texts:
I have just completed playing Constantinopolis(BGG) for the first time and there is a rule that I think requires clarification. The Taberna utility building (Reseller) is used for purchasing goods of a type you already produce. The section of the rules quotes this as:

  The owner of this building can buy goods from the market that he can
  produce.

I read this as I can buy as many goods as I like in accordance with the limitations of the market.

However, the graphic on the building tile (Taberna below) shows a goods cube with a number 1 next to it.

I would associate this symbol meaning either that it can only be used for a single cube, a single cube of each type, or a single type. I can't find any specific clarifications though. Does anyone know the correct rule?


texts: How much of an advantage does it give to draw all 2 blank tiles and/or 4 S tiles in Scrabble?

texts:
I'm playing against someone who I've had close games with, but now they're up 110 points in a game (they have 420, I have 310) where they drew all the S's and blank tiles. I wonder if this is a coincidence or drawing those tiles have a significant advantage like on average being worth a certain amount of points or additional score.
According to the answer here, a blank tile is worth 25 points to an advanced player: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/31913/26603
How about S's worth, and combined with drawing all blank tiles?


texts: Can I activate a tap ability multiple times, though on different turns?

texts:
I have a card named Alloy Myr. It's an artifact creature with the ability

  {T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

Can this ability be used multiple times, but in different turns of course?


texts: What can I do to make my opponent play faster at Regular REL?

texts:
I play low-key Magic the Gathering tournaments, like release parties and Friday Night Magic. They're good fun but I'm often stuck looking at the clock, trying to avoid a game-3 draw. I know the problem isn't me because my sets against quick-playing opponents are usually over with 20 minutes to spare.

The obvious non-procedural workarounds are:

Draft fast aggro
Try really hard to win 2-0 so you don't need to play a third game

I don't exactly have the skills to do this consistently. :)

At higher rules enforcement levels, you can call a judge if your opponent is taking too long. That option's not readily available at Regular REL, though, and generally you're supposed to be forgiving of a player's inexperience or procedural missteps. Bearing that in mind, what can I do to encourage other players to play faster without being a jerk?


texts: Has the value of a five-card suit in no trump contracts been demonstrated?

texts:
Going through old bridge books (by e.g., George Coffin), I was struck by the fact that some 3NT contracts made easily with "only" 24-25 and a good five card suit, while if both declarer and dummy had flat (4-4-3-2 or 4-3-3-3) distributions, a 3NT contract could be difficult even with 28-29. Intuitively, it seems logical that a fifth card in a good five card suit could be worth a king or even and ace, that is, the difference between 24-25 and 28-29. It almost seems like the "standard" 26-27 high card point (hcp) requirement is an averaging of these two polar cases.

Of course, there are five card suits of varying caliber. All other things being equal, a 5-3 fit is much better than a 5-2 fit (unless you have three or four of the top honors with the 5-2 fit). And a "5-3" fit of xxxxx opposite xxx isn't worth much, except as a stopper. But here, we're talking about a normal eight card suit situation with more than half the hcps between declarer and dummy. That is, six or seven hcps in the suit.

Has the advantage of a five card suit been demonstrated either empirically or by experts?

Empirically, are there databases of e.g. tournaments that show that more than 50 percent of 3NT contracts are made with, say, 24 hcps and good five card suits (or even random five card suits), while you need many more hcps to have a better than a 50-50 chance of succeeding if your longest suit is four cards in one hand?

For expert views, are there any experts who say, if you are responding to 1NT (15-17) with a hand that has nine hcps, and one five card suit of say, KQJxx feel free to jump to 3NT which partner is likely to make even with a minimum? Whereas you should hold back to 2NT even with ten hcp if your best suit is only KQJx? Alternatively, would such an expert advocating raising a response of 2NT to 3NT with say, 16 hcp and a suit like KQJxx, while passing 2NT with 17 hcp and KQJx as your best suit? (In these examples, your main suit has the same honors in each case, and differ only in length, by one "2.")


texts:
The giant slayers in the dwarf says they can bring runic weapon worth up to 25 points.

The rule of pride for the dwarfs says each rune item must be unique.

So does each giant slayer in my unit have to carry a unique runic weapon? That seems very annoying.


texts:
When we land on a space that you own, you are allowed to buy houses and hotels.

But does the rule book say that you can only buy one house or one hotel per turn? Or you can buy more than one in the same turn?


texts: If you were playing a Cryptoplasm (which can copy any creature on the battlefield at the beginning of your upkeep) and copy something like Lumberknot (who gains counters for any creature that dies), if you gain your own counters as a copy of Lumberknot would you lose those counters if you then change Crytoplasm to a copy of a different creature?


texts: If you have Living Lands on the battlefield, making all of your Forests 1/1 creatures, and you then enchant one of those Forests with Living Terrain, does the enchanted land become a 1/1, a 5/6, or a 6/7?


texts:
In the Monopoly Empire game, some of the Empire cards say

  Play at any time.

I'd like to understand the exact meaning of this rule.

Does it mean at any time during my turn and/or I am involved in someone else's turn?
Or does it mean at any time even during other player's turn who does nothing involving me?

Other Empire cards specify they are to be played during one's turn:

  Play at any time on your turn.


texts:
The Outnumbering rule in Unknown states:

  If the survivors outnumber the enemies, enemy damage is reduced by 1 for every 2 excess survivors

We're reading this two different ways:

To reduce the damage of N enemies to zero, you need N*3 survivors
Damage from each enemy is treated separately, so for N enemies, you need N+2 survivors

The first ruling seems more correct, but we were convinced to use the second ruling last time we played. The outnumbering example in the rules only has one monster, so it isn't helpful.


texts:
Whenever I have a one hour window to play, I try this game, and it tends to take more like 2 hours. So far, I find the negotiating really entertaining - so I'm not sure if I want to go crazy trying to enforce time constraints on play.

The box says a game takes 45 minutes. Does that hold true for anyone? Are there things you do that speed up the game that don't feel heavy handed?


texts: Does anyone have experience playing Tokaido with only 2 players?

texts: I see Tokaido accomodates from 2 to 5 players. I am wondering wether there is aspects to the game that is problematic or less entertaining with only 2 players?


texts: Playing cards without a check in Pathfinder

texts:
Somewhere in the Pathfinder ACG rule book, I remembered reading, that for each check, any player may use one card of each of the different card types, meaning only a single Spell card, Weapon card, Item card, etc.

I don't remember finding in the rules, if I am able to use cards when I am 'between checks'.

For example, if I have 2 Cure cards in my hand, can I use both cards, BEFORE my first free exploration?


texts: If I play an instant that grants target creature "indestructible," can an opponent use an instant in response to destroy said creature? Would the stack resolve their ability first? If so, would I be allowed to change target for indestructible? If not, do I still pay the mana cost?


texts: Are the expansion number tokens in 5-6 players expansion different from the basic Catan?

texts:
I am currently in the process of creating my own custom Catan board and wish to create number tokens for both original and 5-6 players extension gameplay. I have managed to find a detailed list of the original number tokens already, but cannot locate the list of the extension tokens (I only know there are 28 of them).

Could anyone let me know what numbers come under thoe 28, how many of them and whether of not they have alphabetical letters as well?

Many thanks!


texts: Would A "Dual Capital" (house) rule make sense in Axis and Allies Pacific?

texts:
The gamemaker "opened the gates" to this question by allowing China to collect income and build units without a capital (or for that matter, and industrial complex). This is kind of an exception to the normal rules of the game. The "fiction" behind this might be that China has a "second" capital at America's San Francisco (Western U.S.). Then the resulting "house rule" would be that China could produce units until the Allies lost its "second" capital at San Francisco. And the Allies could reactivate this (joint) lost production by recapturing either San Francisco or China's capital of Nanking (in the same square as "Shanghai").

These two countries are often played by the same player. (And even if they aren't, during the real World War II, the U.S. took China under its wing,overseeing its command structure and supply sourcing more than the other allies.) So the house rule would allow China to operate under an American "shadow" government. This rule would mirror the Classic version, under which the two Chinese provinces were treated as U.S. "satellites" played by the U.S. player.

Likewise, the UK would have a dual command structure out of (Calcutta) India and (Sydney) Australia. And again, the UK and ANZAC are often played by the same player, in addition to being linked in real life. So if one capital were captured, would it make sense that the country could continue to collect income and build units under the leadership of the other capital; India or Sydney? (If India were captured, production of the combined number of pieces would fall under the limitation of Australia's industrial complexes.) Again, it doesn't seem logical that either India or Australia would stop building units upon losing its capital when there is a "sister" government in the same hemisphere that it can report to. The two UK countries are actually closer to each other than the U.S. and China, so it would make more sense for them to operate jointly than for the U.S. and China.

Japan has no allies, so it would not have a dual capital structure.

This is an "umbrella" rule that 1) "explains" the China exception to the usual rules; 2) provides for the loss of Chinese productive capacity if it loses American aid and moral support and 3) extends the "China rule" to India and Australia. Would such a house rule make sense by making the game 1) more consistent (internally and with previous game versions) 2) more playable 3) more historically accurate?


texts:
I know a character can join a unit.

Can a unit join a character?

Can a unit join a character that is in close combat?


texts: Are there any magazines similar to InQuest Gamer in print today?

texts:
When I was young, I begged my parents for a subscription to InQuest Gamer (a magazine mostly about collectable card games). I remember reading the articles and learning about new games every month. At the time I played mostly Magic The Gathering, but I was interested in learning/playing other games. The magazine was discontinued.

Years later, I still have some back issues (my favorite being the one that came with the board game Space Station Zemo - That's right; the magazine came with a board game in it). I was wondering if there are any similar publications. I play all kinds of games (table top RPGs, card games, but mostly board games). I would like to read quality articles talking about games of the past or new games intermixed with other that games would like (InQuest had articles about the history of games, mythology, short stories, house rules, etc.). It doesn't have to be print; I read digital magazines.

So, does a magazine similar to InQuest exist today?


texts: Event card timings during epidemic in Pandemic 1st Edition

texts:
Can you play an event card when you have drawn the epidemic card?
Example
If you draw an epidemic card,
1.can the quiet night card be played?
( so that you still infect the bottom card city but skip the turning over of the intensify city cards)
Or 2. The forecast card after reshuffling and placing reshuffled cards on the top


texts:
Player A's monster attacks player B's monster.
Player B activates Magic Cylinder.
Player A activates Safe Zone on his own monster.

Q: The attack will not be negated because Safe Zone prevents targeting the monster, right? And since attack is not negated, Magic Cylinder doesn't inflict damage to Player A's life points, right?

Magic Cylinder:

  When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Target the attacking
  monster; negate the attack, and if you do, inflict damage to your
  opponent equal to its ATK.

Safe Zone:

  Activate this card by targeting 1 face-up Attack Position monster on
  the field; that face-up monster cannot be targeted or destroyed by
  your opponent's card effects, or be destroyed by battle. It cannot
  attack your opponent directly. When this card leaves the field,
  destroy that monster. When that monster leaves the field, destroy this
  card.


texts: How to attack White’s corner in this beginner’s 9x9 game?

texts:
I'm playing as Black and wasn't able to prevent White from forming a solid area from here with the following sequence:

$$Bc
$$ ---------------------
$$ - . . 6 . . . . . . -
$$ - 8 0 . 2 5 . . . . -
$$ - . 4 O 3 X . O . . -
$$ - 9 7 1 . . . . . . -
$$ - . . . . X . . . . -
$$ - . . . . . . . . . -
$$ - . . X . . . O . . -
$$ - . . . . . . . . . -
$$ - . . . . . . . . . -
$$ ---------------------

Here's the full game.  As you can see, White was able to eventually create a two-eyed, safe area.  This happens a lot to me as a beginner player and I'm wondering if there was a way to prevent it.


texts:
The Tiny Epic Zombies manual for the game states that a human turn consists of

Each Turn, you MUST move 3 times.
Each Move could potentially consist of the following actions:
A. Kill 1 zombie
B. Use Room's Ability AND/OR Interact with a Token
C. Collect items
Search Current Store

So far we have been playing the game as each human player can take 3 turns, moving once and performing three of the actions above.

Totalling 12 actions per human players turn. Is this correct?


texts: Is Harvey Walters immune to the Man in Black?

texts:
Harvey Walters has an ability which lessens each sanity loss by one point, which means that single point sanity losses have no effect on him.  The Man in Black, a mythos card, causes one sanity loss per failed die roll.  Therefore, it seems that Harvey is immune to the MiB's devouring and will always gain rewards from this card.  Is this correct?

I'd like an "official" answer, because half of my gaming group was fully convinced that Harvey was immune to the MiB, and the other half was sure that Harvey could be devoured just like everyone else.


texts: Does a creature trigger its own ETB ability even if not explicitly stated?

texts:
I work heavily on custom magic cards, and in one of my groups there is some discussion around ETB effects.

Take a card like Soul Warden, it explicitly says 'another creature' in its ETB. If we removed 'another' from the triggered ability would soul Warden gain life on ETB from itself?


texts: I have read there are 3 types of stages in checkers, i.e. opening, mid and end game. I am confused on how to determine when these three stages exist on the checkerboard. For example, how do I tell when the game is at the mid-game stage, is there a certain board layout or board configuration that allows me to ascertain the stage of the board?


texts: Scoring with "Triumphal Arch" and only one Action card in the deck

texts:
Yesterday my son and I played the "Advanced Introduction" of the Dominion Empires edition. Among other cards, it contains the "Triumphal Arch" whose description states:

  When scoring, 3 VP per copy you have of the 2nd most common Action card among your cards (if it’s a tie, count either (*)).

The rule clarifications include the following text:

  The tie can be for either first or second place: if you had 7 copies each of Villa and Village, you would score 21VP. If you had 7 copies of Villa, then 4 copies each of Village and Wild Hunt, you would score 12VP.

So far, all is clear. However, in our second game, my son focused so much on the Wedding, that in the end he only had exactly one single action card.

We decided to grant him 3 VP for this card, but weren't sure if this was the correct way to do it. Since he didn't have a "second most common" action card and since he didn't have two tying for first place, either, the rules didn't seem clear on how to handle this situation.

Is the "second most common" action card count zero, because there was no tie for first place and nothing for the second place? Or was our way of falling back to the single action card count correct?

It didn't really make much of a difference with just the single card, but in a game where a player only bougt one single type of action card, but had bought 8 of them, the difference between 0 and 24 would be quite significant.

(*) Interestingly enough, in our German version, the translation of the card is slightly different from the English text, it translates back as "if it's a tie, count both" which I initially interpreted in a way that would have counted 7 villas, 4 villages and 4 wild hunts to yield 24VP instead of 12VP.


texts: What effects can modify mana abilities and be affected by Mana Relfection and Nyxbloom Ancient?

texts:
Considering the following:

Mana abilities come in two forms, Activated and Triggered
Nyxbloom Ancient/Mana Reflection only works with Activated abilities of a permanent being tapped
Triggered abilities like Utopia Sprawl and Nikya of the Old Ways don't work with this ability.
Abilities that tap other permanents like Urza, Lord High Artificer or Heritage Druid are mana abilities that tap permanents but do not get multiplied with Nyxbloom Ancient*
Effects like Liliana of the Dark Realms making swamps tap for BBBB get multiplied by Nyxbloom Ancient add another mana ability but do not modify the abilities the land has.

Similar to the way Winding Constrictor does X counters + 1, versus Doubling Season X * 2, are there any effects that modify the amount of mana produced by a source, aside from the mentioned Nyxbloom Ancient and Mana Relfection?

Based off this question.


texts: Is it not popular to play with old standard decks?

texts:
It seems not common to play a format where you would be allowed to play with any deck that was once legal at the end of a Standard rotation.

I think I would enjoy it because that format has a lower power level/cost (than Modern or other eternal formats). Plus you can really work at a deck over a long time so that if you make a good change, it's because you understood the strengths and weaknesses and were able to reevaluate the set, and not because a new card was introduced to you. And there could be more variety because you can't reach for the same proven cards for your archetype like in other formats.

On the down sides, others might not be able to validate the legality of your deck as easily, and the sets could be mismatched in power.

Am I correct in saying it's not common? What are the reasons?


texts: What are my odds of drawing the rest of my deck

texts: Do to the deterministic nature of the game, if I have a decent memory I can easily know what cards are left in my deck, if not their order. I have two cards in my hand that let me draw a card (1 each) and I know there are 4 cards left in my deck, two of which will also let me draw a card. What are the chances I'll be able to draw my entire remaining deck?


texts: Is a yellow sign marker still added if the terror level increase is reduced to 0?

texts:
In the King in Yellow Herald variant, there is a rule about increasing the terror level (emphasis mine):

The blasphemous play "The King in Yellow" is being performed in Arkham. Every time the terror level increases, the investigators must do one of the following:
A: Place a yellow sign token in the space just vacated by the terror marker.
or
B. Place a yellow sign token on the doom track as if it were a doom token.

There are ways to reduce the terror level increase, such as the Director's Diary:

Discard this card when the terror level is increased to reduce the amount by which it is being increased by 1.

What is the order of these two events? Do I place a yellow sign token first before I reduce the terror level? Or do I reduce the terror level and then not place a yellow sign token because it is staying the same?


texts:
Here are a couple of scenarios that my friends and I always fight about when we play Axis and Allies Spring 1942 edition:

A unit(s) is loaded onto a transport that has not moved yet, then the player moves the transport
A transport moves one space, then picks up a unit and moves another space.
A transport "bridges" a unit(s) then moves a space or two.
A transport moves one space and then bridges a unit(s).
A transport moves two spaces and then bridges a unit(s).
A transport moves into a sea space where an enemy has a submerged submarine

If multiple bridges are possible (such as in the bay north of Germany or sea space to the left of said space):

A transport bridges unit(s), after battle proceeds bridges unit(s) again to a different country (this is complying with the rule that says you can only attack a country once a turn).

One last rule that does not involve transports moving or bridging:

An airplane (usually a bomber) comes from the land and bombs an unguarded transport and kills it

We have looked at the rulebook countless times and it is pretty vague on some issues. I'm not saying that the rulebook doesn't answer any of our questions, but we certainly can't find any of our answers. Thanks for reading!


texts: In MTG, when sacrificing another player's creature, who performs the discard into the graveyard?

texts:
Dovetailing off this question...

Can I sacrifice a creature that is only temporarily under my control?

...where the answer is, yes, you definitely can.  'Who' discards it?

I'm specifically looking at including Waste Not in a sacrifice-themed deck.

But if I sacrifice another player's creature, does it trigger 'Whenever an opponent discards a creature card...'?  Or would I be discarding it into their graveyard?


texts: When I have two cards with cohort would there tap ability works at the same time?

texts: My opponent has two Ondu war cleric. He taps them both and said he gains 4 life. But I believe he couldn't use the second one with only two of those cards, because cohort said you need another untapped ally


texts: Warhammer 40k traitor legions-favored of tzeench special rule

texts: In the book (traitor legions), the favored of tzeench rule refer to ''all units in the formation can reroll any failed saving throws of 1''. In the case of the Tzaangor warherd formation, does the chaos sorcerer/exalted sorcerer benefit from this special rule?


texts: Ticket to Ride United Kingdom, should the technology cards be in a stack or do we get to choose?

texts:
I find the rules very unclear in how the technology cards should be used. It is not mentioned that they should be in a stack with which players get to buy the card on top of the stack.
But it is neither explicitly said that the technology cards may be bought of our choosing. I figured that there are so many it may become a complex and players would have to commit the different cards to memory before being able to play the game.
So do we get to buy those tech cards we want, or are we depended on whatever the stack pops up?


texts: Are there more cards like Boseiju, Who Shelters All for non-mana costs?

texts: Mana gained from Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Hall of the Bandit Lord grant an ability to various spell types if it's used to pay for them. Are there similar, ability-granting effects for non-mana costs? I don't mean things like Devour, Devour is an ability that has nothing to do with costs; I ask specifically about costs in the rules sense.


texts: What is this deception-based party game?

texts: At some point in time I found the rules for a many player party game online and now I'm looking for it again. It involved two teams of players where each player is assigned two English words. Players of the same team would have words in common. The goal was to make contact with the other members of your team by finding other players with words in common with you. I think I discovered this game on the website of some indie designer. Any help finding the title or website of this game would be appreciated.


texts: I just lost a game with the villain using the bloodstone on everyone else's turn as well as there own to power up their rolls. How is that card supposed to be used. It says once per turn but doesn't specify the players turn or not.


texts: Enchantment Legal only because of it's Effect. Remains on target?

texts:
This happened this weekend, and we were unsure how to resolve it.

Opponent casts Progenitus.
On my turn, I cast Polymorphist Jest.
Then I cast, Darksteel Mutation targeting the Progenitus.

Normally, I could not target the Progenitus because it has Protection from Everything, but since it lost all abilities and became a frog, it was a valid target (We thought so anyway). It was at the end of this turn that we were unsure. Polymorphist's Jest effect ended, but the Darksteel Mutation was still enchanting the creature. This is what we thought:

Progentius has Protection from Everything and the Enchantment "falls off" as it is no longer a valid target.
The Insect has no abilities apart from Indestructible, and the Enchantment stays.
Something Else???

I'm really hoping this is #2 since this combo would allow for targeting of things with shroud and hexproof, etc. on the turn I cast Polymorphist's Jest.


texts: Must you decide to activate shields before entering a nebula or asteroid field?

texts:
Xia is full of opportunities for hotshot stunt pilots: there are plenty of nebulas and asteroid belts to whiz about in, but it's a risky maneuver. You roll a d20, and if the result is from 1 to 10, you take that much damage (or, in a nebula, lose that much Energy). The rules call out that shields can protect you from these hazards, but it's unclear when you must place arming tokens on your shields in order to do this.

If you must place the arming tokens before entering the field, then there's a 50% chance that you wasted both energy and actions. This is a very steep cost, considering that the most common use of shields, defending against enemy fire, doesn't cost you an arming token and has a guaranteed benefit. (Or rather, you don't need to save an arming token from last turn, and you're allowed to re-arm immediately after the attack; it costs energy, but not actions.)

So do you need to activate shields before rolling for the result of entering hazardous spaces, or can you do it afterward?


texts:
Graveyard-based strategies are common in casual and tournament MTG. The graveyard offers players easy ways to cheat on costs (e.g. Reanimator), grind out incremental advantage (e.g., Sun Titan decks, Zombies with Gravecrawler), set up infinite combos (e.g. Melira Pod in Modern, Sharuum EDH), or short-circuit most of "normal" Magic altogether (Manaless Dredge).

However, Wizards of the Coast also prints powerful hate cards to hold graveyard decks in check, including Leyline of the Void, Relic of Progenitus, Tormod's Crypt, Nihil Spellbomb, Grafdigger's Cage, Jund Charm, and Scavenging Ooze.

Part of running a fun and powerful deck is making sure you don't just fold to hate immediately.

What are the most common and successful strategies for playing around graveyard hate, especially for decks with a graveyard-based combo element? I am interested in both deckbuilding solutions (including sideboarding, of course) and in-play tactics.


texts: Can regeneration save my creatures from Turn // Burn?

texts:
I have a creature with regeneration. My opponent responds to me activating regeneration with the Turn side of Turn // Burn.

Can I then activate regeneration again to make it a 0/1 weird with regeneration?


texts: Abilities that need a name and unnamed tokens

texts:
I am fairly sure on this one, but I wanted to ask to be really sure.

Say I have Secrets of Paradise and a deck with a lot of Rousing of Souls.

Am I right in thinking that because the tokens made by Rousing of Souls are just "1/1/ white Spirit" tokens (no name), there is no way for them to gain the tapping for mana ability that Secrets of Paradise can grant?


texts: Do gods keep their +1/+1 counters if they stop being creatures?

texts:
Do counters added to a god with Gleam of Battle disappear when the god stops being a creature?

Scenario: Purphoros, God of the Forge is a creature (due to devotion reaching the required amount) and Gleam of Battle is also on the battlefield. Then Purphoros attacks and gets a +1/+1 counter for attacking. If my devotion to red then drops below 5 and Purphoros is no longer a creature, would the +1/+1 counters stay on him or will he reset to his original power/toughness level?

My thinking is when he becomes an enchantment he loses it due to the fact that he is no longer a creature and that his power and toughness are technically not there and so he gets remade into being a creature only when devotion is high enough.


texts:
In most trick-taking card games when you have a strong hand (as the bidder should in sheepshead) it's good to lead with high cards to retain control. However, in sheepshead players tend to hold on to the point-cards until they know who the partner is -- and they definitely won't drop points on tricks the bidder is clearly taking -- so I usually try to deliberately lose control, without making it too easy.

I don't want to play below the 10 of diamonds, because then the Ace or 10 of diamonds will often be played and I won't get them. Similarly, I don't like leading low non-trump. I suppose if I had an Ace as my only card in a suit I might lead it, or if I've put an Ace or 10 down in a suit I might lead a lower card in it, but generally I lean toward jacks -- as low of jacks as possible. I hope this will flush out some trump yet discourage anyone else from taking points. What do you think is a good first lead?


texts: What are the mechanical differences between Doom and Descent from Fantasy Flight Games?

texts:
I know that FFG's Descent and Doom board games use roughly the same mechanics, but my understanding is that there are numerous small differences that lead people to prefer Descent over Doom.

Beyond the differences in theme, what are the mechanical differences between these two games?


texts: I dont stay in the US. Can I create and distribute my own version of Monopoly that is personalized for my city?

texts: I would like to change mostly the names, currency etc and make it relatable to my city here in Africa. Will the US Company sue me for distributing the game in my local town? Also i wanted to understand if the name "Monopoly" is a trade name or if its just the name of the game.


texts: Can Panic Spellbomb be returned to the library in response to its ability?

texts: When activating the ability on Panic Spellbomb (tap, Sacrifice Panic Spellbomb: Target creature can't block this turn.), can the opponent then use an Instant such as Banishing Stroke to put Panic Spellbomb on the bottom of it's owner's library? Both are happening at instant speed, so do they stack like typical instants?


texts: Merciless Eviction, how far does all go?

texts: Got Merciless Eviction from a booster, and it states that you can choose one and then exile all artifacts, creatures, enchantments or planeswalkers. Does this mean that all instances in graveyards and in players' decks actually get removed as well as cards on the battlefield?


texts: Backgammon move notation - Is there an official, rigorous specification?

texts:
I have recently become completely obsessed with Backgammon and I would like to learn more about the "Magriel notation" (link) used to formally describe a game of BG.

So is there a definitive, formal specification document for the Magriel notation?

Failing that, is there some online archive of real-world games that have been stored (correctly) in this notation that one could download and examine?


texts: Can the Madman cause you to die from sanity loss? If so, can the dog retrieve him?

texts:
Two questions, both not directly addressed in the rule book.

1) During the Haunt, if I pick up the Madman card (gain 2 might, lose 1 sanity) and my sanity is already on the lowest value, do I die? Can Omen cards kill you?

2) If I did die and dropped the Madman, can a teammate send the Dog to pick up the Madman (assuming he is within 6 spaces)? Can the Dog retrieve (companion) Omen cards?


texts: Are there names for the different types of adjacency in a square grid?

texts:
See the image. How do you call the blue cells in relation to the black cell?

I've seen "orthogonally adjacent" for the first picture and "diagonally adjacent" for the second picture, but that leaves a void for the third picture (other than "orthogonally or diagonally adjacent", which is really long-winded).

If I were feeling inventive, I could make up "edge-adjacent", "corner-adjacent", and "edge- or corner-adjacent". That last one's still long-winded, but less so. The problem is, well (a) it's long-winded, and (b) "corner-adjacent" is a bit ambiguous. Technically, even the edge-adjacent cells share a corner with the black cell! So it might refer to the third picture.

(If I could enforce nomenclature, I would actually make people say "edge-adjacent" for the first, "corner-adjacent" for the third, and leave a void for the second (we don't need it anyway).)

Another option I can make up is "weakly adjacent" and "strongly adjacent", but again it's not clear if "weakly adjacent" refers to the second picture or the third.

So, what are the names for these types of adjacency? I mean this both in the "What's the official name" sense and "What would you call them" sense. I'm most interested in a name for the third picture; you can leave a void for the second picture for all I care. An example usage would be "The king can attack all [name] squares."

(I'm asking this in the board games forum because it seems like it'd important for talking about game rules.)

(Notice, by the way, that the Wikipedia page on Minesweeper just gives up, leaving the words "neighboring" and "adjacent" ambiguous.)


texts: Can I tap fewer than 7 creatures with Lullmage Mentor?

texts:
With Lullmage Mentor's ability:

  Tap seven untapped Merfolk you control: Counter target spell.

Can I attempt to tap less than 7 creatures with his second ability? I know it would not activate his second ability, but can I at least make the attempt to tap 7?

Basically can I intentionally fail to tap 7 creatures and those creatures still get tapped?


texts: Is it a players whole turn if they are chosen for a Showdown?

texts: If I play a showdown card and play against the person next to me, what happens after the showdown? Does the person I challenged still get their turn, or was the showdown their turn.


texts: No-thanks: What if a player has no card? | If a player hoards cards?

texts:
In No-thanks, according to the rulebook:

  When finally a player decides to take the card (and all chips next to
  it), he puts it in front of himself face-up and takes the chips up in
  hand. After that, this player turns over the next card of the deck.

So assuming, player C took the card that players A, and B declined. So he now has that card + 2 chips. He then turns over the card and lucky him, it's a card close to his first card so he took it again, and the cycle repeats until there's only a few cards left in the deck.

We played the game and there was a specific scenario like this that luckily for one person, even though the shuffling was a bit random, the cards were close together that he just took almost all the cards (but of course in the end, he lost because there were gaps). But how about other players who weren't able to get a card due to one person's hoarding? Does that mean they get negative points (due to the chips plus the fact that they don't have a card)?


texts: How to identify when to try a "Merriamac Coup" in bridge?

texts:
A "Merrimac Coup" in bridge usually refers to the "suicidal" lead of a king, in order to force out an opposing ace before the opponent is ready to use the ace as an entry. If that hand (usually dummy) is short of entries, this might cause "transportation" problems in establishing and cashing a long suit.

Suppose I can see that dummy has a broken long suit, and a side ace. Would this be a good time to try the Merrimac Coup?

Suppose I am the opening leader, with a king. Are situations based on the bidding and my holding where I should try a Merrimac Coup before seeing dummy?

Are there situations where declarer was originally a responder, and might be short of entries, so that I should try a Merrimac Coup into the "closed" hand?

And can there be a Merrimac Coup with a card other than a king? Suppose I have A-Q of a suit as opening leader, lead the ace, and see a king  (plus a long suit) in dummy. Would the lead of the queen to dummy's king constitute a Merrimac Coup?


texts: Can the last two player heal with beer when Ghost Town is in play?

texts:
There are only two players left in the game, say an Outlaw and the Sheriff. The Sheriff reveals Ghost Town at the beginning of his turn. Can he heal himself with a Beer card?

I don't think he can, but we had a very adamant player among ourselves who said this was possible, so I would like to ask your opinions.

Edit: Ghost Town is a card from the High Noon expansion with the following ability: During their turns, eliminated players return to the game as ghost. They draw 3 cards instead of 2, and cannot die. At the end of their turn, they are eliminated again.

Edit-2: I'm adding some possible interpretations to the rules:

Cannot heal: Since ghosts are not alive during the Sheriff's turn, the Beer card has no effect due to there being only 2 players in the game.
Can heal: Other players do come back during the Ghost Town effect (with zero life?) so the Sheriff is allowed to heal himself with the Beer card. This would also help the remaining 2 players survive the incoming bullets from the revived ghosts.
Can heal, but only to save himself during a ghost's turn: During a ghost's turn there are 3 players in the game so if the Sheriff gets killed, he can still save himself with a beer card.


texts: Can the factory card 'move' action cause combat?

texts:
I've just bought Scythe and I'm looking for the rules.

I'm wanting a clarification on the Factory cards.

The rules tell me that these are essentially a fifth action space,and that each of them have a 'move one unit two spaces' as a bottom row action.

I'm wondering about how we deal with this with the 'overlap the turns' suggestion.

ie. The rules also suggest that, in order to improve game flow, that as a player is taking their bottom row action, the next player can start taking their top row action.

Given that for the ordinary actions, the bottom row actions aren't going to change anything on the board (actually, not quite true, the build action will add structures to the board), this overlap doesn't matter.

However, with two move actions overlapping, it would create a great deal of confusion.

To clarify:

Just how should the 'overlapping turns' dyanmic work?
Does the factory move order result in combat and encounters?


texts: You have coal stored at a power plant and then win a bid on an oil powered plant.  If you discard your coal plant to buy the oil plant and have no other coal plants, do you just lose the left over coal?


texts:
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver has the following abilities:

  +2: Exile the top three cards of target opponent's library.

  -X: Put a creature card with converted mana cost X exiled with Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver onto the battlefield under your control. That creature is a Nightmare in addition to its other types.

  -10: Exile all cards from all opponents' hands and graveyards.

When I use the +2 ability, do I exile the cards face up so that my opponent gets to see them, or can I hide that information?


texts: Did Balance change when its wording was changed?

texts:
I noticed that the original text of Balance, from Alpha, says that someone must discard some number of lands to equalize (sorta).

In the most recent reprint, I notice they have to choose some number and get rid of the rest. Is this the same for the old print? (Is it the same card after all?)

Was old magic kind of like Pokemon (in that when it says discard an energy from this card it means send to the discard pile) where any card not destroyed by battle is considered discarded?


texts: How many points does a thief score when placed on a tile with a crossing completing multiple roads?

texts:
I was a little worried that my theoretical maximum Carcassonne score of 338 points might be in error if it was possible to score multiple completed roads during the same turn.

The rules say you place Thieves on a road segment:

  The player who has a thief on a completed road scores one point for each tile in the completed road (count the number of tiles; separate segments on a tile count just once).

How many points can a Thief placed on this Road Tile score?

Am I correct in believing that you have to choose a segment to one side of a crossing, and therefore you can only score 2 points here?


texts: When drawing Destination Tickets, can you discard any Destination Tickets or only those you just drew?

texts: When picking up destination cards, after the initial deal, does the card(s) which the player chooses to discard, have to be from the three he picked up at that time, or can he discard a card which he picked up from a previous turn?


texts: Can you choose how to sacrifice a creature if you are forced to?

texts: If an opponent, or anything else, makes me sacrifice a creature, and I have a Blood Host or something similar, can I choose to sacrifice the creature with the Blood Host?


texts:
I've recently bought Pandemic, and really liked the game. But since the basic game is only 2-4 players, I ordered the expansion "On the Brink", which brings it up to 5 players.

Is there a rules variant that would let me play with 6 players?


texts: How do I Detect/Defend Against an throw in In Bridge?

texts:
When I see declarer draw trumps, and then start to "eliminate" (ruff out) one or more plain suits, my biggest fear as a defender is of a throw in. That is, the declarer will put me on lead because I'll give him back the trick he needs with say, a "ruff-sluff."

If I knew for sure that it was ME being thrown in, the solution might be simple; discard high cards that the declarer might try to use as a "throw in" to me.

But perhaps declarer was trying to hurt my partner with a "throw in." If that's the case, maybe I should retain my high cards in a key suit so that PARTNER doesn't get "thrown in" in that suit.

And what if declarer were following a simple ruffing strategy without intending an throw in? Then throwing away a key card might give him an undeserved extra trick.

Defending such a play might not be so hard if I can detect one in the making. Are there good, or at least "established" ways of doing so? Or is this something one learns the hard way by trial and error?


texts: Rescue from the Underworld on an unearthed creature

texts: With Sedris, the Traitor King on the battlefield, I pay the 2B cost to unearth a creature. Then I cast Rescue from the Underworld and sacrifice the card that was just unearthed. I understand that the creature will go to exile instead of in the graveyard, but will it still be returned to the battlefield later ? Do you know other cards that could "save" a unearthed creature to go into exile ? Thank you very much.


texts: Attaching equipment, when the equipment wasn't actually cast

texts:
Lets say, I use a Genesis Wave, and I reveal an equipment. Can that equipment enter the battlefield 'automatically' attached to a creature already in play? Or does it just enter the battlefield, and I have to attach it by paying its equip cost during a main phase?

(Secondary clarification, is it true I can't put auras/equips on creatures also revealed by genesis wave?)


texts: What mechanics exist that trigger Burning Vengeance?

texts:
Burning Vengeance is an enchantment that states:

  Whenever you cast a spell from your graveyard, Burning Vengeance deals
  2 damage to target creature or player.

I know the Flashback keyword will activate Burning Vengeance, but the Oracle text on Gatherer leads me to believe that there are other ways to trigger its ability.  What other mechanics exist in Modern that will trigger Burning Vengeance?


texts: If tests are voluntary, why does one lose a life point automatically?

texts:
I'm a new owner of T.I.M.E Stories and about to play my first scenario within the next few weeks. However, studying the rules book (v 1.1) left me confused about the optionality of tests.

If I understood the rules correctly, activating a test is voluntary (see page 11)?:

  "You  can  leave  the  card,  ignoring  the  test,  or  you  can  start  the  test,  then  drop it to go do something else."

For instance, a player reveals a card stating: "You can obtain item XY by attacking the guard." The test is on fighting with 3 shields and 2 red skulls. Moreover, there is no red lock on the card.

Can a player then simply do nothing, e.g. to wait for another/stronger player before activating the test?

What confuses me is the blue box on page 12:

  "If you decide to do nothing during a test (because, for example, you
  do not have the required characteristic) and that test has at least
  one skull shield, your receptacle automatically loses 1 Life Point and
  the heart, time, and special shields take effect normally."

Does the player lose one life for ignoring the test or does this rule not apply since the test wasn't activated yet?

Let's follow this hypothetical card:
Two players are facing this card. Player A reads the card first and then activates the test by attacking the guard. Is the second player B on the card now obliged to do the test or can he simply do nothing without automatically losing one hit point?

Last but not least: How are tests handled if there is indeed a red lock on the card? Is the player then obliged to activate the test?
For instance, the card says: "A guard discovers your break-in and is immediately attacking you".
Do you then have to activate the test and put down the shields beneath the card or can one simply do nothing (without activating the test)? I'm aware of the fact, that one is not allowed to leave a card with a red lock, but I'm uncertain whether or not the player actually has to activate the test.

I already discovered this thread, but the discussion ended before this particular question was resolved.

TL;DR: When does the hint from page 12 actually apply?


texts: How much do the Heroes and Traitor need to reveal while using their haunt-specific rules?

texts:
In Betrayal At House On The Hill, the explorers will eventually reveal one too many Omens, causing some (random) explorer to become the Traitor and try to do something terrible to the remaining players (who are then called Heroes). There are 50 different scenarios that might happen, and each scenario has special rules for the Traitor, and different special rules for the Heroes. (Among other things, these rules say how each side can win.) The rules for each side are not to be revealed to the other side; instead, each side has a small paragraph in their rules about "What the other team knows".

During play, those special rules come up repeatedly: how the Traitor is permitted to move the Zombies, the deterministic rules on how the Banshee moves, special attacks, special defenses, special items required, etc.

How much of the special rules is each side required to reveal when using them? For example, several scenarios require that the Heroes perform a ritual/exorcism/silly dance with particular items and/or in particular locations, using a skill check. How much should the Heroes reveal while doing this? Should a Hero say "I'm searching for voodoo supplies here in the bedroom, which requires me to roll at least a 4 on Sanity" or simply "I'm making a skill check" (or even say nothing and just roll the dice)?  When Heroes have a special way of defeating monsters, do they have to describe the action ("I'm throwing a torch at the monster"), or simply roll an attack ("I'm attacking you with Speed.")?

In play, I've usually described only things that would be obvious: "Roll a Sanity check. Okay, you failed (I don't mention the target number); the Zombie won't act for the rest of the game" or "I throw a torch, it's a Speed attack." In the first case, the reason the Zombie shut down is only known to the Zombie itself, and it isn't communicating anymore. In the second case, it's obvious to the monster that I'm throwing a torch at it. Am I doing it right?


texts: Can a dead player have life restored later to bring them back into the game?

texts: Bob, Timmy, and Susie are playing a Free For All in MTG and Timmy kills Bob by putting him at 0 life. On Susie's next turn, could she play something like Alabaster Potion to make Bob's life total go back up, allowing him to continue playing? Or is Bob completely out of the game? Similarly, when Bob is at 0 life, can Susie still make him take X amount of damage to Gain X life?


texts: Do my own villages/cities interrupt my "longest road" in Catan?

texts:
In a monthly game night, my friend interprets the rules to say that if I have a village or city on my road, it reduces the "longest road" length. I interpret the rules as saying that my village/city on my road does not impact the road length.

Which is the correct interpretation?


texts: Do Regenerate and/or Totem Armor counteract the Legend rule?

texts: Can a regeneration shield or a totem armor aura protect a Legendary creature from getting killed by a clone of itself?


texts: Is there a full analysis/explanation of the newspapers available?

texts: We are playing through Carlton House at the moment, and we are feeling like we are missing a ton of hidden clues and Easter eggs in the newspapers. Has anyone done a full analysis of these, and where could we read it?


texts: Is it possible to build a wide variety of decks at low cost? If so, how?

texts:
I was pretty reluctant to get into magic because I knew that:

Our game-centric family would want to build a wide variety of decks
We are not interested in spending hundreds of dollars on a single game

So, though I know it is possible to get started at low cost, I want to know how to participate in the richness of deck building without going over $100.

Is there a way to do this?


texts: When should I get rid of the queen of spades in Hearts?

texts: Whenever I play the QS on the 3rd or 4th round everyone gets mad at me and says that's a low down nasty thing to do! I thought the QS should be dumped asap so as not to get stuck with it myself - which has happened more times that I care to recall, even when I have 4,5 or 6 Spades backing her up. What is the proper etiquette for dumping the QS in Hearts?


texts: What was this Mouse Trap-like game with a basket, stairs, and metal parts?

texts: It was similar to Mouse Trap but it had metal parts vs. plastic. It may have been more of a maze but there was a basket & perhaps stairs. It's been driving me crazy because I loved it & want to find for my kids. I played with it in the mid 80's  so it could be from that point back.


texts: When should Italy NOT take over Tunisia on its second turn in Diplomacy?

texts:
Tunis is the only supply center that Italy is guaranteed to have by the first fall of the game, but are there any playable openings or situations where Italy should delay getting this guaranteed build? If Italy moved their fleet to the Adriatic Sea, it could help attack Trieste or convoy into Albania, and if it moved to the gulf of Lyon it could attack Marseilles or convoy into Spain.

It looks like the extra unit outweighs the benefits of an early attack on either Austria-Hungary or France because they could repel the attack or re-take their territory before you build a fourth unit. However, I was curious if anyone preferred an opening that didn't involve ordering a fleet into Tunis in the second round.


texts: In 7 Wonders Duel what happens if I don't have enough coins to discard?

texts:
In 7 Wonders Duel there are some actions that force the other player to discard coins.

Is there any penalty if they don't have enough coins to discard?


texts: How does Mining Village's extra effect work in Dominion?

texts:
Mining Village has the option to trash it immediately and gain 2 coins. What exactly is meant by immediately? In other words, if I play a Mining Village what can I do before I must choose whether to trash it or not and gain 2 coins?

I'm interested in whether I can first draw another card (one of Mining Village's effects) and play it.


texts: What are the specific types of permanents in the game? Are lands included in permanents?


texts: I remember that these dice went to a specific game that we played growing up. (I was born in '75.) But that is all I can remember!


texts:
I am at 2 life, and my opponent is at 3 life. It is my opponent's turn. He attacks me with a  Kindercatch. After blockers are declared (none) but before the combat damage step, I cast  Divine Deflection, targeting my opponent with X declared as 4.

Who wins?


texts:
Recognizing that I am arguing against pretty clear rules, but my buddy and I got in an argument regarding the logic behind only getting two pegs/points (Vs. 3) when you get a "go" from your partner and then place one or more cards down to eventually get to 31.

My logic (working against the rules) is that I should get 1 peg/point for my partners "go" and 2 pegs/points for reaching 31 (total of 3 points for the flurry of activity).  My argument is based on the fact that at any other time during the game when my partner says "go" I get 1 point......the only exception to this is when I place my cards down after the go and they result in a 31.  I argued with him last night that if the inventor of cribbage was alive today and I pointed out that I should get 3 points (1 for the go and 2 for hitting 31 directly) that they would say "hmmm....you are right....I missed that".

His rationale, is that when scoring 31, you are getting one point for hitting 31 exactly and 1 bonus point representing your partners' inability to play an additional card (his "go").  Hey says "whether a "go" is said or not, the go is implied when you place the last card at the end of the round to make 31....thus giving you two points when you reach 31 even when a "go" is communicated".

Any insight into how to argue either side of this scoring mess?


texts: Software to search for MTG decks based on a list of cards

texts:
I haven't played MTG for a while, but I still own about 500 cards. Some of them were from pre-built decks, but now the cards are all randomized.

I have the full inventory (quantity and name) on a text file. Although I've seen a lot of programs that allow you to build and share decks, I'm looking for something that searches for a deck based on the cards you have (or on a list you provide).

Update: I may have misguided you with my explanation, so here it goes in different words. I want to know what decks are out there that I can build with the cards I have. Something like: here's the list of cards I possess; show me what decks exist that I can build with them, without needing to buy more cards.


texts: Can you built a settlement in the middle of someone else's road, or vice versa?

texts:
In Catan, can player one build a road around a hex, and player two build a settlement between two of player one's road sections while being connected to his own roads from the third side? If so, does this affect Longest Road?

What about the opposite case: if two players have roads coming up to a corner where one of them already has a settlement, can the other one continue building from the other side?


texts: 1st Edition missprints on base set pikachu

texts: Hello there I've trying to get my hands on a rare miss printed base set pikachu. Where the 1st edition symbol is faded, aka the (ghost print). I just wondered is the pikachu on the right is a (ghost print). Thanks for your help.


texts: Dungeons and Dragons Lords of Waterdeep: Which piece is the Ambassador and which the Lieutenant?

texts:
There are two special Agent-like pieces in Lords of Waterdeep: the Ambassador, obtained temporarily by assigning an agent to the Palace of Waterdeep, and the Lieutenant, obtained permanently by completing the quest Recruit Lieutenant.

In the box, there are two pieces clearly meant to be used to represent the Ambassador and the Lieutenant. One of them is a yellowish-white and the other appears to be unpainted light brown wood.

Is there any canon on which one of these is supposed to be the Lieutenant and which is supposed to be the Ambassador? As far as I have seen, there is nothing in the rulebook specifiying this.


texts: How does Vorinclex's second ability work at the time of his death?

texts:
The Green New Phyrexian Praetor  Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger is quite the beast, his second ability reads:

  If an opponent taps a land for mana, it does not untap during his next untap step.

Say my opponent taps his land for mana, and sometime during his current turn or my next turn, Vorinclex dies somehow. Do his lands remain tapped for the extra turn as originally stated, since they were tapped during the time Vorinclex still lived, or does the effect end immrdiately upon his death, allowing my opponent to untap them as usual?


texts: If there are no prey conditions, does an enemy get assigned to whomever the lead investigator wishes?

texts:
If I draw a monster that does not have prey instructions, and I have both my investigator and the lead investigator at my location, is it the lead investigator's choice who gets engaged with it?  The rules don't explicitly say under Enemy Engagement in the Rules Reference (page 10):

  If there are multiple investigators at the same location as a ready unengaged enemy, follow the enemy’s prey instructions to determine which investigator is engaged.

Then under Prey on page 17:

  If an enemy that is about to automatically engage an investigator at its location has multiple options of whom to engage, that enemy engages the investigator who best meets its “prey” instructions (if multiple investigators are tied in meeting these instructions, the lead investigator may decide among them)

So, while a card might not actually have a Prey section, can we take this to mean that such cards will be up to the lead investigator to place?


texts: My girlfriend and I have played the game Bohnanza a lot and we have bought the version Bohnanza: Al Cabohne. But somehow the game always beats us. Does anybody know a good tactic to win this?


texts:
I cast a spell, and then my opponent casts Thassa's Intervention targeting my spell, choosing 0 for X.

Can I choose to have my spell countered? Or have I automatically paid {0}. It seems that read literally; the spell will not be countered because I actually have paid {0}; but can I choose either option?


texts: "Once per turn.." including opponent's turn?

texts:
As the title mentions, if explicitly mentioned in the text just "once per turn" (without mentioned "your turn" or "opponent turn"), does that mean it's both turns?

Like Eternal Soul:

  Every "Dark Magician" in your Monster Zone is unaffected by your
  opponent's card effects. If this face-up card leaves the field:
  Destroy all monsters you control. You can only use the following
  effect of "Eternal Soul" once per turn. You can activate 1 of these
  effects; ● Special Summon 1 "Dark Magician" from your hand or GY. ●
  Add 1 "Dark Magic Attack" or "Thousand Knives" from your Deck to your
  hand.


texts: Tweaking the difficulty in Arkham Horror?

texts:
Most cooperative games have methods of altering the difficulty listed in the rulebook, but Arkham Horror doesn't (although it does mention that Cthulu tends to be harder than the other ancient ones).

What are some good ways to tweak the difficulty?
How does each one alter the game difficulty and strategy?
Are there any methods of changing difficult in the expansions that you don't need to have the entire expansion to use?

There's a lot of obvious things, like drawing more mythos cards, taking away character abilities, having more monsters come out of gates etc. But I'm afraid to just start tinkering away. Which methods tend to work best?


texts: Can I sacrifice an opponent's creature to Shadowborn Demon?

texts:
I have a Shadowborn Demon and I was a little curious about the description of it. It specifically says "At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are fewer than six creature cards in your graveyard, sacrifice a creature."

So what I was wondering is, do I have to sacrifice my own creature? Or can I try and keep less than six creatures in my graveyard and sacrifice an opponent's creature every upkeep? Since it does specifically says "a creature" — it does not say "your creature" or "a creature you control." Most cards that have a sacrifice involved are extremely specific about that and will say "your creature" or "a creature you control" if it wants you to sacrifice your own creatures.


texts:
The setup rules for Scythe say:

Faction Selection:
Randomly shuffle the the Faction Mats and Player Mats, then deal 1 of each to each player.
Starting Player:
The player with the lowest number in the label on their Player Mat will go first. Play proceeds clockwise from there.
Designer's note:
The higher-numbered Player Mats offer slightly more lucrative starting track positions than the others, as those players are more likely to have 1 fewer turn by the end of the game than the player who goes first.

The question here is - when setting up the game - say I'm playing with three people - should I just randomly assign the three lowest ranked player mats, or I randomly assign three of total five?
The thing that I'm thinking about, is what say I randomly assign the 1,2 and 5 ranked player mats, if the person who has the five ranked player mat - has a larger advantage than if they'd been assigned the three ranked player mat.


texts:
I have heard of "International Tabletop Day" being a celebration of board games and roleplaying games, and that some stores have events for it. When is that?

Also, do previous dates provide any clues as to when we can expect future dates to be so that stores etc. can plan accordingly?


texts: Will Mirror Gallery make it impossible for your Mox Amber to produce mana?

texts: Does Mirror Gallery make it impossible to tap your Mox Amber for mana?


texts: Does Lighting Shriekers ability activate if it dies or was exiled?

texts:
So if anyone noticed I've been asking a few random unrelated questions since last night
Im new to magic and I bought a box of bulk common cards to get started (Theres been a few I added to my main deck, but mostly Im using it to learn how the game works.)

So I have a Lightning Shrieker

So it says "At the begining of the end step, Lightning Shrieker's owner shuffles it into their library."

Does this take effect if it died or was exiled? And if so what can keep it from being returned to the library?

I actually did find an answer to this question (But it was on tumblr so I don't really trust they know, because of what I say next) and they said if it dies it does mot return to the library, and it can only be returned from the battlefield

The main reason I don't trust this is because while reading my bulk of cards I've seen a good number of cards that say "Return (Creature name) to (Place) from battlefield"

And this one does not say "from battlefield"

Edit: Sorry I should have been more clear, I know it doesn't activate by being exiled or destroyed, my question was when I get to the end step does the trigger still activate from exile or the graveyard?


texts: Does Kasmina, Enigma Sage replace planeswalker abilities?

texts:
Kasmina, Enigma Sage has recently been spoiled. Her static ability reads:

Each other planeswalker you control has the loyalty abilities of Kasmina, Enigma Sage.

I assume the intention is to give your other Planeswalkers additional abilities, but the way it's worded it sounds like the abilities are replaced instead.
Usually cards specify when abilities are gained in addition, for example on Lazav, the Multifarious. Or does that wording only apply to clone-effects?
Question: Does Kasmina, Enigma Sage's static ability add or replace Planeswalker abilites?


texts: Does Underrealm Lich's replacement effect activate Gaea's Blessing's triggered effect?

texts:
While considering an off brand Golgari deck, I'm looking closely at Underrealm Lich and Gaea's Blessing.

Underrealm Lich's first ability is a replacement affect that turns your draws into a very Sultai/Golgari themed choose a card and fill the graveyard effect.

If Gaea's Blessing is among the three cards that Underrealm Lich lets me look at, and I don't choose it, will the activated effect of Gaea's Blessing trigger?


texts: Sacrificing to regenerate from Supreme Verdict

texts: I have Varolz, the Scar-Striped out along with a few minor creatures. My opponent on his turn casts Supreme Verdict. Before the Verdict resolves can I use Varolz's regenerate ability by sacrificing one of my lesser creatures? Will my Troll survive the Verdict?


texts: Can I activate a Legendary creature's abilities before the Legend rule kicks in?

texts:
Say I have a Krenko, Mob Boss on the field. I use Krenko's ability to create X tokens. Then, I play a Progenitor Mimic choosing Krenko. When the Legend Rule takes effect, I sacrifice the original Krenko. Since the Mimic comes in untapped, on my opponent's turn I tap it for the X tokens. My opponent takes and ends his turn.

Now it comes back to my turn. The Mimic untaps, and then copies itself during upkeep. Would I be able to tap the token copy after it's created for its X tokens, and then use the mimic later in the round for another X? Would the Legend Rule take effect before that could happen? Would I be able to tap the copy in response to the Legend Rule effect, placing the tap on top of the stack?


texts: Which Settlers of Catan expansions are recommended?

texts: I was introduced to Settlers of Catan just a few weeks ago here.  I plan on buying it and I would like recommendations as to which expansions I should get.


texts: What happens if you steal an Elixir of Immortality and then use it?

texts:
In an EDH (Commander) game recently, Alice used Thada Adel, Acquisitor to steal an artifact out of Bob's deck, the Elixir of Immortality, and cast it.

That artifact's ability says:

  {2}, {T}: You gain 5 life. Shuffle Elixir of Immortality and your graveyard into your library.

When Alice uses that ability, what happens to the artifact? Does it go into Bob's graveyard or get shuffled into Alice's library? Does Alice still even shuffle her graveyard into her library and gain 5 life?


texts: Couple questions related to Weight of the Underworld

texts:
I assume that you can decide to place Weight of the Underworld on either a Creature you control, or on a Creature the opponent controls.
Am I assuming it right?
If I cast this Enchantment on a Creature, which has only 1 or 2 Toughness, will the Creature die instantly after that Enchantment is in play?


texts:
When I was younger my parents bought a few board games and left them at my grandparents for us.

There was one game which had a plastic space ship mounted on a stick over the board, and it had a pump to propel the astronauts into the spaceship. You moved around the board and then when you got to the end you could pump your astronaut(s) into the spaceship.

I think there was a spinner similar to the one in the Game of Life, and the astronauts were green, blue, red and yellow.

Does anyone have any idea what game this might be?


texts: Does "Going Infinite" necessarily end the game?

texts:
I've seen a variety of combinations that will allow a player to "go infinite"* in life, power, toughness or simply create an endless loop**.

In the case of the endless loop, I understand why it necessarily forces a draw.  The game states can only proceed to states that feed the loop.

  104.4b If the game somehow enters a “loop” of mandatory actions, repeating a sequence of events with no way to stop, the game is a draw. Loops that contain an optional action don’t result in a draw.

If a creature goes infinite in power or toughness, or a player goes infinite in life, does it necessarily signal a win/loss condition?

A particularly stubborn a player could require the now infinite player to only gain as much life/toughness/power as they are willing to physically perform the combo, but it would be poor sportsmanship, right?

* perform a combination where, at the end of the sequence, the combo may be performed again

** a particularly specific setup involving 3 oblivion rings


texts: So if bob uses his ability of hitting 2 damage with machine gun equipped, would it be counted as his win if he rolled a 2 damage to 2 people holding equipment with 3 on his own and dying from the machine gun?


texts: Is Festering March cast repeatedly via the suspend ability?

texts:
The card text of Festering March is as follows:

  Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn. Exile Festering March with three time counters on it.

It appears that you can cast this card repeatedly as you suspend it as part of its resolution.


texts: Do the Sidekick dice (NPCs in D&D) have a level? They don't have a card, and only one character face. Some actions and cards target characters but only of a certain level.


texts: How can I protect my tron deck against Crumble To Dust

texts: So I made a really cool Mono-Black Eldrazi Tron deck. The only decks it has lost to are Bogles and an Izzet Control that was running a few copies of Crumble to Dust. The only thing I can come up with for Crumble to Dust is Memoricide and/or Cranial Extraction. Does anyone know another or better way? And what could I do about Bogles?


texts: What can dead Werewolves players be doing?

texts:
When you've been lynched by the villagers or ripped apart by the werewolves, I believe the rules say those players are completely out of the game and should not contribute in any way.

In the handful of Werewolves games I've played, some of those dead characters are put out that they aren't playing any more & decide they'll go and do something else, hence splitting up the party.

Do people have any house-rules or innovative ideas for what dead players can be doing within (or around) the game as it continues?


texts: I currently have a Goblin deck, it constantly racks up 1/1 goblin creatures. I now place Coat Of Arms onto the battlefield. I have 100 1/1 goblin tokens on the battlefield, a goblin warrior and a goblin shaman does this mean each goblin creature gets +3/+3? Do goblin tokens count?


texts:
I've had groups of 8, 10, and even 20+ to play Two Rooms and a Boom, and it was always a fantastic time. There was enough unknown information and things were hectic enough that things kept being interesting.

However, I've also tried it with just 6 players, and the game felt really weak. There were few enough people that by the end everyone had correctly determined everyone else's role, so the game always ended up as essentially a Rock-Paper-Scissors match at the last second between the two team leaders, each trying to guess what the other would do for the last switch. With essentially no other unknowns, most players felt powerless and uninvested in the outcome.

There are lots of ways to play Two Rooms and a Boom, what with many character types and card burying, but I haven't spent the time trying them out. What extra rules, if any, help the game stay strong with less than 8 players?


texts: Help me identify this old tile stacking game

texts: A game from the 60's. Stacking plastic tiles 1-20, six of each. Can't remember how to play but stacking was definitely involved.


texts: How does your opponent verify that you're able to cast a Companion card?

texts:
Normally, in Magic the Gathering, your library is a hidden zone; neither you nor your opponent are allowed to look at the cards in it during a game of Magic: the Gathering unless an effect says that you can. However, with the release of Ikoria, there are now Companion cards that allow you to cast them if you've obeyed certain deck building restrictions.

When you go to cast one from outside the game, how does your opponent verify that you meet the deckbuilding requirement for doing so? They can't look at the contents of your library, so it's entirely possible that your deck has one or more cards that violate the Companion's deckbuilding restriction, and you just haven't played them to a public zone yet. I've look at the article on the WotC website explaining the set mechanics of Ikoria, and it doesn't mention this problem at all.

You can choose a Companion that you're incapable of casting (e.g. to trick the opponent into thinking your deck is something it isn't), right? Is the only way for your opponent to verify your ability to cast a Companion to call a Judge to look at your decklist?


texts: How to make a small slam in bridge with less than 30 points between the partnership?

texts: The following hand came up recently in the Common Game. I would like my gentle reader let me know how you would have bid in order to reach the optimal contract (6 clubs). I know that a small slam really is possible because a few partnerships, admittedly rare, actually bid and made 6 clubs. I suspect those partnerships used the Precision Club system, or some variation thereof; but any insights that you can provide would be much appreciated.


texts:
Chaos in the Old World is a game about stomping all over your opponents, either by dominating regions or killing them off! Khorne is particularly good at the latter, requiring to spill much blood to the blood god to win. This was an issue for me, playing as Nurgle as my precious lepers kept being killed and harshing my ability to lay down corruption. I can imagine it'd be an issue for anyone else too.

How can I protect myself from Khorne? What is his weakness, and how can I exploit it?


texts: If I flashback Past in Flames and it is countered by Cancel, is it exiled or put back into my graveyard?


texts: Where can I play Carcassonne or Colonists of Catan online?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Boardgaming Online

I want to play Carcassonne or Colonists (Settlers) of Catan online, either against other people, or against a computer opponent.

I want to improve my skills so that I won't finish last when I play with my friends.
Where can I do that?


texts: Which of these rules for a Scrabble first turn play are official?

texts:
I've played scrabble with different groups of people and their rules on first turns vary a lot.  The rules I've seen used are:

Double score for first turn (Scrabble rules confirms this and is the first thing a scrabble player learns)
The word's middle letters have to be dead-center. ("JUG"'s "U" must be in the middle of the board)
You can only play a word horizontally. (Never seen this in writing but noticed that I haven't seen anyone play vertically either.)

Which of these are official?


texts: If a permanent is tapped, are enchantments on it also tapped?

texts:
Say I have a Forest in play enchanted with Utopia Sprawl. Opponent has a Mesmeric Orb in play, which has this text:

Whenever a permanent becomes untapped, that permanent's controller mills a card.

On my turn I tap the Forest for mana. On my next turn when the Forest untaps, do I mill one card or two?
Intuitively I'm guessing one card, but I'm not aware of any rule that says it should be one card, so I'd like to check.


texts: Ancestor dragon. Inclusive or cumulative

texts: If I have Ancestor Dragon out and attack with 3 creatures does it trigger for creatures attacking and I gain 3 life or does it trigger for each attacking creature and I'd gain 3 life for each of the 3 attacking creatures thus gaining 9 life?


texts: Can I return a card from the graveyard that is active?

texts: Say that I have a Salvager of Ruin and Deliver Unto Evil and then I activated Deliver Unto Evil then use Salvager of Ruin to return it before it fully activates and if yes can I use this to return a card activating that exiles it at the end of the activation?


texts:
I've seen lots of Axis & Allies discussion refer to "shuck-shuck" in passing. I understand it has something to do with the US and UK supporting Russia in northern Europe using fighters and transports. Due to my inexperience with the game, I can't really figure out what's going on beyond that.

What is "shuck-shuck"? How did it get its name?

How exactly does it work?

Why is it such a fixture in A&A discussions?


texts: Question regarding the new custom chapter rules

texts:
So recently this year, games workshop has added the addition of custom chapters to Warhammer, and while building my army I realised that I was going with a space wolves kind of army. However while painting and lore building I was making the chapter a salamanders successor.
So what I was gonna ask is, how do custom chapter rules work regarding chapter specific units, could I say that they're a successor chapter to the salamanders and use some data sheets specific to the space wolves like thunderwolf cavalry and fenrisian wolves, while abandoning salamander specific data sheets.
Do I have to use salamander units specifically now that I've made them salamanders in paint scheme and lore.
Or can custom chapters just flat out not use chapter specific units. (I don't know too much on the custom chapter rules so I apologize if I'm being dumb)


texts: What's different in San Juan's second edition?

texts: I just bought a copy of San Juan after playing it a few times on iPad and loving it. When I got it home, I saw that it is the second edition. On Board Game Geek, first and second editions have their own entries. What's new/different in San Juan's second edition that it would get classified as a separate game?


texts: Is there a long-term scoring system for 4 or 5 players who have played the same game repeatedly?

texts:
We are a group of 4, sometimes 5 players who have played Power Grid every week for nearly 2 years. For every game we have played, I have kept track of game dates and rankings (1st place, 2nd,..., 5th).

Is  there a scoring system which would allow me to award points for each rank in each game and possibly calculate the probability of any one player winning the next game?


texts: Is the following considered battle-forged?

texts: I have recently been collecting models for my first WH40k Army, but I have yet to receive a core rule book that I have ordered. However, I do have the Space Marine book and have constructed a Gladius Strike Force that includes the base core requirements (1captain/chaplain, 3 tactical squads, an attack bike, and 1 devestator squad) with a handfull of auxiliary components. If the cost of this met whatever allowance a match had, would this be considered a Battle-Forged army?


texts: Can all all ability bonuses aside from weapons "+" effects be stacked?

texts:
By ability bonus, I mean any quality of an asset at all, not just the "+N" to an attribute. My question centers around how to compound effects on assets. The quick reference explains that weapon "Gain +N to " bonuses do not compound and that you simply pick the strongest one. Does this mean any non-weapon "+" bonus does compound, i.e. from items and allies for instance? Some example questions:

If I have 3 assets that each grant +1 to an attribute, do I have +3 (in addition to my best weapon "+" bonus?
If I have 3 assets that each say I can reroll a die, do I get 3 rerolls?
Is there any other clear case aside from the weapon "+" bonus to attributes where assets are not compounded?


texts:
What cards should a good cube supporting reanimator decks contain? Which ones are crucial and what's extra.

I figure there are at least 3 types of cards:

Reanimation E.g. Animate dead, Necromancy.

Put-em-in-the-yard: E.g. Entomb, Careful study.

Targets: E.g. Akroma, Angel of Wrath

What's best in each category and am I missing anything? How many cards of each type are needed in a 540 cube?


texts: Can You Create Free Rent Agreements in Monopoly

texts: Is it legal to allow free rent agreements as part of a real estate transaction in Monopoly?  Specifically I'd like to purchase a property and sell two additional properties but only if both parties in the transaction receive 'free rent' as long as we own the properties.


texts: How does Imprinting and the affinity work together?

texts: I'm currently working on a artifact deck (casual). I am thinking of imprinting Somber Hoverguard on Soul Foundry. But how do I dertermine the imprint cost, and will the activation cost of Soul Foundry change as the numbers of artifacts change on my battlefield?


texts: Where can you post new Dominion card rule suggestions?

texts:
The question

I am a big Dominion fan and have made some "fan cards".  I have followed these suggestions on how to make your cards work, have play tested them many times and now would like to share with others some interesting new cards.  Unfortunately there does not seem to be a place to post these.  Do you know?

BoardGameGeek.com

This seems to be the place to post, but does anyone else have problems posting to this site?  To post there, the site itself says, you need to confirm by email, but I never receive the confirmation email even though my email address is correct as I am able to use it when I purchase something from the site.

Donald X himself

I have recently read that he is working on an expansion coming out in 2015 (yeah!), but I can´t seem to find any contact information either to him or his publisher.

Othe suggestions?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Do the rules 720.3 and 720.5 contradict each other?

texts:
Considering the problems in answering this question, I feel like there is a contradiction between rules 720.3 and 720.5:

720.3. Sometimes a loop can be fragmented, meaning that each player involved in the loop performs an independent action that results in the same game state being reached multiple times. If that happens, the active player (or, if the active player is not involved in the loop, the first player in turn order who is involved) must then make a different game choice so the loop does not continue.
720.5. No player can be forced to perform an action that would end a loop other than actions called for by objects involved in the loop.

Assume the same scenario as in the original question, Lethal Vapors and Solemnity are on the battlefield, and an undying or persist creature enters the battlefield. Assume further that the active player has only 2 possible game choices, those choices being "passing priority" and "activate Lethal Vapor's active ability".
Note that "passing priority" is a game choice:

720.1. When playing a game, players typically make use of mutually understood shortcuts rather than explicitly identifying each game choice (either taking an action or passing priority) a player makes.

Now, if all players keep passing when they receive priority between Lethal Vapor triggers, the game enters a loop and a draw. However, 720.3 clearly says that in this case, the active player must make a different choice, i.e. other than passing priority. The only remaining choice is activating Lethal Vapor's ability. That, however, might violate 720.5, because the game rules force the active player to end the loop.
So my question is, is there a possible contradiction between 720.3 and 720.5?
Related question, in case Lethal Vapor counts as an object involved in the loop: Assume there is a Pithing Needle naming Lethal Vapors, and the active player also controls Seal of Cleansing. The only legal game choice remaining would be to activate Seal of Cleansing. Does the player have to do that, and if not, is the game a draw?


texts: Resolution of two buffs that affect attacking creatures

texts: I have a creature, Wild Beastmaster, that increases all other creatures I control whenever it attacks (I assume that means the attack triggers this). However, since a card like Trumpet Blast only affects attackers that are already declared (as per the rulings at the bottom of that page), it only works if attackers have already been declared. Would the Trumpet Blast be able to effectively be doubled through the Wild Beastmaster, or would the specification of "attacking creatures" mean that it cannot be used before the Wild Beastmaster's effect is applied?


texts: Looking for a specific variant of Tic-Tac-Toe

texts:
I came across a nice variant of Tic-Tac-Toe game, but since I don't know the game, nor remember the exact parameters of the game, it is hard to find info about it, as existence of optimal strategies etc. The part where I'm not sure is the dimension of the grid, but I think it was 4x4 because of the nature of the pieces. Each pieces have four traits, 2 possibilities for each trait. For example, the traits of the game I saw were:

1: Height (Small or tall)

2: Color (White or black)

3: Shape (circle or square)

3: Fillness (Filled or with a hole)

Most likely all 16 possible pieces were present. Now here is how the game is played:

Player A has the white pieces, player B has the black one. On player's A turn, he gives one of his piece to player B and player B decides where he puts it. He then gives one of his (B's) piece to A and A places it where ever he may wants. This keep going on until a player places a piece that gives a Tic-Tac-Toe, a Tic-Tac-Toe being 4 aligned pieces that possess a same traits.

I hope I am making myself clear.


texts: Can a takeout doubler pass a redoubled contract?

texts:
South opened one diamond. West doubled for takeout with the following hand:

s) Axxx (H) Kxx (D) Kxx (C) Qxx

North redoubled. This took me (East) off the hook with something like s) xxx (H) xxx (D) xxx (C) xxxx. I could pass, because the redouble allowed West to bid again. She bid one spade, we were doubled, vulnerable, and went down four (-1100).

Could she have left in the redouble by passing? One diamond redoubled does not make game, although it makes a ton of overtricks. Even so, would the likely loss have been less than -1100 or even -800?

Or was the problem with the takeout double in the first place.


texts: Does "Drive Him Back!" also prevent advancement of the monster on this turn?

texts:
Castle Panic's "Drive Him Back" states:

  Play this card and move 1 Monster all the way back into the Forest, keeping it in the same numbered arc.

Does that monster then stay there during the next immediate Phase 5: Move Monsters?  Or does that monster go ahead and move to the archers ring?


texts: Should the Hare nap when in the lead among remaining racers?

texts:
One of the rules of the Hare dictates that when he is in or tied for 1st, he doesn't move (naps) when 4 Hare cards are played in the card pool. Once other racers have secured a place on the podium, if the Hare is in the lead among remaining players, should he adhere to napping when 4 cards are played?

From a strict reading of the rules, we can probably agree that he doesn't nap once he's lost the chance to be first place.

From a game balance perspective, I feel like 18 Hare cards (versus the others' 17, 16, 15 and 15) doesn't quite put the occurrence of 4 Hares frequently enough to cut the edge he has moving two spaces each turn. Sure, Hare moves 2 regardless of how many of 1-4 cards, while Fox moves X cards outright, so you could roughly argue Fox averages 2.5 per card and Hare 2.0 per card, but Hare has 18 v Fox's 15 so moves much more frequently at lower cost. If just 4 of Fox's cards are wasted on wolf howls his game is over. From a game balance perspective, I would be ok with making Hare nap anytime he is 1st place among remaining racers. I don't think the likelihood of hitting the 4-card-and-in-first penalty is high and should be an ever-present threat to Hare.

From a story continuity perspective, the same drive that motivates him to nap when he's in the lead probably doesn't hold once he sees he's already lost the race, so this would argue for no napping once another character finishes.

I am interested in opinions and also further analysis on the game balance of the Hare's rules given his card count (18 in the deck). My analysis has just been loose and based on feel.


texts: Recasting Azor's Gateway after it has been returned to my hand

texts:
Take the following situation:

I have had Azor's Gateway in play and have exiled 4 cards with it. My opponent returns Azor's Gateway to my hand, and the next turn I recast it.

Will I be able to transform Azor's Gateway when I use it's ability one more time (making the total amount of cards exiled 5), or will the counter reset because Azor's Gateway will be a different 'object' after I've recast it?

In my opinion it would be the latter, but I haven't been able to find conclusive references to a situation like this in the rulebooks.


texts: What are Death's stats for the “Chess with death” haunt in Betrayal at the House on the Hill?

texts:
In the "Chess with death" haunt, death appears in a room and starts a chess game with the players. If a player isn't in the room to take their turn when death's turn rolls around, the players lose the game. However, if one of the non-traitor players is in the room, they get to play a game of chess with death.

death and the players must make a knowledge roll against each-other, death must win the roll or the traitor loses the game. if the player loses, all players (including the loser) take a penalty, usually stat-lowering effects.

There are holy symbols around that players can destroy to make death perform worse on their rolls. There are 4 symbols that the players can destroy. each destroyed symbol will subtract 1 or 2 dice from death's rolls.

The thing that puzzled my players is that there seemed to be no skills or stats for death in the traitor's tome, as confirmed by every player at the table. We assumed that Death had perfect 8 for every stat, but there are haunts where some creatures get up to 12.

What are Death's stats tor the "Chess With Death" haunt in the game Betrayal at the House on the Hill?


texts: What are the chances of losing Pandemic on the first turn?

texts:
I like probability questions, and it has been a while since tttpp's excellent analysis of losing in the first turn of Forbidden Island. I figured it might be interesting to calculate how likely you are to lose on the first turn in Pandemic. This was inspired by JoeGolton's question about impossible setups, and tttppp's answer referencing a BBG session report.  This question is only interested in figuring the odds of losing the game during the first players turn. To figure out the odds of losing, you will need to the following:

The rules for Pandemic.

Calculate how likely you are to lose by running out of 24 cubes of a single color.
Calculate how likely you are to lose by Outbreaking 8 times.
Calculate how likely you are to draw an Epidemic cards  on the first turn.
Calculate the odds of being able to remove 0 or more cubes from possible chain outbreak cities.
Calculate the odds of no player receiving a Special Event (linked all 5) card that will prevent a loss.
Determine the effect of each difficulty level (4-6 Epidemic cards in evenly divided piles), and for 2-4 Players on the result.

Assume the following:

The First Player character is randomly determined.
The other players out of the 5 roles are randomly determined.
Assume players do not know which Infection cards will be drawn (unless a Special Action card allows it)
Standard Rules and Characters (none from On the Brink)


texts: What are the order of actions in Monopoly?

texts:
Another question arose from my previous question: What is the order of actions in Monopoly?

There are a number of actions that may take place:

Roll dice
Move token
Purchase property
Pay rent
Improve properties
Trade with players
Go to jail

I'm sure there are others too.

I checked the rules and didn't notice any specified order for your turn.

Also, what actions can I take when it's not my turn? For example, can I trade with another player, or improve my properties?


texts: Can an undiscovered hex be discovered only by a ship or can it be discovered in any other way?


texts: Can I discard more than 1 card at a time if there are no draw cards left?

texts:
Ordinarily no one would discard more than one card when there are no draw cards available. In this situation though, the player discarded down to one card on one turn, and then on the next turn played his remaining card, a Swap Hands card, on a player he suspected was on the opposite team, thus preventing the other player from playing.

It was a brilliant move, and I don't see anything in the rules specifically preventing this.

Is this legal?


texts: So in the very early 2000s (in the U.K.), I had this board game that was essentially a large purple monster head. I was quite young at the time so I can't fully remember the rules of the game either, but it was something like a player has to place or retrieve plastic bugs from the monsters mouth without it noticing and spitting at you. I've asked family members about this game and nobody seems to remember it except my Dad but like me he can't remember what it was called at all. Help!


texts: Word association or category snap card game?

texts: I played a game once at a games night that was something like snap, except the cards had categories on them and instead of saying "snap" you had to say a word in that category (if I remember rightly. It may have been word association). I think if the card was the same colour as the previous card, or had the same symbol, you could try to "snap". Does anyone know the name of this game?


texts: Why should a player call "cheat" and risk taking the entire stack of cards?

texts:
In a game of cheat/bullshit with at least three players, what is the incentive for a player to challenge a claim when he/she does not stand to gain anything in winning the challenge, but risks taking the entire stack of cards if he loses the challenge?

The only situation where I think it would make sense to challenge is the following: If someone just placed his/her last card down and I am the only one who has sufficient information to conclude that he/she is cheating, then it makes sense for me to challenge in order to prevent him/her from winning.  But apart from this situation, does it make sense to challenge at all? (Assuming we play be the rules on Wikipedia, where play continues normally with the next player regardless of the outcome of the challenge)


texts: Does someone really need to play Harry in the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game?

texts:
My boyfriend and I are looking at the Dresden Files cooperative card game, based on the books by Jim Butcher.

However, a serious problem we both have with the idea of the game is that someone must play the eponymous Harry Dresden.  That seems at best boring and at worst really poor game design.  Has anyone played this game without Harry Dresden in play?


texts: In Arkham Horror, do 'leftover' successes after triggering a doom token removal still count?

texts: In a 2-investigator game, if he rolls 3 successes, does the remaining success get accumulated toward the next doom token removal? Along the same vein, if he rolls 4 successes, does he remove 2 tokens?


texts: What are the probabilities of getting any or all five cards of Exodia using a specified monster card effect

texts:
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there exists a monster effect card called Morphing Jar, which has the following effect:

  FLIP: Both players discard their entire hands, then draw 5 cards.

There are more (magic/trap/monster effect) cards that allow the duelist/player to draw a defined number of cards.

As an extension of my previous question, I'm looking for the probabilities of getting any or all five cards of Exodia using the quoted effect above.


texts: Can you counter a Land in Magic the Gathering?

texts:
I have always wondered this when I played Magic the Gathering, whether or not you can use a counter spell on a land.  I know a land is technically a spell, but it is a special type, hence the confusion.

It may be kind of a waste to counter spell a land but still it could be a good strategic option.


texts: Does turning a card face up cause it to lose any counters it had on it?

texts:
If a card is played face down for some reason, like Guardian Shield-Bearer:

  Megamorph 3G (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its megamorph cost and put a +1/+1 counter on it.)

  When Guardian Shield-Bearer is turned face up, put a +1/+1 counter on another creature you control.

Let's say I play Guardian face down, and then I get a card that says I can put a +1/+1 counter on one of my creatures. I choose to put it on my face-down Guardian to make it a 3/3.

When I turn Guardian up, does it lose the +1/+1 counter, since it is transforming (or rather, morphing) into a new creature? What about enchantments or other things attached to it?

What type of creature is the 2/2 when it is face down? Just a "Creature" type creature?


texts: Does the cooperative Lord of the Rings game require a decent amount of experience with the books to be playable?

texts:
I love cooperative games, and Lord of the Rings seems to be fairly high on the list. (I have Pandemic, Forbidden Island, and Shadows over Camelot. I'm considering Space Alert and Space Hulk Death Angel).

I love the Lord of the Rings series, but how deep does the game get into the story line? If people who don't really know the Lord of The Rings books (however few of them there may be) can't play it I'll probably go with something else. How will having little familiarity with the books affect the other players' enjoyment?