Do I draw a new hand if I start my turn without any card? I played with a new group of friends recently and they are playing with such a rule where they will draw a new hand if they don't have any card. Basically their strategy is to finish off all the cards in their hand so they can draw a new 4x treasures and 4x doors the next turn. Any idea if this true? Thanks.

No, you do not draw a new hand when yours runs out. Your friends are playing with a house rule. It might be an optional rule in some expansion's handbook, but I'm not aware of such an optional rule.

The only time you draw a new hand is when you start a new character: at the beginning of the game, or after you die.

You are not expected to always have cards in your hand in Munchkin. In fact, it's highly likely that you won't have any cards in your hand a while into the game, and that's fine!


If the Eyrie does not have enough spare warriors to recruit - does this cause turmoil? In Root if the Eyrie can't resolve the decree they fall in to turmoil.

In the case that the Eyrie have territory that they can recruit on - but already have all their warriors out (this can especially happen with the charismatic leader) - does this count as a turmoil trigger?

Yes. Rule 7.5.2. If you cannot fully take an action, you immediately fall into turmoil (7.7).


Can Jelava cast a creature if it has Flash? If I cast Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge and exile a creature with flash, could I cast that creature when she attacks and triggers her ability?

Flash is defined as follows, which makes it sound like the answer is "yes":

  702.8a Flash is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on. “Flash” means “You may play this card any time you could cast an instant.”

But the following rule for activated abilities makes it uncertain:

  602.5e Activated abilities that read “Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant” mean the player must follow the timing rules for casting an instant spell, though the ability isn’t actually an instant. The player doesn’t actually need to have an instant card that he or she could cast.

No, you cannot.  Being able to be cast when an instant could be cast does not make something an instant.  The closest the rules actually come to addressing this point appears to be (emphasis added):

  304.5. If text states that a player may do something "any time he or she could cast an instant," it means only that the player must have priority. The player doesn't need to have an instant he or she could actually cast. Effects that would prevent that player from casting a spell or casting an instant don't affect the player's capability to perform that action (unless the action is actually casting a spell or casting an instant).

Thus, "having flash" does not imply "being an instant."


Cards that restrict untapping of creatures I have been looking for two cards that I played with the other day and I cannot find.
They are both artifacts.

Creatures with power 4 or more don't untap.
Creatures with power 2 or more don't untap.

That may be a simplified version of the text, but that's what the abilities do.

The Gatherer website is the official portal to the Oracle database, the final authority on cards and their wording. Gatherer has extensive search function. You can find it here.

In the Advanced search tab, you can set all kinds of search criteria and usually find exactly what you're looking for.

That being said, there are no cards that would match your exact description. The best match I could come up with is Meekstone. You might have to play around with the search parameters to find the cards you're looking for.


What's the price difference in producing different quality game cards? I've been a bit disappointed in the past the quality of game components, primarily the cards, in certain games.

For example Citadels and Timeline have cheap cardboard cards that look like they'll scuff easily.

On the other hand Pandemic has the best quality cards I've ever seen - they look fully plastic, you could spill beer on those things and just have to wipe them off.

I'm wondering what the decision making process is for the producers of these games are - are good quality plastic cards really so expensive as not make it worth while paying for them?

There are numerous podcasts that cover this sort of thing. Multiple kickstarters have gone into detail on it. I think Dice Tower Productions recently talked about card stock pricng (Episode 450-453 somewhere around there). I think Two Rooms and a Boom's Kickstarter went into detail in card quality because it was certainly an issue in their highly anticipated yet highly delayed product.

Card Quality can vary from a number of ways from the finish which can be variations of smooth glossy or textured matte, the core (notably black core isn't see thru in white areas), the construction (paper or plastic) and the weight (thicker cards weigh more, gsm in the listings below means grams per square meter. Those are just some of the variations in card quality.

  The black core means that no light can pass through the cards regardless of what is or is not printed on either side (TGC)

MakePlayingCardsNow.com's website gives some pricing information that can make a nice jump off point for estimation.

50-99 Bridge Cards (Per Deck)

270gsm promotional quality          $6.55
300gsm premium quality              $6.85
330gsm superior smooth quality      $7.65
310gsm casino quality (French)      $7.45
13pt White Plastic (100%)           $12.85

50-99 Poker Cards (Per Deck)

270gsm promotional quality          $6.55
300gsm premium quality              $6.85
330gsm superior smooth quality      $7.65
310gsm casino quality (French)      $7.45
13pt White Plastic (100%)           $12.85

50-99 Lard Cards (Per Deck)

  Our large sized playing cards measures 3.5" x 5.75" and are popular for marketing needs or used as flash cards in school

300gsm premium quality              $9.80
330gsm superior smooth quality      $11.40
13pt White Plastic (100%)           $23.80

50-99 Tarot Cards (Per Deck)

  Tarot cards measures 2.75" x 4.75" and comes in deck sizes of 78. Perfect for those into tarot card reading or for promotional purposes.

300gsm premium quality              $11.20
330gsm superior smooth quality      $14.00
13pt White Plastic (100%)           $27.20

50-99 Mini Cards (Per Deck)

  Mini size playing cards measures 1.75" x 2.5" and are great as promotional client gifts or re-sell at retail. They make great gifts to friends too.

270gsm promotional quality          $4.20
300gsm premium quality              $4.50
330gsm superior smooth quality      $4.90
310gsm casino quality (French)      $4.90
13pt White Plastic (100%)           $8.50

50-99 Micro Cards (Per Deck)

  Micro custom blank cards measures 1.25" x 1.75" and comes in deck sizes from 54 to 360. These micro card decks are the smallest in our range of customizable cards. They are popular for small card figurines printing for board game or can be used for any other purposes.

270gsm promotional quality          $2.40
300gsm premium quality              $2.70
330gsm superior smooth quality      $2.90
13pt White Plastic (100%)           $4.70

There's even more sizes if you care to go to the website, and of course more pricing schedules. The numbers range from 1 to 15000


Can you get a single worker for a single die if you can only use one die roll? We were playing The Castles of Burgandy.
A player rolled two 5's, and it was late in the phase.  There was a 5 play, by putting a building on a hex, which he did.  But there was no other action he could take with a 5.  He had no worker with which to switch the 5 to a 4 or a 6.  We looked at the rule about abandoning both dice for two workers, but it did not appear clear if one can abandon one die for a single worker.
Is this within the rules: take an action on the result of a single die, and forfeit the action of the other die in return for a single worker?
We house ruled it as 'yes' since it's less frustrating for the players.  We are new to the game and are unsure if that's a good house rule or even a valid one.

You only need one die to get two workers
From the Castles of Burgundy rules, sourced here

Action "Take worker tiles"
Finally, a player may choose to use any die result to take 2 worker
tiles from the general supply. In this case, the die result itself is
meaningless.

The word 'die' is singular, indicating that you only need a single die to take this action.  This is in keeping with every other action in the game - every action takes exactly one die.
So any house rules are unnecessary.


Smallworld: Can I conquer regions occupied by my own In Decline token? I want to conquer a region featuring a Cavern (since I have Underworld as my special Ability). But this region is already occupied by my Amazon token, which is currently In Decline.

Can I do this or is it an illegal move?

From the rules, p4:

  Note: A player may choose to conquer a Region occupied by
  his own In Decline token, if he wishes to.


what if you an your opponent die at the same times Suppose my opponent and I have a life total of 1. I play a blood toll harpy. And we each lose one life. What happens?

The game is drawn the next time a player gets priority.

See also: If I simultaneously kill my opponent and deck myself at the same time, is the game drawn? which covers effectively the same question.


Pictionary rules clarification We played Pictionary the other day, and there were a couple of points of play that were unclear from the rules, and which I also can't find answers to online (though can find other people asking the same questions), so I was hoping someone could clarify.

Firstly, after you correctly guess a clue, you roll the dice, move, and draw another card. Do you re-set the time at this point, or do you continue your go in the unused time?

Secondly, in an "all-play" situation, if another team guesses the answer, they then take control of the dice. Once they then fail to guess an answer correctly, does play continue to the team to their left, or to the left of the team whose go it originally was?

In the rules on Hasbro's website, there is an explicit rule stating that players get 60 seconds per word (bottom of the first page):

  The timer is turned for another 60 seconds for each new word.

The rules also specify what happens when a team fails to guess their word (emphasis mine):

  If a word is not identified within the time limit, play continues to the left.

There aren't any special rules addressing the order of play after an All Play, so this rule would dictate that the next team to play would be the one to the left of the team that won the All Play round. Since Pictionary is a party game, there's nothing stopping your play group from using a house rule like this:

  After the team that won the All Play fails, play would continue with the team to the left of the team that drew the All Play.


May I play only one Tenacious Z or all of them from discard pile in my turn? The card text of "Tenacious Z" says:

  Special: During your turn you may play this card from your discard pile as an extra minion. You may only use the ability of one Tenacious Z each turn.

I'm not sure if that means "once for each card" or "one time each turn, no matter which card it is".
So may I play 1 or 3 Tenacious Z from discard pile when I have 3 of them in the discard pile?

One.

It says

  You may only use the ability of one Tenacious Z each turn.

It doesn't say

  You may only use the ability of a Tenacious Z once each turn.


Playing cards without a check in Pathfinder Somewhere in the Pathfinder ACG rule book, I remembered reading, that for each check, any player may use one card of each of the different card types, meaning only a single Spell card, Weapon card, Item card, etc.

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

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

Yes playing both cards outside of an encounter are allowed. From the Pathfinder Skull and Shackles rulebook (and probably the others as well as the rule hasn't changed) on page 9:

  Playing Cards

  Anyone can play a card whenever the card allows it. Playing a card
  means using a power on that card by revealing, displaying, discarding,
  recharging, burying, or banishing that card or by performing another
  action specified by that card.


Descent Campaign Shortening Myself and some friends meet up for some games every so often, and enjoy a good game of Descent to Darkness.

We recently tried a campaign over an extra long weekend (the idea of carrying equipment and characters over to a new game sounded appealing) but found that we'd barely scratched the surface, and that a lot of time was spent setting up and messing around in markets etc.

Does anyone have any recommendations (or even better, tested method) for a middle ground between an evening's single dungeon and full-on month-lasting campaign?

While this may seem disappointing, my advice is: don't.

Descent is a great game in its single-dungeon mode, and while it might look appealing to bring your characters from a dungeon to another, it actually "just doesn't work".

One of the fun things about this game is the weapon progression: as you go on, you might find cooler weapons to use. This works well in a single dungeon, but is crap in the campaign: after just a few encounters it is likely that every player will have the best-in-slot weapon for that campaign level, and anything else they can find will just be sold away. This takes away a lot of fun from the game.

Moreover due to setting and stuff you end up wasting so much time playing just a couple of (short) encounters in the campaign, that you could have played a whole (much longer) dungeon in the standard game.

If you really want to keep a few things from one dungeon to another, you could keep the same characters, follow the standard rules about xp and progression, and change a character with another one if he dies.


Does a melded creature remain melded when it leaves the battlefield? If a melded creature like Brisela, Voice of Nightmares dies, does it go to the graveyard as a single, melded creature, or does it split apart?

Can the whole creature be brought back to the battlefield (or to my hand), or just 1 of the 2 parts?

Do both halves of Brisela have to be regenerated separately?

From the Eldritch Moon release notes:

  While a meld card is anywhere other than the battlefield ... it has only the characteristics of its front face.

So once a melded creature is in the graveyard, the two parts have their front-face identities only and do not "remember" that they had been melded. Anything trying to move the cards back to hand or battlefield will have to interact with them separately.

However, a creature that is rescued from death with regeneration never actually leaves the battlefield at all, so regeneration works just fine on a melded creature. Regeneration does not mean to return the creature from the graveyard to the battlefield - rather it (roughly) means "the next time this creature would die, instead it doesn't."

Here's part of the Comprehensive Rules on regenerate:

  701.12a If the effect of a resolving spell or ability regenerates a permanent, it creates a replacement
  effect that protects the permanent the next time it would be destroyed this turn. In this case,
  “Regenerate [permanent]” means “The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn,
  instead remove all damage marked on it and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature,
  remove it from combat.”

While the melded creature is on the battlefield it counts as just one creature, so a single regeneration effect can save it (you don't have to regenerate both halves).


Poker auction - Precedence of hands I have created a simple card game called Poker Auction.

Rules

All players are dealt 2 cards each facedown. They have a fixed amount of money (say 1000 pts.) A card is opened from the deck, and auctioned to the highest bidder. Minimum bid is 50 pts. (unless you have less than 50, in which case you can go all-in as a bid) and any increment of 10 is allowed. Bidding is in cyclic order starting with the left of the dealer (which changes every game), and a person can place upto 3 bids. You may place a bid that is impossible to beat. Players who lose an auction get back their money, the winner loses money equal to his bid.

This process is repeated until every player has 5 cards (or the deck finishes, and it is a draw). If all but one player have 5 cards, and 5 cards have been 'passed out of the game' with no bids, this last player is obliged to take the next card(s) till he has 5 cards.

Person with the best hand (poker-style) wins the game. In the rare occurence that the first 5 'passed out cards' form a better hand than every player, it is a draw.

Question

So far it works almost fine. The problem is that some hands (such as straight) are nearly impossible, and others become easier the usual (flush maybe easier than 3 of a kind, I'm not sure). Does this change the required precedence of hands? Maybe some maths will show, please help.

As the creator of the game, you can certainly change whatever rules you want. But consider that people will value the various cards on the relative strength of the hands they could go for. If you change the strengths, then they will change their betting patterns to adjust.

Ultimately, however, the real question is - do you need to change it? And by that I mean, as you playtest your game, do you identify that the precedence needs to change? When you're designing a game, you have to playtest, and then playtest some more, then make some tweaks and playtest some more. Game design is about 20% design and 80% playtesting. So what did your playtesting tell you?


Where are the building entrances in Zombies? It has never been clear where the entrances in to and out of buildings are from roads. Some are obvious when there is only a single road segment:

Others are multi-square builds along side a multi-square road (e.g. the gas station). Some like the army surplus store has an obvious door way:

But others are less obvious, like the hardware store with fenced parking lots, the toy store with non-obvious doorways, etc. Which road segments can the building be entered from? I could not find details on this in the rules or the Zombies FAQ.

I feel like the density of the bright white border lines contains a clue, but nothing seemed to make sense there either. For example, the starting tile (above) has bright lines between the road segments.

I believe the only available answer may be: that there is no certain answer, but the building entrances should be located by player agreement, based on the application of some degree of common sense to the visual appearance of the tiles.

I don't own Zombies, but I remember when I played it I thought it was definitely a "fast and loose" style of game design, rather than having the sort of very precise, loophole-closing ruleset that I personally prefer.  Bad news for us obsessive-compulsive rules lawyers, in other words!


In Agricola, do family members occupy as many rooms as possible? Say I have three rooms and two family members, and I take a "family growth (even without space)" action (for example using the Lover occupation). Does the new family member now occupy my third room, or double up with one of the existing family members? In other words, can I now immediately take a standard "family growth" action, or will I now need to build an extra room?

[Note that if I'd done it the other way around ("growth", then "growth without space"), I could definitely have four people in my three rooms.]

The third member will occupy the third room of your house, even if you use the "Family Growth even without a room" action.

The relevant rule starts on page 9 of the rule book, under "Family Growth even without a room":

  Note: If a player who uses this card later extends her home, she may not use the other Family Growth card again until she has more rooms than Family members: the new rooms must first be used for Family members that did not previously have their own rooms.

This means you cannot take the actions in the order you are suggesting without building an additional room between the two "Family Growth" actions.


How do Opalescence and Humility interact? How exactly do Opalescence and Humility interact with each other?

This is actually directly addressed in the rulings for Opalescence:

  This is the current interaction between Humility and Opalescence: The type-changing effect applies at layer 4, but the rest happens in the applicable layers.  The rest of it will apply even if the permanent loses its ability before it's finished applying. So if Opalescence, Humility, and Worship are on the battlefield and Opalescence entered the battlefield before Humility, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments. (Opalescence). Layer 6: Humility and Worship each lose their abilities. (Humility) Layer 7b: Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4. (Opalescence).  Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility). But if Humility entered the battlefield before Opalescence, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments (Opalescence). Layer 6:  Humility and Worship each lose their abilities (Humility). Layer 7b: Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility).  Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4 (Opalescence).

This all sounds very confusing, but basically what it is saying is that it depends on which one entered the battlefield first. These types of effects are applied in a "Layer" order. When 2 things would happen in the same layer, they are applied in the order that the effects were created.


Does "Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth" work on lands in libraries? Legendary Land

  Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types.

Does Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth work on lands in libraries?

I.e., does it allow me to fetch any land using a Swamp-fetcher?

No. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth only affects lands on the battlefield, not in any other zone.

Rule 109.2 says

  If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn't include the word "card," "spell," "source," or "scheme," it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.

Urborg affects objects with the type "Land". Since it doesn't use any of the mentioned words, that means that it affects permanents of type "Land" on the battlefield.


Does attacking zero strength units (eg. routed units, siege engines) require a full combat resolution? Say I march into a territory that has either some routed units, or a siege engine (both having zero combat strength).

Does this start a full combat resolution- ie calling for support, playing house cards, or are the units instantly destroyed without combat?

It seems very plausible that if a combat round is necessary, the routed/siege units could still win the battle with support and house cards.

Yes, there is still combat. The rules don't specifically mention attacking into a region with only routed units. Therefore we follow the default instructions: if you march into a region with enemy units, you have a combat. As you say, it's plausible that a routed army could win (which is good; if you don't want to lose the units, you can "waste" your good cards and support orders for the turn to keep them alive"), but obviously the attacker with units contributing to battle will have an advantage.


Scarab God VS Meren of Clan Nel Toth After my opponent chose a target creature card for Meren of Clan Nel Toth, am I able to activate The Scarab God's abilty to prevent the chosen card to return to my opponent's hand/the battlefield?
I'm assuming I can, but just want to be sure.

Yes. Meren's ability targets the card it returns (by explicitly using the word "target"), meaning that it is chosen as the triggered ability is put on the stack. While it is on the stack, you are allowed to activate Scarab God's ability and target the same card. This will put the Scarab God's ability on top of Meren's ability on the stack.

Assuming no other interference, the Scarab God's ability will resolve first, exiling the creature card. Then, when Meren's ability resolves, it will be unable to find its target and the ability will therefore be removed from the stack without resolving (I have personally always used the word "fizzle" for this non-resolution, but I don't know how prevalent it is, and it's not part of the official rules).

Note that if Meren's ability hadn't said "target", all you would be able to do would be to blindly exile creature cards you think your opponent wants to revive in the hopes of ruining their immediate plans, but that wouldn't stop your opponent from reviving something. The only way you could stop that would be to exile all creature cards in your opponent's graveyard, provided you have the mana.


Does Nightpack Ambusher's second ability trigger if I cast spells during the end step? Nightpack Ambusher has this second ability:

  At the beginning of your end step, if you didn't cast a spell this turn, create a 2/2 green Wolf creature token.

Let's say it's now the end step. Nightpack Ambusher triggers. If I cast an instant now, will the ability fizzle? Do I have to wait until the trigger resolves to cast any instants to get the 2/2 token? Or will casting any instants cause the ability to fizzle anyway (because my end step is still part of my turn)?

This is an example of an ability with a so-called 'Intervening "if" clause' - this condition is checked during both trigger and resolution. So if you cast an instant while Nightpack Ambusher's ability is on the stack, it won't do anything as it resolves.

  603.4. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves. If the condition isn’t true at that time, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing. Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule. (The word “if” has only its normal English meaning anywhere else in the text of a card; this rule only applies to an “if” that immediately follows a trigger condition.)

You can still cast the instant after the ability resolves; unlike the cleanup step, players do get priority during the end step (cf. rule 500.3.)


Athreos, God of Passage and Undying I am curious about how this scenario will play out:

I have both Athreos, God of Passage and Geralf's Messenger in play and Geralf's Messenger dies (with no +1/+1 counters on it) .

My guess is that it will work like this:

Geralf's Messenger will leave the Battlefield (maybe even go to the graveyard?)
Athreos, God of Passage's ability will trigger (and go on the stack?)
The opponent that I target will have to choose to lose 3 life or put Geralf's Messenger back in my hand.
If they lose 3 life, Geralf's Messenger will go back on the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.
If they choose not to lose 3 life, then Geralf's Messenger will go back to my hand.

Does that sound right?  Basically I am trying to see if Geralf's Messenger will effect loss of 6 life before it is well and truly dead (as long as Athreos, God of Passage stays on the board).

Basically I am trying to see if Geralf's Messenger will effect loss of 6 life before it is well and truly dead

Nope. Undying actually makes it worse for you.

I think your error is that you forgot about one of the key rules of MTG:

  400.7 An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are seven exceptions to this rule:

In this context, that means that when the Messenger leaves the graveyard, abilities that later try to move it from the graveyard won't find it since it doesn't exist anymore.

Here's what happens:

Geralf's Messenger dies (is moved from the Battlefield to the graveyard) for whatever reason.

Both its undying ability and Athreos's triggered ability trigger.

The abilities that triggered are placed on the stack in APNAP order. A player decides the order in which his abilities are placed on the stack.

What happens next depends on the order in which you place the abilities on the stack.

If you place the Undying ability on the stack first and Athreos's triggered ability second.

Athreos's triggered ability resolves:

Return it to your hand unless target opponent pays 3 life.

Undying resolves:

If it's still in the graveyard, return it to the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter on it.

So,

If opponent pays 3 life, it ends up on the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter.
Otherwise, it ends up in your hand.

He shouldn't pay any life, forcing you to cast it again.

If you place Athreos's triggered ability on the stack first and the Undying ability second.

Undying resolves:

Return it to the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter on it.

Athreos's triggered ability resolves:

Target opponent may pay 3 life, but it doesn't matter if he does or not since the object to move no longer exists.

So,

If opponent pays 3 life, it ends up on the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter.
Otherwise, it ends up on the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter.

He shouldn't pay any life since it doesn't make a difference.


Can a runner make a run on an "empty" remote server? A runner has "Bank Job" ( https://netrunnerdb.com/en/card/01029 ). Can he (or she) make a run on a remote server without any installments (ice, asset, upgrades, agenda)? In other words, can a runner just spend one click to take all the credits from bank job? Reference on the rules will be great!

No, remotes only exist if there is a card installed either inside of them (asset/upgrade/agenda) or in front of them (ICE). This differs from the central servers, which always exist even if there is nothing in or protecting them (e.g., archives).

This is discussed on page 4 of the official FAQ, under "Destruction of Servers" (emphasis mine):

  If there are no cards installed in or protecting a remote server, then
  the server immediately ceases to exist. If a server ceases to exist
  during a run, the run immediately ends. Unless the run has passed step
  4.4 of the timing structure of a run, it is not considered to be successful or unsuccessful.


Is a player forced to cast a spell which originally had an illegal target? Say a couple of turns prior, NAP played a Temporal Mastery and instead of exiling it as instructed, put it into his or her graveyard. Consider AP as a beginner to the game and does not know NAP should have exiled their Temporal Mastery. This error is not caught as it happened and turn(s) have elapsed since.

During the current turn, AP attempts to use a Surgical Extraction targeting NAP's Temporal Mastery (which I should remind is in their graveyard). NAP now realizes their error and calls a judge.

Is AP forced to pick a new target for their Surgical Extraction, does Surgical Extraction fizzle, or does the judge instruct NAP to exile their Temporal Mastery and AP to return Surgical Extraction to their hand? What are the violations each player has made?

To answer your last sentence first, the particular violations each player made are straightforward according to the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide (IPG). This is the document that defines various tournament infractions, as well as the proper remedies at Competitive and Professional Rules Enforcement Levels. At Regular REL, such as Friday Night Magic, the IPG doesn't technically apply, but the fix the judge gives will likely not be significantly different.

The player who cast the Temporal Mastery and didn't exile it committed a Game Play Error—Game Rule Violation (IPG 2.5) for not resolving his/her spell completely. The other player has committed a Game Play Error—Failure to Maintain Game State (IPG 2.6) by failing to notice this. The judge should give both players a Warning.

Regarding the game state, there are four categories with specific fixes listed. Quoting one of them:

  If an object is in an incorrect zone either due to a required zone change being missed or due to being put into the wrong zone during a zone change, the identity of the object was known to all players, and it can be moved with only minor disruption to the state of the game, put the object in the correct zone.

Nothing more specific is given about altering the game state, but the judge has discretion to perform a minor backup or leave the state as is. Since the Temporal Mastery should never have been a legal target, I'd guess most judges would backup the cast of the Surgical Extraction so it never happened, then perform the fix of exiling Temporal Mastery, but the exact fix is somewhat at the discretion of the judge. If he decides a backup would be too disruptive of the game state and they should play on, it's his call.


BRIDGE - What to do with 5 or more trumps in my partners (opening) major? While playing Standard American, If my partner opens 1 of a Major and I (as responder) have 5 cards in the same Major and 4/5 POINTS, what do I respond, 4 of the Major or something else ? Thanks.

It depends on a few things, but basically you have a choice between a simple raise to 2M or a jump to 4M. First, did partner open in first seat, or later? If partner opened in first seat, your LHO has not had a chance to enter the auction yet and opponents are more likely to have a game. This makes the jump to 4 of the major more attractive. If LHO has already passed, opponents are unlikely to have a game, so the preemptive value of 4M is less useful and partner may have some extras. When partner has moderate extras, you're propelling your side to a shaky contract at best while the opponents are unlikely to find a plus.

Next, what is the shape of your hand? If it's 5332, 4M is less attractive. If it's 5431 or shapelier, 4M is more attractive.

If you decide to bid 2M only, your plan is to bid 3M over opponent's part-score interference and then go away, and not to accept partner's game tries. If you bid 4M, you've essentially shown your hand and you're done in the auction unless partner makes some forcing bid (essentially a cue bid or blackwood).


What different opening strategy exist when playing Quatro? I enjoy very much playing Quatro, as I find that the small board, small set of pieces and symmetry. However, I am at loss in playing the beginning of the game anyway other than randomly. Because the pieces placed are neither yours nor the opponent's, thinking in terms of "occupying the central ground" make no sense.

Do you have any strategies?

I don't know that you're going to do much better than random.

Clearly, when you are not the first placing player your piece choice doesn't matter.  All the pieces are equivalent (the same number of potential matches will remain after play).

If you are the first placing player, then there are only 2 distinct opening moves.

Placing any of the pieces on:

a "corner*"

the "inner" pieces are functionally equivalent to outer corners on the first move

a "wall" but not a "corner"

This is due the board's symmetry, and the lack of piece ownership, coupled with the equivalence of the piece "types."

None of these moves deny any potential win condition, clearly.

So, the first choice that has any impact on the outcome of the game can't occur until the second piece choice.

Here, the first placing player can choose a piece with 3, 2, 1, or no commonalities with one just placed.

This means that by the end of the first placing player's turn, there can be only 8 functionally distinct boards.  Not a lot to choose from in terms of strategy.  In comparison, Chess has 20 at this point and Checkers has 7.

A bit less fairly, this analysis suggests that given perfect play the first placing player will always win or force a draw.

*I apologize for the paraphrasing but I haven't actually played this game personally, only read about it.


What happens when the Runner stack is empty? When the corporation R&D is empty the corporation loses.  What happens when the Runner's stack is empty?

I think that: He must finish the game with only the cards on the table.

or

I doubt that: He reshuffles the heap into a new stack.

Your instinct is correct; the runner continues to play with the cards that he/she has in play.

It would have been nice if the rules clarified this a little, but since they don't specify that anything special happens you carry on playing.

Despite the runner being able to continue playing, the runner can no longer draw cards and therefore becomes prone to getting flat-lined (having to trash more cards than there are in their hand) and losing that way.

This is fairly rare occurrence, since the corporation draws every turn, whereas the runner doesn't necessarily. Usually the corporation would deplete their deck before the runner, ending the game that way.

Related Links:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/853237/depleted-runner-stack
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/877799/if-the-runner-runs-out-of-cards-in-his-stack-can-h


Grisly Spectacle has two parts if the first part fails does the second still happen Grisly Spectacle states:

  Destroy target nonartifact creature. Its controller puts a number of cards equal to that creature's power from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

If a creature is indestructible the first part will have no effect, but will the second part still happen?

Yes, you can target an indestructible creature with Grisly Spectacle. If you do, the spell will try and fail to destroy the creature, and the spell will mill the creature's controller.

Be aware that you need a creature you can legally target with Grisly Spectacle in order to cast the spell, and the creature needs to still be around and legal to target in order for the mill to happen. You can't for example, Grisly Spectacle your opponents Carnage Tyrant, and if they were to use Blossoming Defense on a creature you would get neither the kill nor the mill.


In a game that just involves Unstable cards, does it ever actually matter that Just Desserts deals π damage instead of 3? The Unstable card Just Desserts says

  Just Desserts deals π damage to target creature. (π is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. (It’s a smidgen more than 3.))

And the Unstable FAQ further elaborates that

  If you ever have to calculate Just Desserts, you have my permission to use 3.14.

In most situations, this has the same outcome as if it just dealt exactly 3 damage: a creature with 3 toughness will die if hit by Just Desserts or by a Lightning Bolt. A creature with 4 toughness will not die from either. So, in a game with just Unstable cards, such as Unstable limited, does it ever really make a difference that Just Desserts deals π damage instead of 3?

I think it would be best to ignore cards that can be brought into the game by Spike, Tournament Grinder and Summon the Pack because they expand the card pool well beyond Unstable.

There are a few ways in which it matters that Just Desserts deals π damage instead of 3.

The simplest is the card's interaction with each other. A single Just Desserts has about the same effect as a single Lightning Bolt. But 8 Just Desserts deal a total of about 25.13 damage, while 8 Lightning Bolts only deal a total of 24 damage.

In addition, in combination with Super-Duper Death Ray, it can result in non-integer damage being dealt to a player. Hitting a creature with 4 toughness with Just Desserts then Super-Duper Death Ray deals π damage to the creature's controller. This alone doesn't make a big difference: 0.86 life keeps you alive just as well as 1 life does, because every other source of damage has integer values. Of course, Just Desserts interacts with itself here too, so doing this enough times will result in the player taking at least 1 more damage than they would if Just Desserts only dealt 3 damage.

Other than that, if any cards care about how much life you have, this could make a difference. One context in which it may matter exactly how much life you have is a cost that involves paying life. Rule 117.3 says

  A player can’t pay a cost unless he or she has the necessary resources to pay it fully. For example, a player with only 1 life can’t pay a cost of 2 life, and a permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped to pay a cost. See rule 202, “Mana Cost and Color,” and rule 602, “Activating Activated Abilities.”

In the context of this card, this means that a player with 0.86 life can't pay 1 life, and more generally a player with N+0.86 life can't pay N+1 life. There are two cards in Unstable with costs that include paying life: Spike, Tournament Grinder and Everythingamajig F. So, a player with just 0.86 life can't pay for Everythingamajig's second ability, and a player with just 1.86 life can't pay life for any of Spike's Phyrexian mana costs. These could matter if the player had Rules Lawyer for example, and would survive having 0 life.

There is also a planeswalker in the set, Urza, Academy Headmaster, so that damage could be redirected from the player to Urza. Mark Rosewater has ruled in the past that half counters exist, so it would make sense that with Just Desserts, other fractions can exist too. So Urza can have N + 0.86 loyalty counters. Rule 117.3 comes into play here: you can't pay for a cost unless you pay it fully, so you can't activate Urza's second ability unless he has at least 1 entire loyalty counter, and you can't activate his third ability unless he has at least 3 entire loyalty counters.

There is also another way in which Urza can be affected here: One of Urza's possible ultimate abilities says

  Create X 2/2 white Cat creature tokens, where X is your life total.

Unfortunately, I don't actually know what happens here. There do not seem to be any good rulings about handling fractional creature tokens.


What games are similar to Risk? Are there any other board games that have similar game mechanics to Risk?

I generally think of Axis and Allies as being like advanced Risk.  Also there are all of the different Risk clones, 2210, LoTR, Star Wars, Godstorm and others which introduce slight variants in maps and rules.  Of those I'd recommend 2210, but if you can handle the complexity, which isn't bad in the grand scheme, Axis and Allies is the way to go.


Claiming honours in rubber bridge When playing rubber bridge, can the declarer still claim after the hand is over but the next hand has not been dealt?

From the 2014 Laws of Rubber Bridge:

Law 76 - Responsibility for the Score
....  Honors may be claimed until the next hand has been dealt, or the
rubber has been completed and scored - whichever comes sooner.

and

Law 78 Correction of the Score
When it is acknowledged by a majority of the players that a scoring error was made in recording an
agreed upon result (e.g. failure to enter honors or incorrect
computation of score), the error must be corrected if discovered
before the net score for the rubber has been agreed to. However,
except with the consent of all four players, an erroneous agreement as
to the number of tricks won by each side may not be corrected after
all players have called on the next deal.
In case of disagreement
between two scores kept, the recollection of the majority of the
players as to the facts governs.


In bridge, if a 1 NT bidder is doubled, is it right to "redouble for rescue?" Suppose South opens with 1 NT (15-17). After two passes, East doubles, showing possession of most of the remaining 23-25 high card points not held by South.

  1NT P P Dbl

South has a flat 4-3-3-3 distribution, with no real suit preference (incidentally, I wouldn't open 1NT with a bare 15, preferring a short minor, with a flat distribution). Can he "redouble" for rescue"?

A NT bid severely limits the bidder's strength and shape. In this case, South is asking North to bid his longest (hopefully 5-card) suit as a form of "damage control." If North has a Yarborough (no high card points) will s/he likely interpret South's redouble as such?

Or is there too much of a danger (between reasonably good players) that North will pass out South?

Put another way, does a "redouble" in this context work like a takeout double, where partner has to answer unless he plans to play to punish the opponents) with a strong hand?

There are nigh as many ways to play this as there are bridge partnerships in the world. What is correct at any given time is the system you agreed to play when you completed your convention card with this partner.

Along with redoubling for takeout, another common defense to the double is to pass forcing opener to redouble, which may then either be passed for penalty by responder or converted as part of a run-out strategy. Key advantages of this scheme include:
- Distinguishing between one-suited and two-suited escapes by bidding one shape immediately, and the other delayed.
- Putting additional pressure on the doubler after the forced redouble.


What happens if you manifest a Zoetic Cavern? If I manifest Zoetic Cavern can I use it's morph cost as usual, the reason why I ask is because manifest says you can turn it face-up only if it is a creature card, which it is not, so I was wondering if that applied to only the manifest, face-up cost or if it keeps you from turning it face-up with other morph costs?

I'm assuming a card can have multiple morph costs that don't necessarily interact with each other?

Yes, you can use the morph cost of the Cavern.

In the rules for manifest rule 701.33c says:

  If a card with morph is manifested, its controller may turn that card face up using either the procedure described in rule 702.36e to turn a face-down permanent with morph face up or the procedure described above to turn a manifested permanent face up.

So if you are turning a card face up using the morph procedure, the manifest procedure and its restrictions become irrelevant.

Manifest is a separate, though similar, mechanic from morph and it is incorrect to call the cost of turning a card face up using the manifest procedure a morph cost.


Victory conditions with the "Limited Range of Influence" option In a ten player Grand Melee, Anthony controls a Darksteel Reactor with 20 counters on it.

Anthony has satisfied the trigger condition for Darksteel Reactor. The trigger resolves, and he wins the game. However, with the limited range of influence option, only the person to Anthony's left and right will lose the game. There is now a void on Anthony's left and right, and his range of influence is not reevaluated until the beginning of his next turn. But Anthony never gets another turn because the Reactor will trigger again and again forever.

What happens to Anthony now? Can other turn markers bring opponents into Anthony's range of influence so that they will lose to him? In other words, can the void on his left and right ever be collapsed? If not, has he fallen victim to an infinite loop, forcing a draw by his own victory condition?

Anthony would force himself to draw that game.

  801.16. If the game somehow enters a "loop" of mandatory actions, repeating a sequence of events with no way to stop, the game is a draw for each player who controls an object that's involved in that loop, as well as for each player within the range of influence of any of those players. They leave the game. All remaining players continue to play the game.

Grand Melee is set up so that no matter who the Active Player is any given player is inside only one AP's range of influence[807.4d]. This is so that you can't have weird things happen like being within the range of influence of 2 different players at 2 different parts of their turn, because Magic doesn't really support, for example, being in both an upkeep and combat step at the same time.

Since there is no way for Anthony to progress any farther in the current turn than the Cleanup Step, the current turn can't end for him. If somehow someones range of influence were allowed to move into him that would then mean he was currently part of 2 separate turns and that just doesn't make sense in Magic.


Shogun: Which player resolves winter revolts first? Given that several players are going to get revolts due to rice shortage in the winter round, which one goes first?

It might matter e.g. when you know that the tower is packed with green cubes and no one wants to go first.

Page 10 of the rule book:

  If multiple players face revolts this winter, the revolts are resolved in the turn order of the preceding fall round.


In Settlers of Catan (like Diplomacy), is the secret to winning avoiding "peaking too soon?" In a two person game, one should try to make the "best moves." (If your opponent doesn't, you'll crush him unless the dice or other luck factors go very much against you.) That's not always true in a multiperson game.

In Diplomacy (which I know better), the player that goes from three to six cities in the first year becomes an obvious target. (Russia, which goes from four to six is the most frequent winner, but the second most frequent loser.) So in the beginning it's better to keep a low profile, do good but not great, let other players fight it out for half to two two-thirds of the game, and make a "run" toward the end.

Could a similar dynamic be at work in Settlers of Catan? That is, you want to do well enough in the beginning to "keep up with the pack," and yet not so well that other players see you as a threat and gang up on you? Is it even possible that bad play (or bad dice) in the beginning will generate a "sympathy" or "no threat" factor that will cause other players to treat you well later on?  And is one way is to get ahead quietly by accumulating good cards instead of good hexes?

It's impossible to pre-arrange this, but if I could, I'd arrange to have all my bad die rolls in the beginning and the good ones at the end so I could be "non-threatening in the beginning, and make a surge at the end. Are there other ways to accomplish this in the game?

I often write that it depends on the group, but I think that's especially applicable here. If you are playing against computer AIs for instance, of course you want to maximize your VPs at every step.

In general, though, I don't think it's wise to sandbag in Catan--or to inwardly cheer bad luck. In the worst case scenario, aggressive Robber usage and trade embargos will hold you back until someone catches up with you. At that point, you can earnestly point out that you are no longer winning. Even if you're the obvious leader, as long as you have no more than 6-7 VPs, you can often arrange a mutually beneficial trade with someone desperate enough for what you have to break the opponents' embargo.

Additionally, having a powerful position gives extra resources, which can help you forge ahead or expand a lead, even if the other players are trying to stop you. If you plan to take an early lead, I think it's definitely better to go for cities and settlements, not Longest Road. Definitely avoid going for the Longest Road early in the game, until you either actually need the road, or the 2 VP are close to mattering to decide the winner. Having the card paints a target on you as a leader, and distracts attention from other possible leaders, but doesn't help you generate any more resources. Another worry is getting two cities off the gate (maybe with an early ore/grain settlement placement) but being hemmed in without a decent third building site opportunity.

I've seen players try to stay at 7 VP and hoarding resources until they can make a big break by taking Longest Road and building 1 VP worth of stuff in the same turn. It's sometimes worked, but sometimes fallen flat as savvy opponents can look at the resources you've been gathering and guess what your opportunities are. And isn't the point of pondering strategy to prepare for savvy opponents?


Do we skip crossfire events in Extraction when playing with less than 4 players? The rules say to use the normal Crossfire rules but the mission seems to already compensate for lesser numbers by modifying the round actions.

Yes, you will still flip crossfire cards as the rules for extraction say to follow the crossfire rules of a standard crossfire game. In a standard game you flip it on the first turn with four players, second turn with three players and the third turn with two players. The only change to what is being flipped is obstacles which are flipped according to a tracker in the mission instructions.

Need to remember that crossfire cards are where a lot of the difficulty comes from. I have lost count of how many games have been lost in the last round just because of the crossfire card that is flipped.

Rules

Page 20 of the rules

  Obstacles and Crossfire: Use the normal Crossfire rules. Flip
  obstacles as instructed for each step of the mission track.
  Flipped obstacles start facing the Client, but the runners
  can protect the Client. At the start of each runner’s turn, a
  non-staggered runner can move one obstacle facing the Client
  to face them instead, if that obstacle’s color matches their
  role color. This choice must be made before any obstacle abilities
  that would trigger at the start of a runner’s turn.
  Obstacles will attack runners they’re facing, as normal, but
  when a runner becomes staggered, move all obstacles facing
  that runner to face the Client at the end of that turn.

Page 19

  Playing with Fewer than Four Runners: If there are only three
  runners, do not flip a Crossfire card at the start of the first
  round. If there are only two runners, do not flip a Crossfire
  card at the start of the first or second rounds.


What size card sleeves should I buy for Penny Arcade - Gamers vs. Evil? Just picked up Penny Arcade The Game: Gamers vs. Evil.

I like sleeving my card games.  What size sleeves should I get for these?

(I just compared them vs. Dominion, and they're slightly shorter and slightly wider, but I don't know if that's a standard size or what.)

On the producer site (Fantasy Flight Games) you will see that you can use their 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" (63.5 x 88 MM) card sleeves.

On this link you can see that you can use 3 packs of their Standard Card Game Sleeves (grey color packs) and on this page you will see the card sleeves sold by them (the last product from the list).

Another card sleeves producer is Mayday Games. I think that their corresponding card sleeves are named "Card Game Sleeves" (2 1/2" x 3 1/2" (63.5 x 88 MM)) - green pack. I am pretty sure but you can visit their site. They have a pdf file where you can search for your game and see what kind of sleeves you need. IMPORTANT: Today I see that their site is consider by google as threat because they find malicious software, so I think is not a good idea to enter wright now on their page.

Also you can search for ultra pro sleeves but i don't know exactly what kind you should search for.


What happens when you play Cloudshift on Borderland Ranger? I believe that when I play Cloudshift which reads:

Exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.

On Borderland Ranger which reads:

When Borderland Ranger enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.

Then Borderland Ranger's triggered ability triggers. Is this correct?

Yes, that's correct. Re-triggering "enters the battlefield" effects is certainly a good use of "flicker" cards like Cloudshift. Perhaps you'd be interested in this discussion of various uses of Cloudshift for more examples.


Does Haste make attacking a must? When I play a card with haste, do I have to attack or use an ability, or can I just play it without attacking?

No, haste gives you the choice to attack or activate abilities with the tap (or untap) symbol in the cost, but does not create a requirement. If a creature is required to attack it will be explicitly spelled out like with Juggernaut. (As far as I know there are no cards that require you to activate an ability)

702.10b If a creature has haste, it can attack even if it hasn’t been controlled by its controller continuously since his or her most recent turn began.
702.10c If a creature has haste, its controller can activate its activated abilities whose cost includes the tap symbol or the untap symbol even if that creature hasn’t been controlled by that player continuously since his or her most recent turn began.


Beginner Power Grid strategy Tonight I'll be playing Power Grid for the second time with my game group. It's the second time for all of us.

What key strategy or tactic should I focus on to give me the best chance of winning?

There really isn't a set strategy here, but a number of tips I've found useful from playing Power Grid, and I hope they can help you, too:

Look at what everyone is buying -- if you're playing 3rd in a 5 player game, and the first two players bought coal plants, consider going with a different fuel source, as coal could get expensive quickly if everyone is buying it.  Pay attention to how quickly fuel sources will replenish at the end of the turn as well.
If you are first to buy resources, consider buying the maximum amount.  It may cost you a little extra to buy them, but anyone else needing those resources is going to have to pay that much more.  Feel free to put the squeeze on people this way.
Don't overpay for Enrvironmental plants -- the environmental plants (the wind plants) are definitely a good buy, and everyone knows that.  If you get lucky and can buy one at the end of the round for face value, go for it.  If the #37 shows up and it gets bid up to $60 or $70 quickly, think very hard about how much you'll be saving if you buy it.  They're good, but don't overpay for them.
Beware the East coast -- there are lots of cheap connections in the East coast, which is great for expanding quickly, but if you buy lots of houses quickly, you'll be in first position, which means you'll be going last lots of the time.  Also, with cheap connections, people might crowd around you and block you in, meaning you may have to expand two or three hubs away, and pay some steep connection costs.  I personally like moving into the East coast during phase 2.
Nuclear plants are great later on -- early on, nuclear fuel is very expensive.  Within a few turns, however, the fuel can get down to $7 or $8 for a single piece.  Compared to how much coal and oil may end up costing, nuclear plants are good for mid- to -late game.
Time when you buy cities -- sometimes there may be a good plant on the table coming up, and you want first shot at it.  If everyone else is buying cities, consider staying at a lesser amount of cities so you have a better chance at going first.
Don't buy plants for the sake of buying plants -- If a good plant comes up, feel free to bid on it, but don't feel like you have to bid every turn.  Try to buy as few plants as possible.
Have a long-term strategy -- if the game will end when someone has built their 14th house, figure out what combination of plants will best get you to 14, such as a 4/4/6 setup, 4/5/5 setup, 3/5/6 setup, whatever.  There are some fantastic plants mid-game that you can use for the rest of the game.

If I think of anything else, I'll add them here.


Monopoly cheaters edition railways and "road blocks" My family arguments regarding block card and railway station.

The rules state when you roll the dice and you land on railway station you have to move straight to the next nearest railway station.
But when I landed on a station my opponent had a card that said "road blocked: players passing this property must stop and pay rent to the owner" before the next station.
Does this mean that I have to stop there or not?
Because the rules say when you land on Railway station you have to move to the next nearest station should I also skip the "Road blocked" card and go straight to the next station?

NO. You don't have to stop. When it says go straight to the next station, you can not be affected by anything else unless you pass go of cause, in which case you will get 200 bucks. You definitely do not have to stop in another's property. Think of it as you are teleporting to your target.


What's the most intuitive way to use a die for a pass/fail test? I'm working on a board game for general, non-gamer audiences.  (Think people who have played Monopoly and Uno, but not Risk or Settlers of Catan.)  Sometimes the player faces a test with only two outcomes: pass or fail (with some consequence).  Success and failure are both equally likely.

What's the most intuitive, non-gamer—friendly way to use 6-sided dice for a pass/fail test?

There are a number of possibilities that result in a 50% chance of success, such as:

Roll a die.  Even: pass.  Odd: fail.
Roll a die.  1/2/3: pass.  4/5/6: fail.
Roll a die.  1/2/3: fail.  4/5/6: pass.
Roll a black die and a white one.  Black>white: pass.  White>black: fail.  Black=white: roll again.

So far, I've been quite surprised to see how easily non-gamers can be confused by simple board game mechanics, so I'm trying to come up with something as non-surprising as possible.

(Replacing the die/dice with another object, such as a deck of cards or a spinner, would be too expensive for this particular game.)

Whatever non-expert game you play (Monopoly, snakes and ladders, etc.), rolling a 6 is good, rolling a 1 is bad. So I'd say "You win if you roll a 4 or more" is the most intuitive way to speak to a non-gamer.


Would it be viable to play pandemic with an "eradicate all diseases" win condition? I have played several games of Pandemic, and have found it to be a really enjoyable game with a lot of challenge.

I was wondering about the possibility of modifying the rules such that the game is played to eradicate all diseases, rather than merely cure them, as a means of varying the difficulty further, and adding extra depth to individual games.

I was wondering if this win condition is achievable, as I suspect there may not physically be enough cards in the player deck to allow you to eradicate all the diseases.

Has anyone else considered a variant like this?

You can get a pretty good idea about the extra time needed just by looking at the board when you finish a normal game. How many cities still have cubes in them? How many cards are left in the player deck?

As an absolute lower bound, you'll need two actions per city (one to move, one to treat), or one for the medic. If you've got three players and one is the medic, that's 8 cities cleared per six cards drawn.

But usually you'll have more than 8 cities, you'll need a lot more than one action per city to get to all of them, and the infection phase will be undoing half your work. You'll also usually have 10 or fewer cards left in the player deck. The odds of being able to clear the board are really, really low - and worse, if you can do it, it's probably just because you're lucky about infected cities being close together.

As others have said, simply adding an expansion and varying the difficulty using the existing means is probably a better bet.


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

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

It is Cathedral, specifically the Mattel edition.

You can see the same colour figurines, the circular towers and the picture is the same as the box but mirrored.


Sequence, dead cards with no cards to pick up In Sequence, if you have a Dead Card and there are no other cards to pick up, can you play the dead card on your turn, saving your other cards?

If you have gone through the entire deck then your are supposed to shuffle the discard piles and start drawing from that deck.
taken from the rules:
When the draw deck becomes depleted during play, all discard piles are shuffled together to create a new draw deck.
It is found under the table talk season.
Link to the rules:https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/191084/sequence-rules


Humble and losing ALL abilities: Does this affect creatures with equipped artifacts? Humble causes a creature to become 0/1 and lose all abilities.  If the target creature has an artifact equipped, giving it +1/+1, before this instant is played, does the target lose any benefits applied from the artifact?

Short Answer

The creature will be a 1/2.

Long Answer

The Comprehensive Rules define a layer system. When multiple effects need to be applied, the layer system describes the order in which they happen. Humble sets the base power and toughness to 0/1 in layer 7b.

  613.3b Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied.

Since the equipment modifies the power and toughness by giving the creature +1/+1, we know that it applies in layer 7c*.

  613.3c Layer 7c: Effects that modify power and/or toughness (but don’t set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.

We know that 7b applies before 7c because of rule 613.3.

  613.3. Within layer 7, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the order described [...]

7b comes before 7c. Therefore, the example creature is first set to 0/1, then modified to 1/2.

Trivia

In the Magic 2015 Update Bulletin, the word "base" was added to cards like Humble. This was supposed to make it clear to players that it applies before other effects that might modify power and toughness. Prior to Magic 2015, cards like Humble still worked the same way, but it was less obvious. In other words, it was a nonfunctional change aimed solely at improving clarity.

*The phrase "Equipped creature gets +1/+1" is an ability of the equipment, not an ability granted to the creature. If the equipment said "Equipped creature gains 'This creature gets +1/+1'", then it would actually be applied in Layer 6 instead.


Which Order Cards Resolve from Stack - MTG A buddy of mine and I had a small debate on the soon mentioned situation and I'm curious if I may have screwed him over on a misunderstanding of how the stack works. Consider the following situation:

I attack with a X/X creature that my opponent can't block. After attackers/blockers have been declared, my opponent casts Silverstrike and then I respond something like Titanic Growth (as an example), and it contains the key phrase "...until end of turn"

Is this a legal response? My line of thought is that my instant will resolve at "end of turn" which will allow his to resolve then killing my creature. Or is it that what I did made no difference and it resolves right away allowing his instant to resolve still killing mine before I can attack?

This is what happens:

Your opponent casts Silverstrike targeting your creature.
You cast Titanic Growth.
Titanic Growth resolves, giving your creature +4/+4 until end of turn.
Silverstrike resolves and destroys your creature.
Damage happens but there are no creatures to deal damage anymore.

"Until end of turn" just means that the effect of the spell, in this case +4/+4, remains until the end of the turn.

  405.5. When all players pass in succession, the top (last-added) spell or ability on the stack resolves. If the stack is empty when all players pass, the current step or phase ends and the next begins.

In this rule you can see that the next step, combat damage, will only happen after the full stack is resolved, including the Silverstrike.


Death Mask Duplicant Imprint of Platinum Angel Does the imprint ability of Death-Mask Duplicant allow me to copy the ability of the Platinum Angel in the graveyard not the flying , the one where I cannot lose?

No. Death-Mask Duplicant only allows you to copy the effects that are explicitly listed on it - flying, fear, first strike, double strike, haste, trample, and all forms of landwalk and protection. Exiling Platinum Angel would only give the duplicant flying.


What is the name of this board game? I've been trying to find the name of an old and simple board game but I can't seem to be able to. The rules were something in these lines:

2 players

The board has around 10 board squares or holes set in a row

Each player has 4 pieces (I think) that are located in opposite sides of the board.

The initial set up is like this ('1' means player's 1 pieces, '2' player's 2 and _ empty square)

1 1 1 1 _ _ 2 2 2 2

The goal of the game is to move all your pieces to the other side with rules:

You can only move one piece and one square at a time
2 pieces can't be in the same square
If you want to move a piece to a square occupied by another piece you jump over any piece and go to the next empty square

So the game could go like this (Sorry I noticed that I started with player 2 when I was halfway through but shouldn't change anything):

1 1 1 1 _ _ 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 _ 2 _ 2 2 2

_ 1 1 1 1 2 _ 2 2 2

2 1 1 1 1 _ _ 2 2 2

2 _ 1 1 1 1 _ 2 2 2

...

Anybody knows what is the name of this game?

Thank you!

Edit This is more or less how a few rounds of the game look like. Each rectangle is one turn. Blue is moving from right to left and red from left to right. Also the game ends when a player gets all the pieces on the other side

This looks like the jumping frogs puzzle.

There are several variants.

The number of spaces and pieces can vary.
The number of pieces you can jump over can vary.

As far as I know, this qualifies as a puzzle. But I think you can play this as a game too.


How can I mitigate some of the downtime between player's turns? For games in which it is not possible to take simultaneous turns, as the number of players increases, so does the wait time between a player's turn and their turn again. It becomes a balancing issue with the game's design to keep the game the same or introduce elements that help speed up game-play.

What is the maximum downtime between turns that I can expect players to be ok with?
What steps can be taken to mitigate downtime between turns (examples from games, and your opinion of their effectiveness, are appreciated).

For example, Settlers of Catan, when expanded to 5-6 players, allows all players to make purchases during any player's turn. This is done to mitigate having too many cards if the robber comes up between your turns, but it also increased engagement on other people's turns. MtG and other CCGs have instants that can affect your opponent's turns.  Even games like Monopoly allow trading between players to keep them engaged.

What other design approaches can be used for larger numbers of players if simultaneous play (like Roll Through the Ages) isn't possible?

I think the main points have mostly been hit. A few strategies:

Direct interaction during other players' turns. For example, if there is a combat element, if the defending player has interesting choices such as playing cards from hand to gain advantage. As mentioned, Magic is a good example as the defending player has plenty of decisions to make and cards to play. Counterpoint is Risk, where defender just rolls dice doesn't work as well for keeping interest.
Indirect interaction during other players' turns. In a recent game Eminent Domain, player gets to piggyback on the decision the current player makes. Or in a game like Battlestar Galatica, there is so much meta-game discussion that regardless of whose turn it is, all players are engaged and invested even if the game mechanism doesn't allow them to interact with the "game" at that moment.
Pre-planning while avoiding Analysis Paralysis. Player can more or less make all decisions about their turn while other players are doing their own. A key part of this is avoiding adding new information during current player's turn. For example, if the player must draw a card, have them draw at end of turn rather than beginning of turn. This will give them more time to internalize their choices.
If there really is no way to do any of the above, then you need to find a balance in length of turn. Perhaps make really short turns, but if the player only has a few actions each turn they may be all the more frustrated because they feel like they can't get anything done on their turn. If you instead give them lots of actions, you can make the player's turn feel really beefy, but that's going to make the wait for next go-around that much worse.

I don't think there's a golden rule for amount of downtime. Instead, it's all about perceived downtime. My "turn" may only come up every 15 minutes, but as long as I am thoroughly engaged in what my opponents are doing during their turns, and I have true decisions and actions to take during their turns... it doesn't matter.


Civilization cards with toolmakers If, for any reason, the card remains unused till the end of the game, when scoring the toolmakers, do we take into account the value of "one-time" tools or just the permanent value of tools on our board?

No, the "one-use tool" cards do not count for scoring tool makers.

The rules specifically call out "Tool tiles" in the scoring section:

The "one-use tool" cards are exactly that: cards (i.e. not tiles). Nowhere in their description are "tiles" called out:


Can I stack Miracle and other "at the beginning of of your draw step" triggers however I want? I control Howling Mine. At the beginning of my draw step, I draw Temporal Mastery. Can I stack the Miracle trigger and then the Howling Mine trigger, such that I draw my second card before the Miracle trigger resolves?

You can order the triggers as you like.

Draw Step

504.1. First, the active player draws a card. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.
504.2. Second, any abilities that trigger at the beginning of the draw step and any other abilities that have triggered go on the stack.

702.93. Miracle
702.93a Miracle is a static ability linked to a triggered ability (see rule 603.10). “Miracle [cost]” means “You may reveal this card from your hand as you draw it if it’s the first card you’ve drawn this turn. When you reveal this card this way, you may cast it by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost.”

You first draw the normal card. If you want to play it for its Miracle cost, you reveal it.
Then  Howling Mine and Miracle goes on the stack at the same time. Since you control both triggers, you can arrange them as you like.
Then you get priority and afterwards the stack starts resolving.
Note that if another player controlled the Howling Mine, you would have to place them on the stack in turn order, starting with you.

405.3. If an effect puts two or more objects on the stack at the same time, those controlled by the active player are put on lowest, followed by each other player’s objects in APNAP order (see rule 101.4). If a player controls more than one of these objects, that player chooses their relative order on the stack.


Will Path of Mettle flip if I fullfill the conditions after declaring attackers? Say I have a board state with an unflipped Path of Mettle, a Duelist's Heritage, one creature with first strike/double strike/vigilance/haste and another creature with none of that.
As  I head to combat, and declare attackers, Path of Mettle does not flip as the condition is not fulfilled:

  Whenever you attack with at least two creatures that have first strike, double strike, vigilance, and/or haste, transform Path of Mettle.

Now Duelist's Heritage triggers, and I decide to give the creature without any of the keywords double strike. My question is/questions are:

Does Path of Mettle still flip? I am clearly still attacking with two creatures which fullfill the requirements.
If not, can I stack the triggers in such a way that it will flip? Like, I declare attackers, this triggers the check of Path of Mettle and the Heritage, and may I stack them in such a way that Path of Mettle flips?

No, because "whenever you attack" looks at the exact moment you're declaring attackers (not after).

Path of Mettle will not transform in this situation. For it to transform, your attacking creatures must already have those qualities whilst being declared as attackers. It does not work to grant them those abilities just afterwards such as by Duelist's Heritage.

This is because of the way triggered abilities work, especially "when (something) attacks" triggers. Basically:

You declare attackers.
Then, we check to see what abilities trigger.

Duelist's Heritage saw a creature attack. It triggers.
Path of Mettle did not see two creatures with those qualities attack. It does not trigger.

Then people get priority, and eventually Duelist's Heritage gives something double strike.

But Path of Mettle doesn't care after the check in step 2; its opportunity to have its ability triggered has already passed. It can't/won't trigger again if something later gains those characteristics, since it already made its check.

For some comprehensive rules backing, we can see in the Declare Attackers step:

  508.2a Abilities that trigger on a creature attacking trigger only at the point the creature is declared as an attacker. They will not trigger if a creature attacks and then that creature’s characteristics change to match the ability’s trigger condition.

This one is pretty clear that Path of Mettle is looking for creatures that have those qualities whilst being declared as an attacker, not later.


How does Mitotic Slime work with Devour? Say that I have a Mitotic Slime in play and then play Thromok the Insatiable. When I sacrifice the Slime due to Thromok's Devour ability, I get two 2/2 Slime tokens. Am I able to sacrifice those Slime tokens to Thromok as well, or do they not come into play until Thromok is completely resolved? Since the 2/2 Slime tokens make two 1/1 Slime tokens as well, could I potentially get seven devour triggers from this one creature?

Thromok the Insatiable, or other Devour card has a static ability that modifies how that permanent enters that battlefield. Mitotic Slime has a triggered ability, which means that if it triggers during the resolution of another spell or ability (such as Devour, placing the Mitotic Slime in the graveyard), it must wait until the next time any player would receive priority before being put on the stack and finally resolving when both players pass in succession.

Spells and abilities on the stack do not resolve immediately, so it would be impossible to sacrifice the Mitotic Slime and the tokens that it produces when the Die trigger resolves, before the Devour ability that initially caused the Die trigger finishes resolving. The Devour ability must finish resolving before any player receives priority.

  603.6e  Some permanents have text that reads "[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ," "As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ," "[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . ," or "[This permanent] enters the battlefield tapped." Such text is a static ability—not a triggered ability—whose effect occurs as part of the event that puts the permanent onto the battlefield.

  603.3  Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 116, "Timing and Priority."

  116.2a  Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities.") However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn’t yet been put on the stack is put on the stack. See rule 116.5.


How to explore with wormhole generator in Eclipse? In the Eclipse board game, how do you explore with the wormhole generator? You have to select where you are exploring before you draw a new hex. You must be connected to that empty space with half a wormhole, or a whole wormhole. Does this mean I can explore from an edge of my current hex that does not have a wormhole half as long as I use the wormhole half of the newly drawn hex to connect? Or do I have to explore from an existing wormhole half of the current hex, and I can then connect to an empty edge of the new hex?

You are correct that you must select the unexplored space you wish to explore before drawing the hex tile from the appropriate stack. And yes, if you have the wormhole generator technology, you may explore a space adjacent to a side of your controlled hex that does not have a wormhole half. However, you must then make sure you orient the new hex so that a half wormhole is positioned next to that side of the new hex. If you look at the examples on page 9 of the rulebook the hex marked D, which is a legal placement for a player with a wormhole generator, is an example of the above described situation.


What does the skull mean on the wheel of heal points? What does the skull mean on your point card in the heal points?  It goes to 12 and then the next is a skull.

The skull is actually indicating 0 Life Points (i.e. you are dead and eliminated from the game). This is made more explicit in the Fifth Anniversary Edition rules:

In other words, the skull is one lower than 1 Life Point rather than one higher than 12. The fact that the skull and 12 are next to each other is only because this is a round wheel.


Rayami Mutated has a different name How do abilities that refer to their cards' names work when the name is changed, or the ability is "stolen" by a card with a different name?

Rayami, First of the Fallen has two abilities:

  If a nontoken creature would die, exile that card with a blood counter on it instead.

And:

  As long as an exiled creature card with a blood counter on it has flying, Rayami, First of the Fallen has flying. The same is true for first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, protection, reach, trample, and vigilance.

My question is related to these rules in regards to Mutate, and the "Top vs Bottom" aspect of the ability.

If Rayami is on top, it seems unambiguous that both abilities would affect her

If she is underneath (i.e. a Mutate creature is played onto her), it seems to me that because this creature is not named "Rayami, First of the Fallen", the second ability will not apply, but the first will (i.e. if that creature dies, it gets exiled with a counter, along with any others that die while it is on the battlefield). So the mutated creature with Rayami's abilities will not gain the abilities of cards exiled with counters on them.

Am I reading this right?

From the article

  Some creatures, like Bristling Boar above, have abilities that refer to themselves by name. Remember that from a rules perspective, a card using its own name in an ability really just means "me." For example, if Cloudpiercer ends up on top of Bristling Boar, that ability will work on the resulting creature.

As per Rule 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.

From this it is clear that the second ability will apply to the resulting creature, even if it is not named "Rayami, First of the Fallen"


Do creatures with summoning sickness deal damage while blocking? I know creatures with summoning sickness can not attack unless they have haste. My brother is using this to his defense as if you use a 3/3 creature with summoning sickness to block an attack from a 2/2 creature then the 2/2 creature would not die because you are only blocking and not attacking back.

From the rulebook:

  Unlike other types of permanents, creatures enter the battlefield with “summoning sickness”: a creature can’t
  attack, or use an ability that has {tap} in its cost, until it has started your turn on the battlefield under your control.
  You can block with a creature or activate its other abilities no matter how long it’s been on the battlefield.

Blocking is not "attacking back". Blocking creatures deal damage normally, whether they have summoning sickness or not. Again, the rulebook:

  After all blockers are chosen, combat damage is assigned.
  Each creature—both attackers and blockers—deals damage
  equal to its power.

  • An attacking creature that isn’t blocked deals damage to the
  player or planeswalker it’s attacking.

  • An attacking creature that is blocked deals damage to the
  blocking creatures. If one of your attacking creatures is
  blocked by multiple creatures, you decide how to divide
  its combat damage among them. You must assign at least
  enough damage to the first blocking creature in line to
  destroy it before you can assign damage to the next one in
  line, and so on.

  • A blocking creature deals damage to the attacker it’s blocking.


ipad implementation of board games with strong AI I sometimes enjoy playing some board games like ticket to ride or settlers of catan on my ipad. In most cases I prefer to play against the AI, because it allows me to pause the game and continue at a later time. However, the AI-players in the games I played are kind of weak and I lose interest after playing a couple of times.

Now I would like to buy a new game but with a competitive AI. I prefer games for 3-4 players with a length of less than 2 hours. Can you recommend something?

Agricola from Playdek offer a good challenge. And you can play single or the serie mode against yourself.

Elder Sign , Summon War and Yggdrasil are also good choice.

More depend of the game theme that you like ?


Monarchs Stormforth vs Number 59: Crooked Cook The Monarchs Stormforth:

  Once during this turn, if you would Tribute a monster for a Tribute
  Summon, you can Tribute 1 monster your opponent controls even though
  you do not control it. You can only activate 1 "The Monarchs
  Stormforth" per turn. During the turn you activate this card, you
  cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck.

Number 59: Crooked Cook:

  2 Level 4 monsters While you control no other cards on the field, this
  card is unaffected by other cards' effects. Once per turn, during
  either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card;
  destroy as many other cards you control as possible, then this card
  gains 300 ATK until the end of this turn for each monster destroyed by
  this effect and sent to the Graveyard.

If player A has Number 59: Crooked Cook on field and being unaffected by other card effected, can player B tribute it for tribute summon if used Monarchs Stormforth?

No, it cannot be tributed. If the player attempts to apply the effect of "Monarchs Stormforth" on an opponent's monster, it has to be on a monster that can be affected.


How does Infect interact with Lifelink? When a creature with Infect and Lifelink puts poison counters on a player, does the controlling player gain life? Do all abilities that trigger on combat damage still occur?

A link to an official ruling would be helpful.

Yes, the creature's controller will gain life.

Infect and Lifelink are both abilities that modify how damage is dealt. They're not exclusive in any way; they just mean that the damage dealt has some effects different to what damage normally does. They can happily coexist.

  119.3b Damage dealt to a player by a source with infect causes that player to get that many poison counters.
  ...
  119.3f Damage dealt by a source with lifelink causes that source's controller to gain that much life, in addition to the damage's other results.

The damage is still damage in every way. So it'll still trigger an Ophidian Eye, get doubled by Furnace of Rath, get prevented by Samite Healer and so on.

The Scars of Mirrodin FAQ document says:

  Damage from a source with infect is damage in all respects. If the source with infect also has lifelink, damage dealt by that source also causes its controller to gain that much life. Damage from a source with infect can be prevented or redirected. Abilities that trigger on damage being dealt will trigger if a source with infect deals damage, if appropriate.


What specific strategies have the highest win:loss ratio in Uno? I decided to delve deeper into this question to discover exactly how effective certain strategies would have on your win percentage. This led me to this Stanford Computer Science project that pits students' individual UNO strategies against each other.

This particular UNO simulator has some issues that I have corrected:

A proper pseudo-random number generator (PRNG-Mersenne Twister)
Support for 2-15 players
Scoring for wins instead of points
Proper rules implementation of initial special cards
Hhandling of draw cards when going out.

I opted not to add a "catch"/bluff mechanic when playing Wild-Draw4, so those can only be played when you don't have a matching color.

I have implemented some basic strategies that you will be playing against:

Play random legal
Play most color
Play most point
Play highest rank in most color
Call random
Call color I have
Call color most
Call points most

These strategies will face off in 100,000+ games multiple times to get a Confidence Interval (CI) for how effective the strategy is. (I am open on direction of how to accomplish this best. Should it be a 4-player game, with 2 copies of the strategy seated non-adjacent to each other (ABAB)?)

So: what is your Uno strategy? Be specific: I'm going to write a program to execute your strategy, and since computers are dumb like me, instructions need to be specific. (If they are not, I will post comments for you to clarify)

Things to think about in your answer:

What card do you play next? Do you try to get down to one color or number, or always keep as much variety as possible in your hand? If you have a pair of 0's and a 9, do you play the 9 to reduce your point count, or play a 0 to keep up some variety in your hand? Do you play Skip, Reverse, Draw Two, Wild, and Wild Draw Four early or late, or does it depend on how many cards other people have?
What do you do if you must change color? Do you call a color with the most cards, most points, least variety in ranks? Do you think about what opponents might have, or only consider your own hand?
Does your strategy change if someone is very close to winning the entire match, i.e. somebody's close to 500 points? How close to 500 do they have to be for you to change how you play?
Does your strategy change if you're losing the hand? How do you decide if you're losing? (Do you start ditching the high-point cards like Wild and Draw Two?)

Don't worry about answering all of those questions, but if you change your play depending on circumstances around the table, please mention it in your answer. Being precise helps me program a strategy that matches what you do, but if you cannot, just give me a general idea and I will post pseudo code of what the computer will do.

Don't worry about having the absolute best answer. I will program your strategy, and edit your answer to show its actual win-rate against other strategies.

I play the largest number I can and save my draws, skips, and reverses for when they can be used against a winning opponent. I really don't worry about number variety. However, I try to keep a low number of high value cards in my hand, namely reverses, wilds, and skips, in that order, so if someone manages to win I don't give them too many points.

call color: No Strategy (color i have?)

play:
if hand has X or more Special Cards (SC),
    play SC(if possible): priority Reverse, Wild, Skip, (Wild Draw-4, Draw-2), 9-0
else if opponent has Y or fewer cards
    if opponent next and hand has Draw-2 or Skip (or Wild Draw-4)
        play Draw-2, Skip, (or Wild Draw-4)
    else if opponent last and hand has Reverse and (Draw-2 or Wild Draw-4)
        play Reverse
    else
        play 9-0, Draw-2, Skip, Reverse, (Wild, Wild Draw-4)
else
    play 9-0, Draw-2, Skip, Reverse, (Wild, Wild Draw-4)


Can you "steal" if the last piece lands in the hole it came from? In the version of Mancala that i play, if the last stone of the move lands in an empty hole, the pieces in the opposite hole are "stolen" (removed and placed in the "thief's" home hole).

Must the hole have been empty at the beginning of the move, or can it have been vacated by the very move i just made?

You are able to steal if the last piece lands in the hole it came from.

From wikipedia:

  If the last sown seed lands in an empty house owned by the player, and
  the opposite house contains seeds, both the last seed and the opposite
  seeds are captured and placed into the player's store.

In this case, your last stone is landing in an empty hole on your side of the board, and the opponent's hole has stones.  Therefore, you steal those stones.


What's the difference between a Euchre, a March and a Set? I've heard of different terms for the same result in Euchre, but is it just preference or is there more to it?

Call trump and get all 5 tricks: Is this called a "March" and/or a "Euchre"?
Earn 3 or more tricks when the opposing team calls trump: Is this "Setting Them" and/or "Euchring Them"?

Calling and getting all five tricks is A March.
Calling trump and failing to get 3 tricks is called a Euchre.

This is the earliest reference I could find to Euchre, in Hoyle's 1845 edition.

This excerpt is from The Law and Practice of the Game of Euchre by Charles Henry Wharton Meehan.  Written in 1862, per Wikipedia, it is believed to be the oldest book dedicated to Euchre.

Hoyle's 2001 edition uses the same terms, as does Scarne's Encyclopedia of Card Games.  Card Games for Dummies does as well, however they use the terms "Marches or Sweeps" for getting all five tricks.

While I've heard the other two terms, it does not seem that they have entered common enough usage to be documented into any formal listing of rules.


How are the Utilities unmortgaged with 10% interest if the mortgage value is $75? The official monopoly rules say:

  In order to lift the mortgage, the owner must pay the Bank the
  amount of the mortgage plus 10% interest

However, the utilities have a mortgage value of $75, and 10% of $75 is $7.5. As far as I know, there are no coins or any way to pay less than a dollar to the bank. What would you do in this scenario? Round up? down?

There is no official rule to address this question, so you and your play group must decide how to handle it.

Note that the same question applies in the case of landing on the Income Tax square and choosing to pay 10% of your worth.

A common thing that would make sense is to follow the same rules of rounding that is taught in most basic math... 1/2 and higher means round up, lower than 1/2 means round down. So 7.5 would round up to 8.

But if your group decides on either always rounding up, or always rounding down, that would be equally legitimate.

However, even if you want to use mathematical rounding, there are actually different conventions for handling rounding 1/2... all conventions agree that less than 1/2 means round down, while more than 1/2 means round up. But for 1/2 exactly, there are multiple options.

Because Monopoly is a game designed to simulate handling money, involving banking and such, it might make the most sense to use what is called "Banker's Rounding", which is also known as "Round to even". This means that 7.5 would become 8, but 10.5 would become 10. In other words, when dealing with 1/2, round to whichever direction would leave you with an even number.


How many turns does an average game of Checkers/Draughts go for? How many turns does a checkers/draughts tend to last for, in the the American/English variation, on an 8x8 board?

I've been trying to google it but I can only find answers related to chess.

The American Checker Federation

The ACF has the transcripts for a lot of games. By my count, they have 9,374 games recorded from 1952 to 2009. These are available for download. In these 10k games, there has been 460,381 moves made. Thus an average* game of checkers takes 49.11 moves or 24.56 moves per color.

Here is a summary:

White Wins:  1596
Draw:        5406
Black Wins:  2372
-----------------
Total Games: 9374

Total Moves:      460381
Moves/Game:       49.11
Moves/Game/Color: 24.56

* average game between two ACF players


Does anyone else use The Little Girl in Werewolf? The group I play with uses a character called The Little Girl.  She can peek each night at everyone else and see who the werewolves are, but if the werewolves spot her she's dead.  It seems that in the right hands, this could be a hugely overpowered position.  Anyone else use it?

I have mostly played the game with this character, almost never without, so I can't really compare. That being said, from our experience as a group, and from my personal experience of having been The Little Girl myself quite often, this character actually isn't all that powerful, and certainly not "hugely overpowered". Whether I have seen the wolves or not, I still have just one vote, and I still have to defend it against others' views (with 10-15 people, our group is rather large).

Of course, I can always say "listen up, people, I am the Little Girl, so follow my advice", but a) people don't have to believe me, since b) I might actually be lying, and most importantly, c) the wolves will pay special attention to me from then on, and I'll probably get killed the very next night.

Of course, The Little Girl does become quite powerful when she's also the Village Chief, but then again, so does pretty much any character. Besides, from our experience, a Village Chief is even more likely to get killed quickly. I would say the game is pretty well-balanced, actually.