How can I spend the mana from Lion's Eye Diamond? With this question, I would like to shed some light on the Lion's Eye Diamond card, and some of its possible uses. It is an incredible card, which in some ways is similar to the Black Lotus, but which unfortunately cannot be completely associated with it, for obvious reasons.

First, it is possible to note that the Oracle card text and the original card text are noticeably different. At first glance, it would seem that the only current use for this card is the ability to use the three mana for some activated ability of the cards that are already in play.

In fact, I think I can exclude the possibility of "starting to cast a spell".
With this last expression, I mean in the sense that, having chosen a spell from the hand, and with the Diamond already on the battlefield, you can cast it thus excluding it from the hand – and thus sidestepping this way the wording "discard your hand" as regards the spell you would cast with the help of the Diamond.

In other words, I don't think it's possible to use this card as a mana source anymore, and with the rules associated with mana sources only: this is also because, unlike the original text, Oracle says that the ability of this card can now only be played as an instant.

But even this use seems really strange to me ... Before the errata, it was a mana source, and now, even if it remains largely such, it must be used as an instant ... There remains, in my opinion, no other possibility of using this card for the activated abilities of the cards already in play.

I would want to know if what is reported here is correct, and if any expert – or, who has ever played with this card – has any idea how it can be used differently from the way shown here.

Lion's Eye Diamond was not errataed to make it harder to use, it was errataed to maintain its original functionality

Lion's Eye Diamond is old.  It was printed in Mirage, which was released in 1996, only three years after Magic was first printed.  As such, it predates the Sixth Edition Rules, the largest rules revamp Magic has ever seen.  The Sixth Editions Rules restructured how a turn works, implemented the stack (replacing a previous concept of spell resolution called "batching"), and notably for our purposes, changed when you were allowed to get mana.

Before the Sixth Edition Rules, you had to have your mana available before you started to cast a spell.  But the Sixth Edition Rules created mana abilities which did not use the stack, and could be used during casting when you are asked to pay for mana (Mana Sources, like Lion's Eye Diamond's ability were not what mana abilities are now.  They acted more like instants that produce mana).

The intention of Lion's Eye Diamond was to force you to discard your hand before getting the mana, so that you couldn't use the mana to cast spells.  The Sixth Edition Rules made it possible to use LED while a spell was already in the process of being cast, circumventing that intention.  So LED was given errata that required it to be cast at instant speed, returning it to its original functionality.


How do you score the Mayor in an unfinished city? How do you score the Mayor in an unfinished city at the end of a game of Carcassonne?

The Mayor's ability allows him to count as more than one follower. So at the end of the game, an unfinished city is scored as normal - compare the Mayor's effective follower number with that of any other player present in the city. The player(s) with the most followers each score one point per city tile, and one point for each pennant.
The only special case is that if the city has no pennants, then the Mayor doesn't count as a follower, and can't score anything.
Here are the relevant rules:

On his turn, a player may place his mayor instead of a follower. He
may only place his mayor in a city, which has no knight or follower.
The usual follower placing rules apply. When a city is scored, the
mayor counts for as many followers as there are pennants in the city. For example, if the city has 3 pennants,
the mayor counts as 3 followers. If the city has no pennants, the mayor counts as no followers. A normal follower counts as 1 follower. The large follower from Inns & Cathedrals counts as 2 followers. The value of the city is not changed by the presence of a mayor. After scoring the city, the player takes his mayor back.


What amount of color overlap does intimidate require? I would like to make sure I understand intimidate well. If I have a green and blue creature, I can block a green creature with intimidate, because my creature shares a colour with it, right? And generally, creature is able to block creatute with intimidate if it shares at least one colour with it, colours don't have to be exactly the same?

The colors don't need to be exactly the same. The creatures just have to overlap by at least one color.

The intimidate reminder text tells us:

  Intimidate (This creature can’t be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it.)

A green creature with intimidate can be blocked by any creature that is at least green, including a blue-green creature, or even just a mono-green creature, because it will share a color with them.

Likewise a blue-green creature with intimidate can be blocked by any creature that is at least green or blue: the blocker could be mono-blue, or green-red, etc. This means a five-color card like Progenitus is never intimidated by any colored creature with intimidate.

Naturally also artifact creatures can always block any creature with intimidate, regardless of their colors or lack thereof.


Why were the rules for Proliferate changed? With the release of War of the Spark, the rules for Proliferate changed. Previously, they allowed you to add 1 counter to the chosen permanents and players, of a type it already had. Now, it adds an additional counter for every type of counter already present.

This seems like a big change that suddenly changes the way a bunch of existing cards work; in most cases making all of those cards stronger. Why alter the power level of all those existing cards?
It almost seems like if they one day said that from now on, "Lifelink" means that you get 2 life for every damage instead of 1.

In this article about War of the Spark rules changes, it mentions that the rules were changed:

  The rules for proliferate got a makeover! The rule reminding you who chooses counters is dropped, since there are no more choices on the counters, and the other two rules are updated to match the new reality.

But this seems to be a change just to deal with the fact that "Proliferate" changed; it's not an explanation of the fact that Proliferate changed or why.

Is there an article or source that announces and explains this change?

According to a post from Mark Rosewater (Lead Designer for Magic: The Gathering), the reasons were to make the mechanic as a whole more easily understandable, along with seemingly wanting to streamline the experience in digital MtG games.
Quoting the post in its entirety both for reference and relevance:

R&D is always on the lookout for ways to make cleaner, more straight-forward mechanics. This makes mechanics easier to process in tabletop and lessens the amounts of clicks on digital.
When we decided to bring back proliferate, we realized we could make a simple change that would both, on average, make the mechanic more powerful and clean it up for digital.
Previously if a player or creature had more than one counter, you the owner of the proliferating source chose which one of the different counters to duplicate. This new version doesn’t make you chose, but instead duplicates all of them. Remember, you still choose which players and/or permanents to proliferate.
Yes, there’s a tiny scenario where you have to chose between duplicating both a positive and a negative counter, but that’s far less likely than the scenario where you have two different types of counters you want to duplicate (especially on creatures as +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters negate one another).


How do you calculate the likelihood of drawing certain cards in your opening hand? In Magic, at the start of the game, you draw 7 cards. How would you calculate the likelihood of drawing a specific card in your opening hand?

For example, let's say I have a 60 card deck, and I'm running 4 Birds of Paradise. What is the percent chance that I will have at least one Bird in my opening hand?

The calculation you are looking for is called a Hypergeometric Distribution. This calculated your chances of drawing a particular number of "successes" from a population, without replacement.

Population Size: 60 cards
Successes in Population: 4 Birds of Paradise
Sample Size: 7 cards
Successes in Sample: 1 (the minimum number we want to draw)
Results: 39% chance of drawing at least 1 Birds of Paradise.

In the Hypergeometric Distribution calculator linked above, that result is represented in the Cumulative Probability: P(X ≥ 1) field: the chance of drawing greater than or equal to 1.

The online calculator will also give you the odds of drawing greater than that many successes in the sample (6%, the P(X > 1) result), and exactly that number (33%, the Hypergeometric Probability: P(X = 1) result).

You can see the calculation on the Wikipedia page, or searching math.stackexchange.com for Hypergeometric Distribution. Unfortunately, this site doesn't support math formatting. (Note: You will also need to know how to calculate binomial coefficients (and factorials).


"At the beginning of the end step" versus "Until end of turn" If Deceiver of Form is used to copy my Biovisionary, does his "at the beginning of the end step" ability resolve before Deceiver of Form's "until end of turn" ability expires, thus making Deceiver of Form a fairly easy way to "win the game"?

Yes.  "At the beginning of the end step" abilities trigger at, well, the beginning of the end step, while "until end of turn effects" expire at the beginning of the cleanup step, which is after the end step.  Thus, Biovisionary's ability will trigger and resolve while all your creatures are still Biovisionaries.

Comprehensive Rules references:

  512.1. The ending phase consists of two steps: end and cleanup. [This appears to be the closest thing to an explicit statement that end precedes cleanup.]

  514.2. Second, the following actions happen simultaneously [during the cleanup step]: all damage marked on permanents (including phased-out permanents) is removed and all “until end of turn” and “this turn” effects end. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.


In One Night Werewolf: Monster, does the master play? I got the ruleset for One Night Werewolf:Monsters and it mentions that it can be played with 3-7 players.
However, I don't think it is clear if the Master is also a player or just narrates the game and does not actually play?

All play. You don't need a master: the players can all call the time/sequence (with their heads down and eyes closed) as needed. If you have a spare "player" who wants to moderate, that's fine, too, of course.


How does jumping work in Descent 2nd Edition? In Descent: Journeys in the Dark, 2nd Edition, the rules state:

  Figures cannot jump over a pit space.

I never saw jumping mentioned anywhere else in the rules. How does jumping work and where is it defined?

This is not the same as this question, as that question is dealing with the 1st edition.

You cannot jump in Descent 2nd Edition. I believe this statement is in the rulebook to notify First Edition players that this is a difference in the editions: you can no longer spend extra movement to jump across a pit you are aware of.


Is Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood a potential game ender? If both Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood are in play and target player loses any life, is the game over?

Either your opponent will have to lose life or you will have to gain life to start the process. Then, yes, unless someone does something to stop it, you'll enter a loop which will win you the game.

As hinted above, there are numerous effects that can change the outcome. If an opponent controls Platinum Angel, if they cast Angel's Grace, or if you control Abyssal Persecutor, the game will enter into a loop of mandatory actions which will end the game in a draw. If an opponent has hexproof or shroud for some reason (e.g. Witchbane Orb, True Believer), Sanguine Bond won't be able to target him or her and the loop will terminate. Voidslime can end the loop (but doesn't prevent from being restarted later).


Re-rolling secured red/yellow dice in Elder Sign? It's clear from the rules that any player can use the red/yellow dice secured by a spell during their turn for resolving a task without using an Add red/yellow die Cards' effects. The rule also says, any player can use dice secured by a spell during their turn for use in a Roll - does that mean that, in case a red/yellow was secured by a spell before my turn starts, I may add the special die/dice into my dice pool and use them in my roll WITHOUT using the Add red/yellow die Cards' effects?
Thank You for any help in advance!

Yes.

The latest copy of the rules is actually much clearer than the version that came in my set. Here's the quote, with the same emphasis as the rulebook, but parenthetical bits removed:

  When a die is secured on a Spell card, it remains there until any
  player chooses to use it to complete a task, removes it from the spell
  to roll it, or until another
  effect locks that die. For spells that
  secure multiple dice, the player may remove dice from it one at a time
  or all at once.


Do I have to block a menace creature with a creature that "must block if able"? Let's say I have two creatures, while opponent has one. Opponent plays Monstrous Step on his Menace creature, forcing one of my creatures to block, and attacks. Can I decline to block?

The two ways of interpreting the answer is, only one creature is forced to block "if able", but it can't block the menace creature, so I don't have to block. Alternatively, I do have a legal block (both creatures on his creature), so Monstrous Step actually forces both creatures to block in this situation.

The rulings below Monstrous Step say

If a creature is required to block a creature with menace, another creature must also block that creature if able. If none can, the creature that’s required to block can block another creature or not block at all.

so your second interpretation is correct.
A similar situation is described in the comprehensive rules:

509.1c The defending player checks each creature they control to see whether it’s affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature must block, or that it must block if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of blockers is illegal. If a creature can’t block unless a player pays a cost, that player is not required to pay that cost, even if blocking with that creature would increase the number of requirements being obeyed. If a requirement that says a creature blocks if able during a certain turn refers to a turn with multiple combat phases, the creature blocks if able during each declare blockers step in that turn.
Example: A player controls one creature that “blocks if able” and another creature with no abilities. If a creature with menace attacks that player, the player must block with both creatures. Having only the first creature block violates the restriction created by menace (the attacking creature can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures). Having only the second creature block violates both the menace restriction and the first creature’s blocking requirement. Having neither creature block fulfills the restriction but not the requirement.


What happens when a promoted cell that makes a capturing move is at the king-row, and there are capturing moves available? When a capturing move of a non-promoted cell is at the king-row, the cell becomes a king cell and can't make any other capturing move even if there are available.

What about a promoted cell that makes a capturing move is at the king-row, and there are capturing moves available?

All capturing moves are compulsory (with the exception of your choice of which capturing sequence to take).

It is a special case that causes a pieces movement to end when it is promoted.

In your case, the piece was already promoted before re-entering the king-row as part of a capturing sequence. Its movement does not end and you must continue to make the available capturing moves.


Does a creature returned by the Undying effect have summoning sickness? As far as I understand the undying ability, a creature returned to the battlefield by its undying effect with a +1/+1 counter on it is considered a new object. Due to this it cannot attack if it returned to the battlefield on my turn anytime before the combat phase.

Is that correct?

Yes,

A creature with undying returned to the battlefield would have summoning sickness.  Undying does not provide an exception to the general rule.

  302.6. A creature's activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can't be activated unless the creature has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can't attack unless it has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the "summoning sickness" rule.

As you noted, the Undying creature returns as a new creature and thus has not been under its controller's control continuously since the the turn began.


How does Valakut work? Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle has an ability that says:

  Whenever a Mountain enters the battlefield under your control, if you control at least five other Mountains, you may have Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle deal 3 damage to target creature or player.

Going by the wording, it appears that Valakut triggers every time a mountain enters the battlefield, and then checks the number of other mountains at resolution.

But then it has to deal 3 damage to a target.

My questions are:

Does Valakut put another ability on the stack when this happens? If so, what kind of ability is it?  Is it a triggered ability that can be copied with Strionic Resonator?
If it's all the same ability, then does the controller of Valakut technically have to choose a target regardless of whether he has 5 other  Mountains or not? So does a Valakut and one Mountain kill a  Phantasmal Image?

You've partially answered your own question here: there is a single ability, which checks something on resolution. But it in fact checks the condition before triggering and on resolution! The fancy thing going on here is often called an "intervening if clause". Here's the detailed sequence of events:

Valakut sees a Mountain enter the battlefield, and says "maybe I need to trigger!" The game checks to see if you have at least five other mountains, and if you do, the ability triggers and is placed on the stack. You choose the target here.
Maybe other things happen in response?
The ability resolves.

The ability checks again to see if you control at least five other mountains. (Maybe one got destroyed in the meantime?)
Assuming you do, it deals three damage to the chosen target.

Here's the relevant comp rule:

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

A side note: Evolve is a prominent recent example of a triggered ability with an intervening if clause. It doesn't target, but in some cases it can be very relevant that the ability checks again on resolution.

So for your specific questions:

No, there's no second ability, just the triggered ability which happens to check for a condition twice. But the ability is a triggered ability, and you can copy the whole thing with Strionic Resonator. The original and the copy will still check the "if" clause when they resolve.

If you don't have enough Mountains, you don't put the ability on the stack, so you don't choose a target, so no, you can't kill a Phantasmal Image with it.


How do I mitigate 'alpha playing' in Pandemic? I don't quite like Pandemic for a simple reason.

Basically - because all players have the same knowledge, and same goal,  I don't see the need to have multiple players; one person (the alpha player) can just make all the decisions for everyone.

I think the rules say that you're not allowed to show your cards to each other, but you can just communicate this to each other anyway, and so because this rule is pretty much useless we just play that everybody's cards are visible.

So unlike a co-operative game like Hanabi, where you have assymetrical knowledge, and there are very specific rules about what you can tell your team mates, there's no reason why one person (me!) can't just make all the decisions in Pandemic.

Now of course you can argue that it's 'not in the spirit of the game' and appeal to some kind of social conventions to mitigate this, but this can be  more difficult in practise when you want to win.

Any fun suggestions for mitigating this issue?

Of course this can happen, but the expectation is that all the players help contribute to finding solutions to the current problems.  While you might see one path, someone else might see another, that happens to be better.  Having multiple people working on the same problem from different perspectives generally provides better results.  Kind of like crowd sourcing.

I tend to like games where I win or lose entirely by my performance, but I play games with people that like cooperative games like pandemic and Legendary. When we win it usually takes all of us thinking through the possible scenarios and agreeing on a course of action.

In your situation, if you tend to be the direction of all the movements, then I would suggest people don't share their cards by default, giving them an angle to make suggestions from.


Is it allowed to win a game of cribbage with the single point from a "go"? When playing cribbage and you're at a score of 120, can you then win the game by playing the last card and getting 1 point for the "go"? I've seen people play where you're not allowed to win via the "go", but my personal feeling is that's not correct.

Indeed, I've heard much the same.
Turns out, it is merely a "common" house-rule.
There's no mention of any such limitation in any of the rules I've been able to find, but some people definitely play that way.

It seems to me that in Crib (even more so than in many other games) it's important to know what the house rules are before you start.


When should I buy a Possession in Dominion? Possession is easily one of the most controversial and game-changing cards in Dominion, and I've often heard it described with disgust by many players. Most Dominion cards require you to take advantage of the power of your own deck, and thus are relatively easy to come up with a strategy for. But Possession usually requires you to take advantage of your opponent's deck instead! How can I tell if Possession is a good buy and how should I use it?

(Links to the Dominion strategy blog are fine, but please make sure your answer actually contains a good complete answer and not just the link. :) )

Personally, I rarely design my deck to specifically target Possession, because:

6 coins plus a potion is difficult to get
I don't know what my neighbor will have

However, if I do have potions in my deck, and I happen to run across 6 coins and a potion during the game, I'll evaluate at that point.  Usually if the person to your left has any kind of reasonable deck (they're buying Golds and such) it will be worth it to get Possession.  Sometimes their deck is complete garbage and it's not worthwhile because possessing them will just clutter your deck with more Silver or other low-cost cards.

Remember, by buying Possession you're essentially sacrificing at least one Gold you could have had, so the hands you're possessing need to be of some minimum level of quality to make that tradeoff worthwhile.

Ultimately, I only get Possession in games where the other potion-costing cards make buying a potion worthwhile, and where if I don't happen to put together 6 coins plus a potion in a single hand, there's still a viable strategy.


Multiple Super Munchkin Cards If I have 2 Super Munchkin or Half Breed (or any equivalent) cards, am I able to use up to 4 races/classes (Or 2 races/classes without any race/class related penalties)? Effectively, do these bonuses stack, or can you only ever have 2 races and 2 classes?

You can only have two.

Super Munchkin says:

  You may have two Class cards...

Half Breed says:

  You may have two Race cards...

So that's exactly what you can do: have two. It doesn't matter how many of them you have. All they say you can do is have two. They don't say "one additional" or "twice as many".


Regarding chains with trigger effects when summoning My friend uses Aether, the Evil Empowering Dragon, whose monster effect reads as follows: "When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can target 1 monster on the field; banish it."

The question is: is my opponent forced to be chain link 1? so that I can chain torrential to his Aether's effect? That way, when the chain resolves, my monsters are already gone by the time Aether tries to banish one of them.

Or can he wait until I activate torrential in response to his summon so that he can be chain link 2? How does it work?

Thanks

Trigger effects cannot chain off of other cards

This is fundamentally a Spell Speed question. Aether, the Evil Empowering Dragon, has a optional trigger effect,1 with the trigger of "When this card is Normal or Special Summoned". As such, it is Spell Speed 1 (the same applies to trigger-like effects, which are the equivalent for spell and trap cards). Spell Speed 1 effects cannot chain off of any other effect (including other Spell Speed 1 effects).

For reference, most Trap cards are Spell Speed 2, with the exception of Counter Trap cards which are classified as Spell Speed 3 (and are the only cards so far with that classification). Therefore, if Aether's effect were to be used, it would activate before your trap card would and resolve after your trap card does (if possible - Torrential Tribute, if not negated, would cause all possible targets of Aether's effect to not be on the field anymore, resulting in it doing nothing regardless of what monster was targeted)

Note that because Aether's effect is an optional trigger effect, it may not necessarily be chain link 1. This would only happen if the summoning player has any other trigger[-like] effects (optional or mandatory) that trigger from a monster being summoned in the same manner that Aether was or if the other player had a mandatory trigger[-like] effect with similar timing.

In those cases (as well as if you have optional trigger[-like] effects with appropriate timings), they all enter the chain simultaneously, Simultaneous Effects Go On Chain (SEGOC) dictates the chain link order for all of those trigger[-like] effects, and then fast effects (spell speed 2 and 3) can be added to the chain as usual. In the context of this question, though, this is mostly irrelevant unless any of those effects have a cost that would prevent the activation of your trap card (including sending it to the graveyard).

1 - These shouldn't be confused with Quick Effects, which can chain off of Spell Speed 2 cards. These have a timing of "during either player's [turn/XXX phase/XXX Step]" and are generally indicated as Quick Effects in the effect text.


Have there been revisions to the rules of Catan? I have been playing catan for at least 6 years, following a trip to the Netherlands where I encountered the game. For the whole time, I have played that, on a role of 7, the player cannot build or deploy dev cards, in addition to the robber business.

Recently I have checked the rules site and been disabused of this notion. Have the rules of Catan been changed at all since its creation?

I have a strong recollection of checking the rule book and verifying that one could not use dev cards on a 7 role, but I could well be delusional.

I enjoy playing with this set of house rules, but it is useful to be familiar with the RAW when you play with new people.

I think this is worth an explicit answer, but I agree with @ConMan and @Gendolkari in the comments of the question and @JoeW's answer.

Yes, there have been many minor changes in the rules.

No, you have never been restricted from taking other actions following a roll of a 7. You always get your turn as normal.

One possible source of confusion in this area is the limit on playing 1 development card per turn. Using a knight before your roll in many ways replicates the actions of rolling a 7 (excluding the hand size based card loss). It is possible these two things have been conflated in a house rule.

Annotated Rules From the linked annotated Rules from 1st Edition.

  (3) After discarding occurs, you also steal 1 Resource Card at random from a player who has a settlement or city adjacent to this new hex. The player who is robbed holds his Resource Card hand face down. You then take 1 at random. If there are 2 or more players with buildings there, you may choose from which one to steal.
  The robber must be moved. You may not choose to leave the robber in the same
  hex. After moving the robber, your turn continues with the trade phase.


Is a deck with extra aces more beneficial to a dealer, or a player? If a deck, being used for BlackJack, contains extra Aces, does the dealer have an advantage, or vice versa. Additionally, do less aces cause an effect on the dealer or players advantage?

This is a very complicated question. There are several factors to consider that make it impossible to answer without knowing a lot of details that you left out. Taken to the extreme, imagine a blackjack deck with 1 million extra Aces. In such a game, the player would have the advantage if the dealer was required to hold on 17. The player can hit until they have 18, confident that the dealer would most likely get 17 and be forced to stop. Here are some odds for adding a single extra Ace.

Decreased Chance of Player Blackjack

52 card: ((4/52) × (16/51)) + ((16/52) × (4/51)) = 4.82655%
53 card: ((5/53) × (16/52)) + ((16/53) × (5/52)) = 5.80552%

The odds of getting BJ are the odds of getting dealt an Ace then a 10/face-card plus the reverse order. Adding in an extra Ace increases your odds by almost one percent.

Increased Chance of Dealer Blackjack when player has BJ

52 card: ((3/50) × (15/49)) + ((15/50) × (3/49)) = 3.67347%
53 card: ((4/51) × (15/50)) + ((15/51) × (4/50)) = 4.70588%

The calculation here is much the same, except two cards are removed (the player BJ). Adding a single Ace hurts the player by over a whole percentage point.

Unless you give me a lot more detail (there are other things to consider) I have no idea who has the advantage. For example with 4 Aces, you have increased your odds of BJ by almost 3.5%, but the dealer has an increase of greater than 3.5% chance of having BJ when you have BJ. Who has the advantage would require extra information on what the payout is for player BJ.

56 card player BJ: ((8/56) × (16/55)) + ((16/56) × (8/55)) = 8.31169%
56 card dealer BJ after player: ((7/54) × (15/53)) + ((15/54) × (7/53)) = 7.33753%


When exactly does the commander tax get added? Does commander tax increase for each time the commander has been cast, or for each time it has been removed from the battlefield?

For example, if an opponent would kill my commander but I manage to let it go back to my hand instead of the command zone, could I avoid that the tax increases? Or does it still count, because it died?

Commander tax increases for each previous time it has been cast from the command zone.

903.8.: A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the "commander tax."

Note that it has to be cast from the command zone specifically. Destroying a commander, or putting it into exile, doesn't influence this extra cost. So cards that place it into your hand, such as Command Beacon or Alley Evasion (in response to removal), are effective ways to omit the tax increase.


Insufficient coins to steal Bishop steals 2 coins from the richest player and Inquisitor steals 4 coins from the player who doesn't know their character.

My question is - in case I am the Inquisitor, and I am challenging a person who doesn't end up knowing his/her character, and has less than 4 coins, will I get everything and the game ends? Or am I now allowed to challenge a person with less than 4 coins?

Similarly, if I am a Bishop, what's the take if the richest person (or everyone in the game) currently has only one coin?

If you have to steal coins from a player and this player does not have enough: steal as much as you can. Here is the official reply from the designer, Bruno Faidutti:

  You get what your target has and the game ends.

In your examples:

Bishop: if the richest player has $1, that means that everyone has exactly $1, otherwise the game would had ended. You just steal $1, the game ends immediately and you win with at least $2 in hand (as everyone has $1, except the person you stole from).
Inquisitor: similarly, if someone has $3 or less, you steal as much as you can and the game ends.

Some more insight on the timings.

Paying coins to the tribunal for falsely calling a bluff takes place after the called character applies their ability. From the rulebook, p. 6-7:

  The players is indeed the announced character, that player immediately
  uses the character’s power (which can happen outside of their turn).
  Then, all the other players who had falsely claimed to be the
  announced  character pay a fine of one gold coin to the courthouse.

Therefore, if you tie with the richest players, call the Bishop's or the Witch's bluff and are caught lying, you shall pay your $1 to the tribunal AFTER the Bishop/Witch apply their powers. This is discussed in detail here.

Nevertheless, if, in this way, you steal the last coin of a player, therefore triggering the end of the game, false challenges must be paid afterwards to the tribunal, in order to determine the winner, as clarified by Bruno Faidutti:

  In this case, it sounds fair to state the false claimants pay, and the
  tied player who doesn't have to pay wins.


Can I voluntarily fail the roll for the Collapsed Room? The Collapsed Room has the following text:

  You must attempt a Speed roll of 5+ to avoid falling. If you fail the roll, draw a basement tile and put it in play. You fall there and take 1 die of physical damage.

Is it permitted to voluntarily fail the roll if I want to go to the basement and am willing to sacrifice the 1 die of physical damage?

Also, does the answer differ for forced movement? This came up for Haunt 9: The Dance of Death. In that haunt, players must make a Sanity roll or do the following:

  you must move toward the Ballroom by the shortest route through discovered rooms. You may perform other actions normally along the way if you wish.

In our case, the Collapsed Room was in the way of the Ballroom, and we were unsure as to whether we could voluntarily fail that room roll in order to get farther away.

So can I voluntarily fail the roll for the Collapsed Room?

No, not in this situation.

You don't roll when entering a previously-discovered Collapsed Room. From page 6 of the rules,

  Only the explorer who first discovers the Collapsed Room needs
  to make the Speed roll listed there. Thereafter, any explorer
  entering the room can either ignore the room ability or use it
  intentionally, in which case that explorer still takes the damage.
  Falling to the basement doesn’t count as moving a space.

In this situation, however, your character wouldn't choose to jump down. They do not want to get further away. They are compelled to reach the room as fast as possible.

Gendolkari's answer makes no sense. They say one can choose to fail the roll, but then follows up with the rule saying one doesn't even get a roll.


Where can I learn the lingo of Go? I'm only a beginner at Go, but have been reading the questions in the go tag with interest.

However, this game seems to have rather more special terminology than most. What do joseki, shimari, high-point, pincer, aji keshi, fuseki, komi, moyo, tsumego etc. mean?

Could someone explain these terms, or is there a good glossary somewhere that I could consult to help me understand these conversations?

Most of the special terminology of Go is just Japanese Go terms adopted by English-speaking players.  Depending on who you're dealing with, you can be just as likely to see references to "shimari" and "fuseki" as you are to see "corner enclosures" and "the opening".

A good beginner's resource for learning Go can be found at Sensei's Library.  In particular, they have a page dedicated to common Go terminology.


How Would I Get A Modern Diplomacy -"Like" Game Produced? Some years ago, I created a modern Diplomacy "takeoff" game (with a new name to be determined). The five "countries" are U.S., Russia, China, Europe and the Middle East. The pieces are fleets (F), armies (A) and air squadrons (S), and the object is to capture "population centers." There are limited nuclear capabilities. The time is the present. Otherwise it plays much like the original.

How would I go about trying to get it "produced?" Would you play it if it were produced?
And any suggestions for the new name?

A few immediate thoughts:

from a game play standpoint where are the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, India, Indonesia etc) or are you designing the game to largely involve conflict between the 5 powers you cited in Africa, South America etc?
from a "how do you get a game produced" there are many routes. An increasingly popular route would be to go independent - many games are starting with Kickstarter campaigns (where the supporters get the first copies of the game) which has the advantage of helping you gauge the actual market interest and demand. In the case of a modern update to an older game you may have to determine what, if any, patents or other IP rights you might have to license from the original (if any at all) and thus may have to deal with the original publisher (or who ever now owns the rights to the game). Since Diplomacy is a fairly old game it is likely that any patents on the game board etc have long since expired.
a final suggestion, Diplomacy has had a very long standing tradition of being played online (via email, via websites etc) could you make a digital, online version of your game before you make any investment into a physical game (with all the production costs & distribution issues that involves?). A digital game, especially if you can attract a core of engaged players, likely would also help you iterate on the game design and evolve the gameplay and game balance based on many rounds of playtesting.

And finally while there are game players here on Stackexchange I assume you do know about the very active and engaged board game community of BoardGameGeek? I'd strongly suggest reaching out to serious Diplomacy fans there and at reaching out to independent game publishers both on BGG and via their Twitter and websites. I'd also suggest subscribing to great game design podcasts such as Richard Garfield's great podcast (and there are many other board game related podcasts that feature long interviews with game designers and publishers).


Mining the Howling Mine Howling Mine

  At the beginning of each player's draw step, if Howling Mine is untapped, that player draws an additional card.

First, there is no bent arrow tap symbol, so how would it tap to begin with? The activated ability is dependent upon being untapped, so tapping it would just prevent activation?
Second, what one-drop could I use to make this work to untap for me, but tap to prevent everyone else from benefiting? If I had 4 cycles in play, that could mean 5 cards per turn?

In the first release of the game there were 3 different types of artifacts: Poly, Mono, and Continuous. Poly Artifacts were artifacts that had activated abilities that could be used without tapping the artifact. Mono Artifacts were artifacts that required tapping to activate their activated ability. And Continuous Artifacts don't have activated abilities, however their abilities stop working when they are tapped.

Howling Mine was printed in Alpha as a Continuous Artifact, so its static ability didn't have an effect if it was tapped. The rules worked like this until 6th Edition, and at that time the rule was mostly just dropped, except for a few cards that received errata to maintain that functionality. Howling Mine was one of those cards, but there were a few others like Winter Orb.

One-drops that can be repeatedly used to tap them would include Trickster Mage and Vedalken Certarch. And yes, you draw one card for each Mine you have on the battlefield, so with 4 Mines you would draw 5 total cards.

Aside: with the right deck, you don't need to worry about your opponent having 4 extra draws / turn.  An example of this, is turbo fog.


What variants are there for the playing-card-based game "War"? The game War is played with two decks of standard 52-card playing cards. Each player shuffles their deck into a draw pile. Simultaneously, each player turns over the top card. The player with the highest card wins the war and takes both cards. When a player runs out of cards, the player shuffles their cards and the cards won from their opponent into a new draw pile. Play continues until one of the players has no cards. Which never happens.

I played War a lot as a kid. Now my kids are learning to play. But the game still suffers from being entirely luck-based and never ending. What are the variants to this game that reduce luck and/or involve strategy?

There is a variant of war, called "Strategy War" or "Armed War" (a joke on hands) where, instead of pulling the card from the top of your deck, you chose it from your hand.  This works as follows:

You shuffle the deck and deal it out in equal parts.  Each player takes the cards dealt to him/her and puts them in his/her hand.
All cards a player plays and all cards a player gains during the game go to his/her discard.
A player's discard becomes his/her hand only upon his/her hand becoming empty.
War is played as usual, but with players choosing which card to play from their hands instead just pulling off the top of their pile.  Players each play their card face down, and then once all cards are down, players reveal the cards they have played.
In the event of a WAR, players shuffle their hands and take three cards at random from their hand to form the facedown "WAR" cards, then return to viewing their hands to select the final card for the WAR.  If, during this process, a player does not have enough cards in his/her hand, he/she puts all the cards from his/her hand into play as "WAR" cards, then continues using cards at random from his/her discard to complete the three facedown cards, then takes his/her remaining discard as his/her hand and continues playing.
2's beat whatever card is highest (Aces, unless you are playing with Jokers), but lose to all other cards.  This is essential in this variant, to make Aces not just an obvious play at the end of a war.

For example, players Aaron and Blake each play a card face down; they reveal, both showing a King.  They shuffle their hands, each put three cards at random from their hands into play facedown, and then return to their hands to select a final card for the WAR.  When they reveal the final card, Aaron played an Ace and Blake played a Queen; Aaron wins the whole hand and takes all 10 cards.

The advantages to this variant are several fold.  First, there is actual strategy.  Second, wars are more common due to the overlap in play style.  Third, there are interesting tradeoffs between using your best cards early versus saving them for later, which is a great thing for kids to learn.

If you want to make the game faster, take out a chunk of the low-valued cards, such as the 3's through 8's (make sure to keep the 2's as the ace-beaters).


Taking Discard Pile with One Natural Card in Hand When the Discard Pile is not frozen and the top card matches a single natural card I have in my hand, but I know there is another marching card lower in the Discard Pile, may I take the Discard Pile?  Or must I have 2 natural cards in my hand?

The Rules of Canasta clearly state:

TAKING THE DISCARD PILE
When the discard pile is not frozen against his side, a player may take it:

a) with a natural pair matching the top card as above; or
b) by melding the top card with one matching natural card and one wild card from his hand; or
c) by adding the top card to a meld he already has on the table.

Having taken and melded the top discard as described, the player takes the rest of the pile into his hand and may then meld some or all of the additional cards as he pleases.
....

Thus it is not allowed to use a card deeper in the discard pile as part of the meld enabling a take of the discard pile.


What does it mean that uranium always refills from space 16? In the Power Grid rules we are told the following:

Re-supply the resource market: Based on the number of players and the
step of the game, the players re-supply the resource market (see table
at the back of the rules) from the supply of resources. They start
placing the resources on the highest (most expensive) space lacking
the maximum possible quantity of the appropriate resource.
Exception:
Uranium must be refilled from space 16 and always only with one token
in each space.

Does that mean that if the rate of uranium resupply is 3, none is re-supplied if there are already 3 uraniums in the market? If only one uranium is left on 16, 2 would be added and not 3?

The rulebook is confusingly worded. The "Exception" is calling out a graphical peculiarity, not a rules difference.

The resupply for Uranium works the same as for every other resource: you take the specified number of units and place them on the most expensive slots available. This exception is calling your notice to the fact that there are four extra Uranium slots that do not share one of the large square blocks with Coal/Oil/Garbage, and that once those are full, there is only one slot for Uranium in each of those square blocks.

You can see that this is the case in the example immediately after your quote on p. 6 of the rulebook. The market begins with 2 Uranium on 14 and 16. The table calls for 2 Uranium to be placed, and those are placed on the 12 and 10.


Can an illegal target that will become a legal target before the spell resolves be targeted? The interaction I'm wondering about is between Bounding Krasis, Harbinger of the Tides, and Collected Company.

As a part of Collected Company's resolution, two creatures may enter the battlefield at the same time.  If both these creatures have ETB triggers, the controller gets to choose what order they go on the stack.

Harbinger of the Tides has an ETB trigger that reads:

  When Harbinger of the Tides enters the battlefield, you may return target tapped creature an opponent controls to its owner's hand.

Bounding Krasis has an ETB trigger that reads:

  When Bounding Krasis enters the battlefield, you may tap or untap target creature.

If a Bounding Krasis and a Harbinger of the Tides entered the battlefield at the same time due to a spell such as Collected Company, would the controller be able to target an untapped creature with Harbinger's trigger and then tap it with the Krasis trigger on top of it on the stack?

You can't choose to target an illegal target. Period. When the Harbinger of Tides enters the battlefield, it can only target creatures that are tapped at that time.

To be specific, the following rules are relevant:

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. [...]

[...]

603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.

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


What's the name of this co-op card-based game? You each are soldiers executing campaigns. Each turn you must play a card that contains a combination of some terrains and some symbols. If the board ever shows 3 of the same terrain or symbol, you lose the campaign. Instead of playing a card you can withdraw; if all players withdraw, you succeed in the campaign.

Sounds like The Grizzled or in its native language, Les Poilus.

An excerpt from a description I found

  Players take on the role of French soldiers in World War I. You can
  choose your difficulty level, which means how many cards are in your
  hand. On your turn, you can either play a card from your hand or
  withdraw. There are two types of cards; ones with symbols on them
  (night, rain, bullets, gas mask, etc) and ones with a lightning bolt
  and text on them. If you play a symbol card, it goes into the river.
  If you ever play a card that would cause you to have three of the same
  symbol, you lose.


In Arkham Horror, does the first player look at the drawn monster before deciding how to place it? What is the accepted procedure for drawing monsters? If I need to draw 8 monsters for 3 gates, it's easy to determine which two will get the extra monster, but do I draw them one by one, looking at them then placing them, or do I draw them all at once and distribute after looking at all 8, or do I blindly distribute them adhering to the agreed upon numbers at each location?

No, you can't look at them - just draw and place.

From the Arkham Horror FAQ, in the Open Gate and Spawn Monster section (on page 2-3), in its discussion of monster surges:

  When placing monsters, they must be divided as evenly as possible among the open gates, with no gate having more monsters placed on it than the gate where the monster surge occurred this turn. If there are more monsters to be placed than allowed by the monster limit, the players should decide where monsters will be placed. The players must make this decision before monsters have been drawn from the cup. If the players cannot agree where the monsters are to be placed, the first player decides the placement.

That doesn't explicitly cover the scenario you asked about, but the same principle should apply: you figure out where to put all the monsters you're about to draw, then you draw them.


What is the typical DPI at which playing cards are printed? I recently had a deck of custom cards printed at MakePlayingCards. They accept bmp,png,tiff and jpg images at a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. I have a bunch of SVG vector images that I can convert to whatever DPI I need, but I thought 4 times the minimum would be more than enough, and used 1200 DPI png images.

They came out looking fairly well, but grainy in the detailed portions. I know the resolution needs to be higher, but I don't know by how much. I would like to print at the best possible DPI without making the images overly large for no good reason. The MakePlayingCards site does not mention what the maximum resolution their printers can print is, nor can I find that sort of information on other card printing sites.

I don't even know a good ballpark for this number, so the maximum DPI of any reputable playing cards is an acceptable answer. eg. The DPI at which Bicycle cards are printed is x.

From a quick Google search it would appear the standard industry DPI is 300. Another web printing service discusses is here: A Note About DPI. They only print at 300 DPI.

As is mentioned in a comment Graphic Design may be more informative: https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/95/what-dpi-should-be-used-for-what-situation

As to why your cards came out incorrectly there could be any number of issues including incorrect exporting or due to compression their end*. You should always check their FAQ in future:

  To customize your poker cards, create images that are 300DPI and CMYK color mode. Allow bleeding area as specified in our product page. To ensure the highest quality of printing, please use high resolution images.

In my experience with any kind of printing it is hard to get things perfect first time. There are a lot of tools out there (e.g. Publisher can be switched to CYMK mode) but just checking again and again and following the manufacturer guidelines seems to be the best way to improve your results.

*I wouldn't be surprised if they converted SVG to another format incorrectly.


Forbidden island taking items With an action, one may give items to another player. Can you take an item from a player with an action, or must you wait for their turn and have them give it to you?

The rulebook only ever mentions being able to give a Treasure card as your action, so no you cannot use an action to take them from another player, you must wait until their turn to receive the card.

Also note that under the Give a Treasure Card action description on page 5, you cannot give special action cards (Helicopter Lift and Sandbags) to another player, you can only give the cards that match the four treasures in the game.


Where can I get good-quality boxes of custom sizes, so I can store my board games compactly? I want to store Dixit Odyssey + another Dixit expansion in a box.
The original Dixit boxes are too big. Not convenient for transportation...

As I've searched around, and didn't find any suitable box, I was thinking of getting a box with the dimensions of my choosing. This would be helpful for many other games as well.

Are there specialized products for this? Custom-sized boxes, eventually with the option of defining separators inside of the box?

Which box types and dimensions should I be looking for to store and transport expansion sets of Dixit cards?

Dixit expansions come in boxes of size 8.1 x 3 x 12.7 cm. The cards from the base set, Journey or Odyssey should fit in one of those exact same boxes. Get a box for each expansion that you own. You could make your own boxes, from sheets of cardboard using a box template like this one. You'll want to use 250 grams paper (g/m2, see grammage).

Just put your dimensions into a template generator.

The voting cards can go into a small bag, and you don't really need the bunnies and scoring track. Bring pen and paper.


What happens if you run out of Beans? What happens if at the beginning of my turn I have no Beans left in my hand to plant because I traded them all away on other people's turns?

The official Rio Grand Games  rules cover this eventuality (page 4) the last sentence under Plant Bean Cards

  If the Active Player has no cards in hand, he omits this step.

I have no access to the Amigo Games version, or the German version of the rules. The Game Cabinet site does have a translation:

  Playing Bean Cards - You must play the first card dealt to you on to one of your fields, unless you hold no cards.

You just skip the first step, since you are unable to fulfill the conditions.


Most important elements of easy-to-learn hard-to-master? I'm researching the logic necessary for an internally-consistent rule system that is easy to learn, but has enough complexity/subtleties that it keeps someone coming back and striving towards mastery.

In my case, I'm creating a video game magic system, but the core elements of game logic/rulemaking are much more applicable to a card game creator.

Question: Other than a crapload of playtesting, what logical/rulemaking elements should always/almost always exist in an internally-balanced game such that there are few barriers to entry, but many barriers to full mastery?

Make sure that single actions can have multiple different outcomes depending on how and when they are used

Strategic complexity is created when a player has multiple mutually exclusive actions* they can take which could all theoretically lead to victory, and the player has to figure out which one is the best.  The more plausible options they have, the more complex the game.

The flip side is that learning complexity the number of different types of actions a player has to remember, and how many effects each action has.

The solution is to give the player fewer different actions, but to make those actions contextual.  In chess, the only thing you can do with a pawn is move it forward (okay, or forward at a diagonal).  But that action can be used to threaten your opponent's pieces, or defend your own, or block off movement avenues, depending on where the other pieces are on the board.

In Go, there is precisely one action a player can take.  Every turn you will place one of your pieces.  But there's over a hundred different places you can play your piece, and each location will affect the game differently.

Not every action has to be contextual (in particular, drawing cards is a vital part of most card games, and most of the time it's pretty much the same no matter how or when you do it.)  But the majority of your actions should be capable of affecting the game in multiple ways.

Reward strategic planning, but don't penalize its lack

Nothing is worse for a new player than to get halfway through the game and realizing that none of the actions they've taken so far actually bring them closer to victory, because they failed to take some specific action earlier in the game which they didn't realize at the time was necessary to make their strategy successful.

In Settlers of Catan (possibly the most iconic gateway game), there are only four different things you can spend your resources on.  Each one brings you closer to victory.  Now, some are better at it then others, but even if you've spent your entire game building roads, you can get a few victory points out of it.

Obviously, you can't idiot-proof your game, and you shouldn't try.  But the skill level of "I am not trying to plan at all, and instead just picking actions that look good" should lead to forward movement towards the goal.

*Sometimes the mutual exclusivity is only in the timing - you can do one and then the other, but not both that the same time.  That still counts, if the timing matters.


Princess & Dragon with Traders & Builders Does the dragon eliminate only followers or does it also eliminate builders, pigs, etc?

If the dragon eliminates a follower but leaves the builder in a city, what becomes of him?

Yes,

The dragon eliminates followers, builders and pigs according to the Carcassonne annotated FAQ p37.

  Whenever the
  dragon enters a tile occupied by game figures (followers, builders or pigs), they are all returned to
  the relevant player

The rules on what happens to a builder or pig when the last follower is removed from a feature have changed since the initial release of the rules.  The Carcassonne Big Box contains this rule.

  When a player’s last thief, knight, or farmer is removed from a road or city with a
  builder, or field with a pig, the player takes take his builder or pig, putting it in his supply

Just noticed that the Carcassonne Big Box 3 is available.  I checked and the rules are the same in there for this situation.


Does Dovescape counter Enchantment Creatures? I am really curious, does Dovescape counter enchantment creatures (such as Archetype of Aggression), or because they are also a creature, bypass it due to "noncreature spells" being part of it?

Expanding on Erik's correct answer.

  205.2b Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects satisfy the criteria for any effect that applies to any of their card types.

Dovescape checks as a spell is being cast that that spell lacks the creature type. A spell with both enchantment and creature fulfills both types, so is not non-creature. (It is both fully a creature spell, and fully an enchantment spell)

Also good to note: a very similar case is called out specifically in Bestow's ruling:

  702.102c The check for whether a spell can legally be cast happens after its controller has chosen whether to pay its bestow cost; see rule 601.2e.
  Example: Aether Storm is an enchantment with the ability “Creature spells can’t be cast.” This effect doesn’t stop a creature card with bestow from being cast for its bestow cost because the spell is an Aura enchantment spell, not an enchantment creature spell, when the game checks whether the spell is illegal.


Bridge hand with high card points between 1NT (15-17) and 2NT (20-21) A few years ago, I submitted a question here about opening a balanced hand in the so-called "no man's land" of 18-19 HCP, ie. too strong to open 1NT and too weak to open 2NT. Many thanks to those who responded.

Since then, I have learned to open one club with such a hand, and my partner responds in one of the following two ways depending on her HCP. With less than 7p, she bids one diamond, which we both understand as a denial. With 7 points or more, she bids as she would normally, and I rebid with 2NT. That bid is forcing to game, as the sum of the partnership's HCP (18+7) is at least 25, the minimum required for a game. The rest of the bidding is fairly straightforward thereafter.

My question is what should I rebid if partner's first response is the one diamond denial mentioned above ?  Of course, any other thoughts about how to bid such a "no man's land" balanced hand of 18-19 HCP will be most welcome, especially within the restraints of Standard American.

I think it is tricky to stuff your artificial 1D response into the rest of SAYC.  When you consider the standard bidding structure over 1NT and 2NT, the pattern is that the weaker hand shows its shape as quickly as possible (via Stayman or transfers, for instance) and then either signs off, bids game, or invites to slam (giving the strong hand control in the latter two cases).  It is difficult to replicate this pattern after 1C - 1D because the opener would need to make another forcing bid in order to give the responder a chance to show his/her shape.  The best I can think of is to treat 1C - 1D - 1NT as an artificial force with systems on, but the usual systems over 1NT often terminate in 2NT or part-scores at the 3 level, both of which are too high if opener has a normal 1C hand and the responder is weak.

So I think you more or less have to pick one of the following two frameworks:

SAYC: The first two calls are normal, and a jump shift by opener (with cuebidding in competition) shows 18-19 points.  Responder can't pass with 7HCP, so you don't miss game, and s/he has some space to show features (like 4 card majors).  SAYC full provides two additional tools for handling some tricky edge cases.  The first is structured reverses for showing 5m/4M shapes; for instance, 1C - 1S - 2H is a game force with 5+C and 4+H.  The second is 4th suit forcing for finding difficult fits without wasting bidding space; for instance after 1C - 1H - 1S - 1NT, declarer can bid 2D to artificially force to game, giving responder the chance to show 5 hearts or other features.
Strong club: If you want to really pursue the reasoning behind your 1C agreement, you can choose one of several strong club systems (such as the precision club).  In these systems 1C is artificial and shows any hand with 16+ HCP, the thinking being that these are the hands where you want to have the most bidding space available.  This has all of the advantages of your approach, but since 1C can't be just 13 points you can use your usual systems without worrying about ending up too high.  It also allows you to use bids like 1NT and 2NT preemptively, which can make life quite hard for your opponents.  The downside of these sorts of systems is that they can get quite complicated and awkward in certain cases.


When does the Legend Rule take place? Say my opponent has Elesh Norn on the table and plays Phyrexian Metamorph as a copy of her. As I understand from her Gatherer-page, all my creatures will now briefly have -4/-4.

So my question is now, suppose I have Obsidian Fireheart (or any other elemental with at least 3 toughness) in play along with two Incandescent Soulstokes, then obviously both my Soulstokes die as they have -1 toughness each, but will Obsidian Fireheart die as well? In other words, when exactly during this process does one copy of Elesh Norn leave the battlefield due to the legendary rule?

The Legendary rule is one of the state-based actions which are performed at several points in a turn.

  704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, "Timing and Priority"), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for
  state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions
  simultaneously as a single event.

State-based actions are also what kills created with non-positive toughness.

During the resolving of a spell, state-based actions are not performed. So when the copy of Elesh Norn enters the battlefield, there are temporarily two of them, and your creatures have -4/-4. The 3/3 creatures will temporarily be -1/-1.

Then state-based actions are performed, and those creatures and all but one of those Elesh Norns are killed simultaneously. From that moment, your remaining creatures have -2/-2.

  704.4. Unlike triggered abilities, state-based actions pay no attention to what happens during the resolution of a spell or ability.


Does a permanent with multiple types count in all cases as all types Spell is cast which says choose one of each '  Creature, Artifact, Enchantment' sacrifice the rest.  If you have a creature which is also an artifact, or creature who turns into an enchantment as a result of the sacrifice. If you choose a permanent with more than one type does it count as more than one type in this case.

A permanent counts as each of the types it is. So an Artifact Creature (like Darksteel Colossus would be both an artifact and a creature.

For a spell like Cataclysm, you could choose an artifact creature as the choice for the artifact, or for the creature, or choose it for both if you want (which would cause you to sacrifice more permanents than you have to). If you had 2 artifact creatures, you could choose one of them as your artifact to keep, and one as your creature to keep; thus keeping them both.

See the Gatherer Rulings on Cataclysm

  If you control a permanent with more than one type, you can choose that same permanent for more than one of the choices if you want to. This makes it possible to select an artifact creature as both your artifact and creature, and then select a land and thereby keep only two cards.

and

  If you control a permanent with more than one type, you can choose that permanent to be the representative of either type. This makes it possible to have more than one creature (or other permanent type) on the battlefield. For example, if you select a creature for your creature and an artifact creature for your artifact, you get to keep both of these creatures.

From the comprehensive rules:

  205.2b Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects satisfy the criteria for any effect that applies to any of their card types.


Designing - How do you approach finding the right font for your game? I'm working on making my own card game, and I'm wondering how to approach picking a particular font. I know that this is partially subjective, however, I also know that from a designer's stand point this can be very technical and methodical.

Anyone have a 'best practice' for this?

When I've put out games in the past, there have usually been two goals in font selection:

Fonts that are easy to read at the angle the player will be looking from.
Fonts that evoke the setting of the game.

For example, The Golden Wilderness is set in colonial California, so a typeface that was widely used in the 1700s helps evoke the setting.  There's basically nothing you need to read during the game that isn't upright and in your hand (and that you have plenty of time to read), so readability isn't the issue.

Leaving Earth, on the other hand, has many cards sitting all around the table that need to be understood by the players.  Readability helps the game play more smoothly, so a clean font that's easy to read from multiple angles is needed.

Which particular fonts meet these criteria for your game all depends on the specifics.

Acquiring those fonts is another matter.  There are plenty of free fonts out there, but don't be afraid to spend a little money on a good, professional font.  The best professional fonts are designed with an eye for many tiny details (like kerning and ligatures) that you (assuming you're not a typographer) shouldn't have to worry about.

If you're just using a font for a bit of flavor, things like kerning might not matter too much (though it pains a typography enthusiast like me to say it).  If you're using a font for your main title/logo, or for extended blocks of reading material, those small details matter much more.


In the Megaman TCG, what does a collector number that starts with "4" indicate? The collector's numbers on most cards in the Megaman Trading Card Game list the set number, the rarity, and the number within the set for the given card.

Because there were only three sets released, I expected the set numbers to be only 1, 2, and 3. However, some of my cards have a 4 in the set number position.

Some examples are BambooLance (4 U 35), BugCharge (4 U 38), Geyser (4 U 40), and MagBolt3 (4 U 42).

What does the 4 mean on these cards?

These cards were misprinted. The set number is supposed to be 3, just like the other cards in the set.

I found this answer in a supplement to the Grave starter deck rulebook titled "MegaMan Trading Card Game - Current Rulings Document 2.0 - 4/1/2005".

The list of cards that were misprinted in this way are:

BambooLance (3U35)
BugCharge (3U38)
Geyser (3U40)
MagBolt3 (3U42)
Muramasa (3U44)
VoodooDoll (3U46)


What are the chances of winning Accordion Solitaire? I would like to know what are the chances of winning in both versions:

laying out the cards one by one
laying out the entire deck at the game start

Accordion

According to one of the biggest player on the solitaire market (SolSuite), the game of Accordion (one card at a time version) has a chance of winning in about 1 of 200 games, i.e. 0,5%

But I would actually say that there is no difference in the winning percentage (if played right) between the two versions you are talking about, since (in the one card at a time version) you could always lay out the entire deck first one card at a time before starting to play...


What happens if each player has a copy of the same Archetype? Archetype of Endurance (from Born of the Gods) is a card that says

  Creatures you control have hexproof

  Creatures your opponents control lose hexproof and can't have or gain hexproof.

If both I and my opponent have one of these in play, then there is one effect that says that my creatures have hexproof, and one that says that they lose hexproof and can't have it. Which effect takes precedence? Does it depend on what order the two creatures came into play? Basically, which creatures, if any, have hexproof while both are in play?

As long as both Archetypes are in play, no creatures have hexproof.
The most important rule to take into account here is rule 112.11:

Effects can stop an object from having a specified ability. These effects say that the object "can't have" that ability. If the object has that ability, it loses it. It's also impossible for an effect to add that ability to the object. If a resolving spell or ability tries to create a continuous effect that would add the specified ability to such an object, that continuous effect is not created, although that resolving spell or ability can still create other continuous effects. Continuous effects created by static abilities that would add the specified ability won't apply to that object.

This works with rule 101.2:

When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can't happen, the "can't" effect takes precedence.

This means that each Archetype says that its controller's opponents' creatures lose hexproof and can't gain hexproof, and that removes hexproof from those creatures and overrides any ability that would give them hexproof.
If we want to look at exactly how these abilities interact, then we need to consider rule 613: Interaction of Continuous Effects:

613.1: The values of an object's characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object... Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order:
613.1f: Layer 6: Ability-adding effects, ability-removing effects, and effects that say an object can't have an ability are applied.
613.2: Within layers 1-6, apply effects from characteristic-defining abilities first, then all other effects in timestamp order.

The effects created by Archetypes' abilities are not characteristic-defining abilities (according to rule 604.3), so they are applied in timestamp order (i.e. the order in which they entered the battlefield).
If Player A is the player whose Archetype of Endurance entered first, then the effects are applied in the following order:

Player A's Archetype's first ability. Creatures controlled by Player A have hexproof.

Player A's Archetype's second ability. Creatures controlled by Player B all lose hexproof.

Player B's Archetype's first ability. Creatures controlled by Player B would gain hexproof, but the previous ability prevents that from happening (due to the previously mentioned rule 101.2)

Player B's Archetype's second ability. Creatures controlled by Player A lose hexproof.

The end result is that none of the creatures on the battlefield have hexproof. Note that this process of applying effects does not happen at a particular time during the game. Rather, if at any time you want to determine whether a creature has hexproof, this process gives you the answer.


Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Ruling for Keeper Of The Shrine scenarios Scenario:  Keeper of the Shrine can be special summoned from the graveyard if a dragon is sent to the graveyard by battle or card effect.

Excluding Tributes.

If my opponent has Keeper Of The Shrine in his graveyard, and I use a monster such as Lava Golem or Winged Dragon of Ra Sphere Mode to tribute his monsters so that I can (as per the effect text) normal summon these cards, can he still special summon Keeper of the Shrine from his graveyard?

Although the card effect is that you can tribute monsters on your opponents side of the field, I can't figure out if this is labeled as "card effect" or a summoning condition and whether or not my opponent should be able to activate the special summon of Keeper of the Shrine.

Well, since the card Keeper Of The Shrine excludes tributes, and Lava Golem tributes an opponent's monster, Keeper of the Shrine should NOT summon since the effect of Lava Golem declares it as a tribute instead of a card effect.


Do creatures summoned by a Planeswalker have summoning sickness? Elspeth, Sun's Champion has a loyalty ability which says:

  Place three 1/1 white soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.

When this ability is activated, do these soldiers have summoning sickness? I ask because Elspeth herself does not have summoning sickness when placed onto the battlefield.

Yes, they'll have summoning sickness. Every creature experiences summoning sickness, without exception, unless something says it doesn't, such as having Haste. Elspeth herself doesn't experience Summoning Sickness because she isn't a creature - she's a  planeswalker.

For an example of a Planeswalker that places creatures which do have Haste, see Xenagos, the Reveler.

Summoning sickness comes from rule 302.6:

  302.6. A creatures activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost cant be activated unless the creature has been under its controllers control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature cant attack unless it has been under its controllers control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the "summoning sickness" rule.

In short: Summoning Sickness means a creature can't attack, or activate abilities with a tap or untap symbol in their cost, until they've been under your control since your untap step.

If a permanent on the battlefield is turned into a creature — e.g. you transform your Mutavault — it will suddenly start being affected by summoning sickness, if you haven't controlled that permanent since the beginning of your turn. For this reason, an alternate way to describe it is that everything has summoning sickness, but it only affects things if they're creatures.

Creatures affected by summoning sickness can still be tapped by other things, though. You can cast Devout Invocation, for instance, and tap a creature that you only just summoned.


Sources for scenarios for Arkham Horror We've been enjoying playing Arkham Horror a lot but it seems to be lacking in narrative. I've read that there are scenarios that add a story element to the game
Is there a good resource for these?

Custom Scenarios were used in 2 Arkham Horror Leagues, organized by Fantasy Flight.

You can find the whole scenarios from the Arkham Horror Wiki Scenarios Category page, along with pdf printouts of each story. There doesn't appear to be a summary of season 1, however.

Compilations of the league scenarios nicely assembled were contributed to the file section on boardgamegeek in pdf format:

League 1

League 2


Do I have to tell the other players how much money I have? Do I have to tell the others how much money I have or may I make this a secret and everybody has to calculate/estimate themselves?

Officially, Money is hidden.

See the FAQ for Funkenschlag (the game was originally published in German under that name.

  Hide the amount of money

  Question: Are you supposed to hide the amount of money you have?

  Answer: The rules are not explicit on this point. You should play with hidden money, to prevent AP in the last (couple of) turn(s).

As Chris notes, this can slow the game down quite a bit as

People try to keep track mentally of everything
People may spend extra time figuring out their move by obsessively calculating how that would affect other people's turns.  (The common term for this is analysis paralysis)

So if you are playing in a tournament, expect that everyone's money will be hidden.  At home with your friends, if y'all are not overly competitive or wish to avoid analysis paralysis then feel free to keep money public for everyone.

Since shuffling money back and forth in Power Grid happens frequently, you can take advantage of declaring that money will be public by getting rid of the paper money completely:

Use a whiteboard or computer spreadsheet to track money for each player
Use poker chips.  They tend to be much easier to move around quickly and can be easily counted if everyone leaves them in stacks.


Canceling King Arthurs boosted attack on cards with no effects In Unmatched: Battle of Legends Vol 1 King Arthur has a special ability:

When King Arthur attacks, you may BOOST that attack. Play the BOOST
card, face down, along with your attack card.
If your opponent cancels the effects on your attack card, the BOOST is
discarded without effect.

One of King Arthurs cards is Excalibur. There is no effect on the card just a title. If my opponent plays a card that happens to cancel any card effects would a Boosted Excalibur lose the boosted bonus?

From Jenn S. at Restoration Games

Essentially, Arthur's special ability is an effect that can get
canceled, so the Boost would be discarded.
There is some further discussion on it in this BoardGameGeek thread:
Feint vs boosted Excalibur.

TL;DR even with Excalibur, the boost would be discarded if an opponent's card discards effects.


Fortifying move to complete a Risk mission When playing the North American 1993 version of secret mission Risk, can a mission be acomplished with a fortifying move?

Example:If your mission is, “Conquer 18 TERRITORIES with at least 2 SOLDIERS on each”, can you end your turn already occupying 17 territories with at least 2 soldiers on each & 1 territory with just 1 soldier on it & fortify that last territory requiring the second soldier thus, now that 18 territories have at least 2 soldiers on them, reveal your mission & win the game?

Yes.  You can even win during your opponents turn when they complete your missions for you.

Do you control 18 territories?  Do they have at least 2 armies on them?  If yes to both, you win.


Would Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker trigger Waste Not? I play Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker as a commander and his ability states that an opponent needs to put cards in their graveyard. Waste Not says when a player discards a card then one of three things happens. My question is in the fine details of what "discard" means: will Mirko trigger Waste Not?

No.

“Discard” specifically means to move a card from your hand to the graveyard:

  701.8. Discard

    701.8a To discard a card, move it from its owner’s hand to that player’s graveyard.

Further, MTG cards are very precise with their language. Only an effect that tells you to “discard” a card would count as discarding.


Royal Supplier in Puerto Rico Expansion II -- is it all or nothing? The rules for the Royal Supplier state:

  The owner of an occupied Royal Supplier can supply the Royal Warehouse (the supply) with a number of goods from his windrose equal to the number of nobles on his island and take 1 VP for each.
  NOTE:  Such supplied goods must all be of different kinds (no duplicates).  Regardless of other buildings or abilities, the player may gain no additional bonuses from supplying these goods to the royal warehouse.

Now, we've got two things going on here - "goods equal to the number of nobles on his island" and "must all be of different kinds".  Assuming that "island" means game board (as answered here), how do you resolve this if you have more nobles than distinct goods?  And do you have to send all or nothing?

For example:

Scenario 1: I have 6 nobles on my island.  There are 2 corn, 1 indigo, 2 sugar, 3 tobacco and 1 coffee on my windrose.  I clearly can't supply 6 barrels of goods, because there are only 5 distinct types in the game.  Do I send 5 distinct barrels to the royal supply in this case?

Scenario 2: I have 2 nobles on my island,  There are 2 corn, 1 indigo and 1 sugar on my windrose.  If I choose to use the Royal Supplier, can I only ship 1 good to the royal supply, or do I have to supply 2 distinct barrels, since I have 2 nobles?

I can find no ruling on this, but there's some precedent to work with.

In the first expansion, the Small Wharf:

  A player may ship different barrels of
  goods during one of his turns during
  the captain phase, but he gets only 1
  VP for every two barrels he ships.

Further clarifications on that building show that a player can ship < 2 goods*, and need not ship all remaining goods.

So, I'd reason based on precedent (and in the absence of any other errata) that buildings that modify the captain phase allow the player to choose the selection of goods involved.

Thus,

Scenario 1: You can send up to 5 goods (1 of each kind) to the royal treasury.

Scenario 2: Likewise, you may send up to 2 goods, provided they are different, to the royal treasury.

*There's some deviousness to be had in combination with Lighthouse, and effectively trading for 1 doubloon at the end of every Captain.


Converted mana costs of tokens and manlands So let's say I have a Pernicious Deed that lets you "destroy each artifact, creature, and enchantment with converted mana cost X or less". Do tokens (e.g. those produced by Sliver Queen) get destroyed? What about lands that are creatures thanks to, for example, Ambush Commander?

A token that is created with characteristics defined in the effect generally has converted mana cost 0. The relevant rules are

110.5b: A token doesn't have any characteristics not defined by the spell or ability that created it.
202.3a: The converted mana cost of an object with no mana cost is 0.

If a token is a copy of another permanent or card, then it has all of the characteristics of the original, including its mana cost. So, it's converted mana cost is the same as the converted mana cost of the original permanent.
The relevant rule is:

706.2: When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics... The "copiable values" are... mana cost...

This can be modified by the copy effect. For example, the keyword ability Embalm is defined like this:

702.127a: Embalm is an activated ability that functions while the card with embalm is in a graveyard. “Embalm [cost]” means “[Cost], Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token that’s a copy of this card, except it’s white, it has no mana cost, and it’s a Zombie in addition to its other types. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.”

In this case, as mentioned above, the converted mana cost of the embalmed copy is 0.
For permanents that have no mana symbols in their mana costs, their CMC is also 0.
For this, the relevant rules are

117.6: Some mana costs contain no mana symbols. This represents an unpayable cost.
202.3: The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.


Cabal Therapy trick in response to Shock Let's say my opponent plays a Shock. In response,
can I cast Cabal Therapy to get rid of it?
As in Counterspell or such. Please give me the full ruling on this card

That will not work. There are multiple issues with trying to do that.

First, once a player casts a spell, that spell is on the stack. Cards such as Counterspell and Redirect interact with spells on the stack. Cabal Therapy removes cards from an opponent's hand; it does not interact with the stack. So, if you were to cast Cabal Therapy in response to your opponent casting Shock and you name "Shock", you can make them discard every copy of Shock that is still in their hand, but it would have no effect on the Shock that they already cast.

Second, Cabal Therapy is a Sorcery. This means that in general, you cannot cast it in response to anything. There are some cards that change that, such as Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery.


Who chooses which cards are traded when using the Force Deal? I was playing Monopoly Deal with my friends and I was just introduced to the game, so when I put down a Force Deal, my friends didn't know either.

Are you meant to give the player a card they want, and they'll give you a card you want?

Or do you give them a card not by their choice, and they'll do the same? Is it meant to be like that?

Both choices are made be the player who played the card. You can't use Force Deal to break up a completed set.

(source: monopolydealrules.com)


Help Identify this Trucking Game from the Early 1980's A user at boardgamegeek.com recently asked for help identifying a game he played as a kid in the early '80s. Usually BGG is able to quickly provide an answer for these types of queries, but his question still remains unanswered after a week. I got permission from that user to post his question here, in the hopes that broader exposure might get him the answer he's looking for.

Here's his question:

  Title: Can anyone help me find the name of this trucking board game I played back in the 80's?

  I don't remember many details but I do remember the playing pieces had a rubber bottom, kind of like you'd put in the top of a bottle, and there was a truck piece of some sort on top of that. There were cards you'd draw which would determine what your mission was. It would give you the place you had to go to pick up your cargo and when and where it had to be delivered. I remember oranges...you'd have to get them to their destination in time before they spoiled. I played this a lot with my sister when we were kids but for the life of me I cannot find it. I remember the name as "Keep on Truckin'" but web searches for that don't match the game I remember.

  Can ANYONE help me out please?

Here's a list of possible answers that have been rejected:

Keep on Truckin' America
Game of the States
Auf Achse
That's Truckin'
Breaker 19
Big Rig 18 Wheeler

Here's a link to the thread on BGG.

The one that I am thinking of is called "The Trucking Game". Came in a white cardboard box. My dad (a trucker) bought it at a truck stop, and told me it was made by a trucker. I remember you had to get a "promissory" note for your truck which ranged from $6,000-$10,000 and had to pay that off and get to your "home" to win the game. I remember if you hit the black X on the board you had to pick a card that gave you fines or made you lose a turn for being overweight, behind on log books, etc. I would love to be able to find another copy of this game.