.g. "dies"
     triggers).

Desertion's Ruling:

  Counter target spell. If an artifact or creature spell is countered this way, put that card onto the battlefield under your control instead of into its owner's graveyard.

    https://magiccards.info/cn2/en/107.html

    This spell includes a replacement effect. If the target is an artifact or creature, it never goes to the graveyard.

And a 4-year old Quote for reddit.

  "The Comprehensive Rules cover the interactions in Rules 614.15 and 616.1a:

  616.1a If any of the replacement and / or prevention effects are self-replacement effects (see rule 614.15), one of them must be chosen. If not, proceed to rule 616.1b

  614.15. Some replacement effects are not continuous effects. Rather, they are an effect of a resolving spell or ability that replaces all or that spell or ability's own effect (s). Such effects are called self-replacement effects. When applying replacement effects to an event, self-replacement effects are applied before other replacement effects."

    "Desertion is an example of a self-replacement effect, and it should be chosen instead of the command zone replacement effect. This same rule applies to Hinder / Spell Crumple, allowing them to tuck a commander."


texts: Can a pawn be promoted to queen if the player is missing a knight, bishop or rook?

texts:
My classmate says that you can't have another queen if one of your chess officials (knights, bishops and rooks) are captured and not yet replaced.

Is this true?


texts:
How would you categorize gaming skill, based on your own talents, or those of people you know?  And what makes certain people good at those categories?

For one example, I've noticed I tend to win most games that involve a long series of calculations or tactical decisions, like Carcassonne and Bohnanza, but get beaten much more often at strategic games that require having firm goals in mind and lots of planning, like Puerto Rico and Race for the Galaxy - and I know people who are phenomenal at those games, and often, the same people are great at both.

Perhaps that qualifies me as a Tactician but not a Strategist?

Trading, psychology, and speed are other possible categories I can think of off the top of my head.


texts: In which order are cards drawn from the dungeon pile

texts:
In "Welcome to the Dungeon" in what order does the hero draw cards from the dungeon pile? So is the last card added to the dungeon drawn first or last?

In many cases this does not make a difference, but for example for a mage it may be important which card comes after the demon.


texts: Gloomhaven: Does it count as me landing the killing blow if a monster dies to my retaliate?

texts: Related to Does it count as me landing the killing blow if a monster dies to a Wound that I inflicted?, will a character get credit (for Personal Quests/Battle Goals) for killing a monster if the monster dies due to retaliate damage inflicted by that character?


texts: A game with coloured animal tiles & figurines of Chinese men

texts:
I once found some tiles that each have an animal on them, and some small statuettes of old Chinese men. Like this:

Can anybody identify what this is for?


texts:
Chained to the Rocks says:

  Enchant Mountain you control.
  When Chained to the Rocks enters the battlefield, exile target creature an opponent controls until Chained to the Rocks leaves the battlefield. (That creature returns under its owner's control.)

Does mountain in this instance mean a card that is named "Mountain" or a card with a mountain sub-type? For example Sacred Foundry has the sub-type "Mountain Plains". Could I enchant this land with Chained to the Rocks?


texts: What should be used to represent creature tokens when the printed token card isn't available?

texts:
Many spells or abilities cause one or more creatures to join the battlefield (i.e. 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens, 3/3 green Beast creature tokens, etc.). These token cards are not included with the cards that require them.

What do MtG players use instead to represent token creatures?

A quick search shows you can buy packs of such cards, but I'm wondering what convenient ways exist to represent these tokens without actually having to buy more cards?


texts:
I've played a couple of games where the game has been stifled because the supply card is never drawn. (What happens is that the 'winter is coming' card is drawn, and the deck reshuffled, and supply card isn't shuffled to the top).

The last game we played, a supply card was never drawn until round 7, and we had a scenario where mustering cards would come out, and no body was able to increase their armies due to already being at supply limits.

This problem can also apply to other game dynamics, like bidding on the influence tracks, and to a lesser extent, mustering (because people can always use a special consolidate to muster).

Is this a well known issue, and is there a house rule to mitigate it?

I was thinking you could create a house rule that says 'if supply hasn't been adjusted by round 4, and round 8, there will be a bonus supply adjustment then'.

Another suggestion would be that when the 'winter is coming' card is drawn, you only shuffle the already discarded cards and put them at the bottom.


texts: Eye of the Storm—Simultaneous or Sequential?

texts:
With Eye of the Storm and Thousand-Year Storm on the battlefield, I cast Lightning Bolt. Storm count goes to one, and Eye exiles the Bolt. Through Eye, I copy and recast it, and Thousand-Year Storm copies it once. Storm count to two. This much makes sense.

Now I cast Shock. Copied twice, the original is exiled, and my storm count goes to three. Now Eye copies both Shock and Bolt. Are these two cast in order (so one is copied three times and the other four), or do I cast them simultaneously, only choosing their order on the stack (and copying each only three times)?


texts: Which Reference Materials are Allowed During a Chess Match?

texts:
Do the rules of chess permit a player to refer to certain reference materials during a match?

For example, it is clear that materials which would assist a player with strategy are not permitted. A player cannot use another chess board to analyze the game or make notes about the game other than recording his or her moves.

However, is a player permitted to refer to a copy of the rules of chess while playing a game? What other reference materials are allowed? Is there a standard or a test for determining whether a reference material is permitted or prohibited? Can a player refer to permitted materials in electronic form or must they be printed out?

If reference materials are not permitted, must all rule inquiries then be addressed to a tournament director?

I am interested in FIDE rules and/or United States Chess Federation rules.


texts: How well do Forbidden Desert and Forbidden Island play with two players?

texts:
I introduced a colleague to Pandemic. He liked it and asked if I could recommend a similar game that:

Plays well with two people, and
Will be a bit more approachable for his partner, who's new to games (and might find Pandemic a bit fidgety or overwhelming to learn).

The first thing that came to mind is Forbidden Island (which I own and like) or Forbidden Desert (which I've been been hearing great things about).

Before I recommend it though, I've never played either with just two players. Does does (one or both) hold up well with two players?


texts: life and death: 2 x 4 in the corner with defects

texts:
In a go game (with another 4K) I got a 2 x 4 region in the corner with lots of defects.

W1 almost surely will happen.  Can White get life or ko?

$$Wm1
$$ |------------
$$ | . . . . X .
$$ | . . O X . .
$$ | . . O O X .
$$ | . . O X . .
$$ | . 1 O X . .
$$ | . B X X . .
$$ | . . . . . .


texts:
When replacing a joker from the board the rules state I must replace the joker gained from the board with 2 tiles from my hand.

A joker that has been replaced must be used in the player's same turn with 2 or more tiles from his rack to make a new set

My opponent interprets this meaning that I can only use the tiles from your hand. For example J,4,5 or J,6,6. Though I agree that I must use at least 2 tiles from my hand I find nothing that prohibits me from using another tile from the board along with the joker and the 2 tiles from my hand.  For example I replaced a Joker from board, a 9+12 from my hand, and an 11 from another run to create the following. 9,J,11,12.  My opponent thinks this is an illegal move.
Is this move legal ?


texts: Pandemic: drawing player cards if already have 7 in hand

texts: In the game Pandemic, after completing your 4 actions the next step is to draw 2 player cards. If already holding 7 in hand, does the rule force you to draw additional cards and subsequently discard (or play event cards) to get back  to 7? Or do you so the draw?


texts: When does the next player start their action?

texts:
I played my first game of Small World recently with a group of people who also were just playing the game for the first time, so we were unclear on some of the rules.

One sticking point in particular that we had was when play would pass to the next player.  The language in the rules isn't super clear, and we saw two possibilities:

Player 1 picks a race (if applicable), conquers some areas (or goes into decline), then scores victory points.  Then, Player 2 does the same, and so on.
Player 1 picks a race (if applicable).  Player 2 picks a race (if applicable).  Other players pick races.  Once everyone has a race, Player 1 conquers areas or goes into decline.  Then Player 2 conquers areas or goes into decline, etc.

Which interpretation is correct?  Does each player perform all 3 parts of the turn, and then play passes, or does each player perform a part of the turn, and only start the next part of the turn once everyone is done with that phase?


texts: How many possible starting moves are there in Abalone?

texts:
I have not found a listing or reference to the initial number of moves.

I believe there are 44, but I'm not sure if this list is complete: https://github.com/void4/pyabalone/blob/master/allinitmoves.txt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abalone_(board_game)


texts: Whom is a player bankrupt to if a Chance card tells him to pay $50 to each player and he can't pay?

texts: If a player draws the Chance card (US standard edition) that tells him "You have been elected Chairman of the Board. Pay each player $50", and his cash is insufficient (even after he sells hotels/houses and/or trade/mortgages properties), then whom is he bankrupt to? To whom must he hand over his remaining assets?


texts: Forbidden Island: Can the navigator move another player 4 tiles for 2 actions / 6 for 3?

texts: The navigator's action is moving another player 2 tiles for 1 action - it does not specify once per turn. Does this mean he could move another player 3 or 4 tiles for 2 action points, or is there a rule/clarification about this?


texts: Fury of Dracula 3rd ed. - Bats Token and Defeated Hunter

texts:
In Fury of Dracula 3rd edition, if a hunter who has a bats token under him/her gets defeated, does the bats token travel with the hunter to the hospital?

If yes, since hospitals are adjacent only to the attached city, does this mean that Dracula actually helps the hunter by moving him/her to the attached city, thus sparing the hunter from having to spend the action to move to the attached city themselves? Or is the effect of the bats token suspended until it is more useful to Dracula (like in case of hunter already being delayed, or hunter being in a city with a fog token, see Rules Reference)?


texts: buying Monster Batteries w/ Parasitic Tentacles

texts:
Say Player 1 has the Parasitic Tentacles card, which allows purchase of cards from other players for energy value. Player 2 has Monster Batteries, with some amount of energy on it (which was doubled and then recouped two energy per turn).... what happens to all the energy if that card is bought?
Does Player 1 get half of the energy still on the card, and the rest is returned to the bank? Does Player 2 get any of the energy?


texts: In poker terminology, there's something called "checking behind". What does this mean?


texts: Is a card set aside with an Island considered "In Play"?

texts:
For example, can I set aside my Lighthouse on an Island to protect myself from attacks throughout the game?

My opinion is that Yes, cards set aside using Islands are still 'In Play', as this makes sense from a mechanism and theme point of view (Lighthouse on an Island).

However, if this is the case, I wonder what happens when combining Island with Goons, Hoard or Quarry...

Since everyone has an opinion, I'm really looking for material references one way or the other.


texts: How does Amass interact with Essence of the Wild?

texts: If I have an Essence of the Wild, and I play anything that will Amass, what happens? Do I make one Essence of the Wild token, or does Amass keep triggering after failing to find an army, giving me infinite tokens? I assume the first answer is correct, but I'm not quite sure.


texts: What's the optimal setup for Cluedo: The Great Museum Caper?

texts: Has the math been done on an optimal setup of security cameras and painting locations in Cluedo: The Great Museum Caper...?


texts: What happens if a slapped player plays a card before playing a Slap

texts:
Say Alice plays a Double Slap targeting Bob.

Say Bob plays a card, which accepts the Double Slap. Then, Bob plays a Double Slap targeting Chuck, ending their first turn. Bob then plays a Skip for their second turn.

Would Chuck be able to play a Double Slap to pass on the slaps to Darlene x4, or do they have to take the double turn since the Double Slap was not the last card played?


texts: Whan Happens if I Copy Etrata, the Silencer?

texts: What happens if I try to copy Etrata, the Silencer with Quasiduplicate (via Qicken, Leyline of Anticipation, etc.) in response to her triggered ability? Since I create a copy of a Legendary creature, according to the rule, I have to sacrifice one. So my question is: what happens if I choose the one which is going to be reshuffled in the deck? Does the copy remain and the effect of the exiled monster etc. + the reshuffle take place?


texts: Is there a limit to the number of special lands I can put in my deck, like the Temples?

texts: I'm constructing a Deck and I want to make all the mana Temple Cards. More Specifically I want them to be Temple of Silence, Temple of Plenty, and Temple of Malady. Are these mana cards limited to only four per deck like regular cards or can you put an unlimited amount of them in your deck?


texts: When each player is placing their initial Harbor and settlement, does the first player place BOTH their Harbor and settlement immediately or does the first player place only their Harbor then it's the next player's turn to place one Harbor?


texts:
I'm never quite sure how this phase of each round is supposed to go...

So, say during the quest phase you encounter a location with 2 quest points, and after you resolve the quest you come out +2. Do you put the progress tokens on the quest card and then travel to the location? or do you travel to the location and put them on the location card?


texts: Character Specials Triggering on Non Bang Cards?

texts: Several of the characters in the game have special rules that allow them to do things when they are damaged.  For example, one character, when "damaged by another player" may then draw a card from their hand.  Do these abilities trigger only when directly damaged by another player (i.e., Bang!) or do they also trigger off of effects like Duel! (which deal damage, but lack the Bang! icon) or even effects like Indians (wherein every player who does not discard a card loses a bullet)?


texts: what is the maximum number of achievements a player can have in an 2-player innovation game?

texts:
Considering the game of innovation  (see, eg, https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=innovation) a 2-player game ends on 6 achievements.

Usually an achievement takes an action to complete, but special achievements occur when a condition is met.

Therefore, it is possible to end the game with more then 6 achievements, if the last 2 (or more) where special achievements. For example, you can have the empire achievement and the universe achievement met with a single meld.

I am trying to come up with a way to do the 5 achievements at once.

For 4 achievements, we can have empiricism causing a splay (if the last unsplayed color, wonder achievement) with the melding of an ten (if the last color with card < 8, universe) that might reveal clocks (world achievement) and other symbols (that might be sufficient for the empire achievement).

(for the purposes of this question, let's exclude expansions. I will ask another question for expansions if no solution can be found)


texts:
How would Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker's triggered ability work with the Strionic Resonator?

My interpretation is that the ability would trigger twice, but only on the original player that took the combat damage.  It could not be copied to a second opponent.  Does anyone have any additional info?


texts:
I thought I should break this question out from the other related question, which direction should I build a small ship?

When should I avoid a small ship strategy? Which events would make a small ship not preferable?

For reference (rulebook), during the first round you are allowed to examine 6/8 (out of 20 total) cards that will be in the adventure.

Adventure Cards

4x Open Space (move forward X engine power)
4x Abandon Ship -1 Day,(-2 Astro:$3, -3 Astro:$4, 5 Astro:YG, 6 Astro:RR)
3x Purple -1 Day,(4 Laz:-2 Good/YGB,6 Laz:-3 Astro/$5, 5 Laz:3 shots Front ssL/$4)
3x Meteor (ssss TBLR, Lss TLR, LsL TTT)
4x Planet (-2 Day:RR,RBB,Y#-2 Day:GG,Y,BBB#-3 Day:RGBBB,RYB,RBBB,RG#-3 Day:YGBB,YY)
Stardust (-1 day per open connection)
1x Combat Zone (least Astro -3 Day, least engine -2 Astro, least Laz shot sL BB)


texts: Does Cascade look at CMC or mana cost payed?

texts:
When casting a spell with Cascade, does it use the CMC of the spell with Cascade for reference of what it is looking for? Or does it use the mana cost that was payed.

For example, if I am to cast Maelstrom Wanderer with commander tax applied to him, so he costs 10 CMC instead of 8 CMC, would I reveal until I find a spell that costs less than 8 or 10 CMC?


texts: The Witches: A Discworld Board Game - Removing crisis counters

texts:
When you solve a problem (easy or hard), and it has a crisis counter.... what happens with those chips? Are  simply removed from the game or they return to the initial stack?

For example, when there are only 2 players you play less crisis counters (8 or 10, I don't remember now). If these are just removed from the game, it will ran out soon (causing both players lose the game), but if they return to the stack there are more opportunities that does not happen.


texts: What are some good ways to transition to more complex strategic thinking games?

texts:
What are some strategies that people have used to introduce novice players (kids or spouses...) to increasingly complex strategic gaming?

Ticket to Ride is a big hit at our house - we'd like to move along the continuum to Risk and then onward toward grand strategy - maybe not so far as Twilight Imperium, but into some more planning-centric and possibly backstabbing games.


texts: Psychic Battle and Rayne, Academy Chancellor

texts:
Will changing targets with Psychic Battle cause Rayne, Academy Chancellor to trigger? What about Dismiss into Dream?

If an opponent casts a spell targeting you, and you win the "clash", can you change it to yourself and trigger Rayne twice?


texts: What happens when Patchface discards somebody's last character card?

texts:
In the Game of Thrones board game, each player gets a set of character cards that give bonuses to combat and can be played once each. Once a player has played all of their cards, they pick up all of their previously-played cards to use them again (except for the last-played card; that stays in the discard pile).

What happens when the character card Patchface causes you to discard your last character card? By a truly abusively literal reading of the rules, you don't get to pick up your discards. (The rules say something like "if you have played your last card...") This is obviously wrong, but which card must stay in the discard when you pick up your discards?

An example: I have two cards in my hand (MOST_POWERFUL_CARD and ICKY_CARD), and go to battle. I play MOST_POWERFUL_CARD, so that it will not be my last card played when I get into a battle next time. (I want ICKY_CARD to be my last played card, so it won't be in my hand when I pick up my discards.) My opponent plays Patchface, and causes me to discard ICKY_CARD. Combat resolves, and I win because Patchface is useless in combat. Now I'm going to pick up all of the cards in my discard, but I must leave behind my "last played" card. Which card stays in the discard: MOST_POWERFUL_CARD or ICKY_CARD?


texts: Can Mizzium Meddler steal the effect of a Renown ability?

texts: Basically, I am thinking of a situation: say Outland Colossus attacks and deals damage to a player. Before the Renown ability resolves, can I activate Mizzium Meddler to steal the six +1/+1 counters? Is Renown an ability that Mizzium Meddler can steal? I am not sure how Renown works on the stack, if at all.


texts: Can I look up the text of my foreign cards on my phone in MTG tournaments?

texts: Hey guys I have a question. I play commander and most of my cards are in foreign language. I use google drive to have a picture of the actual card in English. If I go to a tournament am I allowed to use my phone to check the actual meaning of my cards or no?


texts: How long does one get to keep the third bean field in bohnanza?

texts: Does the third field stay forever once you have 3 coins to buy it? If not when does it disappear? The rules aren't terribly clear (or maybe I should say "are terribly clear").


texts: Ultimate Werewolf Good 10-12 Player setups

texts:
I recently played a game of Werewolf where the moderator was not very experienced with the game, and (I feel, anyway) the whole setup was very one-sided.  After doing some reading of the rule book I admit I still don't really know how to make the game feel less 1-sided.

I know about the number system on the cards (try to balance to zero) and that there are some scenarios existing, but any tips or links on what to read for a good fun game would be much appreciated!

Also a little off-topic, should the players know what all is in the game at the beginning or not?  Thanks!


texts: Does Karmic Justice Trigger if a Planeswalker dies from combat damage?

texts: If a creature deals enough damage to my planeswalker and destroys it does Karmic Justice trigger if I have it on the field?


texts: How is a roleplaying game not a board game?

texts:
Let's say you have a roleplaying game with these elements:

a board on the table, depicting the rooms of a castle
miniature pieces on the board, representing the different characters in the game
cards and dice used as randomizers

How is this not a board game?

(The question may sound antagonistic, but I'm quite serious.  What is it that makes such a game not a board game?)


texts: Can I use Extort in a deck that isn't both white & black?

texts: One of the creatures I have is color black and has the skill Extort which could be paid in white or black mana. Can I use this card in a commander deck with a mono black commander?


texts: How do Jokers change the bidding in Spades?

texts:
In the game of Spades, there are several popular jokers variations which add the two jokers, named big joker and small joker (BJ, SJ) to the ♠ suit while removing the 2♡,2♦.
In the simple jokers variation:

♠ suit contains 15 cards, sorted from high to low: BJ, SJ, A, K, ..., 2.
♥,♦ contain only 12 cards: A, K, ..., 3
♣ have 13 cards as normal A, K, ..., 2

What are the major differences in the bidding of the simple Jokers variation, compared to the normal Spades game?


texts: How do you calculate hand probabilities for 10 cards per hand (8 suits); e.g.: Cripple Mr Onion?

texts:
Cripple Mr Onion is a card game that involves 8 suits (104 cards in toto), with 2-7 players being dealt 10 cards each (without replacement).

I've tried several different websites for hypergeometric distribution, but really don't know what I'm doing with them (I've no idea whether the results are correct or not, since I can't tell if I input the appropriate data).

I've also tried it by hand, but can't wrap my head around the proper method.  When the suit doesn't matter, then it's easy enough; when the suit matters, it becomes rather more complicated.

How does one calculate the probability of hands in a card game, when the deck involved has 8 suits?

Taking two basic examples, I would hope that I could then work out the rest for myself:

I imagine that calculating the probability of my hand containing two aces (of any suits) is the simplest starting point for this game's rules.
For comparison and contrast, I then also calculate the probability of my hand containing {4, 5, 7} in only one or two specific suits (not the other six possible suits).

There is an excellent work-up regarding Yu-Gi-Oh! in another post's answer, but I don't know how to modify it properly for this problem (which would probably be the best solution possible).


texts: Do creature effects trigger every time they move base?

texts:
Do creature effects trigger every time they move base, or just the first time they enter play?

For example, if I play Invader, gain 1 VP, then play Invasion and move it to a second base, do I gain another VP?


texts: Vintage unidentifiable Hard plastic game pieces 8 short 4 medium 1 large in both blue and red.


texts: Does Conspiracy remove non-creature subtypes from a creature?

texts:
This is inspired by this question, and specifically point 3 in this answer.

Let's say I control a Gideon of the Trials and I've activated his second ability.

0: Until end of turn, Gideon of the Trials becomes a 4/4 Human Soldier creature with indestructible that's still a planeswalker. Prevent all damage that would be dealt to him this turn.

Gideon is now a Legendary Planeswalker Creature - Human Soldier Gideon.
I then cast Conspiracy naming, let's say, Dragon.
From the rulings on Conspiracy

Affected spells, cards, and creatures lose all of their other creature types.

Does my Gideon lose his Gideon subtype?  Or because Gideon isn't a creature type he doesn't lose it from Conspiracy?  Does this change at all if Gideon is turned into a creature by other means (Mycosynth Lattice + March of the Machines or Enchanted Evening + Opalescence)?


texts:
I'm wanting to start an in-office game of diplomacy - the requirements are:

Can restrict game to one turn per day.
If people don't make a move (they are a way), some default action is taken.
Moves are not required on the weekend.


texts: What would be the reasons for not having Jokers in a deck?

texts:
In Doomtown Reloaded, it is optional to have Jokers in your deck. However, it seems to me like having Jokers in your deck is extremely useful, since you are more likely to get a better hand in a shootout.

I suppose that not having them in your deck means that there isn't a chance of having an unplayable card in your play hand, but that seems to be a small risk with many options for discarding cards. In fact, I have never played against any player who has not had Jokers in their deck, and those whom I have asked have always said it was better to have them.

So what would be the reasons for not having Jokers in a deck?


texts: How do I get the "5 routes" achievement?

texts: What is meant in the poker player of using all "5" routes - is it all routes that use 5 carriages or tickets that score 5 points? I did the former but didn't get the achievement.


texts: What if every suit were trump, and partners hated each other?

texts:
To anyone experienced in whist variations, are the following house rules playable? (that is, will this game be fun or frustrating to play)?

I'm developing a nutty variation of Spades for tonight, is there some gaping hole that I'm not seeing that'll ruin the game?

Here are the rules:

Suits – A Whist variant by RID
“where every suit is trump, and partners hate each other”

Dealing, Bidding, and Partnerships:

A standard deck of 52 cards is dealt face down such that each of 4 players around a table receives 13 cards. Beginning with the player to the dealer’s left, and proceeding clockwise, each player, having examined their cards privately, makes a bid.

The bid consists of two parts, a unique trump suit declaration, and the number of “tricks” that player expects to take. Each player bids once, choosing from the suits not previously chosen.

This bidding will also divide the players into the red and black partnerships, given the color of their chosen trump suit.  Unlike other Whist variants, your partner may not necessarily be seated across from you, and your partnership lasts only for that round.

The first trick is led by whichever player bid the highest.  If there is tie, then the lead will go to which of those players (involved in the tie) chose a higher-valued suit as their trump according to  standard Bridge order (also, alphabetically):
clubs (least), diamonds (second least), hearts (second greatest), spades (greatest).

Taking Tricks:

Each player must play a card (clockwise, in turn) by placing it face up in the center. If possible, each player must follow suit (play a card with the same suit as first of the four cards played).  If a player cannot follow suit, that player may either play a trump, or discard (play any other card).

Note to players: You may only play a card in your trump suit as a trump in lieu of a discard. Leading with your trump suit or following suit in your trump suit is still just “following suit”, and is not considered “playing a trump”.

Once the trick is over (the four cards are played), whoever played the highest-valued trump, (or if no trumps are played, whoever played the highest card of the suit led) “wins the trick” and sets those four cards next to them for later scoring.  That winner will then lead the next trick.

Note to players: If two (or three) trumps of apparently equal value are played, whichever trump has a higher-valued suit is considered greater.

Once all 13 tricks are played, scoring is accomplished for the round (see the next section on scoring), the cards shuffled and re-dealt by the person to the previous dealer’s left, and bidding for the next round begins.

Scoring/Winning:

A partnership adds together the number of tricks they’ve both taken, and compares it to their combined bid.  If they did not make the bid, they get 0 points.  Otherwise they are both awarded 10 points for each trick they bid together. But for every extra trick they’ve taken beyond this bid, they must each take an additional point. (When a player accumulates 10 such points, 110 points are deducted from that player’s score.)  The first player to reach 1,000 points is declared “winner”.


texts: order of attack and blocking with a creature with modifying other creature's ability

texts:
Suppose a situation where you have a Paragon of Gathering Mists and another creature, say X, with 3/3 on the battlefield. PGM is 2/2 and X becomes 4/4 because of PGM.

When I attack a player with both creatures, how is the order of fights decided?

If X fights first, it fights as 4/4. If PGM fights first and it dies, after that X fights as 3/3, since PGM is removed and its effect is removed as well.


texts: I know that for the most part you can only play one land per turn. However I also know that it is possible to put multiple lands onto the field with the effects of certain spells. I want to know if there are any limitations or certain situations where you cannot do this. I am especially curious about lands that have a tap ability to add land to your mana pool (such as New Benalia or Boros Guildgate). Can I play a land from my hand and use their abilities to get two land per turn?


texts: In the Great Dalmuti, should I be attempting to improve my seat position or shoot for the win?

texts:
The Great Dalmuti is a game where you attempt to get rid of your hand, a climbing card game like Tien len or Asshole. The deck consists of 80 cards, with different point values. There is one '1', two '2's, three '3's, ..., twelve '12's and two wilds that are '13' unless played with any other card. Rounds consist of the Great Dalmuti or whomever won the last trick laying down any number of cards with the same value. Players in clockwise order can either 'pass' or play the same number of cards as the previous player but of a lower value (i.e. if the first player played three '10' value cards, the next player could play three '9', three '8', etc.), or by playing a larger set of the same value as the previous set of cards.

When a player has played the last card from their hand, they score one point for each person they beat, with the last person scoring zero. Going out first or second (becoming the Greater or Lesser Dalmuti) gives another privilege: at the start of the next round, the Dalmutis receive the one or two best cards from the Peons (the two players who went out last), while returning any cards from their hand. (The Greater Dalmuti swaps two cards, the Lesser Dalmuti one.) This gives the Dalmutis significantly better hands: they get better cards, and can get rid of singletons that would slow down their hands. It is very important not to go out last, or second to last.

If you are playing a game to some point value that is quite a few rounds away (lets say 10 or more), what should be your strategy for improving your score? How can you determine if you have a hand that can hold onto control of enough rounds to get rid of your high value cards (in other words, how can you determine if by go off during a turn you will likely improve your seat position or maintain it, instead of ending up going out last).

How do you know when to take control, and attempt to get out of the game?

Does the strategy of shooting for first seat get easier/harder with more/less players?


texts: Do elders help the villain in a non-showdown fight round?

texts:
I'm having a Fight Round with the Villain outside of a Showdown (Deadly Encounter Mystery card) and an Evil Elder has joined him already (it's cooperative mode and the elder has been investigated and revealed to be evil).

Since Evil Elders helping the Villain are only mentioned in the Showdown section and this is specifically not a Showdown, my thinking is that the elder should not provide the usual +1 Combat and +1 Wound... but is that really the case in cooperative mode?


texts: How to defeat an active Digglet Pokemon when oppenent has an additional on bench

texts: The Digglet from XY - Evolutions protects itself as long as it's on the bench. How is it possible to defeat the active Diglett if there's also a second one on the bench, causing each to protect itself?


texts: Does Curator's Ward trigger when a creature it enchants and Curator's Ward get removed at (seemingly) the same time?

texts: Let's say you've got Curator's Ward enchanting a historic creature you control, and you target that creature with Portal of Sanctuary. Does the creature and Curator's Ward get returned at the same time, meaning that Curator's Ward's card draw effect doesn't trigger?


texts: What is the purpose of having randomizer cards for the non-kingdom cards?

texts: I understand having randomizers for the kingdom cards because that's how you randomly choose them, but I find it odd that there is a randomizer for every card including the basic Curses, Coins and Victory cards. Why are they there?


texts:
Hoard is a treasure worth 2 that also reads:

  While this is in play, when you buy a Victory card, gain a Gold.

It costs the same as a Gold (i.e. 6) and while it's not immediately worth as much as a Gold, it obviously generates Golds. I get the impression that Hoard is suited to being bought under specific conditions and at specific points in a game.

What should I consider when choosing between Gold and Hoard?