When during your upkeep can you cast upkeep spells? Certain spells in Arkham Horror can only be cast on upkeep. One example is "Voice of Ra":

  Upkeep Phase: You may cast and exhaust to gain +1 to all skill checks
  for the rest of this turn.

The rules state:

  During the Upkeep Phase, each player takes the following actions, in
  order.

  Refresh Exhausted Cards
  Perform Upkeep Actions
  Adjust Skills

The Adjust Skills action states:

  Finally, each player may adjust his investigator’s skills using the
  three skill sliders he placed on his investigator sheet during game
  setup. This process, as well as a general description of how skill
  sliders work, is explained in the “Adjusting Skills” diagram.

Casting a spell doesn't fall into any of those categories. I suspect that these are the things you must do on your upkeep, but you can also do additional things, such as cast spells. But the use of the word "Finally" in the Adjust Skills action could mean that this must be the last thing you do during your upkeep, although I don't think that is the case.

Question:

When during your upkeep can you cast upkeep spells? Can I cast them even before the Refresh Exhausted Cards action? In the case of "Voice of Ra" this would allow me to cast it twice in once turn.

Edit

Answers so far have said that casting spells is a mandatory upkeep action. This may be the case, but I still think the rules are ambiguous about that. The rules for upkeep actions state:

  After refreshing his exhausted cards, each player must review his
  investigator’s cards to see if any of them have an Upkeep action. Each
  player must perform all Upkeep actions listed on his investigator’s
  cards every turn.

You are not required to cast Voice of Ra every turn. Therefore, Voice of Ra is not an upkeep action. This makes no distinction between optional and mandatory upkeep actions. The text of Voice of Ra however may make the casting of it optional. This too seems a little ambiguous. Even if this is the case, how are spells that are castable during "Any Phase" treated. Can they therefore not be cast during the upkeep (even though upkeep is a phase) because they don't have an upkeep action?

Also, if spells must be cast during the upkeep action, it means you will not be able to adjust your skills before casting. It seems a little strange to me that a spell you are casting this turn must be based off last turn's skills.

Here's a thread on BoardGameGeek where people discussed this very question:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/530872/upkeep-adjusting-skill-sliders-and-casting-spells

The thing everybody agrees on is that spells are cast after the 'Refresh Exhausted Cards' step. Whether or not you're allowed to cast spells after moving skills sliders is debateable. An interesting point that is brought up is that Upkeep spells (at least until the reprint of Curse of the Dark Pharaoh) said

  Upkeep: You may cast and exhaust...

compared to other spells which said

  Any Phase: Cast and exhaust to....

Which makes me believe that these cards have the following rule from the rule book apply (bolded words are my emphasis)

  Perform Upkeep Actions

  After refreshing his exhausted cards, each player must
  review his investigator’s cards to see if any of them
  have an Upkeep action. Each player must perform all
  Upkeep actions listed on his investigator’s cards every
  turn. Upkeep actions may be taken in any order the player wishes. Bless, Curse, Bank Loan, and Retainer cards
  do not require an upkeep roll during the first Upkeep
  Phase after an investigator acquires them.Each player must perform all
  Upkeep actions listed on his investigator’s cards every
  turn.

Since the spells have Upkeep: on them, they count as upkeep actions (much like Blessings, Curses, Retainers, and Bank Loans) and have to be used during the Perform Upkeep Actions step, but they have the may qualifier on them they don't have to cast. Fantasy Flight just got lax with the Upkeep spell verbiage in later expansions I guess.

But really, as long as you aren't casting/refreshing/recasting spells during upkeeping you're good.

EDIT:

I should clarify that I'm not really a strong proponent of the specific logic in the argument above, I was just summarizing the thread I linked to. It seems like a nice idea but causes too many issues when you find Upkeep spells that lack the word 'may'.

A similar argument is that you have to use the evade bonus from a dark cloak when making evade checks because there's nothing that says you have the option of not using items. (Example situation: If you wanted to take combat damage and get sent to the hospital without having to make a horror check). I find forcing Investigators to use items in any situation where they could be applicable to be a bit extreme. This would fall under that same category for me. Personally, when Fantasy Flight said

  must perform Upkeep actions listed on his investigator's cards

I read it as

  may perform any Upkeep actions listed on his investigator's item cards and must perform any Upkeep actions listed on his investigator's non-item cards

since I don't think manditory item use is reasonable. If you believe that item bonuses are non-optional, then casting spells during upkeep would be non-optional as well.

EDIT 2:

As far as the the timing of the actions go (since that was actually what the question was about) the rules say this about the Refresh step (emphasis mine):

  At the start of the Upkeep Phase, each player
  refreshes...

and this about the Adjust step (as you've noted) (again, emphasis mine):

  Finally, each player may adjust...

This would suggest that, within the Upkeep Phase, nothing can come before the refresh step and nothing can follow the adjust skills step. Thus, spells would have to fall someplace in the middle, regardless of them being mandatory or not. You could however interpret "finally" as simply denoting the last item in a list rather than meaning "At the end of upkeep phase", but I think it's pretty clear that the Refresh step is the very first thing that happens.


When and where do Theros Gods become creatures or stop being creatures? Let's take Thassa, God of the Sea as my god. When does it count as a creature?

Is it a creature spell?

If I cast Thassa and my oponent has Kambal, Consul of Allocation, does it trigger Kambal ability?
Can Essence Scatter counter Thassa?

Is it a creature when it enters/leaves the battlefield?

If I cast Thassa and my oponent has Authority of the Consuls, does it trigger?

Is it a creature card (in my library / hand / graveyard)?

Can I put Thassa into play discarding it with Æther Rift

The devotion ability on the Theros gods are Static Abilities, covered by rule 604.2.

[emphasis mine]

  604.2. Static abilities create continuous effects, some of which are prevention effects or replacement effects. These effects are active as long as the permanent with the ability remains on the battlefield and has the ability, or as long as the object with the ability remains in the appropriate zone, as described in rule 112.6.

Static abilities, like the one on the Theros gods, only function while on the battlefield unless otherwise stated as part of the ability, they define costs or special ways to counter the spell on the stack, they are characteristic defining, or the object type only exists in zones other than the battlefield (command zone usually, like emblems).

Of these special conditions, the only one close for the theros gods creature type is Characteristic Defining. The test for characteristic defining is laid out in rule 604.3a. The Theros gods fail that due to condition 5 of that rule, as devotion is a condition.

  604.3a A static ability is a characteristic-defining ability if it meets the following criteria: [...] (5) it does not set the values of such characteristics only if certain conditions are met.

As for your specific questions:

Yes your (Theros) gods are creatures on the stack, so Kambal will see her as a creature, and she can be countered as a creature.
Only if you meet devotion, as she enters the battlefield, devotion is checked, if you have less than 4 other blue mana symbols, Thassa will enter as a non creature. Both or neither effects of Authority of the Consuls will depend on devotion.
Yes your gods are creatures in all zones other than the battlefield at all times, so Æther Rift will work.


What happens if we run out of terrain tiles? In a recent game we almost ran out of a particular terrain tile.

In this scenario, what do you do? Is substituting a different token and remembering the terrain type allowed, or is the terraform not allowed?

The rules don't specify what happens, but Helge Ostertag, one of the designers for Terra Mystica answered in this thread on Board Game Geek that yes, the terrain tiles are meant to be unlimited, so if you run out of terrain tiles you are still allowed to terraform.


Is it legal to make trade deals before using a monopoly card? For example - Suppose there are 12 Ore cards in circulation, and I hold 3.

On my turn, can I trade those there ore cards with someone else for some wood and then use a monopoly on ore to regain all those ores back?

Effectively I have received that wood for free from the other player.

This is a perfectly legal, and quite common tactic.

The Monopoly card has no play restrictions other than the typical "once per turn, not on the turn you got it" Dev card restrictions. It affects all resources of the named type in play, regardless of how long the other players have owned those resources.  Trading resources away and then Monopolizing them back is therefore perfectly legal because there is no rule against it.

There is a cost in player interaction, though

If the other players feel that you've taken advantage of them, they may stop trading with you.  Whether this cost is enough to make you skip this tactic depends on where you are in the game. Trading typically drops off near the end anyways, as it becomes obvious that trading with the lead player will help them win more than it will help you catch up.  Stealing their resources with bad faith trades merely runs the risk of cutting off your trades sooner rather than later.

Of course, if the other players really feel that this tactic is unsportsmanlike, they may stop playing Catan with you. Some players don't enjoy aggressive play styles, and playing aggressively is incompatible with playing with them.   This is going to vary depending on the social contact of each specific game group (some players will dramatically declare unending revenge if you pull this on them, but consider it part of the game and would happily do these same to you, while others are genuinely bothered by it) and is something you will have to judge for yourself.


In Arkham Horror, if I lose a turn and then am drawn into a gate, am I then only delayed? I am not sure what 'losing a turn' is. Is it identical to being lost in space and time in that nothing, even monsters, affects you or fights you? Does being sucked into a gate that appears then convert me to simply being delayed?
Edit: Here is some documentation I found in the Dunwich Horror rules which implies that being drawn into a gate nullifies and previous delays and lost turns and 'resets' it in a way while retaining any possible benefits earned for the previous cost/penalty of delay/turn-loss. It likely means the accepted answer's latter section on what to do in these more complicated situations should be modified.
A link to the Dunwich Horror rules (part of interest on page 10)

Q: If an encounter, when failed, tells the investigator he must “stay here for 2 turns and gain 2 Clue tokens” but before the 2 turns have ended a gate appears at the location and draws the investigator into an Other World, does the investigator lose the 2 Clue tokens?
A: No. The investigator immediately receives the Clue tokens when he or she agrees to meet the requirements of the encounter. If a gate opens in the meantime, the investigator is sucked through the gate and becomes delayed in the Other World. He no longer has to miss two turns if sucked through on the first – the new condi- tion (being delayed in the Other World) is in effect.

Losing your turn is different to being delayed. Being delayed means you cannot do anything during your movement phase
If you have lost your turn, you skip all phases (including upkeep) except for the Mythos phase.
From the FAQ:

Q: If a card tells you to “lose your next turn,” does this mean skip
all phases, including Upkeep?
A: Yes, all phases except the Mythos
Phase. Note that this is different from being told to “stay here next
turn,” which means you are delayed.

For your original question, based on the above, I would say you can only get sucked in to the gate that appears as part of the Mythos phase and then you have both lost a turn AND are delayed.
On your next turn, you cannot stand as that normally happens in the movement phase. You also do not have any encounters. The turn after that, you get to stand and have encounters. The following turn will be when you can actually move. This way, you still have at least 2 encounters in the other world (unless you get lucky - but to be in this situation, you need to be really unlucky)


Does killing a creature mana source that's being tapped for mana to pay for a spell counter that spell? If an opponent is using an Avacyn Pilgrim (and three forests) to cast a Cudgel Troll, and I Lightning Bolt the monk, does that counter the Troll being cast?

Would the same be true for a Loxodon Smiter?

Once your opponent is casting a spell, that's the only thing that's going on. (There are plenty of steps to the process, including activating mana abilities and paying costs, but it's all things that are part of casting the spell.) You have no chance to interrupt with a spell of your own. And if you cast Lightning Bolt on their Avacyn's Pilgrim at some point when you get priority before they're doing anything, they can always tap it in response for mana. So you can't stop them from getting mana, and it doesn't matter what they intend to do with that mana.

The only way you can reasonably do something like this to stop them from casting a spell is to kill the Pilgrim before they are actually able to cast that spell. For example, if you think they might want to cast a non-instant spell, you could kill the Pilgrim before they reach their main phase, perhaps on your own turn or during their upkeep, when they can't cast it. But this doesn't counter a spell, it just hopefully keeps your opponent from having an opportunity to cast it.

As Dragon has pointed out, mana abilities resolve immediately, without using the stack, so even if your opponent for some reason wanted to give priority to you after activating the ability, rather than just using the mana, they'd still have the mana floating in their mana pool.

Now, while Avacyn's Pilgrim's ability is a mana ability and thus can't be stopped from resolving, there are ways to produce mana besides mana abilities, and those can potentially be stopped. For an ability to be a mana ability, it has to meet a few criteria:

it does not have a target
it could produce mana
it's not a loyalty ability.

So for example, Xenagos, the Reveler's +1 loyalty ability is not a mana ability: it can produce mana, but it's a loyalty ability. It uses the stack, and you'll get a chance to respond. You could kill one of your opponent's creatures in order to reduce the amount of mana it produces. However, killing Xenagos wouldn't do anything about it; the ability exists independently and will still resolve and produce mana.

Similarly, Deathrite Shaman's first ability is not a mana ability: it can produce mana, but it has a target (a land card in a graveyard). If in response you exile that land card, the ability no longer has a legal target and it will be countered by the rules of the game, leaving your opponent without the mana. However, like with Xenagos, killing the Shaman won't stop the ability.

But of course, most things that produce mana are mana abilities, so there's no way to stop them.


If Felidar Sovereign enters the battlefield during my upkeep, will he trigger? Given that Felidar Sovereign is being reprinted in Battle for Zendikar, I have a question about the win condition and nobody I know can help. I was hoping someone on here could.

If I am at over 40 life with a Felidar Sovereign in the graveyard and I have a Sheoldred, Whispering One on the battlefield, can I use Sheoldred's ability to bring the Felidar back in my upkeep and win the game?

No, you will not win the game this turn.

This is because both abilities are triggered abilities with "At the beginning of your upkeep" as the trigger. But the Sovereign is in the graveyard at the beginning of your upkeep so it will not trigger, and after Sheoldred's ability resolves and the Sovereign is one the battlefield it is no longer the beginning of your upkeep so it will not trigger this turn.


Spoons - How to evenly distribute the spoons when playing in a rectangle When you're playing the game of Spoons, it's a really good thing to have all the spoons distributed in way where they're all equidistant from the players.  This is easy to do at a round table.  However, at a rectangular table, it seems like it's hard to keep it balanced.  When I've played at a rectangular table, we usually have the spoons laid out like this:

However, this gives players at/near the ends a disadvantage.  When someone grabs a spoon and the free-for-all starts, players in the middle have a wide selection, even after several have been grabbed.  But players at the end have farther and farther to reach as the spoons on the ends get taken.  Often, the player without one is on an end.  Is there an better way to keep things balanced at a rectangular table, without giving anyone an advantage/disadvantage?

Simply place the spoons in an oval pattern; with each spoon handle pointing towards the players; all equidistant from the players.


How do I handle casting a spell with a cost of X when the casting cost is reduced? If I play a spell with {X} in the mana cost, and I have a card out that reduces the casting cost by 2 generic mana, what happens to the X? Does it start at -2?

For example: I have Arcane Melee in play. If I play Prosperity for just 1 blue mana, do we draw 2 cards?

When you cast a spell with X in its mana cost, you first choose X, then calculate the total cost including cost reduction, then you pay the resulting amount. Effectively, when a spell's cost is reduced by 2, you can cast it for X=2 for the same mana cost as with X=0

When you want to cast a spell with X anywhere in the card's text (usually the casting cost), you have to announce which value X is going to have:

  601.2b [..] If the spell has a variable cost that will be paid as it's being cast (such as an {X} in its mana cost; see rule 107.3), the player announces the value of that variable.[..]

Then you calculate the actual mana cost that you have to pay, at which time you consider cards like Arcane Melee. Arcane Melee only reduces generic mana costs, and any value below zero is considered zero, so there is no such thing as -2 generic mana:

  601.2f The player determines the total cost of the spell.[..] The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can't be reduced to less than {0}. [..]

Finally you pay the calculated amount:

  601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. [..]

Therefore, you are correct in that you could announce Prosperity with X=2 and pay only {U} with Arcane Melee in play. You could also announce it with X=1 or X=0 if you want, drawing one or no card. In those cases, you would still pay {U}.


What happens if a target becomes ineligible after a card has been cast? Let's say I cast
Strangling Soot on Llanowar Elves.

Before this resolves, my opponent casts Giant Growth on the Llanowar Elves.

Giant Growth resolves, making the Llanowar Elves a 4/4. When the Strangling Soot resolves, is it able to destroy the Llanowar elves, or does it do nothing because Llanowar elves no longer has a toughness of 3 or less?

Strangling Soot has an illegal target (only one) as it resolves and therefore fizzles (is countered by game rules due to all targets being invalid).

When you cast a spell with targets, you check the validity of all targets as it is cast. If any targets are invalid, the spell is "undone" and goes back to where it started. As the spell resolves, it again checks if the targets are valid. If any are valid, it resolves as much as it can; if not, it fizzles.

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. .......


Enchantment and other continuous effects priority I have read a lot of questions about the priority in the stack and the triggered abilities.  However, I would like to validate my understanding of the continuous effects priority rule.

  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.

Here's a scenario:

Player A has a plain.
Player B cast a Phantasmal Terrain on it and change it to a swamp.
At this point, the plain will end up as a swamp
Player A use a Gaea Liege ability to turn it into a forest.
At this point, the plain will end up as a forest
Player B also cast a Phantasmal Terrain on it and change it to a island.
At this point, the plain will end up as an island
Once again, player A use his Gaea Liege ability to turn it into a forest.
At this point, the plain will end up as a forest

Is my logic ok?

Yes, that is entirely correct. Whenever a continuous effect comes into existence, it gets a timestamp, which represents when it came into existence relative to other effects. And, all of those effects you described affect Layer 4, so as you surmised, the order in which they are applied depends on when they were created.

It's important to note that at the end of this sequence, there are 4 continuous effects modifying the land's subtype. Whenever you want to figure out what the land's subtype is, you apply all of the effects in order. This is important because it means that when one of the effects stops applying, you just remove it from the list. For example, if Gaea's Liege leaves the battlefield, the land will be an island.


Order of enter the battlefield effects in multiplayer (Warp World) In a four player EDH game, Player 1 casts Warp World. Each player begins by shuffling their permanents into their library. Player 2 has a Banisher Priest on the battlefield, which currently has a Yarok, the Desecrated, owned by Player 3, under it. Next, everyone reveals an amount of cards from the top of their library equal to the amount of permanents they owned. They put all artifacts, creatures, and lands onto the field, and after that, enchantments. Then they put all cards not put onto the field onto the bottom of their library. Player 1 flips, among other cards, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, and Faithless Looting. Player 2 hits Solemn Simulacrum and Panharmonicon. Player 3 flips Murderous Redcap, Panharmonicon, and Solemn Simulacrum. Player 4 hits Harvestguard Alseids, Doomwake Giant, and 4 enchantments.

What is the order of resolution on abilities?
Can Enchantment Creatures be put out AFTER other creatures during the enchanment phase of flipping? Or must they be put on the battlefield at the same time as other creatures?

Assumed:
If possible, the Murderous Redcap will target Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, to attempt to stop him from putting the Faithless Looting in his graveyard after it goes to the bottom of his library.

Player 4, if possible, will use Harvestguard Alseids to keep Player 1's Grenzo alive.

Player 4, if possible, will have Doomwake Giant enter the battlefield as an enchantment

The order of play is Player 1, Player 2, Player 3, Player 4.

During Warp World's resolution, you have to put enchantment creatures on the battlefield as creatures. However, during Warp World's resolution, no triggered abilities enter the stack either, so for Murderous Redcap's ability, this specific order doesn't matter. Ultimately, you can't prevent Grenzo from fetching the Faithless Looting.

Warp World gives clear instructions on the order in which to place permanent cards on the battlefield: you put all artifact, creature, and land cards down in any order, then enchantments (so that auras have something to attach to), and the rest to the bottom of the library. Enchantment creatures are creatures, so you put them down together with the other non-enchantments.

During the resolution, ETB effects trigger as normal. However, they do not enter the stack yet, so you don't to choose any targets yet:

  117.2a Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”) However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn’t yet been put on the stack is put on the stack.

Therefore, by the time you have to choose a target for Murderous Redcap, all permanents will be on the battlefield to choose a target from, so it would not matter whether you put down enchantment creatures as creatures or enchantments. Consequently, it also does not matter whether, in the non-enchantment part of WW, you put down the Redcap or the Grenzo first.

When the Warp World has finished resolving, the order of triggered abilities is determined by priority: The player with priority orders their abilities first, then all other players in turn order.

  603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose. [..]

That means that only when Warp World has finished resolving will the abilities go on the stack, and player 1 has an opportunity to activate Grenzo before Redcap's ability resolves. You have no way of preventing that in your scenario.


What happens if I can't make a legal move? If I am moving as Dracula it is possible for me to get into a position where I have literally no legal moves left.

For example: I could go to the Mediterranean Sea, go to the Tyrrhenian Sea, and then go to Cagliari. From that point, I do not have the cards to go to either Sea anymore, and there is no land location I can go to.

What happens?

The rules cover this on page 13 and 25 when covering Dracula's movement rules

Crossing His Own Trail

  Dracula may only move to a location if its
  card is available to him. Thus, he cannot normally
  move back into a location while its card
  remains in his Trail or Catacombs. The only
  exception to this rule is when he uses his
  Double Back Power card (see “Dracula’s
  Powers,” page 20). In the unlikely event that
  Dracula maneuvers himself into a position
  where he has no legal move, he is punished as
  though he were caught cheating (see
  “Cheating,” on page 25) and then takes his
  turn as normal (assuming he didn’t lose the
  game).

Cheating

  Hopefully, the Dracula player will never cheat
  on purpose. But if he makes a move and later
  finds out that he accidentally moved along a
  rail route or made a similarly illegal move, it’s
  important to undo the damage and get the
  game underway again. However, Dracula also
  needs to suffer a penalty to make up for the
  Hunters’ lost time. We suggest the following
  penalty for a Dracula player who catches himself
  (or is caught) cheating. Although it may
  seem severe, the hope is that the Dracula player
  will quickly learn to be more careful in the
  future.

  • Dracula immediately clears his Trail down
  to one card and reveals his current location.
  • Additionally, Dracula loses Blood as
  though he had just suffered a “Killed”
  result in combat. However, if this would
  reduce him to 0 Blood, it only reduces
  him to 1 Blood instead.


Does a "lose your turn" card cancel doubles? In Monopoly, if I roll doubles and land on Chance/Community Chest and receive a "lose your next turn" card, does that cancel my doubles and I get to take my next turn? Do I take my doubles and lose my next turn? Do I lose both?

In a version of the rules hopefully not too different from yours, doubles are described like this:

  If you throw doubles, you move your token as usual... Retaining the dice, throw again...

It does not say "take another turn", so the extra move from doubles is still part of the same turn even though the action you're taking looks a lot like a new turn. Thus if you are told to "lose your next turn" after rolling doubles, you should still finish your current turn normally by rolling again.

If however your rules (or insistent other players) say the reroll is a new turn, then since it's your next turn you would lose it, but you would not lose the following turn.


What are the effects of "Taint" tokens in Defenders of the Realm? In Defenders of the Realm, do taint tokens have any effect beyond ending the game if you get too many?

Yes, they also serve to mark that location as tainted. This is important for the action Heal the Land, or for Inns (which cannot be tainted).
From the Rules:

Heal the Land: If the hero is on a tainted location, discard a Hero Card that matches the location color and roll 2 dice. If a 5 or more is rolled on either die, the hero removes 1 Tainted Crystal from that location. Only 1 Tainted Crystal may be removed per action.
Inns may not be overrun or tainted.


Short-version of Settlers of Catan What are some rule changes that shorten the game, and what drawbacks do those changes have?

Please limit your answers to rules changes with which you have first-hand experience!

We've tried to replace the robber with a more benevolent figure (we used a LEGO Dumbledore microfig but you can just reuse the robber figure and call it, say, a magician)

When you roll a 7, move the magician to the tile you want
If the number on which the magician sits is rolled, all tiles overlooked by the magician get double the ressources for that turn

We came up with that because we don't like the robber that much, and it sped up the game quite a bit. Now, I suppose any house rule which gives more ressources would shorten the game length, but with that one is slightly strategic in nature.

Of course there's also the bog-standard way to change the duration of the game: instead of 10 victory points, aim for less (8 for example). As long as you agree before starting the game :-)


Does lifelink apply before life loss during combat damage? Let's say for example I'm at 1 life.

My opponent attacks with two creatures and I'm about to block one,
but my blocker has lifelink that would make me gain more life than I lose.
Do I still die due to the unblocked attacker or do I gain life before that?

You gain life from lifelink at the same time as you lose it from the attacking creatures, and you will survive.
You gain life as soon as your creature deals damage, there is no delay:

702.15b Damage dealt by a source with lifelink causes that source’s controller, or its owner if it has no controller, to gain that much life (in addition to any other results that damage causes). See rule 119.3.
119.3f Damage dealt by a source with lifelink causes that source’s controller to gain that much life, in addition to the damage’s other results.

All combat damage is dealt at the same time during the combat damage step, assuming there is no first strike or double strike involved:

510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.

After combat, the active player gets priority and can cast spells etc.; before a player gets priority, state-based actions are checked. Players can lose the game from having zero or less health only when those actions are checked:

510.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.
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. [..]
704.5a If a player has 0 or less life, he or she loses the game.

By that time, combat damage has already been dealt and you have more than 0 life.
Note that there are some cards that cause life-gain as a triggered ability rather than through lifelink. They are superficially similar, but have a lot of differences too.
As an example, your creature didn't have lifelink but was instead enchanted with Armadillo Cloak. This would result in the following differences:

The life gain would be put on the stack as a triggered ability. It would resolve after the combat damage step, at which point you would already have lost.
Multiple Armadillo Cloaks on the same creature stack, while lifelink doesn't.
Armadillo Cloak always gives life to the Cloak's controller, no matter who controls the enchanted creature, while lifelink always gives life to the creature's controller, no matter how it got lifelink.


What do you do about contradictory rules of Pit? The rules of Pit are oddly contradictory. For n players choose n commonities, add in the Bull and Bear, shuffle and deal out the cards. The rules state that everyone gets 9 cards. Doh! With the Bull and the Bear added in that doesn't work.

The way we reconcile this is two people have 10 cards which gives them a significant advantage, e.g. they can simply hold a single card of a commodity to effectively eliminate whoever ends up going for that commodity.

Are there better solutions to this?

The rules in my copy of the game note that two people get 10 cards. Generally these will be the two people left of the dealer.

You cannot call pit with the Bear in hand; you can call Pit with a Bull and 8 copies of a commodity. If you call Pit with a Bull and all 9 copies you get double points for that commodity.

Of note, it is courteous to remind people that they have 10 cards in hand but only need 9 of a commodity. New players often end up holding all 9 of a commodity while desperately looking for a phantom 10th because they are used to seeing their entire hand match.


Can I play Event Cards before I place Trogs? Can the card Terror be used before you place Trogs, if you draw the Event Card that turn? It says it can be played during the Threat phase, but when is the Threat Phase in relation to rolling dice, placing dice, drawing Event Cards, summoning Demons/Trogs, and moving/attacking?

You can play Terror before or after summoning Troglodytes, or at any other point during the Threat Phase.

The Threat Phase is broken up into two steps. Event Cards that can be played "during the Threat Phase," can be played before or after either step (but not in-between rolling dice and resolving their effects). Drawing Event Cards is an effect of resolving Dark Destiny. The Demon Player's Action Phase is when Trogs and Demons move and attack, it follows the Threat Phase.

Roll Dice of Destiny

1) Roll 3d6 usually.

2) Place Dice on Destiny Squares.

3) Immediately resolve effects of Destiny Squares.
Place Troglodytes and Demons

From the Official Rules:

  Threat Phase

  During this phase, the Demon player will bring the Demons and Troglodytes into play, improve their abilities and draw Event cards.

  Demon Player's Action Phase

  During this phase, the Demon player’s Troglodytes and Demons will move and fight.

  Event Cards

  The Dark Destiny result of the Board of Destiny allows the Demon player to draw an Event card. This card can be kept in his hand or used at the time indicated in its description (and must then be discarded).The Demon player can keep as many Event cards in his hand as he wishes.


Backgammon Statistics To Know I recently committed to memory the likelihood of "Entering from the Bar" in a game of backgammon. i.e.

1 point defence - 97%
2 point defence - 89%
3 point defence - 75%
4 point defence - 56%
5 point defence - 31%

Besides the usual likelihood of "throwing a number x", what other statistics are there that I can learn to improve my backgammon game?

These were all more or less directly copied from the source attributed at the bottom of the answer:

Directly rolling a particular number (e.g. 2)    30.55%
Rolling a particular double (e.g. 3-3)   2.77%
Rolling a particular non-double (e.g. 5-1)   5.54%
Rolling any double   16.66%

Chance of getting off the bar with one or two pieces and X open points:

Open
Points  1 piece 2 pieces
1       31%     3%
2       55%     11%
3       75%     25%
4       89%     44%
5       97%     69%
6       100%    100%

Chance of moving X points in a single roll: (direct and indirect combined; direct alone is always 31% for 1-6 only).

Move    Direct and
        Indirect Chance
1       31%
2       33%
3       39%
4       42%
5       42%
6       47%
7       17%
8       17%
9       14%
10      8%
11      6%
12      8%
13       -
14       -
15      3%
16      3%
17      -
18      3%
19       -
20      3%
21       -
22       -
23       -
24      3%

SOURCE (and more stats): http://www.paulspages.co.uk/bgvaults/tips/dicerolls.php
More info on observed Backgammon statistics: http://www.bkgm.com/motif/stats.html


Are epic monsters treated differently than regular monsters with regard to taking damage or being discarded remotely? There are many cases in Tokyo encounters where you can cause damage to a selected monster and one case where you can "discard" a monster.  Can these actions be taken on epic monsters as well?

I thought there was some documentation that specifically referred to a ruling at least in part related to this, but I cannot locate it.

Page 6 of the Reference Guide:

Epic Monsters are treated like Monsters for all effects except as described here:

An Epic Monster cannot be defeated by any effect except losing Health equal to or greater than it's toughness.

So, yes to the first part, no to the second.  You can't out-right kill an epic monster with a card ability.  You MUST do damage to it.  Though, if a card does damage, you can use it all day long.
Additionally, with the expansions, you are able to have things that 'Advance the current Mystery'.  If the Epic Monster is part of the current Mystery, you do three damage to the epic monster for 'Advancing the current Mystery'.


In bridge which bids need alerting? When playing bridge which bids need to be pointed out/alerted?

In general you must alert when your bid does not conform to the expectations of the people at the event/table you are playing at.

Various organizations and clubs have more specific bids and conditions that you must alert on.  Some have bids that never require alerts.


How many illusions will Lightning Bolt and Wild Ricochet get rid of? My opponent has a number of illusion creatures on the board. Let's just say they're Phantasmal Bear.

I cast a Lightning Bolt on one bear. I then respond to my own bolt with a Wild Ricochet, which gives my original bolt a new target, and copies the bolt.

Assuming my original bolt targeted Bear A, and I redirected it to Bear B, and I target Bear C with the copied bolt, are all three bears sacrificed by my opponent? When does that sacrifice have to take place?

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and begin with
  the word "when," "whenever," or "at." They can also be expressed as
  "[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect]."

The bear's ability is a triggered ability.

  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.

After you cast the lightning bolt, you are a player and you get priority, bear A's sacrifice ability is put on the stack. You still have priority. You cast the ricochet.

So the stack looks like this:

Wild Ricochet
BearA Sacrifice
Lightning Bolt

Then if everyone passes, wild ricochet resolves. As it resolves you choose to target bears B and C.

Now the stack looks like this:

BearB/C Sacrifice
BearB/C Sacrifice
(copy) Lightning Bolt
BearA Sacrifice
Lightning Bolt

If all players pass priority after each ability resolves then the bears would be sacrificed in the order you see on the stack.

Between each sacrifice ability resolving, priority passes and players can add to the top of the stack.

So yes all three are sacrificed, and none of them are actually dealt any damage.


Players turn was skipped, go back and allow that person to play out of order or continue on? Towards the end of a large game of munchkins with a good amount of alcohol consumed, a player’s turn was somehow completely skipped.

This player also somehow didn’t realize that he was skipped until AFTER the next person completed their entire turn.

So we initially wanted to continue on with a “you snooze, you lose” mentality. However he was adamant that he get his turn and we obliged him saying he can have his turn and then we will continue on from where we left off. He won the game that turn…

What are the rules concerning this? Should the player lose their turn if they were paying so little attention or were we correct in letting him go out of order?

Your question basically boils down to "what are the rules for recovering from breaking the rules?"

Munchkin doesn't have such rules. But it does have the catch-all rule (from the rulebook) :

  Any other disputes should be settled by loud arguments, with the owner of the game having the last word.

So fix the error however the owner of the game decides: rewind game state, snooze-n-lose, play on as you did, or whatever.


Does a non-creature God entering the battlefield trigger Pelt Collector? Let's say I have a 1/1 Pelt Collector on the battlefield, then cast Nylea, Keen-Eyed. I don't have enough devotion to turn Nylea into a creature. Does Pelt Collector, which triggers when a creature with more power enters the battlefield, trigger?

I'm guessing no because Nylea isn't a creature, but I'm not sure. After all, it's also a creature spell when it's being cast. If it enters the battlefield as a creature before becoming an enchantment, presumably Pelt Collector will trigger.

Pulling from a ruling on Nylea, God of the Hunt:

  When a God enters the battlefield, your devotion to its color
  (including the mana symbols in the mana cost of the God itself) will
  determine if a creature entered the battlefield or not for abilities
  that trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield.

So if you don't have enough devotion for Nylea to be a creature, it doesn't trigger Pelt Collector.


Leonin of the Lost Pride and undying creature How would Leonin of the Lost Pride interact with an opponents creature who has undying? The player with the undying creature sacrificed it and he also had out Dictate of Erebos, which when the undying creature died player 1 sacrificed the Leonin. Does the Leonin trigger prior to the undying creature coming back?

Your opponent can control what happens, i.e. whether or not you can exile his undying creature before he can return it.
When the undying creature dies, both Dictate of Erebos and Undying trigger at the same time. Since your opponent controls both abilities, he can choose the order in which they go on the stack. Your Leonin is still alive at this point, since it only dies when Dictate actually resolves.

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose. [..]

If your opponent puts the Undying trigger on the stack first, and the Dictate trigger second, i.e. on top, the Dictate trigger resolves first. You sacrifice the Leonin, which triggers its own death trigger, which becomes the topmost object on the stack. You can choose to target the undying creature in the graveyard and exile it. Finally the Undying trigger resolves, but the undying creature card is no longer in the graveyard and nothing happens.
If your opponent puts the Dictate trigger first, and the Undying trigger on top, the undying trigger resolves first and that creature will return. Then the Dictate resolves, you have to sacrifice a creature. If you sacrifice the Leonin, its ability will trigger, but you can no longer exile the Undying creature because it already returned to the battlefield.


Putting the cards back into the tower Playing Kingdomino is a lot of fun, however there is a moment I hate. Having to put the cards back into the card tower:

If you're not careful, the cards get slanted and get stuck or just fall in the wrong direction. It can get quite irritating to put the cards back. Is there an obvious and easy method I'm missing to putting the cards back?

I've tried:

Stacking the cards outside the box, opening the top and sliding them in.
Sliding them in one at a time from the bottom slot
Sliding them in one/several at a time from the top opening

If you look closely, there is a magnetized side of the tower that simply swings open. This allows you to place the entire stack of tiles in the tower at once.


Ticket to ride: What is the math behind the point values of city pairs? I want to make a custom ticket to ride map. I am trying to figure out what the mathematical formulas are behind the design. why alan moon decided which city pairs to put on the cards, and how to value each city pair.

The point value of tickets, as far as I can tell, in the minimum number of trains needed to link the two cities.

I wont explain all of them as you can check your self but here are a few examples to show what I mean.

Denver to El Paso ticket is 4 points.  The shortest route is Denver to Santa Fe (2) to El Paso (2) totaling 4.

Boston to Miami ticket is 12 Points.  The shortest route is Boston to New York (2) to Washington (2) to Raleigh (2) to Charlston (2) to Miami (4) which totals 12.

Seatle to New York is 22 points.  The shorted route is Seatle to Helena (6) to Dululth (6) to Toronto (6) to Pittsburgh (2) to New York (2) totaling 22.

This works as far as I can tell for all other tickets and in my experience all other TTR games.  There may be a few exceptions but if designing your own map then this seems to be the standard formula.


Can you move backwards 4 spaces right outside of the safety zone? In Sorry, can I move a pawn that is right outside my start, then pick a move backward 4 spaces card to right outside my safety zone?

Yes. From the rules, under "Moving Backwards":

  If you have successfully moved a pawn backwards at least two spaces beyond your own START space, you may, on a subsequent turn, move into your own SAFETY ZONE without moving all the way around the board.


Do you place the fairy before or after scoring a completed road/city/cloister? With The Princess and the Dragon expansion for Carcassonne, can I place a tile to complete one of my features, and then move the fairy in to it for the bonus 3 points, or are you supposed to score the city, road, or cloister before placing the fairy?

According to the rules:

  Whenever a player places no follower on his turn, he may, instead, place the fairy on any tile where he has one of his followers.

It seems that fairy placement takes the place of follower placement, and happens at the same time. Since follower placement happens before scoring, you place the fairy before scoring the completed feature


When should I use Avacyn's Glory's Restoration Angel? When and how should I use Restoration Angel in the Avacyn's Glory deck? I understand Flash means it can be used any time like an Instant. What is the purpose or situation for exiling a non-angel I control then regaining control?

Many cards have an ability that triggers when coming into play.  With Restoration Angel, you could re-trigger one such ability.

For the deck you mentioned, Goldnight Commander has the following ability:

  Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn

So, when you play Restoration Angel and remove any other creature, your creatures get +2/+2 instead of just +1/+1.  If that other creature is Geist-Honored Monk then the boost to all creatures becomes +4/+4.

This is just one example.  Fiend Hunter, Champion of the Parish, Mentor of the Meek, and Soul Warden could also be used with this strategy.

Alternatively, you can dodge spells and abilities this way.  If a non-angel you have is targeted by a spell or ability (say Shock) then removing the target from play temporarily will cause that spell/ability to miss and do nothing instead.  As @skovacs mentioned in the comments, this can also apply to unwanted enchantments on your non-angel creatures.


In The Grizzled, can you help your teammate decide which Trial to use a good luck charm on? We were on the final mission. One player wants to use her good luck charm. She has to choose between two Snow Trial cards. Our other teammate asked her to please remove the Snow trial with the Shells. He didn't give an explanation. Just that it would be nice if that card Trial card were removed. Is valid or is that considered cheating?

To me, that sort of help is against the rules. The rules say:

  Some information in The Grizzled can’t be shared among players. The contents of the cards in each player’s hand cannot be re- vealed.

In your situation, the help that was given was based on knowledge threat the player had of their own hand, knowledge which cannot be shared. Although they didn't specifically say what card was in their hand, the information given strongly implied information about their hand.

But discussing the options based only on what's visible to all players should be fine. For example, pointing out that there's already 2 rain cards, but only 1 night card, so it's less important to get rid of the night card. The rules don't address this sort of thing directly, so it would fall into the same category as allowing any sort of strategy discussion while playing. Some groups may choose to not allow any discussion at all; but rulebooks don't generally cover the scope of general discussion like that.


Can you use Halicarnassus to build a duplicate card? As the title. If not, what happens if you build the wonder, say in Age II, and all the cards are duplicates of cards you've already built?

The base rule (p. 5) of forbidding duplicate cards is always in effect: (emphasis mine)

  Important: a player can never build two identical structures (meaning those with the same name/the same illustration).

With Halikarnassos you are still "building" a card: (p. 9)

  the first stage is worth 2 victory points and the player can look at
  all of the cards discarded since the beginning of the game and build
  one for free

Therefore, the base rule is still in effect: you may not build a duplicate card. If all cards are duplicates, then you cannot build anything and you have just "wasted" your special ability; this has happened once to me.


Can I pay two different costs with the same payment? Say I have a Zombie token, Viscera Seer, and Altar of Dementia on the battlefield. Can I sacrifice the Zombie token to activate both the Altar's and Seer's abilities?

Similarly, if I have one card in hand, and Wild Mongrel and Patrol Hound on the battlefield can I discard the one card to both of their abilities?

If I have a Lux Cannon with 3 charge counters can I activate both of its abilities by tapping it to add a counter, and tapping it to remove 3 counters and destroy a permanent without untapping it in between?

No.

We might say "I sacrifice this creature to activate Altar of Dementia's ability", but that's not entirely correct. Sacrificing the creature doesn't activate the ability; sacrificing the creature is part of activating the ability. You must start to activate the ability before you pay the cost, so you must be in a position to activate the ability before you can pay the cost.

"[cost]: [effect]" denotes an activated ability.

Activating Viscera Seer's ability requires that you sacrifice a creature as a cost. That means the first thing you do is chose to activate the ability, then you sacrifice a creature to satisfy the cost of doing so.

If you also wanted to activate Altar of Dementia's ability, you will need to sacrifice a second creature since the one you sacrificed to Viscera Seer no longer exists. Like costs of real life, each needs to be payed separately.

  117.10. Each payment of a cost applies to only one spell, ability, or effect. For example, a player can't sacrifice just one creature to activate the activated abilities of two permanents that each require sacrificing a creature as a cost. Also, the resolution of a spell or ability doesn't pay another spell or ability's cost, even if part of its effect is doing the same thing the other cost asks for.

Note that you are free to use the either of the abilities again. Only a Planeswalker's loyalty ability can't be used more than once per turn (and those which explicitly forbid it on the card). Any other activated ability can be used as many times as you can pay the cost.

"{Whenever|When|At} [condition], [effect]" denotes a triggered ability.

If Viscera Seer's and Altar of Dementia's abilities were phrased "Whenever you sacrifice a creature, ...", then you would get both effects whenever you sacrifice a creature, no matter the reason it was sacrificed. You would need some external means of sacrificing a creature, though.

For example, attacking with a Fallowsage would give you to the option of drawing a card.

For example, tapping a land for mana while its enchanted by Contaminated Ground would cause its controller to lose two life (in addition to gaining mana). If that land was enchanted by two Contaminated Ground, its controller would lose a total of four life.


Are there restrictions on pawn promotion if two pawns are on the same column? I was playing white and I had one pawn at a7 and the other at a6. My opponent didn't let me promote the pawn to a Queen stating that when two pawns are in the same column then the pawn doesn't get promoted.

Is this correct? If so, then what happens to a pawn which reaches a8? Does that become useless?

Your friend was wrong.  There is no rule preventing a pawn from being promoted outside the normal move restriction rules (e.g. you can't leave your king in check).


How do you score an all wild card Canasta? Today I made my first ALL Wild card Canasta with six 2's and a Joker in Classic Canasta :O)

How much is this worth please?

Also, it was concealed... does that 'Up' the bonus?

In Classic Canasta, a Canasta of only wilds is not a legal/valid meld.
From the rules:

Every meld, whether a Canasta or not, must contain at least 2 natural cards, and it cannot contain more than 3 total wild cards.
Every meld must contain at least two natural cards. The smallest meld, as usual, consists of three cards, which could be three natural cards (such as 8-8-8) or two natural cards and a wild card (such as Q-Q-2).
Melds can grow as large as you wish. A meld of seven or more cards counts as a canasta. No meld can contain more than three wild cards - so a six card meld must include at least three natural cards, and a canasta must contain at least four natural cards. There is no limit on the number of natural cards that can be added to a complete canasta. A wild card added to a pure canasta of course makes it mixed. Once a canasta contains three wild cards, no further wild cards can be added.
Note that in this version of Canasta, melds consisting entirely of wild cards are not allowed.

American/Modern Canasta does allow a meld or Canasta of all Wilds; but that is a less common variant than Classic Canasta. In American Canasta, a wild Canasta that contains jokers and 2s, without containing all 4 jokers, is worth 2000 points (in addition to the value of the 2s and jokers in the meld).
Source:

a complete twos canasta scores 3000 points (this is a wild canasta made entirely of twos)
a complete joker canasta scores 2500 points (this must contain all four jokers, together with three twos)
any other complete wild canasta (containing one, two or three jokers) scores 2000 points


How do multiple Underrealm Liches interact? If I have more than one Underrealm Lich on the battlefield and I draw a card, do they both trigger? Would it be the same as if I drew two cards with one Lich? Would one trigger cancel the other one out? Would I look at the top six cards and only choose one? Please Help!

It would be the same as if you only had one.

Underrealm Lich does not "trigger". It has a static ability that generates a replacement effect; it does not have a triggered ability.

  614.1a Effects that use the word “instead” are replacement effects. Most replacement effects use the word “instead” to indicate what events will be replaced with other events.

So when you would draw a card, you have two different replacement effects that are trying to replace that card draw. You get to choose which one you apply:

  616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below.

Once you have replaced the draw using one Lich or the other; the other Lich now has nothing to do:

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


Can tokens be used for a ritual summon? So this question occurred to me while I was playing a bit of YGOPRO, my opponent had summoned four Ojama tokens to my side of the field which are Light(Level 2, ATK 0, DEF 1000) and states that they cannot be used in a tribute summon.

I drew my trusty chaos form which summons blue eyes chaos max which is level 8, which could be all for of the Ojama tokens which were on my side of the field as the resolution cost of chaos form, however I was not allowed to do this, (I won the game anyway).

Because I have never heard of the rulings between tokens and ritual summons I thought I would check the wiki pages on this as it could be a good strategy to use in some ritual decks.

I check the token monster wiki which highlighted that tokens can be used for tributes unless stated otherwise and that the can be used for fusions, synchro and link summons but not xyz summons (because material doesn't count as being on the field and tokens only exist on the field). This page had no explanation of ritual summons.

So I check the card rulings page for tokens which again didn't highlight to use of ritual summons, I then the wiki page for ritual summons which doesn't highlight the use of tokens for the summon.

Is this a grey area that not many people are sure of or have I missed something?

There is no reason you cannot use a token as a tribute for a Ritual Summon. Ritual Summons typically require you to tribute monsters whose combined levels are equal to or higher than that of the Ritual Monster's, so Tokens, being monsters with levels, should count.


Is Jenga a cooperative or competitive game? Jenga, in my impression, is most commonly interpreted as a competitive game, where the person who topples the tower is the loser.

However, one can make the argument that it can be seen as a cooperative game, and the common goal is to make the highest tower possible.

The distinction has a radical impact on the way the game is played.

If the game is cooperative, players are incentivised to take and place bricks in a manner that makes it as easy as possible for the other players.

On the other hand, if the game is competitive, players are incentivised to make the tower as gnarly and difficult for the other players (eg by twisting the top half of the tower when removing the a brick).

Are there any Jenga competitions that shed light on how the game is played in this respect?

Jenga, as designed, is most certainly a competitive game. The rules released with the game have stayed consistent over the years and have never described how to play in a cooperative manner.

Most versions of the rules (such as the 2000 version) have a "Solo Play" variant that might also be able to be played cooperatively with multiple players:

  Play alone for practice! Can you top your record height before the
  tower falls?

  Carefully remove one block from any level. Use a steady hand to stack it on top.
  Continue to remove and stack blocks to build the tower taller…and shakier.
  How tall is too tall? Find out when the tower falls!

One Jenga review described playing a variation of this during a team building event where teams of 3 played cooperatively for a high score:

  I first encountered Jenga in a corporate team building activity. The group was split into teams of three. Each team was given a Jenga set. The objective of the game was for each team, following the standard Jenga rules, to try to build the tower as high as they could. The team that built the tallest tower, without the tower collapsing, won the game.


Can the Hil Colish (Ghosts of Creuss Flagship) move through it's own wormhole in TI4? The Hil Colish has the ability.

This ship's system contains a delta wormhole. During movement, this ship may move before or after your other ships.

Can the Hil Colish use it's own wormhole (such as to retreat back to your home system)?

Yes it can.
While this has not been addressed specifically for TI 4th edition, the answer appears to be yes by comparing 4th edition to 3rd edition.  In 3rd edition, the flagship had the ability:

You may treat this ship's system as if it had a "D" Wormhole in it.  When this ship is moving, treat its destination system as if it had the Wormhole.

The third edition FAQ clarified:

A system containing Hil Colish is considered to have a “D” Wormhole. While moving, only the destination system (the system activated), not the Flagship’s current system, is considered to have the “D” Wormhole. This system may only be considered a destination system if the Hil Colish will end its movement in the activated system. The Hil Colish cannot use the “D” Wormhole it generates.

Notice that 4th edition solved the problem of the Hil Colish moving quite differently, namely by having it move before or after your other ships so that other ships can use the wormhole.  The result of this is that the system containing the Hil Colish has a delta wormhole when it begins its movement, and follows the rules for wormholes, namely:

Systems that contain identical wormholes are adjacent


What is different in each version of Chrononauts? Chrononauts is a time travel game by Looney Labs and has been through five different versions at the time of this writing. Board Game Geek lists the versions as the first, second, and third printings, v1.4, and the second edition.

In trying to find out if there were any differences, I discovered a page from Looney Labs, which said that v1.4 added four new cards and icons for The Gore Years expansion. But I haven't been able to find any other differences between the versions.

So what are the differences between each version of Chrononauts?

After quite a bit of searching (and an e-mail to Andy Looney, creator of Chrononauts), I was able to piece together the following:

Chrononauts First Printing

While this was the initial release, it did feature a number of art changes from the beta version, notably the beta card back was replaced with the one used in all subsequent editions.

Chrononauts Second Printing

Buried in the July 18, 2002 Wunderland Weekly News (the company's newsletter at the time), they note the following changes were introduced in the second printing:

The box has been revised. The art on the front and top panels has been reversed, and several new bits of info have been added (Origins Award winner, Parent's Choice winner, Second Printing, Patent Pending, etc).
1962 will henceforth hinge on an "OR" instead of an "AND". This makes World War III and the ÜberParadox much easier to create, and to sustain, which will hopefully give Squa Tront (and Zane Reenak) more of a fighting chance. (It also makes it more satisfying to flip 1943 and 1957.)
The Obvious Forgery of the Mona Lisa now sports a handlebar mustache.
A note about Killing Time has been added to Fast Forward.
The incorrect Time Index on the Marijuana Legalized card has been fixed.
The teeny-tiny tick mark missing from the Rongo-Rongo Tablets has been restored.

Chrononauts Third Printing

The card list for the third printing has a few notes about what has changed with this version compared to the second printing:

8 Reverse Fate cards (down from 9)
1 Restore History card (down from 4)
2 new Artifact cards

Jade Statue of Tirade
German Cake

The concept of Gadget cards are introduced with 2 new cards

Really Fast Time Machine
Teeny Tiny Time Machine

Chrononauts v1.4

Rather than calling it the fourth printing, Looney Labs called this version v1.4 (as can be seen from this photo). The card list for this version noted the following changes:

4 new artifacts were added (increasing the total card count from 136 to 140)

Beatles Reunion CD (Artifact)
Live Triceratops (Artifact)
1945D: Tokyo Nuked (Patch)
Restore History (Inverter)

Bigger, better box
Bigger, better rulesheet
A Fast Forward was changed into a Reverse Fate

Additionally, the inverter cards added icons indicating which linchpins they could be used for in either Early American Chrononauts or The Gore Years expansion. For instance, Halt Attack notes that it can be used to flip the expansion's 2001 World Trade Center Attack linchpin.

Chrononauts v1.5

As of this writing, Board Game Geek lists the version after v1.4 as the "Second Edition". I could not find anything about the changes with this version, so I e-mailed Andy Looney and got the following response:

  The most recent version of Chrononauts is what we call v1.5, which differs from 1.4 only in the design of the box itself. There is no v2.0 of Chrononauts.

So according to the creator himself, there are no changes to any cards in v1.5 and the only difference is the new box cover.

Other Promo Cards

While we're at it, a number of promo cards eventually did wind up included in later versions (such as German Chocolate Cake), but there are two that never were (and are still for sale in Looney Lab's web store):

Mating Pair of Pterodactyls (distributed at Dragon*Con 2004)
Carl Sagan's Joint (distributed for the "Summer Festivals of 2004")


What is the card type Phenomenon and Ongoing? Gatherer has the Card Type "Phenomenon" and "Ongoing". Does anyone knows what those two refer to?

Both are used in Magic variant formats; that is, not the "usual" rules of the game.

Phenomenon is a card type used in the Planechase format. Cards of this type are oversized, and put in a separate planar deck, along with Plane cards, not the deck that becomes the player's library.
Ongoing is a supertype that only applies to the Scheme card type, which is used in the Archenemy variant. Cards of this type are also oversized, and put in a separate scheme deck.


In Bridge, What Is "Playing the Card You Are Known to Hold?" If you're a declarer, and West leads the queen of spades, with dummy showing the Kx of the suit, while you have Axx in the closed hand, you might take the trick with the K from the dummy, thereby not exposing the A that you hold. That, I can understand.

On the other hand, this concept is more of a defensive maneuver, where both defending hands are closed. In that case, cards can't really be "known" but can merely be inferred (e.g. when someone fails to cover a card that's being finessed).

Apparently, playing certain cards that are "known" is considered a form of, or at least related to, falsecarding. But if a card that is played is "known," how can it be "false?"

Great question!

The basic idea is that by playing the card you are known to hold, you do not give declarer any extra information and might mislead declarer about the length of your holding in that suit (the falsecarding bit).

(btw, your example about west leading Q and you playing K from Kx not to disclose your A is not completely right. If East has the A, he will play it. And West would likely not lead the Q from AQ {unless an NT contract, of course}. So the location of the A will probably be known anyway...)

Anyway, here is an example with respect to defense.

      AQJx
      xx
      xxx
      AKJT
Kxx          xxx
xxxx         xxx
xxx          xxx
xxx          Qxxx
      xxx
      AKQx
      AKQJ
      xx

Playing Matchpoints (note: overtricks matter here) South the declarer, finds himself in 6NT.

You are West and you lead a heart.

Declarer wins and plays a spade to the J which wins.
Now declarer comes back to hand with a diamond and leads another spade.

At this point, you must play the card you are "known" to hold: the K.

The K is going to drop on the A anyway, so it is not as if you are wasting that card.

Consider:

Declarer has 12 tricks and would be trying for the 13th (remember, this is matchpoints).

To try for the thirteenth, declarer has two major options: spades 3-3 or club finesse. (we are ignoring any squeezes to get the point across, and IMO those chances are inferior anyway)

If you play low instead of K, declarer will know that you started with either Kxx or Kxxx.

In either case, declarer can cash the third spade to test for spade 3-3. If spades are 4-2, he can safely take the club finesse into partner's hand, who has no spades to cash.

So if you play low, declarer can combine his chances of spades 3-3 with the club finesse without endangering the contract and in the current layout, he will make 13 tricks.

Now imagine you played the card you are known to hold, the K.

Now declarer will likely place you Kx, (but a smart declarer will not completely eliminate Kxx, or Kxxx, of course).

Now if declarer tests for spades 3-3 and you indeed turn up with Kx, declarer is in danger of losing his contract if the club finesse (for the 13th trick) loses, as partner can cash a spade when he gets in.

So in order to not endanger the contract and having some chances of making the 13th trick, declarer might choose to give up on spades and take the club finesse.

If that happens, you hold declarer to 12 tricks, while at the other tables where the defender in your position played low, declarer makes an easy 13.

So by playing the K, you have nothing to lose but a lot to gain.

Of course, at the table you might not have time (or even need to) think about all this. The idea of not giving declarer any extra information is usually sound and when you have no clue about a hand (or need to play in tempo), it pays to follow general principles.


In Descent SE can you sell search cards after use? In Descent second edition it says on most search cards that if you use them that they should get flipped over. In campaign mode does this mean that you still can sell them in the campaign phase?

Yes. That's why they're flipped face-down when used rather than being discarded--to keep track of how much gold you've earned. Conceptually, the card represents that your search uncovered a cache with both gold and a useful item.

From p. 10 of the rulebook:

Gold: When playing the campaign, this number shows how much gold the players have earned, in addition to the abilities listed on the card.


Can sheep farmer perform multiple exchanges at once? We were playing Agricola last night and I ran into an unusual situation. I had three pastures, each able to contain four animals. I also had the House Goat minor improvement, which means I was not allowed to store any animals in my house. I had a total of eight sheep, and no other animals.

I had the Sheep Farmer occupation, and wanted to use its ability twice to convert six sheep to two boar and two cattle.  My question is, do the conversions have to be sequential, or can they be synchronous? In the first case I cannot store both the boar and the cattle as I have five sheep after the first swap which take two of my pastures. In the latter case I end up with a breeding pair of each type of animal.

The card doesn't say you can do multiple conversions at the same time, so they have to be sequential.

However, in other situations, it's established that you don't have to have room for animals if you're going to immediately use them for something else. For instance, if you receive animals from an action space, you can immediately afterwards cook them, without having to find room for them in between.

I would argue that the Sheep Farmer works the same way. In this case, you can use it twice in succession, without having to take animal storage limits in account.

I'll add a ruling to this effect to the next edition of the Unofficial Agricola Compendium, which many players consider to be almost authoritative.


Optimal (Or Just Effective) Strategy For The Resistance? I played Resistance for the first time last night, and it was great fun, but the consensus at the table was that the resistance can only beat the spies given a healthy dose of luck.  I played a resistance member both times, and won one and lose one game.  But even after two games I have no idea how to act in an effective manner liable to uncover the spies and result in probable resistance victory.

Take the first round of the first game: as resistance leader for the round I had no idea who was loyal, so I chose two players at random to go on the mission.  The prevailing opinion was that the first mission always succeeds, because no spy will ever tip their hand that early.  As such, I can't see any way of getting any useful information out of mission one.  Am I missing something?

To keep this question from being overly general: let's take the situation I found myself in last night.  A seven player game, with four resistance members and three spies.  Assuming that all the players are acting rationally and the spies are not being too devious about presenting themselves as loyal resistance men, what strategies can the resistance adopt or what signs can they look out for from the spies to give them a solid chance of victory?

If you're a Resistance member and the first leader, this tactic gives a 1-in-5 chance of directly winning the game:

On the first round, send yourself and someone who isn't to your left. If both the player you send and the player to your left are Resistance members, you win!

The flow is as follows:

You and the selected Resistance member succeed at the first mission.
When the player to your left becomes the leader, she adds herself to your successful team, and you succeed at the second mission.
The third leader has to send the three of you on the third mission lest he out himself as a spy. You three keep down-voting missions until you get sent and succeed at the third mission.

To see that this gives a 1 in 5 chance of outright winning, multiply the probability that the player to your left is in the resistance by the probability that you successfully pick a resistance member for the first mission:

3/6 * 2/5 = 1/5

If the first mission fails, at least you know for certain the identity of one of the spies (and hopefully can convince your allies of this).

If the first mission succeeds and the second fails, well, now you're playing a normal game of the Resistance.

If the first two succeed and the third fails, you've almost won, and the Imperial spy gained almost nothing from waiting.

In each case, attempting the auto-win didn't cost you anything.


When can you keep priority? In Magic the gathering you have the concept of priority. This gives every players a chance to respond to every one's spells. But I knew you could keep priority between spells. Playing a spell and without passing priority (and without this spell to resolve), play another.

Until now, I was okay with that and understood it but I thought it was only for instant speed.

In this Video, at 4m15, Reid Duke explain a play with Kor Spiritdancer and an Aura spell. He said : "You go Kor Spiritdancer and without passing priority you cast an Aura...". This making him draw a card even if his opponent has a response to Kor Spiritdancer.

My question is, if it is possible to keep priority between non-instant spells, when can you keep priority? What is the rules for that? In my exemple, why did the Kor Spiritdancer resolved? what if his opponent wanted to counterspell it?

Thanks in advance.

I believe you have slightly misunderstood the explanation in the video, and you misunderstand how priority works and the difference between instants and noninstant spells (from the Comprehensive Rules: "A player may cast an instant spell any time he or she has priority. A player may cast a noninstant spell during his or her main phase any time he or she has priority and the stack is empty"; what happens next is the same for both types).

In the video, Reid is explaining how to draw a card before losing your Kor Spiritdancer to any creature destruction effects (such as Doom Blade, which he mentioned by name). Your opponent may not cast any creature destruction effects until 1) the creature exists (i.e. the spell has resolved) and 2) the opponent has priority.

The mtgsalvation wiki has the text of the priority rules; here 116.3 and 116.4 are particularly important:

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

  116.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card
  during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities
  that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on
  the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players
  usually don't get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).
  116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
  116.3c If a player has priority when he or she casts a spell, activates an ability, or takes a special action, that player receives
  priority afterward.
  116.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player's mana pool, he or
  she announces what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order
  receives priority.

  116.4. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the spell or ability
  on top of the stack resolves or, if the stack is empty, the phase or
  step ends.

The sequence Reid is describing works like this:

Cast Kor Spiritdancer and pay its costs; it is now on the stack.
You still have priority (116.3c); pass it to your opponent (116.3d).
Your opponent may do something, e.g. counterspell. Let's say that they don't do anything. They pass priority (116.3d again).
Kor Spiritdancer resolves (116.4). You now have priority again (116.3b).
Cast an Aura; it goes on the stack and Kor Spiritdancer's triggered ability (whenever you play an Aura spell card, you may draw a card, goes on the stack).
You may now pass priority, and now your opponent may cast some instant or activate some ability that removes the creature from play, but you still got one card draw.

Note that if you have some way to play auras at instant speed (e.g. the aura has flash, you have a card like Vedalken Orrery in play), you can cast multiple auras in succession without passing priority, although of course none of them will resolve before your opponent has a chance to play creature removal.


Is it valid to exploit infinite loopholes in Magic: The Gathering? Today at work, I played my first game in almost 10 years using a deck from another player. He was playing a deck made of creatures that facilitate life points regain. At one point, using 3 different cards, he was able to exploit a loophole that would allow him to get zillions of life points.

I remember that around the time of 3rd edition loopholes were limited to the "only once" rule, because it wouldn't make sense to abuse a loophole. MTG is so large, it's impossible not to find a loophole between cards, and there are tons of them.

So the big question, does that "only once" rule for loopholes still stand?

I am not aware such a rule ever existed - infinity combos have been around from the very beginning of MTG.

What you are probably referring to is this: if there is a (potential) infinite loop that does not change the game state, then this loop may only be performed once, if the involved players have a choice about it. Since your opponent clearly changed the game state (after each loop, he has more life than before), he may perform the loop as often as he wants. See the rule and an example below.

Under the current rules, all this is covered in this section:

  Taking Shortcuts

  721.1. When playing a game, players typically make use of mutually understood shortcuts rather than explicitly identifying each game choice (either taking an action or passing priority) a player makes.

  721.1a The rules for taking shortcuts are largely informal. As long as each player in the game understands the intent of each other player, any shortcut system they use is acceptable.

  721.1b Occasionally the game gets into a state in which a set of actions could be repeated indefinitely (thus creating a “loop”). In that case, the shortcut rules can be used to determine how many times those actions are repeated without having to actually perform them, and how the loop is broken.

  721.1c Tournaments use a modified version of the rules governing shortcuts and loops. These rules are covered in the Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules (found at WPN.Wizards.com/en/resources/rules-documents). Whenever the Tournament Rules contradict these rules during a tournament, the Tournament Rules take precedence.

  721.2. Taking a shortcut follows the following procedure.

  721.2a At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices. This sequence may be a non-repetitive series of choices, a loop that repeats a specified number of times, multiple loops, or nested loops, and may even cross multiple turns. It can’t include conditional actions, where the outcome of a game event determines the next action a player takes. The ending point of this sequence must be a place where a player has priority, though it need not be the player proposing the shortcut.

  721.2b Each other player, in turn order starting after the player who suggested the shortcut, may either accept the proposed sequence, or shorten it by naming a place where they will make a game choice that’s different than what’s been proposed. (The player doesn’t need to specify at this time what the new choice will be.) This place becomes the new ending point of the proposed sequence.

  721.2c Once the last player has either accepted or shortened the shortcut proposal, the shortcut is taken. The game advances to the last proposed ending point, with all game choices contained in the shortcut proposal having been taken. If the shortcut was shortened from the original proposal, the player who now has priority must make a different game choice than what was originally proposed for that player.

  721.3. Sometimes a loop can be fragmented, meaning that each player involved in the loop performs an independent action that results in the same game state being reached multiple times. If that happens, the active player (or, if the active player is not involved in the loop, the first player in turn order who is involved) must then make a different game choice so the loop does not continue.
  721.4. If a loop contains only mandatory actions, the game is a draw. (See rules 104.4b and 104.4f.)

  721.5. No player can be forced to perform an action that would end a loop other than actions called for by objects involved in the loop.
  Example: A player controls Seal of Cleansing, an enchantment that reads, “Sacrifice Seal of Cleansing: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.” A mandatory loop that involves an artifact begins. The player is not forced to sacrifice Seal of Cleansing to destroy the artifact and end the loop.

  721.6. If a loop contains an effect that says “[A] unless [B],” where [A] and [B] are each actions, no player can be forced to perform [B] to break the loop. If no player chooses to perform [B], the loop will continue as though [A] were mandatory.

As a general answer to your "loopholes" remark:

I would take a radical stance and say "There are no loopholes in M:TG". Players are not required to guess the intention of the game designers, they are only required to follow the rules of the game. If the rules allow something like the "white Ball Lightning", something which was clearly not the intention in the design of Waylay, then there's nothing a judge could do about it. If the game designers consider something a loop hole, then the only things they can do is to give the card an erratum, restrict its tournament legality, or change the rules. Until either happens, players have free reign, and it's purely a question of sportsmanship and/or house rules.


What are pyramid games? I wondered if someone could explain what properties define "pyramid games"?  Someone suggested that I have a look at icehousegames.org but it's not clear to me from that site what are the the things that those games have in common.  (Obviously, I assume they involve at least some pieces that are shaped like pyramids, but there are lots of interesting features mentioned in the description of Icehouse and it's not clear to me which (if any) of these are to be found in other games of that type.)

The only true property that these games share are that they all use one or more "stashes" (set of 15) of pyramids sold by the game company Looney Labs.  Given that the pieces themselves come in three sizes, they can be stacked on top of each other or nested inside of each other.  This, along with the fact that they are pointed, gives rise to a weak theme of directionality through the games, but really any game that has been created using these pieces can call themselves a pyramid game.

There is a fertile area of game development surrounding these pieces, so there is a large number of official and unofficial games played using these rules. Icehouse was the original, but really isn't that strong of a game and isn't a good indicator of how the pieces are usually used. I would suggest looking at a few of the old favorites to get a feel for the type and style of games the the pieces are involved in:

Zendo - a game of inductive logic
Gnostica - a game played using a tarot deck for a board
Volcano - a game similar to Mancala


Backgammon: Jacoby rule with doubling cube? As per my understanding of Jacoby rule will be applied when doubling cube is not used during the game.

If I select Jacoby rule for the game and If either of the players uses the cube, Will Jacoby rule will not be applied at the end of the game?
Or Are players not able to use doubling cube if Jacoby is selected at the start of a game?

Ref: http://www.bkgm.com/gloss/lookup.cgi?jacoby+rule
I have used this site for the Jacoby rule.

If any one has some better explanation or ref. link, please provide

The rule (as in the link):

  A rule popular in money play which says that gammons and backgammons count only as a single game if neither player has offered a double during the game.

Probably the better way to say it is: If neither player has offered a double during the game, gammons and backgammons do not count.

This doesn't turn off the doubling cube, it just means that if you or your opponent don't double, the best you're doing is a single. Once the cube has been offered and accepted for the first time, gammons will count, and the normal range of 2-6 points is on the table.

(In theory, this means that every game will have at least 1 double offered, since this rule removes the potential of a position being "too good to double" before the cube is turned for the first time.)


Has black’s moyo already given them an advantage Playing white against the Linux programme kigo1, I (c. 6 kyu) reached the following situation, which seems typical of my games with it: (unfortunately one can only put 10 moves in a diagram, so I have split the game into three; the first two diagrams are at the end)

$$Bcm21 21-29
$$ ---------------------
$$ -???...??...????????-
$$ -???...??...????????-
$$ -???X.O?.O.X???X????-
$$ -???,.....,.????,X??-
$$ -??X..8....9????????-
$$ -??..........???????-
$$ -??..........????X??-
$$ -..7..........??????-
$$ -.............??????-
$$ -..O,.....,....?,X..-
$$ -??............1....-
$$ -??..............O..-
$$ -??O.........6....??-
$$ -??...........??????-
$$ -??...........???O??-
$$ -??O,X....,..???,???-
$$ -???OX?5..X.O???O???-
$$ -???423???...???????-
$$ -????..???...???????-
$$ ---------------------

Counting roughly and conservatively the fairly definitely claimed points of territory (shaded) I estimate that I am about 22 points behind, on my move. I give kigo about 89 points (18 top left + 64 top right + 7 bottom middle) and myself about 67 (5 top middle + 22 bottom left + 40 bottom right). This is roughly consistent with the final result3.

This analysis seems to mean one of three things, each of which leads to a follow-up question:

(A) I have already fallen behind badly in the fuseki.

If so, where did I go wrong so soon? (See earlier moves below.)

(B) I am overestimating black’s moyo (or other territory).

If so, how should one estimate such territory, and how does one reduce it2 from what it looks like?

(C) My move is worth 15 to 20 points (depending on komi).

If so, which move could be worth that much?

So my question is: which of these is the case, and what is the answer to the follow-up question?

While I am not uninterested in other comments on this game, what I really want is to understand better how to cope with a moyo strategy such as kigo appears to deploy.

Earlier moves

$$Bcm11 11-20
$$ ---------------------
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...X.8..2.9...1....-
$$ -...,.....,.....,X..-
$$ -..X................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -................7..-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -..0,.....,.....,5..-
$$ -...................-
$$ -................6..-
$$ -..O................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -................O..-
$$ -..O,X....,.....,...-
$$ -...OX....3.4...O...-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ ---------------------

…

$$Bcm1 1-10
$$ ---------------------
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...3...............-
$$ -...,.....,.....,1..-
$$ -..5................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...,.....,.....,...-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -..0................-
$$ -...................-
$$ -................6..-
$$ -..4,9....,.....,...-
$$ -...87..........2...-
$$ -...................-
$$ -...................-
$$ ---------------------

Notes

1 kigo 0.5.6, a KDE programme by Sascha Peilicke available with SUSE Linux. It appears to be roughly my strength when set to its maximum level (10), or maybe a little stronger.

2 How do I chose invasion or reduction points? sounds relevant, but seems to be more about invading a rather more solid territory.

3 In spite of some blunders on my part.

Your big mistake was your slack move at 12. It's a bit scary to have Black make two shimaris. The reason he shouldn't have done this is that his two stones in the bottom left corner were left stranded. You should have played 12 one or two points to the left of 13, and chased these stones. This would have given you an initiative that would have more than compensated for the two shimaris. Assuming that you play as well as Black from this point, you should win the game.

When Black got to play 13, he fixed his main weakness AND limited value of your shimari in the lower right, killing two birds with one stone. Now it is your stone at 12 that is in the middle of Black's influence. The 13-14 exchange was all in Black's favor. Ditto for the 15-16 exchange, after he solidified with 17. Your 18 was basically forced, but the 18-19 exchange was again in Black's favor. After you played 20 and he played 21, your (ultimate) response at 26 was too little too late. You have fallen one step behind, all because of move 12.

You are about 20 points behind on the board, although komi will reduce Black's lead to less than 15. By falling a move behind at 12, you, in essence gave Black the equivalent of a "two stone" handicap instead of just playing White. You will probably lose this game, even with komi.

I've noticed a pattern that will likely cause you to lose as White. You "follow" Black around, playing 12 in response to 11, 14 in response to 13, 16 in response to 15, 26 in response to 21, etc. This gives Black the advantage of every exchange, and creates the Black moyo pattern you referred to. (You also have a bunch of moyos, but they are much smaller.)

Komi can offset only one such exchange, so you need to find ways to break the pattern (or punish Black for improperly doing so). Moves 8 and 10 were a good idea, because you had sente in that part of the board. Black needed to play J3 (give or take), and then you could have grabbed the kakari at C15 for 12.

The shimari at 11 was big; it's worth about 1.5 stones because of the synergy with the rest of the position. The pincer (or protective move) at J3 was even bigger, because it affected the fate of two stones. That is, your pincer would either have captured them, or more likely, yielded an equivalent benefit, that would have put you ahead (2>1.5).


MtG Arena - Dina and lifelink On the board I had Dina, Soul Steeper and another creature with lifelink. My opponent had huge advantage on the board, but was at 1 life. He attacked with everything. I expected to lose dozens of lives, but trigger Dina by blocking one guy with lifelink creature, and cause opponent to go to 0, resulting in draw. Instead, I had just lost outright.
Why?

I believe your confusion is around triggered abilities and the stack.
In your scenario all combat damage is assigned and resolved, and state based actions are handled first.  (i.e. life totals are checked).
If you survive, then all triggers are placed on the stack.
But you didn't survive combat, so Dina's triggered ability did not get on the stack.
Bottom line, you have to survive combat damage in order for Dina's triggered ability to get placed on the stack.


Are there any house rules for combining Munchkin and Fluxx? It occurred to me that the Fluxx and Munchkin are quite similar games in that they are casual games that derive their fun from their theming.

Is it possible to combine the games?

As much as I love Munchkin and Fluxx, the game mechanics are so different that combining them would just cause a headache. How would keepers interact with Kicking down the door? Do goals change the requirement to reach level 10? It would be so confusing and weird to play that I would suggest staying away from combining these card games. However, there were expansions for both games if you want to freshen up gameplay.


I lost my boomdagger enhanced by "…of doom". If I get it back, is it still enhanced? I had to discard for 100g due to income tax being played. I discarded/sold my boomdagger which was enhanced by "…of doom".

Now would I get the dagger back with or without "…of doom"?

I don't have a rules citation for you, but I've always played - in this game and every similar case I can think of - that cards that enter a pile (like the discard pile) are no longer attached or otherwise related to each other. I think this is standard if for no other reason than it would be annoying to keep track of relationships between cards in a pile. So if you have a way of retrieving your dagger from the discard pile, prior attachments would not come back with it.


Am I at legal risk if I use a mechanism from another game in my own design? I'm juggling with a card game idea based on a popular fantasy universe. The game still has a long way to go yet.

But before I really invest in developing the card game I want to make sure I'm not wasting time and want to verify if I'll be able to develop the card game at all.

The game will use a tree of influence mechanism, where each player can acquire cards and can have those cards control other cards. They can even try to steal cards controlled by other players. The scope of the game is base on the nature of characters of a fantasy universe where there is a lot of back-stabbing, short-term alliances and power mongering.

After thinking about that mechanic I remember playing Illuminati by Steve Jackson. I just want to know if that mechanism is patented.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer

This answer* on startups.SE suggests (though doesn't completely confirm) that the mechanisms of a board game cannot be patented (which I suppose explains why we have so many deck-builders, for instance), but you may be at risk of copyright infringement if you go so far as to copy graphics, trademarked characters or names and copy used in the rulebook.

It goes without saying that since you refer to a "popular fantasy universe", you may have more to worry about from them than from Steve Jackson if you intend to use existing characters etc.

Given that, I think that using a mechanism from another game is acceptable.

*The linked question is about an electronic adaptation of a board game, but I believe the answer still applies