Forbidden desert - how to play with the water carrier

Yes, any share of water drops one player's canteen by one, to raise someone else's canteen by one.

The Water Carrier's special abilities are:

can share water with players in adjacent spaces, doesn't need to be in same space
can carry just a bit more (max is 5)
can draw water from already exposed wells, for one action

Nowhere in the rules does being water carrier change how sharing water works, just makes it easier for that player to do so.  Whenever you share water, it's a trade, not free water.


Can You Choose To Beg When You Have Enough Food?

I'm certain you always have the option to beg if you want to. The rules (p.4) say:

  A player who cannot or does not wish to produce the required Food must take a Begging card for each missing Food - players may not give up members of their family to avoid the need to feed them. At the end of the game, players lose 3 points for each begging card.

So your question is really asking what the meaning of "produce" is here. I don't see any evidence that it should mean produce in the sense of "conversion" rather than "hand in the food". Giving the player the choice ("does not wish") would be pretty narrow if you have to hand in food just because it happens to be stored as food tokens (as opposed to, say, raw grain). If you were really trying to utilise the Mendicant under such a rule, you could imagine all sorts of silly shenanigans to try and avoid fish, but keeping grain etc. which are against the flavour of the card.

As you point out, choosing to beg is almost always a terrible idea, but the Mendicant is definitely one place where this is a valid strategy. Even with the discard of two begging cards, the Mendicant is still pretty marginal - although it gives you flexibility, it's only a two food swing (or one food if it's not your first occupation!), after all. The other would be if you felt grabbing starting player or something was so crucial to your strategy that it would compensate for the loss (for example, in turn 13, if it was essential that you renovate a large house before the end of the game).


How many rounds of the monopoly table occur per monopoly match?

According to one source that provides Monopoly statistics, it is about 30 turns per player.

Source:

  Since the average game of Monopoly takes about 30 turns per competitor[...]

Unfortunately they don't provide more detailed analysis showing the numbers used in calculating this average number of turns, but the page does include specific statistics to suggest that this number is more than just a guess.


Is "Sequencing Breakthrough" applied only to a single player

You have been playing correctly. The effect applies to the next 'Discover A Cure' action, regardless of which player performs it.

The card is placed in front of the player for two reasons:

it remains in effect (the obvious and helpful indicator so that players can easily check whether it applies)
it is kept out of the discard pile (to prevent other abilities and card effects from being used to create a "stack" of Sequencing Breakthroughs)


Is there a term for cards that have the same name in the same set (like basic lands) but are different cards?

The term is variant. There are usually 3–4 variants of each basic land in a set. Promos offer an alternate art variant of the card. The term was also used to describe the Unstable cards that had alternate functional variants.


Yes.
The skip card does not have any special rules about when it can be played; you discard it the same way you play any other card; and it does something special when you do.

On your turn, draw one card, either the top card from the draw pile or the top card from the discard pile, and add it to your hand. End your turn by discarding any one of your cards onto the top of the discard pile.
SKIP CARDS: Skip cards have only one purpose: to cause
another player to lose a turn. To use, simply discard the “Skip” card on your turn, then choose the player who will lose a turn.


How to describe the strengths and weaknesses of white to a new mtg player?

You might not be aware but Wizards already has a page describing to a new player what the core concepts of each colour of magic are. Here's what they have to say, even more concisely than how you explain the colours:

White: The color of Justice

White spellcasters use superior tactics, efficient creatures, and the power of righteousness against their foes.

Blue: The color of Wisdom

Blue mages focus on using superior knowledge to gain control of a battle, and slowly gain the upper hand.

Black: The color of Ambition

Black sorcerers are willing to do whatever it takes to win a battle, even if it means sacrificing everything to do so.

Red: The color of Chaos

Red conjurers try to win as quickly and dramatically as possible, smashing and burning their way to a quick victory.

Green: The color of Nature

Green shamans win duels through the brute force of mother nature, summoning giant creatures to squash their enemies.

I think some of your explanations need a bit of work. For example, black isn't (always) explicitly evil, just selfish and ambitious; and red isn't just "the power of fire" (although the element of fire is associated with it) just like blue isn't "the power of water".

  White: Uses the power justice to play efficient creatures and deal with combat threats. Best at manipulating enchantments, artifact equipment, and life gain, and second best in flying. Worst at direct damage: white relies on superior tactics in combat to deal the lethal blow. Examples: Elite Vanguard, Pacifism, Lifelink.


Does the spell cast with Yahenni's Expertise resolve before state-based effects are checked?

Your 2/2 will be returned by Living End.

The "cast a 3cmc or less card for free" is part of the resolution of Expertise, not a trigger like other cards/abilities (like Cascade).  Even though you cast it as part of the resolution, the free card does not immediately resolve, instead it is put on the stack. At that point SBA are checked and then it can be responded to.


If a Planeswalker transforms into a creature during the main phase, but it is suddenly killed, is it still able to attack?

There's a few small issues here:

Buyback needs to be used while the spell is cast - it's an additional cost so the opponent will pay  for the first casting of clockspinning all at once, not  to cast and then decide to pay  for buyback.
Buyback happens when the spell resolves - the card does not immediately return to hand, but goes to hand instead of grave when it resolves. This means Clockspinning will need to resolve before the opponent can re-cast it. At no point will both copies of clockspinning be on the stack together.

These don't change what happens in the end in this case, but there are cases where it will matter, for instance you don't get the chance to decide to buy back or not after you see if the opponent is countering.

For your actual question, Sarkhan's ability will resolve, but it will do nothing. The order of events and the actions of the Active Player (player) and Non-active Player (opponent) are this:

Player casts Sarkhan, both players pass priority, he resolves and his +1 is activated, putting it on the stack and leaving Sarkhan with 5 loyalty.
Active player passes priority, Non-Active Player casts lightning bolt, targeting Sarkhan.
Non-Active Player keeps priority, Non-Active Player casts clockspinning with buyback, targeting Sarkhan.
Both players pass priority, Clockspinning resolves and removes a counter then returns to Non-Active Player's hand due to the buyback replacement effect.
Active player passes priority, Non-Active Player casts clockspinning without buyback, targeting Sarkhan.
Both players pass priority, Clockspinning resolves and removes a counter then is put into Non-Active Player's graveyard.
Both players pass priority, Lightning bolt resolves, doing 3 damage to Sarkhan, removing the last 3 loyalty counters.
Sarkhan is put into the graveyard under rule 704.5i for having no loyalty counters. This is a state based action and cannot be interrupted.
Both players pass priority, Sarkhan's ability resolves and tries to turn the planeswalker into a creature, however the object that used the ability no longer exists (the card is not in the same zone) so it fails to do anything.

Note how both players pass priority every time something resolves - the whole stack doesn't resolve when both players choose not to use their priority to cast a spell or activate an ability, only the top of the stack resolves and after that each player gets priority again.

As an interesting aside - Sarkhan is unusual among planeswalkers that animate in that he becomes only a creature, not a creature in addition to being a planeswalker. This means he cannot lose loyalty from damage as a creature, however clockspinning can still remove loyalty counters from him. If the last counter was removed from Sarkhan by clockspinning when he was already a creature, he would be able to attack and still on the field until the end of the turn, where he stops being a creature, becomes a planeswalker again and 704.5i puts him into the graveyard. Most of the planeswalkers that turn into creatures (mostly every copy of Gideon) stay planeswalkers while they are creatures, so removing counters from them with clockspinning after animation would still apply 704.5i would kill those immediately.


Are the Munchkin original and Munchkin Guest Artist Editions identical?

Munchkin Guest Artist Edition is identical to Munchkin Deluxe, just with the cards and board illustrated by different artists.

From the Munchkin: GAE web page:

  This Guest Artist Edition includes completely re-illustrated game cards, a new gameboard decorated with Ian McGinty's interpretation of the Munchkin world, and male and female standies for each player.

Other Munchkin properties that have Guest Artist Editions follow suit in a similar fashion.

UPDATE: I double checked with SJ Games just to flesh this answer out a bit. Their response to my twitter message was this:

  They contain the same cards as their respective versions, just all new art, yes. -HS


What are some examples of non-creature permanents?

A permanent is anything on the battlefield (a.k.a. "in play"),CR 110 whether represented by a card or a token. A noncreature permanent is any permanent that is not a creature.

For example, Icy Manipulator, when on the battlefield, would be a noncreature permanent. A land like a Forest, when on the battlefield, would also be a noncreature permanent. Treasure tokens, if you've seen those, would also be noncreature permanents.

More precisely, permanents can have any of five types: land, creature, artifact, enchantment, and planeswalker.CR 110.4 A single permanent usually has one of these types, but it can have more than one (for example, Juggernaut), and some permanents can even gain or lose types due to things happening in the game (for example, vehicles like Fleetwheel Cruiser). The only thing that matters for deciding whether something is a "noncreature permanent" is, at the moment you need to make the decision, whether it is a permanent and whether it has the type "creature". If it has other types as well, that doesn't matter. If it became a creature in the past or is going to stop being a creature in the future, that doesn't matter for deciding whether it's a noncreature permanent right now.

Note that cards which represent permanents when they're on the battlefield do not represent permanents while they're in your hand, in the graveyard, in your library, or anywhere else other than the battlefield.CR 110.1 Anywhere else, they're just cards. (There's a rarely used term, "permanent card", which means a card that isn't on the battlefield but would be a permanent if it were.)


Is the Hand pattern probabilities equal to suit pattern probabilities?

Yes, and the tables are used in exactly this way by Contract Bridge analysts and experts.

However, be careful when extrapolating from these tables to perform analysis based on your own holding in any suit, not just the suit under examination. The formulas for properly calculating conditional probabilities are non-intuitive.

A good first test that you are understanding  conditional probability is a clear grasp of the Principle of Restricted Choice.


Bridge players use a more fine-grained point system, where 3 points is worth roughly a trick. The short-suit evaluation used then is something like the following:

With 3 trumps:
Doubleton = 1 point; Singleton = 2 points; Void = 3 points;

With 4 or more trumps:
Doubleton = 1 point; Singleton = 3 points; Void = 5 points;

Plus a 5th trump is evaluated as 1 point, and each additional trump beyond 5 as 2 points.
Part of the reason why these evaluations may seem a bit lower than expected is that there may be duplication with partner. In Bridge such duplication is assumed, and the hand perforce loses value if it doesn't exist.

From my comment below:

[This evaluation] has it's origins in the Work Point Count popularized first by Milton Work and then Charles Goren. There are variations, as no definitive research exists, but all are similar to what I outline above.
Other evaluation systems exist, including Larry Cohen's Law of Total Tricks and Courtenay's Losing Trick Count, which experts use as a refinement and/or double-check on the Point Count evaluation. Point Count tends to give a best estimate of strength while the other two tend to give a maximum estimate of hand strength.

Culbertson's Honour Tricks, now usually referred to as Quick Tricks, are an older assessment of hand strength now usually used as an adjunct to Point Count. Thus various actions in a Contract Bridge auction will have a minimum (occasionally also a maximum) in both Point Count and Quick Tricks.


What is “Pot Odds” in Poker Texas Hold'em?

Pot Odds is a term that describes the ratio of the current bet to the pot.

For example, consider if the pot is $100 and you need to make a $10 bet to stay in.  Your hand is a dog, and you estimate only a 20% chance for you to win.  Pot odds would say that you should make the bet as you are getting 10-1 on your $10.

You can get more information from the Wikipedia entry on Pot Odds.


Where can I find the most reliable information on upcoming boardgame releases?

Boardgamegeek has a section where you can look at games released within the last 1/3/6 months,  as well as unreleased games based on their expected release.  It then lets you sort these by number of people with it on their wishlist, which should give you an idea of how popular they are.


Do I use the original start tile when playing The River?

If you're playing with the River (or the River II) don't play with the start tile from the basic game - it has a different coloured back and so will stand out during the tile draw.


There are two ways you can go about collecting the expansions, one is order of release, the second is chronological order of events.

Here are a couple good resources for choosing what order to buy the expansions in:

New Player Buying Guide (Updated January 2015)

This guy went through the effort of placing each expansion into chronological order of events according to the books, I've quoted his summary below.

Play Chronology / Quests Timeline

  To Summarize…

  The Quests in Chronological Order

  Over the Hill and Under Hill (2941 TA) [Gadalf: Sending an Hobbit to
  slay the last fire breathing dragon. What could possibly go wrong? On
  a totally unrelated sidenote, dang these are some good pipeweed!]

  Battle at Laketown (2941 TA) [Bard: Stupid Dwarves, stupid fat Hobbit,
  and most of all stupid procrastinating weed addict wizard. In the end
  I did all the work and all saving laketown and all slaying Smaug.]

  Shadow of Mirkwood (3009 ~ 3017 TA) [Gandalf: Oh, Sauron is in action
  again? Ah oh… he must be searching for the One Ring….. I am kind of
  suspicious about Bilbo's ring. Maybe I will try and learn more about
  Bilbo's ring by questioning Gollum]

  Core Set (Spring/Summer 3009 TA) [Thranduil: Oh shizzle, the fortress
  of Dol Guldur, which White Council cleansed couple decades ago, is
  sending out evil vibes again. I better send warning to all nearby
  allies]

  Khazad-Dum (3009 TA Early Winter) [Elrond: I'm hearing a lot of
  reports about evil things stirring in the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood
  and such. But oddly no report came from Moria for… 15 years, that
  seems like a long time. Maybe I'll send someone to check them out, to
  see if they are doing okay.]

  Dwarrowdelf (3009 TA Winter) [Elrond: Sweety how was your journey over
  the Mountain? I know it was wintertime but Lorien was just too close
  to Dol Guldur. What? You were attacked by the Orcs? Come to think of
  it, the scouts I've sent to Moria hasn't returned yet. This is
  concerning… maybe I'll send another group to see Moria has something
  to do with increased Orc activity.

  Massing at Osgiliath / Heirs of Numenor (3019 TA) [Sauron: I will
  launch multiple attacks against Gondor on various fronts to see how
  strong their defences are. Also, while they are busy defending my
  'attacks', I will sneak my Nazguls disguised as 'Black Riders' across
  the river Anduin in search for this Shire, Baggins to get my Ring
  back.]


How long does mana from Burning-Tree Emissary stay around?

The mana created by Burning-Tree Emissary is no different than then mana created by Forest and Mountain cards. Keep in mind the ability of a Forest reads "{T}: Add {G} to your mana pool."

As usual, it remains there until used or until the current step or phase ends.

  500.4. When a step or phase ends, any unused mana left in a player’s mana pool empties. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.


What strategies are there for the “no forced jumps” variant of checkers?

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


You can use Mirrorweave and make all of your creatures copies of Mirror-Sigil Sergeant, but you won't get any extra triggers.

Mirror-Sigil Sergeant's triggered ability triggers "at the beginning of your upkeep", which is before you have any chance to act during that turn. The first time you can cast Mirrorweave is, as mentioned in the question, in response to the triggered ability. By that point, the time for the triggered ability to trigger has already passed, so any new Mirror-Sigil Sergeants will have already missed their window for the ability to trigger. If you instead cast Mirrorweave at any time during the previous turn, the copy effect will end before the new turn starts, so you can't get the trigger that way either.

As a side note, if a creature becomes a copy of Mirror-Sigil Sergeant in some other way that does allow the ability to trigger, the tokens it creates would just be more Mirror-Sigil Sergeants, not whatever creature it would be otherwise. As long as those creatures are copies of the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant, they have its copyable attributes, so anything that copies those creatures just copies the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant.


Are there online variants to "Path of Glory"? WH40K

Mini War Gaming published a series of battle reports of Chaos vs. Orks.

You can find them here (half of them are free to view, the rest need a subscription).

Then, a user named Boff89 got inspired and shared this PDF on their forum. The introduction to the rules is signed by "Eric PB".

While these aren't the same exact rules used in Mini War Gameing's videos (I think), they look like what you're looking for.

I guess you can also try to ask MWG on their forum to share these rules, or make your own version using the videos and the PDF as a starting point...


What are good strategies for deciding which expeditions to start in Lost Cities?

1) You want to wait, but you can't wait all that long.  Sitting there with half your hand made up of cards that you don't want to play is normally a huge problem in Lost Cities, and you risk giving up a huge amount of tempo to your opponent, in the very small hope of drawing one specific card.  Sometimes you just have to quit hoping and start playing - after all, your opponent may have those investment cards in HIS hand!  (Of course, holding out can result in the dream scenario - your opponent laying down multiple investment cards for a colour in which you hold a balance of points...)

2) With multiple investment cards?  15 sounds a safe-ish bet.  But let's not forget that you can embark on expeditions without investment.  I'm perfectly happy to start off expeditions with barely any cards sometimes - just because putting pressure on and psyching out your opponent can easily be worth the potential loss of 10+ points.

3) As above.  I certainly would, but I almost certainly wouldn't risk multiplying my losses by 3 or 4 by playing investment cards first!

4) Possibly the most difficult scenario - you don't want to discard high cards and you don't want to play high cards, so what do you do?  It can be quite good to bait your opponent by discarding medium-value cards, while holding the higher values so when they snap your discard up, you know they're on a hiding to nothing.  But I agree, it's a hard situation to deal with comfortably.  (Then again, it's difficult for me to feel much sympathy for someone whose "problem" is being dealt a hand of strong cards!  Just play out an 8-9-10 for +7 points, and see what you draw in the meantime: a few investment cards would obviously have been nice to have, but it's not like you've really lost anything, is it?)


Are Basic Lands (Mana) Block/Set Agnostic?

You don't need to buy new ones just to stay legal.  You can use any card that has been reprinted in a recent set in Standard.  All the basic lands are printed in just about every set.

For Instance, it's perfectly legal for you to use your Urza's Saga Rancors or Onslaught Pacifisms.

Secondly, some people like collecting different land arts, so they produce lands with new arts every set, and many people try to collect one or more of each.


Nope.

From the official rules (emphasis mine):

  All letters played on a turn must be placed in one row across or down the board, to form at least one complete word. If, at the same time, they touch others letters in adjacent rows, those must also form complete words, crossword fashion, with all such letters. The player gets full credit for all words formed or modified on his or her turn.

So it is not legal to play those three tiles in a single turn, since they are not all in the same row or column.

Note, however, that "Fe" is a legal scrabble word.  Your sister could legally play "Fee" across and form "Fe" down.


Attacking with Dimir Spybug and Nightveil Sprite

Your Dimir Spybug will get pumped in time to be stronger during the same combat.

The combat phase is divided into several steps.

Beginning of combat
Declare attackers
Declare blockers
Combat damage
End of combat

Nightveil Sprite will trigger when it is declared as an attacker, during step 2. This is when you will surveil, and that will trigger Dimir Spybug. So by the time blockers are being declared, Dimir Spybug will already have the +1/+1 counter.

  Declare Attackers Step

    508.1. First, the active player declares attackers.[...]

      [...]

      508.1m Any abilities that trigger on attackers being declared trigger.

    508.2. Second, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.”)

      508.2a Abilities that trigger on a creature attacking trigger only at the point the creature is declared as an attacker. They will not trigger if a creature attacks and then that creature’s characteristics change to match the ability’s trigger condition.
      Example: A permanent has the ability “Whenever a green creature attacks, destroy that creature at end of combat.” If a blue creature attacks and is later turned green, the ability will not trigger.

      508.2b Any abilities that triggered on attackers being declared or that triggered during the process described in rules 508.1 are put onto the stack before the active player gets priority; the order in which they triggered doesn’t matter. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

Step-by-step of what happens:

Nightveil Sprite's ability triggers as it is declared as an attacker.
Before you get priority in "Declare attackers" step, that trigger is put on the stack.
Assuming no responses, the ability resolves; you surveil.
Dimir Spybug's ability triggers, and is put on the stack.
Assuming no responses, the ability resolves; Dimir Spybug gets a +1/+1 counter.
Blockers are declared.
Combat damage is dealt. Dimir Spybug has the +1/+1 counter by this time, so it will deal an extra damage (and have an extra toughness).


Yes, there's a planned errata to introduce the “mill” keyword to earlier cards.
You can already see it in eleven mill cards reprinted in Jumpstart. For example Thought Scour's Jumpstart print says “Target player mills two cards”; it used to say “Target player puts the top two cards of their library into their graveyard”. Tome Scour uses the same template as Thought Scour except it says “five” instead of “two”, so it will assuredly receive errata to say “Target player mills five cards.”
Eli Shiffrin, the rules manager, tweeted guidelines about what to expect with the new mill errata and says it should arrive in Gatherer on Tuesday (meaning the 23rd of June):

Handy rule of thumb on the upcoming "mill" errata (in Gatherer Tuesday): If you look at the cards and then move those specific cards to the yard, it's not "mill." If you move cards and then look at them (or don't look at them at all), it's probably "mill." #WotCStaff

He confirms as an example that Mind Funeral will not say “mill” but Traumatize will. This makes it fairly clear Tunnel Vision will not receive errata to say “mill”.


In Bridge, Is it Sometimes Good to Lead an Opponent's Suit on Defense?

Assuming the opponents were not overbidding, your lead was perfectly fine. (though with lead problems, you ought to give the complete auction, as that matters a lot).

Elaborating on my comment to thesun...'s answer:

Usually when dummy bids and rebids a suit and you have a weak stopper like JTxx, there is real danger of that suit being set up or losers from declarer's hand immediately going away (for instance AKQxxx opposite void and declarer throws away heart/club losers).

Such auctions (where dummy shows a real suit) usually call for an attacking lead and a trump lead is quite bad in that respect. There is also the distinct possibility the dummy is void in trumps and you are giving declarer a finesse he could not take, if you lead a trump.

A diamond lead is similarly bad as you are just giving declarer the option to throw away his losers immediately.

So the only reasonable choices (IMO) on this hand are either a heart or a club and either is ok, as to beat the contract you would probably need tricks from both suits.

btw: Try not to make conclusions from just one hand. Even a 90% odds on play has to fail 10% of the time.


If Scourge of Fleets returns creatures with toughness 3 or less, do my vampires at (4/4) get returned to my hand when Thirsting Bloodlord return?

Your Savage Gorger would remain on the battlefield.
Scourge of Fleets returns all applicable creatures at the same time. What creatures are applicable is only checked once, not continuously: when the ability resolves. What happens afterwards as a consequence of one or more creatures bouncing does not matter to Scourge of Fleets' ability, because its effect is a one-shot effect.

610.1. A one-shot effect does something just once and doesn’t have a duration. Examples include dealing damage, destroying a permanent, creating a token, and moving an object from one zone to another.


Child's game where a picture behind a shutter is only visible for a split second

I finally found the game I had in mind. However, the picture is not revealed by a shutter as I originally asked, but by a rotating pole. The cluttering sound is simply induced by the plastic arm moving around.

The game from 1997 is called „Flip-Flap“ and published in Germany by „Ravensburger“.


How it is physically possible to play ONUW with 10 players?

We run into the same issues; generally playing with 7-8 people.

There are a few techniques we use to help:

Players don't keep their own cards immediately in front of them; they keep somewhere in between their own seat and the center of the table. Close enough that it's clear whose is whose.
I try to start the night phase already leaning forward, so that if I don't make noise leaning forward if I need to later.
Even with doing these things, taking actions that involve other players' cards such as seer, troublemaker, or robber, are generally just restricted to choosing a player that is seated close to you. As a seer, I would never attempt to look at the card of a player sitting across the table from me.


In bridge, are there penalties for "table talk" that can only help the opponents?

The Laws of Rubber Bridge (2014) make clear that this behaviour is unacceptable by Dummy (my emphasis):

  Law 43 - Dummy's Limitations

  Dummy may not participate in the play (except to play the cards of dummy’s hand as directed by declarer) or make any comment on the bidding, play or score of the current deal. If he does so, Law 16A may apply. During play dummy may not call attention to an irregularity once it has occurred.

  Dummy forfeits the rights provided in Law 42 if he exchanges hands with declarer, leaves his seat to watch declarer play or, on his own initiative, looks at the face of a card in either defender’s hand.

In many cases a comment such as you describe could not be claimed to contain unauthorized information. One obvious exception is if there is still trump out in Defender's hands, when the comment has been made particularly if one or more rounds have already been drawn. Other circumstances, such as appearing to abandon Dummy with an unplayed established long suit, might exist.

  Law 16 - Unauthorized Information

  A player may be subject to penalty if information is conveyed from his partner other than by a legal call or play.

    A. Regarding information obtained from partner: If a player conveys information to his partner by means of a remark, question, ..., [it] is unauthorized. When the offending side has profited by use of this unauthorized information, it should, in conformance with Proprieties 1, redress any damage done to the non-offending side.

    B. ....

  ....

  A player on the offending side must not base any subsequent calls or plays on such unauthorized information. If it is determined that this has been violated and the non-offending side has been damaged, the result should be adjusted to redress any damage done to the non-offending side.

However the intent of Rule 16 is to restore equity in these circumstances. There is no penalty applied under this rule unless damage to the non-offending side has occurred (as assessed by an unbiased reasonable  observer). If your game happens to have an Arbiter, there is an additional extension of Rule 16 that can be enabled by the Club to have the Arbiter make such a determination.

Dummy also has certain rights enumerated in Law 42, which are lost if Dummy engages in specific activities noted above. If Dummy has forfeited his rights and subsequently attempts to use them certain procedural penalties apply to Declarer, as noted in the second half of Law 43.

The Proprieties also state:

  Proprieties

  1. General Principles

  These Laws cannot cover every situation that might arise, nor can they produce equity in every situation covered. .... The guiding principle: the side that commits an irregularity bears an obligation not to gain directly from the infraction.

  To infringe a Law intentionally is a serious breach of ethics, even if there is a prescribed penalty that one is willing to pay. The offence may be the more serious when no penalty is prescribed.

  ....

  Furthermore, the following are considered breaches of propriety: ...

  H.  indicating approval or disapproval of a call or play.

It is eminently obvious here that Dummy is both in violation of the Proprieties, in a manner, as noted above, so egregious that no specific penalty has been prescribed. This should be politely noted to Dummy when such behaviour occurs, perhaps by quoting the paragraph above from The Proprieties.

Note that:

  The Scope of the Laws

  The Laws are designed to define correct procedure and to provide an adequate remedy whenever a player accidentally, carelessly or inadvertently disturbs the proper course of the game, or gains an unintentional but nevertheless unfair advantage. An offending player should be ready to graciously accept any penalty set forth in these Laws or any adjustment or decision of an Arbiter

And, if all else fails in regard to a recalcitrant offender

  These Laws do not deal with dishonorable practices where ostracism is the ultimate remedy.

Update

In any organized competition the organizing committee has the right (and should publicize in the conditions of contest) to impose additional penalties, up to and including expulsion from the event, for repeated violations of The Proprieties, whether or not otherwise covered under The Laws of Rubber Bridge.


Which player is affected by Tolarian Winds?

You are correct, the effect will apply to the Tolarian Winds' controller. I believe the relevant rule is 608.2c:

  608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. (...)

As the controller is the one following the instructions they are the one designated by "your" in the card text.


When you get 2 sets of bad luck dice (6 total frowns), can you discard 2 cards from the same stack?

I have this game in French.

the rules say:

  Si un joueur possède 3 symboles Malchance sur un tirage de dés et/ou avec ses jetons, il doit immédiatement se défausser d'une de ses cartes CV actives.

This would translate as (emphasis mine):

  If a player has 3 bad luck symbols on his dice and/or tokens he must immediately discard one of his active CV cards

So, if you get your 6 bad luck symbols during the same turn but not on the same roll, I would say that you discard a card when you roll your third bad luck symbol and then a second one (from the same column if you wish) when you roll your sixth one. Assuming you get the 6 bad luck symbols at the same time (now that's real bad luck) I would appply the same rule and allow discarding twice from the same column...


In Keyforge, does *Bingle Bangbang* deal the 5 damage when it attacks as well as when it's being attacked?

No, Bingle Bangbang's ability will not trigger when it's being attacked.

According to Keyforge's Rulebook (May/2019 version), under Using Creatures, the rule Fight reads:

  [...] After the fight resolves, if the creature that is being used to fight survives, all “Fight:” abilities the creature has, if it has any, resolve.

While, under Glossary, the keyword Before is explained:

  If the word “before” is used in an ability (for example, “Before Reap:” or “Before Fight:”), that ability resolves before resolving the game effect of the reap or fight (but after the card exhausts, if exhausting is required to use the card).

As you can see, the rules for Fight clearly state that if the creature being used to fight survives, all “Fight:” abilities the creature has, if it has any, resolve. Since the ability of Bingle Bangbang is a Before Fight trigger, would trigger before the fight resolved, if it is being used to fight.

When being attacked, creatures' Fight ability won't trigger.


In Axis and Allies, is the Axis "economic victory" condition a valid one?

The game becomes very interesting when the Axis achieves its goal of 84, only to lose France, or possibly some African territory.  They then take it back the next round, but only at the cost of expansion to other territories, and perhaps lose a couple of IPC's in the process.  I have witnessed this on a few occasions!  It mainly occurred because the Allies (usually U.S.) had just built up a large invasion force, and it would land on the same turn that the Axis got to 84.  Then Germany would have to fight backwards, and the next turn another invasion (U.K. this time) would hit France.  After that, it was typical for the German player to give up.

I have never seen the Axis fall below pre-war economic levels and then comeback to win the game.  Every time that has happened, we would play one more round, but it goes from bad to worse for the Axis, and mostly Germany.

If they had to take London or Washington, the Allies can simply stockpile in those locations, and Germany and Japan will be frustrated ad infinitum.  With the economic option, the Allies must get aggressive at some point and attack the Axis holdings.

This mimics the war in a fairly realistic sense, and I think that, for an early WWII game, A&A did well at capturing the urgency for the Allied powers.


Monopoly: Can you go bankrupt by having someone else go bankrupt on you?

If Player 1 does not want to lose the game, one thing (and the only thing) he can do is to mortgage the (only) property that he owned. So although he will still lose $15 from this deal, at least he would not go bankrupt when Player 2 lands on his property.

Doing this move is a gamble as Player 2 might not land on his property at all (For obvious reasons, you can't do anything in the time interval between when the opponent rolls the dice and moves his token to the square). This includes mortgaging too. (Although I don't have a source for that, unfortunately, this should be quite obvious to understand -- otherwise there would be people instantly upgrading houses to hotels once someone rolls a 7.)

Though look at the chances of this happening -

The cheapest property would be either property in the brown set, right after GO, and thus if Player 2 was to land on it, he would have been able to pay the $2 or $4 rent after collecting $200 from GO. Thus, the ONLY chance of this repeated bankrupting happening as described is when Player 2 lands on Community Chest, then drawing the Go Back To Old Kent Road/Baltic card. If Player 2 rolled a 2 or 3 AFTER passing go, owing a $4 rent, Player 2 will definitely have either some cash or some unmortgaged properties, as he will collect $200 from passing GO. Thus, this case is impossible.

For any further hope of Player 1 winning the game, he has to survive up to one round of the monopoly board without paying a single dollar, and collect the $200 upon passing Go.

For the side question -

This situation occurred in a Monopoly Tournament

"Phil Orbanes, who wrote The MONOPOLY Companion and is the official Judge at the World Championships provided me with this answer when it came up in tournament play a few months ago:

  If you cannot pay a debt to ONE player due to a card, you go bankrupt to that player and turn over all asset (std. procedure here).

  If you cannot pay a debt to TWO or MORE players (after calculating any money you could get from the bank by mortgaging and selling houses) due to a card, you go bankrupt to them all. The issue then becomes: fairness. How do you divide your assets as evenly as possible? Procedure: after selling any houses for 1/2 price to the bank, the bank then rebuys your properties at face value if unmortaged, or for 1/2 value if mortgaged. You divide the resulting cash as evenly as possible, with the player(s) to your left collecting any odd dollar(s). The bank then auctions all properties it purchased to the highest bidders."

Source : Quora.com : Kevin Tostado, Director of "Under the Boardwalk: The MONOPOLY Story." MonopolyDocumentary.com AND a previous question that also discusses on this situation

Conclusion: The players may get a lot more than the $50 that they were originally owed.


Why was SPYRAL Quik Fix limited instead of banned?

Why has this card been limited rather than banned?

Konami rarely bans a card directly after it being unrestricted. Usually they gradually restrict cards: first semi-limit, then limit, and if it is still Overpowered then they ban it.

For that to happen the card has to be really broken or well be some key resource that Top Championship Decks abuse of (as to balance the format).

Another reason is that Konami usually lets their new archetypes "live" longer before nerfing them. SPYRAL archetype is rather recent to date, so they probably don't want to kill it when many competitive players are still investing heavily on those decks (an economic move if you ask me).

Banning that card would heavily affect all SPYRAL decks, therefore strongly affecting many players throughout the world as well as notably changing the balance of the current format.

Surely there must be other reasons they did this, but those are probably internal to the company and not something they openly share.


I have not seen an offical answer or FAQ on this topic but I do know that there is another answer on this site that references playing a bang against yourself which says that is not possible. That answer references a post elsewhere which it says is from the developer that says the rule is in place to prevent unfair behavior.
Post

As I said, the "no-killing-yourself" rule is the official one to prevent unfairy behaviours in tournaments.
However, if you sure to play with fair people, you can allow self-shot, which adds strategic elements to the game as well (think of Bart Cassidy, for example).

Answer where the information came from
What I get from that is if you play a Panic or Cat Balou on yourself as Henry Block you will not have a bang shot at you.


What's the point of the cardboard castles in Kingdomino?

Right now, they show your color.

And yes they have no real purpose in the game. But a kingdom needs a castle, so I think it is a nice addition.


What are the possible ways to test a deck?

There are different ways of testing that you can do, but none of them are as effective as playing real games against other people.

1) Play without an opponent. I usually play new decks over and over without an opponent to see how the basic idea works out. Just draw and play and see how many rounds it would take you to win on average. Do your combos work out as you had hoped for? Do you have too much or too little mana available? Adjust your deck until you are satisfied with the results.

2) Analyze the meta-game you are playing in. What are other players going to play against you? Try to identify the main threats in those decks and see if you can counter them. Are you fast enough so that they do not matter or can you establish enough control to break their combos? If you find a common deck that you are helpless against, try to find a solution.

3) Put up your desk for analysis online. There are many forums with experts from the MTG scene. Post your deck in the appropriate forum and hear what others think about your deck. They usually will have more experience and find weaknesses without having to play the deck. If you have more specific questions than "is my deck any good?", the MTG experts from this site here (Board and Card games on Stack Exchange) will also be able to help. I learned a lot already here.

These three steps can help you a lot already. In addition you can analyze the Mana Curve of your deck and identify problems there. But in the end, finding practice partners helps the most. I have played MTG-games over webcam in the past with friends of mine. It works better than it sounds like in the first place ;). So even if you don't have anyone in reach, you can try to play with friends who live farther away over the Internet.


Does casting a card and paying for it work like this?

Due to the Oracle revision to this card, what your are describing will not work. The current errata states that you can only use  Lion's Eye Diamond's ability as an instant. The only abilities you can activate while a spell is being placed on the stack ("Pay Costs") are mana abilities such as tapping lands.

If Lion's Eye Diamond was not changed to specifically state that its ability is played as an instant, what you are describing would work.

Relevant Oracle text:

  Sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond, Discard your hand: Add three mana of any one color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant.


No.

Proliferate only deals with counters.

  701.26a To proliferate means to choose any number of permanents and/or players that have a counter, then give each one additional counter of each kind that permanent or player already has.

The commander tax has nothing to do with a counter. A counter is a physical object that is used when an effect tells you to use one.

  121.1. A counter is a marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics and/or interacts with a rule, ability, or effect. Counters are not objects and have no characteristics. Notably, a counter is not a token, and a token is not a counter. Counters with the same name or description are interchangeable.

The commander tax does not use counters at all.

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


In Bridge, what are "proper" responses to a "strong" 2 club bid?

If that's the system you've agreed with partner - that the only valid responses to 2C are 2D or 2NT - then it's fair enough to raise an eyebrow if they start improvising.

Personally, and bear in mind that I don't play Standard American myself, but a pretty loose take on Acol: I don't understand why you would want to restrict responses so strictly.  Fair enough, you need to have a negative 2D bid, and to understand between you what that implies.  Beyond that, the more expressive you can make your system, the better.  What's the point of a 2NT "generic positive" bid if it just forces opener to ask more questions, at the next level of bidding, to determine the actual best contract to be in?

If my partner has enough points not to have to make a 2D bid, I'm delighted to hear about hearts or spades being his longest suit at the 2 level, even if that suit is only 5 cards or whatever.  Naturally, if partner wants to talk about a minor suit, at the 3 level, they'd better have more than a 5 card suit, to be on the safe side...


For format restrictions and banned lists, see the following:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-formats/formats

http://magic.wizards.com/en/gameinfo/gameplay/formats/bannedrestricted

None of the cards you listed are on a banned list, they just aren't legal in "Standard", which is a format that only includes cards printed in the last two years


Eclipse - Influence action to remove enemy discs?

By the best evidence I can find, no, you cannot remove an enemy influence disc with the Influence action.

You are correct that by a literal reading of the second edition rules, this would be allowed. It appears that this is an oversight that was made when they updated the wording for the second edition. The best evidence would be that the first edition rules do NOT allow this. I believe that ruling the other way would require a statement about this rule being errata'd between editions. But nothing like this is listed in any of the 1st edition errata. It seems that the intent is that the influence space must always be empty.

It's also a good argument that the rules make no mention of removing an opponent's influence disc as an allowed part of the influence action. So if you were to follow the rules completely literally, you would have to move your influence disc to the spot where the opponent's influence disc already is, without moving his. So you would have both influence discs there together.

See discussion on this question here.


It matters in the case that someone Melds without picking up the discard pile. In this case; that rule means that the discard pile is still frozen, even though it wouldn’t be if the up-card had not been a red 3.


If a creature takes lethal damage and would also get a +1/+1 counter, does it die?

The order in which you assign damage does not matter here, and the Pridemate will die before it gets the counter from the Bishops Soldier lifegain.
Note that you do not attack individual creatures - you attack players and planeswalkers only. You probably meant the right thing though, namely that you can determine the order in which your attacking creature assigns damage to the blocking creatures. Just remember not to confuse the two things, as it may confuse others also.

508.1b If the defending player controls any planeswalkers, or the game allows the active player to attack multiple other players, the active player announces which player or planeswalker each of the chosen creatures is attacking.

Unless first strike or double strike is involved, all combat damage is dealt simultaneously, so if the attacking creature has enough power to deal lethal damage to all blockers, the order of blockers does not matter,

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. A player assigns a creature’s combat damage according to the following rules:
510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.

As for your second question: You gain life from Bishop's Soldier as soon as it deals damage, but Pridemate's ability is a triggered ability, so it does not immediately take effect. It only goes on the stack the next time a player would gain priority, i.e. the right to cast spells and activate abilities:

510.3. Third, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.”)
510.3a Any abilities that triggered on damage being dealt or while state-based actions are performed afterward are put onto the stack before the active player gets priority; the order in which they triggered doesn’t matter. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

Only when Pridemate's ability would come to resolve would it get the +1/+1 counter. However, by that time it's already moved to the graveyard because it received lethal damage.


If I lose control of an equipped creature, does the equipment stay attached to it?

You are correct. The equipment stays attached to the stolen creature, but you still control it and may re-equip it to a different creature that you control.
Here are the rules for equipment (emphasis added):

301.5. Some artifacts have the subtype “Equipment.” An Equipment can be attached to a creature. It can’t legally be attached to an object
that isn’t a creature.
301.5a The creature an Equipment is attached to is called the “equipped creature.” The Equipment is attached to, or “equips,” that
creature.
301.5b An Equipment is cast and enters the battlefield just like any other artifact. An Equipment doesn’t enter the battlefield attached to
a creature. The equip keyword ability attaches the Equipment to a
creature you control (see rule 702.6, “Equip”). Control of the
creature matters only when the equip ability is activated and when it
resolves. Spells and other abilities may also attach an Equipment to a
creature. If an effect attempts to attach an Equipment to an object
that can’t be equipped by it, the Equipment doesn’t move.
301.5c An Equipment that’s also a creature can’t equip a creature. An Equipment that loses the subtype “Equipment” can’t equip a creature.
An Equipment can’t equip itself. An Equipment that equips an illegal
or nonexistent permanent becomes unattached from that permanent but
remains on the battlefield. (This is a state-based action. See rule
704.) An Equipment can’t equip more than one creature. If a spell or ability would cause an Equipment to equip more than one creature, the
Equipment’s controller chooses which creature it equips.
301.5d An Equipment’s controller is separate from the equipped creature’s controller; the two need not be the same. Changing control
of the creature doesn’t change control of the Equipment, and vice
versa. Only the Equipment’s controller can activate its abilities.
However, if the Equipment grants an ability to the equipped creature
(with “gains” or “has”), the equipped creature’s controller is the
only one who can activate that ability.

And here's the exact wording of the equip ability (emphasis added):

702.6a Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. “Equip [cost]” means “[Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you
control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a
sorcery.”

So, essentially, only the equip ability itself specifies "creature you control." If the equipment is already attached, the only restrictions are:

The equipped permanent must still be a creature (301.5).
The equipment cannot itself be a creature (301.5c).
The equipment can't be attached to a creature with protection from it, due to the definition of protection (702.16).

Creatures changing control doesn't violate that.


If they counter my Goblin Grenade, do I still lose my goblin?

Yes. This is pretty obvious if you remember that, like the card says, sacrificing the goblin is an additional cost. It's like paying mana for a spell - and you don't get mana back if someone counters one of your spells.

If you want to read the comp rules, casting spells is section 601.1. Paying the cost for a spell is 601.2g; the spell becomes cast after that in 601.2h. At that point, it's on the stack and your opponent has a chance to counter it. When they do, the costs are already paid (your goblin is dead and your mana is spent).


According to this site Yes it is a run.

Example: Cards are played in this order: 9, 6, 8, 7. The dealer pegs 2 for fifteen when he plays the six and pegs 4 for run when he plays the seven (the 6, 7, 8, 9 sequence). The cards were not played in sequential order, but they form a true run with no foreign card.

I have seen written rules by Hoyle where they are required to be played in order, but every single web site I looked at allow for them to be out of order as long as they aren't interrupted with non-run cards.


Munchkin Combat Rules Clarification: Do you lose one-shot items played if later forced to run away

Once you play a card, that's it. It is no longer in your hand. You can't pick it back up and put it into your hand. From the Munchkin FAQ under Miscellaneous Questions (emphasis mine):

Q. If I announce I'm going to do something, am I locked into that decision or can I change my mind? For instance, I was a Wizard and declared that I was going to fight a monster, but then the monster was enhanced further. Can I change my mind and Charm it?
A. You're NEVER locked into a final decision unless a card or rule says so. (However, there are no "take-backs" once you have played a card or rolled a die.)

If you start to play a card and then immediately change your mind, then you haven't actually played the card, and you aren't locked into your decision. However, if you play your card, and then one of your friends plays an Enrage, then the game has clearly progressed beyond the point where you can change your mind.


No.

Either:

You sacrifice Chromatic Star before Perilous Research resolves, in which case it's not there and you have to choose something else.
You sacrifice Chromatic Star as part of Perilous Research, in which case it's gone before you have the opportunity to activate its own ability.

However, you'll still draw the card from Chromatic Star's graveyard triggered ability, as it doesn't care how it got there.

This is because, in general, you can only activate abilities at certain times (when you have priority). When a spell is resolving, nobody gets priority until it's finished, so you can't activate the Chromatic Star during the decision to sacrifice it. That is, when a spell resolves, it has to finish completely before anyone can do other things.


What are on each of the faces of the dice in the US version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters?

What are on each of the faces of the different dice?

I found this Dungeon Dice Monsters page on the Wiki. There, it is specified each of the possible symbols and their meaning. The specific term used in the game is 'Crest', and you roll the dice to gather specific kinds of Crests to interact with the game.

Edit: I also found the official ruling in case it helps as reference.

Worth mentioning that there are 4 kinds of dice, one for each possible monster level (1-4). Each dice has faces depending on the level they are (usually, the higher the level the less Summon Crests on the dice).

To summarize it here, the possible Crests are:

Summon Crest (star symbol): These crests are used to summon monsters. There are 4 kinds of monster levels, and thus Summon Crests for each level. The higher the level the harder is to achieve a summon. This is because Lvl 1 dice have 4 sides with Summon Crests, but Lvl 4 dice only has 1 side with Summon Crest.
Attack Crest (swords symbol): This Crest enables summoned monsters to attack. You need one Crest per attack, and a monster can only attack once per turn.
Defense Crest (shield symbol): This Crest helps monsters to defend themselves from attacks. Basically, the Defense Crest subtracts Attack from the attacking monster and then calculation proceeds.
Trap Crest (umbrella corp-ish symbol): Used to activate some monsters' effects when attacked.
Spell Crest (thunder symbol): Similar to Trap Crests, these are used to activate monsters' abilities.
Movement Crest (arrow symbol): Used to move your monsters across the board. One Movement Crests can move a monster one square (unless it is a Flying monster, which use 2 per square).

Regarding the content of the dice faces. On this wiki page we have, emphasis mine:

  No matter what version is played, the amount of summon crests is the same for all dice across a given level. Level 1 dice have four summon crests per die, Level 2 have three, Level 3 have two, and Level 4 have one. They all have other crests on the remaining sides.

Here is an image taken from the linked ruling booklet that specifies what is the content of each face of each dice level:

In text:

Lvl 1 Dice (Red): 4 Summon Crests, 1 Movement Crest, 1 (x2) Defense Crest
Lvl 2 Dice (Blue): 3 Summon Crests, 1 (x2) Movement Crest, 1 (x2) Attack Crest, 1 Spell Crest
Lvl 3 Dice (Yellow): 2 Summon Crests, 2 Movement Crests, 1 Attack Crest, 1 (x2) Trap Crest
Lvl 4 Dice (Green): 1 Summon Crest, 1 (x2) Movement Crest, 1 Attack Crest, 1 Defense crest, 1 (x2) Spell Crest, 1 Trap Crest.


The rules for planeswalkers changed with the release of Ixalan on September 29, 2017, so the second part of this answer is no longer correct, but is left for posterity.
With the release of Ixalan all planeswalkers have the Legendary supertype (with all previous ones receiving errata to add it to existing cards), and the Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule has been removed.
This change means that they are no longer be a valid choice for Lay Bare the Heart since Ixalan came out.

They can be chosen with Lay Bare the Heart because Planeswalkers are not Legendary. While the 'Legend Rule' and the 'Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule' have similar effects, they are not the same, and they look at different information on the card.
The Legend Rule looks at the name of the card, so you can have Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind on the battlefield at the same time even though they are the same character because the card name is different. However you could not have Nissa Revane and Nissa, Steward of Elements on the battlefield at the same time because the Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule looks at the planeswalker type and they both have the planeswalker type 'Nissa'.

704.5j If a player controls two or more planeswalkers that share a planeswalker type, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “planeswalker uniqueness rule.”
704.5k If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”


Should the core Battlestar Galactica game adopt the revised Cylon Resurrection Ship?

First, Pegasus allows a Cylon to pass his unrevealed loyalty cards only if they are at distance 6 or less, if they're at 7+ then he's stuck with the cards.

Second, there's no reason why you couldn't use the Pegasus version of the Ship, as long you are using the correct and full version of the Ship. Wherein you only draw one skill card and as an action you may draw a super crisis card.

Although I will point out that this logic that Cylons NEED to play their super crisis card, and spending a turn to pass the loyalty card would only be done if it was the other "You are a Cylon" card is just wrong. Super Crises are situational, no point in playing fleet mobilization if there's nothing on the board. And sowing suspicions is what you want the human players to deal with, otherwise they'll be able to freely XO and get stuff done.


Does the Terra Mystica app implement the official rules updates?

Yes.

The Terra Mystic App (on Android at least) includes the changes to Cultist Power and the variable starting Victory Points.

It does not block the Spade tiles in the last two rounds.

The above is based on my experience playing the app as of August 2017.
Edited to reflect recieving [5 points for founding town/4 earth cult for a Spade] as my final round token in a game in late August.


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

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

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

The third edition FAQ clarified:

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

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

Systems that contain identical wormholes are adjacent


Does sacrificing a permanent cancel its effects, or do they still resolve?

If a permanent does an effect before it is sacrified (ie a land tapped for mana or a creature tapped for a special ability), does this effect is canceled by the sacrifice?

No. In general, once an ability has been activated or triggered, it does not get "canceled" for any reason. There are two exceptions:

It is explicitly countered (for example, by the card Cancel, pun intended)
If the ability has targets, and if all the targets are gone or invalid when the ability resolves, then it is implicitly countered. Remember that the thing that caused the ability to happen is not a target. Targets are only the things that you explicitly choose because the ability's text includes the word "target."

  Ultimately, is a sacrifice equivalent to burry or destroy, or has it special side effects on the sacrified target and its effects?

Nope. The only thing involved in sacrificing a permanent is that you put it in the graveyard. However, keep in mind that regeneration does not prevent this from happening - in other words, if you regenerate a permanent, and then sacrifice it, it still goes to the graveyard. This differs from being destroyed: if you regenerate a permanent, and then it gets destroyed, the regeneration replaces the destruction so that the permanent doesn't go to the graveyard after all.


"A player must capture as many pieces as possible." What happens if he doesn't?

As per the the Official FMJD Rules for International Draughts, if the opponent notices that you have not captured as many pieces as possible, they may decide whether the move stands or if it must be taken back and made again.

  5.4. If a player has committed one of the following irregularities, his opponent has the right to decide whether that irregularity must be rectified, or on the contrary, must be allowed to stand.

…

  5.4.8. Capture by a piece, of less or more than the number of possible pieces to capture;


Ordering of triggered ability and ETB effect

You have no choice: you must apply the monument ability first (and so the token will survive). This is because the monument ability triggers when you cast Ornery Kudu, and will resolve before Kudu can actually enter the battlefield at all to trigger its own ability.

If you do have two triggered abilities that trigger at the same time however, you do get to choose the order they'll resolve.


Can Bruna, Light of Alabaster take my opponent's auras?

Yes, this is true for all auras on the battlefield, regardless of their controller. There's no general rule that Auras can only be attached to their controller's own permanents, so Bruna can 'steal' other player's auras.
(They'd still control them, which is relevant e.g. for Curious Obsession. This gives an ability to the enchanted creature, so you would get to draw a card if you 'steal' your opponents Curious Obsession with Bruna and deal combat damage to a player. But, as @Arthur notes in the comment, your opponent might not attack the next turn, which causes him/her to sacrifice the aura because he/she still controls it.)

You might think this is too powerful, but it really isn't; auras generally see little competitive play because they tend to lead to card disadvantage (if the enchanted creature dies, you'll lose two cards at once). And a multicolored six mana card should better win the game for you; it's supposed to be your 'finisher'. Commander is more about fun and long multiplayer games, so there this card certainly has more potential.


In general, the only time it is worth it to shuffle your deck is if you are looking for a land card. When you are looking for removal, a win condition, or more than a single threat card, you are usually better off keeping the cards that Ponder reveals. This question essentially boils down to a probability question. The deciding factors are:

How likely are you to draw the specific card you are looking for if you shuffle?
How soon do you need to draw the specific card?
How likely are you to improve your draw if you shuffle?
Do you have in hand a way to search for the specific card, or to shuffle your library? (I would assume that you didn't, otherwise the question is moot. i.e. If you had another Ponder in hand, Polluted Delta, or some other means to shuffle your library then you should keep the revealed cards.)

Except for the specific probability, the only real controlling factor here is how soon you need to draw the specific card. The gray area here though, is what exactly do you mean by need and dead draw? Are the "dead draws" 1/1 chump blockers, can you survive for 3 turns if you keep this draw? I will make some assumptions about what those dead draws likely are, and run some calculations using the Hypergeometric Distribution function to give a general idea what the best course of action is.

Probability

Looking for Land and Ponder reveals a Land, and 2 other "useless" cards (high converted mana cost).

At one extreme, you might have kept a hand of a single land card and hoped that Ponder would help you find at least another one. In a 24 land deck, if you choose to shuffle, you have a 44% chance of immediately drawing  the land. After three draws, you only have a 17% of not getting any land, and a 41% chance of getting two or more land. The fourth draw looks even better for shuffling, with a 60% chance of getting 2+ land, and keeping the useless cards only having a 45% chance of 2+ land.

That extreme case is not very likely though. Usually, you will mulligan a hand with fewer than 3 land. If instead we examine Turn 3, casting Ponder to find the 4th land. If you shuffle, you have a 42% chance of immediately drawing a land. The remaining calculations have very similar percentages as the extreme case. Late game, after drawing a quarter of the deck, perhaps you are looking for your 6th land so that you can cast some game winning spell. Obviously, if you have already drawn the "winning" spell, you should probably just keep the cards since Ponder revealed the one land card you were looking for. If you haven't drawn the winning spell, the odds that you don't draw your 6th land by your third draw are only about 18%, which drops to only 10% on the forth draw. Once again shuffling is the best move, because not only is it unlikely that you won't draw your 6th land, you also have an increased chance of drawing your game "winning" spell (about 32%).

Looking for Removal and Ponder reveals removal, and 2 Lands. For one extreme, we will assume Turn 2, two lands drawn, 4x copies of Swords to Plowshares (StP).  If you shuffle, the odds of drawing StP are only 8%:1st draw and 21%:3rd draw. In fact, the odds of drawing removal after shuffling only exceeds 50% on your 8th draw. Clearly, if you need removal any time soon you shouldn't shuffle (Considering you start at 20 life, a 3/x or larger creature will kill you in 7 turns).

In a more likely scenario, lets assume you have 8x copies of removal in your deck, it is Turn 4, you have drawn and used one removal spell and are looking one of the remaining 7 (these could be targeted removal, or WoG). In this situation, if you shuffle you have a 14%:1st draw, 25%:2nd draw, 33%:3rd draw, and >55%:5th draw. When you compare these results with the certainty of drawing the removal you need immediately, you are likely better off keeping the cards and the 2 "useless" cards. If you can last +5 turns before you need removal, you might want to shuffle.

Looking for a Win Condition and Ponder reveals the win condition, and 2 Lands. The win condition will be a card that completes a combo, some sort of fattie with evasion, or an instant win card. We will assume that you have drawn enough lands already, so that is why the cards are dead draws. Since it is a rather obvious choice to keep the cards if all you need is one copy of the "win condition", the chart below will examine the increase/decrease in odds of drawing 2+ copies if you decide to shuffle. Only after you have drawn half your deck, and when 20% of the cards left in the deck are win cards, are the odds equal or better that you have drawn 2+ win cards. When you take into account the fact that keeping the cards ensures you get one of those win cards immediately, you nearly always should keep the cards Ponder reveals.

        |  2 |  4 |  6 |  8 |Win Cond
        +----+----+----+----+--------+
      50| -2%| -4%| -4%| -3%|
      40| -2%| -4%| -4%| -2%|
      30| -2%| -4%| -2%| +3%|
      20| -3%| -1%| +5%|+12%|
      10| -1%|+12%|+17%| -- |
 Library|

Another possibility is that Ponder revealed a single threat, and 2 Lands. What you would really prefer at this point, is any threats in your deck. If you shuffle, you have the possibility of getting fewer dead land draws. In this situation, you are interested in the odds of drawing 1 or fewer lands in the top three cards (2 lands within the top 3 would be the same situation a third of the time). The situations where it would be worth it to shuffle are extremely unlikely, as 60% or more of the deck needs to be land.


How to play multiplayer Ticket to Ride (iOS/iPad) with friends over the Internet?

It is possible to play with specific friends in real-time, though it may not be possible to play asynchronously. (Last time I tried, the game aborted if either my opponent or I left the TTR app, so it was real-time play only. That was a while ago though.)
Here's how to set it up.
For iPad:

On the main TTR screen (with Gerry the Conductor holding the ticket labeled Play!), click the "More..." gear.
On the next screen, click Online Games. This should automatically log you in to the online servers.
In the spiral notebook at the center of the screen, click either the Game Center tab (for your GC friends) or Buddies (friends you've marked in some version of online TTR - web or mobile).
Tap the name of one friend you want to play with. This will fly out a screen where you can choose the map and whether the game is ranked or not. Make your choices and hit the green Play button
A standard Game Center Multiplayer Game window will appear. It will default to a 4-player game, with you, the friend you selected, and 2 auto-match slots. You can delete slots (though in trying I had to remove my friend first and then could delete the auto-match slots) or add specific friends with the Invite Friend button. If you add, you'll be prompted for the message to send them. If they accept, the game will start.

For iPhone:

On the main TTR screen  (with Gerry the Conductor holding the ticket labeled Play!), click your playername in the upper right. (You may need to click on your player icon first to make it slide out).
Under the box with your playername and account #, click "Edit my profile" and then "Yes" to go to the Days Of Wonder site. This should automatically log you in to the online servers.
From the profile page, you should be able to add/delete buddies.


Can I redraw my hand at the start of the game in Sentinels of the Multiverse?

No, the rules do not allow for mulligans and the official site has no provisions in any expansion or clarifications that add this feature.
The official sites downloads page has copies of the official rules and the rules for each expansion. None mention a process for mulligans of your initial 4 card hands. The Changes section also only notes changes to the Villian, Heroes, and Environments cards and no changes to the turn structure.
From the rule book (page 4)

Game Setup
[...] After the heroes, villain, and environment have been chosen, each player draws the top four cards of their hero deck. The game begins with the villains turn, then proceeds clockwise around the table [...]


Dixit variations to increase replay value?

Yes! You simply have to fix rules about the sentence you want to use when it's your turn to play. For example: you must say a movie title, or lyrics from a song, or you can only make a grimace of some sort, or just a sound, and so on.

We've tried something else that completely changes the game: first, the other players give you a card of their choosing, and then you choose a title for your card. Note that it's still your card that must be guessed, but knowing what cards will be in the game, you can choose a sentence differently. This works well when all the players know all the cards and know exactly what words they have to use when playing a given card.


What game has this weird 12 sided die with clouds, a bug, a pear and other stuff on it?

Found it! Through sheer Google-fu, I discovered ThinkBlot!

Tom Vasel's review describes its use:

The game is very simple. Up to six players are given a sheet from a pad included with the game, along with a pencil. Then, the Thinkblot book is opened. It is a spiral bound book that transforms into an Easel with 75 different inkblot pictures, as well as a fold-out scoreboard. Each player places a peg into one of the colored paths on the scoreboard, representing his score.
Now, a special 12-sided die is rolled. Instead of numbers, there are little pictures or blots on each side of the die. Depending on what is rolled, the players write down things on their scoring sheet that they think they see in the inkblot currently showing. Whenever a little blot is rolled (eight of the twelve sides), players write down anything they see in the inkblot mess. When a little bug is rolled (one side), players should write down any creature they see in the picture. When a little face is rolled (one side), they are to write down people, parts of people, or actions taken by people. When a half eaten pear is rolled (one side), players should write down any food they see. And when a little shirt is rolled (one side), players are to write down any clothing or accessory they see.


How do I avoid the endless trade negotiations in Settlers of Catan?

Don't engage in it. Start with your offer (Make it a fair one the first time round), and break it off as soon as someone tries to squeeze a little more out of the deal. People will tend to loosen up as soon as they realize they are not getting any deals done thanks to their negotiation urges.

Simple 'no's work best.


Can cards from an invalid meld be used in a subsequent valid meld?

According to this answer to your previous question yes, you can use these in a valid meld. Here is the relevant quote:

  If a player exposes any cards from his hand, but does not meld them, he must leave them face-up on the table, and discard them one at a time in subsequent turns. However, if these cards can be validly melded before they are discarded, he may do so, rather than discard them.

As a side-note there are different rules and different variants of Canasta, and I do not believe there is one true way. That what makes difficult answering your question unambiguously.

For my Canasta games, I've written down my own version of Canasta rules, that I compiled from different sources on the web and got everyone at the table to agree to them. Since we are running a friendly non-commercial games, we simply re-deal the round if someone makes this mistake, because we trust that no one of us will do this intentionally. Anyway it happened only once or twice, so it has never been a problem for us.


If the primary player has moved forward to the draw step, then the trigger was missed. If the secondary player is the one that drew a card, then that player has drawn extra cards.

In either case, at regular REL, you should call a judge, explain what happened, and allow the judge to decide whether the trigger was missed or whether the game should be rolled back. If the game is rolled back, you would have to put a random card from your hand on top of your library, then do your upkeep stuff, and then continue as normal with a reminder to play more carefully. From Judging at Regular:

  If the identity of the card(s) were known to all players, return them to their proper location. Otherwise, determine how many extra cards have been drawn, take that many cards at random from the player’s hand and place them on top of the library. Don't shuffle the library after doing this!

In general, play penalties at regular REL are basically nonexistent, and mistakes should be fixed more often than punished.


How are power plant discards handled in Power Grid?

They are discarded, which pretty much means they are removed from the game.  The only time a power plant is put back under the stack of plants is during Phase 5: Update the power plant market.

Once a plant is discarded (because of too many plants) or removed from the game (no one bids on a plant in a turn, or someone's house count is higher than a power plant number), they aren't coming back, so "discarded" and "removed from the game" are pretty synonymous.


When does a token have the same name as another token?

None of the above. It will exile all permanents with the same name as targeted permanent. This may or may not be all your tokens. This may or may not be all your only token. Type, power and toughness are irrelevant.

Some abilities explicitly give names to the tokens they create. For example, Tolsimir Wolfblood creates a token of creature type "Wolf" named "Voja".

If you use Detention Sphere to exile a permanent named "Voja", it will exile all permanents named "Voja", and only those. (It doesn't matter if they are tokens or not. It will not exile permanents named "Wolf". It will not exile permanents of creature type "Wolf" unless their name is "Voja". It will not exile tokens unless their name is "Voja".)

Some don't. If the ability did not explicitly give a name to the token, its name is the same as its type. For example, Eyes in the Skies creates a token of creature type "Bird" named "Bird".

If you use Detention Sphere to exile a permanent named "Bird", it will exile all permanents named "Bird", and only those. (It doesn't matter if they are tokens or not. It will not exile permanents named "Saproling". It will not exile permanents of creature type "Bird" unless their name is "Bird". It will not exile tokens unless their name is "Bird".)

Relevant rules:

  110.5c A spell or ability that creates a creature token sets both its name and its creature type. If the spell or ability doesn’t specify the name of the creature token, its name is the same as its creature type(s). A “Goblin Scout creature token,” for example, is named “Goblin Scout” and has the creature subtypes Goblin and Scout. Once a token is on the battlefield, changing its name doesn’t change its creature type, and vice versa.


I'm an avid pitch player as well, 4pt 10pt and 13pt :)

For 2-3 players, you can play 4 point pitch with no teams! I find 4 point perfect for times when you need something to do but don't have a whole lot of time! You can also play 4 point pitch with 4 players, having 2 teams of 2 players.

In 4 point pitch, the points are: 'High','Low','Jack','Game'. High being the highest trump card played (Ace usually), Low being the lowest trump played (two usually). Jack is the Jack in the suit that is trump. For 'High' and 'Jack' whoever takes these tricks and wins those points. For 'Low' whoever plays that card, regardless of who takes it in the trick it is played, will get that point. 'Game' is a sum of cards that you take in your tricks that you win. In any suit, Aces = 4pts, Kings = 3pts, Queens = 2pts, Jacks = 1pt, tens = 10 points. 'Game' can be tricky in this but it makes it interesting! Once all 6 tricks are finished, you add up the cards you took in the tricks to get your score for 'Game'. Whoever has the highest amount of points for 'Game' gets the single Game point.

In this game you play with all suits, but the first trick you still have to lead what you say is the trump suit. Minimum bid is 2, maximum bid is 4. You are dealt 6 cards and that is all you play with, the rest of the deck is not used and jokers are not used. Trump will win the trick if the other players do not play trump. If the first player of a trick plays trump, you must play trump if you have it (in other words, you must follow the first suit played, otherwise you can trump in at anytime or sluff off in a different suit if you cannot follow the first suit played). You can play to 11pts, 14pts, or 21pts.

For 6 players, you can play 10 point pitch which you explained in your post! The only difference, every player gets 9 cards and there is no deck left over. You play your hand with what you are dealt.

For 13 point pitch it is the same as 10pt pitch, you just play with with off 3 :) meaning if trump is hearts, the 3 of hearts and 3 of diamonds are both worth 3 points! so be very careful. You can play this with 4, 5, or 6 players.


Are number of cards in hand public knowledge?

While there's no specific rule governing this in the rulebook, the board gaming community as a whole seems to agree that the number of cards in a player's hand is public knowledge.

There are a lot of forum threads that reiterate this answer on both BGG and Fantasy Flight Games (here, here, and here, for starters). The basic reasoning for this is because some alien powers require that information to be public, such as the Mutant and the Genius. (And, if I remember correctly, one of the alternative win conditions for one of the alien races is to have more cards than the other players.)

Additionally, in the last link above, forum member Adam notes that the online game allows you to check the number of cards in a player's hand, although I haven't played it so I can't confirm whether that's true.


Does it matter what faction Mech World is?

It matters for the solo variants.  I can't find rules for these online but I can explain how they work in the app.

In a typical solo scenario on the bots turn a card is turned up and depending on the faction this dictate how it behaves.  This image is from Star Realms website to explain show what I mean and is best 'reference' I can fine.

In the app there is a weekly scenario in online 'Arena'. The rules for these are different each week but I have seen games with a random faction removed or different factions.

It also matters if playing with Missions expansions.  Some of those cards will refer to playing cards of the same faction type.  That is not the same as triggering an ally ability of all factions..

There may be other answers to this but there are lots of expansions to look at!


Mansions of Madness, Custom Scenarios: where to start?

I would advise that you check out the Mansions of Madness page on BoardGameGeek. Specifically, I would look in the Files section to find more custom scenarios. Although I'm not clear how your group would define "good", a reasonable way of evaluating the good and interesting scenarios is to see how many Thumbs Up each File has been given.  A quick way to determine the most popular entries is to sort on the "Hot" rating of each file.

Please note that not all the Files listed are scenarios. Several files are player aids and reference sheets. Also the site supports multiple languages so some scenarios may exist that are written in a non-English language. A quick perusal of the Files shows several user created custom scenarios have fairly good ratings (20+ Thumbs Up).


Correlation between a destination ticket's point value and the leastnumber of train cars it would take to fulfill it

Was it a misprint?

It appears that the minimum number of trains required to complete a destination ticket was only the starting point for assigning each ticket a point value. The claim is made  (in this post by Days of Wonder Forums user "Caboose")  that Alan Moon (the game's designer) said the ticket values were not supposed to be the shortest route between two cities. Lacking the context that this may have been said in, I believe the intent was to put to rest worries that some ticket values were mistakes or misprints, rather than to deny all connection between tickets' values and their minimum lengths. (This post by Caboose from several years earlier shows (s)he had previously believed the issue was due to a misprint.)

Additionally, if the changes made in the 1910 expansion were to "fix" the tickets to match their minimum lengths, they didn't fix all of them. It's been pointed out  (in this post by Days of Wonder Forums user "DiscJet")  that the Los Angeles to Chicago ticket and the 1910 expansion's Las Vegas to Miami ticket are each worth more than their shortest length.

Most likely, Mr. Moon increased values for certain tickets to give a slight additional incentive to choose them (especially given the different mix of tickets that would be used in 1910). Was it to balance out a disadvantage of these tickets, or to slightly change gameplay with a small advantage to certain routes? I wouldn't have a clue. However, I doubt it was a misprint.

How should custom tickets be valued?

The majority of tickets should be valued at the minimum number of trains required to complete them. Then think through what your goal is for adding those tickets. Do you want to create more competition for certain cities? encourage more cross-country routes? discourage the use of 5- and 6-train sections? Once you've clarified that goal, you might adjust a few custom tickets' value up by one point (maybe two) based on play-testing or your anticipation of the results.

In general, adding a small number of destination tickets, even with tweaked
values, isn't going to have a very large effect. If you've played with the Mystery Train routes (but still without the other cards available in the 1910 expansion), that would probably give you a good idea of how much of an effect your changes would have on the game.

Attribution Note: The first section is partially an adaptation from my answer to the question "TTR: Destination ticket value changes in the America 1910 expansion". I don't have access to my copy of Ticket to Ride and the 1910 expansion at the moment, so I can't verify the route lengths or values myself.


What is Doppelganger's attack when in the HQ?

Doppelganger's attack would then be 0.

The rules insert for Paint the Town Red explicitly covers this case under the Card Clarification for the Invade the Daily Bugle HQ scheme:

  If there is a Villain in the HQ space under Doppelganger, or if Doppelganger is in the HQ, then Doppelganger's [attack] is 0.


In tournaments "outside the game" as stated on the wishes only consists of your sideboard. The maximum of 4 of one card rule extends to your sideboard. So your deck + sideboard can only have 4 of one card, so NO you can't have a 5th card this way in tournaments.


Does drawing a card end your whole turn, or just prevent further movement?

You can take any other action, even though you're not allowed to move anymore.

The keyword you are missing in the rules you quote is "can":

  You can perform actions (such as using an item or attacking) in the middle of your movement.

This is simply clarifying that it is allowed to do actions in the middle of movement, it is not a restriction that they can only be done then. You can also do actions before or after movement.

See the rules that allow other actions, on page 4 of the rulebook:

  ON YOUR TURN . . .

  … you can do as many of the following actions as you want, in any order:

    • You can move.

    • You can discover a new room.

    • You can attempt a die roll.

    • You can use items or omen cards.

    • You can attack (once during your turn after the haunt starts)

This means that with things like closet and vault, you can attempt to access them immediately. Same goes for attacking after moving as far as you can.

The only thing that drawing a card or running out of movement points prevents is moving.


Per the FAQ:

Q: Who determines where a Hound of Tindalos moves if two investigators are tied in being nearest to the hound?
A: As per the rules governing flying monsters, the hound will go after the investigator with the lower Sneak value. In case of a tie, the first player chooses.


Why are beginning to intermediate bridge players told to delay learning how to bid certain types of unusual hands?

To best understand the answer to this question, it helps to understand the purpose of bidding and bidding systems. Bidding is an attempt by two partners to predict the number of tricks their combined hands can win in the play. The purpose of bidding is for each partnership to ascertain which contract, whether made or defeated and whether bid by them or by their opponents, would give the partnership their best scoring result.

A bidding system is the set of agreements and understandings (treatments and conventions) assigned to bids and sequences of bids used by a partnership. As a beginning player, you might think it a simple matter to develop a bidding system which, if followed, would always land each partnership in the contract which yields the highest score. In reality, no perfect system has been developed. The problem is that the number of possible hands is too large to be mapped onto a tidy bidding system that works well for all of them. There is simply not enough bidding space to develop such a system.

Since designing a perfect bidding system is (probably) impossible, compromises must be made. The way this is usually done is to divide hands into types and develop a sense for which types of hands are most common, less common, uncommon, and extremely rare. When designing a bidding system, you make darn sure that the most common types of hands are easily dealt with, landing you in the highest scoring contract 100% of the time or close to it. Then you keep modifying the bidding system to deal with ever less common types of hands.

A beginning to intermediate student of bridge will do well to follow this same path of successive levels of approximation.

For example, if you're learning the Standard American system with a pair of books by William S. Root (Commonsense Bidding, Modern Bridge Conventions), you first master the bidding basics in the first 10 chapters of the book Commonsense Bidding. Perhaps that will enable your partnership to handle 65% of all hands once you've thoroughly mastered these chapters. Then you read the rest of the book to get your partnership able to handle 86% of hands. Then you cover the one-star conventions in the next book, Modern Bridge Conventions, to get you up to 93%. Then the 2-stars get you to 96%. Then the 3-stars get you up to 97%. Beyond these 2 books you'll get into increasingly esoteric conventions that come up so rarely in play that they're very hard to remember - but may help you tackle most of the remaining 3% of hands not covered by the treatments and conventions described in these 2 books.

The actual percentage of hands covered is almost certainly different than what I just described, but the concept is valid and can be applied to learning:

The most efficient way to learn bidding in bridge is to concentrate on the most common hands first and master the treatments and conventions for that thoroughly before starting to move on to deal with successively less common hands.

A common mistake of beginners and one which I made many times is to look at a certain hand and realize that the bidding I've learned so far probably won't work well for this type of hand. So instead of doing my best to follow the treatments and conventions I've learned so far, I simply ignore the system and try to do what feels right for the hand. This not only results in many misbid hands (your partner has no idea what you're doing!) but also slows down learning how to bid if you do this frequently.

Another common issue is getting obsessed about learning how to bid a certain type of hand. Yes it's very cool to learn how to bid slams that have a missing ace but a void in that suit (Splinter bids). But this type of hand comes up maybe once per thousand deals. If you try to learn that before you've mastered the basics, you're concentrating your efforts on a 1 in 1000 occurrence before you're dealing well with types of hands that come up every time you play.

So that's why you want to delay learning how to bid certain types of hands even if it lands you in poor contracts from time to time. By learning how to bid more common types of hands first, you make more efficient use of your learning time and get more used to applying basic treatments and conventions. Once you master the basics, you can better refine your bidding system with added treatments and conventions but if you don't have a good foundation to build on top of, this is more likely to hurt than help.

I know from experience as I had to unlearn years of bad habits developed during casual play - habits that would not have formed had I understood this concept of successive levels of approximation. Once I understood this, I then fully unlearned my bad habits, and my bidding improved dramatically.


Why would you want to play with a deck bigger than 60 cards in MTG?


Proper Punishment for Parrot Perdition, in Pirate's Cove

There is, unfortunately, no official ruling.  You can attempt to get one by contacting Days of Wonder directly: Question Submission Form.  However, as it's a popular question and no answer has appeared for some time, I wouldn't hold my breath.

As with any rules dispute, I highly suggest the group agree on a strategy for resolution beforehand (for all games).  My group usually does not like to halt the action, so we take a quick vote, go with the majority (or flip a coin on a tie), and then look it up later.

As for my personal opinion, Pirates Cove makes no distinction between Fame and Notoriety, so when even bad press is good press, the concept of being 'less than a nobody' doesn't make much sense.  All the pirates start out as absolute nobodies, and there's no where else to go but up.

A better defense than theme is that many games which take into account the possibility of going negative will often give an in-game way of tracking that, such as a -1 token, card (e.g. dominion's curse cards), or to start the players out with some points to lose.  Since this game did none of those and there are not explicit negative numbers on the fame track, the evidence points towards no negative fame.


Adding an additional same phase? Nothing in the rules?

Short answer: No, you can't.

The rules say: "1 set of 3". So you can't put down 2 sets of 3. The line from the rule states:

"A player may lay down more than the minimum requirements of a Phase, but only if the additional cards can be directly added to the cards already in the Phase."

So in this case, you could lay down addition cards in the set, or cards to extend the run. For full coverage the phase descriptions when you lay down could be described as:

Phase 1: 2 sets of at least 3
Phase 2: 1 set of at least 3 + 1 run of at least 4
Phase 3: 1 set of at least 4 + 1 run of at least 4
Phase 4: 1 run of at least 7
Phase 5: 1 run of at least 8
Phase 6: 1 run of at least 9
Phase 7: 2 sets of at least 4
Phase 8: at least 7 cards of one color
Phase 9: 1 set of at least 5 + 1 set of at least 2
Phase 10: 1 set of at least 5 + 1 set of at least 3

Which also clarifies the point that each time you go down, you can only complete the current phase you're on, not the next one.


Can I use an ability granted to a land by an aura immediately?

Yes, you can immediately activate the new ability by tapping the land. The enchantment gives the land a new ability, and that ability can be activated just like any of the land's other abilities. Of course, you can only do this if the land is untapped, like any other ability with a tap symbol in the cost.

The one exception is if the land is a creature and it just entered play that turn (for example, if it's a Dryad Arbor or it was animated by Nissa, Worldwaker). In that case, like any creature, it has summoning sickness and can't activate abilities with a tap symbol in the cost until your next turn.