In bridge, should a defender play differently with most, about half, or few of the partnership's points?

I don't think the number of points in your hand it the relevant feature here at all.

Essentially, you look at your hand, and see that you can easily take down the contract if you establish your 3 hearts winners before your opportunity to regain the lead with the KD is removed.

Returning a spade isn't going to help much as we're pretty certain partner isn't going to win that trick with his Jack.  As such, you have to forget the "usual rule" of returning partner's lead, which isn't going to help in the current situation, and just make the best play for beating the contract instead.  Partner has basically nothing, and you have an excellent defensive hand here: it's not up to him to dictate the whole play of this contract via his lead, just because of the seat he happens to be sitting in.


In this Go game why does the territory appear as being completely captured

A corner invasion can in some cases can make a huge difference. In this case the play on th 3-3 point threatens to cut the white group in the upper left into three pieces, two of which have no chance at life and the third is in bad shape.
That siad, I think the AI is a bit premature in declaring all these stones dead.  A play by white to connect  at the 4-3 point or to undercut at the 3-2 point could lead to life for at least the largest part of the white group, depending on the further line of play by both players. I am not an expert (I was about 10 Kyu at my best, years ago), but I would not concede with the white position after this move,
I agree with the comment that a larger board size may avoids tactical oddities with this AI.
Addition: A comment by @ilkkachu points out that in the 2nd image it is black's turn, not white's, Given that, white doesn't seem to have much chance. If as the comment suggests black extends to the left of the previous store, ther does not seem a plausible line for any white group to form eyes, assuming reasonable play by black. I had incorrectly read the 2nd image as white to play, that makes a sizable difference.


Can undying retrigger a second time if its +1/+1 is cancelled out by non-lethal infect damage?

Yes, if the Young Wolf loses its +1/+1 counter and later dies, its undying ability will trigger and it will return to the battlefield again.
The Undying ability is defined in rule 107.92a:

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

It checks whether the creature had +1/+1 counters at the time that it died. It doesn't matter if the creature previously had any +1/+1 counters.
For completeness, the -1/-1 counters added by the Glistener Elf because of its Infect ability do remove the +1/+1 counter on Young Wolf, as mentioned in the question. This is specified in rule 122.3:

If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it as a state-based action, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it. See rule 704.


In Trajan, can a player get a bonus tile with zero votes on the senate track?

Yes

From the Rulebook, page 9:

  Ties are broken in favor of the player with the higher
  position on the senate track, in case of the same position
  in favor of that player whose disc is higher up in the
  stack.

So, if all discs are still at the starting point, the order of discs on the stack matters for determining Consul and Vice-Consul.


What is the expected duration of a game of War?

War is actually not a game but an Automata, as players don't have any options.

Wimpy Programmer already made this simulation, he found that when shuffling the winning cards, the mean number of turns is 262, the mode is 84, and the max (on a sample of 100,000 trials) is 2,702 turns.  He also found that without shuffles of the winning cards, the game might be endless.

He used N=2 while you play with N=3, higher N shortens the game, however I don't think that it will make a big difference.


In Go, what is the Superko rule, and is it used universally?

There are two main Superko rule types, and, as long as the ruleset used isn’t Japanese, one of them should be in place.

Namely they are Positional and Situational.

Positional superko is used in the Chinese Rules, and prohibits the repetition of a position or board state, regardless of whose turn it is.

Situational superko is used in the AGA and BGA (American and British Go Association) rules, and prohibits the repetition of a position or board state, with the same player to play.
The variant Natural situational superko used by the BGA only forbids repetition by the player who created the position.

For more information on superko take a look at Sensei’s Library


If the block was properly placed

That's not legal.

It's not legal to move a block from an incomplete top row.

It's not legal to move a block from the topmost complete row.

In fact, if you start moving a block other than the one you move to the top, you must put it back into its original position before continuing.

  You can touch other blocks to find a loose one — but if you move a block out of place, you must fix it (using one hand only) before touching another block.

If the block wasn't properly placed

Although not stated in the underspecified rules, it's the responsibility of the player placing the block to place the block on the top layer according to the same pattern used during setup.


Can I remove the targeted creature in response to Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast's -2 ability?

Yes, if the targeted creature becomes an illegal target for any reason before the ability resolves, the ability will not do anything.
Lukka's -2 is a targeted ability. The legality of its only target is checked again as part of resolving it. If you destroyed the creature, or it became an illegal target for any other reason, the ability will simply leave the stack and no part of the ability will do anything.

Resolving Spells and Abilities

608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. [..] 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.


Does doubling counters trigger Hardened Scales?

When the card says to "double the number of +1/+1 counters" on a creature, it means that you should place on to that creature as many +1/+1 counters as are currently on it. This means that Hardened Scales applies, so Setessan Oathsworn will end up with 7 +1/+1 counters on it.

Unfortunately, I can't find a rules reference to back this up, but the basic idea is that after Solidarity of Heroes resolves, there are more counters on the creature than before it resolved, and the only way that could have happened (from the point of view of the game rules) is if you put counters on it. There is no other applicable action that has that result.


Are card modifications from Continuous cards thought of as "effects" - what happens to them?

"The monster" in each statement refers to the monster causing the effect.
As with any magic or trap card, once the card is removed from the field, its effect no longer applies (unless the card explicitly states otherwise).


Does a book of 3's in Hand and Foot work?

Assuming you're playing with the Red (100) Black (5) variation (there are not official rules for hand and foot), then the purpose of the 3's is to add a bit of randomness to the game to offset player ability.  If your goal is to remove this randomness, then you can simply treat all 3's as normal cards and the game will 'work' just fine.   I have played that particular variation.

I'm not sure by which rules you're playing, but if you're allowing threes to hit the table singly, and also allowing the bonus for making a book of them, it's a bit of an unfair advantage to that random chance.

Pagat - Rules to Hand and Foot


What game mechanic can be used for evenly selecting other players but not yourself?

If it is acceptable that the order of the players turns is different every round, you could have a deck with a card for each player, then draw the top card and let that player have the next card as target, and then the next player takes the third card as target.
Finally the last player uses the first one as target. This way each player is the target exactly once in every round.


How can I learn to play chess blindfold?

I think you have to take a closer look at mnemotechnics. Probably Memory Palace technique in particular. You can read about it here, for example.

Here is a discussion about techniques used with Chess games. Mainly about memorizing them. A book called How to develop a perfect memory is suggested reading.

If you know Derren Brown (he's British mentalist, a "mind-reader", if you like), he has done a bit about playing 9 simultaneous chess games with top English players. You can watch it on youtube with explanation on how he did it.

Of course, he only had to remember 8 moves at a time, but it's still pretty tricky not to get confused. If you are interested, you can read Derren's book Tricks of the Mind, it has whole section about Memory.

Best of luck!


What is the name of this solitaire style card game?

This sounds like the solitaire game Osmosis (according to the article, it is also known as "Treasure Trove").


See also this other question, although it is a distinct question so no need to merge.

The Special orders card says "Play at any time." which seems pretty clear to me. Whoever has the event card can play it on any player's turn. Then, the player whose turn it is can use their actions as normal, or to move the piece of one other player. So if A plays it on B's turn, then B may choose A or C, and move that player's piece as if it were B's.


Can I activate Sinister Shadow Games if I have no Shaddolls in my main deck?

A player cannot opt to activate a card or effect with an apparently non-resolvable mandatory component.  By "apparently non-resolvable," I mean that if the card or effect were to attempt to resolve at the time of activation, it could not properly do so.

This means that Sinister Shadow Games cannot be activated unless there is at least one "Shaddoll" card in the Main Deck at the time of activation.  This reveals the second question to be meaningless.  However, if instead Sinister Shadow Games was legally activated, but when it attempts to resolve, all of the "Shaddoll" cards have been removed from the activating player's Main Deck, Problem-Solving Card Text can be applied to determine the outcome of the ruling.

Effects which take the form "Do A, then do B" are such that A and B are sequential components.  A resolves, then B resolves.  For effects worded this way, if A does not resolve properly for any reason, B should not be resolved either.  So if Sinister Shadow Games is activated, and an effect is Chained which removes all "Shaddoll" cards from the activating player's Main Deck, no "Shaddoll" monsters will be flipped face-up.


Does Hardened Scales trigger when +1/+1 counter are moved from one permanent to another?

Yes, Hardened Scales triggers off moving +1/+1 counters. From the official rules:

  121.5. If an effect says to “move” a counter, it means to take that counter from the object it’s currently on and put it onto a second object. If the first and second objects are the same object, nothing happens. If the first object has no counters, nothing happens; the second object doesn’t get a counter put on it. If the second object (or any possible second objects) is no longer in the correct zone when the effect would move the counter, nothing happens; a counter isn’t removed from the first object.

Note that Hardened Scales only triggers once per batch of counters moved, so if several counters are moved at once, it will not double the amount, but only add 1.


Your third option is the right one. What will actually happen is that each Raging River will trigger separately, and as each one resolves, the defending player makes a left and a right pile (independent of what has been done on previous resolutions), and for each time, you go through all your attacking creatures and give them additional restrictions of the type "This creature can't be blocked by that creature".

Example: You have one attacking creature, your opponent has two non-flyers, and there are two Raging Rivers in play. The first River resolves, and your opponent makes one creature left and the other creature right. You choose "left", so the right creature can't block.

Then the second River resolves. Your opponent divides the same way, and this time you choose "right", so the left creature can't block. In total, none of his creatures can block yours, because the first River hinders the right creature, and the second River hinders the left creature.

In practice, this means that the net effect of several Rivers (say X of them) is your third option: the defending player divides his non-flyers into 2^X piles, one for each sequence of "left" and "right" which is X long (for X=2, that's the four groups "left-left", "left-right", "right-left" and "right-right"). For each attacking creature, you pick one such sequence, and only the defending creatures corresponding to that sequence (as well as flyers) will be able to block that creature.

However, it is important to note that the Rivers do not actually interact directly in any way to double the number of effective piles. It's just a side effect of the separate triggers from each of them. It's not actually one big effect with 2^X piles, but many small effects with two piles each. This may be relevant in case you control other things which trigger as you declare attackers, and you for some reason want to interleave the resolutions.

It's also important for the order in which choices are made, which may be relevant if your opponent has 2^X or more non-flying blockers. Your opponent does the first division into two piles, then you decide which can't be blocked by which. Then your opponent may use that information to inform his next pile division, and so on. This is conceivably advantageous to your opponent compared to directly dividing into 2^X piles. Theoretically it makes no difference if you only have one attacker. But if you have two or more attackers, knowing whether you chose the same or different modes for your attackers might affect how your opponent wants to divide the piles in the second go.


If I escape and give my die to an adventurer, can he use the rolled value immediately?

The question is a bit old but I think I have an answer to it (sort of).  The rules state:

After a player has performed one action, he must re-roll all dice used for this action.

There's room for interpretation but I'd say that you could pass a die you didn't use for the escape action and they could use the face value.  However, the rules pretty much state that you can't pass a key you used to escape to someone such that they can use it as a key to escape.  As per the wording in the rulebook under the escape action:

 Each player must roll the required number of key icons by himself!

The wording that 'This adventurer may use the die immediately' also seems to suggest the face value passed can be used for an action but I wonder if that is a case of slightly imprecise wording.

I strongly suspect the intent of the rules is that the passed die must be rolled before its face value can be used but they don't explicitly state that or the opposite, except for the case of keys in an escape action, which seems fairly clear to me.  Whenever I've played the game it has always been considered a new die that you must roll in order to use it and that is the simplest interpretation of the rules, in my opinion, and how I am likely to always play it.

I think the issue is a minor one that is best to house rule as you see fit but I definitely wouldn't allow people to pass keys they rolled for an escape action for others to use as a key, that definitely seems wrong to me and would reduce the tension at the end of the game too much.


What to do about evolution cards that don't work well in solo games?

Several cards can be left out of the solo game, as they only have an effect when there are multiple players:

King
Queen
Thief
Spy
Pirate

The main problem with this is that this could change the balance of the game due to the backs of these cards (during crisis).  A middle ground may be to remove them and replace them with the next card when they are placed face up (but disregard the new crisis now showing).

Also, the designer has mentioned (although I can't find it anywhere) that the assassin should not be allowed to kill off your own character cards.


What do leaves mean in Blood on the Clocktower?

The different leaf icons (and number of leaves) are reminders for the storyteller.
Green leaves indicate tokens the storyteller needs to add to the game during setup for the character, while an orange leaf means the character alters the normal setup for the character or game.
From the Blood on the Clocktower wiki:

Leaf: The small green and orange symbols on many character tokens that help the Storyteller run the game. Green leaves on the top show the number of reminder tokens to add to the Grimoire. A green leaf on the left shows that the character needs a night token on the first night. A green leaf on the right shows that the character needs a night token on each night except the first. An orange leaf means that the character setup is different than normal for this game.


Why did this route work? Using another player's station, in Ticket to Ride Online?

It's hard to tell with the big green destination marker, but it looks like there is a yellow train station in Berlin, which would allow Yellow to use the track from Essen to complete the ticket.


How does Wall of Roots interact with +1/+1 counters?

They ignore each other completely, so the Wall of Roots will have both a -0/-1 counter and a +1/+1 counter (which has the net effect of having +1/+0).

The only reason +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters interact with each other is because of this state-based action:

  704.5q If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it.

There is no similar rule for -0/-1 counters.


Account Siphon on the corp with < 5 credits in the bank

Yes, the corp can lose up to 5 and you would gain double whatever the corp loses.

Account Siphon says:

  If successful, instead of accessing cards you may force the Corp to
  lose up to 5, then you gain 2 for each credit lost.

So in your example, if you decide to siphon, the Corp would lose 3 and you would gain 6. Note that this is a replacement effect, and when the run is successful you can choose not to trigger it (accessing a card from HQ instead). This might be beneficial if, for example, the corp spends their remaining money on rezzing assets/ICE and there are no credits left to siphon.


Battlestar Galactica: meaning of a Quorum card that destroys ships

The card is Authorization of Brutal Force. The exact text is:

  Destroy 3 raiders, 1 heavy raider, or 1 centurion.

The person playing the card can choose one of the three options.

I don't think you'll find any official rule that will answer the question. It really comes down to standard English grammar. Option #1 is the proper way to parse that sentence. If option #2 is what was intended, it would have to be written the way you wrote it, i.e. with the "and".


No, playing a natural system such as Goren or Two Over One the jump shift response into a new suit shows about 17-18 points in addition to the good suit. You have the good suit but (at time of writing) not the requisite overall hand strength. If the suit being bid is not at least 5 cards in length then the bid must also show 4+ card support in Opener's suit..

In addition to the above the bid announces that:
- The opponents shall not be allowed to play undoubled;
- Slam will be bid if a fit is found and sufficient controls are present.

It is because of the first point above that the bid should be made on HCP rather than playing strength. Good suits with playing strength but less defence can make a delayed jump shift, a delayed jump raise, or a delayed jump rebid. These now deny sufficient defensive strength for the initial jump shift. The jump shift response must never be made with a two suited hand unless the second suit is Opener's first bid suit.

When partner opens 1C it is very likely (especially playing a Strong 1 NT) that partner intends to rebid either 1 or 2 NT. Narrowing the jump shift response to slam going hands leaves more room for additional exploration below game, which will not only improve any NT games stumbled into but also find more good minor suit slams.


Is a card set aside with an Island considered "In Play"?

No, cards Set Aside cards are not In Play

The Seaside Rules states rather specifically on page 4 that set aside cards are not in play, only played cards are.

  In play cards are those you have played - not those set aside, trashed, or discarded. Nor are they cards in your hand, deck, supply or discard piles. (page4, sidebar)

  “In play” -- Action cards and Treasure cards played face-up in a player’s play area are in play until they are moved somewhere else—usually until they are discarded during a Clean-up phase. Only played cards are in play; set aside cards, trashed cards, cards in the supply, and cards in hands, decks, and discard piles are not in play. Reaction abilities like Moat's do not put those cards into play.

  Island – [...] Island and the card set aside with it are set aside face up on the Island player mat provided. They should not be shuffled back into your deck when you shuffle your discard pile. [...]

Additionally, the Intrigue rules, define Set Aside (page 4, Intrigue), and instruct you to not follow rules text for cards set aside. And while play is never defined in the rules, it is only used in two contexts while appearing 63 times (3 if you count the single instance in the sidebar, "play passes clockwise").

to play (verb): to place an Action card from your hand to the play area, and follow the instructions on the card or place a Treasure card from your hand to the play area adding their value to any coins provided by action cards then Gain any Card from the supply of equal or lesser value.
play area: the place where Action cards and Treasure cards are placed during a players Action/Buy phases. These cards are usually placed in a player's Discard during the Clean-Up phase.

  In the Action phase, the player may play one Action card. [...] To play an Action, the player takes an Action card from his hand and lays it face-up in his play area. He announces which card he is playing and follows the instructions written on that card from top to bottom. [...] Any Action cards played remain in the player’s play area until the Clean-up phase of the turn unless otherwise indicated on the card. Players should not discard the cards prior to the Clean-up phase, unless directed to by the card or another action.

  In the Buy phase, the player can gain one card from the Supply by paying its cost. [...] The player may play some or all of the Treasure cards from his hand to his play area on the table and add to their value the coins provided by Action cards played this turn. The player may then gain any card in the Supply of equal or lesser value.

  "Set Aside” – when a player sets aside a card, he places it face-up on the table (unless otherwise indicated) without following any instructions on the card. An Action that requires a player to set aside cards will instruct him on what to do with these cards.


What are the key strategy differences between Settlers of Catan and Seafarers?

For me the big strategy for seafarers is to realize that most of the time the islands are not worth it.  If it is very convenient to go for an island then do it, but usually I find that the resources I expend could have been better used elsewhere.

(Though if everyone is following this strategy, then the islands are great because of the free space.  Basically you want everyone else to go for the islands but you.)


No, vehicles don't gain a color, they stay colorless. I suppose that'd make some sense thematically, but in terms of the rules, Crew is just an ability that turns a noncreature vehicle into a creature, and that's really all it does. You shouldn't really think of vehicles as having creature(s) inside them; they stay separate. It's more like the creature(s) cranking the engine starter.

You can see this from the full rules definition of crew (rule 702.121), which is conveniently quoted in the Kaladesh Release Notes:

  702.121a Crew is an activated ability of Vehicle cards. “Crew N” means “Tap any number of untapped creatures you control with total power N or greater: This permanent becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.”

Nothing in there about color!

The release notes also include rulings for a bunch of common (and less common) scenarios, the same ones that are reproduced in the Gatherer rulings for each vehicle - see for example Fleetwheel Cruiser.

(And it's not just most - all vehicles are colorless artifacts.)


Conditions about returning Chandra's Phoenix in one's hand

Opponent only refers to players, not creatures. Chandra's Phoenix will not trigger if you target a creature.
Comprehensive Rules reference:

102.2. In a two-player game, a player’s opponent is the other player.
102.3. In a multiplayer game between teams, a player’s teammates are the other players on his or her team, and the player’s opponents are all players not on his or her team.


What is the broader acceptance of resignation?

I would say that resignation is perfectly acceptable as long as

1) It was preceded by a good-faith effort to play optimally.

2) All parties who are affected by the resignation agree on its timeliness.

The only times I feel a resignation is discourteous is when it negatively impacts people who were depending on your continued presence;  for example, if Japan were to unilaterally resign from a game of Axis & Allies despite the objection of Germany.


Which US states have the highest Magic: the Gathering participation?

As one might guess it seems the states with the largest number of Magic players are also the ones with the largest populations.

I am assuming that the number of players in a state is directly correlated with the number of judges in that state. To get the number of judges in each state I used the WotC Judge Center tools to find all of the Level 1+ judges in the US that had a state listed (37 out of 3067 judges in the US didn't have a state listed).

The top 5 states by number of judges are (in order): California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. These also happen to be the top 5 states by population (in the same order). Once you get past the top 5 only Colorado has the same exact ranking for both (#22), but most of the others are fairly close between the lists. You can find the data I used in this Google Sheets document.


Do reserved cards get returned when gold token is spent?

From the rules here

  The reserved cards are kept in hand and cannot be discarded.
  Players may not have more than three reserved cards in hand,
  and the only way to get rid of a card is to buy it (see below).

and

  To purchase a card, a player must spend the number of
  tokens indicated on the card. A joker token can replace any
  color. The spent tokens (including any jokers) are returned to
  the middle of the table.
  A player may purchase one of the face-up development
  cards in the middle of the table or a card in his hand that was
  reserved on a previous turn.

It's entirely legitimate to reserve a card another player might want as long as they don't exceed the 3 card hand limit.

The rules do NOT say they gold token has to be used to purchase the reserved card.  The rules make it clear a reserved card can not be discarded.  The rules state nothing rules about it returning to the stacks at any point.


The color of a card is determine by its mana cost and by its color indicator.
As you can see from this search of the complete database of Magic cards, no land has a mana cost, and only one land has a color indicator, so all lands are colorless except for that one land, Dryad Arbor.

202.2. An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame.
202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. [...]

202.1b Some objects have no mana cost. This normally includes all land cards [...]

202.2e An object may have a color indicator printed to the left of the type line. That object is each color denoted by that color indicator. (See rule 204.)

Note that Commander has the separate concept of a card's color identity, which is not to be confused with a card's color (despite the names). Color identity counts all mana symbols appearing anywhere on the card. This concept is exclusive to commander, though, and while a swamp has a color identity of black, Swamps are still colorless.


In Magic, can an ability target a permanent that is being sacrificed as part of that ability's activation cost?

Yes, you can target one of your permanents with a spell or ability, then sacrifice that permanent to pay for that very spell or ability.
When casting a spell or activating an ability, you first put it on stack, then choose targets (the creature you are about to sacrifice), then pay all costs (sacrifice the creature).
These are the relevant steps for casting a spell or activating an ability:

602.2a The player announces that they are activating the ability. If an activated ability is being activated from a hidden zone, the card that has that ability is revealed. That ability is created on the stack as an object that’s not a card. It becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. Its controller is the player who activated the ability. The ability remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, or an effect moves it elsewhere.
602.2b The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2b–i. Those rules apply to activating an ability just as they apply to casting a spell. An activated ability’s analog to a spell’s mana cost (as referenced in rule 601.2f) is its activation cost.
601.2c The player announces their choice of an appropriate object or player for each target the spell requires. [..]
601.2f The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. [...]
601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. [..]

So in a nutshell, first you determine targets, then you pay costs. If all targets (Darksteel Colossus in this case) are illegal by the time the ability would resolve, the ability will fail to resolve, but the sacrifice to pay for the ability was still legal.


This is covered in the Catan FAQ:

  Trade - What is the meaning of the resource symbols on some harbor
  hexes?

  Answer The special harbor hexes always show the resource type of which
  you have to discard 2 units in order to receive one different resource
  or one commodity.

In other words, it only works one way - the way you expected.


W1 seems like a good move to me. B can't get a rhythm to fight well even if he ignores it to make something happen. I may be wrong but B's deviation looks like a gross overplay to me. I can't see W playing a "solid be get better result" so starting a fight seems good for W.

The only other option I can think of, other than W1, is the 5th line shoulder hit which is worth thinking about. It's much harder to control and more easily ignored though.

$$W 5th line shoulder hit
$$ ------------
$$ -...........
$$ -.OX........
$$ -.OOXXO.....
$$ -..XOX...X,.
$$ -...O...1...
$$ -...........


Is it unethical to "mislead" partner if s/he is the weakest player at the table?

Playing cards in such a way as to not accurately reflect your hand is perfectly fine - as long as that's actually what you're doing.  There are plenty of hands where you're on defense and you know that partner is pretty much worthless; you're defending 3NT, partner knows your long suit, and you have 14 points anyway and expect partner to be in the lead exactly zero times.  In those cases, play however you wish: you can mislead declarer, or just play at random, any of that is fine. This is called falsecarding, and is a part of bridge.
Where it becomes unethical is when your partner knows to expect it, and can benefit from it.  Again, if your partner can't benefit from it, then it's okay - but your falsecarding shouldn't have an actual meaning ("When I'm the strong hand, defending NT, then I'll play 3rd from length instead of 4th from length").  It has to be something partner can't anticipate, or definitely can't benefit from.
For the most part, it's more relaxed than psychs; psychic bids are nearly always giving partner information when they can be anticipated, since bidding not only is a process partner may be participating in, but it could also inform the lead or other plays later on.  Just be careful that it doesn't become a habit that can convey unauthorized information to your partner, or else you'll have an implicit partnership understanding that needs to be disclosed.
I would add that the specific case you describe - where you think partner is just incompetent and won't understand the signal, and thus you can falsecard without adverse effect - is probably legal, but gets a lot closer to unethical, and is extremely damaging to the partnership.  Even if I were playing with a paid professional, for example, I'd be extremely upset if they decided to start intentionally faking defensive signals on the theory that I wouldn't notice them, not to mention the fact that I would not be able to improve my own play.


What are the differences between Elder Sign and Elder Sign: Omens?

There is a thread on BGG discussing the changes. They are far to numerous to mention all the changes, but some of the most notable are:

There are no allies.
Spells are cast after rolling, but don't carry over to other investigators.
Only 1-4 investigators instead of 1-8
There are no midnight events.
Assisting investigators aren't penalized when you fail.
Monsters are added automatically, you cannot choose where they are placed.


Dealing Age 3 - what to do with the two extra cards?

There are no extra cards in a correctly prepared deck.

The base game contains:

49 Age I cards
49 Age II cards
50 Age III cards

(There is one additional Age III card so that there are never all Guild cards in play.)

For a game with 5 players, you have 35 cards per Age:

Age I: 35 non-Guild cards
Age II: 35 non-Guild cards
Age III: 28 non-Guild cards, 7 Guild cards


Is there a way to quantify the effects of luck versus skill in rubber bridge?

As Eric Murray famously said in the case of Crown vs St. Clair Bridge Club:

  "The game [rubber bridge] is only one of luck when played as the
  justices of the Ontario Superior Court play it in closed chambers."

That is of course the same Eric Murray of the Canadian partnership Murray & Kehela that was widely ranked the third best in the world during the 1960's and early 1970's.

Ironically, the luck element reduces as the overall quality of the players improves, yet increases in importance because the qualitative differences between the various players is reduced even more.

This question is difficult to address because of the above point. However, consider this advice to the budding "play for money" bridge player:

  Choose Chicago against players who are a little bit weaker than you;
  but choose Rubber against players a lot weaker than you.

The reason is that when your skill advantage is small, you want lots of points in play, so that the luck evens out faster. When your skill advantage is larger, you want more opportunity for the opponent to make foolish decisions. A typical rubber-bridge strategy is to sit on a part-score and collect penalties for several hands before converting the game. Then repeat. even if the opponents get "lucky" and win the rubber, they will often have lost much more in penalties than the rubber bonus was worth.


Does Persist, Modular, and Hardened Scales give me an infinite loop?

The Arcbound Worker will return with 2 +1/+1 counters and one -1/-1 counter on it, resulting in one +1/+1 counter after state-based actions.

Hardened Scales' ability is not a triggered ability. It is a static ability with a replacement effect, so while it is in play, the Worker will always enter the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it; the game will never see the Worker with a single +1/+1 counter on it before state-based actions or other effects are processed.

Therefore, when the Persisted Worker returns to play with Hardened Scales on the battlefield, the Worker will have 2 +1/+1 counters (from Modular and Hardened Scales) and a -1/-1 from Persist. State-based actions cause the -1/-1 and a +1/+1 counter to cancel out, resulting in a Worker with one +1/+1 counter on it before a player gets priority.


From the Wikipedia article on Yunzi stones

  Like glass Go stones, yunzi are very durable. However, like glass stones, yunzi are still at risk for chipping if they are dropped or otherwise come into sharp contact with hard surfaces such as metal, tile, or stone.

The problem you describe is more a property of your (very hard) tile floor. I would suggest acquiring a small area rug and placing it under your board or table when playing to protect your stones.

I have never enjoyed the pleasure of playing with shell and slate stones, but I suspect that the very properties that make them so beautiful also make them susceptible to chipping from such a hard surface. Being safe seems more prudent than being sorry.


Eater trashed during the run: still can't acess card during the run?

You still wouldn't be able to access cards, because conditional effects of cards do not disappear when the card is trashed. Same way as with Sneakdoor Beta - if you start a run with it then it gets trashes midrun, you still apply it's access replacement effect for this run.


Can abilities with a [Click] cost be used during a run?

No. If an ability has a [Click] as part of its cost, it can only be used as a main action in the controlling player's turn. It cannot be used on the other player's turn or during a run.

From the rules (PDF) page 21, under Paid Abilities (emphasis mine):

  Paid abilities can be triggered at the beginning of each turn,
  before and after each player action, and at certain points during
  a run, unless the ability requires a click, in which case it must be
  triggered as an action.


Does exhausting a card with The Force activate its power?

Exhausting is a cost to use an ability.  An ability is not the effect of exhausting.  So if some other effect causes a card to become exhausted, it would not trigger the ability.


Does Avacyn, Angel of Hope's ability continue to work even if tapped?

All creatures will remain indestructible.

The only things that being tapped means is that a creature cannot attack, cannot block, and cannot tap to pay for activated abilities. Other than that, tapping has no effect.


What happens when a non-token creature loses all abilities, is exiled, then returns?

Polymorphist's Jest does not create tokens, it only changes the stats and characteristics of the creature's controlled by the targeted player. It is still the same game object as far as Magic is concerned.

Under the circumstances presented in your question, your opponent's creature would be 'flickered' (magic slang for exiled and then returned to the battlefield) and when it returned it wouldn't be a 1/1 frog anymore, it would be whatever the face up of whatever card was returned.


How do Wounds, Damage, Saving Throws and Invulnerable Saves interact with each other?

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of the procedure. This is basically the same regardless of whether it's in Close Combat or Shooting.

Select an Eligible Unit.
Declare targets for all weapons before making any hit rolls (important in units with mixed weaponry)
Pick one weapon type (in some situations you may need to attack with each weapon one at a time, but usually you can save time by rolling groups at once) and make your to hit rolls.
For every Hit make a wound roll. Again sometimes you'll need to roll the wound rolls one at a time, but usually you can group them.
For every wound your opponent needs to pick a model and make a save. If the AP (Armour Penetration) of your weapon makes their regular save worse than their Invulnerable save they'll use the Invulnerable. For a unit w/ multi-wound models, if a model already has a wound it must be picked first for this step. If the damage of the weapon is greater than the wounds of the picked model and that model fails the save it is removed and a new model is chosen for the next wound. Keep going until all the wounds are applied.
Sometimes a unit will have an effect (often from another unit, or a psychic power) that lets it ignore damage (such as Disgustingly Resilient). Often this will be referred to as "Feel No Pain" as there was a universal rule with that name in previous editions. If so, for each point of damage it takes from failed wounds (or Mortal Wounds) it gets to make a FNP roll. If successful that damage is ignore. However note that a roll is made for each point of damage. So if a 2 wound model failed its save from a 3 Damage wound, it would need to make at least 2 of its FNP rolls to avoid dying.

If you've got mixed save units w/ FNP and multi-damage damage wounds you'll need to go through the process one at a time as things can get complicated. Once you've played a few games you'll figure out when and where you can speed things up by rolling multiple saves/FNP at once.

Note that mortal wounds ignore saves (regular and invulnerable) completely but don't usually ignore Feel No Pain type effects...

In the specific example of 8 hits > 4 wounds, the orks would make 4 saving throws (needing 6s). If you had a single ork with an invulnerable save, you could choose to roll against its Invulnerable, but if it fails that ork in particular would die. Since they're all single wound models, the extra damage is wasted.


How does Humility affect creatures with an Echo cost?

You will not have to pay the echo cost. The comprehensive rules definition of Echo:

  702.29. Echo

    702.29a Echo is a triggered ability. “Echo [cost]” means “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this permanent came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay [cost].”

    702.29b Urza block cards with the echo ability were printed without an echo cost. These cards have been given errata in the Oracle card reference; each one now has an echo cost equal to its mana cost.

As you can see, echo is a triggered ability just like any other. It would normally tigger at the beginning of your upkeep, but because of humility, the creature no longer has the ability, so there's no ability to trigger.


Winged Dragon of Ra's Attack and Defense Points

Winged Dragon of Ra has a special ability. Well, it has a lot of them. But the important one is this:

  When this card is Normal Summoned: You can pay Life Points so that you only have 100 left; this card gains ATK and DEF equal to the amount of Life Points paid.

So if you're at 3,500 life, you can choose to activate this ability leaving you with 100 life. Winged Dragon of Ra would then have 3,400 ATK and DEF, representing the 3,400 life you paid.

If you choose not to pay, then he enters as a 0 0. You can still activate his kill ability, although consider that you have to tribute 3 monsters to do it, so to even that out you'd have to pay 3,000 life. He's definitely a card you build around if you're going to play him.


Star Wars Armada: does a squadron command give a squadron an extra turn?

TLDR: Squadrons only activate once per turn

Per the Armada Rules Reference on page 12, squadrons Activate when one of these happens:

In the Squadron Phase (with the limit of either Moving or Attacking, but not both)
In the Ship Phase when a ship resolves a [squadron] command (with the ability to both move and attack)

But at the end of any activation you toggle the Activation Slider for the squadron to indicate that it has been activated.

Further, you cannot activate a squadron if the color of its Activation Slider does not match the Initiative Token. This includes squadrons with the Rogue keyword as that keyword applies when they Activate.

The net result of this is that you can either activate during the Ship Phase or during the Squadron Phase, but not both.


Is "finesses wrong for declarer" a good reason to double a (bridge) contract?

Good question. One caveat to what you mention is that with every losing finesse by declarer you are potentially endplayed. If the defensive strength is predominantly in one hand, best not to double; make declarer guess whether the endplay is on or not, as  he may have alternative lines that fail.

Also, there are only specific circumstances in which it is correct to double for a one-trick set. As a double is so informative that Declarer can often play the hand one trick better, double only when you expect to set the contract at least two tricks.

Further, only double when the correct opening lead is already obvious (to you or partner, as the case might be). Opponents who double and then agonize over the opening lead have put themselves in the pickling jar.

The best known (and most common) counter-example to this is in matchpoints when the opponents are vulnerable in a partial that rates to give you a bad board even if it goes down one. In that case one doubles to try and get +200, as the last hope to save the board.


You'll take damage and then trigger the "if undefeated" effect

This is covered under the Encountering A Card section on page 10 of the rulebook where it outlines the specific steps to resolve an encounter, and under the Attempting A Check section on pages 10-12 which details out one of those steps with several sub-steps.

The steps to resolve an encounter are:

  Evade the Card (Optional)
  Apply Any Effects That Happen Before The Encounter, If Needed
  Attempt the Check
  Attempt the Next Check, If Needed
  Apply Any Effects That Happen After The Encounter, If Needed
  Resolve the Encounter

When you get to the Attempt the Check step, you follow these sub-steps:

  Determine Which Die You're Using
  Determine the Difficulty
  Play Cards and Use Powers That Affect the Check (Optional)
  Assemble Your Dice
  Attempt the Roll
  Take Damage, If Necessary

So you'll take the damage from failing to defeat the Plague Zombie first during the Attempt the Check step's Take Damage, If Necessary sub-step. Then, during the Resolve the Encounter step, you have not "succeeded at all of the checks required to defeat a bane", so it is undefeated, triggering the special effect on the card.


What happens when a player pays more than what they owe for rent?

Yes, you must give them the correct change.

This is not an issue of a specific rule, but rather just one of how "paying things" in general works, both in games and real life. If you owe someone $16, a valid way to pay that $16 is to give them $100 and ask for $84 back. If the person doesn't have $84 to give you in change; then the two of you work out how to get that change from the bank... there's no difference between you making change and giving the other person exactly $16, or the other person making change with your $100 and returning $84 to you.

In case a rules quote does help:

  PAYING RENT… When you land on property owned by another
  player, the owner collects rent from you in accordance with the list
  printed on its Title Deed card.

The key being that they can only collect the amount printed on the Title Deed card. They aren't allowed to collect any extra.


Can you finish a job without starting it?

If the job has pickup & drop off locations, you need to visit the two locations in the correct order to finish the job. If the job only has a target location, then you only need to go to one location for completion.

From the official FAQ on page 5:

  Question: I don’t get doing Jobs: how do I do them?

  ..... Each Job will have either a Target or Pick-up
  Location on the card. You then need to use a
  Move Action to get your Firefly to the correct
  location ..... Once you’re at that
  Location, use a Work Action to progress the Job.

  ..... If the Job also has a Drop-Off Location,
  you’ll need to Fly again to the Drop-Off Location
  to deliver the Goods before completing the Job. If
  the Job only has a Target Location, you’re done.

Note the use of the word "need" - it never says that the pickup location is optional.

Think of it this way - if you told someone you'll give them $10 to pick you up a burger from your favourite burger joint, and they give you a burger they already had in their car from somewhere else, they haven't really done the job you were paying them to do.


How do I deal with 'take backsies', particularly in Twilight Imperium?

You need, however annoying it may seem, to formalize a policy that deals not only with minor 'take back' adjustments, but with mistakes that were not noticed at the time. Before the next game, ask the group for a rule on which everyone can agree.

Some possibilities are:

No changes after the dice have been rolled (for any reason). This has the advantages that it is clear, and if you forgot to take an action before you rolled the dice, you have nobody to blame but yourself. It has the disadvantage that the sort of player you describe may well miscount the numbers in a combat (accidentally or otherwise), announce the wrong odds, and roll the dice before anyone has a chance to object; does the result stand?
To avoid this (and other results of haste), no changes after the next player has rolled the dice. Even this is vulnerable to cheats (see The Bum's Rush in Monopoly), but it gives a reasonable period for checking.
Any changes you like, any time during your turn. It sounds as if you would hate this; but if you put it forward as a possibility, saying "That's what we were playing last time", the player in question may realize that other people can do it to him, so perhaps it's not such a good idea.
Whatever other players suggest in your particular game, including extra leeway for new players. Since this is a house rule, there is no 'correct' solution; but apparently two of you were playing by different house rules, so the table needs to agree. I would strongly advise against "a reasonable time" since that will be open to interpretation, and both sides of the argument will think the other is trying to cheat. Even "Five minutes after the action" is unlikely to work except in one of those games with an eggtimer or chess clock running at all times.


APNAP doesn't factor in. APNAP is used when multiple players need to make choices simultaneously, and when stacking triggered abilities of multiple players. These questions are strictly about priority.

As the active player, you get priority after a spell resolves.

  116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

If you were to play a land then (a special action), you would get priority again.

  116.3c If a player has priority when he or she casts a spell, activates an ability, or takes a special action, that player receives priority afterward.

So the answers to both questions are yes.


Has Magic always had tapped/untapped tokens?

Tokens could always be tapped & untapped.  They're (usually) supposed to be creatures, after all, and creatures tap & untap.

Exhibit A: The very first token-generating card, The Hive, from Alpha:

Note that the text says "mak[e] sure to indicate when each Wasp is tapped."


Try Diplomacy!

I have found Diplomacy to be an amazing solution to this sort of  issue. Originally played by mail in the 60s (famously known as US President John F. Kennedy's favorite game), Diplomacy maintains a strong remote gaming presence, but now in an online setting. The original game has 7 players but they have variants with down to 2 players, or up to 36.

HOW IT APPLIES TO YOU

You can all get on with your buddies and set the game up to have 15 minute phases between moves (if everyone presses ready, it automatically processes to save time) and you can play for 3-5 hours to make for a fun game night that way while voice calling or in-game chatting (be careful of your volume when someone screams after a backstab hahaha).

Or you can set the phases to 24 hours so people have more time to play and can focus 10 minutes everyday on it. (best for people with busy schedules like me)

Just make sure you make these games private as the community is very good and playing with friends is considered "cheating" as it may provide you with reasons outside of the game to remain loyal to someone / an alliance.

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Modern Minimalist Interface, No Variants, Medium Community, free, no ranking system what-so-ever:

Backstabbr

Easy-To-Read Interface, Some Variants, Large Community, free but you can donate, competitive point system:

Web Diplomacy

Easy-To-Read Interface, Most Variants, Small Community, free, point system:

Variant Diplomacy (Made by Creators of WebDiplomacy as a 'experimental website')

Modern Easy-To-Read Interface, Very Few Variants, Large Community, paid subscription for extra variants and other features, point system:

Play Diplomacy

I personally used Backstabbr until the frequent CDs from online players got to me. I am a proud WebDiplomacy user now. I like the interface of PlayDiplomacy but I do not entertain the idea of a paid subcription for "premium" features.


What happens with Jared and a dying monarch?

We probably have to wait until the Rulings under the card in Gatherer, but this seems to be a case where one of Magic's Golden Rules applies:

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.

The game doesn't require that some player is the monarch (it even begins that way) so for the moment there will be no monarch.


Am I able to use rolled hearts when attacking a monster in Tokyo?

You heal because movement into Tokyo only happens after the dice have finished resolving.

There are five phases to a turn.

Roll Dice
Resolve Dice
Enter Tokyo
Buy Power Cards
End of Turn

Monsters yield Tokyo when resolving dice in the second phase.

  If you are outside of Tokyo and you roll {Claw}, all  Monsters  who  are  in  Tokyo  lose {Heart} (Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay). These Monsters can then decide to Yield and leave Tokyo or stay. Monsters who Yield Tokyo still lose {Heart}.

But the active player only enters in the third phase.

  If no one is in Tokyo, you must enter and place your Monster in Tokyo City.

Even if attacking somehow forced you to enter Tokyo, you could still Heal by applying the effect of the hearts before applying the effect of the claws.

  You can resolve your dice in any order, but you must resolve all of them.


You should check out the web app. It has a lot of very detailed info about the game, including the names of each component class:


If banished token then try to resummon it, possible?

The token won't return to the field, as as soon as the token leaves the field it is removed from the game entirely.

From the rulebook:

  Monster Tokens are monsters that appear on the field as the result of a card’s effect. They are not included in the Deck, and cannot be sent anywhere other than the field


If I fail to evade Dimensional Shambler, am I lost in time and space?

Failing an evade check results in exactly the same consequences as failing a combat check.  So if you fail an evade check to a dimensional shambler it results in you being lost in time and space.

The FAQ covers this for a different monster

  Q: If you fail an Evade check against The Beast (Mask
  monster), does that count as failing a Combat check and
  are you then devoured if you also fail the Horror check?

  A: Yes.


What does, "It can't be regenerated" mean?

Well, no. Regenerate has a very specific meaning. From the Comprehensive rules:

  701.12a If the effect of a resolving spell or ability regenerates a permanent, it creates a replacement effect that protects the permanent the next time it would be destroyed this turn. In this case, “Regenerate [permanent]” means “The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage marked on it and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat.”

So, what Golgari Thug did, was not regeneration. Instead, it put a creature from the graveyard on top of its owner's library. Regeneration would have stopped the creature from being destroyed and placed in the graveyard in the first place.

Putrefy specifically prevents creatures from being regenerated after being destroyed by its effect. This doesn't counter regeneration (at least not in the MtG sense of the word), but prevents regeneration from happening.

  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.


If the two units are charging at the same time, then the two units must attempt to charge in such a way that an equal number (or as close as possible) of models from each unit engage the enemy unit (8th Ed Rulebook, pg 23).

If the first unit is already engaged (an ongoing combat from a pervious turn) to the front and completely blocks it, and your charging unit is in the front arc, then the rules are not 100% clear.

The rules for Flank and Rear Charges (8th ED Rulebook pg 21) state that "a charging units position when the charge is declared determines whether it charges into the front, flank, or rear of an enemy unit". Based on this, you must charge the side you are on, not the side you can reach.

The rule for Multiple Charges On A Unit say that if "more units can complete the charge than can fit in base contact with the target" then the charging player choosing which units get moved first, and any "units that cannot complete the charge against the target are counted as having made a failed charge". (8th ED Rulebook pg 23).

Since they must charge the front, which they cannot reach due to other units, I would say they will fail the charge.


What general strategy exists for countering a white swarm/pump deck?

"Kill off the opponent before they can develop their strategy" is the standard gameplan of aggro decks. The question "How to prevent being overrun in the early game?" addressed some general aspects of dealing with aggro decks.

One way to deal with aggro is to play like a control deck: force your opponent onto your timetable by dedicating your early plays to negating his, while the natural momentum of playing land every turn moves the game closer towards your big endgame strategy. This article explores this idea in detail.

Among creature-based aggro decks, the "classic" white weenie deck is notable for several qualities:

Poor reach: What white distinctly lacks is the ability to get damage in despite a board stall. At best, you've got flyers, which still compare unfavorably to red's direct burn.
Good creatures: White's low-curve creatures, like Champion of the Parish and Blade Splicer, tend to have excellent stats and combat-enhancing abilities.
Strong answers: White has some of the easiest access to multifaceted removal, with cards like Path to Exile, Disenchant, and Oblivion Ring. In most formats, white also has at least some powerful hosers, like Grand Abolisher and Leonin Arbiter.

The lack of reach means that creature damage is pretty much this deck's only way to win (whereas against red decks you also have to worry about cards like Shrine of Burning Rage even after you've set up adequate creature defense). Therefore, your main goal is to deny your opponent the ability to attack profitably.

The typical tools used by control to combat creature-based aggro are:

Sweepers like Supreme Verdict are one of your most effective tools. These are really strong because you can set back several turns of your opponent's development with one spell, but often you need support from other cards to avoid getting hammered long enough to use them. In the early game, 2-for-1 spells like Arc Trail are like cheaper sweepers. Since this is traditionally creature aggro's biggest weakness, you can expect a well-built deck to have some way to reduce the impact — for example, like Doomed Traveler, Boros Charm, and Moorland Haunt.
Spot removal and counterspells are the classic answers to individual threats. 1-for-1 removal isn't great against big gangs of cheap guys, but, in this case, its value generally increases with the number of anthem effects your opponent plays (since their decks are running fewer net creatures). One advantage of counterspells over removal is that you get to stop nasty ETB abilities (e.g. Blade Splicer, Stoneforge Mystic) and you can handle spells that create multiple creatures (e.g. Midnight Haunting) more easily; generally players don't run a lot of counterspells against aggro decks because removal is more efficient and doesn't constraint your timing nearly as much, though.
Blockers are handy for reducing incoming damage. Ideally you'd like to be able to kill some of their creatures every time they attack, but sometimes just a few turns of chumping is sufficient (which is why Timely Reinforcements and Kitchen Finks are great cards).
Bounce and life gain essentially force your opponent to spend a turn making the same attack or summoning the same creature he used last turn. These aren't as effective as straight-up destruction but are often available more cheaply or in colors your deck can more easily use. Life gain is best when it's attached to something else, so that you're not just giving your opponent a free turn to develop a superior board position.

Which you should play generally depends on your deck, since you'll want to pick cards that are useful to you in many different situations. Sweepers work best when they don't constantly destroy your own guys, for instance, while even aggro decks make use of some spot removal to clear the way for their attackers or pick off particularly nasty utility creatures.

When playing against anthem effects like Honor of the Pure, generally it's more useful to kill creatures than to remove the anthem. The exception is when the pump-up is super-significant, either due to the size of the buff (e.g. Tempered Steel, True Conviction) or the volume of creatures receiving it (like Intangible Virtue in a deck that's routinely creating 3-4 tokens a turn; ideally you want to shut down the token maker, though). If your opponent is running Swords, those are usually worth directly removing as well.

...

There are times when this advice doesn't apply:

When your deck is faster than your opponent's. If that's the case, you can "race" instead of adopting a control posture. Do note that some white decks include several control-oriented cards like Timely Reinforcements and Day of Judgment in their sideboards, allowing them to play control against faster aggro opponents.
When you opponent isn't actually trying to swarm you with creatures. With access to a "deeper" card pool, like Legacy and Modern, a critical volume of powerful utility creatures allows mono-white to run in a rather untraditional aggro-control kind of style normally more common in blue decks (U/W, Bant, RUG). I'm assuming that's out of scope for this question, though.


In Arkham Horror, can my investigator only use Dragon's Eye on the drawn gate if she is the 'first player'?

No, this item does not affect the gate tokens as they are placed by the Mythos Cards.

It is referring to gate encounter cards that you draw when you are in an other world location.

Also, the rules contains the contents of the game and the gate cards are listed separately to the gate tokens and mythos cards


What is the game where you have to identify a person based on their features?

It sounds like you're describing «Whosit?» (1976)
Whosit? on Board Game Geek


In catan seafarers, does using a knight on a pirate ship give you double resources?

No, the pirate ship acts in the same way that the robber does, allowing you to steal 1 resource.
Playing a Knight card by itself does not allow you to steal a resource from a player. Playing a Knight card allows you to move the robber, and if you place the robber next to a player, then you get to steal a resource from that player. The pirate works exactly the same, placing the pirate next to a player allows you to steal a resource from the player.
From the Seafarer rules:

If you roll a "7" during your turn, you may elect to move the pirate INSTEAD of the robber. Like the robber, you place the pirate in the center of any hex you choose--except that you may only place it on a sea hex. You are then allowed to steal one random resource from any ONE player who has a ship adjacent to that hex! If a player has more than one ship adjacent to that sea hex, you are only allowed to steal one card from that player.

If you play a knight card, you now have the choice of moving either the robber or the pirate.

And from the base game rules:

If you play a knight card, you must immediately move the robber. See "Rolling a '7' and Activating the Robber" above and follow steps 1 and 2.

So the Knight card by itself does not allow you to steal a resource, it is only the robber, or the pirate in the case of Seafarers, that allows you to do so.


Are these the right search terms, to find all cards that have their costs reduced by Embalming Tools?

I have an alternate search that finds a few more cards. It looks like the main error in yours, and this is very minor, is putting a space both before and after the .* clause after (this|~) in the first regular expression. The result is that it misses the simple phrase "Return ~ from your graveyard to the battlefield" because there is no word in between the card's name and "from".

(fo:/{\d+}.*:.*(this card|~).*(in|from) your graveyard/ or fo:/{\d+}.*(this card|~).*from your graveyard.*:/) and t:creature and id:u

There are a couple of refinements here. First, I searched for only generic mana costs, because those are the only ones affected by Embalmer's Tools. Second, I fixed the spacing issue I mentioned. Interestingly, if I add the option of the word "in" instead of from in the first regular expression, and remove the color restriction, this would also find cards such as Carrionette, which has an activated ability with the restriction

Activate this ability only if Carrionette is in your graveyard.

My search does find Startled Awake as a false positive because only one of its faces is a creature, and that face is not the one with the activated ability.


Will my opponent lose from his own Plague Spitter enchanted with Soul Link, if the Plague Spitter deals him lethal damage?

He dies. Soul Link's ability is a triggered ability, meaning that when the Plague Spitter deals damage, the life-gaining ability is placed on the stack. Before it resolves, state based actions are checked and players get priority. During the state based action check he will be at 0 life, and lose the game.

The similar card Spirit Link has a ruling on Gatherer that supports that:

  You only gain the life when the triggered ability resolves. If you are reduced to zero life before the ability resolves, you will lose before gaining the life.

If he had used Lifelink instead, the creature would have had lifelink. That changes the way damage is dealt, so that the controller of the creature gains life as simultaneous part of the damage dealing. He would have survived in that case.


Monopoly: Can I Buy Properties Right Before I Go To Jail?

The rules state:

  If you throw doubles three times in succession, move your token immediately to the space marked "In Jail".

So when you roll the third doubles, you go straight to Jail and never visit the space you would otherwise land on, so you don't get to purchase it.


Marath will enter the battlefield with 12 counters, because of this rule:

  121.6. If a spell or ability refers to a counter being “placed” on a permanent, it means putting a counter on that permanent while it’s on
  the battlefield, or that permanent entering the battlefield with a
  counter on it as the result of a replacement effect (see rule 614.1c).

If you use Marath's ability to remove all the counters, it will die before the abilty resolves unless you are increasing its thoughness in some other way. But you are right that it will get four times the number of counters you removed.


What do I need to consider when creating a new card game variant?

I'll try to answer the two first questions :

What else do I need to think about/test to call this game final?

Try to keep it simple. The more complicated your rules are, the less entertaining it will be. Remember this famous phrase about poker : "It takes five minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master."

Generally this can be applied to every popular board and card game. Introducing too many variables will also confuse the players, who will find it harder to think about the current hand.

Don't give too much informations. If there are too many cards shown (like in 5-stud) the strategy will be easy, and boring. But if there are not enough cards shown (like in 5-draw) then there is no real strategy at all. Visible cards are not the only source of informations, there is also the number of common/private cards, the number of betting rounds, ... Texas Hold'em became popular because it achieves a very good balance here.

How can I determine the optimal betting structure, one that promotes skill over luck (limit/no limit/pot limit)?

Just try them all. But I don't think you have to choose now. Your players will choose it for you, and the optimal betting structure will become the popular one. Think about Omaha, which was first played in no-limit. Now almost everyone plays Omaha in pot-limit, because there is a better skill/luck balance.


No, the creature returned to the battlefield by undying is considered a new creature because it changed zones (two times, from battlefield to graveyard and then back from graveyard to battlefield). It's not in combat, and won't deal combat damage to Abattoir Ghoul.

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

This rule has some exceptions, but undying isn't one of them.


Does Master of Cruelties survive being blocked by a creature with 4 or more power?

Generally speaking, the Master will survive the battle; the first strike/deathtouch combo is that powerful (but appropriate for a 5 mana multicolor card). First strike will make sure the Master deals combat before creatures without this ability; with deathtouch, even a single damage is enough to kill a creature. In the 'regular' combat damage step, when the blocker would deal damage, it's already dead.

Some exceptions are when the blocker has first strike as well (or double strike), or when it has protection from black or from red. In the first case both creatures die, in the second case only the Master.


Simplest form of RKCB - asking for kings after asking for queen

You should use specific king asks instead of count asks. In this auction, opener's 5NT denies any side suit kings; Eddie Kantar in Roman Keycard Blackwood suggests that it show a side queen, singleton, or doubleton, with a jump to 6S denying even that much. Kantar then suggests that a cue bid by responder is a grand slam try, looking for a third-round control in the suit bid.

1S-4NT-5D-5H-6C would then show the spade queen and the club King.

1S-4NT-5D-5NT asks for a specific King, promising all key cards; opener bids their cheapest K.

Obviously, this requires some discussion with partner, but not much more than "Q ask with specific Kings, 5NT specific K ask"; third-round asks and distinguishing 5NT/6S responses to the Q ask should not be used outside an established partnership.


How does the Innistrad "no spells / two or more spells cast last turn" transform trigger work?

If it's your upkeep, the last turn is the turn that has most recently concluded (usually your opponents). If it's your opponent upkeep, the last turn is usually yours.

What is a turn?

  500.1. A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these
  phases takes place every turn, even if nothing happens during the
  phase. The beginning, combat, and ending phases are further broken
  down into steps, which proceed in order.

So a turn contains all the phases. But when is the upkeep?

  501.1. The beginning phase consists of three steps, in this order: untap, upkeep, and draw.

It is in the beginning phase. The whole turn before this point is the turn of the previous player.

  603.2e If a triggered ability’s trigger condition is met, but the object with that triggered ability is at no time visible to all
  players, the ability does not trigger.

That whole turn will be checked to see if the condition has been met to so it can trigger.


What does 'cheapest' mean in the Ancient Technology rule?

The "cheapest Technology Tile" is counted according to the technology's base price; technology discounts are irrelevant.   Ergo, of all the available technology tiles, you pick the one (that you don't already have) that is left-most on the track.

If there's more than one "cheapest" technology available (i.e. multiple technologies in the left-most column), you can take your pick of them.


Havengul Lich on Reassembling Skeleton - can the Lich cast itself for 1B this turn?

When an object names itself, it always refers to itself, regardless of what its name actually is. For example, Cemetery Puca wouldn't work if that wasn't the case.

  201.4. Text that refers to the object it’s on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.

  201.4b If an ability of an object refers to that object by name, and an object with a different name gains that ability, each instance of the first name in the gained ability that refers to the first object by name should be treated as the second name.

So the ability would effectively be:

  1B: Return Havengul Lich from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.

Note that the name in the text only "changes" if it's the card referring to itself. For example, if a Centaur Courser (a vanilla creature) somehow entered the battlefield with Squadron Hawk abilities, you would still look for Squadron Hawks because it's merely looking for other similarly-named cards. Squadron Hawk is closer to Arachnus Spinner than it is to Reassembling Skeleton.

That said, Havengul Lich would never be able to use Reassembling Skeleton's ability. The ability can only be used from the graveyard, but there's no way for the Lich to have that ability in the graveyard.

The Lich cannot activate its builtin ability from the graveyard, so it can't gain the ability from the graveyard.

  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:

That means it would have to gain the ability on the battlefield and bring it to the graveyard, but that's not possible because permanents become a new objects when they move from the battlefield to the graveyard. Lich-card-in-graveyard would not have any abilities granted to Lich-permanent.

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


MTG: creature and enchantment triggered to opposite effects

Assuming you control both the Mortus Strider and the Unholy Indenture, you get to choose which ability will resolve first. If your opponent controls the Unholy Indenture, it depends on whose turn it is.

The position of spells and abilities on the stack decide the order in which they resolve. Players can only cast one spell at a time, so their order is never in question. However, multiple abilities can trigger at the same time. When that happens, there are rules how to determine their position on the stack:

  603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose. [..]

"APNAP" means "active player, non-active player". The "active" player is the one whose turn it is. If multiple players make a choice at the same time, the active player makes the first choice, followed by all others in turn order.

Therefore, assuming you control both the Mortus Strider and the Unholy Indenture, you get to choose the order of these abilities on the stack. You put the ability you want to resolve first on top of the stack.

If you control only one of those two and your opponent controls the other, then the order depends on whose turn it is. If it's your turn, you put the ability of the object you control on the stack first, and your opponent's ability second. Therefore, your opponent's ability will resolve first. If it's your opponent's turn, the opposite happens.


In Monopoly, if your Community Chest card reads "Go back to ...." , do you move forward or backward?

It says 'Go back to', so that definitely means backwards. There are no tricks involved, it's just plain English.
There are other cards for moving forwards, e.g. a (Chance) card which says 'Advance to Boardwalk'; they use a different phrase.


What is the name of this solitaire game?

This is a variant of the game Accordian. Here are the rules for Accordian


Like most effects that are applied to the Defending Pokémon, this effect is removed if the Defending Pokémon leaves the active slot (or is evolved/devolved).  So if you retreat/switch Pokémon, no pokémon is knocked out by the effect.
From the Compendium:

Doom News

Q. When I use Absol [G]'s "Doom News" attack, is my opponent's Pokemon still Knocked Out if they retreat it during their next turn?
A. Since it is an attack effect on the Defending Pokemon, it is removed if that Defending Pokemon is no longer Active. (Supreme Victors FAQ; Aug 27, 2009 PUI Rules Team)

If the intent was for it to apply to whatever Pokémon was in the active slot it would say something like, Next turn, knock out your opponent's Active Pokémon.


If a Hero makes a Speed/Sanity/other non-Might attack, when does the Traitor reveal that the target lacks that trait and can't be attacked that way?

As the ring only allows you to attack a monster that has a sanity trait in the first place, he shouldn't have ever been allowed to attempt the attack. So if by "attacked" you mean "rolled the dice for the attack", then he should have already been corrected sooner. If by "attacked" you mean "declared that he was using the ring to attack", then I believe you did the right thing.

I don't think there's a specific thing that addresses this in the rulebook, but if the legality of an action (such as using the ring to attack) depends on certain factors (such as whether the monster has sanity or not), then the heroes should be allowed to ask if the monster has a sanity trait, and the traitor should answer. (NOT what the sanity value is, just whether or not it exists). This is the only way that the heroes can make a legal decision.


Yes, monsters can use any special room as they want.*

From the rulebook:

  Like traitors, monsters can ignore all nondamaging room features. They can use the Coal Chute, Collapsed Room, Gallery, Mystic Elevator, and stairs tiles, along with many of the special movement options described on cards (such as
  the Secret Stairs), unless those cards say that only explorers can use them. They ignore the effect of the Furnace Room and the Crypt.

And the official FAQ:

  Can monsters use the Secret Stairs, Secret Passage, Revolving Wall, and Mystic Slide to
  move around?

    Yes. It's their house, after all. (Besides, it's possible for these to create areas of the house that can't be reached any other way, and some scenarios won't work if monsters can't reach all rooms.) Ignore the section of the rules that states, "unless those cards state that only explorers can use them." Also, a monster wouldn't need to roll to use the revolving wall.

*Note that this does not include stat-gaining rooms such as Chapel, Gymnasium, Larder, and Library. From the FAQ:

  Chapel, Gymnasium, Larder, Library -- Can monsters use these rooms?

    No. Unless a monster is actually a transformed traitor (a werewolf, for instance), its attributes usually do not change.


Handicapping an experienced Agricola player.

Play an open game

If your friend is willing, why not play a completely open game?  All players show all of their cards and explain why they're taking each action.  If your friend really is significantly better, you could learn a lot by discovering why he makes certain moves.  Perhaps there's some critical flaw in your strategy that's preventing you from scoring enough points to be competitive.


How many players do you need for M:TG drafting?

In order to be a sanctioned and rated Magic tournament you need at least 8 players, with no upper limit (though multiples of 8 are generally best). Players are then split into 'pods' based on the number of players attempting to get as close to 8 as possible, while having all pods be roughly equal size. (MTR 7.6 and 10.1) In my experience pods of 6-10 work best.

For just casual drafting you can have as few as 2 players. However the fewer players you have the smaller the pool of cards your pod will have to draft with. This will mean you will have fewer cards for any given archetype so you are more likely to be fighting with your neighbors for the cards you need.

However even though there are fewer cards you will end up seeing a larger proportion of the cards available (for example with a 4 player pod you will see 42/48 [87.5%] cards whereas with 8 players you would see 84/112 [75%]). This would make it so that you have a better idea of what everyone else is playing and make signaling easier.

With pods larger than 8 the problems are almost the opposite of pods smaller than 8. While you are less likely to be fighting with your neighbors for cards since there are more of them, you are also less able to plan ahead. With 8 players in a pod with your first pack you will get 6 of those cards back, an knowing which cards were taken can give you an idea of what other people are playing. If you had more than that you might only be getting 2 cards back, which tells you a lot less because almost all of the cards were gong to be picked anyway.

While a standard draft may not work with a small number of players there are several draft variants that work well (and are even designed for) as few as 2 players.


No; the 300 point "game bonus" does not exist in Rubber Bridge.  It is a creation of the Duplicate game in order to properly reflect the value of a game.  See Rubber Bridge Scoring for an example that includes a fully scored 2 games to 1 rubber.


Board game that you set up each time differently with little cards

The description of playing cards on a track that have different movement instructions sounds like "This Game Is Bonkers".  I had this in late 80s early 90s so it would fit the time frame.

It was a roll and move game.  When you landed on an empty space you would play a tile from your hand with an instruction such as 'back 3' or 'forward 2' with the objective of trying to land on scoring spaces.

Only thing that doesn't fit is play dough as thats not in this game but you did say you might have remembered that wrong.

BGG link to game


How to use 'Nisei MK II' free 'End the run'?

Yes, you get one 'End the Run' ability, because the card has one hosted agenda counter. From the rule book

Cards can also host counters and tokens. Hosted counters or tokens can be spent, or leave play, without affecting their host. If a trigger cost requires one or more hosted counters, those counters must be spent (retuened to the token bank) from the card that the ability appears on. (page 22)
Paid Abilities - Some card abilities have trigger costs that a player must pay before the effect of the ability can be resolved. These abilities are called paid abilities. A card’s trigger cost is always listed in its text box before the effect, following the format “cost: effect.” (page 11, sidebar)


Do Get Out of Jail Free cards "have value"?

The rules do not explicitly tell us what happens.

But it makes sense to say that they have 'value' and that they are transferred during bankruptcy.


Would Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker trigger Waste Not?

No.

“Discard” specifically means to move a card from your hand to the graveyard:

  701.8. Discard

    701.8a To discard a card, move it from its owner’s hand to that player’s graveyard.

Further, MTG cards are very precise with their language. Only an effect that tells you to “discard” a card would count as discarding.


If I can see the top card of the deck, does shuffling the deck change the game state?

No, seeing the top card is not enough to let you execute the combo. An article about the Four Horsemen combo that was referenced in answers to the linked question has a relevant section:

  There are also persistent questions about what qualifies as “the same game state”, and both players and judges have misapplied this. It’s not something that we could realistically codify; there are just too many variables. In general, though, returning to the same state means that the physical state of the game as it relates to the loop has reverted back to a previous state. So, if the iteration of the loop popped a Narcomeba into play, or did a point of damage to the player, that’s a change to the game state that’s directly related to the loop in question and the game is clearly advancing. If the player tapped an island halfway through just to “change” the game state, that’s not meaningfully advancing the game, as it’s not part of the looping process.

It's important to note that the examples they give for changing the game state are actions or events that make meaningful progress towards ending the loop: there are a limited number of Narcomebas in the deck, and there is a limited number of damage a player can take before they lose. Even if the top card of the library changes from one shuffle to the next, that change doesn't meaningfully advance the game, so it shouldn't be considered a different game state for the purpose of deciding whether you can continue the combo.


A permanent which is both a land and a creature.

Let's together find out what they exactly mean with 'land creatures'.
In the Comprehensive Rules we find the following regarding multiple card type:

  205.2b Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects satisfy the criteria for any effect
  that applies to any of their card types.

Meaning that in this example the object benefit from being an artifact as well as a creature. But on the flip side..

  300.2. Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects combine the aspects of each of those
  card types, and are subject to spells and abilities that affect either
  or all of those card types

So they are also approachable by all the types the card currently has.

But we want to know what cards are being affected by Halimar Tidecaller static ability ("Land creatures you control have flying."). Does that mean all lands or all creatures or all lands that are also creatures?

It says on the card 'Land creatures you control' which indicate that any object that satisfy that criteria is affected. So not just lands or not just creatures, but only 'land creatures'.


Ticket to Ride Europe: Drawing destination cards

Destination tickets are kept secret until the end of the game and the final scores are counted. You can't start the game with no cards, and you can never discard the ones you keep, so there is no way to hold zero destination tickets at any point in the game.

This is written on the last page of the Ticket to Ride rules, the last paragraph under "drawing destination tickets".

  Destination Tickets are kept secret from other players until the Game's final scoring. A player may have any number of Destination Ticket cards during the game.

http://cdn0.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/img/tt_rules_en.pdf


Items already in possession of another character

Page 6 of the reference guide says

  If the specified card cannot is not found while searching, he does not gain a card. For instance, if other investigators or defeated investigators possess all copies of the card or all copies of the card have been returned to the game box.

so the ruling is that you simply do not gain the card


Is a reasonable level of knowledge of American Football advantageous when playing Blood Bowl?

Knowledge of American football strategy is not helpful in Blood Bowl because Blood Bowl lacks the rule that shapes all of American football play, namely, down and distance.  In American football you have four plays ("downs") to advance the ball 10 yards.  If you manage to do so, then you get another four plays to go another 10 yards (a "first down"), and so on until you either fail to make a first down in the allotted plays, or you score.  Almost everything about American football strategy revolves around managing down and distance.

Suppose, for example, that you make four yards on your first play, and five yards on the second. With only one yard to go you would choose a short-yardage play that highly likely to gain the one remaining yard, even though it has virtually no chance of making a large gain.  Getting tackled after two yards in that situation is a huge win.

Blood Bowl really has no equivalent.  Once a team fields the ball, they pretty much have to keep advancing it until they score.  If the ball carrier gets knocked down, you won't get an opportunity to reset for another play; you'll just recover the ball with another player and continue advancing, or you'll lose possession to the other team.  (I.e., every tackle effectively results in a fumble.)

Therefore, in a Blood Bowl game you'll never get much of a chance to apply anything you happen to know about American football strategy because you essentially never run a play from scrimmage, and that is what football strategy is all about.


Must a player disclose what deck they are using before play?

Mostly no, but it depends.

First, here's a relevant quote from the tournament rules (section 2.7):

  Generally, decklists are not public information and are not shared
  with other players during a tournament. At constructed-format,
  Professional REL tournaments (Pro Tour, World Magic Cup, Magic: The
  Gathering World Championship, and Grand Prix), copies of opponents’
  decklists will be provided to players in the single-elimination
  playoffs.

Now for some personal experience: In draft events I have played, it is not normal (although it happens occasionally) to give information about your deck before playing. Many times someone will finish the first game (best of 3) without revealing one of their win conditions, and will keep it a secret until it actually comes out in play in the 2nd or 3rd game of the match.

Thirdly, some reasoning: In casual play I think it makes even more sense to change and keep a secret the content of your deck. I play more Android: Netrunner than Magic, so this reasoning draws on my experience there as well, but in general my goal in constructing a deck is to make one that will be resilient to surprises, and have a chance at winning against a variety of deck strategies. To that end, knowing the contents of my opponent's deck is a hindrance. I would rather we constantly surprise each other to try and polish off the rough edges of each other's decks.

That said, this way of thinking works very well among confident, competitive people, but might be harder to swallow for somebody still learning the mechanics of the game. Especially at the beginning, you might choose to help somebody along by explaining the changes you're making ahead of time, and why you think they'll make your deck better. Well, we've taken a turn into the highly subjective world of interpersonal relationships, so I'd better sign off before I get myself in trouble.


Revolution! with Anarchy expansion: when does the game end?

I didn't find a copy of the rules, but the expansion seems to consist of a board that replaces certain districts like The Palace did. I don't see why the end-of-game would be any different than without the expansion.

As for end-of-game frenzy, there's always a lot of cube manipulations at the end of the game. The person in the lead tries to end the game, while the others are vying to move cubes instead of adding them (or they are trying to get the resources to win the roles that would allow them to do so). Nothing new here.


How to defeat an active Digglet Pokemon when oppenent has an additional on bench

Diglett card from XY - Evolutions expansion has an interesting ability:

  Ability: Submerge
  As long as this Pokémon is on your Bench, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks (both yours and your opponent's).

The phrase this Pokémon is special in Pokémon TCG - it refers to this one and only particular Pokémon, not any other, not even other Pokémon of the same species.

Thus it's quite simple to defeat two Digletts, because the active one can be damaged without problems. Just knock out the first one during one turn, then the second one during later turn.


Playing against underestimated player damages my rank at KGS

Your first question is largely answered by my answer to your other post. You lost a game to another player, whose rank was maybe the same as yours, maybe not, and that has to decrease your rating a little bit - in this case it was enough to cause you to drop (maybe you were close to the boundary between ranks, who knows).

And it's all based on current rank, not past rank. The system can't pretend they're 6k just because they used to be. (Although it could be a sign they're trying to cheat, and they might want to boot the user - but in terms of the rating system, there's not really any alternative to using the current rank.) Using the current rank seems pretty fair; imagine a different case, where you won against someone rated 6k who used to be 13k. You'd be pretty mad if it pretended they were 13k, right?

The answer to your second question is yes, your rank will be updated if the system realizes that the other player was stronger. This is mentioned in the FAQ on their site:

  When are the rank graphs updated?

  Ranks are recalculated frequently, but the graphs change only once a day at 0:00 GMT.

  Why does my rank graph change when I haven't even played any games in awhile?

  Two reasons:

  The rank of one or more of your past opponents changed.

  ...

So bottom line, don't worry about it. Presumably they'll turn out to be good and your rating loss from this game will decrease. And if they forgot everything in that 3-month break and really aren't as good anymore, well, you lost to someone close to your skill level, and the rating system gave you what you deserved.


Will a Wandering Giant Skunk prevent the combat participation of an already committed helper?

Yes, the wandering skunk stops people helping even if they've already agreed.
"Helping" in combat isn't the same as "agreeing to help". The rules discuss asking for help:

Only one player can help you, adding his combat strength to yours.
If someone successfully helps you kill the monster, discard it, draw Treasures...

"Helping" means everything from agreeing to the resolution.
Giant Skunk says that other players "may not help you". It doesn't matter if they've already agreed to help or started helping, because the skunk forbids them from helping.

This is similar to a situation with the Gazebo, which says:

No one can help you. You must face the Gazebo alone.

The FAQ has the following:

Q. What if the Gazebo appears as a Wandering Monster after the player already has a helper?

A. The helper has to back off and let the player whose turn it is fight the Gazebo and the other monster(s), alone.

Again, the person was helping you, but is now forbidden from doing so, so they stop.

As a final point, my take on the rule for settling disputes through loud arguments and the owner deciding is that it's a mechanism for convenience. Since the game is a bunch of random events of wildly varying utility and power, it doesn't really matter whether some of the rules are followed or not and it's more important to keep the game running. However, when you're taking the time to figure out the correct rules outside of the game, there usually will be a correct answer.


What to do after flipping the discard pile in Uno Flip?

No action should be taken.

After a Flip Card is played, the UNO FLIP rules only state that the Discard Pile is to be flipped. Not that there should be any action taken regarding to the new face up card.

  Flip Card – when you play this card, everything flips from the Light Side to the Dark Side.
  Once the Flip card has been played, flip over the Discard Pile (the card just played will now be on the bottom), then the Draw Pile, then everyone’s hands must flip to the other side.
  This new side will remain in play until another Flip card is played, changing it again.
  This card may only be played on a matching color or on another Flip card.

The card turned face up (after a flip) will always be another Flip Card. Except for the first "flip" of the game (which will produce the back of the first card turned up at the beginning of play) or if the Discard Pile is being shuffled due to lack of cards in the Draw Pile.

If a "flip" produces a Wild Card, Wild Draw 2 Card or Wild Draw Color Card, then the rules are not clear as to who gets to choose the color.

My interpretation is that the next person (aka the person to the left) gets to choose the color.

  Wild Card – ... If a Wild card is turned up at the beginning of play, the person to the left of the dealer chooses the color that continues play.

But another interpretation would be that the person playing the Flip Card gets to choose the color.

UNO FLIP Rules