Can items be added to the stack after it has started resolving? I've been working on streamlining the rules for the abandoned TvTropes TCG project, but the description of the "Stack" system confused me greatly since  the stack so rarely sees actual use in Magic (disclaimer: I am not a magic player, but I have passing familiarity with it, and have also recently been reading columns on it by the designers to help with this project), in opposition to the Yu-Gi_oh! chain system, which is central to countering in that TCG.

Basically what happens in TvTCG is that once top item on the stack resolves, players get to respond to the action, resulting in a potentially "branching" stack (all players get to potentially counter an action in turn), whereas the YGO chain is strictly linear, once things start resolving they must all resolve before new items can be added.

So my question boils down to: a) is the MtG stack "branched" in any comparable way? and b) is any comparison with the stack useful in regard of its obscurity in actual play?

The stack in Magic is, well, a stack. Spells you cast, abilities you activate, and abilities that trigger based on some game action or change in state, go on the stack. The system used to determine who gets an opportunity to put something on the stack is known as priority in the formal rules. When one player passes priority, the other gets a chance to put things on the stack. When all players pass without adding anything to the stack, the topmost item (and only the topmost item) of the stack resolves, and priority passes around again, meaning players can put additional things on the stack after a part of it resolves.

The most important additional rules are:

Most types of cards (e.g. creatures) can only be played when the stack is empty and it's your main phase.
You pay all costs (in mana and other required game actions, like sacrificing a creature) and make the relevant targeting decisions when you put something on the stack.
Mana abilities (e.g. on land cards) resolve instantaneously without using the stack, to allow you to pay costs for things. This prevents a lot of bullshit minutiae that might otherwise occur anytime you tried to cast a thing.
The stack is a game zone and things on the stack are game objects that can be affected by other spells and abilities (this is what allows counterspells to work).

Historically, Magic used to use what was known as the "batch" system, which was similar to the stack, but all effects on the stack would resolve once players were done putting new things on it.

Is the stack a rarely used in MTG? No. Serious players at any level need to understand priority and the stack.

I'm assuming the statement that gave you that idea is designers saying "We don't like it when the cards talk about the stack." That's not because it's not a central part of game play. Rather:

The goal is for newbies and really-casual players to understand the flow of the game without having to learn all the details.
This is a part of the game where the rules tell you how to use the cards more so than the cards tell you how to use the rules, kinda like creature combat or drawing your opening hand, so the cards seldom need to mention these rules.
The architecture for casting spells and activating abilities is so foundational to the game that a mechanic that mucks with the process is likely to be very risky and convoluted, design-wise.

If you want to understand priority and the stack in full formal detail, you'll need to read the MTG comprehensive rules; these are not designed for learning the game, however. The easiest way to get a feel for how the MTG stack works is to play some rounds in the Duels of the Planeswalkers video game.


Teferi's Time Twist and Gideon's Sacrifice I recently had a match with a friend. This was the situation: On my board, I had a 4/4 Zombie token produced with Amass and a Vampire Opportunist. My opponent had Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion on the board.

In this situation I was unsure, if I could do this. I would attack my opponent with my 4/4 Zombie token. In the case he would block with his Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion I would cast Gideon's Sacrifice and redirect all damage to my Vampire Opportunist. In response of casting Gideon's Sacrifice I would cast Teferi's Time Twist and target my Vampire Opportunist.

After resolving Teferi's Time Twist, my Vampire Opportunist isn't on the board anymore, so the damage dealt to my Zombie token is redirecting to nowhere, so my Zombie token would survive and his Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion would die. In my end step then, Vampire Opportunist would return with an additional +1/+1 counter.

Are my thoughts right? Or do I miss something here?

That is incorrect and if you look at the rulings on the card in gatherer you will see that they have a ruling for this case that states that the damage will not be redirected.

  If the chosen creature or planeswalker isn’t on the battlefield or isn’t a creature or planeswalker at the time damage would be dealt, the damage won’t be redirected.

In the sequence of events both the zombie token and the Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion will die from damage in combat unless something else is done to save one of them.

This is based on 614.9 of the comprehensive rules

  614.9: Some effects replace damage dealt to one creature, planeswalker, or player with the same damage dealt to another creature, planeswalker, or player; such effects are called redirection effects. If either creature or planeswalker is no longer on the battlefield when the damage would be redirected, or is no longer a creature or planeswalker when the damage would be redirected, the effect does nothing. If damage would be redirected to or from a player who has left the game, the effect does nothing.


If you buy a house at "auction," can you put it on any property? A housing auction occurs when there is a housing shortage, and people want to buy more houses than there are houses available. Then houses are auctioned to the highest bidder.
My question occurs under the following scenario: Suppose you have the orange and navy blue monopolies (one cheap and one expensive). Normally, I would pay $100 a house for the ones I wanted to put on the oranges, and $200 a house for the one I would put on the navy blues.
But let's say we were short on houses so there was an auction whereby I bought the house for $300. Can I put it on New York Avenue, or must I put it on Boardwalk or Park Place, since $300 is closer to $200?
All other things being equal, I would put the house on the higher valued blue properties. But suppose Boardwalk/Park Place already had three houses each. Then the difference between the third and fourth house is $300 for Boardwalk. The oranges have only two houses each. The difference between two and thre houses is $380 for New York Ave. Would it then make sense to put the extra house on the "cheaper" property?
(In my question, I meant "can" in two different senses. The first one is "Is this allowed under any reasonable interpretation of the rules?" The second is, does this make sense under the scenario I have outlined?)

The rules are unclear on the exact procedure:
. Building Shortages

... If there are a limited number of houses and hotels available and two or more players wish to buy more than the Bank has, the houses or hotels must be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

My interpretation is that everyone entering the auction must announce, on entry, which Colour Group they are bidding for; and upon winning an auction must place the acquired house on that Colour Group.
Further, if an auction is being held for more than one house it is likely best that the players agree to hold separate auctions for each one.  Some interesting game theoretic concepts might arise, in this circumstance, when an auction is being held for multiple houses at a single occurrence; and it would be a shame for these to not come to light.

Update
To be clear, my proposal is:

A house auction begins when players have stated intention to buy more houses than there are houses available.

To have stated such intent, each player has, per force announced the Colour Group for which they are buying a house; and must have the capability of making such purchase from cash on hand (House Rule: and by mortgaging additional properties) but not by selling houses back to the bank. An invalid entry comprises Bankruptcy to the Bank - know your limits.

Auction price always begins at $1, regardless of what combination of Colour Groups have been announced by the auction Entrants for this House(s).

The number of houses at auction is the amount by which house demand exceeds supply. If there are 9 houses and four players announce intent to buy (for a maximum of 1 Colour Group each) 13 houses. than an auction begins for 13-9 = 4 houses.

A bid by a valid entrant (above) is final once made. If an Entrant bids an amount greater than they can immediately pay from cash and from mortgaging undeveloped properties on undeveloped Colour Groups that entrant is Bankrupt to the Bank and out of the game.

The Player winning each House Auction must place all houses won on any properties of the one Colour Group announced by that player as destination when entering the Auction; in accordance with the normal placement rules for houses on a Colour Group.

There are two deliberate strategic considerations explicitly available to the players here:

The last Player(s) into an Auction have increased ability to control the size of that Auction.

It is possible, and allowed, to attempt acquisition of houses more cheaply than normal through strategic auctions. The Players have an obligation to protect themselves against such activity by being in a position to compete in Auctions. this is no different from acquiring Properties cheaply in Property Auctions.


What techniques should I use to teach my 5-year old to play chess? The other night while playing checkers with my 5 year old, he told me that he wanted to make up a game using the checkerboard which had different pieces that could do different things. I told him that there was a game already like that called chess. So I got out the pieces and we went through them and talked about what their names were and how they move and he seemed to enjoy it.

My question is, are there any techniques or simplified rules or setups that can help teach the game of chess?

I was thinking of setting the board with only pawns and kings and playing a game. Then adding in the rooks and playing, add the knights and play until we have all the pieces. What do you think?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

I highly suggest taking him through the puzzles in Polgar's book.

The book starts off with very simple chess problems, with only a handful of pieces, with the idea of "solve for checkmate in x moves".  The problems are designed with a logical progression, highlighting specific tactics and strategies, and become increasingly complex and demonstrating more advanced concepts that build upon lessons learned from earlier puzzles.  Polgar used the puzzles in this book to teach his daughters, who each became grandmaster players in their own right.


Where can I play Hearts online? I would like to play against other people.

Can't seem to find any sites.

Yahoo! Games has Hearts. Actually I originally signed up for a Yahoo account so I could play Hearts.


What is the most effective creature that can be resurrected from the graveyard in MTG? I am currently designing a legacy deck around the new graveyard focused cards from Innistrad. My goal is to get cards in my own graveyard quickly and utilize those as best as I can. Innistrad offers a lot of different mechanics for that, but I am also looking for some really nasty creatures that I can resurrect early on with the good old Exhume or Victimize.

What are good creatures for that? I consider the following attributes important:

Must be able to enter the graveyard (no Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or similar creatures)
Must be hard to remove (I tried Ulamog's Crusher in the past, but a simple creature destroyer stops him instantly; creatures like Wurmcoil Engine worked way better for me; being hexproof or being indestructible would also be nice to keep my monster save from immediate destruction)
Must be able to end the game quickly or give me a solid advantage once it is out on the field, because the investment to pull this combo off successfully is rather huge (Sheoldred, Whispering One would complement my deck really well for example, but is too easy to remove with an appropriate creature destroyer)

I guess there is no perfect creature for what I am looking for, otherwise this mechanic would be overpowered. With a good starting hand (entomb + exhume + 2 swamps) I am able to bring any creature into play in round 2. Nevertheless I am looking for the best choice of creature for this task. What should I use?

The common name for this type of deck is 'Reanimator.' So a google for 'Legacy Reanimator' will get you what's popular for specific cards in the current metagame and from up to date sets.  I say that not to try to answer 'just google it' but that lists of cards can go out of date fast, so they're not great stack exchange answers.  Also the knowledge that the deck name to search for is 'Reanimator' is important :)

To try to make it an answer about the strategy/archetype more than a list that will go out of date with each new set:

1) Creatures with Shroud or Hexproof.  May be obvious but a lot of new players don't realize Shroud only functions on the battlefield and only applies to spells that say 'target.'  Creatures with Shroud are excellent entomb + exhume choices.

2) Creatures with an enters the battlefield effect that was at least a decent return on your mana even if they do get doombladed.  e.g., Bogardan Hellkite, Terastodon

3) Creatures that shut down your opponent's answers.  Iona, Shield of Emeria is the obvious go-to, but depending on your meta-game there can be more specific options.

4) Creatures that shut down your opponent's deck period.  Stormtide Leviathan doesn't have shroud, but lots of aggroy decks are counting on burn spells if they need to get rid of early creatures.  Even the Rubin Zoo variants usually only have 4 paths/swords so you've got ok odds game 1 when they don't know to mull aggressively for it.

5) Meta game choices.  You know your buddy is playing Stax?  How's he feel about Symbiotic Wurm turn 2?  Since you only need 1-ofs, you can have plenty of meta choices main deck.


What happens if you do not have any cards left in the Infection deck? (Minor spoilers) To keep things general and mostly spoiler free, some abilities and events let you destroy cards from the Infection deck. If you do this enough times, there won't be any cards left. What happens in that case?

As the game progresses more, slightly different but similar scenarios could occur.

Package 6 spoiler below:

   Coupled with the inoculation introduced in package 6, you don't even need to destroy them all. Some could be inoculated and in package 6, there they are effectively out of the game until an epidemic is drawn. What happens during the Infect step of a turn when the only Infection cards are in package 6?

Turning point 2 spoiler:

   Infection cards for Forsaken cities are ignored and moved to the game end area when drawn, effectively leading to the same situation. What happens if you have a deck full of Forsaken cities?

From page 14 of the rules

  In the rare case you get through the entire Infection deck, reshuffle
  it and move the Infection Rate marker forward 1 space on the Infection
  Rate track. If this causes the rate to change during the “Infect”
  step, use the old rate when determining how many cards to draw.

If there are no cards in the draw pile or the discard deck, you've lost. Like, REALLY lost. Even if you say that the Infection Rate just goes to max and then nothing happens when you have to draw an infection card and there is no deck, you can't win the game without adding cards to the infection deck (by connecting cities to the grid) and as soon as you do, you now draw that card repeatedly and will lose the game very quickly. Not to mention that at some point you had to have only a few cards in the infection deck, and you probably lost very quickly at that point too. Even better, you now lose every subsequent game during the setup phase. So, I'd recommend not doing that.


Can I play a Sorcery or Instant without paying its mana cost, in any way? In Magic, there are creature cards with huge mana costs (like 15 for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn), that can hardly ever be paid in a normal game of Magic. Luckily, there are many ways to "cheat" creatures into play. There also cards that can put lands, enchantments or artifacts from the hand onto the battlefield.

Sorceries are also sometimes extremely expensive. Is there any card in Magic that allows one to play a Sorcery or Instant without paying its mana cost?

There are a number of such cards. Recently, Omniscience gave you permission to cast any spell (instant, sorcery, creature, whatever) from your hand without paying its cost.

There are even entire mechanics based on it, such as Cascade, or the cycle of Hideaway lands.

Epic Experiment is the instant/sorcery version of Genesis Wave, and Mind's Desire is its predecessor. Master of Predicaments was just released, and Oracle of Bones is recent. Sunforger is older, but one of the most powerful equipment for a R/W deck: not only is the instant you cast free, but you search your deck for it, rather than needing it in your hand.

Heck, Planeswalker's Mischief lets you cast an instant or sorcery spell for free from your opponent's hand.

Note that when you're casting a spell without paying its mana cost, {X} can only be 0, you must still pay any required additional costs, and if you want the effect of something that comes from paying an optional cost (eg, Kicker), you'll need to pay the optional cost. Effects which look at the mana you paid for the spell (such as the hybrid mana spells which care about the colors spent) will see that no mana was spent at all, and Trinisphere will still force you to pay {3}.


Can I target any number of creatures, even if the ability would have no effect? Aurelia's Fury and other spells like it allow me to choose any number of targets. As written, it implies I can choose more than X targets.

Can I, for instance, cast Aurelia's Fury where X = 5 and target 5 of my opponent's creatures, as well as all of my heroic creatures, and then choose to deal one damage to each of my opponent's creatures (leaving my creatures unharmed)? Or am I required to choose targets in some way such that the spell affects them (if possible)?

No.

  601.2d If the spell requires the player to divide or distribute an effect (such as damage or counters) among one or more targets, the player announces the division. Each of these targets must receive at least one of whatever is being divided.

This is also mentioned in the Gatherer rulings for Aurelia's Fury:

  You announce the value of X and how the damage will be divided as part of casting Aurelia’s Fury. Each chosen target must receive at least 1 damage.


Can you use one card on multiple obstacles? I'm just started playing shadowrun crossfire prime runner, and I had a question about if you can play one black market card on two or more obstacles. Like if a black market card has a face damage and mana damage it it's damage category in the top left. Can I use the face on one obstacle, and the mana on another obstacle? Thanks

Black Market cards work in much the same way as the basic cards, unless they have an ability which lets them damage multiple obstacles, they will deal all of their damage to a single obstacle.


Betrayal Haunt #38 How Many Firebats? I played Betrayal at House on the Hill for the first time on the weekend. I was the traitor and it was haunt #38. I followed my interpretation of what the book said, which when the first person died read, and then said I did it wrong.

Note: The version is not the newest

The text (from memory):

  Place as many firebats as there are players in the room where the Haunt started

My interpretation:

  Place 6 (total players) firebats in the room where the Haunt started

Their interpretation:

  Place 1 (number of players in the room where the Haunt started) firebat in the room where the Haunt started.

Newest revision

  Get out a number of firebats (represented by
  orange Bat tokens) equal to half the number
  of players, rounded up. Put them in the room
  where the haunt was revealed.

Was my interpretation correct?

Your interpretation was correct. There are several haunts where it refers to "as many things as there are players". While the sentence is grammatically ambiguous, the other interpretation would be very strange because there wil always be only 1 player in the room where the Haunt started; the player who revealed the Haunt. So if that's what they meant, then they could have just said "place 1 firebat in the room..."

Also, the newer revision seems to confirm that the number of firebat is meant to be based on the number of players; though obviously they felt the traitor needed to be nerfed.

One other "proof"... if "players in the room where the Haunt started" were meant as all one clause, then there's nothing at all in the sentence telling you where to place the firebats. The interpretation would be "place 1 firebat", with no mention of where to place them.


While covering the Queen, if a player pockets the last C/m of his own together with the striker While covering the Queen, if a player pockets the last C/m of he owns together with the striker then will the game continues with a penalty being place or will this result in a win?

The game will continue, returning the pocketed C/m along with a penalty. If the stroke was proper, your turn continues with you trying to cover the Queen. From the ICF rules:

  a) While covering the Queen by a proper stroke, if a player pockets the striker along with his C/m, the C/m so pocketed plus one
  C/m as Due shall be taken out for placing by the opponent. The player shall however, continue his turn. If in that subsequent stroke no C/m of the player is pocketed, the Queen shall not be considered to have been covered and it shall be taken out for placing.

  b) While covering the Queen, if a player pockets his Striker along with his C/m by an improper stroke, the C/m so pocketed plus two C/m as due and penalty shall be taken out for placing by the opponent and the player shall lose his turn. The Queen shall be taken out for placing by the Umpire.


Can the Swamp Rat's special ability be used to end combat? In Xia: Legends of a Drift System, one of the ships, named "Swamp Rat", has a special ability that allows it to trigger one of it's own outfits as a defense to an incoming attack.  If the outfit triggered is an Engine, and the resulting movement breaks the line-of-sight of the incoming attack, does the attack resolve normally, or has the movement prevented it?

The swamp rat's ability allows it to place a damage marker on an outfit instead of an armed marker to perform an action but only when that action is valid. The engine cannot be used to make a move action when defending against an attack. Therefore you cannot use the swamp rat's ability to move to escape combat. You could, however, use it to power the shields one more time.


Does Hardened Scales trigger when +1/+1 counter are moved from one permanent to another? If a +1/+1 counter get's moved from one creature to another does Hardened Scales double the amount of counters that the second creature gets?

Yes, Hardened Scales triggers off moving +1/+1 counters. From the official rules:

  121.5. If an effect says to “move” a counter, it means to take that counter from the object it’s currently on and put it onto a second object. If the first and second objects are the same object, nothing happens. If the first object has no counters, nothing happens; the second object doesn’t get a counter put on it. If the second object (or any possible second objects) is no longer in the correct zone when the effect would move the counter, nothing happens; a counter isn’t removed from the first object.

Note that Hardened Scales only triggers once per batch of counters moved, so if several counters are moved at once, it will not double the amount, but only add 1.


MTG: Activated abilities and change of control on the stack. Let's say I play an activated ability of one of my creatures; for example, this one:

My opponent responds to this with an instant that takes control of this creature:

Question: Will the effect of the activated ability be countered? The stack now looks like this:

Vedalken Anatomist puts -1/-1 on target creature
Opponent gains control of Vedalken Anatomist

The change of control will happen first. Does this mean that the -1/-1 counter will not be received by the target creature? If yes, then what happens to the mana spent (and the lands tapped) to pay the cost of using the ability?

The most relevant rules are:

  112.3b Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as "[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]" A player may activate such an ability whenever he or she has priority. Doing so puts it on the stack, where it remains until it's countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 602, "Activating Activated Abilities."

Therefore, once you put the Activated Ability on the stack, it stays there unless it is countered or something specifically removes the ability from the stack.

  112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won't affect the ability. Note that some abilities cause a source to do something (for example, "Prodigal Sorcerer deals 1 damage to target creature or player") rather than the ability doing anything directly. In these cases, any activated or triggered ability that references information about the source because the effect needs to be divided checks that information when the ability is put onto the stack. Otherwise, it will check that information when it resolves. In both instances, if the source is no longer in the zone it's expected to be in at that time, its last known information is used. The source can still perform the action even though it no longer exists.

This rule specifically confirms that after the Activated Ability is on the stack, its source is irrelevant. Any removal of the source or changing of controllers won't affect the Ability.

So in this particular case, Act of Aggression can't do anything to stop the Veldalken Anatomist unless it say, targets the opponent's Azorious Guildmage (also Veldaken! oh the poetic justice!) and, after it resolves, its controller has the mana to put that creature's ability counter on the stack. ;-)

EDIT

Oh, one more thing:

  701.5b The player who cast a countered spell or activated a countered ability doesn't get a "refund" of any costs that were paid.

Even if the ability is countered, no refunds.


How many points does a thief score when placed on a tile with a crossing completing multiple roads? I was a little worried that my theoretical maximum Carcassonne score of 338 points might be in error if it was possible to score multiple completed roads during the same turn.

The rules say you place Thieves on a road segment:

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

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

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

That is my understanding of the rules. You could still score 8 points if you previously placed thieves on three of the road segments leading into the tile of course.


Getting rid of Conditions when blessed To get rid of a negative condition, you have to role a 5 or a 6.  If you are blessed, where 4 count as successes, does the condition disappears on a 4, 5, and 6?

The first unwritten rule of cooperative games is if a rule can be interpreted in several ways, the right one is the least helpful to the players.  Therefore conditions only disapear on a 5 or 6 regardless of other effects.

This is the answer from the official FAQ:

  Q. Is every roll considered a test?

  A. No. An effect that tells you to
  roll a specific number of dice, such as the flare effect on a Cursed
  Condition, is not a test. These rolls cannot be re rolled or modified
  by effects that affect tests.


Scrap Trawler triggers If I control a Scrap Trawler, a Krark-Clan Ironworks, and a Chromatic Sphere, with a Mox Opal in the graveyard. When I sacrifice the sphere to Ironworks, do I have to return the opal to my hand or can I decline to choose a target?

You have to choose and return a valid target if there is one.

You have to follow instructions of all spells and abilities that resolve. Scrap Trawler's ability requires you to target a valid card in your graveyard if possible, and you have to return that card to your hand if it's still a legal target by the time the ability resolves.

In the general case, we have to differentiate between choosing targets and performing actions on them.

If the ability simply says "target [object or player with a certain quality]", then you have to choose a valid target to satisfy that instruction, for each instance of the word "target". Some abilities say "any number of targets", or "up to N targets". In those cases, you don't have to choose any objects or players. This matters for abilities that trigger when a player or object becomes the target of a spell or ability.

The action to be performed on the chosen targets, if any, can be preceeded by the word "may", such as "you may return that card to your hand". In that case, you choose whether or not to perform that action on the chosen targets on resolution of that spell or ability.


What if the boss or the profiteur connect to the gold? I have this situation:
The boss has flipped the gold card with a path card. The path there was blocked by both a green and a blue card. We had one profiteur, a blue dwarf, a green dwarf, a sabotuer and a boss.
Who wins and how much gold?
I found this post with an answer to a different question by the creator of the game, where it states that the boss would get 4 points but I am still confused, I can't find it anywhere on the rules how the boss would get 4 points from this situation.
More than that, what if the profiteer flips the gold card, what happens then?
EDIT : I'm still confused. Rules say that if ONLY ONE dwarf wins, he wins 5 gold, if 2 dwarves win, then it's 4 gold each. Why does he win 4 gold? Does the profiteer also win if he is the one flipping the gold card? How much? Do they both get 4 gold each? 5 gold to boss and 3 to profiteer or what?
EDIT2 : So if I have a blue dwarf, a boss and a profiteer in the game, there's just 1 dwarf counted as winner, that's 5 gold for him, 4 for boss and 3 for profiteer. But if I have just a boss and a profiteer, if any of them flip the gold card, then it's 2 winners and they get 3 - boss and 2 - profiteer? In conclusion when there's no dwarves to get to the gold, boss and profiteer are both counted as winning dwarves regardless, but when there are colored dwarves, then these two are not included as winners? I don't even want to include geologists in these situation..
My opinion is that you can interpret these rules as you want and that's a huge slip from the creator. I for one, agree that if neither saboteurs or colored dwarves get to the gold, then noone gets anything (except geologists where it's clear what they get). This messy slip up can REALLY ruin friendships...

It's clear that the rules are a little badly worded.  They say:

  The Boss builds tunnels for both the Green and the Blue Team and wins
  every time one of the teams wins.

However, the game's creator has made it clear that in the corner case, where the path is completed but both the Blue and Green teams are blocked by a door, the Boss wins anyway (even though it is not true that "one of the teams wins").

I think that the Profiteer wins in this situation too - the Profiteer ALWAYS wins, after all...

See this old question - in fact now I read that, I'm a bit worried that this question may count as a duplicate...

ETA: I think if one dwarf wins, they get 5 Gold.  If one dwarf wins and he's the Boss, he gets 4 Gold.  If two dwarves win, and they're the Boss and the Profiteer, they would get 4 gold each, minus their respective "job penalties": so 3 Gold for the boss and 2 Gold for the profiteer.  Seems like a reasonable interpretation of the creator's assertion that the Boss winning on his own gets 4 Gold (assuming he didn't just pluck that figure out of thin air...)

In short, I'd say that the "1 or 2 less than the other winners get" (for the boss and profiteer) is another sloppily worded piece of rules.  "1 or 2 less than they would otherwise get" would be a better way of putting it.  If the Profiteer won on his own, for example, he'd get 3 Gold (5-2).


How do I use the Dominion & Dominion Intrigue Update Packs? I purchased the Dominion Update Pack (and the one for Intrigue), but it didn't come with any instructions. There is a new slip that is obviously deaigned to go in the center of the original box, replacing the old one. But there are a two strange things about it:

Several cards in the original are missing from the new strip (e.g. Secret Chamber, Coppersmith)
The Treasure, Curse, and Victory card slots are blank, whereas they had names in the original

Are the old cards not supposed to be used if I am "upgrating" by adding the new second edition cards? And what do I do with the card slots that are blank?

The update pack serves two purposes:

Replace 6 old cards with 7 newer ones
Provide a new card strip; base cards are missing from the new strip.

Replacing older cards

The following 12 cards have been removed from their respective versions:

Base game (6): Adventurer, Chancellor, Feast, Thief, Spy, Woodcutter
Intrigue (6): Coppersmith, Great Hall, Saboteur, Scout, Secret Chamber, Tribute

You should not use these cards anymore. Naturally, it's your game so you are free to do whatever you feel best, add these together with the rest or not. If you do, however, there might not be enough space in the box to store them, if you keep the base cards in the same box as well. They are not "broken" or "overpowered", just very weak. Usually these cards were skipped, that's why they were removed. Dominion creator Donald X. has explained why each card was removed.

Should you take them out, remember to remove their respective randomizer (blue-back) cards as well.

New card strip

Naturally, since 6 kingdom cards have been replaced with 7 new kingdom cards, a new insert has been provided. Therefore, you will not see removed cards listed, such as Secret Chamber. You will see the new cards, though, such as Diplomat.

Other cards: you should be able to find all other non-replaced cards on the card strip, such as Wishing Well.
Base cards: base cards, such as Curse, Copper, Gold and Province, have been deliberately omitted from the new card strip. This is because the newer Dominion: Intrigue (second version) is no longer a stand-alone expansion of Dominion, thus you need the base cards to play it. This means that the whole expansion is not shipped with the base cards, thus they have been omitted from the card strip. Nevertheless, the actual insert should have enough space for you to store them (give or take one slot, as there are 26 kingdom cards now).
Empty strips: you can use them to hold extra cards, such as the base cards or the removed cards.


Is it a valid strategy to accumulate cards then swap hand? If I have a "Swap hand" card, can I repeatedly accuse other people of not shouting "Uno!" (when they actually have multiple cards) in order to cause myself to draw the 2-card penalty for incorrectly accusing them, then dump my entire hand to another person?

It seems to follow all the rules, yet I've never seen it being used.

Is it a legal move? Is it a valid strategy to win?

There is no penalty for calling out "Uno!" when you have more than 1 card. There is also no penalty for calling out another player for not saying "Uno!" if the other player isn't down to one card. The penalty is for when you fail to call "Uno!" while playing your second-to-last card. So you cannot intentionally increase your hand size that way; at best you could intentionally get the penalty once, each time you get down to one card.

You can choose to not play a card on your turn, even if you have a playable card, and draw a card instead. Though if the card you draw is playable, the rules seem to imply that you must play that one.

  If the player has no matches or they choose not to play any of their cards even though they might have a match, they must draw a card from the Draw pile. If that card can be played, play it.

Purposefully doing this isn't really an issue of following rules or not, as I can't even think of how you would write a rule to prevent this (allow a person to choose not to play, yet forbid it depending on the player's motivations behind doing so). Rather, this is a question of fun and sportsmanship. Uno is not a competitive game designed to be a serious strategy game. It's a lighthearted family game. Doing something like you describe, whether "allowed" by the rules or not, would lead to simply not wanting to play with you anymore. Or, it would lead to everyone choosing that exact strategy, and the entire game coming down to the luck of who draws a "swap hands" card.


How should I teach someone new to spades how to bid? Bidding in spades is one of the hardest mechanics to master. The gameplay comes with experience, but sometimes bidding just goes awry. I know how I bid and that I disagree with the way other people bid (usually because it doesn't work).
My general rule of thumb is this:

If you have an Ace in any suit other than spades, count one.
If you have a King in any suit other than spades, count one.
 Subset: If you only have 2 cards in that suit and the other isn't the Ace, count as a possible
 Subset: IF you have more than 4 cards in that suit, count as a possible

If you only have 2 of one suit (other than spades) count 1.
 Subset: Keep track of these spades you would use trumping

If you have 5 spades, count 1. (Beyond those you would use trumping in your short-suit)
Jokers count as 1 (Or Ace and King if no Jokers)

Any thoughts?

Turn them loose with a computer simulation at first so they can get lots of hands in. Only after seeing the general structure of play will they understand what to even consider when bidding.

I suggest a computer simulation as it means you don't have to spend time playing with a completely clueless person and they can learn on their own. If you situation is amenable to new people and lots of hands, then just plain old playing a bunch is the answer.


Elder Thing - "This minion is not affected by opponents' cards." Elder Thing's rule text states that "This minion is not affected by opponents' cards."

If so, what happens if an opponent plays a card (forget it's name. It was in the Minions of Cthulhu faction) that shuffles all minions in the base to the bottom of the deck?

Is it still affected? Or is it going to stay?

It's quite explicit: "This minion is not affected by opponents cards." That means any cards, so it doesn't get shuffled to the bottom of the deck. It will stay in play.


What makes an ideal "control finisher"? In Magic: The Gathering, many players talk about a "control finisher" -- some kind of big back-breaking spells that (usually) seals up your victory. I guess you could say that, if you boil down a control strategy to "don't lose the game long enough that you can win it", the finisher cards in your deck are providing the "win it" part.

In the past, these have been fairly modest singleton creatures in otherwise creatureless permission decks, whittling away at an opponent's life while you lock your opponent out with counterspells (most notably, Serra Angel and Morphling). More recently, cards like Cruel Ultimatum, Grave Titan, and Consecrated Sphinx have all been described as "control finishers". I've seen the label applied to Celestial Colonnade as well.

What characteristics make a card a good choice for the "finisher" role?

When is a generally strong and cost-efficient card in your deck's colors (a nasty creature or planeswalker, especially) not a good control finisher?

Here's my logic: when you have control of the game, it doesn't matter what your finisher is, so you should pick something that helps you out as much as possible when you don't have control. (I originally read this in Randy Buehler's description of his 1998 Worlds deck, in which he used Rainbow Efreet.) This holds true for essentially all of the common control finishers in Standard today:

Consecrated Sphinx lets you draw a ton of cards. Even using its ability two or three times can give you enough card advantage to match your opponent spell-for-threat.
Wurmcoil Engine gains you lots of life and can also trade for up to 3 of your opponent's creatures or removal spells, which is a huge setback for an aggressive deck. This is why it's a popular finisher against aggro decks, but not so much against other control decks or combo decks.
Sun Titan lets you get an extra use out of one or more of your spells, often something like Oblivion Ring or Ghost Quarter, which can help you regain control when facing down troublesome permanents. It plays a similar role to Consecrated Sphinx.
Grave Titan is basically a horde-in-a-box (actually in a card): getting three creatures out of one card, especially given that one is giant and has deathtouch, can shut your opponent's entire attacking force down. Plus, if they don't deal with it immediately, you get two more creatures every turn.
Going back a bit, Celestial Colonnade helps you when you don't have control in a different way: it can't be countered, and it requires instant-speed removal to get rid of. This is more of an anti-control finisher, since when you're playing another control deck, not having control of the board generally means that you're outmatched with counterspells or removal spells. The Colonnade lets you put pressure on your opponent without having to fight through a ton of counterspells. (Same goes for any other "manland.")
Morphling was a good anti-control finisher for a similar reason to the manlands: the ability to give it shroud and pump its toughness made it very difficult to kill.
Sword of Feast and Famine was the namesake finisher of the Cawblade deck. Its power came from the fact that it allowed you to get double use out of your mana, once for advancing your own board and once for countering your opponent's spells. So even if you were somewhat behind in the game state, once you started getting Sword hits in it became fairly easy to recover. (To be fair, Cawblade wasn't a true control deck, but it did fall into that role sometimes.)
Planeswalkers generally tend to have very powerful abilities that can go a long way toward helping you gain control of the game. This is why Jace, the mind sculptor was so good: it could bounce a creature, draw you cards, or shut your opponent out of good draws. It was like the control player's Swiss army knife. Gideon Jura is a popular choice these days because it can stop your opponent from attacking you, saving you some life, and it acts as a repeatable removal spell as well, so it's difficult for any creature-based deck to play around it. And of course, with both of those planeswalkers, once you've used their removal capabilities to their full extent, they give you a direct win condition as well.

You'll notice that all these cards have big, game-changing effects: 6-power creatures, 4-power flyers, removing your opponent's entire library from the game, etc. This means that if they're not dealt with, they let you win very quickly. There is something to be said for this strategy, because it minimizes the amount of time that you need to maintain control of the game, but in a proper control deck it's not necessary to have a big flashy finisher. Something like Fiend Hunter, for example, would not be too bad because it exiles one of your opponent's creatures and then can sit around and block. Back in the days of the original Caw-go deck, even Squadron Hawk filled the finisher role well because you could play one to attack and it came with 3 buddies who could either block or add to the pressure on your opponent. However, Wizards is making it rather difficult to create a true control deck these days, mostly because counterspells are just not as efficient as they used to be. So I wouldn't actually suggest using something like Fiend Hunter as your only finisher.

When choosing a finisher, the cards I would stay from are those that don't do anything to help you regain control of the game when you are losing it. As a concrete example, you could imagine "losing it" to mean that you're at 4 life and facing down three 2-power creatures; or perhaps you're at 7 life and your opponent will be able to cast Devil's Play to burn you out in two turns. Kindercatch would be a great example of a bad finisher because it just doesn't do anything to help you get out of either situation. Sure, it can block one of your opponent's creatures, but you need something to deal with multiple creatures and non-creature threats.

I would actually say something like Progenitus is only a mediocre finisher, because the only sense in which it deals with anything is by killing your opponent before they get the chance to cast that lethal Devil's Play or whatever. Admittedly it is very effective at that, but you have to consider that a giant creature like that is of absolutely no use in the early game, before you've accumulated the 10 mana required to cast it, which is when you typically need the secondary effects of your finishers most.

EDIT: See this video, specifically game 1 of match 3, for a great example of Snapcaster Mage being used as a finisher.


Are mission tokens considered Figures for sake of hero abilities? One Hero has ability Covert that says "Hostile figures 4 or more spaces away from you do not have line of sight to you. You do not block line of sight for those figures." Side mission Indebted has Pulse Cannons marked by Imperial Mission Tokens. At the end of activation phase they shoot a Rebel in their lane of sight. It's not an attack, as they damage without giving any opportunity to defend and there's no range requirement. At one moment there was dispute if it can damage given hero, as it had unobstructed line of sight.

Rules Reference Guide defines Hostale Figure as follows: "All figures belonging to a player’s opponent are considered hostile." Unfortunately, the guide doesn't define figure per se.

My (Imperial player) opinion was it would damage it, as this ability was talking about figures, and the Cannon was not figure. It doesn't obstruct movement or LoS, you can end your move on tile with it's token.

Unfortunately given situation was critical for Rebels, it was win or lose. As I had four players yelling at me it's not allowed, including game owner, I could only accept their interpretation or leave table. I'm looking for citations or other examples of abilities that would work the way I am expecting it to do. (Or citations confirming they're right)

Mission tokens are not considered figures unless explicitly declared to be by the mission rules. Therefore, the Covert ability would not apply to Pulse Cannons.

From page 20 of the Rules Reference Guide:

  Objects

  Objects refer to elements on the map that are not figures. Doors, crates, and terminals are all considered to be objects.

  Most mission tokens are considered to be objects, unless the mission rules use the token to represent a figure.

The Covert ability reads:

  Covert

  Hostile figures 4 or more spaces away from you do not have line of sight to you. You do not block line of sight for those figures.

Since Pulse Cannons are represented by Imperial Mission Tokens, and are not explicitly referred to as figures in the Mission Rules, then they are not figures and Covert does not apply to them.


How do Light Foot attack and defend in Chainmail? I've recently purchased the pdf edition of Chainmail, the 1975 wargame by Gary Gygax* and Jeff Perren, and a friend of mine and I want to play a game soon.
One rule which I'd like some clarification on is about how these fatigued rules apply to Light Foot:

A. They attack at the next lower value (heavy foot = light foot)
B. They defend at the next lower value

I'm thinking that either
i. Nothing happens - there is no category lower than Light Foot, so we stop there
ii. They have to spend a turn not moving to lose their fatigued status.
Though I'm confused about how they are supposed to defend at the next lower value in any case.

* Of D&D Fame

Looking at the Combat Tables (p.40 of the 3rd edition) I would say:

A. They cannot attack. Light Foot already have only a 1/6 chance to kill any enemy troop type; anything worse would be below the resolution of the system. A generous referee might allow them to kill other Light Foot on a 6.

B. Add 1/6 to the "to be killed" chance. So Heavy Foot attacking Light Foot normally kill on a 5-6; attacking Fatigued Light Foot they'd kill them a 4-6.


When exactly does the black pawn gets placed on the board? As I mentioned in another question, I recently got the On-the-Brink expansion and have been a bit puzzled with the BT challenge gameplay. I was looking for gameplay videos but haven't found any..

My question is about when the BT/black -pawn gets placed on the board. The rulebook says it's placed on the board whenever another player is at a city BT is in. So far each time I've played Pandemic, we play the actions as a sequence and not really one-by-one. So while the "good guys" are playing their actions, does the BT have to jump in and put his pawn on the board? What happens if one "good guy" happens to pass by the city BT is in, en route to some other city?

Example:

Player1 starts her turn in city A and wants to treat disease in city D.
BT resides in city C.
Player1 moves from A to D; via B and C.

Does BT jump in the gameplay to place his pawn on C, only to remove it again immediately?

Edit: As I stated in a comment below, how the goodies move becomes non-trivial for as the path from one city to another, may involve passing through different cities, even though the number of actions required might be the same.

Example: If a player announces that she's going from Cairo to Karachi, does the BT have to ask "via Baghdad or Riyadh?". Doing so, sort of invalidates the point of secrecy for the BT.

Yes, as soon as the player moves through the city you are in, you should interrupt them and inform them that you are in that city.  They then have the option of continuing with their original plan, or deciding to stop in that city and capture you instead.


What real-life buildings are the Settlers of Catan Victory point cards based on? Every version of Settlers of Catan that I've played (all US Mayfair, editions 1-4) has had a "University" victory point card that is clearly the church of Santa María del Naranco in Oviedo, Spain. Are any of the other victory point cards based on real-life buildings?

The chapel is a close depiction of the Gol Stave Church in Oslo. The palace, I don't know.


Are possessive apostrophes legal in Codenames? For example, "women's 3" for "health" So I want to say something like "women's 3" to indicate "health" which is a card on the board. If I did just "women 3", it's not as likely that my guesser would guess health. You often hear "women's health" or "men's health" magazines or websites, which is what I want to elude to with my hint.
However, when I says "women's 3" out loud, it could either be "womans 3" "womens 3", "woman's 3", or "women's 3", the first two aren't proper words you find in a dictionary, and the last two are somewhat "a word + a non-word/punctuation notation" because of the apostrophe s?
The rules say

Your clue must be about one word.

And

Don't be too strict.

And the following which is a given, but I'd like to know the general consensus of players because the game has a lot of flexible rules, so to figure out what rules are generally accepted by most players, asking StackExchange here might be the best option.

If the opposing spymaster allows it, the clue is valid.

I suppose this is more of a subjective question since "don't be too strict" has multiple interpretations. My thoughts are it's not too overpowered of a clue so we shouldn't to be too strict, but at the same it's not a proper word or it's a "word + a non-word/punctuation notation"?
I've asked another question about if contractions are allowed in Codenames, but I don't think it's a duplicate since even though both have apostrophes, they do differ in what rules they break. The other one might break the more than one word rule, and this one might break the invalid word rule.

If it's one English word and it's a clue about the meaning(s) of the word(s) on the table (and it isn't a form of any words on the table, etc.), then it's a valid clue, yes. Apostrophes are not prohibited.
(Not rule to cite; it is difficult to prove a negative).
For the question of "women's" vs. "woman's", etc., you are free to spell it out so as to disambiguate the clue (and should if asked) .

You are allowed to spell out your clue.

You should spell out your clue if someone asks.


Parcheesi Blockade Rule Is moving an existing blockade forward together to form a new blockade on a new space allowed?

Proposed answer : A new blockade cannot be formed

Parcheesi is the trademarked name of the American version of the Indian game Pachisi.
Milton-Bradley and Parker Brothers sold the game under this name and were acquired by Hasbro.

The Parker Brothers rules do not address the problem presented here.
Parker Brothers Parcheesi Rules

The Milton-Bradley rules do explicitly address the situation.

Milton-Bradley Parcheesi rules

Answer. You are not allowed to form a new blockade from an existing blockade.


How should I set up a draft from multiple old sets? I recently recovered a treasure trove of "lost" cards.

(If you're physically recoiling at the thought of all those warped and potentially bent cards, I'm right there with you)

They run the gamut from Portal (1st) to Odyssy Block to Zendikar Block to M10 and M11, and who knows what else. I'd like to catalog them eventually (I estimate about 5,000 cards, including land), but in the meantime, a friend suggested I use these to set up a draft!

Which, in retrospect, might be hard to realize.

There's a couple of issues at play here - the cards are obviously not in packs at this point, and while the rarity makes it pretty easy to compose boosters of 11 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare/mythic, the cards are not sorted per set -- are there any considerations to be made regarding to mixing sets? (At this point, I'm not even sure the full list of represented sets)

If so, which sets might be "better" for drafting? Part of the appeal of this box is the size of the timegap between the early and later cards,  so I'd like to mix in as many sets as possible.

In terms of numbers, each player getting 6 "packs" of 15 cards is usually how my friends and I draft -- is there a benefit to using more "packs" due to the set disparities? Any other thoughts or considerations I may have missed?

I'll extend my comment to an answer.

I would do the following: Sort the cards according to their color, plus one pile for multicolored, artifacts, and nonbasic lands.
Then make sure that each pile (except for the land pile) has around 70% creatures.
If the color piles are of very different size, then I would randomly remove some cards (or you could fill up the other piles with cards from your collection).
From the non-creature spells, try to keep removal and avoid silly situational cards like Mudhole. Then make booster packs of 15 cards that roughly contain an equal amount of cards of each color. With those booster packs you can then continue to create the limited format of your preference.
Personally, I would ignore rarity completely.


Great Orcs - how to tally terrain superiority? In the 2014 game published by Ares Games, The Great Orc's ability says

  Any terrain type is considered to be favored when Great Orcs are attacking.

Who counts as having favorable terrain when the Great Orcs' ability is used? Does that ability apply to each individual Great Orc or does it automatically give the army as a whole terrain superiority?

The rule wording could be better.

It means that each individual Great Orc counts the terrain as favored when they are in the attack. Other individual units have to check their terrain ability. Great Orcs in defense have no favored terrain.


Monopoly chance card "move to" utility owned by person who recieved card During a game a player picked up a chance card which told him to go to a utility. He however owned both utilities and it was therefore his property. He argued that the bank therefore owes him the 10× his roll. I said that he would simply owe himself the 10× dice roll. What is the rule here?

Nothing happens (or if you want to say he owes himself money you can).  Monopoly spells out what happens in the rules fairly well.  The Chance and Community Chest cards also do a good job of explaining what should happen.  Nothing in that Chance card says anything about the Bank paying in the event the property is owned by the player.  It simply says

  If OWNED, throw dice and pay owner a total ten times the amount
  thrown.

"Pay" is clearly an instruction to the player who drew the card, not the bank.


Distribution of tokens in Standard 4 player catan? My 4 player catan set has been mixed with my 5 & 6 player expansion set, parts have been lost, and last time I played we had 3 fields with an '8', no number '2' and a missing '10'.

Would someone be so kind as to run through the values in the standard game - i.e. A-R where A=x, etc…


Which dice game has a board with 9x9 squares that has different colors on the diagonals and midway on some edges? Can anyone identify this game?

It's played on a board of 9 by 9 squares, some of which (on the diagonals and midway on some edges) are different colours, reminding me of an abbreviated Scrabble board, but rather than tiles, the players cover the squares with cubes that have various coloured symbols on their faces.

The picture seems to show a board slightly more than 1 ft. square, with the squares and cubes having edges of 1-1.5 in.

It's a dice version of the match-3 (3 alike or 3 different) game "Set". It's cleverly enough called "Set Dice"


What are the odds of being dealt particular melds in Double Deck Pinochle? This is a followup to another question: What are the odds of getting a double run in four-handed pinochle?

I'd love to know the odds of being dealt particular melds in Double Deck Pinochle. I found a table of odds for Single Deck Pinochle, but nothing similar for the Double Deck variety.

Does anyone know how to calculate this?

Double Deck Pinochle is played with 80 cards: 4 of each rank (A 10 K Q J) for each suit. That's four Ace of Hearts, four Ace of Spades, etc. (Unlike the single deck variety, double deck Pinochle does not include 9s.) All 80 cards are dealt so that each player has 20 cards.

The odds of a given player being dealt hands with those melds in them are roughly as follows:

|  MELD TYPE  |   NONE   |  SINGLE  |  DOUBLE  |  TRIPLE  |   QUAD   |
| Runs        | 0.522113 | 0.476676 | 0.001211 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Marriages   | 0.055983 | 0.716652 | 0.221239 | 0.006113 | 0.000013 |
| Pinochles   | 0.528127 | 0.411803 | 0.058548 | 0.001521 | 0.000001 |
| Ace Arounds | 0.791536 | 0.206261 | 0.002203 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 |
| Roundhouses | 0.967973 | 0.032027 | 0.000000 |    [Not Possible]   |

These results are probably only accurate to one or two significant figures.

To understand the table - in each row the probabilities add up to 1. Taking the first row as an example - there is roughly no chance a hand will contain four or three runs in a single suit, 0.1% chance it will have a double run in a suit (i.e. ATKQJATKQJ in a single suit), 52% chance it will contain no runs, and 48% chance that it will contain a single run, but no double runs.  Note that if someone is dealt a hand containing exactly one of each of the 20 cards this would be counted as a single run in the above table, because it contains no double runs or better.

Method

Rather than calculate the exact probabilities (as the C program linked to in the question does), I simulated 1,000,000 deals and counted the number of each type of meld in the hand.  The script I used is here in case anyone wants to modify it.  1,000,000 hands took a few minutes to simulate.

To decide what to look for in the hand I used this double pinochle scoring chart.  I didn't calculate the probabilities of royal marriages because they are identical to the "Pinochles" row.  The other "Around" hand probabilities are identical to Aces Around.  The single deck probabilities contained an entry for "exactly 7 aces", which I didn't include as it's not a meld (and because it wasn't obvious what the analogous hand would be).

A roundhouse is a marriage in each suit, i.e. eight cards total.  Consequently it's not possible to get more than a double roundhouse in a twenty card hand.

Verification

To check the validity of the method I made some small changes in order to simulate the single deck 4 player game.  I ran it with 100,000 iterations and the results from this are very similar to the probabilities given by the C program:

|  MELD TYPE  |  NONE   | SINGLE  | DOUBLE  | TRIPLE  |  QUAD   |
| Runs        | 0.96159 | 0.03841 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 |
| Marriages   | 0.40970 | 0.57963 | 0.01067 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 |
| Pinochles   | 0.81385 | 0.18380 | 0.00235 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 |
| Ace Arounds | 0.97302 | 0.02698 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 |
| Roundhouses | 0.99973 | 0.00027 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 | 0.00000 |

Note that the triple and quad results are impossible with a single deck, and a double roundhouse is impossible with only twelve cards.

Suggested improvements

It would be interesting to calculate the exact probabilities, particularly for very rare hands.  The exhaustive search method of the original program has to consider about 5*109 hands for four players and 6*1010 hands for three players.  For twenty cards chosen from a deck of eighty it would need to consider 3*1018 hands. Since the original source said that the three player game was analysed in 12 minutes, we can extrapolate that double pinochle would be done in about 1140 years!

This doesn't mean that the probabilities can't be calculated exactly, just that a more clever method would need to be used. The symmetry of the deck should help with this, but the results above were enough to convince me that I wasn't going to get dealt a quad-run any time soon.*

* The chance of a quad-run is about 1 in 1018, as there are exactly four possible quad-run hands (one for each suit), and there are about 3*1018 hands in total.


What is the process for determining if an infinite loop will be a draw? Related to this question, and inspired by this question, I realized that I don't know what the game play will actually look like when an infinite loop arises.
Imagine that Lethal Vapors and Solemnity are on the battlefield. Alice casts a creature with undying or persist, and it resolves. This should cause an infinite loop of triggers, because the creature will be destroyed when it enters the battlefield, and it will return to the battlefield when it dies.
Now, either player can easily stop the infinite loop, because Lethal Vapors has an ability that will end the loop, which can be activated by either player. But let's say both players think that the loss of turn that comes from activating that ability will be enough to cause them to lose the game. So what specifically happens now?
I would imagine that in a casual setting, both players would simply discuss "ok, this is an infinite loop. I'm not doing anything to stop it; are you doing anything to stop it? No? Ok, draw then".
But in a more formal setting (either a tournament, or a casual game where both players really want to follow every CR to the letter), whose responsibility is it to take what action and when? Alice has priority, so she passes it. Bob then passes priority, and Lethal Vapors' trigger resolves. Then Alice has priority, so she passes it. Bob then passes priority, so the undying trigger resolves. Is one of them responsible for using their priority to suggest a draw?
Are the rules for shortcuts relevant here? Although it seems like a shortcut isn't really involved, the rules for dealing with infinite loops are under the rules for taking shortcuts (section 720).
The only relevant rules I can see are these 3:

720.1b Occasionally the game gets into a state in which a set of actions could be repeated indefinitely (thus creating a “loop”). In that case, the shortcut rules can be used to determine how many times those actions are repeated without having to actually perform them, and how the loop is broken.
720.4. If a loop contains only mandatory actions, the game is a draw. (See rules 104.4b and 104.4f.)
720.5. No player can be forced to perform an action that would end a loop other than actions called for by objects involved in the loop.

So it says "the game is a draw", but when specifically does the game become a draw? Does one player have an obligation to propose a shortcut here? I don't actually see a legal shortcut that would work to cause a draw, however, as shortcuts for loops generally involve naming a finite number of times that you want the action to happen.

What you are describing is a loop of mandatory actions. Unless someone breaks it, the game ends in a draw.

  720.4. If a loop contains only mandatory actions, the game is a draw. (See rules 104.4b and 104.4f.)

That said, noone is forced to break it even if they could.

  720.5. No player can be forced to perform an action that would end a loop other than actions called for by objects involved in the loop.

You seem to be asking how to get the game declared a draw. 104.4i allows the players to mutually agree to a draw.

  104.4i In a tournament, all players in the game may agree to an intentional draw. See rule 100.6.

If the other player refuses to accept, you can't just keep passing, because that would be Slow Play.

That leaves the option of creating a shortcut. The active player should propose passing until the loop is broken (or until they get priority in the next phase/step for a loop that doesn't span phases/steps). If the opponent accepts the shortcut, the game is officially a draw because neither player ever gets priority again.


Can I steal from a city with a city wall? So I was playing the Cities & Knights scenario in the Catan app. On my turn, I rolled a seven. I moved the robber on the mountains hex where both of my opponents have a settlement and a city adjacent to it, as shown in the photo.

After I did that, the red player's settlement lights up, meaning I can steal from him. What I don't understand is, why did the green city not light up? I know that a city with a city wall adds 2 extra cards to your card limit, but I'm not quite sure that it also protects your cards when a player moves the robber on a hex adjacent to your walled city?

Yes, you can steal from a player even if he has a city wall.

The rules make no mention of a city wall having any effect on stealing from a player when the robber is moved. As you said, the only thing that the walls do is increase your hand limit by 2 for how many cards you can safely hold when a 7 is rolled.

I can't say why the green city did not light up; you would probably have to check with the app's support about that. But do you have any particular reason for thinking that it has to do with the city wall? If it is a bug in the app, that bug could be any number of things, including possibly the app treating a city wall as protection from getting stolen from.


In Midway, would it make sense for the U.S. player to save his "punch" for the arrival of the Atago on Day 2? In the Avalon Hill board game, the cruiser Atago is the flagship of a fleet of eight transports carrying 5,000 soldiers for the occupation of Midway. As such, it "represents" the transports and sinking the Atago is tantamount sinking the transports.

This move is worth some 20 points, four for the Atago itself, and 16 for each turn (on days 3 and 4) that the Americans hold Midway. Moreover, it deprives Japan of the chance to earn 15 points for capturing Midway, for a total swing of 35 points. For comparison, sinking a large carrier such as Japan's Kaga or America's Yorktown is worth 10 points.

Japan cannot defend the Atago against an all out attack. The only way to (indirectly) defend it is to (greatly) weaken the American airforce on the first day. As a practical matter, if the Americans lose their carriers but preserve 30 squadrons on Midway, it can sink the Atago.

As discussed in a previous question, the Americans maintain their advantage only by staying within range of Midway-based planes. If they go outside this range, they will be at a disadvantage. Might it therefore make sense for the Americans to wait for the Japanese to "come and get them" with the Atago? (This was NOT the strategy used in real life, where the Americans aggressively, and successfully went after the Japanese carriers early on the second day.

The drawback of such a strategy (I've tried it as the US player in the 1960s edition, and responded as the Japanese player) is that you can, in fact, prevent the Atago from being sunk - unless you happen to roll very, very poorly as the Japanese player.

All Dive Bombers have to be placed atop the target ship.

All Torpedo Bombers are placed in sectors surrounding the target ship.

But all of any given type of aircraft in any given sector (5 possible total sectors - atop, starboard, port, aft, bow) attack as one for that attack wave.

It's not all that hard to properly space your vessels, as the Japanese player, to [nearly] guarantee the attack fails.

And if you're playing the advanced game, with the addition of Fighters and CAP, it becomes easier yet.

The only way this method can work, in my experience, is to attack pretty much everything in the board unit that holds the Atago - presuming, of course, you "know" which unit that is. That way even if you fail to sink the Atago, you may be able to inflict serious damage to the carrier groups, allowing the possibility of preventing the Japanese occupation of Midway itself.

The 60s edition, which I've played most, reflects well the relative strengths of both sides in that battle - and I've only seen the Japanese player win twice (both of which were when I was playing as the Japanese): and this is in dozens of times through the game, will various aspects of official (and occasional house) rules used, against both novice- and highly-seasoned players.


Playing lands with Ugin's ultimate With Ugin, the Spirit Dragon's third ability, it says "Gain seven life, draw 7 cards, and place up to 7 permanents from your hand to the battlefield." Does this include land because land is a permanent, or is the "1 land per turn" rule still in effect?

You can put lands onto the battlefield with Ugin's ability because you are not playing lands (a special action limited to once a turn) you are just putting them onto the battlefield.

115.2a Playing a land is a special action. To play a land, a player puts that land onto the battlefield from the zone it was in (usually that player’s hand). By default, a player can take this action only once during each of his or her turns. A player can take this action any time he or she has priority and the stack is empty during a main phase of his or her turn.
305.4. Effects may also allow players to “put” lands onto the battlefield. This isn’t the same as “playing a land” and doesn’t count as a land played during the current turn.


Why do double-faced planeswalkers from Origins get exiled before being transformed? In Magic the Gathering Origins set, there is a cycle of 5 creatures, each that are double-sided and have a planeswalker on the back side. Previously when double-sided cards were used, the cards had a condition that when triggered, said to "transform [CARD NAME]". However, with this cycle of cards, instead of simply being transformed, when the condition is met, the cards are exiled and then returned to the battlefield transformed.

Is there a reason for this? There's obviously a few different situations in which case this will be different for game purposes, such as if the creature was being targeted by a spell on the stack when it's transform condition triggered. But most of the time it would play out the same. And the new version is a little wordier than the old, as well as different than what people were used to; so I'm assuming that there's either a mechanical reason or a flavorful reason for doing it this way. Are there any rules issues that would be caused by a creature simply transforming into a planeswalker?

There are two main reasons for this way of doing it, one mechanics based, and one flavor based.

The mechanical reason is that if they just transformed they would need to have additional text to put the loyalty counters on them, whereas if they exile then enter transformed they enter with the appropriate number of loyalty counters.

The flavor reason is it represents them Planeswalking when their spark ignites, then returning to help you out.


Axis and Allies 1942 second edition and attacking subs When a Sub attacks a battleship in Axis and Allies 1942 second edition. Can the battleship defend itself against the attacking sub?

http://axisallies.com/rules/axis-allies-rules-1942-2nd-edition.pdf

From "3. General Combat"

The Battleship can defend itself during "Step 4. Defending Units Fire" as long as it is alive, or if it was moved behind the Casualty Strip in "Step 3. Attacking Units Fire".

If the Battleship is destroyed during "Step 2. Submarine Surprise Strike or Submerge", then no, it does not get to defend itself.

  Step 2. Submarine Surprise Strike or Submerge ... Once all attacking
  and defending submarines that conducted a Surprise Strike have fired,
  the casualties they have generated are removed from the game and this
  step is over for this round of combat.


In Catan, when a settlement breaks a road. Do the other existing roads sit there? or are they removed? Recently, I came upon an odd rule that states that a town/city placed in between two enemy roads "displaces" the enemy roads, now let's say there is a large stretch of road with only one town connected. And my opponent places a town in between my roads to "displace" it. Does the side not connected to my town get removed, or does it sit there?

In case you don't understand what I'm trying to say here. I'll provide a simple diagram and I'll restate the problem.

*---B-----#-------A-----

Ok, let's say the asterisk is my town and the hash key is the enemy town. And obviously the dashs are my roads.

Since the enemy town displaces the main road into two different sections(section B and section A). Does section A sit there? or is it removed from the game?

Looking at http://www.catan.com/service/game-rules I can't find the word 'displace' so i'm not sure exactly what rule you are referring to. So I will answer your question by explaining what would happen quoting the rules.

Building a settlement.

  You must meet 2 conditions when building a settlement: (1) Your
  settlement must always connect to 1 or more of your own roads. (2) You
  must observe the Distance Rule.

There is nothing there about removing roads from the map.

in the Longest Road section it states.

  You can break an opponent’s road by building a settlement on an
  unoccupied intersection along his road!

This might apply in the example you have given.  Your longest road length will no be either section A or B, depending which is longer.  There is nothing in the rules about removing roads from the map here either.


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

Like Eternal Soul:

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

L. Scott Johnson is right, but I'd like to add a bit more of an explanation.

Basically, it depends on Spell Speed

In yugioh, all spells, traps, and otherwise activated card effects have a Spell Speed. This property determines things like when the cards/effects can be activated, and when/if they can be activated in response to another activation.

Spell Speed 1 cards and effects may only be activated by the turn player during their Main Phase 1/2, and may only be activated as the first effect in the chain. They cannot be used to respond to other effects.

Spell Speed 2 cards and effects may being activated during either player's turn, during any phase (except during the damage step; this is more nuanced and touched upon in a bit), and at any point in the chain - provided that the conditions for their activation are met, and that the most recently activated card/effect is of Spell Speed 2 or less.

The only Spell Speed 3 cards are Counter Traps - these can be activated anytime their conditions for activation (typically quite restrictive) are met, unless explicitly forbidden by some other card effect.

You may hear some people refer to "Spell Speed 4"; this is just a player-invented term for cards like Super Polymerization which read "Neither player can activate cards or effects in response to this card's activation."

Normal, Continuous, Equip and Field spell cards are all inherently considered to have Spell Speed 1, as are all of their effects. Some of these, like Supply Squad, have effects that can activate during the opponent's turn and/or after the start of the chain, but these are generally triggered by something mandatory and are still considered to have Spell Speed 1.

Quick-Play Spell cards, along with Normal and Continuous Trap Cards, are all inherently considered to have Spell Speed 2, as are all of their effects. This is why, in the case of Eternal Soul, the "Once per turn" effect can still be activated during the opponent's turn - the effect is one of a continuous trap card, and so is inherently Spell Speed 2 (a Quick Effect). As another example, the effect of Unending Nightmare can be activated during either player's turn as well.

In the context of monster effects

The luxury of inferred Spell Speed unfortunately does not exist for monsters. We are, however, given very consistent text conventions to indicate the Spell Speed of monster effects. Monster effects will quite explicitly state whether an effect is Spell Speed 2 or not. The old convention, "During either player's turn," has been updated to "(Quick Effect)". If you see either of those phrases in the activation text of any card, the effect is Spell Speed 2. Otherwise, the effect is Spell Speed 1.

Damage Step sometimes makes things muddy

The Damage Step restricts what sorts of cards and effects are allowed to activate. Most obviously, cards that say "During the damage step", "During damage calculation", "When ___ is destroyed by battle", etc. are allowed to activate at that time. Outside of this, however, the rule of thumb is that a card/effect may not activate during the damage step unless:

It is a counter-trap card
Its activation is mandatory
It negates the activation of a card/effect (Note Activation, not Effect of)
It directly modifies the Attack/Defense of any monster(s)


What land destruction enabler was wrongfully banned in the early history of Magic: the Gathering? I once heard a story about a Land Destruction deck that dominated tournaments at some point in early Magic's history. The story as I remember it is that the deck ran heavy land destruction to deny resources to the opponent, and it won with another card, which I believe dealt damage based on lands destroyed.

The card in question was inevitably banned, and Mark Rosewater occasionally comments that it's not the card's fault the deck was winning, and Land Destruction in general should have been seen as the problem instead.

What is the name of the card that was banned this way?

Dingus Egg was banned once upon a time, and it does 2 damage to the land's controller when a land is put into the graveyard from play. A few of these do a lot of damage per land, I've seen it in a few land destruction decks over the years. It's not currently banned in any formats it would otherwise be legal in.


What are the rules with attached creepers in Cthulhu Fluxx? If I have a creeper attached to an investigator, does that still prevent me from winning?  I understand that having a lone creeper in front of you prevents you from winning---unless the goal says otherwise---but what if it’s attached to an investigator that is needed to win?

I know that if you attach a creeper to a keeper that removes the keepers special powers, but does it also strip the keeper of being a playable card?  I find that the Cthulhu Fluxx deck is stacked with creepers but not nearly enough cards and abilities to discard those creepers.  Thanks for the clarification!

You cannot win with a creeper out, even if it is attached to an investigator, unless that creeper is a condition of the victory (such as the Insane Nightmares goal)

See this image taken from http://i.imgur.com/PEk2UQV.jpg for the card text:


Is Mjolnir an Action Die? Here is the card text for Mjolnir "Thor's Hammer":

  Deal 4 damage to all characters other than Thor (yours and your opponent's). * Deal 5 damage instead.

If so, Storm "Weather Witch" would also be immune to Mjolnir's damage, which is a useful player advantage.

Yes, Mjolnir is an Action Die.

There are only two types of dice in Marvel Dice Masters - character dice and action dice.

  Actions ... have no numbers around the die's custom symbol.

Mjolnir has no numbers around the hammer icon, thus it is an action die.

Source: rules.


Instants - are the creatures blocked or not? Player A attacks with two creatures. Player B plays the instant card Give No Ground on a creature and blocks two attacking creatures. Player A then plays the instant Disperse.

Are those two creatures blocked or not?

It depends on when player A casts disperse.

If player B said "I cast Give No Ground and block the two creatures",  player A could say either

"In response to the cast"
"after it resolves but before blockers"

and cast Disperse and both creatures would be unblocked.

Otherwise, if B actually gets to declare blockers, the creatures will remain blocked.


May a player try to hunt again if his cards were sniped? Say an opponent decides to hunt with a scavenger. You play a sniper from your hand and snipe the scavanger. Since this hunt "didn't happen" may the opponent try to hunt again?

From the BGG FAQ about snipers and saboteurs

  Q. If a player has been sniped or sabotaged while resource gathering,
  is he still required to use or discard the other cards he played for
  hunting/hiring, digging, or drawing?

  A. No, only the card that was sniped/disarmed is discarded, and all
  other cards involved in that action can be taken back into hand and
  re-purposed to perform a different hunt/hire, dig or draw action, or
  to do something else entirely.

Yes, they can re-use the item(s) and attempt the action again (this is specifically stated in another thread by the designer).


Chess variant that allows humans to be competitive vs computers It seems that computers can beat the majority of chess players out there, and at the current rate in which distributed computing is going, it seems like the #1 chess player out there will be computers these days.

However, this is different with Go, as the best AI available out there cannot beat a decent player.

Are there any chess variants, which while still maintaining some sort of similarity with chess, cannot be effectively played by a computer, while still playable by humans at a level better than AIs?

I was thinking a bigger board with more pieces would help, but rules changes might be needed as well to change the gameplay a bit. But I suppose the further you drift from the original chess game, the less interest people might have on it.

Yes.  In fact, Arimaa was designed explicitly for this purpose.

http://arimaa.com/

It was designed by an AI expert who wanted a game where humans could beat the best computers.  There is a contest every year called the Arimaa Challenge where AI's compete to try to beat the best humans.  So far, none have.


Starfarers of Catan game mechanics I'm looking to speed up turns and overall gameplay in Starfarers of Catan without reducing victory point milestones. Is it feasible to play the game without event cards if the black ball is given a value of 2? This would reduce emphasis on cannons (and hence, sideline pirate lairs until near the end of the game-probably), but would there be any perceived detriment to gameplay?

You could try it. It probably wouldn't fundamentally ruin the game. It would reduce the randomness. Depending on your group's preferences that could be a good or bad thing. Overall the event cards are more or less breakeven, so removing them wouldn't slow the game down much, and would reduce the reading and decisions encountered in the game, which would probably speed it up.

Normally the black ball sets the base speed to 3 (regardless of what the other ball is); that makes the average base speed 3.5. The second change you propose, to use 2 for the black ball, would raise the average base speed to 4. Not a huge difference and again, unlikely to break the game. And faster movement would get ships to colonizable planets faster.

Cannons would indeed lower in importance, and they're arguably already a lower priority than other uses.


Are some MTG sets statistically more likely to yield more valuable cards? When buying booster packs, I always wonder which one I should by this time, and I often pick randomly (or for superficial reasons). However, it must be that some sets have more useful, valuable or expensive cards than others (which is often determined by players after the cards have been released), and all of these being more likely to be found than others in a booster pack.

My question is in fact a few inter-related questions. Is there a way to determine the likelihood of obtaining individual cards in a booster pack? If so, based on average card prices, is it possible to determine what packs should yield statistically better cards? Has anyone ever done this before?

You're thinking about this as if you are buying packs to sell the cards, but are you really buying packs to play with the cards?  Unless you are likely to immediately sell the rare cards out of your pack, picking ones based on the current selling price is pretty much meaningless.  If you're buying to play with the cards, it would make a lot more sense to think about cards that you are interested in adding to your play collection, and then buy the set that gives you the best chance of getting those cards.


Does a winning strategy exist for Don't Break the Ice? Don't Break the Ice is a children's game, where players take turns using mallets to knock pieces of ice away from the playing field. The playfield is composed of a (6 x 6) grid of single square blocks, except for the 2x2 block that the skating bear is on.

The object of the game is to not break the ice and have the bear fall.

Is there an winning strategy? If so, for which player? Assumptions:

Each player only knocks out one block of their choice.
Blocks are 'sticky' and will cling to each other along any edge, and so:
The game ends when the center 2x2 square has been disconnected from the exterior of the 6x6 square; that is, when there is no orthogonal (connected along the edges) path from any cell outside the 6x6 square to a cell in the interior of the central 2x2.

If I understand the game correctly, there should be a winning strategy for the player going last. If we first disregard the corners, then the bear will fall when the second last block is removed:

--X---
--X---
--BB--
--BB--
------
------

(or similar)
Since the number of blocks is even, this block will be removed by the player going first.
Now, there are two complication. First, the last block removed may include the corner:

-X----
-X----
-XBB--
--BB--
------
------

or

-X----
-XX---
--BB--
--BB--
------
------

Since the number of remaining blocks is now odd, the player going last would lose.
Second, a block may fall due to being disconnected. As Steven notes, only four blocks can possibly fall this way. If an odd number of blocks fall, then the player going last will be the one to make the last move in the first setting.

However, both of these can easily be avoided by attacking the corner blocks first. Since it requires two moves to remove a corner block, the second player can always remove the corner block before the first can make it fall, and of course before all side blocks are removed. This ensures that the final position will be of the first kind, and thus that the player going first loses.


What is an LCG (Living Card Games)? What is an LCG?

I was looking at Lord of the Rings board games and came across Lord Of The Rings: The Card Game.

I saw that all of the expansions were marked with LCG. I've done some Google searches, but there doesn't seem to be anything like a Wikipedia entry for LCG.

Is LCG a genre?
How does it compare to Magic (CCG)?
Or Dominion (Deck Building)?

I believe that Living Card Games is a term used (and owned) by Fantasy Flight Games.

You can read about them on their website.  The basic theory is that they release a core set and potentially endless expansion packs.  However unlike Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, each set (core or otherwise) comes complete in each pack.

This should keep the cost much less for LCG's.


Can a creature be set up to regenerate and still deal combat damage? Regeneration has passed through several changes in its rulings. It now says that after the regen has been resolved, creature must tap and be removed from combat. This means a lot, and it is quite different from the old MTG ruling: for instance, old cards (just like Clay Statue, and many others) are almost completely obsolete. But it is better to take a modern card to make examples, and questions about it.

If Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon has been blocked by a 5/5 flying creature, his controller has 2 options:

Leave the dragon fight and deal his 4 infect damages to the 5/5 blocker, but Skithiryx dies too, since its controller has chosen to do not regenerate it; or,
Regenerate Skithiryx, and therefore remove it from the combat – but this means that dragon isn’t able to deal his 4 infect damages to the flying blocker.

Is all this example correct?

We are able to regenerate Skithiryx and assign combat damage. Option 2 is not accurately depicting how regenerate works.

When we use an ability or spell that says "regenerate (some creature)", we are not then and there performing the regenerate procedure (tap it, remove it from combat, remove damage marked on it). Instead, we're applying a sort of shield. Next time the creature dies, the shield gets used up and the regenerate procedure happens.

Specifically, Regeneration is a replacement effect that replaces the next time the creature would be destroyed. You can read about it in the comprehensive rules under rule 701.14.

It's a bit confusing and that's part of why regenerate has faded away.

In the case of Skithiryx, this is what will typically happen in your example:

I attack with Skithiryx. You block it with your 5/5.
At the end of the blocking step, before combat damage happens, I activate Skithiryx's regenerate ability. Nothing happens now, but the regeneration shield is made.
We advance to combat damage. Simultaneously, your 5/5 deals 5 damage to Skithiryx, then Skithiryx assigns 4 infect damage to your 5/5.
Immediately after combat damage, state-based actions are checked. Skithiryx has lethal damage marked on it and so would be destroyed. The regeneration shield we created is now applied and expended: we tap Skithiryx, remove all combat damage from it, and remove it from combat (which hardly matters since combat is almost over at this stage).

So ol' Skithy deals its damage and survives, and you now have a 1/1 flier.


Is Mr. Jack Pocket balanced? [To be clear, this is about the distinct two-player edition called Mr. Jack Pocket. This is not about the full-size board game Mr. Jack.]

I really like Mr. Jack Pocket , but I wonder if it's not entirely balanced. It seems to me that it is much easier to win as the Inspector than as Jack. Or perhaps I'm missing some key strategic element to equalize the odds. Does anyone have a deeper analysis of this game?

Short answer: No, 55% winning chance for the Inspector.

Here is a quote from the designer Bruno Cathala on balance in the game.

It is taken from a reply on Boardgamegeek

  concerning balance of the game, i just want to give you some statistics.
  The final balance has been made with testors belonging to the top of the mr jack players on internet (http://mrjack.hurricangames.com)

  And, moreover, an artificial intelligence has been developped to help us.

  I will speak here only about games played exactly with the final set rules.

  If i consider games played by human player against an other human player:

  196 games have been played
  108(55%) won by inspector (96 by primal goal, and 12 after hunting jack because he got 6 hourglasses at the same time he was identified)
  88 (45%) won by jack (53 by primal goal, 33 staying invisible after being hunted, and 2 by "dawn")

  now let's see what happens when the computer plays against himself:
  340 games have been played
  187(55%) won by inspector (140 by primal goal, and 47 after hunting jack because he got 6 hourglasses at the same time he was identified)
  153 (45%) won by jack (97 by primal goal, 55 staying invisible after being hunted, and 1 by "dawn")

  So.. that's the reason why i know that the balance is slightly in favor of inspector, but not enough to really create a problem. (Experience and/or tactic competence is much more important to win ;-))

  Hoping these results will interest you..
  all the best
  bruno


Karlov of the Ghost Council and Extort Will Karlov of the Ghost Council gain its counters if I use extort right after playing it?

E.g.: I play him, then I use extort because I played him, will it gain its counters?

No, Karlov will not gain counters.

Extort will resolve before Karlov. When you gain life from Extort, Karlov will not be on the battlefield yet, and his ability only works while on the battlefield.

  702.100a Extort is a triggered ability. “Extort” means “Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay {W/B}. If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain life equal to the total life lost this way.”

The order of play is:

You cast Karlov, it goes on the stack.
Because of the completed cast of Karlov, Extort triggers. It goes on the stack on top of Karlov.
Extort resolves first because it is the top-most item on the stack. You decide to pay the costs, and you gain life.
Karlov resolves and enters the battlefield. His triggered ability starts listening for life-gain events.


Moment of selecting a target from an ability of a planeswalker I have a Nissa, Vital Force at 3 loyalty in play and I know she will die next turn so I use her -3:

  Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand.

Can I return my Nissa, Vital Force from my graveyard with this ability or do I have to choose a target before the game checks if she has 0 loyalty and puts her in the graveyard?

Nissa will not be put into the graveyard until after you are done activating her ability (including choosing a target) so she will not be a legal target for her ability.
The process of activating an ability involves (among several other things) choosing targets and paying costs; these happen before the ability can go on the stack. Planeswalkers are put into the graveyard as a state-based action, these are checked every time a player would gain priority. Players don't gain priority during the process of activating an ability so there is no way for Nissa to be in the graveyard when you choose targets for her ability.

602.2. To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Only an object’s controller (or its owner, if it doesn’t have a controller) can activate its activated ability unless the object specifically says otherwise. Activating an ability follows the steps listed below, in order. [...]
602.2b The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2b–i.
601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. [...]
601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.
601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, he or she gets priority.
116.2d State-based actions happen automatically when certain conditions are met. See rule 704. They’re dealt with before a player would receive priority. See rule 116.5.
704.5i If a planeswalker has loyalty 0, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard.


Current 'Axis & Allies: War at sea' Rulebook? I recently a booster pack for this game, so I don't have the rulebook.

Reading in other sites and reading the website I found the one listed here but it appears that there is yet one more. I can't find a digital copy of it!

If there really is an electronic revised/newer rulebook, where can I find it?

The page you linked has a "Quickstart Guide" and "Advanced Rules". What else are you looking for? That is, what did you see that led you to believe there is anything else?