Assuming Player B could play Just Say No in that situation, it will be legal for Player C.  However, this is a big assumption.
The problem is that you have waded into the extreme grey area of Monopoly Deal rules.  Monopoly deal has a woefully incomplete rules framework and is missing the all-important official Errata and FAQ document.  monopolydealrules.com has many opinions on the game and how it should be played, but has the double downside of being nether official nor definitive.
So let's dig into how Just Say No works in general, with what precious little we have to go on.  The text of the card is:

Just Say No!  Use any time when an action card is played against you.  Play into the center to use.

There is also the "Cards in more detail" section of the rulebook, which says

Just Say No:
Use this card at any time to cancel the effect when another player plays any action card against you.  If that player has another Just Say No card, they can use it to cancel yours... sorry!

The rules clarification is helpful, because it means that Just Say No cancels the whole card and not just the aspect of the card that harms you.  The remaining question is what types of cards can be affected by Just Say No.
There are two possible readings:

"Played against you" is read strictly as cards that affect one player in particular.  To put that in Magic the Gathering terms, a card must target one player or a card belonging to that player in order to be eligible for Just Say No (i.e. Just Say No is the equivalent of Rebuff the Wicked).  This means Just Say No only works on any-color Rent cards (because they target one player), Deal Breaker, Sly Deal, Debt Collector, Deal Breaker, and Just Say No itself.

We take the looser definition of "played against you" to mean Just Say No can be used on any card that directly affects you negatively, thus adding the following to the list of valid targets: It's My Birthday and 2-color Rent cards.

In the case of interpretation 1, your question is moot because Just Say No can't be played on a 2-color Rent card.
In the case of interpretation 2, there is nothing preventing multiple people from playing Just Say No on the same card.  If the first Just Say No was negated by one from the original player, than anyone (including player B in your example) could play another one to try to negate the original card.
My play group uses interpretation 1.  monopolydealrules.com suggests interpretation 2.


In bridge, what are exceptions to "third hand high?"

It usually depends on the whole hand, but the typical cases where you don't play third hand high relate to communication/entry issues like keeping the communication between the two hands, creating/denying entries, messing up the entry timing etc.

Here is a classic example where the purpose is to deny an entry:

QJx
KQJTxx
xx
xx
          KT9xx
          Axx
          xxx
          xx
Axx
xx
AKxx
AKxx

Declarer (South) is in 3NT and partner leads a high spade and declarer plays the Q.

It would be a mistake to cover with the K. Declarer can then win the A, knock out the heart A, and enjoy overtricks.

If you duck, you are giving declarer the spade trick early, and forcing him to use the entry to dummy, before hearts are established.

Now when declarer plays hearts, you can duck once and cut him off from dummy.

Of course, declarer made a mistake by playing the Q! He should play low, and win the A. Now he has a sure entry in the form of QJ of spades, which he can use, after he knocks out the heart A.

Here is an example of maintaining communication between the two hands.

QJx
KQJTxx
xx
Qx
          AKTxx
          xxx
          xxx
          xx
xxx
xx
AKxx
AKJx

Declarer (south) is in 3NT, and partner leads the spade 9 (probably from 9x). Declarer plays the Q from dummy and you must let it win. The purpose here is to ensure that partner has a spade (i.e. maintaining communication) when he gets in with the heart A. When he wins the heart A, he can lead a spade and you can cash your four spade tricks, setting the contract. Notice that this is quite similar to ducking plays by declarer where he needs to duck early in order to establish suit and maintain communication with the dummy.


How is game feel and strategy different between the 1st and 3rd edition scoring rules?

I prefer the new rules for the simple reason that farmer scoring always used to be a huge headache.  Doing it pasture by pasture, with the ability to simply empty the pasture of farmers once it's been scored, seems like a great timesaver.  It also feels good that pasture rules have fallen pretty much exactly in line with city-scoring rules.

When I found about the rule change, I was a bit miffed about the new city scoring.  It seemed excessively cheap to be able to make a size-2 city and score 4 for it without any meeple investment.  The added consistency is welcome, though.  It's annoying when teaching any game to new players to have to say "the rule is this... except in this situation, when it's this".  So this change is probably a score draw at worst.

How do the changes alter things strategically?  Well, now that small cities are twice as attractive an option, you're going to get a lot more of them.  More cities equals more opportunities for farmers to make big scores.  That being the case, it's probably good that the farmer rules have been simplified; no one wants a game that makes their head hurt.  Well, most people don't.  (A lot of my friends love Ricochet Robots.)

Simplified-rules Carcassonne retains the excellent central dynamic of the game - between scoring points on the board throughout the game, or building up a farmer presence that will allow for a big score at the end.  Novice players generally don't really get farmers, and I've often found them disappointed when they get crushed in the final tallying-up of a game they thought they were holding their own in.  By keeping farmer rules simple enough that they have a chance of understanding them during their first game, everyone is more likely to be happy.  Farmers may still be the weapon of choice for the Carcassonne expert, but explaining how exactly you won with them no longer feels so dirty!


The biggest strength of a wall is that it keeps your opponents stones from connecting to anything on the other side of it; this forces him to worry about living in general, either by making life independently or connecting somewhere else. This is the general idea behind driving your opponent into your wall: Keep harassing him to keep him worrying about living at all, while you strengthen your own position.

The problem with the situation in OP is that the white wall is poorly positioned to do anything about B23. You can roughly visualize the influence of a wall as extending directly in whatever direction the wall is facing:

$$m23
$$ +---------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . x x x x O X . . . |
$$ | . . x x x x x x O X . . . |
$$ | . x x O x x x x O O X . . |
$$ | . x x x x x x O X X . . . |
$$ | . x x x x x x x O X X . . |
$$ | . x x x x x x x O O X . . |
$$ | . . x x x x x x O X . . . |
$$ | . . . . x x x x O X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X , . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . 1 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------+

As you can see, the main problem with using your wall to attack B23 is that B23 is well outside of your wall's influence. Black can just as easily connect with his stones on the right as he can jump into the lower left corner; either way, he's really not all that worried about living. The wall really doesn't come into play yet.

Playing at W24 as you did isn't really a bad move since it's a big point and restricts black's options — I probably would've done the same myself: Wall or not, a free corner is still a free corner — but he's still not all that worried about living because he can easily connect. Black's jump at B25 was okay but I feel it's a bit of a wishy-washy response here; he can afford to be aggressive, so he probably could've tried to attack the corner directly with b or c:

$$m23
$$ | . . . . . . . . O X
$$ | . . c . . 3 . . O X
$$ | . . . b . . 4 . X ,
$$ | . . . 2 . 1 . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ +--------------------

On the other hand, W26 as original played is problematic because it's working at cross purposes: It's effectively forcing black to strengthen his position, and pushes him into your weak corner. It's also just outside of the influence of your own wall so not very effective at cutting black off from his strength; it's just as easy (if not easier) for black to cut it off from yours. Rather than using your wall to fight, you're basically helping him build his own wall and driving yourself into it instead.

Merits of jumping into the corner aside, if you really wanted to bring your wall into play, the corner isn't how you'd do it here. Letting black establish a base on the bottom means that when he does decide to extend into your walls influence, he's doing so from a position of strength instead of weakness. This severely limits your ability to harass him.

Your second variant, for example, does effectively use the wall to curtail black's invasion (although I believe the black hane at 30 can work by threatening the weak point a in white's wall, I don't have time to really explore that variation). However, this sort of close fighting ends up strengthening black more than it does white, and in the end it really doesn't do anything to secure the corner, which is now really looking rather vulnerable to a black attack around b or c:

$$m23
$$ | . . . . . . . O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . a O X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . 6 8 . O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . 4 5 7 0 O X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . 9 O X . . . |
$$ | . . c b . . . . X , . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . 1 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------+

In other words, the original corner play at W24 looks wasted; if it doesn't really help your fight, and you're not really trying to defend it, it's just not doing much of anything at all. You'd probably have been better off playing W24 at B25 instead, which lets you bring the wall's influence into play before black has a chance to build up his strength. This would keep him effectively constrained, while also leaving white with a generally stronger position:

$$m23
$$ | . . . . . . . O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . , . . O O X . . |
$$ | . . . 6 . . . . O X . . . |
$$ | . . 5 4 . 2 . . O X . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . 8 X , . . . |
$$ | . . 7 . . 1 . 0 9 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------+

Your final variant where you extend your wall to cut black off from his strength on the right entirely is the right idea, although if I were black, I'd probably grab the big empty corner before worrying about the connection at a. This really isn't a problem since there's pretty much always going to be a tradeoff between "territory" and "influence"; the first two variants fell into disarray because white was effectively trying to go for both but couldn't really commit to either.

$$m23
$$ | . x x x x x x x O X X . . |
$$ | . x x x x x x x O O X . . |
$$ | . x x x x x x x O X . . . |
$$ | . . x x x x x x O X . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 x x x 2 X , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 . a . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------+

Whether black chooses to grab the corner or to connect, this lets white play pretty much anywhere within the wall's now larger area of influence to keep black low on the bottom while simultaneously building a huge framework in the top and left, which will make it way harder for black to extend anywhere beyond the corner you let him have (which was already outside of your influence anyway).

Unlike the previous variation, in which white can cap and constrain black while still keeping things relatively civilised, by extending the influence of white's wall before picking any fights white can afford to be a lot more aggressive here and attack the corner without mercy. Splitting black's forces by descending into a (assuming black lets you) will simultaneously threaten his large corner on the right as well increase your wall's left-facing influence, and if you can undercut black's eyespace in the corner (big if), then you can turn this into a straight-up "drive your opponent into your wall" situation. A word of caution though: This can get messy, you probably don't want to try this unless you're really confident in your fighting ability (and/or just thrive on chaos).

In conclusion, two points to keep in mind:

Faster is better: If you want to bring your wall's influence into play, you want to do it before black has an opportunity to build up his strength. Spending that one extra turn claiming a corner you don't want to keep while black builds a base can make all the difference here.
Choose your battles: Recognize the areas of influence and pick your attacks accordingly; white's influence in the above examples is absolutely terrible for a direct attack on B23, but excellent for capping and restraining it. Relatedly, black will have a far easier time attacking the corner where white has little-to-no influence than white will have defending it. If you are going to attack directly, do so from a position of strength.

But seriously, that all still seems like a lot of work for not so significant an advantage compared to "Hey, look! Free corner!"


From my experience, I would lean towards the "Go big or go home" school of thought on this. Here's why:

Most of the expensive figures have a higher defense value. Most of the less expensive figures have a lower attack value. You may be able to direct 2 or 3 figures towards attacking your opponents costly Superman or Hulk, but they will have a harder time hitting it. It also works the other way: the higher cost figures will be able to hit your figures more often. Which leads me to...
Damage. The same idea applies for damage output, hit points, and defensive abilities. Your lower cost figures may have great stats on the first click, but as soon as they take any damage, their stats will degrade very quickly. The stronger figures will do more damage, making your figures less effective than you have bargained for. (This is especially true if your figures get hit before they have a change to attack.)
The higher cost figures tend to have higher damage output as well. If an expensive figure is doing 3 or 4 damage with a single hit, most 50 point characters will not last long.
Lower damage output also makes a costly figure's defensive bonuses better. If they are Tough or Invulnerable and you're only doing a couple of points of damage which each figure, you're not going to make much of a dent.

Swarming seems like a good strategy, but most of the time a higher cost figure will have enhanced defense or defensive abilities that keep you from doing a lot of damage to it and removing it from the game.


If you're asking for dimensions, what I found is Mayday sleeves for french tarot cards listing size as 61x112mm

And FFG "tarot sized" sleeves are 70x120mm


In Poker is it true that "you must give action to get action"?

What you're talking about is called Table Image.

Table image is important because it represents what other players think they know about you and how you play.  If you play very tight (very few hands, only very good cards), and players see this, they're only going to stay in the pot with you, if they also have very good cards (in which case you should be a little worried).

It's not strictly true that you must LOSE hands (VPIP, or hands you voluntarily put into the pot), but you do need to play such that your opponents don't know what kind of cards you might have.  This may mean bluffing 10% of the time, or it could be more sophisticated, like always playing in position (when you're one of the last to bet), since then they won't know if you have good cards, or are just playing position.

In general though, if ALL you do is only bet when you have a tier 1 hand, then yes, people are just going to fold.


Which creatures count as green creatures?

A creature spell is green if green is one of its colors; it doesn't matter what other colors, if any, it has.
First of all, when an effect asks for the color of an object, it uses the following definition:

202.2. An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame.

Some cards that would be colorless because of 202.2, such as Crimson Kobolds or the back face of most transforming permanents, have a color indicator that sets the card's colors.

204.2. An object with a color indicator is each color denoted by that color indicator.

Color identity is related to, but different from color. It is only relevant for building Commander decks. A card's color identity is the sum of colors of all mana symbols in that card's mana cost and rules text, plus color indicator:

903.4. The Commander variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).

With that being said, the answer to your question is option 1, if you replace "color identity" with just "color".
If a card has green among its colors, Rhonas's Monument will identify it as green, regardless of what other colors the card is:

202.2c An object with two or more different colored mana symbols in its mana cost is each of the colors of those mana symbols. [..]

If Rhonas's Monument would only apply to mono-green creature spells, it would explicitly say so. Generally speaking, whenever something ask for a property of an object, then it doesn't matter what all other properties of that object are.
For example, you might as well ask whether Rhonas's Monument also applies to "artifact creature" spells such as Verdurous Gearhulk instead of just "creature" spells. The answer would also be "yes", because an artifact creature is a creature, and for the Monument it doesn't matter whether or not it's also an artifact.
Also note that your one example of Sunder Shaman would still not benefit from Rhonas's Monument, because the Monument only reduces generic mana costs by 1. Sunder Shaman has no generic mana cost, only colored.

117.7a Effects that reduce a cost by an amount of generic mana affect only the generic mana component of that cost. They can’t affect the colored or colorless mana components of that cost.


The Quag Sickness cannot be returned to the battlefield enchanting the White Knight.

The relevant rule about Protection, 702.16c, says

  A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality.

and the relevant rule about Auras, 303.4f, says

  If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player’s control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell, and the effect putting it onto the battlefield doesn’t specify the object or player the Aura will enchant, that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura’s enchant ability and any other applicable effects.

This means that, since White Knight has protection from black and Quag Sickness is black, White Knight is not a legal object according to "other applicable effects".


Can Ass Whuppin' be used to target a permanent in your own game?

Yes, you can see your own game, and Ass Whuppin' makes no limitation on which game its target has to be in, so you can target cards in your own game. This is necessary to be able to use the card at all in a silver-bordered game when nobody around you is playing another silver-bordered game.
That being said, the whole point of Ass Whuppin', and indeed all Un-sets, is to mess with the rules of the game and have a good laugh about it. If you can mess with other games through Ass Whuppin', but you are looking to powerplay in your own game, you're probably doing it wrong.


What happens in Catan junior if you have to pay out a resource from your own pile to another player, but you don’t have that resource?

Quick disclaimer, I've never played this game before but as the rules are only 6 pages long it was worth reading rules and seeing if I could find the answer.

Looking at the rules here I cant find any references to having to give players resources from your own pile.  There doesn't appear to be any stealing like in Normal Catan.

Instead it looks like you might have misinterpreted the following on page 4.

  Because you rolled the die, you must give your fellow players
  any newly earned resources from the stockpile.
  Look at the picture below. You are the white player and roll a
  “4.” You and the red player each have a pirates’ lair next to the
  sugar cane island with a “4,” so you each get a molasses tile.
  A treasure cave island is also marked with a “4,” so you must
  give the blue and the orange pirates 1 cutlass tile each.

The stockpile appears to be just a general supply by the board (as described on page 2 under 'resource tiles'.  The way these rules are wrote its implying that the player rolling the die is responsible for giving other players resources they are entitled to. I believe the line "must give the blue and orange pirates" means give them from the stock pile not your own pile.  I think if it was your own pile that would be more explicitly stated and all new resources always come from stock pile.

So in answer to the question what happens if a player cant give a resource they need to I would say that is an impossible situation that should never happen.


Here are my suggestions of games that teach various card game rules, ranked in order from least difficult to most difficult.

Go Fish has simple rules and can help you learn basics of card games, such as

Identifying matching sets of cards
Identifying card names and suits
Waiting your turn
Communicating with opponents when required (and being truthful about it)
Drawing and holding cards without revealing them

War kicks the
competitive level up a bit and has more rules. In addition, you learn card value progression, including the hierarchy of J-K (which can be explained fairly simply if the player is familiar with monarchy, fictional or otherwise).

Competition
Card values
Winning a round without winning the game

Bullshit is a matching game, like Go Fish, but it adds the concept of a bluff and shows that following the rules can sometimes feel like cheating, since duping your opponent is truly the objective of the game. This is useful when later learning games like poker. Also, this can introduce the concept of 'house rules', and hones your ability to agree on extra rules once the game is in progress and tensions are high. Requires 3 or more players.

Gin Rummy has quite a few rules in theory, but is quite simple to play most of the time. It provides practice for:

Identification of runs
Using the discard pile to draw from
Keeping score


Is a vehicle still a vehicle if it's no longer an artifact?

The Smuggler's Copter will stop being a vehicle and a creature, and the Siege Modification will fall off.

Rule 205.3g says

  Artifacts have their own unique set of subtypes; these subtypes are called artifact types. The artifact types are Clue, Contraption, Equipment (see rule 301.5), Fortification (see rule 301.6), Treasure, and Vehicle (see rule 301.7).

And rule 205.1a says

  Some effects set an object’s card type. In such cases, the new card type(s) replaces any existing card types. Counters, effects, and damage marked on the object remain with it, even if they are meaningless to the new card type. Similarly, when an effect sets one or more of an object’s subtypes, the new subtype(s) replaces any existing subtypes from the appropriate set (creature types, land types, artifact types, enchantment types, planeswalker types, or spell types). If an object’s card type is removed, the subtypes correlated with that card type will remain if they are also the subtypes of a card type the object currently has; otherwise, they are also removed for the entire time the object’s card type is removed. Removing an object’s subtype doesn’t affect its card types at all.

Once the artifact type is removed from the Smuggler's Copter, the vehicle subtype is no longer correlated with any of its remaining types, so the Vehicle subtype is removed for as long as the artifact type is removed. This means that Siege Modification's ability that makes the Copter a creature is no longer active, so it will also not be a creature. Since it is at that point neither a creature nor a vehicle, Siege Modification is not legally attached to it, so Siege Modification will go to the graveyard. Smuggler's Copter ends up as a typeless blue permanent.


Control-changing effects work in a system of layers, with the latest one being active. When the currently active effect expires, the previous effect takes over. In your case, where player 2 gained control via Empress Galina, the creature would return to player 2.
The rules governing the interaction of continuous effects are, in part, as follows:

Interaction of Continuous Effects

613.1. The values of an object’s characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object. For a card, that means the values of the characteristics printed on that card. For a token or a copy of a spell or card, that means the values of the characteristics defined by the effect that created it. Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order:
613.1b Layer 2: Control-changing effects are applied.
613.2. Within layers 1–6, apply effects from characteristic-defining abilities first (see rule 604.3), then all other effects in timestamp order (see rule 613.6). [..]
613.6. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.

The timestamp reflects the order in which an object entered the battlefield or the ability that created the effect resolved. The effect of your Molten Primordial would have the latest timestamp, as far as control-changing effects on the creature are concerned. That's why it is applied last and overrides all other control-changing effects.
That means that previous control-changing effects are still on that creature if they didn't expire yet, they are just all overridden by the latest one. That means that if player 2's control-changing effect is still active by the time the turn and Molten Primordial's effect ends, player 2's effect takes over and the creature switches to player 2's control. If player 2's control-changing effect also has ended by that time, player 1 gets control back, because that's the default.


Does the Quarantine Specialist prevent Epidemic in connected cities?

Yes, she cancels the placement of any disease cubes on a city she is in and connected cities.

Note that this does not "prevent the Epidemic"... when an epidemic card is drawn, you still fully deal with it. It's just that during the "infect" step of the epidemic, she can prevent the extra infection.

From the rules:

  The Quarantine Specialist prevents both outbreaks and
  the placement of disease cubes in the city she is in
  and all cities connected to that city. She does not affect
  cubes placed during setup.


BGG has this definition in their glossary:

  A game with simple rules that is easy to teach to non-gamers in order to attract new players into boardgaming as a hobby.

Usually people will say that a Gateway Game must have at least these qualities:

Simple (so you can explain the rules to them quickly).
Fun (fun games will attract repeat plays).
Short (short hits can be played again, misses gives you time to play something else).

The real problem with this definition is that the focus is on the game, and not the goal. If your goal is to attract new players to boardgaming as a hobby, the focus should be on the player. There is no silver bullet with a Gateway Game. The game needs to match the player that you are trying to convert. If you know the new player or can get to know them, you can make better decisions about what games they might be interested in. Speaking in just generalities though:

Are you trying to convert a brand new player who has never played any games?

This kind of player doesn't have any background in any sort of game mechanics. It would be best to focus on a game that has only one or a couple game mechanics so that they don't have to learn too many new things all at once. For Sale/No Thanks have just a bidding mechanic. Can't Stop has a push your luck mechanic. Blokus has an area control mechanic. Cash n' Guns has a hidden selection mechanic. The shorter the game, the better, since you can try many different games until you find one that clicks. Then stick with that game for a while until that player becomes comfortable with the game mechanics and understands that strategies in the game.

Are you trying to convert a Monopoly, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, kids board game player?

Nothing wrong with suggesting something that might be already familiar. Settlers of Catan has pieces like houses and hotels, and resources (goods instead of cash) are collected based upon what players roll. If they like Risk, there is Risk Legacy, and for Trivia buffs there is Wits and Wagers.

Are you trying to convert a Party Game player?

Games with lots of player interaction, or cooperative in nature, since they focus on the social aspect of games. Forbidden Island/Pandemic

Are you trying to convert a Chess, Go, Bridge, Poker, or other classic game player?

This person is already a gamer, so you are half way there. They know how to play by the rules and they probably have a good grasp on probability or board position. You probably want to focus on a games that have less luck, and more skill.

Are you trying to convert a MtG/Yugioh/Pokemon/CCG player?

This person probably already is a gamer by most people's definition. If your goal is to open their mind up to the rest of the board gaming world, you might want to focus on card games so that they are playing a familiar game, Dominion/Resident Evil: the Deck Building Game. Nothing wrong with stretching out to something completely different though. Something themed and less abstract might be more to their liking Gears of War/Shadows over Camelot/Battlestar Galactica.

As to the question, why or why not are certain games are considered gateway games, it usually comes down to not meeting one of the criteria above.

Monopoly: Isn't fun. Players have very few interesting decisions to make that will have any impact on the outcome of the game.
Race for the Galaxy: Isn't simple. I think that mostly it is the iconography that trips everyone up here. The rules themselves are fairly simple to explain (choose an action for the turn, all players perform all actions with bonuses for selecting that action, pay cards to play cards unless military, repeat), but the total number of icons and choices per turn is probably overwhelming for most players.
Spades: Not a Hobby/Designer Game. Most "gamers" do not consider classic games like Chess, Checkers, Go, Hearts, Poker, etc. to be hobby games. Teaching someone to play these types of games will not usually get them any closer to being interested in playing designer games that you would find in your friendly local gaming store.
Settlers of Catan: A Gateway Game. One of the quintessential gateway games.  Simple rules (roll dice, distribute goods, trade/build, repeat), fun to play, somewhat short (1-1.5 hours) if you use the City/Settlement starting rule. A little bit for every type of player, lots of player interaction through trading, a screw you over mechanic, some luck so the first game isn't a complete blowout, limited options per turn so tactical decisions are easier, and clear VP point system so you know how well you are doing (mini goals).
Ticket to Ride: A Gateway Game. Simple rules (play sets of colored cars, draw cards, link cities to complete tickets), fun game play, and relatively short duration.

You are not going to find a definitive definition of what is or isn't a Gateway Game. The idea behind it though is to find a game (theme, mechanic) that the new gamer might be interested in so that they become interested in the wealth of games that are available in the hobby.


Can a continuous effect that gives haste wear off?

The Artifact Creature would lose haste if the Engineer was destroyed because it is a continuous effect from a static ability whose source has disappeared. As you mentioned, this means the creature will be unable to attack this turn.

The one difference in your two scenarios is that in the second one, if the Artifact Creature had an activated ability with the tap or untap symbol in its cost, it could use that ability in response to the Lightning Strike being cast against the Engineer.


The goal is to retain the integrity of the table, which is designed to subtly emphasize part-score swings and de-emphasize slam swings relative to game swings. This was adopted when it was realized that total points scoring through the 1920's and 1940's had made part scores almost irrelevant in team play, and games much less relevant than slams.

In order to accomplish this maintenance the various types of swings must be adjusted back to the appropriate range of the conversion table. Consider the case of a vulnerable game swing in teams of four competition:

+620 and +100 => + 720 => 12 IMPS.
+620 and -170 => + 450 => 10 IMPS

Now consider a similar range of results at four tables instead of two:

+620, +620, +100, +100 => +1440 => 16 IMPS, 14 MIMPS
+620, +620, -170, -170 => +900 => 14 IMPS, 12 MIMPS
+620, +170, -170, +100 => +720 => 12 IMPS, 11 MIMPs
+620, +620, -620, -170 => +450 => 10 IMPS, 8 MIMPS

As you can see the MIMP scale successfully keeps the range of results for various flavour of vulnerable game swing centered at 11 (now MIMPS instead of IMPS) rather than having it creep up to 13.

Similar analysis of part-core and both small- and grand-slam swings would again show that the MIMP scale keeps these centered at the appropriate portion of the  table.


In Spades, what to lead from {Ace,King,...}

Spades and Contract Bridge share most of the same mechanics as far as play of the cards are concerned, and this has long been a matter of disagreement between experts. Also, the style of playing from AKx bears on what is appropriate from lower touching honours.

Three main styles have developed in Bridge:

Traditional:

Highest from touching honours at the top of the holding, except K from AKx, so: K from AKx, Q from KQx, etc.; but highest if the holding is a doubleton.
Highest from an interior sequence, so: Q from AQJx, J from KJTx, etc.
Advantage:
The play of an A can be made without the K, as from Ax, without misleading partner.
Disadvantage:
Additional ambiguity on the lead of the K, which can be from AKx, KQx, or Kx

Traditional - with A from AK

As above - but with the the play of A or K from AK and AKx holdings reversed. Partnerships must agree if this is played throughout the hand (rare), or just on Opening Lead (much more common). In the Trump suit (always Spades in Spades, of course) the K is lead from AKx because the lead of A from Ax is more common.
Disadvantages:
(i) The play of an A potentially misleads partner due to the ambiguity between Ax and AKx holdings.
(ii) More complex than vanilla Traditional because of the exceptions.
Advantage:
Reduces ambiguity on the lead of the K, which can now only be from KQx, or Kx.

Rusinow:

Second highest from touching all honours, so K from AKx, Q from KQx, J from QJx, etc.
Highest when the touching honours are an original doubleton.
Second highest also form an interior sequence, so J from AQJx, T from KJTx, 9 from QT9x.
Typically played only on the opening lead - Traditional is played on all subsequent tricks.
Disadvantage:
More complicated than either of the first two, due to being an Opening Lead convention only.

Of course, it is paramount that you and partner be in agreement on which system will be played. That experts have no consensus between the three systems suggests that the differences are relatively minor.

There are any number of Contract Bridge sites that discuss both Opening Leads and other defensive agreements of partnership benefit, such as Richard Pavlicek's site.


Is there a Magic the Gathering card that resembles The Hanged Man Tarot card?

Relating partially to the overconfident assassin part of your post there is always
Robber of the Rich


Why Do People "Pre-empt" With Seven Of A Suit In Bridge?

Generally speaking, if you have only seven points as in the example hand, your opponents will have the preponderance of strength.  Pre-empts are designed to eat up the bidding room that your opponents could otherwise use to zone in on the right contract.  If, as it sometimes happens, your partner has the strength  instead, the pre-empt is still good, as it paints a very accurate picture of your hand that your partner will use to determine the right contract.

If you get doubled and go down three or four, think about what your opponents will have.  They will usually have missed a slam, and your result will compare favorably.

It will happen, but it is very rare that your pre-empt will be a total disaster.


What are some Battlestar Galactica Daybreak Human Strategies?

The strategies vary based on which expansions are being used and the number of players in the game.  For purposes of this answer, I'll assuming you're using ONLY the base game and Daybreak (which is my favorite way to play BSG), and have a full complement of 7 players (including a Cylon Leader).

Overall, Battlestar is a resource management game.  For the humans it means spending resources evenly as the game progresses.  Resources are skill cards, fuel, food, morale, population, (lack of a) mutiny card, (lack of) enemy ships in space, (lack of) damage to Galactica, raptors, and vipers, nukes, etc.

Usually, if human are losing too often, it's because they're not using some of their resources properly.  What does this mean?  Well, after a loss take a look at what unconsumed resources you have.  Maybe population is still in blue when you run out of food?  In this case you should have spent more population (letting civilian ships die) to save cards for food checks.  Maybe Galactica was undamaged at the end, in which case you should have spent less time shooting things in space.  It may seem counter intuitive, but you have to let a lot of bad things happen (e.g. intentionally fail skill checks), to have the resources later when you need them.

You check/validate your resources by how far you've progressed on the jump track.  So, based on jump track/jump distance you can evaluate where you 'should be' on resources.  Fuel is an easy one to see, and can be used as a guide, as it tends to steadily drop throughout the game as you jump.  The same should occur for other resources.  If you're halfway through the game, and all of your resources aren't at half, then start consuming the higher ones to save lower ones.  Remember, things like mutiny cards in your hands work the same way.  If half of the players have mutiny cards halfway through, that's fine, don't spend them, but if everyone has one at the halfway mark, half of you should spend them to get back up.  About 3/4 of the way through the game, let Galactica stay damaged, don't repair it, if you can avoid it.

As for Demitrius, the most important space is the Captain's Cabin.  For one action you can get everyone a card.  In a 7 player game, this is very powerful.  It's even better to have someone sit there and be XO'ed to do it twice for effectively 1 action.   Be careful about spending time searching the mission deck and running those missions.  In a 7 player game (early), this is probably fine, as the threats haven't built up and you can get some extra distance, but actions are everything, so consider the opportunity cost of not spending them elsewhere.

For games with 3-5 players, I would consider ignoring Demitrius (including the cabin), it simply takes too long and with fewer players it's harder to hit the skill targets.

Carefully decide weather or not to play mutiny cards.  They again cost you an action, and if your only purpose is to avoid the brig, reconsider if being in the brig is all that bad.  You still draw cards, you still can XO (executive order), and the president can still use quorum cards, PLUS you don't draw crisis cards.  This increases your effective skill-card-draws per crisis card draw.  If it happens, consider leaving someone in the brig at least until people are starting to reach their skill card limits.

Things don't change too much for the non-Earth destinations.

In general:

Don't over-pass your skills checks, this is a waste of resources.
Intentionally fail at least 50% of skill checks.
Make sure your Admiral is not a Cylon (most important)
Make sure your President is not a Cylon (less important).
BE Presidential, 1 resource for one action (e.g. Inspirational Speech) is VERY powerful.
Don't waste too much time hunting for Cylons.
Trust each other.  If you don't, the Cylons have already won.
Always XO.
Advancing the jump track is more important than anything else
Use the early FTL jump if you have extra population for that stage in the game.
And most importantly, HAVE FUN!


In Agricola, why are Minor Improvements not separated by number of players whereas Occupations are?

The purpose of the marking is to help the players to remove the cards from the deck before playing which do not fit the player count.

Specifically, many of the occupations refer to spaces on the board that are not present in lower player counts, such as "Travelling Players", which is only present with 4 or more players, and thus all of its associated occupations are only relevant with 4 or more players.  The Occupation cards are marked based on number of players so that you can remove the ones that are not valid for your player count.

However, Minor Improvements are valid at all player counts, so you do not need to go through and remove any of them.

Uwe Rosenberg could have designed the Minor Improvements such that you removed some of them at lower player counts (in which case those would be marked), but he did not choose to do so.


Replacement coins for At The Gates of Loyang

A friend of mine got some Mexico pesos.  They seem to work fairly good, and are fairly heavy.  Different sizes as well.  How you get them if you don't have a friend traveling there, I'm not sure.  But I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't a cheap option for metal money.

http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/World-Coins-Gallery-Index/Mexico-Money---Coins.htm


Cribbage score for pair of cards not in a row

No.  The two sixes would not be counted as a pair.  The pair needs to be with the last two cards played.

  Pair: For adding a card of the same rank as the card just played Peg 2

https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/cribbage/


Abstract "move holding" service for simultaneous-move board games

The answer might have been no by the time you asked, but now it is yes: Check out You Say First!

I tried my best with the UI design, but any help there is welcome. Bugreports and feature requests can be submitted on https://github.com/nomeata/you-say-first.


No, if you played/discarded the skip card on your turn then it is no longer in your hand; only cards that are in your hand count against you.
The rules say

Players total the cards left in their hands.

and

The winner of the hand scores zero. All remaining players score points against them, for cards still in their hands, as follow:

Note that there's really no difference between discarding a skip card on your turn and discarding any other card, in terms of how it affects you. The card is only placed in front of a specific player to remind them that their turn is getting skipped. Older versions of the rules don't say to do this. It doesn't matter if the card is physically in the discard pile or in front of a player; it has already been played/discarded by you.


Can I deal combat damage with a 1/1 Walking Ballista and deal damage with its ability?

No, you cannot.  Going to the graveyard (due to damage) is a State-Based action that happens before either player gets priority.  Without priority, you can't activate Ballista's ability.

  704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player gets priority.


Should I read the instructions to Betrayal Legacy before the Prologue?

The gameplay is just different enough from the original game (example in spoilers below) to make reading the instructions necessary, but I think this can be done during unboxing with the other players. If you would prefer to read the instructions ahead of time but still open the box together, they're posted online at Avalon Hill's website: https://media.wizards.com/2018/downloads/rules/BLY-Rulebook.pdf

As noted by @bwarner "The beginning of the rules also contains a "here's what is different from other Betrayal games" page. If you learn those things, and you've played Betrayal before, you will likely be good."  This is page 3 of the rulebook linked above.

For the most part the Legacy deck will guide you through what's special about each chapter. Please note though that the rulebook itself will change during the course of the game, and should be reviewed during each session to re-familiarize yourselves with what's changed.

Gameplay spoilers (not anything plot related):

   Events / Item cards, similar to tiles, can now only be drawn in certain zones. e.g. There are "upstairs" items and "ground floor" items. This was hard to remember in our first game.

Rulebook comment (contains plot spoiler):

  During the prologue you may encounter a rule in-game related to something in the rulebook that doesn't have a reference icon. Note: the item referenced already exists in the house tiles. If it's unclear, try to look up what the icon should be.


When I cast a Cascade spell with Jodah, Archmage Eternal, do I cascade for 5 or the spell's original cost?

10

Let's look at Cascade.

  702.84a Cascade is a triggered ability that functions only while the spell with cascade is on the stack. “Cascade” means “When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose converted mana cost is less than this spell’s converted mana cost. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren’t cast on the bottom of your library in a random order.”

Cascade is dependent on the CMC, so let's look at that.

  202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.

Finally, the CMC is dependent on the mana cost, so let's look at that.

  202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner. Some cards from the Future Sight set have alternate frames in which the mana symbols appear to the left of the illustration.

Whatever cost you actually paid to cast the spell is irrelevant; only what's printed on the card matters. Alternative costs, whether they are casting for {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} with Jodah or casting for free, do not change or replace the converted mana cost of the spell, as the following reminder rules tells us:

  117.9c An alternative cost doesn’t change a spell’s mana cost, only what its controller has to pay to cast it. Spells and abilities that ask for that spell’s mana cost still see the original value.


What exactly is Legendary Cube/Vintage Cube in MTG Online?

In general 'Cube' is a Magic format where a person creates their own custom draft environment, choosing which cards are included. They can take cards from any sets the creators choose and can have any sort of theme their creators choose.

The Legendary Cube is one such cube created by Wizards of the Coast that is meant to showcase Legendary Creatures. Originally every creature was legendary, though it has since been updated to include non-legendary ones too. Also it was used to release some cards from various Commander products that hadn't been released in digital form yet.

The Vintage Cube (previously known as the Holiday Cube due to only being available around December) is another cube developed by Wizards of the Coast that is designed to be a 'power cube' or a cube that has many of the most powerful cards ever released in the game. This cube doesn't really have a rotation like Standard, but they do change the cards in it slightly in order to add cards from new sets and vary the environment slightly.


Looks like this belongs to Monopoly Express:


Can I look up the text of my foreign cards on my phone in MTG tournaments?

At Regular REL, you might get permission from the Judge, at any higher REL it is forbidden.

2.12 Electronic Devices
At Competitive and Professional Rules Enforcement Level
during drafting, deck construction, and playing of
matches, players may not use electronic devices capable of taking and
storing notes, communicating with other people, or accessing the
internet (except for taking brief personal calls with the opponent's
permission).
At Regular Rules Enforcement Level, electronic devices are permitted, but players may not use them to access information that contains
substantial strategic advice or information about an opponent's deck.
Device use during a match other than brief personal calls must be
visible to all players. Players wishing to view information privately
on electronic devices during matches must request permission from a
judge.

You may however, call a judge to have them provide you with the oracle text (the official version of the text in English) anytime.


Is there a tier list of all precon Commander decks?

As far as I'm aware there are no official rankings for Commander preconstructed decks. However, each deck in a given set it made with the others in mind to be balanced against. Thus, Mirror Mastery is more likely to be balanced against Counterpunch than it is against Open Hostility.

Here is a list of sets, which each contain the decks that were in that set (and thus what they're balanced around). However, as you said yourself, Commander is a more volatile format and balance is not going to be a consistent thing. This is especially true when you consider that Commander is less competitive than traditional magic and more political/social. Consider Political Puppets. It certainly has win conditions, but the commander is based around giving your permanents away in order to play diplomatically with your opponents.

If you definitely want decks from different sets, in lieu of a formal ranking and because they aren't necessarily balanced around each other, I would look at the price of each of those decks. While certainly not a perfect way of telling, very powerful decks with highly sought after cards tend to be more expensive.


Move always happens before your action. The red power doesn't affect this; it only makes the move part more powerful.

From the rules:

  After the Yin phase is done, the player plays the role of his Taoist, according to the
  following sequence:

  1) Move (optional)

  2) Request help from a villager OR attempt an exorcism


What's the difference between a Euchre, a March and a Set?

Calling and getting all five tricks is A March.
Calling trump and failing to get 3 tricks is called a Euchre.

This is the earliest reference I could find to Euchre, in Hoyle's 1845 edition.

This excerpt is from The Law and Practice of the Game of Euchre by Charles Henry Wharton Meehan.  Written in 1862, per Wikipedia, it is believed to be the oldest book dedicated to Euchre.

Hoyle's 2001 edition uses the same terms, as does Scarne's Encyclopedia of Card Games.  Card Games for Dummies does as well, however they use the terms "Marches or Sweeps" for getting all five tricks.

While I've heard the other two terms, it does not seem that they have entered common enough usage to be documented into any formal listing of rules.


As far as actual legality goes, the only cards legal to have in your deck are Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, as well as Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest.

This is hinted at on the Wizards page, as well as stated clearly in this article:

  (...) your deck contains 61 cards. One is the Momir Vig, Simic Visionary Avatar and the other 60 cards are basic lands. (...)

For cards to be randomly chosen, this article describes it as follows (original links omitted):

  (...) the random creature you get is picked from the entire Online Classic card pool. This even includes premium cards from sets that have not been released online, such as Preacher from The Dark, or Serra Avatar from Urza's Saga.

Naturally, this only applies to games on MTGO - if you play Momir Basic any other way (for example using a random generator like MTG Familiar to determine the random creatures), no particular limits apply, and your group of players should decide which cards or editions to exclude, and whether to allow cards that are banned in certain formats.


Catan Seafarers - The Forgotten Tribe scenario : Who claims the harbor?

From the rules :
Catan Seafarers Game Rules and Scenarios

  Harbors

  If you build (or move) a ship on an edge next to a harbor, you take
  the harbor. If you have a settlement on the coast, you must
  immediately place the harbor on an adjacent edge. However, harbors
  must never occupy adjacent or the same edges. In case you have no
  appropriate coastal settlement, you can put the harbor aside until
  such a settlement is built. When you have placed a harbor, you can use
  it immediately, even during the same turn.

Interpretation. This means that the first player who places or builds a ship next to a harbor, physically picks up the harbor, i.e. removes it from the board. The player will then place this harbor on an edge next to one of his/her coastal settlements on the main island, if the player has one. No one can build a settlement on any of the small islands.

«So, in this case who will have the final claim and use of the harbor on the new island?»

The player who moved next to the harbor claims it (picks it up) and gets to place the harbor next to one of his/her coastal settlements, immediately, or later.

«But, we have another player who is gonna place a settlement for first time on the same island.»

  During play, no settlement can be built on the surrounding small
  islands that do not produce resources.

For the harbor, it's first come, first served. And, no player can build a settlement on any of the small islands.


That is a perfectly acceptable action to take.

The rules at the bottom of the "Take Cards" page explicitly state:

  Players may never have more than 7 cards in their hand at the end of their turn.

Nowhere in the rules does it disallow gaining more than 7 cards to your hand during an exchange.


Yes, so long as it's not adjacent to another settlement.

A valid location for a settlement is any spot that touches one of your roads, and is not adjacent to any other settlement.  I'll also note that it's legal for someone else to put a settlement in the middle of your road, so long as they also have a road that touches that intersection - this will cut your 4-segment road into two 2-segment roads, which can be a useful strategy for killing someone's longest road.


BANG! Where do cards played in phase 2 go when "Abandoned Mine" is in effect

The actual answer is a little more complicated and so doesn't match either of the arguments. While the original card's wording (Italian/English) doesn't match the effect, it doesn't affect played cards (like the Bang! you mentioned), nor does it affect other players outside of their turn (so Bang! cards discarded for Indians are discarded as normal).
This is clarified in their official FAQ on the expansion:

Q4. Where I have to place my played cards while Abandoned Mine is in play, especially when I play Wells Fargo, General Store or Stagecoach?
A. There is a difference between "discarded" and "played" cards: Stagecoach, General Store and Wells Fargo are "played", while cards exceeding hand size limit at the end of the turn or by means of a Duel are "discarded". So, discarded cards goes on the draw deck, while played cards go on the discard deck. Draw the cards after Stagecoach and Wells Fargo always from the draw deck. Note that this applies to current player only: all other players draw and discard normally.

For clarification, here's how it works with certain cards. In all cases, the played card will go to the discard pile:

Cat Balou: Unless you play it on yourself, the target will discard it normally.
Duel: The Bang! cards you discard will be put on the deck, but those discarded by your opponent will go to the discard pile.
Indians: All Bang! cards discarded by opponents will go to the discard pile.


Othello - Most number of legal moves in a given turn

It is very hard to say it without browsing all possible combinations. Another question is are you asking about moves in game that make sense or any random game.
I was playing this game many years and usually one consider move choosing out of 3 maximally 5 possibilities for good move. However in mid-game there are 10-20 legal moves frequently.

You can try some maths to estimate max number of legal moves. Board is 64 fields. You can move only on adjacent. So in my opinion max number possible moves is when you have filled center 6x6, lets say white are on boarder of 6x6 and black are in center. Black have a move so he can move on any field left on board. It gives 28 possibilities. I would say it is maximal estimate.

If you still need to analyse that you should have a look on that program. It is used by most good players. There is also big openings book.


What happens if I must attack with two creatures, but am only allowed to attack with one?

You have to declare one of the Juggernauts as attackers. You cannot declare both of them as attackers. The important rules that you missed are under 508.1:

508.1c The active player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can't attack, or that it can't attack unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of attackers is illegal.

508.1d The active player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature must attack, or that it must attack if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of attackers is illegal. If a creature can't attack unless a player pays a cost, that player is not required to pay that cost, even if attacking with that creature would increase the number of requirements being obeyed.

If you declare both Juggernauts as attackers, it would violate the Dueling Grounds restriction, so it would be illegal per 508.1c. If you declare neither as an attacker, you are following 0 of the 2 relevant requirements, so it would be illegal per 508.1d.
However, if you declare one of the Juggernauts as an attacker, then no restrictions are disobeyed, so it passes 508.1c, and 1 requirement is obeyed, which is the maximum number that could be obeyed with Dueling Grounds on the battlefield. That makes it a legal attack.
It's important to remember that when the rules say that a choice is illegal, it doesn't mean "you should go back and make a choice"; it means "you never should have made this choice". Rule 717 is there to handle the case where you broke a rule and the game state is fixable. There is never a case where you must make an illegal choice.


Check 6.3.1.2.

There is relevant errata published in The General #27.2.

Short: if France and Russia declare a combined movement, they can intercept and fight together against Turkey and Spain.
If there is no combined movement then in turn France and Russia can try to intercept and if they succeed can battle both Turkey and Spain, with an opportunity for France to DoW Turkey.


Can something have multiples of the same aura?

Yes you can. The only limit on enchantments is the same limit that all permanents have: the Legendary rule. You can only have 1 permanent in play of a given name if they are legendary.

However, even if you enchant a creature with the same enchantment, subsequent enchantments might not do anything. For example, you can only get lifelink once.

Take your Ethereal Armor example, the power/toughness bonus would stack, and presuming those are your only enchantments on the board, each would provide +2/+2 for a total of +4/+4.  However, granting the First Strike ability on the 2nd enchantment would do nothing, since that ability is already granted by the first enchantment.


How do I handle a late player for Battlestar Galactica?

The fundamental problem you have in adding a character mid game is that the number of loyalty cards in circulation has to change.  As to the options you proposed, having a character inactive but dealt loyalty cards is a bad idea because it throws off game balance.  For example, if there is a five player game, there are two cylons in circulation (as opposed to the one cylon in four player), making it far more likely that a cylon will be present before sleeper phase, but with one fewer human to balance that out this would severely disadvantage the humans (who already have the weaker position in the base game).  Instead, you actually do want to change the composition of the loyalty deck and deal in a new character when they get there, as long as it is before sleeper phase.  In the situations below, you construct the initial loyalty deck based on the number of players you have at the time, and will modify the deck when a new player (or possible multiple) join.  And, yes, I have actually done this in a game.

After Sleeper Phase (not recommended):

If it is after sleeper phase, all loyalty cards will have been dealt, making it very difficult to add a new player without incident.  If you are playing with an odd number of players to start, you can have the new player join as the sympathizer, but even this is really bad from a balance perspective as the sympathizer condition will almost certainly fall in favor of the humans late in the game.  Having the new player join as a cylon leader (see below) is the best option from a balance perspective, but probably sucks for the new player.  You should probably just finish and start another game.

Adding a Fifth Player:

If you start with four players and want to add a fifth, then you are going from having one cylon and a sympathizer in circulation to two cylons and no sympathizer.  Don't shuffle the sympathizer into the loyalty deck until sleeper phase (if you already shuffled it in, you will need someone who is not in the game to remove the sympathizer from the loyalty deck, as the cards still in the loyalty deck give away hidden information about the current game).  Then, when the new player joins, put the sympathizer back in the box, shuffle one not-a-cylon card into the deck (two if the new player is Baltar or Boomer), shuffle a new cylon card into the deck, and deal the new player starting loyalty card(s).  This will make the new player more likely to be a cylon (which means the new player is suspicious, and is rather accurate in terms of the show) but is about right in terms of game balance.

Adding a Fourth or Sixth Player:

Meanwhile, if you start with three or five players and want to add another, this isn't too bad.  Shuffle one not-a-cylon card into the deck (two if the new player is Baltar or Boomer), deal the new player starting loyalty card(s), and take the sympathizer out of the box, to be shuffled in to the loyalty deck during sleeper phase.

Adding a Cylon Leader:

Another good option is to have the new player be a cylon leader (if playing with the Pegasus or Daybreak expansion), as this doesn't change the distribution of loyalty cards, other than needing to replace the sympathizer card (if relevant) with a not-a-cylon card.  The new player will be at a slight disadvantage going in, having less time to execute on their scheme, but that's what they get for showing up late.

Notes for Expansions:

The Mutineer from Daybreak should behave the same as the sympathizer according to the instructions above, with one exception: if the new player starts as a cylon leader, do not change the composition of the loyalty deck at all (i.e. do not replace the mutineer with a not-a-cylon card).

If you are playing with the conflicted loyalties variant from Exodus, you're on your own on for making an adjusted loyalty deck work.


Wikipedia's article for basic strategy says to stand when dealt a hard 18-21, at all times, regardless of the dealer's face up card.

Given a game with the following parameters:

Four to eight decks
The dealer hits on a soft 17
A double is allowed after a split
Only original bets are lost on dealer blackjack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackjack#Basic_strategy
Source:  "4-Deck to 8-Deck Blackjack Strategy - Wizard of Odds". Wizard of Odds Consulting, Inc. Retrieved April 30, 2014. http://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/strategy/4-decks/


If two things say "You may pay (cost)" and I pay that cost once, do both things happen?

If you don't pay a mana the second time you are instructed "you may pay {R}", you do not get a second token.

When the creature enters the battlefield, the abilities of both Flameshadow Conjuring trigger. You place them on the stack in the order of your choice.

Only one spell or ability resolves at a time.

First, the newest instance of Flameshadow Conjuring's ability on the stack resolves. As part of resolving, it gives you the option to pay a cost, and creates a token if you do.

Later, the other instance of Flameshadow Conjuring's ability resolves. As part of resolving, it gives you the option to pay a cost, and creates a token if you do.

Neither of these abilities care about costs payed by similar abilities in the past. They just check if you payed the cost they gave you the option of paying.


Do I have to tell the other players how much money I have?

Officially, Money is hidden.

See the FAQ for Funkenschlag (the game was originally published in German under that name.

  Hide the amount of money

  Question: Are you supposed to hide the amount of money you have?

  Answer: The rules are not explicit on this point. You should play with hidden money, to prevent AP in the last (couple of) turn(s).

As Chris notes, this can slow the game down quite a bit as

People try to keep track mentally of everything
People may spend extra time figuring out their move by obsessively calculating how that would affect other people's turns.  (The common term for this is analysis paralysis)

So if you are playing in a tournament, expect that everyone's money will be hidden.  At home with your friends, if y'all are not overly competitive or wish to avoid analysis paralysis then feel free to keep money public for everyone.

Since shuffling money back and forth in Power Grid happens frequently, you can take advantage of declaring that money will be public by getting rid of the paper money completely:

Use a whiteboard or computer spreadsheet to track money for each player
Use poker chips.  They tend to be much easier to move around quickly and can be easily counted if everyone leaves them in stacks.


Perplexing Chimera + Hypnotic Siren. Do I control all of my opponent's spells?

No, this does not work. Exchanging control using Chimera's ability sets up a continuous effect; the same as the one created by Hypnotic Siren (or Mind Control, etc). When there are multiple effects that are applied in the same layer, they are all applied in timestamp order. This means that because the Chimera's ability resolved after the Siren's ability, your opponent will get the Chimera back.

  613.6. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.

    613.6a A continuous effect generated by a static ability has the same timestamp as the object the static ability is on, or the timestamp of the effect that created the ability, whichever is later.

    613.6b A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it's created.

Discussion on this interaction with Mind Control here.


Strongest early-game counters for a Modern deck?

It all depends, I suppose, on your precise definition of "early game".  Most people would probably agree that the best counter in Modern is Cryptic Command, but at 4cc that's not anyone's idea of "early disruption"...

If you really want to come out of the gates countering, you'll want to be looking at 1cc and 2cc counters.  At the 1-drop level, Spell Snare is probably top of the heap, because so many good, fast decks will lean heavily on good 2-drops.  Spell Pierce might fit the bill if it's not fast creature swarms you're most worried about; or Mana Tithe if you want something a bit more off-the-wall (and are capable of making white mana)!

Beyond those, 2cc counters are the "classic" option.  Mana Leak is better than Rune Snag in the early game, which seems to be what you're worried about; and then there's the excellent Remand, which, while it doesn't make the problem go away permanently, hopefully makes your tempo problems go away, until you can, as you say, "take control of the late game".  Both Mana Leak and Remand are non-negotiable solutions to the problem of an opponent overrunning you in the first few turns of the game, and those'd definitely be my first port of call when working out a solid base for a Modern counter-heavy deck.


Sunrise vs. "Summon Eclipse" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Going off of this version of the rules.

  If the Sunrise space is moved past in
  one turn, these effects still take
  place.

It sounds like the token always advances, and passing through the Sunrise space is sufficient to trigger the vampire actions.


Is bidding in contract bridge just a matter of applying a set of rules?

Wikipedia says that any bridge bidding system is a well-defined form of legal table talk:

  Each bidding system ascribes a meaning to every possible call by each member of a partnership, and presents a codified language which allows the players to exchange information about their card holdings.

That would seem to imply that there is no skill involved at all, but I think there's more to it than that.  I used to be a casual reader of the bridge quizzes printed in our newspaper.  They would tell stories of bridge tournaments where every table played the same hand, and different tables would arrive at slightly different contracts.  As the commenters have pointed out, there is some flexibility within the bidding system.  It's not an exact algorithm.  While everyone knows what your bid theoretically means in the context of your hand, you and partner still need to use that knowledge effectively to arrive at the most profitable contract.  The skill, therefore, is in correctly choosing the next bid, not in decoding the bids or deceiving your opponents.


Is it better to try to reveal a Traitor early, or wait until later in the game?

My experience is that a known but unrevealed traitor is less damaging than a revealed traitor. Moreover, an unrevealed traitor who doesn't know for certain he's been ID'd may be of some minor benefit, especially if the solo-quests are not his to lose.

An unrevealed traitor, however, can truly sabotage the single-time solo quests something fierce...

If the game is close to 12 swords, say 9+, and a quest is close it's time to gank the traitor to prevent 2 swords from flipping.


The base game does not say anything about limitations for where you can place aliens and in fact has alerts that place them where the active player is. What this means is if the active player ends their turn in a hallway they would spawn there since there is nothing preventing them from doing so. Since that is the case there is no problem with a teleport to move them all to the hallway.

That being said however I would say that is a bad idea unless you plan on killing them all right away as the hallway* is about the worst place they could be when things go bad. For example if you move a bunch of them to a hallway and then the teleporter goes down you have potentially blocked off access to a room and made it take longer to move around the ship. Ideally you would want to dump them into a room that you have little reason to use such as the cargo hold or the war room (if the admiral is in the game they can draw battle plans from any room so access to that room isn't critical).

I would also note in both expansions you will find aliens in the hallways more frequently with no new rules about hallways which also says it is okay in the base game.

*The safest hallway is between the war room and cargo hold as it doesn't block entry into any rooms. The other 3 hallways end up in a room being blocked if the teleporter goes down.


Can you use the angel token in conjunction with the rabbits foot

I wouldn't expect the rules to say anything about this; the card text is intended to be the rules. There's also nothing in the FAQ about it.

Angel Feather reads:

  When you attempt a roll of any kind, you can call out a number from 0 to 8. Use that number instead of rolling the dice.

To me, that fairly clearly implies that you choose the number before you roll - you use the number instead of rolling. If you could use it after you roll, I'd expect it to say something more like "After you attempt a roll of any kind, you may choose a number from 0 to 8, and use that number instead of the number you rolled."

Rabbit's Foot says:

  Once during your turn, you may reroll one die. You must keep the second roll.

Once you've rolled, it's too late to use a number instead of the roll. Once you've gone pat that and rerolled a die, you're even more clearly past that point. It sounds like you're right - you can't use these things together.


What happens to auras that come back from exile?

The comprehensive rules say this about Auras as they enter play:

  303.4. Some enchantments have the subtype “Aura.” An Aura enters the battlefield attached to an object or player. What an Aura can be attached to is defined by its enchant keyword ability (see rule 702.5, “Enchant”). Other effects can limit what a permanent can be enchanted by.

So, no matter how an aura enters the battlefield (usually by casting it, but Synod Sanctum works too) you choose what it is attached to. This is further specified in sub-section f:

  303.4f If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player’s control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell, and the effect putting it onto the battlefield doesn’t specify the object or player the Aura will enchant, that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura’s enchant ability and any other applicable effects.


Can Brago's ability keep Traft's angel token around?

If a token would leave the battlefield to any other zone it will cease to exist.

  110.5g A token that has left the battlefield can’t move to another zone or come back onto the battlefield. If such a token would change zones, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked; see rule 704.

You can flicker your traft and brago and yes since they are entering the battlefield they would be untapped and also have summoning sickness.

If you flicker a creature that's enchanted the enchantments would be removed and sent to the graveyard. Now if you flicker both the ward and the creature then I'm not sure but you might have to enchant another creature aside from the one re-entering since they enter at the same time and the enchantment wouldn't "see" the creature flickered along with it.


Should the barrel being discarded when hit - Bang

As you can see in this answer on BGG, the barrel stays until it is removed by another card.

Also, from the official rules:

  Blue-bordered cards are played face up in front of  you  (exception: Jail).  Blue  cards  in  front  of you are hence defined to be “in play”. The effect of  these  cards  lasts  until  they  are  discarded  or removed somehow (e.g. through the play of a Cat Balou), or a special event occurs (e.g. in the case of Dynamite). There is no limit  on  the  cards  you  can  have  in  front  of  you  provided  that  they  do  not share the same name.

The Barrel is a blue card. So you can use it as long as it is on your side of the table.


In Power Grid, what are the phases and what are the steps?

In later revisons of Power Grid phases are used to describe the difference phases of a turn. Steps are used to describe the 3 different game states that happens when a player builds 7 cities or pull the card in OP post from the top of the power plant pile.

The card does say "Step 3" in the later revisions that I played.

For more information check the Power Grid FAQ


How important is game theory in Dominion?

One of the clearest examples of game theory in Dominion shows up quite frequently in 2 player endgames, and it's called the Penultimate Province Rule (PPR). Basically, you should avoid buying the second to last Province if buying the remaining Province would allow your opponent to win.

Imagine a game where my opponent and I each have 3 Provinces, with 2 left in the supply. My opponent also has 4 Estates, while I only have 3. If I buy the penultimate Province, my opponent will probably buy the last one on his turn and win by a point (27-28). Instead of doing that, it's better for me to buy a Duchy (even with $8 or more). Now my opponent is in the same situation I was just in - if he buys a Province, I can get the last one on my turn and win (30-28). So his best option is to get a Duchy as well. We'll both continue to avoid the second-to-last Province, doing a "Duchy dance" until somebody's deck falls apart from the extra green cards or the Duchies run out.

In this example, knowing what your opponent is likely to do, and is capable of doing, is extremely important. Sometimes it's necessary to break PPR and hope that your opponent isn't able to snag the last Province, and it's good if you can time it so that this is more likely - perhaps you were able to attack, or maybe the opponent just had to shuffle at an inopportune time, or maybe he just missed putting his Alchemists on top. If you have to break PPR, it's best to keep an eye on what your opponent is doing so you can find the best time to strike.


No, the field does not 'top up'.

You cannot sow the field again until it is empty again.

From the page 6 of the rules:

  Grain may be sown in empty fields.

In the side panel:

  1 Grain becomes 3, 1 Vegetable becomes 2. Players can use the Sow action to sow several empty fields at once. It is irrelevant whether Grain or Vegetables was sown in the field previously. If it has been completely Harvested, it may be re-Sown.

In the extended example in the side panel:

  He cannot plant anything in the third field, because it still contains one Grain.

Strategy

I generally favour sowing and baking over eating animals - I find it gives much more food in the long run.

The general grain/bake bread strategy goes:

Stage 1: Get at least one field sowed. This takes three actions (Plow, Take grain, Sow). If you can, it's nice to get two fields sowed, but there might be other actions (eg. taking wood) that might be more worthwhile.

Stage 2: At harvest you recieved one grain.  Plow and sow another field (two actions). Acquire enough food using other means to feed your family.

Stage 3 and beyond: You are now producing at least two grain each harvest. Build either the Stone or Clay oven. Now when you sow, you sow one of your grains, and bake the other(s). That's an easy five/eight food, which is more or less enough to feed your family for that harvest. Also in stage 3 you should get a vegetable, and sow that. The vegetable is for points only, and remember that you only need four for max points, so don't go overboard.

Compare grain to sheep as a food source

Let's say you are getting every single sheep that comes out.

That's only four sheep in stage 1, three sheep in stage 2, and two sheep in the remaining stages. You'll also get one bonus sheep per stage at harvest.

In the later two round stages, that's a maximum of six food you can get solely from cooking sheep.

Whereas if you have say, 5 fields of grain, you could potentially be producing twenty five food from grain each stage. Admittedly this requires you to be using actions. Remember that if you have two ovens you can use them both in the same bake bread action.


Does Bear Umbra trigger if it was attached with Sovereigns of Lost Alara?

Bear Umbra's ability triggers when the creature it enchants is declared as an attacker. That happens at the same moment Sovereigns' ability triggers, so by definition it's too late for Bear Umbra. You have more luck next turn.

508.1. First, the active player declares attackers. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. To declare attackers, the active player follows the steps below, in order. ...

508.2. Second, the active player gets priority. (See rule 117, “Timing and Priority.”)

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


Calculating luck as a factor in board games?

A reasonable empirical measure of luck is the probability that the best player can beat a good player in a given game.  So if you can get data about a large player population (I have done this with Race for the Galaxy), you can get an implicit measure by looking at the Elo rating difference at various skill percentiles.

On the other hand, this only tells you about the amount of luck in the game as a whole, not in a particular game.


Are there any good intermediate deck building resources available in magic

As far as I know, there is not a "catch-all" resource that can answer any intermediate question that anyone could possibly dream up. However, I think that you are looking for what I would call "intermediate building blocks".

Here are some building blocks that are relevant to nearly any deck build, but are not so hard to understand for an intermediate player. Please skip over any material you find to be too advanced (except for the rules - don't skip the rules

What are the rules?

Understanding the rules is the most important tool when building a deck. I find The Judge's Corner on Youtube to be a great resource for understanding the rules. Wizards also releases a "rules clarifications" article right before every new set is released. You can read it to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the more complicated cards.

For example, when Red Deck Wins was in the same meta as Master of Waves, I made a decision to leave Anger of the Gods in my sideboard because Skullcrack removes his protection, and I main decked four Skullcracks. Had I not known the rules, Anger would appear to be useless against Master of Waves.

How much land?

In standard, this boils down to probabilities. If you have an iPhone or Android phone, I strongly suggest you download the free Manalyzer for Magic the Gathering app and play with the numbers. You want the least number of lands that will still give you a high probability or being able to play the cards that you are most likely to draw. There are countless other apps that were built to help with the math, so search for them.

Using an extreme case to serve as a basis for all other cases, if your deck consists of only 1 drops, and you have a 90% chance to have 3 lands by turn 3, you will probably run out of cards to play on turn 3. That may be good or bad, depending on what the cards are.

In short, you need to determine on what turn(s) you need your mana to be there for you. This ties in to the next topic.

Fundamental Turn

When does your deck win? I can't do this topic justice, so I suggest you read about it here, from the guy who coined the phrase.

Assume you have calculated your fundamental turn to be 6. You know that another deck that is in the meta has a fundamental turn of 4. What tools do you have to delay their fundamental turn? If you have none, you will lose. If you fill your deck with 1/3 creatures and he has a deck filled with 2/2 creatures, that will delay his fundamental turn. This leads to my last topic.

The Clock

I can't find the article I wanted to reference here, so I'll reference this one instead.

The clock is basically "if nothing changes, given the knowledge and board state that I have, in how many turns will I win or lose". If your opponent has a 4/4 flyer and you have no board, no cards, and 20 life, you are on a 5 turn clock. If you are milling 5 cards per turn and you have 40 left, you are on an 8 turn clock.

You can anticipate changes to your clock by assuming that your opponent has specific cards in hand and knowing what cards remain in your library. This is where understanding your meta comes in.

The Metagame

There are other decks out there. The ones that show up to tournaments the most form the "tournament meta". The ones that show up to your local store form the "local store meta". If you play with friends, your friends form your meta. Some metas are more stable than others (like legacy), while some are constantly shifting (like your friends).

I determine my meta using TCG player latest decks, by watching the latest StarCityGames tournaments on Twitch.tv, by watching Grand Prix tournaments (also on Twitch), and by playing a lot.

Once you know your meta, you can calculate the fundamental turn of the decks you will be facing, and adjust your deck to handle it.

Now you have the following resources in your arsenal:

The Judge's Corner and other mtg related playlists you may find
The Manalyzer and other probability tools you may find
A knowledge two important concepts: the fundamental turn and the clock
Your meta and 2-4 ways to discover and explore it

In the case that any of my links go bad, simply search for the bolded keywords. In the case that you know of a better article or tool than one I listed, please edit this answer with your awesome material.


In Sequence, can I add to both ends of a completed sequence to make it 2 sequences?

I've never played this but reading the rules here it seems explicit you can not.

  A connected series of five of the same colored chip either up or down, across or diagonally on the playing surface.

I'm assuming this is the definition of 'Sequence' as its not stated elsewhere in rules.  This however is the key rule with emphasis mine

  If you are playing the game which requires two SEQUENCES to win, you
  may use any one of the spaces from your first SEQUENCE as part of your
  second.

So you can just use ONE of your original Sequence.  If you add onto both ends of a 5 then you will be using more than one.

I don't see however why you couldn't extend 5 into a line of 9 meaning you have two sequences of 5 as this using just one of the original sequence. But it looks as you you may not extend both ends the way those rules are written.


When should I pay to invade a neutral country in Axis and Allies

At a basic level, I weigh the 3 IPC payment and the opportunity cost of the units I used to invade it against the benefit to be gained. That's pretty generic so some examples might help:

As Japan, I often find myself invading Panama in the mid- to late-game because my navy has nothing else useful to do. If America doesn't have any tanks in Western US, chooses not to use them, or if I have enough extra transports that I was able to land a blocking infantry in Mexico, then America will be unable to kill any units that landed in Panama. In this case, I'll typically invade Venezuela on the next turn and then take Brazil. The 3 IPCs from Brazil are an equal trade for the 3 I lose for invading a neutral, the value from really throwing a monkey wrench into America's plans is high, and the opportunity cost was low, since the navy wasn't busy anyway.
As the Allies I've landed in Spain before just to open up another front for Germany to defend. It can be very difficult to stage a successful amphibious invasion because of the lame attacking power of infantry, the one tank per transport limit, and the ability to lose your entire air force because of the no retreat rule. So to prevent having to attack, I've invaded Spain as the UK and dumped a full load of infantry followed by the US on their turn. Now Germany either has to counter attack (with only the infantry in France and without any tanks in EEU or further East) or give me a foothold in Europe I'll likely never give back.
I've also played with a house rule before where land units could cross the Bosporus if Turkey was occupied. So I tried invading Turkey as Germany to help me ferry troops into Africa. This didn't work that well as it's still a long way from the Fatherland.


Are there any rules differences between the two versions of Unexploded Cow?

Cheapass Games did a fair bit of retooling the game.  The core is the same, but the mix of cards and costs is a bit different, and they've also altered the rules:

Ante used to include filling the Pot (for general play) and the Bank (a prize for whoever won the city game).  The Bank has been eliminated, and the game works with just the Pot and the 500 franc ante from each player.
Speaking of, all the amounts have been converted to "francs" to use the new tokens that are included.
The starting money is now 5000 francs, not $2000, but the ante is now 500 francs, and not $100.
If the Pot becomes empty in the old game, it stays empty, and no one can get money from it until more funds end up being put in through normal play.  In the new game, it can still run dry and fail to provide funds, but all players must re-ante if the Pot starts a turn empty.  Keeps the money flowing.
City cards in the old game just run number values from 1 thru 12.  Now they have varying values (the highest is now 6 or 7, more average towns), and a second effect (take money, get another cow, etc)
A bomb roll simply used to count down from the right side of your field and then around the table until it matched a cow to explode, yours or someone elses.  It still does but now rolling a six forfeits the roll, you fail to find a bomb completely, and the player to your left gets a free roll using his field, as though it was their turn (yes, this means they can take a city on your turn, if you screw up the bomb roll).
Instead of taking the bank for winning the City score, the game now ends in a Sudden Death roll-off.  Players keep doing bomb rolls and exploding cows until they earn out the last of the pot.  Winning the City score earns you the first roll.

The rest of the game remains the same.  The event cards like "Natural Causes" and special cows like spies, mechanics, and generals remain the same.  Some of the costs and values are tweaked slightly for balance, but that's it (sadly it looks like I won't be able to show card-by-card here, but there are several shots of the new game online, and Cheapass has released the original version for free as a print-yourself-and-play).  So it's a polished up game, plus the remade art (which I have to mention is great and continues the hilarity of the theme) and much much better card stock.


Can I chose to bring a shockland untapped into play when I tutor it with an effect that brings a land tapped into play

No.

If you read Godless Shrine's ability carefully, you'll notice that it doesn't say the card enters the battlefield untapped if you do pay; it says the card enters the battlefield tapped if you don't pay.

Godless Shrine only affects how the card comes into the battlefield when you don't pay; it doesn't affect how the card comes into the battlefield when you do pay.

Flagstones of Trokair causes Godless Shrine to come into play tapped, and Godless Shrine doesn't do anything about that (even if you do pay).


Does the new specialist after a crew change retain saved unspent AP from the previous turn?

To me, the strict literal reading of the rules says yes (keep them).  Everything in the general section (p4) says the AP saved applies to "the player" not the Firefighter.  Nothing I read in the crew change rules negates this.


Can Net Shield ability be triggered "in response"?

In Android Netrunner anything with "prevent" or "avoid" is triggered outside the normal timing rules as the thing it wants to prevent or avoid is about to happen.

This means whenever you are about to take net damage for the first time in a turn, you can pay 1C to activate net shield and prevent 1 of that damage.

From the rulebook (PDF) page 21:

  Prevent or Avoid

  Some card abilities use the words “prevent” or
  “avoid.” Prevent or avoid effects are the only effects which can
  disrupt another effect. A prevent or avoid effect states what it is
  preventing or avoiding, and an effect that is prevented or avoided is
  not resolved. Prevent or avoid effects can be triggered whenever the
  effect they are preventing or avoiding is resolving.


Can I pay a "when this attacks, you may pay energy" cost multiple times?

What you have there are examples of triggered abilities. They say "Whenever [this card] attacks, ..." and this means that the moment you declare them as attackers, the ability triggers once and only once, and it's put on the stack.

When the ability resolves you follow the text of the ability: you either pay the mentioned energy cost or you don't. You don't have the option of paying it several times in a single trigger because the ability doesn't say you do. And it doesn't trigger multiple times because "Whenever [this card] attacks, ..." is specifically a simplification of "When you declare [this creature] as an attacker, ...".

You would have been able to pay an arbitrary amount of energy if either of the following had been the case:

If the ability were an activated ability. Activated abilities look like "Cost: Effect". So if the swooper had had "[2 energy symbols]: Create a 1/1 artifact servo token", you could've created an army at any time, provided you had enough energy.
If the triggered ability had explicitly let you pay as much energy as you wanted. If the leopard had had "Whenever Aetherborn Leopard attacks, pay any amount of [energy symbol]. Aetherborn Leopard gets +2/+0 for each [energy symbol] spent this way" you could've pumped it to be as large as you wanted, provided you had enough energy.


Do other players replenish their traded cards after a trading phase in Bohnanza?

To the best of my knowledge, there is no "minimum hand size" rule in Bohnanza.

The active player draws three cards at the end of his round, but it's perfectly possible to start your round with no cards at all in hand!  As demonstrated by this line in the "1. Plant bean cards" section of the rulebook:

  If the active player has no cards in his hand, he omits this step.

So, no, you don't draw to replace cards you used in trades, at least not in any variant of Bohnanza I'm familiar with.


A game with coloured animal tiles & figurines of Chinese men

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3147/mandarin

Its Mandarin, a Chinese Zodiac game by Mattel.


How does drawing then discarding work with a full hand?

No, if you cast that spell on your opponent, he draws 2 for a total of 9 hand cards, then discards 4 cards, down to 5.

  402.2. Each player has a maximum hand size, which is normally seven cards. A player may have any number of cards in his or her hand, but as part of his or her cleanup step, the player must discard excess cards down to the maximum hand size.

The cleanup step is the last step in each player's turn.


Warhammer 40k 8th: When using two allied factions what stratagems and warlord traits do you use from the codices

You can find all the information you need regarding the stratagems in your codex - right on the page with the stratagems. I'll quote from the Codex "Astra Militarum", p. 134 (of the german version):

  Wenn du eine Armee in Schlachtordnung hast, die beliebige Astra-Militarum-Kontingente enthält (außer verstärkende Unterstützungskontingente), hast du Zugang zu den unten beschriebenen Gefechtsoptionen; du kannst also Befehlspunkte ausgeben, um sie zu aktivieren [...]

Very Loosely translated:

  If you have an army that is battleforged and contains any Astra Militarum detachments (except whatever the english name for the detachment that allows you to just take any single unit you want for the price of one CP is), you gain access to the stratagems below. Meaning you can use Command Points to activate them

This text also appears in other codexes (I checked my codex Chaos Space Marines) and in the Psychic Awakening books (I checked Glaube und Zorn, which is the german version of Faith and Fury)

This means that as long as you have at least one full detachment from a specific army/keyword, you can use the stratagems. Note that most (if not all) stratagems are pretty much limited to be used only on the faction they come from (or even more specific units) - Your choice of Warlord is completely irrelevant for this, you have access to both AdMech and Knight Stratagems no matter which Warlord you choose.