Yes, you can do this.  Islandwalk prevents a creature from being blocked as long as the defending player controls an Island1.  It doesn't matter whether that Island used to be a different kind of land - after using Tidal Warrior's ability, your opponent controls an Island1, and creatures with Islandwalk cannot be blocked.

1. Note that "controls an Island" means "controls a permanent that has the subtype 'Island.'"  The name of the card is irrelevant.


What happens if you get lost while rescuing Jenny?

I would say that there is room for interpretation. Clearly, once Jenny is in the camp she is affected from cards effects, weather, having no shelter etc. However, I would say that Jenny is not in the camp in your situation, but neither on the rock. Remember that if a character has to spend the night outside of the camp, then all the resources he got in his action are not available for the whole group, but only for the character himself. So in this case I would say that Jenny is kind of a gathered resource.

It happens often in the game that you run in situations like this. As a rule of thumb, take the action that does the most harm.


Can I activate an ability on a card in my graveyard that returns its to my hand?

Hackworth has it right, but I love me some Comprehensive Rules:

  112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows:

112.6a to 112.6n then specify the exceptions to this rule, including:

  112.6k An ability whose cost or effect specifies that it moves the object it's on out of a particular zone functions only in that zone, unless that ability's trigger condition, or a previous part of that ability's cost or effect, specifies that the object is put into that zone.
  Example: Necrosavant says "{3}{B}{B}, Sacrifice a creature: Return Necrosavant from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate this ability only during your upkeep." A player may activate this ability only if Necrosavant is in his or her graveyard.


Can I activate my "once per turn" effect twice if the activation is negated?

The answer is yes.

There is a difference between negating the activation and negating the effects of cards. "Only once per turn" effects, like "Spellbook of Secrets", may only be activated once per turn, and if the activation is negated you can use them again. However, if the effect is negated, say, with something like "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring", you have still activated the card, and you cannot activate another copy.

You can read more about the distinction among these mechanics here.


Exile means move into the exile zone which, yes, pretty much means they're gone. There are some exceptions, e.g. the Eldrazi Processors, Pull From Eternity, but the idea is mostly that exile is just gone. It's a completely separate zone, not part of any other zone. (You mention hand, library, and battlefield; those are also zones, as are your graveyard and the stack, and the exile zone is separate from all of them.)

But... that's not the important part of Delve. The important part is that you can cast spells cheaply! Each card you exile reduces the amount you have to pay by one mana. Have a bunch of cards in your graveyard you're not doing anything with? Exile them all, cast that Rite of Undoing for just one blue mana!

The effect is so powerful that cards like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time had to be banned. It's quite easy to fill up your graveyard, and with that done, Treasure Cruise lets you draw three cards for just one mana, and Dig Through Time lets you look at seven and keep two for just two mana. Sure, the exiled cards are gone, but it's worth it!

A couple side notes about exile: "exile" was originally written as "remove from the game" - see for example this older edition of Path to Exile. "Exile" is hopefully clearer; putting something into an exile zone with generally no way to interact with it is more specific than the vague "removed from the game". And in the rare cases in which something can come back, moving something from the exile zone sounds a lot nicer than returning something from being removed from the game. (AWOL from Unhinged makes fun of this whole deal.)


When should a judge intervene in a match?

The Magic: the Gathering Tournament Rules (MTR) makes it clear that a judge should not intervene before a rule has been broken, but should intervene after a rule has been broken. In other words, a judge should be reactive, not proactive.

  Judges do not intervene in a game to prevent illegal actions, but do intervene as soon as a rule has been broken or to prevent a situation from escalating.

The Infraction Procedure Guide (IPG) states basically the same thing. Keep in mind that, as made clear by a recent rules update, the IPG is only meant to be used at Competitive and Professional REL.

  A judge shouldn’t intervene in a game unless he or she believes a rules violation has occurred, a player with a concern or question requests assistance, or the judge wishes to prevent a situation from escalating. Judges don’t stop play errors from occurring, but instead deal with errors that have occurred, penalize those who violate rules or policy, and promote fair play and sporting conduct by example and diplomacy. Judges may intervene to prevent or preempt errors occurring outside of a game

Judging at Regular (JAR) covers Regular REL. At Regular, the judge is allowed (but not required) to intervene for missed triggers. Again, this is optional, and you should intervene at your discretion.

  You should intervene if you see something illegal happen in a match, but beyond this you can exercise your discretion. For example, whether you step in when you see a player miss a trigger should be determined by the tone you want to strike for your event – it may be appropriate to provide this extra help in a more causal environment, but less so if your play group is more competitive.


In Yu-Gi-Oh, when you banish cards from the field, can you banish spell and trap cards in addition to monster cards?

There are three types of cards: Monster, Spell, and Trap. If one of these types are not specified, then it is assumed to be any of those types of cards. In this specific case, that means that Eater of Millions can indeed banish any type of card.

If you were only allowed to banish certain card types, it would be like Bazoo the Soul-Eater, which says that you banish "monsters" instead of "cards":

  Once per turn: You can banish up to 3 monsters from your Graveyard; this card gains 300 ATK for each, until the end of your opponent's turn.

This card would not be permitted to banish spell or trap cards.


Storage Wars: MtG Black Lotus, others, actual worth?

It's not really fair to judge if he got a decent price or not based just on retail value.  Just like trading in a car, you usually could have gotten more money selling it yourself, but the additional time requirements and overall hassle do not always make economic sense for your situation.  I need a new car now, not after I eventually find a buyer for my old one, Darrel needs to get whatever value he can out of his locker before the next episode so he can buy another locker, not when he eventually finds a Magic collector interested in that card.

So since he knowingly chose to turn them in to a dealer instead of attempt to retail them himself, it's more fair to look at buy-list prices than retail prices.  As of May 2013 Star City Games is offering 1000USD for a Mint Condition Unlimited Black Lotus (white-bordered printing), Troll and Toad is offering 1130USD.  (Just two of the largest and best known Internet retailers, chosen arbitrarily by me.)

Now the Lotus in that picture appears to have a rip in the lower left corner, which makes it basically worthless to collectors (who wouldn't usually be all that interested in the white-bordered printing anyway).  It only has whatever value it has to people who actually want to use it while playing the game.  Ever tried to sell a comic book with torn cover?  More or less the same.  I am no professional dealer, but I think giving around half the mint price for a torn card is very fair.

The other two have square corners, meaning they are from a special set of printings known as the "Collector's Edition," which are not considered "real" Magic cards and cannot be used in official tournaments.  They have some street value because some people like to have the "almost real" version when playing the game in formats where fake cards are allowed.  The current buy list value for both combined is $65 in May 2013.

If the card is not torn and is only creased, then yes he probably could have eventually done a bit better by retailing it, but we're back to the used car analogy.  It's also arguably even harder to move that product than a car if you're not already an established retailer.  A retailer like Star City Games can sell a white-border Lotus for $1500 online because Ben Bleiweiss is a household name in the collector community and people trust him not to sell them a counterfeit card.  If a seller with no history of moving Magic cards at all tossed a damaged Black Lotus up on eBay expecting people to be willing to pay anything resembling retail for it, they will find themselves relisting that auction for a very long time.


Is there a card that has opponents discard cards whenever they lose life?

No, as this search reveals.

Noteable:

Mindcrank: "Whenever an opponent loses life, that player puts that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard." Extremely close to what you requested, but it doesn't trigger Fell Specter's ability.
Exquisite Blood: "Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life." It forms a similar combo with Sanguine Bond and Epicure of Blood instead of Fell Specter.


In Takenoko, when rain falls on a segment that has the fertilizer improvement, how much does the bamboo grow?

This is covered in the official FAQ: http://www.jybe.ch/faq/takenoko_faq_eng.pdf

  If the target plot carries a fertilizer improvement, 2 bamboo sections
  are added to the plot.


I agree with your understanding of the situation.  By forcing you to go to the 3-level if you decide you prefer his first suit (diamonds)... well, that's a textbook reverse.  I would suggest that "about 17" points is a fair reading of such a bid.

Since your partner only had 13 points, and your bid should clearly have allowed him to infer that between you you only barely have the balance of the points, it's difficult to see what he hoped to achieve by going to 2S.  You are extremely unlikely to have 5 or more spades after your NT bid, so at best you're finding a marginal 4-4 spade fit, at worst no fit at all.  And that's if you stop bidding there, which of course you are unlikely to, because your partner has just falsely suggested that he has some basis on which to keep the bidding going... 4S sounds about right for an 8 card fit and roughly 24-25 points between you, yes.

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again - send your partner back to basic Bridge school!


Summoning Surge: do you put the event card in the discard before taking event action?

From the official FAQ version 1.3:

  Q: What happens if 2 powers trigger at the same time?
  A: The player whose turn it is determines in which order the Special Abilities will be resolved.

It seems since this happens on your turn, you can choose the order that is most benificial for you.


Dealing damage does not directly destroy creatures. It's actually state-based actions performed afterwards (the next time someone would get priority) that do. His Grizzly Bear would survive because your opponent has 5 life when SBAs are performed.

All participants assign their damage [CR 510.1]. No damage is actually dealt at this point, so your opponent has 7 life for the entire process, so his Grizzly Bear is 2/2 for the entire process.

2 damage is assigned to your blocked attacker by his Grizzly Bear
2 damage is assigned to his Grizzly Bear by your blocked attacker.
2 damage is assigned to him by your unblocked blocked attacker.

All participants deal the previously assigned damage simultaneously [CR 510.2]. (The power/toughness of the participants is not checked here.)

2 damage is dealt to your blocked attacker by his Grizzly Bear.

2 damage is marked on your blocked attacker.

2 damage is dealt to his Grizzly Bear by your blocked attacker.

2 damage is marked on the Grizzly Bear.

2 damage is dealt to him by your unblocked blocked attacker.

He loses 2 life.

State-based actions are performed.

Your blocked attacker is destroyed because its toughness, 2, is not greater than than its marked damage, 2.
(Nothing happens to his Grizzly Bear because its toughness, 6, is greater than its marked damage, 2.)
(Your opponent does not lose the game because his life, 5, is greater than 0.)


Trading Property to settle a debt in Monopoly

What's unclear about the rules:

  You are declared bankrupt if you owe more than you
  can pay either to another player or to the Bank. ....

  ... A bankrupt player must immediately retire from the
  game. The last player left in the game wins.

Unless one can find a way to clear the entire debt while retaining an asset of at least $1 value, thus avoiding bankruptcy, the bankrupt player is out of the game; just as the rule stipulates.

Part of the beauty of the game is the simplicity of the rules as written. Imagining considerations that are not actually in the rules is what leads to games dragging on for hours; I for one would rather concede a lost game and get started on a second.


Yes. “Advance to Illinois Ave” just means to move forward normally until you are at Illinois Ave. If you pass go you collect $200 like normal.


What happens to the cards revealed when building a tunnel?

They're discarded.

From the Switzerland rules, page 2:

  The three Train Car cards revealed for the Tunnel are discarded.

Note that train cards are never put on the bottom of the draw pile. Only when the draw pile is empty does the discard get shuffled to replace it.


In Magic, is the player going first advantaged?

The game balances first player advantage because the start player does not draw a card at the beginning of his first turn, but the second player does draw a card during his first turn.

The rule that says it is this one:

  103.7a In a two-player game, the player who plays first skips the draw step (see rule 504, “Draw Step”) of his or her first turn.

While this does balance the game somewhat, this article by Florian Koch shows that the start player still has a small statistical advantage. Koch points out that other factors could influence the results, including the skill level of the players and the decks being played (including knowledge of what deck your opponent is playing).

In case you didn't know, if you win the coin toss (or dice roll) it doesn't mean you have to begin, it means you decide whether you want to begin. There are players who actually don't want to begin; some decks prefer the extra card instead of the turn advantage.


Can I use Jegantha as a companion if I have an Apex creature in my deck because of the Alternate cost?

The mutate costs don't matter; you can still use Jegantha as your Companion. Jegantha states:

  No card in your starting deck has more than one of the same mana symbol in its mana cost.

Mana cost is defined in the rules:

  202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card.

Costs of other abilities that may appear on a card, including mutate costs, are not the mana cost of the card itself, and that is all Jegantha is looking at.


What the is frequency with which a bridge partnership is dealt hands suitable for bidding 2-over-1?

i don't have access to hard stats, but based on my 4+ decades of playing competitive Bridge that figure rings true. If we consider a 26 Board Duplicate session as a typical evening, our side can be expected to open the bidding 13 times, with perhaps 6-7 of those being a Weak 1NT opening or 1 of a minor, perhaps 3 being opened above the 1-Level either weak or strong, and  the remaining 3-4 being opened 1 of a Major. For two of those to then employ  either the Forcing 1NT or 2-over-1 response, the two key system bids, sounds about right.

Remember that 2-over-1 is designed as a teams-of-four system that trades off weaker performance in part scores for increased accuracy in slam bidding. This leverages the IMP scale to best advantage, but can hurt MatchPoint performance. For a pair with specific aspirations in MatchPoint events only the switch you describe might be worthwhile - it certainly worked for Barry Crane, who shone in both team and pairs play with a system designed very much for MatchPoint (and Board-a-Match) events.


In Commander, does color identity prevent me from taking control of a different colored permanent?

No, stealing an opponent's creature of any color is fine.

The only limitations are the ones explicitly imposed by the rules:

Color identity applies during deck creation. You may not put a white card or a card that uses white mana symbols in your red/black Olivia deck. (You could include a black card that creates a white token, though; or an extort card, since that's just reminder text.)
(Historical only.) Before 2016, there was a special rule limiting how you generate mana: mana outside of your color identity would become colorless when it entered your mana pool. So if you were playing Olivia Voldaren and you would add {W} to your mana pool, you'd get colorless mana instead. This meant you would might trouble activating the abilities of some of the creatures you stole with Olivia.


What are the differences between the four editions of The Settlers of Catan base game?

The new fourth edition has a few minor changes in appearance, and the biggest change is a new set of border pieces that surround the hexagon tiles to keep them together.

The most important thing to know is that they do not mix and match very well: if you have the 3rd edition of Settlers, you should buy the 3rd edition of the expansions.  If you have the 4th edition of the base game, you should buy the 4th edition expansions.  So if you're just getting into it, I would suggest buying the new edition, since the corresponding expansions will be easier to find.


Why this challenge in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force wasn't completed?

Maybe I'm wrong, but, why the challenge wasn't recognized?

Perhaps this could be a bug on that game... but I suspect the reason was the following: you actually did 8000 points of damage, not 10600.

The first hit your Marauding Captain did caused 5300 damage; that is true. Your opponent's LP went from 8000 to 2700 thanks to that attack.

Now, on your second attack you actually did... 2700 damage, and not 5300. Why? Because on YuGiOh Lifepoints can't go negative. From the rules on LP:

  If a player's LP would drop below 0, they become 0 rather than negative.
  If a player's LP become 0, they lose the Duel.

This means that you did a net amount of damage of 8000, and not 10600 as it may seem.

In order to achieve the challenge, perhaps you will have to fight an opponent that gains LP, so when you win you would have made more than 8000 damage (and perhaps 10k to complete the challenge).


The rulings below the card in Gatherer state:

  If you discard a card with madness to pay the cost of Anje’s activated ability, you’ll draw a card last. You may untap Anje before or after you choose whether to cast the discarded card, but not after you’ve chosen to cast it but before that spell resolves.

(emphasis mine)

Why? The first object on the stack is the 'draw a card' ability, and you pay for it by discarding the card. That causes both the triggered ability part of Madness (see below) and Anje's last ability to trigger, and you may choose in which order you put them on the stack:

  702.34a Madness is a keyword that represents two abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with madness is in a player’s hand. The second is a triggered ability that functions when the first ability is applied. “Madness [cost]” means “If a player would discard this card, that player discards it, but exiles it instead of putting it into their graveyard” and “When this card is exiled this way, its owner may cast it by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost. If that player doesn’t, they put this card into their graveyard.”

Those abilities resolve first, while the 'draw a card' ability is still on the stack, and therefore drawing the card always happens last.

If you expect it makes a difference in your decision to pay the Madness cost or not, consider putting the Madness ability on the stack first, followed by Anje's untap ability. The untap ability resolves first, which gives you the opportunity to activate Anje's second ability again, and the card draw from that activation will happen before you have to decide to pay the madness cost for the first discarded card. (Then again, maybe you expect the next card draw to matter, so I'm not sure it will make much of a difference.)


Should West read a low card as "not" discouraging in the following situation?

East doesn't know West has 5 hearts. If west had only AKxx and east had JTx, then continuing hearts would set up the third round for declarer. So discouraging from JTx, Jxx, or even JTxx (if opening leader could have AKx) is correct.

On this hand West should definitely continue hearts. It is safe, and given West's holdings in the minors, it's very unlikely that it's crucial to start an attack on another suit.

In general, saving your honors when they could be crucial for taking tricks is much more important than giving the right signal. Sometimes you have to trust partner to work it out without a signal. So don't signal with the Q from Qxx.

A couple more advanced notes:

This is indeed easier if you lead A from AK, since if the lead was from KQx or KQxx, you want to be able to encourage holding the jack.

Contrary to the previous answer, the situation when the lead is from AK and small cards are in dummy is actually one when standard carding does better than upside down, since with JTx you want to discourage but may not be able to afford an honor. This is a well-known position.


Are there any English servers where I can play Mahjong online?

I've played Mahjong online through Yahoo. But, there usually aren't that many players on their server. Yahoo also have solitaire Mahjong games, if that's what you're referring to.

You could also try MahjongExpress. I've never played on there, but it looks like it requires you to install software, kind of like the online poker games.


Interestingly enough they had an article on this just a short while ago: Begin Your Pursuit.

To summarize to just your question, I think there's three major benefits:

Ships that are docked are not "on the table" and can't be targeted in any way, making sure your more fragile ships make it into the heart of the battle without taking damage.
Ships that are 'undocking' move from the front (or rear) of the Assault Carrier itself, so your ship can deploy further into the battle or into a better position.
Ships 'undock' as part of the Huge Ship resolution, which is always after all smaller ships, so your lower Pilot Skill fighters can deploy and maneuver into place after the opponent's higher Pilot Skill ships have already moved and boosted/rolled.

The article provides a great example of these three in combination by using Captain Jonus and 3 other TIE Bombers, moving the Vector-titled Assault Carrier a full 4-straight forward and then deploying the bombers another 4-straight forward, putting them in range to Target Lock and volley Ion Torpedoes or Assault Missiles directly into the heart of your enemy's formation before they have a chance to spread out.


With Necropotence, would I keep playing even with no library?

You are correct that if you control a Necropotence, you will not lose the game during your draw step, because you will skip your draw step entirely, and you can keep playing until the game ends some other way.
You say "I know if I'm not able to draw on my draw step I lose", but it would be more accurate to say that you lose if you are instructed to draw from an empty library at any time, during your draw step or otherwise.
From the Comprehensive Rules:

120.4. A player who attempts to draw a card from a library with no cards in it loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)
120.5. If an effect moves cards from a player’s library to that player’s hand without using the word “draw,” the player has not drawn those cards. This makes a difference for abilities that trigger on drawing cards and effects that replace card draws, as well as if the player’s library is empty.


Do I get copy of my opponents creature with Helm of the Host?

Yes, that all works the way you expect. You will get copies of your opponent's creature at the beginning of your combat step.

The most relevant rule here is rule 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.

So, even after you no longer control the creature, you still control the equipment and it stays attached to the creature.


No, you can't do that.

Spells don't go to the graveyard until they're done resolving:

  608.2k As the final part of an instant or sorcery spell’s resolution, the spell is put into its owner’s graveyard. As the final part of an ability’s resolution, the ability is removed from the stack and ceases to exist.

Of course in your situation, you're hoping for Path to Exile to be in the graveyard before it even starts to resolve. If you do something "in response" to casting Path to Exile, that means Path to Exile is still on the stack. The stack is its own game zone; spells that are there can't be in the graveyard (or any other zone).

So this definitely doesn't work. You'll loot with Jace, have four cards in the graveyard (so he won't transform), then Path to Exile will exile him (now you have 5 cards in your graveyard, but too late), then your opponent's Lightning Bolt will have no target and be countered.


Are movement trays legal in Warhammer 40k Tournaments?

From what I've seen on forums and general consensus on the web, there doesn't seem to be any rulings against Movement trays in Warhammer 40K. The only issue it may cause is with certain units with blast radius weaponry. This would possibly deprecate you game if your models are locked in a tray.

However, Termagants should be okay to place in trays as from what I can recall of 40K they don't have blast radius weaponry.
Check this page and this page that I found on the matter. They all seem to suggest its legal but not advisable as it could put you at a disadvantage.


Two Headed Giant - do I gain life when my teammate gains life?

No, the Pridemate's ability doesn't trigger when your teammate gains life, because while your shared life total goes up it is not you gaining life.

Two-Headed Giant FAQ:

  How does damage, loss of life, and gaining life work with the single life total for the team?
  Damage, loss of life, and gaining life happens to each player individually. The result is applied to the
  team’s shared life total.


Axis and Allies 1941 planes and industry

An air unit cannot capture a territory; since the territory is not captured it would retain whatever control marker was on it.  There are no rules to "destroy" a capital or industrial complex.  A territory cannot become neutral; the only neutral territories are already defined on the board.
http://axisallies.com/rules/axis-allies-rules-1941.pdf


When a Creature dies, does the Enchantment Creature attached to that Creature go in the graveyard?

Depends on the situation. Normally, when a creature dies (goes to the graveyard) or gets exiled, all attached enchantments are moved to the graveyard as well.

  704.5n If an Aura is attached to an illegal object or player, or is not attached to an object or player,
  that Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

Unless you have a bestow enchantment:

  702.102e If an Aura with bestow is attached to an illegal object or player, it becomes unattached. This is an exception to rule 704.5n.

Of course, that has also has its exceptions, for example when a player casts End Hostilities, then all creatures, and its attached permanents are destroyed.


Is declining to win to burn time on the clock punishable?

I would say that this is not in violation of any rules. By taking more turns than necessary, Alice is giving Bob additional chances to draw outs to this situation, so it is not unambiguously to Alice's advantage to draw this out. And Alice is drawing two cards per turn, so Alice only has 15 to 20 turns before she either decks out or plays Entreat and wins. If each player plays at a reasonable pace and takes few actions each turn, they could probably finish with more than that much time on the clock. If Alice slows down her pace of play to make the game last longer, then it becomes a clear case of slow play, and probably stalling.

In addition, each player has a fast way to resolve this situation if they believe it is not to their advantage. If Bob believes he would be better off if Alice won quickly, he can always concede. And if Alice believes she would be better off winning quickly, she can do so as described in the question.

Furthermore, there are perfectly valid strategic reasons to play slowly like Alice is doing here. For example, she may suspect that Bob has a Dovin's Veto in hand, and be trying to find a different spell to draw it out without risking the Entreat.


Can I cast adventures from my graveyard?

So this is what the Throne of Eldraine Release Notes have to say about this:

If you cast an adventurer card as an Adventure, use only its alternative characteristics to determine whether it's legal to cast that spell. For example, if Giant Killer is exiled with the last ability of Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, you can't cast it as Chop Down.

This settles your first question. If you are allowed to cast creature cards (or Zombie cards in case of Liliana) you are not allowed to cast them as adventures.
Moreover, in contrast to any other answer you have received, it seems you can cast your adventure card from the graveyard, if you are allowed to cast instants and sorceries from your graveyard, for example by the emblem of Jaya Ballard. I was pretty sure this is not how Wizards intends this to play out as well though, and I thought they will make use of this bit of text in the rules about casting a spell:

601.3. A player can't begin to cast a spell unless a rule or effect allows that player to cast it. If that player is no longer allowed to cast that spell after completing its proposal, the casting of the spell is illegal and the game returns to the moment before the casting of that spell was proposed (see rule 721, "Handling Illegal Actions").

Edit after rules update:
The rules update clarified this rules interaction by adding rule 601.3e to the rule book:

601.3e. If a rule or effect states that only an alternative set of characteristics or a subset of characteristics are considered to determine if a card or copy of a card is legal to cast, those alternative characteristics replace the object's characteristics prior to determining whether the player may begin to cast it.
Example: Garruk's Horde says, in part, "You may cast the top card of your library if it's a creature card." If you control Garruk's Horde and the top card of your library is a noncreature card with morph, you may cast it using its morph ability.
Example: Melek, Izzet Paragon says, in part, "You may cast the top card of your library if it's an instant or sorcery card." If you control Melek, Izzet Paragon and the top card of your library is Giant Killer, an adventurer creature card whose Adventure is an instant named Chop Down, you may cast Chop Down but not Giant Killer. If instead you control Garruk's Horde and the top card of your library is Giant Killer, you may cast Giant Killer but not Chop Down.

So, as it stands, it is legal to cast Chop Down with Jaya's Emblem from your graveyard. Note that in this case, the adventure card, if it is not countered, is exiled by its own ability, which means you could still cast the Giant Killer afterwards...
Note though, that what the other answers said about finding instant cards is still valid. You won't be able to cast Chop Down (or Giant Killer) with the ability of Torrential Gearhulk or any other card that specifically targets a non-creature card in your graveyard, because in your graveyard, it is not an instant and it would thus be an illegal target. As murgatroid already mentioned, if a card that targets creature cards allows you to cast that card, this is not restricted to casting it as a creature spell, so in this case you could also cast the adventure, if it is an adventurer card.
I think a lot of the confusion comes from the fact, that cards that allow you to cast instants from your graveyard specifically mention instant CARDS, which is the term usually used for instants in the graveyard (or anywhere except the stack). Instants on the stack are usually referred to as instant SPELLS (Technically there is a difference here since copies of instants are spells but not cards). In this case, the card is the object itself as it CHANGES ZONES. The rules clearly state now, that only the characteristics of the part of the card you actually want to cast matter at that point, which is counterintuitive, because it behaves like it's on the stack already, whereas usually, the oracle text would not refer to a spell as a card (even if it obviously also is a card on the stack).
tldr: No for the first, Yes for the second question.


According to the UNO rules, drawing without playing is a legal move:

  RENEGING
  You may choose not to play a playable card from your hand. If so, you must draw a card from the DRAW pile. If playable, that card can be played, but you may not play a card from your hand after the draw.

However, the intent of this rule is more likely to allow a player to strategically hang on to a card (for instance saving a wild card for later) than for someone to hold onto all the cards.

Given that the goal of the game is to get rid of your cards, in the normal manner of play this is a scenario that should never happen, so the rules do not cover this case.

A few possible options for a house rule for when this happens:

If a player can't play and can't draw, their turn is skipped and the next player goes
The game is a draw
If you're including the scoring rule, the game ends, and you each score points for the cards in your opponents hands


What happens in Desert Island if no fate tokens are in play at the end of the round?

As the rules you quoted say, all characters with the highest number of tokens (in your case, zero) will get a bad event. "The highest number" is mathematically defined as "no number is higher than this". If the highest number is zero, then that's it.


Does Celestial Crusader also boost my opponent's creatures?

There are no hidden limitations.

The effect of Celestial Crusader's ability applies to white creatures other than that Celestial Crusader, no matter who controls them.

If it only affected creatures your control, the ability would have been phrased like Paragon of New Dawns's:

  Other white creatures you control get +1/+1.


When should I activate Man Lands and Keyrunes in order to attack with them?

You should activate them at some point before the declare attackers step on a turn after they enter the battlefield (unless they have haste).
Here's a breakdown of the declare attackers step:

508.1. First, the active player declares attackers.
508.2. Second, any abilities that triggered on attackers being declared go on the stack.
508.3. Third, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

Clearly, during the declare attackers step, it is too late to activate the abilities (508.3) in order to make them attackers (508.1). However, you are free to do so during your upkeep, first main phase, and beginning of Combat step and it will be eligible to attack.
Note that if you cast a keyrune and turn it into a creature, it cannot attack. This is because permanents that are creatures are unable to attack or use activated abilities with the tap symbol in them unless they have been under their owners control continuously since their most recent turn began (302.6).
It could still be tapped for mana if it is not a creature but as soon as you turn it into a creature it can no longer be tapped to activate abilities the turn it comes into play.
With regards to shortcuts, according to the

A statement such as "I'm ready for combat" or "Declare attackers?" offers to keep passing priority
until an opponent has priority in the beginning of combat step. Opponents are assumed to be acting
then unless they specify otherwise.

In other words, the following exchanges between Aaron the Attacker and Dave the Defender, officiated by Jerry the Judge, have different outcomes
Scenario 1

Aaron: Attacks? long pause
Dave: nods head
Aaron: I activate my keyrune and swing with him for 2.
Dave: Judge!
Jerry: Sorry Aaron, because you passed priority with your "Attacks?" comment, your keyrune was activated too late to be an attacker.

Scenario 2

Aaron: Attacks - I activate my keyrune. long pause
Dave: nods head
Aaron: I swing with him for 2.
Dave: I take 2, I'm at 18 life.
Jerry: I'm going to sip this margarita because I'm not needed here. sips margarita


What are the proper names for the places where cards are drawn from and discarded to?

I think the most generic names would be "Draw Pile" and "Discard Pile".


Yes. From p. 8 of the rulebook:

"Monsters follow the same movement rules as heroes when moving except that monsters cannot suffer fatigue to receive additional movement points."

In case you're still not convinced, p. 3 of the FAQ specifically calls out "When a large monster interrupts its movement to perform an action" as part of a question referring to large monster movement.


In Monopoly, Can I mortgage properties as I am bankrupted?

Basically, you can mortgage properties to try to avoid bankruptcy. But when it is obvious that you can't, you are supposed to restore the status quo ante, (before you landed on the other person's property), and hand over your property to your creditor as they "were." That is, mortgaged or unmortgaged, as they were at the beginning of your turn.

  If your debt is to another player, you must turn over to that player all that you have of value and retire from the game. In making this settlement, if you own houses or hotels, you must return these to the Bank in exchange for money to the extent of one-half the amount paid for them; this cash is given to the creditor.


Can the power of an attack be reduced below two?

There are no limits.

To succeed you need to roll the target number or less on two dice.  If the target number has been reduced to 1 (or less) then the roll is moot.

This isn't stated explicitly in the rules, but more importantly there are no limits placed on spending.  It is alluded to though, on page 5 in the "Spending money to Attack " section:

  For instance, if an attacker uses enough money
  and power to exceed the target’s resistance by 20, the
  defender would have to spend 20 MB to get the attacking
  roll back down to zero again!


I've been trying to figure this out for the longest time and I finally just did! I loved this game as a kid and couldn't remember what it was!! It's KooKooNauts!


How does Camouflage interact with "can't be blocked by more than one creature"?

You can't leave the Charging Rhino unblocked because it's possible to block it, and you were instructed to block it.

Similarly, you can't block with both Soldiers since you are restricted from doing so[1].

That leaves only two possible legal outcomes:

Solder 1 blocks the Charging Rhino, and Soldier 2 doesn't.
Solder 2 blocks the Charging Rhino, and Soldier 1 doesn't.

Pick one.

In Magic, actions are instantaneous. They are never being performed. For example, a card is never moving, a creature is never tapping, etc[2]. The game instantly switches from one state to another. For example, when instructed to draw, the game instantly goes from a state where the card is on top of your library to a state where the card is in your hand. This is why triggered abilities look at the state of the game before or after they trigger; there is no state during the event that triggered the ability.

Yet, some actions can depend on the outcome of other actions taken simultaneously. This is technically impossible. In this situation, we naturally start imagining complex scenarios to explain what happens, but these have no basis in the rules. I've learned long ago to catch myself, and I now see that you have entered this trap.

The solution: You must simply find the legal state that is achieved from following the instructions. How the game managed to achieve that result is not important!

I find it reassuring that the above achieves the same outcome as if one were to follow the steps of Declare Blocks. But it doesn't resolve many other related problems, such as creatures that require paying costs to block. I would be tempted to interpret

  Each creature in a pile that can block the creature that pile is assigned to does so.

as

  Follow the instructions of the Declare Blocks Step, except

  Each creature in a pile that can block the creature that pile is assigned to must do so,
  Each creature in a pile can't block any creature other than the creature that pile is assigned to, and
  Creatures not in a pile can't block.

I take "that can block" to mean "that isn't tapped and that isn't subject to a restrictions preventing it". In other words, restrictions are still in effect even though they are normally checked during the declaration of blockers which was replaced.
Attacking and defending don't refer to actions being performed, but to a rule-defined state of the object.


Ensuring a game of Arkham Horror runs quickly even with new players

It may sound silly, but in these cases (especially with so many players) the "we came here for kicking monster asses, not for pleasure" attitude should help immediately. Focus is a key word. Make sure those aren't playing at the moment are planning for the next round, it could help the focus effort.

In addition, I'd try to hint or even say straight up that they need to get themselves up with a strategy; it could be some kind of role separation - who closes the gates? who clears the monsters? Who gets the weapons and distributes them? - it could be geography separation, etc. But it'll keep the players focused on what they should do every turn instead of re-strategizing everything every time a monster pops up.


Can one caravan touch one oasis at multiple adjacent spaces?

The rules imply that this is permitted.

The section Linking Oases in the rules from FFG (see page 4, left column) includes the clarification

  If a player places another camel of the same caravan adjacent to the same oasis, he does not claim another oasis scoring marker.

Were such a placement not permitted, it would make no sense to specify it doesn't score additional points.

The rules are however clear that in all cases, camel placement must obey the normal rules i.e.

you must add them adjacent to a camel in the caravan you control; your extra camels will spread around the oasis from where the first camel reached it.
you can't add a camel that links caravans of the same colour belonging to different players; you must maintain the caravan separation if another player has already reached the oasis with that colour too.


You've pretty much summed it up yourself. While you probably would not put Leyline Phantom in a constructed deck, it saw a fair amount of play in limited, since it both has a pretty big body for the cost and has various synergies with a few other cards in the same limited environment.

I would not spend to much time trying to figure out other ways to use the card; since the card is just not very powerful. I'm sure there are plenty of other cards that combo with Leyline Phantom, but for most of those there are lots of other cards that combo even better (e.g. the "gating" creatures from Invasion block).


Agricola Family Growth importance threshold

The sole* value of getting family growth is having extra action. Each round that you can get family growth earlier and is one extra action you can take.

*Actually there are other reasons you might want to take family growth earlier - to block other people from taking it that round, or in order to not lose out on the three points for the family member at the end of the game, if other people take the space before you.

When weighing up whether it's worth:

a) taking resources in order to build a room (ie. wood, reed)

b) building the room/family growth

You need to consider what that one extra turn is worth.

For example:

If there is 6 wood there, is the one extra turn really worth the six wood?
If there are five sheep there, is the one extra turn worth the five sheep?
If you can see that another player is short on food, and there's four food in the fishing pond, you might consider taking taking the food as an aggressive strategy that will hurt them despite them having an extra family member.

Absolutely, generally speaking, growing your family early is a good a strategy, and extrapolating from that, that means taking the necessary resources (wood and reed) for yourself, or preventing others from getting resources is a good strategy.

This does suggest that the 'take the single reed' could possibly be a reasonable strategy - both to acquire the resource for yourself, and to prevent others from grabbing the two reed the next round.

Though - remember there is always the day labour in order to grab a single reed, and it would cripple your own game to try block both those spots each turn.

Generally I don't favour taking a single reed - there are probably better options - such as plowing fields, or taking the wood.

One better strategy, is if you are in last playing position, and there is still the one reed there, then you take starting player as your last move. This lets you grab the two reed first at the start of the next round.


How to summon Number C107: Neo Galaxy Eyes Tachyon Dragon

There are several Rank-Up-Magic Cards.  Barian's Force, Limited Barian's Force, Numeron Force and Argent Chaos Force come to mind.

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Rank-Up-Magic


Can Bloodrush be countered with an instant that destroys attacking creature?

The blood rush card fizzles and goes to the graveyard.

To answer the question in the title: Yes.

Your understanding is correct. Since your Wring Flesh is on the stack above the bloodrush card, then it happens before the bloodrush is applied.

Since the card's bloodrush ability was activated, it is discarded. The first part of the bloodrush ability says the card is to be discarded.


House rules to decrease luck factor in Boxcars

We have looked at this game critically and found that we agree with your assessment that there is too much luck. Furthermore, the penalties and rewards for that luck are too extreme the way the rules were written.

DISCLAIMER: If you love Monopoly please stop reading this, you will love Boxcars. If you like games of strategy and planning, please continue reading.

This game is far too random, and doesn't offer as much as a viable means of strategy. Before I suggest to you possible alterations to the rules, we have to examine what's wrong with the game.

Too Much Luck

Random starting location, random destination, moving a random number of spaces each turn.

Double Jeopardy

If you happen to be traveling on someone else's rail lines, and you roll low, you are getting penalized AT LEAST double. Moving slower means increased number of turns, which means other players are gaining an advantage on movement alone. Since you are not on your lines, you are paying the bank or other players more for your crappy roll. It's not only possible but extremely likely that on a trip covering more than 10 spaces you will spend more than you make for the trip.

Feels like Monopoly

Monopoly is a good board game when you were 8. The same reason why people wouldn't want to play Monopoly is why you don't want to play this game. You will randomly get muscled out and there will be nothing you can do about it. No strategy, no plan, nothing. Just hope you get stuck in jail so you don't have to pay some stupid high rent because you went 3 laps around the board before you ended on a property you could buy.

There are more things we find to be a bit off but here are some rules we've tried that make the game less brutal. Consider using any or all of these, we have yet to find the perfect combination of these rules that allows for maximum strategy in such a random game:

You pay for using someone else's lines once. Once you decide to use a line that's not yours, you pay that person a 1 time fee. As long as you remain on that same line, you do not pay again, whether that's 1 turn or 10 turns. If you junction off onto another line, even another of the same person's lines, you pay again. You pay at each junction (think of it as a connection fee). What this does is it allows you to plan a route, at least initially, taking advantage of longer lines or lines that you may own. It just adds a lot more strategy. Optional: You may wish to keep the $1k per roll on un-owned lines as a tax to the bank.
You get to see your next destination before purchasing a line. Normally you go to your destination, cash in, purchase route, then see where you are going. This way you can see where you are going and decide if you want to purchase any route in between where you are and where you are going.
Roll a random sector of the map, choose the city. Perhaps you are headed to the southeast, but are blocked out of Miami entirely. It might be more cost effective to go to Atlanta cause you have a way in there. You won't get paid as much, but it will cost you less. Maybe you own lines into Miami, and it would be worth your time to go farther. This helps getting totally screwed.
Roll 2 destinations, pick one. Still random but a little more forgiving.
"Contracts". At the start of the game you get your start location, then roll 3 random destinations. Write them down and you get to pick which one you go to. When reaching that destination cross it off and you MAY roll another. The catch is you have to complete all the contracts you take, so eventually you will have to decide to stop adding to your list. At soon as you have the required money, and all destinations complete, you can then return to your home city and attempt to win.

We find these rules to help, why let a $x game sit on the shelf and never get played because of bad rules.


Do "enters the battlefield" abilities trigger when a creature is copied with Phyrexian Metamorph?

You certainly do.  Per the Gatherer rulings:

  Any enters-the-battlefield abilities of the copied permanent will
  trigger when Phyrexian Metamorph enters the battlefield. Any "as
  [this] enters the battlefield" or "[this] enters the battlefield with"
  abilities of the chosen permanent will also work.

The section in the Comp rules seems pretty clear on this, as well:

  706.5. An object that enters the battlefield “as a copy” or “that’s a copy” of another object becomes a  copy as it enters the battlefield.
  It doesn’t enter the battlefield, and then become a copy of that
  permanent. If the text that’s being copied includes any abilities that
  replace the enters-the-battlefield  event (such as “enters the
  battlefield with” or “as [this] enters the battlefield” abilities),
  those  abilities will take effect. Also, any enters-the-battlefield
  triggered abilities of the copy will have a  chance to trigger.


Can Dimensional Barrier be used on Link monsters?

No you cannot use Dimensional Barrier on link monsters as this is the current text.

  Call one monster type (Ritual, Xyz, Synchro, Pendulum, Fusion) For the
  rest of this turn neither player can summon that kind of monster. And
  any monster of that type already on the field have their effects
  negated.

Because it explicitly mentions monster card types, only the mentioned ones can be used. If the card didn’t explicitly mention certain types then you could have used it on link monsters (so taking out the part in brackets). So currently you cannot use dimensional Barrier on link monsters, unless Konami give the card an errata (rewording the card text).

Please see this reddit page for more information.


Can I use counterspells to make my Decree of Silence last longer?

No, because casting a spell is different from resolving a spell, and adding a depletion counter does not depend on Degree of Silence actually countering the spell.
When you counter a spell, you only prevent it from resolving.

701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.

Decree of Silence triggers on an oponent casting a spell. That event happens as soon as the opponent has put the spell on the stack, made all choices, and paid all costs. It's impossible to retroactively prevent the casting of a spell.

601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. [..]
601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, effects that modify the characteristics of the spell as it’s cast are applied, then the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, they get priority.

Decree of Silence's ability also won't fizzle once it's triggered. It is not necessary for Decree of Silence to actually counter the spell to get a counter. Countering the spell and placing a counter are independent of each other, so it doesn't matter if the spell that triggered it is countered beforehand. If you counter the spell before DoS resolves, DoS will still do as much as possible:

609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.

Its ability does not target anything, so it can't fizzle due to lack of targets. It does not require any information about the spell as it resolves, so there is no potential for failing to carry out its instructions on those grounds. While exceptions exist, triggered abilities generally don't care about what happens to the source once they have triggered.
If the "adding a counter" effect was dependant on "countering that spell", the ability would be worded as a special kind of delayed triggered ability:

603.12. A resolving spell or ability may allow or instruct a player to take an action and create a triggered ability that triggers “when [a player] [does or doesn’t]” take that action or “when [something happens] this way.” These reflexive triggered abilities follow the rules for delayed triggered abilities (see rule 603.7), except that they’re checked immediately after being created and trigger based on whether the trigger event or events occurred earlier during the resolution of the spell or ability that created them.


How many times can you use a port in settlers of catan?

As many times as you want. Almanac, page 9:

  Example: Nick, the orange player, built a settlement at the ore
  special harbor. Nick may exchange 2 ore cards for any 1 other
  Resource Card. He can also trade 4 ore cards for any 2 other cards.


Can outfits other than Law Dogs start with Gomorra Jail?

From the rulebook, page 14:

  Once players have revealed their outfits, they search their decks for up to
  five dudes—either from their outfit or drifters

(Bold added)

Dudes from other factions can be in your deck, but not your starting posse. Hence if you are playing something other than Law Dogs, there is no way to have a Law Dog in your posse for the Jail to start "in place of".


From the rules, p11 (see also p1):

  The game ends as soon as one Queen Bee is completely surrounded by pieces of any color.

So the situation you depict is not a stalemate - it's an immediate victory for Black.


What Crazy Bridge Bidding Systems Actually Work In Practice?

Always Play The Nine

The great and not a little anarchic British player Zia Mahmood - and correct me if any of this is wrong, as I'm recounting it from hazy memories - was once saddled with a partner who wasn't the greatest.  After trying and failing to get her to understand the basics of leads and so forth, he finally gave up, and invented a new system.  If she had a nine, she should always play it.  Apparently a middle-of-the-pack lead like this was much less likely to instantly compromise the contract than various of the other options.  Zia's partner was pretty happy to have so many fewer confusing options to deal with, and apparently they were able to do a lot better at the Bridge table for the rest of the evening!

Strong Pass System

I can't claim to be as interesting and funny as Zia Mahmood, but once, a slightly insane friend of mine and I cooked up a strong pass system and played it online.  Sitting in first seat, a pass meant a huge whack of points and was incredibly forcing... all other bids were an increasingly elaborate attempt to build on that.  Yes, it would have all fallen apart if we'd told our hapless opponents what we were playing, but as a one-off joke it was wonderful.  Our crowning glory was managing to go down just a couple of tricks undoubled against a partnership who had 30 points between them - in first and third seats our repeated aggressive bidding (signifying of course that we had nothing at all) completely impeded any ability they had to take control of the bidding, and then their defence was deeply confused by the fact they thought we had completely different hands to the actual truth, at every turn!  I still feel a bit guilty that at the end of that game our opponents congratulated us for some of the most amazing play they'd ever seen at the Bridge table... we were being so naughty, and they were so nice!


No, you only score runs once with the longest length so you would only score 5 plus you would score 4 more for your 15's.  So the score of the hand would be 9.


Can Winds of Qal Sisma trigger Willbreaker's ability?

No. Willbreaker triggers specifically when something "...becomes the target of a spell or ability...". Spells and abilities only target if they say "target" (or if they're an aura being cast). Winds of Qal Sisma doesn't say "target", it just prevents all combat damage, regardless of where it came from, so Willbreaker never sees anything that'd cause it to trigger.


Can I use the Injury and Madness cards from Miskatonic Horror without Dunwich Horror?

It's possible to houserule anything, and these cards aren't an exception.
Just have in mind that if you want to add these in using just the Dunwich Horror rules, it will decrease the game's difficulty considerably.

In the core game when your Sanity or Stamina drops to 0 you:

Discard half of your items
Discard half of your Clues
Recover 1 Sanity or Stamina

The Dunwich Horror leaves the above possibility intact, but also gives you an option to instead:

Keep your items
Keep your Clues
Recover full Sanity or Stamina
Gain an Injury or Madness card

Like this, it's already a convenience.
As it's entirely a player's choice to gain the Injury/Madness card, you'll simply choose the option that's less harmful in a given situation.
While Injury and Madness cards are somewhat debilitating, in many cases it's still more desirable to gain one than to lose your clues, stuff, and time needed to heal yourself.
To balance this, there's a risk included: If you ever gain another copy of the Injury or Madness you already have, you are instantly devoured.
If you only have Miskatonic Horror, you never risk gaining a second copy.
With this mitigating factor gone, Injuries and Madnessess become a more attractive option.

If you're fine with an easier game, then you're done.
If not, you have a lot of options in front of you. We're talking about house rules after all.

The easiest modification would be to remove the base game option of losing half of your possessions.
When gaining Injury/Madness is no longer a player's choice, they will more likely hit you when it hurts.
You may also consider a "baseball" variant:
When you have three "strikes" (total of both Injuries and Madnesses) you are instantly devoured.
This would be a proxy of the "double copy = devoured" rule.

It's impossible to list all the potential variants. I'm sure you'll find something that suits your gaming group.


It is hidden in the encounter section of the rules:

  Other times the encounters are hostile
  and attack the character, or even turn him into a slimy Toad!

You will remain a toad for three turns, unless:

  If a character is already a Toad and is turned into a Toad
  again (for example, as a result of the Random Spell), the character
  remains a Toad for three more turns starting from the
  second transformation.


When and which board game was the first to be ever invented?

According to oldest.org, the oldest board game was Senet, invented ca. 3500 BCE in Egypt.

Some other ancient games that are popular are Checkers (c.3000 BCE, Ancient Mesopotamia), Go (c.c.2000 BCE, Ancient China) and Chess (c.600 AD, India or China)


Can you support through ships in Game of Thrones?

Absolutely not! Quite apart from the fact that that makes no sense whatsoever, it also explicitly states that you can't on page 23 of the rulebook (bottom right).

  While land areas connected by ship transport are considered adjacent
  for purposes of marching and retreating, they are not considered
  adjacent for any other purpose (including supporting and raiding).


Can a Thief Steal a Really Impressive Title?

Thieves can only steal Items. An Item either has a gold piece value or "No value" printed in the corner. Really Impressive Title has neither of these, so it is not an Item, so it can't be stolen.
Note that in earlier editions of Munchkin, this card was actually misprinted, and confusingly did in fact say "No Value". Per the official Errata, this is corrected in the 19th printing:

Corrected Errata
Corrected in the 19th Printing
Really Impressive Title is not an item, so it should not say "No Value"


Can A Wild Rage Card Ever Be Less Than Zero?

From the Fundex game manual...

  WILD RAGE: When the Wild Rage is played, the player must announce
  what color it will be. The selected color may be the trump color. Wild
  Rage is considered to be the highest value of the color it is called out to
  be. If both Wild Rages are played in a single trick and are called the same
  color, the second Wild Rage is considered to be of a lower value than the first.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/55521/Fundex-Games-Rage.html#manual

Translating from the German Amigo rules via Google translate...

  "Joker": If you play a Joker card, you must announce a suit that is valid for the Joker. The selected color may also be the current trump color. The Joker is the highest card of the chosen color in the lurch. If the current trump suit color is not chosen for the wild card, then each card in the current trump suit is higher than the wild card. If both jokers are played in one trick, the second joker is higher than the first.

https://www.amigo-spiele.de/content/download.php?group=rule&file=00990-DE-AmigoRule.pdf&title=00990-DE-AmigoRule.pdf.

In both rule books, nothing allowing the selection of any value except the highest for a wild rage card. Your only choice is what suit / color.

Another set of rules that don’t conform to either of the manufacture rulebooks...

  There are two wild Rage cards in the deck. When a player plays these, she can announce the card as any suit or number up to 16 that he wishes. By going up to 16, even though the deck is only to 15, this makes that card the strongest card in its suit if the player wishes. The second Wild Rage card cannot be played on that same trick.

https://ourpastimes.com/rage-card-game-rules-6702363.html

In that variation you can assign the suit value above 15, which makes it a more flexible and thus powerful card. Still it says nothing about being able to assigned a negative value that would never win.

Allowing a negative value to the wild rage card with the intent that it would never win reduces the skill needed for calculating the number of trick you intent to capture. As a result, this would increase the luck factor needed to win... I could see this being a good house rule if playing with more causal players; but it doesn’t appear to be an official rule.


How does Gideon, Champion of Justice's ability work?

A ruling on the gatherer page for Gideon says

  Gideon, Champion of Justice's power and toughness are set to the number of loyalty counters on him when his second ability resolves. They won't change later in the turn if the number of loyalty counters on him changes.

So, he is assigned a power and toughness when the ability resolves, and it doesn't change.

If you copy Gideon in this state, the copy is just a Planeswalker. The effect that makes Gideon a creature doesn't get copied.


What tactics should Baron Blade use in the Power Splicing scenario?

I have played as Baron Blade multiple times and never lost Scenario 1.
The key is using the terrain to your advantage.  There are eight potential targets of which you have to take out six.  That means you should be teleporting to an unoccupied target just about every time.
Pay close attention to turn order.  Remember that you get two turns for every turn any particular other hero gets.  Is Ra over by himself protecting a target?  As soon as he takes his turn, jump over there and splice it, then jump away on your next turn before he gets to act again.
Always wear your suit for +1 defense, and don't be afraid to change out your teleport for your restributor (and +1 Defense token) on a turn when you're going to let them hit you - especially if you can burn an action to Dodge.  Never attack unless you know you can get a kill, like a six-space Fusion shot with Aim.
Good luck.  With a good handle on the terrain and the Baron's defensive powers, you should have the Megalopolis power grid in your hands in no time!


Is it common to have too few resources for most cards in Age 3 of "7 Wonders"?

First off, Seven Wonders is meant to be a 7-player game!  You got the "normal experience".  It's not as if resources are much less scarce in the 3-player game - you do remove more than half the cards from the mix in that game, after all...

I've never found the Age 3 cards to be "unaffordable", so yes, I would suggest that if you find yourself unable to take actions other than "discard for 3 coins" in Age 3, you're probably playing suboptimally to some degree.

Having said that, when I say I can "afford" an Age III card, I don't usually mean "pay the exact resources for" it.  I mean one of the following:

be able to pay for most of it, but have a big stockpile of cash to buy the extra resources I need from my neighbours.
use yellow cards providing "one free resource of any kind" to plug the gaps in my production.
use my Wonder's special power to get free resources or builds, if applicable.
keep a close eye on "upgrade chains" of cards from Age I that get me free cards from Age II that then get me free cards from Age III.

So in many cases I'm shortcutting cards into play instead of actually paying for them.  But I definitely think that if, more than once or twice in Age III, you're looking at your hand and thinking "there's nothing here I can play, at all", something has gone badly wrong with your strategy!


Is his nobs/knobs separate from a flush in cribbage?

Nobs is counted separately. It will always be one extra point if it is in your hand or in the crib. Likewise, nibs (if a jack is cut for the dealer) is always two points, and the dealer still gets to count the jack for a flush if the suit matches.

Rules of Cribbage.


In the Star Wars VCR board game, which die face has the Stormtrooper symbol?

Based on evidence from a few photos online, it appears that the Stormtrooper symbol replaces the 1 on an standard die.

The Board Game Geek gallery for this game includes a few pictures of the die.

This image shows that the Stormtrooper does not replace the 3 or 5...

... and this image shows that it does not replace the 2.

Another image from VintageStarWars.net shows that it does not replace the 6.

I was unable to locate a picture with either the 1 or 4 showing, but since a standard 6-sided die is oriented such that opposing sides add to seven it seems reasonable to conclude that the Stormtrooper must replace the 1, since the 4 would be opposite the 3.  (It would also seem more logical to replace either the smallest or largest number, rather than one in the middle.)


What happens if I pocket both players' last C/m and the Striker in one shot?

According to the ICF rules, it's a loss for you.

Depending on who covered the Queen, your opponent will get 1-3 points, +1 for the Striker, and +1 if it was an improper stroke.

  a) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by a proper stroke he shall lose the Board by one point, if the Queen has been covered by him. One additional point for the pocketed Striker shall be awarded if demanded by the opponent.

  b) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by an improper stroke, he shall lose the Board by one point, if the Queen has been covered by him. Two additional points shall be awarded, if demanded by the opponent.
  a) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by a proper stroke, he shall lose the Board by 3 points, if the Queen has been covered by the opponent. If the score of the opponent is 22 or more, he shall get one point. One additional point shall be awarded, if demanded by the opponent.

  b) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by an improper stroke he shall lose the Board by 3 points, if  the Queen has been covered by the opponent. If the score of the opponent is 22 or more he shall get one point. Two additional points shall be awarded, if demanded by the opponent.


You can't make any assumptions without agreements. In North America, the most common agreement I've seen is that doubles are takeout oriented for bids through at least 4D; I've seen 4D, 4H, 4S, 6D, and 6H as upper bounds on the takeout double range. Standard American Yellow Card specifies that doubles of partscores are for takeout.


buying Monster Batteries w/ Parasitic Tentacles

This boardgamegeek thread has a poster who appealed to iello's site and got this response

  "The energy cubes that were already on Monster Batteries go back into the bank pile, and the purchaser of Monster Batteries may then use the effect upon purchase."

So it seems like whatever cubes are left on there are simply lost to the bank, meaning the longer you can keep that card once you activate it, the better (before someone resets it with Parasitic Tentacles.


In Duplicate Bridge, does the person holding a particular set of cards open the bidding in all times that particular deal is played?

In pair competitions, yes absolutely ; everything about each hand is identical every time it is played. The dealer and vulnerability is determined by the board number usually - a sixteen board rotation covering all combinations of dealer and vulnerability. The holder has a number and the dealer and vulnerability marked on it.
See this picture from wikipedia:

The red sides indicate Vulnerable, and the dealer is marked as well.  Here NS are vulnerable and E deals. It will be played that way at each table.  Board 2 always has that configuration every time you play anywhere, as would board 18 and 34.
In Swiss teams it’s similar except you’d make sure the other team plays the opposite direction- so team A is NS at one table and EW at the other table, but the board is played the same. Thus one player is designated as Dealer (by the Board markings) at one table; and a player of the other team sitting in the same seat will be the designated Dealer when the Board is played at the other table.
Board-a-Match team games work the same as Swiss.


Am I forced to choose targets for "may" abilities?

Regardless of whether or not the "may" ability is chosen by Necropede's controller, a target still must be chosen for Necropede's ability (assuming one exists).  Thus, Phantasmal Dragon will be chosen as a target and must be sacrificed, and Necropede's ability eventually fizzles.  See the following:

  603.5. Some triggered abilities’ effects are optional (they contain “may,” as in “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card”). These abilities go on the stack when they trigger, regardless of whether their controller intends to exercise the ability’s option or not. The choice is made when the ability resolves. Likewise, triggered abilities that have an effect “unless” something is true or a player chooses to do something will go on the stack normally; the “unless” part of the ability is dealt with when the ability resolves.
  114.1. Some spells and abilities require their controller to choose one or more targets for them. The targets are object(s), player(s), and/or zone(s) the spell or ability will affect. These targets are declared as part of the process of putting the spell or ability on the stack. The targets can’t be changed except by another spell or ability that explicitly says it can do so.


Is Chess with more than three players exists or would be playable?

Yes, chessboards for 3 players exists. I have a similar to the following at home:

https://www.chesshouse.com/products/3-player-medium-wood-chess-set

It is playable and it is fun, however don't expect a really deep chess game. The main tactic is to be not the one who gets ganged upon. The better chess player won't win. The player who can manipulate the best will win (by making the other one vulnerable to attacks or just by talking).

It is almost impossible to defend against two opponents. For example one captures a piece and the second player captures another piece that was defending the first piece. Another situation is as one attacks your king ('check') and the other one attacks your queen. There are also some funny checkmates, like Scholar's mate where one person uses the bishop and the other uses the queen.

Be prepared for these situations, otherwise it feels very unfair. By times very funny, but also very unfair :)


If I buy a Mint, do I still get to use the coins from the treasures I played that turn to buy a Grand Market?

Just because you trashed the coppers doesn't mean you haven't earned the coins for that turn (and can spend them).  Their value to you is accrued when you play them.

Per the Prosperity rules you must play all treasures you want to use, before you buy cards.  The rules for Mint state:

  If you buy multiple cards in a turn, trash your Treasures right when
  you buy Mint; you still have any leftover coins they produced for spending
  on something else.

So the order would be:

Play 11 coppers
Have 11 coins to spend and 2 buys
Purchase a Mint (have 6 coins left to spend and 1 buy)
Resolve the Mint card and trash all coppers (still have 6 coins and 1 buy to spend)
Purchase Grand Market (valid because no coppers are in play).


What is the best way to learn chess strategy and tactics?

When I started working on my chess, I improved a lot just by playing at least one game a day with more experienced tournament players who would point out reasons why I lost afterwards.  It was definitely more efficient than just reading chess books, which I did on the side.  If there is a chess club nearby, you should definitely check it out.

I am guessing from your focus on online chess sites, books, and chess softwares that playing over the board with a human opponent is not an option.  On chess.com, you can ask if your opponent would want to discuss the game afterwards.  Even if that does not work out, just by playing alone you are already building up your collection of chess patterns.  In my case, I learned the dangers of the Nc7 fork, vulnerability of the f7-pawn, the Q+N smothered mate combination, among others just by having them inflicted on me.  After you have fallen victim, say, of the Nc7 fork several times, it will be so much harder for your next opponent to pull the same tactical trick on you.  You may even be the one to inflict the Nc7 fork in your next game.  There is no substitute for practice.

As for books, you may want to try books with lots of tactical puzzles.  For one thing, you will be actively solving problems rather than passively absorbing information.  And for another, the time you spent working on tactics will pay immediate dividends at the board.  To get started, you may want to look at Heisman's annotated list of chess books.  The link jumps straight to the section on tactics, but you should definitely check out the rest of the page as well.

I hope that helps.


From the manual:

Any character can shore up a tile that is either adjacent or underneath them. The engineer is listed as an exception because he can shore up 2 tiles per action. It doesn't indicate any other requirements or exceptions for the Engineer. It does distinctly say they must be for one action so you can't spread it around.

Some think that you can shore up two tiles away:

  The group I played with argued that he could shore up two tiles in a straight "line". That is, one adjacent tile plus the one next in line, adjacent to that adjacent tile. So, shoring up a tile that has a tile between it and the tile he/she is standing on.

but the general consensus is this is incorrect. Nothing in the rules indicate that. The ability doesn't say he can shore up two adjacent tiles but 2 tiles which inherit the previous property of adjacent to the player.


Do Race for the Galaxy expansions allow more players without changing the base game's rules?

Yes. It's possible to just use the new player cards and take out the cards which use new mechanics.

I've also just left all the cards in and just simply ignored the Prestige rules, Goals and Takeovers; although that makes some cards weaker as they are costed with these additional mechanics in mind.


Purpose of Legolas' affliation to the Elves

No, a nation cannot become inactive once it is active.
Legolas just has the nation symbol for thematic purposes. He is an Elf, so he has the Elven symbol.
This is consistent with the other Companions: Gimli has the Dwarven symbol, Boromir the Gondor symbol and Strider the North symbol. But for game purposes Legolas' symbol is indeed pointless.
Similarly, the Shadow characters also have a nation symbol, which are also pointless for game purposes.

However, the expansion, 'Lords of Middle Earth' makes him inconsistent with the others.
The expansion has alternate versions of the Companions who don't have a nation symbol. They can only activate their respective nation with an ability using an Action Die. But because the Elves start the game active, they did not remove the nation symbol from the new Legolas. It is still pointless for him to have it.


When can a guild be cloned based on Olympia's B stage 3?

Rules (page 9) say:

  for the third stage, the choice of the Guild is made at the end of the game, when counting points. The player totals the victory points as they had built that Guild.

Since Courtesan's guild gives no victory points, selecting it will be no use for the player. Note that, Olympia B was designed at a time when all guilds were effective only during scoring.

See here for more discussion.


Dixit: what to do if two players cross the finish at the same time?

If two players cross the finish line at the same time, then the player with the most points wins. If they both have the most points the rules don't indicate any tiebreaker, but my suggestion is to just play another round, as it's a casual game and it will allow you to get in another round of fun.


Sylvan primordial destroying detention sphere that previously exiled primeval bounty,

Let's look at the stack:

We play Sylvan Primordial.
Sylvan Primordial resolves, and is removed from the stack.
Sylvan Primordial's 'Enters the battlefield' ability is placed on the stack. You choose Detention Sphere as the target.
Sylvan Primordial's triggered ability resolves. Detention Sphere is destroyed, and you may search your library for 1 Forest and put it into play tapped.
Because the Detention Sphere was destroyed, its 'Leaves the battlefield' ability is now placed on the stack.
Detention Sphere's triggered ability resolves. 'Return previously exiled Primeval Bounty to play' - The forest is already in play, so it doesn't trigger Primeval Bounty's ability.

Because you might assume that there's a timing difference between the destroying of permanents and the counting of those permanents for the forest-retrieval effect, it's logical to think that the consequences of said destruction will have already resolved. This is not the case however, as is shown by Sylvan Primordial's specific Ruling on the Gatherer:

  If Sylvan Primordial’s enters-the-battlefield ability resolves but one of the target noncreature permanents isn’t destroyed (perhaps because it has indestructible or it regenerated), it won’t count toward the number of Forest cards you can put onto the battlefield.

Its ETB trigger resolves in one motion, and the additional ruling compensates for the difference in targets chosen vs targets saved by opponents.


Are "three way" trades allowed in Catan?

No (or yes, depending on how you define a single trade).
The person whose turn it is can trade. Each trade is with that person and one other person.
If you can accomplish what you need in a series of trades, you're welcome to try. But any promise of future trade is non-binding: your later trading partner may legally decline the trade when it comes time.
Rules:

Important: Players may only trade with the player whose turn it is.

Also note that each trade has to involve a card from each player in the trade. You can't just give a card away for nothing in return.
So in your example:

A trades ore to B in exchange for brick.
A trades brick to C in exchange for wheat.

This is legal, but it is two separate trades.
There are no escrow rules: C is free to decline the trade after trade 1 has happened.


Why isn't resistance a case of halving any damage taken?

My uninformed, best guess:

The Pokémon card game was designed to be simple and playable by young children. Subtracting 20 is a simple operation, as is multiplication by small numbers, but division is more complicated, can lead to mistakes, and requires instructions on how to round "half" values (or 5s, in this case) up or down.


I beg to disagree with User545. Mahjong is drenched in formal--even ceremonial--aspects: The sorting of the seats, the selection of the first east, the building of the wall, the breaking of the same, the collecting of the tiles, the procedures of play, the vocabulary... To a person who grew up with the game around her or him many of these might seem commonplace, but to someone new to the game they appear remarkably ritual. And the way expert players seamlessly, silently and knowingly interact in smooth choreography under the same peculiar (and somewhat mysterious) etiquette is uniquely enchanting to those being introduced to the game.

Furthermore, each national variant of mahjong (Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Malaysian, even the Western variants, like American, or the Chinese Classical game now played mainly in Europe, among many others) has variations of these formalities and rites, not just of rules and hands.

For example, the most popular mahjong variant in Japan--riichi mahjong, which is played extensively in that country, across all ages, and which is undergoing a true renaissance (not only in Japan, but around the world, thanks to Japanese manga and anime)--is particularly adept at meticulously keeping this ritual aspect of the game. This aspect affects all forms of game traits, manners, and in-game behavior, all the way down to tile size, as well as their handling, and the body language of the players in doing so.

In Japanese mahjong, there are particular ways to shuffle (if not using automatic machines), hold and handle the tiles, build the wall, arrange discards (in neatly disposed discard rows, exactly 6 tiles across and 3 down), etc. The rules of the game strictly legislate the punishment of deviations of many of these behaviors, especially the ones that lead to time being wasted in the game or the cancellation of a hand.

And it's not only in Japan that mahjong game play generates manners, rituals, and codified behaviors and vocabulary. Also, it's not only because of the central elements of play. Different regional variants introduce locally specific accessories (counting sticks, tile racks, chips, first-east and round-wind markers, tile pushers, dice, different indicators [horse-race chips, yakitori markers, 5th-player bettor]), all of which generate region-specific behaviors and manners around their use.

One more thing to clarify is a notion introduced by the OP: Mahjong is NOT an ancient game like weiqi (go). The oft-repeated bit that the game is an ancient invention of Chinese wise men, and that it was played by Kǒng Fūzǐ, is shameless marketing poppycock introduced by the American entrepreneur that brought the game to the USA. Some of its distant forerunners (in paper card form) date back perhaps to the middle ages, but definitely not to antiquity. The game, as we know it today, originated during the final decades of the Qing dynasty (mid to late 19th century) and spread to the world in the early 20th Century.


Is there a movement penalty when starting in the same room as an opponent?

I interpret "moving past an opponent" as walking into a room with an opponent

It doesn't say "to move past an opponent", it says "to leave that room."

  Is there a movement penalty if you are ALREADY in the room with your opponent at the beginning of a turn?

Yes, there's a movement penalty for leaving a room with an opponent. This penalty is not conditional on you having started in another room.

  For example, say I am in a room with 3 zombies at the start of the turn. Does it take me 4 movement points to leave the room (1 for each zombie and 1 as a normal movement point) OR does it take me 1 movement point?

It will take 4 points if you have at least that many. If you have less, it will take however many you have (including none) since you can always move at least once.


Stack resolving with planeswalker and instants

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is a Planeswalker, which means that you can only activate her abilities on your turn, and Devour in Flames is a Sorcery, which means your opponent can only cast it on their turn. In other words, if your opponent is able to cast Devour in Flames, then you don't have a chance to activate Nissa's ability.


Does attacking zero strength units (eg. routed units, siege engines) require a full combat resolution?

Yes, there is still combat. The rules don't specifically mention attacking into a region with only routed units. Therefore we follow the default instructions: if you march into a region with enemy units, you have a combat. As you say, it's plausible that a routed army could win (which is good; if you don't want to lose the units, you can "waste" your good cards and support orders for the turn to keep them alive"), but obviously the attacker with units contributing to battle will have an advantage.


A recent case of this was in pre-Avacyn Restored Standard. There were some versions of UB Control that had 3 Nephalia Drownyards main-deck and another one in the sideboard.

In a control mirror with both decks full of reactive cards, the player who has mana advantage usually wins the game, because he or she can play many spells in one turn (e.g. play a threat, counter a removal spell against it, then counter the opponent's counter).

With lands in the sideboard, this deck could side in an extra land, taking out a removal spell. This way they would hit their land drops more easily and have another win condition in the deck, since milling was the best win condition in UB mirrors.

For reference, the 2nd place finisher of GP Baltimore 2012, as Hackworth pointed in the comments, used 2 lands in his sideboard. Its player goes so far as to say that Nephalia Drownyard is "the only card that matters in the mirror."


edit: The OP was not clear whether it meant "shuffle the discard pile and put it back in the draw pile" or just "shuffle the discard pile". Now that's clear, I'm adding the following:

True, as the rules stand right now, the order in the discard pile does not usually matter (sometimes it does, see below). Theoretically, you could shuffle the discard pile at any time and just keep it away from the draw pile. The rules do not let you still do it for the following reasons:

The status of your discard pile might still change before the "proper" reshuffle, thus you might still have to reshuffle. Consider the following example:

Draw pile: 0 cards
Cards in hand: Market, 4 others

You are going to play the Market, which lets you draw a card, so why not shuffle the discard pile while waiting for your next turn? Well, you might receive a Curse until then, so you'll still have to reshuffle with the Curse in it.
Reserved for future "discard pile" rules. Currently, there are no cards that do something, say, with the top card of the discard pile, so the order in it does not matter. Despite that, the rules still don't explicitly let you shuffle arbitrarily, because DXV likes to have as much room as possible for future cards. For example, one day he could design a card that does something with the top card of the discard pile.
For the sake of completeness, there are actually cards that care about the order of the discard pile: Watchtower. When you gain a card, you may reveal the Watchtower to trash that card or top-deck it. If you do, then the Watchtower expects to find the card on top of the discard pile. Consider the following:

You have a Watchtower in hand.
You gain an Inn.
Now, there are two things that happen at the same time: you either trigger the Inn or the Watchtower first.

Suppose you resolve the Inn first.
You choose as many action cards as you want from your discard pile and you shuffle them in your deck, but not the Inn.
If you leave the Inn somewhere inside your discard pile, but not on top, then you may not reveal the Watchtower to topdeck/trash it, as the Watchtower has lost track of the Inn.
Nevertheless, if you leave the Inn on top, then you may reveal the Watchtower (source).

According to the base-game rules, you only shuffle the discard pile when you need to do something with the draw pile (e.g., draw cards, reveal cards, etc) and there are not enough cards to do so. You cannot arbitrarily shuffle the discard pile whenever you want to, for a couple of reasons, including:

An opponent likely holds a Witch (or any curser) in hand. Your draw pile has been depleted and you hold your last 5 cards in hand. You would like to reshuffle immediately, so that the Curse will "miss" the reshuffle and will not see it soon.
You are ready to buy your first Province and you're close to reshuffle. You'd like to reshuffle immediately, so that you won't see "soon" the Province.
You have just reshuffled and played a key card (e.g., Witch). You discard the Witch, but you have over 30 cards in your deck. You'd like to immediately reshuffle your discard pile so that you'd see the Witch again.
Any cards that you gain go immediately to your discard pile (unless stated otherwise). Thus, if you shuffle the discard pile, these cards will enter the draw pile, whether you'd like it or not.
There are cards that do something with the discard pile, like Counting House, Hermit, Inn, Herald, etc. Arbitrarily shuffling the discard pile (or not) directly affects these cards.

Thus, there is a general, fair rule, that makes sense as well: you shuffle only when there are not enough cards to do something.


When should I take a curse in response to Torturer?

Short answer

You should take a curse when discarding two cards would hurt your strategic plan, but you should also take into account your curse total compared to the other players and how it's likely to change.

Long answer

I 'm not going to dwell on "obvious" circumstances like

There are no curses left
Your hand is all victory cards
etc.

Under normal circumstances you should make the decision based on strategic (long-term) factors. If discarding would mean not being able to buy a card you need in the long term (this usually means 5+ cost cards, and of course not all of them) then you should consider taking the hit so that you can advance your plan.

If all you were going to buy anyway is a "nice to have" card, then taking a curse is probably not warranted.

In a 3- or 4- player game,

you should gravitate a little more towards discarding in the beginning of the game, as taking curses too early (before you have the chance to load up on necessities) might leave you too far behind the other players
you should consider the possibility of multiple Torturers being played before your next turn; in this case, taking one curse and then playing a good turn might be warranted because with multiple players playing Torturers you can never be sure just when you 'll get the opportunity to play your turn unhindered


Is a noble permanently yours once he's visited you in Splendor?

Two people from Splendor-distributor Asmodee have confirmed[1][2] that you retain any noble that has visited you.


Is one allowed to play Go with a notebook?

I can only answer the Go perspective. I hear it is pretty much banned in chess.

Paper notebooks, or preferable kifus, are always allowed. If is not uncommon for tournament directors to supply players with kifus for free or cheap.

I've often seen people use electronic notebooks in Go tournaments to record their matches. However, this is usually accompanied by asking the opponent beforehand for permission (it would simply be rude not to ask). To my knowledge, this is almost always approved, in particular when the display is visible to both players during interaction. Similarly, there is not usually a problem in photographing the board. There have been no real incidents with people cheating yet.

I have never seen it in high level matches, probably simply because anyone beyond low dan level can memorize their matches to a high degree anyway. I usually record my matches after they finished, and possibly take a photo if a strange move happens which is difficult to remember.

In Go, the tournaments with large price money are exclusive to few top players, and Go bots are not able to compete with them, so there is no incentive to use them. This may slowly change in the next several years.


Does having Smallholder and Acreage when Sowing yield extra grain?

Acreage counts as two fields for Smallholder, so you will not get extra sowing unless it is your only field.

Source:

  Acreage, Bean Field, Lettuce Patch and Turnip Field count towards the indicated maximum of 2 fields, and you receive extra grain or vegetables on them because of the Smallholder. The Acreage counts as two fields.

It is worth noting that this is an "unofficial compendium", so it is not as definitive as an actual rulebook. But it has been compiled based on rulings from the designer, as well as discussions in the rules forums at boardgamegeek.com.


Is a merger between two players possible in Monpoly?

Short version: With the exception of multiple players ending up winning, almost.

Longer version: There are a couple things where this is different from the official rules. Because trades are legal within the rules, there's nothing stopping Player B from trading all of his property and money to Player A, in exchange for a dollar or something like that, and then after he loses being an outside spectator who attempts to help Player A.

However, you cannot sell/trade properties that have any houses or hotels on them. This means that if you want to stay within the rules, Player B needs to first sell his houses to the bank (at half value), and Player A would have to buy them back after the trade. Aside from costing extra money to re-build the houses, there are 2 situations where following the rules could be different here:

If there are a shortage of houses remaining in the supply, and Player B has properties with hotels on them, then Player A would be unable to re-buy the hotel after he gets the property.
If there is a shortage of houses or hotels in the supply, and the third player could build the houses or hotels, then he can bid on them to attempt to win them in auction. Player A may either have to pay even more for them, or end up losing them to the third player.

The other thing that's outside the rules is that if Player A ends up winning, then by the official rules only Player A has won. But in your variant, Player B can claim to be as much the winner as Player A.


Love letter: If you discard a constable and lose, do you get an affection token?

You must be eliminated before the end of the round.

Text from Constable:

  If this card is in your discard pile when you are knocked out of the round, gain an Affection Token.

(Emphasis mine)

In the rulebook for the original Love Letter, the phrase "knocked out of the round" is used several times, and in each case it is only referring to being eliminated while the round is still going. Example:

  If you discard the Princess—no
  matter how or why—she has tossed
  16
  your letter into the fire. You are
  knocked out of the round.

(Emphasis mine)

Under the rules for "End of a round", no mention is made of being knocked out:

  The player with the
  highest ranked person wins the
  round.

So being "knocked out of a round" is something that specifically happens from the effects of a card that was discarded.


What are the rules of the mysterious game with "phát tài" written on the box?

Your game is probably related to Four Color Cards (Tứ sắc in Vietnam) since it uses similar very narrow cards in those colors.