texts: How to implement numerous resources in a clean efficient way

texts:
I am working on a king of the hill type board game.  With it, I have 3 main resources for players, food, stone, and lumber.

In theory, I want these to convert into more complex items that can be in turn, used to create more complex items.

Example:
Wheel <= 2 stone + 1 lumber
Wooden Bed <= 5 lumber
Wagon <= 4xWheel 1xWooden Bed

Now, Part of the thought process is that based on random chance, players will be able to construct these different items, and would benefit from trading with others.

At this point, im comfortable with that idea, despite it needing some tweaking.  The part I am uncomfortable with is the amount of cards(or something) that would be required to be handed out.

Has anyone seen anything that worked in a similar way and was able to do this in an organized fashion?

One of my goals with this game is to keep setup simple (set up board, deal a few cards, GO!).  But if people have a full bank of random items, I feel like it would get a bit too frustrating.  (I look at dominion and it calms me a bit..but still something i want to avoid).


texts: When should I take a curse in response to Torturer?

texts:
In Dominion, when someone plays a Torturer, I almost invariably choose to discard rather than take a curse. The exceptions are if I have a trasher (Chapel, Steward, Upgrade, etc.) that I have the actions to use anyway, or if I think there's a good chance a Masquerade will be played and I don't want to give away any cards. In the case of multiple Torturers (whether action-chaining or 3-4 players), unless it's happening every time I'll prefer to discard 4 cards and essentially lose a turn than add 2 curses to my deck.

I think the most common reason people take curses instead is they think their cards are too good to discard, but unless I am guaranteed a good turn (e.g. Village and 2 Torturers in hand, not relying on lucky draw), I'll choose to discard.

What is the value trade-off of discarding vs. taking a curse? How good of a hand do you need to take a curse? How do you evaluate the damage a curse does to your deck?

Of course, all Dominion games are subjective to the Kingdom Set. In a set with lots of ways to trash things, taking curses isn't so bad. I'm more interested in answers where trashing is harder, say a Remodel or Expand are the only options, or where +actions are hard to come by.


texts: Can ghost replenish hand in Reveal the Culprit phase

texts:
In the Vision interpretation section of the rulebook, it says to draw vision cards to make up his hand to 7 cards.

In the Reveal the Culprit phase, it says the ghost picks three vision cards from his hand

It's not clear to me if the ghost is allowed to draw new cards to bring his or her hand up to 7 in the Reveal the Culprit phase every time he/she selects one of the three vision cards.

Can the ghost replenish his/her hand in the Reveal the Culprit phase?


texts: Can I still crown a king if I run out of pieces?

texts: Let's say in checkers, I somehow manage to get seven pieces crowned. I only have twelve chips, but I would need fourteen chips to crown seven kings. What do I do? What if the opponent doesn't have enough non-playable chips to give me either?


texts: How does Tarmogoyf interact with changelings?

texts: What would happen if you had a Mirror Entity (or any card with changeling) in your graveyard and a Tarmogoyf in play? Would Tarmogoyf's ability only count Mirror Entity as a shapeshifter type creature or a changeling type (every type)?


texts: As a control player, there are times where it takes a while to resolve the first game, and there are many times where I'm up a game. Are there any rulings against stonewalling the opponent and not taking any steps to end the game while playing at a reasonable pace? I feel prompted to ask this in light of Channel Fireball's article: Silvestri Says – It’s Time to Stamp Out Slow Play


texts: Does a +1/+1 counter remove a -1/-1 counter?

texts:
My opponent controls a Kulrath Knight. I control a 4/4 creature (with a -1/-1 counter on it, due to an earlier cast Black Sun's Zenith).

If I use an ability to put a +1/+1 counter on my 4/4 creature, will the +1/+1 counter and the -1/-1 counter cancel each other out, or will I just have a creature with both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it?

In other words: Will my creature be able to block and attack or not?

I don't believe the rules are 100% clear on that?! (rule 704,5)


texts:
Can a person ron from a person that sits across or right next to him but the last tile he takes from discard pile are sequence melds? (assume all hands are closed)
Can a person call ron and the last tile he need to complete are the pair? And if this can, can it call ron from everybody or just some people who sit left to him?


texts: "A Brief History of the World" - what are the area values over the epochs?

texts:
I got "A Brief History of the World" second hand, and I'm not entirely sure if the area value tokens are all there. The area values are not listed anywhere else in the rule book or on the internet as far as I could find. And not every area has a token for each epoch by design, absent tokens for that epoch indicate an area value of 0, so there is no way to check if a token is missing or supposed to not exist.

Can someone with a known-good 'A Brief History of the World' post a table with area values for the epochs?

I specifically only have two tokens for the second epoch, only for north and south Europe.


texts: What happens when a miracle trigger is copied?

texts:
One of the newly spoiled cards in Magic 2014, Strionic Resonator, allows you to copy a triggered ability you control. This allows you to copy any of a number of things that previously would happen only once.

If you used this card to copy a miracle trigger such as Terminus, what happens?


texts: Which are chess variants that are helpful in teaching chess?

texts:
Some chess variants are really helpful in teaching chess to beginners. Here is an example variant. This one is similar to knight chase.
Both players have only a knight. White has a knight at a8 and black has one at h1. White starts first and then players make alternate moves. A player moves his knight and marks the square previously occupied by his knight. Marked squares are no longer available to any player. The player who cannot move his knight at his turn loses. This game is useful to teach the movement of knight to beginners in a fun way.

Are there any other chess variants that are actually helpful in teaching chess and fun to play at the same time? (I am not much interested in bringing in new pieces or new rules, focus is more on teaching chess rules the fun way). Thanks


texts: Board games involving players' consensus for who wins?

texts:
I'm looking for inspiration about mechanics for a game I would like to design for a course in education.

I'm juggling with the idea of a board game related to calligraphy. The theme is exploited in smartphone apps to a certain extent but they don't teach the actual tool. My main issue is with envisioning how players would decide who wins each round.

Calligraphy has certain types of drills that are done on paper, sometimes with models to trace over (example, and another example). The idea is to do it as clean as possible. My initial thoughts is having multiple players doing a certain drill like a race against time. But then the players would have to reach consensus about who wins this round, based on precision, cleanliness, speed of execution, etc.

I've seen this type of game done in phone applications with some scoring associated to the end product, but I've never seen a game that uses consensus among players for deciding who wins a round and it seems like it would be too fragile to make any sense but I'm curious... Are there such games?


texts: The Witches: A Discworld Board Game - Defeating Count Bela

texts: When you defeat Count Bela Magpyr, the rules says that all Magpyr figures are removed from the board. What will happen with the points in that cards? Are for the player who defeat Bela or just are removed from the game (points go for no one)?


texts: Icons meaning in Awesome Kingdom: The Tower of Hateskull

texts:
All the cards in in Awesome Kingdom feature a color-coded gem on the top.

Some of them have icons in the gem but I couldn't find their meaning in the rulebook or any card mentioning them...
I'm talking about the icons on the 6 leftmost cards on the picture below:

The Khan of Cons card was labelled as a bonus for the first print run of the game and is the only card with this icon so I assume it means goodie or something like that. The other 5 cards (plus some other in the game) all feature a crowned skull icon.
Does anyone have an idea of its meaning?


texts: Can I activate an ability after part of a spell has resolved? (please read example)

texts:
I made a Phelddagrif group hug deck with Windfall as my win condition (obviously I would only use it in an emergency) and Elixir of Immortality.

So, I cast Windfall with, say, 40 cards in my hand, the text says "Each player discards their hand, then draws an amount of cards equal to the greatest number of cards a player discarded this way". So, could I use Elixir of Immortality after I discarded my hand, but before I drew 40 more cards? I know this sounds silly as I'd think that it wouldn't work, but if it does then I can do a lot more with my deck. Thanks!


texts: Can I target a hexproof opponent in order to trigger prowess?

texts: Let's say an opponent has hexproof due to Leyline of Sanctity.  Can I still cast a spell like Thoughtseize against them, just to let it fizzle and trigger prowess?


texts: Making a family card game playable online

texts:
My family has a version of "Muggins" that has been handed down from generation to generation (at least 3 generations, maybe more).   The rules that we play by are different than other versions that I've been able to find online or in rule books.

I'd really like to be able to make this game playable online so that our family can log in and play it together over the internet.  What is the best way to define the rules of a card game into a multi-player internet website?


texts: Sending to GY a monster that can't be targeted

texts:
So, if my opponent activates this effect: Your opponent selects one monster they control and SENDS it to the GY.

However, I only own 1 monster and it has this effect: Your opponent cannot target or destroy this card with monster effects.

Will the effect resolve and send my monster to the GY or not?


texts:
I am finally getting around to doing my Death Guard in Warhammer 40k.  In the Dark Imperium, the Lord of Contagion, was listed at 137 points, in the Codex it is listed at 120 points, but in Chapter Approved it is 100 points.

There are no corresponding errata for Dark Imperium and the Codex for adjusting the points.  Now, chapter approved is after Dark Imperium of course, and I assume that it is also after the Codex, so should the point value listed in chapter approved be used?

This would apply to more than just the Lord of Contagion of course.  And, how would you determine when chapter approved supersedes the codex; eg. the Tau codex (which came out after chapter approved)?

Following that, how would someone find out chapter approved changes if there is none listed for the specific codex, without purchasing the book?  Seems rather schmuckish for GW to expect you to ALWAYS purchase chapter approved for updated points and rules


texts: Aggro Token and the First Activation Token

texts:
So, I recently came across the realisation that we were not using the Aggro token correctly.

To begin with, we were actually using the First Activation Token in it's place, assuming the other one was for a separate game mode (Like hardcore, or something). But upon reading the rules again, it mentioned the use of both. We were unclear about how they operated, but I think I have come to a conclusion - though I would like to clarify.

So, the way I believe these tokens work:

The aggro token is passed around each turn. Enemies activate, player activates, pass on the token - enemies activate, player activates, repeat.
The First Activation token never moves, until players open enter a new room. Players decide who should take the First Activation token, to begin the initiative order, and potentially, to see who should draw "aggro".

By that, I mean certain enemies have particular icons determining who they attack:

In these two cases, the icon determines the target of the attack. The Cathedral Knight moves toward the player with the FA Token, and attacks them. The Deacon on the other hand, attacks the player with the Aggro Token, then moves away from the player with the FA Token.

Am I correct in this interpretation?


texts: In Axis and Allies, should the UK Build a factory in Australia?

texts:
Compared to South Africa and India, Australia, is, or can be made safer from, Axis occupation. It also has the potential to be "relevant." This may be more true in the newer versions, such as AA revised, where there are four Asian "victory" cities, How does the introduction of victory cities in Axis & Allies revised change gameplay and strategy? but is somewhat true even in the second edition, with which I am more familiar.

In this variation, I'd move the fighter from India to Australia, and the Indian transport with one of two infantry to Australia. Here, I could make a case for leaving NO infantry in India, in line with a question by another gamer. When retreating from a compromised territory should you always leave one infantry? But I prefer to leave one in India on the theory that it would tie up a Japanese offensive unit (a fighter or battleship) that might attack otherwise be used to attack Australia. Otherwise, the transfer of the UK fighter and infantry more or less safeguards the continent from amphibious attack by Japanese infantry in e.g., the Philippines supported by the battleship located in the Caroline islands.

There are two plausible plans that follow a  first turn build of a factory.

Under plan 1, the second turn build would be an aircraft carrier and an infantry, followed by an "island hopping" campaign with the fighter (on the carrier) and amphibious infantry  against the East Indies, Borneo, and New Guinea, followed by the Philippines. This increases the UK's IPCS and reduces Japan's.

Under plan 2, I'd build infantry and another transport or two for a shuttle service to Madagascar and ultimately Africa (with one transport as a "bridge" between that island and the continent. This would be a particularly worthwhile strategy if the US builds a factory in Brazil. In Axis and Allies, Should the U.S. Build a "Factory" in Brazil?

If you are the type of UK player that likes to build a factory in South Africa or India, would you build it in Australia instead? If you don't like to build those factories because of the possibility that the Axis can capture them, and make them Axis assets, would Australia's greater safety tip the balance in favor of this strategy? And perhaps the answer does matter from one edition of the game to another?


texts:
I see that some players start by playing all their Aces in the first opportunity.  By doing so the Ace usually beats low cards.  By letting some one else leading the suit, the ace can beat higher cards (maybe even the King).

Is it usually a bad practice to lead an Ace?
When leading an ace is a good move?  Maybe if you got A,K / A,K,Q ?


texts: What happens to the Capitol City during a Temporal Anomaly?

texts:
In Conquest of Planet Earth, the players are (usually green) bug-eyed space aliens doing the thing in the game title. There are ray guns, superheroes, strange events and, more to the point, temporal anomalies.
Here's the text of the Temporal Anomaly card:

PLAY IMMEDIATELY
Discard all Location cards on the board that do not currently have an Alien or marker on them, then shuffle all discard piles back into their respective decks.

The Capitol City lives in the middle of the board; it's put there at the beginning of the game. (All other locations are dealt from the Locations deck once someone moves a ship to an empty space.) It's pretty common for the Capitol City to have no Alien or conquest marker on it. (The capitol city is worth 5 victory points, in a game where victory happens at 8 points. It's also the best-defended location in the game.) However, the Capitol City is a truly singular card; it's a Location, but it quite definitely doesn't go in the Locations deck, because it's a double-sided card. (The other side is the Historical Monument, worth fewer victory points and less well-defended. If you play with that, it makes the game less of a race for the capitol.)
Since the Capitol City "can't" go in the Locations deck, what happens to it if it's unclaimed when Temporal Anomaly is drawn? Do you flip it to the other side? Randomly decide whether to flip it? Keep it intact? Shuffle it into the Locations deck anyway? Discard it, don't put it in the deck, and the Capitol City will never be seen again?


texts: Do you re-determine player order in this exceptional case?

texts:
Power Grid Rules:

  At the beginning of the game draw lots for player order.

  Because the player order is chosen randomly at the beginning of the
  game, the players re-determine the player order after auctioning the
  power plants (after phase 2). As no player has any cities at this
  time, the new player order is determined solely by the numbers of the
  power plants (see phase 1).

In our games, at this point, player order has seen rearranged.
Then, at the start of the 2nd round, we never change the player order because nothing has changed.

However, the rules state that :

  The players do not have to choose their starting cities in the first
  round. They can start their networks in later rounds to influence
  their positions in the playing order.

Question
If I don't choose a starting city in round 1, does that mean that, at the start of Round 2, Phase 1 : Determine Player Order, which we always skip because everyone has usually placed a first city in round 1, do I get sent to the last place in the player order because I have no cities on the board?


texts:
I was just playing Dominion online, and I planned to Donate my curses at end of game.
The card says:

After this turn, put all cards from your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number, shuffle your hand into your deck, then draw 5 cards.*

Since I had two buys, I used one to buy the last province, then the second one to buy donate. Yet, the game ended, without giving me the option to trash the two curses from my deck.
Is this a bug in the Dominion server implementation, or am I missing a fine print somewhere?
To me, the wording is pretty clear.


texts: Something that only happens every X turns

texts:
I'm working on a new board game where there's an action (we'll call it Brazening) that only happens every X turns (let's say it happens every 5 turns).

What's a good way to keep track of when it's time for the next Brazening?

The perfect method would:

be easy for players to do
be hard for players to forget
require a minimum of pieces or moving parts
not require pencil and paper

There might not be a perfect method.


texts: Suitable drafting rules for multi-set repacks?

texts:
For fun we picked up a booster box of multi-set repacks at our LGS (really cheap). Our intention was drafting, but we found that since they are multi-set the cards lack the synergies when drafting from a single block, plus the odds of getting to of the same card are close to zero.

I am new to drafting, so curious if there is a better format to play with multi-set repacks? Maybe just constructed (6 boosters to build a deck from)? Maybe a specific variation of drafting?


texts: Are gates too slow for constructed play?

texts:
Gates are of a cycle of dual lands coming out in Return to Ravnica. There's a gate for each guild (WU, BG, UR, BR, GW), but they always enter the battlefield tapped. These are in stark contrast to the shock lands that reappear in this set (which only enter tapped if you do not pay 2 life), the duals from the core set (which only enter tapped if you do not already have, for example, a swamp or mountain for the dual that taps for R or B (ironically, the gates would allow this to not come in tapped)), and lands from previous sets that came in tapped only you already have a few lands. The Innstrad lands work the same way, even though they aren't always aligned with the guild colors (They have BW, not WU. But they do have BG and UR, very nice.)

So that's the background. Is the entering the battlefield tapped going to be too slow? You're basically sacrificing whatever turn you're at to be turn - 1, which is a pretty hefty price to pay (apparently, it's worth 2 life!) Are these only going to see play in limited to facilitate mana fixing that otherwise isn't available?


texts: can i have multiple copies of a single pokemon?

texts: i was looking to build an Eevee deck for my niece, who is really into pokemon tcg at the moment- and i know you can only have 4 copies of any card, but saw somewhere that the exception is if it is a GX card. So in theory could i have 4 basic eevee, 4 eevee GX, and 4 eevee V? does the same apply to sylveon and sylveon GX? thanks in advance everyone!


texts:
My opponent and I each have 5 1/1 soldier tokens on the battlefield.

My opponent casts Nomads' Assembly, I cast Commandeer targeting the Nomads' Assembly and gain control of that spell.  No other spells are cast, nor any other shenanigans are performed during the rest of the turn.

Once the spell resolves, I have 10 1/1 soldier tokens on the battlefield, and the spell is exiled.  Do I still control this exiled spell?  Or does my opponent now control this exiled spell?  I think rule 400.7 is the proper rule, but I'm not seeing this interaction explained.

Specifically, my opponent owns the Nomads' Assembly while it is in exile, but do I control it?  Or does he control it as the card moves into exile?  When does the spell return to play?  And who gets to double their number of tokens?


texts: Why do dwarves only have a racial base of 3 tokens?

texts:
You only get three dwarves for a base, whose special ability is an extra victory token for mine tiles, and that this ability is retained when in decline.

This seems like a rip off! There are other races (like humans) who get an extra VP for farms, and they get almost twice as many from memory. The fact that you get to keep them when in decline doesn't especially help, as they're much easier to kill in decline.

So is there a reason why dwarves are apparently treated as powerful? What strategy should one use to utilise them?


texts: In cribbage, during the play, what is the count for four 5s in a row?

texts: If the person to the left of the dealer starts play with a 5, the next person plays a 5, the third person plays a 5 and finally, the dealer plays a 5, what is the count for the dealer?  Obviously the count is 20 and the points would be 12 because of four-of-a- kind.  But within that, could the 15s add up another 8 points (four combinations of 15 for two)?


texts:
Why is white 4 in this diagram not joseki? How can it be punished by black and how bad is it compared to standard joseki play?

$$ ----------
$$ ..........|
$$ ..........|
$$ ..3.2.....|
$$ ...4..1...|
$$ ..........|

A partial answer is probably: "Because this variation is joseki and it looks more forcing":

$$ ----------
$$ ..........|
$$ ..........|
$$ ..3.2.....|
$$ ..4...1...|
$$ ..........|


texts: City was not first a settlement. How to fix?

texts:
In a recent casual game of Catan (base game), a novice player built a city and placed it on an empty intersection. No other players noticed the mistake that the intersection did not first have a settlement.

Much later in the game, the novice player made the same mistake, but it was noticed and corrected by the other players. The novice player admitted that they had previously made the same mistake much earlier in the game.

The novice player had been erroneously collecting two resources and benefiting from two victory points because of this city for several turns.

To rectify the mistake, the other players agreed that the novice player would keep the city on the board, but must play to 11 victory points to win, while all other players would only have to play to the normal 10 victory points to win.

As an experienced player in the same situation, what would you have done to rectify the mistake in a way that the game could continue being played and that no matter who won, the game would be considered fair?


texts: In Magic, a cube is a collection of cards that is handpicked to make a good draft. A cube draft is a type of limited format that uses a cube to draft from. But what does "cube" mean? Does it refer to a collection of cards in the general sense, or is it Magic-specific terminology? Where did this term originate?


texts: Talking about Go: Using "he" and "she" for Black and White

texts:
It comes quite handy to assign different genders to the two abstract players "Black" and "White" and than use gendered personal pronouns in order to refer to them.

But who should be male, and who should be female?

Berlekamp and Wolfe in their book Mathematical Go use Wright White (male, "he") and Bella Black (female, "she") for the two rôles, but in this answer  Using the edges of the board in Go by Benjamin Cosman it seems that the opposite assignment is used. Where does it originate from?

Which assignment is preferable?

EDIT: I just noticed that Sensei's Library seems to use the White/she convention.


texts: Settlers of Catan Cities and Knights: Can Longest Road Leave the Game?

texts:
Background
In C&K, it is possible for your road length to decrease. If you have the longest road, and it gets shortened (by the Diplomat progress card or by an opponent's knight), what happens to the Longest Road card? The base game rules say the following:

The first player to build a continuous road (not counting forks) of at least 5 road segments receives the special card "Longest Road." If another player succeeds in building a longer road than the one created by the current owner of the "Longest Road" card, they immediately take the special card (and its 2 victory points).

And the C&K rules say:

Knights ... can be used to break another player's "longest road..." If the red player places his knight at 'B,' it will break blue's road, shortening his road for purposes of determining the longest road.

Consider the following situations
Assume the rest of the other players' road lengths are too short to matter. In all cases, Player 1 starts with the longest road:
a) Player 1's maximum road length is 7, Player 2's is 5.
b) Player 1's maximum road length is 7, Player 2's is 6.
c) Player 1's maximum road length is 7, Player 2's is 7.
d) Player 1's maximum road length is 5, Player 2's is 5.
e) Player 1's maximum road length is 5, Player 2's is 3.
If in all scenarios Player 1's road is shortened by 1 length, who ends up with the Longest Road card?
a) Player 1's road is still longer, so Player 1 keeps the Longest Road card.
b) The two players are now tied, so Player 1 keeps the Longest Road card.
c) Player 1's road is now shorter, so Player 2 takes the Longest Road card.
d) Player 1's road is now shorter, so Player 2 takes the Longest Road card. NOTE: Player 1's road length fell below the 5-length threshold of earning the Longest Road card in the first place. But Player 2 still has a road of length 5, so there's no question: Player 2 takes the Longest Road card.
e) What happens now? Does the Longest Road card get set aside, belonging to no player, or does Player 1 retain the card because no other player has (direct quote from the rules) "succeed[ed] in building a longer road than the one created by the current owner of the 'Longest Road' card?"
Scenario e)
According to what is written in the base rules, a player must take the Longest Road card for themselves in order for another player to lose the Longest Road card. There is no mechanism for the Longest Road card exiting the game because there is no way for road lengths to shorten, and thus no way for no player to have a maximum road length of less than five after any player has gained the Longest Road card. The C&K rules do not explicitly specify whether or not the Longest Road card stays in play. They simply say that knights can affect the length of a road; the Diplomat card rules also do not mention anything of use here.
The interpretation that my friends and I have settled on is that Player 1 retains the Longest Road card until another player takes it away by having a longer road, regardless of whether or not Player 1's road length is still above 5. However, Catan Universe seems to disagree with us on this one...
Does anyone have an official ruling for this? Thanks!


texts: Is it possible for an Othello / Reversi game to end without the board being filled?

texts:
Is there any case where an Othello (reversi) game would need to no more moves allowed?
This happen to one of the two players leading to the other to play again is a common thing. Has it ever happened simultaneously to both in the history of the game while leaving positions blank? I mean one cannot move, the other cannot move but there is still room on the board.

EDIT
I understand that when no moves are available the game is scored. What I am asking (as it has never occurred to me in the last 3-4 years I am playing the game is

Is there a possibility in which while the board is not yet full no more moves are available by neither of the two players?

How is this possible? Any examples of boards in which this is possible?


texts: Why are Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Pendrell Mists worded differently?

texts:
Tabernacle says the following:

  All creatures have "At the beginning of your upkeep, destroy this
  creature unless you pay 1."

Pendrell Mists says the following:

  All creatures have "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this
  creature unless you pay 1."

So one says "destroy" and one says "sacrifice". That seems surprising. If so then indestructible creatures would be immune to Tabernacle's effect whereas they would not be immune to Pendrell Mists effect. And similarly, Sigarda, Host of Heron would protect you against Pendrell Mists whereas it wouldn't against Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale.

Is this assessment correct?


texts: Changing control of an attacking or blocking creature mid-combat

texts:
I've happened upon a new scenario I didn't realise was possible: I attack or block with Jackal Pup, and after blockers are declared, I use Zedruu the Greathearted or Bazaar Trader to give the Jackal Pup to another player. I'd like to make sure I understand this interaction properly.

As far as I understand it:

Jackal Pup and the creature it's blocking or being blocked by still exchange damage as usual. It doesn't leave combat. Jackal Pup will deal a bunch of damage to whoever I gave it to.
I can even hand Jackal Pup to the player blocking it or attacking me, and that will still hold true. (They'll then control two creatures who exchange combat damage with each other!)
If a creature was declared attacking me (or my planeswalker), it is still doing so even after I block it with Jackal Pup and hand someone else control of it. If that creature has trample, the damage will go to me.

Do I understand this correctly? (These are some fun hijinks, if they work like they seem to.)


texts: Confused on helping and wandering monsters in munchkin zombies

texts:
There are 5 players. Player 1 kicks down door, there is a monster he needs help with. A player agrees to help. Can the other three players all use a wandering monster card and a monster card?

If so are the two players now fighting 4 monsters or 3 because the first monster dies at the moment the player said he/she would help?

If the two beat all the monsters, do both get levels per monster killed or just player one?


texts: How does Conspirator work with Throne Room / King's Court?

texts: If, for example, my turn starts by playing a King's Court and choosing Conspirator, how many cards will I draw?


texts: If I can cast "target instant card" from my graveyard can I cast a card that has Flash?

texts: Let's say I have a creature with Flash (You may play this card any time you could cast an instant) in the graveyard, and I cast something like Goblin Dark-Dwellers, or Torrential Gearhulk, which allow me to cast an instant from the graveyard without paying costs, is the creature with Flash a legal target?


texts: Does attacking creature take damage when playing instant "Ride Down" before combat damage but after blockers declared

texts:
If I attack with a 4/4 and am blocked with a 4/4
Can I play an instant before combat damage, Im pretty sure I can so
If I play Ride Down to destroy their blocker
Does my attacking creature still take 4 damage and die?
I know the damage won't go to the player (Unless I was a 5/4 because Ride Down also grants trample) because my creature is still technically blocked

But does it still take damage from the destroyed creature?


texts: In Catan, if you roll a seven and move the robber, do you actually have to rob someone?

texts:
Rolling a seven forces you to move the robber from its current position, to another hex.
Are you allowed to move the robber to a hex (other than the desert) from which no one is producing resources? Your blockage of production becomes "trivial," and you have no one to rob.
Are there times where this might make sense? One might be from a "political" point of view, perhaps if you don't want to disturb the current balance of power? Or might it make sense to block a hex where you don't want someone to build a settlement, rather than actually having one already?


texts: Can an illegal target that will become a legal target before the spell resolves be targeted?

texts:
The interaction I'm wondering about is between Bounding Krasis, Harbinger of the Tides, and Collected Company.

As a part of Collected Company's resolution, two creatures may enter the battlefield at the same time.  If both these creatures have ETB triggers, the controller gets to choose what order they go on the stack.

Harbinger of the Tides has an ETB trigger that reads:

  When Harbinger of the Tides enters the battlefield, you may return target tapped creature an opponent controls to its owner's hand.

Bounding Krasis has an ETB trigger that reads:

  When Bounding Krasis enters the battlefield, you may tap or untap target creature.

If a Bounding Krasis and a Harbinger of the Tides entered the battlefield at the same time due to a spell such as Collected Company, would the controller be able to target an untapped creature with Harbinger's trigger and then tap it with the Krasis trigger on top of it on the stack?


texts: How can I find games based on Caesar's campaigns in Gaul and Britannia?

texts:
I like Caesar's Gallic War by Worthington games.

How can I locate similarly themed games that focus on Caesar's campaigns in Gaul and Britannia?


texts: What does Hallowed Moonlight actually exile?

texts:
Hallowed Moonlight reads:

Until end of turn, if a creature would enter the battlefield and it wasn't cast, exile it instead.
Draw a card.

This seems confusing, the creature was cast when it entered the battlefield. Unless this references tokens or something? Please clarify, thanks.


texts: Bazaar Trader combo and Void Snare - Ownership vs. Control

texts:
I use Bazaar Trader and Act of Treason to gain control of a creature my opponent controls.

If my opponent uses a card such as Void Snare on that creature, does the card go to my hand or my opponents hand?


texts: Wargame with customizable miniature stats?

texts: I am looking for a wargame of any genre that has rules for creating stats for any miniature from any company. I know I've seen at least one set of rules like that, but I can't remember what the name of it was, nor can I find it through Google, as I'm not sure what to look for. It doesn't matter if it's a free game or if I have to pay for the rules, I just need a game where I can use the minis I've already got.


texts: What is the special die with pictograms in Monopoly used for?

texts:
I think that I have a pretty standard version Monopoly, which looks exactly like I see in the Web

It has two white dice with values 1 to 6 and one red with values 1,2,3 and 3 pictures. I haven't seen any rules that say what to do with this second die.

update Once, I've got to know that this is called at "speed die", I have managed to find a nice picture of it:

(The second picture has red regular dice instead of white like I have, but the special die is clearer.)


texts:
The card Disfigure reads:

Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.

If I used that on Highland Game, a 2/1 creature, would Highland Game still die?


texts: Can the climber jetpack to a buried tile?

texts:
In Forbidden Desert the climber's card says that they can move to any blocked tile, whereas the jetpack says it can only be used to fly to an unblocked tile.

Can the climber use the jetpack to travel to a blocked tile?

We just played a game and went by the ruling in this thread, which allowed it, but it would be nice if someone can point out a more official ruling (or even a thread where the conclusion is more confident!)


texts: In Diplomacy, can a fleet in a coastal province be used to convoy?

texts:
The situation I had in mind was that in Spring, 1901 Italy orders army, Venice to Albania. The Austrian Fleet Trieste does a convoy, since the fleet in the Trieste coastal region is adjacent to both the other two coastal regions. (This would be a Lepanto opening.)
Another player argues that this is not possible. His reasoning is "the convoy is only possible if the fleet vacates Trieste and moves into Adriatic Sea."
According to Diplomacy Wiki, "A fleet can convoy an army that is adjacent to it into another land space that is adjacent to the fleet."
Who is right?


texts: The Go Out rule says if you discard your last card that can't be played ends the round. You can't discard to end the round if the card is playable and become a "floater" or in "limbo" till you're able to go out with the proper discard. Now, if you discard a "SKIP" card, does it end the round or put you as a"Floater" still?


texts: When does the game end when the last player pushes the first player over the 40-point limit?

texts:
In a three-player game, the first player had about 38 points.  It is the last player's turn, and he uses a Free Agent which gives the first player (whose turn will normally be next) 41 points, triggering the game ending condition.  The last player then ends his turn and collects points, which also pushes the last player over 40.  Does the game end immediately, or does it go for one more round?

We played one further round, under the logic that: 1) the first player went over 40 first, off-turn. 2) the rules state that "When a player reaches 40 points at the end of their turn..." and 3) since he was first player, everyone else gets a turn to act so that everyone would get the same number of points.

On the other hand, the argument for the game ending immediately is: the last player went over 40 at the end of his turn (his turn ended on 40 first), and since everyone had played the same number of turns, the game ends.

Which is correct?


texts: When I buy expansions, should I take out duplicate bases?

texts:
The title says it all,

I recently bought the base set + expansion awesome level 9000. I now have duplicate bases. Should I play with duplicates or take them out?


texts: Is Apocalypse still a rule set in 7th edition and are the books still useful

texts: I haven't played 40k since 5th edition and I am looking to play my Necron army again and I am trying to figure out which of my books if any are still useful. It looks like none of my codexs are still useful for anything other than art (which makes since given I am 2 editions away from when I got them) but are the Apocalypse books still used? I don't see any Apocalypse books on the GAW website.


texts: Does the tea card in sushi go apply to other tea cards if it's the largest set, including itself?

texts: I had three tea cards in sushi go and my next largest set of cards were just two. Does this mean, I should count my tea cards as a set, or do I use the set of two yellow cards as my main set? (I argued that the largest set of colours that I had was the three tea cards, therefore I would score 9 pts)


texts: In Uno, can you play a Wild Draw 4 Card drawn as a penalty, if you have a card the same colour as the draw pile?

texts:
E.g.
- Player 1 plays a Draw 2 Card.
- Player 2 picks up 2 cards, one of which is a Wild Draw 4 Card. He also draws another unplayable card. The draw pile is showing a yellow card. Player 2 has a yellow card in his hand (but he is not allowed to play these).

Can he play the Wild Draw 4 Card?

I say yes because he has no other playable cards.
My partner says no because he has a card in his hand that matches the colour of the draw pile.

What is the official rule?


texts: Love letter: If you discard a constable and lose, do you get an affection token?

texts:
In the rules, if you are eliminated with the constable in your discard pile, you gain an affection token.

If I discard the constable, and then lose on points at the end of the round, have I been eliminated and thus get an affection token? Or did I just lose, and not get an affection token?


texts: Tactic cards in combat in Warhammer: Invasion

texts:
Look at the following combat scenario:

Both players had counted their forces strength and assigned the damage to opponents forces (assigned but not yet applied)
Now according to the rules players can play Tactics cards (as in between every other combat phases).

The question is: can one player play now the tactics card that will give him extra strength? The damage has been assigned already and having this ability would move the game back to previous phase (damage assignment) but the rule book doesn't clarify this subject.


texts: Does Hospital Debts incur the 2 experience point penalty if the investigator is defeated?

texts: When the investigator is defeated, the cards in play get discarded. Does Hospital Debts still incur the Forced penalty of earning 2 fewer experience points now that it is discarded?


texts: Who are "Johnny", "Timmy", and "Spike" and what do they do?

texts:
Often times when browsing different Magic: The Gathering sites, I will come across certain decks or cards that are said to be favoured by a Johnny, a Timmy or a Spike. Also, sometimes certain people will identify themselves or others as being some mixture of Johnny, Timmy or Spike.

What is a Johnny, a Timmy, and a Spike, and what are the characteristics of cards or players that fall into those three groups?


texts: When does Skullcage have its effect activated?

texts:
I am new to Magic, so forgive me if this is common knowledge.

Does the opponent's draw step happen before or after the Skullcage condition is checked?


texts: In bridge, what level of strength do different systems require to bid a short minor?

texts:
Most players will bid 1 spade with (s) AKJxx (h)Axxx (d)xx (c)xx. That is, 12 hcp and a five card major.

If you "redistribute" the two spade spots, you get: (s) AKJ (h)Axxx (d)xxx (c)xxx.

Many systems would say that this is not enough to bid a short one club. They would require 13 hcp, or something like (s) AKJ (h)Axxx (d)xxx (c)Jxx.

Are there systems that say "12 is 12," so go ahead and bid 1 club without the jack?

Conversely, are there other systems that say, "your three card club suit is so short, we need 14hcp for one club"?

Would any of the answers change if the hand had FOUR clubs instead of three and two diamonds instead of three?


texts: Does Mutate count as an alternative cost?

texts:
I have Jodah, Archmage Eternal on the battlefield:

You may pay {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} rather than pay the mana cost for spells that you cast.

I want to Mutate Nethroi, Apex of Death onto, let's say, a dragon. Nethroi states:

Mutate {4}{G/W}{B}{B} (If you cast this spell for its mutate cost, put it over or under target non-Human creature you own. They mutate into the creature on top plus all abilities from under it.)

In the rulings I find:

(2018-04-27) Jodah’s ability is an alternative cost to cast a spell. You can’t combine this with other alternative costs, such as flashback. You can pay additional costs, such as kicker, in addition to this alternative cost.

Can the Mutate cost be paid by Jodah's ability? In other words, does Mutate count as an alternative cost?


texts: If the Witch steals the power of the warlord and tries to destroy a player's district, are they protected if they have the bishop?

texts:
Player A has the witch and bewitches the Warlord.
Player A chooses to destroy player B's district.
Player B has the Bishop. Can he reveal it to protect himself?
If player B can do this and reveal the bishop, can player C rob the bishop with the thief?


texts: How to build a multi-colour aggro deck to be more effective against control

texts:
I'm building a casual (anything goes, kitchen-table) deck for my friend, out of our combined pool of cards, which will have 3+ colours (atm it's three). She's a Vorthos/Timmy. She often builds her own deck out of the biggest/prettiest cards, but suffers/is frustrated when she plays against control style. I'm making it Red/Green/Blue, with as many elves/merfolk/faeries as possible for flavour reasons.

As a general question, how do you stop a deck with 3+ colours from being unfocused? That is to say, focus on a successful tactic (engines, brute force, lots of little creatures etc) whilst spanning the three colours. You need to juggle 3 types of land, which can end some games too early through having to mulligan/suffer the consequences. How can an aggro style, also be anti-control?

I'm sorry if this question is too localized/general. I'm really struggling to get my request into a SX style, but I do want a list of correct practices in making this deck, without a long list of good cards; chances are I won't have them, and can't afford to buy any more.


texts: What are the correct official abbreviations for Commander's Anthology & Arsenal?

texts:
In Magic: the Gathering both Commander's Anthlogy and Commander's Arsenal are listed as having CMA as three letter abbreviation:

COMMANDER'S ARSENAL,

Commander Anthology.

In the Wikipedia article List of Magic: The Gathering sets they are listed as CM1 and CMA. The same goes for MTG Wiki.
Shall I consider CM1 (Arsenal) and CMA (Anthology) as the correct official ones?


texts: Can I play a first turn Simic Growth Chamber to have 3 mana available in the second turn?

texts:
Using a card like Simic Growth Chamber (there are others for other colour combinations) in the first turn and a "normal" land in the second, can I have 3 mana available in the second turn?

Simic Growth Chamber enters the battlefield tapped.
When Simic Growth Chamber enters the battlefield, return a land you control to its owner's hand.
Tap: Add {G}{U}.

Can I really play this card without any land on the battlefield?


texts: Can I play unequipped on-the-table cards in combat?

texts: Players can put cards down on the table unequipped. If they have a one-shot card on the table, such as a loaded die or a type of grenade, can they use those cards during combat? Or, can you only play cards that are on the table when you are not in combat?


texts: Is it common to have too few resources for most cards in Age 3 of "7 Wonders"?

texts:
I've only played one game so far and it was with 7 players so that might not have been a normal experience...

I got the feeling that most cards in Age 3 are simply not affordable because they need so many resources.

Is that a common thing, i.e., you'd have to deliberately focus on resource cards if you want to build a lot in Age 3?
Is it just bad playing on the part of me (and others)?
Maybe it's even an effect of having so many players?

EDIT to elaborate on my experience: I actually won the game so there's no complaint there. I had around 4 brown/gray buildings and my neighbors had roughly the same amount. I don't think I had one of those yellow free resources cards though. When Age 3 came I realized that about half my hand was impossible to build because neither me nor my neighbors had the necessary resources. I eventually relied on the few cards I could build and a lot of freebies from previous cards (I think I placed about 5 buildings for free). IIRC I never trashed a card in the last age but I did build my last two wonder stages...


texts: Are bidding systems geared toward "optimizing" contracts?

texts:
Most contracts can succeed with some distributions and defenses of the 26 opposing cards, and fail with others. If a contract (except a grand slam) makes against any defense and distribution you've underbid. If one never makes against any distribution and perfect defense, you've overbid. The latter two are clearly "non optimal" contracts.

When I learned bridge in the early 1970s, I was taught to "bid to make." With a standard eight card trump fit and 26 points, one should be in a four level contract that would make if e.g. the trump suit broke 3-2 (a 68% chance) but would often fail if the suit broke 4-1 or 5-0. Other equivalent (68%) chances were a combination of 3-3 suit break followed by a finesse.

More recently, scoring rules have changed, especially for IMPs, so that you will come out ahead if your contracts have a 50% chance of making, and in some cases, even 40%. Have bidding systems adjusted to these changes, requiring say, 24 points instead of 26, so that your contract hinges on 50-50 finesses rather than the 68% chance situations described above?


texts: Can Fragmentize destroy artifacts with converted mana cost greater than 4?

texts:
Fragmentize, a white sorcery, has this wording:

Destroy target artifact or enchantment with converted mana cost 4 or less.

The wording seems clear enough, but I see a potential loophole in the wording. This can be read two ways:

Choose one:

Destroy target artifact
Destroy target enchantment with converted mana cost 4 or less

or

Choose one:

Destroy target artifact with converted mana cost 4 or less
Destroy target enchantment with converted mana cost 4 or less

I believe the first version is the intended effect, but an argument could be made for the second (maybe operator precedence?).
To make an analogy:
Buy me a car, or a plane if it's less than $50.000

I would interpret this as "Buy me a car, but if you find a plane that costs less than 50k, that would also work"
Which is correct?


texts: How does the die rolling work in Betrayal at House on the Hill?

texts: There are a lot of parts into the game where i just dont know what to do with the die. For example, when I have to roll a 3+ to cross a bridge, how many dice is it when it's not a might or speed or sanity or knowledge roll?


texts: Warhammer Fantasy Tournaments Statistics

texts:
I'm looking for raw tournaments result database/statistics, divided per format, date and including army distribution

something like this : tabletoptournaments.net

but where I cand filter by date and format, and with complete data (here, there are 165 victories on 3967 armies.. a lot of draws!)

does it exist?

thanks for helping me


texts: My question has to do with Ravenous trap.  Say my opponent casts Thought Scour targeting themselves.  Once the spell resolves they have two cards + thought scour itself in the graveyard this turn.  I want to prevent them from casting a Tasigur, the Golden Fang/Gurmag Angler.  Could I cast Ravenous trap right after thought scour resolves before they get a chance to delve their graveyard?


texts: Can I use Summoning Glass immediately upon receiving it?

texts: Do I have to wait until the arkham encounters phase of my next turn, or can I use this card immediately upon receiving it?


texts:
Lets say we have

F Bar-StP
F Nwy S F Bar-StP
F StP-Nwy

Does the support from Norway get cut from the fleet in St. Petersburg?  And as such stopping the movement of the Fleet in the Barents sea from moving into St. Petersburg?


texts: Does Touch of Moonglove need another "this turn?"

texts:
So, this question is pedantic, but still I must ask.

Here is the current oracle text for Touch of Moonglove:

  Target creature you control gets +1/+0 and gains deathtouch until end
  of turn. Whenever a creature dealt damage by that creature dies this
  turn, its controller loses 2 life.

Normally when card text discusses something dealt damage by a creature, it looks for "dealt damage by X this turn" (e.g. Abattoir Ghoul), or for a delayed trigger in a spell, it looks for "dealt damage this way" (e.g. Aggravate; not appropriate here because Touch of Moonglove doesn't deal damage).

So, I think a literal reading of Touch of Moonglove means it would apply to all creatures that have ever (in any turn) been dealt damage by the target creature as long as they die this turn. ("This turn" after "dies" I think can syntactically only apply to the duration of the delayed trigger.)

Clearly this is not the intended reading. If this was intended, it would perhaps be worded like Diseased Vermin ("previously dealt damage", but in this case probably worded something like "dealt damage this turn or previously dealt damage"). But, such a card has memory issues at the very least.

The correct wording is I think "Whenever a creature dealt damage by that creature this turn dies this turn, ...", but it is maybe a bit awkward.

Note that although damage is cleared at end of turn, the "dealt damage" clause cannot be understood to rely on marked damage. It should work with wither or infect which do not mark damage (and last beyond this turn), and I think it still works after regeneration or other effects that would remove marked damage (if it still dies later).

Note also that I am reading that "dealt damage" can refer to damage before Touch of Moonglove resolved. This could even be previous damage dealt "this turn," which is how I understand the card should work.

Is this criticism correct? Is this some reason that Touch of Moonglove doesn't need another "this turn?" Are there other cards with similar issues? (I didn't find any others yet.)


texts: Can one show that a majority of bridge hands could have been successfully defended?

texts:
In noting the importance of defense in overall bridge scores, a bridge teacher opined that half or more contracts were either defeated or could have been.

I was wondering if available records of the results in pairs or duplicate tournaments could prove or disprove this statement. Specifically, I was wondering about the proportion of "contested contracts" that some declarers made, and some defenders defeated.

For our purposes, a "contested contract" in a pairs tournament will be one where the declarer made it in one room, and the defense defeated in the other room. A declarer's contract will be one that both declarers made, and a defender's contract will be one that both defenders defeated.

A "contested contract" in a duplicate tournament will be one that declarers and defenders made and defeated in non- lopsided proportions. A declarer's contract will be one that most declarers made, and a defender's contract will be one that most defenders defeated.

Are there percentage breakdowns of contested, versus declarers' and defenders' contracts from tournaments? And do they show that the percentages of defeated plus contested (and presumably defeatable) contracts is greater than 50 per cent? Or are declarers supposed to make more than 50 per cent of their contracts because bidding systems are constructed that way?


texts: Must you have an uncompleted destination card in Ticket to Ride?

texts: Put another way, once you complete the destinations on your initial destination cards, do you have to draw a new destination card or can you play without having an uncompleted destination?


texts: Can troops and equipment abilities be used on another player's lane?

texts:
In XenoShyft Onslaught, can Troop Card and Equipment Card abilities be used on another player's lane? For example, can a player use the "Stormtrooper" ability to deal 2 damage to a monster on another player's lane?

For references, the rulebook says that player can use card abilities during the "Reaction phase" after revealing an enemy, but nothing about restricting targets:

  At this time all players have a chance to react to the revealed
  Enemy. This includes using Special Abilities on their cards or
  playing Instant cards from their hand.

The "Stormtrooper" card:


texts: I have a magic-the-gathering deck that is three colors, and they are white, black, and green. I was wondering what thew color combination name would be for it?


texts:
Do effects that occur at the start of a day happen at the beginning of the first turn?

Does the Fellowship player draw two (due to Pippin being in play) additional cards at the start of the first turn, as they would during a Refresh Step?  My assumption is no, since most of what happens during a Refresh Step is explicitly spelled out in the Setup instructions, implying to me that there is no actual Refresh Step at the start of the first turn.

Does the Lead Nazgul player draw an extra Sorcery card as they would during the Refresh Step?  Again, I assume no for the same reasons above, although it does seem strange to me that the first player misses out on this card draw.

Does Frodo's passive ability trigger, which causes him to draw a Fellowship Token if he has less than 2 already (which is true)?  I assume yes, as it is "the beginning of a new day", which does not seem to interact with the Refresh Step or be otherwise ambiguous.


texts:
Can cards discarded to activate Lion's Eye Diamond be played for their madness cost with the mana produced by Lion's Eye Diamond?

For example:

I play Lion's Eye Diamond.
I have Alms of the Vein in my hand.
I crack Lion's Eye Diamond, discarding Alms of the Vein, getting {B}{B}{B}.
Can I play Alms of the Vein with the produced mana?


texts: When to choose Terrans and how to make the most from them

texts:
I love Gaia Project. But there are some races I havn't quite "cracked" yet. So I figured I would try to start a thread here for each race. I will try with this one, and if people like it, I will follow up with each of the other races in turn.

I will start with one of the races I do think I've got a fair handle on.

I will then provide a response with the do's and don'ts that I've figured out so far.

Some things are always relevant before you choose a race. Such as the amount and layout of the planets. The more planets of the right colour, the better. Even more so, if there are planets nearby, that only needs to be terraformed a single step to become habitable. And hopefully they are not all situated near the border of the map. You also want to start near other players. No need to address these points each and every time.

So: When to choose Terrans, and how to make the most from them?

Summary of the Terrans, for those who do not remember :
Start one place up the Gaia tech track, making you start with one of the three terraformers activated.
Once the Planetary Institute has been built, every Gaia phase, you may obtain resources for the powerdiscs that are moved back into your power bowls. 4 discs for a QI cube. 3 discs for an Iron. 4 discs for a Tech. 1 disc for a Gold.


texts: How to mitigate "bandwagon attacking" from players?

texts:
Let's assume I am playing a board game with at least 2 other players and there is a clear way to see how well players are progressing. Also assume there is an attack mechanism that cannot be directly blocked. This is a scenario I have experienced across several such board games:

I find a way to progress relatively well.
Other players see this and team up to attack me.
I start to fall behind due to the attacks. Others progress past me.
Other players continue to prioritize attacking me.
I finish far behind in last place.

Up until step 4, this seems like a rational way for players to play. At step 4, however, it would make more sense to switch gears and attack the other players that have gotten ahead, but this either doesn't happen or it happens far too late in the game. It appears that there is some kind of psychological aspect wherein once players start attacking someone, they don't want to stop.

My question is: how can I mitigate this "bandwagon attacking" from other players? This is an issue for me because the game feels hopeless once I realize step 4 is occuring, and I find myself waiting for the game to end.

I have tried explaining to the other players that it would make sense to start attacking different players, but they write this off as me trying to protect myself (which isn't wrong). I have thought about quantifying the attacks by keeping a tally of some sort, but that feels a bit petty.

For reference, these are some games that I have experienced this in:

Lords of Waterdeep
Villainous
Survive - Escape from Atlantis
Blood Rage


texts: Do you get change from cards in Ascension?

texts:
Say I have three cards in my hand Ascension, each worth two points.

Am I allowed to buy two cards worth three points each (As I had six total), or can I only buy a three point and a two point card as I've used two cards in my hand to pay for the three-point card?

Put another way, do I get change when I spend the points on a card?


texts:
Me and my girlfriend tried playing our first game of Go last night, but we're not sure we understood the rules so we can't determine who won this.

Can you understand or maybe mark this so that we understand whether we played correctly or not, and also which one of us won? We played until we ran out of stones.


texts: How Can I Improve Combat in DungeonQuest?

texts:
I've been playing DungeonQuest for a while with some of my friends, and what I've discovered is that there's a noticeable drop in interest during the combat, which is too complicated for new players to pick up easily and surprisingly slow for such a fast-paced game.

Does anyone who's been playing this for a while know of a better rule set or house rules to make it more fun?


texts: trigger priority and response to said triggers mtg

texts: if there are two voltaic servant triggers, can i respond to the second trigger after the first trigger resolves? For example; I tap steel overseer during my turn. At the end of my turn my two voltaic servants trigger to untap a target artifact. I untap my steel overseer for the first trigger and in response to the second trigger I tap steel overseer again. After that the second trigger goes off and I will have effectively tapped steel overseer 2 times and untapped 3 times because of the two voltaic servants. Is this correct?


texts: When is the woodcutter worth buying in Dominion?

texts:
So far I've found every card in Dominion has its own niche, but the woodcutter's seems to be exceptionally small. I only buy 1 or 2 if its the only card that gives +buys, otherwise a silver is better 99.9% of the time.

Am I missing a key factor of the woodcutter? Is this the best way to use it?


texts: Star Trek: Deck Building - Upgrade Rules

texts: When a card is suppose to be upgraded do you remove the card being upgraded from your deck?  Then the card gained from the upgrade, are you allowed to play that card?  If you upgraded a card already on the bridge, can you play the gained card?


texts:
This actually pertains to an informal family sporting event, but I think this is probably the best exchange to ask.

Basically we're holding a series of competitions (miniputt, hoop shooting, etc), and the overall winner across all events wins the grand prize.

I need a system for allocating the overall winner.

What I was thinking is that you would give points first, second, third place in each event, and total points across all events wins grand prize.

The question is:

What is this kind of scoring system called?
What should the points allocation be? ie. You how many more points should first be than second?


texts: In Catan, can you continue a "circular" road?

texts:
If I have 6 roads that go all around a single hex tile, they are a continuous uninterrupted road (assuming none of my opponents interrupts it with their settlements/cities). But, can I continue this 6-piece road and create a 7-piece continuous road by building a road that goes out of this hex tile? Here's an image of what I'm talking about:

Is this a valid 7-piece continuous road?


texts: Where can I find the rules for Game of Life 1991 UK version?

texts:
I have the Game of Life board game and lost the instructions. I found the 1977 & 1991 instructions online but they are not the same as my version.
On the box there is that mine is of 1992 but still the 1991 instructions version are completely different. My version has mostly yellow tiles, few orange and some red tiles. No blue or white or green or Life tiles at all. Nor Pay Day tiles.

I have some tiles stating Casino tiles, take X amount of money or risk it. But how can you risk it? My version is you have to pay $20 K to go to university. Other versions say $40 K and above.

Life insurance cost $25 K. I have no Automobile or Homeowners Insurance Policies.

The cards I have are: Bank Loans, Salary, Career & Status Symbol. (No House Deeds & Stock Cards)

Where can I find the rules for this version?


texts: Do cards that say "Each player..." still affect players with Shroud?

texts: I have a True Believer out which gives me shroud. My opponent has an enchantment that says that each player must sacrifice whenever he sacrifices a card. Does the enchantment target me, thus allowing me to avoid the effect, or does the enchantment still have its effect despite me having shroud?


texts: What happens when a promoted cell that makes a capturing move is at the king-row, and there are capturing moves available?

texts:
When a capturing move of a non-promoted cell is at the king-row, the cell becomes a king cell and can't make any other capturing move even if there are available.

What about a promoted cell that makes a capturing move is at the king-row, and there are capturing moves available?


texts: What happens when you can't conquer regions?

texts:
I came into a situation with a 2-player Small World game, where I was surrounded by an active race with the Diplomatic power, and that player had declared peace with me.

I could not attack the active race and there were no other regions available to conquer. What are my options, except for going into decline?


texts:
We've played Caverna a few times now, and the most recent time, I stumbled onto something so easy and good I felt like I must be cheating. So, help me out: am I doing this right? Or, is there some mitigating factor I don't understand?

The Peaceful Cave furnishing is described like this in the Appendix (emphasis original):

  At any time, you can trade the weapons of your Dwarfs for Food. You get a number of food equal to the strength of the Weapon you trade in. You can trade multiple weapons at the same time or at different points in time. (For instance, if you traded in a Weapon of strength 14, you would get 14 Food from the general supply. The Peaceful cave works well with the Prayer chamber.)

Ore is relatively plentiful (with plenty of tiles to help if you need a boost), and the net result is that you can take the Blacksmithing space basically whenever it's available, pay 8 ore, and then immediately exchange the now-strength-9 weapon for 9 food plus whatever you got on the expedition itself. (2 more ore + 2 points + one of whatever else you need!)

Once the others have armed their dwarfs (or decided not to), the Blacksmith tile doesn't seem to be in that much contention, and anyway, this made food so plentiful that I had no problem using the Imitation space whenever it was convenient. Plus, the tile itself is worth 2 points, and as the description notes, it makes Prayer Chamber another easy 8 points.

With three dwarfs, you can basically have one doing this, one gathering ore, and the other doing whatever else you want. Probably breeding more dwarfs, because mouths to feed aren't an issue.

So: were we playing this wrong? Is there some limiting factor that I hadn't thought of? Should there be a rule that once a weapon is sold, that dwarf can't be re-armed? (There doesn't appear to be. And how would you keep track?) Or are there many other options that are actually just this good that we haven't discovered yet, and I'm just amazed because I'm used to the rounds of abject poverty and starvation in Agricola?


texts: I was playing MTG with my friend. I attacked with a 6/4 and he blocked with a 5/5. He says my 6/4 should die because its toughness is less than its block even though my creatures attack (a 6) is bigger than his creatures toughness (5).


texts: Is the Hand pattern probabilities equal to suit pattern probabilities?

texts:
In Spades, I wish to know the probability a certain suit is distributed in a particular way.  For example I wish to know what is the probability that the diamonds are distributed either 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0 among the 4 players.

Is this question equal to the probability a hand is distributed 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0 among the four suits?  If this is true, then I can use the Hand pattern probabilities

EDIT: This question came up because I wanted to know what is the probability that my partner will not be able to cover my nil bid on the forth trick of a suit.  Only on those two hand distributions (4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0) is it possible for an opponent to lead that suit, me having that suit, and my partner to not be able to cut with a spade.

I guess I need the conditional probabilities, conditioned on the number of cards I have from that suit.  Do you know to find the distribution when I have either 4 or 5 diamonds?


texts: Where can I find a list of all the cards in Elder Sign?

texts: I'm looking for a breakdown of the common item, unique item and spell cards so I know what my chances are when buying certain cards. I've done a bit of googling and have not come up with anything.


texts: Building a mana base for WGB Tokens in Standard

texts:
So Wizards heard my prayers and has given me something to make my favored W/G tokens deck even better. Unfortunately, those somethings are black:

Dark Ascension isn't out yet, so we can't brew with full information, but I'm already working on a decklist for the upgraded WBG tokens. All of the following are strong candidates for inclusion in the deck (though some of them will eventually have to be cut):

Name                        Cost
=================================================
Doomed Traveler             W
Accorder Paladin            1W
Honor of the Pure           1W
Intangible Virtue           1W
Gather the Townsfolk        1W
Midnight Haunting           2W
Lingering Souls             2W, 1B flashback
Fiend Hunter                1WW
Hero of Bladehold           2WW
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad    2WB
Geist-Honored Monk          3WW
Gavony Township             {T} 2WG ability
Vault of the Archangel      {T} 2WB ability

The first thing to notice about this list is that it's very nearly mono-white, with three different cards costing WW. The second is that we actually have more B than G (though there's a little more G in the sideboard, as I'll probably continue siding in Autumn's Veil, and either Naturalize or Ray of Revelation.)

Now the W/G tokens deck had a very reliable manabase, what with having Razorverge Thicket, Sunpetal Grove, and Avacyn's Pilgrim available. Building WBG is quite a bit trickier: the only W/B land in standard is Isolated Chapel, unless Dark Ascension gives us another rare land cycle, which seems unlikely. How would you go about it? Or are we perhaps better off dropping Gavony (the only maindeck G) and going just WB?


texts: Is house Baratheon meant to be able to expand this quickly?

texts:
We just played a 4 player game of Game of Thrones and wondered a bit about the balance of house Baratheon.  Unlike in the 3 player game where all of the southern zones are excluded from the game and can't be conquered, in the 4 player game all of those zones can now be captured with a relatively small army - there are a number of forts in those zones and house Baratheon is in prime position to take pretty much all of them simply by extending their fleet south a little bit.

In the game we just played I was House Baratheon and I managed to win fairly comfortably on around turn 5, despite not really twigging onto the potential of this strategy for a couple of turns. I also felt kind of cheap and so didn't really use this strategy as much as I could have done - it seemed that a player properly exploiting this strategy would be at a massive advantage.

Should some of these zones be excluded as they are in the 3 player game, or is simply intended that the other 3 players be aware of this and work together to stop house Baratheon from managing to do this?


texts: Deciding when to vote for team approval when people are disagreeing.

texts:
Really - the team approval phase is the only part where people's agreement/disagreement about who are the spies/etc have substance.

What commonly happens is that two of three people will be arguing about something, and it will be a bit of a stalemate, and someone else saying 'Just vote!'.

What should happen here? How do you decide when the vote should happen, or whether to keep arguing?


texts: Can Chandra, Acolyte of Flame cast Heartfire without the additional cost?

texts: I was under the impression that if you used Chandra, Acolyte of Flame's -2, targeting Heartfire, you would still have to sacrifice a creature, but someone told me that was not true. What is the ruling here?


texts: In the Final Battle, do all spells have to be recast each round of combat?

texts:
Investigators Refresh
  At the beginning of a round of combat with an Ancient
  One, the investigators may refresh their cards, use any
  character abilities, and adjust their skill sliders as though
  it were the Upkeep Phase. Next, the first player marker
  should be passed to the left. Finally, they may trade
  items among themselves as if they were in the same
  location (see “Trading Equipment” later in these rules).

Is this really an upkeep phase in every single respect, or is it a psuedo-upkeep phase with slightly different rules? Do spells have to recast every round? Dread Curse of Azathoth says it lasts until end of combat, and the rules specifically say investigators may refresh cards. If they chose not to refresh a spell would it mean that the spell would continue in effect, possibly for the whole battle without having to be recast at all?

EDIT: in addition, if investigators have blessings, do they need to roll to see if they discard them every round of combat?


texts: Is more than one deck of cards ever used in Phase 10?

texts: When 4-6 players are playing Phase 10 is it possible that the deck can be exhausted before anyone completes a phase?


texts: How does Exquisite Archangel work with different ways of losing?

texts:
The card Exquisite Archangel from Aether Revolt has the following ability:

  If you would lose the game, instead exile Equisite Archangel and your life total becomes equal to your starting life total.

The way this works with losing due to life loss seems relatively simple, but what happens if you lose to something else, such as poison counters, mill, or an effect that says that your opponent wins the game? Does this ability have any other common edge cases?


texts: Is there a way to play Twilight Imperium's "age of empire" variant with Shattered Empire's strategy cards?

texts:
The third edition of Twilight Imperium has become one of the most-played games as of late, and we have finally begun to incorporate the first expansion into the game. In the core TI3 rules is an excellent variant, called age of empire, that makes the entire public objective deck accessible by the fourth round. We have a lot more fun playing with this variant, but ran into difficulty when incorporating Shattered Empire's new strategy cards.

Shattered Empire's eighth strategy card, bureaucracy, primarily deals with revealing objective cards, which is pointless with age of empire's fully-revealed setup. We ran into this problem the first and only time we played, and could not figure out a solution—letting the bureaucracy card pile up with bonus counters until there were none left. It was a disappointing way to end my new favourite game. I otherwise found these new cards to be much more interesting, so it would be nice to use them.

Has anyone figured out a clever way to modify their rules so as to incorporate both ? I would very much like to keep in the spirit of the card(s), but every modification I have come up with is terribly boring.


texts: betrayal at house on the hill attacking and lucky stone

texts:
A character attacks a monster.  The character rolls their attack roll first.  The monster rolls second, but the combat is simultaneous.  If the attacker loses the combat roll can he chose to reroll any number of the attackers dice after the combat is complete or does the attacker need to reroll immediately following his attack roll not knowing whether it is needed (as it depends on the simultaneous defense roll)?  Consider that the lucky stone is a one use item then discarded.
Counter argument of the defender is that the attacker roll happens first and cannot be rerolled after the defender rolls.
Only the defender with a lucky stone gets the benefit of the item?
Seems wrong to me as the item is a very powerful one use item.


texts: Does the medic remove cubes of the final cured disease (and thus eradicate it) before the game ends in a win?

texts:
Consider a scenario in which your group is doing absurdly well. Three diseases have been eradicated, and while the fourth disease — Red — has not yet been cured, it has been contained to a single city, in which the Medic is already present.

Then it happens. The Operations Expert, holding three red cards, moves to a Research Center where the Researcher, holding two red cards, is already present. The Operations Expert takes those two red cards and then cures the final disease. You've won!

But since the Medic is in the only city still infected by the (now cured) Red Fever, that one is instantly treated as well.

Have you now won with full eradication? Or did the game already end once the fourth disease was cured?


texts: Which effect triggers first in MTG: Mage Slayer or Mystifying Maze

texts:
Yesterday I played a deck with the card Mage Slayer against a deck with Mystifying Maze. I equipped a creature with Mage Slayer and attacked. My opponent reacted by exiling the equipped creature with his Mystifying Maze.

The ability of Mage Slayer triggers and resolves in the declare attackers step. Can Mystifying Maze prevent this? It can only target attacking creatures, therefor it can only be used once the attackers are declared.

What's the correct ruling in this situation?


texts: Has anyone heard of a game called connect 5

texts:
I have memories of a game. I'm 30 now and I think I was most likely early teens when I played it, so probably sometime around 1998 or so. I think it was called "connect 5" but I'm not positive on that. It was played by dropping tiles into a physical vertical grid. The game was like the famous "connect 4" except.

You had to get 5 in a row rather than 4 to win.
The grid had far more positions than a connect 4 grid. The counters were much smaller to accomodate this.
It had some (two iirc) horizontal "tricky move" bars in the grid. Instead of dropping in a tile a player could chose to move these bars. This would move tiles sideways and could sometimes cause them to fall out of the grid.

My web searches for connect 5 doesn't turn up anything like this game. Is my memory faulty?


texts: There seem to be several different scoring systems for fields/cities in Carcassonne -- which is correct?

texts: It seems that the scoring for fields and cities in Carcassonne varies -- has this changed over the years, or is this a difference between the US and international versions? Are there generally-accepted correct scoring rules for fields and cities?


texts: Question regarding exchanging territory cards in Risk

texts:
I am reading the rules of Risk, and at the top of the second column (in 3. Exchanging Territory Cards) it says that "if you hold 5 or more cards, you MUST exchange one or more sets on your turn". A "set" has been explained to be 3 cards with the same insignia, where a wild card can be used as any of the 3 insignias.

If for example I had these 5 cards - Infantry, Infantry, Artillery, Artilley, Cavalry - then I do not have a set of any insignias, but am forced to swap a set as I have 5 cards. The same could occur if I had 6 cards, 2 of each insignia and no wild cards.

Where am I going wrong in understanding this?


texts: Two players would gain control of a creature after it dies — who does?

texts:
I have an Affa Protector enchanted with Unhallowed Pact ... My opponent kills my Affa with Dread Slaver ...

Who will take control of the creature at the end? This is taking into consideration that my aura spell was cast 5 turns ago. Meaning my aura spell is NOT on the stack.


texts: Can a player trade 3 groups in one turn?

texts: Rules specify that when trading each group exchanged counts as an action to the player whose turn it is. And then later goes on to say that puppets of a group are transferred along with it. Is the player then limited to exchanging 1 group for another group or two groups for cash/special cards? Or can he exchange a parent group with 3 puppets for another group?


texts: What happens when I try to exile more cards from my library than there is in my library?

texts:
If I use Golos, Tireless Pilgrim's activated ability, which starts:

  Exile the top three cards of your library...

when my library has 2 or fewer cards, must I draw all 3 cards (and hence lose the game attempting to draw from an empty library) or can I just exile the 2 cards which are available?


texts:
So Omen Machine is on the field and an opponent just used Jace, the Mind Sculptor's ultimate to exile my library and I have no cards in hand, so no library left.  When it is my turn, do I lose?  Opponent think so, but since I am not drawing due to Omen Machine, I believe I survive and the exile command fizzles.  We couldn't find any specific rules to address the situation so called a draw (I still think I'm right though).

Anyone able to clarify this ruling?


texts: In bridge, can the "rule of 20" be used outside of opening bids (e.g for takeout doubles)?

texts:
Here's another example from today's New York Post. West opened 1 club. (He had a 19 point 1NT hand, and was planning to re-bid 2NT.) North made a (takeout) double with (s) KQxxx (h) Qxxxx (d) xx (c) x, which according to partnership agreement, showed 5-5 in the majors. East passed, and South was forced to bid 1 H with (s) xxx (h) xxx (d) Kxx (c) xxxx. They went down three doubled vulnerable. East-West could have made game, but not slam in 3 NT or one of the minors.

The "rule of 20" says that you can OPEN when the sum of your HCP plus the length of your two longest suits is at least 20. That is, 10 HCP plus a 5-5 or 6-4 distribution, 11 HCP with a 6-3 or 5-4, 12 HCP with 5-3, and you need 13 HCP for a 4-3-3-3 distribution.

Here, I WOULD have doubled with  (s) KQxxx (h) KQxxx (d) xx (c) x (ten high card points plus 5-5), but not with North's actual hand (only 17).

Would you find the "rule of 20" useful in this context (takeout double, or even "unusual" NT overcall showing two minor suits)? Would you refrain from doubling even with my "hypothetical" hand? Or would you have doubled like North with a tally of less than 20? Would vulnerability affect your application of this rule?


texts: In the middle of a game right now. I have 10 Yarok, the Desecrated out. I play Spine of Ish Sah.  How many triggers?


texts: Are there quasi "official" rankings of board games?

texts: I'm interested whether there are surveys of the best board games put out by board game manufacturers or evaluators such as gaming magazines or boardgamegeek that are considered authoritative. Or is there an official popularity competition between board games or a world cup of board games?


texts:
My opponent attacks, and I have a Baby Ninja and a Twisp in hand.
I play the Baby Ninja, and she attacks again. Can I play Twisp to duplicate the Baby Ninja? It seems like you should be able to, but there is an explicit list in the rule book, that doesn't  cover PVP Defense.

Edit for clarity: This question relates to Penny Arcade: Gamers Vs Evil and NOT to the Penny Arcade Card Game.


texts: Why do some cards which counter abilities say they can't counter mana abilities?

texts: Some cards, like Voidslime, counter abilities - but they say they can't counter mana abilities. Why is that?


texts: Does a player become immune to the Magician when getting murdered or robbed?

texts:
We are wondering if a killed or robbed character is immune to the Magician or not.
Can the Magician force to swap district cards with a player who has been assassinated or robbed?


texts: Do blocking creatures heal back to full between phases?

texts:
I am new to MTG and this has been bothering me. Say I use any spell on my 1st main phase to deal 1 damage to my opponenent's 2/5 creature.

If I attack him during the combat phase of the same turn with a 4/3 creature and he blocks me using that 2/5 I previously did 1 damage to, will my 4/3 creature kill it, or his creature would have "healed" up between phases?


texts: Pentad Prism interacting with Power Sink

texts:
I'm playing with a five-color deck, and I cast a Pentad Prism  using Green and Red mana.

Opponent responds with Power Sink and, having noticed that I only have four untapped lands available, puts X equal to 5.

He doesn't know that I have in my hand Dark Ritual, which I immediately cast in response, using mana from an untapped Swamp.

However, I don't use all three black mana to cast the Prism (just two of them), but I use the other three untapped lands that I have instead, giving two White and one Blue mana.

Since I have used all five mana colors to cast the Prism, at this point, thanks to that card's sunburst ability, I should have 5 counters on it, one for each color. Is this correct?


texts: In Dead of Winter does an exiled player still draw a crossroads card?  Does the player on his right draw a Crossroads card the the exiled player?


texts: If I have a lot of 1/1 Goblins on the battlefield and my opponent casts Plague Engineer can I save them all by responding with Fatal Push on the Plague Engineer or does the -1/-1 effect occur before I can kill Plague Engineer? Sorry, I seem to be struggling with a very basic rule here.


texts: Karn, the Great Creator - Does "from outside the game" have to be Standard if we're playing casual?

texts: So my sons and I are having a debate about Karn, the Great Creator's ability to use a "card from outside the game" and its format. The way I interpret the text is that in a casual, non-tournament game, I can choose any artifact outside the game from my collection and put it in my hand. Does that chosen card have to be within the format we are playing? In other words, if I'm playing standard, does my "chosen card" have to be within the standard format or can it be from any set? And if so, can it be one that's on the banned play list?


texts: Rules for a "short to medium length" game?

texts:
The standard rules for Trivial Pursuit say that in order to win, the player must collect all six wedges from the special category spaces, then proceed to the center and answer a final question in a category selected by the other players.

In my experience, however (and especially if more than 3 players/teams are participating) it takes way to long for the game to end with a winner this way.

Are there any other set of "universally accepted" (or not) rules for Trivial Pursuit to ensure shorter games? I've seen (for example) proceeding to the center with less that 6 wedges, or specifying an ending time (with a "penalty shootout" if there is a tie) but none of them seem all that satisfactory.


texts:
As my collection has started growing (new to MtG) I'm now needing to organize.  I've done quite a bit of blog reading on the different methods and strategies but one thing I can't quite seem to determine is how to handle multi-color cards.  I have 2 examples:

One Thousand Crashes

Initially what I'm doing is calling this a white since it is the first colored cost symbol.

Beckon Apparition

This one is an either or so I have no real good idea what color to put it with.  Any suggestions on these types of cards?  Is it just preference on my part?


texts: Resources for learning about good shape?

texts: Shape is immensely important in Go, and you can read about the basics anywhere - don't make empty triangles, table and mouth shapes are good, etc.  Where can I find more advanced treatments of shape?


texts: Can Bloodrush be countered with an instant that destroys attacking creature?

texts:
The Setup:

It is my opponent's turn. He has an Elvish Mystic on the field (1/1). He declares his Elvish Mystic as an attacker, then activates his Ghor-Clan Rampager's Bloodrush ability from his hand, with the target being his attacking Elvish Mystic.

My Response:

I have a Wring Flesh in my hand and the mana to cast it. I target his Elvish Mystic.

Outcomes/Question:

If my instant does not take precedence, Elvish Mystic becomes a 5/5 from Bloodrush, then drops to a 2/4 from Wring Flesh.

If my instant takes precedence, this means the Elvish Mystic ends up in the graveyard.

What happens to the Ghor-Clan Rampager? Does Ghor-Clan Rampager still cast Bloodrush (on an invalid target) and get discarded, or does it remain in his hand without activating?


texts: Does the 3-3 invasion work with 3 stones already placed?


texts:
I have the Revised Edition of Dungeon Quest.  I remember playing the original edition, and the dragon deck automatically shuffles if there are no heroes inside the treasure chamber.

But I can't find anything in the revised rules for when the dragon deck shuffles.  Reading the "Dragon Rage" card, it seems the deck shuffles whenever someone draws that card and waked the dragon.  In the original version, drawing that card forced everyone out of the treasure chamber, and that caused the deck to reshuffle as a side effect.

So in the revised edition, does the dragon deck shuffle when there are no heroes in the treasure chamber?  Or only when someone is unlucky enough to wake the dragon?


texts: What happens if I pocket a C/m but accidentally touch a C/m on the table?

texts: While playing Carrom I placed my strike and pocketed my C/m. Mistakenly, my finger touched my opponent's C/m. Do I play on, or is this a Foul?


texts: Why is the 19x19 board so much more common than other sizes?

texts: While there are probably some cultural reasons, are there any general reasons a 19x19 board may be preferred?  Also, if, say, 21x21 was suddenly found to be in some way superior and a large number of player switched, would modern go strategy need to be significantly modified to account for the changes in gameplay?


texts: Gomoku, is it possible to not be able to make a legal move?

texts:
On a 11 across 12 down Gomoku board with the following conditions:

A player must make a move within 3 spaces of an opponent's piece.
If a player can't make a move that player loses.

Is it possible to force the above, given the conditions?


texts: Can I shortcut a loop with conditional actions?

texts:
I control Wirefly Hive, Filigree Sages, Darksteel Forge, and some means of making an arbitrarily large amount of mana. My opponent is at two million life, and there are ten minutes remaining on the clock.

I activate Wirefly Hive's regular ability
The ability resolves and I flip a coin

If I win, I get a Wirefly

I activate Filigree Sage's ability targeting Wirefly Hive
The ability resolves and Wirefly Hive untaps

I demonstrate my ability to make an arbitrarily large number of Wireflies. I also demonstrate my ability to make an arbitrarily large amount of mana. My opponent understands, but we call a judge anyway to ask if shortcut is legal.

Does the judge allow me to shortcut making a million Wireflies?

716.1a says that as long as both players understand the intent, I can use any "shortcut system" I want. My opponent understands my intent (to keep flipping coins until I make a million Wireflies), and so the shortcut is acceptable.

  The rules for taking shortcuts are largely unformalized. As long as each player in the game understands the intent of each other player, any shortcut system they use is acceptable.

716.2a says that I cannot shortcut a loop with "unpredictable results" or "conditional actions". My loop contains conditional actions, so I cannot shortcut it.

  At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices. This sequence may be a nonrepetitive series of choices, a loop that repeats a specified number of times, multiple loops, or nested loops, and may even cross multiple turns. It can’t include conditional actions, where the outcome of a game event determines the next action a player takes. The ending point of this sequence must be a place where a player has priority, though it need not be the player proposing the shortcut.


texts: Does relieving the "volatility" of supply rolls make Afrika Korps better for the Germans?

texts:
The last time I went out to play this game (four decades ago), someone offered me the following proposition. Given that the Germans get their supplies two times out of three during the game, why don't we just "stipulate" that every third German supply convoy gets sunk? I'll let you play Rommel under that rule." (We never did get around to playing that game.)

That proposition seems "fair" with regard to "mean value" but not with regard to volatility. Isn't it true that if the Germans "knew" exactly when their supplies would be sunk, they would gain an advantage by adjusting their strategy accordingly? Or is the "quantitative" factor of how many supplies the Germans get the more important consideration in victory and defeat?


texts: What actions constitute passing priority?

texts:
I played in my first PTQ (and got top 8!) a few weeks ago and received a warning for missing a trigger.

The situation was as follows:

It's game 3 of the last swiss round.  I pass the turn with a Krallenhorde Howler after attacking, playing two creatures, playing an Evolving Wilds, and cracking it.  I'm searching through my deck for a one-of basic so since it will take me a minute to find it and shuffle, I tell my opponent what I'm getting and to go ahead and take their turn while I search and shuffle.  They immediately untap, upkeep, draw, play a land, and then pass the turn.  I find the land, finish shuffling, and my opponent cuts.

This is where the issue happens, I put my hands on my lands, look at the board, and before untapping anything, point out that the Howler flipped back to a Duskwatch Recruiter on his upkeep and then said that on my upkeep it's going to flip back again.  I have not verbally indicated passing priority or said anything up to this point.  He called a judge, gave me a warning for a missed trigger.

That was the only warning I got in all of the rounds of that tournament so it didn't matter (and I won that game anyway).  My question is, did I imply passing priority by touching my lands?

In general, what verbal and non-verbal actions constitute passing priority at Competitive REL?


texts: Help identify this game with four divided concentric circles

texts:
I inherited the a wooden game from my parents. Probably date from 1960-1975. No box, no instruction. Can you help me identify it and locate rules for it?

It's a 9.5" square with 4 indented concentric circles. The outer ring is divided into 12 sections, the next into 8 sections, the 3rd into 4 and the center - approx 1" diam. is not divided.White and black dots are in seemingly random sections. Inside the black leather pouch are 6 brown wooden marbles and two chrome cylinders. One cylinder has 3 raised concentric circles on one end, the other has 2 concentric circles, the innermost indented. "Skjode Skjern Danmark" is etched on the bottom.


texts: Is it allowed to play a jetpack when buried?

texts: The rules state that if you are buried, you can take no other action until you dig yourself out. The jetpack card says "play at any time". Does playing a jetpack count as an action for the purposes of following the rules (albeit a free one), or do "play at any time" cards circumvent all action restrictions?


texts: Do you shuffle the already played cards back into the deck when using the 'Winter Is Coming' card?

texts:
In the Westeros decks I and II there is a 'Winter Is Coming' card, which says:

  Immediately shuffle this deck. Then draw and resolve a new card.

Are you meant to shuffle the cards of that deck that have already been played in previous rounds, or are they left out?


texts: I know how many cards you have to end with in your turn I was wondering if the blue cards that you played like mustang or scope counts as part of your hand


texts: What's this round token depicting a knight?

texts:
I found this token while cleaning up.

The size and shape looks like it's from Small World, but I looked through my game and expansions and didn't see anything missing or any descriptions of a token matching it.

Any ideas?


texts: Which Age of Steam map is best to use for an initiation to the game for 5 or 6 players? Why?

texts:
I.e. with which expansion map is it easiest to initiate many newbies to the game of Age of Steam while playing a five or six-person game and why?

I have an answer, which I'll post in a few days (to give someone else a chance to post it first), but I'll "accept" the one that has the most votes after a week or so.


texts: What's an effective Small World strategy for new players?

texts:
I've played one game of Small World.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite losing badly.  For one, I had no game plan, and was sort of just trying things randomly.  Is there an effective, yet basic, strategy I can use next time to at least play with a sense of purpose?  At the risk of asking too many questions at once...

Should I always spend coins to get a race with more troops?
How do I know when to decline an active race?
Is there a good VP target to earn per turn?


texts: Can Aura of Dominion be used with Inspire Creatures?

texts:
If I put Aura of Dominion on Arbiter of the Ideal, can I pay 1 mana and tap Arbiter of the Ideal (as the cost of Aura of Dominion's ability) and then have Arbiter untap (as the effect of Aura of Dominion's ability)?

If so, am I right in thinking that this will let me use Arbiter of the Ideal's Inspire ability as many times as I have untapped mana?