Abstract "move holding" service for simultaneous-move board games Background

I am looking to play a variant of Diplomacy over email or other messaging system. The specifics of Diplomacy and of the variant are not important, suffice it to say that the root trouble is simultaneous moves.

Consider scissors-paper-stone as an example: how would you play that over, say, email?
One possibility is a neutral person. Both players email their throw to the arbiter. He holds the first email until he has received the second, then he forwards each email on to the other player.

This neutral person could be replaced by a computer, as this function is pretty brain-dead.

I am aware there are services for online Diplomacy (and scissors-paper-stone for that matter), but they are specific to that game. The variant I am looking to play is not supported. I am also aware that this could be done using cryptographic hashing, but there are practical issues with that (like player education).

Question

  Is there a simple service that just collects messages from a given list of recipients, and then forwards all messages, unaltered, once it has received a message from everyone on the list?

This can be over any internet messaging system that would not require too much player education. (EDIT: I meant to include things like web interfaces also, as long as they're easy to use.)

It seems like the sort of thing someone would have already come up with.

The answer might have been no by the time you asked, but now it is yes: Check out You Say First!

I tried my best with the UI design, but any help there is welcome. Bugreports and feature requests can be submitted on https://github.com/nomeata/you-say-first.


What is the hit effect multiplier in Campaign 1 for a Me-210? In campaign 1, I got result 45 my next wave after bombing Paris.  The Me-210 coming in from 9 High was piloted by an Ace and got me good for 3 hits.

However on table 5-11 the only entry for a Me-210 is for campaigns 3-6.  Should this entry be used for campaign 1 as well?

In the errata posted last year, this table has been fixed to apply for campaigns 1-6.


Does Throne of the God-Pharaoh work with tapped vehicles? Does Throne of the God-Pharaoh trigger with tapped vehicles?
At the beginning of end step, which happens first?

vehicles cease to be creatures
Throne of the God-Pharaoh triggers with tapped vehicles as they're still creatures

The Throne will see the Vehicles as creatures and work with them just fine.

This is because the ending phase works through the following steps:

End Step — Triggered abilities that say “at the beginning of the end step” or “at the beginning of the next end step” trigger. Players get priority and can cast spells and activate abilities.
Cleanup step — In order: the active player discards down to 7, damage is cleared off all permanents, and all “until end of turn” and “this turn” effects wear off. (Then under rare circumstances, the players might get priority and more cleanup steps might happen.)

Your Throne triggers at the beginning of the end step, and your Vehicles don't stop being creatures until the cleanup step happens.

Also, just so you know, Throne of the God-Pharaoh's ability will always trigger even if you have no creatures out (its rulings mention as much), and we only determine the amount of life to be lost as that triggered ability resolves.

This means after it triggers and before it resolves, you have the opportunity to ensure you have more tapped creatures. Handily, you can also activate a crew ability for a vehicle even when it's already crewed, as confirmed by vehicle rulings:

  You may activate a crew ability of a Vehicle even if it’s already an artifact creature. Doing so has no effect on the Vehicle. It doesn’t change its power and toughness.

So if you have a Vehicle sitting around, if you'd like to, you can crew it some more to get more tapped creatures.


In Uno, can you play a Reverse card on a Draw 4 card and make that player draw 4 cards instead? We just want to know if you can play a Reverse card on a Draw 2 or 4 card and have that player draw cards instead?

You can't

According to the uno rules a draw 2 means:

  Draw Two – When a person places this card, the next player will have to pick up two cards and forfeit his/her turn.

Meaning you don't have a chance to play the reverse card and let the other person draw the cards


What does 'cheapest' mean in the Ancient Technology rule? We really didn't understand this rule (page 7 of the manual): "3 x Ancient Technology: you may take the cheapest Technology Tile you don't already have...". How do you decide what is the cheapest?

The "cheapest Technology Tile" is counted according to the technology's base price; technology discounts are irrelevant.   Ergo, of all the available technology tiles, you pick the one (that you don't already have) that is left-most on the track.

If there's more than one "cheapest" technology available (i.e. multiple technologies in the left-most column), you can take your pick of them.


Adventure board game I had as a kid My parents years ago cleaned the house and donated a lot of things that didn't see use, one of them was this game, never saw use because I didn't have a play group the right size.

I remember it being a village with a castle on one end, the buildings and castle were cardboard forms, the village buildings would come off the board when players entered. I remember the game had expansion potential, you could buy another board that would play inside the castle, and I believe another one that would be before the village (seem to remember this being a bridge) though I don't know much about either.

The most notable thing about the game for me was the initiative system, the player characters and the one enemy player would each be a color and in the middle of the town was a clock/monolith, with colored balls. You would take that off the map, shake it to mix the balls and put it back to determine turn order.

The game was in English, in North America. The figures were plastic/resin for the player characters, and weapon items would slot into their hands like how action figures worked. I remember some of the weapons were in a gold colored plastic, the others I think were grey. Each player also had a plastic tray to hold inventory (extra weapons and potions are all I remember) and money. I do not remember if monsters were plastic or standees, though I remember their bases had space to put little cardboard tiles to mark what the monster drops on death.

Malco guided me to a list of possible answers on BoardGameGeek and I found the game there.

The game is called Dark World: Village of Fear. It is an expansion to the original Dark World, which is the inside of the castle, and can be played stand alone or connected to Dark World. The other expansion with the bridge is Dark World: Dragon's Gate. The game is originally German, a spin off of the Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) role playing system.

The initiative clock/monolith I mentioned:


Do wings allow me to leave Tokyo? When in Tokyo if I use Wings (Pay 2 energy to avoid damage until the end of the monster turn) to avoid damage can I still leave Tokyo and have the player that rolled the claw take my place?

Or do I need to actually take damage to be able to leave Tokyo?

The rules state (under "Becoming King of Tokyo"):

  If you are attacked while in Tokyo and you don't want to be there anymore ... you can yield to the Monster that attacked.

There's no mention of actually taking damage. You merely need to be attacked. According to the rules, if you are attacked, may cede Tokyo even if you avoid the damage using the Wings.


Is Saboteur better in a 4-player game than a 2-player game? Inspired by this question, especially @RobRenaud's comment on @BlairHippo's answer pointing to an inconclusive argument on BGG. My question is two-part:

(a) In a general 4-player game, is Saboteur a better card than in a
general 2-player game?
(b) Extreme case: in a 4-player game where all three other players
think Saboteur is amazing---will buy it and play it whenever
possible---what is your best general strategy?

I take as given that Saboteur is a terrible card in most 2-player games (based on Isotropic data and the answers to the previously linked question; please direct disagreements with this assumption to that question).

I will actively downvote answers citing anecdotal evidence. @RobRenaud's comment in the BGG link is a good example of the type of answer I'm hoping for; I hope he submits it as an answer (perhaps fleshed out a little more) relatively soon, otherwise I hope someone else does. I'm also interested in well-reasoned arguments that agree or disagree with that conclusion.

And please don't make your answer too dependent on other cards in the kingdom set. Of course Lighthouse or Moat (or many others) could provide specific counters, but keep your answer general.

Saboteur is undoubtedly more dangerous in a 4-player game, but that does not necessarily mean better.

4-player games can end on piles more frequently than 2-player games because you only have 3 Victory cards per person (rather than 4 in 2/3-player) and 2.5 cards/Kingdom pile/person (vs. 5 in 2-player and 3.33 in 3-player). Saboteur can result in up to 3 extra cards leaving the Supply per play, which makes the piles endgame condition much more likely. If everyone plays a Saboteur one turn and everyone gains a $2 card as a replacement, you've almost exhausted 3 piles worth of cards right there—in a single turn.

In the extreme case of all the players going for Sab, you are likely to be hit at least once a turn, and more likely two or even three times. That's the equivalent of facing a King's Court-ed Saboteur in 2-player: you're losing 3 high-value cards a turn, versus only being able to get one your turn. The general 2-player advice against Saboteur is to ignore it because Sab gives no benefit to the person playing it, and so you can build your deck up faster than your opponent can trash it down, and your opponent loses the opportunity to build his or her own deck by playing Sab. The ability to outrace Sab is lost when you're getting hit multiple times a turn, which means that the game is likely to stall at the $3/$4 card level.


Duplicate bridge mislead If player pulls card out of his hand and then puts it back in his hand, and opponents have seen the card, must player play that card?

The relevant rule is Law 45 (C) from the Laws of Duplicate Bridge (2017)

  LAW 45 - CARD PLAYED

  ...

  C. Card Deemed to be Played

  A defender’s card held so that it is possible for his partner to see its face is deemed played
  to the current trick (if the defender has already made a legal play to the current trick, see
  Law 45E).
  Declarer is deemed to have played a card from his hand if it is:
  (a) held face up, touching or nearly touching the table; or
  (b) maintained in such a position as to indicate that it has been played.
  A card in the dummy is played if it has been deliberately touched by declarer except for the
  purpose either of arranging dummy’s cards, or of reaching a card above or below the card
  or cards touched.
  (a) A card is played if a player names or otherwise designates it as the card he proposes to
  play (but see Law 47).
  (b) Declarer may correct an unintended designation of a card from dummy until he next
  plays a card from either his own hand or from dummy. A change of designation may be
  allowed after a slip of the tongue, but not after a loss of concentration or a
  reconsideration of action. If an opponent has, in turn, played a card that was legal before
  the change in designation, that opponent may withdraw the card so played, return it to
  his hand, and substitute another (see Laws 47D and 16C1).

So to answer your question: No, a Defender's card is not played simply because an opponent (Declarer) can see which card it is; rather it is played if it is held so that the Defender's partner can identify it,

Further clarification through Minutes of the W.B.F. Laws Committee, where necessary, are available here.


Why did Yu-Gi-Oh! change from an unlimited deck size to a 60 card maximum deck size? When Yu-Gi-Oh! first started, an unlimited deck size was allowed. Now there is a limit of 60 cards. It may not always be advantageous to play more cards (see Why would one want more than 40 cards in their deck?), but why was this restriction added? After all, Magic the Gathering has cards like Battle of Wits that rely on decks of over 200 and they seem to be doing fine.

If Reddit is to be believed, there was a person at a German regional tournament who thoroughly abused this by bringing a deck with 2222 cards (enough for about 740 cards with 3 duplicates each). To make matters worse, as many cards as possible were added so that the deck had to be shuffled during the game as often as possible. While it was definitely poor sportsmanship, is was unquestionably legal, so Konami instituted the maximum deck size shortly thereafter.

It was originally 40+. There was no limit. I'm pretty sure the 60 card limit was introduced because some guy brought a deck that was outrageously large to a tourney.

I think at one event long ago in Germany some dude brought a 2k card deck or something? I guess Konami decided to set an actual limit then.

This story has appeared in other places across the web, with this forum post including a picture of the deck purportedly being carried in (and a several dozen page deck list).


Multiple effects causing extra phases in M:tG Just checking that I understand rule 500.8 correctly:

  500.8. Some effects can add phases to a turn. They do this by adding the phases directly after the specified phase. If multiple extra phases are created after the same phase, the most recently created phase will occur first.

If multiple effects add extra phases before the current ones is over, these phases will run one after the other, right? If Medomai the Ageless attacks alone while Finest Hour is on the battlefield and then deals damage, I'll get two extra combat phases?

ETA:

Obviously I had a big brainfart, but I guess the question was answered anyway. For a more practical example with extra turns, it's safe to assume that if I connect with both Medomai and Wanderwine Prophets (and sacrifice a merfolk), I'll get two extra turns?

Medomai adds turns, not phases, so the rule you quoted isn't really necessary. Assuming no blockers, here's what happens:

Medomai attacks on your turn. Finest Hour's abilities trigger.
You can stack Finest Hour's abilities in either order. Assuming no other actions, Medomai is now 5/5 and there is now a combat phase after the current combat phase.
Medomai deals damage. Medomai's ability triggers, so you take an extra turn after this one.
You get another combat phase. Medomai attacks again, gaining another Exalted trigger.
Medomai deals damage. Medomai triggers and you get another turn after this one (and before the other extra turn, not that it matters)
You take two consecutive turns in which Medomai can't attack. Each of those turns can get a bonus combat phase from Finest Hour if you have non-Medomai creatures to attack with.


What happens to auras that come back from exile? Let's suppose I control a creature that my opponent owns, that I got under my control because of my Custody Battle on it. I also have a Synod Sanctum in play.

If I exile the creature with Synod Sanctum, and sacrifice it afterwards, I become the controller of that creature indefinitely, right? But a better move seems to exile Custody Battle. I remain the controler of the creature and don't need to sacrifice Synod Sanctum to keep it on the battlefield.

But what happens to the enchantment once I sacrifice the Synod? I saw on the gatherer page of the Synod a user that says:

  if an Aura is put onto the battlefield via an effect apart from it
  being cast, you choose something for it to enchant when it comes into
  play. You can even enchant permanents with shroud this way, because
  getting an aura into play this way doesn't count as targeting with a
  spell/ability.

Is that right?

The comprehensive rules say this about Auras as they enter play:

  303.4. Some enchantments have the subtype “Aura.” An Aura enters the battlefield attached to an object or player. What an Aura can be attached to is defined by its enchant keyword ability (see rule 702.5, “Enchant”). Other effects can limit what a permanent can be enchanted by.

So, no matter how an aura enters the battlefield (usually by casting it, but Synod Sanctum works too) you choose what it is attached to. This is further specified in sub-section f:

  303.4f If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player’s control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell, and the effect putting it onto the battlefield doesn’t specify the object or player the Aura will enchant, that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura’s enchant ability and any other applicable effects.


6 power favor tile Town/Culture benefit order In the middle of a game I built a temple which let me pick a favor tile. I selected the favor tile that lets you form a town with 6 power. This favor tile also awards you 2 of the red cultures.

It just so happened that when I pulled the tile I was 2 moves away on the red culture track from being at the top, AND after pulling the favor tile I had 4 structures that that netted 6 power meaning I now had enough to form a town.

I was playing a two player game and the person I was playing with and I didn't know if I should be allowed to move my red culture piece up 2 since my 4 structures with 6 power were now enough to form a town. We wondered if the 2 red cultures had to be taken first, then the town formed next.

We decided that I should form the town first, then move the culture piece up 2. Please let me know if this was correct OR if I should have been forced to move the culture first (meaning I could only use 1 of the 2 bonuses) then form the town next.

Yes, if a Town would be founded by taking this tile, you get the key immediately, and may use it to reach 10 on the Fire Cult with the 2 Fire influence.

  we see that founding a town is not an active action you have to execute but happens automatically and instantly when the conditions are met.
  and by taking the favor tile(s) the conditions have been met.
  thus in the same moment you have a town and are allowed to advance to level 10 with the cult bonus shown on your favor tile(s).

(source: http://boardgamegeek.com/article/10450352#10450352)


Damage assignment with multiple attackers and blockers I'm returning to Magic and I have a scenario that I can't seem to settle. In the case where I have two 4/4 creatures which I use to attack an opponent who then decides to defend with two 1/2 creatures, how is the damage allocated? Neither the 4/4 creatures or the 1/2 creatures have any special characteristics (i.e. not flying, not trample). I'm wondering which of the following is the right way:

Each of the opponent's creatures block each of my creatures, and their two creatures die.
The damage of one of my creatures destroys one of theirs, and then the remaining damage is assigned to the next 1/2 blocker creature. My second 4/4 is then free to attack the player.

Any help in understanding the order of operations for this situation would be greatly appreciated.

The defending player chooses which creatures block which attacking creatures, so your opponent can choose to either

have each 1/2 block a different 4/4
have both 1/2s block the same 4/4

The attacking player chooses how to distribute damage of the 4/4s. If a 4/4 is blocked, it cannot deal damage to the defending player. In case 1, all 4 damage is dealt to the 1/2 blocking it, so the blockers are destroyed. In case 2, the attacking player can (but is not required to, see below) divide the damage evenly among the 1/2s, destroying them both; the other unblocked 4/4 deals its combat damage to the player. Therefore, case 1 is preferable for the defending player.
It's possible to choose another distribution of damage among blocking creatures, e.g. 4 to one of them and 0 to the other, for example if some of the damage would be prevented with e.g. Cover of Winter (thanks @CALEBF for the suggestion). But a blocked creature (without trample) can only deal combat damage to creatures blocking it. The actual rules can be quite complicated when multiple blockers are involved which can't be all dealt lethal damage; see below.

510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage. If exactly one creature is blocking it, it assigns all its combat damage to that creature. If two or more creatures are blocking it, it assigns its combat damage to those creatures according to the damage assignment order announced for it. This may allow the blocked creature to divide its combat damage. However, it can’t assign combat damage to a creature that’s blocking it unless, when combat damage assignments are complete, each creature that precedes that blocking creature in its order is assigned lethal damage. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. An amount of damage that’s greater than a creature’s lethal damage may be assigned to it.
Example: The damage assignment order of an attacking Vastwood Gorger (a 5/6 creature) is Pride Guardian (a 0/3 creature) then Llanowar Elves (a 1/1 creature). Vastwood Gorger can assign 3 damage to the Guardian and 2 damage to the Elves, 4 damage to the Guardian and 1 damage to the Elves, or 5 damage to the Guardian.
Example: The damage assignment order of an attacking Vastwood Gorger (a 5/6 creature) is Pride Guardian (a 0/3 creature) then Llanowar Elves (a 1/1 creature). During the declare blockers step, the defending player casts Giant Growth targeting Pride Guardian, which gives it +3/+3 until end of turn. Vastwood Gorger must assign its 5 damage to the Guardian.
Example: The damage assignment order of an attacking Vastwood Gorger (a 5/6 creature) is Pride Guardian (a 0/3 creature) then Llanowar Elves (a 1/1 creature). During the declare blockers step, the defending player casts Mending Hands targeting Pride Guardian, which prevents the next 4 damage that would be dealt to it. Vastwood Gorger can assign 3 damage to the Guardian and 2 damage to the Elves, 4 damage to the Guardian and 1 damage to the Elves, or 5 damage to the Guardian.
Example: The damage assignment order of an attacking Enormous Baloth (a 7/7 creature) is Trained Armodon (a 3/3 creature) that already has 2 damage marked on it, then Foriysian Brigade (a 2/4 creature that can block an additional creature), then Silverback Ape (a 5/5 creature). The damage assignment order of an attacking Durkwood Boars (a 4/4 creature) is the same Foriysian Brigade, then Goblin Piker (a 2/1 creature). Among other possibilities, the active player may have the Baloth assign 1 damage to the Armodon, 1 damage to the Brigade, and 5 damage to the Ape, and have the Boars assign 3 damage to the Brigade and 1 damage to the Piker.


What are the odds of getting a double run in four-handed pinochle? My partner and I played four-handed pinochle. I passed four cards and she got a double run in trump.

What are the odds of getting a double run in four-handed pinochle?

Depending on the probability being asked for, this is somewhere between one in a million, and one in six hundred hands.

Pinochle has a deck with 48 cards, consisting of two each of six ranks (A, T, K, Q, J, 9) in four suits. The deck is dealt exhaustively between the four players, so each is dealt a hand of twelve cards. A double run consists of ten specific cards: two lots of the ace, ten, king, queen and jack of trumps.

So we can now calculate the chance of being dealt a double run. There are 48C12 possible hands (where nCr is the notation for the choose function). Ten of the cards are fixed as part of the double run, but the other two can be any of the remaining 38 cards. So there are (10C10)*(38C2) possible hands that contain a double run (in trumps), which makes the probability of being dealt a double run:

(10C10)*(38C2) / (48C12)
= 1*703 / 69,668,534,468
~ 1 / 100,000,000

In some versions of pinochle, passing cards from the partner to the winning bidder is allowed. In the question four cards are passed, so we can look at the chance of getting 10 specific cards in a 16 card hand:

(10C10)*(38C6) / (48C16)
= 1*2760681 / 2,254,848,913,647
~ 1 / 1,000,000

This doesn't give a true reflection of the odds though, as it's fairly normal for players to pass their best cards to their bid-winning partner, as it will help melding points. Let's assume that if the partner has up to four trumps then they'll pass them all across. The chance of getting a double run is now the sum of the chances of a 6-4 split, a 7-3 split, an 8-2 split, a 9-1 split and a 10-0 split. That is, the sum over the number of passed cards p, of the probabilities of the player getting (10-p) of the 10 cards and the partner getting the remaining p:

Sum( (10C(10-p))*(38C(12-(10-p)))/(48C12) * (pCp)*((38-(12-(10-p)))C(12-p))/((48-12)C12) ) over p in {0,1,2,3,4}
= Sum( (10C(10-p))*(38C(2+p))/(48C12) * ((36-p)C(12-p))/(36C12) ) over p in {0,1,2,3,4}
~ 1/10,000

So far I've assumed that the trump suit is random, but since the player won the contract, they actually got to choose the trump suit. Most of the time a player will choose the suit they have most of as trumps (especially if they have 6 of them), so roughly speaking the chance of a double run now becomes 1/2500.

All this is for a particular player, but it might be fair to say that if any player in the round got a double run then the same question would have been asked on this site. Since there are four players we can roughly multiply the probability by four to get 1/600. (We've actually done a bit of 'double counting' here, but it doesn't affect the result very much. E.g. We've considered the rare case where each player receives all of a single suit four times).

So the probability being asked for could be as low as 1/1,000,000 or as high as 1/600, depending on how the question is interpreted.


Does Avis or Iago have a better chance of winning a match? In my quest to find the answer to this question, I have decided to start smaller. The rules of Button Men are here, and the characters are listed below.

Avis: d4, d4, d10, d12, dX (where X is d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, or d20)
Iago: d20, d20, d20, dX (where X is d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, or d20)

Note: Technically speaking according to the Button Men rules, the dX swing die can be any number within the range of 4 to 20 inclusive. For the purposes of this question, we will assume that the swing die will be one of the polyhedral dice listed.

If you want to take a stab at this question, be my guest. I will be attempting to brute force an answer over the next couple of days. If you want to post whether you believe brute forcing an answer is possible, and the total number of permutations that need to be examined, that would be nice (I will attempt to make a guess myself).

According to Swing Dice theory, Avis has the advantage.

If both players choose the same size X, Iago needs to keep 20 points to win (the 2/3 difference between his 60+X points and Avis' 30+X). So all things being equal, Iago needs to win and hold on to one of his 20-siders.

The bad news for Iago is that even in the best case (Avis takes a d20, Iago takes a d4), he still needs to hold 9.3 points (which means he still needs that d20, since the d4 won't cut it here). The point difference between the two buttons is wide enough that Iago must always win - there's no case where Avis can end up with a higher point total.

The news gets worse - if Iago ends up with a larger X than Avis, he now needs to hold two dice. And it doesn't help that Avis has five dice vs. Iago's four - given that a normal game of BM involves taking dice each round, he needs Avis to pass at least once.

To sum up - Iago's best action is to take a d4 (regardless of what Avis has), win initiative, force Avis to pass at least once each battle, take all of Avis' dice, and hold one of the d20s.

(Avis, on the other hand, can take a d20 and still force Iago to win and hold a d10 or better to win. There's no bad matchup for him.)

Source: a quick Excel spreadsheet to calculate win conditions for each combination of Xs. :)


How to respond to publishers when they ask for rules? I have a game in development, and I obviously think that it's good. It's fairly easy to play, but it's complex to balance. I have worked long and hard so far to make it almost ready for playtesting.

I have been promoting the game in adequate circles in hopes of getting publisher attention. And so I got, from a major one. All they asked is to send over the rules...

I'm not sure if I should. I don't want a game that is similar to mine popping in the future - I rather not lose this opportunity.

I have no experience, as this would be my first game I attempt to publish. What do you think? How should I approach my answer? I don't want to be disrespectful.

I thought along the lines of expressing how complex the mechanics are in the development background, show some screenshots, thank for the interest, explain how a game would look like to players (trying to think with the reader's mind), and ask for feedback.

Send the rules.

Fear of having your idea copied/stolen is a uniquely amateur mentality. Daniel Solis (designer) and Gil Hova (publisher who references other publishers) cover the topic well in their articles about this very topic. Additionally, there is this entry on BGG. They all conclude that you should not worry about someone stealing your idea.
The company asked for the rules. Do you suspect they won't act in good faith? If so, the rules issue is moot. Otherwise, please know that this is standard practice. Earlier this week, I made appointments with about 20 designers for Gencon - and declined several others - after looking at a combination of rules and sell sheets. Let the professionals see your game for what it is!


Arkham Horror LCG Talent Timing Do you have to spend resources on boosting your skill through talents before you draw the chaos token, or can you see what the token is and then spend resources to boost your skill?

It has to be done before drawing the chaos token. From the rules:

  Before drawing a chaos token for a skill test, the investigator may boost his or her skill value.

The rules then say there are two ways to do this; you can commit cards, and/or

  ...the investigator may activate (free trigger) abilities to modify his or her skill for a test.

It would make the game significantly easier if you could selectively boost your skills only when you know you would fail otherwise.


Can my opponent really have no benched pokemon, even with a Pyroar? My opponent has a Pyroar and when it's in play he doesn't place any other pokemon on his bench so I can't have him switch out. Is that allowed?

Yes.   The rules only require that the player have one Pokemon in the active position.   Pokemon on the bench are optional.   If the opponents active Pokemon is knocked out, and they have no pokemon on the bench to replace it, the attacking player wins.

Pyroar has an ability, Intimidating Mane,  which reads
"Prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks from your opponent's Basic Pokémon."

It is up to you to build a deck that includes an appropriate counter to the opponents Pyroar.   This could be Rayquaza's Shred attack, Golurk's Devolution Punch, Staraptor's Strong Breeze, or any other pokemon who's attack reads "This attack's damage isn't affected by any effects on the Defending Pokémon"

Or you can evolve a Stage 1 or 2 Pokemon, or Mega EX Pokemon, who's attacks aren't blocked by Pyroar's ability.

Good Luck


In Mahjong , what is the chance to get a hand that allows a player to finish on their first turn? Made hands are very rare in mahjong. Is there a table that lists the possibilities of starting with a complete hand?

I wrote a program to simulate mahjong hand dealings.

It's not verified yet, but so far, the ratio appears to be around 1 in 100,000 games. (The output was the chance that the case happened to at least 1 out of 4 players)

I had the fixed program run for a bit (1.7 billion draws):

3004 mahjong in 1057000000 random draws: 0.00028%, 1 in 351864
4392 mahjong in 1526000000 random draws: 0.00029%, 1 in 347449
4930 mahjong in 1695000000 random draws: 0.00029%, 1 in 343813

At this point, the state space of the random number generator is likely rather close to exhausted, so further research requires a different implementation (this is easy, I just did not bother yet).

If the math of @Jan is correct, it would be pretty easy to replace the RNG with a permutator and just perform a whole-space search to calculate a precise result. The above program calculates around 2m hands per second on my box, so it would take 40-ish hours.

Update: I implemented a proper RNG, optimized the program slightly and let it search through 25 billion random draws:

 737s: 15433 mahjong in  5000m random draws: 0.00031  %, 1 in 323981. 6.78m checks/s
1557s: 31080 mahjong in 10140m random draws: 0.00031  %, 1 in 326254. 6.51m checks/s
2281s: 46008 mahjong in 15000m random draws: 0.0003067%, 1 in 326030. 6.58m checks/s
3116s: 60971 mahjong in 20000m random draws: 0.0003049%, 1 in 328024. 6.42m checks/s
4020s: 75921 mahjong in 25000m random draws: 0.0003037%, 1 in 329289. 6.22m checks/s

The last line is the current state (previous lines for picturing variance).


Highest possible power of a creature What is the highest possible power of a creature, assuming a deck of 60 cards and infinite time?

Arbitrarily large.
It's not that hard to create a combo with a small number of cards that increases a creature's power without bound.
For example:

Pili-Pala
Grand Architect
Ghave, Guru of Spores
Doubling Season

The first two create infinite mana (use Grand Architect to make Pili-Pala blue, tap Pili-Pala for {2} with Grand Architect's ability, pay those {2} and untap Pili-Pala for 1 mana of any color, and repeat). Then you can pay {1} and remove a counter from Ghave to put 2 tokens into play (due to Doubling Season), then pay {1} and sacrifice one of those tokens to put 2 counters on Ghave (due to Doubling Season). The end result is an arbitrarily large number of +1/+1 counters on Ghave and an arbitrarily large number of tokens.
Keep in mind that you don't need infinite time (or even O(n) time) to give a creature arbitrarily large power, using this combo or just about any other. The Magic rules allow players to take shortcuts, as described in rule 719. The specific rule that is relevant here is 719.2a:

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

Example: A player controls a creature enchanted by Presence of Gond, which grants the creature the ability “{T}: Put a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token onto the battlefield,” and another player controls Intruder Alarm, which reads, in part, “Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, untap all creatures.” When the player has priority, he may suggest “I’ll create a million tokens,” indicating the sequence of activating the creature’s ability, all players passing priority, letting the creature’s ability resolve and put a token onto the battlefield (which causes Intruder Alarm’s ability to trigger), Intruder Alarm’s controller putting that triggered ability on the stack, all players passing priority, Intruder Alarm’s triggered ability resolving, all players passing priority until the player proposing the shortcut has priority, and repeating that sequence 999,999 more times, ending just after the last token-creating ability resolves.

Obviously, the example they use isn't exactly the same, but it means that I could do the same thing with the combo I described by saying "I'll create a million tokens and put a million counters on Ghave"


What is the winning position in Monopoly Empire? In Monopoly Empire what is the official winning position for a player?

The rules seem ambiguous by stating that the winner is the first person to build the tower to the top, but that raises two questions:

1) Can the tower 'spill over' the top?  For instance, if you need to fill one space can a 4-space billboard be bought to win the game?

and

2) Do the billboards have to fit in the tower spaces perfectly?

First off I don't see much of a difference between your 2 questions.

The rules state:

  If you’re the first to hit the top, you win!

This means you have to fill the entire tower with billboards, including "spilling over". No, you do not have to fit the billboards in the tower exactly. Anything beyond the top point doesn't matter anymore since you've already won.


In Smash Up, is the Zeppelin action ongoing? The Zeppelin action, from the SteamPunk faction, has a talent to move a minion to or from the base on which it was played. It does not specify "ongoing" in its text, but it seems that this has to be implied with the talent, otherwise it seems entirely useless. Is there any guidance on this?

Talents are not ongoing; they're available for use once per turn.

With that said, the moved minion doesn't move back once the turn is over.


Ways to find and purchase out-of-print / rare / old supplies? My question came from missing out on finding a copy of the Ajani v. Nicol Bolas Duel Deck box to complete my set of duel decks.

When something goes out of print, it obviously becomes harder to find. What resources are available to find items when amazon or ebay have none listed anymore? I've tried a dozen other online shops with similar aspects to them, as well as my local game stores (in Seattle, so I'm not lacking any). I've also checked google's shopping section, as well as the top 5 pages of most of the possible variations I could come up with. If you can find one I would love a link to a shop with one in stock, but I'm more interested in the method of finding items - how would one go about finding other rarities, like the christmas special MTG cards? If it's not on amazon, what is the next step?

Thankyou for your time ~

If you are looking for something like this that you can't easily find through most normal sellers I would try contacting the Customer Service departments of larger sellers like Star City Games or Channel Fireball and see if they have any way of finding the item in question for you. I don't know if CFB does this, but SCG does have a process for managing user requests, they might not have it in stock now, but knowing that you are interested in buying one means they are likely to acquire one if they come across a seller.


Statistics on a booster pack (to make my own re-packs) I have a lot of magic cards.  For constructed play they are mostly worthless.  I would like to pack these up into re-packs that are like booster packs.

But I am not sure what cards go into a booster pack.

NOTE: I am not asking about Rareity distribution.  I know that each pack has:

Token/Advertisement
Foil/Land
Rare/Mythic
3 (ish) Uncommons
Rest are Commons

I am asking how random the other types on the cards are.  Meaning is it possible to open a booster that is all Red?  or all Creatures?  Or all Sorcery?

Or is there a guarantee that there will be a certain number of each color, creatures, instants, sorceries, etc.?

There is no hard guarantee that a booster will contain X creatures, or X sorceries, or X red cards.

However, the contents of a booster aren't completely random either. Instead, the commons in a booster are heavily influenced by the set's common print runs.

Print runs are easiest to explain by example, so let's look at the print runs for Born of the Gods, a small set. The commons in the set are divided into two lists, with each common showing up in only one list (but appearing twice in that list).

A normal Born of the Gods booster contains 10 commons, made up of 4–6 commons from list A and 4–6 commons from list B. This means that certain combinations of commons are likely to occur together, and other combinations of commons can never occur together.

Now, all of this is probably too much of a hassle to be worth simulating when building your own repacks. I would probably just add 10 random commons from your pool. But print runs are the basis of how real boosters work, both in paper and online.


Is there a penalty for misplaying? This afternoon my wife tried to play a green 8 on top of a red 2 in Uno.

Obviously a mistake on her part and I could find nothing in the rules to suggest that there was a penalty so we allowed her to withdraw the green 8 and play another card.

The rules do state that a Wild Draw 4 play can be challenged, but no other misplays are called out that I saw.

Is anyone aware of this situation being covered, perhaps in a previous ruleset, or maybe I'm just overlooking it (It's been known to happen!)

The penalty for misplaying a card, is that now your opponents know you have that card in your hand. Besides that though, the official rules (2003) state the penalty (among other listed penalties):

  If a player plays a wrong card and it is noticed by any other player, he/she must take the card back and take two extra cards from the DRAW pile. Play continues with the next player in turn.

It appears as if the penalty section was removed from the 2008 printing.


Does Curse of Exhaustion and Possibility Storm hard lock your opponent out of casting anything? Does a Curse of Exhaustion enchanting my opponent hard lock my opponent out of playing anything when there is a Possibility Storm in play?

It's not a total lock, but it's a pretty strong lock. If they cast anything from their hand, then yes, Possibility Storm will exile it and give them a replacement that they can't cast. Note that Possibility Storm only applies to casting from their hand, though. There's plenty of mechanics that cast a card from other zones (e.g. flashback, suspend, madness) that can get around this combo.


Are there other legal/recognized Roulette variations than just the standard European and American? Currently, I know there are two main variations of the Casino Roulette layouts, the European (with a Single Zero "0") and the American (with Zero "0" and Double Zero "00"). Roulettes each with their characteristic sequence of numbers, and with their boards with numbers arranged in reading order:

I am not at all sure, but in the past I remember to have played in a Casino, with the double zero layout memorized, just to realize they had a different double zero layout.

Question is: Is there any other "legal" or recognized layout around there? Or the strongest possibility is I was a bit too drunk that night?

A google image search will find the various different layouts including a triple zero layout.

This wheel was 0 and 00 adjacent.  the page I found it on  Says it in a casino in Australia.

If you search for 'triple zero roulette'  You will find many images of that layout as well and casinos that use them.


Do any card games use the tarot trumps (Judgement, The Chariot) in any interesting ways? I've been doing some reading on the history of the Tarot deck, and I love the complexity of the suits (wands, pentacles) and the trumps (The World, Wheel of Fortune), but every game that uses this deck seems to be a basic trick taking game! (e.g. French tarot, tarock and tarocchi)

Surely a deck with so much fantasy potential (I'm coming from a Magic the Gathering background) would have some amazing games that use the actual meaning of the trumps in the game, not just their numbers. Has anyone heard of a game like this?

In Gnostica players have a hand of cards from a Tarrot deck, which also doubles as the game's board, and a stash of icehouse pieces per player.  It is a territorial game where players try to outmaneuver each other in order to occupy high scoring cards.

The trumps (or "Major Arcana") have powers which are related to the card. Here are some of the clearer relations:

Chariot - Make two moves;
Strength - Take two grow actions;
Hermit - Move something to an unoccupied space;
World - Use the power of any trump that forms part of the playing field.

You can see the rest of the trump powers in the full rules under "Major arcana powers".

Gnostica is based on Zarcana, replacing the standard deck of playing cards with tarrot cards, and adding in the interesting powers along the way.  It is also similar to Dectana which uses the Decktet (a deck of cards inspired by tarrot cards).


Help me refind this 3d go variant - pieces can be stacked in a pyramid fashion Quite a while back I stumbled upon a 3D variant of the game go. What I recall of the rules:

designed to be playable without extra equipment beyond go board and stones
played on a 9x9 grid
stones can be stacked by putting one piece above/between 4 pieces, forming a little pyramid
capturing stones works within one plane as normal, except that stones under other stones are pinched and can't be captured

The whole ruleset is online somewhere. However my google fu is weak and with the terms go, weiqi, baduk, 3d and pyramid I had no luck. I also found no mention while skimming this reddit or this entry in the sensei's library.

It sounds like it might be Margo, except that Margo is played on a 7X7 grid, not 9X9. Per the linked website by Cameron Browne:

  Two players, White and Black, each have at least enough marbles of
  their colour to cover the board.

  Start: The board is initially empty. White places the first piece at
  any board point, then Black may elect to swap colours in lieu of
  making the next move (swap rule).

  Play: Players then take turns placing a piece of their colour either:
             1) at an empty board point, or
             2) stacked on top of four existing pieces (of any colour).

  Players may not pass.

The capture rules sound like what you describe, and I think the "pinched" stones at the bottom of "pyramids" are what the rules refer to as

  Pinned Pieces: When a group is captured, any of its pieces pinned by higher-level enemy pieces remain in place. For example, move c captures the following White group but leaves two pinned pieces.


What do I do with the Curse of the Rougarou and Monstrous Transformation cards at setup? Setup says to set aside the following cards: Lady Esprit, Bear Trap, and Fishing Net, which usually means to hold off on them as they will come into play later.  However, there is no mention of the Curse of the Rougarou card or the Monstrous Transformation card.  Why would they not include these two cards as cards to be set aside?  Are they to not be set aside and somehow put into the setup more actively at the outset?

The quick answer: set them aside, and don't worry about them. The slightly spoiler filled answer....

Curse of the Rougarou

   This card will come into play during the scenario (specifically after completing the first act). It should have been included in the set aside instructions.

Monstrous Transformation

   This card only becomes available during a particular resolution after the scenario is complete (so only applicable if you are playing the scenario as part of a campaign).


Do Door of Destinies and Myr Turbine interact? If I have a Door of Destiniesin play and choose creature type Myr, do the abilities of Myr Turbine interact with the Door?

Do either of Myr Turbines effects cause Door of Destinies to trigger? Or, Myr Battlesphere. Do the 4 myr tokens it generates count?

Seems like the second would but im not sure about tokens...

If you choose Myr as the creature type for Door of Destinies, all Myr, whether cast from your hand or searched for or tokens, get +1/+1 for each charge counter on the Door.

However, the Door only gets counters when you cast a spell of the type Myr. What you are doing with the Myr Turbine is activating an ability. The first ability puts a token in play, the second a creature card from your library, but in both cases it's activating an ability, not casting a spell.

Casting the Myr Battlesphere (and I mean casting it from your hand, not putting it in play using the Turbine) would activate the Door of Destinies, but only for the Battlephere itself, not for the subsequent tokens because they don't get cast but result from a triggered ability.


Can you fail to find a card in someone's hand? If I cast Inquisition of Kozilek, and my only target is a  Loxodon Smiter, do I have to make my opponent discard the  Loxodon Smiter, or can I "fail to find" just as I would if i were searching my library?

You can "fail to find" a card, but only while explicitly searching someone's library or hand. In the case of Inquisition of Kozilek, you are not "searching" the zone, so you must choose a card if a valid choice is available.

Per the comp rules, "fail to find" is specific to searching a hidden zone:

  701.18b If a player is searching a hidden zone for cards with a stated quality, such as a card with a certain card type or color, that player isn’t required to find some or all of those cards even if they’re present in that zone.

While the hand is still considered a hidden zone even when it is revealed (CR 400.2: "Library and hand are hidden zones, even if all the cards in one such zone happen to be revealed"), Inquisition of Kozilek's instructions say to choose a card from it, not search for one. Thus, you must follow the normal rules: which is to carry out as much of the actions as possible.

So, you may still be wondering: why doesn't this rule come with a "fail to find" clause?

The simplest explanation is that it's part of the underlying logic of the Magic comp rules — to minimize actions that players can't "double-check" using public information. (Consider the difference between Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor, for instance. What purpose does the extra "reveal" clause serve?)

Adding "fail to find" to the rules for searching guarantees that your search will result in a valid game state without forcing you to prove there are no valid choices by revealing your entire library.

Inquisition of Kozilek doesn't need a "fail to find" rule because it says "reveal" — all players get to see the targeted players' hand and verify whether there are any suitable cards in it.

If a discard spell said "Look at target layer's hand" instead of "Reveal," the rules manager would probably insist they include a "may" clause, like Vendilion Clique.


Will double strike still do anything if I Cloudshift my blocker? My friend attacks with a creature with double strike (e.g. Boros Swiftblade). I block with a creature, then I Cloudshift it. Do I or my creature take any damage from the double strike?

If you cast Cloudshift during the Declare Blockers Step, specifically rule 509.5, than your creature will not suffer combat damage (506.4), but the Creature with Double Strike is still considered Blocked for the Combat Damage Step. It will assign no damage for either the first strike or normal combat damage portions.

  510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage.


Ordeal of Heliod and changing creature control Here is the situation that came up:

Player 1 controls a creature enchanted with Ordeal of Heliod and two +1/+1 counters. On Player 2's turn, they cast Portent of Betrayal to take control of the creature, and then attack with it. The attack triggers the Ordeal, putting another +1/+1 counter on it. Now that it has three counters, it is sacrificed and a player gains 10 life.

Which player sacrifices the enchantment and gains 10 life? The controller of the creature (Player 2) or the player who cast the enchantment (Player 1)?

In Magic, "you" usually refers to the current controller of a permanent, spell, or ability.
Changing control of a creature does not change control of the Auras or Equipment attached to it.

Thus, when the Ordeal triggers, Player 1 (the player who cast the Aura) still controls it even though Player 2 (the player who cast Portent of Betrayal) now controls the creature it enchants.

Note that you could even enchant an opponent's creature from the get go (since it says "Enchant creature," not "Enchant creature you control"). Some Auras are straight-up designed to be used this way (e.g. Pacifism), but sometimes even the ones that aren't can be used for clever tricks.

  109.5. The words “you” and “your” on an object refer to the object’s controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to play, cast, or activate it), or its owner (if it has no controller). For a static ability, this is the current controller of the object it’s on. For an activated ability, this is the player who activated the ability. For a triggered ability, this is the controller of the object when the ability triggered, unless it’s a delayed triggered ability. To determine the controller of a delayed triggered ability, see rules 603.7d–f.


What is this old tile game I inherited? I have an old tile game with rectangular tiles, ivory, with different colored numbers on them. Some have 2 numbers one on top and one on bottom, others have one number with words on top like draw two, skip, reverse, dead end. It has racks to put the tiles on. It reminds me of Rummikub or Uno, but each tile has either 2 numbers or a number and words. I need directions for play and the name of the game.

This sounds like Uno Dominos.

Looking at the Board Game Geek -site for the game (linked above), I found these instructions on how to play.

The design shown in the picture above seems to be a pretty common one. There's another kind of tile design, done by Mattel, that can be seen in some images on the Board Game Geek -site and the instructions linked above. The rules should be the same regardless of what the tiles look like.


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

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

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

My experience with Descent is that some maps are balanced towards the Heroes, and others towards the Overlord.

If you still find the heroes are losing a lot on most of the maps, in my opinion, your best bet is to pick up The Tomb of Ice expansion. It adds Feat cards for the heroes which are quite powerful, especially when you add them to the base maps.

If buying an expansion is not an option for you, there are many, many ways to rebalance the game. Some examples could include: Reduce the Overlord's threat by 1/turn, give the heroes more starting coins, allow the heroes to pick their starting characters or feats, use the monster cards designed for 1 fewer player etc.

Some of these are bigger balance shifts than others, but if you play around with them a little, you'll probably find something that helps.

Finally, it's possible that your hero team just isn't playing as well as the Overlord. This forum has pages of strategy for the heroes and Overlord. Why not get the hero team to have a look? http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/429/descent-journeys-in-the-dark/strategy


Munchkin - can you put cards which you cannot use sideways In the card game of Munchkin (or Munchkin Zombie) I've seen people put some cards on the table sideways. Usually, they can't use those cards for some reason like it's not for their class or they exhausted body parts limit.
They do that, so they could trade cards, that they cannot use.
Is it used to distinguish equipped and carried items?
The rulebook that came with the game (in the Polish language) does not cover this kind of behaviour.
Edit: For the base version of the game, there is a new one available online which has this covered. Also, all rulebooks in English include this rule.

This appears to be a standard part of the rules for Munchkin for Item type cards.;

All Items you have in play are considered “carried.” Items that are actually
giving you a bonus are “equipped.” You should indicate Items that are not
equipped by turning the cards sideways. You may not alter the status of your
Items during a combat or while running away

For rules for more specific expansions, the parent page of the link above is loaded.


Does Humility affect the graveyard? Does Humility effect cards in the graveyard? (EX. If Humility in play, can I discard Blightsteel Colossus without the shuffle?)

No, it only affects creatures, which is to say creature cards and tokens on the battlefield.

109.2. 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.
110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. [...]


Do Bolas's Citadel and Experimental Frenzy take reduced mana cost into account? I am wondering how reduction in converted mana cost affects Bolas's Citadel or Experimental Frenzy, which have the following abilities:
Bolas's Citadel:

You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may play the top card of your library. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to its converted mana cost rather than pay its mana cost.
{T}, Sacrifice ten nonland permanents: Each opponent loses 10 life.

Experimental Frenzy:

You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may play the top card of your library.
You can't play cards from your hand.
{3}{R}: Destroy Experimental Frenzy.

Let's say I have some of these cards in play:

Ugin, the Ineffable: “Colorless spells you cast cost {2} less to cast.”
Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge: “Creature and planeswalker spells you cast have  affinity for artifacts. (They cost {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)”
Jhoira's Familiar: “Historic spells you cast cost {1} less to cast. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)”
The Immortal Sun: “Spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.”

Would they reduce the converted mana cost of cards played off the top of the library this way?

No, mana cost reductions have no effect on Bolas's Citadel alternative cost. Furthermore, Bolas's Citadel and Experimental Frenzy have no interaction.
All the cards you listed reduce the mana cost of spells. Since you pay an alternative life cost for Bolas's Citadel, those effects are irrelevant here. The CMC of a card has a clear definition:

202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner. [..]
202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.
Example: A mana cost of {3}{U}{U} translates to a converted mana cost of 5.

The rules for casting spells, especially calculating the total cost of a spell, are:

601.2f The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. [..]
601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order.

So for example, when you want to play a card with CMC 5 with Bolas's Citadel, you determine the alternative cost of 5 life and zero mana cost. Then the mana cost reductions try to reduce that mana cost, but it's already at zero and the reductions have no effect.
As a hypothetical, if Bolas's Citadel could take mana cost reductions into account, it would have to be worded something like "Instead of paying that spell's mana cost, you may pay that much life instead." In that case, mana cost reductions would apply in 601.2f, and Bolas's Citadel would take effect in 601.2h.
As for Experimental Frenzy, EF does not offer or mandate an alternative cost like Bolas's Citadel does. With EF, you simply play the spell as you would from your hand, and all mana cost reductions apply. You have to choose whether or not you use BC to play the top card of your library.


Game of thrones played by two Is there a 2-player variant for Games of Thrones?

It is hard to work out one as the game is all about alliances and betrayals which is hard to have with only two players.

As you said yourself, one of the key mechanics of the game is forming alliances and breaking them eventually, all for your own benefit. With two players, you already know who will be your enemy at all times, and so do they, so there's no need to ever ally with the other player.

In addition, the map is too large to be played by only two factions. You can see that the game already takes out major regions in the south for less than a certain amount of players, but there's no such variant prepared for less than three players.

Not all games can be house-ruled to fit a certain group of players, and this is one I'd stay away from trying to do so. The closest you can probably get to making it work is by giving each player multiple factions, however due to the mechanic of forming alliances, this will likely not give you the game experience you hope for.


Is it possible to play 2 of a kind or 3 of a kind while I'm blinded by the Curse of the Cat Butt? Curse of the cat butt from the Streaking Kitten extension blinds me and I have to randomly play cards until I draw a card successfully (unless it's an exploding kitten and I need to defuse it blindly). I know the rules when someone tries to steal from me while I'm blinded, but what happens if I want to use a special combination while blinded? Can I simply play all my cards for a special combination and discard all cards that don't add to a 2 of a kind or 3 of a kind?

When playing blind, you can only play one card at a time.
Curse of the Cat Butt is a clone/replacement of Blind as a Bat and follows the same rules.
Blind as a Bat instructions:

any cards must be played blind (pick one blindly, and place it face up on the Discard pile).

The expression of the Curse of the Cat Butt rules/instructions tried to clarify some points but ended up with this one point muddled. It's still kinda in there, though:

On their turn, if the blind player decides to play any cards, those cards must be picked randomly and played face up on the Discard Pile. If the card is playable, play as normal.

The way to reconcile the shift from plural to singular is to read it like Blind as a Bat:
Cards are played to the discard pile, and each time, if the card (singular) is playable, ...


King of Tokyo: Damage dealt on first entry in to Tokyo I've looked around SE and can't seem to find an answer to this specific question.
I recognize that a new version of KOT is out that redefines how Tokyo is entered; this question is regarding the old version where a (claw) must be rolled to enter.

The rule book states "If Tokyo is unoccupied, the first
Monster to obtain at least one (claw) gets the control of Tokyo and places his figure in Tokyo without dealing any damage."

Is that to say that all (claw) rolls do not deal damage? Or only the first (claw) does not do damage, and the remainder can be dealt to those outside Tokyo?

I'm under the impression that damage cannot be dealt at all if you are the first to enter Tokyo, but discussions elsewhere have called it in to question.

Damage rolled outside of Tokyo is dealt to those in Tokyo.

Each [Claw] results in a point of damage dealt to Monsters who are not in the same place as you.

If you are in Tokyo (Tokyo City or Tokyo Bay) when you get [Claw], you deal damage to all the Monsters who are not in Tokyo.

If you are outside Tokyo when you get [Claw], you deal damage to
all the Monsters who are in Tokyo (Tokyo City or Tokyo Bay).

Note that it's your location when you get the Claw result that counts, so your location before any moves. There's nothing to support dealing Claw dice damage to those in the same zone as you started.
The passage you quoted simply reminds you of the above. It also instructs you that dealing damage to noone is not dealing damage at all, which may matter for some Item cards.


Can you use the Annihilation card on a Giant Skunk that someone else is fighting? Sometimes people will try to save the Giant Skunk for when they're level 9 to fight it to prevent people from screwing them over too much at the end. However my friends and I have debated about whether or not you can use the Annihilation card to remove the Giant Skunk card from the game after someone plays it.

  Giant Skunk: They may not help you, backstab you, or use any cards either for or against you -- except for Wandering Monsters and monster enhancers.

  Annihilation: Play this card at any time to permanently remove any one card from the game. It does not go to the discard pile . . . put it back in the box and forget it. The target card must be in play when you use Annihilation on it. If an opponent had just played it, it is canceled and has no effect.

Some people say yes, others say no, and still others say it depends on the timing. Which is it?

If the Giant Skunk has just been played (via Kicking Down The Door or Looking For Trouble), then you may play Annihilation to cancel the Giant Skunk. At the time it's being played, it doesn't have all of its defensive text; Annihilation means it never existed.

Once it's in play, Annihilation won't help, because that isn't a monster enhancer or wandering monster.

So if you're going to Annihilate a Giant Skunk, be quick about it.

Source: Steve Jackson Games Forum


Are players who are turned into monsters by the traitor affected negatively by the house? This question is predominately about Betrayal at the House on the Hill Haunt #27. Spoilers below:

  The other night I was playing Haunt 27, and I was too close to the blob at one point and was turned into a blob person (a specific monster determined by the haunt who gets its own speed stat and some limitations, but otherwise operates under the player's discretion).

At one point another player pulled the event card that required all players in certain rooms/near windows to roll a sanity check (I BELIEVE it was a sanity check, at least) to not be tempted by the howling wind and immediately move to the patio. I was one of the players that would be affected, and we were unsure as to whether or not my blob-person status would exempt me from having to roll.

Because the traitor book said my speed was now 2, does that mean I disregard my character card and ONLY have a speed stat and therefore don't have a sanity stat and wouldn't be able to roll in the first place? But as a follow-up, does becoming a blob-person (or any other player-turned-monster) now align you on the traitor's side so that the house doesn't affect you negatively in the first place? (Such as being able to avoid taking damage for falling through the collapsed room, etc.) We were split on this but I feel like the intention of the game is that you're now working for the traitor's side and the house will help you accomplish your goal without hindering your progress.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Short answer: Either interpretation is valid.

I remember playing this same scenario, but don't remember that question coming up at all. I reread through both the hero and traitor books for this scenario, and this seems to be a gap between the literal as-written rules and the general intent/theme of the game.

As written, a blob-person still would count as a hero and a regular character, and would be affected by the house and other things that affect all players. They would still have their normal stats except for their speed which is changed. This is based on the fact that the rules specify what is different about blob people, and those changes do not include giving them traitor or monster status:

  A Blobperson can't attack, be attacked, draw cards, use the Mystic Elevator, or discover rooms.

That being said, given that the rules are known to be full of holes, it's reasonable to believe that the blob people are intended to be treated as monsters, except that they are controlled by each player, instead of by the traitor. This is based on the fact that their stat is listed in the rules the same way all monsters' stats are, and the fact that their goal is to help the traitor win, exactly like the goal of the traitor and other monsters.


Where can I find a copy of Starbase Jeff? One of my favorite games is a now out-of-print game from Cheapass games called Starbase Jeff.  I've been looking for a copy of it for years and haven't had any luck.  Sadly, the game wasn't designed by James Ernest but another game designer, so I doubt it will eventually join the other fine games that he has put out for free on the cheapass site.

Does anyone know where I could get a copy of the game?

Currently Starbase Jeff is available for free on the Cheapass Games website. You'll have to print it out yourself but that sort of thing isn't super complicated and might be easier than locating a copy of the original version.


Can I use a Corpse Cur to get a Vector Asp back from the graveyard? I attack with a Vector Asp and use his activated ability to give him infect until the end of the turn. It's blocked by a 2/2 creature and goes to the graveyard.

If I cast Corpse Cur next, can I return Vector Asp to my hand from the graveyard?

On the one hand, the Vector Asp did have infect until the end of the turn. On the other, he may have lost that by going to the graveyard. Which is it?

Corpse Cur says "return target creature card with infect." Although Vector Asp had infect when it went to the graveyard, the creature card Vector Asp in the 'yard doesn't have it. Not a valid target.


How to win with Greyjoy in Game of Thrones board game? Seems like Greyjoy have a massive disadvantage. No special orders, so no mustering. When the cards for possible mustering or bidding on the tracks came up, other players declined those options. So as Greyjoy, I had no possible way of replacing any losses. Whilst my neighbours kept mustering more and more units. Resulting in an inevitable overwhelming attack. Am I missing something?

I know they have an early advantage, the +1 sword and win on combat ties, but this is eclipsed by the fact others can field more, and stronger, units.

The Greyjoys are a challenging house, and require a really aggressive play style. Out of the 6-player games I've played, the Greyjoys have won the least often, but not by a huge discrepancy, so take hope! There seems to be 2 working strategies, both based on the close relationship the Greyjoys have with the Lannisters.
Lannister Bloodbath
Screw the Lannisters early. With the support ships and larger army you start with, paired with the card that adds +1 to each ship, you're basically guaranteed two early victories over the Lannisters. Use these as best you can, because if you aren't in an advantageous position after that, you've lost. You should move into the Riverlands, stopping the Lannisters from growing early. Keep your ships present to support and harass, which helps stop the Lannisters from recovering. Take the Twins, at this point you should have 3 castles and a good control over the mainland.
Things to Avoid

Harrenhall. The cursed castle is cursed in this game as well. Taking it almost always means you're overstretching, leaves you exposed to Lannister, Stark and Baratheon attacks.
The Starks. They aren't a threat early. Don't waste time and precious momentum moving north, preparing for the Starks, etc.
Relaxing. If you do win the initial push, you need to keep up constant fighting to get your first cards back and finish off the Lannisters with them.

Outcome
After 2 or 3 turns, either you are hopelessly crippled, or the Lannisters are.
Uneasy Alliance
If the thought of essentially being out of the game after turn 2 sounds too risky, strike an alliance with the Lannisters. This is easier to do if the Tyrells are likely to be aggressive, as the Lannisters to not want to be stuck between you two. Give them the riverlands, make sure you keep the twins and your starting castles, and turn your attention North. You have a better claim on whiteshore and those Westernmost castles than the Starks do, use your early strength and sea support to take and keep them. Establish a strong base in the North, then decide whether to take Winterfell, turn to the Eeyrie and center of the Board, or betray the Lannisters.
Things to Avoid

Trusting the Lannisters. Don't attack them early because you need a quiet border, but at some point one of you will break the truce. Accept it and be ready.
Harrenhall. Once again, a cursed castle. Not worth it, it doesn't give the Lannisters anywhere else to go and encourages betrayal. Leaves you open to the Starks, puts you in contact with the Baratheons when you don't really need another front.
Raiding too far south. Sometimes you can encourage the Lannisters to stay faithfull by raiding the Tyrells. But it takes a lot of resources and stretches your navy thin with ultimately very little in it for you. And that sneak attack all the way to Highgarden that nobody expects because ship travel is so OP? Never, ever works.

Outcome
Slower game, expect a slog-fest with the Starks, a lot of back and forth pushing. You probably can't ever knock them out of the game, just contain them. Last few turns will be extremely aggressive and bloody. Pray that the Tyrells and Lannisters stay enemies.


Is each card equally likely to be a Maverick? I have been reading a bit on deck composition and this question popped up in my head: can any card be a maverick or is it only few, "exciting" cards?

Obviously the maverick rate is minuscule compared to the deck combinations, so it's hard to say factually but is there a pattern to mavericks at all?

Due to the low occurrence rates of mavericks it's impossible to state conclusively;
but, based on available data of registered decks, mavericks have a similar rarity curve to their non-maverick counterparts (8ishC:3U:1R:0S),
with the exception for some cards that specifically reference their own house (e.g. Wardrummer).

In total just over 4% of decks have at least a single maverick, and no decks have more than 3.


Is this movement through other trucks in Auf Achse correct? I've the 1987 edition of Auf Achse. Would be interested in an answer for that and if it's any different in the 2007 version.

When moving past other trucks, the rules translation we have (from the Games Cabinet, a pre BGG resource) uses the word 'miss' for the occupied space, so we treat the occupied space as if it does not exist.  However, I'm not that confident of the translation given a number of other errors.

We play that a roll of 3 results in:

-- Started here -- Empty space -- Another Truck here -- Empty space -- Ended up here --

Is this correct?

The 2007 rule book PDF I have says "It is permitted to drive through spaces with trucks." Unfortunately, I don't know where I got the PDF so I don't know if it's an official translation. It has the 2007 Schmidt Spiele artwork though, so could be.

The SpotLight on Games rules translation from 2003 (and thus presumably for the 1987 edition) (here) says "However, it is allowed to pass another player's truck in either direction."

Neither says anything about skipping the space though. I've always played it as the occupied space counts but you may not be able to stop on it. (In 1987 rules, you can't stop on it if there's a truck there. In 2007 rules, 2 trucks can occupy a highway space. You can still pass them even if the space is "full" though, so long as you end on a legal space.)


How do two Notion Thieves interact with each other? Notion Thief's text reads:

  If an opponent would draw a card except the first one he or she draws
  in each of his or her draw steps, instead that player skips that draw
  and you draw a card.

When both players have a Notion Thief in play and one casts a Think Twice, What happens?

They cancel out.

Alice casts Think Twice, it resolves, and Alice is instructed to

  Draw a card

Bob's Notion Thief's replacement effect kicks in, changing the instruction to

  Bob draws a card

Then one looks if any other replacement effects apply. Alice's Notion Thief's replacement effect kicks in, changing the instruction to

  Alice draws a card

And that's the final effect. Bob's Notion Thief has already modified the event, so it can't modify it again.

614.5. A replacement effect doesn’t invoke itself repeatedly; it gets only one opportunity to affect an event or any modified events that may replace it.

616.1e Once the chosen effect has been applied, this process is repeated (taking into account only replacement or prevention effects that would now be applicable) until there are no more left to apply.

616.2. A replacement or prevention effect can become applicable to an event as the result of another replacement or prevention effect that modifies the event.


Can a takeout doubler pass a redoubled contract? South opened one diamond. West doubled for takeout with the following hand:

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

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

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

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

1D redoubled making 4 is 830 non-vul and 1430 vul according to this (excellent) calculator: http://www.rpbridge.net/xsc1.htm.

Redoubled overtricks count!

Partner should bid 1S. 1S double going down 4 with a probable 4-3 or better fit (LHO or RHO both didn't mention spades) and two Kings seems quite unlikely, and that is against opponents for whom double of 1S will be for penalties. It is probably more useful to play 1S double (by LHO) in this situation for something else (LHO cannot have a trump stack), in which case, you have even more reason to bid 1S.

In this case I would say the problem is with making the takeout double in the first place. (Of course it depends on partnership style and form of scoring, but the below can probably found in most textbooks).

There is a rule of thumb regarding takeout doubles: With a 12-14 hand balanced hand, you should avoid making a takeout double.

In this case you have a really flat hand, 4-3-3-3, with three cards in the takeout suit. Your hand is defensively oriented with likely 3 defensive tricks in your own hand.

If you make a takeout double and partner jumps to the three level in your 3 card suit you will likely go down.

Another reason to pass with 12-14 defensive oriented flat hands is that if you have a game, LHO will likely pass and partner will get a chance to reopen.

And to answer the question in the title, sure, a redoubled contract by the takeout doubler can be passed, but it is probably a bad bid.


Does Weathered Runestone make Emergent Ultimatum ineffective? Does Weathered Runestone make Emergent Ultimatum ineffective? In other words, does having Weathered Runestone on the battlefield prevent cards fetched with the ultimatum being cast?

No, Weathered Runestone does not interact with Emergent Ultimatum. The Ultimatum allows its controller to cast the searched cards from exile, not from a library or graveyard.
As Weathered Runestone says, it prevents casting spells from graveyards or libraries. This applies to e.g. Skyclave Shade and Vivien, Monsters' Advocate. Its first ability also applies to, for example, Genesis Ultimatum and Eerie Ultimatum.

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

However, Emergent Ultimatum puts the searched cards into exile first, which is a different zone.

400.1. A zone is a place where objects can be during a game. There are normally seven zones: library, hand, battlefield, graveyard, stack, exile, and command.

The controller of Emergent Ultimatum then casts those cards from exile, which Weathered Runestone does not prevent.


What happens if a player enchanted by cruel reality has Tamiyo, Collector of Tales on the board? A player has Tamiyo, Collector of Tales on the battlefield, and is also the target of opponent's Cruel Reality.
The player with Tamiyo can not sacrifice her, but does he lose 5 life when Cruel Reality triggers?

The player will lose 5 life.
As Tamiyo states, effects controlled by an opponent (such as Cruel Reality) cannot make you sacrifice permanents. Cruel Reality also specifies what happens if a player can't sacrifice a permanent when the ability resolves. It doesn't matter for what reason the player can't sacrifice a permanent, whether they have no permanent left to sacrifice, or another effect prevents the sacrifice.
With different wordings of Cruel Reality, the Tamiyo player could get around both the sacrifice and the life loss. Cruel reality could read:

At the beginning of enchanted player's upkeep, that player chooses one:

Sacrifice a permanent

lose 5 life.

The player could choose to sacrifice a permanent, but can't because of Tamiyo.
It could also read:

At the beginning of enchanted player's upkeep, if that player controls a permanent, that player sacrifices a permanent. Otherwise that player loses 5 life.

In that case, Cruel Reality would also try to make the Tamiyo player sacrifice a permanent and not cause 5 life loss.


Can I cast an instant in the middle of an ability resolving? Suppose my opponent has Nahiri, the Lithomancer and an equipment card on the battlefield, then uses Nahiri's +2 ability to create a 1/1 soldier and attach the equip to it.

  +2: Put a 1/1 white Kor Soldier creature token onto the battlefield. You may attach an Equipment you control to it.

Is it possible to cast an instant that would kill the soldier before the equipment is equipped, or does the entire action happen at once?

It isn't possible. While the creation of the solider and the attaching of the equipment aren't simultaneous[CR 608.2c], you do not get priority (the permission to cast instants and other actions) in the middle of the resolution of a spell or ability.

  116.2e Resolving spells and abilities may instruct players to make choices or take actions, or may allow players to activate mana abilities. Even if a player is doing so, no player has priority while a spell or ability is resolving. See rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities.”

  116.3. Which player has priority is determined by the following rules:

  116.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).

  116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

  116.3c If a player has priority when he or she casts a spell, activates an ability, or takes a special action, that player receives priority afterward.

  116.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, he or she announces what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.

Side notes:

An existing Night of Souls' Betrayal would temporarily make the Soldier a 0/0, but it wouldn't kill it if an Equipment boosting toughness is attached to the Soldier by the ability. It survives because State-Based Actions (what moves a creature with non-positive toughness to the graveyard) aren't performed in the middle of the resolution of spells either.
Even when you can cast a spell in the middle of a spell's or ability's resolution, as possible with Epic Experiment, it will still resolve when the stack unwinds as normal, not in the middle of the resolution of a spell or ability. For example,

You cast Epic Experiment with X=2.
Instants can be cast here.
Epic Experiment resolves:

You exile Shock and a Mountain from your library.
You cast Shock.
Put the Mountain in your graveyard.

Instants can be cast here.
Shock resolves.


Territory inside of territory I have a question about the ending/scoring of a Go game. Specifically regarding territory inside of territory. For example, in a position like this:

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

How would the scoring work, Would white get all of the upper-left territory, or would he get all but the territory inside of blacks stones? Thanks!

This game isn't finished.  Black's group shouldn't be able to die, so Black will have some territory, but the area between the white and black walls hasn't been decided yet, so the players need to keep playing.  Also, a black invasion in the lower right is likely to succeed, so that area isn't white territory either.


Orks Mob Rule in Warhammer 40k I'm starting to play Warhammer 40k with Orks and I need a clarification to one of the rules for Orks.

Orks have Mob Rule so they can exchange their Leadership value with a number of models in unit. And if there are more then 11 models in unit with that rule this unit is given Fearless special rule (which make perfect sense because with 12 models you have 12 Ld value so you can't fail the test).

But the Fearless special rule isn't that great IMO because if changes leadership tests to wounds which in case of Ork Boyz means immediate casualties. This is written somewhere in manual where morale tests are explained but it's not mentioned in Special Abilities section of the manual. Can someone clarify if my understanding is correct or wrong, because this special ability sounds quite unfair.

I'm afraid you do understand the ruling correctly (there is no GW statement on this that I'm aware of since there's no conflict in the two rules). The important thing to remember is that the substitution is optional - if you're likely to take massive damage from fearless, take a chance on the dice and use their adjusted leadership (adjusted for modifiers from the combat). I think that you will find that your decision on taking casualties vs risking a failed leadership check will greatly depend on the unit and what you're trying to do with it (a unit of 30 gretchin designed to hold up an assault squad is going to happily take the casualties while your boyz are likely to take their chances with a roll - though even these examples are dependent on what you're trying to do and the current situation on the table).


Has Hive already been completely 'solved' for AI? According to some calculations, Hive has not too many positions to check them all out through programming, and basically make the best possible AI for it. Has it been done yet?

No, just the total number of placements is far too huge to "solve", and that doesn't even start to take into account movements occurring between placements.


Star Realms: scrapping a card in your hand Do I still get the actions of a card that I plan to scrap during that turn? For example, if I have the Brain World in play, I am allowed to scrap up to two cards from my hand or my discard pile. I have a Viper and a Scout that I want to get rid of. Do I still get to use their primary actions (1 Combat and 1 Trade) on that turn?

I have interpreted this as the primary actions immediately "fund" the resource pool, so that I do get the benefit of their actions. This would be a no-brainer (pun intended) if the Brain World was not already in play, but it's a base and can carry over from a previous turn. So exactly when does that scrapping action have to take place? At the beginning or the end of the Main Phase?

Your interpretation is incorrect. You cannot use the actions of a card that you scrap.

The rules state that during the main phase, players may perform the following actions in any order (among other actions):

  Play cards from your hand
  Use the Primary Abilities of in-play Bases

So the answer to your second question is that you can use the Brain World in whatever order you want during the main phase.

The rules go on to state

  When a Ship is played, its Primary Ability triggers immediately.

That is to say, you must decide to play a card from your hand in order to gain the benefit of the primary ability.

Under "Playing Cards" they say that to play a card,

  place it "in-play" (face-up on the table in front of you).

Later, in the Discard Phase,

  Put all in play Ships into your Discard Pile.
  Put any cards left in your hand into your Discard Pile.

These quotes together make it clear that an "in-play" card is not in your hand, nor your discard pile. This demonstrates that using a Primary Ability and being scrapped by the Brain World are mutually exclusive (at least without some special ability to move cards from in-play to your hand or discard pile).


How can I use chess piece value to balance my homemade TCG? I want to make use of the chess piece value to make 2 decks equally strong and Powerful. I have read the full article on Wikipedia but it didn't helped at all. Can one of you suggest a way to use it to balance a deck?

When Glorfindel linked you to the Chess piece relative value article, he was providing an example of how you can compare relative strengths in very simple situations.

In the case of your game, you would need to:

Pick a card which is fairly simple, and whose value is preferably quite small.
Give that card a value of 1.
Compare every other card to that card, and give them values based on their relative strength.
Use those values to calculate the total value of each deck, and compare those to each other.

For example, if you have a card that says "Do 1 damage", then you might decide that it's your value 1 card. Then a card that says "Do 2 damage" has a value of 2. A card that says "Flip a coin. If it's heads, do 2 damage" might have a value of 1, because on average it does a point of damage.

However, here's the nasty part - if steps 3 and 4 are easy to do, and can be done consistently, then your game will not be very fun. So such value calculations can only ever be approximate, and you will want to use them to get starting points to create what you think might be balanced decks, and then playtest those decks to see how accurate you are. Because, for example:

Players usually prefer safe bets to risky ones, so the "flip a coin" card will not be considered of equal value to the "do 1 damage" one, even though on average they're the same. But, if you need to deal 2 points of damage to your opponent to win otherwise they will win on their turn, then the "flip a coin" card has a 50% chance of letting you win while the "do 1 damage" card has 0%.
A creature with 1 strength is probably better, most of the time, than a card that does a single damage. But how much better? Does it matter how long the creature is likely to stay in play?
How do you value a rock-paper-scissors set of cards? The value of one is dependent on whether your opponent has the one it beats, or the one that beats it.
The valuation completely ignores things like card combos. Two cards can be completely useless on their own but game changing together, so how to value that?

Hence - do something quick and simple that you can then verify with actual playtesting. Anything else is too much effort for too little reward.


Small World: Why does it use 3-point coins? What is the point of using 3-point coins in a base-ten coin game? There are 5s and 10s, and you can almost never exchange the two for any multiples of 3.

I think the simplest answer is to allow players to hide their score better. If you only had 1s, 5s and 10s, you'd just have to remember how many 5s and 10s someone earned - adding a third variable makes it really complicated, especially three-plus player games.


If I lose control of an equipped creature, does the equipment stay attached to it? If I have an equipped creature and my opponent Mind Controls it, does my equipment remain attached to it? Can I re-equip that equipment to one of my creatures on my turn? I assume since I control the equipment I'm the only one that can play its activated abilities because it was only the equipped creature that was mind-controlled.

Another example where this could happen would be Act Of Treason.

You are correct. The equipment stays attached to the stolen creature, but you still control it and may re-equip it to a different creature that you control.
Here are the rules for equipment (emphasis added):

301.5. Some artifacts have the subtype “Equipment.” An Equipment can be attached to a creature. It can’t legally be attached to an object
that isn’t a creature.
301.5a The creature an Equipment is attached to is called the “equipped creature.” The Equipment is attached to, or “equips,” that
creature.
301.5b An Equipment is cast and enters the battlefield just like any other artifact. An Equipment doesn’t enter the battlefield attached to
a creature. The equip keyword ability attaches the Equipment to a
creature you control (see rule 702.6, “Equip”). Control of the
creature matters only when the equip ability is activated and when it
resolves. Spells and other abilities may also attach an Equipment to a
creature. If an effect attempts to attach an Equipment to an object
that can’t be equipped by it, the Equipment doesn’t move.
301.5c An Equipment that’s also a creature can’t equip a creature. An Equipment that loses the subtype “Equipment” can’t equip a creature.
An Equipment can’t equip itself. An Equipment that equips an illegal
or nonexistent permanent becomes unattached from that permanent but
remains on the battlefield. (This is a state-based action. See rule
704.) An Equipment can’t equip more than one creature. If a spell or ability would cause an Equipment to equip more than one creature, the
Equipment’s controller chooses which creature it equips.
301.5d An Equipment’s controller is separate from the equipped creature’s controller; the two need not be the same. Changing control
of the creature doesn’t change control of the Equipment, and vice
versa. Only the Equipment’s controller can activate its abilities.
However, if the Equipment grants an ability to the equipped creature
(with “gains” or “has”), the equipped creature’s controller is the
only one who can activate that ability.

And here's the exact wording of the equip ability (emphasis added):

702.6a Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. “Equip [cost]” means “[Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you
control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a
sorcery.”

So, essentially, only the equip ability itself specifies "creature you control." If the equipment is already attached, the only restrictions are:

The equipped permanent must still be a creature (301.5).
The equipment cannot itself be a creature (301.5c).
The equipment can't be attached to a creature with protection from it, due to the definition of protection (702.16).

Creatures changing control doesn't violate that.


Responding to a simple overcall (SAYC) LHO opened with 1C – Partner overcalled with 1S – (I have 6 pts, 4 Spades) → Do I respond with 2S?

P.S. rho pass.

EDIT : what my gripe with this is, that according to textbooks, you respond to opening (which is 12+pts) with minimum 6 pts. Now overcall shows 8+ pts, so shouldn't I respond then with only 10 pts (e.g. 6+4)? (looking for logic in here...)

There's a few reasons to take a bid here.

The bidding has gone 1C-1S-P. This indicates that RHO likely has fewer than 6 HCP. Let's consider a few different scenarios.

If partner has only 8 HCP, LHO has an extremely strong hand. You would like to force LHO to take a second bid at 2NT or above, rather than at the one level. 2SX is likely to be fairly lucrative -- you will most likely take 5-7 tricks in trumps alone (partner won't open on 8 HCP missing both top spade honors, and your 9 card fit suggests multiple ruffs are possible), while opponents likely have a game, which they will find if you allow the inexpensive 2-level call.
If partner has 12-14 HCP and balanced shape, 2S is likely to make and nobody is likely to take another bid; if you pass 1S you'll likely allow opponents to find a making 1NT or 3C, or even a making 4H if opponents have a good fit and LHO is allowed to make a 2H call (even worse, partner may double a making 4H if you don't warn that their spade honors likely aren't cashing).
If partner has 15-16 HCP and 6-3-2-2 shape you may find yourselves in a making 4S, but only if you speak up now.

You don't give much detail about your hand, but with a known 9+-card fit and weak values you should consider Tom Au's suggestion of making a 3S call with a hand that suggests it will be the right thing to do. A singleton or a void with few HCPs suggests this, especially if the shortness is in clubs. A hand that is likely to take fewer than 2 tricks on defense should also consider 3S.