Clarification on the rules of Top Trumps when two or more cards win

As it's written, drawing a hand confers no advantage to the people who played the top cards. It's not that the same hand continues, it's just that there's now a bonus stack of cards available for the winner of the next hand.

In this way, if your last card was put into the middle like this then you're simply out of the game. You didn't win the hand, and you have no way to win the next hand to claim the bonus.

Now for the extra bit that the rules don't cover: if you were the player choosing the category and this happened, I'd have the next player either become someone else at random, someone who's obviously doing the worst, or just have you pick the category but not play a card.


Rules do not explain the answers to these 2 questions

If you don't have a discard during the game, it means you have played all of your cards, so the round ends. You can end the round either by discarding your final card, or by playing all cards in your hand.

The color doesn't change in Phase 10. Perhaps you are thinking of Uno rules? You can discard any card you like; the color doesn't matter.


When a pushing enemy moves toward a character, does it stop moving on the first push?

Looking at page 30, it looks like the movement resolves in the following order:

If the movement contains a push, push everything in the current node
Check direction towards movement objective
Move to the corresponding node and push everything in that node
Repeat

Granted, the rules don't really make that explicit, but they never contradict it either.

If you follow these steps, it is easy for a character to be trampled multiple times, since an enemy will never be in the same node as its target, since it will always be pushed away.

edit: after rereading page 21, I noticed it states:

  If the Push icon appears on an enemy’s movement, immediately
  move each character on that enemy’s node onto an adjacent node
  chosen by the players

Which indeed confirms the example on page 30.


Power Grid China/Korea strategy - is it any different from the base game?

At a high level the strategy is the same.  Obviously the difference in connection costs between cities and the different resource refresh rates will create strategic differences, but this is fairly complex and nuanced and so beyond the scope of an answer.

As far as the rules differences, the changes to what you want to do are more tactical (what you do this move) than strategic (how you plan the game).  The more strategic changes are as follows:

For Korea, you don't want to combine coal and nuclear as the North has no nukes (ironic) but has the cheaper coal.  Garbage plants are also more competitive on Korea, so take that into account when planning your power plant build.

For China, since the power plants come out in order, there aren't going to be windfall opportunities (a plant that powers 5 cities won't be available until you get to that part of the deck).  Here, you pretty much want to upgrade your plants only when you need to get more capacity rather than opportunistically (when there is a plant that looks good), as there is always going to be a better plant coming up next.


Is it possible to get 3 success markers on an unopposed story?

So after playing this a lot more times and going through the rules as well, this is the case.

Winning an investigation icon gives you one success token immediately.
Winning the story based on the skills of your committed characters gives you another, and finally, if at the end there are no opposing characters on the story, you get another success token for winning unopposed


How are you supposed to build space marines in 8th Ed?

TLDR, Have around 7 units for every 1000pts and give each unit at least 3 things that make them threatening

I'm writing this because I'm sick of waiting for someone else to answer this and I recently found A way to play Space Marines, though it's highly possible that it's not THE way to play Space Marines. Whatever the case, if this answer gets around 10 votes before someone else writes something and is right, then this will be my accepted answer.

Back to what my findings were, I believe that for every 1000pts, there should be 7 units in the formation and each should have at least 3 qualities or weapons given to them that make the opponent take notice of them. For example, you can give a scout squad shotguns, camo cloaks and a Landspeeder Storm. Instead of "just a unit of scouts" this unit becomes "a Toughness 5/Wound 7 model that moves 18" base, has fly, shoots up to 13 Strength 5 shots plus d6 Srength 4 shots on most turns and spawns up to 5 Scout Marines with a 2+ Save in cover when it dies". Attaining enough units that either have extended descriptions like this, or produce immediate reactions like a Landraider, creates a psychological advantage to your army I like to call The Actuality Effect. The Actuality Effect hinges on how effective your army is despite taking losses, such as a 10 man unit of Devastators loosing 5 units but still having its maximum output of heavy weapon shots. As for the effect itself, it is a mounting stress that occurs when the opponent is loosing units and is dealing seemingly ineffective damage to you. It's crucial to steadily build this tension in your opponent because, like in most strategy games, stress is the great obstacle your opponent must overcome. Stress makes you forget things, makes you focus on some things over other things, pushes you to chase or flee certain situations. Having enough units on the board, ergo unique places that DEMAND your opponents attention, will be enough to tip the odds in your favor.

Since building my lists this way, I haven't lost my last 3 games (2 vs Blood Angels, 1 of which heavily used Primaris units, 1 vs Orks). I won't guarentee that this works 100% effectively, one of my wins left me with 8 models on the board, but it performs drastically better than any of my previous lists this edition. Weather or not this is the best way to play Space Marines in general will be decided in time.


When to buy cards costing 1 "Rune" in Ascension?

When, if ever, is it a good idea to buy 1-Rune cards?

Almost always. If Chapel in Dominion has taught you anything, it is that trashing the chaff from your deck makes you much more likely to draw the good cards in your deck. For this reason, you should almost always buy Void Initiate. This is especially true early in the game, when you have a high density of Apprentice & Militia cards that are the polluting your deck (which are also worth 0 Honor).

For similar reasons, you should almost always buy Arha Initiate. It gains you 1 Honor (half the cost of a Heavy Infantry, and a third the cost of a Mystic and replaces itself when drawn.

Lifebound Initiate isn't a bad card, but buying a copy isn't a no brainer like Void and Arha Initiate cards are. This card becomes much better with other Lifebound Cards in your deck, and other Void/(Enlightened) cards that strip your deck of the chaff/(draw more) and make you draw into your Lifebound cards more often

Mechana Initiate is the worst of the bunch. I would almost never buy this card. The flexibility of adding Runes or Power doesn't seem that great. Perhaps if enough Burrower Mark II (Draw 1 first Mechana) or Rocket Courier X-99 (When acquire Mechana put into play) and other Mechana cards are available in the center row, then I might consider it, but usually I would pass.

Regarding holding off on buying a Heavy Infantry instead of an Initiate to prevent an opponent gaining a better card

The only real way to calculate this would be to figure out how likely a good card would come up, when your opponent wouldn't have had access to the card if they had to buy the Initiate themselves. For example, imagine if our opponent has 5 Runes worth of cards in their hand and 2 Power. There are 48 cards left in the center deck, (one of each different name). Lets assume for the moment that all the cards showing in the center row have 3 Power or more, and are 6 Runes or more. By not buying the Initiate, you have the possibility of the new center card being a 5 Rune cost card, that your opponent wouldn't have been able to purchase if you hadn't removed the initiate from the center row for them. Since their are only 5 cards that cost 5 Runes ( Ascetic of the Lidless Eye, Flytrap Witch, Snapdragon, Watchmaker's Altar, Voidthirster) out of 48  5/48 = 10% of the time you help your opponent.

Technically speaking, 3 of those 5 cards only gain you 2 Honor anyway. If the game was close to ending, and no one would be able to shuffle anyway, those 3 wouldn't matter (they could have just bought a Mystic and Heavy Infantry instead). If you had exactly 2 Runes though, it would be more likely in this scenario that you would draw one of the 4x Initiates to replace the Initiate in the center row. So you should probably buy the Initiate anyway.


What different opening strategy exist when playing Quatro?

I don't know that you're going to do much better than random.

Clearly, when you are not the first placing player your piece choice doesn't matter.  All the pieces are equivalent (the same number of potential matches will remain after play).

If you are the first placing player, then there are only 2 distinct opening moves.

Placing any of the pieces on:

a "corner*"

the "inner" pieces are functionally equivalent to outer corners on the first move

a "wall" but not a "corner"

This is due the board's symmetry, and the lack of piece ownership, coupled with the equivalence of the piece "types."

None of these moves deny any potential win condition, clearly.

So, the first choice that has any impact on the outcome of the game can't occur until the second piece choice.

Here, the first placing player can choose a piece with 3, 2, 1, or no commonalities with one just placed.

This means that by the end of the first placing player's turn, there can be only 8 functionally distinct boards.  Not a lot to choose from in terms of strategy.  In comparison, Chess has 20 at this point and Checkers has 7.

A bit less fairly, this analysis suggests that given perfect play the first placing player will always win or force a draw.

*I apologize for the paraphrasing but I haven't actually played this game personally, only read about it.


In Love Letter, can you discard a card instead of playing it?

No, you must always apply the effect of the card even if that card would hurt you, such as playing the prince with the princess in hand when the other 2 players have handmaidens out. Always having to play the effect of the card is spelled out in the rule book and making a house variant to change that would greatly alter the balance of the game as it would remove the negative side of some of the more powerful cards in the game.

The point of this is that there will be times when playing a card can be very bad for you and that is to balance out the fact that playing a card can be very good for you or at worst neutral most of the time

Love Letter PDF Rules

  On your turn, draw the top card
  from the deck and add it to your
  hand. Then choose one of the two
  cards in your hand and discard it
  face up in front of you. Apply any
  effect on the card you discarded.
  You must apply its effect, even if it
  is bad for you.

If there are no valid targets because all other players have a handmaiden in play you can still use the card and in most cases nothing will happen.

Guard - Nothing happens
Priest - Nothing happens
Barron - Nothing happens
Handmaiden - Does not target others
Prince- You must target yourself and discard your other card
King - Nothing happens
Countess - Does not target others
Princess - Does not target others


What happens to Infiltrating Cylons on New Caprica when Galactica jumps away?

Pegasus rulebook, pg 7:

  A Cylon Leader is considered a “human
  player” when he is Infiltrating and a
  “Cylon player” when he is not
  Infiltrating.

I don't see an exception for infiltrating cylons on pg 17:

  Once the Admiral has ordered Galactica
  to leave and ended the game, destroy
  all civilian ships still on New
  Caprica, and execute any human players
  still on a New Caprica location. If
  after resolving those losses, no
  resource has been reduced to 0 or
  lower, the humans win the game!

Therefore, infiltrating cylons are humans and would be executed.


When does discard happen if player goes over limit after passing in Endeavor?

Apparently even the two designers are not completely in agreement over this issue. It has come up on BGG more than once. This thread references two other threads where each designer gives an opinion on whether or not you should discard at the end of turn.

Jarret Gray says:

  Discard is part of pass. The cards are
  supposed to return immediately to
  their respective piles. This can
  create some interesting timing
  effects, like blocking an opponent
  from drawing a good card. The downside
  is that when a player discards you
  have to wait for them. If the cards go
  back at the end of the turn then you
  can carry on the game while they
  number crunch. The game is intended to
  be played the first way.

Carl de Visser says:

  You should still meet the card limit
  at the end of the turn. Checking the
  rules, this is only implied in the End
  of the Round section with "Once
  discards are complete". Basically
  there should be another check at the
  end of the turn.

de Visser was specifically responding to the question of acquiring a governor card after passing, Gray was not. He was only answering the general question of whether discarding occurs after passing or at the end of the turn. So he probably wasn't considering the odd circumstance of getting another card after passing. Had that case been brought up he might have said both, as did de Visser, but all we have to go on is what they did say and Gray clearly says you don't discard at the end of the turn.

The rules-as-written are pretty explicit that discarding only occurs immediately after passing. That is also supported by the comment of one designer, but explicitly contradicted by the other. So there is certainly evidence to back up either ruling, but no definitive answer.

Personally, I don't like the idea of exceeding the card limit for a full turn, and really don't like the idea of getting to score cards that exceed the limit. So I'll probably go with discarding after passing and also at the end of the turn. I may even consider immediate discard as that makes the most sense to me, and there is some slight justification for that in the rules.


Is there a Standard card similar to Debt to the Deathless?

The cards from Theros, Born of the Gods, Journey into Nyx, and Magic 2015 (the sets that will be standard when Khans of Tarkir releases in September and whose contents are currently known) with abilities of the form "Each opponent loses n life.  You gain life equal to the life lost this way." are as follows:

Gray Merchant of Asphodel — life loss equal to your devotion to black when it enters the battlefield
Scholar of Athreos — life loss of 1 via a 2B activated ability
Servant of Tymaret — life loss of 1 whenever it becomes untapped
Tormented Hero — life loss of 1 whenever you cast a spell that targets it

There are no cards with this mechanic in Magic 2015, unless you count Covenant of Blood.


I think the mechanic you came up with doesn't work well for 1 dice per player. Basically you're taking the luck of the dice roll, and adding another luck factor. You can cancel this out by allowing the use of more dice. What if the gems you collect can be used to purchase more dice?

You should take a look at the way resource collection is managed in Stone Age, as an inspiration.


It's removed from the game if you own it. When a player loses the game, they leave the game and every card they own does as well. You'll take back the physical card, and they lose control of whatever it was because it's vanished out of the game. This happens no matter where it is (in exile, on the stack, on the battlefield, etc). The rules that handle this don't leave behind a copy for them to use — the thing is gone.
There's a pragmatic reason for this: the cards are your legal property, and once you're done in that game you're entitled to leave and take your stuff with you. The rules won't presume they can leave someone else in possession of your stuff, so those rules just say your stuff goes away.
In 1v1, the game would already be over when you lose, so I presume you're not actually playing 1v1. In multiplayer, we go by these rules:

104.5. If a player loses the game, he or she leaves the game. If the game is a draw for a player, he or she leaves the game. The multiplayer rules handle what happens when a player leaves the game; see rule 800.4.
800.4a When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game and any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end. [...] This is not a state-based action. It happens as soon as the player leaves the game.


Is it possible to destroy Dragon Mantle without the owner successfully activating it?

He cannot prevent you from pumping it. As you say, you can either pump on your own or pump in response to the destruction, either way the pumps will resolve and his creature will die. The only way to prevent this is to kill the creature it's attached to.

If the enchantment was to read "R: Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn as long as ~ is attached to it" then things would work as your opponent would want. Obviously this isn't the case, and I am not aware of a card that functions in this way.

Similarly, if he has priority and you have not pumped yet, he can prevent you from activating it with a card like  Krosan Grip.


It allows the air to be removed from the bag so it takes up less space.


Need help with the Peddler card in Dominion Prosperity

Peddler is a market without the +Buy.

It would have been an unremarkable card if not for its unique price. The standard price is $8, which is the priciest action in the game, but you never really want to buy it at that cost. The below-the-line part reads:

  During your Buy phase, this costs $2 less per Action card you have in
  play, but not less than $0.

This means that for every action you play in your turn, the price of Peddler goes down by $2 in the Buy phase, so if you played two Villages, for example, you can buy a Peddler for $4, which is a much more reasonable price for it.

Of course the more Actions you play in your turn the better it gets, and the more Buys you have the more free Peddlers you can get - if you play four or more actions, each additional buy is a free Peddler! Also note the phrasing Action card you have *in play*
, which means that a duration card from the previous turn (Caravan, Fishing Village, etc.) also counts as a cost reducer. The self-synergy of Peddler is also pretty nice, since the more Peddlers you have, the more you can play per turn thus lowering the price of Peddlers to buy more.

The icing on the cake is that fact that unlike Bridge, the price only goes down during the Buy phase, so you can Remodel a Peddler into a Province no matter how many actions you already played during your turn, since its price is always $8 during the Action phase.

As always, you can read more in this great Dominion Strategy guide.


How would the Imperial Player use the scouted card? (Imperial Assault: Jabba's Realm)

It lets the Imperial player re-roll a defense die. As a cost/balance for this benefit (in addition to the exhaust), if a Dodge is rolled, the player can't keep it. (It is changed into a weaker, but still okay, evade.)

So it let's you have a re-roll, but a little weaker one than usual—if it's a white die. If it's a black die the Imperial defensive player is re-rolling, this additional cost wouldn't come into play. (Just the exhaust cost in this second case.)

I think the confusion might be coming in if you think you have a choice on whether or not to apply the Dodge to Evade after the re-roll, which is incorrect. If you re-roll, you must apply the conversion to the result (when applicable).


How effective is a shield component during the first round?

Shields are not very effective during the first round.
First, it should be noted that the negative effects of the Pirate, and the Combat Zone adventure cards are some what avoidable. In the Pirate encounter case, if you make sure that your ship has 5+ Laser power, you will not be shot at. With the Combat Zone, you just need to make sure that you don't have the least Laser power.
Second, you need to figure out the odds of drawing that particular Adventure Card. The chances that you will actually draw a particular adventure card during the first round is 8/20 = 40%, if you don't look at the Adventure cards. Since a single shield component can either face up or down. The majority of the small laser fire, and small meteors come from the front, so you should probably orient the shield to face forward. If you do place a shield component, and you happen to draw the Pirate encounter and you don't have the required 5 Laser power, your shield will only be effective 24/36 = 66.7% of the time for each small laser (since rolling 2-4 or 10-12 misses your ship anyway). This means, that if you don't look at any of the adventure cards, you are only going to effectively block:

Block 0 Small Shots: (60%) not drawn + (40%) x (12/36) x (12/36) = 64.4%
Block 1 Small Shots: (40%) x 2 x (12/36) x (24/36) = 17.8%
Block 2 Small Shots: (40%) x (24/36) x (24/36) = 17.8%

                ___
11.1% 5     ___|   |___
13.9% 6 ___|    ___    |___
16.7% 7|       |___|       |
13.9% 8|        ___        |
11.1% 9|___ ___|   |___ ___|
         5   6   7   8   9
        11% 14% 17% 14% 11%

Nearly 65% of the time, it wouldn't matter if you bought a shield or not and only 18% of the time you would have prevented 1 lost component, and 18% of the time you would prevent 2 lost components. This isn't a completely accurate though. It depends a player in-front of you defeats the Pirate encounter for 4 Credits, or you draw the Pirate adventure card before drawing one of the other Meteor Cards. If you draw the Meteor Cards after you draw the Pirate encounter, then your shield is more likely to be effective, but not that much more effective.
For example, if you where shot from the front, and later draw any of the Meteor cards, you have an increased chance of losing another component because of additional exposed connectors. The increased chances are only the chances that you roll the same column/row of the component that got blasted from the front. For example, if lasers destroyed 7 & 8 from the front (Note: Getting hit 2 or more times from the Purple encounter happens about 30% of the time), then if you draw the Lss (TLR) Meteor card:

Small Meteor No Hit: (26/36) x (26/36) = 52.2%
Small Meteor Hit 1x 6/8: 2 x (10/36) x (26/36) = 40.1%
Small Meteor Hit 2x 6/8: (10/36) x (10/36) = 7.72%

You only have a another 50% chance of getting hit again by a small meteor one or more times. I won't work out the exact math, but realize that the odds of losing extra pieces from small meteors is fairly small (60% of the time it won't be in the adventure deck. When it is, only half the time you will draw the Meteor card after the Pirate encounter, and finally even if you do draw the Pirate encounter first only half that time will you be hit by a small meteor hitting an exposed connector).
If you do look at the adventure cards, and neither of the cards are in the 6 cards, you only have an additional 14.3% chance that the Pirate card will be in the remaining 2 Adventure cards.
In general, you should probably avoid placing a Shield component. The only exception would be if you saw the Pirate encounter or the Combat Zone card, and you were unable to meet the requirements of 5+ Laser or not the least laser power.


Does Claustrophobia prevent triggered abilities?

Blightcaster's ability is a triggered ability that triggers whenever you (the controller) casts an enchantment.

Claustrophobia doesn't say anything about preventing active or triggered abilities, it just taps the creature.

If in doubt, expect no more than what the cards say.


Mono-Green Deck: Responding to Sorceries/Instants?

The format you're playing is very important to answer this question. Playing Standard, for example, limits your options to the most recent few sets, while on the opposite end of the spectrum, playing Vintage or Commander opens up nearly every card ever printed.

Against removal, you can go for creatures with hexproof/shroud (Thrun, the Last Troll/Scythe Tiger), means to grant hexproof/shroud (Asceticism/Aspect of Mongoose), protection (Chameleon Colossus/Tel-Jilad Defiance), regeneration (Experiment One, Fortitude), indestructible (Predator Ooze, Thornling), etc.

Against countermagic, green is probably the best solution (besides perhaps also playing blue for countering the countermagic); there are a number of cards in green which either can't be countered, or make something else uncounterable. For example, Gaea Herald, Mistcutter Hydra, Savage Summoning.

Against discard and mill, green is probably second only to black in terms of re-using the graveyard. Gensis, Eternal Witness, Creeping Renaissance. Green and black are also the two colors of the Golgari guild, where the extremely powerful Dredge mechanic comes from (which involves self-mill).

Green is also quite good at noncreature removal; in fact, the majority of targeted removal in green is noncreatures only.

With a full card pool, you have a lot of options. For example, I have a mono-green Commander deck (Ezuri, Renegade Leader elf tribal) which often plays like a blue deck, thanks to cards like Ezuri or Wirewood Symbiote protecting my creatures (regenerate or return to hand to protect from removal), Gaea's Herald or Cavern of Souls stopping counterspells, Yeva, Nature's Herald letting me take "turns" during my opponents' turns, Survival of the Fittest or Fauna Shaman searching for answers to threats (especially with Masked Admirers creating an engine), Sylvan Library drawing cards, etc.


Card "stack" and targeting in Unstable Unicorns- Irrelevance of a defensive Super Neigh

http://unstablegameswiki.com/index.php?title=Neigh,_Neigh%27d,_Neighable,_Neighing

In Unstable Unicorns the stack is literally a stack.  The card being played is placed on top of the card it is responding to.  Therefore the only card targetable is the one on top of the stack.

The Super Neigh is the end of the stack and the entire stack will then resolve.


How does the help system work in munchkin?

Yes, the rules do specifically say

  Combat strength is the total of Level plus all modifiers - positive or negative - given by items and other cards.

So the helping player adds all their bonuses to yours. Remember also to count situational modifiers that are brought about by the new helper eg. a monster who is +4 against Elves would gain a +4 bonus if the person you brought in to help was an Elf but you weren't.

Just remember that Munchkin is a competitive game and it is up to you whether you assist or not (unless a specific card says otherwise). It isn't always in your (or your fellow player's) best interests to agree to help, thus forcing the player in the combat to fight alone or run away.


The game is called Heroscape. It was primarily fantasy based, but there were some other expansions like a Marvel themed one. The game was discontinued in 2010 but Wizards of the Coast has recently created a Magic: the Gathering board game called Arena of the Planeswalkers that seems to have similar gameplay.


Has Hive already been completely 'solved' for AI?

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


Does anyone know the official rules for Destruct 3?

This might help. Although it's only a review, it does explain a lot about the scoring and building rules. There obviously are a few rules that are missing (ie. how the dice work).

I assume you do not have any kind of shop receipt for the game. You could suggest to them that you could send them a picture of the game to prove you actually have it. They could describe a specific setup for you to replicate so you can't just pick a picture off the web.


What are Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger's abilities counted as?

It is neither. It is a triggered ability:

  603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect].”

Ulamog has two triggered abilities — one for when he's cast, and one for when he attacks — and indestructible, a keyword ability.

Viper's Kiss has no effect on any of these abilities. It will give Ulamog -1/-1 making it a 9/9, but Ulamog will still exile cards.

Spells are only ever cards (or copies of cards) that are on the stack. Abilities never count as spells.

Activated abilities also have a specific formatting you can recognise them by:

  602.1. Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as “[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]”

An example of activated abilities is found on Elvish Mystic: note the presence of a cost (tap Elvish Mystic), colon :, and effect (add green mana). An activated ability has all three of these; an ability without these is not an activated ability.


What does MAX apply to on the Memory Cards in "Autumn Harvest: A Tea Dragon Society Card Game"?

MAX is intended to be the maximum amount of points that may be scored with the card.


What are the primary enhancements Cities and Knights and Seafarer's add on to the original Settler's of Catan?

Opinions will always vary, but what I think one can objectively say is that Cities & Knights adds more complexity and variation to the game as it adds several new dimensions: new resource types, new types of knights, new expansion cards and new 'privileges' gained as you expand your principality. So if this type of 'extra dimensions of complexity' is your notion of 'replay value', then C&K would be the extension to go for of the two.

On the other hand, it does mean slightly more complex rules to introduce to new players. So if 'replay value' means being able to play with different groups of friends a few times rather than the same friends multiple times, this is something to take into account.


From the Munchkin Rules:

  The first player to reach Level 10 wins . . . but you must reach Level 10 by
  killing a monster, unless a card specifically allows you to win another way.

The only requirement it gives is that you kill a monster to reach Level 10, it doesn't say you have to be Level 9 when you kill it. The only other rules about winning say you can't reach Level 10 by selling loot or playing a Level Up card.

From the Munchkin FAQ:

  Note also that ANY level gained as a result of killing a monster counts as the winning level. If you have a Race or Class ability that lets you get an extra level after winning certain combats, that level can be the winning level.

This supports the idea that you don't have to be Level 9 when you kill a monster, you just have to get to Level 10 as a result of killing a monster.


Not all enchantments attach to a creature (or any kind of permanent). In general, enchantments just sit on the battlefield like artifacts. Auras are special types of enchantments that do attach to things. They have a type line that says "Enchantment - Aura" and an ability in the text box that says "Enchant [object]," which means that it attaches to objects with the given description.

Hardened Scales doesn't target, and it doesn't just affect just one creature. As long as it's on the battlefield, any time you would put any number of +1/+1 counters on any creature you control, you also put an extra +1/+1 counter on that creature.

If you had two copies of Hardened Scales, every time you put +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures, each of the abilities modifies what happens and you add two extra counters.


In Puerto Rico, When should I NOT take a Quarry when I have the opportunity to?

The simple answer to this question, is how much value is the quarry going to gain you over and above the other options your have to choose from. This comes down to the stage of the game, the competing products of your competitors and the value the goods that are on offer as alternatives.

A quarry saves you money when building, but only a maximum of 1 coin per build.

You may already have all the buildings you want/need, without triggering an end of game scenario
You may have plenty of money so an extra coin is of little value to you
You may not be using a building strategy to win the game, but be cautious with this one, as balance is key
You may get an extra worker for building, if you have that specific tile with that function.

A good offers you the opportunity to sell / ship

There may already be too many plantations and not enough goods to go around, so this may not be a good option
You may need a factory to produce your good (with the exception of corn) and not have time to build this, so plantation has no value
You may already have a factory with a spare space, so another good of a particular type may allow maximum efficiency from your factory
A good may be of high value (like coffee/tobacco) that gives you far more money than you would hope to gain from a quarry, by someone visiting the Trader.

And needless to say, all of this depends on your opponents positions, and your future potential actions.


Appetite for the Unnatural and Clone Legion vs. hexproof creatures

From the Comprehensive Rules:

  702.11b “Hexproof” on a permanent means “This permanent can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.”

Appetite for the Unnatural targets the enchantment, not the creature itself, so it will resolve and destroy the enchantment (unless the enchantment itself somehow has hexproof too).

Clone Legion targets a player, not creatures, so unless that player has hexproof, it will make a copy of all their creatures, including the ones with hexproof. Any enchantments on those creatures won't be copied.


I think one of the best card games for three players is Skat (not to be confused with the Scat mentioned in another answer). This is a pretty heavy game on the level of Bridge, so you can decide whether it's a good fit for your group.

I personally prefer Ninety-Nine which is like Oh Hell! with a really funky bidding technique.

You might also find this list on pagat.com helpful. It seems like the numbers outside square brackets are the recommended numbers of players.


True, there are so many scenarios that the rulebook doesn't specifically cover

But most of the points you ask are specified in the rulebook. Taking this rulebook (Anniversary: compliance with spring 1942 edition) for instance:

A transport can move between one or two spaces that do not contain an enemy surface ship during combat or non combat phases.  It can load and offload units into free cargo slots before, before or after any of the previous. However load and offload procedures cannot iterate (you can't offload units first and then load). Offloading units ends the transport's actions: If you begin by offloading units of a transport (loaded in previous rounds) then the transport will not move nor load after that.

Other rules apply for a transport engaged in combat.

  A unit(s) is loaded onto a transport that has not moved yet, then the player moves the transport

As long as the transport did not participate in any combat this round, it can be moved, loaded if it has any valid free space and offloaded. It cannot iterate load and offload.

  A transport moves one space, then picks up a unit and moves another
  space.

It is valid as long as the first move does not put the transport in a seazone containing enemy surface units (thus putting it in combat)

  A transport moves one space and then bridges a unit(s).
  A transport moves two spaces and then bridges a unit(s).

If bridging means moving land units between adjacent territories in a seazone, it is valid. The transport has: moved (one or two spaces), loaded and offloaded (one or two units).

If between move and load/offload the transport moves to an area with enemy surface units, then the sea combat must be resolved first (amphibious attack).

Remember that no unit can move to any other territory containing enemy troops during non-combat move phase, except for submarines.

  A transport moves into a sea space where an enemy has a submerged
  submarine

It can be done either in combat move and non-combat move. If done during combat, and you move along a destroyer you CAN choose to engage or not engage the enemy submarines. If you choose to, the transports take part in the combat.

  A transport bridges unit(s), after battle proceeds bridges unit(s)
  again to a different country (this is complying with the rule that
  says you can only attack a country once a turn).

No, for two reasons.

Transports that engaged in combat cannot do anything else after (move, load offload).

After offload, the transport actions end.

  An airplane (usually a bomber) comes from the land and bombs an
  unguarded transport and kills it

If the question is: "Can the transport be destroyed?" the answer is: yes. It is automatically destroyed during combat resolve phase.

I would suggest you install tripleA. It is an open source game that can implement A&A ruleset and its different maps; the rules there comply pretty well with the rulebook.

This were many questions packed in one.. :/ I'll later add the pages references to each sub-answer, or I would welcome anyone editing to add that info.


Can I discard a race or class card directly from my hand to avoid charity?

You can't voluntarily discard a card from your hand, you can only play it or give it away.  But you can freely discard races and classes in play or sell items in play. During charity you can play cards instead of giving them away if you want to.

So, you can play a race, discard it, play a race, discard it, wash, rinse, repeat.  Unless you had some type of curse preventing you from discarding your race; then you are stuck having to give it away to someone else.


Can a blocking creature tap for its ability while blocking?

Sure.  As long as the creature is able to block at the beginning of the declare blockers step (typically this means untapped) it can be declared as a blocker.  What happens after that doesn't affect it's status as a blocker.  There are also no restrictions on whether it can tap to use an ability, pay a cost, etc.


Does the "Rule of 15" suggest that you should pass with 13 points (and short spades) in fourth seat?

Rule of 13 trumps Rule of 15.

If you have 13 points you open.

If you read the first few sentences of the article you linked, it says clearly you only apply that when you have 9-12 points.


In Axis and Allies, could a house rule upgrading the German navy finally "balance" the 1942 game?

Interested in what you say here about the Allies having a slight edge. I assume you mean First Edition here.

My friend and I have been playing for years. We originally used to think that the Allies were slightly ahead. Usually this was due to US being able to afford a bomber or two that nails down German economy.

We have had the optional rule of fighter defense turned on for a long time. This makes it much harder for the Allies to strat bomb Germany.

This seemed to give the Axis a break and have been consistently winning 1942, but we are now trying new tactics as Allies that is making a difference.


Can I sacrifice creatures that are attacking before they are blocked?

Yes, you can sacrifice one of you attackers after blockers but before combat damage.

116.1b A player may activate an activated ability any time he or she has priority.
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).

At this moment you are the active player and will receive priority after the declare blockers step. Now that you have priority you may activate an activated ability, so you can activate your Goblin Bombardment and sacrifice one of your creatures to kill one of your oponents blockers, for example.


Agricola: What cards allow for animals be the main source of food for my family?

Well, breeding animals should be enough to feed your family if you have a cooking hearth.  Breeding Sheep gives you 2f per harvest, Boar give you 3f, and Cows give you 4f.  That's 9f per harvest once you have them all going. The problem is having space for all of the animal types, then getting your hands on them.

One card that helps with both those aspects in 4-player is Animal Breeder.  He allows you to buy animal pairs whenever you fence unused spaces.  He is one of the best cards in the game, and I almost always pick him first in draft.  If you fence early and fence often, you can get all animal types breeding very quickly.

There are generally more animal-based Occupations for 4+ players.  For example, Cowherd and Swineherd (similar to 3+ player Sheep Farmer and Animal Dealer) let you take an additional animal when you use the appropriate action space. If you are using expansions there are even more.  Dove Hunter from France Deck lets you turn 1 sheep into 4 food (or 1 cow into 6 food) every harvest.

These are just a few of my favorites for animal-based feeding.  There are plenty of others, though.


Using Supernatural Stamina on a Zombie Creature with Diregraf Colossus on the board

Supernatural Stamina adds a Triggered Ability to the (in this case) mummy that has an Effect of returning the mummy to the battlefield when it dies. This is not the same as casting a spell so it does not Trigger the Ability of the Diregraf Colossus.

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


In Jenga, what happens if there are 2 blocks on the top of the tower blocking the way for the 3rd block?

The rules on Hasbro's site say that you can touch other blocks with a single hand, and you must complete a 3 block story. I don't see why it would be unacceptable to either fix the top story with your hand directly to accept a third block, or nudge the top blocks in place with a block in your hand to complete the story. Clearly, if you are required to make a 3-block story, the blocks must fit across the top.

While stacking, always complete a 3-block story before starting a higher one.
You can touch other blocks to find a loose one - but if you move a block out of place, you must fix it (using only one hand) before touching another block.

This is a mass market game. The rules are written to be as easily understood as possible, not a game like Advance Squad Leader or Magic: the Gathering where the rules are written to close every possible loophole. The rules don't define what 'fix' means or 'out of place', but since you are supposed to create the top story with 3 blocks, those three blocks must fit on the story. The rules also don't prevent you from placing your top block perpendicular, but with nearly half the block extending over the edge of the tower, but I contend that a piece placed like that is "out of place" and is subject to the fixing rule. To fix a block is to move it back to its relative position in my mind. (Example: Top of the tower, center block.)
Several digital versions exist for iOS, Android, Wii, etc. You could always see how the rules were interpreted for those electronic versions and copy their behavior. The Official Jenga version for iPhone allows you to nudge any pieces you want during your turn to 'fix' them (or ruin them actually). The iPhone developers consulted with the original game designer Leslie Scott in the making of the game. In this implementation, a player could place 2 blocks on top to prevent an opponent from placing the third block of a story, but his opponent could just nudge those pieces on top to make room for his piece.

NaturalMotion Games worked closely with Leslie Scott, the inventor of Jenga, to create the most authentic Jenga experience ever.
“I’m delighted by how the team at NaturalMotion Games has so skillfully captured the essence and universal appeal of Jenga,  while adding new and thrilling dimensions to my original game.” – Leslie Scott


Can I Negate an instant cast via Torrential Gearhulk?

Yes.

Torrential Gearhulk's ability says the following (emphasis mine):

  When Torrential Gearhulk enters the battlefield, you may cast target
  instant card from your graveyard without paying its mana cost.

From the comprehensive rules, casting a card means (in part) "to take it from the zone it's in [and] put it on the stack".701.4  After your opponent selects the card Vraska's Contempt, it is put on the stack as a spell.

Negate reads:

  Counter target noncreature spell.

Again, from the comprehensive rules, countering a spell means "to cancel it, removing it from the stack."701.5

Since Vraska's Contempt is on the stack, is a noncreature spell, and nothing else prohibits it, you are allowed to counter it using Negate.


My experience from playing both sides is that the Demons win more often than not.

For the demon player:

Try to always have two troglodyte packs on the board, ideally from two sides, two packs of 3 troglodytes is very hard on the humans.  Keep them replenished, only power them up (ravenous, etc.) for sure hits or to position in front or behind.
Attack the human with the lowest armor, if equal then attack human with most wounds, if equal then attack redeemer
Event cards are very much worth it, grab them whenever you can
The big demon usually isn't needed to win.  Troglodyte swarms are great on their own.


How do Hexproof and Combat Damage interact?

They don't interact at all.

The word "target" does not occur anywhere in the Comprehensive rules for 702.19, Trample, nor 510, Combat Damage Step (well, the latter does use the word "target" within some examples, but those uses refer to spells being cast, not to the combat damage itself).

The Comprehensive rules for Hexproof are short enough to include here in their entirety:

  702.11. Hexproof

  702.11a Hexproof is a static ability.
  702.11b "Hexproof" on a permanent means "This permanent can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control."
  702.11c "Hexproof" on a player means "You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control."
  702.11d Multiple instances of hexproof on the same permanent or player are redundant.

Because combat damage is not targeted, and Trample does not target the blocking creatures nor the defending player, Hexproof will not protect creatures or players from this damage.


Yes, Chain of Smog works that way - whoever you choose to target can copy the spell, and whoever they choose to target can copy the spell, and on and on and on. Note that this does not constitute an "Infinite Loop" as per the rules, however, as these are not mandatory actions that will repeat without intervention. Each player targeted by Chain of Smog has to choose whether or not to copy the spell or not, so the loop doesn't just run forever without intervention. Even if you target yourself, you could choose to copy the spell 1 million times, but you can't choose to copy an infinite number of times to force a draw.


Group the players according to skill level. Each of your words are eliminated if anybody in your group or below has a duplicate word. Players in groups higher than yours cannot eliminate your words, but you can eliminate theirs. I think there should be at least two players in the lowest group, but maybe you want to be really kind to the most junior player.

I haven't tested this, it might be too unbalanced. Try experimenting with the group sizes. I suspect fewer groups would be better.


In Android: Netrunner, can the Shaper event Scavenge install the program that was trashed to pay for it?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer:  Scavenge says "As an additional cost to play this card, trash an installed program".  That means that when you play Scavenge (paying the 0 credits), you trash a program as a cost.  After you have trashed the program, it then states "Install a program from your grip or heap lowering the install cost of that program by the cost of the program trashed".

Since you trash a program as part of the cost, that program is now in your heap.  You then can look at the number of credits to install another program from your grip or heap - including the program you just trashed, since it is already in your heap.

You are correct, this is a fantastic way to retarget Femme Fatale, or to move an installed breaker onto Dinosaurus.  The other main use is to Test Run out a breaker for 3 creits, and then Scavenge it to install it permanently for free.


Does "next" in line-of-succession mean "first remaining" in line-of-succession?

Page 28 of the rulebook says:

  Should the President or Admiral be revealed as a Cylon, the highest player in the line of succession for that title claims it.

so it will never go to the "next" person in line, always to the highest (non-Cylon).


Clarification on "After You..." card text

Each turn you may play an action, and then must collect a nobel.

Unless the action caused the Day to end then you must collect a nobel of your own after playing the card.

(Guillotine was designed and published by Wizards of the Coast and it comes as no surprise to me that the mechanic is so reliant on wording. It certainly makes settling arguments easy... if you're a lawyer!)


Pandemic - Will the expansions really make a difference?

First make sure you are playing the game correctly. From BoardGameGeek FAQ:

  Q: Our first game was easy! Are we doing something wrong?

  A: Probably. But the game is easier with fewer players and/or fewer Epidemics in
  the deck. You may also visit this thread to see if you missed
  something: Common mistakes.

Also try the game with different number of players. A two-player game is different and apparently easier than a four-player game. There is also quite a big lucky factor involved depending on how the infections are distributed and how early the epidemic cards occur.

If you still find the game too easy but otherwise like it, consider buying On the Brink expansion. It adds variety to the game by providing a lot more roles. It can also make the game harder by offering new challenges.

If you don't like the game, you probably don't like it with the expansions either. For me the base version was fun on it's own and hard enough, as we failed to find cures for any deseases on the first game with the easiest difficulty level when playing with four people.


Does Microbot Archive Apply to all Bases?

Yes. There's no rules reference for this one since it's just about the card, but as you correctly identified, it doesn't reference a particular base.


Does drawing a card still end your movement after the haunt has begun?

Yes, your movement will always end after you enter a newly discovered room with a symbol in it. This does mean you can have some claustrophobic haunts, but it is the way the game is played.


Can Zombies be killed by the Revolver? N21

The revolver is unfortunately ambiguous in its wording, and as far as I can find there is no official ruling on whether it can be used to make Might attacks or not. However my opinion is that it should not be able to make Might attacks rolls (or at best, is useless for making Might attacks).

Firstly, even if you could use the revolver for Might attacks it would provide no additional benefit as the revolver card states:

  Roll 1 additional die on your Speed attack roll

This explicitly makes the bonus die only available on a Speed attack.

Also it would be highly unrealistic to allow Might attack rolls at range with the revolver (you can't improve the way you shoot a gun with sheer force) so a Might attack would only be possible from within the same room (pistol-whipping, basically).

So if you can't use Might at range with the revolver, and gain no additional dice while making a Might attack with it, then a Might attack with the revolver is the equivalent of a barehanded attack.

When this is taken into consideration for the zombies in scenario 21 then, if you decide that the revolver can only make Speed attacks, then you cannot kill zombies with it (it would only stun them).

Even if you do allow Might attacks with the revolver from within the same room you may as well not even consider that you are making the attack with the revolver, and just say you are making a standard barehanded attack since they both provide the exact same chance of successfully making the attack.


In the Great Dalmuti, should I be attempting to improve my seat position or shoot for the win?

The two big tricks to figuring out when you can go out are counting cards and figuring out how your cards will play.

What's in your hand?

Figure out where your "losers" are in your hand - sets where you will be unable to take control: middle triples, pairs, singletons, etc. where you have no high set to establish control. These are the cards that you play dead last. It's possible to have two losers in the same number, e.g. a pair of 12s and a pair of 11s (with no other pairs to take control after you've played those). Similarly, determine if you have any "winners" - card combinations that you think nobody can beat (a triple in threes or fours, a pair of twos or threes, etc.). Finally, look at your hand and see how many middle-rank sets you have - cards you can slip into somebody else's play, or that you can slip into the middle of your own plays as you're going out.

Note that the definition of "winners," "losers," and "middle sets" will change as cards are played; your triple seven starts as a middle set, but as you see the sixes, fives, fours, and threes get played, they will become a winner. I usually keep track of all of the cards rank six or better as they're played, but if your memory is better than mine, you'll keep track of every card played, along with good guesses of who can hold the remaining cards. (It's usually a bad idea to split a set of cards into multiple smaller sets, so if somebody plays a single six, they're almost certainly out of sixes.)

A good enough hand

You can go out when you have:

At most one loser (which you'll play last)
Middle sets that you can slip in before playing your winners for that set

Ideally, have some powerful middle sets: they may not be winners, but nobody wants to expend their own winners to top them yet.

Enough winners to get all of your middle sets out
Luck: that your winners actually are winners, or that the other players don't care to top them at the moment you play them.

When all's said and done, the distribution of the cards between other players will make or break your attempt to go out. If the cards went weird, or some player tops your triple twelve with a triple nine (preventing you from playing your own triple nine that's a middle set for you), or someone topped your triple three with a triple one when all you have left is your last loser, then all you can do is pick up the pieces and hope next round will go better.

Going from the bottom to the top

Jumping from a low position to a high one takes a very lucky hand, and other players that don't care enough to play their high cards early on. As Hackworth says, it takes some large sets of cards, and the ability to gain control. Your "winners" are sets that are 4+ cards apiece, and you have more than one of them. You take control (while hoping against hope that nobody is willing to top your pitiful pair of sixes!), lay down your monster sets, and take your crown.


Can Jelava cast a creature if it has Flash?

No, you cannot.  Being able to be cast when an instant could be cast does not make something an instant.  The closest the rules actually come to addressing this point appears to be (emphasis added):

  304.5. If text states that a player may do something "any time he or she could cast an instant," it means only that the player must have priority. The player doesn't need to have an instant he or she could actually cast. Effects that would prevent that player from casting a spell or casting an instant don't affect the player's capability to perform that action (unless the action is actually casting a spell or casting an instant).

Thus, "having flash" does not imply "being an instant."


Strategy for the game: I Doubt It, also known as cheat, B.S

Cheat! without bluffing is entirely deterministic
In the variant you've described (assuming I've understood it correctly), all the Aces will be played, then all the 2s, then the 3s, etc.  In theory, someone could withhold playing a card during the proper round, but there is zero benefit to doing so, and an enormous penalty (if you do so and nobody else does, you're guaranteed to lose), so in practice nobody would.  This means that the person who wins will be the one who has the lowest high card.  (ie, if my highest card is a Queen and your highest card is a Jack, then you will beat me.)
The strategy in Cheat is entirely in knowing when to bluff or call bluffs in order to minimize your chance of getting new cards while maximizing the chance of other players calling you out mistakenly, and using the bluffs to get rid of the cards that wouldn't be played for a long bit of time.


Board games involving players' consensus for who wins?

For starters, you cannot objectively have the scoring based on precision, cleanliness, etc. Players will vote however they want, which - depending on the system you use to collect votes - can allow for votes in bad faith, votes in error, and random votes. To compound the situation, more players voting on a single set of submissions will result in fewer and fewer unanimous votes.

For voting, you should look at Apples to Apples/Cards Against Humanity for one person judging all the other submissions. Bad Medicine has each player submit and judge each round. Dead Last is a different sort of voting system, but it could be very cool to implement this system in a more subjective context (e.g. All players secretly and simultaneously vote on the single best of several entries. After simultaneously revealing the votes, all players who did not vote with the majority lose).

You could also look at the video game "Quiplash", as part of the Jackbox party packs.


MTG: How does Devour work with abilites like Dragon Tempest

No, Dragon Tempest's ability does not see the devoured Dragons when the Dragon token enters the battlefield. As you can see in the reminder text on Dragon Broodmother, the Devour ability says

  As the token enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. It enters the battlefield with twice that many +1/+1 counters on it.

This means that Devour is a replacement effect (CR 614.1c), so it happens at the same time that the token enters the battlefield. By the time Dragon Tempest's ability triggers (and then resolves), the devoured dragons have already been sacrificed.


What is the outcome if my board state is as follows, Bludgeon Brawl, Mycosynth Lattice, and any Planeswalker?

The planeswalker is a colorless artifact equipment with equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0". It is still a planeswalker with its original planeswalker subtype and it still has its loyalty abilities. Your opponent can still attack the planeswalker and you can still activate its loyalty abilities.
Rule 306.6 says, very simply

Planeswalkers can be attacked.

This is unconditional. It doesn't matter what other types it has, or whether it's attached to something as an equipment. As long as it's a planeswalker, it can be attacked.
Rules section 606 describes loyalty abilities. There isn't really anything specific to quote here, but there aren't any restrictions on what kinds of permanents can have or activate loyalty abilities. The planeswalker in question doesn't lose its loyalty abilities, so it can still activate them.

To fully understand how Mycosynth Lattice and Bludgeon Brawl interact, we need to use the "layer system" described in rules section 613.
If we split the abilities up by the layers we effect, Mycosynth Lattice's first ability says

Layer 4: All permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types.

and its second ability says

Layer 5: All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.

and Bludgeon Brawl's ability says

Layer 4: Each noncreature, non-Equipment artifact is an Equipment.
Layer 6: Those artifacts have equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0," where X is that artifact's converted mana cost.

Putting those together, we can see that both Mycosynth Lattice and Bludgeon Brawl have an effect that applies on layer 4. The order in which they are applied is determined by timestamps and dependencies. The relevant rules about dependencies say this:

613.8. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is sometimes done using a dependency system. If a dependency exists, it will override the timestamp system.

613.8a An effect is said to “depend on” another if (a) it’s applied in the same layer (and, if applicable, sublayer) as the other effect; (b) applying the other would change the text or the existence of the first effect, what it applies to, or what it does to any of the things it applies to; and (c) neither effect is from a characteristic-defining ability or both effects are from characteristic-defining abilities. Otherwise, the effect is considered to be independent of the other effect.

613.8b An effect dependent on one or more other effects waits to apply until just after all of those effects have been applied. If multiple dependent effects would apply simultaneously in this way, they’re applied in timestamp order relative to each other. If several dependent effects form a dependency loop, then this rule is ignored and the effects in the dependency loop are applied in timestamp order.

These two effects are in the same layer, Mycosynth Lattice's effect changes which permanents Bludgeon Brawl's effect affects, and neither one is a characteristic-defining ability. So, Bludgeon Brawl's effect depends on Mycosynth Lattice's effect, so Mycosynth Lattice's effect is applied first. The resulting sequence of effects is this:

All permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types.

Each noncreature, non-Equipment artifact is an Equipment.

All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.

Each permanent previously affected by Bludgeon Brawl's effect has equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0," where X is that permanent's converted mana cost.


Yes you can. Because when Kozilek goes to the graveyard, the "shuffle it into library" goes on the stack. Before that resolves, you can exile it from the graveyard with Stonecloaker.

The "shuffle it into library" is a so called triggered ability, therefore it goes on the stack and you can put your (instant or flash) spells on the stack before resolving that ability.


I need some good mechanics for how the player's character can enhance their tool kit

I'm commenting your examples first and then adding a couple more:

Drawing from a deck:

It's a way of randomizing how the character evolves, but it needs to be balanced as players expect to learn more powerful spells when they advance in their adventure. So it could be done this way if you arranged the deck previously or separated the cards in more decks. In addition, forcing players to learn the spell they draw could make them feel they're not free when choosing their way to play, so you could make them draw two or more cards and choose between them.

Looting

Being another random system of learning spells, can be felt odd as a monster could carry equipment, gold and other treasures with it but not a spell which is not something physical. It could be solved by making all enemies wizards who carry spellbooks with them, but I'm not sure that's the game your looking for. So I'm not sure about how this system would work. Anyway, it would be too random again, and needs some kind of arrangement like the previous one.

Buying

Essentially a experience system, where instead of earning experience you earn gold (or other sort of money) and you spend it on spells. The main difference with the experience system is that you can save the money to buy spellbooks more powerful than other, or choosing to split it between less powerful spells which give you a more dynami way of playing.

"Copying" or learning from the enemy

Make spells only available for a player after they've seen it used by another character or enemy. Not every spell they see, of course, but make them remember the spells they've seen and after a few turns making them stop and meditate/concentrate/etc to replicate one of the spells they've seen.

Some kind of "enlightment"

The wizard performs a very difficult move and they are successfull, then he discovers new ways of magic. Players would need to accomplish an achievement in order to unlock a more powerful or different spell. Achievements could be hidden or shown, and in case of being hidden even keep hidding them after someone gets the spell, so other players need to figure out how the player did it. But again, I'm not sure which kind of game you are trying to create, so maybe the achievements won't fit in it.


What happens when creature has two mutually exclusive restrictions on what can block them?

In both cases, the end result is that they cannot be blocked. When Juggernaut says "can't be blocked by Walls", it means "can't be blocked by creatures that are Walls" and when Prowler's Helm says "can't be blocked except by Walls", it means "If a blocker is declared for this creature, that blocker has to be a Wall". So the end result is that the opponent can't legally declare anything to block that Juggernaut.
The second instance has the same conclusion. Charging Rhino's ability means "no more than one blocker can be declared for this creature" and Purphoros's Emissary's ability means "if blockers are declared for this creature, there have to be 2". The result is that the only legal number of blockers for that creature is 0.
The relevant rule is 509.1b, which is part of the procedure for declaring blockers (emphasis added):

The defending player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can't block, or that it can't block unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of blockers is illegal.
A restriction may be created by an evasion ability (a static ability an attacking creature has that restricts what can block it). If an attacking creature gains or loses an evasion ability after a legal block has been declared, it doesn't affect that block. Different evasion abilities are cumulative.

Basically, since a block is illegal if any restriction is disobeyed, if two restrictions put together restrict all creatures from blocking, then no creature can block.


When does Adam choose and install Directives?

Android: Netrunner lead designer Damon Stone has confirmed on Twitter that Adam's directives are chosen and revealed after players' IDs are revealed.


Does "on your opponent's 3rd turn" mean after 3 turns?

The function of the card hasn't changed, but the wording change isn't great.
The new wording creates ambiguity in what "third turn" means, but only one interpretation makes logical sense for gameplay, even if it's the less likely meaning under the rules of English. It looks like they wanted to be more specific on when it's destroyed (the end of your opponent's turn rather than the start of yours) which was a bit unclear in the original wording. There's definitely a better middle ground between the two card wordings, one that specifies 3 turns from when it was played perhaps something like this:

After this card's activation, it remains on the battlefield for 3 of your opponent's turns, destroy it during the End Phase of your that turn.

There's no real way to know what made Konami change the wording to this unless the company tells the players, anything else is really just speculation.


Getting started (Advanced) with Magic: The Gathering, and where to play

Online Communities

There are a variety of online forums for discussing Magic, some more popular ones are:

MTG Salvation
TappedOut (This one also has a popular deck builder you can use to share and get comments on decks you build)
MTG Fanatic
Commander/EDH

There are many more out there, this is just a few from a search for 'mtg forums'

Staying up to date

Many of the above discussion forums have sections for MTG news, including spoilers for new sets (which officially start about 2-3 weeks before the set's pre-release), announcements of upcoming products, changes to banned lists, and various other Magic related info. You can also find most if not all of it from the official Magic website.

If you just want to know what is in Standard you can use the What is in Standard? site and it will tell you. Note that you can use any printing of a card as long as it was printed in one of the Standard legal sets (So you can currently use the Shards of Alara version of Knight of the White Orchid since it was also printed in Magic Origins which is legal in Standard).

Other useful info

To find the location of a store to play at you can use Wizard's Event Locator. To find lists of popular decks in a variety of formats you can use sites like Starcity games or TCGPlayer. Generally sites with decklists will also have various strategy articles and other information like that.


Are there any dice games you can play with a standard 7-die set?

With 2-3 sets, you could play Button Men, a Cheapass Game about capturing dice. Lots of entirely free characters available.


I dont stay in the US. Can I create and distribute my own version of Monopoly that is personalized for my city?

The vast majority of countries in the world are either signatories to the Berne Convention or the TRIPS Agreement, both of which ensure that copyright is protected in those jurisdictions. As such, what you're suggesting is a copyright violation and could definitely lead to legal difficulties for you.

Will the US Company sue me for distributing the game in my local town?

We can't tell you Hasbro will do about a small scale copyright violation. They certainly have taken legal action to protect their brand in the past though.

Also i wanted to understand if the name "Monopoly" is a trade name or if its just the name of the game.

Monopoly is a registered trade mark in both the US and the UK, and has been successfully defended in both jurisdictions (after a change to the primary legislation in the US). For other jurisdictions, you will probably need to do your own research.


Can I conduct an auction to sell my property?

From the rules:

SELLING PROPERTY...Unimproved properties, railroads and utilities (but
not buildings) may be sold to any player as a private transaction for
any amount the owner can get; however, no property can be sold to
another player if buildings are standing on any properties of that
color-group. Any buildings so located must be sold back to the Bank
before the owner can sell any property of that color-group. Houses and
hotels may be sold back to the Bank at any time for one-half the price
paid for them. All houses on one color-group must be sold one by one,
evenly, in reverse of the manner in which they were erected. All hotels
on one color-group may be sold at once, or they may be sold one house
at a time (one hotel equals five houses), evenly, in reverse of the
manner in which they were erected.

You can see that it can be sold to any player as a private transaction. There is nothing in the rules that forbid an auction.


Activating a robber in Catan clarification

a) Rolling a “7”✹ and Activating the Robber
  If you roll a “7,” no one receives any resources.
  Instead, every player who has more than 7 Resource Cards
  must select half (rounded down) of his Resource Cards and
  return them to the bank.

https://www.catan.com/en/download/?SoC_rv_Rules_091907.pdf

There's no mention of an exemption for the player who rolled a 7.


Does anyone have a way to modify Ticket to Ride to accommodate six people?

The obvious approach is to simply reduce the number of carriages each player has available, by enough to allow another player to join in. Normally each player has 45 carriages. In the 5 player game that makes 225 carriages available to place on the board. Divide by 6 instead, and you get 37 carriages per person.

So your only issue then is where to get your extra carriages. You can either make substitutions yourself, or buy one of the other versions (e.g. Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, or Ticket to Ride: Märklin Edition), which come with other train colours.

I wouldn't expect to see any other significant balance issues with the extra player - Ticket to Ride is a pretty straightforward game.


Twilight Imperium without the Agenda phase

Honestly, I think it would be pretty straight-forward to remove The Agenda Phase from the game. Not too many components actually rely on it. With that being said, none of the below suggestions have been play-tested and there may be things that I have overlooked in terms of gameplay. I've played this game quite a few times but am by no means an expert.
Here's a list of things I found, some of which are also noted in your question:
Factions
The Nekro Virus

Faction Ability: Galactic Threat

The problem with the Nekro Virus is that they cannot research technologies. When you would research technology you instead gain 3 command tokens. This can be super advantageous in the early game. You could instead allow the Nekro Virus to research technology as normal whilst keeping their combat-centric technology thievery intact. This faction has good starting units but not getting early command tokens may be slow their early game expansion. Their late game would depend on how they balance neighbor relations and stealing technology. Removing Galactic Threat and allowing Nekro to research technology makes The Nekro Virus marginally weaker but not terribly weaker.
The Xxcha Kingdom

Faction Ability: Quash
Faction Promissory: Political Favor

I feel like the main fun of Xxcha is being able to play around with the Agenda Phase and being able to sell off your faction promissory. Without these abilities I'm not sure Xxcha would ever be a better choice over any of the other factions. I would recommend removing them from selection if there is no Agenda Phase.
Action Cards
These action cards could be removed entirely from the action deck. My only concern is now the action deck is less saturated with "later phase" cards. What I mean is that you'll now have a better chance of getting things like Sabotage and Direct Hit cards that will directly effect the main Strategy Phase. Common action cards may need to be slimmed down.
15/80 (18.75%) of all Action Cards directly relate to the Agenda Phase. These cards include:

Ancient Burial Sites
Assassinate Representative
Bribery
Confusing Legal Text
Distinguished Councilor
Repel Law
Veto

All Riders:

Construction Rider
Diplomacy Rider
Leadership Rider
Imperial Rider
Politics Rider
Trade Rider
Technology Rider
Warfare Rider

There are no Objectives (public or secret) which directly rely on The Agenda Phase.

While I understand not enjoying the Agenda Phase it can provide a breather from a normally strategic and tense game. It also allows you to build relations with players who are not your neighbor. In my opinion, it's all part of the overall strategy of the game as half is playing the players and the other is playing the pieces.


In Scarborough Fair, how is the length of a path defined?

Two adjacent stages have a path length of one.  The designer has a video playthrough on the official website which makes this clear.  I was parsing things too closely and confused myself.


How do Steam Vent and Esper Dash interact?

According to Sirlin (the creator of the game):

In all my games and also in MtG:
If an ability says "You can do X" and another ability says "You can't do X," then "You can't do X" takes precedence.

This means that Steam Vents would prevent Setsuki from using her Esper Dash to use a dashing strike on the next turn.
Note: Sirlin's answer was originally posted here, but these forums have since been removed.


Felrey's ability will only trigger when she is present in the combat.

From the section on P12 of the Shards of the Throne expansion rulebook "Using Mercenaries In Battle":

  Any Mercenary abilities that work during battle may only be used if
  the Mercenary is participating in the Space Battle or  Invasion
  Combat.

You could argue that "at the start of a battle" should not technically count as "during a battle" I suppose, but that sounds like excessive rules-lawyering to me!


Does Containment Priest exile Dryad Arbor?

You can't cast a land, only play it:

Cast
To take a card from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”

601.1a Some effects still refer to “playing” a card. “Playing a card” means playing that card as a land or casting that card as a spell, whichever is appropriate.

305.1. A player who has priority may play a land card from their hand during a main phase of their turn when the stack is empty. Playing a land is a special action; it doesn’t use the stack (see rule 116). Rather, the player simply puts the land onto the battlefield. Since the land doesn’t go on the stack, it is never a spell, and players can’t respond to it with instants or activated abilities.

That means Dryad Arbor isn't cast, and Containment Priest's ability will exile it.

since playing a land is apparently a special action that cannot be responded to

That's right, but the rules talk about a situation when an opponent would like to cast/activate something that would resolve before the land enters the battlefield. Aether Flash would trigger for Dryad Arbor too.


Does move priority come first when deciding option card play?

My understanding is that the option card priority rules only apply when decisions about option cards would otherwise be made at the same time, for example, if you're both firing lasers and deciding whether to use options. But if you're moving, you already know who moves first, and you decide whether to use the option card as you move, so the option card priority rules never come into play.


How much do the Heroes and Traitor need to reveal while using their haunt-specific rules?

For a more concrete and official answer, this is from the Wizards of the Coast errata page for the game:

  How much do you have to reveal about what you are doing to the other side?
   You should announce the purpose of any action you are taking to the other side -- for instance, "I am making an exorcism roll now," or "This roll is to see whether the house blows up." You don't need to reveal what number you need to roll.


When a 7 is rolled, are the cards discarded randomly?

No, the card holder chooses.

From the rules, page 11 (emphasis is mine):

  Each player counts his Resource Cards. Any player with more than 7 Resource Cards (i.e., 8 or more), must choose and discard half of them.


Yes. Many of us use dice even in casual games, because we can't actually make random decisions, and it's easy.

Random means, well, random, so a nonrandom method is not following the rules. I don't think this is explicitly in the rules anywhere, though both die rolls and coin flips are mentions as methods of randomization. It's left implicit that a nonrandom method does not suffice for a card which asks for a random choice; it's not what the card said to do.

  705.3. ... Other methods of randomization may be substituted for flipping a coin as long as there are two possible outcomes of equal likelihood and all players agree to the substitution. For example, the player may roll an even-sided die and call "odds" or "evens," or roll an even-sided die and designate that "odds" means "heads" and "evens" means "tails."

It's also sometimes mentioned in rules clarifications, e.g. for Goblin Test Pilot from the Dragon's Maze FAQ:

  To choose a target at random, all possible legal targets (including creatures and players) must have an equal chance of being chosen. There are many ways to do this, including assigning each possible legal target a number and rolling a die.

But again, I don't think it ever says explicitly "nonrandom methods are not random", because that's supposed to be obvious. Any method is okay, as long as all outcomes are equally likely. Determining what methods satisfy that criterion is left up to the players, or if necessary, a judge.


Are you allowed to play Blackjack on your own with one hand?

A lot depends on how the house perceives you as a customer. If you are a "regular" and have played many rounds with them in the past, they will likely deal to you alone today, even if you only play one hand.

If this is your first time, and you've been betting the minimum, that's kind of a different story. The house may then decide that it's not worth the dealer's time and effort, and may require a "two hand minimum" to run the table, either from you, or between you and another party.


If Forerunner has 3 toughness, you can get 8 Polyraptors.
If Forerunner has 5 toughness, you can get 31 Polyraptors.
Each time you use Forerunner's ability, your number of Polyraptors doubles, and the Forerunner and all Polyraptors takes 1 damage.  This gives us a notion of Polyraptor "generations".  Note that in each generation, all Polyraptors 5 or more "generations" old die (from also having taken 5 damage).
Polyraptors are created 1 at a time, so when you get Forerunner's trigger, it is always at the top of the stack, meaning you have to use it then or nor at all.  There's no way I know of with just these two cards to accumulate Forerunner triggers on the stack.  Given that, you want to use Forerunner's trigger when there are as many Polyraptors as possible, namely only using the last Forerunner trigger of each generation.  This also gives us the simplest progression, since then there are no Polyraptor creation triggers on the stack when we create a new generation.
Assuming you start with 1 Polyraptor you have the following progression (if Forerunner starts at 0 damage, it will die when the number of generations equals it's damage):

Generation
New Polyraptors
Total Polyraptors

0
1
1

1
1
2

2
2
4

3
4
8

4
8
16

5
16
31 (gen 0 dies)

6
31
61 (gen 1 dies)

7
61
120 (gen 2 dies)

8
120
236 (gen 3 dies)


Trouble: Despicable Me Edition-Why is the 1 red?

Dice produced in Asia usually have the one, and sometimes also the four coloured in red. I've heard a variety of reasons including superstition (no sillier than numbering the 13th room 12A), Emperor's decree or that in some traditional Asian dice games these are special numbers.
The real reason these days is probably just that they have always done it that way.
Regardless, you can probably assume that this dice was sourced from Asia or intended for the Asian market.


Limit to the amount of resources a player can spend when handling a crisis

There is a strong opinion on the communities that no limit exist. In fact, at page 7 of the rulebook, the following passage supports this: "Obviously, the first players will tend to use up the resources present on the domestic market board (I) first. Then they will use up their own resources, if they so wish".


When I have two cards with cohort would there tap ability works at the same time?

He can only gain 2 life

When you activate an ability, the first thing you do, is pay it's cost.

  602.1a The activation cost is everything before the colon (:). An ability’s activation cost must be paid by the player who is activating it.
  602.2. To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs...

In this case that means that you need to tap the Ondu war cleric and an other untapped ally. They will be tapped before the ability is put on the stack so you won't be able to then activate the second war cleric as he is already tapped.


"Brigand Attack" (when upgrading Settlement --> City)

The card is poorly worded. It should probably say, "Each player who has more than 7 resources must discard all resources in excess of 7."

At the Official Catan Game Portal:

  Brigand Attack: Players who have more than 7 resources cards discard all cards in excess of 7. Afterwards, the destiny card is flipped.


What is the best 18xx game to teach someone?

I have 1830, 1870, 1856 and 1833. Of them, I think 1830 is the most suitable for new players.

It contains the basics of the game:

Private companies
Track building
Route optimization
Company management
Stock manipulations

If you want a simpler game, you can ignore the private companies. Lower the starting money a bit if you like. I have played with and without privates and it seems to make no significant changes to the game.

If the stock market is too confusing, you can ignore that too. Just have one company per player. It's possibly wise to reduce the number of trains, else you never get rid of those 2 trains.

Most players run away from these, so no need to get a more complex game.

All 18xx have their own focus. I like 1856, because you can get away with mismanagement and get rewarded in the end (just like in real life).


How many spades does my partner have when responding to my opening 1club bid and left overcalls 1 heart

Assuming that you have Negative Doubles, sometimes called Sputnik Doubles, in your arsenal of agreements, then partner is showing 5 or more Spades. With only four Spades partner would double instead.

The argument might be presented that partner is coming in with only 4 good spades as a lead directing call, but there is no reason for this. First, partner is odds on to have the opening lead if opponents win the auction; and second the double would also show a spade holding. Consequently this argument holds no water on this auction.

If you are not playing Negative Doubles then partner's call should either show five Spades and at least a minimum responding hand (normally 5+ HCP in standard systems), or four spades and a hand worth at least two free bids, normally 9+ HCP or so in standard systems).

The reason for the two-way call is that with the stronger hand partner must make it clear that your side likely owns the auction, and can compete possibly to the 2- or 3-level.  You can determine after partner's next call if he might have only 4 Spades, with extra points. Initially assume partner is only showing 4 spades in this case, though it is acceptable to make a single raise to 2 with only three-card support if you are minimum.


Can books be counted as books even if some points were used to cover points left in the hand and foot?

Yes. Your score at the end of a round is always

+ points made in books

+ points from cards played (including cards in completed books)

- points left in hand

You can count all 3 separately and then add them together if you want. You don't actually need to remove cards for the negatives, but most people find it easier to pair up cards for the second and third and cancel them out.


MTG: Yorion, Sky Nomad played into Yorion, Sky Nomad

You're probably mistaken as to exactly what happened; with one Yorion (Y1) on the battlefield, the standard play here is

Play the second Yorion (Y2).
State based actions are checked, and their controller chooses one of the Yorions to remain. They choose Y1, and the legend rule moves Y2 to the graveyard.1
Y2 still entered the battlefield, so its trigger goes on the stack, and at some point resolves. This trigger can flicker Y1 as this is a trigger from Y2, and Y1 is a different permanent from Y2.
The controller of the Yorions chooses to flicker Y1 (and probably a bunch of other permanents as well).
At the beginning of their end step, another Yorion (Y3)2 and some other permanents enter the battlefield.
The ETB trigger for Y3 is put on the stack. This trigger cannot flicker Y3, so no infinite loop can occur, but it can flicker all the other permanents, including the ones which have just entered the battlefield. This trigger resolves, and Y3 stays on the battlefield for the opponent's turn.
At the beginning of the opponent's end step, all the permanents flickered with Y3's trigger enter the battlefield.

To create an infinite flicker loop with Yorion, you need a second, differently named permanent; Charming Prince is probably the most common card in standard for this as of December 2020.
Notes:
1. The legend rule doesn't exile - it instead just moves all but one copy of the legendary permanent to the graveyard.
2. While this Yorion is represented by the same card as Y1, it is a different object. This probably doesn't matter very much here.


Triggering "On Cast" Effects When Sacrificing

You should not have gotten a token

  601.2h Once the steps described in 601.2a–g are completed, the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, he or she gets priority.

601.2a-g are the steps of announcing the spell, choosing targets, paying costs such as sacrificing creatures, and so on. By the time the "casting a spell" occurs, Young Pyromancer is no longer on the battlefield and its ability would not trigger.


Can I use Heroscape-style tiles in my own game designs?

Many games have a playfield made up of hexagons. Some games also contain interlocking tiles/sheets that are made up of hexagons (e.g. Clans of Caledonia, Wombat Rescue).

I'm not aware of any that use plastic sheets, other than Heroscape. Nor am I aware of any that use an interlocking mechanism like Heroscape used. But it's interesting to note that the size of Heroscape's hexes is a very common size -- I have not checked this for my answer but I remember them being almost exactly the same size as Memoir 44 terrain tiles?

I'm not a lawyer, and frankly this is definitely the kind of thing I'd suggest a lawyer for, but in terms of prior-art I'd say:

Cardboard hexes/hex sheets are completely safe
Plastic hexes/hex sheets are probably safe
Plastic hexes/hex sheets the same size/shape as Heroscapes, with the same hex size, and the exact same interlocking mechanism is a no-no.

So you'll be able to design and produce your game using similar tiles with no legal issues. And you'd need to consult a lawyer about producing "Heroscape-compatible" tiles.


How do you score a word that has multiple bonuses?

Note that this is something that is impossible to pull off in a standard game as the only row/column that has both a triple word and a double word is the one with the starting space and you need 8 tiles to get from the double word space to the triple word space.

According to the Scrabble rules you would take the value of the word and multiply by by 6, and then add 50 points. (The rules don't explicitly state this due to it being impossible, but they do account for 2 doubles or 2 triples so there is no reason to think that a triple and a double would work differently)


What is this game featuring plastic squares with numbers in each corner?

Quad-Ominos by Pressman Toy Corporation, perhaps? The rules, in English and French, can also be found linked from that page.


Where should plot tiles go after choosing one to place?

From the rules here on page 5.

The player draws three plots, chooses one and places the other two
back on top of the deck, face- down in the order of his choice.

The rules you quote above were on page 4 but it is explained in more detail on next page.


Do characters perform Upkeep actions, such as rolls for Blessed/Cursed, during a final battle?

This is clarified/fixed in the FAQ in the Dunwich Horror rules:

Battling the Ancient One
Q: In combat with Ancient Ones, do investigators get a full Upkeep Phase, or is the Upkeep Phase limited in some way during the final battle?
A: Investigators get a full Upkeep phase.

So yes, you roll for blessings and curses.
I can only assume they wrote the original rules the way they did because it's not a normal turn - it's combat, and you don't have any normal turn phases. (No movement, no encounters, no mythos.) So they were perhaps thinking it wasn't actually an upkeep phase, and you simply do everything you would do if it were an upkeep phase. And then for some reason they tried to list the things you do in the upkeep phase instead of just saying "everything". Obviously that was pretty misleading!


Normally, each creature can block only one attacking creature. Some abilities can change this. For example, Brave the Sands has an ability that allows each of your creatures to block an additional creature, and Hundred-Handed One can block a hundred creatures when it is Monstrous.

Without any of those abilities, if you attack with more creatures than your opponent has, then if you attack with everything, some of your creatures will be unblocked and will deal damage to your opponent. For example, if your opponent has 5 untapped creatures and you attack with 7 creatures, they can block any 5 of your attacking creatures, and the other 2 will deal damage.


In Arkham Horror, should the newly placed monsters or the final count of monsters be evenly distributed?

It's the newly placed monsters you're distributing evenly. The "they" in that sentence refers to the monsters you're placing.

So you're mostly right about your example: to place six monsters on three gates, you add two to each, no matter what was already there.

But remember, the monster limit is the number of players in the game plus three. Presumably if a monster surge makes you place six monsters on three gates, you have six players, so the monster limit is 9. If there are already 5 monsters on the board, you can only add four more, and the last two will go to the outskirts.

The Arkham Horror FAQ clarify that situation a bit:

  When placing monsters, they must be divided as evenly as possible among the open gates, with no gate having more monsters placed on it than the gate where the monster surge occurred this turn.

So in that example, you'd place two on the gate that caused the surge, one on each of the others, and two in the outskirts.


In Diamonsters, what happens to the cards on your monster board at the end of a round?

Based on reading around at forums such as BoardGameGeeks, the usual approach is to reset the hands every time a diamond is won. That seems fairly settled.

As to your main question, I have been discarding all collected monster cards each round. It seems to me that as the deck slowly dwindles the game is likely to get more challenging, because everyone has increasing information about the deck. Resetting the hand is important because the uniform hand is a basic concept of the game, but I don't see the point in playing 3-5 rounds that are exactly identical. That is, if you reset the deck as well, each round is merely a replay with a different shuffle. The limit of 3-5 rounds then becomes an even more arbitrary cutoff than it already is.


Why is exile often an intermediate step?

Exiling a card before allowing an action does a couple things:

It protects the cards from interactions until it is cast.  If the Dire Fleet Daredevil has targeted a card, you want it to be uninteractable by the owner until you decide to cast it (assuming it wasn't removed in response to the trigger). If it wasn't exiled, it could be removed from the graveyard (e.g. shuffled into library) before being cast, preventing you from casting the card.
It acts to remove the card from the game.  This is more relevant for graveyard exile than deck exile, where it's more a use-it-or-lose-it situation. Even in the Daredevil scenario, if you never cast the card, it's still exiled.
It makes the card public information.  This applies more to deck exile.  It would be "harder" (read "near-impossible") to keep track of which card you exiled if you got to put the card into your hand.  Even if the card is not face-up, it's still in a separate area.


Does untapping an attacker stop its attack?

No, it does not.

Once an attacker is declared, it is attacking. Tapping or untapping it after it has been declared as an attacker will have no effect on that.

  506.4b Tapping or untapping a creature that’s already been declared as an attacker or blocker doesn’t remove it from combat and doesn’t prevent its combat damage.

While untapping does not stop an attacking creature, you can use an effect like Tumble Magnet in a player's "Beginning of Combat" step to prevent a specific creature from being tapped to attack. It is important to note, however, that you must do this BEFORE your opponent taps their creatures to attack.

There are cards such as  Gustcloak Savior which do behave in the manner described in the question. However, these cards explicitly remove the creature from combat. The untapping element is unrelated and incidental. If an effect only untaps an attacker, it is still attacking. Similarly, if an effect only removes a tapped attacker from combat, it is still tapped unless the effect explicitly untaps it.


Battlestar Galactica: How to balance core game

From page 28 of the rulebook:

  To make the game easier for the human players, start the game with 2 more of each resource (10 food, 10 fuel, 12 morale, and 14 population).

However, it's worth mentioning that the core game is very balanced, especially with 5 players. The expansions arguably make it more difficult.

It sounds like you're not playing very well, but it's difficult to offer suggestions without knowing more about your group and how they play. You should be analysing everyone's moves and motives and closely inspecting the results of all skill checks. The Cylons should feel pressured to help out at every opportunity, lest they be accused and possibly brigged.