Vassal is pretty low bandwidth - as you correctly guess, the graphics are all part of the pre-downloaded game files, so in play it only sends information about which pieces you moved and where to.  It's on the same order as using a text chat app, and pretty favourable compared to a web page.

Obviously you'll need to download and update the actual game files in advance, as those can be larger.

(There's still enough bandwidth usage that you could notice the cost, however, if you're on a pay-per-byte plan for your mobile.)


What happens when someone references the Masons. Ultimate Werewolf

Let me start out by saying I generally don't like rules that restricts what players can discuss. I find that it makes for interesting gameplay to let people discuss freely about what roles exist in the game. - which is why I never play with this "Don't mention the Masons" rule.

That being said, I find that there are 2 reasons behind this restriction:

1. Thematic
The masons are a secret society. The masons themselves are not allowed to acknowledge its existance, and the rest of the village simply don't know about it.

2. Balance
The Masons may seem somewhat overpowered because they can just tell everyone who they are, and nobody but the evil team has any reason to contest their claim - which allows you to quickly narrow down who's the werewolf.

To answer your question:

Yes, if a mason mentions the masons, they die. If not you could just start the game by yelling "MASON!", and the fact that you didn't die that night would be evidence of your role.

No, the masons don't get to pick and choose who dies. They only wake up the first night to learn each others' identity.

Yes, technically, if everyone talks about the Masons, everyone dies. That'll teach them. After the first massacre people probably won't do it again in future games...

To be honest, the death punishment shouldn't even be needed in my opinion. If the rule is not to talk about the masons, don't talk about the f'ing masons! Just like you're not allowed to look at each others' cards or peak during night time. Obey the rules, or don't play the game.


I found this deck of cards and have no clue what it is called or how it is played

I have no idea at all what these are, but based on the complete lack of google entries, I am guessing they are homemade.

Regarding the three stats 'FrP', 'Gui', and 'Lck'.  I'm not sure what FrP is, but maybe the others are Guile and Luck?  Perhaps these are for some role playing game with those three character statistics?

My guess is that these were printed by someone for a campaign in some role playing game, maybe even a homebrew RPG.


If you buy a house at "auction," can you put it on any property?

The rules are unclear on the exact procedure:
. Building Shortages

... If there are a limited number of houses and hotels available and two or more players wish to buy more than the Bank has, the houses or hotels must be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

My interpretation is that everyone entering the auction must announce, on entry, which Colour Group they are bidding for; and upon winning an auction must place the acquired house on that Colour Group.
Further, if an auction is being held for more than one house it is likely best that the players agree to hold separate auctions for each one.  Some interesting game theoretic concepts might arise, in this circumstance, when an auction is being held for multiple houses at a single occurrence; and it would be a shame for these to not come to light.

Update
To be clear, my proposal is:

A house auction begins when players have stated intention to buy more houses than there are houses available.

To have stated such intent, each player has, per force announced the Colour Group for which they are buying a house; and must have the capability of making such purchase from cash on hand (House Rule: and by mortgaging additional properties) but not by selling houses back to the bank. An invalid entry comprises Bankruptcy to the Bank - know your limits.

Auction price always begins at $1, regardless of what combination of Colour Groups have been announced by the auction Entrants for this House(s).

The number of houses at auction is the amount by which house demand exceeds supply. If there are 9 houses and four players announce intent to buy (for a maximum of 1 Colour Group each) 13 houses. than an auction begins for 13-9 = 4 houses.

A bid by a valid entrant (above) is final once made. If an Entrant bids an amount greater than they can immediately pay from cash and from mortgaging undeveloped properties on undeveloped Colour Groups that entrant is Bankrupt to the Bank and out of the game.

The Player winning each House Auction must place all houses won on any properties of the one Colour Group announced by that player as destination when entering the Auction; in accordance with the normal placement rules for houses on a Colour Group.

There are two deliberate strategic considerations explicitly available to the players here:

The last Player(s) into an Auction have increased ability to control the size of that Auction.

It is possible, and allowed, to attempt acquisition of houses more cheaply than normal through strategic auctions. The Players have an obligation to protect themselves against such activity by being in a position to compete in Auctions. this is no different from acquiring Properties cheaply in Property Auctions.


Yes, the exiled player still draws a crossroads card and the player on the right still draws one for him/her.

Since they can't have any survivors in the colony, they can't vote on any cards that require survivors in the colony.

One of the designers clarified this in a reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/2kt5fn/dead_of_winter_question_probably_dumb/


When are additional Dominion actions chosen?

Simply? Yes.

Imagine you have a little "action bank". At the start of your turn, it contains "1 Action" which you can spend to play an Action card. If you play a terminal card (like Smithy) then you're down to "0 Actions" and you're done. If you play a non-terminal like Market, after it uses up the action in the bank, it gives +1 Action - so it repays itself, and you can play another Action card. If you play a village/splitter that says "+2 Actions", you get to put both those actions in the bank. So you can then use one to play a Smithy, draw three cards, then use the second action to play any Action card in your hand, including one drawn with the Smithy.

"+1 Buy" and "+1 Coin" work in the same way, except that you can't use either of them until your Buy phase (i.e. once you're done playing all your Action cards), with a slight exception with Black Market. "+1/2/3 Cards" is the only one that's different, in that its effect resolves instantly without choice - when you play a card that tells you to draw cards, you draw them immediately.


WH/40k - The age-old instant death and multiwound models question

6th edition

When rolling with a weapon with the instant death rule, the wound itself delivers instant death.  The rulebook advises:

  Remember to use different coloured dice or otherwise distinguish
  between the Wounds that have different special rules attached to them
  (like those inflicting Instant Death....)  (p. 25)

In short, since the die itself is the vehicle for Instant Death, you would be able to (in order to maximize your damage), apply your Instant Death wound first (assuming compliance with normal wound allocation rules), and allow all additional wounds to be distributed to other enemies.

  If there is more than one eligible candidate, the player controlling the
  models being attacked chooses which model it is allocated to. (p. 25)

7th edition

Follow the above rules, except when dealing with Gargantuan creatures:

  UNSTOPPABLE

  Any attack that normally inflicts Instant Death or says that the
  target model is removed from play inflicts D3 Wounds on a Gargantuan
  Creature or Flying Gargantuan Creature instead

Other notes:

Instant Death effect is voided by the Eternal Warrior special rule; when this occurs, only the -1 wound applies, but not the "reduce to 0 wounds and remove from play".

In short, you can choose your path 'a', which is well within your rights and is supported by both rulebook editions.


No you cannot.  The ability you are looking for is called madness.  Here are the cards that have madness:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&text=+[madness]


Star Trek: Deck Building - Experience and Stats Pool

No, you only need to meet the goals on an exploration card to acquire the card and move it to your Points Area. The rules clearly indicate that you don't have to spend experience to complete missions. You should treat experience as a pool though. When you spend experience to gain cards from the Starbase or to repair damage, that experience isn't available for purchasing any other cards or repairing other damage. The glossary doesn't define what it means by spend, but this is clearly the intent.

This is covered in the Rulebook.

  Q.The Mission I want to complete, has a goal of 6+ XP, do I have to spend 6 XP to
  complete it?

  A. No, you just need to have cards in your Bridge that combine to 6 or more XP. That XP
  can be spend for other things as usual.

Yes, you only need 4+ Attack to complete the goals of those missions. Normally, you only get one Explore per turn though.

  GOAL - This is the criteria that must be met to acquire this card and move it to your Points Area

  Perform 1 Explore - The Space Deck contains several different cards that you must
  obtain to gain Mission Points and win the game. To explore, you flip over the top card of the Space Deck and proceed based on the type of card flipped (See page 15 for Exploring the Space
     Deck). This can be performed multiple times if you get
  additional  explores.


If I wanted to buy a card protector for every card in Arkham Horror (and expansions), how many would I need of each type?

You will need:

Set                     Investigator   Ancient One
Arkham Horror              189             179
Curse of the Dark Pharoah   76              90
Dunwich Horror             152             180
The King in Yellow          76              90
Kingsport Horror           112             207
Black Goat of the Woods     90              88
Innsmouth Horror            96             176
Lurker at the Threshold     56             110
Miskatonic Horror          112             336

Total                      959            1456

According to the Fantasy Flight Sleeve Guide, that equates to 20 packs of Mini American Board Game Sleeves and 30 packs of Standard American Board Game Sleeves if you have everything.


Can a player with cards pass but not declare end of round?

You can take a regular turn and do nothing. However, you will end up discarding at least one card.
Everything I reference here is from these rules.
Page 5, "A Player's Turn":

If your Deed deck is empty at the start of your turn, and if the End of the Round has not been announced yet, you may forfeit your turn and announce the End of the Round. If you do, each other player takes one more turn, and then the Round is over.

b. You must announce End of the Round if your Deed deck is empty and you have no cards in your hand at the start of your turn.
c. If you have cards in your hand, but your Deed deck is empty, it is up to you whether to announce End of the Round, or whether to play your turn.

If you do not forfeit your turn, you have two options: playing a Regular turn, or Resting.

a. In both cases, you have to play or discard at least one card during or at the end of your turn (except if your hand is empty but there are still cards in your Deed deck at the beginning of your turn).

If you rest you'll end up discarding cards anyway. During a "regular turn", you don't have to move . As long as you're not in an area with a mandatory action you don't have to do anything. However, this is dealt with later on.
Page 9, "End of the Turn":

7. Drawing new cards:
a. Before drawing, you may discard any number of non-Wound cards from your hand, if you wish.
• If you did not play or discard any cards during your turn, you must discard at least one card now.
d. If you run out of cards in your Deed deck while drawing, stop drawing. Do not reshuffle your discard pile unless you have the Night Tactic card “Long Night” (see that card).

If you want to stall out the end of the game, you can do so for as many turns as you have cards in your hand. Playing a skill doesn't change the fact that you haven't played or discarded any cards at the end of the turn so it won't stall the game out unless it can put more cards in your hand.


If I turn a token creature into an enchantment aura, can I choose to attach it to something or does it just go to the graveyard?

You can copy auras through Replication Technique, have them enchant something, and copy them through Brudiclad. However, the tokens turned into auras by Brudiclad will die immediately.
Replication Technique creates a token aura. An aura that enters the battlefield through any means other than resolving an aura spell enters the battlefield attached to a legal target of your choice:

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.

However, if you change an existing permanent's subtype to aura through Brudiclad, that permanent did not enter the battlefield at that time. The aura will not attach to anything and go to their owner's graveyard as a state-based action:

303.4c If an Aura is enchanting an illegal object or player as defined by its enchant ability and other applicable effects, the object it was attached to no longer exists, or the player it was attached to has left the game, the Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

The state-based action referred to in 303.4c is:

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


What happens if I tap a creature in response to Tolarian Kraken's ability?

When you draw a card, the Kraken's ability triggers. When that ability resolves, you can choose to pay {1}. If you do, the second part triggers, and you have to choose a target if you can. What to do with that target is not decided until resolution, whether you want to tap it, untap it, or just leave it be (the ability says "may").


Can a player take a card from the researcher on their turn if they have the co-worker relationship but are not in the same city?

Yes.

Co-worker allows players to Share Knowledge at a distance under specific conditions. When the researcher is the one passing the card, it overrides that condition, whether it's the researcher or another character initiating the action.


It's pretty obviously NO.

Page 2 of the rules  -

  Except where noted below, Catan: Seafarers uses the same
  rules as The Settlers of Catan

On page 4

  Shipping routes act as roads across water (or along the
  coast). You build and place ships in much the same way as
  roads

AND it specifically states

  If your shipping route reaches a coastline, you can then
  build a new settlement on that coast, even if it is a new island.
  Of course, you must still obey the “distance rule” from basic
  Settlers, even if you are building on a new island.

So ships are 'water' roads and you still need two hex sides between settlements/cities


How well do Forbidden Desert and Forbidden Island play with two players?

I would probably, between the two, suggest Forbidden Desert, as one thing it brings that Island lacks is specific balancing based on the number of players in the game.  Desert's analog to the "Flood Meter" from Island has different tracks based on the number of players.  Also, unlike Island, Desert supports up to five players as designed.


Munchkin Booty: is there a time limit for "Not so fast me bucko"

I can't seem to find anything about the definition of immediately in the official FAQ. But my interpretation would be that as long as no other actions were taken between the drawing of monster and the playing of the card, that would still count as immediate.

But as the rules themselves say

  Any disputes should be settled by loud arguments, with the owner of the game having the final word.


When you don't have enough food on Christmas, what happens when you choose thumbs up?

Step back from the rules and think about it for a second. You don't get to feel good about giving out food if you don't give out the food!

"Do as much as you can" applies to effects (benefits), not costs (requirements). "Spend 5 food" is really a cost here. I would not permit that option to be picked since the result would make no sense.


Turning in cards when you have five or six cards

You can only get one card per turn so you would never move from 4 to six in one turn.

Not true. The rules of Risk state that you get the cards held by an opponent if you eliminate them from the game. There is the additional condition: When you get enough cards from an opponent that brings you to six or more cards you must immediately turn in sets until you have four or fewer cards left over. (You must stop if you have four or three cards and have another set to turn in.)

But consider the case where you start your turn with four cards, then eliminate someone with one card. You gain the card, giving you five cards. At the end of the tern, you've captured new territory so you draw another card. This gives you six cards at the start of your next turn!

So therefore it's possible to have up to six cards at the start of your turn, but no more than that. The rules explicitly state that if you have five or six cards, you must turn in a set. Having five cards and waiting for the sixth isn't playing by the rules.


Do Monster Surges Count as a Prevented Gate Opening for the Purpose of Increasing the Deep One Rising Track?

Apparently the official ruling is that a monster surge is not a gate opening, it is an effect that occurs instead; and it does not cause a Deep One token to be added.

This page on the Arkham Horror wiki also suggests that adding a Deep One token is an event that occurs at a different time than a monster surge, and offers some additional explanation of the difference!


In Flash Point: Fire Rescue can you "pick up" a victim marker with the Ambulance by driving past it?

You cannot

The rules say that:

  In the Experienced game Victims must be carried to the Ambulance to be Rescued

And

  Vehicles may be driven by
  the Firefighters, but only to their respective parking spot

So an Ambulance can only be in a parking spot and you have to carry victims to the Ambulance. You need to bring the victims to the parking spot.


What the difference between +x/+x on some Cards, and how does it effect the ability "Undying"

The difference is one of bookkeeping: what exactly is keeping track of whether a creature has a +1/+1 effect or not.

For card A (it's most common to see that written on an instant or sorery, or as a "when this card enters the battlefield"-effect for permanents, or similar "happens once and is then done"-effects), each separate creature gets a counter which makes that creature stronger (intuitively, each creature is thinking "Oh boy, I have a +1/+1 counter! That means I'm stronger."). It will stay with that creature for as long as that creature is on the battlefield, unless some effect specifically removes that counter. New creatures coming into play will not have the counter, and no matter what happens to card A, the creatures who have been given counters will keep them.

For B, it is card B itself which keeps track of and boosts all creatures. New creatures entering the battlefield will also benefit from the effect. However, if card B leaves the battlefield, then all creatures will lose their +1/+1 bonus. (Intuitively, it is card B who is thinking "My presence makes all these creatures larger". The relevant rules keyword here is "static ability")

As a rule of thumb, cards in Magic: the Gathering (except the really old ones) are quite precise in their language. If an effect doesn't mention counters, then counters aren't involved. Similarily, if a continuous effect (like change of control of a permanent, or giving a creature +1/+1) doesn't say "until end of turn", it won't end.


Crimson Hellkite vs Telekinetic Sliver + Darkheart Sliver

If player A taps his Telekinetic sliver to tap opponent's Crimson Hellkite, the opponent can pay 2 red mana (he can pay X, but let say he pays two) and tap the Crimson Hellkite to put on the stack "Crimson Hellkite does two damages to target creature".

Correct.

  Now what if player has a Darkheart sliver in play and wants to sacrifice his Telekinetic sliver to gain three life? Can he do it? Does this goes on the stack too and resolve first?

Yes.

  And then the opponent's ability on the stack fails because there's no target anymore?

Yes.

  And then player A cannot tap the Crimson Hellkite because it is already tapped?

The ability played by Player A will still resolve, it just won't change anything, since as you say, the Hellkite is already tapped.

  "Each player chooses the order in which his or her triggered abilities are put on the stack"

There are no triggered abilities in the scenario you outlined. They were all activated abilities. This line does not apply. See 603.1 in the comprehensive rules:

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


Can I bring a visual flow chart for complex magic cards to events?

No, you cannot refer to pre-made notes or diagrams like that during matches in a tournament. The Magic Tournament Rules section 2.11 says the following:

Players are allowed to take written notes during a match and may refer to those notes while that match is in progress. At the beginning of a match, each player’s note sheet must be empty and must remain visible throughout the match. Players do not have to explain or reveal notes to other players. Judges may ask to see a player’s notes and/or request that the player explain their notes.
Players may not refer to other notes, including notes from previous matches, during games.


What are the rules for a space marine commander?

Was this Space Marine Commander the miniature you saw?
If so, at least according to the description on the website, it appears you'd be treating this as a Captain for rules purposes:

Space Marine Commander
A Captain leads each of the ten Companies of a Space Marine Chapter. They are second in experience only to the Chapter Master and each is a warrior so deadly that he will rarely meet his match. Each Captain is an inspirational and determined leader, able to coordinate the Space Marines under his command whatever the opposition.


How to eliminate advantages gained from the seating position of inferior players?

I think you can't have a serious, cutthroat game with a wide range of skills, so relax. Gently coach the new players, but no more than they're willing to receive. Play a couple of dummy rounds for the new players and then restart if needed.

If you're really serious, you can investigate ways to handicap the game, but that's really hard to do without ruining the balance of most games.


In bridge, is there a penalty if dummy incorrectly lays down his hand?

As a general guideline, all players at the table are jointly responsible for the play and management of Dummy's cards. Consequently, in accordance with Law 64 of The Laws of Contract Bridge (2014):

Law 64 - Procedure after Establishment of a Revoke
...
D. there is no penalty for the established revoke ...
3. if the revoke was made in failing to play any card faced on, or belonging to a hand faced on, the table, including a card from the dummy's hand, or ....

So although a revoke in Spades by Dummy may have occurred and become established, there is no penalty except as provided in the recap of Law 64:

When any established revoke, including one not
subject to penalty, causes damage to the non-offending
side insufficiently compensated by the Law, the
offending side should transfer additional tricks so as to
restore equity.

If no revoke occurred before the discovery of the Spade amongst Dummy's Clubs, then there is no basis for a penalty. However if one of your opponent's is competent at counting to 13, and you are playing for stakes above a couple of cents per point, then I would keep a sharp eye on said opponent in future contests. I have never known a strong player (meaning one who habitually counts as part of playing the game) to not immediately notice any error in Dummy's hand.

As an aside: I am sure that every duplicate club has had a scenario like the following occur every few years:

Auction:
Pass - Pass - Pass - DIRECTOR!
"This hand has not been shuffled since last week, when I made 8.5 match points with my Right-Hand Opponent's cards for 1NT just in."

That is how well strong players remember all 52 cards of a hand, even long after it is over and scored.


What do the numbers in parentheses mean?

You get the bonus if at least one other player has more victory points than you. I'm basing that on the description at the end of this unofficial rules summary.

The official rulebook is available online, but I seem to be missing the font for the text, so I can't read it to confirm.


I would suggest a spot test. Try oiling a small, inconspicuous section of one stone.


Can I get help identifying these models?

Looks like two Space Marine Commander. That box can be used as either a Captain or a Lieutenant.

This box set contains one multi-part plastic Space Marine Commander, including nine different weapon options, three variant heads and additional parts to further customise your model.

Left is a Captain with a combi-plasma and a power fist; Right is a Lieutenant with two power swords.


Solitaire game with all cards up in 5 rows of 10 cards each?

The game sounds like Seahaven Towers. Here is a JavaScript version of the game. The one clarification is that you may have four extra cards on the side. A short explanation of the rules, from the link above.

Sea Haven Towers is a solitaire game created by Art Cabral and is similar to Freecell, Eight Off, and Baker's Game.
There are 4 temporary spaces and 4 foundations above the 10 columns of the tableau. Foundations are build up in suit from Ace to King. Temporary spaces can hold one card at a time.
The bottom card of each column is available for play. It may be moved to a temporary space, the foundation, or another column building downward in suit. Empty columns may be filled only by a King.
To improve the game play, multiple cards may be dragged at once as long as there are enough empty temporary spaces such that the move could be made by moving the cards individually.


Mille Bornes Fast Play Rules Clarification

I believe the "resume in normal order" text is there to emphasize the difference between this and the normal Coup Fourré move -- that is, that in your example, after South draws their replacement card, and North's turn ends, East takes the next turn as normal.


Can I sacrifice and regenerate Augur of Skulls multiple times in the same turn?

No, that won't work
Regeneration prevents the destruction of a permanent, but sacrificing a permanent is different from destroying it:

701.16. Sacrifice
701.16a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent he or she doesn’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.


Paper thickness (weight) to use for card tabs/dividers?

The main consideration in my experience (many, many Magic cards) is that the thickness/weight of the paper doesn't matter as much as the stiffness and the smoothness of it.  you'll want something that slides out easily, so the cards can be retrieved without losing the divider in the box.  The stiffness is important because anything too flexible will tend to fray the tab portion.  Since dominion is a standard card size, I'd highly suggest plastic dividers, which can be obtained for as little as $0.10 each at various stores.


You can do a lot worse than the Deckbuilders toolkit for starting out, you will be surprised as well how quickly a collection can start to grow even just buying the odd booster or as said above taking part in local drafts or events. Your best bet for good advice about this would be at your local games store or even better at your local Friday Night Magic. They will welcome a new player and have lots of advice to give, tips, point you in the right direction etc.


Can the pirate be placed on the edge of the board?

Yes, I would suggest that it's possible! The frame is just a convenience feature of newer editions and was originally composed of normal water hexes.


How to improve Blessed vs Cursed duel deck?

You're on the right track. Finding combos and abusing them is the way to go. However, mtg is a very p2p game. Look into a format called pauper that uses only commons for a cheap way to get in. Also, vampires and madness can be made for standard cheaply with onli shadows over innistrad and Erdrich moon.


Hi and welcome to MTG!

So, Magic is a game with many formats, similar to how Hearthstone has Standard and Wild modes. I'll list the most common ones for you:

  Standard: Cards that were released within the last few "blocks". Right now this is every main set released until now since Battle for Zendikar, which came out October 2015. This format rotates cards out as they get older, kind of like Hearthstone's Standard.

  Modern: Every card that's ever been legal in standard since the release of Eighth Edition, in 2003. Cards don't rotate out of this format, but if a card does bad things to the game, it can be banned from tournament play.

  Legacy: Every card that's ever been printed, with some banned cards. Magic's been around since 1993, so that's 10 years worth of cards that aren't in Modern!

  Vintage: Every card that's ever been printed, period. Nothing is banned in Vintage, although you are "restricted" on certain powerful cards. Normally you can play up to 4 of any given card in your deck, but restricted cards you can only have one in your deck.

These are the "core" formats, where you play with a typical 60+ card deck. Vintage and Legacy are almost certainly too expensive to recommend to a new player (competitive deck prices reach into the thousands), and even Modern is pretty pricey (competitive decks are minimum a couple of hundred dollars, and some are much more). Standard is not terribly expensive, but since cards "rotate" out of the format you won't get to keep playing the same deck forever.

If you want to start playing, these competitive formats aren't the easiest way. The simplest route is to buy starter decks and just jam a few games with your friends! It won't line up with the deck archetypes you listed, but you can move on to building those later, when you have more experience. In the most recent set released, Kaladesh, the starter decks are called "Planeswalker Decks". Buy one of each and start playing with a friend, just to get a better grip on the rules. If you want, you can also buy packs (from Kaladesh or from whatever set looks interesting to you) and add/replace cards of the appropriate colour to your decks, to customize them.

Once you've played for a little bit and have a good grasp on the rules, you can start buying singles to build a deck for whatever format you choose (as yes, that is far more efficient than cracking packs), or if you want to play at a game store/more competitively, you can start playing Limited. In Limited, you crack packs and then build a 40 card deck out of the cards you got and play against other people. It's much cheaper (at least in the short term) than any other competitive format, everyone's on an even playing field because you're all opening the same kind of pack, and it's a very interesting, different experience to playing with constructed decks!

I hope this was helpful and I hope you have fun!


Illegal jobs, warrant issues and particular scenario

You only discard an Active Job if you get issued a warrant while working that job.

Firefly Rules, pg 14

  If you receive a Warrant while Working a Job, discard the Job, returning it to the discard pile of the issuing Contact.

This is the only mention of discarding Active Jobs when you get a Warrant. You only lose the Job you are using your Work action for, you don't lose other Jobs, and gaining a Warrant outside of a Work action doesn't effect your current Jobs at all.


Cluedo with bonus cards. Does move anywhere card let you interact with the place you entered?

If you give us the version name we can give you a better answer but based on what you wrote :

Since you draw cards at the end of your turn you should not be able to use them instantly
I guess that the move anywhere is instead of moving or before moving, if that's the case you should be able to interact with the room...
Otherwise you shouldn't be able to interact
You can add six to a dice only after rolling them, since you drew cards after moving, you shouldn't be able to use it instantly in order to move again

That's all we can conclude without the edition's name.


What is a Conspiracy Card and how does it work?

Conspiracy is a special, standalone set in MtG, currently consisting of two expansions: Conspiracy; and Conspiracy: Take the Crown.
First and foremost, I'd recommend you read these articles, which explain some of the set and its mechanics:
The Conspiracy format
The Mechanics of Conspiracy
The second article explains both what are Conspiracy cards and how Hidden Agenda works. Also, this is the official rule for Conspiracy cards:

905.4. At the start of the game, before decks are shuffled, each player may put any number of conspiracy cards from his or her sideboard into the command zone.

And here are the rules for cards with Hidden Agenda:

702.105a Hidden agenda is a static ability that functions as a conspiracy card with hidden agenda is put into the command zone. “Hidden agenda” means “As you put this conspiracy card into the command zone, turn it face down and secretly choose a card name.”
702.105b To secretly choose a card name, note that name on a piece of paper kept with the face-down conspiracy card.
702.105c Any time you have priority, you may turn a face-down conspiracy card you control in the command zone face up. This is a special action. Doing so will reveal the chosen name. See rule 115.2h.
702.105d Hidden agenda and another ability of the object with hidden agenda that refers to “the chosen name” are linked. The second ability refers only to the card name chosen as a result of that object’s hidden agenda ability. See rule 607.2d.

(Mostly) Unrelated to Conspiracy is The Commander format, from which the term Command Zone is taken. The Command Zone is a special zone in a game of Commander, where the commander (or general) of your deck begins the game.
Some Conspiracy cards reference the Command Zone, as it's a zone in the game that's reserved for objects with overarching effects on the game. See rules 408.1...

408.1. The command zone is a game area reserved for certain specialized objects that have an overarching effect on the game, yet are not permanents and cannot be destroyed.

And 408.3:

408.3. In the Planechase, Vanguard, Commander, Archenemy, and Conspiracy Draft casual variants, nontraditional Magic cards and/or specially designated cards start the game in the command zone. Each variant has its own rules regarding such cards. See section 9, “Casual Variants.”


Can I kill an opponent in response to lethal activated abilities, and not take the damage?

You will win; in a 2-player game, a player leaving the game for any reason means the remaining player wins immediately and the game is over, no matter the game state. In multiplayer, once a player has left the game, all cards they own and all non-card objects they control on the stack leave the game with him.

104.2a A player still in the game wins the game if that player's opponents have all left the game. This happens immediately and overrides all effects that would preclude that player from winning the game.
104.5. If a player loses the game, that player leaves the game.  [..]

Additional rules for multiplayer, when one player leaves the game but the game still continues:

800.4a When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game and any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end. Then, if that player controlled any objects on the stack not represented by cards, those objects cease to exist. Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that player, those objects are exiled. This is not a state-based action. It happens as soon as the player leaves the game. If the player who left the game had priority at the time they left, priority passes to the next player in turn order who's still in the game.


Where can I find reviews of board games?

BoardGameGeek can be a great resource, but it can be a bit hard to figure out where everything is.

First, you can search for games by name, if you know what game you're looking for. Or you can use the "Browse" feature to find games by category or mechanic.

Once you've found a game, you find yourself on a page that's stuffed full of information, somewhat haphazardly laid out. At the top, there is the name of the game, a picture, and some basic information on number of players, suggested age range, and so on. This can be useful to determine if it will work well for your group.

You then see a description of the game, followed by some places it might be for sale, followed by some additional information. Keep on looking as you go down, you eventually come to the Forums. Click on the "Reviews" link, and you will see a list of all of the reviews for that game. Look through these; they tend to be fairly detailed, explaining the mechanics of the game and how they work.

That's not all that BGG has to offer, though. If you keep looking further down the page, you come to the Statistics section. This is where statistics about people's ratings and the game's ranking are collected. One of the links is to "Personal comments." This will give you a list of many short comments that people have made on the games, organized by their rating. I find this invaluable for getting a quick feel of why some people liked the game, and some didn't; I usually try to check out a few of the comments with a 10 rating, a few with a 7 rating, and a few with lower ratings, to get a sense of how different people see the game. Only a few people leave long, detailed reviews, but there are usually hundreds of people who leave comments.


Can you equip multiples of the same item?

There are no limitations on equipped items, so yes, and yes.


Sower of Discord, Gideon's Sacrifice and Stuffy Doll

Player 2 and player 3 will each lose 3 life.

Lightning bolt tries to deal 3 damage to player 2 and gets redirected to Stuffy Doll.
Lightning bolt resolves dealing 3 damage to Stuffy Doll.
Stuffy Doll's trigger goes on the stack to deal 3 damage to player 3.
Trigger resolves, player 3 takes 3 damage and loses 3 life (now down to 9 life).
Sower's ability sees the damage and it's trigger goes on the stack to make player 2 lose 3 life (note that it is loss of life, not damage).
Gideon's Sacrifice will not do anything to Sower's trigger (Gideon's Sacrifice looks for damage, not loss of life).  Therefore, the trigger will resolve and player 2 will lose 3 life.

There is no infinite loop here because the loss of life that comes from Sower can't be redirected with Gideon's Sacrifice.  (Remember, damage causes loss of life, but loss of life does not count as damage.)


What can I do about uncounterable spells?

There is now no way to "counter" an uncounterable spell, but you can achieve the same effect by preventing it from resolving.  The easiest way to do this is to cause all of its targets to be invalid:

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

There are 2 ways to do this:

Change the target of the uncounterable spell.  You can prevent Last Word from resolving by changing it's target, such as via Redirect.  By using Redirect to change Last Word to target Redirect, Last Word will not resolve, as described in this ruling:

  If you cast Redirect targeting a spell that targets a spell on the stack (like Cancel does, for example), you can’t change that spell’s target to itself. You can, however, change that spell’s target to Redirect. If you do, that spell won’t resolve when it tries to resolve because Redirect will have left the stack by then.

Make the targeted object a new object.  If the targeted object is a spell, you can use Ertai's Meddling will bring your spell back later when their spell is no longer on the stack.  If the targeted object is a permanent (such as a creature targeted by Inescapable Blaze), exiling it and returning it to the battlefield (such as with Momentary Blink) will cause it to become a new permanent and no longer targeted by the spell.

As far as uncounterable spells in general (like Thrun, the Last Troll), there are a few other ways you can deal with them while they are on the stack (none of which are technically countering):

You can exile the spell, such as with Time Stop, Mindbreak Trap, or Ertai's Meddling.
You can return the spell to their hand, such as with Venser, Shaper Savant.
You can tuck the spell with Commit.
You can steal the spell with Æthersnatch or Commandeer.
In multiplayer games, defeating a player removes all of that player's spells from the stack.  Door to Nothingness is the ultimate counterspell.

Finally, in the case described in the question about Last Word and Fling, you could Twincast the Fling, and have a copy that is not countered.  The copy of Fling uses the additional costs paid for the original spell.

Historic Note: before the April 2018 rules change, uncounterable spells like Last Word had wording like "Last Word can't be countered by spells or abilities."  Rule 608.2b used to have the spell be countered by game rules if all its targets were invalid on resolution.  The only functional difference is for cards that care about what has been countered, notably Multani's Presence

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. ... The spell or ability is countered if
  all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now
  illegal.


Yes. You can always just use the base game and leave out the pieces from the 5-6 player expansion.

Note that the 5-6 player expansion is just that: an expansion. It requires the original game in order to play it.


Is there a Warhammer 40K codex/proxy for the Interex?

I've seen some people (online) that play with Imperial Guard models using the Tau rulebook as a stand-in for the Interex.


Pandemic's difficulty seems to rest on the placement of the first epidemic card in the deck

According to the official instructions (page 3), the player deck is prepared by first splitting it into multiple piles of roughly-equal size (one pile per Epidemic card) and shuffling exactly one Epidemic card into each pile.  These piles are then stacked on top of each other.

So even in an easy 4-Epidemic game, there will guaranteed be one Epidemic card in the top quarter of the deck (which, being a 59-card 57-card 49-card 48-card reasonably-sized deck, would be within the first 15 12 cards or so); this could be on the bottom of the top quarter, yes, but it's impossible for it to be anywhere near the bottom of the deck.  And even if it is on the bottom of the top quarter, it wouldn't affect the concentration of the remaining three at all, since they're shuffled independently into the second, third and fourth quarters of the deck respectively.

So far as concentration is concerned, the absolute worst case scenario is that you'll get two Epidemic cards in a row; one from the very bottom of its quarter, and the second from the very top of the next quarter.

So while yes, exactly where the first Epidemic occurs in the deck could have a significant effect on how the rest of the game plays out, it's not near as problematic as you've presented as long as the deck is prepared properly.


Has Candyland always had a lose-a-turn square?

No.  The version I played didn't have those; it had three spaces with "sticky" dots (largish, round, and black).

  Before the 2004 version, there were three colored spaces marked with a dot. A player who lands on such a space is stuck (all cards are ignored) until a card is drawn of the same color as the square. In the 2004 version, dot spaces were replaced with licorice spaces that prompt the player landing on it to simply lose his or her next turn. If you land on a piece of gum, you go back to the start.


Is it legal to buy property for $1 in Monopoly when other players are in prison?

"Anyone can bid in an auction, including the one who declined the option to buy it at the printed price."

Also, more official rules PDF.

From other forums I have visited, it seems as though most people do not play by the rules, the entire rules, and nothing but the rules...


How can I make Wall of Roots's toughness 0 and still sacrifice it?

This ruling describes an unusual interaction with Bubbling Cauldron, which says:

{1}, {T}, Sacrifice a creature: You gain 4 life.

Specifically it requires mana and a creature sacrifice, and that ruling is attesting that you can use Wall of Roots for both. This is because of two quirks of the game:

State-based actions are only checked when a player gets priority. This means they are not checked during the process of putting a spell or ability on the stack; they are just checked before and after. (The same is true for whilst a spell or ability is resolving, but that's not so relevant here.)
Wall of Roots's ability is a mana ability, and mana abilities can be activated during the process of putting a spell or ability on the stack. They do not themselves use the stack and simply immediately resolve.(1)

The process works like this:

You announce you're activating Bubbling Cauldron's ability.
During the process of activating the ability, because the cost includes a mana cost, you may activate mana abilities. You activate Wall of Roots's ability, pay its costs (put a -0/-1 counter on it, reducing it to 0 toughness), and add one green mana. It will now die the next time state-based actions are checked, but they're not going to be checked yet.
After activating mana abilities you may now pay costs. You pay the one green mana and sacrifice Wall of Roots.
The process of activating the ability is now finished. State-based actions are checked. If there's a creature with 0 or less toughness, it will now die, but there isn't one anymore.

You can do the same thing with other spells or abilities that require both mana and a sacrifice as part of their cost, such as Eldritch Evolution or Evolutionary Leap.
If you were to reduce Wall of Roots to 0 toughness outside the process of casting a spell or activating an ability, it would immediately die as you expect, and you would not also be able to later sacrifice it.
(The citations above are from the procedure of casting spells. The rules for activated abilities say that we announce we're activating the ability, and then follow the spell casting procedure after that.)

(1) From these rules in the section on mana abilities:

605.3a A player may activate an activated mana ability whenever they have priority, whenever they are casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment, even if it’s in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability.
605.3b An activated mana ability doesn’t go on the stack, so it can’t be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after it is activated. (See rule 405.6c.)


Does reading strategy guides before a game night count as cheating?

This is all about your social contract1 - some groups play to win, in which case the behaviour you've described seems perfectly reasonable. Other groups play more for fun, and fun can often be reduced if one player is significantly better at the game than everyone else.
I'd wouldn't go so far as to call it "cheating" as you didn't break any of the written rules of the game, but it's obvious here that your friends had less fun because of your actions. At that point, it's behaviour that should be avoided.
How to avoid it? You already know the answer to that - talk about it beforehand, but with your group not with the Internet. Whatever you agree with your group that lets people have the most fun is the right answer (and sometimes that may involve people finding that they would have more fun if they played with a different group).
1. Link to Role-Playing Games SE, so obviously refers to some RPG-specific concepts, but the concept of a social contract applies across any group setting


I noticed after the last lead someone reneged but it actually helped me so I just let it go

Most Euchre rules leave it the opponent (you in this case) to call the renege. They don't explicitly identify it as optional, but neither do the penalty sections go on to say what to do if you don't call it (i.e., there's no penalty for not calling a renege).

For instance, from these rules:

  the opposing team is rewarded two points if it is caught

and

  [unintentional reneges] are still callable by opponents as reneging

(emphasis added)


How do I search the collection for a weakness?

Generally, yes. However there are multiple effects going on here:

1) You are being asked to search your collection (meaning your card pool) for a random basic weakness.

2) Then that card is being drawn. Since basic weakness cards are (typically) revealed upon being drawn, it would be played. Depending on the basic weakness drawn, it may either be placed in your threat area or your discard.

There might be effects in the future that operate differently (such as search your collection and add a basic weakness to your deck, which would be shuffled), but I believe in the coreset the above guidelines are the only ones applicable.


Can the overlord immediately place and activate a defeated monster?

I would vote for: Yes!

I think the real question is, can the Overloard place it directly on his turn, or does he have to wait until the next round? I think there is nothing in the rules that presses him to wait. I think the rules for reinforements are clear about when they occur, they are usually given in the scenario description.

If there is a monster on the board, the Overlord can activate it. There is no summoning sickness.


Tournament-legal to use a d20 to represent amount of similar tokens on the battlefield?

You would have to make it clear which of the tokens are tapped and which are not. It is both players responsibility to keep a clear board state. It also has to be apparent what the size of the tokens are (1/1), the color (Colourless in this case) and any abilities that the tokens may have.

When you say 'tournament-legal' I assume you mean competitive REL. At this level of play, BOTH players are required to keep fair and honest board states.

As a general rule of thumb, MTG rules want the best player to win the game, not those who by some happenstance made the better sense of a confused board state.

To come back to the question at hand, get yourself maybe only two servo tokens. One you turn sideways to CLEARLY indicate that these are the tapped tokens and have some that are upright to indicate that those are untapped.

You can use dice to keep track of the numbers or some sort of glass pebble also works well. Make sure to keep track of the numbers and if your opponent asks you a question about the tokens give him/her the correct answer.

If you willingly mislead a player to gain some sort of advantage, not only may there be some sort of reprimand, you will also very much lose the respect of all of your fellow players.


Do I draw cards from playing Lich at negative life?

Nothing happens. You lose 0 life, which is the same as not losing any life. You don't draw cards.

I think what you're imagining is "losing negative ten life" = "gain 10 life".  However, you cannot lose negative life.

  107.1b Most of the time, the Magic game uses only positive numbers and zero. You can’t choose a negative number, deal negative damage, gain negative life, and so on. However, it’s possible for a game value, such as a creature’s power, to be less than zero. If a calculation or comparison needs to use a negative value, it does so. If a calculation that would determine the result of an effect yields a negative number, zero is used instead, unless that effect doubles or sets to a specific value a player’s life total or a creature’s power and/or toughness.

The first bolded section is pretty clear cut ("You can't [...] gain negative life") but the second part also explains the principle behind it. The principle is that when you're gaining life, you gain +number life, but the calculation sees you would gain -number life instead, so we replace the negative with 0: you gain 0 life.


When does Devotion change & when does a god's type change?

Devotion is continuously kept up to date based on the current board state. It will be kept up to date between two spells on the stack resolving. (I wouldn't even call that "instant speed", which is more appropriate for describing things that go on the stack. You just keep it up to date continuously.)

The Devotion ability of gods —

  As long as your devotion to {color/s} is less than {five/seven}, ~ isn't a creature.

— is a static ability that creates a continuous effect, and as the rules on continuous effects say:

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

  611.3a A continuous effect generated by a static ability isn’t “locked in”; it applies at any given moment to whatever its text indicates.

The very moment a permanent that contributes to devotion enters or leaves your battlefield, your devotion is changed, and your gods on the battlefield1 may become creatures or cease to be creatures.

This means that if a spell or ability that says "target creature" is cast targeting only Keranos, and someone pulls this maneuver to de-creature-ify him, he will almost certainly not be a valid target at resolution time and the spell will fizzle. The same goes for other gods.

Your scenario itself is a little more complex. Suspension Field is not an instant or sorcery; it's an enchantment with an enters-the-battlefield ability. You don't choose targets while Suspension Field is on the stack — you just let it resolve. Then its ability triggers, and you choose targets for that. This maneuver would cause that ability to fizzle, then the Suspension Field would be left sitting uselessly on the battlefield.

For instants and sorceries though: an instant or sorcery like Burn from Within would lose its only valid target and fizzle. However Radiant Purge would still resolve fully and exile Keranos, because he still meets the targeting criteria (he's a multicolored enchantment).

1: Since this static ability is not a characteristic defining ability, it only functions on the battlefield. Gods who aren't on the battlefield are always legendary enchantment creatures.


Help me identify an old family board game (from memory)

So this has been puzzling me for a few hours, but I think it might be Curse of the Idol? This seems to fit a lot of the criteria you outlined - Aztec themed, released in the 90's, right player count, rotating platforms etc.


Bottom card drawn during epidemic: Are 3 cubes added to the city pictured, when the disease in that city's region has already been eradicated?

Further clarification isn't needed. Under the Eradicating a Disease section you quoted (emphasis mine), the rules instruct you to put the cubes away, they will not be used for the rest of the game.

  If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and all of the disease cubes of that color have been removed from the board, ﬂip the Cure marker for the disease to the “Sunset” side. From now on, cards of this color have no eﬀect when drawn on the Infector’s turn. Take all of the cubes of the eradicated color and place them back in the box—they will not be used again for the rest of the game.

The only exception to this rule would be from the Pandemic: On the Brink expansion Virulent Strain card Hidden Pocket, where it is possible for a disease that has been eradicated to come back.


Are there differences between the different country's editions of Cards Against Humanity?

Yes, I have both the US and the UK version. There are different cards in both editions. And there are cards with slightly different texts (for example Dear Abby in the US version and Dear Agony Aunt in the UK version).

And some names are different (Margaret Thatcher only appears in the UK version). The UK version also contains Scottish warriors lifting their kilts and pronouncing the names of Welsh towns.


In TTR Europe, can you put a station in a city that's not connected to one of your claimed routes

No, you do not have to have a route of your own linking to a station you build.  From the rules here

  Stations may be built on any unoccupied city, even if it currently has no claimed routes into it. Two players may never build a Station in the same city.

There is no requirement to link to your own route because there is no requirement for any route to be in that city when the route is built.

The purpose of building stations is to use other players routes, so claiming Edinburgh when London has a station and the London-Edinburgh route has been claimed then it makes total sense.


What are the most effective action combinations in Dominion?

Nobles

Nobles combine very well with themselves, or with action multipliers like Throne Room, King's Court or Golem.


To answer the question, there are a lot of plastics that are suitable for use as card sleeves. None of them use Bisphenol-A as a plasticizer or monomer; that particular chemical is used primarily to make polycarbonates, which while optically clear are generally too stiff for use as flexible sheets or films (though they're great for applications requiring high impact resistance, like eye protection). So, you don't have to worry about Bisphenol A in your card protectors.

The two plastics you're most likely to see as clear films in your card protectors are poly-ethyl terephthalate (PET), and poly-vinyl chloride (PVC).

PET in fibrous form is known commercially as polyester, though in the chemical industry there are a lot of "poly-esters". This one is formed by bonding ethylene glycol into chains using a phthalate diester to glue them together. As a plastic, it's commonly used in disposable food storage containers, especially soda bottles. It's also commonly used for blister and clamshell product packaging. PET replaced cellulose acetate as a film stock for photos and movies, and also for transparent overlays, so it's definitely got the optical clarity to be used for card protectors.

The dangers of PET come when it's heated. It's perfectly stable at cold to tepid temperatures, making it just fine for packaging refrigerated foods, but when heated it can release the phthalate compounds into the food. Most of us get plenty of exposure to phthalates, and the vast majority do no real harm, but some combinations of alkyl-phthalates are endocrine disruptors which cause hormonal changes, and can cause birth defects and certain cancers.

Poly-vinyl chloride is one of the "wonder-plastics" that was used to do everything, until it fell off its pedestal. It still does a lot; it's seen in drainage and irrigation piping, upholstery, clothing, suction cups, self-adhesive window clings, clear flex tubing, clamshell and bubble packaging, and a host of other uses. It's generally prized for its toughness, even when it's plasticized beyond all recognition; a lot of other polymers lose too much of their tensile strength when too much plasticizer enters the picture.

Now the bad news. First off, the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) turns out to be carcinogenic; it's fine as a polymer, but people making the stuff and people who come into prolonged contact with severely degraded PVC products can be at risk. Second, most usages of PVC require it to be more flexible than it is in its raw form, requiring the addition of a plasticizer. This is usually a phthalate, like in PET, but here it's a "mix-in"; the phthalate compound works itself into the polymer structure to "loosen" and "space out" the polymer chains, making them flexible. This means they're more readily released under the right conditions (brand-new vinyl products will even "off-gas" excess plasticizer for a few months after they're made and there's not much you can do about it). Some of the phthalates used in PVC cause even more problems than Bisphenol-A; there is evidence to show that a common plasticizer used in PVC piping, di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), causes feminizing characteristics in males, male obesity, and cardiac problems.

So I guess the moral of the story is, don't put your card protectors in the microwave along with your lunch.

There are a few safe alternatives if you can find them:

Polypropylene is a food-grade plastic used for a variety of applications from food storage containers to durable consumer goods. One form of it, biaxially-oriented polypropylene or BOPP, is made by extruding and then stretching a sheet of the plastic in perpendicular directions, aligning the polymer chains. When this is done, the material becomes crystal clear, and is used in this form for bags holding snack foods, shredded cheeses, candies, salad greens, etc. The material has no plasticisers and so is food-safe, as well as being dishwasher and microwave safe, making it good for food storage containers. BOPP would definitely be clear enough to hold your cards; in fact it's used for sleeves to hold comic books and trading cards. However, heat-bonded seals between layers of the stuff are more delicate than with other plastics (when re-heated it gets harder), and there's a tradeoff between overall durability and clarity; too thick and the plastic starts turning milky.
Polyethylene is the other major food-safe plastic. It comes in two basic types; low-density and high-density, both of which are generally microwave and dishwasher safe. HDPE is used for milk jugs, butter tubs, and a host of thin-walled flexible containers like for chocolate syrup; low-density is used in reusable squeeze bottles, and also in sheet-based products such as Ziploc bags, drop cloths, vapor barrier, etc. Much like polypropylene, polyethylene doesn't need a plasticizer, so it's safe for food prep and storage, and is another common plastic for food storage containers, especially the more disposable kind like Gladware. The downside it that it's never really crystal-clear; it always has that slightly milky, hazy look like looking through a freezer bag.


Does reach apply to Way of the Sarlacc's adjacent figures?

A Melee attack includes the ability to apply Reach. However, if they are Adjacent to you already (part of the ability requirements) you won't need Reach to start with.

Remember:

  For each hostile figure adjacent to you, perform 1 attack with a melee weapon targeting that figure

(Emphasis mine.) To initiate this ability, adjacency is first required. Reach does not grant Adjacent status.

It would only apply in this situation if you somehow where able to be Adjacent to a figure while still being 2 spaces away and not sharing an edge—against the standard rules. I'm not away of any cards or abilities that enables that though. (But I don't know all the cards by memory though.)

For reference:

RRG pg 4:

  A space is adjacent to each other space that shares an edge or corner with the space.

  • Spaces on either side of the diagonal intersection of walls and/or blocking terrain are not adjacent to each other

Just in case, if you do apply it for some reason, don't forget Reach still requires LoS.

RRG pg 21:

  A figure with [Reach] may perform melee attacks that target figures or objects up to 2 spaces away.

  • The attacking figure must have line of sight to the target in order to make this attack

In summary, no. You could apply Reach to a Melee attack but since you won't be able to initiate the attack without being Adjacent to start with, Reach won't need to be applied anyway.

(At least, this is my interpretation. Of course, the rules also doesn't explicitly state you can't do this. And it isn't super clear in the Reach rules the exact way it boosts a melee attack to enable it to not be adjacent anymore. So I totally get your confusion. And I wouldn't blame you if you disagree with me, because I can also see enough ambiguity in the rules to argue the other way. It might just come down to agreeing with the other players on a house rule about this one.)


Changing bot difficulty in Dominion Online

No, there is not currently any difficulty settings for the AI.

I cannot find an official source stating this to quote/link as reference, but you can read through the official FAQ and see some mentions of playing against the AI, with no mention of a difficulty setting.

As this is a pretty new implementation of the game, it is constantly in development with improvements and bug fixes happening often. So it is reasonable to expect such functionality to happen; though I have not heard about any expected timeline or priority for that feature. You can request that feature at the feature requests board on the Shuffle iT forums.


Why do some cards which counter abilities say they can't counter mana abilities?

Because mana abilities get special treatment that prevents countering: they resolve instantly, without first going onto the stack. That leaves no opportunity to target them with anything - such as a counter spell - before they resolve.

Rule 605.3 describes this for activated abilities (as in Elvish Mystic), and rule 605.4 describes this for triggered abilities (as in Lotus Cobra).

  605.3. Activating an activated mana ability follows the rules for activating any other activated ability (see rule 602.2), with the following exceptions:

  605.3b An activated mana ability doesn't go on the stack, so it can't be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after it is activated. (See rule 405.6c.)

  605.4. Triggered mana abilities follow all the rules for other triggered abilities (see rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities"), with the following exception:

  605.4a A triggered mana ability doesn't go on the stack, so it can't be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after the mana ability that triggered it, without waiting for priority.

  Example: An enchantment reads, "Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana to his or her mana pool of any type that land produced." If a player taps lands for mana while casting a spell, the additional mana is added to the player's mana pool immediately and can be used to pay for the spell."

Note that Voidslime's italicized "(Mana abilities can't be targeted.)" is reminder text. It's a statement about how these rules work, not a specific limitation of Voidslime.

Rule 605.1 defines what counts as a mana ability. At the time of writing, it has to meet three criteria: "it doesn't have a target, it could put mana into a player's mana pool when it resolves, and it's not a loyalty ability." This means Deathrite Shaman's first ability is not a mana ability.


Death Angels - Is the Force Field Overpowered?

A player may not chose an Action card that he resolved during the previous game round (pg11 of the Rule Book)

Given that rule, how can you use Force Field indefinitely?


Ticket to Ride multiplayer between OS X and iOS

According to the game maker's website, yes:

  Online Play (WiFi or 3G) against other iPad, Android, Mac and PC gamers with Days of Wonder Online support

I would take that to mean that both device need to be online to contact their server to set things up, but cross-platform isn't an issue.


Narset, Parter of Veils interaction with Aria of Flame

You have it correct, they will be allowed to draw cards.

The specific order is:

Opponent casts Faithless Looting... that casting process looks completely normal and doesn't interact with Narset at all.
Aria of Flame's ability triggers, going on the stack on top of Faithless Looting
Aria of Flame's ability resolves, dealing damage to Narset
Narset goes to the graveyard due to having 0 loyalty counters
Faithless Looting resolves
Faithless Looting acts completely normally, because Narset is not around.


Is there a best time to play Tablet of Time's Dawn?

No, there is no best time to use that ability to increase your odds of of winning. The thing to remember with cards like this is that a lot of it will depend on how the overall game is progressing. This includes the skill level of your opponents and what mix of cards are coming out

Early/Mid game I find it best used when there is one or more cards in the center that you want to get or prevent others from getting. This works great when paired with cards that have abilities to acquire one or more cards from the center/deck. Even better if you can stack your deck or otherwise ensure you will have those abilities.

End game it is similar but also ensuring that you will be able to get at least get the two honor back that you would lose from banishing it.

Last thing to remember is that even with a deck that can regularly pull out some very good turns it is possible for the extra turn to be a dud. It has happened to me where I end up drawing my entire deck (plus all the cards I acquired that turn) and end up with crap for the following turn.


How to count a word covering both triple and double word cells?

According to the rules:

  Premium Word Squares: The score for an entire word is doubled when one
  of its letters is placed on a pink square: it is tripled when one of
  its letters is placed on a red square. Include premiums for double or
  triple letter values, if any, before doubling or tripling the word
  score. If a word is formed that covers two premium word squares, the
  score is doubled and then re-doubled (4 times the letter count), or
  tripled and then re-tripled (9 times the letter count).* NOTE: the
  center square is a pink square, which doubles the score for the first
  word.

Which means:

If the word (or the extention of a word) covers two double word squares, the value of the word counts 4 times.
If the word (or the extention of a word) covers two tripple word squares, the value of the word counts 9 times.

Note 1: The 2x and 3x only count once, in the turn they are covered.

Note 2: On the standard board, there are no 2x and 3x fields in a single row or column, so it is not possible to have a 2x and a 3x in the same word. And yes the start field (2xword) is in line with (3xword) but there are 8 tiles needed so it is not possible in a single turn. If there was a board containing these fields it would be logical to asume that they count for 6. (


Can you use an ability as you put the card on the stack?

No, you can’t (normally).

By default, activated abilities on cards can only be activated while the card is on the battlefield. The exceptions are abilities that either specify that they work from another zone, or abilities that don’t make any sense unless activated from another zone, such as abilities that return cards from the graveyard, or have you discard or reveal a card from your hand.

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

The exceptions allow things such as Reassembling Skeleton to work.

Also, be careful not to say “does the ability trigger”, because Elixir of Immortality does not have a triggered ability; it has an activated ability. It will never “trigger”.


What happens if I cast Green Sun's Zenith while Grafdigger's Cage is on the battlefield?

Two important comp. rules here:

101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can't happen, the "can't" effect takes precedence.
609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.

So you'll search your library for a green creature cost with converted mana cost X or less, do absolutely nothing with it (since you cannot, due to Grafdigger's Cage) and leave it in your library, then shuffle your library, then shuffle Green Sun's Zenith into it's owner's library.
This allows you to shuffle Green Sun's Zenith into your library for G, which might be handy/relevant in some obscure case (possibly against mill decks?).


Can Pandemic Legacy be played as "vanilla" Pandemic?

In fact, the Legacy rules themselves suggest playing a few games if you aren't familiar with Pandemic.

IF YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED PANDEMIC...
We recommend that you play a few games without any of the special
"Legacy" rules to get a feel for the decisions you will have to make.
Read this rulebook then play without using the following rules:
•Game Months, Legacy Deck, Dossiers
•Objectives, Funding, Game Calendar, Panic Level
•Scars and Lost Characters
•Game End Upgrades
The object of these warm-up games is to cure four diseases before any of
the game-losing conditions are triggered (noted on page 14 of these rules).
You should play at least two games this way to get a feel for the game before
adding the additional rules.


In Arkham Horror, what card is shown on the bottom right of the board display of the rulebook?

The only thing I can come up with is that it's supposed to be a discarded bank loan.

The paragraphs aren't 100% the same, but they're close. Pretty much the only substantial difference is the title, and putting the whole title on one line seems like an obvious thing to do. Seems likely they just didn't go update the image in the rules.

I say discarded because it's face up, and because the bank loans are the third card in the right column there. You can see the Bank of Arkham image on the back. That's also consistent with it being set apart from the others. (Of course, discarded cards are supposed to be discarded back to the bottom of the deck they came from, but maybe they weren't careful about making that image.)

It's a bit of a reach to make that inference, but there aren't really other good options. It's definitely the only small card in the base game that looks like that, and even the expansions I have don't include anything else similar. Bottom line, if that's not a bank loan, it's not anything that matters. There's not something else that looks almost exactly like a bank loan that you're missing.

For what it's worth, unless you're lucky enough to have a really huge table, I wouldn't bother splitting up all the odd investigator-related cards (Retainer, Deputy cards, etc) like they do in that picture. They're the kind of thing that you'll use at most a few times in the entire game, and most often just one or none, so you can just keep them all in a pile and go fish one out when you need it. Spreading out the location cards and giving each investigator some space seems much more important.


What is the most cost effective Warhammer box set based on size and number of models?

40K-wise, there are a few builds that you can do that are relatively cost effective.

Any of the marine variants tend to get you a full army for the least cash.  Xenos armies tend to have much cheaper point cost units that are still equivalent to Marine cost in cash money.   Of the marines, Space Wolves and Grey Knights are probably the cheapest to build.  They have some high points cost units that are worth every point in competitive game terms.

The Draigowing Grey Knight build is the most cash efficient list out of those two options.  Draigo, a Librarian, and two 10 man squads of Paladins will cost you about $250 and can be up to 1850 points depending on how you kit the Paladins out.

I'm less familiar with Fantasy, but I've always heard that High elves tend to be a good balance of cash cost and points cost.  Ogre Kingdoms might also be a good choice given their lower model count.  However, even a cheap Fantasy army will cost you 3x as much as a cheap 40K army given the higher model counts required for that game.

EDIT:

Since on re-reading the original post, the question is about models and not armies I would say that most of the plastic box sets are actually fairly equal in value.  You usually get 10 small models or 5 more complex models for 25-35 dollars.  Older kits tend to have less of the trimmings; newer ones(such as ones for Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Dark Eldar, and Necrons) have more alternate upgrade options and tend to let you build more than one unit type from the box. Plastic Kits in the 50-60 dollar range all tend to be larger more complex models.

The only place where you are probably going to get a little more for you money is with basic transport vehicles.  These are usually costed a little lower at the $35 price point.  Though these tend to be the most boring of the vehicle types.  Basic Fantasy troops boxes will also tend to have more models in them at the cost of simpler sculpts.  Battleforce boxes can also save you about 15% over buying models individually.

Anything Finecast is a little pricey and you wont get as much model for your money.  Unfortunately some of their best looking models have been converted to Fincast already.

GW is pretty consistent with their pricing in this way.  If you see two boxes both marked at $35 you're probably going to get a pretty equivalent value--slightly skewed towards the newer kits.  GW's basic product value isn't so bad, it's always been the amount of things you need to buy to play the game that's the trouble.

So, unfortunately, the answer is whatever you think looks coolest ;)


Can you avoid the Boss in Munchkin Quest?

The rules seem pretty clear on this:

  No card or power will let you bypass this combat!
  The Boss ignores any rules, cards, or powers that
  would take it out of the Entrance. It can never be
  controlled and will never ignore a Level 10
  munchkin for any reason, even if its card says it will.
  It always fights.

You pretty much have to fight the boss... while teleporting him away would be the Munchkinly thing to do, you'll have to slug it out with the boss.


How does the Stun mechanic work in this scenario in Maximum Apocalypse?

The second monster will not be stunned.

The fire extinguisher is an Instant Action, so you'll need to discard it upon use. When you discard it, you take the action that's printed on the card. In this case you stun all monsters on the same space as your character as per short range rules in the rulebook (BGG account may be needed):

  Short Range: These cards can target and affect the space that your character currently occupies.

You then move to a new tile, where the fire extinguisher was not used, and draw a monster. This monster (a) wasn't in range when you used the extinguisher and (b) you'd already used the effect in a previous action and discarded the card. The second monster will not be stunned.


Are my opponents unable to cast spells for the rest of the game if I cast an Epic spell with Hive Mind on the battlefield?

Correct, Hive Mind gives every player a copy of the Epic spell. No player for whom it resolves will be able to play spells for the rest of the game.

Since Hive Mind copies the applicable spells without limitation, these copies of e.g. Enduring Ideal will have the Epic ability and no player for whom it resolves will be able to play any more spells that game.

Only the copies made by the Epic ability itself do not have the Epic ability. Therefore, you could also use any other spell or ability to copy an Epic spell and get that many copies each turn, e.g. through Chandra, the Firebrand


Combat will always take place. If you are in a diplomatic relationship with another player, that relationship is broken the moment one player enters a hex occupied by the other player. This is covered on p11 of the rules:

  Your Diplomatic relations  stay in
  effect until the end of the game, unless you attack  one of the
  players you have Diplomatic relations with, or  they attack you.
  Moving your Ships to a hex where the other player has a disc or a Ship
  is also considered an attack. Both players then return the Ambassador
  Tiles and cubes  to the owner. The cube goes back to a Population
  Track,  chosen freely by the owner

There is no possible way to pass through a player's hex without any combat, because of pinning. p14 says:

  If your Ships move into a hex, or out from a hex, containing  other
  players’ or Ancient Ships, at least one Ship per each  opposing Ship
  must stay (the Ship is said to be "pinned")  and engage in combat in
  the Combat Phase

So the only way you can move a ship through another player's hex is if you already have 1 ship in that hex per opponent's ship in that hex.


Erasable yet bold crayon for Empire Builder Games (e.g. Eurorails)?

I don't think you will get a definitive answer, but probably just lots of suggestions. There has been.discussion about this question before on BGG. You are going to get a range of answers:

Crayola Washable Crayons.
China Markers.
Dry Erase Markers
Wet Erase Markers.
Standard Crayola Crayons


With Print&Play board games, should the focus be beauty or simplicity?

Generally, the best solution is to have a very functional design first, with a "pretty version" using the exact same underlying design, but with full color pretty images, including both in the package. The simple functional version will often be the trial - it needs to be low ink, and preferably grayscale.

If the underlying design isn't functional, the game won't get played, no matter how pretty...

As an aside: for a P&P, if people wouldn't play the cheapass games edition of it, they're unlikely to play the fancy versions, either. Note that several of Cheapass Games' could-have-been-laser-printed games later had much pricier full color versions sold. Some examples include Cartagena, Give Me The Brain, and Lord of the Fries.

Hell, people will play some DAMNED F'UGLY games... so long as the play is good.


Assuming you are playing some simple form of standard american, yes your thinking was wrong on both hands.

Usually the responder is supposed to "bid up the line", giving preference to majors in case she has a 6-9 point hand.

With the first hand, you can either bid 1D or 1S. The reason to bid 1S instead of 1D is that the auction 1C-1D-1H-1S might have a special meaning (4th suit bids can have special meanings) and might show a stronger hand than what you have. Suit quality considerations are very rare when responding at the one level and your hand is not one of those rare hands.

With the second hand, you must bid 1H, and if partner bids 1S you can raise to 2S. 1NT actually denies a 4 card major.

The scoring in bridge gives preference to majors and as a result most bidding systems give preference to the majors. Bypassing 4 card majors when responding is usually considered bad.


What does Divine Intervention do when it resolves in a multiplayer game?

The rulings below the game clarify how the card works in multiplayer games:

  In a multiplayer game played with the limited range of influence option, Divine Intervention won’t necessarily end the entire game when its third ability resolves. All players within range of Divine Intervention will leave the game. They’ll neither win nor lose; as far as they’re concerned, the result of the game is a draw. All other players will continue playing.

So it depends on the range of influence (rule 801 in the Comprehensive Rules) and the specific variant's rules for draws; in a Free for All (806), the entire game is drawn; in Emperor (809) too (your team's Emperor is always in your range of influence). In Grand Melee (807) it's only a draw for a few players.


Would this hypothetical rule change ever matter?

Here is a combo that results in one player winning and losing the game, and another player losing:

Alice has no cards in her library or graveyard. Nathan has no cards in his graveyard.

Alice controls the following:

Laboratory Maniac equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice.
Nefarious Lich

Nathan controls the following:

Grizzly Bears enchanted with Ward of Piety.
Nefarious Lich

Then the following happens:

Alice attacks with Laboratory Maniac
Nathan chooses not to block
The Sword's ability triggers. Alice chooses to target the Grizzly Bears
While the Sword's ability is on the stack, Nathan activates Ward of Piety's ability twice: once targeting Alice and once targeting Nathan.
Both Ward activations resolve.
Sword of Fire and Ice's ability resolves. The original text of the effect is

  Sword of Fire and Ice deals 2 damage to target creature or player and you draw a card.

After we apply the Ward of Piety replacement and Laboratory Maniac replacement to that effect, it becomes

  Sword of Fire and Ice deals 1 damage to Alice and Sword of Fire and Ice deals 1 damage to Nathan and Alice wins the game.

At this point, we apply the relevant Nefarious Lich effects. The result is

  (Alice exiles 1 card from her graveyard. If she can't, she loses the game) and (Nathan exiles 1 card from his graveyard. If he can't, he loses the game) and (Alice wins the game).

There are no more applicable replacement effects, so the ability finishes resolving. Neither Alice nor Nathan can exile a card from their graveyard, so the end result of this effect is

  Alice loses the game and Nathan loses the game and Alice wins the game.

This is the result of a single instruction, so it is simultaneous.


Can I tap a creature with summoning sickness to pay "tap an untapped creature you control" costs?

Yes, you can. Relevant rule:

  302.6. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can’t attack unless it has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the “summoning sickness” rule.

This is the tap symbol:

The only limit that summoning sickness imposes is about the tap symbol . "Tap an untapped Vampire you control" is not the tap symbol.

It has nothing to do with being from another source. Heritage Druid could tap herself the turn she comes out.


Can somebody continue a road after it has been cut off/separated from its nearest city?

To build a settlement, you just need to obey the relevant rules for building a settlement, which are:

  You may only build a settlement at an intersection if all 3 of the
  adjacent intersections are vacant (i.e., none are occupied by any
  settlements or cities—even yours).

  Each of your settlements must connect to at least 1 of your own roads.

Assuming that the site you want to build at isn't adjacent to another settlement or city, then all you need to worry about is that you have a connecting road.  And in this instance you do: there's no reason to suppose a road ceases to be yours just because someone has interrupted its length.


Thinking of getting Pandemic...should I buy one or both of the expansion packs along with the base game?

Never played Pandemic solo so I've been hesitating waiting for a better answer, but as you have none...

I'd get the base game; you can always add later if you really enjoy it solo. Pandemic's base game is good anyway - it's not a game that needs its expansions.

If you're thinking of buying the set to save on future postage, then that's your call ;-)  It would not be a bad decision to do so.

Do buy the latest edition so any expansions you buy later match artistically.

'The Brink' expansion's main feature is to be able to play with 5/6 players, less relevant to you, though you do need it for 'In The Lab' (which I've not played, so I'll stop there :-)


What happens when the Runner stack is empty?

Your instinct is correct; the runner continues to play with the cards that he/she has in play.

It would have been nice if the rules clarified this a little, but since they don't specify that anything special happens you carry on playing.

Despite the runner being able to continue playing, the runner can no longer draw cards and therefore becomes prone to getting flat-lined (having to trash more cards than there are in their hand) and losing that way.

This is fairly rare occurrence, since the corporation draws every turn, whereas the runner doesn't necessarily. Usually the corporation would deplete their deck before the runner, ending the game that way.

Related Links:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/853237/depleted-runner-stack
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/877799/if-the-runner-runs-out-of-cards-in-his-stack-can-h


There is no FAQ from the designer, and he has never answered definitively on BGG, but without any rule in the rulebook to the contrary.

The cubes are lmited.

For example, take:

Monopoly the houses are limited, but cash has a specific rule that it isn't.
Puerto Rico the goods and buildings have a limit, but if victory points run out keep track on paper.
Race for the Galaxy the VP points if you run out, you are told specifically to keep track some other way.

Unless a rule tells you otherwise, I would assume that components are limited by their physical natuire unless otherwise noted.


Placing Smoke on a POI

Yes, you put the smoke on the same space as the POI, and the POI is unaffected.  If the smoke later turns into fire, the POI will then be removed.

Placing a POI on Smoke

In the family version (page 6 of the rules), yes.  They even eliminate the smoke for you!

  If the Target space has a Fire or Smoke marker, remove that Fire/Smoke
  marker before placing the POI marker.

However in the experienced game (page 10 of the rules), you adjust their position instead.

  In the Experienced game a POI may only be placed in a space without a
  Threat marker (Fire or Smoke), Firefighter or another POI. If the POI
  Replenishment Target space is invalid, then use this diagram to
  redirect the POI. Begin in the Target space and follow the path
  created by the arrows as shown until you reach a valid space. The
  arrows are also placed on the board for easy reference during the
  game. If there are no valid spaces on the path, reroll.


Can Eldrazi Processor effects "counter" madness?

Yes, you can remove a card discarded through Madness from exile before your opponent has a chance to cast it.

As per the the relevant rule you already quoted, Madness has two parts to it.

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

The first part says that the card with Madness is put into exile rather than the graveyard if it was discarded.

The second ability triggers off the card getting discarded to exile by Madness. Only if and when that second ability resolves can that player cast that spell for its alternative Madness cost. You can respond to the second ability by removing that card from exile with your Displacer/Processor combo. Since that causes the card to change zones and become a new object, the triggered Madness ability will lose track of that object and your opponent cannot cast that spell when the ability resolves.


You are correct.  According to the comprehensive rules (emphasis mine):

  110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. A permanent remains on the battlefield indefinitely. A card or token becomes a permanent as it enters the battlefield and it stops being a permanent as it’s moved to another zone by an effect or rule

and

  110.5. Some effects put tokens onto the battlefield. A token is a marker used to represent any permanent that isn’t represented by a card.

So tokens on the battlefield are permanents, and if they are not lands Devastation Tide will return them to their owner's hand (and since they're tokens, they will immediately cease to exist after leaving the battlefield).


Can I exceed the maximum Army size by moving in more units?

No, from the rule book, on page 11:

  The Golden Rule: You may never move (or retreat) a unit so that it violates your current Army Supply limits (as indicated on the Supply Track). Should you do so by accident, you must immediately destroy enough units to make your armies in Supply again.


If I have an Equipment equipped to something and it's enchanted by Ensoul Artifact, how is that handled?

An Equipment Creature can't be attached to anything, so there is no Equipped Creature to which to grant a boon. If a Chariot of Victory was animated using Ensoul Artifact, it would not grant First Strike, Trample and Haste to anything, much less itself.

  301.5a The creature an Equipment is attached to is called the “equipped creature.” The Equipment is attached to, or “equips,” that creature.

It's impossible to use the Equip ability of Creature Equipment.

  301.5c An Equipment that’s also a creature can’t equip a creature. [...]

If for some reason an Creature Equipment is attached to an object or player, it will cease to be when State-Based actions are performed.

  704.5q If a creature is attached to an object or player, it becomes unattached and remains on the battlefield. Similarly, if a permanent that’s neither an Aura, an Equipment, nor a Fortification is attached to an object or player, it becomes unattached and remains on the battlefield.


Is there an unofficial term for an artifact that produces mana?

The canonical name for these seems to be 'Mana Rocks', probably so named after one of the very first, Fellwar Stone.


Can a route be included in more than one destination ticket?

Yes. The section about scoring says:

  Players should then reveal all their Destination Tickets and add (or subtract) the value of their Destination Tickets still in hand, based on whether
  they successfully (or not) connected those cities together.

So the only thing that matters is whether those cities are connected to each other. It's very possible that all your routes will share a single link across the middle of the country, and that's fine.


What happens when there are no more mana tokens of a color in the supply?

There's no component limit on mana tokens.

Use some other indicator (dice or other objects) to track your mana tokens for the turn, if needed.

The game comes with enough tokens for players to store their maximum allowance of mana crystals (page 6 of the rules). However, there's no mention of limits for mana tokens. The game explicitly tells you to gain mana tokens when you've hit your limit of crystals, so it seems unlikely that you wouldn't be allowed to do this just because other players are also holding onto crystals.

Also, based on the mana crystal limit, we expect that the rules writer will make limitations explicit.

While it isn't covered explicitly in the rules, other players have said the same:

  There is no limit to the number of mana tokens you may have, but they go away at the end of the turn whether used or not.