Is the Radioactive Potato passed before the goal is checked?

No, they do not win.
The Looney Labs FAQs include a question about timing issues:

Q. Does the total effect of playing a card have to be resolved before checking for win conditions, or could someone win partway through?
A: As a matter of fact, yes, in Fluxx all consequences of a card play are considered to be functionally simultaneous, so there are a lot fewer timing issues than people sometimes think.
A good rule of thumb is that things in Fluxx (and many other Looney Labs games) are considered to happen simultaneously, so if there are timing issues, assume that things take place all at once, and then consider the outcome.

So the Goal change and the Potato move are simultaneous, meaning that the You Also Need a Baked Potato condition is not met, and the player does not win.


Does "Cheat!" effectively give you two more hands?

When you play the Cheat card it is attached to a specific item, either A or B in this case (let's assume A). With the additional item C you can use either A & B together or A & C together, but not B & C together.

The Cheat card only is discarded if you lose the item (for example from getting killed) It doesn't get discarded just because you un-equip the card temporarily.


Your Prossh will be a 7/1 green snake creature. The different effects are applied in the layer system order. First layer 7b is applied:

Any Power/Toughness setting effects

Then layer 7c is applied:

This covers all effects that modify Power/Toughness so long as they don’t set P/T to a specific value

So first the effect changing your Prossh into a 1/1 is applied, then the +6/+0 is applied. Because the effects take place in 2 separate layers (even though they are both sublayers of layer 7), timestamp order is irrelevant.
Note that if you used Prossh's ability in response to Snakeform (while Snakeform is on the stack), then this is no different at all than the other way; in either case Prossh's ability has resolved before Snakeform has resolved. And you cannot use Prossh's ability after Snakeform resolves, because at that point Prossh no longer has any abilities.
More details on the layer system can be found here.
The comprehensive rules detailing this:

613.3b Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied. Effects that refer to the base power and/or toughness of a creature apply in this layer.
613.3c Layer 7c: Effects that modify power and/or toughness (but don't set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.


Does Experiment Kraj's passive ability work while he is dead?

No, you can't. Kraj's static ability is only active when it's on the battlefield; in the graveyard it does exactly nothing. Therefore it does not have the Skeleton's ability and can't 'reassemble'.

  113.3d Static abilities are written as statements. They’re simply true. Static abilities create continuous effects which are active while the permanent with the ability is on the battlefield and has the ability, or while the object with the ability is in the appropriate zone. See rule 604, “Handling Static Abilities.”


It's called Nim, and it's an excellent (and common) game for discrete math studies.
Wikipedia's article.


"Enchantment Creatures" and "Enchanted Creatures"

No. An enchanted creature is one that has an aura enchantment enchanting it.

  303.4b The object or player an Aura is attached to is called "enchanted."


Can you force property onto players in Monopoly

I cannot find anything close to what you have quoted in any of the rules I have looked at online.

However, the general rule is: Whenever you would owe money, you have the opportunity to do trading with other players to raise the funds, including with the person who you owe money to, but they are not obliged to accept.

This site backs this up and claims it is from official tournament rules.

http://mospaw.com/monopoly/some-obscure-monopoly-rules-explained/12/information#comment-5

  If you do not have enough cash to cover rent, you may sell any other
  asset you have in the game, such as unimproved properties to raise the
  rent. You can sell the properties for whatever amount the market will
  bear.

  You may also make a trade of unimproved properties (or properties and
  cash) to the landlord, which is effectively selling the properties to
  that person for the amount in question.

  The only time a sale cannot take place is if a player will be cheated.
  For example, Player A lands on Boardwalk with hotels and owes $2,000
  to Player B. Player A cannot raise enough cash or make a trade with
  Player B, so he is effectively bankrupt and should turn over all
  assets. Player A would not be able to make a deal with Player C to
  sell some properties for less than their value (say the red properties
  for $1) since that would cheat Player B. He could sell them for more
  than their purchase value, however.

  There is a lot of flexibility in how you can finance your debts. Most
  limitations are that the deal is limited to the game (you can’t trade
  a cookie or a kiss) and that you don’t cheat the player due money by
  making a deal with another player when owing money. Other limitations
  involve the inability to grant immunity to someone. It’s simply not
  allowed.

Further, from the official rules on the Deluxe edition of Monopoly has this to say and supports the general rule I mention above:

  Using a Mortgaged Property to pay a debt: If you owe money to any of your opponents, you can offer them a piece of mortgaged property to
  cover all or part of your debt. Your opponent has the option of
  deciding whether or not to accept it. If you opponent accepts, he/she
  must immediately pay 10% of the mortgaged value.

http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/DeluxeMonopoly.pdf


Can I look at my hand after revealing my card and before I pass it to the next player?

The rules state

  After revealing cards, pass your remaining hand face-down to
  the player on your left.

Technically, when you reveal your card, you should (or at least you're allowed to) still have your hand in front of you. It's safe to assume that it's not illegal to pause for an extra moment to look at your hand before passing.


How do CCGs/LCGs have an ongoing metaplot?

I decided to e-mail someone who is more familiar with the Legend of the Five Rings collectible card game and got a pretty helpful answer:
Consider for instance the Race for the Throne storyline of the L5R card game. This was a storyline where the emperor's throne was vacant with no heir and there was a sort of civil war to determine who should become emperor.
One thing that you seem to have not been aware of is that AEG publishes fiction stories online for L5R and their other games (Doomtown too). Race for the Throne had a whole collection of stories that talked about which people each clan put forth as candidates, what issues arose, who died in the conflict, and so on. This was where the majority of metaplot took place.
If the stories had something happen to a particular person, they would be reflected in a new version of their character in the next edition (or in the rare even that someone died in the fiction, they would be completely omitted from the next edition). For instance, Race for the Throne had Kitsuki Iweko as a Daimyo as a reflection of the development she gained during the Rain of Blood arc (Diamond Edition) where she was just a Samurai.
Aside from characters, the cards also tended to reflect the events of the stories as well. For Race for the Throne, these were cards such as The Throne Stands Empty, Claimants to the Throne, and Claiming the Throne. Often times, flavor text quotes attributed to certain people were in fact quotes from the fiction itself.
AEG will also base the storyline off of the results of high level tournaments, particularly the world championships. If memory serves, the 2007 World Championships were represented in-universe as the Celestial Tournament where the winning player got to have their faction crown their champion as emperor, concluding the Race to the Throne arc. The winner of the world championships was a player who played a Dragon clan deck, so the Dragon clan champion, Iweko, was crowned Empress Iweko I.
It seems the specifics about the 2007 World Championships have been taken down, but I found similar info on their website for the 2014 World Championships. For instance, there was the storyline event "Something Wicked…"

Even in the most prosperous of times, there are dire omens that must be heeded. In Rokugan, there is one omen that is darker than all others, one sign that causes the faithful to rush to shrines and temples and pray to their Fortunes and ancestors of choice for guidance and protection. There is one portent that is so dire that there can be no room for interpretation, but instead its presence affords certainty that there are dark and terrible things upon the horizon.
The Porcelain Mask of Fu Leng has returned.
The winner of this tournament may select any one personality affiliated with his faction. That personality will be responsible for discovering the mask’s return to Rokugan, and will be among the first to realize what disaster looms upon the horizon.

As a result of this, future stories by AEG will involve whichever person the winner of the tournament picked to be the one who found the mask.
So the ongoing metaplot happens in a couple of ways:

Fiction stories published by AEG
Cards that reflect those fiction stories
Input from players who win championships or other special events

I think that it's rare for the RPG to affect the CCG metaplot (which I think is partly why RPG players hate the CCG metaplot changes, especially since sometimes there are pretty drastic shifts in status quo). I suspect that's because the CCG is more of a moneymaker and story prizes are a really good incentive for those who care about it.


Odd Monopoly situation: rolling doubles to get out of jail is ALSO third double in a row!

As per the official rules, "[y]our turn ends when you are sent to jail". So in that situation, having landed on the "Go To Jail" space, the player gets put in jail and his turn ends so he has no opportunity to roll the third time.


Why would one player ever need more Army units in a battle than their opponent?

I have since confirmed the rules. My scenarios for 'Battle 2' and 'Battle 3' are incorrect. Once a die has been used in a battle, it cannot be used in that battle again. The only reason for a player having more dice than their opponent is to increase their chance of rolling a higher number.


vedalken orrery, aura of silence in reponse to opponents enchantment

No, it generally doesn't work like that.

If your opponent has priority (i.e. the right to cast spells, activate abilities, and take special actions), and all other required conditions are also met, he can start casting his enchantment. In that case, you can still respond with Aura of Silence, but it will not have any effect on that particular enchantment. The Aura already has to be on the battlefield to have an effect on spells, because once a spell is on the stack, its costs can no longer change in any way:

  601.4. Casting a spell that alters costs won’t affect spells and abilities that are already on the stack.

So in the classic case with no rules-lawyering going on, you are out of luck.

That being said, in a tournament setting with strict rules enforcement, you might be able to use the shortcut rules and your opponent's sloppiness in your favor.

Shortcuts are being used in almost every turn of every match of Magic ever, and that is no exaggeration. The simple act of untapping, drawing a card, and saying "Go" to end your turn is actually a large shortcut you propose to skip over all the usually required steps and phases of a turn, and usually your opponent will accept that proposal. However, he is not required to and can demand to go back to your draw step and propose a different shortcut, which you in turn have to accept and so on.

So what does this mean for your question?

Let's say your opponent starts his turn, untaps, draws a card, then immediately starts casting his enchantment. What he actually did was he silently proposed for both of you to pass priority and continue into the first main phase, and assumed you would accept. However, it is your right to demand that both of you play out all the necessary steps, and after your opponent has drawn a card and passed priority to you, you get the opportunity to cast and resolve your Aura of Silence. Your opponent has to wait until the main phase, so if he still wants to play his enchantment, he would have to pay 2 more.

You get another opportunity to do the same thing at the end of combat. At various points during that phase, and notably at the end of combat step, players can cast instant-speed spells and activate abilities. So when creatures did attack and combat is over, and your opponent wants to cast an enchantment spell, it's clear that he has skipped to the second main phase, and you can then deny that shortcut and play your own spell at the end of combat step.


Does a "lose your turn" card cancel doubles?

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

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

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

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


As said in comments you are doing it right.

With this strategy, you lose the ability to access any quest reward of level 8 or above, unless you are keeping two weaponned dwarves.  This is a significant disavantage, since you can't get the cheap dwelling, a cow, sow, breed, or place pastures/tunnels/rooms/fields.

As with any food engine, it makes the game easier, but I find the flexibility of dropping the single tiles too much to give up for my tastes.


Play before a base score: deciding the order

From the rule book : http://www.alderac.com/smashup/files/2012/06/AEG-SU-Rulebook.pdf

Page 6

  Me First! If more than one player wants to use a Special  ability,
  start with the current player and go  around the table clockwise until
  all players pass in  sequence (if you pass and another player uses a
  Special, you can then still choose to use a Special  of your own). If
  your Special allows you to play  extra cards, you must play those
  immediately or  not at all.

So each player may play one card until everyone is done.


How replayable is Pandemic Legacy? (Is the game still playable after you have completed it)

It is not intended to be replayable.

Depending on what options you choose during the campaign, certain components are intended to be physically destroyed. You could choose to just set things aside instead of destroying them; though that does take away some of the thematic fun. And then you would just have to ignore any stickers that were put on the board during play if you wanted to play regular Pandemic after.

You can either throw it out or keep it as a souvenir.  As a matter of pure opinion; it is well worth it even though you can’t keep playing it after; those 12-24 games are worth the cost!


Does the Extremely Clever Disguise discard your Training cards?

You discard Training Course: Combat, because the rules text on the card specify, "If your current character is lost, discard this card." It did not specify how you lost it, only that you did. If it had said, "If your current character is lost, because you have no honor, discard this card." you would have a different answer. In general, I would play cards as written.

  You Have No Honor! -If your Honor is zero at the end of a round, you must apologize to your ancestors. This requires you to go to visit them, and unfortunately it will not be possible for you to come back. Discard all your cards and money. Now draw a new Ninja card and three Fortune cards . . . and see if your new character does better than your last one! You start with 6 Honor.


What happens when target of an activated ability becomes illegal (in this particular situation)?

It's 2: both creatures remain on the battlefield.

Hunting Kavu's ability has only one target, the attacking creature. It's not a target itself. Since the ability does no longer have any valid targets, it doesn't resolve:

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. If all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve. It’s removed from the stack and, if it’s a spell, put into its owner’s graveyard. Otherwise, the spell or ability will resolve normally.

So the Hunting Kavu will survive as well.


No, Mirrorwing Dragon's ability only works while it's on the battlefield, and creature cards in the graveyard are not creatures.
Generally, abilities of permanent cards only work while that card is a permanent on the battlefield. Exceptions to that will always be noted on the card itself.
Even if Mirrorwing Dragon's ability would work while in the graveyard, creature cards in the graveyard are not creatures (shorthand for creature permanents), and as you noted, cards in the graveyard have no controller, so a copied Reanimate spell could not target them anyway.

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: [none of the exceptions apply]
110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield.  [..]
109.2. If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn’t include the word “card,” “spell,” “source,” or “scheme,” it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.
108.4. A card doesn’t have a controller unless that card represents a permanent or spell; in those cases, its controller is determined by the rules for permanents or spells. See rules 110.2 and 111.2.


Do I make the sneak check on the patrol marker or confront monsters first?

The FAQ covers this.  You make your evade check first, and then monsters.

  Q: At the end of your Movement Phase, do you fight monsters
  before making the Evade check against Martial Law
  to see if you are arrested or after?

  A: After the Evade check against Martial Law.


Do abilities that trigger when a card is turned face up trigger when that card is in exile?

No, the turned face up ability does not trigger when the card is in the exile zone. Rule 112.6 says

  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.

This ability does not match any of the exceptions, so it does not function when the creature is not on the battlefield.


Interaction between Leyline of Anticipation and Teferi, Time Raveler

Leyline of Anticipation won't help you; you will only be able to cast spells on your turn, in your main phases, when the stack is empty.

  307.5. If a spell, ability, or effect states that a player can do something only “any time they could cast a sorcery,” it means only that the player must have priority, it must be during the main phase of their turn, and the stack must be empty. The player doesn’t need to have a sorcery they could cast. Effects that would preclude that player from casting a spell or casting a sorcery don’t affect the player’s capability to perform that action (unless the action is actually casting a spell or casting a sorcery).

So "any time they could cast a sorcery" does not mean literally "is it possible to cast a sorcery under the current game conditions". Instead, it means "could they cast a sorcery under the default rules of the game".

Being able to cast spells as though they had flash doesn't help here, because flash simply means "You may play this card any time you could cast an instant." Due to Teferi's ability, your opponent's turn is not a time that you could cast an instant.

Unlike the rule that defines "any time you could cast a sorcery", there is no similar rule for flash that defines "any time you could cast an instant" as "any time you have priority". So instead, "any time you could cast an instant" is interpreted in the more literal sense; being determined by whether or not the current game state would allow you to cast an instant.

This is confirmed by a ruling on Teferi, Time Raveler:

  If an effect allows opponents to cast spells any time they could cast an instant (for example, if your opponent also controls a Teferi, Time Raveler and activates his +1 loyalty ability), the restriction of Teferi’s first ability takes precedence over that permission.


Could be Alexandria (although that's not exactly in France): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209538/alexandria


Game flicking chequers knocking opponents off

I just googled "flicking Draughts game" and the first result was a wikipedia page on a game called Chapayev
Details from the article include:-

The game requires a checkerboard and checkers, eight pieces of each colour.

Which matches your question.

During the first round, white pieces are placed on the first row, and
black on the last.

Which fit requirement of "checkers on opposite sides of the board"

A player takes their turn by flicking one of his pieces with the index
finger to shoot it at one or more of the opponent's pieces.

Which again matches your description

The game continues until only one colour remains on the board, winning the round.

Which matched the victory condition you describe.


Is it possible for players to gain an advantage from colluding in blackjack?

In a loose sense, players can collaborate by signaling each other their hole card when the deal is one up one down. this allows far better optimization by almost doubling the known number of cards for the sharp who counts. Especially true if one or more goes for small bets and lots of draws.

The more cards are known to a sharp, the better he's able to account the odds.

Note that signaling, if caught, is potentially grounds for removal from the facility and forfeiture of any chips.


Is there a way to search for which models I can play in which Warhammer army?

You can visit the GW site like the answer above. To see rules and in which army you can play which unit you can also visit Wahapedia before investing in a Codex of the army to be sure it is what you like.
Next to that you have listbuilder apps. When choosing a army, you can choose every unit that can be in that army. Games Workshop recently launched their own, but most of it is paid. An alternative, free and established app is Battlescribe. It can be a little bit hard to set up if your not into computers, like some of my friends say. (it can be used for more games, so you have to establish a Database) But when ready its perfect for list building and seeing rules that belongs to the units chosen.


Damage distribution with Banding and Trample

When attacking with creatures that have some combination of Banding and Trample you must still deal lethal damage to all blocking creatures before you can deal damage to the defending player (or the Planeswalker you attacked).
Rule 702.21k explains how banding affects combat damage when attacking. Basically it allows you to ignore the damage assignment order the defending player chooses, and you assign damage to your creatures as you choose. It does nothing for how you assign combat damage to the defending creatures (or players or planeswalkers).
Rule 702.19b explains how trample works. This rule doesn't change the rules for assigning combat damage to creatures, but allows for once all blocking creatures have been dealt lethal damage any remaining damage may be assigned to the player or planeswalker that creature is attacking.
So when you have an attacking band (at least 1 of which has trample), and the band gets blocked by multiple creatures you must assign lethal damage to all blocking creatures before you can trample over any damage.

702.21k During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding [...] the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures it’s blocking. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1d.
702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remaining damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking. [...] The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.
510.1d A blocking creature assigns combat damage to the creatures it’s blocking. If it isn’t currently blocking any creatures (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage. If it’s blocking exactly one creature, it assigns all its combat damage to that creature. If it’s blocking two or more creatures, it assigns its combat damage to those creatures according to the damage assignment order announced for it. This may allow the blocking creature to divide its combat damage. However, it can’t assign combat damage to a creature that it’s blocking unless, when combat damage assignments are complete, each creature that precedes that blocked creature is assigned lethal damage. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. An amount of damage that’s greater than a creature’s lethal damage may be assigned to it.


When do dead Evil Elders join the villain?

What you are missing is that the rules are slightly different for Competitive and Cooperative play. In a competitive game, the rules allow each player to accuse a single Town Elder of being evil, thereby showing that the Town Elder faked his death, and subsequently joining the Villain. The Evil Elder will add +1 Combat to the Villain, and will add +1 wound to the Villain (if the Villain is about to take its last wound). Preventing an opponent from winning is a good strategy if you want to win. (page 19)

  4. Accusations - One other advantage of investigating the Town Elder’s Secrets ahead of time is that when a player starts a Showdown, each other player may make up
  to one Accusation of a Town Elder, calling them out as being evil! [...] If the revealed Secrets turns them into an Evil Elder, they immediately join the Villain.

  Winning the Game - The first player to fight a Showdown with the Villain, AND defeat it, saves the town of Shadowbrook and wins the game.

In the cooperative game though, dead Town Elders have their secrets revealed immediately. If they were evil, they become Evil Elders and join the Villain. (page 20)

  Town Elder Secrets - [...] When a Town Elder is killed, move the Shadow Track as normal and then reveal all of that Elder’s Secrets. Any Keyword Evil Secrets they have immediately take affect, turning them into an Evil Elder instead.


"Investing" in other players in Monopoly

From the Official Monopoly Rules by Hasbro (my emphasis):

  MISCELLANEOUS:
  Money can be loaned to a player only by the Bank
  and then only by mortgaging property. No player may borrow from or
  lend money to another player

Any exchange of money for future considerations is a form of loan, so by the official monopoly rules your actions are illegal. One is always allowed to invent a new game based on an existing one, through the use of common agreement on house rules, but one cannot then meaningfully call it by the name Monopoly.


Does 'Other creatures you control have intimidate' affect new creatures brought out?

It will affect all your creatures for as long as you control it; whether those creatures were there when you first cast it or not. Your creatures will lose the bonus as soon as you stop controlling it. This is called a static ability, which generates a continuous effect. It's described in detail in this rule:

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


Is circle a "completed" road in Kids of Carcassonne?

A road is also closed when it forms a complete loop.
  If a part of a closed road has a color that no
  player is using, nothing is played on that part.

http://riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_313_gameRules.pdf

This is from the rules for Die Kinder von Carcassone. As this is German for "The Kids of Carcassone", I assume it is the same game.


From the rules here

No form or part of ANY word printed on the card may be given a clue.
Examples: If the Guess Work is PAYMENT, "pay" can not be given as a
clue.  If DRINK is a TABOO word, "drunk" cannot be given as a clue.

So by looking at the Drunk/Drink example I'd say it was very clear that "China" can not be used when a taboo word is "Chinese".
I would chuck my usual caveat in here when answering question on games like this.  Always remember you're playing a party game and it's meant to be silly fun.  It's not an exercise in rules lawyering.  If there is a player who wants to have a lengthy debate of if China/Chinese are the same or not I'd probably avoid that player in the future!
If one team get very close to the breaking rules then I'd let it pass but let the other team get away once with veering close to rules breaking once as well.
In the UK there is a radio comedy party game called 'Just a Minute'. in this game the host will regularly give player what is called "the benefit of the doubt" if a rule is broken in a minor way or its ambiguous but will try to rule in favour of another player later in the game two keep things fun and light.


For Mazirek, your creatures that started in your graveyard, and are placed on the battlefield by Living End would get 19 +1/+1 counters after Living End resolves.  The gatherer page even says:

  If a permanent is sacrificed to pay a cost of a spell or ability, Mazirek’s ability will resolve before that spell or ability. Conversely, if a permanent is sacrificed during the resolution of a spell or ability, that spell or ability will finish resolving before Mazirek’s ability is put onto the stack.

For Yahenni, the ability will trigger (and be put on the stack after Living End resolves), but won't do anything since Yahenni is no longer there.

  If Yahenni and a creature an opponent controls die simultaneously (perhaps because they fought or were in combat together), Yahenni won’t be on the battlefield as its triggered ability resolves. It can’t be saved by the +1/+1 counter that would have been put on it.


How do Sliver Overlord and Mirror Entity react together?

Mirror Entity does not allow Sliver Overlord to find any creature

"Creatures you control" always refers only to the Battlefield, never to cards in any other zone (those will be referred to as "Creature Cards").

Mirror Entity interacts with Sliver Overlord in the following ways:

Sliver Overlord can search for or gain control of Mirror Entity
Mirror Entity can change the creature type of Sliver Overlord (and all other creatures (on the battlefield) you control) to all types.

There are no other interactions between these two cards.


Tweaking the difficulty in Arkham Horror?

A couple of these I'm pulling straight from Richard Launius' House Rules (My favorite of which is Rule #12)

If you want an easier time of it:

Drawing a Mythos card every other turn is the way I've done it. It allows the players to wander around Arkham and have encounters they normally wouldn't take the time out to have.

You can also make traveling through gates (for those standing on them) during the encounter phase optional rather than mandatory.

Monsters standing on a location that contains a gate when that gate is closed are drawn through it, in addition to all those that would normally do so due to their dimensional symbol.

To make the game harder:

Have Investigators randomly dealt out to players or randomly dealt two and pick, etc.. My group usually hates playing spellcasters, and with good reason! They weren't particularly impressive before the later expansions and the spells use precious Sanity. This forces players to pick people they wouldn't normally play as and prevents games from being filled with powerful characters.

Place gates face down on the board. This makes it more of a surprise when you find yourself plummeting into R'yleh after jumping into an unguarded gate, or fighting through a horde to end up in the Dreamlands. It also makes it harder to come out of a gate that you didn't enter through (as they are facedown, you don't know if there is another exit on the board). When I do this, I usually allow the exiting Investigator to look at one facedown gate, and if it wasn't the one they were looking for, they get LiTaS and the gate stays facedown.

The Heralds and Guardians that made their debut in later expansions (King in Yellow and beyond) also help make the game harder (or easier with Guardians). Hastur paired with the King In Yellow Herald have made games so painful my group refuses to play with either one of them anymore.

Personally, I've never found it necessary to take away a character ability. None of them are that broken. Some are close, but there's always a drawback to them.

Additionally, (though I've never used them myself) there are difficulty modifying cards in the Black Goat of the Woods expansion. Two of them make the game easier, two of the harder. I think they do things like 'everybody starts blessed/cursed, more/less mythos per turn', etc.


What happens if you hit a rolling modifier when you have advantage?

When you have advantage, you draw two modifier cards.

Then:

If none are rolling modifiers, you pick the better card.
If one is a rolling modifier, you add its effect to the other card.
If both are rolling modifiers, you continue to draw cards until a rolling
modifier is not drawn, then you add together all drawn effects.

  Source: Page 20 of the 2nd Edition Rulebook, Advantage and Disadvantage section


Is this the correct way to play the "Spoon" card?

Spoon and chopsticks are bonus action cards. From the rule book’s description:

  To use a bonus action card, simply call out the name of the card as all players are revealing the cards during a turn. After all players have played their chosen cards as normal, the called out action then takes effect.


In Tzolk'in, can you be at negative points?

Yes.  This is explicitly stated on page 13 of the rules.

  "On each temple, you score the number of victory points indicated by your current step only. Note that if you are on the bottom step, you will lose vic- tory points. Victory points can go negative."

However it appears from your question you are scoring the -1 when you move onto that space.  This is incorrect as you only score points on the temples during the mid game and endgame food days.


tl:dr-  No, I don't think they should take another bonus tile.

Firstly I'm going to assume that by 'castle' you mean 'city'.  The castle in Bazzars refer to a specific token which the builder can not be placed on and your example seems to mean the player extended a city with a builder to.

I think a key word in the rules is 'immediately' in Traders and Builders.  Using the rules reference here it says as follows:-

  If you place a Land tile that continues the road or city your builder occupies,
  you may immediately draw and place another Land tile. You place this tile
  following all the normal rules

then later it says :-

  You may place a meeple on both the first and second tile.

The rules for the Bazaars taken from here

  The placement of a bazaar triggers a bid for Land tiles.

Now in luie of anything better to go on I'm would do the rules saying 'immediately' before trigger.

The final semantic note to is that the Bazaar rules refer the whole process of auctioning and placing tiles as the 'Bazaar round'  it does not use the term 'turn'.  Turn is used in the Builder rules.  Both rules are very strict that no chain reactions can occur to trigger multiple auctions or builder actions in the same turn.

So my interpretation of your example would be as follows:-
1) Player A starts turn and draws tile with bazaar and adds it to city/road they have with a builder.
2) Player A then optionally takes another tile and optionally adds meeples (or other pieces depending on expansion to those tiles.
3) The game is the interrupted for an Bazaar round.
4) Player A add that tile to extend city/road with builder.  However as they are not allowed chain reactions they do not get another tile this turn but may still optionally add a meeple/other token to tile just placed.
5) Player A's turn ends.


When do you have to decide whether or not to use a "May" effect?

First of all, they only trigger simultaneously, but they're put on the stack in an order you choose the next time a player would receive priority. They will then resolve last-in-first-out.

603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. [...]
603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses. [...]

This means that you choose the order of your abilities resolving, but you can't possibly know what card you'll draw yet. The only way you'll get to do what you want is to place Geth's Grimoire on the stack first so that it will resolve last.
Abilities, like spells, usually only do things on resolution, and Geth's Grimoire's is no exception. When it's its time to resolve, you will already have drawn a card from Waste Not, and you know what it is, meaning during resolution of the ability, you may decide not to draw a card.

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. [...]


International rules for a king how many moves can the king take if there are no opposition pieces to jump?

In international rules, the King can move any distance along a diagonal. This holds true whether jumping over a piece or not.

A king is still subject to the rule that it must make a jump if it can, and it must make as many jumps as it can.

So after jumping over a piece, you can choose how far beyond that piece to land. But if one of the spaces beyond the captured piece would allow the king to turn and capture another piece, it must choose to do that.

I would not think of it as the king moving along the diagonal after a jump; but rather as the jump landing on any square beyond the captured piece.

Reference: https://www.itsyourturn.com/t_helptopic2130.html#helpitem1330


Train Station doesn't work correctly in Ticket to Ride Europe [PC Version]

Yes, you have it right: You should be able to use that station to complete the Paris-Athina route.
I'm guessing a reason the PC version fails here could be the fact that the end point of the borrowed line is at the end of your route and not connected to any of your trains. This might happen if the check-routes routine in the program saved time by only looking for gaps in your routes at stations and somehow a gap at the end (which isn't a "gap" under certain definitions).
But regardless of the reason, it is a bug. The gap can be at the end of the route. (This is confirmed in a different question on BGG.)


What are the rules for "Level Up" cards?

The "Level Up!" cards themselves do not go in your deck and do not count toward the 60-card size of your deck. You begin the game with your "Level Up!" cards in a pile to the side of your play area.
The three "Level Up!" cards (MegaMan, GutsMan, and Roll) are functionally identical. They are not restricted to use only by decks of the pictured character.
To spend a "Level Up!" card, you move it to a separate pile. The spent "Level Up!" card cannot be used again for the rest of the game.
You can start the game with as many "Level Up!" cards as you want.
In tournament play, the number of "Level Up!" cards you could use was restricted by "the level indicated on your tournament ticket". As the "Level Up!" cards were given out based on "experience points" gained by tournament participation, I believe the restriction based on "your tournament ticket" meant you were only allowed to use as many "Level Up!" cards as you had personally received as prizes through the Level Up tournament program.
The information contained in this answer comes from the article Level Up Your Game and Earn Exclusive Cards! by Dan Bojanowski, Manager of Organized Play.

Beginning July 2nd, gamers everywhere will get the chance to play Decipher's newest trading card game – MegaMan TCG. The gameplay and fast-paced action will be enough to draw players in, but we're taking it one step further with the organized play program.
Similar to Decipher's .hack//ENEMY TCG, MegaMan TCG tournament players will be able to 'Level Up.' Every time a player participates in a sanctioned MegaMan TCG tournament, they will earn Experience Points. These Experience Points will reflect both a players' skill and participation in tournaments. When your ranking reaches 1,000 points, you will receive an email with a special code from Decipher. When this code is entered on the Decipher website, you will receive a special Level Up! package. Each package includes a foil Level Up! card and a special foil promo card. Each time your ranking increases by another 1,000 points, you will receive a code for a new prize package.
The Level Up! card you receive is randomly selected from a pool of three different versions, each featuring a different character: MegaMan, Gutsman, or Roll. The only difference between versions is the character featured; there is no difference in gameplay.
The Level Up! card is a special card that doesn't count toward your 60-card deck. You can bring as many Level Up! cards to the game as you want, up to the level indicated on your tournament ticket. Before the game begins, place your Level Up! cards to one side of your play area. Level Up! cards are used to play the special promo cards.
The special promo card you receive is randomly selected from a pool of five different cards. The promo plays like a regular event or BattleChip card and follows regular deck construction rules (no more than four of any one promo card in your deck). These cards are exclusive to the organized play system. Click on the thumbnail to see Double Power, one of the tournament promo cards you can earn every time you Level Up! (The other tournament promos can be seen on the Tournament Card List.)
To play a promo card, you'll have to "spend" (remove from play) one or more of your Level Up! cards. Place cards you have removed from play off to the side in a separate pile. You can't use those cards in that game again, but they'll be available again when you start your next game.


How can we interrupt the Witherbloom Apprentice and Chain of Smog combo? (STX spoilers)

You can interrupt this combo with any instant or ability that removes the Witherbloom Apprentice or counters the Chain of Smog.
The most important thing to see here is that the copy of Chain of Smog is created as part of the resolution of the spell. The player it's targeting can't create the copy whenever they want, while the spell is on the stack. The fact that it's a sorcery is irrelevant. So, Pongify will work, because its an instant that removes the Witherbloom Apprentice.
On the other hand, Split Second on Krosan Grip is irrelevant here. Sure, while it's on the stack, the opponent won't be able to do anything else, but after it resolves, the Chain of Smog is still on the stack, and the combo still works.


Can The Haunted Tower be played without the base game?

It says right on the back of the box "To play the giant three-part adventure, you must own the Dungeons & Dragons game. The bonus board game is playable immediately." I would think that at the very least you'd need the rule book from the core game and a full set of polyhedral dice to make things work properly if you wanted to play the three-parter.


Returning card to hand off Emeria Shephard from Plains trigger

Yes, you can. When Emeria Shepherd triggers from Plains entering the battlefield, you target a nonland permanent in you graveyard to return it to your hand. Since it is a Plains, you may choose to return the permanent to the battlefield instead, but you don't have to.


Adjacency is not required for every Push. It depends on the card.

Push is an effect that is either attached to an attack (which can be ranged or melee) or is a part of another non-attack effect. Adjacency is only needed for melee attacks or for special abilities that explicitly state the requirement or imply it with a range of 1.

From Page 22 of the rules:

  Attack abilities will often have effects that increase their power. If
  an attack effect is listed on an ability card after an attack, the
  target (or targets) of the attack is subject to the additional effect
  as well, after damage from the attack is resolved. Attack effects are
  applied regardless of whether the corresponding attack does damage.
  Some character actions can also apply these effects without an attack,
  and in such cases the target of the effect is written on the ability
  card.

The phrasing of the Push mechanic, which is considered an attack ability, is range agnostic.

  PUSH X – The target is forced to move X hexes in a direction specified
  by the attacker, but each hex moved must place the target farther away
  from the attacker than it was previously. If there are no viable hexes
  into which to push the target, the push ends.

For an example of a ranged Push card, see the Cragheart's Crater card.


How the forced capture rule works with crowned pieces( in international checkers or...)

It depends on the checkers/draughts variant that you are playing:

For American checkers / Britisch draughts (which are two names for the same game) and Italian checkers, kings are short-ranged and cannot jump over empty squares.
For all other variants (International/Russian/Spanish/Czech/Frisian/Thai draughts and Pool checkers), kings are long-ranged and can jump over empty squares as you indicated.

NOTE: in fact, for all but one (Thai draughts) of the long-ranged king variants, kings can also land on a sequence of adjacent empty squares behind a captured piece. In your notation, this would be patterns of the form B- - -w- - -, where the black king can land on any of the three - squares behind the white man.


How does commander damage interact with cards that prevent you from losing the game?

The rule that makes you lose the game from commander damage is one of the State-based actions (specifically, rule 704.5v). These are checked every time any player gains priority. The two cards you mentioned interact with this in different ways:

Angel's Grace stops you from losing for a specific duration within the game (this turn). During that duration you won't lose the game for that reason or any other. As soon as that duration ends, the next time state-based actions are checked you will lose the game, because you still have 21 commander damage.
Stunning Reversal replaces a single time that you would lose the game. In that case, after you take the 21st point of damage the state-based action in question applies, and Stunning Reversal's effect replaces it and you follow its instructions, and then state-based actions are immediately checked again and you still have 21 commander damage so you lose the game.


In Bridge, Which Forms of Deception Are Ethical? Does This Include "Moodying?"

"Deception" is a weird concept in bridge.  Just like in every game, there are forms that are ethical and forms that are not.

Falsecarding, as in your example, is perfectly fine.  Your opponent failed to count trumps correctly, and paid the price.  A similar, and perfectly valid strategy, is to play a high card instead of a low card when losing a trick as declarer to make the opponents think that you are now void in the suit, hoping that they will switch to a different suit.

"Moodying" is more of a gray area, and should probably be avoided.  Granted, any information that your opponents take from your tells is at their own peril, but if your partner could use any information that your tell gives away to his and your benefit, then your opponents could rightfully claim to have been wronged.

Very broadly speaking, deception is OK as long as you are deceiving everyone at the table, partner included.


King of Tokyo: When can you buy a card and when can you start to use them?

Rules are here.

Purchasing Cards:

  Turn Overview

  Rolling and rerolling the dice
  Resolving the dice
  Buying cards (optional)
  End of your turn

So you can only buy cards during your turn, and only after rolling and resolving the dice. One exception to this is if you have the Opportunist card, in which case you can buy newly revealed cards even when it's not your turn.

Using Cards:

Cards marked Discard

  Monsters immediately resolve these then discard them.

Cards marked Keep

  Monsters keep these cards for the remainder of the game (sometimes the card will indicate it is discarded under certain circumstances.)

Keep cards generally indicate on them when they can be used (e.g. when attacking, when you are attacked, at the start of your turn). A Keep card that does something at the end of your turn can be used on the turn that you bought it (e.g. Solar Powered).


If a token is returned to hand, is it considered dying?

Unfortunately, no, it doesn't die. "Dies" has a specific meaning:

  700.4. The term dies means “is put into a graveyard from the battlefield.”

The token does cease to exist once in the player's hand, but that's due to other rules, and that's not considered dying either:

  110.5f A token that’s phased out, or that’s in a zone other than the battlefield, ceases to exist. This is a state-based action; see rule 704. (Note that if a token changes zones, applicable triggered abilities will trigger before the token ceases to exist.)

But, this has an interesting implication that a token can die and is temporarily in the graveyard, thus satisfying death triggers.


What is this check/checkmate rule in Shogi?

You were allowed to move to the green spot because the rook wasn't promoted yet, it would only be after it moves again. Otherwise, dropping would be too powerful. See the drop rules:

  ... nor does dropping within the promotion zone result in immediate promotion. Capture and/or promotion may occur normally, however, on subsequent moves of the piece.

The computer decided it would be best to promote the rook on the next move, but for that it had to move even though it was protected on the square where it was dropped.


The name of the game is Dog or Brändi Dog. It's a little bit like Parchesi, except you use cards and not dice to go.

You can play it on BrettSpielWelt for free, if you want to confirm it's the good game.


Why are two different "Well" cards included in the new version of Agricola?

The Well that shows three Stone and one Clay is a misprint, which was packaged up with the rest of the cards. The other well was included separately from the rest of the cards as a replacement to fix it. So you should only use the one that is the same as the original version, that costs three Stone and one Wood.

Sources for this information:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1695453/2016-version-extra-well-major-improvement-card-box

and

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1587110/extra-well-card


Are players who are turned into monsters by the traitor affected negatively by the house?

Short answer: Either interpretation is valid.

I remember playing this same scenario, but don't remember that question coming up at all. I reread through both the hero and traitor books for this scenario, and this seems to be a gap between the literal as-written rules and the general intent/theme of the game.

As written, a blob-person still would count as a hero and a regular character, and would be affected by the house and other things that affect all players. They would still have their normal stats except for their speed which is changed. This is based on the fact that the rules specify what is different about blob people, and those changes do not include giving them traitor or monster status:

  A Blobperson can't attack, be attacked, draw cards, use the Mystic Elevator, or discover rooms.

That being said, given that the rules are known to be full of holes, it's reasonable to believe that the blob people are intended to be treated as monsters, except that they are controlled by each player, instead of by the traitor. This is based on the fact that their stat is listed in the rules the same way all monsters' stats are, and the fact that their goal is to help the traitor win, exactly like the goal of the traitor and other monsters.


What is the difference between Owning and Controlling an object on the Battlefield?

You won't ever become a creature's owner in a game if you already weren't.

  108.3. The owner of a card in the game is the player who started the game with it in his or her deck. If a card is brought into the game from outside the game rather than starting in a player’s deck, its owner is the player who brought it into the game. If a card starts the game in the command zone, its owner is the player who put it into the command zone to start the game. Legal ownership of a card in the game is irrelevant to the game rules except for the rules for ante. (See rule 407.)

So, when you use Turn Against on a creature, you become its controller, not owner. If you used Eldrazi Displacer's ability on the same creature, it would return under your opponent's control, since he owns this creature.

To answer your second question, let's assume that you somehow retained control of the creature that you blinked with Eldrazi Displacer. The creature would not return to your opponent's control at the end of the turn. This is because an object that changes zones, even if it returns to the same zone it came form, becomes a completely new object every time it changes zones.

  400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.

There are seven exceptions to this rule, and none of them apply here.


What is the meaning of 'karai' and how is it applied?

"Concentrating on getting territory, rather than playing for influence."

Pasting in the native speaker sources from the Sensei's answer (put there by Bill Spight I think):
辛い（からい）厚みよりも地をとることを意図すること。
from Weblio's Basic Go Dictionary

厚みより地をとることを目的とすること。
from a different go dictionary

厚みよりも実利（地）を重視していること。
From the katteyomi go dictionary

Also, if you google for "地に辛い" (ji ni karai, i.e. concentrating on taking territory) you get it described as a style of some players (Wikipedia mentions Hane Naoki, Iiyama Yuta, but also says this style of play is becoming more widespread/dominant recently).


Can I tap land for mana AFTER opponent tapped those lands if it's in the same stack?

It sounds like your opponent played a card like Early Frost, which taps (up to) three target lands. (Side note: lands are not mana, they produce mana.) When this happens, it doesn't resolve immediately; it goes onto the stack. At that point, you have the opportunity to respond with things that can be done at "instant speed", activating abilities and playing instants.

So yes, you can respond by playing an instant, tapping those three lands for mana to pay for it. You can also simply respond by tapping the lands for mana and leaving it in your mana pool, if you'd like to play something later during the current step and phase. Either way, when Early Frost actually resolves after your spell resolves, it will still tap those three target lands, but they're already tapped, so nothing really happens.

If your opponent really wants to stop you from playing an instant with that mana, the only way they can really do it is tap your lands down at a time when you wouldn't want to play your instant. For example, if it needs to get cast during combat, they could tap your lands before combat. But it's a lot more straightforward to use it to prevent casting a non-instant spell, by tapping down lands during upkeep.


Do the back side of double-faced cards have a color?

Yes, they can have a color, and Ormendahl would be exiled.

Do you see the little black dot to the left of "Legendary Creature"?

That dot is called a color indicator, and means that the card is black. The CMC of the back of a double-faced card is the same as the front, which, in this case, is 0.

Here's another example of a black color indicator.


Good tips for first-time Power Grid players?

The other question is about beginner tactics so do read that, however I'll cover a couple of common confusions for first timers

Board regions (in the base game) have no meaning other than to decide the size of the playing area.  The rules describe setting up as having one area per player.  That should be read as "if you have three players use a 3-area-sized playing area" not "Albert has the red area, Bert has blue, Charlie has green,..."
You have to build additional houses in a way that is connected to your network.  That does not mean they have to be adjacent.  You can build anywhere but to do so you have to pay the connection cost across to your existing network. Unlike in Settlers, you can build through others' houses; but, boy, is it expensive.
"Turn Order" can be confusing.  The order as indicated by the order of markers on the line is only used once per round, most of the time the order is the reverse of that.

(1a. On some expansion boards particular areas affect the play, for example you can't build nuclear if you're only in Eire on the UK map or Denmark on the Europe map, etc.)


Unfortunately that plan does not work. The "Declare Blockers" step only happens once during combat, and all your blockers must be declared at the same time at the beginning of that step. So if you declare one blocker and then move on to the part of the step where you can activate the sacrifice ability, it is too late to go back and declare another blocker afterward.


What is the order of Waterfront Bouncer's ability + Basking Rootwalla + Intruder Alarm on the stack?

This is the order of events:

You announce that you wish to activate the Bouncer's ability. As part of activating the ability, you pay the costs and choose the target (which has to be on the battlefield). The Rootwalla goes from your hand into exile when you discard it, the Bouncer is tapped, and you put the ability on the stack
The madness ability triggers, and you put that on the stack on top of the Bouncer's ability
Each player gets the opportunity to play spells and activate abilities (a "priority wave" happens; I'll go ahead and assume that no additional spells and abilities are played, but I'll indicate where players have the opportunity)
The madness triggered ability resolves, during which you get to choose whether to play the Rootwalla or put it into your graveyard. I'll assume you choose to play it. This makes the Rootwalla a spell on the stack, on top of the Bouncer's ability
New priority wave
The Rootwalla resolves, and becomes a creature on your battlefield
The intruder alarm's triggered ability triggers, and is put on the stack on top of the Bouncer's ability
Priority wave
Intruder alarm resolves, untapping all creatures
Priority wave
The Bouncer's ability resolves, returning the originally targeted creature to its owner's hand


Does "new city" mean a city no other players are infecting?

A new city means one that you are currently not infecting.

From the infect a city infection rules,

  You can infect a new city OR a city you are currently infecting.

  new city: Discard 2 cards whose color must match the city you
  wish to infect. Place your disease cube(s) on the uppermost
  available row (without any cubes).

  City you are currently infecting: Discard 1 card whose color must
  match the city you are currently infecting. Place your disease
  cube(s) next to those already on the City card.


What is the best opening lead on this hand, and why?

I suspect you won't get a unanimous answer if you asked a number of top experts.  What follows is my guess.

If 6N was bid confidently, that should mean most of the field (since it's a fairly good field) is in the same slam.  I lead the Ace of clubs and take my 45%.

If 6N was not bid confidently, I lead a spade.  My partnership agreements are usually that non-honor leads at slams are meaningless (b/c declarer can usually use the info better than partner), so I lead a random non-honor.

If I am in a swinging situation where I am fairly confident I want top or bottom, I lead a diamond.

Updated to add explanation:

If opponents have 12 tricks no matter what, it's quite likely that they have 13 tricks outside of clubs, or at least they have 12 tricks and can squeeze me in the black suits for the 13th.  (This includes those situations where declarer has no choice but to finesse my partner's heart honor to get to 12 tricks as well as situations squeezing partner (unsuccessfully) in a red suit+clubs and me (successfully) in the black suits for the 13th.)  So I have to lead AC if I think they'll make.

If there is a way to beat the contract, it's quite possible leading AC sets up their 12th trick (for example if their clubs are Kx opposite QJxx).  Indeed, it's quite possible they have 10 or 11 tricks outside of clubs and can set up 1 or 2 more tricks in clubs.  Hence you need to hit partner's king immediately.  The heart king would be useless since hearts are probably with declarer.  That leaves spades and diamonds, with spades more likely because of the bidding.  Spades is also better because there are holdings where partner has the diamond king and the contract goes down except on the lead of the AC, whereas a diamond lead when partner has the spade king and nothing else probably means opponents end up with 1 spade, 5 in each red suit, and a club.

(But there definitely are holdings that require a diamond lead - most of these involve marked finesses against your Jack of spades.  Hence it's a reasonable swinging lead.)

(If one has to lead the 9 or 6 of spades, I think the 9 is better.  If opps have 7 spades (say A52 in dummy vs QT74 in hand), the 6 is more likely to induce declarer to try to drop the KS singleton (either in desperation for trick 12 or hope for trick 13).  Not that I'd think through this at the table.)

A low club hoping to hit partner's king or queen might seem like a good idea, but I very much doubt that LHO bid 6N without neither the ace nor king of clubs (even if 2N promised stoppers).  If partner has the queen and opponents need exactly one club trick, they are more likely than not to get the finesse wrong if you don't lead clubs but right if you do, since a lead of a club strongly suggests you don't have the queen.


Is The Online Version of La Guerre des Moutons Identical To the "Real" Game?

As a great fan of this game, I can tell you that yes, the tiles are double-sided. You pick them from a bag, so you can't see anything and you put them in the palm of your had, as described in the rules:

Using this technique, you can easly hide all the tiles from your opponnents.

Hope it helped!


What is this notation for dimensions: 2-11/16" x 3-13/16"

The " in 2-11/16" denotes inches. The number of inches is written using a common notation for representing improper fractions using only ASCII characters. The represented fraction is

2-11/16" means "two inches and eleven-sixteenth", so the number of inches is actually 2+(11/16) = (2*16+11)/16 = 2.6875, or about 68.3 mm.

Similarly, 3-13/16" means 3.8125 inches, or about 96.8 mm.


How can I teach other people game rules?

Here are some things you can do. Keep in mind for the first game I'm usually more interested in teaching people how to play than winning, especially if I know the game well. This method might not work as well with a mixture of old hats and newbies.

Play with an open hand (maybe even have the other players do the same). This of course only works in games with secret information (card games especially). Make bad choices and explain why they are bad choices while you make them... especially if you can use those choices to illustrate points. So something like "Now I'm going to play Card X ... in a real game I wouldn't know (though I might guess) that you've got Card Y in your hand which is a perfect counter to my play."
On your turn explain why you are doing things, what benefit you might expect to get and how it would ruin everyone else's day. On their turns point out things they could do to make your life more difficult.
Take backs! Let them have them all they want where possible. Where chance is involved you might do a thing a practice time or two first so people can see how it works, especially if it's complicated.
If the game is complicated explain up front that you're going to parcel the rules out in digestible chunks. In Small world, I usually don't bother explaining going into decline until the second round. It's largely irrelevant to your strategy before then ... largely.

If despite all this you still win, that's okay, hopefully you've done a good job of explaining how you got there, and they'll trash you on the next game ...


Seedborn Muse & Sands of Time on the stack

Sands of Time makes everyone skip their untap step.  Period.  It is a continuous effect, it doesn't trigger.  Seedborn Muse will do nothing in this scenario as there are no untap steps during which to untap it's controller's permenants.


I made an AI agent playing Quoridor. You can play against it right on the browser here: https://gorisanson.github.io/quoridor-ai/. As you can read on the "about" section on the page, I imitated the demonstration model of Daniel Borowski's Quoridor AI (https://danielborowski.github.io/site/quoridor-ai/display.html).

Martijn van Steenbergen's Quoridor program source code in Java (which maybe had been on the link https://code.google.com/p/quoridorai/ of Tom Wilkinson's answer) is now available on https://github.com/MedeaMelana/quoridorai. When I compiled the source code by Java 8 (JDK), it ran well.


Multiplayer priority and passing priority

After a spell is cast or an ability is activated, the player who did so may retain priority to do something else. When priority is passed, it passes clockwise, to the next player in turn order.

Priority - Since players can cast instants and activate abilities during each other’s turns, the game needs a system that makes sure only one player can do something at a time. Priority determines, at any given time, which player can cast a spell or activate an activated ability.
The active player (the player whose turn it is) gets priority at the beginning of each step and each main phase—except for the untap step and the cleanup step. When you get priority, you can cast a spell, activate an activated ability, or pass (choose to do nothing). If you do something, you keep priority, so you make the same choice again. If you pass, your opponent gets priority, so now he or she gets that choice. This goes back and forth until both players pass in a row.
When both players pass in a row, if there’s a spell or ability waiting on the stack, it resolves. Then the active player gets priority again, and the system repeats. When both players pass in a row, if there’s no spell or ability waiting on the stack, that part of the turn ends and the next one begins.(MtG Basic Rules, Page 30)

So if someone casts a spell, whether it is a board wipe or any other spell, then that player may choose to something else, or pass. If they pass, the next player gets priority. It goes around this way until all players have passed, at which point the top thing on the stack will resolve.
The active player only changes when their turn is over. During a single turn, "active player' always means the player whose turn it is.

102.1. A player is one of the people in the game. The active player is the player whose turn it is. The other players are nonactive players.

This is no different in 2 player or multiplayer (of course in 2 player, clockwise just means "the other player").
Also note that in a tournament (and often in casual play), when you cast a spell or activate an ability, you are assumed to be passing priority unless specifically stated otherwise. So if you want to cast a spell and then cast something else before your opponents can respond, you must say that you are retaining priority as part of casting the spell.


Can a Hero Event be used on another Hero player?

Yes, Hero Events may be used on any hero unless they state otherwise. The rules specifically point this out:

Events (Gold bordered) are taken into the player’s hand and kept secret from the Zombies. They can be strategically played on any Hero to give them an edge or save them from a grizzly fate. (page 4)
Note that Events are not associated with any one Hero, but instead are held by the player to be used whenever is appropriate (some cards are listed as Play Immediately. These cards often have an effect that is used for the Hero currently taking their turn). (page 11)


Can each player fight a minion in each round in Roll Player - Monsters and Minions?

Yes.

On page 6 are the rules. The important bits are as follows:

Examine the face-up top card of the Minion deck. (If this is the first turn, this card will be the one pulled during setup.)

...

If the reward level does not have the trophy symbol, put the Minion card on the bottom of the Minion deck, because the Minion survived and ran away. (You did not defeat the monster, bottom deck it.)
If the reward level does include a trophy symbol, place the Minion card near the player’s Character Sheet as a Trophy: the player’s character has killed the Minion! Then gather information:... (You did defeat the monster, if it's a trophy keep it.)
Reveal the top card of the Minion deck and place it face up on top of the deck. (Draw a new monster.)

Regardless if a monster is defeated or not step 9 ensures that a new monster is placed. All the steps on page 6 occur when the current player goes on a hunt, not once per round. In short, the monster defeated or not gets replaced by a new monster that is available to fight for the next player in turn.

You can download the rules PDF on BGG


Is there an easy way I can tell if a MTG card is "rare" just by looking at it?

Yes, cards have a rarity indicator (at least in recent years). Each Magic card has an icon below and to the right of the picture called the expansion symbol, which indicates the expansion set that the card is from. The icon's color indicates the rarity of the card, with the following key:

Black: Common
Silver: Uncommon
Gold: Rare
Red: Mythic Rare

To get an idea of the relative rarity of these cards, we can look at a booster pack. Recent booster packs each contain about 11 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare, with about a 1 in 8 chance of the rare being replaced with a mythic rare.

A couple of things to remember: very old cards, like from Alpha and Beta, don't have expansion symbols at all. Other old (but not as old) cards have expansion symbols, but they're all black. And some cards have been printed in different sets, and have different rarities in those sets, so the icon on the card may not match the rarity in the most current set.


How is Pandemic Legacy impacted by playing with two characters?

The biggest spoiler-free Legacy-specific difference is probably in the end-game upgrades: if any given character gets half the player turns instead of a quarter, buffing a character becomes comparatively more powerful. By the same logic, the amount of damage a single Scar can do to a smaller team is greater.

However I think the most important differences are the same as those of the base game (and are covered in this other question).


What happens to a detective in Scotland Yard who cannot move any further?

From the rules here

What if a detective is unable to move any more?
the game goes on and the rest of the detectives try to catch Mister X.

The rules also say.

The game is over if the detectives are no longer able to move. This
situation is reached at the latest at the 22nd move, but can be
reached earlier if detective are left with ticket they cannot use (bus
or underground). They are immobilised at the last point moved to.

And from another source here

If a detective no longer has any tickets or can't move from his
current station with the tickets he has left, he has to sit out.

I've not found anything about removing the piece from the board so rules about not having a space occupied by more than one figure would still apply.  In general when playing a board games it's better to assume that if the rules don't says something happens its probably doesn't. If a piece was supposed to be removed from the board its likely this would be stated.
There is a previous boardgames SE question here "Can Mr. X move into or through a detective occupied field?" It is argued that they would lose automatically and is the accepted answer.
Contrary to that, there is this thread on BGG which has argument that as a player not enter an occupied space that this also applies to Mr X. and it would be impossible for them to do.


How have editions of Bang! been different from previous ones?

2nd Edition

This edition adjusted or clarified a few of the rules (and the matching graphics). The rule changes were:

The Sheriff can't be put in jail. (1st Edition: Sheriff could be put in jail.)
Discard Jail after you skip one turn. (1st Edition: Jail was not discarded until a heart ♥ or diamond ♦ was drawn.)
When performing a draw! for jail, the flipped-over card must be hearts ♥ to get you out of jail. (1st Edition: The flipped-over card could be hearts ♥ or diamonds ♦.)
Sid Ketchum has 4 life points. (1st Edition: Sid Ketchum had 3 life points.)

There were also a few changes in cards' names:

Cavallo (Horse) became Mustang
Maestrina (Mistress) became Cat Balou
Indiani! (Injuns!) become Indiani! (Indians!)

3rd Edition

—

Bang! The Bullet!

This was a compilation release, it contained the 3 expansions released at that point

High Noon
Dodge City
A Fistful of Cards

It also included

3 special character cards

Uncle Will
Johnny Kisch
Claus "The Saint"

2 additional high noon cards

New Identity
Handcuffs

A sheriff's badge

This release contained the 3rd edition of the basic game rules and the 2nd edition of the Dodge City rules.

4th Edition

—


How does Octopus Umbra interact with effects that change the base power and toughness of, and counters on, a creature?

The judge's ruling was correct. The various modifiers to power and toughness are applied in layers, and the 8/8 base P/T are in a different layer than the +1/+1 for each enchantment. With the three enchantments in your scenario (Octopus Umbra plus two others), Tuvasa the Sunlit will be 11/11 overall.
There are many continuous effects that can modify objects. They are applied in layers. Effects that modify power and/or toughness are applied in layer 7, and layer 7 has another 5 sub-layers. They are applied in the following order:

613.3a Layer 7a: Effects from characteristic-defining abilities that define power and/or toughness are applied. See rule 604.3.

Example: "This creature's power is equal to the number of knights you control".

613.3b Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied. Effects that refer to the base power and/or toughness of a creature apply in this layer.

7b is where the 8/8 modifier from Octopus Umbra is applied. It overwrites its original 1/1.

613.3c Layer 7c: Effects that modify power and/or toughness (but don’t set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.

7c is where the +1/+1 per enchantment from Tuvasa the Sunlit is applied.

613.3d Layer 7d: Power and/or toughness changes from counters are applied. See rule 122, “Counters.”
613.3e Layer 7e: Effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness are applied. Such effects take the value of power and apply it to the creature’s toughness, and take the value of toughness and apply it to the creature’s power.


Do creature tokens get removed along with the permanent that created them?

The tokens will stay.

A token is simply a new object. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, it does not matter what spell or effect created it, and there is no connection. Consider also that, strictly speaking, the Militia's Pride did not create the token, but its triggered ability did.

  110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. A permanent remains on the battlefield indefinitely. [..]

Of course that doesn't mean that permanents are indestructible or anything like that. It only says that permanents don't leave the battlefield on their own. It means that an effect or rule is required to make a token die (in fact, it takes an effect or a rule for anything to happen in the game), so since Militia's Pride does not say anything about what happens to the tokens it created when the Pride dies, nothing will happen to those tokens. There is also no rule to that effect.


Card game with jokers and set completion

The game your are playing is a strategic version of "Vatra" or "Fire".

https://www.pagat.com/passing/pig.html#vatra

This comes from the same family of games as spoons and pig.

The rules are pretty much exactly as you mentioned them.  The only difference being the offering of the second card.


Does an enter-the-battlefield effect count the permanent that created the ability?

Yes (assuming nothing else happens). The basic reason that it happens is that the artifact creature is already on the battlefield when the trigger happens.

When it enters the battlefield, that trigger puts the life gain effect on the stack.  When that effect resolves, it counts how many artifacts you control at that point and you gain 3x life.

So, if an opponent removes the angel while the life gain is on the stack, you end up gaining no life.


Name of a board game about American politics

Sounds like Corporate America.  Electing the prez, hoping the "correct" investment cards come up, 4 locations (i.e., draw decks) on the board. played it once at a con and I'm surprised the name stuck with me.  Corporations buying political favor certainly fits your recollected theme of "american politics" anyways


Unbound Flourishing and Alternative costs

Alternative costs such as Madness do not change the mana cost of a spell. The mana cost is not defined as the cost you paid to cast the spell; it is simply defined as the cost in the upper right of the card. Avacyn's Judgement still has a mana cost of {1}{R} even when cast for its Madness cost and Unbound Flourishing won't respond to it.

From CR 202:

  202.1 A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner.

Nothing in the rules for casting spells changes the mana cost of the spell, even when alternative costs are paid. Essentially, what you're finally pay ing when using an alternative cost is the total cost of the spell: that's defined as the mana cost or—if you elected to use one, which you did—the alternative cost, plus any cost increases/decreases.


Why am I seeing the same 3 Spider Solitaire games today that I saw 2 days ago

The random number generator could have been seeded with the same seed, which would cause the same sequence of random number to be generated. The RNG in Microsoft's C library repeats every ~32,000 numbers (which is pretty abysmal), so there's effectively only that many seeds.

Different seeds:

>perl -E"say srand; say join ' ', map int(rand(52))+1, 1..10;"
1819759215  # The seed
41 35 23 9 35 2 41 11 50 51

>perl -E"say srand; say join ' ', map int(rand(52))+1, 1..10;"
994223390
47 13 12 51 35 7 37 42 11 2

But what if the same seed was picked the next day:

>perl -E"srand(994223390); say join ' ', map int(rand(52))+1, 1..10;"
47 13 12 51 35 7 37 42 11 2


In Lord of the Rings, can quest cards with stars be used to pay for events that require you to discard other cards of a specific type?

Firstly I will point out there are two versions of the game: Fantasy Flight and the Original

Original Edition

The FAQ states:

  Example: The Event cost at Speak Friend and Enter requires the players to discard a Friendship and Joker symbol. Frodo volunteers since he can discard any two white Hobbit cards to pay for the cost.

Frodo's ability is the same as a wildcard (or Joker as this edition calls them) and therefore I would say it is clearly correct in this edition to use a wildcard in this manner.

Fantasy Flight (Current)

The Rulebook states:

  Some cards have star symbols, which are wild. These
  may be played as any Activity symbol (Fighting,
  Friendship, Hiding, or Traveling).

It doesn't give a specific example like the older edition but given the older edition allows the usage of wildcards for events it would seem logical that it is still allowed.


Can players tap lands for mana with Enchanted Evening and Grand Abolisher in play?

No they cannot.

From the rulings on Enchanted Evening:

  This has no effect on those permanents other than letting them interact with things that care about enchantments.

Which Grand Abolisher clearly interacts with:

  During your turn, your opponents can't cast spells or activate abilities of artifacts, creatures, or enchantments.

I think it's clear that lands have an innate implied ability, even if not printed of "Tap: Add 1 mana of the appropriate colour to your mana pool."

So all we need to know is that this ability is treated like any other:

  CR 605.3. Activating an activated mana ability follows the rules for activating any other activated ability (see rule 602.2)

The exceptions listed don't apply to this case because Grand Abolisher is not countering the mana ability, it is preventing it from happening.  Just because it's a mana ability doesn't make it special in this case.


Is there a list of races & powers that can't be used between smallworld and underground?

I am unsure about an 'official' list (i.e. from Days of Wonder), however I can list the races and abilities that would not be transfer as well to the other game. Page 10 of the SmallWorld Underground rulebook does offer some general advice if you are aiming to play with SWU races on a SW board or vice versa:

  Powers and effects that make no sense (because they were linked to a Terrain type that no longer exists, or because they are linked to Relics or Places when those are not in play) do not apply and must be taken out of the game before start.

  Where applicable, Powers and effects associated with the Seas and Lake region are transferred to the River Regions and vice versa.

  Last but not least, consider the following Terrain types equivalent:

  Black Mountain / Mountain Regions
  Muddy / Marsh Regions
  Mushroom Forest / Forest Regions
  Mining / Mine symbol Regions
  Mystic Crystal / Magic symbol Regions

There is also a SmallWorld Underground FAQ that covers compatibility

  Redundant or contradictory combos

  If useless combos appear, you may replace their Special Power with another one, drawn at random from the Special Powers stack.

  Known useless combos: Frightened Pixies, Immortal Elves, Seafaring Krakens, Tomb Ghouls, Tomb White Ladies, Underworld Spiderines, Vampire Kobolds, Vanishing Ghouls, Vanishing Priestesses, Vanishing White Ladies.

The following is my own list of Races and Special Powers that cannot be used on the other game's board and why.

Incompatible with SmallWorld

  Races

  All races are compatible.

  Flames: Conquer ANY Mountain region as your first conquest with the necessary tokens. The Volcano is then placed in that region. The region with the Volcano is immune to conquest as long as the Flames are active.

  Spiderines: Use the Underworld ability rules. Caverns may be conquered with one less token than normal. All regions with a Cavern are considered adjacent.

  Special Powers

  Adventurous (If not playing with Places and Relics)

  Magic (If not playing with Places and Relics)

Incompatible with SmallWorld Underground

  Races

  All races are compatible.

  Humans: The player who picks Humans as a race immediately receives 5 VCs.

  Special Powers

  Hill (There are no Hill regions on the SWU board)

  Mounted (There are no Hill or Farmland regions on the SWU board)

  The remainder of the races and special powers, from all the Race/Special Power expansions can be transferred on to the SWU board without issue.


When should I add life gain cards to my deck in MTG?

Have you ever seen any of the decks that were popular a few years ago circa Coldsnap, that centred around the Martyr of Sands/Proclamation of Rebirth engine?  If you're going to gain a lot of life, then a combo that can realistically get you 10-20 life every turn is what you need to be looking at.  A lot of decks - any deck that wants to win by beating down with creatures and burn spells - have no defence against such a strategy.  (Of course, not all decks are like this.  You'll need to have a different route to victory against other combo decks.)

Here's a sample budget Martyr list that I found on the official Wizards site, in an article from 2009:

  4 Adarkar Wastes, 7 Island, 10 Plains

  4 Martyr of Sands, 3 Ranger of Eos

  4 Muddle the Mixture, 2 Proclamation of Rebirth, 4 Thopter Foundry, 4
  Sword of the Meek, 4 Thirst for Knowledge, 4 Condemn, 1 Journey to
  Nowhere, 1 Ghostly Prison, 4 Path to Exile, 4 Fieldmist Borderpost

Lifegain is a good strategy to consider in any environment where fast red decks are dominant - and this is not actually that uncommon, given that fast red decks tend to be a cheaper option in Magic terms.  If rival decks are happy to spend a card and one red mana to aim a Lightning Bolt at your dome, you will be very happy with anything that efficiently gains life against them, as this efficiently undercuts their strategy and makes it very difficult for them to win.  Just be sure that your lifegain kicks in pretty quickly, as left to their own devices many red decks can easily deal you 20 points of damage by turn 4...


How does Hour of Devastation's Neheb the Eternal work with extra combat & main phases?

Any Main Phase that follows a Combat phase is a "Postcombat Main Phase".

  505.1a Only the first main phase of the turn is a precombat main phase. All other main phases are postcombat main phases. This includes
  the second main phase of a turn in which the combat phase has been
  skipped. It is also true of a turn in which an effect has caused an
  additional combat phase and an additional main phase to be created.

So Nehab, The Eternal will trigger for each Main Phase that is not the First Main Phase.

It's also worth noting that the mana added is based on cumulative life lost by opponents during this turn. Any life lost prior to this triggered ability's resolution adds {R} to the mana added to your mana pool.


Mainland production numbers go to new islands (Settlers of Catan app)

The rules are given at Catan Maps (and I believe somewhere in app, but I don't have it installed at the moment):

  After setting up the board as shown, set aside the following four number tokens, shuffled in a face-down pile:  3, 5, 8, 9, 10

  [...]

  As soon as a player’s ship reaches the intersection of a terrain hex belonging to one of the small islands, a number token is assigned to this hex. The first 5 number tokens are taken randomly from the face down supply.

  Once the supply is used up, the player whose turn it is must remove a number token from the main island. At first, only number tokens are available that obey the following 3 rules:

  The number token must belong to a terrain hex adjacent to which the active player owns a settlement or city.
  Each settlement or city on the main island must keep at least one terrain hex with a number token.
  On a small island, the numbers 6 and 8 must not be next to each other.

  If it is not possible to comply with all three rules, you may break the rules in consecutive order from 1 to 3.

The page at Catan Maps also notes that this scenario was included in the first edition of Seafarers, but was removed because it requires so many different sets.


In a chain, if a card will be banished : can I still activate its effects?

The effects of Switcheroroo still happen. There is no negation on Houndhorde. It's like chaining Twister to a trap for example. Trap still goes off.
You can chain your trap to that. He declares he's going to banish > You chain Switcheroroo > Card gets banished > Switcheroroo effect goes off in the chain. The only time this is different is when the card specifically states the card it's targeting (or any card) can't be chained. I can't find an example but I know some cards do state this.

For that last statement, you're absolutely correct. Banishing is just banishing. If it doesn't say it negates, it's not going to be negated.


In Gizmos (2nd ed.), if someone performs the "research action" and files a gizmo, does that count as a "file action"?

Yes

  RESEARCHChoose any facedown Level Deck (1, 2, or 3) and draw a
  number of cards equal to your Research Amount. You may not
  draw from more than 1 Level Deck at a time. Each player starts the
  game with a Research Amount of 3, but some Upgrade Gizmos
  may increase that number.
  If there are fewer cards in the chosen Level Deck than your Research Amount,
  draw only the number of cards available.
  After you draw the cards, choose 1 of them and either Build it (if you have
  enough Energy) or File it (if you have space in your Archive). Or, you can choose to
  do neither.
  Return the remaining cards facedown to the bottom of the corresponding
  Level Deck, in the order of your choosing. You may return all drawn cards to the
  bottom if you wish, or if you can’t File or Build any of them.
  Note: The File or Build Action you perform during a Research Action also
  counts to trigger active Gizmos (see Triggering Gizmo Effects below).[bolding added]

https://cmon-files.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/assets_item/resource/126/Rulebook_Gizmos.pdf


Identify this half matte sleeve for ThunderStone Advance?

If you are looking for sleeve sizes for a game, the following links are

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/164572/card-sleeve-sizes-games
https://www.maydaygames.com/pages/sleeves-by-game

Here is the entry for Thunderstone Advanced: Numenera, other Thunderstone versions are listed below.

I realize you aren't asking about the game, as much as what product are your sleeves. This is meant for people who may stumble upon your question.


Discard one of your choice.
Official answer from AEG posted on BGG by Ryan Dancey:

When you're not insane, both cards read: "You must discard this card if you have another card with a number higher than 4 in your hand".
Since you can't play 2 cards at once in Love Letter, you need to choose which you will be discarding.
If you discard The Silver Key, that's ok. You remain sane.
If you discard The Shining Trapezohedron, that's ok as well. Although since you weren't insane, you now become so (you have a card with an insane effect in your discard).


This depends on the order in which spells are played. I'm assuming you know about the stack: When spells are played or effects are triggered, they are placed on the top of the stack. When no player wants to add spells or effects to the stack, the stack gets resolved top-to-bottom; in effect in reverse order of placing things on it.

Having said that, I also assume that with "fight" you are not referring to regular combat but to spells that pit two creatures against each other. Then it matters in what order spells are played:

You play Giant Growth on your creature, the stack resolves and you now own a 5/5. You or your opponent set up a 'fight' between your 5/5 and his 4/4. Your creature survives, his dies.
Your opponent casts a fight-spell on his 4/4 and your 2/2. While that's still on the stack, you react with an instant to make your 2/2 a 5/5. Same result.
You cast a Giant Growth on your 2/2 and your opponent reacts with a fight-spell pitting your Grizzly Bears against his 4/4. In this instance, the Giant Growth hasn't resolved yet, and the 4/4 will win the duel, killing your 2/2. Giant Growth will fizzle when it resolves because its target is no longer legal.

On a side note, in the last scenario you could react to the fight-spell with another Giant Growth if you have a second spell in your hand and the mana available.


I think you've made the same misinterpretation we did in calling that card a 'miss'.  This was (no pun intended) misleading.  The card that shows a 'null' symbol is not a 'miss'.  It means "no damage is done by the attack" (page 11 of rules). I get why thematically you would say "the attacker essentially missed",  but that is not the case.

The card in question in the 'attack modifier deck' just affects the damage done.  I don't think Gloomhaven has the concept of 'hit and miss' - just damage and effect.  So note that if the 'no damage done' card is pulled by a player or monster they will still get to apply other effects such as poison and wound.  The attack still happened and 'miss' isn't a thing. In fact, the word 'miss' never appears in the rules and 'hit' only ever refers to hit points.

Regarding Retaliate the FAQ it says the following for retaliate.

  A retaliate takes effect after the attack that ininiated it.

So even if the attack does no damage, and even if there are no other effects,  you will still retaliate as you were attacked.

If theme helps, imagine your Brute has time to hit someone back with retaliate,  the bandit tries to hit him and doesn't damage.  Do you think the Brute will go 'Oh that didn't hurt so I won't hit back'?


Model Decks for Game of Thrones The Card Game?

I did a quick search and came up with two good resources for this. First, some general guidelines for building cohesive decks that can work from ElitistJerks.com. The article lays out quite a bit of good information about this process that will probably help in determining how to create your decks.

Second, I found a website where players can post decks they have built. Other players can then rate the decks so you could get a feel for what people think is good (although most decks seem to go unrated as of right now). Each deck page has a list of cards in it, the description and how it is suppose to play, and other statistics on deck composition. The site is divided into each of the six houses, along with a list for neutral decks. This seems to be the best list for what you're doing, since you can focus on one house list and then move to the next when you're done.


You can get little plastic boxes in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

http://www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/uk/html/onlineshop/fullrange_rub.php

Also the little clear plastic bags with press-in tops (known as zip-lock)

http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/default.aspx?products=all

For storage of multiple card-based games there are all kinds of small craft storage units with drawers of varying sizes. Personally I use the bags for games with lots of elements such as Agricola, and just keep all the bags of pieces/cards in the Agricola box.

Magic: the Gathering fat-pack boxes are excellent for storing multiple cards in (I have a friend who stores Race for the Galaxy, Gloom, The Great Del Mutay, and some regular playing cards in one) You can get empty ones from ebay or M:tG stores such as Troll and Toad (I'm limited to 2 hyperlinks).


In Betrayal, does a monster really die after 1 hit?

Looking at page 18 of the Rulebook there's a section of How Monsters Work which says:

Monsters can't be killed.. If a monster would take any damage, it is stunned and misses its next turn... Stunned monsters can't slow an explorer's movement. Even if a haunt says to do something other than stun monsters when they take damage, they can still be stunned by effects that specifically stun monsters.

These are the base rules for monsters which can be manipulated by specific haunt rules. Do note that the Traitor may know game altering rules that you, as a Hero, simply do not know.
Now, let's take a look specifically at Haunt 46:
Below are minor spoilers for Haunt 46 including special rules. It is brief and only outlines the rules in question. Read at your own risk!

 The Feast!
 Cannibal Freaks ( Speed 2, Might 4, Sanity 4 )Special Rules:
 If a Cannibal Freak is defeated by an attack, it's killed instead of stunned.
 In this scenario the special rules dictate that instead of getting stunned the monster would be defeated instead. That is if they take any mental or physical damage. That being said, specific items that stun can still be used to incapacitate the monster. The monsters will die in one hit but the base stats for the monsters are also fairly high. Depending on how many items the Heros were able to attain during the game you may need to play this safe and cluster your monsters together or corner a specific hero to get them out of the game.

Do note not all Haunts are perfectly balanced and some rules may not be flushed out enough to answer every single question that may pop up. From Avalon Hill:

Keep in mind if the rules are not specified in the rulebook you and your group can decide what makes the game most fun.

In this case though, I think the answer is cut and dry.