Can you combine the Ring and the Revolver to attack? Can you combine the Ring and the Revolver to attack? One of the heroes was attacking with a line of direct sight with the Revolver and was using the +1 die bonus from the Revolver. They also had the Ring and claimed that they could use the Ring to roll for Sanity instead of Speed while still using the +1 bonus from the Revolver and attacking with a direct line of sight from the Revolver. Is this correct? Or can one only use the Ring or the Revolver, not both?

No. You can use the Ring or the Revolver, but not both.

The Ring reads:

  If you attack an opponent that has a Sanity trait, you can attack with Sanity instead of Might.

The Revolver reads:

  You can use the Revolver to attack with Speed instead of Might. [...]

If you use the Ring, you are attacking with Sanity (not Might), so you can't use the Revolver.

If you use the Revolver, you are attacking with Speed (not Might), so you can't use the Ring.

In practical terms, one can attack an opponent's mind using the Ring, or one can shoot an opponent's brains out using the Revolver, but one can't attack someone's mind with a bullet, and one can't blow someone's brains out without something physical.

  They [...] claimed that they could use the Ring to roll for Sanity instead of Speed while still using the +1 bonus from the Revolver

That's outright incorrect. The Revolver's bonus dice applies specifically to Speed attacks.

  Roll 1 additional die on your Speed attack roll


What are the Differences Between Formula Dé and Formula D? Thinking about trading for one of these variations of Formula D, but would like to know which one is the preferable version. Are there differences in rules, component quality, or both?

Formula D is a more recent version with a few rules changes and some tweaks.

Car miniatures are different.  I think the old Formula Dé ones are higher quality; that said, both are perfectly functional.
Formula D comes with some nice new 'gear stick' control sheets which let you track your current gear by sliding a gearstick, alongside a pegboard for tracking car wear.
(I find these more convenient than the old versions; they seem slightly faster and easier.)
Formula D has updated the rules a little; in particular there are more categories of car wear.  In Dé wear is measured by using up a limited pool of points of tires, brakes and fuel.  In D fuel is not tracked, but wear is counted against: tires, brakes, gearbox, body, engine and suspension.
(In play this isn't nearly as complicated as it sounds; our group found it just as intuitive as the old system.)
Formula D is newer and maps are still being published. There are 8 maps for D to date (counting the two in the box) compared to around 30 for Dé.  This isn't important, as the map format has not changed significantly; maps for Formula Dé work fine with Formula D.
Formula D allows street racing as well as Formula 1; map sets so far all have a Formula 1 map on one side and a "city" map on the back.  These use the same system, but have added hazards.
There are also some rules changes (less worrying about weather tires, more use of nitrous oxide... street racing characters also have minor special abilities and different car wear stats.)


For Sister Grimm's Super Power, where does the plot twist go if you can't play it? The Sister Grimm supporting character's Super Power reads:

  {C} Any Combat {Y}: Search your deck for an {C} Combat plot twist with a different name from each plot twist in your KO pile and play it if able.

What happens if you can't play it? I assume that if I search for a card and can't play it, it stays in my deck. Part of the problem here is that I'm used to MtG, where the card would explicitly tell you what to do in the alternative case.

It does tell you, it says play it if able. You are not able so you can't use it, it stays in your K.O pile not your deck.


Bridge: Matchpoints vs IMPs: Different game? There are at least two main types of tournament scoring: matchpoints (MPs) and IMPs. It is often said that these two are "different" games, claiming that the strategy you use is completely different.

In the first case, a difference of as little as game ten points can get you from an average to a top or bottom match score.  A double in a contract that always goes one down can turn your average match score into top score.

In the second case, more game points are better than fewer, but the scale is more graduated. In some cases, only missing a game, not to mention a slam, will really hurt. Especially if you are vulnerable (such distinction in vulnerability when trying to reach slams is not that important in MPs).

While there are different strategies according to the type of scoring, my main question is the following:

Are world class players likely to be ranked similarly given the different rankings for IMP matches and MP matches based on their "experience" with actual rankings?

Barry Crane was throughout his lifetime regarded as the quintessential matchpoint player - yet due to his busy work schedule competed almost solely in weekend regional events dominated by a Saturday Open Pairs and a Sunday Swiss Team. His great success over several decades in both events speaks to the relatively minor differences in strategy between the two types of scoring.

One must know which game one is playing but only in extended team play, with matches longer than 16 boards, are 4-card majors or even fast-in-and-fast-out bidding systems like Crane's starting to have a noticeable disadvantage.


When entering Tokyo Bay, does the monster in Tokyo City take damage? For a 5+ player game, the first two players to roll fists/claws can enter Tokyo.  If there is already a player in Tokyo City, but Tokyo Bay is open, does rolling fists/claws damage the monster in Tokyo City as well as allowing entry to Tokyo Bay or do they only get to enter without dealing damage?

You deal damage to the Monster in Tokyo City, then take control of Tokyo Bay (or Tokyo City if the damaged Monster abandons it).

From the rules, page two far right column:

  If Tokyo Bay is unoccupied but Tokyo City is, the Monster who attacks Tokyo deals damage to the moster controlling it, then takes control of Tokyo Bay - or Tokyo City if the damaged monster abandons Tokyo City.


Small world, spider's web, when lava conquers, does it give victory points at the end? When using the Lava special power from the Spider's Web expansion, do spaces with lava count as 'occupied' to score victory points?  Or do they just count as a 'defense' until your next turn?

The rules for Lava state

  At the end of your turn, for each Mountain Region you occupy, you may
  place 1 Lava Token in any Region adjacent to that Mountain Region
  (excluding Regions protected by Special and Racial Powers). All tokens
  in this Region are taken in hand by the defeated player and treated as
  if the Region were conquered (except there is no loss of tokens). The
  Region may not be entered by any other player until after the
  beginning of your next turn. At the beginning of your next turn,
  remove all Lava Tokens from the board and proceed as usual.

So the Lava tokens are not conquering the regions, they are simply treating the defending tokens as if they were conquered.  Therefore you would not score points for those regions.


Cribbage score for hand of 6,7,7,8, plus a 6 cut card What is the total count for 6, 7 7 8 with a 6 cut card

I count that as 20.

Two for each of the 15s (7+8) = 4.

Double-double run of three (3x4) = 12.

Two pairs = 4.


Monopoly Stock Exchange add-on: How does the add-on change the probability of landing on the properties? [tl;dr] Go to section «The Question», at the end...

In 1936 and 1937, Parker Brothers published a «Stock Exchange» add-on for Monopoly, Easy Money, and Finance; it was re-released for Monopoly, by Chessex, in 1992. This add-on replaces the «Free Parking» square with a «Stock Exchange» square.

Also, see The Monopoly Stock Exchange Add-On Is the Only Way to Play

The Card Decks

The add-on adds «Advance to Stock Exchange» cards to each of the Chance and Community Chest decks. The 1936 version added 3 cards to each deck. In the 1992 version, the number of Advance to Stock Exchange cards used varies according to the number of players
Also added to the Chance card deck is a «Go To Jail» card that applies only if you own stock.

The Probabilities

The probability of landing on any of the squares in Monopoly has been well documented.
For example, see Probabilities in the Game of Monopoly®
This reveals that Jail, Go, and New York are the most visited squares in the game.

The addition of the cards «Go To Stock Exchange» and a «Go To Jail» card will certainly change these probabilities. Will the Orange properties no longer be the most visited? By how much will the probability of landing on the the Yellow properties be increased?

[tl;dr] Advance to the Question

Has anyone written a computer program to compute the probabilities of landing on the various squares when the add-on is used?

Linked in Probabilities in the Game of Monopoly® by Truman Collins, are C source code files written to calculate the probabilities of normal Monopoly. We can just roll up our sleeves and tweak the program ourselves to see what kind of changes we get.

Choices

There are two separate programs linked: one that calculates the probabilities based on simulated die rolls, and one that uses a Markov matrix to calculate the exact probabilities. Collins says the data on the webpage were generated using a "extended" version of the Markov code, and then goes on to describe how even that process may be improved. However, to start off I decided to use the simpler (but less accurate) roll-up-the-probabilities code to see how far it gets us. I told it to simulate 10 million rolls. The code also outputs probabilities for two strategies: paying $50 to get out of jail immediately, and staying in jail until you get doubles or escape naturally. Below are only the probabilities for the "short jail" strategy.

Changes

I decided to split the difference between the two versions listed in the question, and add three Community Chest and three Chance cards that go to the Stock Exchange square, and also add the one Chance card the can send the player to jail. I chose for that card to always send the player to jail, rather than try and add in the complexity of simulating if the player had stocks.

Results

                            W/SE  Rank Normal Rank Difference RankChange
Go                          2.919 7    3.105  3    94.01%     -4
Mediterranean Avenue        2.13  34   2.137  36   99.67%      2
Community Chest             1.577 37   1.888  37   83.53%      0
Baltic Avenue               2.143 33   2.16   35   99.21%      2
Income Tax                  2.273 26   2.322  28   97.89%      2
Reading Railroad            2.781 12   2.958  6    94.02%     -6
Oriental Avenue             2.205 30   2.267  32   97.27%      2
Chance                      0.668 40   0.857  40   77.95%      0
Vermont Avenue              2.233 29   2.322  28   96.17%     -1
Connecticut Avenue          2.188 31   2.302  30   95.05%     -1
Visiting Jail               2.159 32   2.272  31   95.03%     -1
St. Charles Place           2.5   22   2.71   14   92.25%     -8
Electric Company            2.442 23   2.596  20   94.07%     -3
States Avenue               2.274 25   2.372  26   95.87%      1
Virginia Avenue             2.373 24   2.462  24   96.39%      0
Pennsylvania Railroad       2.77  13   2.92   8    94.86%     -5
St. James Place             2.711 15   2.799  12   96.86%     -3
Community Chest             2.129 35   2.596  20   82.01%     -15
Tennessee Avenue            2.842 10   2.935  7    96.83%     -3
New York Avenue             2.947 6    3.088  4    95.43%     -2
Free Parking/Stock Exchange 5.1   1    2.875  9    177.39%     8
Kentucky Avenue             2.704 17   2.83   10   95.55%     -7
Chance                      0.815 38   1.048  38   77.77%      0
Indiana Avenue              2.702 18   2.745  13   98.43%     -5
Illinois Avenue             3.109 3    3.176  2    97.89%     -1
B & O Railroad              3.08  4    3.073  5    100.23%     1
Atlantic Avenue             2.877 9    2.702  15   106.48%     6
Ventnor Avenue              2.916 8    2.683  16   108.68%     8
Water Works                 2.955 5    2.816  11   104.94%     6
Marvin Gardens              2.746 14   2.581  22   106.39%     8
Go To Jail                  0     41   0      41   0           0
Pacific Avenue              2.8   11   2.679  17   104.52%     6
North Carolina Avenue       2.711 15   2.624  18   103.32%     3
Community Chest             2.024 36   2.366  27   85.55%     -9
Pennsylvania Avenue         2.6   19   2.5    23   104%        4
Short Line                  2.535 21   2.438  25   103.98%     4
Chance                      0.721 39   0.861  39   83.74%      0
Park Place                  2.264 27   2.182  34   103.76%     7
Luxury Tax                  2.236 28   2.189  33   102.15%     5
Boardwalk                   2.556 20   2.617  19   97.67%     -1
In Jail                     4.284 2    3.948  1    108.51%    -1

The addition of six cards that take you to the Stock Exchange square almost double the odds of landing on it. Due to the effect of it warping you across the board, in general the properties before the SE square have a slight reduction in probability, and the squares after it experience a slight increase. The Chance and Community Chest squares have the most dramatically lowered chance due to the increased chance of drawing a card that moves you away (from about 81% to 85%).

For rankings, the Stock Exchange square becomes the first or second most landed on square, depending on if you decide to stay in jail or leave right away. Illinois Avenue and the B & O Railroad continue to stay around the top, and the squares following them (Atlantic, Ventnor, and the Water Works) have some of the most notable increases in rank. New York drops down to sixth, after the Water Works. Go drops down to seventh, since the cards that warp you to the Stock Exchange put you the furthest away from GO possible.

If playing with this Monopoly Add-on, I'd probably invest in the Yellow.


What strategies are there for the “no forced jumps” variant of checkers? In the standard rules of Checkers as it is played in tournaments and the like, jumps are mandatory, i.e. if it is possible for you to jump, you must jump, and if it possible to do jump again you must do so, and keep jumping until you can’t jump anymore.  But kids often play a variant of Checkers where you don’t have to jump if you don’t want to.  My question is, what are the best strategies for this variant?

From experience I think the second player has an advantage in this variant.  In particular, I think that if the second player engages in perfect play, it will be impossible for the first player to win, so the first player’s best strategy is just to not move your back pieces, play the best you can, and hope that the second player makes a mistake and moves the back pieces (either because they’re forced or because they foolishly choose to).  And the second player’s best strategy is to not move your back pieces and either try to reach a point where the first player has to move their back pieces and you can get a king, or a point where the first player has no more moves left.  Is that in the right ballpark?

Note that I’m taking about a “no flying kings” variant.

One of the big reasons kids don't like the forced jump rule is the simple fact of feeling trapped into sacrificing their pieces by taking yours. I believe you are correct in your strategy of holding back your final line however sometimes if you set traps and places where you will capture pieces is a better strategy. Hope this helps.


Kill a blocker with an instant - is it still blocking? We are in the combat phase:

I declared my attackers
My opponent declared his blockers, stating which
attackers he was blocking
I cast an instant, which automatically kills his blocker. There is nothing blocking my attacker now

Now we're in the damage phase. I said that my attacker now does damage and  reduces my opponent's hit points. My opponent said that because my attacker was blocked no damage could be done. I pointed out that the blocker was destroyed before the damage phase, so therefore he wasn't blocking, but he wasn't having it. (My attacker does not have trample)

Is this covered by a specific section in the rules?

Your opponent was right. From the magic comprehensive rules (http://magic.wizards.com/en/gameinfo/gameplay/formats/comprehensiverules):

  509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

I bolded the relevant part.


Are "permanently" gained abilities copiable? So I haven't been quite able to comprehend how copy effects interact with stuff not printed on the card itself.

What happens when a creature that was revived with Fated Return is then copied by, say, Artisan of Forms? Specifically, does the creature Artisan of Forms becomes have indestructible?

Artisan of Forms will not be indestructible.

When you copy a card, you always copy only exactly the printed values of the card you're copying, ignoring everything that's happened to modify it, including the fact that Fated Return gave that creature indestructible. The exception is when you're copying, say, a Clone that's copying something else - in that case, you become a copy of that too.

There's an example that makes the quirks of this very clear: you can have Artisan of Forms target a Mutavault whilst it's in its creature state, and Artisan of Forms will become a land (not a creature).

As much appears in the rulings on the Gatherer page of Artisan of Forms herself:

  Artisan of Forms copies the printed values of the creature plus any copy effects that have been applied to it. It won’t copy any other effects that have changed that creature’s power, toughness, color, and so on. Artisan of Forms won’t copy any counters on the creature, but Artisan of Forms will retain any counters it already had on it.

  If another creature becomes a copy of Artisan of Forms, it will become a copy of whatever Artisan of Forms is currently copying (if anything), plus it will have the triggered ability.

These are derived from rule 706.2 on Copying Objects:

  706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The "copiable values" are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and "as . . . is turned face up" abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.


Does the order that cards are played have any effect? (Specifically poison) If I play a Poison card (from the Ninja faction) on a 3 power minion that minion now has 0 as that is the minimum.

  Poison: Play on a minion. Destroy any number of actions on it. Ongoing: This minion has -4 power. (Minions have minimum power of 0.)

However if the owner of that card then plays a +1 power to all of their minions does the minion with poison have 0 or 1 power?

One person I play with argues that because the poison only reduced the minion to 0, the +1 therefore makes it 1. However, I think that all of the modifiers are added together, so 3 - 4 + 1 and only then is the 'minion score cannot be less than 0' modifier is applied so the minion is still 0.

The Smash Up Rules and FAQ don't seem to address this directly, but I would say the power is still zero for a simple reason - it keeps the power consistent regardless of which effect hit the table first. 3-4+1 = 3+1-4, after all. (Which is why most games do the math that way, IMO).


Building a Blue Deck on a budget? My daughter is a huge Blue card fan (she loves mermaids especially). How can I build a solid blue deck on a limited budget with easily obtainable cards?

You should be able to build a reasonable deck of any colour for casual play using just standard commons. It won't be particularly exciting, but as long as you have a reasonably large fraction of creatures, go easy on the enchantments, and choose cards to follow the mana curve (i.e. some low cost, some high cost, most in-between), you'll be fine.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'mermaids'. If you're referring to Merfolk, then yes, you should be able to build a reasonable deck based on that theme relatively cheaply. A basic idea would be 4x Lord of Atlantis, 4x Sunken City, and then your choice of Merfolk cards (of which there are lots; many are common).

Here's a list of Merfolk to give you an idea of the possibilities:

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=+%5Bmerfolk%5D


If you allow your opponent to draw cards can they have more than 7 cards in their hand until their next clean up stage I'm thinking specifically about Lost Legacy. If I get them to exile 4 cards ie. Saheeli Rai, and allow them to draw 4 on my turn does that mean they can draw on their turn and do not have to discard until the end of their next turn?

Yes, they still get to draw and do not have to discard down to 7 until their cleanup step.

  402.2. Each player has a maximum hand size, which is normally seven cards. A player may have any number of cards in his or her hand, but as part of his or her cleanup step, the player must discard excess cards down to the maximum hand size.


Is there a correct overcall or double in this case? Let's say I have a 4S-3H-4D-2C distribution and 12-18 points. One of the opponents has already opened and they didn't bid clubs but one of the other suits (S, H or D). Now what can I bid? I cannot overcall because that requires a strong suit. I cannot double because that promises at least a 3 carder of all the unbid suits including clubs. What do I bid in this case?

I play Standard American 5 card major or 2/1

As pointed out in the comments, the range 12-18 is a double range for which both sides must be looked at separately.

With the lower half, 12 to a bad 15, just pass. Don't hesitate; just pass in your normal tempo. Trust partner to balance when necessary, or find a partner who will. Any hesitation with this hand gives partner an ethical problem that will prevent a reopening call.

With the upper half, a good 15 to 18, just bid 1NT in tempo.


If I move X from one hand to another using his tap ability, when does he untap? This is a question I've seen come up in several circles now, including a game I just played.
From the Unstable FAQ, we know that we can activate X's tap ability in anyone's hand to move him to anyone else's hand, from question 6 in X's section:

In multiplayer games, can I move X from one opponent's hand to another's?
Yes, you can. While X is in an opponent's hand, you can activate its middle ability. This is unusual, as normally tap abilities can't be activated from a player's hand. But X's first ability says you can, so you can.

So X is tapped and moved to someone else's hand.
When does he untap? Does he untap in the untap step of the person who owns X, or the person whose hand X is in?

The tap symbol in X has no significant meaning while X is in a player's hand.

This is based on the comprehensive rules dealing with "tapping":

  701.19. Tap and Untap

    701.19a To tap a permanent, turn it sideways from an upright position. Only untapped permanents can be tapped.

    701.19b To untap a permanent, rotate it back to the upright position from a sideways position. Only tapped permanents can be untapped.

  107.5. The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap 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. See rule 302.6.

A couple things here. Note that the idea of tapping as a general concept only applies to permanents. There is no reason to think from the comprehensive rules that a non-permanent can become tapped.

So how can you activate the ability? Well, you can still pay the cost of "tapping it", it's just that paying that cost will have no effect on its state; it won't become tapped. So tapping a permanent causes it to become tapped, but tapping a card in your hand doesn't.

Also, even if it did somehow become tapped; there's nothing in the rules from tapping it again to pay the cost... 107.5, which prevents you from paying the tap cost if its tapped, only refers to tapped permanents.

Since X in a player's hand is not a permanent, the regular rules regarding it being tapped or untapped simply don't apply.

Finally, if it somehow were tapped, there's no reason in the rules to think that it would ever untap (until it becomes a new object by changing zones, or some spell/ability untaps it). The only thing that causes untapping normally is this rule:

  502.2. Second, the active player determines which permanents he or she controls will untap. Then he or she untaps them all simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. Normally, all of a player’s permanents untap, but effects can keep one or more of a player’s permanents from untapping.

As this rule only applies to permanents, the card in your hand wouldn't get untapped during the untap step.

Considering that these cards were creating primarily for the humor of seeing what silly things can be done, it would not surprise me if one of the reasons for having "tap" in the cost of the ability is simply to add to the silliness of the idea of taping a card in someone's hand. Though that is of course just speculation.


Djinn of Infinite Deceits interacting with other control-changing effects I have two closely-related questions regarding Djinn of Infinite Deceits.  I think I understand how both of these cases work, but my rules-fu is rusty and I'd love the opinion of the experts here.

Case 1:  A permanent control effect, such as Control Magic.  If I use the Djinn to give away a creature that I have enchanted with Control Magic, which reads "You control enchanted creature.", what happens?  My understanding is that after the Djinn's ability finishes resolving, states would update and Control Magic would cause the creature I gave away to return to my control.
Case 2:  An ongoing control effect, such as Rubinia Soulsinger's activated ability.  If I use the Djinn to give away a creature I'm currently controlling using Rubinia's ability that reads "Tap:  Gain control of target creature for as long as ... Rubinia remains tapped.", what happens?  My understanding is that Rubinia's effect doesn't continue to update, and so the creature would remain under my opponent's control.

In both cases, the result is the same: the new control effect overrides the old one. This is because Magic uses a timestamp system: whenever there are effects that modify the same thing (like control, or type, or color), the one that was created last and hasn't ended determines the final result.
This is part of rule 613: Interaction of Continuous Effects:

613.1. The values of an object's characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object. For a card, that means the values of the characteristics printed on that card. For a token or a copy of a spell or card, that means the values of the characteristics defined by the effect that created it. Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order:

613.1b. Layer 2: Control-changing effects are applied.

613.2. Within layers 1-6, apply effects from characteristic-defining abilities first (see rule 604.3), then all other effects in timestamp order (see rule 613.6).
613.6. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.

613.6a. A continuous effect generated by a static ability has the same timestamp as the object the static ability is on, or the timestamp of the effect that created the ability, whichever is later.

613.6b. A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it's created.

Please note that these rules do not describe a sequence of actions to take, but rather a process to determine the current characteristics of an object. Also, timestamps don't really have a "value." The only important thing is what order they are in.
All of the effects discussed here are continuous effects. That is because rule 611.1 says

A continuous effect modifies characteristics of objects, modifies control of objects, or affects players or the rules of the game, for a fixed or indefinite period.

So, here's how we determine the controller in each of your situations:
Case 1
Your Control Magic has a static ability that says "You control enchanted creature." This creates a continuous effect that causes you to control the creature with a timestamp corresponding to when the Control Magic entered the battlefield (613.6a). Then you activate your Djinn's ability. When the ability resolves, it creates a continuous effect that says that your opponent controls that creature (and one that says that you control one of your opponent's creatures, but that's not relevant), with a timestamp corresponding to when the ability resolves (613.6b).
Then, when we want to determine who controls the creatures, we see that there are two control changing effects. We apply them in timestamp order, so we first apply the Control Magic effect, which says that you control it. Then we apply the Djinn's ability's effect, which says that your opponent controls it. The end result is that your opponent controls it.
If the Control Magic ever goes away, the Djinn's ability's effect will be the only control changing effect. It says that your opponent controls the creature, so they control it.
Case 2
First, your Rubinia Soulsinger's ability creates an effect that says that you control the creature, with a timestamp corresponding to when the ability resolved. Then your Djinn's ability creates an effect that says that your opponent controls the creatures, with a timestamp corresponding to when that ability resolved.
Then, when we want to determine who controls the creatures, we again see that there are two control changing effects. As in case 1, we apply the effects in timestamp order. This means that we first apply Rubinia's ability's effect, then your Djinn's ability's effect. And, as in case 1, the result is that your opponent controls the creature.
If you then decide to untap Rubinia, there will then be just one control changing effect: the one that says that your opponent controls the creature. So, they control it.


Is a cultural win viable in Civilization? Played Sid Mayer's civilization board game a couple of times now. In the beginning we all had tech wins due to passivity of players. Then I started experimenting with cultural and military victory. Doing so with 2 players game.

Even when I try cultural win, I need to increase military to defend from the other player. Then at the point I can focus on culture, I am at tech level 4, can discover Flight, use two turns to buy some fighters. Then I can quickly reach other player capital. With grouping limit of 4 I can have 9 units which is well enough to defeat a capital. Given a capital can be defended by at most 6 units as far as I understand the rules.

Even with Rome I couldn't reach 3rd culture level before I could achieve the military victory.

Or probably the other player not good enough to defend?

In any case, I think at tech level 4, one can easily make a surprising move to military track and other players could easily be too slow to react if pursuing another victory type.

I'm reading some forum threads where I read stuff about culture victories and it sounds like only possible with 4 players and it's about being in the right place on the map and depending on the tracks taken by the other players.

To sum up:

is culture victory viable in a 2 player game?
is culture victory achievable regardless of other players strategies?
is there any situation where cultural track has advantages over military track? Or is cultural track only for the adventurous seeking for a challenge?

Cultural victory is possible, but in my experience is the hardest of the victories.  Technology victory is just a time limit on the game and not in and of itself interesting.  I have found military and economic victories to be much easier.  However, I have seen cultural victories happen.  Here are factors that make it easier:

Have a helpful civilization.  Rome looks the best on paper, though Egypt can actually be better both due to the starting wonder, which can help kick-start culture production, but also from it's ability to build free buildings which lets you build at least one city that is entirely devoted to culture production (other civilizations can't do this anywhere near as efficiently because such a city is surrounded by temples, universities, trading posts, great people, and a wonder, and as a result is deprived of hammers with which to build these buildings).  America is also okay in their ability to get wonders easier (from their discount when spending trade).  The Chinese can be good as well, as they get some free culture at the start of the game to kick-start progress, though their real strength is if this gives them a great person that produces two culture.  The Germans and Russians are really not worth trying with (see this thread https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/626430/tracking-victory-types/page/1, which also illustrates the comparative difficulty of a culture victory to other victory types).
If playing as America, Rome, or Egypt, put your capital next to the incense on your starting tile; if you later get feudalism, any of your cities will be able to harvest this (note that it can still only be harvested by one city each turn, but it could be a city other than your capital if your capital can produce more than 7 culture through the culture action).
Wonders are key.  Stonehenge, The Louvre, and the Sydney Opera House are the big three you want to get because they give you free advances on the culture track.  The other nice thing about these is they add culture icons to your cities, letting you produce more culture when you hit that action.
Have at least one of your cities devoted to producing culture.  Early game, this will mean building culture producers in that city.  Once the city is ready, hit culture with it every turn.  Do not be afraid to spend trade to get buildings you need in that city (if you are not playing Egypt).  It is better to do this for a few turns if it can get you a solid culture producer faster.
Get technology that feeds your strategy.  Key technologies include: Theology (for the Cathedral and increased hand size), Metal Casting (for the culture production ability, with the added perk of giving you a unit upgrade), and Printing Press (for the University; you should pretty much ignore its coin ability unless you are pivoting to an economic victory).  Other technologies you should consider are Chivalry (for the culture production ability and the government), Monarchy (for the government), Mass Media (if other people have Civil Service), Pottery (for the hand size), Civil Service (for the hand size), and Philosophy (for the great people and the ability to build temples first and upgrade them to cathedrals later).
Cities that have poor culture production can still be used to produce large amounts of culture by producing incense.  Incense can turn into 5 or 7 culture a piece mid-game with the technologies mentioned above.  Don't be afraid to harvest incense before you have these technologies and hold on to it.  Don't use incense on any ability that produces less than 5 culture (don't use the ability on Currency and don't spend incense on abilities like Philosophy).  Go for villages, as they can help you get resources to fuel your progress.
The culture cards and great people you get help your progress.  Great people can help your culture producing cities produce more culture.  This is great (pun intended).  The culture cards can get you the resources to get more culture, can help defend against an aggressive military player, and can disrupt the production/buildings of someone going for an economic or military victory.  If you start advancing on the culture track early, this can start a positive feedback loop.  Also, if you have philosophy and extra non-incense resources, get some great people.  They can help start your culture production (especially if you get one of the great people with two culture icons).  Spending a culture card as an incense to get enough culture to buy another card may seem like a waste, but it's actually exactly what you want to be doing, since this pushes you both closer to victory and closer to the tier 3 culture cards, which are more powerful.
Favor archers when buying units, as you are definitely going to research Metal Casting, which puts those at level 3.
There isn't a necessary tier 4 technology for culture.  Mass Media can be okay, but really feel free to research anything as your first tier 4 tech if it helps you more.  Atomic Theory can be very powerful, as later culture cards (princely gift) give you access to uranium and taking two actions with all of your cities can let you get a truly silly amount of culture in a turn.  Alternatively, you could get one of the military techs to defend yourself.
Build cities next to desert rather than water; trading posts (which generate culture) are more useful to you than harbors (which don't).  Build later cities next to natural wonders if possible to get the extra culture.  The purple forest is probably the best.  Using scouts on natural wonders can be helpful too.
Build all three cities.  This is important in any strategy in Civ, and culture is no exception.
Don't neglect trade production.  You will need it to research technology and also get through the higher ranks of the culture track.
Have a government of Monarchy, Feudalism, or Democracy.  Monarchy gives you extra culture production, which is good.  Feudalism can let all your cities harvest incense if any of your cities has it, which can be used on resource abilities to make culture.  Democracy can help in that you get extra trade and give up something not particularly useful (you shouldn't really be attacking other cities if going for a cultural victory).
Don't neglect military but it shouldn't be a huge focus.  Military is for spare actions and spare technology researches.  The culture cards do help you militarily, and if you see a battle you can win, go for it, as this lets you steal culture or incense from your opponent.  But attacking their capital is not your goal.  If you are in a position where you think you can do it, it's probably because you have spent too much of the game focusing on military.  Make sure you defend your cities, as if they take one of your cities, they can steal one of your hard-earned culture cards or, worse yet, destroy a city you sunk lots of trade and great people you put in to developing.
Don't hoard culture.  Buy cards as soon as you can and play cards as soon as you can.  Obviously don't buy cards if it would put you over hand limit and you want all the cards in your hand, but holding culture is dangerous as it can be stolen by battles.
When you are getting to the end of the track, go as fast as you can.  Forget everything but culture and buy advancement on that track every single time you can.  Discard great culture cards if you have to; you're going for the win.


life and death: 2 x 4 in the corner with defects In a go game (with another 4K) I got a 2 x 4 region in the corner with lots of defects.

W1 almost surely will happen.  Can White get life or ko?

$$Wm1
$$ |------------
$$ | . . . . X .
$$ | . . O X . .
$$ | . . O O X .
$$ | . . O X . .
$$ | . 1 O X . .
$$ | . B X X . .
$$ | . . . . . .


Can a unit join another unit if they are the same type of unit? Can a unit join another unit if they are the same type of unit? If so, what are the conditions for which they can join?

For example, can they join the other unit while the other unit is in close combat?

For example, a unit of spirit hosts that were summoned trying to join another unit of summoned spirit hosts.

No, units can never join together.

Forming Units, pg 5

  Once formed into a unit, the models move and fight as a single entity
  for the rest of the battle.

Moving your units, pg 13

  Individual models are not permitted to leave their units and so a unit effectively remains a single entity.

1" Apart, pg 13

  Whilst moving a unit is not allowed to appraoch closer than 1" to another unit, friend or foe

The only exception to this are Characters, who may join and leave units (pg 96-101). The rules for characters joining and leaving units are detailed and explicit, there are no such rules for normal units.


In Elder Sign how does removing a monster via a card effect work? I am trying to figure out how to resolve "Flute of the Outer Gods" and "Bind Monster".
The Flute removes a monster after rolling. The Bind Monster does it at any time.

Can either item/spell be used mid-adventure?  When the monster is removed, does it reveal the task underneath that now must be completed? Is this different for the two cards?

When using the flute, does defeating the monster count as a success and allow a re-roll without assigning any dice nor losing a die (normal success)? Can you still complete a task on this die roll?

Coincidentally ti me asking, Elder Sign Omens just came out, and i was able to find out how some of these rules function in the digital version of the game.

As a disclaimer Omen rules are not identical in some ways to the paper board game. This particularly applies to when spell cards are used.

  Can either item/spell be used mid-adventure?

Yes they can be used at any roll

  When the monster is removed, does it reveal the task underneath that
  now must be completed?

The task below a defeated monster does not have to be completed

  When using the flute, does defeating the monster count as a success
  and allow a re-roll without assigning any dice nor losing a die
  (normal success)?

No the monster is removed outside of die rolling.  You must still place dice on one of the tasks, or resolve a failure.


In Bridge can you ask for an "undo" if you make the wrong bid and do the opposition have to agree it? Suppose your partner opens 1D and there is no interference bid. You reply 2S but realise that you should have bid 1S.
Can you ask to take it back? And are the opponents obliged to allow you?

It depends.  On online vs. face to face (vs. screens), on whether there is a Director or Arbiter, on your intent, on regulations.  But the Law, as I'm sure is in the Johnson comment, is Law 25 (duplicate Laws quoted here, rubber laws similar):
LAW 25 - LEGAL AND ILLEGAL CHANGES OF CALL
A. Unintended Call

If a call is made by a player that was not intended and if it is discovered before partner makes a call, it may be substituted with the intended call. The second (intended) call stands and is subject to the appropriate Law, but the lead restrictions in Law 26 do not apply.
If the player’s original intent was to make the call selected or voiced, that call stands. A change of call may be allowed because of a mechanical error or a slip of the tongue, but not because of a loss of concentration regarding the intent of the action.
A player is allowed to replace an unintended call if the conditions described in A1 above are met, no matter how the error came to the player’s attention.
No substitution of call may be made when partner has made a subsequent call.
If the auction ends before it reaches the player’s partner no substitution may occur after the end of the auction period (see Law 17D).
If a substitution is allowed the LHO may withdraw a call made over the first call. Information from the withdrawn call is authorized to this side and unauthorized to the opponents.

B. Call Intended

A substituted call not permitted by A may be accepted by the offender’s LHO. (It is accepted if LHO calls intentionally over it.) The first call is then withdrawn, the second call stands and the auction continues (Law 26 may apply).
Except as in B1, a substitution not permitted by A is cancelled. The original call stands and the auction continues (Law 26 may apply).
Law 16C applies to any call withdrawn or cancelled.

I've bolded the most important items for a player.  Law 26 is "call withdrawn, lead restrictions".
If you intended to bid 1S and 2S came out, you can change it.  If you bid 2S and then remember you don't play Strong Jump Shifts with this partner, you're out of luck (and likely making overtricks).
In a controlled game (duplicate with a Director, or rubber with an Arbiter), if you believe you're in a L25A situation, you call and let the Director or Arbiter decide.  If it's a game without control, you ask and see if the opponents will let you (the Rubber Laws still use the term "without pause for thought", and "thought" is the important word there).  Likely they will, unless you show that you try to undo intended bids, and then they will dry up.
Note that this law is considered first in situations where the unintended bid is illegal - for instance 1D-(1S)-1H.  If you intended to bid 2H and 1H came out, Law 25 applies; otherwise it is an insufficient bid (no matter if you didn't intend to bid insufficiently or didn't see 1S or...) and that Law (27) applies instead (currently, the only real difference is that your LHO can accept 1H and bid 1S "raising" partner).


Monopoly hotel sell to pay debt to opponent I recently played Monopoly and was forced to sell hotels to pay my opponent. The problem was that the bank only had two houses left, so I was unable to sell hotels because there weren't enough houses to replace them with. I only wanted to sell the hotels because I didn't need any more money.

The rules state the number of houses and hotels are finite, so what can I do in this situation: when there there is no way to sell hotels and replace with houses? Assume everything else was mortgaged and I had no money.

The rules clearly state that houses and hotels are a finite resource:

  BUILDING SHORTAGES: When the Bank has no houses to sell, players wishing to build must wait for some player to return or sell his/her houses to the Bank before building. 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.

Furthermore, the rules for selling houses and hotels are clear:

  Houses and hotels may be sold back to the Bank at any time for one-half the price paid for them.
  All houses on one color-group must be sold one by one, evenly, in reverse of the manner in which they were erected.
  All hotels on one color-group may be sold at once, or they may be sold one house at a time (one hotel equals five houses), evenly, in reverse of the manner in which they were erected.

The rules do not clearly cover the situation you describe, but I think they implicitly force you into selling more than you need to cover your debts.

Specifically, if there are only two houses left on the board, you would have to sell your hotels and houses in the reverse order you build them until there are enough house and hotel pieces available on the board to accurately reflect what you've done. In your case this means selling from a full set of hotels down to two houses.

Strategically I'd recommend a different play. If the hotels are the only improvements you have on the entire board you're probably screwed anyway, but if not I'd consider selling houses you own on other properties first.


How does Agricola Solo version determine the food at the beginning of each game? At the beginning of each game I start with different amount of food. I understand that it is related to how I end the previous game. What is the rule?

This is in the rules here

On page 9

  To play a Solo game, start with 0 Food.

and later on the same page

  Because you have more permanent Occupations after each
  game, the goal score that you must reach goes up in each game:
  In the first game, your goal is 50 points, then 55, 59, 62, 64, 65,
  66 and 67 points. After the eighth game, the Solo game series is
  over. (You can of course play on with all permanent Occupation
  cards, in which case the goal score increases by 1 point per
  game.) At the start of each game in the series, you receive 1 food
  for every 2 points by which you exceeded the goal score for the
  previous game (rounded down).


In Pandemic, can yellow infect black, after black has been eradicated? Let's say that black has been eradicated. Can yellow come into the black cities and infect?

Yes. Eradication affects the color of cubes, not the color of cities.

The color of the cities tells you what color is on the corresponding infection and player cards, so cities will certainly tend to have only cubes of that color, but they can potentially have cubes of any color.

Eradicating a given color disease simply stops cubes of that color from being added to the board:

  To infect a city, place 1 disease cube matching its color onto the city, unless this disease has been eradicated.

But the rules never say that eradication stops, say, the yellow disease spilling over into black from an outbreak. This isn't terribly likely (you have to have an outbreak on the border) and also isn't usually that awful (unless you're running out of that color of cubes), but it can happen.


Does a player with a recurring action need to remind other players each time it would take affect? For example, when using Sulfuric Vortex does its owner need to remind each player at the beginning of their upkeep to take the damage? Or is a case of, if its owner forgets to tell you, then you do nothing?

Similar question for Falkenrath Noble: if I forget to gain a life and forget to target a player to lose a life then does the ability never take effect? When is it too late - the next player's upkeep? The end of my turn?

The word to look for is may.  For example, the rules text for Bred for the Hunt says:

  Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it deals
  combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.

If a triggered ability says "may", It's up to the owner of the ability to draw a card. If he forgets, that's too bad for him.

The rules text for  Sulfuric Vortex says:

  At the beginning of each player's upkeep, Sulfuric Vortex deals 2
  damage to that player.

It says "deals damage" instead of "you may have Sulfiric Vortex deal 2 damage".  Without the "may", it's not optional. The Infraction Procedure Guide says:

  You aren't allowed to miss your own triggered abilities, and your
  opponent isn't required to remind you about them.

So not announcing the trigger is a rules infraction.  If you do forget a trigger in a casual game (regular rule enforcement):

  If a triggered ability is forgotten (or any other game error is made)
  and the error is discovered later, players should alert the judge. The
  judge will try and fix the error if possible and, if not, the game
  will just continue.

The responsibility for announcing the trigger lies with the player who owns the ability.  While other players are not required to announce the trigger, it's a good idea to do so.  If the owner notices two rounds later, it will be applied retroactively.

Official tournaments are different (competitive and professional rule enforcement):

  What the judge will do when you miss your triggers:
  your opponent gets to decide whether he or she wants the trigger to
  happen or not.

That makes for more competitive but less enjoyable games.


Negative and Infinite ATK in Yugioh Two questions:

(-1)
Everyone I've spoke to says that you cannot have negative ATK, why?  It's not in the rule book so it seems that if I could reduce the ATK of an opponent to become negative then in the event I attack them, my ATK would be applied then they would attack themselves (the value equal to the absolute value of their negative ATK value).

(∞)
I've heard from a few sources that after the ATK points reach a certain value (over 9999 maybe? by any means possible) that the value becomes infinite, is this true?  I realize there are some cards which are not legal for play which have infinite ATK values, but is there any rule that states a sufficiently high finite ATK "becomes" infinite.

1)  No, negative numbers are not possible on monsters.  It is true that this is not explicitly stated in any of the official rulebooks.  However, it is most common that such values in games refer to non-negative integers, and therefore it can be assumed that it is the case unless otherwise stated.  It is the responsibility of the rulebook to explicitly state if negatives were allowed, not the other way around.

2)  No.  There is noting even remotely true about the statement, to the point of which the very concept seems rather random.  It's possible that such a glitch might exist in one of the video games, and that your friend might have been referring to that.  Even so, that is an unintentional (and theoretical) computer glitch, and does not reflect on the real game, which is not limited by such issues.


What's the definition of a quality? While reading through the comprehensive rules in mtg, I came across this:

  112.12. ... if an effect states a quality of [an] object (“[creature] can’t be blocked,” for example), it’s neither granting an ability nor setting a characteristic

This was the first mention of object qualities, so I wanted to know what constitutes a quality and discovered there is no definition given in the comprehensive rules, or that I missed it.

Rule 112.12 gives this example:

  Example: Muraganda Petroglyphs reads, “Creatures with no abilities get +2/+2.” A Runeclaw Bear (a creature with no abilities) enchanted by an Aura that says “Enchanted creature has flying” would not get +2/+2. A Runeclaw Bear enchanted by an Aura that says “Enchanted creature is red” or “Enchanted creature can’t be blocked” would get +2/+2.

In the example, I'm not sure why "can't be blocked" is a quality and "flying" is not. (Rule 112.12 precludes qualities from being abilities, and flying is an ability, so it's not a quality). So what does this rule mean when it mentions 'quality'?

You are mixing two different things up quite a bit.

What is a quality?

You will only see "quality" get used in the Comprehensive Rules, and it gets used in context under its normal English meaning: it is some kind of attribute, characteristic, or property of a thing. Don't try to find a specific set of things about cards that is a "quality", because there isn't one; the word has no special meaning in the game and the rules are just using it in the normal English sense. For example, when the rules talk about Hexproof, they also talk about "Hexproof from white/black" as seen on the Knights of Grace and Malice:

  702.11d “Hexproof from [quality]” is a variant of the hexproof ability. “Hexproof from [quality]” on a permanent means “This permanent can’t be the target of [quality] spells your opponents control or abilities your opponents control from [quality] sources.” A “hexproof from [quality]” ability is a hexproof ability.

Here they could equally write "Hexproof from _____". However they are instead using "quality" as a placeholder word that lets them easily and clearly reference whatever goes in the blank. That doesn't make "quality" be a special limited set of things in the rules though, they are just using an English word for its English meaning.

This is unlike words like "ability" and "characteristic". Those do have a specific definition in the rules (rules 112 and 109.3, respectively). There are limited sets of things that are "abilities" and "characteristics" and we can point to them and say "that is an ability according to this part of the rules" and "that is not an ability", etc.

"Quality" is not defined like these words, it is just an English term.

Muraganda Petroglyphs has nothing to do with qualities as such

  In the example, I'm not sure why "can't be blocked" is a quality and "flying" is not. So what is the definition of a quality?

Flying is an ability. That ability is granted to the creature by the aura. The creature now has an ability. Therefore, Muraganda Petroglyphs will not give it +2/+2, because it is not a creature with no abilities.

"Enchanted creature can't be blocked" is not granting an ability, it is just a rules modification of how things can interact with that card. "Enchanted creature is red" is likewise granting it an ability, it is setting its color.

If you're trying to understand what is/isn't a quality in hopes of understanding Muraganda Petroglyphs, you're on a wild goose chase: instead you need to understand abilities. An ability is rules text on a card, including static keyword abilities such as flying, and things may grant creatures those abilities temporarily or permanently.


What does the expansion symbol of From the Vault: Transform mean? What does the expansion symbol of From the Vault: Transform depicts? Looks like feathers in a circle to me.

MTG Gamepedia says:

  "The cards use their original transformation symbols. However, the
  expansion symbol is uniquely mirrored in color on the cards' back
  sides."

And Wikipedia lists it as

  unrevealed

in the Expansion Symbol column at List of Magic: The Gathering Sets article

The quote is merely referring to the fact the expansion symbols colours on the front are inverted on the back. The standard is for expansion symbols to be the same regardless of what side they are printed on, so this difference in colour makes the set symbol unique.

I suspect that the symbol is supposed to be the back of a werewolf in front of a moon. Though the expansion only contains one werewolf, werewolves are a core part of the transform mechanic and featured heavily in the mechanics debut during Innistrad.

Front (Orange background, Black lines):

Back (Black background, Orange lines):


Just say No on Just Say No Is it possible to play a just say no on a just say no? Will the second just say no cancel out the previous just say no?

Yes, you can do this, and if the person playing the first "No" is also holding the third "No", they can play it against the second "No" to result in a chain with the net effect of just the original "No" negating the targeted action card for that player.


Looking for a horror boardgame I used to play back in 1999 or so Back when I was a kid (which would've been at least 15 years ago, so around 1999 or so) there was a game I used to play that I would like to find again.

This "horror" game took place in an haunted mansion or castle divided in four big rooms and multiple floors. Players can choose from different characters (and if I remember correctly, one of them was a dog) and advance through an high number of tiles by spinning a wheel. Some tiles had special effects on gameplay written on them, as "stop for a turn" or "go to tile number ###" and so on.

It was not "Ghost Castle" and not something about Scooby-Doo (the characters where anonymous). It was built in thick paper or cardboard (everything but the wheel was made in this material), and it wasn't a box but a book which become a 3D setting when opened.

It was none of those listed below, because this are way to small:

Which Witch
Haunted House
Haunted Mansion
Ghost Castle

Thanks!

Found it! It's name is "Ghost Hunters!" by Brian Lee and it's not a board game but a book, published for the first time in UK by Tango Books in 1998.

ISBN (for Italian edition) is 88-450-7851-5, and you can see it online at http://www.lafeltrinelli.it/products/9788845107351/Gioca_con_gli_acchiappafantasmi/Lee_Brian.html


Ways different people enjoy board games I once saw a very nice write-up of the ways in which people enjoy board games. It was somewhat similar to this answer but more comprehensive, focused on different ways of enjoyment rather than different types of people, and it had more technical sounding terms.

I'd really like to find it again. I specifically remember that it had terms for the enjoyment of strategic thinking and finding the optimum strategy, and another for creating interesting or unusual situations -- which I related to a lot and had never heard described before.

What are the ways that people enjoy board games, as generally and technically as possible?

The ways of enjoyment:
1. Joy of playing
2. Joy of winning
3. The Social event of gathering to play
4. Joy by Tinkering
5. Joy of collecting
6. Joy of sharing
7. Joy of Learning

In detail...

Fun of Playing

For some people, the play of a game is its own reward. For many people, this is true of some, but not all, games.

Fun of Winning

For most of us, winning is, itself, fun. One experiences some joy at winning, especially in the face of adversity, be it a hard solitaire or a multi-player contest.

For a few, playing isn't fun, but winning is; playing is the cost for the chance at the fun of winning.

The Social Event

Some people's enjoyment is about or enhanced by the social event aspects of board and card games. The gathering is itself fun, even if the games themselves turn out not to be.

Conventions are an extreme example of this. My own local group of friends seldom gather without something hitting the table.

The Joy of Tinkering

For some people, house rules aren't for fixing things that didn't work, but a way of finding enjoyment all their own. By expanding, revising, "pimping," or strategizing, outside the playtimes, one can find enjoyment of a game.

Pimping a game means acquiring or making better looking components than the included ones... and it borders on...

While not properly "tinkering," strategizing falls into the same basic mode - deriving non-play enjoyment from spending time figuring out how the game works.

The Joy of Collecting

For some, enjoyment is in the having. Either by getting everything for one game, or having lots of games.

The Joy of Sharing

For some, the joy is in the sharing of the games. Either by teaching, by revieing, or by discussing with others.

In some ways, it's similar to the joy of the event; in others, it's different. As with collecting and tinkering, a lot of this is outside the actual realm of playing the game.

The Joy of Learning

For some, this is part of the joy of playing, or of sharing... for others, it's an enjoyment factor all its own.


Where to buy bicycle quality custom playing cards I have the ideas (and graphics) for two decks of cards. Googling I only found two options for creating custom playing cards in the bicycle quality/style that seemed legit.

One: custom decks from the official bicycle website. Looks good to begin with, but I called the number for more info, and discovered that bicycle can not make only 1 or 2 decks.

Two: Zazzle makes playing cards! Again looks good to begin with, but after starting the process it quickly became apparent that zazzle only allows customization of the back. I need more than that.

The first deck will need custom backs, jokers, royals, and tuck case. The second will need custom backs, all faces, and tuck case.

So, anyone know of another legit company?

Note: I am a amateur magician, and for the cards to be of use they must have the feel of bicycle cards.

There are several that do small print runs. (I am sure there are many more.)But, for Bicycle quality cards, you would likely need to use Bicycle as your source.

ArtsCow
Printstudio
theGameCrafter
QPC


Ticket To Ride Netherlands - Loans I am out of coins. I need 2 Euros to acquire my next route. Loans are 5 Euros. Do I get 3 Euros in change? My competitor say the rules do not specify change, so I don't. I say change is logical, so I do.

You do not get "change". Loan cards are simply a penalty for playing a route that you can't afford to play. The loan is not a loan for 5 Euros, rather it is simply a card that counts as minus 5 points at the end of the game. The rules don't distinguish between being only 1 toll token short of playing a route or being short more than that... if you are short at all then you get -5 points at the end of the game. The loan card is just the reminder for that point loss.
From the rules:

If a player doesn’t have enough Bridge Toll Tokens left to
pay for the cost of a route, that player must take a single
Loan card from the bank when claiming that route, and
place it face up in front of him for the rest of the game.
The player pays no Tokens (even if he could have made
a partial payment), and can never reimburse this Loan.


Blood Bowl 2nd edition: Star Players Is there a list of Star Players for 2nd Edition of Blood Bowl somewhere? Obviously the ones from Star Players Handbook and Companion Rulebook is simple enough but the ones printed in White Dwarf etc?

Games Workshop is incredibly protective about their IP, so it can be hard to find stuff like this.

That said, I found a thread here that tries to collate the list of star players.

Here's the list they've compiled:

Star Players

Axebreaker Jones
Asperon Thorn
Barik Farblast
Dieter Hammerlash
Dirty Dan
Duke Luthor Von Hawkfire
Eldril Sidewinder
Ernald Spirtburner
Frank N. Stein
Garbage Throttlesnot
Granite Rivalblade
Greaser Geargrinder
Griff Oberwald
Grimwold Grimbreath
Hak Demoncutter
Harg Vainkill
Hawthorn Tullaris
Highelm Lyrpadre
Hoshi Komi
Hubris Rakarth
Ibrahim Golddawn
Jacob Von Altdorf
Krug Painspear
Moravis Curfew
Morg'th N'hthrog
Odium Khan
'Pick' Seamsunder
Pierrot Rainforest
Puggy Baconbreath
Ramtut III
Rasta Tailspike
Rip Sorepain
Ritter Von Baum
Slarga Fourstrike
Soaren Hightower
Split Tendoncutter
Stuka Schmidtt
'Surehanded' Gregor Meissen
Tuern Redvenom
Urfrik Skillhack
Valen Swift
Varag Ghoul-chewer
Warmglow Vindaloo
Wilhelm Chaney
Withergrasp Doubledrool
Wormhowl Greyscar
Ziggi Abschuss
Zug

Companion

Bardin Ironglove
Bellow Thunderslam
'Big' Gunn Schonn
Bilerot Vomitflesh
Borg'th N'hthrog
Dolfar Longstride
Dorjak Sureclaw
Eoarn Harkon
Flint Churnblade
Galmen Goreblade
Gorflem Rot-breath
Grak'ng'grak Gorthag
Grograt Crunchskull
Jordell Freshbreeze
Kolath Head-ripper
Lewdgrip Whiparm
Luarn Proudbow
M'gorg'gn'throg
Petro D'Arvill
Siggi 'The Boot' Schuster
Spiky Norman
Ugroth 'Ripper' Bolgrot

They sure printed a lot -- hope that helps.


What happens when all heroes and elite heroes are dealt in Boss Monster? A group of 4 managed to get through all the heroes and elite heroes in Boss Monster without any clear winner (10 souls)

How do we determine who won?

There is an answer from one of the game's creators in this thread on BGG.  It states

  If a turn ends and all Hero cards have been claimed or removed from
  the game, the tiebreaker rules apply.


Do skill check re-rolls include dice gained from spending clue tokens? If I have 2 rolls for my skill check, and I fail the roll, then I spend a clue token to roll, and I fail. I then spend a second clue and again fail.

If I now use the Lucky Cigarette Case  which says:

  Discard Lucky Cigarette Case to re-roll any one skill check.

Do I roll the original 2 dice only, or have I increased my re-roll pool to 4 dice (by including the additional dice from spending 2 clues)?

Reroll all 4 dice.

It's important to do things in the right order though.  Using the cigarette case and then clues results in fewer total rolls.

This is clarified in the FAQ contained within the Dunwich Horror rules

  Q: How does a re-roll work? Can you re-roll only the
  skill dice that you have before spending Clue tokens, or
  can you re-roll all the dice you’ve rolled on a given
  check, including the extra dice gained from spending
  Clue tokens?

  A: You re-roll all the dice you’ve rolled for the skill
  check so far, so you can re-roll dice gained from spending
  Clue tokens as long as you spend your Clue tokens
  before using your re-roll.


Do the rules of multiple copies of a card stack? For example, the Chief of the Foundry grants +1/+1 to other artifact creatures I control. If I have two copies of Chief of the Foundry in play, does that mean all other artifact creatures I control get +2/+2 and do they then grant each other +1/+1 since they are "other" artifact creatures?

You are correct in your interpretation. Each static ability is separately applied from each other, so they stack.

It's not directly talking about abilities stacking, but:

  112.2c An object may have multiple abilities. If the object is represented by a card, then aside from certain defined abilities that may be strung together on a single line (see rule 702, “Keyword Abilities”), each paragraph break in a card’s text marks a separate ability. If the object is not represented by a card, the effect that created it may have given it multiple abilities. An object may also be granted additional abilities by a spell or ability. If an object has multiple instances of the same ability, each instance functions independently. This may or may not produce more effects than a single instance; refer to the specific ability for more information. #


Design for board to put on table to make it bigger? I've got a reasonably big coffee table that we use for playing board games, but having played Arkham Horror on it It's starting to feel a little cramped.

I thought It might be a good idea to get a board of wood and cover it with felt that I can bring out on came nights to give us a bigger playing surface.

I'm not sure I can fit a board as big as my table in my car though so I was wondering if anyone had seen any tutorials on building a hinged gaming board that I can fold up to give me a playing surface.

My main issue is making the hinges flush so they don't get in the way.scratch the table.

It's a relatively simple project. While specific plans would need to be done using  the dimensions of the  table desired, it's very basic power-tool carpentry. It requires high precision, and the correct hinges, but isn't hard.
Essentially, you can just put the hinges outboard of the supporting table's width, on the underside. Let the table hold the panels up. So, if you have a desire for a 3'6" wide, 6' long surface, but a 2' wide table, and need it to fit into your 3x5' trunk, you rip a board to 3'6" wide, 6' long, then rip it to  two chunks 3' long. Finish the edges as desired, except the two which will face. Roundover the underside with a 1/4" roundover, and mount standard door hinges (4" wide) equally distant from the central table and the edge. (That should be 42-(2x4" hinges)-(24" central table)/4" from edge - 1.25" in from edge.) If being particularly fancy, you use a straight-cut bit and route out the hinges flush, so it folds truly flat...
If felting it, mount the hinges so that two compressed felt layers separate the two pieces, and the felt gets mounted so it covers the ends with the hinges. (This ensures that one only has a line between them, so stuff can't get under the felt easily.) also wrap it around the other edges.
Remember to both glue and either nail or staple the felt.
resource videos
Ask this Old House has a show that shows recessing door hinges. Uses a jig, two clamps, and a hand router. Or, alternatively, a wood chisel, and some patience. (if using engineered wood products, use the router.)
New Yankee Workshop, American Woodshop, Rough Cut, or The Woodsmith Shop all have covered hinges, as well.
advanced technique
If you make it thick enough, a Soss hinge could be used; their smallest one is 3/8" and needs 3/32" clearance on the folded-in side (and at least as much outside) for 9/16" wood thickness minimum. It will, however, affect the felting. Soss hinges require skill at mortising, which is a more advanced (and past my level) skill.


Correct use of Bonus cards in Terra Mystica Does a player take a Bonus card as soon as they have passed their turn?

Page 7 of the rule book states "Three out of the nine Bonus cards award Victory points when you have completed all the actions you wish to take in the current Action phase (called passing)"

Does a player keep hold of every bonus card until they have completed their turn and passed? Does this mean that a player who passes may not have access to some Bonus cards because other players with turns remaining may still be holding them?

One action you can take in Terra Mystica is ending your participation for the round.

To do this, you first select a new bonus card out of the ones remaining (taking any bonus gold that exists on that bonus card).

Then you apply End-of-Turn bonuses from your existing bonus card (as you mention - there are three bonus cards that may award victory points based on how many dwellings, etc. you own).

Now the round is officially over for you, and others may now select the bonus card you just put back.

--

In other words - yes; a player takes a bonus card as soon as they end their participation in the round (and some won't be available, as other players will still have theirs).


How does white win this capturing race? I'm reading "Sabaki, the art of settling stones" by Richard Bozulich. On page 98, it proposes the following solution for white to settle his stones. The explanation reads "after the moves to 9, it is clear that white wins the capturing race."

I don't see at all how white wins this capturing race, especially since it is black's turn now. As black I would just connect under after which I see no way for white to capture the three black stones. Am I missing something or is this just a mistake?

This seems like a mistake to me. I don't see a way to win the race. I wonder if the point was that White now has a stable group, so this is a failure for black. White can hane underneath the stone on the right side, and should probably be happy with that - Black was stronger here to begin with.


When do you check if you lose If someone casts Prosperity with X being 100 and one player has 50 cards and the other has 60, does the one with 50 cards lose first since he runs out first or do you wait until the spell resolves and it ends up to be a tie?

It will be a draw, both players lose at the same time.
MtG uses a system of state-based actions This is a sort of clean-up system that checks the game state almost continuously.

State-Based Actions

704.1. State-based actions are game actions that happen automatically whenever certain conditions (listed below) are met. State-based actions don’t use the stack.
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.

Priority is the game's term for who has the right to take actions. Generally, whenever something happens such as a spell is cast or resolves, or steps/phases change, the active player (the player whose turn it is) gets priority. Only the player with priority may cast spells, activate abilities, etc. The player with priority may also pass priority, giving it to the next player in turn order. This continues until all players have passed priority in succession and the stack is empty, then the current step or phase ends. This is how the game progresses.
Before a player gets priority, however, state-based actions are checked.

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

State-based actions are not checked while a spell resolves, only immediately after it has resolved:

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

Therefore in your case it is not important which player had more cards in his library. Both players lose at the same time because they attempted to draw a card from an empty library:

704.5. The state-based actions are as follows:
704.5b If a player attempted to draw a card from a library with no cards in it since the last time state-based actions were checked, he or she loses the game.


In bridge, what caused bidding "standards" to decline post Goren? I was weaned on "Goren" in the 1960s, and as some readers of my other questions have pointed out, am not totally comfortable with "Standard American" or other newer standards. These may be some examples why:

1) A "strong" (Goren) 1NT was 16-18 points, now it's 15-17.
2) "Five card majors" now means "any five cards." Goren preferred suits led by at least one honor.
3) Goren had stringent high card point requirements for raises of major suits. Nowadays, people like Larry Cohen and Marty Bergen advocate raising with "trumps rather than points."

What led to the above "weakening" of Goren's standards? Has declarer play improved more than defender play? Has there been a change of ethos from "don't go down if you can avoid it" to "don't go down more than your opponents' likely score?"

And speaking of which, is this why penalties were stiffened for doubled, non vulnerable from 100, 300, 500, 700... to 100, 300, 500, 800...?

A complete history of scoring changes, coupled with the whys of those changes would be a complicated story. But those doubled contract penalty changes came about for a simple reason. A few pairs realized that preemptive bidding against slams was simply too much of a potential gain against slams, so the scoring change was implemented to prevent this. Compare how many tricks you can go down against a vulnerable small slam, and still gain under the two scoring systems:

Old: 100 300 500 700 900 1100 1300 1500
New: 100 300 500 800 1100 1400 1700

So if they are vulnerable, a small slam will cost you 1370, 1430, or 1440 points. If you are not vulnerable, you could go down 7 tricks (doubled) and STILL gain under that scoring. Under the new scoring ladder, even a 6 trick deficit will be too much against a minor suit slam, and a 7 trick deficit will always cost you against all slams.

The second part of the question is to identify the cause of declining standards. A big reason is seeing how important it is to open 1NT. When you CAN open a strong 1NT, you gain considerably in the bidding. It allows you to become declarer in most contracts, assuming that you use transfers. I recall reading that this is a potential gain of roughly 1/2 of a trick on average, because they must lead into your hand at trick one. As well, hiding the strong hand is a valuable thing. If your opponents know what cards you have, they can defend vastly more effectively.

So making the strong hand the declarer is a valuable thing. But how often does this happen? How often will you open 1NT with a 16-18 point hand?

Overall, the probability of picking up a 16-18 point hand (ignoring shape) are 7.28%, versus 10.09% for a 15-17 point hand. (I could run a complete simulation to get the odds for balanced hands in those ranges, but things won't change too much.) The point is though, compared to a 6-18 point 1NT, you will be able to open a 15-17 point 1NT almost 40% more often! This difference is a HUGE gain.

So I'd argue that the shift in strong NT ranges is not a declining of standards, but a realization that the slightly weaker range is much more valuable overall.

Other changes in preempt quality are due to the realization of how valuable a preempt can be. Your opponents today will often use highly accurate bidding systems. Compared to the "old" days, when the opponents more frequently got to the wrong contracts, it is simply too dangerous to allow a quality pair to bid to the optimal contract. So instead we preempt more aggressively. This makes them guess how high to bid, or force them to double us.


How does Blistering Dieflyn work? Blistering Dieflyn gains +1/+0 when you use a swamp or mountain.

If you tap multiple mountains or swamps, can it be for example 5/1? Can you use multiple lands on it?

First off, though most often you get your mana from lands, it's not "when you use a swamp or a mountain" but "when you pay a black or red mana".

And yes, you can activate the ability multiple times, for example paying 2 red and 2 black mana to give it a total of +4/+0.

This is called an activated ability, as is anything else of the form "[cost]: [effect]" (note the colon). You can activate an activated ability as many times as you want, as long as you can pay the cost. Sometimes their cost is tapping (for example Cinderhaze Wretch), in which case since you can't tap something that's already tapped, you'll only be able to use the ability once at a time. But in this case, the cost is simply mana, which you can pay repeatedly.

Note that you are technically activating the ability multiple separate times, not just paying more for a bigger effect all at once. The difference doesn't usually matter, but in some cases it can be handy to do something in between activations.


Can Quarriors' Ghostly Spirit be destroyed more than once? The Ghostly Spirit's special ability is:

When Ghostly Spirit is destroyed, you may cull 1 Basic Quiddity Die to return Ghostly Spirit to your Ready Area (for free).

For example, let's say that I've got a level 1 Ghostly Spirit and an Assistant in my ready area, and my opponent attacks me with strength 4. I defend first with my Ghostly Spirit and it's destroyed, but then what? Can I cull a quiddity die to return it to my ready area and then use it to defend again? Or do I have to finish defending, let my Assistant be destroyed, and then cull a quiddity die to return my Ghostly Spirit to my ready area?
If you can cull the die before finishing the defense, we've had situations where a player culled several dice in one turn.

According to the Quiltimate Quedition rules at the top of page 7:

If an effect or ability prevents a Creature’s destruction or returns a destroyed Creature to your Ready Area (such as a Life Charm), you may not assign any more damage to that Creature this turn.

So you can't use the same die more than once in a single defence.


What is this Korean board game? This picture is from North Korea:

What is the game?

Can't speak for the pieces since the picture doesn't show much of any detail on those (except that they're probably homemade), but that definitely looks like a Janggi board:


Can Descent: Journey in the Dark be played by non-English speakers? I'm Italian and I'm really interested in buying Descent: Journey in the Dark, but I don't know if it's better to buy the Italian or the English edition. I know some non-Italian speakers and I would like to have a game that can be played by all. I think my English is good enough to play a board game, but is that a risk?  I'm worried about how much an average non-native English speaker (i.e. any other player) is able to understand the game during real gameplay. So, my question is: how much heavily is this game dependent on the language?

There are two significant challenges to playing Descent in a language that you aren't fluent in.

Text ability on cards (characters, upgrades, monsters, overlord cards, condition cards, etc).  Fantasy Flight Games (the authors of Descent) use very precise wording.  Often particular pieces of linguistic nuance contain information about rules or timing that you can't miss.  For example, Leoric of the Book's ability: "Each monster within 3 spaces of you receives -1 damage on each attack roll (to a minimum of 1)".  Reading this in a language that I is not my first language, I would likely be quite confused as to whether or not this ability affects monsters at range 3 of me (it does) and might misunderstand that the parenthetic is actually an additional constraint on this ability and not just a clarification (it doesn't ever reduce an attack to 0 damage).
The rulebook and adventure book take nuanced text to the next level.  Even reading the rulebook in my native language, I still missed that monsters could only attack once per turn my first game.  There is a lot of information that players need to have in these books.

All of that said, Descent is actually a good game for this because as long as the overlord knows all the rules, players can ask the overlord questions (including about precise translations).  This is because the overlord has total information already, so there is no hidden information that is given away by the question (other than players' plans/intentions).

My recommendation would be to get the game in the primary language of the player you intend to be the overlord (most likely you), and print out the PDF's of the rulebook and adventure book in the other language (these are at least available in English on the Fantasy Flight website).


During the untap step, can I copy a vehicle with Felhide Spiritbinder's Inspired trigger? I'm looking at an interaction with the Inspired mechanic and vehicles and wanted to make sure I had this correct.

On my previous turn, I've used a Felhide Spiritbinder to crew a Ballista Charger. During my untap step, Felhide Spiritbinder untaps, adding its Inspired trigger to the stack. With the Inspired trigger on the stack, can I crew the Ballista using the Spiritbinder, pay the Inspired ability's cost, and then create a copy of the animated Ballista?

No, this does not work because you choose targets for an ability when it is put on the stack, and when the Spiritbinder's ability is put on the stack the Charger is not a creature.
Also, the Spiritbinder triggers during the untap step, but the trigger isn't put on the stack until the beginning of the upkeep step since nobody gets priority during the untap step.

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.” The ability becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. It remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, a rule causes it to be removed from the stack, or an effect moves it elsewhere.
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. [...]


Can a blocking creature fight? How is damage dealt if it dies? As the title says, can a blocking creature fight? If so, what happens if the blocking creature dies before damage is dealt? How would damage be dealt during combat?

Example: Creature A is a 2/2 and it is blocking creature B, which is also 2/2. Before combat damage, I cast an instant forcing creature A to fight creature C, another 2/2, so that both A and C die.

If you cast such an instant after declaring blockers, the following will happen:

Your creature A will fight creature C and they will both die. Creature B will still be blocked, and thus will not deal any damage to you unless it has trample.


When is it worthwhile to aim for visits from Nobles? I've played quite a few rounds of Splendor over the past few months, but I've almost never come across a situation where a visit from a Noble has made a difference to the outcome of the game, except by luring players into a poor choice of strategy - by the time anyone has the necessary 8-9 developments for a visit, someone else has usually already won.

It seems to me that even going for 12 points from developments plus just the last 3 from a Noble is usually not worth the hassle of getting the exact bonuses you need, and if you have to pick up some low-value developments to do this, you're less likely to win if a tie-break ensues.

Is there any good way to use Noble visits except as a last resort towards the end of the game? Or is this something that happens more often in games between players who more actively disrupt each other's primary strategies?

Generally I'd look to go for Nobles in one of the following situations:

There are 2 or more Nobles with matching colours. E.g. if there's a Noble that requires 4 green and 4 red, and also a Noble that requires 3 green, 3 red and 3 blue then it might be worth picking up the 11 cards (mostly from Level 1) required. If there's also a Noble that requires 4 green and 4 blue then that's 9 points for 12 cards which looks very attractive.
There are Level 3 cards which match colours on a Noble. E.g. if there's a 4 point card that needs 3 red, 6 green and 3 blue and also a Noble that needs 4 green and 4 blue then I might go for the Noble and the 4-point card.
In a 2-player game, there are only 4 tokens of each colour so it can be much harder to buy Level 3 cards. Nobles can be an easier option for 2-player games.

A few other thoughts and observations.

unlike cards, Nobles cannot be reserved. On level one there are 8 cards of each colour, so really the only way someone can stop you getting a Noble is if they claim it for themselves first.
it's possible to pick up a large number of Level 1 cards very quickly. Once you have a few cards you can pick up Level 1 cards for 1 or 2 tokens, or even for free.
buying a card costs a turn, a visit from a Noble does not. So you potentially save a turn which can be crucial.
if scores are tied at the end of the game, number of cards bought is used as a tie breaker. If you went for Nobles and the other player didn't then you'll almost certainly lose. This does happen occasionally, so it's worth bearing in mind.


How is a Gin Rummy hand scored if both the knocking and defending player have Gin? I am playing with the Big Gin variant, which is not part of the base game.

Say I pick up a card from the deck which makes me a Gin hand. Only, I don't realize it due to say, misreading my hand, or I questionably decide to try for Big Gin for extra points, and simply discard my remaining deadwood card without knocking.

My opponent now draws from the deck, makes Gin, and knocks.

How is the hand scored?
In particular:

Does the defending player receive the Gin bonus?
Since the defending player has equaled the knocking player's deadwood count (0), do they receive the undercut bonus even though the knocking player made Gin?
If so, does the knocking player still receive the Gin bonus?

Your opponent gets 25 points plus 0 points. You do not get a chance to undercut. According to Pagat:

  A player who goes gin can never be undercut.

You do not get a gin bonus because you did not declare gin. You don't have a chance to declare gin because play ended. Play ended because your opponent knocked. Again from Pagat, emphasis mine:

  You can end the play at your turn if [...] Ending the play in this way is known as knocking [...]


Tap/Untap Land and Casting Spells This is along a similar vain to What happens when I cast a spell incorrectly? but only in that it created a further question.

At what point is it possible to decide that you don't want to cast a spell?

It's a very bad habit i know but i often find myself taping mana for a spell then thinking better of it. I've always just gone along with it after that, i followed through the action even if i see a better option but would it be right that i could change my mind and untap my land to carry out a different action?

What if i don't tap my land but simply drop a spell from my hand to the table without saying anything? Is the casting of that card implicit or would it be right that i could return the card to my hand?

Example - I have 3 cards in hand and 4 untaped land. I tap 3 land for a spell, then without saying anything or placing a card on the table i decide that really i want to cast a spell that only requires 1 land to be taped. Would i be allowed to untap either 2 and cast my 1 mana spell or all 3 land and start again?

Sorry that's more than one question! Thanks, 7's

Basic lands have hidden text that is no longer printed on them. It reads as follows.

  Tap: Add [color] to your mana pool.

This is an activated ability. If you announce that you are activating that ability, and then tap your land, then you have activated that ability. You cannot undo an activated ability.

What if I tap a land, don't announce it, take an action, and then change my mind?

Most people don't announce that they are activating the mana ability on a land. They simply tap it. I had an opponent that tapped all of his land and announced Sphinx's Revelation for 6. I responded with Skullcrack. My opponent claimed that he had not announced his land activations yet. I called a judge. I personally experienced a Competitive REL floor judge tell that opponent that his intention was obviously to activate the mana abilities, whether or not they were explicitly announced.

Player intention is often a consideration in judge rulings.

What if I tap a land, don't announce it, take no action, and then change my mind?

You tapped your lands, but you didn't announce it, and you haven't cast anything. I call this "fiddling" with lands. There is nothing in the comprehensive rules, the regular REL rules, or the competitive REL rules that address this. Some unqualified sources on the Internet say you can take it back. Others say you cannot. In general, if the MTG rules do not permit something, it is not permitted.

What I do know is that MTGO allows you to "undo" your land activations, and that top 8 at Grand Prix's and feature matches from StarCityGames tournaments streaming on Twitch.tv have all shown untapping of lands without a judge intervening. In other words, even the top level judges allow untapping lands, as long as you haven't taken any action since you tapped it and nothing triggered when you tapped it.


about rolls and being forced to reroll If I'm rolling dice in King of Tokyo, I get what I want after 2 rolls, and I choose not to take my 3rd roll. Another person has a card that says they may make someone reroll a die once each turn. If they make me roll a die after those two rolls, and I don't like the result, may I then take my 3rd roll?

I assume you are talking about Psychic Probe as the card forcing the reroll.

Based on the English translation of the French faq from Boardgame Geek:

  Psychic probe: If you still have rerolls left, you cannot use them after a psychic probe effect (which takes place the moment you declare that you keep the dice results).


If you have multiple wonders do you get multiple special powers? In 7 Wonders some stages of building a wonder provide special powers.

For example stage of 2 of Olympia (side A) allows you to build one free structure per age. If you have built 2 wonders in this case can you build 2 free structures per age?

Each player has a single Wonder board, and each Wonder stage can only be built once.
The Quickstart rules cover this on the first page under Actions, but it is also covered in the main rules under Game Overview, Clarifications.  You may only build the stages in order from left to right, and each stage can only be built once per game.

build a stage of their Wonder(in the order given by the board, from left to right): the card is placed partially under the board, face down.
2.b. Build a Stage of a Wonder - [...] each stage can only built once per game. (page 5, main rules)

For example, if you have The Lighthouse of Alexandria, building the 3 stages of side (A) would give you 3VP, one Raw Material of your choice per build step, and 7VP in stage order. Building the 3 stages of side (B) would give you a Raw Material of your choice per build step, a Production Good of your choice per build step, and 7VP in stage order.