How to build a budget-friendly manabase for a 5-color deck?

Here are the lands that will work in a 5 colour deck, I ordered them in roughly the order I think they are helpful speed wise to an EDH deck and will include the lands you already run for completeness. Prices rounded to the nearest quarter and are from TCGPlayer based on the results returned by Scryfall. (For sake of site rules, I have no affiliation with either site)
Without knowing your budget, I can't really limit myself to that budget, but I will give a more general overview of less expensive lands and cycles for 5 colour EDH.
Bond Lands
You're building EDH, a multiplayer free for all format, and bond lands care about how many opponents you have, allied colors being released in Battlebond, the 2HG set, and enemy colors in Commander Legends. Their prices range from Spectator Seating (/) at $5.75 to Morphic Pool (/) at $28.25. These are all but guaranteed to come out in EDH untapped, until the game is almost over when one land drop won't matter so much anymore.
Shock Lands
These have always been an EDH staple, having the basic land types to allow them to be found by some effects (Farseek) and being able to choose to let them come in tapped when the cost (2 life) was not worth it. These were at one time more expensive lands, however with the two further visits to Ravnica each having full reprints of the cycles, the price to get ahold of these lands has gone down quite a bit, they now run from Hallowed Fountain (/) at $7.75 to Breeding Pool (/) at $20.
Filter Lands
There are a few cycles of filter lands, The first cycle from Odyssey requires you to pay 1 mana of any colour to get 2 mana of specific allied colour pairs, cost wise they range from Sungrass Prairie () at $0.25 to Shadowblood Ridge () at $0.50.
The second cycle came out in Llorwyn block, it requires you to spend one mana of the colours it can produce to get two mana in any combination of those two colours. Recent reprints in masters sets have brought this cycle down in price, from Graven Cairns () at $4.25 to Sunken Ruins () at $18. Unlike the Llorwyn cycle, the Odyssey cycle cannot tap for mana without paying into it, the Llorwyn cards have tap for colorless.
Also worth mentioning here is Crystal Quarry () which filters 5 mana into one of each color for $6.75 and Cascading Cataracts for $4.75 which turns 5 mana into 5 mana of any color combination you want.
Pain Lands
These lands tap for colorless, or one of two colors if you pay one life. These lands run in cost from Llanowar Wastes (/) at $0.75 to Adarkar Wastes (/) at $8.75.
Mana Confluence ($20.75) and City of Brass ($16.25) can also be considered here, as they tap for 1 of any colour at the cost of one life, with slightly different wording (cost/vs damage effect). Murmuring Bosk ($1.25) can also be included here, it is a forest so taps for , but can alternatively tap for  or  for 1 life, it will come in untapped if you reveal a treefolk card from your hand. All of these cards, other than City of Brass cannot be used for coloured mana if you are prevented from paying life (effects like Angel of Jubilation or Platinum Emperion) however preventing damage from City of Brass does not prevent it from being used.
Pathway Lands
Zendikar Rising introduced a partial cycle of 6 lands in 2 allied and 4 enemy colour pairs and Kaldheim finished the set with the other 4 pairs. These lands tap for one colour, but when you play them you choose which side enters face up, and thus which of the two possible colours they can tap for. They run from Cragcrown Pathway/Timbercrown Pathway (/) for $2.75 to Darkbore Pathway/Slitherbore Pathway (/) for $5.75. Note if they enter the battlefield in some way other than being played (being flickered or Scapeshift perhaps) they enter with the front face up, no choice about side.
Check Lands
These check that you have one land of the matching colour basic land subtypes out on the field and come in untapped if you do, they don't care if they are basic so Shock, Battle and Bicycle lands will work for this also. Price wise they range from Sunpetal Grove (/) at $3 to Hinterland Harbor (/) at $7.
Reveal Lands
These lands come in untapped if you can reveal a land from your hand with a matching basic type, though it does not need to be basic, so Shock, Battle and Bicycle lands will work. Price wise these go from Fortified Village (/) at $2.25 to Choked Estuary (/) at $3.75.
Battle Lands
These come out untapped if you have at least two basic lands in play, though this makes it less and less likely you will get them untapped the more non-basics you have in your deck, these do unfortunately only exist in allied colours and the costs run from Prairie Stream (/) at $0.75 to Canopy Vista (/) at $2.25. These also have the basic land types, so they will matter for other land types listed, like Check and Reveal lands.
Fast lands
These come out untapped if you have 2 or less other lands can conditionally be faster. They run from Concealed Courtyard (/) at $2.75 to Blackcleave Cliffs (/) at $16.25. These are a little less useful in EDH due to the game format being longer, the deck size larger and the lands limited to one each, the likelihood they will come in untapped is low, they are much better in formats like modern where early advantage means more.
Tainted Lands
These lands tap for colorless, unless you have a swamp, if you do they tap for  or one other color. They go from Tainted Field (/) at $0.25 to Tainted Peak (/) at $4.25. This is a cycle of 4 lands, as the 5th land would be / if you control a swamp, and be a strictly worse than a swamp itself. These also do not care about the land being basic, so Shock, Battle and Bicycle swamps all apply, as do all lands turned into swamps by an effect like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Thriving Lands
Jumpstart added a new cycle of lands, 5 lands that come in tapped, one for each colour of mana. The up side to these lands is they let you pick the other colour they can tap for as you play them. While they do come in tapped and are slower than most of the rest here, the guarantee of giving you the colour you need as your 5th land can mean a lot. They run from Thriving Bluff () at $0.50 to Thriving Isle () at $1.75.
Vivid Lands
Vivid lands always come in tapped, but tapped status really only slows you down if it is the 5th land, completing the set of colors. The major benefit of Vivid lands is they come in with two charge counters, allowing the land to be used for any color twice. They run from Vivid Grove () at $0.25 to Vivid Marsh () at $1.50.
Triomes
Triomes, or tricycle lands (tri color lands with cycling), are an evolution of Bicycle lands seen below. There are 5 lands (half cycle) with a pair of allied colours and their mutual enemy (Khans of Tarkir colors). They come in tapped, but because they have three basic land types they are easy to find and synergize with many of the other effects. They run from Indatha Triome (//) at $5.50 to Zagoth Triome (//) at $10.
Bicycle Lands
These lands will come in tapped, however I am mentioning them because they synergize with Check lands if played earlier and Reveal lands if in the hand. They range in price from Irrigated Farmland (/) at $0.25 to Fetid Pools (/) at $3.75.
Slow Lands
These lands you can only tap once every other turn and come in untapped, there are two cycles, both ally coloured only. The first uses a counter put on when tapping for mana that is removed instead of untapping. These run from Timberline Ridge (/) at $2.95 to River Delta (/) at $4.25.
The other cycle is actually two cycles of 5 which are functional reprints of eachother, all less than $0.25 from Rootwater Depths (/) to Cinder Marsh (/), these can tap for colorless without staying tapped, and use more familiar "does not untap" language.
Other Lands
There are lands that make colours conditionally that could be useful in your deck, like Reflecting Pool ($22) and Exotic Orchard ($0.50) making mana based on what colours you, or your opponents could make. Spire of Industry ($1) costs one life and needs you to have an artifact to make any coloured mana and Glimmervoid ($2.50) makes 1 mana of any colour but is sacrificed if you have no artifacts in play, Thran Quarry ($6.50) works the same but needs creatures. Aether Hub ($0.25) costs one energy to make any coloured mana and Forbidden Orchard ($20) which gives opponents a 1/1 creature for every mana you make with it, but makes any colour. Holdout Settlement ($0.25) and Survivors' Encampment ($0.25) both need you to tap a creature to make coloured mana.
A little less useful cards that make multiple but not any colour, River of Tears ($2) makes  before you play a land for turn or  after. Nimbus Maze ($4.50) can tap for  if you control an island and  if you control a plains, giving you the opposite once you have the other colour's basic land type. Grove of the Burnwillows ($4.25) taps for  or  but gives one life to each enemy, something that rarely matters in EDH where overwhelming damage, poison, commander damage and mill are the usual ways of winning.
Other lands restrict how mana can be spent, but without knowing the deck type can't really be suggested. If it's eldrazi(with devoid) there's Corrupted Crossroads ($0.25), allies have Ally Encampment ($0.25), creature heavy decks can make use of Ancient Ziggurat ($4), dragons have Haven of the Spirit Dragon ($2.75), elementals use Primal Beyond ($9.75), Slivers use Sliver Hive ($27), if most of your spells have more than one color in them then use Pillar of the Paruns ($12.50) and Unclaimed Territory ($2) works for any tribal deck since you name the creature type when you play it. Changeling decks will benefit from all these tribal lands. (except Corrupted Crossroads, and Pillar which care about other characteristics)
Path of Ancestry ($0.50) and Command Tower ($0.25) can both tap for any colour in your commander's identity, which means any colour in your deck and should be pretty much automatic included in any non-monocoloured EDH deck.

These costs can change wildly, Sliver Hive for instance was $7.50 when this post was first written, so check the costs for yourself for these cycles, the header for each section has been made into a link to the results for those cards on scryfall.


What do the Tau battlesuit numbers mean?

The common consensus is that the Battlesuit number is XV (indicating Battlesuit), followed by two digits, constructed based on size/mass (1-9, light to heavy) and function (1=long-range?, 2=experimental, 4=high-precision(?), 5=stealth, 6=space-faring(?), 8=heavy support), although the functional categories are less clear.

Lexicanum references Codex:Tau Empire, 4th Edition, p.35, and says:

  Standard nomenclature has these battlesuits categorized by two numbers
  - the first number denoting which mass class it belongs to, the second its role. For example, in the XV22 Stealth Battlesuit, the first '2'
  denotes it as a lighter-weight suit, while the second '2' means it is
  still undergoing field-testing.

The Warhammer 40K Wiki has more detail:

  All Tau Battlesuits are essentially the same pieces of Tau technology
  but can be customized and then given an alphabetical classification
  code of XV, which is followed by two digits. The first digit indicates
  the size of the suit: "1" being a complete exoskeletal version of
  standard Tau body armour, while "8" represents the largest available
  Battlesuits, the Crisis Battlesuits. The second digit indicates the
  role or status of the particular suit design. For example: "2"
  indicates an experimental design, "5" represents a Battlesuit with
  stealth capability, and "8" denotes a Battlesuit outfitted to provide
  heavy fire support. Other variations of a Battlesuit may be given
  different numbers to indicate their functions.

There is also the XV9 close combat suit, which has a slightly different naming scheme, and comes in two weapon flavours, the XV9-01 and XV9-04.

Additionally, the 5th edition codex mentions the XV16 and XV26. There is some speculation that the "6" may refer to a new functional designation, possibly space-faring.

Other letters represent different troop types. A detailed (exhaustive?) attempt to summarise them all can be found here.


Can Descent: Journey in the Dark be played by non-English speakers?

There are two significant challenges to playing Descent in a language that you aren't fluent in.

Text ability on cards (characters, upgrades, monsters, overlord cards, condition cards, etc).  Fantasy Flight Games (the authors of Descent) use very precise wording.  Often particular pieces of linguistic nuance contain information about rules or timing that you can't miss.  For example, Leoric of the Book's ability: "Each monster within 3 spaces of you receives -1 damage on each attack roll (to a minimum of 1)".  Reading this in a language that I is not my first language, I would likely be quite confused as to whether or not this ability affects monsters at range 3 of me (it does) and might misunderstand that the parenthetic is actually an additional constraint on this ability and not just a clarification (it doesn't ever reduce an attack to 0 damage).
The rulebook and adventure book take nuanced text to the next level.  Even reading the rulebook in my native language, I still missed that monsters could only attack once per turn my first game.  There is a lot of information that players need to have in these books.

All of that said, Descent is actually a good game for this because as long as the overlord knows all the rules, players can ask the overlord questions (including about precise translations).  This is because the overlord has total information already, so there is no hidden information that is given away by the question (other than players' plans/intentions).

My recommendation would be to get the game in the primary language of the player you intend to be the overlord (most likely you), and print out the PDF's of the rulebook and adventure book in the other language (these are at least available in English on the Fantasy Flight website).


Can Echidna's ability be used during the turn in which it is purchased?

Tile effect occurs AFTER Tribe effect.
So it's too late in this case: when you score your builders you don't have the Djinn yet.

From the rules (Section 2.5 Tile Action):

  Once your Meeples’ Tribe actions are over, perform the Action for the Tile your last Meeple ended on ...


How are the maps provided with Diplomacy supposed to be used?

Make copies of the map (it's expressly authorized) but you'll find most folks won't write on them.  The pattern I see in both home and tournament play is that during adjudication everyone will write down the units they have down the left side of what will become their order sheet.  During negotiations they'll consult their list and look at the map, often indicating moves by tapping their pencil at the start and end of the move their discussing.  Once they're ready to write orders their turn their inventory list into their orders and submit it.

My larger piece of advice is to keep the pace of the game as fast as you can.  Start the negotiation timer as soon as the previous turn has been adjudicated (don't let everyone take time outside of negotiation to write their units).  Similarly, don't give separate time to write orders after negotiation is done -- that's something you do during negotiation and if you don't get them done your units are in civil disorder.  Along those lines be sure to enforce the "no negotiation during builds


Can you spend extra mana on a spell that is not part of the casting cost?

You cannot overpay costs any more than you can underpay them. It's true that underpaying feels like "taking" an advantage (and thus unfair) while overpaying feels like "giving up" an advantage (and thus potentially fair), but the rules do not discriminate between the two: the way you pay a cost is by paying that cost, no more and no less. Similarly, you can't ignore cost reductions or other positive-seeming effects (like something that tells you to draw a card) any more than you can ignore cost increases or other negative-seeming effects (like something that damages you). Since almost nothing in Magic is good in every situation or bad in every situation, this is the really the most sensible, simple and consistent way the rules could be written.

[However there is one place that they do try to distinguish usually-good effects: if in competitive play you fail to notice that a bad triggered ability has triggered, it will probably get applied once it's noticed, but if you fail to notice a usually-good trigger (one of the ones on their list of "lapsing" effects), it will not be applied later. Purposefully "forgetting" any kind of trigger is still cheating though - the rules do not distinguish between lapsing and non-lapsing triggers.]


Old WW2 game played with cards instead of a board

Up Front?

Old 1980s Avalon Hill card game with Russians, Germans, and US in the base game and lots of expansions.  Recently funded for republishing on Kickstarter.


Can you choose to discard a card you don't have?

From the game designer

  If you do not have an Item to discard, you must choose the other option, and lose 2 HEALTH.


Interactions between Oblivion Sower and counter spells that make you pay mana to prevent them?

It depends on exactly when your opponent casts Mana Leak; he can prevent you from doing so.

Your opponent has 2 options here... cast Mana Leak in response to the "when you cast" triggered ability, or to wait until that ability resolves, and then cast Mana Leak in response to the Oblivion Sower instead.

When you cast Oblivion Sower, the "when you cast" ability will go on the stack on top of the Oblivion Sower. At this point your opponent could cast Mana Leak on top of both of them, and the triggered ability will not have resolved yet, so you will not have those lands.

Note that even if Oblivion Sower is countered, the triggered ability will still resolve normally and you will still get the lands.


What do you do with the Basement Entrance Exploration card if you choose not to discard it?

The Basement Entrance gives you more time to search stuff (+5 cards) and you get to find more stuff if you find any (resolve 2 Findings).

When you find the Basement Entrance just set the card aside, add 5 cards to the Unknown deck and later, when you get to resolve a Finding, you can decide to discard the Basement Entrance to resolve two Findings instead of one. You don't need to discard the Basement Entrance on the first Finding, you can decide to hold the car for another Finding.


Initial meld and additional pair of same rank

Yes, you can do this, but you have the order wrong. You don’t first meld, and then pick up the discard pile. You need you first show 2 8s from your hand, and lay them down along with the enough other cards so that the total meld is at least 120, which can incude the value of the 8 from the discard pile as well.

From these rules:

  Therefore, in order to achieve the minimum count, you must either meld entirely from your hand after drawing from the stock, or you must use two natural cards from your hand which match the top card of the discard pile. In this second case, you can count the value of the top discard, along with the cards you play from your hand in this and any other melds, towards the minimum count. You cannot count any other cards in the pile which you may intend to add in the same turn.


What is optimal robber placement in Settlers?

I can't figure out if you are asking one overly broad question, or many smaller-scoped questions... in any case:

The "player to the right" strategy ignores a few possibilities, including:
 - one or both of the two players after you roll a seven,
    - one or both of the two players after you play a soldier,
    -  your victim is known to (not) have in a particular resource in hand.

Retaliation is predictable in the sense that good players will make decisions based on cost/benefit/probability analysis (including "dots" on the chits, scarcity of resources, etc.), while poor players will be swayed by subjective reasoning (retaliation, etc.).

We play with promises of immunity, bribes -  you name it. This makes it harder to pin-down a specific strategy, but I will say that it's mostly the analytical approach that you mention.


Does gaining +x/+x trigger "when counters are added" abilities?

Or are stat improves and counter completely separate

This is correct, unless it says counter, it is not referring to physical counters on the card itself.

Additionally note the duration included on Giant Growth, while counters do not have a duration (or if they do they have a separate wording to remove them explicitly).


Do the shipping rules restrict my choices if all ships are empty?

The rule what you stated, but your wording is awkward. I would say:

  If a player has a kind of goods that can be loaded on several empty ships, he must choose a ship at least as large as the number of goods of that kind, leaving no goods behind. If no ships are large enough, that player must choose the largest ship.


Cast high-mana creatures quickly in Amonkhet Standard

Fastest I can get is turn 3.

T1: Mountain,  Bloodlust Inciter

T2: Forest, mana dork (e.g. Servant of the Conduit)

T3: Forest, Champion of Rhonas (give haste from Inciter)

Alternate:

T1: Forest, Loam Dryad

T2: Island, Thriving Turtle, Aether Theorist (off first Dryad) (or anything that gives 3 energy for 2 mana)

T3: Aether Hub, Aetherworks Marvel


Sacrificing as part of a command, to fulfill other costs?

No, you can't do that, because it is still essentially the same "can't sacrifice creature twice for 2 things", even if only one if an activated ability.

One way to reason it is to think about it with the stack. When an ability or spell is resolving from the stack, it has to fully resolve before doing anything else and it resolves separately from anything else resolving.

So, here you have Cruel Edict on the stack. If you let it start resolving, you can't activate the Aristocrat's ability until it finishes. If you activate the ability in response, the creature is sacrificed to put the ability on the stack. It resolves, then the Edict wants to resolve, and it needs its own sacrifice.


Correct/Recommended use of Masquerade in Dominion: Intrigue

From the Intrigue rulebook:

  First you draw 2 cards. Next, each player (all at the same time) chooses a card from his hand and places it face down on the table between him and the player to his left. The player to the left then puts that card into his hand. Cards are passed simultaneously, so you may not look at the card you are receiving until you have chosen a card to pass. ...

I agree this is ambiguous, but I think your original interpretation is correct: the cards are not public and people only know what they passed and what they received. There are three things that support my claim:

The rules do state that the card is placed face down. The very next sentence says the card is put into the hand. I believe that if the intent was for the cards to be revealed that the rules would have explicitly told the players to turn the cards over, or to reveal them.
The simplified description on the card (see picture above), is "Each player passes a card from his hand to the left at once." The phrase "at once" implies that the passing should be done by all players simultaneously and that the only action they should be performing is the passing. That is, no looking at what you're being handed, no turning over what you're handing off so everyone else can see it--period. Pass the card at once.
The card is called Masquerade, which is a party where the guests wear masks to disguise their identities. I think leaving the true identities of what is passed a mystery to the party at large is exactly the spirit of the card's name. The fact that Masquerade is the only way that to disguise how many victory points people actually have I find quite charming and not at all a reason to think the passed cards should be public knowledge (lots of Dominion cards of one-of-a-kind).


which software to use to make the rules's game?

As a fellow aspiring Game Designer, I stick with word or excel for initial content.  Use anything you are familiar with, as content is the only thing you should be worried about.  Unless you plan to self publish, publishers are going to scrap your design for something that they'll get professionally made.  If you do self publish, then I recommend sending it to a professional designer with experience in tabletop games.  Also, you can post to sites like Board Game Designer Forum for peer review by published game designers.  (https://www.bgdf.com/)  There are a ton of articles and advice out there on layout, content and form.  Here are a few:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/405444/rule-book-writing

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3277179

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/?s=write+rules

Best of luck on your game design!


As long as the grid is even, Othello should play just fine, provided you change the staring cluster.

 . . . .
. . B W .
 . B W B .
. . W B .

should do, with white moving first...


Is it ever advantageous to pretend to be the "hidden" team if you are on the majority team?

Specific games can differ, but generally in games like these the "bad team" all know the members of the bad team. Therefore pretending to be a bad guy only decieves your allies, and convinces everyone that you are their enemy.

Neither of those will help you. You're harming your allies' ability to make accurate judgments while not affecting your enemies, and you're making our so that no one will listen to you.


Collateral damage says:

  As an additional cost to cast Collateral Damage ...

Comprehensive Rule 706.10 says:

  To copy a spell ... means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast. ...

Per 706.10, the copy of Collateral Damage isn't cast, so you don't have to pay the cost again.

Copying a spell does not trigger Prowess. Prowess triggers when you cast a spell, and, as we previously discovered, copied spells are not cast. A ruling on Howl of the Horde reiterates what we have concluded:

  ... Each copy is created on the stack, so it’s not “cast.” Abilities that trigger when a player casts a spell won’t trigger. ...

Some cards actually copy the card (not the spell) and have you cast the copied card. Panoptic Mirror is a good example. Just to be clear, this would trigger Prowess.


What happens to permanents modified by effects like Chance for Glory that change their card type?

They will still be indestructible. This is because granting indestructible is a continuous effect that happens as part of Chance for Glory resolving, and the set of objects affected is determined at that time. Once the creature has been granted indestructible, there is nothing that would cause it to lose that just because it changes types.
Note that this is different than a static ability such as Eldrazi Monument. In that case, it only affects creatures, and anything that stops being a creature would stop being affected.

611.2c If a continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability modifies the characteristics or changes the controller of any objects, the set of objects it affects is determined when that continuous effect begins. After that point, the set won’t change. (Note that this works differently than a continuous effect from a static ability.)


House rules to speed up Citadels play time?

I played this game intensely a few years ago with 2 and 3 players (sometimes up to 4) and the analysy-paralysis problem disappeared after, say, 2-3 games with the same group.
I tried the same solution of lowering to 7 buildings (in fact, it is even suggested on the rulebook) and worked quite well for 2 players, never tried it with 3-4 players.

I personally think the hard time-limit is a too crude option. I'll try instead to insist on the players to 'think fast' in order to make a more agile game.

Notice that you can begin to think about which characters are the best for you on advance, while other players make their choose. And never forget that a little randomness on your decissions are desirable, as you'll be a perfect target for assassination and/or robbering the moment you become too predictable.


When a Warlock casts an Animus, is it still an Animus?

A model can have only one friendly animus in play on it at time. If another friendly animus is cast on a model, th eolder friendly animus expires and is replaced by the new one when the affected model is hit by the animus. This applies to animi used by warbeasts as well as those cast as spell.
cit from the quickstart rules pag 4 right column ANIMI block.

To answer your question your friend is right :)


What is the gold token used for in Kitty Paw?

I think it's just a mistake. When I checked the unboxing video on BGG there wasn't any token looking anything like that in the game parts.


When are targets chosen in Final Fantasy TCG?

This was explained in a tweet from the developer:

Question
「選ぶ」ある召喚獣やアビリティがあります。使う時に選ぶと思うが11.11.4.1.1.以外「選ぶ」を特別扱うルールは見つけることができないので結果の一部として解決時に選ぶべきも思われます。どっちが正しいですか。ルールにその答えがいたならその番号も教えてください。
There is a summon and abilities that "choose". Although 11.11.4.1.1. Other than "choose" a special treat rules also seems to choose at the time of resolution as part of the result because it can not find think that choosing when to use. Which is correct? Please also tell me the number if the answer was in the rules. (Auto-translated through Google Translate)
Answer
選ぶのはアビリティを使用する際になります。総合ルールに明記されていませんので、次の更新の際に追記いたします。ご指摘ありがとうございます。
It will be when you use the ability to choose. Because not explicitly stated in the Comprehensive Rules, it will be appended to the time of the next update. Thank you for your advice. (Auto-translated through Google Translate)

In other words, targets are chosen when the card is used. It has not been added to the comprehensive rules by mistake.


Victory Point Cards at the End of the Game

The cards count, so 8 VP.
From the Victory Point Cards entry of the rules:

Each victory point card is worth 1 victory point. You only reveal your victory point cards when you or someone else wins the game.

The winner only reveals their VP cards after they win the game, so VP cards are worth points even before they are revealed.
Furthermore, the non-winning players are instructed to reveal their VP cards when the game ends. There would be no point in doing so if they didn't count.
Finally, a player by the name Daniel Wilson claims the following on the BoardGameGeek message boards:

I've played in the Mayfair Settlers of Catan World/North American Championship Qualifiers the last few years running at Origins, and this situation has occurred multiple times in the games I've been in.
The way this situation was officially scored is exactly the way you described. The points are there and still count, whether revealed or not.


There is a standard pattern here that may be applied to numerous difficult decisions:

Politely inform Declarer that as he cannot contest the explanation of play provided by the defenders, you must tentatively accept their version, and thus are required by law to assign the normal revoke penalty. Inform Declarer that he is entitled to appeal this ruling, and that you will promptly assemble a suitable committee upon conclusion of play if he so requests. Ask declarer if he wishes to make such an appeal, and if he replies in the affirmative arrange for the three best and most respected players of the club to act as the committee.

Allow declarer a few minutes after the game to refresh his memory of the play with a (supervised) examination [of the board], to prepare a rebuttal to defenders' description of the play.

In order to ensure that the committee proceeds efficiently remind them that their prerogative is strictly to determining the facts, and that given a determination of the facts you will apply the rules by the book. You are the Judge, and they are the jury - not the other way around. Declarer presents his case first, followed by the Defenders, followed by a simple recap by Declarer. Committee members may then pose questions to both sides. Get a determination of the facts from the committee, and apply the Laws; politely explain the result to both parties.

Done correctly the entire process (for a simple determination of facts such as here) should be over in less than 10 minutes. Don't let either side or the jury waste time.

Remember to thank both side later for creating a situation that enabled you to practice your committee work.

Update:

The key here is that "I don't remember." is not a defence in any circumstances; but "I need time to refresh my memory in order to prepare a defence." is a valid request.


Locked dice on monsters are only unlocked when the monster is collected, which happens at the end of the Investigation Phase. Note that even if you failed to solve the Adventure or Other World card, you will still collect the monster trophy as long as you completed that task. You can then use the unlocked die on your next attempt.
Adventure cards can be done in any order, even if there are multiple locks active at the same time. The physical location of the locked die doesn't really matter. If you complete a card with a locked die on it the die moves to another lock if there is one, or if there wasn't a die on the card it stays locked on the card where it is. Whether it moves or not is irrelevant; you will need to remove both locks before you can use that die again.


Obviously, if you are a digger and someone is continuously destroying your
tools, you might expect them to be a saboteur.
A less obvious
way is to detect who are diggers and use deduction. You know ahead
how many saboteurs there can be in your game so if you can eliminate
some players the chances for others to be saboteurs are getting
higher.
Look at who is an obvious digger, and look at who is
destroying their tools, or blocking their paths. Obvious diggers are
easily targeted by saboteurs, so that is another way to spot a
saboteur.
You could argue that in the end the best saboteurs are those that remain hidden
for a long time, but this could also be a weakness, if you are a
digger and you find it hard to detect whether a player is a digger or
a saboteur, maybe they are playing hard to read because they have
something to hide. Arguably diggers have no advantage having their identity hidden so a player who is hard to read is more likely to be a saboteur.

And if you still don't know, just call them a "saboteur" and see what the general reaction is. :-)


Does a player become immune to the Magician when getting murdered or robbed?

The Magician targets a player, not a role, so I don't see why the fact they were targeted by the Assassin/Witch would have any impact on this.


Player A could use Jayemdae Tome in response.  But doing so limits their options.

If I counted correctly, Player A has 7 mana sources on the field.  That means that using Jayemdae Tome would use over half their mana.  This will severely cut down their options for what they can do in their turn.  Even if everything in their hand is cheap or useless, this is happening before Player A draws their card for the turn, so they could potentially draw something useful... and then be unable to play it.

Doing so would also shut Player A out of one or more colors, so even if they have enough mana to play the card they draw, they could easily have the wrong mana to do so.

This is especially important if Player A is using a lot of reactionary spells, such as instant speed removal and counterspells, because there's a lot of advantage to be gained by forcing your opponent to play around what you might have in your hand, and that advantage is lost if your opponent knows that you can't play any cards.

Of course, it's also possible that two players are not as strategically observant as they could be, and are just forgetting that that is an option.


I play a lot of dopplekopf (aka double sheepshead although there are more differences than just the deck size).

A bare fail-suit (non-trump) Ace has a reasonable chance of taking a trick and certainly helps your team. The odds that your partner(s) had a better legal play had they known you were on their team are small, so this seems like a good lead.

If you're the picker's partner, leading a jack (or sub-10 diamond, though jacks are better) to your partner's presumed high trump is a very good play. If you're the picker, consider leading a red queen early to attempt to force opponents into difficult decisions (especially before partners are known).

Leads that might fish out partners are generally more valuable if you have a strong hand (trump) or a lot of points (especially in fail suits), because in both those situations, your hand will be vastly improved by good teamwork. If you have a more middling / balanced hand, letting things go unknown for longer may result in teammates overtrumping each other.


What happens when I try to exile more cards from my library than there is in my library?

You don't lose the game until you try to draw a card that doesn't exist.

  104.3c If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in their library, they draw the remaining cards and then lose the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

Since Golos exiles cards it doesn't lose you the game, but that will probably happen on your next draw step anyway.

You can now exile your 2 cards to Golos's ability:

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


In Hearts, impossible to play first hand?

Both the rules about not leading a point card until hearts have been broken, and not being allowed to lead a point card, are not applicable if you have no other choice.

There's no one official rulebook to point to for hearts, like most other card games. But various sources such as here and here all say the same thing:

  There are two exceptions to play to be aware of:

    You may not play a point (a Heart or ♠Q) on the first trick of a hand

    You may not lead a point card until a Heart or ♠Q has been dumped on a prior trick (a game option can change this to only a Heart being dumped; see Options, below)

    In each case, you may play or lead a point if you have no alternative.

You do not have to show your hand to "prove" that this is the case; Hearts, like most card games, often has restrictions on what you can play (you must follow suit if you can); yet when you can't follow suit you don't show your hand to prove that your play was legal. If you illegally play this way, players will likely notice later when you play a different card that you should have played previously.

Also, it is worth noting that the rule about not being allowed to play a point card on the first trick of a hand is not universally used. It is not mentioned at all on some Hearts rules pages, and the second link I provided above mentions it as

  Some play that is illegal to play points on the very first trick, unless of course you have you have nothing but penalty cards in your hand.


Can you link up twice in one turn in Age of Steam?

I have the game, and dug out the rules to clarify.

Under section 5, Move Goods, it states the following:

  In ONE of the two opportunities to Move Goods, the player may instead
  opt to move their disk on the Engine Track up one link. The maximum
  number of links is still 6 links.

Therefore, you may not use the Increase Engine Link option twice, and move no goods.


How can you get around the lack of early stone in two-player Agricola?

As far as breaking the game goes you'd have to experiment. Since those cards don't always come up it's hard to say with out play testing how early stone would affect a 2-player game with and without those cards.

My suggestion would be to as you say accept the limitation and use the draw 10 pick 7 method for Minor Improvements and Occupations. That way if you are playing a 2-player game and draw a great card but it requires stone you can decide not to keep it.

Ultimately house ruling things is about having more fun, so if you add a path to early stone for 2-player games and it's more enjoyable for everyone then go for it. That said, in my opinion, Agricola shines at making you feel like you never have enough time to do stuff so removing that from the game (even in a small way) diminishes one of the core qualities of the game.


The opposing member inadvertently plays two card that are stuck together and it is discovered later

Assuming you are playing rubber bridge, the Laws of Rubber Bridge apply.
If the irregularity is discovered part way through the hand, was a misplay by a Defender, and during discovery of the misplayed card it was ever placed such that Offender's Partner could have seen the card then it becomes an exposed card subject to the Penalty Card
rules.
Additionally, if the irregularity is discovered any time before the play is complete and the cards collected for shuffling, then the possibility of a revoke must be checked whether Offender was Declarer or a Defender. The card played in error must be regarded as being in the Offender's hand continuously from the trick of the misplay until noticed and restored. This can result in a revoke for the misplayed card. The applicable rule is:

Law 67 - Trick Either Appropriate in Error or Defective
A trick containing more or fewer than four cards is defective. When one player is found, during play, to have fewer or more cards than all of the other players, the previous tricks should be forthwith examined, face down; if a defective trick is discovered, the player with a correspondingly incorrect number of cards is held responsible.
The defective trick is inspected face up and
...
B. after the responsible player has played to a subsequent trick, the ownership of the defective trick cannot be changed and

....
if the offender has played more than one card to the defective trick, he withdraws all but one card, leaving the highest card he could legally have played to that trick. A withdrawn card may become a penalty card (Law 50); such a card is deemed to have belonged continuously to the offender’s hand and failure to have played it to an earlier trick may constitute a revoke.


Day's Undoing will prevent Psychic Corrosion from doing anything.  (Your opponents will not have to mill 14 cards.)

Although Day's Undoing has multiple effects, the card represents a single Spell when played111.1, and all of its effects must be resolved before anything else on the Stack is evaluated608.2c.  Psychic Corrosion's ability will be triggered 7 times, but the abilities would not go onto the stack until after Day's Undoing has finished resolving603.3.  However, because Day's Undoing ends the turn immediately upon resolution, those triggers never make it onto the stack.

Gatherer has a ruling for Day's Undoing that clarifies this explicitly:

  If any abilities trigger while players are shuffling cards into their library or drawing seven cards, those abilities cease to exist when the turn ends. They won’t be put on the stack.


With SAYC a balanced hand would normally be bid as follows:

13-14 points - open 1 of a suit then rebid 1NT
15-17 points - open 1NT
18-19 points - open 1 of a suit then rebid 2NT
20-21 points - open 2NT

Your rebid should be 2NT. If you bid this, your partner has a very good idea of what you've got and can then decide how best to proceed.

It's also worth noting that when your partner responded he should have been "bidding up the line". So if he had the same number of hearts and spades, he would bid hearts rather than spades. A heart fit is therefore unlikely.


In Splendor can we have more than 3 joker (gold) tokens in our hand without spending them?

Yes, you can have more than 3 joker tokens.

In the list of things you can do on a turn, the rules say:

  Reserve 1 development card and take 1 gold token (joker)

The rules later restrict when you can reserve a card:

  Players may not have more than three reserved cards in hand

There is no mention of a limit on the number of jokers*. There is only a limit on the number of reserved cards in hand.

*Note that jokers do still count towards the normal 10-token limit. If you are at 10 tokens already, you can still reserve a card and take a joker, but you will then have to discard a token to get back down to 10.


Does new target need to be chosen after the original has become invalid?

I am no Magic expert, but I think the answer is no.

The target is chosen and needs to be valid when the card is played. Then the stack system kicks in, so the state of the game can change. When the card is resolved, you check whether the target is still valid. If it is, the effect happens, if it isn’t, the effect does not happen. In fact, you are not allowed to choose a new target then, even if you want to.

From the basic rulebook, page 10:

  Target

  When you see the word “target” on a spell or ability, you have to choose one or more things for the spell or ability to affect. You’ll be able to choose only certain kinds of things, such as “target enchantment” or “target creature or player.”

  You choose the targets for a
  spell when you cast it, and you choose targets for an activated ability when you activate it. If you can’t meet the targeting requirements, you can’t cast the spell or activate the activated ability. Once you choose targets, you can’t change your mind later.

  When the spell or ability resolves, it checks the targets to make sure they’re still legal (they’re still there, and they match the requirements stated by the spell or ability). If a target isn’t legal, the spell or ability can’t affect it. If none of the targets are legal, the spell or ability is countered and does nothing at all.


Can you have the same Pokemon with different names

I guess this isn't a complete duplicate, but a similar question has an answer here:

Pokemon cards with the same name and different features

You can play up to 4 copies of cards with the same name. If they have different names you can play up to 4 copies of each of them in your deck.

Rules text on the rule of playing multiple copies of a card (quoted from a quote in this answer: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/47062/24175):

  DECK BUILDING

  (...)

  Also, except for basic Energy, you can only have 4 cards with the same name in your deck. This means you can have only 4 cards called “Pignite” in your deck, even if they all have different attacks. Finally, your deck must have at least one Basic Pokémon in it.

  (...)

If you are wondering what it means to have the same name (quoted from a quote in this answer: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/47062/24175):

  WHAT DOES AND DOESN’T COUNT FOR A POKÉMON’S NAME?

  • Some Pokémon cards have extra information after their name, such as a Level or a symbol like GL. A Pokémon’s name changes how you can evolve or play certain cards. Level is not part of a Pokémon’s name:
      ◆ Gengar, Gengar LV. 43, Gengar LV. 44, and Gengar LV.X all have the same name
  • Symbols at the end of a Pokémon’s name are part of a Pokémon’s name:
      ◆ Alakazam, Alakazam 四, and Alakazam ☆ all have different names from each other
      ◆ However, δ (Delta Species) is not part of a Pokémon’s name. Aerodactyl and
  Aerodactyl δ (Delta Species) have the same name
  • An owner or form name in a Pokémon’s name is part of the Pokémon’s name:
      ◆ Meowth, Alolan Meowth, and Rocket’s Meowth have different names

  When you are building a deck, you can have only 4 copies of a card with the same name in it, except for basic Energy cards. If your deck has 1 each of Gengar, Gengar LV. 43, Gengar LV. 44, and Gengar LV.X, you can’t put any more cards named Gengar in your deck! However, you could have 4 Meowth, 4 Alolan Meowth, and 4 Rocket’s Meowth.


Voracious Wurm and Wall of Reverence: which trigger happens first?

No.  Replacement effects do not use the stack; as rule 614.1 (which you quoted) says, "[R]eplacement effects apply continuously as events happen" — i.e., they happen immediately, at the same time as the event being replaced/modified (in this case, Voracious Wurm entering the battlefield).  Thus, if Voracious Wurm enters the battlefield before the beginning of the end step, it won't benefit from Wall of Reverence's lifegain (but the Wall will be able to target the Wurm later).

However, if the Wurm somehow (say, by giving it flash) enters the battlefield during the end step (or, less likely, the cleanup step) after the Wall's ability resolves, its P/T will be boosted by the lifegain from the Wall — but, of course, the Wall can't target the Wurm until your next end step.

And if, for some strange reason, the Wurm enters the battlefield while the Wall's ability is still on the stack, the replacement effect will happen before the Wall's ability resolves, so the counters won't be boosted, and as targets for the Wall's ability must have already been chosen by that point, the Wall won't be able to target the Wurm that turn either.


To which edition of Monopoly would this Monopoly board belong?

It's concept art

From an ebay description:

  an Original Monopoly Neiman Marcus Concept / Prototype Artwork from 1976. This was purchased from a Neiman Marcus marketing executives estate sale, whom worked at the company in the late 60’s & 1970’s.


Is drawing multiple cards an atomic action?

Spiteful Visions would trigger once for each card drawn, so if you cast Divination to draw 2 cards it would trigger twice and you would be dealt 1 damage for each trigger, and CoP:Black would need to be activated twice to prevent all the damage. Anything that triggers off of this damage would then trigger once for each time the artifact triggered.

For Tomorrow it would not trigger because it does not contain the word "Draw", if it doesn't specifically say "Draw" it does not count as drawing cards they are just put into your hand.


What checklist states that? When in doubt, always check the official Wizards Gatherer site. Maze of Ith is an Uncommon in The Dark, and a Rare in Masters Edition IV
And by the way, the price tag might have more to do with the fact that it's an old, not-common, and pretty good card.
Edit:
The comments and Wiki article on The Dark sheds some light on the matter:

Rarity breakdown
The Dark cards come in two rarities, common and uncommon. Of the uncommon cards 43 are U2, meaning that they appear twice on the uncommon print sheet. 35 cards are U1, these are usually dubbed the rares of the set. Of the 41 commons in The Dark 40 are C3. Maze of Ith is the only exception at C1 and is usually denoted as an uncommon although it is 50% more common than the U2 cards of the set. Also the common card Gaea's Touch comes in two versions, one has the mana symbols in the upper right corner of the card shifted more to the right than usual. For collector's purposes this means that one Gaea's Touch is a C1 (shifted mana symbols) and the other one C2 (normal).

Going by the checklist provided in the comments, The Dark has no rares designated as such, so all cards go up in rarity in proportion to fit today's C/U/R pattern.
As far as I can tell, all C3 remain Commons, C1 (Maze of Ith) and all U2 are Uncommons, and all U1 are Rares, by today's rating.


In Carrom, What happens if the Opponent coin and striker are pocketed at the same time?

You have to put your coin on board as penalty and pass the striker to the opponent


Do the destination tickets in Ticket To Ride require that the player completes the routes, or only that the tickets are completed?

The holder of the destination card has to connect the two cities with their own trains. The route can be as roundabout as you like though, as long as they are connected.

In the Ticket to Ride: Europe version, you can build stations which then let you count another player's route as if it was your own for the purposes of scoring destination cards.


Can I search for Etched Champion with Enlightened Tutor?

Yes, it can; for no less than three reasons:

Enlightened Tutor (like all other 'search your library' cards printed so far) does not target a specific card in your library, so protection doesn't play a role here.
Protection from X only functions when a permanent is on the battlefield. (Though players can have protection from X as well.)
Etched Champion's Metalcraft ability only works while it's on the battlefield, so it doesn't have protection to begin with.

(not 100% sure about the third one, actually)


You can pay for madness using dark ritual
Madness needs to be a little bit complicated in order to work within the rules properly.

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

The important detail here is that the madness cost is paid as part of the resolution of a triggered ability. While normally no player gets priority during cleanup, there is an exception if abilities are triggered

514.3. Normally, no player receives priority during the cleanup step, so no spells can be cast and no abilities can be activated. However, this rule is subject to the following exception: 514.3a At this point, the game checks to see if any state-based actions would be performed and/or any triggered abilities are waiting to be put onto the stack (including those that trigger “at the beginning of the next cleanup step”). If so, those state-based actions are performed, then those triggered abilities are put on the stack, then the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities. Once the stack is empty and all players pass in succession, another cleanup step begins.

So Dark Ritual can be played while these madness trigger is waiting on the stack.


Do you still score a Go if you end with a pair or sequence?

You get one point because he called "Go", not because you played the last card(s).

http://www.bicyclecards.com/card-games/rule/cribbage:

  If a player cannot add another card without exceeding 31, he or she
  says "Go" and the opponent pegs 1. After gaining the Go, the opponent
  must first lay down any additional cards he can without exceeding 31.
  Besides the point for Go, he may then score any additional points that
  can be made through pairs and runs (described later). If a player
  reaches exactly 31, he pegs two instead of one for Go.


Is the only time a monster encounter occurs during the movement phase or when 'a monster appears'?

If you start your movement phase on a location or Street with any monsters,  you must either evade them all or fight them.

If you attempt to pass through a location or street with a monster on it,  you must either evade or fight them.

If you end your movement on a location or street with a monster,  you must either evade or fight them.

Flying monsters usually move during the mythos phase,  so you won't need to fight them till your next movement phase.

Monsters that appear due to encounters need to be fought or evaded immediately.

An exception to the above is when you return from an other world location and have an explored marker. On your first turn after returning,  you don't need to fight or evade any monsters guarding the gate,  giving you one relatively safe shot at closing the gate

For the exception above, you can find it in the rules on page 18

  During the turn he returns to Arkham from an Other World, an
  investigator does not have to evade or fight any monsters in the
  gate’s location. This rule only applies during the turn he returns to
  Arkham; in subsequent turns, if the investigator remains in the
  location, he must evade or fight any monsters there as normal.


Found it.  They even use my exact example (I guess they're the canonical "play twice" and "one-shot" cards).  From the Complete and All-Encompassing Dominion FAQ:

  Regarding Band of Misfits no longer being in play, see 10.5 Atomicity
  of abilities. If you use Throne Room to play Band of Misfits twice, it
  will be the chosen card the second time you play it, so you will play
  it as the same card twice. However, if the card is removed from play
  (like a Feast), it will be just a Band of Misfits again the second
  time. You can then choose another Action card from Supply to play it
  as. The card will stay where it is, and the chosen card's abilities
  will trigger even as the Band of Misfits will immidiately revert back
  to being just Band of Misfits (since it's not in play), but you will
  resolve the triggered abilites of the card (link, link). This reverses
  a previous ruling.

So speculation #2 was actually correct.


Does Cascade look at CMC or mana cost payed?

Cascade checks the converted mana cost of the spell, which doesn't include any additional costs or cost reductions.

The definition of Cascade is in rule 702.84a:

  Cascade is a triggered ability that functions only while the spell with cascade is on the stack. “Cascade” means “When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose converted mana cost is less than this spell’s converted mana cost. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren’t cast on the bottom of your library in a random order.”


Is the Go! action card ever worth playing?

In addition to cards, it is very important to consider tempo when deciding what moves to make in a variable-hand-size card game... if your hand is strong enough on its own merit without having to draw additional cards, that's great, but you're going to run into situations where playing the 'Go' as a money card and playing another card already in hand is not going to be as good as playing the 'Go' card as an action card and then playing one of the cards that were drawn by the 'Go' action.

I would say that the only time that you should play the 'Go' card as money EVERY TIME is when it is the last card in your hand, and the last action you can take (but even then you're only betting that the 5 cards you'll draw at the beginning of your next turn are better than the four cards that you'd draw if you played the go card and drew two your next turn.)


What is this deception-based party game?


Yes, the attacker and defender groups and Illuminatis can spend money during a Privileged Attack.  A Privileged Attack only means that external parties are forbidden from interfering.

I think you can justify this solely by reference to the traditional usages of English words: you don't "interfere" in your own attack on someone by bringing more resources to bear; neither do you "interfere" in your own defence by using everything in your power to defend yourself.  To "interfere", both generally and also in this specific case, means to "intrude into the affairs of others".  Attacker and defender are not "others" in this case, and can get involved in the struggle to the maximum of their ability and financial resources...


Are there any ways to lose in a "You can't lose the game" game?

In general in Magic: the Gathering, "can't beats can":

  101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can’t happen, the “can’t” effect takes precedence.

So Lich's Mastery and Platinum Angel prevail against Door to Nothingness. To win the game, you first need to get rid of the opponent's permanent. Or, in the case of Lich's Mastery, have a card that states that you win the game, like Battle of Wits. Lich's Mastery has a ruling below the card in Gatherer:

  While you can’t lose the game, your opponents can still win the game if an effect says so.

and that's the reason why Platinum Angel separately states "your opponents can't win the game".


If I counter a planeswalker what happens to them?

A planeswalker is a spell while it is on the stack. Any spell you counter will go to the graveyard unless the counterspell says otherwise, such as with Remand. Thus, a planeswalker will be put into the graveyard. Not sure if this is a question confused on whether planeswalkers are treated differently than other spells or not? If you had some other reasoning why you think a planeswalker might be treated differently than another spell, feel free to add it to your question! It may help newer players to understand it better in the future.


What could 1NT mean opposite a partner's takeout double?

Absolutely not - just bid 2C (in tempo so as to not present partner with an ethical problem).

The hand you are attempting to protect against, a balanced 12-14 count, is explicitly denied by partner's take-out double. If partner has that range then a singleton small Spade is almost guaranteed; a doubleton at most absolutely guaranteed.

Likewise partner does not have a 15-18 point hand with a spade stopper, as that hand has been denied by the failure to overcall 1NT.

Further, the 4333 distribution with an empty 4-card suit is deadly. This hand could easily play two or more full points weaker than its alleged 11 HCP if partner does not have at least 4 diamonds.

Since there is no right call to make with this hand, as all possibilities and the hand itself have significant flaws, follow the Golden Rule: Never overbid a bad hand. Just bid a craven 2C as recommended.


Invoking abilities not needed in order to charge Net Mercur

It depends. According to the official FAQ, "a player can only trigger an action or ability if it has the potential to change the game state." But the FAQ also states:

  The Runner can boost the strength of his icebreakers outside of an encounter with a piece of ice.

So, assuming you have a source of stealth credits and an icebreaker that can have its strength boosted, then you can do so even if it's not being used to interact with any ice. That would trigger Net Mercur's ability.

Edit:
For further clarification, it must be noted that Net Mercur's ability can only be triggered during a run.


Explanation for extended phase 10 5 sets of 2 in the same color

May not have been the original intent, but far more doable: "5 sets of 2, with one color shared between all the sets."

IE

R2G2
R3B3
R5G5
R7Y7
R9G9

would be a valid hand, since you have 5 sets of two and each set has a red card in it.

If it's the same set of rules as was linked above, #19 there is "19. 5 sets of 2 in same color - wild card color must match number color". The context on the site makes it clear they intended all 10 of the cards to be the same color. It does seem to be a bit restrictive, but note that the wild cards can smooth out the missing duplicate numbers.

Also, "Note: The above rules use Phase 10 cards with colored wild cards. In some newer decks all the wild cards are the same color. If playing with this type of deck, just disregard the restrictions on wild card colors."


Does the opponent get to draw up to a full hand after being attacked with Pilebunker?

The turn order is:

Do one of these: move, push, attack, or dashing strike.
If you did an attack or dashing strike, your opponent must respond or he loses the round.
Discard any cards played this turn.
Draw until you have 5 cards, then your turn ends.

Your opponent playing Pilebunker is part of step 2. You still get step 4 this turn (if you successfully blocked), so you still get to draw back up to a full hand of 5 cards.

Source: Rulebook


Interaction between Torment of Hailfire and Persist

No, it will not.

Persist in a triggered ability:

  702.78a Persist is a triggered ability. “Persist” means “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.”

Triggered abilities trigger while other spells and abilities resolve, bit they aren't put on the stack until afterwards, and they don't resolve until a little while after that.

The only (common) thing that can really intervene in a case like this is a so-called replacement effect (those usually contain the word "instead"). And while there may be replacement effects that can let you get out of the Torment predicament cheaper, I can't think of one right now.


Could you use Twincast to counter Cryptic Command?

From the Twincast's rulings:

  If the spell Twincast copies is modal (that is, it says “Choose one —” or the like), the copy will have the same mode. You can’t choose a different one.

From Comprehensive Rules (thanks ikegami):

  706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). [...]

(Emphasis mine.)

So, no.
Twincast has the same modes that your opponent chose. If they chose tap and draw, Twincast will also tap and draw.


Use of the special power "Diplomat" against another player not yet entered the game in Smallworld

I found an answer to this question in an answer to a similar question:

Q: Is a race with the Diplomat power allowed to nominate a player, who has just declined or who has not yet had a turn (and therefore has no active race) as an ally?
A: Yes indeed, the only restriction in the choice of an ally is that you cannot choose a player if you just attacked his active race.


Tapping land for mana with free cast and X in cost

No, in both cases, you cannot tap additional lands to pay for the X. X, if it's not specified on a card, is always considered to be zero. In both cases, the spell's cost is not being paid for, it's being replaced. Galvanoth and Jeleva aren't saying "Add mana to your mana pool equal to the casting cost", they are replacing the cost altogether. So you can't add anything addional to the spell.

Relevant Gathering rules for Galvanoth:

  If the card has an X in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as its value.


Killian's ability only affects spells targeting creature permanents.
Rule 109.2 says

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.

Killian's ability refers to "creatures", which is a card type, without using any of the specified words, so it means creature permanents.


Betrayal at House on The Hill, 2nd Edition - Monsters

Once you fail a Haunt Roll (roll 6 dice, if you roll less than the number of Omens drawn so far, it is a fail), the haunt starts.

Monsters will come into play by specific instructions once the Haunt starts, each Haunt is completely different from one another, it may be that the Traitor can spawn Monsters or that you start the Haunt with Monsters already in play, alternatively, a Haunt may not involve Monsters at all. In any case, the Haunt instructions will tell you.

You can check "The Haunt" section in UltraBoardGames' guide for more information.


Which discard pile for instant items played on another player's lane?

I found the answer in the official FAQ (not included in the box published by EDGE) published on CMON website (game creator) : https://cmon.com/product/xenoshyft/xenoshyft-onslaught

  Q: If I play an Instant on another player’s lane (such as a Med
  Pack or Hi-Ex Grenade), does that card go to their discard
  pile?
  A: No, it goes to its owner’s discard pile. The only time a card
  goes to another player is if it is deployed into their lane.

Keeping Instant Cards played on someone else's lane in one's own discard pile allows us to better "build" around Division Cards abilities (such as "Whenever you play a [Symbol] card, heal 1 troop up to 2").


Placing letters parallel to a word is a valid play in Scrabble, as long as every combination of letters formed by the play is a valid word.
From the official rules - Gameplay point #4:

New words may be formed by:
.....

Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjacent letters also form complete words.

So as long as "oe" is a valid word in whatever word source you are using, then it is a valid play.


How quickly does a player have to say "Uno" to avoid drawing extra cards?

She's basically right, but timing matters here. Your correct play is to say "UNO" as you play the card, which can't be interrupted. The player about to go down to one card may not be caught until his second to last card hits the discard pile. After that though, he's fair game! From the rules:

  When you have one card left, you must yell "UNO" (meaning one).
  Failure to do this results in you having to pick two cards from the
  DRAW pile. That is, of course if you get caught by the other players...

  A player who forgets to say UNO before his card touches the discard
  pile, but "catches" himself before any other player catches him, is
  safe and is not subject to the penalty. You may not catch a player for
  failure to say UNO until his second to last card touches the DISCARD
  pile. Also, you may not catch a player for failure to say UNO after
  the next player begins his turn. "Beginning a turn is defines as
  either drawing a card from the DRAW pile or drawing a card from your
  hand to play.

Newer rules on Mattel's web site have a FOUR card penalty:


If you want your lands to specifically have the "elemental" creature type:

Liege of the Tangle

If you don't care what creature type they are, as long as they're creatures:

Jolrael, Empress of Beasts
Life
Living Plane
Natural Affinity
Natural Emergence
Nature's Revolt
Rude Awakening

If you only need a single type of land to be animated:

Forests

Ambush Commander
Living Lands
Thelonite Druid
Life and Limb

Swamps

Kormus Bell


What should you do when someone mistakenly builds the same building twice?

If it is too late to undo, option 3 is your best bet (assuming they can build their wonder). If it's been more than 2-3 turns, and other people have been using their resources, I might consider letting it stand. Especially true if there are a lot of people who haven't played before in the game.

Really it's not the end of the world, unless a player consistently does it (e.g. more than twice) in which case it's probably cheating.


What do you do when you run out of Zombies?

You're right, the official rulebook doesn't cover this, but their FAQ does:

  What if I run out of zombies or tokens?

  Use any kind of markers you can get a hold of. You can keep track of the zombies you have killed in other ways, such as glass beads, and return the zombies to the pool.

If you want more zombies, Twilight Creations sells a Bag O' Zombies for $10, which I believe contains 100 zombies.


Do investigators who start with blessing need to check for discard in their first turn?

From the Arkham Horror rulebook (page 6: Upkeep: Perform Upkeep Actions)

  Bless, Curse, Bank Loan, and Retainer cards do not require an upkeep roll during the first Upkeep Phase after an investigator acquires them.

Regardless of when and how you acquire the card (including during setup), you always have one Upkeep for which you do not roll to lose the card.


Drop pods scatter 2D6 inches.  If the scatter does not take the model fully over a piece of impassible terrain, it stops at the edge of the impassible terrain.  If the model can be physically placed on the other side of the terrain moving no further than the rolled distance-even if that would put it off the edge of the playing area-it must then be placed on the other side of the terrain.

Sames goes for enemy units encountered by a drop pod scatter roll.


Are there cards which turn life gain into damage instead?

Yes, there's Rain of Gore.

  If a spell or ability would cause its controller to gain life, that player loses that much life instead

As well as False Cure.

  Until end of turn, whenever a player gains life, that player loses 2 life for each 1 life he or she gained.

There's also Sanguine Bond.

  Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life.


Is a crazy camel that lands on a normal camel's square placed under it, or over it?

The rules state:

  Should a camel unit ends its movement on a space with another camel unit, it jumps on top of that other unit.

And also later (not directly relevant but possibly helpful):

  If a crazy camel lands on a spectator tile, its movement is influenced in the same way, just in the opposite direction to the racing camels.

So the rules set out that the crazy camels move in the opposite direction to the other camels, but otherwise follow the same rules. So if it moves into the same space as another camel, it will go on top.


Risk Legacy: Is it better to roll 1 or 2 defense dice when defending a bunkered location?

I ran a script to calculate probabilities of attacker losing two troops (D wins), defender losing two troops (A wins) and each losing one troop (Tie).  The following table shows these probabilities, along with the difference from standard play in brackets.  The final column shows the troop loss ratio per die.

Number of  | Win Probabilities (Difference due to bunker)            | Troop loss ratio
 Dice      |                                                         | (A loss : D loss)
-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+------------------
D: 1, A: 1 | D: 0.722 (+0.139), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.278 (-0.139) | 0.722 : 0.278
D: 2, A: 1 | D: 0.861 (+0.116), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.139 (-0.116) | 0.861 : 0.139
D: 1, A: 2 | D: 0.583 (+0.162), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.417 (-0.162) | 0.583 : 0.417
D: 2, A: 2 | D: 0.533 (+0.085), T: 0.320 (-0.004), A: 0.147 (-0.081) | 0.693 : 0.307
D: 1, A: 3 | D: 0.506 (+0.166), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.494 (-0.166) | 0.506 : 0.494
D: 2, A: 3 | D: 0.352 (+0.060), T: 0.408 (+0.073), A: 0.239 (-0.132) | 0.556 : 0.443

If you look at each pair of rows then you can compare the defender rolling one or two dice.  In each case the defender's troop loss per die roll is decreased by rolling two dice, so it is always theoretically better to roll two dice.


In Pandemic can I immediately cure disease to return to the 7 card limit?

You can't do this, since you discard immediately if at any time you have more than 7 cards. From the rules:

  If you ever have more than 7 cards in hand (after first resolving any Epidemic cards you may have drawn), discard cards or play Event cards until you have 7 cards in hand (...).

Drawing epidemics is the only exception; those don't stay in your hand long enough to cause you to discard.

This is also mentioned under "commonly overlooked rules":

  Your hand limit applies immediately after getting a card from another player.

Note that the reminder text in the corner of the board might lead you astray here, saying:

  Take 4 actions
  Draw 2 cards

  Resolve epidemics
  Discard to 7 cards

  Draw Infection cards

You should read that as a reminder that you may need to discard then, not as an indication that you don't need to discard at other times.


Is it possible to play two cards in the same field on the first step of a turn in Bohnanza ?

Yes,

You may plant both beans in the same field on any turn.

The rules state that during step one you:

Must plant the first bean

If it matches a currently planted bean then plant the new bean there
If you have an empty field plant it there
Otherwise you must harvest and sell all beans in one field before planting the new bean in the newly empty field

You may plant the second bean using the same rules as the first bean.

When planting the second bean, it is legal to harvest and sell the bean you just planted.  It's often a very good move to do so.


What happens if I target Zada, Hedron Grinder with a spell and then donate it to an opponent?

Zada's ability will still resolve, and you will still be the controller of that ability, so donating Zada will not make any difference.

  112.8. The controller of an activated ability on the stack is the player who activated it. The controller of a triggered ability on the stack (other than a delayed triggered ability) is the player who controlled the ability’s source when it triggered

Emphasis mine. Zada's ability triggers as soon as you finish casting Traitor's Roar. It then goes on the stack, as an ability controlled by you, before you get a chance to respond with something like Bazaar Trader's ability.

If you did respond with Bazaar Trader's ability, then after that resolves, Zada's ability would still resolve like normal, and you would still be the one affected by it. You would be the controller of the copies of the spell, and they would target your creatures.

  111.2. A spell’s owner is the same as the owner of the card that represents it, unless it’s a copy. In that case, the owner of the spell is the player under whose control it was put on the stack. A spell’s controller is, by default, the player who put it on the stack. Every spell has a controller.


Can I use Mirror Strike on Ink-treader Nephilim when it's not attacking?

Yup, unfortunately you're right. Unblocked means attacking and unblocked, after blockers are declared.
This is in the comprehensive rules for the declare blockers step:

509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first.

And there's a friendly summary from the glossary at the end:

Unblocked Creature
An attacking creature once no creature has been declared as a blocker for it, unless an effect has caused it to become blocked. It remains an unblocked creature until it’s removed from combat or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first.

So your opponent could make good use of Mirror Strike, letting your whole team hit in, targeting the Nephilim (and thus the rest of your team), and sending it all back at you, but... I don't think that's quite what you were looking for.


Do you need to reveal which specific tunnel you’re attempting to claim?

Yes, you need to indicate which tunnel you are attempting to claim.

This has been a somewhat contentious question among other players; because you are correct that the rulebook doesn't not directly address this. However, Alan Moon, the designer of the game, stated1 that you do reveal which route you are attempting.

Source:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/303859/how-claim-tunnel-definitive-answer/page/1

1 We only have the word of a BGG user that Alan Moon did indeed say this. But I did not see suggestions by the BGG population at large that it was a lie.


Two steps are needed

Erase the existing text. This is done by finding a card with little text and construct a square you can copy and paste over the existing text of the card you want to translate.
Add text.

Every single image manipulation program can perform those operations (copy, paste, move and add text), including MS Paint, a little plaything that comes with Windows.


Natural End reads

  Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You gain 3 life.

Pacifism is the target, as the enchantment. Even though the spell is targeting an enchantment that is attached to Gargos, the enchantment itself is still the target, as per the wording.


Does this dice mechanic exist in other games and does it have any drawbacks?

Formula D is a racing game where you select your die (non-standard D4, D6, D8, D12, D20, D30) based on your "gear".  So if you are in first gear, you roll the D4 and you can roll between 1-4.  If you are in 6th gear, you roll a D30 with numbers 20-30 printed on it.  You move forward the number of spaces specified on the die.  It also has a D20 Danger Die where specific events can happen.  For example, during the start rolling a 1 is a stall (lose a roll), and rolling a 20 is a very good start (extra roll).  It's similar to your case where you have different dice for different power-levels, and you have events where you roll critical or very bad rolls.

Zombiecide is a game where you search for weapons and roll dice to kill zombies.  In this game you'll end up with weapons such as the Chainsaw (5d, 5+).  The chainsaw lets you roll 5 dice.  For each 5 or 6 rolled, you kill a zombie in your current square.  Another one is the baseball bat (1d, 3+).  With this weapon you only roll one die, but a 3 or higher results in a kill.  It's similar to your game where you can power-up with more dice.  It also has chances of failure/success, but not quite like you described.


How should your strategy in Power Grid change after about 10 to 12 cities?

It has been a little while since I have played Power Grid, but I will take a stab at this.

In the early and mid-game the decisions that have to be made are fairly straightforward and tactical like improving power plant efficiency/capacity and expanding into reasonably priced cities.  Power plant prices are generally based on their expected monetary output for the medium length duration.

Towards the end of the game, players need to more seriously plan out the how they will get to the last turn of the game by optimizing power plants, carefully selecting which cities to expand into, and budgeting and/or hoarding resources to ensure production.  The decisions are more subtle and tend to interleave with the decisions of the other players in ways that can be difficult to model.

For example, buying a power plant in the end game usually has very little to do with how much money it will make.  Instead, making sure you can power the target number of cities in paramount and, in some cases, making sure a rival cannot power the target number of cities is also a factor.  Because of the way the power plant deck is stacked, there is a lot of information that human players can remember that a robot player cannot easily track, like the odds that the next power plant to appear will meet the needs of a player currently bidding.

Another example would be in how to expand a network in the late game.  Sometimes there is more value in spending extra money to limit the options of another player even though a cheaper city is available.

I believe these are the types of changes in focus late in the game that make a simple procedural robot difficult to create.  The economic engine building and expansion phase of the game is just straightforward, but how that engine is leveraged to create a victory is tricky.


How is the board game version of Words With Friends different from Scrabble?

The board layout - the positioning of the bonus squares is different.

Words With Friends:

Scrabble:

Also, the distribution and points scored for the letters in Words With Friends is slightly different to Scrabble. For example, B and C score 3 points in Scrabble, but 4 points in Words With Friends.


Are there guaranteed winning strategies for Quarto?

Quarto has been evaluated as draw if both players play optimally. There's a presentation on the result here:

http://www.cs.rhul.ac.uk/~wouter/Talks/quarto.pdf

Quarto seems to have been originally solved by  Luv Goossens in 1998, although I'm not sure whether this was published or not.  The presentation links to this old web page by Goossens:

http://web.archive.org/web/20041012023358/http://ssel.vub.ac.be/Members/LucGoossens/quarto/quartotext.htm


Does newer card text on a Magic: The Gathering card override the old wording?

All versions of a card are considered to be equivalent and are played with the same text: this text is known as the Oracle wording of the card.  From the comprehensive rules:

  108.1. Use the Oracle(TM) card reference when determining a card's wording. A card's Oracle text can be found using the Gatherer card
  database at http://gatherer.wizards.com.

Note that a card's wording isn't always the most recent text on a card!  There are a handful of cards that have errata of one form or another - for instance, Time Vault's Oracle text has changed numerous times, and it's still different in a few small ways from the card as printed.

As far as Icy Manipulator specifically goes, note that the wording on the Alpha (and Beta) versions isn't as different from the 10th Edition version as you might think; while neither uses the tap symbol, they both have the type 'Mono Artifact' which by the rules of the time meant that they were tapped as part of their usage (and thus could only be used once in a turn).  Again, quoting from the comprehensive rules:

  Mono Artifact (Obsolete) An obsolete term that appeared on the type
  line of artifacts with activated abilities that caused the artifact to
  become tapped as a cost. Cards printed with this text have received
  errata in the Oracle card reference to simply say "Artifact," and
  those abilities now include the tap symbol in their costs.


How long can the spells exiled with Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast be cast?

You can cast a card exiled with Lukka until the end of the game, but only once. As soon as you cast the card (or it leaves exile for any other reason), it loses that effect.
Lukka's ability creates a continuous effect that modifies the game rules for the creature cards it exiles. As you noted, it has no duration, so it lasts until the end of the game.

611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts until the end of the game.

However, once you do cast one of these cards, it moves from exile to the stack. In that moment, it becomes a new object that no longer has that ability:

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. [..]

Likewise, if that creature is later exiled through other means, for example Eat to Extinction, it will again become a new object, and you cannot cast it again through Lukka even though it is exiled.


With the new ACBL Alert regulations (effective January 2021), the following seems correct:

You Pre-Alert your system, because of your 1C (not Natural, Forcing) and 1D (not Natural) openers. "We play Precision" should be fine, but you should probably prepare a slightly longer one if you want to be clear.  "Our 1C is 16+, any distribution; 1D is 3+ except in very rare cases; 1NT is 11-15 and can include 4M5m22s."

You Alert 1C.  When they ask, you should be more clear than the Pre-Alert.

You Announce 1D "could be zero".  Here is where, I agree, it gets difficult.  This is why I recommend the expanded Pre-Alert, because most "could be 1" and "could be zero" Precision 1Ds include things like (43)=1=5 and 4=4=0=5s (and put the 2D opener to better use).  If they ask, you can say that it's 3+ unless you're 6C-5M or better.  I tend to ask "when could it be short" and this is a great answer (for me)!
Of course, if they ask for a better description of 1D, you can come out with what you have above; but your agreement isn't that much different from a "normal" 3+ 1D (limited to 15) that you should feel a requirement to routinely explain it.

You Announce 1NT "11-15" as before.  Be prepared to explain (if asked, or at the end of the auction if you're declaring) that you put more hands into 1NT than "normal", especially the 4M5m22s.  Again, if it doesn't take too much time, the Pre-Alert should handle that.


Is casting a commander from the command zone considered casting a spell?

Yes, they do have to pay extra mana.

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

(emphasis mine)

It's a creature spell, just not cast from their controller's hand as normal.

  701.4a To cast a spell is to take it from the zone it's in (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. A player may cast a spell if he or she has priority. See rule 601, "Casting Spells."

  701.4b To cast a card is to cast it as a spell.


Improvise has the following definition in rule 702.125a:

Improvise is a static ability that functions while the spell with improvise is on the stack. “Improvise” means “For each generic mana in this spell’s total cost, you may tap an untapped artifact you control rather than pay that mana.”

A generic mana cost is represented by a number in a circle, and can be paid for with any type of mana. Colored and colorless costs are not generic, so they cannot be paid for with improvise.
Cloudpost is a different matter. Cloudpost adds colorless mana to your mana pool, and that has always been the case. Its current text is

Cloudpost enters the battlefield tapped.
{T}: Add {C} for each Locus on the battlefield.

There is no such thing as generic mana. Any card that is printed as adding {1} to your mana pool actually adds {C}.


Can you shoot and use upgrades on the reboot token if you arrived there without rebooting?

No.

As you mention, the rules don't allow it. They take effect based on the robot being on the reboot token, not based on how it got there. Regardless, it would be easy and reasonable to house rule.


What happens with palace guard and other blockers?

For each blocking creature, you choose the order of the creatures that it is assigning damage to. So, for your palace guards, you have 4 total options:

Palace Guard 1 and Palace Guard 2 both assign damage to Bear 1 first.
Palace Guard 1 and Palace Guard 2 both assign damage to Bear 2 first.
Palace Guard 1 assigns damage to Bear 1 first, Palace Guard 2 assigns damage to Bear 2 first.
Palace Guard 1 assigns damage to Bear 2 first, Palace Guard 2 assigns damage to Bear 1 first.

If you choose either #1 or #2, you will do 2 damage to 1 Bear and kill it, while not touching the other Bear. If you choose #3 or #4, you will do 1 damage to each Bear, and not kill anything.

Also, for each attacking creature Your opponent gets to choose the order that your blocking creatures will take damage, so he also has 4 total choice:

Bear 1 and Bear 2 both assign damage to Palace Guard 1 first.
Bear 1 and Bear 2 both assign damage to Palace Guard 2 first.
Bear 1 assigns damage to Palace Guard 1 first, Bear 2 assigns damage to Palace Guard 2 first.
Bear 1 assigns damage to Palace Guard 2 first, Bear 2 assigns damage to Palace Guard 1 first.

Similar to your choices, if he chooses #1 or #2, he will deal 4 damage to 1 Palace Guard and kill it; if he chooses #3 or #4, he will deal 2 damage to each Palace Guard and won't kill anything.

  509.2. Second, for each attacking creature that’s become blocked, the active player announces that
  creature’s damage assignment order, which consists of the creatures blocking it in an order of that
  player’s choice

  509.3. Third, for each blocking creature, the defending player announces that creature’s damage
  assignment order, which consists of the creatures it’s blocking in an order of that player’s choice.

The key here is that players get to choose separately how each attacking creature (and each blocking creature) orders/assigns its damage.


1 in 6.
Since you're asking about the the possibility of four clubs in another hand, I'll go ahead and state the unstated assumption: you mean that you don't have any clubs other than the Jack and Ten in your hand.
9,T,J,Q,K,A in four suits: 24 cards
Six cards dealt each player: 24 cards
To figure the odds, counts the number of ways to deal what you see and the number of ways to deal the target arrangement. Then divide the latter by former.
Deal what you see
Deal yourself JC, JS, TC and 3 of the other 17 non-clubs.
Number of ways to do so: C(17,3) = 1,330
Deal the other three hands: C(18,6)*C(12,6)*C(6,6) = 17,153,136
So the number of deals that result in you getting JC,JS,TC and no other clubs: 11,664,132,480
Deal the same, but with 3 or 4 clubs in a single other hand
The number of ways to deal JC,JS,TC and no other clubs to you and three or four other clubs to one of the other players:
Deal your hand: 1,330
Then either

deal three clubs exactly to one player: C(4,3)*C(14,3) = 1,456

or

deal four clubs to one player: C(4,4)*C(14,2) = 91

For a total of 1,547 ways to deal 3 or 4 clubs to that player.
The deal the other hands: C(12,6)*C(6,6) = 924
= 1,901,139,240
Figure the odds
The odds are then 1,901,139,240/11,664,132,480
This comes out to about 16.3% or 1 in 6


The wording of the card is:

  Whenever you explore, treat the room as if it were in darkness.

(Empahsis mine)

Normally, darkness forces you to spend a movement step in addition to the regular action step to explore and to also receive -2 to attribute tests in combat. This card just makes it so that whenever you explore, you apply the penalty of spending an additional movement step.

This trauma doesn't affect combat. If the player with the trauma is not exploring, penalty doesnt apply.

Either way, the room is technically not in darkness.

Based on this, I would rule it as invalid as playing a card that required a room to be in darkness.


Which tournament format best emphasizes winning (as opposed to avoiding last place)?

The tournament format that most emphasizes winning is single-elimination. I mean, literally: if you don't win, you're out.

The problem with single-elimination is that it the order of elimination doesn't necessary tell you something about a player's overall achievement. Assuming the tournament winner is legitimately the "best" player, we really can't say who is "second best" based on tournament standing alone. If the winner's first-round opponent was actually the most difficult match, maybe he or she is really the "second best" player, despite getting out immediately. So you'll know who's first but everyone else's place in the standings is kind of a crapshoot.

The single-elimination format is also rather frustrating for high-variance games (I would say Settlers is one), and being knocked out early can be very dissatisfying for tournament participants.

Most Swiss systems do emphasize winning, in the sense that they're literally counting wins as the main scoring system. One pitfall in Straight-Swiss is that it's possible for a player to functionally win the tournament before getting to the last game -- this is similar to what happens when one player scores 3-0 in a "best of five" match. A popular way to avert this is a "Top N," where top-scoring players from the Swiss rounds come together for a single-elimination bracket.

Top N has the benefit of making sure the top players are actually pitted against each other, and the single-elimination part of the format does promote a heated final where everyone is playing to win. However, this actually encourages what you've called "brokering third game deals" in the last rounds of the Swiss -- if I can get into the Top 16 with a third-place finish in my last Swiss game, for instance, there is no reason to play for the top.

As best as I can tell, the Swiss system will always produce some irrelevant matches and predetermined outcomes. The best you can do is to tweak where those occur in the tournament structure. Top N is a compromise that keeps those features out of the finals, at the cost of filling the final round before finals with a series of tricky forfeits and draws.

It's my opinion that it's better to accept "brokered" draws (with a prohibition on bribery and collusion to keep the game fair) than to try to force people to play irrelevant games. What you can do to discourage intentional draws and forfeits, however, is to associate an incentive with your overall ranking going into the Top N. In current Magic: the Gathering tournament rules, for example, Top 8 games give the higher-ranked player the ability to choose his or her position in the turn order (instead of deciding randomly, as they do in the preceding Swiss rounds).

I think the 5-3-2-1 structure you've cited is, in general, a good example of a Swiss-style format that emphasizes winning over second-place finishes and promotes a reasonable level of competition in the final Swiss round before Top N.

For starters, first is disproportionately more valuable than the other results: a first-place finish and a last-place finish are worth as much as two second-place finishes; and finishing first, second, and third is worth more than finishing second three games in a row.

Note also the role of wins in tie-breakers:

  1) Top overall score [of three rounds of Swiss] (15 being max)

  2) Most 1st place wins

  3) Top winning margin (Ex: a game ends 10-7-7-6, thus the winner has a
  +3 margin; All margins are summed)

  4) Win in game 1

  5) Win in game 2

  6) Win in game 3

  7) Highest dice roll -- 2D6

Here the margin of victory is used only as a tiebreaker, as an attempt to factor in the decisiveness of wins if players are tied for quantity of wins.

Finally, this bit is important:

  Playoff rounds will be seated by rank (see below) but the game format will be the same

  ...

  Tournament Playoff Round:

  Once the top 16 players are set, seating will be done according to the following chart:

  Table 1 - #1,5,9,13

  Table 2 - #2,6,10,14

  Table 3 - #3,7,11,15

  Table 4 - #4,8,12,16

So, there is some incentive to finishing the Swiss rounds with the highest rank possible: you can get a leg up in the turn order (I'm assuming the tournament organizers consider this an advantage in Settlers).

That said, because I don't consider going first to be always preferable in Settlers, I'd do something like this instead: "After the board is laid out, players at the final tables get to choose their seats in rank order." A little bit of extra privilege (and strategic depth) for placing first!


Are there good two player rules for resource trading in Settlers of Catan?

While I've never tried it out, there is a variant set of rules here that uses the white player as a neutral third party.  It looks a little interesting, but the rules in the link only allow the neutral player to build roads, and nothing else.  Building roads for the neutral player is determined by highest dice roll.

It does allow for trading with the neutral player using a special trading chart.  The chart may or may not need to be tweaked to your liking.