When should I choose an Explore card in Race For The Galaxy?

Your analysis is not wrong, but it is a little simplistic, mostly because you are ignoring the existence of the other players, and the state of their games.

Explore is the only option that doesn't depend on anything else. You can always play an Explore. Yes, it's not as efficient as Trading. But Trading isn't always possible. If you've run out of cards, or your cards just plain suck, then Explore is pretty handy.
Explore prevents your opponent leeching, and taking advantage of your action. For example, an opponent playing a military strategy may be waiting for you to choose Settle, so he can dump a military world for free. Playing several Explores in a row can force opponents to choose actions they would rather you chose for them.
Similarly, you don't want to choose Settle, and settle something rubbish, if that gives your opponent the opportunity to play something amazing. So if an opponent has many cards in hand, or has a clear strategy developing based around obvious Phase choices, then you're going to want to avoid those when you can. Explore is often a good alternative.
Explore is crucial if you think an opponent is planning to Develop or Settle, and you want to take advantage of that, but don't have a card of that type in hand, or, even worse, you have a card you want to play, but don't have enough to pay for it. In this case the fact Explore happens before anything else is really valuable.
Cards that generate Explore bonuses, particularly things like Research Labs, can make Explore much more lucrative for you than for anyone else. These also allow you to leech other people's Explores. Obviously, they will try to avoid this, but as we've noted, often Explore is the only option, particularly early game, or with rash plays that have emptied one's hand unhelpfully.
In general, Explore +1/+1 makes more sense in the early game, because your hand is smaller, and later on you will usually have alternative ways to generate card flow. Explore +5 makes more sense as a later-game play, particularly to maximise your strategy. For example, finding large military worlds, getting more blue production worlds, finding that killer 6 development etc. are all things that might justify a late-game Explore.

So, overall, while Explore is often not what you want to do, it does have wide versatility, and can occasionally be fantastic. I think careful tactical use of Explore is an essential tool.


first player had to pass- points for second player?

Yes (assuming they don't pass as well). The center square is a double word square.
From the rules:

The First Word Score
The star is a double square and will offer a double word score.


Does Deathtouch apply to damage dealt via Fall of the Hammer?

Deathtouch does in fact apply when Fall of the Hammer is used. Fall specifically says that the first target creature deals the damage, and that means that this is treated just like any other instance of a creature dealing damage to another. Deathtouch applies; Lifelink applies; everything that applies to a creature dealing non-combat damage applies to this.


You are overthinking it. Two creatures fighting each other as result of a spell or ability means exactly what it says, and nothing more. Power and Toughness of a creature are always one certain value, namely the printed base value plus all applicable modifiers. Two creatures fighting each other is NOT combat, and combat-related abilities don't matter. The damage they deal to each other is NOT combat damage, but simply damage with the respective creature as the source.


Are Keeps and Mage Towers the only sites where failing to defeat an enemy forces you off the space?

Fortified sites are the only spaces that require you to withdraw to the space you attacked from when you lose.

On page 9 of the rulebook, under section 3 of Combat Outcomes:

  d. If you failed to defeat all the defenders of a fortified site, you have to withdraw back to the space you were attacking from.

The rules regarding ruins and monster dens are different. The Combat Outcomes section mentions leaving any revealed enemies on the space, but doesn't explicitly mention having to withdraw. We can use some sections from other parts of the rulebook to clarify. On page 6, section 4 under Movement (emphasis mine):

  d. Entering a space with an adventure site (ruins, monster den, spawning grounds, dungeons or tombs) does not necessarily end your movement; you may ignore it and treat it as an empty space, even if there are enemy tokens.

And on page 7, under section 1 of Combat with Enemies (emphasis mine):

  b. If you are at an adventure site containing enemies (dungeon or tomb, unconquered monster den or spawning grounds, or ruins with enemies), you may announce that you are entering the site as your action. This initiates combat with all enemies in the site.

Given these conditions, these spaces are treated as safe spaces (page 6; rule 7d) and don't require a player to withdraw after a loss.

The main purpose of moving back to the attacking space when losing to a fortified enemy is to ensure that Forced Withdraw rules (page 9; rule 2) don't apply immediately. It prevents players from having to take additional wounds when they've already lost and likely taken wounds. This isn't a concern with adventure sites because they are already considered safe spaces.


Generator Servent with Nemesis of Mortals

Do I determine the cost of the spell before or after I generate the mana?

Either! You can generate mana at any time during your main step, before starting to cast a spell. However, you can also generate it during the spell-casting process:

601.2e The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can't be reduced to less than {0}. Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes "locked in." If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.
601.2f If the total cost includes a mana payment, the player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, "Mana Abilities"). Mana abilities must be activated before costs are paid.

So in this case, you could determine the total cost (which would include 1 generic mana), then activate Generator Servant in order to produce mana, thus spending 1 of those 2 mana on the Nemesis of Mortals
And to show that Generator Servant's ability is indeed a mana ability:

406.1. A mana ability is either (a) an activated ability without a target that could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves or (b) a triggered ability without a target that triggers from a mana ability and could produce additional mana. A mana ability can generate other effects at the same time it produces mana.


Game of Thrones: Are Tides of Battle cards used when attacking a neutral force?

The Combat section of the rules (page 17) states that Combat ensues "whenever a player marches one or more of his units into an
area containing units from another House…" However, it says nothing about marching into an area containing neutral forces, and nothing in the Neutral Forces section actually defines taking a neutral territory as "combat".

While obviously very combat-like in nature, as I read it "Destroying a Neutral Force" is very much its own thing and not simply an extension of combat. The line about collecting support actually lampshades that it's performed "as in combat" which, to me, demonstrates that this is in itself not "combat".

And technically, combat or no, the first step of drawing Tides of Battle cards is done "after choosing and revealing House cards," which would never happen anyway since "no House Cards are played" when Destroying a Neutral Force.


How are cards awarded on defeating a player in risk?

It's possible the iPad version is using different rules, but the official rules for the classic Risk Game are as follows:

  Eliminating  an  opponent.

  If  during  your  turn  you  eliminate  an
  opponent  by  defeating  his  or  her  last  army  on  the  game  board,  you  win  any
  RISK  cards  that  player  has  collected.

So you get all of the cards that the opponent had on hand. This will never be more than 6 cards (which is only possible if you somehow defeated a player who had just defeated another player on their turn). It does occur BEFORE drawing a RISK card from conquering a territory this turn, as your turn hasn't ended yet.

There are two highly-relevant bullet points with regards to this:

If you gain enough risk cards to cause you to have 6 or more cards on hand as a direct result of defeating an opponent, you MUST trade the cards in immediately for reinforcements so that you have 5 or fewer cards.
If you have 5 cards as a result of defeating an opponent and then your additional card from conquering a territory puts you at 6 cards, you trade at the start of your NEXT turn.


Machi Koro Millionaire's Row Moving Company and renovation questions

According to the Note for the Moving Company card in the rules

  The Moving Company can be given to other players

So the answer to the first part of your question is "yes."

The same rules also say

  The next time a rollwould activate this Establishment and earn income, remove the token instead ...

They go on to give some examples of how card color (activating on your own rolls or other player rolls) behave. In the example you provided, the Corn field would not activate and earn income, therefor the renovation marker remains.

It makes sense if you think of it as the next round of income for the card paying for the required renovations and re-opening the establishment. If it never earns any income, the renovations never happen.


Adjacent Territories during setup: What is considered adjacent?

A string is allowed - just make sure there's a way to get from any chosen territory to any other.

I'd say that a less interconnected map introduces an extra challenge - it makes city choice more important since it's easier to get boxed in. Since this can be frustrating, I'd recommend a more interconnected map for new players.


Yes, as noted in Law 66 B of The Rules of Duplicate Bridge, with a certain restriction:

B. Own Last Card
Until a card is led to the next trick, declarer or either
defender may inspect, but not expose, his own last
card played.

As the collection of tricks is mechanically different under the Laws of Rubber Bridge Law 66 - Inspection of Tricks is similarly a bit different:

Law 66 – Inspection of Tricks
Declarer or either defender may, until a member of
his side has led or played to the following trick, inspect
a trick and inquire what card each player has played to
it. Thereafter, until play ceases, quitted tricks may be inspected
only to account for a missing or surplus card. ....


I'm afraid you do understand the ruling correctly (there is no GW statement on this that I'm aware of since there's no conflict in the two rules). The important thing to remember is that the substitution is optional - if you're likely to take massive damage from fearless, take a chance on the dice and use their adjusted leadership (adjusted for modifiers from the combat). I think that you will find that your decision on taking casualties vs risking a failed leadership check will greatly depend on the unit and what you're trying to do with it (a unit of 30 gretchin designed to hold up an assault squad is going to happily take the casualties while your boyz are likely to take their chances with a roll - though even these examples are dependent on what you're trying to do and the current situation on the table).


I have an idea for a card game. How can I best start testing it?

There are different stages to testing.

You need to make sure the core idea and gameplay is workable.  You can do some of this by playing through a few games with just you playing for each other player.

Then you need to start creating the game.  This will be an iterative process.  You get the game together, and draft some instructions, and get some friends round to play it.

Take many notes!  See how they understand the instructions; make notes of any oddities during play; see if they understand the game in the way you intend.

Make changes, and do this again.  Do this a few times.

Eventually you'll get a game that's ready for beta testing with people who don't know you; maybe as a print and play download. Make sure people know it's a beta test, and make sure they have some good method for reporting problems they have and getting help.

You'll also want to think about asking people to try to break the game; trying to use weird strategies to win or "king making" or rushing or such.


Differences between Steam and Age of Steam?

Assuming you're referring to the "standard" version of Steam, the two major differences from Age of Steam are:

Split income and VP tracks. When delivering goods, you must choose where your points go, either to an income track (that goes from -10 to +10) or to your victory point track. Early in the game, you'd usually concentrate on income to grow your business, then at some point switch to VPs.
There is no board with randomized upcoming goods for each city and therefore no "production" action. Instead, 12 sets of 3 goods are available for use with the new "city growth" action or when you place down a new city tile while "urbanizing". A startup city can only get one new set of goods with city growth, and urbanized cities cannot get another set after being placed.

Smaller rule changes include tile costs, tile distribution, no income reduction, loco is not allowed if you're on 6 already, final scoring for tracks is 1 VP per link, and when shipping you can't give more points to any other player.

This great review contains a more detailed list of differences.


What happens when you play Cloudshift on Borderland Ranger?

Yes, that's correct. Re-triggering "enters the battlefield" effects is certainly a good use of "flicker" cards like Cloudshift. Perhaps you'd be interested in this discussion of various uses of Cloudshift for more examples.


Does a unique collection give 4 or 7 points?

It only gives 4 points for being unique. Unfortunately, the English version of the rules dropped the nice scoring example in the German version of the rules.

  Ronja: 8 Punkte - Niemand außer Ronja besitzt Masken. Das bringt ihr 4 Punkte ein. Bei den Statuen geht sie - wie Max - leer aus. Auch bei den Zahnketten bekommt sie keine Punkte, denn Max und Lea besitzen mehr davon. 4 Punkte bringt Ronja ihre konkurrenzlose Hutsammlung.

Roughly, this translates to. Ronja 8 points. No one but Ronja owns Masks. That brings her 4 points. As with Max, the statues score her nothing. Also, for the necklaces she scores no points, because Max and Lea have more of them. 4 points for Ronja's unrivaled collection of hats.

It is clear from the images in the rulebook, that Ronja is the only player with Dark Green Mask cards, and Yellow Hat cards. Since she only scored 4 + 4 = 8 for her two unique collections, you don't score those sets for longest of that type as well.


Magic the Gathering simple damage question

If you have a 6/4 Craw Wurm blocking a 5/3 Bloodrage Vampire, then both creatures will die after combat damage is dealt.

In combat, after attacks and blocks have been declared, combat damage is evaluated all at once (except when dealing with First Strike or Double Strike, but that's not relevant here). In a situation like the one you have here, with one creature blocking a single attacking creature, each creature deals damage equal to its power to the other simultaneously. Then, after the damage has been dealt (or at any other time), if any creature has taken damage greater than or equal to its toughness, it dies.

In this particular situation, the Craw Wurm deals 6 damage to the Bloodrage Vampire, and the Bloodrage Vampire deals 5 damage to the Craw Wurm. After this, the Craw Wurm has 4 toughness and has taken 5 damage, so it dies. And the Bloodrage Vampire has 3 toughness and has taken 6 damage, so it dies.


Does Crystalline Sliver currently have hexproof or shroud?

The current text of a card (called Oracle text) is always available in Gatherer. Crystalline Sliver now reads:

  All Slivers have shroud. (They can't be the targets of spells or abilities.)

Note that Wizards very strongly favors updating cards in ways that don't affect the way they work, but simply make them clearer and use more up-to-date terminology or phrasing (called non-functional errata). That's the case here: they just replaced the fully spelled-out ability with the keyword that means the same thing.


How to handle late game tile drawing in Tsuro

The rules in my copy and on the official site are quite clear:

  If the active player has the dragon tile, he or she places it at the bottom of the draw pile and draws a tile from the top. If the active player does not have the dragon tile, he or she draws a tile from the top of the draw pile.

  Starting with the active player and moving
  clockwise, each player with fewer than three path
  tiles draws a tile, continuing around the board
  until all players have three path tiles or the draw
  pile is empty.

  When new tiles become available later in
  the game, the first player to draw a tile will
  be the player with the Dragon tile instead
  of the active player. That player sets aside
  the Dragon tile when drawing a path tile.

That said, they are quite wordy. So let me rephrase them:

Let's say the draw pile is empty and tiles are added to it because one or more players were eliminated. If someone has the Dragon Tile, take the Dragon Tile from whoever has it and place it at the bottom of the deck. Deal one tile to them, one to tile to the player next to them, one tile to the player next to that player, and so on until everyone has three tiles or someone draws the Dragon Tile.


If I pocket the queen and one opponent's C/m in the same shot, what happens?

Pardon the bump but the correct answer is:

Player loses their turn and the queen comes out. Any of the opponents pieces remain pocketed.

Actually this is hard to pin down. The official rules state that if a player pockets an opponents piece their turn is over. Since they would then not be able to cover the queen must therefore also come out. There seems to be no mention of any due or penalty, nor a specific rule covering this, so the pocketing of an opponents coin ending the turn appears to take precedent.

However according to Master Of Games website, this would count as a foul, the turn would end and the queen along with a penalty coin would be replaced. The pocketed coins would remain pocketed. The rules laid out on this site differ in many ways from the official ICF rule so take that into consideration.

Both rule sets state the turn ends and the queen is replaced, the only difference being whether or not the penalty is charged.


In Axis and Allies, Should Russia Head East, West, Or Stay Put in the Early Going?

You can have an Eastern front attack on Manchuria synchronized with the Allies to wipe out all of Japan/Asia on the third to fourth turn. Turn one, buy two anti-aircraft guns, three guys and a tank. Attack Belorussia with three guys and two fighters, Attack West Russia with four guys, a gun, two tanks. When successful,  move anti-aircraft guns to West Russia and Novosibirsk, move two remaining infantry from Russia to Caucasus, move a tank to Kazakh, one tank and one gun to Novosibirsk, two guys from Kazakh and two guys from Novosibirsk to Sinkiang, one guy to Soviet Far East and three guys to Yakut. Land your fighters in Caucasus. Phew.... place two guys and a tank and an a.a. gun in Caucasus and a guy and your last a.a. in Moscow.

Your Allies should build a factory in India, land the US bomber in Yakut s.s.r. US fighters and transport to prepare for an attack on Northern Europe. Secure the easy North Atlantic by the end of the first turn (or at least the second).

Second turn--you now have troops in place to secure Asia by the third or fourth turn. Buy whatever you want from now on and focus on the typical German slug fest. You are defended at home, have comitted a big enough force to make the diference in Asia and it's only the second turn. So... attack China with two tanks and four guys, and two planes if need be. Move the a.a. gun and the force in Novosibirsk into Sinkiang, the force in East Russia to Buryatia and get ready to take Manchuria. You can either hit it the next turn  or wait for the remaining force to arrive with the other a.a. gun. By now the US should be able to build two factories and have a force to hit Kwnagtung and UK should be able hit French Indochina. You can hit only one Japan land territory and mass, you can hit the zone with the factory, or you can take a weak sister and build a factory there.  Use your Asia allies to help destroy those lonely transports, have one ally clear the way for the next to hit a weak factory (if there is one). Don't forget, from Yakut the US bomber can hit either Norway or anywhere in Asia on the second turn.

IMPORTANT - for ally assisted operation, you must go US - Russia - UK   These all go before Japan gets another turn, you can use this formula to clean paths in mainland Asia, or even better, to hit and take out all three Japan land zones at once. But at the end of the first turn you've left Russia with a good army in West Russia, a strong force in Caucasus to defend and you've lost nothing in Asia. You've enabled at least one US factory, and with the added strength of two tanks and your fighters, on offense you should be able to take or assist in taking at least one if not all of the Japan land zones. You can also---on the third turn, before Germany even gets to go---have a factory in Karelia with British defense and US-occupied Norway. UK goes after Germany and can take Karelia, then the Russians move their force in and build a factory in liberated Karelia. These are a few neat moves for Russia to help in the battle for Asia. Any other ideas or great battle strategies I can use to whoop my friends (who are getting better each time)? Email me
john_ready@hotmail.com.


Is there an easy, web based, multi player board and card game prototype tester?

An open-source boardgame engine, could be what you are looking for:

Vassal Engine
http://www.vassalengine.org/

It provides counters, cards, board and does not enforce any rules, it provides solely "component handling". You need to create your own module (a container which holds all components as images and text) and then you should be able to send that module to other players or designers to test your prototype.

You can even play together if the game is multiplayer and not solely solitaire. Play by Forum (PBF), Play by Email (PBEM), Peer-to-Peer (P2P) playing is supported.

Here is a direct link to the user guide to evaluate the features:
http://www.vassalengine.org/mediawiki/images/8/8c/Userguide.pdf

If you want to get started, you follow these tutorials:
http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Tutorials

Especially:
http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Card_Game_Tutorial
http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Board_Game_Tutorial

While VASSAL certainly is powerful, the initial steps for simple games are quite simple. Yet after a while, the options like automated game setup will be a blessing for you and your playtesters. The game logs will be important to evaluate the game, i.e. find too weak or too powerful strategies.

FAQ for module creation:
http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Creating_Modules


Taking, searching, and managing card decks

I have split all conditions into small sections (delimited by foam in my box).  So, when I draw a madness, I pick from the madness deck. This makes the game move slightly faster as there are less draws to get what you need/must.

This could lead to some card counting. The trick there is to shuffle the desk each time it is used. You could also shuffle the desk for someone else and they give you a number, say X. You then pick the bottom/top X card to give them. Yet another alternative, as Joey suggested is to have a masking card at the top of the deck, maybe showing what type of card you have?


If a protection effect "doesn't remove Auras", can auras that are not cast be placed on the permanent?

Yes, the Aura can still be attached, as long as the ability doing the attaching doesn't target or is from a colorless source.

Protection from a quality normally gives protection from DEBT.

Damaged: Can't be damaged by a source with the stated quality.
Enchanted/Equiped/Fortified: Can't be Enchanted, Equipped or Fortified by an permanent with the stated quality.
Blocked: Can't be blocked by a creature with the stated quality.
Targeted: Can't be targeted by a spell with the stated quality or by an ability from a source with the stated quality.

Spectra Ward's ability provides a neutered form of Protection. Auras are not prevented from Enchanting the protected permanent by the Protection provided by Spectra Ward.

  702.16m Some Auras both give the enchanted creature protection and say “this effect doesn’t remove” either that specific Aura or all Auras. This means that the specified Auras can legally enchant that creature and aren’t put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. If the creature has other instances of protection from the same quality, those instances affect Auras as normal.

This means:

You can't cast a colored Aura targeting the permanent protected by Spectra Ward. (It's protected from being targeted.)
Colored Auras already attached to the permanent won't fall off. (It's not protected from being enchanted.)
You can attach a colored Aura the permanent protected by Spectra Ward.

For example, Enduring Ideal isn't hindered by Spectra Ward. (The permanent to which the Aura is being attached isn't protected from being enchanted, and the ability doesn't target.)

For example, Bruna, Light of Alabaster's ability will still work even if it's protected by Spectra Ward. (It's not protected from being enchanted, and the ability doesn't target.)

However, Aura Finesse would not be able to attach an Aura to a creature protected by Spectra Ward because the creature is protected from being targeted by Aura Finesse.


What is the average number of turns in a game of Monopoly?

Playing online against 3 computer opponents, one of my games would typically last 30-45 turns. I used the standard rules (i.e., no money on Free Parking, limited number of houses and hotels). Because it was me against computers, the games would take ~15 minutes to play.

Playing against human opponents would certainly extend the actual playing time, and may likely increase the number of turns for a game as well. House rules which inject money into the players' hands (e.g., money on Free Parking) will increase the number of turns, and thus playing time, too.


When will a summon/monster step on a trap?

Following https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/47856/20168.

For the first scenario:

Focus: Living Bones 9
Target Hex: The hex between the door and Living Bones 9.
Path: Path 2

The reason for this is that monsters/summons will treat traps/hazardous terrain as obstacles unless there is no other path. See the answer in https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/47856/20168 for more details.

If there was a trap on path 2, then the summon would take path 4 and step on the trap (assuming it had enough movement to do so). This happens regardless of whether the trap would kill the summon or not. I.E.

Focus: Living Bones 6
Target Hex: The empty hex adjacent to Living Bones 6 and Living Corpse 8.
Path: Path 4


Timing of the activated abilities of creatures

Yes, you can do that. In fact, you don't need to do it in response. If at any time the creature with Pacifism on it gets protection from white, the Pacifism will no longer be legally attached to the creature, so the Pacifism will "fall off" and go to the graveyard.
The rules for protection include these:

702.16b A permanent or player with protection can’t be targeted by spells with the stated quality and can’t be targeted by abilities from a source with the stated quality.
702.16c A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality. Such Auras attached to the permanent or player with protection will be put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. (See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”)

So, if your opponent casts Pacifism targeting a creature, and you activate the creature's ability, then Pacifism can't target the creature anymore, so it will be countered. If you activate the ability after the Pacifism is attached to the creature, the Pacifism will no longer be legally attached to the creature, so it will be put into its owner's graveyard.
The situation is slightly different if the "pacify" effect in question is a card like Arrest that says that the creature's "activated abilities can't be activated". In that case, once it is attached to the creature, the creature won't be able to activate the ability that grants protection, so in that case you would need to activate the ability in response to the aura spell.


Why did Yu-Gi-Oh! change from an unlimited deck size to a 60 card maximum deck size?

If Reddit is to be believed, there was a person at a German regional tournament who thoroughly abused this by bringing a deck with 2222 cards (enough for about 740 cards with 3 duplicates each). To make matters worse, as many cards as possible were added so that the deck had to be shuffled during the game as often as possible. While it was definitely poor sportsmanship, is was unquestionably legal, so Konami instituted the maximum deck size shortly thereafter.

It was originally 40+. There was no limit. I'm pretty sure the 60 card limit was introduced because some guy brought a deck that was outrageously large to a tourney.

I think at one event long ago in Germany some dude brought a 2k card deck or something? I guess Konami decided to set an actual limit then.

This story has appeared in other places across the web, with this forum post including a picture of the deck purportedly being carried in (and a several dozen page deck list).


Are there Magic: The Gathering lore books for the recent blocks?

Wizards of the Coast stopped printing physical novels with the Return to Ravnica block due to them not selling particularly well. Starting with Battle for Zendikar they started a series of books that showcase the art from the current plane and give an overview of the story from that plane, these books are titled The Art of Magic: the Gathering - [Plane Name].

During Return to Ravinica block they still had novels, but they were only released in ebook form. After Theros they moved all of the story for Magic to the Magic Story (previously called Uncharted Realms) column on their website. Periodically they compile several stories into an ebook format and release that (they usually do this every block or so), for example the Magic Origins and Prologue to Battle for Zendikar.


Are these board games considered as gambling games?

I am not a lawyer, and have experience only in Ontario, but under Ontario law wagering on games of skill is not gambling. In a well-known case from the 1960's or early 1970's, in which the St. Clair Bridge Studio was defending itself against charges of running a gambling house, barrister and bridge player Eric Murray in his winning defence argued that bridge is a game of chance only as played by the justices of the Ontario Superior Court, in chambers. This despite the obvious fact that there clearly is a substantial element of luck in the cards dealt to each side on every particular deal.

As all of Chequers, Othello and Four in a Row are games with absolutely no element of chance whatever, and perfect information, under Ontario Law I believe none of them would be regarded as games of chance for which wagering would be prohibited.


According to the official rules, property owners must ask for the rent before the player after the next player rolls the dice or they forfeit the rent.

  The owner may not collect the rent if they fail to ask for it before the second player following throws the dice.

So if the players are labelled A to D, and A should pay rent:

A ... B .x. C ... D

The lessor should request rent before C throws the dice, at the position marked X.


Which game is this six-sided die with two sets of runic-looking plus, minus and empty sides from?

These are fudge or fate dice used for the fudge role playing game.

Fudge uses customized "Fudge dice" which have an equal number of plus, minus and blank sides. A number of these dice are rolled, usually four at a time ("4dF" in Fudge dice notation), and for every plus side that comes up the result of using the Trait is considered one step higher (e.g. from Fair to Good) and for every minus side that comes up the result is considered one step lower. The goal is to match or surpass the difficulty level, also on the adjective scale, of the test. Thus, a Good attribute is considered to be Great if the player were to roll two plus sides, one minus side, and one blank—the minus side cancels out one of the plus sides and the remaining plus side raises the result by one step. The same Good attribute would be considered Poor if you were to roll three minus sides and one blank. The same dice roll can be achieved with six-sided dice, treating a 1 or 2 as [−], a 3-4 as [ ] and a 5-6 as [+].

Note: the symbols in the corners are +, - and 0.


Why doesn't a go board have an 'I' ('i') column?

Zeiss isn't completely correct, this is actually the less common reason for omitting the I. The more common reason why I is often omitted where it would normally be expected between H and J is because in sans serif fonts the uppercase "I" is completely identical to the lowercase "l" (L). In a go board if you see a move noted in uppercase as I6 or lowercase as l6 without any other context you could not tell the difference in these fonts.

Confusion between a letter and a number would be much less common, since the letter in go is given first and the number is given second for hybrid notation, but confusion between L and I would be possible and is avoided by not including an I at all, thus guaranteeing that L and l both refer to the L column.

(for anyone with an interest in typography, this was actually intentional, allowing the lowercase l to be used in place of an uppercase I made it easier on the typesetters, they had more available of both that way and had less different symbols to worry about. Same way p and d or b and q are the same just rotated)


What's the best way to teach/learn the Game of Thrones board game for people who haven't played before?

This is a very general question and really depends on who you're playing with (and how they're feeling at the time).

Playing any new board game with a group of new players can be a daunting task, and a lot of players are reluctant to listen to a rules explanation for an hour before you start.

If nobody knows the rules then, unless the game is simple, it's likely (as you experienced) that the group will give up. Unless you have enough rulebooks for everybody, or a really interested group, having one person read the rules in front of everyone is a bad idea. As you mentioned, a better idea is to have someone take charge, and read enough of the rules in advance that they'll be able to set up and guide the learning.

It's fine for that player to follow along with the rulebook. A new player is a good facilitator, especially if everyone understands that they're still learning too. This helps avoid blame where you didn't give them all the options or explain all the rules in advance (and if you did they'd have stopped listening or given up!).

Set up the basic parts of the game and give a brief explanation of what the board means and how the game flows. Then you can go through phases in a bit more detail. Try to mention the various options without necessarily explaining the details (again, this helps avoid the "you didn't tell me that" issue).

Then finish setting up, getting the players to help out (e.g. "can you sort the cards into coloured decks, can you give each player a set of tokens, please?"). This helps everyone get a sense of the different parts used in the game and the names of those parts, which helps understand the rules as you go on.

Then, start playing the game, stepping through the options and details of what's going on. After a couple of rounds you can ask everyone if they understand, and offer the option of a restart. In my experience, most people will be fine to carry on unless they've accidentally devastated their own position, and resetting shouldn't be too difficult.

The most important part is for the group to accept that mistakes will be made. If you realise you were playing the game wrong, let people know about it and move on.

To reiterate the important points:

Have a player who's familiar enough with the rules to set up and help others understand the game. If nobody's played, someone should spend a half hour or so in advance.
Make sure everyone knows that it's a learning game, and that it'll be a bit of a muddle the first 1 or 2 plays.
Be ready to allow people to undo recent mistakes based on rules misunderstandings, or to stick with/change incorrect rules as you play.
Focus on getting everyone to understand what's going on rather than just picking easy options. Encourage the whole table to share good strategic advice with everyone, even their opponents, so that players can focus on strategy in later games.


What happens if I cast disenchant in response to the triggered ability of animate dead?

If you destroy Animate Dead before the creature card it enchants returns to the battlefield, the creature card will remain in the graveyard and never enter the battlefield.

Read the text of Animate Dead carefully:

  When Animate Dead enters the battlefield, if it's on the battlefield, it loses "enchant creature card in a graveyard" and gains "enchant creature put onto the battlefield with Animate Dead."

If Animate Dead enters the battlefield, it triggers its ETB ability. If someone responds with a Disenchant to destroy it, then by the time the ETB resolves, the aura will no longer be on the battlefield and the ability does nothing on resolving.

The Oblivion Ring trick you mentioned works only because its ETB ability does not have that condition.


If Dragonlord Silumgar dies during combat, when does the creature he stole change control?

The control over the creature changes immediately.

As the ability text on Dragonlord Silumgar states, the change of control effect ends as soon as you lose control of Silumgar, which also happens when Silumgar gets destroyed. A creature that changes control is removed from combat, which means, among others, that it will deal no more combat damage during that combat phase.

  506.4. A permanent is removed from combat if it leaves the battlefield, if its controller changes, [..] A creature that’s removed from combat stops being an attacking, blocking, blocked, and/or unblocked creature. [..]


Is there any "simultaneous-turn" based game where all players play till the end of the game?

Yes, A Game of Thrones is such a game. While a complete elimination is possible, the game plays in 10 rounds, and it is very difficult to achieve a complete elimination.
Many people say the game plays similarly to Diplomacy.

To begin the game, each player receives an army of Footman, Knight, Siege Engine, and Ship units, as well as a set of Order tokens and other necessary components. Each player also receives a deck of unique House Cards, which are used as leaders in battles against rival Houses.
Each round in the game is made up of three phases: the Westeros Phase, the Planning Phase, and the Action Phase. The Westeros Phase represents special events and day-to-day activities in Westeros. There are three different Westeros Decks, and each denotes a different global action, potentially affecting all players.
The Planning Phase is perhaps the most important. Here you secretly assign orders to all of your units by placing one order token face down on each area you control that contains at least one unit (Knight, Footman, Ship, or Siege Engine). This portion of the game emphasizes diplomacy and deduction. Can you trust the alliance that you made? Will you betray your ally and march upon him? Players may make promises to each other (for aid or peace, for example), but these promises are never binding. The result is tense and compelling negotiations, often ending in backstabbing worthy of Westeros!
During the Action Phase, the orders are resolved and battle is entered! When armies meet in combat, they secretly choose one of their House cards to add strength to the battle. Finally, the Houses can consolidate their power in the areas they control and use that power in future turns to influence their position in the court of the Iron Throne and to stand against the wildling Hordes.


Cards are always played and resolved one at a time, so your opponents will discard (and potentially trash) a total of 3 cards.

The specific sequence of events:

Play a Village

Draw 1 card
Add 2 to the number of actions you can play this turn

Play a Warrior

There is 1 Traveller in play (the one you just played), so each other player discard the top card of their deck and trashes it if it costs $3 or $4.

Play another Warrior

There are 2 Travellers in play, so each other player does this twice: discards the top card of their deck and trashes it if it costs $3 or $4.

The first Warrior will be completely done with everything it does (except being exchanged when discarded) before anything in the game knows you are going to play a second Warrior.


Have I missed a trigger if I announce it but then forget to resolve it?

The trigger is considered missed.

Because demonstrating awareness doesn't mean stating that it triggered, it means acknowledging it at a specific point in time generally when the visible game state changes. According to the IPG the point that needs to be acknowledged in order for the trigger to be not missed is:

  A triggered ability that causes a change in the visible game state (including life totals) or requires a
  choice upon resolution: The controller must take the appropriate physical action or make it clear what the
  action taken or choice made is before taking any game actions (such as casting a sorcery spell or explicitly
  moving to the next step or phase) that can be taken only after the triggered ability should have resolved.
  Note that casting an instant spell or activating an ability doesn’t mean a triggered ability has been forgotten,
  as it could still be on the stack.

The Judging at Regular REL has a similar definition:

  These abilities are considered missed if the player did not acknowledge the ability in any way at the point
  that it required choices or had a visible in-game effect.

Since Nathan did not make the visible change to the game state of adding the counter he did miss the trigger.

At Competitive REL the appropriate remedy is:

  If the triggered ability isn’t covered by the previous two paragraphs, the opponent chooses whether the triggered
  ability is added to the stack. If it is, it’s inserted at the appropriate place on the stack if possible or on the bottom of
  the stack.

And at Regular REL the remedy is:

  If the ability includes the word “may,” assume the
  player chose not to perform it. Otherwise, use your judgement to decide if putting the trigger on the stack
  now would be too disruptive - don’t add it to the stack if significant decisions have been made based on the
  effect not happening!

So at Competitive REL Alice will probably choose not to allow the trigger to go on the stack. At Regular REL since nothing has really changed it would not be unreasonable to put the trigger on the stack, but it depends on if the judge thinks too much has changed since the trigger should have occured.


Can I mill an opponent who has Emrakul, the Aeons Torn by comboing until opponent's deck is stacked in an exact way?

You are not allowed to execute this entire combo, either using a shortcut or playing it out explicitly.

You cannot execute this combo with a shortcut because of the way shortcuts are defined in rule 720.2a of the Taking Shortcuts rules section:

  At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices. This sequence may be a non-repetitive series of choices, a loop that repeats a specified number of times, multiple loops, or nested loops, and may even cross multiple turns. It can't include conditional actions, where the outcome of a game event determines the next action a player takes. The ending point of this sequence must be a place where a player has priority, though it need not be the player proposing the shortcut.

In the combo you describe, you determine whether to continue or stop based on which cards, and how many, are still in the deck. That in turn depends on when exactly the Emrakuls got milled and their abilities triggered, which means that your actions would fundamentally depend on those game events, making this an invalid shortcut. You can see a ruling here about a different combo that also involves an indeterminate amount of shuffling.

You also cannot execute this combo without using a shortcut. A fundamentally identical combo exists in the deck Four Horsemen, which involves milling its own library including Emrakul in order to eventually end up with a particular sequence of cards in the graveyard and the library. Previous rulings have established that this combo is slow play and it should not be played in tournaments. The basic reason for this is that the combo can take unbounded time to complete, and every time you shuffle Emrakul in you are starting all over without making any meaningful progress.


A gold smith/jeweler could do your thing from metal and look elegant, but it might be quite expensive.


Does Immerwolf's bonus stay after it leaves the battlefield?

Immerwolf's ability only gives other creatures +1/+1 while Immerwolf is on the battlefield.

Immerwolf's ability is a static ability that creates a continuous effect. The specific rules that covers this scenario are:

  611.3. A continuous effect may be generated by the static ability of an object.

  611.3a A continuous effect generated by a static ability isn’t “locked in”; it applies at any given moment to whatever its text indicates.
  611.3b The effect applies at all times that the permanent generating it is on the battlefield or the object generating it is in the appropriate zone.

As soon as Immerwolf leaves the battlefield, the ability stops existing. Since it isn't "locked in" to those specific creatures that it was affecting, those creatures lose the power and toughness bonus.


Can Quarriors' Ghostly Spirit be destroyed more than once?

According to the Quiltimate Quedition rules at the top of page 7:

If an effect or ability prevents a Creature’s destruction or returns a destroyed Creature to your Ready Area (such as a Life Charm), you may not assign any more damage to that Creature this turn.

So you can't use the same die more than once in a single defence.


The publisher's representative (Ryan Metzler) states in this thread that trashing a disease with a trader is an illegal move:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/622651/village-trader-question

The rest of it sort of falls apart because he missed that they were erroneously talking about gold values, not cost, but it's the closest thing to an official answer I could find that you can't trash a card with no-cost to the Trader.

Also, clearly stated here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/7763776#7763776


Is the Talisman Upgrade Pack worthwhile?

"No new content" is wrong. There is a small change with big impact in the FFG rules... fate points. (Reroll failed rolls.)
Most of them.
Yep. The only change in rules is the addition of fate points.

The cards are, IIRC, all errata items.


Does a card that affects 'each' creature affect creatures that enter the battlefield after it resolves?

It varies a lot depending on the specifics.

In the case of Predatory Rampage, we're talking about two continuous effects generated by something other than a static ability. One modifies the characteristics of objects, and the other doesn't. Both of those situations are covered by 611.2c.

  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.) A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability that doesn’t modify the characteristics or change the controller of any objects modifies the rules of the game, so it can affect objects that weren’t affected when that continuous effect began.

As such,

"Creatures you control get +3/+3 until end of turn." affects only the creatures that existed when Predatory Rampage resolved.
"Each creature your opponents control blocks this turn if able." affects all matching creatures at all times.

Both of these are covered by rulings in Gatherer.


Calling ron does not give you a yaku.  What it will do is increase the fu count of your hand, but only if the hand is closed.  However, winning from a ron on an open hand does not increase the point value at all; contrarily, you could instead claim a 2-fu bonus by winning on a tsumo.

Once your hand is opened, the only way to win is to have a yaku that does not rely on a closed hand.  Opening your hand before you have a guaranteed yaku, or a good chance of building one, is often a mistake; not only does keeping your hand closed increase the number of yaku you can potentially make (especially "easy" yaku such as pinfu and tanyao), but you also have the option of adding the needed yaku just by calling riichi on an otherwise worthless hand.

If you do decide to open your hand, some common open-hand yaku which can be built follow:

Yakuhai: A complete set (not pair) of dragons, seat wind, or table wind.
Chanta: Every set contains either honor tiles, or at least one terminal (1 or 9) tile.
Itsu: Three melds "123", "456", "789" of a single suit.
Honitsu: All tiles, except for honor tiles, comprise a single suit.
Toitoi: Every set is either three or four of a kind (i.e. no chi melds)

Some rulesets also allow a yaku for an open tanyao (no honors or terminal tiles).  There are of course others, but I find these listed above are typically the easiest to make on an open hand, especially if you open early.

Even if you can't memorize all of the yaku-bearing hands yet, it's worth it to at least memorize these ones for when you choose to go the open-hand route.

That said, given the (incomplete) description of your hand, your best bet would've been to wait for a third dragon so as to claim a yakuhai yaku, and hoping to complete a pair involving one of your two bamboo tiles (while tossing the other).  Calling chi on the bamboo actually harmed your hand, since you no longer had any reliable way to form any yaku.

Not knowing the makeup of your open melds, I don't know if calling chi on a I Bamboo (instead of a IV Bamboo) would've completed a chanta (or possibly an itsu) hand; even if it was possible, it would still be a risky wait as passing on the IV Bamboo (while waiting on the I Bamboo) would put you into furiten.


Factory bonus when some supply piles are exhausted

No bonus is received.

You only get credit for what you produce. See the rules, page 10.  The answer is clear within the Example for the factory.


Because Player 1 made the final raise, he should be the first to show his cards when players reach the showdown. However, according to the World Series Of Poker rules,

  When a player holds a hand that is likely the winner, they should show that hand immediately to speed play.

In this case, it appears Player 2, in an effort to speed up play, short-cutted the word "call" and went straight into the showdown. Showing your hand in response to a shove (an all-in raise) is definitely considered a call by poker pros.


Where does Hexpion go being under the Backup Copy?

The active player decides which order the destroyed abilities resolve in.
Because the creature has two separate destroyed abilities, they both trigger at the same time.
If Backup Copy resolves first, you'll (probably) have Hexpion in archive:

Backup Copy moves Hexpion to the top of the deck.
Hexpion's ability can't track it anymore (see the rule from page 13 below), so you just do the second part of it (archive the top card of the deck). As long as nothing weird has happened, that card just so happens to be Hexpion!

If Hexpion resolves first, Backup Copy does nothing:

Hexpion puts itself and the top card of the deck into the archive.
Backup Copy resolves, but can't interact with Hexpion because it's been moved to a hidden zone.

From the rules, page 9:

ACTIVE PLAYER
The active player is the player taking the current turn. The active player makes all necessary decisions for all card abilities or timing conflicts that need to resolve during their turn.

Page 13:

When a card moves from an in–play zone to an out-of-play zone in which the identities of cards are hidden from the opponent (such as a player’s hand, deck, or archives), any pending effects that are currently or about to interact with that card no longer do so, unless a card effect explicitly states that it interacts with that zone.


This situation can be approximated by the following model: you have an infinite sequence of lands and non-lands, where the probability P that each is a non-land is equal to the fraction of the deck that is non-lands. So, in a 60 card deck with 36 non-land cards, we say P=3/5.

Now, starting at any point in the sequence, the probability that we see exactly N non-land cards followed by a land is simply P^N * (1-P). From there, to get the expected number of non-lands followed by a land, we calculate

Sum {for all N} of N * P ^ N * (1 - P)

The 1 - P factor is independent of N, so that's the same as

(1 - P) * Sum {for all N} of N * P ^ N

This is then equal to (see Wolfram|Alpha)

(1 - P) * P / (1 - P) ^ 2 = P / (1 - P)

So, the expected number of cards that we mill when we mill until we see one land is 1 + P / (1 - P) (adding 1 to also count the land)

Then we simply multiply that by the number of lands that we mill until.

If we apply this to Mind Funeral targeted at a 60 card deck with 24 lands, or at a 100 card deck with 40 lands, in either case about 3/5 of the deck is non-land, so the expected number of total cards milled is

4 * (1 + (3/5) / (2/5)) = 4 * (1 + 3/2) = 10

We expect to see 10 cards milled from a deck that is about three fifths non-land.

There is a little simplification we can apply to the formula above, based on information we can infer from the initial definitions. Specifically, P is the fraction of the deck that is non-lands, or in other words non-lands/(total cards). And 1-P is the faction of the deck that is lands, so that's lands/(total cards). Then

1 + P / (1 - P)
= 1 + (non-lands/total) / (lands / total)
= 1 + non-lands / lands
= (lands / lands) + (non-lands / lands)
= (lands + non-lands) / lands

And of course the number of lands plus the number of non-lands is just the total size of the deck. So, the overall formula for the expected number of cards that you mill is

(lands to mill) * (library size) / (lands in library)

or, perhaps more clearly

(library size) * (lands to mill) / (lands in library)

In other words, the fraction of the library we expect to mill is approximately equal to the fraction of the remaining lands that will be milled.


Does Rot Wolf's ability work even if he dies?

Yes to your second scenario! Time to check the Comprehensive rules again. This is a long one. Emphasis mine:

  603.6d Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions. Continuous effects that exist at that time are used to determine what the trigger conditions are and what the objects involved in the event look like. However, some triggered abilities must be treated specially because the object with the ability may no longer be on the battlefield, may have moved to a hand or library, or may no longer be controlled by the appropriate player. The game has to "look back in time" to determine if these abilities trigger. Leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a permanent phases out, abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library, abilities that trigger specifically when an object becomes unattached, abilities that trigger when a player loses control of an object, and abilities that trigger when a player planeswalks away from a plane will trigger based on their existence, and the appearance of objects, prior to the event rather than afterward.
  Example: Two creatures are on the battlefield along with an artifact that has the ability "Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you gain 1 life." Someone plays a spell that destroys all artifacts, creatures, and enchantments. The artifact's ability triggers twice, even though the artifact goes to its owner's graveyard at the same time as the creatures.

Now we all agree that in your first example, the Rot Wolf is long dead and his ability means squat sitting in the graveyard when the Elf dies.

But in the second example, the Bear and the Rot Wolf die at the same time, so the Rot Wolf's ability triggers even though the wolf is on the way to the graveyard.


Karn, the Great Creator - what defines a 'card from outside the game' in sealed?

It's the same wording as used on e.g. the Wish cycle from Judgment. An example is Golden Wish. Its rulings at the bottom say

10/1/2009     In a sanctioned event, a card that’s “outside the game” is one that’s in your sideboard. In an unsanctioned event, you may choose any card from your collection.

So in a Sealed event, you're limited to your sideboard, which according to the Tournament Rules are the 'rest' of the opened cards you're not using in your deck. (Of course, exiled cards can be chosen as well.)

7.1 Deck Construction Restrictions
Limited decks must contain a minimum of forty cards. There is no maximum deck size. Any drafted or opened cards not used in a player’s Limited deck function as their sideboard.


In Axis and Allies, how do you choose which player plays which country?

Whatever works for your group. Only if multiple players want to play the same country is a "method" even necessary. Until your group knows the game well, handicapping is extreme; use random selection, but even then only to break contentions


Is priority reevaluated in between each robot's movement or do we keep how it was at the start of the register?

The rules for Robo Rally can be found here.
On page 4 it says the following (emphasis mine):

Determining Priority
In ROBO RALLY, when a player has priority, it is that player’s turn. Rather than taking turns based on where they are sitting, players take turns based on where their robot is sitting on the board.
At any given time, the player whose robot is closest to the priority antenna has priority. After that player takes their turn, the second closest player to the antenna has priority and takes their turn, and so on.

This means that priority is reevaluated after each player's turn.


Which is resolved first, new obstacles or new crossfire level in Shadowrun Crossfire?

I think that you've got your order of play mixed up a little bit. Let's review what the order of a round is:

  Draw a new Crossfire card.
  Each runner takes a turn, beginning with the starting
  runner. Play continues clockwise until everyone has taken a turn. The starting runner remains the same throughout the game.
  The round is over. Repeat steps 1–3 until the game ends. (Rulebook, pg. 12)

Missions go over the course of a number of Scenes. The Extraction mission has the following rules for ending a Scene:

  Mission Progress Track and Ending a Scene: At the end of the Client’s turn, advance the mission-progress marker to the next round down on the track and follow the instructions for that step (see Obstacles and Crossfire, above, for obstacle placement). (Rulebook, pg. 20)

So a scene ends, and obstacles are drawn, immediately at the end of a Client's turn, which will happen during Step 2 of a round, and then will be followed by Step 3 when any end of round effects are resolved. A Crossfire card is then drawn during Step 1 of a round. So there will never be a conflict between new obstacles and new Crossfire cards because they happen during different steps of a round.

Also, if you end a turn with no obstacles (and therefore remove a Crossfire card), the Shadowrun: Crossfire FAQ clarifies that you do not draw a new Crossfire card immediately, so again there will never be a conflict between a Crossfire event and obstacles.

  Q: I’ve just ended a turn with no obstacles in play, so I remove the current Crossfire card from play. Now I draw another one, right?

  A: No. You only draw a new Crossfire card at the start of a round of play. Depending on when you removed the current Crossfire card, it might still be several turns before you draw a new one.


Would I level up if I "automatically defeated" a monster but someone wandered in a monster that killed me afterwards?

The Mascot is defeated, but Player A must defeat (but not necessarily kill) the wandering monster before being awarded levels or treasure (or the win).

Basically, the rules state that after you kick open a door, you give a "reasonable time" to allow other players to intervene.

In the FAQ, the following Q/A answers your question:

  Q. Does the "reasonable time rule" apply to defeating a monster
  without killing it, or just to killing it?
  A. Any sort of defeat. If
  you defeat it without killing it, other players still have a
  reasonable time to play an applicable card to frustrate you. However,
  if you removed the only monster from the fight (with Magic Lamp, for
  instance), they cannot play Monster Enhancers or other similar cards
  that affect a specific monster, because there isn't one there to
  fight, and they can't use any special rules for bringing in monsters
  (such as the Shark rules from Munchkin Booty) that depend on having a
  monster in the fight. They can play Wandering Monster to bring in an
  entirely new monster, though, but they must do it at once.

Basically, any ability that will auto-defeat the door mob still grants your opponents a "reasonable time" to respond, in which they can Wander in any monster they choose, which you have to fight just the additional monster.

Per this Super Moderator in the MunchkinForums:

  Automatically defeating a Monster removes the Monster. Cards that rely
  on a Monster can't be played, but that doesn't mean that combat is
  over UNLESS the card that automatically defeated the Monster says
  otherwise. This is a situation where cards could be played, but not
  those that affected a non-existent Monster.

As far as why your other outcome couldn't happen, "Player A goes up to Level 10 and then gets killed":

Per the Munchkin Zombies ruleset:

  You cannot collect rewards for defeating a monster (e.g., Treasure, levels) in the middle of a combat. You must finish the fight before gaining any rewards.

And finally, this gets spelled out in the FAQ, Important Note #3:

  "Killed" means that you defeated the monster with your Level and
  bonuses in combat, or used some card or special ability that
  specifically states that it kills the monster. For this, you get
  levels and Treasure. Some Monsters say that they can be defeated
  immediately, based on circumstances. Unless the card says otherwise,
  this usually means an instant kill of the Monster, so you would get
  levels and Treasure in those situations, too. However, even in a case
  where a single monster is instantly defeated, other players get a
  chance to play Wandering Monster to add a new foe that you must defeat
  before claiming the spoils.

TLDR; defeating (or auto-defeating) a monster does not end combat; the monster is removed, but other players have a "reasonable time" to play any such as wandering monster--if done at once.

Should all additional monsters be defeated (or lamped, etc.), combat is then resolved and you can claim victory with the kill granted by your auto-defeated monster.


When is my earliest opportunity to destroy a creature I couldn't counter?

Your opponent gets to put their silver on the stack first. However, you can then add your incinerate to the stack, targetting their Root Silver.

Incinerate
New Sliver

You can then pass so the Incinerate resolves, destroying the Root Sliver. Stack is now:

New Sliver

Then you cast your counterspell so the stack is

Counterspell
New Sliver

Your counterspell resolves, and the New Sliver is countered.


What happens if I exile an HOU God from the graveyard?

Those Gods have the following Gatherer ruling:

If this creature dies but leaves your graveyard before the next end step, it will remain in its new zone.

That means if you put one of those God cards into your library, or exile it, or return it to the battlefield or to your hand, the ability won't return it to your hand.
This is because of the way objects are handled when they move between zones:

400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule:

400.7d Abilities that trigger when an object moves from one zone to another (for example, “When Rancor is put into a graveyard from the battlefield”) can find the new object that it became in the zone it moved to when the ability triggered, if that zone is a public zone.

Rule 400.7 means usually nothing can keep track of a card as it moves between zones. However, since this triggered ability is that exception, it's able to keep track of that God card as it moves into the graveyard, and it will be able to find it there at the end of the turn.
However, if that God moves anywhere else, this ability can no longer find that God because the ability has lost track of where that God is. It can't find it anywhere in the graveyard, and the God card now in exile (as far as it cares) is something completely different to the card it's looking for.
(If the God moves back your graveyard, such as via your opponent's Ulamog's Nullifier, it's once again a different object to the one the ability is looking for and it will still not be returned to your hand.)


I read the rule as enemies (plural) being outnumbered leads to an enemy (singular) having it's damage reduced.  So each enemy has it damages reduced the same amount by being outnumbered.  I would calculate the reduction in damage as follow, with S being survivors and E enemies.

Damage reduction = (S-E)/2

So if a enemies did 3 damage and you wanted to reduce it to 0 you'd need to outnumber the the group by 6.


Timing of ability when Control Minion used

The controller steals the effect.

As long as you play Control Minion according to its special, the controller uses the minion's entry effect. Otherwise, the card would say "Special: Play after another player plays a minion."

The game uses "after" a minion is played to clarify that its entry effects occur first (such as with the Leprechaun). That wording isn't used here.


Weight and dimensions of Hive game pieces?

It varies by edition. There are at least 4 versions of the game.

Version 1 was stickered wooden pieces; I do not know the size, but I suspect them to be rather close to the Bakelite. At least two different sticker sets were used by Gen42 games.

Version 2 was bakelite pieces, hexagons 37mm face to face, and 12mm thick.

Version 3, "Hive Pocket" is also bakelite pieces, hexagons 24mm face to face, and 9.5mm thick.

Version 4, "Hive Carbon" is the same size pieces as the second version, but is black and white markings and tiles.

I lack a scale accurate enough to measure the mass.

Boardgamegeek.com has, on the hive entry, a table:

Item                         Hive    Hive Pocket
Tile Width Flat to Flat      38 mm   25 mm
Tile Height                  12 mm   10 mm
Weight of 26 tiles           600 g   200 g

On one of the images, it shows 38x12mm and 25x10mm for the bakelite


There is exactly one card with the {Z} symbol: The Ultimate Nightmare of Wizards of the Coast® Customer Service.  It is a silver bordered card from Unglued, and is not legal in regular play.  On this card, Z functions exactly the same way X normally does, and the different letter merely serves to distinguish it from the X and Y already present on the card.

The wiki description comes from Experiment Five a "playtest card" from the recent Mystery Boosters.  These are not real cards and were not intended for actual play (even more so than the silver bordered cards, which were intended for play, just not regular play)

As to what it means, it means exactly what it says.  The playtest cards have no actual rules support.  All interactions have to be interpreted by players from the cards themselves.


How does Void Winnower affect face down spells and creatures?

Void Winnower does prevent your opponent from casting face down spells and blocking with face down creatures.

The most important rule here is 202.3a:

  The converted mana cost of an object with no mana cost is 0.

The description of Morph is in rule 702.36a:

  Morph is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on, and the morph effect works any time the card is face down. “Morph [cost]” means “You may cast this card as a 2/2 face-down creature with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost by paying {3} rather than paying its mana cost.” (See rule 707, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents.”)

Since the spell has no mana cost, you cannot cast it for its mana cost, so you need an alternative mana cost to cast it [CR 117.6a]. In this case, the rule allows you to cast it for an alternative mana cost of {3}, but that does not change the actual mana cost of the spell.

And the description of Manifest in 701.31a says

  To manifest a card, turn it face down. It becomes a 2/2 face-down creature card with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost. Put that card onto the battlefield face down. That permanent is a manifested permanent as long as it remains face down. The effect defining its characteristics works while the card is face down and ends when it’s turned face up.

In addition, rule 707.2a says

  If a face-up permanent is turned face down by a spell or ability, it becomes a 2/2 face-down creature with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost. A permanent that enters the battlefield face down that wasn’t cast as a face-down spell also has these characteristics. These values are the copiable values of that object’s characteristics.

Putting these together, we can see that face down morph spells, and any creature that is face down for any reason has no mana cost, so Void Winnower prevents your opponent from casting face down spells and blocking with face down creatures.

Void Winnower's Gatherer page now has a ruling that says

  The converted mana cost of a face-down creature spell or a face-down creature is 0. Void Winnower will stop face-down creature spells from being cast and face-down creatures from blocking.


Gaining and losing life at the same time

The word "whenever" usually means that the card triggers, which goes on the stack.

From the Oracle Text for Exquisite Blood:

  If you and an opponent both lose life simultaneously, and this causes your life total to become 0 or less, you'll lose the game before Exquisite Blood's triggered ability can resolve.

You would lose the game.


Taking back turns, and forgotten privileges

I like the following rule:

  If no new information has been disclosed since a decision, then a player is allowed to take back any action or inaction where this is practical.

Information could be cards in a deck, rolls of dice, but also intentions of a fellow player.


Why does negative life and Platinum Angel not cause a draw?

The normal loss condition of having zero or less life happens only once per check of state-based actions. The Transcendence loss ability triggers continuously in an infinite loop, with no way to continue playing.
The loss to zero or less life happens due to state-based actions. They are checked often, but not infinitely often. They are checked whenever a player would gain priority, which happens only at specific points during any given turn.

117.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).
117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
117.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
117.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, they announce what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.
117.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions as a single event [..]

Platinum Angel prevents that single loss event each time a player would gain priority, and that's that.
The loss ability of Transcendence, however, has a state trigger. It will trigger whenever the game state in question has been reached and no instance of that ability is currently on the stack. As soon as the trigger leaves the stack (or doesn't enter it) for any reason, and the game is still in the necessary state, the ability will trigger again right away, without anyone being able to react. Platinum Angel's ability removes the Transcendence trigger from the stack by preventing it. The Transcendence ability never enters the stack, it immediately triggers again, and no player will gain priority, resulting in a draw.

603.8. Some triggered abilities trigger when a game state (such as a player controlling no permanents of a particular card type) is true, rather than triggering when an event occurs. These abilities trigger as soon as the game state matches the condition. They’ll go onto the stack at the next available opportunity. These are called state triggers. (Note that state triggers aren’t the same as state-based actions.) A state-triggered ability doesn’t trigger again until the ability has resolved, has been countered, or has otherwise left the stack. Then, if the object with the ability is still in the same zone and the game state still matches its trigger condition, the ability will trigger again.
614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. [..]
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority.

So what happens is, Transcendence triggers. The next time a player would gain priority, the Transcendence trigger wants to enter the stack, but Platinum Angel prevents that. Transcendence immediately triggers again, Platinum Angel prevents it again, and so on, before the player can ever gain priority. Therefore, it's a draw because there is a loop with only mandatory actions.

721.4. If a loop contains only mandatory actions, the game is a draw.


Pilgrimage World with Consume 2x action--how many points?

The rules say (page 6):

  Players who chose Consume: 2x VPs double the number of victory point
  chips — but not any other effects — that their consume powers provide.

The consume power on Pilgrimage World defines the number of victory points you get for consuming a number of goods.  Consuming one good is zero points, two goods is one point, three goods is two points, and so on.  Then, the Consume 2x doubles the amount provided by Pilgrimage world.  In the situation you described, the player consuming 4 goods would get 6 points.


That is not a State Based Action; it is a State Triggered Ability, so it goes on the stack, and you have a chance to respond before it resolves. However, the ability will still be there after you respond, so you still lose the game. Rule 603.1 defines triggered abilities:

  Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[Trigger condition], [effect],” and begin with the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” They can also be expressed as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect].”

The ability on Immortal Coil says

  When there are no cards in your graveyard, you lose the game.

so it matches that description.

Rule 603.8 describes state triggered ablities:

  Some triggered abilities trigger when a game state (such as a player controlling no permanents of a particular card type) is true, rather than triggering when an event occurs. These abilities trigger as soon as the game state matches the condition. They’ll go onto the stack at the next available opportunity. These are called state triggers. (Note that state triggers aren’t the same as state-based actions.) A state-triggered ability doesn’t trigger again until the ability has resolved, has been countered, or has otherwise left the stack. Then, if the object with the ability is still in the same zone and the game state still matches its trigger condition, the ability will trigger again.

Once the Immortal Coil is on the battlefield, as soon as your graveyard is empty, the ability will trigger. At that point, giving it away with Bazaar Trader won't help, because the ability will still be on the stack, and you will still lose when it resolves.


Are experience awards additive in Battlestations?

Unfortunately, for RPGs where the rules are the game, it is difficult to get a copy of the rules to answer questions like these. This means that we have to rely on designers answering these questions definitively on various forums.
Are the rewards for attempting the mission and the experience for completing the mission additive?
They are additive, The designer Jeff Siadek answers that question here

3. Is the reward of 100 XP for a completed mission in addition to or instead of the 50 XP for an attempted mission?
A character that completes a mission gets 150 experience. 50 for trying and 100 more for succeeding.

I have not found official answers for the remaining two questions.
If a character goes on a mission (50 exp) and dies (100 prestige) but the crew wins the mission (100 exp), what is he awarded? Players on BGG have said the following .

Killed crewmembers do not get experience but they do gain prestige for going out in a heroic manner.

Finally, are the bonus awards for driving off / capturing / destroying enemy warships / freighters given out for the ships listed in the mission, or only when they show up for some other reason? response

you don't get any extra xp for caputring/destroying the mission objective, nor extra credits. That's only for ships beyond the scope of the mission.
If say another ship arrived to assist the target and you destroyed that, then you get the size x 10 exp.


Yes.
There is a particular step of the game called the "Declare Blockers Step", and the very first part of it involves the actual act of choosing which creatures are blocking. After damage assignment ordering is chosen, the active player receives priority.

509.1. First, the defending player declares blockers. [...]
509.2. Second, for each attacking creature that’s become blocked, the active player announces that creature’s damage assignment order [...]
509.3. Third, for each blocking creature, the defending player announces that creature’s damage assignment order [...]
509.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority.

If your creature has one power (and is therefore unblockable) at the time blockers are declared, and then you later use, e.g., Giant Growth to increase its power, there is nothing that allows your opponent to "re-declare" blockers. The game has already moved on past that point, and the blocking choices made at step 509.1 are "locked in" for the remainder of combat*.
* Plus or minus any cards/effects that cause creatures to become blocked or unblocked (e.g., Curtain of Light).


There isn't really a concept of them belonging to the owner.  They go back to the token pool, which is where people take them from as needed.  So they can be used again on the same or different players.


Sequence of turns after two Emrakul, the Promised End

Player B will control Player A's turn.
The sequence is:

Turn 1 (A): A casts Emrakul, the Promised End.

Turn 2 (B): A controls B and casts B's Emrakul, the Promised End

Turn 3 (B extra): B can do whatever he wants.

Turn 4 (A): B controls A's turn.

Turn 5 (A extra): A can do whatever he wants.

Turn 6 (B): The game progresses as normal.

Player A is not Player B. Player A and B are always opponents of each other, no matter who controls whose turn. If A makes the decision for B to cast Emrakul, the Promised End, it's as if B had cast it himself for the purposes of "you" or "your opponent" in the card text of cards. Controlling another player only means that you make the game decisions for that player and use his or her resources:

712.3. Only control of the player changes. All objects are controlled by their normal controllers. A player who’s being controlled during his or her turn is still the active player.
712.5. While controlling another player, a player makes all choices and decisions the controlled player is allowed to make or is told to make by the rules or by any objects. This includes choices and decisions about what to play, and choices and decisions called for by spells and abilities.


Is a deck with extra aces more beneficial to a dealer, or a player?

This is a very complicated question. There are several factors to consider that make it impossible to answer without knowing a lot of details that you left out. Taken to the extreme, imagine a blackjack deck with 1 million extra Aces. In such a game, the player would have the advantage if the dealer was required to hold on 17. The player can hit until they have 18, confident that the dealer would most likely get 17 and be forced to stop. Here are some odds for adding a single extra Ace.

Decreased Chance of Player Blackjack

52 card: ((4/52) × (16/51)) + ((16/52) × (4/51)) = 4.82655%
53 card: ((5/53) × (16/52)) + ((16/53) × (5/52)) = 5.80552%

The odds of getting BJ are the odds of getting dealt an Ace then a 10/face-card plus the reverse order. Adding in an extra Ace increases your odds by almost one percent.

Increased Chance of Dealer Blackjack when player has BJ

52 card: ((3/50) × (15/49)) + ((15/50) × (3/49)) = 3.67347%
53 card: ((4/51) × (15/50)) + ((15/51) × (4/50)) = 4.70588%

The calculation here is much the same, except two cards are removed (the player BJ). Adding a single Ace hurts the player by over a whole percentage point.

Unless you give me a lot more detail (there are other things to consider) I have no idea who has the advantage. For example with 4 Aces, you have increased your odds of BJ by almost 3.5%, but the dealer has an increase of greater than 3.5% chance of having BJ when you have BJ. Who has the advantage would require extra information on what the payout is for player BJ.

56 card player BJ: ((8/56) × (16/55)) + ((16/56) × (8/55)) = 8.31169%
56 card dealer BJ after player: ((7/54) × (15/53)) + ((15/54) × (7/53)) = 7.33753%


Can the Wand of Dowsing Draw from Door Cards?

Yes, according to Andrew Hackard (post #7), who appears to be a Steve Jackson representitive.

Originally Postedby Arctivlargl 1) You are a lvl 7 Cleric, you have a Wand of Dowsing + Bungee Cord + some other card in your hand, Divine Intervention is in the discard pile. - Your turn starts and you use WoD to get DI - are forced to play it immediately - you go to level 8 - You use Bungee Cord to get WoD back - repeat - you go to level 9 - Instead of Kicking Open the Door you take DI from the discard pile and discard your other card - you go to level 10 win and can mock everyone mercilessly
That seems likea legal play to me. It requires a very specific combination of cards, but if you can get it, congratulations.


Would hypnotizing your opponent be against the Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament rules?

From a link on the page that ConMan so helpfully provided:

  Penalties are carried out in the event of rule violations which may cause hindrance to others and/or disruption of the event.
  Please note that the penalties listed on this page is not exhaustive, and the actual penalties enforced may vary depending on severity.

  The Official Tournament Rules & Regulations will be used as a guideline for Judges to determine the penalties to be issued, including its severity. Heavier penalties may be issued for Duelists caught repeating these violations.

  Duel/Match Fixing

  Deciding the winner of a match without dueling (e.g. Rock-Paper-Scissors)
  Penalty: Disqualification

  Bribery involving money, cards, or any other means
  Penalty: Total Disqualification

Hypnotizing your opponent would most likely be considered a type of match fixing, leading to a disqualification or a total disqualification.

Additionally, note the verbiage I bolded at the top.  Judges are given broad authority to exercise their own judgement in determining misconduct and applying penalties.  The fact that "there's no rule" against hypnotism would not prevent any competent judge from slapping the misbehaving player with a heavy punishment.

Now, if the judge has been hypnotized too...


Can you force a player to **Bang** themselves when Dorothy Rage is in play?

From a post by the designer of Bang!, Emiliano Sciarra:

  ... you cannot play Bang! on yourself ...

Also, this official ruling from the FAQ for the Wild West Show expansion

  The action you describe must be possible for the player

By combination of these two rulings, Dorothy Rage cannot force a player to play a self-targeting "Bang!".


Karlov of the Ghost Council and multiple counters

Karlov will get 6 +1/+1 counters with Righteous Cause. This is because the trigger says "Whenever a creature attacks", so it triggers for each creature. If however it had been worded like Path of Bravery, which says "Whenever one or more creatures you control attack", that would only be one instance of life gain and thus only 2 +1/+1 counters.


mansions of madness using a non-action equipment requires evade?

You have already quoted all the relevant rules.

Does this equipment require you move?
Does this equipment require you to take a non-attack action?

If yes, make an evade test first.
If no, You don't make the evade test.


Creature kill and resurrect effects on the stack interaction?

Spells like Rally the Ancestors or Living Death that don't target only care what is in the graveyard when they resolve.  Thus, a creature that goes to the graveyard while Rally the Ancestors is on the stack will be returned to the battlefield by Rally the Ancestors on resolution.

This is not the case for spells like Resurrection or Proclamation of Rebirth, which, due to being targeted, need the affected creature(s) to be in the graveyard when the spell is cast.


In Arkham Horror, where do flying monsters in location areas go when no investigator is near?

Flying monsters can be in one of three places when the action to move them may occur:

Location
Streets
Sky

If it is in a location or the streets, the monster moves to a connected street location if there is an investigator there. If there is no investigator, it goes to the sky

If it is in the sky, it moves to any street location which contains an investigator. If there are no investigators in any street locations, it does not move. When there are multiple investigators, it goes to the investigator with the lowest current sneak value. If there is still a tie, the first player decides where it goes.

The below is a quote from version 1.7 of the FAQ. The latest version (2.0) can be found here (it's approx. 25mb PDF.):

  Flying monsters only move when their symbol comes up in the Mythos Phase, just like other monsters.
  Flying monsters will not leave a space that already contains an investigator.
  When a flying monster in a street area or location moves, it will either move to an adjacent street space that has an investigator in
  it, or failing that, move to the Sky.
  When a flying monster in the Sky moves, it will move to any street space on the board with an investigator in it. If there’s more than
  one investigator to choose from, the monster moves into the space of
  the investigator with the lowest Sneak value. If the investigators’
  Sneak values are the same, the first player chooses which investigator
  the monster moves toward, as usual. If there are no investigators in a
  street space, the monster remains in the Sky.


Does Republic of Rome usually generate one or more wars per turn, leading to a loss even when cooperating?

You really do need to read the rules, more thoroughly than it sounds as if the rest of the group has done. If you do, you will find that RoR is not a common-or-garden multiplayer game where an ally is somebody you have no reason to attack at present; it is designed so that the players all have to genuinely co-operate to keep the state going, and the winner is the one who can use each successive crisis to best advantage. The designer's notes say "I designed it for those who find Diplomacy too tame", and you need to be a born politician to find the game easy. But the notes also include a page or two of suggestions, and here are one or two of my own.

The object of the game is not to preserve the Republic; it is to have yourself declared Emperor (or some near-equivalent). One of my favourite winning conditions is being in rebellion when the state goes bankrupt; presumably the Ancient World Bank then puts you in charge of rebuilding, Monti-style.
The Early Republic scenario is well-known to be the hardest to survive; if you don't like it, try the Middle or Late Republic scenarios, or even the optional one where you shuffle all the cards together and use the top fifty or whatever. But bear in mind the reason (mentioned in the rulebook) that not every year is represented by a turn: a year when nothing happens is a year when nobody has a chance to affect the game. If you are not versed in the subtle politics going on around you, a game without wars is going to seem quite dull - until someone else suddenly wins.
There are precisely six random events each turn, and a lot of possible wars. When you include the enemy leaders then yes, you are going to have to do a lot of fighting; at least one war a turn. You can't afford to say "I'm not voting to give that general a chance to shine", or "I'm not contributing to the treasury unless everybody does"; rebuild the army, and send it out to fight.
Setting the terms of the debate is a huge advantage: if the HRAO (think President) has done his job, you have an unpalatable choice between everybody losing and making someone else's victory easier. But of course you may be HRAO yourself next turn...
You need to think quite seriously whether you would rather have somebody else win or everybody lose (see this question). Of course, if you are winning, you need to consider that the other players are also thinking this, and won't give you an easy ride. A lot of Early Republic games end in one climactic battle; if the army loses, the state collapses, and if it wins, the general has enough prestige to win the game. But he might be killed while winning the victory, which would give others a chance, so it's worth voting to send him out; now, how many legions do we send to maximise the odds? Unless you think this way every turn, you won't be a good RoR player; be consoled by the fact that you are probably a nicer person for it.


If I use a Mystery Play in Fluxx, does that count as a play?

Free Actions do not count as a Play so Mystery Play and its analogues do not count as a Play and can be used anytime during your turn either before, during, or after drawing and playing.

Reference: http://faq.looneylabs.com/fluxx-games/faq-for-fluxx-unthemed-versions#723


In Scrabble if you use all your letters to make up a word, do you get an extra points?

Yes, assuming you have a full hand of seven tiles. From the rules:

  BINGO! If you play seven tiles on a turn, it's a Bingo. You score a premium of 50 points after totaling your score for the turn.

If you have fewer than 7 tiles at the end of the game, playing them all doesn't get you this bonus.


Name of the game where you are a monk collecting scriptures and could become pope?

After hunting through various BoardGameGeek lists, I had the idea of looking for games set in Italy (there's actually a list for that!). The game in question is De Vulgari Eloquentia.


Determining if/when to use trump in the "pre-game" of 2-handed Pinochle

There may be other ways to think about this, but for me these are the reasons to play trump during the melding phase:

If you need to start the game with the lead.  If you have a lone Ace or if you have cards in every suit you don't want the other person to start the play because you will lose cards that would otherwise take tricks or may not get into the lead at all.  So you need the last trick in the melding phase - how big a trump to use is the question: I wouldn't use anything higher than a Jack to save a lone Ace because a higher Trump will probably get a counter in the main game anyway.
If you need to meld before it is too late.  If the other person might take the last trick in the melding phase and you don't have an extra 10 of trump then waiting until the last trick to meld your run won't work because you need the trump for the meld so you need to take an earlier trick - and you can probably do it with a low trump if it isn't the last trick.  Even if you do have an extra 10 of trump if your opponent has one of the Aces of trump and you are in the lead then they will take your 10 with their Ace - they get a counter and they keep you from getting your run so it is worth the Ace to them.  It is worth it to take an earlier trick to meld a run or 100 Aces even if you have to use a low trump to do it.
If you need to meld before it is too late.  If you are going to meld 80 kings don't do it after the sixth or seventh trick because you won't have time to use the non-trump kings to take tricks before the phase ends - and if you don't save them in the melding phase you will lose the kings to the opponent's 10s and Aces in the main game.  It is worth it to play a nine or Jack of trump to get the Kings on the table early so that you have time to save them by taking tricks with them.
If your opponent needs to meld before it is too late.  If your opponent decides to play a 10 of trump near the end of the melding phase and you have an extra Ace of trump then play it - you get a counter and they won't get to meld whatever they thought was worth spending a 10 of trump on.  Even if they are leading a low trump or a non-trump Ace it might be worth it to use a nine or Jack of trump to make sure they can't meld.

As always it depends, but if I knew I wasn't going to get a run (or I already melded it) the advice about nine and Jack might extend to King of trump especially if your opponent has both Aces of trump because if they are going to take your King anyway you may as well save it.

Having said all that, using trump in the melding phase is uncommon for me - I only do it in situations where I am confident that the points I am melding or stopping my opponent from melding is larger than the benefit of having that last trump on the last trick of the main game.  My father isn't as cautious and uses trump more often so I guess it depends on who you are.


The rules for monopoly are pretty clear on this point (emphasis mine)

  BUILDING SHORTAGES: When the Bank has no houses to sell, players
  wishing to build must wait for some player to return or sell histher
  houses to the Bank before building. If there are a limited number of
  houses and hotels available and two or more players wish to buy more
  than the Bank has, the houses or hotels must be sold at auction to the
  highest bidder.


Ordeal of Heliod and changing creature control

In Magic, "you" usually refers to the current controller of a permanent, spell, or ability.
Changing control of a creature does not change control of the Auras or Equipment attached to it.

Thus, when the Ordeal triggers, Player 1 (the player who cast the Aura) still controls it even though Player 2 (the player who cast Portent of Betrayal) now controls the creature it enchants.

Note that you could even enchant an opponent's creature from the get go (since it says "Enchant creature," not "Enchant creature you control"). Some Auras are straight-up designed to be used this way (e.g. Pacifism), but sometimes even the ones that aren't can be used for clever tricks.

  109.5. The words “you” and “your” on an object refer to the object’s controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to play, cast, or activate it), or its owner (if it has no controller). For a static ability, this is the current controller of the object it’s on. For an activated ability, this is the player who activated the ability. For a triggered ability, this is the controller of the object when the ability triggered, unless it’s a delayed triggered ability. To determine the controller of a delayed triggered ability, see rules 603.7d–f.


Is cascade triggered by putting a creature into play?

No.  Cascade triggers when the spell with Cascade is cast.

Casting a spell is different from putting a permanent into play.  Casting a permanent spell puts that spell on the stack.  When a permanent spell resolves, that permanent enters play.  There are other ways of putting a permanent directly into play (like Wild Pair) that do not involve casting a spell.