Is it possible to postponed the Turn 7 reshuffle to Turn 8? As a Twilight Struggle player, it's important to be aware of the Turn 3 and Turn 7 reshuffles, and you need to plan your card management strategy accordingly. For example, a US player holding De-Stalinization would normally try to space it on Turn 3 (and not Turn 1 or 2), as this keeps it out of the game for a long time. In a similar way, cards discarded on Turn 7 or later will not come back in the game via a reshuffle (although cards like Star Wars and SALT Negotiations can retrieve discarded cards).

My question is, is it possible to have a game without a Turn 7 reshuffle? While the Turn 3 reshuffle is unavoidable, I'm thinking that it might be possible to have a game without the Turn 7 reshuffle. This would lead for an interesting Late War, with very few scoring cards and a deck that's likely to favour the US player.

If possible, I imagine such a game would see heavy use of the China Card, but no use of cards that cut down on hand size (Five Year Plan, Grain Sales to Soviets), nor cards that mill the deck (Our Man in Tehran, Ask Not...).

If relevant, I have the Deluxe Edition and play with the optional cards.

I've had many games without a turn 7 reshuffle. It's totally possible if playing with the 7 optional cards. This depends on the following:

How many cards are removed from the game in Turns 1-2.
How many cards are held in Turns 3-6: players may hold:

Multiple cards by playing The China Card, Ussuri River Skirmish/Cultural Revolution (multiple China card plays), SALT Negotiations;
No cards through the plays of Blockade, Five Year Plan, Grain Sales to Soviets, UN Intervention.
The space track may also throw a wrench into that, but we won't investigate it as impractical.

Whether Ask not what your country can do for you... or Our man in Tehran have been played or not. This technically falls into #2, but I consider them different enough to deserve a mention on their own.

Here is a theoretical example, assuming: the 3 aforementioned factors work in the way of delaying the reshuffle:

No events are removed in Turns 1-2.
No China Card play in Turns 3-6.

Turns 1-2

There are 38 early war cards: 3 scoring, 6 neutral, 14 US, 15 USSR. For the sake of simplicity, let's also assume no China Card play or hand-size reductions in Turns 1-2, albeit you shall see that it does not affect our analysis. Thus, we assume that players hold a single card in both turns.

16 cards will be drawn on Turn 1, leaving the deck with 22 cards.
14 cards will be drawn on Turn 2, leaving the deck with 8 cards.
At the end of Turn 2, there will thus be at most 14+14=28 cards in the discard pile, assuming that no starred events were removed.

There is no way to trigger the first reshuffle earlier or later than turn 3. On the one hand, there are at most 3 hand-size reductions (Blockade, Five Year Plan, UN Intervention), which would leave the draw pile at the beginning of Turn 2 with 5 cards, if all were played on Turn 1. On the other hand, only 2 extra cards may be held, during Turns 1-2, still not enough to delay the Turn 3 reshuffle.

Turn 3

When dealing cards on Turn 3, there are:

8 cards in the draw pile
14 cards that have to be dealt
28 cards (at most) in the discard pile

Therefore:

The first 8 cards are dealt to both players.
The (max) 28 discarded cards are reshuffled to form a new draw pile.
Finally, 6 more cards are dealt to each player, leaving the deck with 22 cards.

Note that prior hand-size reductions or plays of the China Card in Turns 1-2 do not affect the aforementioned numbers. If players hold more or less cards, this will of course affect which cards are held through the reshuffle, but not the total number of them. For instance, if the US cannot hold a card on Turn 2 due to Blockade, then at the beginning of Turn 3 there are 15 cards to be dealt, but also 29 cards in the discard pile, thus not affecting our numbers at all.

Let's assume now that both players will now on hold exactly one card, thus holding 1 card at the end of Turn 3.

Turns 4-7

There are 48 mid war cards: 4 scoring, 11 neutral, 18 US, 15 USSR. On turn 4:

There are 22 cards remaining from the early war.
The 48 mid war cards are shuffled in the draw pile.
A new pile is formed of 70 cards in total.
We assume that players hold a single card and thus 16 cards are dealt each turn.

This would mean that at the beginning of Turn 7 there will be 70 - 16×4 = 6 cards in the draw pile, thus not triggering a reshuffle! This would lead to the 23 late war cards being added in Turn 8, leading to a delayed Turn 9 reshuffle. This would mean that all late war cards would be guaranteed to be drawn by the beginning of Turn 9.

Hastening the reshuffle

The aforementioned analysis suggests that 6 cards need to be "eliminated" to trigger a Turn 7 reshuffle. These could be:

Early war starred events eliminated in Turns 1-2, thus not entering the reshuffle.
Hand-size reductions during Turns 3-6, increasing the number of cards that need to be drawn.
Playing Ask not what your country can do for you... or Our man in Tehran, which either thin the draw pile or cycle faster through it, respectively. These may also be played on Turn 7, not just during Turns 4-6.

On the other hand, not removing many starred events in Turns 1-2 and successive plays of the China card in Turns 3-4 would result in not triggering the Turn 7 reshuffle. Playing SALT negotiations lets you hold multiple cards, thus delaying the reshuffle as well.

Fine notes: if the reshuffle has not been triggered by Turn 7 and the US player holds Our man in Tehran, then they have a huge control on what will enter the reshuffle or not, if there are at most 5 cards remaining in the draw pile. In this case, he should:

Play as many US cards or scoring cards he would like to enter the reshuffle again.
Play Our man in Tehran to trigger the reshuffle.
Play Ask not what your country can do for you... to discard the USSR or scoring cards they would like to miss the reshuffle (or just space the former).


If you help someone in combat and you lose, do you both get the 'bad stuff' If you are facing a monster, but don't have enough fighting power to win in combat, you can persuade another player to help you. This adds their combat power to yours.

What happens if the monster still wins? (For example, if a third player pulls out a card that raises the monster's power over your combined power).

Does the 'bad stuff' only happen to the original player, or does the helping player have to suffer this as well?

If the bad stuff does happen to the helping player, do they both roll separately to 'run away', or do they run away as a team?

Both players must roll to run away separately, and any player that fails to run away suffers the bad stuff.

From the official rules

  If two players are cooperating and still can’t defeat the monster(s), they
  must both Run Away. They roll separately, and each player chooses in what
  order to Run Away. The monster(s) CAN catch them both.

and

  If you fail to Run Away from a monster, it does Bad Stuff to you, as
  described on its card.


Using the edges of the board in Go So I have another question about counting territory.

$$ ---------------------
$$ | . . . . . O w w w |
$$ | . . . . . O w w w |
$$ | . . . . . . O O O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------

In this position, all of the squares marked "w" would be whites territory. I have two questions about this. First off, why would none of the other open spaces on the board count for white? In a way, he is surrounding them.
And secondly, If black played like so:

$$ ---------------------
$$ | . . . . . O w X w |
$$ | . . . . . O w w w |
$$ | . . . . . . O O O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------

Would this automatically negate all of the territory that white is surrounding, simply because it interrupts the border? If so, wouldn't this be an extremely valuable move, because in order for white to take that piece and reclaim all of that territory, he would have to play like this:

$$ ---------------------
$$ | . . . . . O O w O |
$$ | . . . . . O w O w |
$$ | . . . . . . O O O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------

Which leaves him with three less points that in the beginning. Any answers are appreciated. Thanks!

Firstly, note that it doesn't matter who owns what territory until the game is over, and none of these are realistic ending scenarios. However, let's assume the game did end with each of your first two boards.

On the first board, the entire board would be considered White's territory.

On the second, among two good players, Black and White would agree that Black's stone is dead. White would then automatically capture Black's stone before scoring.

What happens if Black refuses to agree his stone is toast? You do indeed have to play it out and end up with board 3. However, White is not penalized for playing those extra stones:

If you are playing with area scoring, stones on the board are a point each just like territory controlled, so board 3 scores just as well as board 1 for White.
If you are playing with territory scoring, all play after the game has ended is considered purely hypothetical - it exists solely to resolve the dispute over which stones are still alive. White proves her claim that Black's stone is dead by playing until board 3, but then the game reverts back to board 2 (and White auto-captures Black's dead stone) before scoring.


Isn't secrecy quite pointless for Bio-terrorist? My buddies and I have been hooked on Pandemic lately and I just picked up the On-the-Brink expansion for Pandemic.

I was reading the rulebook yesterday and I'm not quite sure if I get the Bio-terrorist (BT) challenge right. So the BT is off the board, and plays mostly on pen-&-paper, and the pawn comes to the board only when BT happens to be in the same city as one of the players (timing of putting the pawn on the board is also interesting, but I'll ask that separately).

According to the rulebook the BT has 2 actions and a move, so the BT can essentially:

spread disease locally (L)
spread remotely (R) by discarding
travel remotely (F) by discarding
sabotage (S) by discarding
draw card (D)

I don't quite get the point of secrecy (writing on paper), especially considering that the actions have pretty obvious consequences:

purple cube gets placed on the board
BT discards a card and a purple cube is placed on the board
BT discards a card (destination is the city on the card), BT announces that he was seen at an airport.
BT discards a card, a station is removed from the board
BT draws

So unless I misunderstood something, all BT actions are obvious to any alert player. What's the point of secrecy and note-taking?

To answer the question in the title: No.  Without secrecy, it would be trivial for the BT to be caught, making them mostly ineffective.  Even a little bit of doubt as to where the BT is will often be enough to keep the players from attempting to capture them, since the moves would be wasted if they're wrong, and capturing often isn't strong enough to risk that.

In terms of why it isn't actually trivial to know where they are, you left out an action, which is probably the most common one.  The BT may drive between locations just like a player does.  This does not reveal where the BT is, and is your primary method as the BT of keeping the players from knowing where you are.  Also, when you discard a card, the players do not know if you are using it for a Direct Flight (going to the city) or a Charter Flight (going from the city).


Does x-wing support more than 2 players Can you play x-wing with more than 2 people?

If so, what all do I need to achieve more than 2 players?

Free for all? Teams?

My games club plays furballs. Each player gets 1 ship to a maximum point limit agreed beforehand (we usually pick 30 points).

Each player has a spawn point. Every time a player is destroyed, they respawn. The player who destroyed that ship gains a point. The player who was destroyed loses a point. Play continues until a player reaches a score limit (we usually play to +5) or a time limit is reached (we usually play for an hour for 6 players, adding 10 minutes for each extra player).

Variation on furballs: bounty hunting. Randomly allocate each player a bounty player. Keep this knowledge secret. If you destroy your bounty, gain +2 to your score, instead of the usual +1


Games that can be played with just normal playing cards that are engrossing enough for a hardcore gamer Are there any games with depth similar to Dominion or Puerto Rico that can be played with standard1 playing cards? More than 1 deck is fine. A good answer should have plentiful, diverse opportunities for strategy and analysis; flexibility in number of players, friendliness to new players, lack of empty spaces during the game-play, and general intensity are all a plus.

1: 4 suits, 12 cards each

I generally enjoy trick-taking games as they involve a bit more strategy than "pick a card that's the same color".  Examples include Hearts, Spades, Pinochle, Oh Hell, etc.

The interesting elements to me are keeping track of what cards have been played, what order to play your cards in to achieve your goal, and trying to figure out your opponents' strategy.


Is using a distinct pitch or tone in your voice for your hint legal in Codenames? I.e., "colddd" to link "blanket" and "Arctic" To link "blanket" and "Arctic", "cold" could be a clue because the Arctic has subzero temperatures and a blanket is something you put on if you are cold at night. Saying "cold" with an extension of the sound in your tone like "colddd" could help your guesser hit "blanket" better because it gives the clue that cold can be an expression of someone who is cold.
Other examples include sounding out "ding" to "dingggg" if you want to hit "dent" but also "bell" and "phone" better since it might suggest to look for clues that sound like ding.

I gave a similar answer to a different question here But this is a different question with almost the same answer.
The rules here say

DON'T BE TOO STRICT

So if the word is a legal clue then there is nothing in the rule to say you can't use a certain voice.  I guess the balance is you couldn't use Western Film accent to say "Paris" to give a clue for "Cowboy" and "France".
Also its worth looking at the rules for Homonyms which say (emphasis mine).

Some people prefer to allow a more liberal use of homonyms. You can allow knight to be a clue for night-related things if that makes the game more fun for you.

You can apply that rule to making sounds with you clues.  Would saying "colddd" make the make more fun for your group?  If so then yes it would be fine.
In general if you're not sure if a clue is legal ask your self, Do the rules specially say you're not allowed to do it?  If the answer is no, and your group are having fun then the clue is almost certainly fine.


In Lords of Waterdeep on iOS, why does placing a corruption token on The Palace of Waterdeep indicate you won't get to take the Ambassador? This question is prompted by the iOS implementation of the game by Playdek, so it may just be a flaw in the game, but I'm just checking to make sure there isn't some rule that I'm not aware of.

Here's the scenario: "Delver's Folly" and "The Palace of Waterdeep" are in play. I already have an agent on The Palace from a previous turn. (The Palace allows you to place the Ambassador at the start of the next turn.) It's my turn and I place an agent on Delver's Folly, which then allows me to place a corruption token on any action space. I want to place the token on The Palace, but when I do so, the game pops up a message that says "You will not receive the Ambassador. Are you sure you want to take this action?" It sounds like this will negate my previous play of putting an agent on The Palace, but that doesn't make any sense to me. Is there some reason this should be the case, or is this likely a flaw in the iOS version of the game?

I posted the question to Playdek support. They said it is a bug in the UI. The message is intended for when an agent is assigned to The Place after someone else has already taken the Ambassador, but before they've had a chance to use it. In that case, the player assigning the new agent does not get to take the Ambassador (see page 22). It is incorrectly being displayed when placing a corruption token (probably any cube) on The Palace. They said selecting "yes" would have worked correctly, i.e. it would not have canceled the earlier play (I had already made an alternate move, so I couldn't confirm), and that it should be fixed in a future release.


Why am I unable to draw cards in Magic 2014? I play Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers (DotP) on Steam. I understand all of the basics except for one thing! In a recent battle, my turn started and I did not draw a card. The game went directly to my End phase. My Main and Combat phases were skipped. This happened for five or more turns in a row!

Are there any cards in Magic 2014 DotP that stop a player from drawing cards, or skip a draw step? Are there any settings that could cause my Main and Combat phases to be skipped when my hand is empty? Is this a bug?

At the start of your turn, you draw 1 card. In a two player game, the start player does not draw a card at the start of his first turn.

If a computer version of MTG did not let you draw a card at the start of each turn, then either there was some sort of bug, or it was a special mode that changes the normal rules of Magic.


Contract Bridge - Purpose of 4 diamonds bid by West I'm a very inexperienced bridge player (currently in Series 9 on FunBridge) and played a following deal (sorry for posting an image, a PBN version is provided below) using SAYC conventions (all other hands were presumably bots):

After West opened in 1 ♠ and both North and East passed, I (South) immediately raised to 3 ♣ showing a strong hand (17 HCP) and strong club suit (6 clubs headed by AKQ), West raised to 3 ♦ and East bid 3 ♥. Now I doubled as  a takeout, asking North to show at least any support (after the hand was played, it turned that 4NT was makeable for North-South). Surprisingly, West raised to 4 ♦ which was doubled by North and stood. The contract was played down 4, totaling -1100 points to East-West. (Surprisingly, I was the only player who played in diamonds.)
So, the question is: Why West raised to 4 ♦ having not-so-strong hand and a minimum support from East? Did he try to make a save or preempt?
The hand in PBN format:
[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "1"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "W"]
[Vulnerable "All"]
[Deal "W:AK962.3.K86543.J 854.KQ87.AQT7.63 7.JT6542.92.T974 QJT3.A9.J.AKQ852"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer "W"]
[Contract "4DX"]
[Result "6"]
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Score "EW -1100"]
[Auction "W"]
1S Pass Pass 3C
3D Pass 3H X
4D X AP
[Play "N"]
C6 C4 CQ CJ
C3 C7 CA D3
S4 S7 S3 SA
S5 D2 ST S2
H8 CT CK H3
D7 D9 DJ D4
H7 H2 HA D5
S8 H4 SJ SK
DT H5 C2 D6
HK H6 H9 D8
DA HT C5 DK
HQ HJ C8 S6
DQ C9 SQ S9

I expect a lot of this is due to the players not knowing what they, or their opponents, are playing.  I don't know if the other players are bots or human, but if bots, the bidding is odd.
The SAYC book doesn't talk about balancing much, but it does say about direct overcalls:
"Overcalls show 8–16 points (double and bid the long suit with a stronger hand)"
"Jump overcalls are preemptive, showing the same value as an opening bid at the
same level"
So I don't think anybody understood your 3C bid, and I think that causes a lot of confusion.  But you're nowhere near the only one.
I would read this auction (all players playing SAYC):

1S: 11-21, 5+S
P: nothing to say (legitimately.  You will see some people saying you have to get in here with a double, especially if you can correct 2C by partner to 2D without showing extra strength, a convention known as Equal Length conversion.  But it's ugly, and "standard" is pass).
P: bad hand (usually < 6 HCP, weaker hands with support may still bid)
3C: not exactly a preempt, in balance, but a "only plays in clubs, trying to freeze out opener".  x KTx Ax KQTxxxx or the like.
3D: I have shape, 5=4 or 5=5, and enough extra that I think I can play opposite your horrible hand.
P: Still nothing to say.  Reading Joe's comment, he's probably right that she should double this, though (for penalty). But it's likely that she thinks you have a real preempt, and the only tricks your side is taking is in her hand, and it's not enough.
3H: Yeah, my hand is worth zero tricks in your suits and two or three in mine, let's hope your hand has tricks for me.
X: I don't know what's going on, but this is a misfit and I have tricks.  Maybe I'm 1=4=1=7?
4D: I lied to begin with, I'm 5=6 not 5=4, and I'm panicking.
X: They aren't making this, partner, someone's finally bid my suit.

Out of the actual bidding with the actual hands, I like North, and, I guess, East.
Why did West open 1S and not 1D? He's bidding on shape not strength, lying about the shape because of the 5-card major is going to cause trouble like this hand.  It's also going to lead to 4S with 6D on with a different hand in partner. There's an argument for passing this and hoping to get in with a two-suited bid next round, as well, but if you open, you have to open 1D.  Yes, you can get into trouble with an auction where bidding spades shows reverse strength (good 16), but starting with spades causes this problem.
I'm guessing 3D is "hmm, I've totally misdescribed my hand, I need to show my diamond suit."  Never mind he knows they have max 15 high and potentially no fit.  Sure, you have a good preempt, but your partner has the rest of the cards, and no bid - so probably "my suit".
I don't mind 3H, because she's right - we're in trouble, and it plays a couple tricks better in the weak hand's long suit.  She doesn't know that partner has nowhere near the hand he claims to.  But I'm not doubled yet; I'd probably pass 3D and see if we can get out for 100 a trick.
Your second double is not takeout - for what suit? They've bid the other three.
4D is pure panic.  He knows that he has mis-described his hand to partner and they're in trouble.  He should still pass and hope to get out (and he won't).
A more common auction playing SAYC would be:
1D-p-p-X
1S-2H-p-3C
p-3S (looking for stopper)-p-3NT (I have one)
All pass.
There's a lot of ways this could go - West could pass the double; North could think he was too strong for just 2H; South could insist on clubs rather than look for NT (or look for slam, potentially and go past 3NT); in a non-YC game (or by pairs who "play" SAYC, but don't actually know what the book says), East could bid 2H over 1D Weak Jump Shift;...
I might be resulting getting to the only contract that makes, and it is truly unfortunate that 5C, never mind 6, goes down because East's hand is too good.
I expect a lot of minus scores on this hand, some very large ones and some North-South as well.  Misfits are always exciting, and very hard to bid, and sometimes get deeper into "nothing makes" territory before people learn to stop.  It's a common maxim: "When you know you're in a misfit, pass."
Finally, another of those common maxims is "don't bid your values twice".  If you really thought that 3C showed 16 or so and a semi-solid suit, then when 3H comes to you, you have nothing more to show.  Pass.  Partner with this hand will double 3H for the same 1100 (and somebody will double 3S or 4D if they run); with say xxx Qxx QTxxx xx (giving opener AKxxx Kx AKxxx x, a quite reasonable hand for 1S, then 3D), they'll hope it goes down one and that any plus is a good score.


What are these wooden dice with X's and O's on 2 sides? I have a handful of dices like this but I do not have an idea what should I do with them. Could you help me with the name of the game, or with the rules?

Faces on the dice are, 1 side with an X, 1 side wit an O having a small dot and 4 sides are blank.

The game is Quixo; here are the rules. The only game component you're missing is a 5x5 board to put them in, and the game should be playable without that.


Can I use "Divinity of Pride" in my mono black commander deck? If not, then what card is/similar to Divinity of Pride but is a mono black? Can I use the MTG card Divinity of Pride in my mono black commander deck?
It's a multi-colored card - black/white - but it pays for either four swamps (black mana) or four plains (white mana). I know of the rule in commander indicating that "All cards must be in the color identity of the commander." But since this is a black/white and can pay for either four black or four white, I just want to clarify.
So, my question is Can I use Divinity of Pride in a mono black commander deck?
If not, then what card is/similar to Divinity of Pride but is a mono black?

Can I use Divinity of Pride in a mono black commander deck?

No.

903.4. The Commander variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).

White appears in Divinity of Pride's mana cost, so it can't be used in your mono-black Commander deck.

If not, then what card is/similar to Divinity of Pride but is a mono black?

There is no mono-black creature gaining abilities depending on having X "or more life"  – that's an ability associated with white.


Can I use Settlers of Catan (older edition) with Catan: Explorers and Pirates (2015 ed.)? I have an older version of The Settlers of Catan (part number 483), and an older version of The Cities and Knights of Catan (part number 494), which were purchased sometime around the late 1990s.

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

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

Yes. Aside from some slightly different artwork and renaming of soldiers to knights, the only difference is that the newer edition comes with a frame that has the ports printed on it. You don't need the frame, so you just play without it.


Othello Vs Checkers -- are there any complexity and skill comparisons? Which game is harder to play at a high skill level, Othello or Checkers?  I realize this is a highly subjective question.  I have been playing Othello for 35 years or so, and I'm pretty good Othello player at FlyOrDie. I recently tried Checkers which I hadn't played for more than 40 years, and I get wiped out pretty bad.  I would guess Othello is conceptually more complicated and Checkers is more about avoiding pitfalls, but I'd like to hear other opinions.

From AI point of view, or at least from a Search-intensive approach, Othello is harder.
Checkers has been weakly solved at 2007. Othello has not been solved yet.
From the paper Checkers Is Solved:

Search-intensive approaches to AI will play an
increasingly important role in the evolution of the field.
With checkers done, the obvious question is whether
chess is solvable. Checkers has roughly the square root of the number of positions in chess (somewhere in the 10^40 - 10^50 range). Given the effort required to solve checkers,
chess will remain unsolved for a long time, barring the
invention of new technology. The disk-flipping game of
Othello is the next popular game that is likely to be solved,
but it will require considerably more resources than were
needed to solve checkers.


Monopoly: Strategy in trading --how do I compute the expected value of a trade? I love playing Monopoly with my friends and I'm known for giving extra money or trading a cheaper property with a more expensive one and even paying some amount on top of it.

Obvioulsy I love the smaller cards, as I can buy more houses in a short amount of time and earn more money in the long run. This strategy did work really well most of the time, but lately I'm paying too much for those properties.

I wonder if there is a quick method to figure out when a trade gives me positive expected value (+ev).

I don't think there is a quick method, but there are a few simple rules to consider when trading your cards.

1) How much is the card worth to you. Therefore, what can you do with the money you gain as opposed to what could you do with the card you are selling

2) How much is the card worth to your opponent. If you are selling a card that allows an opponent to complete a row, you have to understand how likely they are to build houses/hotels and the likelihood of it affecting your game plan further into the game.

3) If selling to an opponent who doesn't really need the card, consider the likelihood of them selling the card on, and the impact this will have, as per point 2.

For buying a card, the rules are pretty much the same as above, but inverse. You always need to weigh up the benefits you gain as opposed to what your opponent may gain, and think several moves ahead.

Also, take a look at this thread about the best ROI for properties. Which property group colour gives the best ROI , undeveloped or fully developed, in Monopoly?. This will help you to calculate the real values of the properties in the game.


Getting started with trick-taking games (whist, euchre, bridge, pinochle, etc.) I've heard there are a lot of different trick-taking games out there, such as whist, bridge, euchre, pinochle, oh hell, hearts etc. I've heard a lot of good things about these games, but have very little experience. A few questions:

What's the easiest way to learn one's first trick-taking game?
What's a good trick-taking game to learn for someone who's never played one before? Which should beginners avoid?
How easy are new trick-taking games to pick up after one has gotten a good foundation?

Spades.

I think Spades is the easiest starting point, because is (1) easy and (2) the point is winning tricks, making it more consistent with the logic of other games. IMHO, spades shares more in common with the other games.

Hearts has the reverse logic -- you are generally trying to LOSE tricks, not win them.  If you start with spades, you spend your time thinking about how to win tricks.  That means you can switch to Eucre or Bridge or Pitch or whatever...  Or you can learn hearts next.

Spades to Bridge --> play is the same; add "no trump" and dummy hand; bidding more complicated
Spades to Euchr --> drop a bunch of cards from the deck, etc... but still  win tricks
Spades to Pitch -->  multiple versions exist; typically a varient of spades
Spades to Hearts --> lose tricks, not win them
Hearts to Bridge --> more "moving parts"  than "Spades to Bridge"

In any case, once you know one trick taking game, it's somewhat trivial to learn the rules and basic play of one more.

I'd recommend you avoid Bridge as a first game. The bidding is really complicated. You can start having fun and start feeling competent much faster.  Pinochle is more complicated....

However, if you're only going to actually learn one game, I have to say that I find Hearts and Spades to be the most boring.   What makes a game better for beginners makes it worse for experienced players.


Does Ursula Downs get a free re-roll every turn? Ursula Downs, from the Mountains of Madness expansion to Eldritch Horror, has the special ability:

  Once per round, you or another investigator on your space may spend 1 less Focus to pay for an effect.

One of the effects that an investigator can use a Focus token for is to re-roll a die during a test. This costs 1 Focus.

Does this mean that Ursula can pay 0 Focus to re-roll one die, once per round? And if so, does she need to "prove she could pay", i.e., have 1 Focus in hand, or is it just free?

It is just free. You may pay one less so you may pay zero to reroll. This is different from a situation such as "when an investigator would gain a clue, gain an extra clue" which is somewhat the wording you are looking for where a conditional would require something before adding a bonus to it.


Who chooses the targets for Captain's Maneuver? Our discussion was two fold.  Who gets to direct the damage (pick a new target) and let's say it was cast before combat damage was assigned.  Who determines which damage gets redirected.  The active player or the owner of the spell.  My assumption is the person who cast the spell determines which damage and where to redirect it.

Captain's Maneuver: The next X damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn is dealt to another target creature or player instead.

The controller of the spell (who is the person that cast it) gets to decide which creature's damage is replaced, and where that damage goes.

When you cast a spell, you choose the targets for that spell. In the case of Captain's Maneuver, there are 2 targets that you choose. One is the creature that would receive damage, and the other is the creature that receives the damage instead. This works the same with Captain's Maneuver as it would with any other targeted spell such as Lightning Bolt.

  Casting Spells

    601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect.

      601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires.


Does Athreos with Deathrender let me keep the same creature? I control Athreos, God of Passage, and Deathrender equipped to a nontoken creature.

I sacrifice the creature equipped with Deathrender to Victimize, and the opponent does not pay 3 life for Athreos's effect, so the creature will go back to my hand.

Can I choose that same creature card to return to the battlefield with Deathrender's ability?

Yes, you can do that (if you place the abilities on the stack in the correct order[CR 603.3b]) because Deathrender chooses a card on resolution[CR 608.2d].

You cast Victimize.
Victimize resolves:

Choose two target creature cards in your graveyard.
Sacrifice the creature equipped by Deathrender.

Athreos's triggered ability triggers.
Deathrender's triggered ability triggers.

Return the chosen cards to the battlefield tapped.

You place Deathrender's triggered ability on the stack.
You place Athreos's triggered ability on the stack.
Athreos's triggered ability resolves:

Return the sacrified creature to your hand.

Deathrender's triggered ability resolves:

Put the sacrified creature card onto the battlefield.
Attach Deathrender to it.

Nice.

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses.
608.2d If an effect of a spell or ability offers any choices other than choices already made as part of casting the spell, activating the ability, or otherwise putting the spell or ability on the stack, the player announces these while applying the effect.


Do I need to sacrifice again if I copy Goblin Grenade? Let's say that I cast Goblin Grenade, sacrificing a goblin to pay it's additional cost.  Then, before it resolves I cast Increasing Vengeance, which allows me to copy the Goblin Grenade.  Since I've already paid the additional cost of Goblin Grenade, do I have to pay it again?

No, you do not need to pay additional costs for a copied spell. A similar example of Fling exists in the comprehensive rules, that is close enough to Goblin Grenade for illustration purposes.

  706.10. To copy a spell or activated ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”)

  Example: Fling is an instant that reads, “As an additional cost to cast Fling, sacrifice a creature” and “Fling deals damage equal to the sacrificed creature’s power to target creature or player.” When determining how much damage a copy of Fling deals, it checks the power of the creature sacrificed to pay for the original Fling.


What does "Return (card of the same name) from graveyard" mean? I'm a beginner when it comes to TCGs and MtG, and I've wondered what it means when a card says to return the same card from graveyard.

For example, Haunted Dead (EMN) has:

  {1}{B}, Discard two cards: Return Haunted Dead from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.

Which got me thinking, "Wait, if Haunted Dead is in the graveyard, how can I use this ability, this ability of Haunted Dead?"

Does this mean that even if there is no Haunted Dead in play (on the battlefield), I can activate this ability by paying the costs, searching for a Haunted Dead in my graveyard, and return it to the battlefield?

Or does this mean that I can only use this ability with a Haunted Dead (which I control, on the battlefield) and return another Haunted Dead from the graveyard?

In other words, I suppose, can abilities like this be activated whenever, or only when the creature is on the battlefield? (If it's the latter, doesn't that mean there's no reason to have 1 Haunted Dead in a deck since you can't use the ability?)

That ability can only be activated when Haunted Dead is in your graveyard, and will only return the specific Haunted Dead whose ability was activated to the batttlefield.
When a card refers to itself by name what it really means is 'this card', and not any other cards that may have the same name. If it effected other cards with the same name it would specifically say 'cards named X'.
Normally an ability only works on the battlefield, however there are a few exceptions. The one that is relevant here starts that if an effect would move a card out of one zone and into another it can only be activated while the card is in the first zone.

201.4. Text that refers to the object it’s on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.
112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows:
112.6k An ability whose cost or effect specifies that it moves the object it’s on out of a particular zone functions only in that zone, unless that ability’s trigger condition, or a previous part of that ability’s cost or effect, specifies that the object is put into that zone. The same is true if the effect of that ability creates a delayed triggered ability whose effect moves the object out of a particular zone.


Does drawing a card in the draw phase use the stack, and related Laboratory Maniac shenanigans Situations we had tonight:

Opponent has a Laboratory Maniac and an Abundance on the battle field.  I hold a terror in my hand with enough mana in untapped lands to cast it.

S1) Opponent moves to draw phase and has zero cards in library.  Opponent chooses to draw a card.  Can I kill his maniac and win the game?

S2) Opponent has a Staff of Nin and 0 cards in library at beginning of upkeep.  He chooses to draw a card (as opposed to reveal), do I have a chance to respond with my terror?  Or can I not respond?

Is it possible for me to beat my opponent in these situations with a well timed Terror?

I wrote the question, and in the course of writing the question, I figured out the answer.  So, here's my stab at the answer.

S1)  Drawing during the Draw Phase does not use the stack, so you cannot win in this situation.  You must kill the Maniac before the draw phase, but with no maniac on the table, Abundance will keep them from losing the game.

This is covered in rule 504:

  Draw Step

  504.1. First, the active player draws a card. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.

S2) Abundance is a replacement effect, so the decision about whether or not to use the abundance is made at the time of the draw.  Thus, if you kill the Maniac at anytime before Nin's draw occurs, your opponent can just chose to use abundance, to avoid losing the game.


Number of Pandemic players? Why is the original Pandemic set for up to 4 players when there are 5 role cards?

When the game is started the roles are shuffled together and each player is dealt a random role. Having more roles then players allows for some greater variations in the game as you will not always get the same roles in every game which can change how you play the game. You can see in the rules how it deals with the extra roles. Also it should be noted that in the current edition there are 7 roles for 4 players in the base game.


Bioroid 2.0 Ice: can runner spend 2 clicks more than once? The text of the Heimdall 2.0 (https://netrunnerdb.com/en/card/03015) says: "The Runner can spend 2 clicks to break up to 2 subroutines on Heimdall 2.0".

Is this a one-time use perk or something the runner can use several times, for example, spending 2 clicks twice (as two different actions)?

The runner can use this option multiple times, provided he/she has enough clicks to spend, same as with 1.0 model bioroids. Main difference from 1.0 is that runner cannot spend just one click to break exactly one sub with 2.0 bioroids.


Are there statistic/probabilty applications specifically made for card game designers? I am developing a card game that involves building out sequences of matching symbol pairs and also has a lose state for a (different set) of symbols that is hidden to the player. Trying to create an atmosphere of paranoia.

I want to be sure I'm balancing the deck to create probably winning and losing sequences and can code a bit - but I was wondering if any of you used a specific application to run probabilities? Mac OSX would be great.

Are you up for a DIY Monte Carlo simulation?

I don't know of any specific applications, but if you're comfortable with coding I suggest you gin up a little Monte Carlo simulation.

In case you're not familiar with how that would work I'll explain (and can elaborate later if necessary):

Populate some sort of database or data structure with your cards.
Write a function that draws from this list at random and marks the card as drawn so it couldn't be re-sampled.
Write another function to evaluate the built-out sequence to evaluate win or loss
Wrap this core program with a loop that would play the game a huge number of times and
generate statistics on the results (e.g. number of wins and losses, longest streak of consecutive wins and losses, etc.)

The first three steps are a simple computer implementation of your card game. The trick is to model everything that's important to the mechanic and nothing that's not (easier said than done right?)

That last part is the Monte Carlo simulation where you use brute force computation (yea for cheap comp cycles) to get a result instead of trying to calculate probabilities closed-form, which for even simple card and dice games is more math (and more error-prone math) than most people are comfortable with.


Can the active player choose the order of simultaneous effects? I am the runner.

I have a Femme Fatale that targets a Data Raven and make a run on a server that is protected by that Data Raven.

When I encouter the Data Raven, both cards trigger (When you encounter that ice.../When the Runner encounters Data Raven...).

Can I choose in which order the effects apply (so I can choose to take the tag from Data Raven, then bypass it with Femme Fatale)?

Or is the order of effects fixed (first the effects of runner cards, then the effects of corporation cards, since it's the runner's turn)?

The order is fixed. First the active player (the one who's turn it is) chooses the order for their own simultaneous effects (if any) then the other player chooses the order for theirs.

So no, you cannot take the tag and then bypass, you must bypass first, or not bypass and take the tag.


Mini game within a game Are there any board games where you play a mini game within the main game?

For example, imagine playing Axis & Allies where you play a quick game of Tic-Tac-Toe each round to see which side gets a free submarine.

Trajan has you playing a round of Mancala each turn to decide what action you take, with bonuses for accumulating the correct colored pieces in certain locations.


Playing Risk in an arbitrary graph A Risk board represents the map of the world, or of Europe. Thus, it implies some constraints for example on the connectedness of a territory.

I would like to explore how graph theory could help your strategies, and on which measure would a change of the node number and degree change them.  Are there any variants of this game that are played on an arbitrary graph?  (Yes, I realize that it wouldn't be in the spirit of a war game at that point.)

The computer game Lux is Risk, but with a huge number of custom maps and themes.  You can also create your own maps using their map editor.

Many of the maps include additional rules, such as time-based continent values or starting positions.

If you're interested in Risk played on arbitrary graphs (nb. including directed graphs!) then I think this would be a great place to start investigating.


What's the fastest way to print a card game prototype? My goal is to minimize the amount of time I have to spend, with a budget of about $40.

Also, I'm absolutely terrible at using scissors and glue.

Get some card sleeves and card-stock. Write/print whatever you need to on the card-stock and cut it down to size. After you sleeve it they will all be shuffle-able and readable, just like normal cards. Admittedly this isn't good for much beyond prototype testing, but it's definitely fast and cheap. :D


Is there a way to tell if a Cards Against Humanity card exists already? I have Cards Against Humanity with all the expansion packs that come with blank cards. I have some ideas for cards but there are so many I couldn't possibly remember/know all the ones that already exist. Is there a way to search if a card exists without having to manually look through every single card?

I tried the PDF on the website but it does not seem to have the expansion packs and it is not searchable.

You can use these URLs to see the current version of the cards directly from CAH:

http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/wcards.txt (White Cards)
http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/bcards.txt (Black Cards)

These text files are updated frequently, whenever the base CAH set is updated.

For some expansions, .txt files also exist:

http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/bcards1.txt (Expansion 1, Black Cards)
http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/bcards2.txt (Expansion 2, Black Cards)

I wasn't able to turn up the white cards or other expansions through URL hacking.

There are also a couple of 3rd party sites and Github repos which have collected lists of the cards, both the main set and various expansions:

http://mdsc.info/dropbox/cah/
https://github.com/nodanaonlyzuul/against-humanity/blob/master/source/cards.json
https://github.com/samurailink3/hangouts-against-humanity/wiki/Cards


Can a countered spell be targeted? Let's assume that Alice and Bob are playing.
Alice casts Serra Avatar. Bob casts an Essence Backlash targeting the Avatar.
Alice, realizing that that would kill her, casts an Autumn's Veil.
Bob casts an overloaded Counterflux.
Can the Essence Backlash still target the Serra Avatar even if  it is already countered?

It will still be targeting the Avatar but since it is no longer a legal target, due to being in the graveyard and not on the stack, the Backlash will "fizzle" (be countered due to lacking a legal target). This means that it will not deal damage to the Avatar's controller.

701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that's no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. ... The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal.

Note that if the Counterflux hadn't been overloaded and just targeted the Veil the Avatar would still be on the stack to get countered and Alice would then lose.


How should I alert this 1D opening? In the context of a precision system, the 1D bid is nominally 11-15 high card points and could be one of the following hand types:

Unbalanced with 3+ diamonds, no 5-card major, no 6-card club suit (balanced hands and minor-major 5422s are opened 1NT)
2=2=4=5 or 2=2=5=4
A semibalanced hand with 6+ diamonds
A 6-5 (or more distributional) hand with clubs or diamonds as the longest suit, not strong enough to open 1C (note: this hand type may have 0-2 diamonds)

The last hand type makes it difficult to alert completely and succinctly. I don't think it's reasonable to have a 1-minute explanation of such a common bid as an opening 1D, but I want to make sure to inform my opponents of our agreement.

As a secondary question, do you think that this opening is legal under the ACBL general chart (presumably under the rubric of "all-purpose opening bid
(artificial or natural) promising a minimum of 10 high-card points").

With the new ACBL Alert regulations (effective January 2021), the following seems correct:

You Pre-Alert your system, because of your 1C (not Natural, Forcing) and 1D (not Natural) openers. "We play Precision" should be fine, but you should probably prepare a slightly longer one if you want to be clear.  "Our 1C is 16+, any distribution; 1D is 3+ except in very rare cases; 1NT is 11-15 and can include 4M5m22s."

You Alert 1C.  When they ask, you should be more clear than the Pre-Alert.

You Announce 1D "could be zero".  Here is where, I agree, it gets difficult.  This is why I recommend the expanded Pre-Alert, because most "could be 1" and "could be zero" Precision 1Ds include things like (43)=1=5 and 4=4=0=5s (and put the 2D opener to better use).  If they ask, you can say that it's 3+ unless you're 6C-5M or better.  I tend to ask "when could it be short" and this is a great answer (for me)!
Of course, if they ask for a better description of 1D, you can come out with what you have above; but your agreement isn't that much different from a "normal" 3+ 1D (limited to 15) that you should feel a requirement to routinely explain it.

You Announce 1NT "11-15" as before.  Be prepared to explain (if asked, or at the end of the auction if you're declaring) that you put more hands into 1NT than "normal", especially the 4M5m22s.  Again, if it doesn't take too much time, the Pre-Alert should handle that.


Is card counting/watching a key skill for an expert Catan player? In Catan, one can observe which cards opponents draw with their second settlement, and then observe what die rolls and trading do to their hands. Thus it is possible, though difficult, to follow opponents' hands.
In blackjack, the ability to "count the deck" represents the difference between being a winning and losing player. In bridge, players see 26 out of 52 cards, and through bidding and early play, can largely [reconstruct the two hands that they can't see.] There are probably no world class players that aren't reasonably good at this task.
Is the ability to reconstruct the opponents' hands of similar value in Catan for tournament players? Are there world class players or experts who weren't at least competent at this one aspect of the game?
Edit: My question was about the value of card counting in establishing one's rank in tournament play. The other question was about the mechanics of doing this in casual or "home" play. They have overlapping subject matter but their directions could not be more opposite. An answer that was suitable for one question could be wildly wrong for the other.

Yes, card counting is a key skill for expert Catan players. First, most expert Catan players will be counting your cards and your opponents' as they pick them, with the only random variable being any possible development cards that you draw from the deck, or cards which you steal from another player when you role a seven. But as they will be counting your cards, this would immediately put you at a disadvantage if you are not counting theirs.
Once you can reconstruct an opponent's hand, you will know who you can trade with, what people need, and whether people are a threat to steal your spots for settlements and roads.
Although there are probably a very few world class players who are not that great at tracking cards, the vast majority of those who play competitively or in sanctioned tournaments are. And if they are not great in tracking cards, then they would have to be exceptional in another aspect of the game, like strategy, or be extremely lucky.


Random targeting and protection I have a creature with protection from green in play along with another creature. My opponent plays a green spell that targets a creature I control chosen at random and does damage to it. Does the protection make the creature with protection an invalid target for said spell (automatically targeting my only other creature), or is there a 50/50 chance the protected creature will be targeted resulting in the spell being countered?

Edit for clarification (targeted @ the discussion in the comments)
The situation is slightly different than depicted (was posted via phone, couldn't easily provide links etc)

I have a Woodlot Crawler in play along with another creature. My opponent plays Scab-Clan Giant, and its ability triggers. Question is whether my Woodlot Crawler is a legal target for the triggered ability.

The Comprehensive Rules don't explicitly mention random targets. However, we can still use them to get an answer. The bottom line is that the creature with protection can't be chosen as the target, making the other creature automatically the target.

Now, as you point out, "target creature [you] control chosen at random" could mean you must target a creature you control that is also a valid target, or it could that you target a creature you control without filtering on legal targets. Even if you try to pick from all creatures, the game itself will restrict you to legal targets.

CR 601.2 details the exact process for casting a spell. The key sentence is as follows:

  If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions")

As pointed out in comments, 601.2c specifies that the casting becomes illegal specifically when you try to target an invalid target, whether it's because of protection as in this case, or hexproof/shroud. At this point, it's as if the spell was never cast, so the spell can never wind up targeting the creature with protection. It can only wind up with a legal target.

The ruling for Goblin Test Pilot confirms this (emphasis mine):

  To choose a target at random, all possible legal targets (including creatures and players) must have an equal chance of being chosen. There are many ways to do this, including assigning each possible legal target a number and rolling a die.


MTG - Priority and timing between activated abilities and instants If I have got a creature with "inflatable abilities" - just like Frozen Shade, or Granite Gargoyle - I want to know what happens when activating it. Since inflatable abilities are activated abilities, if I activate three times Granite Gargoyle's ability ({R}: +0/+1 until end of turn) in response to each other, they go on the stack one after the other, and my opponent may respond to this with a Shock targeting the Gargoyle. So, in such a situation, the Gargoyle dies, and goes to the graveyard  before his ability comes to rescue. Is this correct?

Yes, there's not much difference between activated abilities and instants in this particular case. If you look at the Comprehensive Rules, you'll see that they are treated similarly, e.g. in rule 405:

405. Stack
405.1. When a spell is cast, the physical card is put on the stack (see rule 601.2a). When an ability is activated or triggers, it goes on top of the stack without any card associated with it (see rules 602.2a and 603.3).
405.2. The stack keeps track of the order that spells and/or abilities were added to it. Each time an object is put on the stack, it’s put on top of all objects already there.
405.4. Each spell has all the characteristics of the card associated with it. Each activated or triggered ability that’s on the stack has the text of the ability that created it and no other characteristics.

In this case, you're better off activating the Gargoyle's ability once, and let it resolve before activating it again. If your opponent responds with Shock, you can respond to that with activating the ability again, saving the Gargoyle.


In the card game Do-Over Deluxe, can a Take That! card override another Take That? I'm talking about the special edition set here.

In this set of Do-Over, there are cards called "Take That!". These cards force your opponent to take the current discard pile and add it to their hand. RAW, can a "Take That!" card override another "Take That!"?

Direct Answer:

Yes, a "Take That!" card can be played on top of another "Take That!" card. A "Bomb" card can also be used to defend against a "Take That!" card. Relevant rules snippet:

  Take That Card - When this card is played, the next player going clockwise must take the entire discard pile and place it in their hand! However, you can defend against this! If you also have a Take That Card you can play it and force the next player going clockwise to take the discard pile. If playing with two players, you send the discard pile back to the player. A Bomb Card can also be used to obliterate the discard pile during a Take That and no one has to take the discard pile; it is placed to the side.

Full Rules:


What are vintage magic cards worth? I have some very old magic cards with no symbols how can I find out what they are worth or if they are rare?

I have some very old magic cards with no symbols how can I find out what they are worth or if they are rare?

You can start by Googling their name and doing some research on their price and specs.

You can also check on pages that focus on TCG/CCG, like for example Troll & Toad (disclaimer: just an example, nothing related to them). There you can search for cards, see their prices and even sell or buy.

You can also go to your local store of where people gather to play Board and Card games, and ask around to see if there is anyone interested in acquiring your cards and willing to negotiate.


Uno swap card questions A couple questions regarding the swap card:  1.  If it is the last card in my hand, and I place it in the discard pile, do I have to do the actual swap which would keep me from going out?  2.  If it isn’t the only card in my hand, but the only playable card in my hand, do I have play it or can I skip my turn after picking a card?  Ps- when I say swap card, I am referring to the shuffle hands card

Matel got back to me and said that the answer to question 1 is YES.  You do have to swap/shuffle everybody's cards and the answer to question 2 is that you do not have to play the swap/shuffle card if it is the only card in your hand.  You have to pick another card in the deck and then skip your turn if it isn't playable.


Can fleet units charge the turn they run So the warhammer 40k rule book is pretty explicit about running and charging not being allowed but I was wondering if their was possibly a errata I was missing about fleet units being able to charge the turn they run? In previous editions you could run and charge if you had fleet and this makes my hormagaunts rather horrible when I fleet right in front of the opponent. Maybe this is why I have read that Tyranids are not as good in the new rules?

No, not unless there is a formation/codex specific rule that allows it.

Under the current 7th ed rules, Fleet is a re-roll to either your Run or Charge moves.

It sucks.


Genre-mash up battle game I am trying to find a game that I had a starter set to when I was younger. I tried doing some online research, but honestly, I don't even know where to start and I can't find anything for it at my local comic/board game shop. I think that it was named something-"scape". I believe that I bought it sometime between 2003 and 2007, but my memory could be a little hazy on that that.

The Board

The board was different every time you played because it was made up of a bunch of chunks of hexagons (like honeycombs) that you could put together any way you want. You could even stack them on each other to create different levels. The hexa-combs were made out of plastic and I think they kinda clicked together.

Gameplay

Disclaimer: I was a kid when I played so I could have been disregarding any number of rules and not playing correctly at all, so take this with a grain of salt.
You controlled a few different heroes and/or monsters (I remember a dragon that took up 2 spaces and I think an archer of some sort?). You moved around the terrain you built and did battle with the enemies heroes/mosters. I do not recall if it was a dice-based game or not. I think each character has a stats card. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about how it was actually played.

Expansion Sets

As I said, I think I had a starter set, which seemed to be generic-fantasy themed, but I think there were other sets that could be bought that had heroes/monsters from lots of other genres and more hexagons so that you could wind up with a huge battle with tons of genres mixing it up.

Can anyone point me to this game?

The game is called Heroscape. It was primarily fantasy based, but there were some other expansions like a Marvel themed one. The game was discontinued in 2010 but Wizards of the Coast has recently created a Magic: the Gathering board game called Arena of the Planeswalkers that seems to have similar gameplay.


Does Memory Erosion trigger even if a spell gets countered? Player A has the enchantment Memory Erosion on the battlefield.
Player B casts Dark Banishing on Player A's creature, and Player A uses Counterspell on it, so the Dark Banishing is countered.

Will Memory Erosion still take effect, even though the spell has been countered? Or does the spell need to resolve first for Memory Erosion's abilty to take effect?

Memory Erosion triggers when an opponent casts a spell, not when they resolve the spell. Memory Erosion's triggered ability will already be on the stack before Player A even has the chance to cast their counterspell.

The stack will look like this:

~TOP~
Counterspell (targeting Dark Banishing)
Memory Erosion triggered ability
Dark Banishing (targeting a creature)
~BOTTOM~

When Counterspell resolves, Dark Banishing will be removed from the stack and placed in its owner's graveyard, as will Counterspell itself, leaving Memory Erosion's triggered ability alone on the stack. Memory Erosion's ability will then resolve once both players pass priority again, and Player B will place the top 2 cards from his library into his graveyard.

Note: Because objects on the stack don't resolve until both players pass priority, Player A could potentially opt to wait for Memory Erosion's trigger to resolve before casting Counterspell. Player A would get to see what two cards are put into the graveyard and based on that extra information, may decide whether countering Dark Banishing is still worthwhile. (For example, Player B might "mill" a card with Flashback that Player A wants to counter even more than Dark Banishing, so he would hold on to his Counterspell.)

In short: Yes, Memory Erosion will still work, even though the triggering spell was countered.


Are Plenty Of Ammo cards discarded after using them? A friend who recently bought Zombicide: Invader was pretty sure that you have to discard "Plenty of Ammo" cards after using their ability. He said he also checked online and found rules stating this (no idea where he found those). He stated that the word "once" in the card text was supposed to mean just that.

Is he right, though?
Do you have to discard a "Plenty of Ammo" card after using its ability?

Here is an example from Zombicide: Black Plague (but the wording is the same for all Zombicide editions, afaik)

Plenty of Ammo cards can be used once per action and are not discarded when used.

Some card types, including “Plenty Of Ammo” cards, are always in effect.

  INVENTORY

  Each Survivor can carry up to five pieces of Equipment but
  can only have two equipped and ready to use (one in each hand) at any
  given time. While all weapons must be in a hand slot in order to use
  them (whether to attack or to open a door), other items, such as the
  Goalie Mask, Flashlight and Plenty of Ammo cards, are always in
  effect, even while in the reserve slots.

https://www.zombicide.com/dl/rulebook-zombicide-season-1.pdf - page 9

e.g.:

  Plenty of Arrows

  You may re-roll all Ranged Attacks once with weapons with the Arrows
  keyword. The new result takes the place of the previous one.

This means that as long as this card is in your inventory, each Ranged Attack action using a weapon with the Arrow keyword can be re-rolled once.


Commander status as hidden information Inspired by Ivo Beckers' comment on the answer to Is your commander still a "commander" if it gets turned face down?

If Akroma, Angel of Fury is your commander and is returned to your hand, followed by casting her as a morph creature for {3}, how is her commander status handled?

Naturally, by CR 903.3, the face-down object still is your commander. However, that fact is hidden information. Normally, if a commander has been turned face down, since everyone is permitted to know what the morphed creature was, dealing commander damage with the nameless 2/2 isn't an issue. But if the commander was cast as a morph, that doesn't help.

The most relevant specific question to this situation, I suppose, is "can you deal commander damage to your opponent without them knowing it?" (ie, connect for combat damage with the morph creature without revealing that the creature is your commander)

Is it my commander?
To reiterate what is stated in the question, your commander is always your commander, and nothing can change that. This is because of the following rule:

903.3. [...] This [commander] designation it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones.

Does a commander deal commander damage?
Yes, obviously.
Even if it's morphed?
Yes. Commanderness cannot be hidden. It's an attribute of a card, not a card face. This is specifically covered by an example under rule 903.3.

A commander that’s been turned face down (due to Ixidron’s effect, for example) is still a commander.

Even if it's morphed from my hand?
Yes. Being unable to immediately prove* commanderness is not a legitimate argument for ignoring the rules. To illustrate this very clearly, consider these two rules:

Correct rule 903.3

The commander designation is an attribute of the card itself.

Incorrect rule 903.3

The commander designation an attribute of the card itself if and only if you can prove what card it is.

*Note that you will eventually be required to reveal your morph via comprehensive rule 707.9.
Am I required to immediately tell the truth if asked if a morph is my commander?
It's not clear. The EDH Rules Committee previously stated on their forum:

Face Down Commanders
Since the card itself is designated as the commander, face down commanders still deal commander damage. Your opponents are also allowed to know which morph creature is your commander.

MTGCommander.net is cited in the comprehensive rules as being a source of "additional resources", so rulings made by the EDH Rules Committee are pseudo-authoritative. However, the forum has since been taken down, and with it the ruling. For lack of an authoritative source, it is unclear if "commanderness" is free information.


Do I need to have Imploding Kittens to use Streaking Kittens? The first expansion to Exploding Kittens is of course Imploding Kittens. The second expansion is Streaking Kittens.

Can I use Streaking Kittens with Exploding Kittens without throwing Imploding Kittens into the mix?

Yes, you can use the base game with only the second expansion, as none of the cards in the Streaking Kittens expansion requires anything from the Imploding Kittens pack.


To kill or remove an Indestructible Will the following cards kill something with "indestructible"?:

Swords to plowshares
Terror
Wrath of God

Indestructible means the permanent cannot be destroyed. Something would be destroyed if something says to destroy it, or if it takes lethal damage (e.g. a 3/3 takes 3 damage, or is dealt damage by something with deathtouch).

Terror and Wrath of God don't do anything to it. An indestructible creature isn't regenerating from destruction, it just isn't destroyed in the first place.

The common ways we remove an indestructible permanent are:

Put it into any other zone:

Exile it. This means Swords to Plowshares works.
Return it to its owner's hand (known as "bouncing" it): Drag Under, Peel from Reality, and others.
Put it back into its owner's library (known as "tucking" it): Condemn, Chronostutter, and others.

Make its controller sacrifice it.
If it's a creature, reduce its toughness below 0, such as with Tragic Slip.

There are some oddball other methods, such as making it a non-issue (Song of the Dryads) or unable to participate meaningfully (Claustrophobia, Arrest), or making it lose its abilities (Snakeform, Gift of Tusks), or just lose indestructible specifically.


What happens if I double Mangara's Tome ETB? If I have Yarok, the Desecrated on the battlefield and play Mangara's Tome, what happens? Do I get one ten card pile that the tome can rummage through? Do I get two five card piles that I can pick between?

You get two piles of five, and each time you activate the tome, you replace your next draw with taking one card from each pile.
Let's see what happens when the tome enters. The Gatherer rulings on Yarok say

Yarok affects a permanent’s own enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities as well as other triggered abilities that trigger when that permanent enters the battlefield. Such triggered abilities start with “when” or “whenever.”

So the tome triggers itself twice, letting you look for five cards two separate times, putting each in separate piles (there are two separate triggered abilities, not one double-powered single triggered ability, so you do not get one ten-card pile).
Next, what happens when you activate the tome? Again, there is a Gatherer ruling on Yarok:

If a triggered ability is linked to a second ability, additional instances of that triggered ability are also linked to that second ability. If the second ability refers to “the exiled card,” it refers to all cards exiled by instances of the triggered ability.

And also, for more details, rule 607.3:

If, within a pair of linked abilities, one ability refers to a single object as “the exiled card,” “a
card exiled with [this card],” or a similar phrase, and the other ability has exiled multiple cards
(usually because it was copied), the ability refers to each of the exiled cards. If that ability asks for
any information about the exiled card, such as a characteristic or converted mana cost, it gets
multiple answers. If these answers are used to determine the value of a variable, the sum of the
answers is used. If that ability performs any actions on the exiled card, it performs that action on
each exiled card.

Since the first ability was copied, you have two piles of exiled cards. The second ability tells you to take the top card of "the exiled pile" and put it into your hand. Rule 607.3 says you do this with both piles. So you get to "draw" two cards when you do this.


How to avoid the situation in which player 2 knows for sure that player 1 chose the King? In Citadels/Machiavelli the rules state that the current king, in order to start a round, needs to look at the first character card and put it face down on the table. Then put a certain number of character cards face up on the table. If the King card is amongst the open cards a new character card is put face up instead of him.

I think that applying this rule results in a situation in which the first player is unable to get the King character because the second player would then know for 100% sure that the first player chose it. Consider the following situation: The King was amongst the face up cards and is replaced by another character. Player two therefore knows that the king card is availble to player one. If then player two receives the character cards and the king is no longer there, player one MUST have chosen it.

Considering the fact that the whole process of character selection in Citadels is very well balanced and you never really know for sure who took which character, I feel that somehow there must be a way to change this rule a little so that the problem is avoided. How would you implement this rule in such a way that the problem no longer exists?

Remove the appropriate number of random characters face-up, if a King is revealed reshuffle. Then randomly select a character card and place it face-down

This will still have you reshuffling the character cards 25% of the time in a 4-Player game (if you remove the King from the face-up random cards, you reshuffle 100% of the time), but it is much better than The only two other possibilities that come to mind. In this way, the second player doesn't know if you chose the King or it was removed face-down randomly.

Remove the exception for choosing a new card if the King is revealed face-up
Allow the First Player to choose between the Last Players face-down discarded card, or their original choice

Both of these suggestions have their own issues. If you allow the King to be removed face-up, you are changing the odds that the First Player changes each round. In a 4-Player game, you have tripled the chances from 12.5 to 37.5, that the King is unavailable.

With the latter suggestion, the first player knows all the roles that were chosen. This means that they are certain to hit with the Assassin or Thief.

BTW, The first player sets aside one character card face-down with-out looking at it, according to the rules (not that this isn't easy to deduce).


Creature with equipment attached is returned to owner's hand If a creature has equipment attached, what happens to the equipment if this creature is returned to the owner's hand?

Does it:

Return to the owner's hand as well?
Go to the graveyard?
Remain on the battlefield?

It will remain on the battlefield.

  301.5c ... An Equipment that equips an illegal or nonexistent permanent becomes unattached from that permanent but remains on the battlefield. ...


Why are stones placed with index and middle finger? I have read that stones should be picked out of the bowl and placed on the board by pinching them between the tips of the index and middle finger. This seems to be a long-standing tradition.

Is this standard around the world? Why is this grip used instead of the more obvious thumb and  index finger grip?

On the one hand (ha, ha), because the game was popularized by Japan, and Japanese culture insists on a proper form (kata) for everything, that is proper form, and that is how you do it. I doubt that this way of holding the stones originated in Japan though.

On the other hand, have you tried placing a stone in the middle of a heated battle with your thumb and index finger? The grip of index/middle finger allows you to release smoothly the bottom finger and press down with the top finger, which gives you better precision and less of a chance to mess up the board position.

Oh, and when you get used to it, you can also make a nice CLACK stone on the board.


Would this hypothetical rule change ever matter? One of Magic the Gathering's rules is

  104.3f If a player would both win and lose the game simultaneously, he or she loses the game.

.
However, it seems to me like it "ought to be" the case that if there are only 2 players and

[A loses]  [B loses]  [B wins]

would occur simultaneously, then B should win, since

win-and-lose-simultaneously should be better than just-lose.

For that reason, it seems like the

  Proposed Alternative :    If, simultaneously, all players would lose the game and

  some players would win the game, then the players who would not win the game

  lose the game, and the game is a draw between the remaining players.  Otherwise,

  if a player would both win and lose the game simultaneously, he or she loses the game.

would make more sense.  However, I can't think of any situations in which that would matter.

Are there any possible situations in which my proposed alternative

would yield a different result from the actual rule?

Here is a combo that results in one player winning and losing the game, and another player losing:

Alice has no cards in her library or graveyard. Nathan has no cards in his graveyard.

Alice controls the following:

Laboratory Maniac equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice.
Nefarious Lich

Nathan controls the following:

Grizzly Bears enchanted with Ward of Piety.
Nefarious Lich

Then the following happens:

Alice attacks with Laboratory Maniac
Nathan chooses not to block
The Sword's ability triggers. Alice chooses to target the Grizzly Bears
While the Sword's ability is on the stack, Nathan activates Ward of Piety's ability twice: once targeting Alice and once targeting Nathan.
Both Ward activations resolve.
Sword of Fire and Ice's ability resolves. The original text of the effect is

  Sword of Fire and Ice deals 2 damage to target creature or player and you draw a card.

After we apply the Ward of Piety replacement and Laboratory Maniac replacement to that effect, it becomes

  Sword of Fire and Ice deals 1 damage to Alice and Sword of Fire and Ice deals 1 damage to Nathan and Alice wins the game.

At this point, we apply the relevant Nefarious Lich effects. The result is

  (Alice exiles 1 card from her graveyard. If she can't, she loses the game) and (Nathan exiles 1 card from his graveyard. If he can't, he loses the game) and (Alice wins the game).

There are no more applicable replacement effects, so the ability finishes resolving. Neither Alice nor Nathan can exile a card from their graveyard, so the end result of this effect is

  Alice loses the game and Nathan loses the game and Alice wins the game.

This is the result of a single instruction, so it is simultaneous.


What is the largest number of Settlers expansions that can be combined in one game? I recently obtained the Traders and Barbarians expansion for Settlers and in the rules for each sub-expansion there was a little addendum about possible combinations with other sub expansions. But really, how many expansions could you theoretically combine without creating rule conflicts?

An example of a rule conflict would be if two expansions each use their own development cards, or if they each require specific incompatible board shapes.

Of course, if a third rule exists that describes how to handle these rule conflicts, then there is no conflict.

There are 4 official expansions; which can legally all be used at the same time.

Seaside, Cities and Knights, and Traders and Barbarians can all be combined with any number of them being used or not used.

"Explorers and Pirates" does not combine as well, because it changes things more than the others in ways that conflict with the other expansions.

Cities and Knights comes with its own mechanic to replace development cards, so you simply do not use the development cards from the base game. The official FAQ has clarifications on how to handle things that only come up when combining expansions.

Note that both "Explorers and Pirates" and "Traders and Barbarians" are modular expansions, each with several different scenarios that use different mechanics. Some scenarios combine better with the other expansions than others. Catan.com lists each of the scenarios and how they work with the other expansions:

Traders and Barbarians combinations

Explorers and Pirates combinations


How is Settlers of Catan different when playing with the 5-6 player expansion? I've read a few reviews, and these are the things I've picked up:

game will be longer. This is totally fine and normal, but I'm curious, what's the average time increase?
Ports are a little less valuable and harder to get, and trade with other players increases.
Intermediate building between turns makes the robber a little weaker because its easier to get rid of resources.

Are these accurate? What other differences have you noticed when playing with 5 or 6 people?

The time increase depends a LOT on who is playing. But probably double a normal game. I think the fun payoff of the extra people is worth it, though. There are still only one each of longest road and largest army, with two more people, so those tend to get stolen a bit more.
I suppose the increase in shoreline is not quite in direct proportion to the increase in acreage, but I don't think ports are dramatically different. You add real estate to make up for the added players, so the overall ease of getting good position is about the same, I think.
Building in-between turns is probably the biggest contributor to the game going longer, since you have an extra phase to do it in. That said, if everybody knows what they want it can go pretty fast. And yeah, it can save you from the robber, although IMO the robber would be way overpowered if you couldn't do it.
I think that 5-6 is the most fun when you do it with Seafarers, perhaps the scenario with the fog-of-war, since now you can have everybody exploring in different directions. Pretty cool.


Spawn rules for the Overlord We played our first two rounds of Descent a few days ago and we (3 heroes) always lost against the Overlord.

The biggest issue we experienced was the summoning of enemies in direct attack distance (still out of sight, but around a corner).

We were arguing about whether the Overlord can summon and move/attack his new summoned fellows in the same round but we couldn't find anything that clarified this in the rules.

I have no idea which edition we played, but I think it was 1E...

Since you weren't sure which version you played, I'll post my answers for both editions, although i'm significantly more familiar with 1E rules than 2E.

From the First Edition Descent Rules:
The overlords turn consists of:

Step 1: Collect Threat and Draw Cards
Step 2: Spawn Monsters
Step 3: Activate Monsters

You spawn monsters before you activate them, where activating them is considered moving and attacking.  Again, this is for 1st edition, and I haven't played second edition so I'm not familiar with the 2E rules and the PDF doesn't want to load for me right now.

The Second Edition Descent Rules seem to imply that you place and activate the monsters at the same time, in their respective groups(p. 8 & 16).  The FAQ doesn't have a specific clarification on the issue.

I would honestly be surprised if the overlord wasn't able to place and activate monsters in the same turn.  In 1E, you only expect monsters to last a round or two when thrown into direct combat with the players so I would expect the same from 2E.


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

Yes. You can build the settlement in the middle of an opponent's road (as long as your own road connects to it and there is at least one gap before any other existing settlements).

Yes. It does affect the longest road: the road stops at the settlement for counting purposes, and starts again at the other side.

Yes. Both players who possess roads into an intersection have the option of building the third road out, regardless of whether a settlement is there or whose it is.


What happens if someone builds a MtG Turing Machine in a tournament setting? In this paper, the authors prove that it's possible to construct a Legacy-legal combo deck where the comboing player constructs a Turing Machine through mandatory actions, which begins to execute a series of actions that will result in one player either winning or losing the game, but determining which of these actions will occur is as hard as the Halting Problem.

What would occur if a player were to construct and execute this combo in a real Magic: the Gathering tournament?

This situation, in which no player knows whether a sequence of mandatory actions will end or loop forever, is so rare and so niche that neither the comprehensive rules nor the tournament rules address it. By a strict reading of the rules, players would need to continue executing the loop until they either know it will end, or that it will loop forever.

Practically speaking, in most situations either the players will eventually agree to end the game in a draw, or one player will just concede.

In a tournament, if neither player wants to end the game, they will keep playing, the game will go to time, and after the 5 overtime turns, the game will end in a draw. Or the "Turing Machine" will halt during that time; that's always a possibility. If someone ever finds a combo like this that never needs to pass the turn, a judge will probably rule that the game ends in a draw after it goes on long enough to start cutting into the next round's time.

If one player wants to end the game with a draw, but the other doesn't, and neither wants to concede, the first player will probably call a judge. There is no guidance for a situation like this in the existing judging documents, so they will have to make a judgement call, which will probably be either that the players have to continue playing it out, or that the sequence of mandatory actions has gone on long enough to qualify as a loop, and the game is a draw.


In Settlers of Catan, if you have unrevealed victory point cards that would make you win, are you forced to declare victory? If you have enough points to win on your turn, but only by including your unrevealed VP development cards, are you forced to win?

E.g. I have three cities (6 VP), three settlements (3 VP), and I buy a development card, which ends up being a victory point card. Can I wait until my next turn where I believe I'll have a chance to steal longest road, and end the game on 12 VP, or do I need to declare victory now?

The reason why I ask is that we keep a running total of stats from the games we've played over the years, and finishing on a higher total would bring up my average VP per game score.

You have won the game as soon as your have 10 points on your turn, there is no requirement to "declare" victory. So no, you cannot keep playing extra rounds. From the official FAQ:

  Victory Conditions - May I continue scoring points after having reached the number of victory points required for a win?

    This could make sense in a private tournament where the scores from several games are added up. For individual games and official tournaments, the following applies: You have won as soon as you have reached the required number of victory points on your turn – and then the game is over.

http://www.catan.com/faq/4613-victory-conditions-may-i-continue-scoring-points-after-having-reached-number-victory-points

and:

  Victory Conditions - What if someone has reached the required number of victory points for a win but is unaware of it? Did this player win anyway?

    Yes. The game ends as soon as a player has reached the required number of victory points on his turn. If he’s unaware of it, you should tell him, because you can’t take an already gained victory away from him.

http://www.catan.com/faq/4616-victory-conditions-what-if-someone-has-reached-required-number-victory-points-for-win

Note that you have the point from VP development cards as soon as you buy the card. You don't "play" the development card to get the points; you already have those points.


Why do creatures go back to a previous controller instead of their owner? Say player A has a creature they own, then player B gains control of it with Blatant Thievery, then player C gains control of it with Control Magic. If the Control Magic is then destroyed, the creature returns to player B, the previous controller, rather than player A, the owner.

What rules cause this to happen? Do creatures actually always go back to their previous controller when one control change effect ends?

(this was asked in comments here; feel free to edit or suggest ways to make it a better generic question)

A change-of-control effect is a continuous effect (like a buf), not a one-shot effect (like a damage-dealing effect or moving a object)[CR 611.1, 610.1]. This allows the change of control to be temporary (e.g. Act of Treason).
Creating a continuous effect that changes the control of an object doesn't cause a similar existing effect to cease to exist. The effect of the existing effect is merely suppressed[CR 613.1, 613.1b, 613.2]. The older effect will reassert itself if-and-when the newer effect expires[1].
Effects that change text, set power and/or toughness, change types, change color and/or modify abilities work the same way. (For example, the continuous effect created by Turn to Frog does most of those.)

There are three ways a continuous effect can expire:

A continuous effect created by the resolution of a spell or ability expires when the specified duration has lapsed, if such a duration (e.g. "until end of turn") was specified[CR 611.2a].

A continuous effect created by the resolution of a spell or ability expires when the specified condition is no longer true, if such a condition was specified using "for as long as ..."[CR 611.2b].

A continuous effect created by the static ability of an object expires when the object ceases to exist (i.e. changes zone)[CR 611.3b].

610.1. A one-shot effect does something just once and doesn’t have a duration. Examples include dealing damage, destroying a permanent, creating a token, and moving an object from one zone to another.
611.1. A continuous effect modifies characteristics of objects, modifies control of objects, or affects players or the rules of the game, for a fixed or indefinite period.
611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts until the end of the game.
611.2b Some continuous effects generated by the resolution of a spell or ability have durations worded “for as long as . . . .” [...]
611.3b The effect applies at all times that the permanent generating it is on the battlefield or the object generating it is in the appropriate zone.
613.1. The values of an object’s characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object. For a card, that means the values of the characteristics printed on that card. For a token or a copy of a spell or card, that means the values of the characteristics defined by the effect that created it. Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order:
613.1b Layer 2: Control-changing effects are applied.
613.2. Within layers 1–6, apply effects from characteristic-defining abilities first (see rule 604.3), then all other effects in timestamp order (see rule 613.6). Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a layer. (See rule 613.7.)


Arkham Horror: Tokens This is more a question for the big games with a lot of investigators. A few non-critical tokens seem to be able to run out, and I can't find anything about those specific tokens in the rules.

Do you just rip a piece of paper and create a clue token or are they out when out? I do know some of the tokens (like portals) awaken the Ancient One when they run out, but for the others there are no mentions in the rules (or I'm just missing them) about what to do when there are none left in the box.

In an 8 player game I've had this problem with Clue, Stamina, Sanity, Money and Explored (those you get once coming back from a portal) tokens. I don't believe the intention is to get sucked back into the portal just because there are no tokens left, but I might be wrong.

Any ideas about official rulings in these cases?

What I do in my playing is give the players enough stamina and sanity tokens to reach their maximum, in denominations so that the player can "break" their stamina and sanity totals without ever having to put them back into the pool, or take new ones out (unless their maximum goes up, obviously).

For example, if an investigator has a maximum of 5 sanity, I'll give them one 3 sanity token, and two 1 sanity tokens, for a total of five.  If they take two points of sanity damage, they move their two single sanity tokens off of their investigator card (or onto their card, it doesn't really matter so long as they are consistent in how they do it).  If they then take a further point of sanity damage, they move the 3 sanity token onto the card, and put the two singles back.

The same can obviously be done with stamina.

There are no official rules that state that something happens when clues or money or explored tokens run out, so I would assume that it's safe to go ahead and replace those with stand-ins (small change works well for money: pennies for $1, nickels for $5, and dimes for $10, for example).

One thing that may be worth checking out if you have an iOS device is the Arkham Horror Toolkit released by Fantasy Flight Games on the App Store.  It can keep track of your sanity, stamina, money and clues.  It's not free, but it does have some other neat features (support for the expansions -also not free, but not too expensive), and a built in dice roller.


Does resolving a single fight round in A Touch of Evil also trigger "The Horseman Rides Tonight!" event? When playing against the Spectral Horseman, if something in the game triggers a single fight round with the Villain, does the Spectral Horseman's "The Horseman Rides Tonight!" event take effect?
For example, here's the wording on the Deadly Encounter mystery card:

Every Hero must immediately roll a D6. Whoever rolls the lowest (roll off if tied), must resolve a single Fight Round with the Villain. Instead of causing Wounds, each Hit done to the Villain gains 1 investigation for the Hero.

... and the text for "The Horseman Rides Tonight!" event:

The Villain attacks! The Hero must immediately resolve a single Fight Round with the Villain. Instead of causing Wounds, each Hit done to the Villain gains 1 Investigation for the Hero. This does NOT cause a Showdown.
...
After an Fight here (or even if there is no Fight), the Spectral Horseman moves along the shortest path to the Town Hall, Fighting every Hero along the way as normal for his Relentless Charge ability.

Is it just coincidence that the first part of the event reads almost exactly the same as the deadly encounter or should the Spectral Horseman make his ride to the Town Hall and attack all other Heroes along the way in the event of a card that triggers a single fight round?

Yes, (according to the rules) the Deadly Encounter mystery card will cause the Spectral Horseman to move along the shortest path to the Town Hall, Fighting every Hero along the way as normal for his Relentless Charge ability. The card "The Horseman Rides Tonight!" specifically tells you to do so, and Deadly Encounter causes a Fight. (emphasis mine)

Relentless Charge - At the end of any fight with the Spectral Horseman, he will ride the shortest route directly to the Town Hall, engaging in one fight round against any Hero moved over.

Unless it is canceled, **The Horseman Rides Tonight" event will take place.

Many times a card will allow you to cancel another card as it is played or that Remains in Play.  As noted earlier, an Event Card may not be canceled after it has already caused dice to be rolled or rerolled.  Mystery Cards may always be canceled.

(Note: You actual ask, can the Mystery Card cancel the event, but that Mystery Phase  would happen after the event "The Horseman Rides Tonight" is played. So it would make more sense to ask, can The Horseman Rides Tonight" Event Card, cancel the Mystery Card Deadly Encounter.)

Events are played as fast effect style cards and, unless noted otherwise, may be played at any time.
In each Game Round, every player (starting with the First Player) takes their Hero
Turn in order, moving clockwise around the table. Once each Hero has finished, there is a Mystery Phase in which the Villain gets to unleash some evil on the Heroes in the form of drawing a Mystery Card and reading it aloud.


Can you cast creatures exiled by Ashiok/Nightveil Specter with bestow? Say you exile a creature such as Eidolon of Countless Battles with a Nightveil Specter or Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Can you cast it with bestow as an enchantment aura or can you only cast it as a creature?

When a card is exiled with Nightveil Specter, you may play it in any way it could normally be played under all the normal restrictions (such as timing, paying costs, etc).
In the case of exiling Eidolon of Countless Battles (or any other bestow creature), this means you can pay the bestow cost to cast the spell as an enchantment aura.

When a creature card is exiled with Ashiok, you can later use his -X ability to place it on the battlefield. Notice the difference here: You do not cast it. Since it is not cast, you do not have the option of paying the alternate bestow casting cost and casting it as a enchantment aura. Thus, you cannot bestow a creature card exiled with Ashiok.