Are all jenga blocks of exactly same size? If you ever play the game it's easy to conclude that blocks dimensions vary, otherwise the occurrence of loose blocks would be symmetric/regular when the tower initially built.

However, I was unable to find any reference to that fact anywhere in internet (apart a vague mention in this paper).

Hence, the question. Are all blocks exactly equal, and if no, what are exact sizes? How many different sizes of blocks are used? And as importantly, how do you know this?

I do not believe that the block dimensions vary much, except because of manufacturing error. The Wikipedia page states that the blocks are:

  Each block is three times as long as its width, and one fifth as thick as its length 1.5×2.5×7.5 cm (0.59×0.98×3.0 in).

And the official website states:

  A classic Jenga game consists of 54 precision-crafted, specially finished hard wood blocks.

I disagree with your assertion that, "blocks dimensions vary, otherwise the occurrence of loose blocks would be symmetric/regular when the tower initially built." If the dimensions were the same, but the weight varied, the weight would not be evenly distributed throughout the tower. That aside, you are probably correct that the blocks are not all exactly the same size.

Only one size block is manufactured, but because machines that cut the wood have certain tolerances (probably in 10s or 100s of microns), you cannot get a perfect cut. Even if you could, the wood surface isn't flat anyway. The ridges of the grain are very deep, as can be seen in this scanning electron microscope images. Finishing the wood would make some of these differences disappear, but even that wouldn't be perfect.

Was wondering about the same thing. I could very quickly find pieces that had a difference in thickness of half a millimeter. And that is the smallest dimension, so that's where one would expect the smallest deviations.

I think if all pieces were exactly identical, and sanded to a very fine grit, then the game would be very different. Nothing would really move. Pieces would tend to stick together.

I'm quite convinced that slightly different sizes are made and then mixed together to create each set.


Can I show my resource cards to other players in Settlers of Catan? I was playing a game of Settlers of Catan the other day and one of my fellow players rolled a seven. One of the other players was trying to convince the person who rolled seven to put the robber on me, because he thought I had a resource that I didn't. So I showed everyone my hand to prove I didn't have it. Then, the player who rolled seven placed the robber on a different player and a huge argument broke out.

I've lost my rule book, so I'm asking: is showing your resource cards like this cheating?

You cannot show other players your cards.
From the FAQ:

Resource Cards - Do I always have to keep my Resource Cards face down?
Yes.

No, but it's common to play with a house rule that you can or must display your resource cards face up.


How to play Werewolf/Mafia with exactly 6 players? Wikipedia claims that werewolf/mafia requires "At least 6 people" but all calculations for that I can figure out results in the "evil" side winning the vast majority of the time.  I would like to play something similar to this game live but have not been in a large social group (more than 6) that might enjoy such games for a number of years. I do, however, meet up with a group of 6 people where we do play board games occasionally. We have played 1 Night Ultimate Werewolf but that (though sometimes fun) ends up being a completely different game because players don't know their roles. I want to know if there is a smaller variation or modification to Werewolf or Mafia which can be played with the following requirements:

Exactly 6 players are involved initially (though this number will obviously decrease)
Players are eliminated by a voting process.
All players know their own identities.
Each side has a reasonably even chance to win.
The game is fun

As of yet, Resistance (very fun) is the closest I've found but no players are eliminated.  I think incorporating multiple "lives" into the game would work but I'm not aware of how that rule would be implemented.

I've found one option I overlooked until after I asked this question.

It appears that the "good" side has a 44.4% chance of winning if all votes are random, they have the option to not lynch someone on a particular day, and there is only 1 mafioso. A large portion of this, however, relies on the 16.7% chance they successfully guess the mafioso at their first vote. This would make it more of a "serial killer" game.  This is far better than I initially thought.

I suspect it might be most fun if players are told they only win if they survive, multiple rounds are played, and they can lynch as many players as they like on a particular day as long as each defendant received a quorum of the votes as required in the original mafia game.

This answer is only speculative and, therefore, not a good answer.

I think to make it even there should only be: townspeople, mafia, doctor and detective, since these are the most important characters. There should be 2 mafia members, 1 doctor, 1 detective and 2 townspeople.


Premptive bid with too much strength in Bridge What happens if opener bids 3 diamonds (a preemptive bid) and everyone else passes and then it is discovered that opener had 14 points, too many to preempt?

Whatever the result of playing 3D was stands. Bidding incorrectly is not (usually) a violation of the laws of contract bridge.

There are no "rules" to bidding. The systems we use now are agreements we make that X bid advertises you have this and that.

By bidding 3D, the opener advertised they do not have opening strength. It is not a crime to mis-advertise your hand (on accident).

You can also mis-advertise your hand on purpose. In that case it's called a psyche. This means that you want to mislead opponents (and your own partner) in the hopes they will miss the right contract or play wrong as declarers. If you psyche too often, that can become a problem though.


What happens if no one wants to buy a property at auction in Monopoly? I was playing with my brother and after a few turns, my brother had 0$ due to tax.

Now it was my turn, and because I was in jail, I paid $50 to get out, which was all of my money. Then I rolled and landed on a property no one owned.

The rules just say that the bank would sell the property to the highest bidder, which doesn't help.

But you're also not allowed to do nothing, you must auction the property if you don't want to or can't pay for it.

Is someone allowed to get the property for free, e.g.: "auction" for 0$?
If so, who gets the property in a tie?

Philip Orbanes is the renowned master of all things Monopoly.
He is the author of 3 books on Monopoly :

The Monopoly Companion: The Players' Guide
The World’s Most Famous Game--and How It Got That Way
Monopoly, Money and You: How to Profit from the Game's Secrets of Success.

Kevin Tostado is Director of the movie
Under the Boardwalk: The MONOPOLY Story,
a documentary about the Monopoly national and world championships that are held around the world every four years; the movie won 4 Emmy Awards, including that for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary.
Reference : http://www.monopolydocumentary.com/

Kevin Tostado answered the following question :

How do you properly hold an auction in Monopoly?

Reference : https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-properly-hold-an-auction-in-Monopoly

"The answer can differ depending on how you interpret the rules, since it's not clearly defined within the rules that Charles Darrow wrote when he first published MONOPOLY. But I'll describe how chief judge Phil Orbanes ran auctions at the 2009 US & World Championships.

When a player lands on an unowned property and decides that he or she does not want to purchase it at face value (either because they can't afford it, don't want it, or think they might be able to get it at a lower price), then that property immediately goes up for auction.

The banker conducts the auction and puts the property up for bid starting at $1, regardless of the original face value of the property. Any player, including the one who landed on it and declined to purchase it originally, can bid on the property. Any player can name a price, and there is no sequential order to how bids are offered. The auction continues until the banker concludes the auction with the highest bidder."

So, the chief judge, Philip Orbanes, at the Monopoly US & World Championship says bidding starts at $1.

No real rules seem to exist for this specific scenario, where neither player has any ability to buy the property. Hate to leave such a short answer, but it appears to come down to interpretation of the rules. Since, if you start the bidding at $0, neither of you could conceivably pay higher, so the bidding is an indeterminate tie, with no fair way to decide the winner sans luck options like rolling dice or coin flips, which seems like a poor decision. The best decision seems to be to simply leave the property with no owner in the event of an indeterminate tie.


Can I ask for Wastes like basic lands in Limited? My question is about limited tournaments like draft or sealed. Can I ask for Wastes for my decks like basic lands?

No, you cannot.

From the MTG Tournament Rules:

  7.2 Card Use in Limited Tournaments

    Players may add an unlimited number of cards named Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest to their
    deck and sideboard. They may not add additional snow basic land cards (e.g. Snow-Covered Forest, etc)
    or Wastes basic land cards, even in formats in which they are legal.

Only cards from the expansions of the boosters opened (and only
  cards opened or drafted in that player’s pool) may be used in a
  player’s deck. The following are exceptions to this rule:

  Players may add an unlimited number of cards named Plains, Island,
  Swamp, Mountain, or Forest to their deck and sideboard. They may not
  add additional snow basic land cards (e.g. Snow-Covered Forest, etc)
  or Wastes basic land cards, even in formats in which they are legal.

As above answers you can't.

The example with wastes is quite simple to understand. If I wanted to run walker of the wastes in my limited deck, this would be overpowered if I had added 10 wastes to my deck, a 5 mana 10/10 is nothing to snicker at.

This is very odd as it forces to keep the basic land in the pack during draft to ensure you have a chance at picking the waste over something else if you wanted to.


How do the expansions for Race for the Galaxy alter the game - are they worth buying? Can someone give a good summary of each expansion for Race for the Galaxy, and explain how it changes the game? Is it worth it to buy the expansions straight out? Or is it fine to stick with the base game as long as you want? What's the compelling reason to expand? Just curious!

The expansions all have different themes to them, and they change up the game play in significant ways.  The first expansion, The Gathering Storm, is easily the most interesting in terms of changing up the game play.  It adds in the goals, which channels play in different ways in each game.  That, plus the new start worlds, provide enough extra variety that I'd suggest it's worth getting after playing roughly 25 games or so of the base game.  That many games allows you to see the different strategies that are available and become familiar with the approaches.

Rebel vs. Imperium has an excellent new start world mechanic, where each player gets dealt two start worlds with their opening hand and then gets to make a choice.  This, on its own, justifies the expansion I think.  The takeover mechanic isn't especially interesting, it just doesn't come up terribly often, so really here, you're talking about just beefing up the deck and providing more variety.

The Brink of War, honestly, I don't care for.  The prestige mechanics seem to tilt things pretty far back towards military being the most successful strategy.  Perhaps I'm just not very adept at it, but after about 15 games or so, I'm close to taking the cards out of my deck.

Alien Artifacts is actually the start of a new expansion cycle. It's designed to be played with just the base game, and it changes things in a very different way than the first three. It introduces a map that the players build, with the players moving around on the map to find new stuff. Explore becomes a first-class action with the expansion, which isn't really much true in the other ones. I only have four or so games with it, and I think some of the rules for building the map are kind of inelegant (although understandable why they are the way they are), but it's a fun experience. I'd still probably buy it third of the four expansions, though.

It depends on your groups and their preferences:

--The "proper way" is to get a few dozen or hundred games under your belt (not too impractical since Race does play relatively quickly).  Then add each expansion at its core (e.g. The Gathering Storm without Goals), then add those optional material (e.g. TGS, but now with Goals)
--The "save on costs" is to stick with just base because you think that's fine as is
--Some groups jump to later expansions sooner than later, or immediately since they want more advanced game play, and don't want to waste time with "training wheels"

Other factors include saving on shipping costs if you buy online, or buying them as you need them to ensure you don't buy an expansion that won't end up getting used.

As for the expansions themselves, there are 5 of them, forming 3 separate arcs (where each arc's set or sets should NOT be mixed in with other arc's cards)...

.

Xeno Invasion (arc3)
The theme here could be from any one of the many literary works in sci-fi, but the closest one I can think up of are the aliens in the movie: Edge Of Tomorrow.

The core game includes new homeworlds, and many new cards.
--Many cards introduce new combos for consumption.  For example, consume a green good and any good for 2 VP and 1 card (of which the reward is new too, as we've had 1 VP + 1 card, 1 VP + 2 cards, and 2 VP, but not that)
--The mix and match Explore power is now a global rule in this expansion, so it makes exploring much more 'viable'
--Xeno and Anti-Xeno are 2 new keywords
--The Xeno aliens (not to be confused with other types of aliens you've run into from previous sets) have military worlds that can NOT be settled via "pay-for-military-world" powers.  They must be conquered via military strength.  OTOH, there are powers that grant military against Xeno military worlds only to help with that.

The optional Invasion module has players utilize anti-Xeno defense powers.  This I hear is similar to the Barbarian in Cities & Knights Of Catan.  PLayers are still playing competitively, but there's a "co-petitive" element where they need to work together (or not) to collectively repel a large xeno invasion force.  I hear this adds to the game length, but not as long as the Orb Scenario from Alien Artifacts.

.

I've only played the core game via Keldon's AI, and did like the new stuff sans the Xeno Invasion module (on account it's not implemented).

However, without the Xeno Invasion module, I still prefer arc 1 with all options available.  I like the power creeps, the wide variety of cards and powers, Goals, and even Takeovers from time to time.

I prefer Alien Artifacts WITH the Orb Scenario, but unfortunately, Keldon's AI doesn't have that implemented.  Furthermore, one is hard pressed to play it with that IRL since it can double the game length, which is a turnoff for many folks.

With just The Gathering Storm, it adds a few more options (not too many, and too little for my tastes), but at least still keeps it within easier reach for newbies).

With just The Gathering Storm + Rebel Vs. Imperium, more options, more fleshed out military paths, and ability to pick a homeworld from a red color coded one vs. a blue one.


Scrabble variation: use double and triple word scores (but not double/triple letter scores) twice? Is there a popular Scrabble variation that:

lets you play double/triple word scores twice, once vertically and
once horizontally?
does NOT let you play double/triple letter scores twice?

This is how I've always played, so it surprised me to learn that
official Scrabble rules do NOT permit using double/triple word scores
twice.

Perhaps this was true in an older version of Scrabble (I started
playing in the 70s).

I searched Changes to the Box Top Rules, 1949 - 1999 and found the following clarification was made in 1953:

  1953: If a word is formed that covers two premium WORD squares, the score is doubled and then re-doubled (4 times letter count), or tripled and then re-tripled (9 times letter count) as the case may be.

Nowhere in the rules was there any mention of being able to use the same premium square twice.

The Diamond Anniversary Edition rules includes some interesting variations, but does not mention your scoring rules.

Personally, I would find your scoring variation confusing and prone to error, since Scrabble tiles are not transparent, and therefore a novice may have trouble realizing that they are reusing a premium word square.

We always played that if you make two words at once and they are sharing a bonus square only one of those words gets the bonus score


Question about Shuttle Flight (spoilers) Locations are connected to the grid if you can trace a line from them to the starting havens. The Shuttle Flight action allows you to move from a haven or supply center to another haven or supply center on the grid.

   Is a haven that has not yet been accessed, but has a sea lane to it (from another city on the grid) , a valid destination for the Shuttle Flight? Technically it is a haven connected to the grid, but RP-wise it seems like we shouldn't be able to shuttle to it.

Normally I'd leave this as a comment since it doesn't cite any official source, but it's answer-y enough and comments don't have spoiler tags.

   As you say, the plain text of the rules would seem to say this is allowed. And I think it does make sense RP-wise as well: "accessing" a haven basically means searching it (for tools, notes, inhabitants, etc), but in order to fly somewhere you just need to know where it is (it's on your map) and how to get there safely (you've charted a sea lane to it). The only problem RP-wise is if there's nowhere to land safely - you know havens have landing strips but you could argue it might be in sufficient disrepair that you can't use it, and that part of "accessing" a haven includes fixing up the strip.

The image on the action has arrows going between a supply center and a haven, so I agree you can do it.


In MTG, what happens when Sakashima the Imposter copies Halcyon Glaze? If I cast Sakashima the Imposter, copying Halcyon Glaze, what happens?

My guess is that Sakashima becomes a 4/4 Enchantment Creature - Illusion until the end of the turn (that's the current state of Halcyon Glaze) with Halcyon Glaze's text ("Whenever you play a creature spell...").

So, Sakashima would revert to a 3/1 with Halcyon Glaze's text at the end of the turn. This means that on future turns, if I cast a creature spell, Sakashima would again become a 4/4.

Something about that doesn't seem quite right, however. What actually happens?

A relevant paragraph from the MtG Comprehensive Rules:

  706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of
  the original object's characteristics
  and, for an object on the stack,
  choices made when casting or
  activating it (mode, targets, the
  value of X, whether it was kicked, how
  it will affect multiple targets, and
  so on). The "copiable values" are the
  values derived from the text printed
  on the object (that text being name,
  mana cost, card type, subtype,
  supertype, expansion symbol, rules
  text, power, toughness, and/or
  loyalty), as modified by other copy
  effects, by "as . . . enters the
  battlefield" and "as . . . is turned
  face up" abilities that set
  characteristics, and by abilities that
  caused the object to be face down.
  Other effects (including type-changing
  and text-changing effects), status,
  and counters are not copied. Example:
  Chimeric Staff is an artifact that
  reads "{X}: Chimeric Staff becomes an
  X/X artifact creature until end of
  turn." Clone is a creature that reads,
  "You may have Clone enter the
  battlefield as a copy of any creature
  on the battlefield." After a Staff has
  become a 5/5 artifact creature, a
  Clone enters the battlefield as a copy
  of it. The Clone is an artifact, not a
  5/5 artifact creature. (The copy has
  the Staff's ability, however, and will
  become a creature if that ability is
  activated.) Example: Clone enters the
  battlefield as a copy of a face-down
  Grinning Demon (a creature with morph
  {2}{B}{B}). The Clone is a colorless
  2/2 creature with no name, no types,
  no abilities, and no mana cost. It
  will still be face up. Its controller
  can't pay {2}{B}{B} to turn it face
  up.

I think that what this implies is that Sakashima does NOT become a 4/4 creature when copying a creatured-up Halcyon Glaze, but rather an enchantment with Halcyon Glaze's rules text.  So you'd have to cast another creature to turn enchantment-Sakashima into a 4/4 flyer.  I don't think he'd revert to being a 3/1 at end of turn; he'd stay a noncreature enchantment until returned to hand with Sakashima's ability.

Essentially the key issue here is about what the Magic rules like to call "copiable values". The switched-on Glaze is a valid thing for Sakashima to copy, because it's a creature in play, but its switched-on status is not a copiable value. So Sakashima just becomes a switched-off Glaze, with all the extra characteristics as defined in the Sakashima rules text.

nope, it is not a legal target cause it clearly says "except it is still an enchantment"


In Haunt #43 - The Star Sickness: I'm a Traitor and Have the Serum, now what? During Haunt #43 - The Star Sickness, I was infected as a traitor early in the Haunt, but also previously harvested enough Mandrake root to make the serum. Not knowing what to do, I proceeded to the Lab and made the serum, but at this point it wasn't obvious what I should do.

The first thing the players asked was if I injected myself, which I did not, so they immediately suspected me of being a traitor. Given that I wasn't the last traitor to should I have just run away from the players to prevent them from curing themselves and hoping the damage rolls at the end of each turn eventually killed them?

If I was the last traitor to have been infected should I have tried to infect a weak player and hope they weren't strong enough to steal the serum from me?

You were in a very awkward position: you had one "obvious" thing to do, and if you didn't do it, you would clearly be a traitor. For best results, don't make the serum in the first place. Any advantages you get from remaining hidden for a few turns longer are vastly offset by creating the items that the Heroes require to win. (And you are only going to remain hidden for a few turns; any further requires a Sterling-silver tongue and extremely gullible players.)

You had three options:

Stall for time. Instead of making the serum, you harvest extra mandrake, while claiming that you're harvesting enough for two doses "to save time running around." Depending on how hard it is to get extra mandrake, this may be too obvious of a lie.
Run away. First, walk towards the lab to stall for a turn or two, then run as far away as you can.
MURDER. If you can't plausibly pass off your actions as innocuous (and frankly, holding the serum or enough mandrake to make it means it's very hard), then embrace your Traitor nature and try to infect or kill the un-infected players. If you already have the serum, then bring it into combat anyway. (You could drop it in a distant room, but that will make it too easy to recover.) Your optimal targets will be:

Weak against your attack (Usually Might, but it could be Speed or Sanity with the right items)
Far from other players
Already have some mandrake, so their death/infection will slow down the Heroes' victory

I'm not sure why you made the serum as a traitor.  Had you not, you might have won just by keeping away.  However, assuming you did, then your next best bet is to pass off your infection token ASAP, then keep away from them all.  Also, you might have considered lying about injecting yourself: since you didn't actually perform an illegal action in the game, you aren't cheating or breaking any rules.


How can I play Pandemic with 6 players? I've recently bought Pandemic, and really liked the game. But since the basic game is only 2-4 players, I ordered the expansion "On the Brink", which brings it up to 5 players.

Is there a rules variant that would let me play with 6 players?

I haven't seen recommendations for six-player, but I can't think of a reason it can't be done. I think the only thing that needs to be decided is the size of the players' starting hands. 4 and 5-player games start with two cards. You could either go with two or drop it to one. I'd probably stick with two. Beyond that I think you can just play. There's nothing in the game that will break by having six people.

That said, I'm not sure how well it will play. The consensus is that the game gets harder with more people, but fortunately it's very easy to tweak the difficulty in Pandemic. You can decrease the number of Epidemic cards, increase the Special Event cards, or allow players to choose their role, each of these will make the game easier to beat.

If I were going to try it, I'd probably go with two cards for the starting hands, four epidemic cards, and I'd put all 13 Special Event cards in. I'd see how that goes and then tweak it from there.

It says explicitly at the end of the rule book of the in the lab extension that it gets easier with 3 teams of 2 (6 players) and that you should start at a higher infection rate.


Is it possible to download full tournament data including every card in each deck and wins losses? Does Wizards make this information available? This would open some some really cool machine learning problem such as:

to try and predict which decks do better against which decks
automatic deck classification into archetypes

For example, for Pro Tour Ravnica, I've found the full match lists at: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/tournament-results but I'd need to scrape it from the web.

The decks however, I can only see:

top 8 full lists e.g.: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/top-8-decklists-2018-11-10
archetype percentages, e.g. https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/3-0-drafts-day-1-2018-11-09

For Magic Online, it would be even more awesome if we could have full play by play data of tournaments: Is there a standard file format for Magic the Gathering games? to decide e.g. how much a turn one Black Lotus increases your win rate. Of course, this gets close to privacy problems, so likely not possible.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/wizards-data-insanity from 2017 mentions that Wizards has controlled this kind of data more and more so I'm not very hopeful.

I went and checked all the published data on wizards website and confirmed what you saw with your example and the following is all that is published.

top 8 full lists e.g.:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/top-8-decklists-2018-11-10
archetype percentages, e.g.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/3-0-drafts-day-1-2018-11-09

now this doesn't prevent you from ocring the frame by frame of the live matches to get all played cards [ with something like Googles vision api ] and then making your data set for which cards played in a match most often caused the deck to win. Unfortunately this is the only current way , I could find, to get win data for all decks in the tournament outside of the top 8
In response to your second question there is no established format by wizards for this information as they don't publish a public api for there data.

Wizards of the Coast does not make this data available to the public.


Sedris and Nicol Bolas, the Ravager If I unearth Nicol Bolas, the Ravager thanks to Sedris, the Traitor King, then use Nicol Bolas's activated ability to exile it, does it return to the battlefield transformed?

Unearth seems to replace where it goes when it leaves the battlefield, but it's already going into exile.

Yes, Nicol Bolas will be exiled and return transformed. The Unearth effect does not apply to that event.

Sedris, the Traitor King has the following ruling:

  If a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it’s exiled instead — unless the spell or ability that’s causing the creature to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If it later returns the creature card to the battlefield (as Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp might, for example), the creature card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effect will no longer apply to it.

The exact definition of Unearth is in rule 702.83a:

  Unearth is an activated ability that functions while the card with unearth is in a graveyard. “Unearth [cost]” means “[Cost]: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.”

It is not going "anywhere else", so the Unearth replacement effect does not apply.

Nicol Bolas will be exiled and not return. Unearth doesn't care where the creature is going.
Unearth is a replacement effect. The event it replaces never happens:

614.1a Effects that use the word “instead” are replacement effects. Most replacement effects use the word “instead” to indicate what events will be replaced with other events.
614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. [..]

The event to be replaced is "Exile Nicol Bolas, then return him to the battlefield transformed". Exiling NB would cause him to leave the battlefield, so Unearth replaces the whole event and what happens instead is simply "Exile Nicol Bolas". Exiling Nicol Bolas this way does not return him, because the "return NB to the battlefield transformed" effect doesn't come from a triggered ability, it was part of the event that was replaced.


Simplest bidding system for introduction into bridge What is the best bidding system which can be used for teaching beginners (who never played bridge before)?

I suspect that showing any complicated system, or asking to learn some long manual would burn all "initial interest". I think it is better to start with real game, and after playing some time (if interest would not be extinguished), having real game experience, beginners would feel natural need by themselfs to improve bidding system.

I can develop some very simple system, but I am curious if there is any standard simple system for learning?

EDIT: After several answers I have to put additional emphasize on what I am trying to achieve. This question is not about mastering Bridge skill from very novice to beginner, but it is about introduction for players who never played bridge (though played some simpler trick-taking games).

I cannot imagine how I supposed to teach beginners rules, game mechanics + material of "first 10 chapters in Commonsense Bidding" or Stayman and Blackwood within 20 minutes just to have first time game. That would take hours without any gaming, and it would become boring and would kill any "initial interest".

Just imagine: "- Guys, let's play Bridge, it is fun and interesting game. But before playing you have to sit down and listen two hours lecture."

What I need is very simple (extremly simple) bidding system, where everything is natural, without any artifical bids. Again, I can develop some very simple system, but I am curious if there is any such standard simple system for learning game play first time?

2 sections to my answer:

How to get up and running in 20 minutes
Next steps to progress from the 20 minute version to solid Bridge beginner

How to get up and running in 20 minutes

It's simply not possible to play the full game of bridge itself after 20 minutes in a way that satisfies or even makes any sense. However, one can make use of a Gateway game which is similar to bridge to get such a quick start.

Spades is a terrific gateway to bridge. Apart from lack of dummy, trick taking play is identical to bridge. No Trump is not an option There is only one possible trump suit: spades. Eliminating choice in suits vastly simplifies bidding - you simply call out the number of tricks you think you can take. To make it feel closer to bridge, you could eliminate the "nil" bid and sandbags. Or you could keep them in as they keep the game more interesting.

Regardless of which spades rules you use, the play of the hand feels similar to bridge (though not identical due to no dummy, different scoring incentives, and much less information exchanged during bidding).

I taught my son to play Spades when he was 5, and a few months later taught him beginner level bridge, as follows:

Next steps to progress from the 20 minute version to solid Bridge beginner

Now that you've played a number of spades hands, you now have a good introductory feel for the play of Bridge hands. It's time to move on to the more time-consuming part for beginners: bidding.

I believe it's simplest to learn the most popular system in your area, for the following reasons:

There will be ample learning materials.
Learning materials will have different levels and you can start at the beginner level.
Most bridge players will know it even if they don't play it - so you can play other players in your area and they will usually by happy to help you learn.
You will be able to understand a substantial portion of the bidding of bridge players in your area.
Bridge learning software tends to do a good job of giving you practice hands for the most popular systems.

In USA, the most popular system is currently Standard American (5-card majors). It is so popular and well known in USA that at tournaments there is something called "Standard American Yellow Card" which is often used when two strangers are paired with each other.

I quite liked the pair of books I used to learn Standard American, 5-card majors, and the other most common techniques and conventions associated with it:

Commonsense Bidding by William S. Root
Modern Bridge Conventions by William S. Root & Richard Pavlicek

A real strength of this pair of books is how well structured it is for beginners. You can start by trying to master the first 10 chapters in Commonsense Bidding (and chapter 17) and that would be a very reasonable place to stop to enjoy a beginner level of bridge. This is exactly what I taught to my son when he was 5 (he did not read the books - I explained everything to him over the course of a few weeks while we played at least a few minutes every day). If you want to gradually learn more you can continue progressing through that book and then start on the 2nd book.

A real key to learning bidding that I wish I had known when I started is to start with just a very small number of the most common bidding techniques and conventions that will cover perhaps 60% or 70% of hands and concentrate on learning those well before going on to techniques and conventions that cover less common hands.

I once developed a "system" that is not official, but may meet your needs. It's based on what I call "levels," for opening and responding hands. The level of the opening hand dictates the opening bid, and the sum of the levels of the opening and responding hand dictates the contract.

A "level one" opening hand is one that can easily support a one level bid BY DEFINITION. That is your standard opening hand with a five card trump suit, and at least 12-13 high card points. Then bid one of the five card suit. If you have only four card suits, I would pass 12, 13, and even 14 point hands; I think they're too hard for beginners to handle. A 15-17 point hand with a four card suit would be a level one hand; I'd bid the best four card suit, or 1NT. I'd do the same with stronger hands (18+), but bid more aggressively with these stronger hands if partner responds.

Opposite the above opener, a level 1 RESPONSE hand is 6-9 high card points. With this kind of a hand, I would bid ONE a higher four card suit than the opener's or 1NT. If I have those 6-9 points, and three cards in the opener's suit, I'd raise to TWO of his suit. Opposite his five cards, we'd have an eight card fit, and about 19-23 high card points, enough for two of the partnership's best suit.

Back to opener. With a level one opening hand, I would rebid ONLY at the one level if there is no suit agreement (e.g. 1NT), raise to two of responder's suit if I have four opposite his four (eight in total), otherwise I would pass.

With a level TWO opening hand (at least 15-17 high card points) I would rebid one level higher than with a level one hand; that is, raise his suit to three with four cards, since there is a fit, or rebid my suit or a new suit at the two level.

With a level three opening hand (18+ high card points) opposite a response, I would rebid   three no trump (game) or raise his response to the four level (game if in an a major suit) if I have four trumps. That's because the sum of level my 3 and his level 1 is four. Otherwise I would bid cautiously if there is an apparent misfit.

If responder has a level two response of 10-12 points, he should bid his best four card suit at the TWO level to alert the opener to the extra values. With 13-15 points for a level three response, the responder should bid THREE of his best suit. (After this, the opener should be able to determine the appropriate level, by adding his level to the responder's level.

If responder has 10-12 points and FOUR card of the opener's suit, he should skip the above, and bid THREE of the opener's suit. This is forcing to four of the opener's suit (game if a major).

This is a simplified model for beginners that spares you a lot of the complexity of "in between" hands. Hope it helps.


Rules for kings to take pieces In traditional draughts, the rules written on our copy of the game say a king can take in any direction even if there are empty spaces between the king and the piece it will take.

Is this right? Even if it is, I don't fully understand the rules.

For example, if the diagonal has b - - w - - w - and the black piece is a king, can the king jump over both white pieces and take them?
Also, can a king take a piece then change direction and take another one?

Some more Internet research suggests that this variant is actually called International Draughts with flying kings, despite what it says on our box.

Yes, a king can do that, but he has to land in between two pieces. If the diagonal had been b - - w w - - -, he wouldn't have been able to capture the pieces.

And yes, a king can change direction, but again, he has to land on the field where he changes direction. A player must capture as many pieces as possible.

There are many variants of draughts, as evidenced by the WikiPedia article. Pick one you like, or make up your own.

Flying kings are used in International Draughts but are not used in American Checkers.  International Draughts is usually played on a 10x10 board, with American Checkers on an 8x8 board.


What is an example of a perfectly played checkers game? The board game American Checkers on an 8x8 board was weakly solved in 2007 and shown to be a draw (PDF link).  What is an example of a perfectly played game of checkers?

Checkers was weakly solved in 2007: it was proven that the Chinook algorithm could never lose a game. So to get a perfectly played game you could have Chinook play against itself, but I can't find the final version of Chinook online or a record of its later games. You can check out its earlier games against humans here - most of those are draws, though there's no guarantee they're "perfect" since it's a human and an earlier version of Chinook playing.

Chinook can definitely still lose a game. When the proof was announced in 2007, it was unbeatable in 28 of the 156 3-move ballots and, theoretically, beatable in the other 128. It still is. In fact, in a match of indefinite length against a genuine oracle it would definitely lose. Currently the KingsRow program (Ed Gilbert) is stronger than Chinook - it's phenomenal - though still far from perfect.
In a 40-game match between Chinook and the best 'version' of the late Dr Marion Tinsley, it would be a very close call - Marion could still win, although Chinook would be the favourite by a very tiny margin. Richard Pask Author of Complete Checkers and Checkers for the Novice


Has Counterspell always been able to target any spell on the stack? I read this question What spells can be countered? on HNQ and was quite surprised.

It is a long time I played MtG, but some 10+ years ago I was a somewhat enthusiastic player in our local town, participated in a number of official prereleases.

It is possible I am mixing something up, but has it always been that Counterspell could target (technically) any card on stack?

As far as I remember, the players down here used Counterspell as if it only could target sorcery and instant spells on stack. So you couldn't target e.g. a creature or artifact while it was being played. It's been a long time though.

Dark Ritual was printed as a 'Mana Source' rather than an instant from Mirage to Urza's Saga. Back then, Counterspell was an interrupt, which was something of an 'instant-but-faster'. You could not counter mana sources like Dark Ritual because they were 'too fast', just like you can't counter a mana ability under today's rules. However, creatures (back then, 'Summon [creature type]' cards) have always been vulnerable to Counterspell and its ilk.

Some more information about how the rules worked back then can be found in the 2002 article 'Rules, Interrupted' by Ben Bleiweiss on wizards.com.

Any spell can be targeted using counterspell other than itself.


What brand of card sleeves are most reliable for Magic the Gathering? I use Dragon Shield, KMC and Ultra-Pro.

The reviews and forums don't seem to have a consensus on the question, "Which brand is the best?"

But have there been any quality control tests that show statistically one brand is more reliable than the others?

I have not seen any independent quality assurance tests comparing the various sleeves, and I sincerely doubt there is a comprehensive one to be found. It's probably not economical for anyone involved, since QA comparisons like that can be quite expensive.

From anecdotal evidence at my local shop, which has ~80 player FNMs every week, most players seem to agree agree that:

KMC sleeves (matte or normal) are generally the most durable.
Dragon Shield will start split during shuffling.
Ultra-Pro Pro-Matte will become dirty fairly quickly.

These are the three most popular sleeve types at the shop.

I use Ultra-Pro. I've never had a problem with them. Been using them for about 5 months now. Now I don't like playing without them. It feels weird when the edges aren't stabbing me in the hand every few seconds. :D


Absorbing damage with Planeswalker If my opponent attacks my planeswalker (who has 1 loyalty counter) with two creatures (power 1 and 3 respectively), can I absorb the attack of the creature with power 3 with my planeswalker and only take one damage to my health? Or do I treat it like the creature has trample and take three damage to my health?

Neither. Treat your planeswalker as if they are a separate player, one that you can use your creatures to block for. If there is trample damage when your block, that damage goes to your planeswalker, not you. If you don't block (or do block and there's trample) and that damage is more than enough to kill your planeswalker, then your planeswalker dies, and no damage is dealt to you. Damage never tramples over onto you from an attack at your planeswalker. From the comprehensive rules (emphasis mine):

  510.1b An unblocked creature assigns its combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking. If it isn't currently attacking anything (if, for example, it was attacking a planeswalker that has left the battlefield), it assigns no combat damage.

You take no damage. a planeswalker is a separate player, so you take no damage, the planeswalker is just super dead.


How can I destroy Possibility Storm? If an opponent plays Possibility Storm , what would be the best way to destroy it? If I played a card which allowed me to destroy target enchantment, would this destroy Possibility Storm before my card becomes exiled or would I need to rely on one of the cards I need to draw?

Also does Possibility Storm trigger when playing creatures or lands/basic lands?

It triggers whenever you cast a spell from your hand, no matter what kind of spell. This includes an instant or sorcery you might play to try to destroy it, as well as creatures. (Playing lands is not casting a spell - it's a special action you can do.)

So yes, it's difficult to destroy. Keeping it from ever reaching the battlefield by countering it is of course the easiest way. If you happen to have something on the battlefield with an ability that can destroy it, like a Keening Apparition that'll work too. Similarly, if you're lucky enough to have a spell with Flashback already in your graveyard like Ray of Revelation, you could use that - it's not cast from your hand, so it's not affected.

But otherwise, yes, you'll have to rely on luck - cast your spells, and hope you hit something good. Do note that you don't necessarily have to destroy it; you could well cast a vanilla 1/1 creature and luck into something enormous, and your opponent is just as dead if you kill them without being able to control what you cast!

I built A Nikol Bolas deck and recently added this card and had the same question. this was the answer. The player casting the spell has the choice as to whether or not the card ability happens first as cased below..

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses.

And again below.

101.4. If multiple players would make choices and/or take actions at the same time, the active player (the player whose turn it is) makes any choices required, then the next player in turn order (usually the player seated to the active player’s left) makes any choices required, followed by the remaining nonactive players in turn order. Then the actions happen simultaneously. This rule is often referred to as the “Active Player, Nonactive Player (APNAP) order” rule.

Hope this helped you with your playing :) Good Luck and Have fun!


Why would someone want to use Pot of Desires, other than to draw 2 cards? Pot of Desires allows you to banish the top 10 cards of your deck, facedown, and then draw 2 cards.

Why would someone do this? Is gaining 2 cards worth it?

Why would someone do this? Is gaining 2 cards worth it?

Exactly.

Banishing 10 cards face down is the trade-off for drawing 2 cards; it's up to you (or the deck builder) to determine if this trade-off is worth it.

Having a card that just lets you draw 2 cards would be too broken. Such effect should have a trade-off to make it more balanced, and that is why this card requires banishing 10 cards.

In theory, no one wants to banish 10 cards facedown, because as they are facedown you can't recover them by any means (at least as far as I  know, as you don't know what card it is).

However, in practice, drawing 2 cards may be worth it, and even decisive for the game result.

Also if you use it together with Soul Absoprtion you gain 5000 Health pretty sure there are more cards like this


Is it possible to wait for some cards to leave the stack to use them for delve? Imagine the situation:

I am at 2 life;
I have five Forests untapped in the battlefield;
I have 4 Giant Growth and 1 Become Immense in my hand;
I have a Brainstorm in my graveyard;
I have a 1/1 creature with no abilities

My opponent has 19 life;
My opponent has a 2/2 creature with no abilities.

I attack with my creature without casting any cards.
My opponent doesn't block.
Can I cast the 4 Giant Growths (+12/+12) using four of my five Forests and then cast the Become Immense (giving me a total of +18/+18) delving the four Giant Growth and the Brainstorm using the last Forest?

Yes, you can. After each spell resolves but before the next one on the stack, both players get priority. You can cast more instants or activate more abilities then. Become Immense is an instant, and you are able to pay the mana costs, so you can put it on the stack.

A simpler way to look at this particular example is, you can cast Giant Growth (resolves), then Giant Growth (resolves), then Giant Growth (resolves), then Giant Growth (resolves), and with the stack empty, cast Become Immense.

Yes.

In fact, you've probably done it a million times before:

Cast a creature spell.
Wait for it to resolve.
Cast another creature spell.

There are four ways a card can be removed from the stack:

When it's countered or otherwise removed by the effect of some other spell or ability.
When it's about to resolve, but all of its targets have become illegal.
As part of resolving,

By its own effect. (e.g. Teferi's Protection)
As the last step of resolving.

After each of those, players always gain priority (though the other player may gain priority first).

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


With both Seafarers and Cities & Knights expansions, how many victory points should I play to? I've recently gotten Cities & Knights and plan to play it with my existing Seafarers of Catan expansion once I get the hang of it.  Looking through the manuals for both Seafarers of Catan and Catan: Cities & Knights, I can't find how many victory point should I play to when combining the expansions.

Both expansions can be played together, but it doesn't say how many victory points to play to.  I assume since Cities & Knights increases the number of victory points you play on the base settlers map, it would do the same for the Seafarers maps, but I can't find a reference for this.

When playing a Seafarers Scenario with Cities & Knights, do you play to the number of victory points for the scenario, or do you increase the number of victory points you play too?

The rules for Seafarers (pdf) do not address combining the two expansions. The rules for Cities and Knights (pdf) do address combining the two games (page 13), warning that only certain scenarios work well, and providing rules for things like how to treat ships as roads and how a knight can chase away the pirate. They do not, however, specify how many victory points to play to. The FAQ on combining the two expansions addresses a few questions, but not the victory point question.
There is a thread on BoardGameGeek about combining the two expansions, in which two separate people mention that the official rule is to add 2 victory points to the Seafarers scenario if you're playing with Cities and Knights. According to Daniel Johnson:

Also, Klaus Teuber's website has a FAQ at http://www.klausteuber.com/en/index.php?page=seefahrer_staedte_und_ritter.html with a few questions that might not be answered by the Almanac.
...
2. The victory point goal should be 2 more than in the Seafarers scenario.

Sadly, the site linked to seems to have been reorganized, and that link just redirects to the home page of catan.com. However, this seems to be the best answer that is available so far; to add two victory points to the conditions listed in the Seafarers scenario.
I have never tried this, as I tend to prefer not to combine expansions in games. I find that in general, combining too many expansions makes a game bog down too much. I love Seafarers, and find Cities and Knights nice too, but combining them would just add too many extra things to think about, and too many confusing interactions (like this one) that need to be answered in separate rules, FAQs, and the like.

I would say 16.

The reason is we use the rule to increase the amount by 3 for each expansion.

In this case, you use both so 10 + 3 + 3 = 16.


What's a good handicap for a less experienced player in an MTG Draft? My drafting group has a few hardcore players like me who have been playing magic for a while. We've memorized almost all the commons and uncommons in the sets we're drafting (usually Innistrad or 2012), know a lot about how to win at drafts, know the good archetypes, and have a bit more deck-building experience compared to some of the other people we'd like to add to the group. The new people know the mechanics of the game and have played enough to know how to build a decent deck, but I'm worried that the rest of us will have a significant advantage that takes away from everyone's fun.

What handicaps can be used when drafting that give a weaker player about an equal chance at winning while removing as little of the fun as possible? Obviously we'll coach them a bit about the techniques we've used that have been effective, but until they're completely up to speed I don't want them to be annihilated and quit. Should we give them a handicap during the actual draft, like an extra few picks from another booster after the draft is over, or a handicap during the actual games? What handicapping techniques have you used that work well?

To be contrarian: in my experience, if you're adding a sufficient number of new people (which it sounds like is the case here), I'd encourage not handicapping them at all.  My recommendation would actually be to start not with drafting but with some form of sealed-deck play (maybe a simple three-round league or the like), so that the new players have fewer decisions to make and can learn what the core elements of a limited deck are.  Once they understand the essentials of limited then just let them loose on a draft - the experienced players may well run the table, but the newer players should still be able to have interesting games with the experienced drafters and excellent games among each other (this is why you need a sufficient number of new people), and IMHO the (slightly) 'deep-end' approach (along with some measure of coaching, post-draft analysis, etc) is the best way to get truly interested players motivated to get better.

One plausible alternative, though, that might be worth looking at is some form of team draft/sealed, where each of the new players is paired with a more experienced player that they can directly watch, talk with, and learn from; 2HG is a tough format to draft (as opposed to playing sealed with), but it's a great and underutilized choice for this sort of thing.

most handicap systems handicap permanently, 1 less card, 1 smaller hand, 5 less life etc.
this usally can be majorly detrimental.
also most effects are to clunky -1 card may be too little, but -2 too much mainly as the effect is permanant.

I suggest a delayed return to normality.
in my example your draw is behind (nearly-it moves to the end of the turn) 1 turn, your hand size is X smaller, decreasing by 1 each turn until the handicap has faded. at this point the draw delay is removed.
as its granualer you can have multiple players with multiple hadicaps and the handcaps can shift to adjust for skill/deck improvement.

I havent tested it too well but i believe that the max rating is likely 10 more than the weakest player. above 7 the negatives level off a little.

POWER RATING

1)Each player/deck combination has a POWER rating. Starting rating is 0*

2)High POWER ratings indicate better players and/or decks.

3)when a game is won, if any losing player has zero POWER increase your power by 1/3 of number of players beaten, rounded up. Otherwise all losing players decrease thier POWER by 1**

PLAYING

1)calculate your game handicap:minus the lowest POWER of the people playing from your POWER.

2)all players draw the largest off 7 or the highest handicap.

3)Mulligan as needed.

4)shuffle you hand and deal your handicap amount into a seperate pile(your handicap location or HL)

5)As long as there are cards in an HL the maximum hand size is equal to the largest off 7 or the highest handicap.***

6)during your draw phase if you have an HL you draw one less card and move one card from your libray to your HL****

7)at the end of your turn, after discard, draw two cards from your HL.

NOTES
*Ratings are for deck\player so if a deck changes hands or is significatly altered POWER is reset.

**this means +1 power for 2-4 player games,+2 for 5 - 7 player +3 for 10 - 12 player etc.

***In high handicap games, the max hand size change does not apply, in the turn of the player who clears thier HL as the discard phase has passed.


Do I roll for reinforcements when I lose a Pygmy due to a Sorcerer taking control of it? When Pygmies are killed the player can roll the die and get 0-3 new pygmies for his next turn. Does he get to do this if a sorcerer uses his special ability to take control of a lone pygmy?
My guess would be yes due to the way elves interact w/ sorcerers, but I couldn't find anything conclusive in the base set rules, and there is only a summery insert w/ the expansion!

Yes, you can roll for reinforcements.

The Rules for the expansion read:

  Each time you lose a Pygmy token, roll a reinforcement die ...

The Sorcerer definitely causes you to lose a Pygmy token, it is not required to be killed.  Therefore you get to roll the reinforcement die to replace them.

No. The pygmy is changed into a sorceror and therefore is not lost but transformed.


Does an ability resolve if the source of the ability leaves the battlefield? Player A taps Goblin Fireslinger targeting Player B; its "deals 1 damage to target player" ability is placed on the stack.

Player B gets priority and responds with Snap, targeting Goblin Fireslinger.

Both players pass priority. Snap resolves, and Goblin Fireslinger is returned to its owner's hand.

Does Player B still take 1 damage from Goblin Fireslinger's activated ability?

I know that if the creature had been killed/sent to the graveyard, the ability would still resolve, but I was told recently that because a player's hand is a private zone it couldn't. If anyone could confirm or deny this for me, it would be most appreciated.

Yes, Player B still takes damage from the Goblin Fireslinger. Rule 112 covers this adequately. Rule 112.3a tells us that Activating an ability puts it on the stack, until it resolves, is countered (Stifle), or it otherwise leaves the stack (Time Stop). Rule 112.7a tells us that the activated ability exists independent of the source, and does not quality this separation with objects moving to a hidden zone.

  112.3b Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as “[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]” A player may activate such an ability whenever he or she has priority. Doing so puts it on the stack, where it remains until it’s countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 602, “Activating Activated Abilities.”

  112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability.

It is possible that they are confusing this with the rules regarding tracking objects that are moving between zones. Normally, objects have no memory of their previous existence in another zone, and become new objects. There are 7 exceptions, and (d/g) are probably the ones that they are confusing this with. These exceptions exist, because cards like Rancor exist that need to have rules that allow the cards to actually work.

  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:

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

  400.7g A resolving spell or activated ability can perform actions on an object that moved from one zone to another while that spell was being cast or that ability was being activated, if that object moved to a public zone.

yes from what I looked up whatever the ability targets as long as the target is there the effect takes place

if the 1 damage is the issue the only way to NEGATE it still  will resolve is to have a card that resolves first such is a prevent all damage for target monster until the end of the turn as long as he casts the ability it will resolve if you had one health left and that was the win then you could have a card to resolve first giving you 1 or more health so you don't die and your top card will resolve first  the only way to ever prevent direct damage from resolving in the stack is to kill the opponent then get up and walk away before he can write it down but if you have one health left and you kill him before it resolves I do believe you win may need to check the official rules though could be classified as a double ko

I was looking to see if any ability's can be activated and resolve immediately without saying so such as ones you pay 1 light and 3uncolored for and it gives 2/2 to all creatures you control until the end of the turn


What is this game similar to Quoridor? A friend of mine spoke about a game with rules a little bit similar to Quoridor but different.

The rules are the following:

you have a board constituted of squares
each player has a pawn which he has to move until the opposite side
each player has several walls consisting of two square pieces
each move a player can either:

move his pawn of one square
place a wall to a position on the board but always let an escape route for the opponent: unlike Quoridor the walls are placed on the square rather than between them.

the game is won when the pawn reaches the opposite side

I'm curious if you know the name of this game.

edit :

It was actually qoridor but the rules was wrongly explained you can close the question as incorrect.

I know this is like 4 years late but I think you're looking for a game called Got'em!

I haven't played either. But you can find it on boardgamegeek.

the game you are looking for is called zigzag


Monopoly strategy if every unowned property goes to auction immediately? My friends and I have tried playing with a house rule where every property, no matter who lands on it, immediately goes to auction for all players.

We have been using a Vickrey auction so that the turns don't take forever (we all just write down a number, and the highest bid pays the second highest bid's price for the property).

Obviously, without this rule in place, it is advantageous to simply buy every property you land on. But, with the auctions, each property is going for more than listed value and we quickly run out of cash. What sort of strategies should I employ with this house rule?

With these rules, the optimal bid for properties you are NOT interested in is $1 less than the highest bid.  Even if you are highly interested a property, might not want to signal that with a very high bid.
As Toon Krijthe points out, this becomes a guessing game of what others are willing to spend.  Since you say players are running out of money, you may want to not win early properties and pickup better deals later.  You still need to bid high to help others run out of money and to disguise your strategy.
How much players should be bidding can be informed via a property value calculator like those in this article.  As the calculators point out, key variables in estimating the value are number of players, rounds of play expected, and if the other related properties are (or will be) owned.  In addition to the value for your own situation, Calculate value for the player who will benefit the most from obtaining the property being auctioned.  This will help estimate a logical high end bid for the auction.

So key factors in determining your bid are:
 * Who has available cash to bid
 * Value of property to the players in the game
 * How aggressively/conservatively are players bidding.
 * Plans for your available cash

Until the end of the game, cash is practically worthless in Monopoly, only properties are valuable. Therefore, I suggest that you spend almost every last dollar you have to get an auctioned property, keeping only enough to ensure you'll get to Go and collect 200 $ afterward.

If you then need money because you happen to fall on someone else's property and have to pay rent, or want to bid on another property, just mortgage the property you just bought in order to raise some cash.

Of course, other considerations, such as the probability of soon landing on a property that will complete your set, must be considered, but overall, you have to ensure that you get as many properties as possible, trading them later on if necessary.

Only make sure you evaluate the amount of money you might need to reach your next Go payoff.

Finally, the rules do not explicitly exclude partnerships. For example, offer another player your promise not to bid on certain property groups if that player will do the same for you.


Do rules revert to 4 player rules midgame if someone gets eliminated? When playing a 5 or more player game of Twilight Imperium and someone is completely removed from the game, do you revert to picking two strategy cards each as per a 4 player game?

No, nothing changes. The TI3 FAQ puts it fairly straightforwardly on the left hand side of page 2:

  Elimination

  A player who controls no planets and has no units on the board
  is eliminated from the game. He cannot play Action Cards or
  choose Strategy Cards. After a player has been eliminated, the
  other players continue the game normally, with no changes
  to the number of Strategy Cards taken, etc. When a player is
  eliminated, all his Action Cards are discarded and all of his
  race's Trade Agreements are removed from the game.

Once a player's eliminated, everyone plays by the same rules as they have been the whole game. You don't revert to rules for the current lower number of players.

As far as I know, a player cannot be eliminated from the game. He can lose all of his plastic figures, but still after each round he participates in the strategy- and action card distribution, by which he can affect the gameplay.

Conclusion from this would be that if the house wants to enable dropping a player, then it's house-rules specific.


How should hands that are EXTREMELY strong in one suit (10+ cards) be bid? I'm a bit of a bridge noob, but I'm kind of puzzled about this. Say I have a hand that is ridiculously strong in one suit, say at least 10 cards with all 4 honors (I'll use spades for the example suit). how should I bid? This is so many cards that almost nobody will be leading spades but me, so if another suit is trump, I'm flush out of luck.

Obviously I would want to end up playing a spade contract with a good potential for a slam, but if I open too high, say 5 spades, won't my opponents catch on pretty quickly and bid in their own suits or No-trump, just so my spades will be next to useless? They will likely have favorable distributions for their own suits since nearly all the spades are gone, which only worsens the fact. Then again, if I bid to low, my partner may not rebid, and while taking 12 tricks at a contract of 3S is obviously good, knowing you will have that many overtricks from the start seems kind of a waste.

Even if I held 12 or 13 spades, if I bid 7S, won't my opponents just bid 7NT and I'll never get to lead? How should hands with this heavy a distribution be bid to make the most of them?

(I've already said I'm not a very experienced bridge player, so if I'm making any glaring oversights don't hesitate in the slightest to bring them up.)

NOTE: I know these hands are extremely rare, but in all reality, every single possible hand is rare enough that studying bridge hands is actually quite useless because you'll never see the same hand again in your life...but we do it anyway because that's how we learn. Couldn't you tell anyone asking about a specific hand not to worry about it because it'll never show up again? :D

If you have 10+ spades in your hand, you will never let a contract die out in 3S now, would you?

It really depends on the hand, but people play the following two conventions which might potentially be useful (of course, there might be others).

Namyats. This is to distinguish hands which are too strong for just preempting 4S. You show stronger hands by bidding 4D (taking spades as your suit), which you could potentially use here, though 10+ would probably be too strong. There are various followups which can be used to investigate slam.
4NT opening bid as Ace asking. Say you had AKQJxxxxxx, A,x,x. You could bid 4NT as asking for Aces, and bid the slam appropriately.

Anyway, hands with a 10+ suit are very rare and even experts have trouble with them (or rather, don't bother with them so much, because of the rarity).

As to your question about opponents taking out to their suit, why do you think that is likely to happen? It is quite risky for them to be bidding at the 5/6/7 level, without a running suit of their own. Your bidding at the 4/5/6/7 level would have taken out enough bidding space to make it unlikely they would be able to overcall easily (and find a fit). You seem to be also forgetting that you have a partner who could still hold some cards, and could easily double them and take them for a number. If they do bid, well, you can't help it, but I would say it is not as likely as you seem to think.

As to your edit.

Yes, any specific hand (down to the spots) is a low occurrence (in fact same chance for each hand!), but bidding systems are not geared towards finding the exact specific hand you have. Bidding systems are geared towards finding fits, distribution and strength with the ultimate goal of finding the right strain and level based on the scoring.

When talking about 'rarity', you should be thinking in terms of hand types rather than specific hands. So when someone says getting a 7 card spade suit is much more likely than getting a 10 card spade suit, they are not talking specific hands, but a set of hands. Take the set of all hands which have 7 card spade suit and the set of all hands which have a 10 card spade suit and compare the counts.

When people say 10+ card suits are rare, they are talking about the whole set.

You might never get the same hand dealt again, true, but the same hand type (say 15-17 balanced) might occur again frequently.

Bidding space is very limited, and trying to cater to rare hands can be inefficient use of that space.

Just one time(maybe because my beck is no good sufferd(i had draw 10 cluds with A K J xxxxxxx And a voice in H.
I just thing to call 6c but in trying i understand that is wrong.
If both aces or AK in one of 2 is on my opponent 5c is nice only 10 trick is rarely with this hand).
But if have both ace is 12 tricks and if A A K is 13 tricks.

So 5c bet is wrong. 6c is also wrong.
i must talk to my parents that i have a voice in H and ask him who many Aces haves.
This hand is no in real game but in borring opening try.
If i take this again i opening 1c And after replay beting 3h(RKCB with Void).
The rest is easy with an ace or 2 ace ask with King. If both miss Final 5c is correct.
If only an ace miss 6c if all AA is ok ang both King miss 6c And AA K found 7c.
My plan...

With 11 cards the thing is looks like the same. 12 with A is at least slam.
13 is out of Question grand slam...


Which circumstances make one favour track better than another in Caylus? When the King awards you a favour in Caylus, which track should you choose?

When is one track more beneficial than another?

What circumstances make a particular favour track more or less useful?

The real (and boring) answer is: it's going to vary, depending on the specific circumstances of the game you're playing.

My answer: the victory point track is very strong, and a good default option.  The build track is also extremely strong, as can be guessed from the fact that you don't even get a bonus the first time you move on it!  The money track is not so great, but sometimes it's exactly what you need if you're finding it hard to get funds any other way.  In my personal experience, the goods track is the weakest.  It's usually possible to get goods through normal actions, and the gold at the top end of the track is less good than just getting 5 victory points... unless you've set up a bunch of exciting things to spend your gold on.  But that seems like a lot of extra hoops to jump through.

Other people's mileage may vary, naturally!

In the games I play, players tend to go for the building track. They use the track to build the best buildings early, such as those that provide great resources. They rack up victory points when people visit them in later turns, as they are often want to do.


What does MAX apply to on the Memory Cards in "Autumn Harvest: A Tea Dragon Society Card Game"? In Autumn Harvest: A Tea Dragon Society Card Game, some memory cards have score wording on them that are unclear to me.
For example, the Winter Memory Card Crisp Evening has a score of "4+?" and the card text says

?=1 point for each token you have at game end. MAX 12.

I am unclear about if the MAX applies to the total card score (the whole bottom of the card that says "4+?") or only the "?" that is part of the score equation.

In the example above, if the maximum refers to the card's total score then it would only count up to 8 tokens and would get up to 12 points for this card.
The other way to read it is that the maximum refers to the "?" alone, so you can count up to 12 tokens and would get up to 16 points for this card.
There are some card instances where both the score and "?" are the same so the maximum applies to both, but in this instance because of the "4+?", the score and "?" are not the same and it is unclear which the maximum applies to.
Clarification on this would be very helpful, as there is nothing about this in the Autumn Harvest rule book.

MAX is intended to be the maximum amount of points that may be scored with the card.


Is there a definitive list of Button Men rules? There are many, many Button Men dice rules. I'm trying to find a list of them with easy to understand examples.

I'm not new to the game, but I keep coming across dice I've never heard of (like Rage and Mighty). I would like to find an easy way to look up dice.

I'm sure Buttonweavers has a list somewhere, but I can't find it. I've done some digging through the forums, but it's not as easy to navigate as most that I've used.

The verbiage at beatpeopleup.cheapass.com/game-rules seems to imply that the dice lists on that page are complete.

https://buttonmen.fandom.com/wiki/Buttonmen_Wiki has about 90% of all die skills.


Opening bidder steals my bid What do I bid when the opening bidder bids my bid?
E.g. bids 1NT and that is what I want to bid and I don't have a 5 card suit.

There are several common situations with different handlings:

Opener to your right bids your best suit and you have 12+ points:
Pass and hope partner can make a balancing double, which you can then convert to penalty by passing. Update The rationale in this case is that opponents, if partner is bust or close to it, actually have sufficient strength to bid game and perhaps make it. Let them discover for themselves that the breaks are bad and that you are end-playable, hopefully too late to salvage a plus.

Opener to your right opens a weak 1NT and you have the same hand:
Pass; unless partner can act in the balancing seat you are more likely to be plus by defending 1NT then by attempting to make a higher contract.

Opener to your right opens a strong NT and you have the same hand:
It is common to double with this hand though many experts prefer to Pass as above. It is not clear to me that either approach is better in the long term than the other. The increased points held by you and opener make it much less likely that partner can reopen, but you may be able to make 8 tricks in partner's longest suit even when he has only 5 or 6 points.

Opener to your left opens your best suit, you have 10+ points, and you are put in the balancing seat:
Partner with likely shortness in opener's suit could not act, and so is weak. Either the opponents have underbid, or they are in trouble; either way you are best to let the auction die. The hand is either a misfit for both sides or opponents have failed to find their fit.

Opener to your left opens 1NT (either weak or strong) and you have the same shape and announced range:
Pass, especially if you have methods allowing entry over a 1NT opening to show various unbalanced intermediate hands. Nobody is getting rich on this hand, except by doubling over-aggressive opponents. Take your Average Plus result.

The fastest way to improve your scores is to become a better defender - by practicing your hand counting, your leads, your defensive signalling, and finally by practice. There is often much room for error by both defenders an declarer on these balanced low part scores. Taking one trick more on defence than your peers will often get you a very good score. Enjoy the opportunity of practicing your honed skills.
If the opponents are halfways decent they will declare as often as you and your partner, so you will be defending twice as often as you declare. Repeat that thought; again. Practice your defence, and practice your defence again. Any delusion that you can win at this game through constant sacrificing against their contracts is just that - a delusion.

In most cases, the best course of action is to pass. If you pass when you have opening values, this is known as a "trap pass."

Your (right hand) opponent (RHO) bid, and stole the so-called "first mover" advantage. This is an advantage on offense. The opponents have a head start on declaring, which is not necessarily to your disadvantage, because they may get too high if you keep silent and prepare to play defense.

By passing, you try to preserve the right of "last action" (ultimately you hope that it will be your decision to pass, bid, or double). This is an important advantage on defense. Right now, you know that your opponent has an opening hand, and wants to play in no trumps, but s/he doesn't know the same about you. You also have the advantage that your RHO is "onside" finesses that may go into your hand, which may be an unpleasant surprise for this opponent. Don't give up this advantage at this point by bidding.

The reason you pass, is because you want to hear from the two partners. If RHO has 12-15 points and you have about the same, the other two players have only 10-16 points between them. There are three main possibilities:

1) Both partners are fairly weak (each has about half of the outstanding points, or 5-8 points).

2) Your partner is fairly strong (has most of the 10-16 remaining points), and your opponent's partner has "nothing."

3) Opponent's partner is "strong" and your partner has nothing.

You will be able to tell the situation by how the partners bid. Basically, with you and RHO opponent finely balanced in strength, you don't want to take action until you hear from your partner, or at least RHO's partner.

The time to take action (or not) is when the smoke has cleared.That's why I say "pass for now."


In Sorry can I split a 7 move card to a single pawn and move it only 2? Say I have a pawn in the safety zone with 2 spaces to go. It is the only pawn left to move. All the other pawns are already home. If I draw a move 7 split between pawns card, is it legal to move my pawn only 2? It's like I just split the move between 1 pawn and no other pawn.

No, you cannot use the 7 card if you lack a man (or pair of men) that can move a total of 7 spaces.

In the scenario you provided, you have one man that can move 2 spaces, and all three other men can move 0 spaces (whether this is as a result of being on Start or being in Home is actually irrelevant, as the only three cards that can move a man out of Start are 1, 2, and SORRY!). Since you cannot split the 7 card with any of the three men that can move 0 spaces, your only other option would be to move the remaining man 7 spaces, which also cannot be done. Therefore, you forfeit that movement (and thus, the turn).

It's worth noting that the only 4 cards that could be used in the exact scenario you provided (three men in home, last man 2 away) are a 1, a 2, a 4, and a 10 (forces your man one space back). Any other card would automatically cause a forfeited move because you cannot perform the movements on the card.

The 7 card specifically states that you can split the move up between "any" man. That means you can move your piece to and move somebody else's piece the remaining five. Considering that the other card specifically refer to "opponent's" pieces, this makes sense.


Axis and Allies 2nd Edition: to Pearl Harbor or not to Pearl Harbor When playing as Japan in Axis and Allies, 2nd edition, should Japan attack Pearl Harbor on its first turn?

If so, why and what force structure do you use? Do your actions depend on what Russia and the UK have done on their first turn (e.g. heavily fortified Eastern Russia or build an Indian factory)? Do you press on with the attack no matter what or is there a point at which you'd cut your losses and retreat? If you win, do you take your fleet back to home waters on turn two, or do you continue South or East?

If you don't attack, what's your rationale and what do you do with the units that might have participated?

What the Expert Says...
In his excellent essays, Don Rae says Japan should always attack Pearl Harbor on its opening turn (see Essay #1):

The Pearl Harbor attack (this should be obvious to all players) should be conducted, always, without exception.
If this U.S. fleet is not removed, it will be used against you in the Pacific (non-optimal), or it can be driven through the Panama Canal to assist the U.S. Atlantic invasion front (optimal). Any anticipation of anything less than the optimal response movement from the U.S. player is generally considered as weak play....
Because of this, you must always use enough forces to take out this sea zone area decisively.

Don then goes on to describe what units to use, which depend on whether you follow his suggestions for "basic" tactical play or "advanced" play. In the basic approach, he suggests throwing everything you've got at it except for your transports. That is, you're going to send two battleships, your sub, two fighters, and the carrier.
If you use the advanced play, Don suggests a more muted attack:

1 battleship (Japan)
1 submarine
2 fighters (one from Japan, one from the carrier)
1 bomber

With the carrier stationed off Solomon Islands.

All in all, Japan is meant to last. Most strategies involve leaving your fighters behind to aid in invading everything to the West. In the basic game, you will probably want to send just your Navy (and 1-2 transports, if possible). You are virtually guaranteed to take out their AcC and might get to invade Hawaii. And why WOULDN'T you want to give your tanks and artillery teams a nice, tropical vacation? However, if you plan to abandon Japan and let Germany liberate it (which might just be crazy enough to work, with the right dice rolls,) then send everything you have against America and, if you get lucky, you might get the Western U.S. (you get the victory city AND a factory.) If that works, as you all know, build a sh*tzillion infantry. Or infantries, or whatever. All in all, though, I would recommend sending a naval force of at least a destroyer, a battleship, and at least one transport (with infantry and a tank). This'll guarantee that you get Hawaii and maybe even invade the Western seaboard. Playing by the 1942 SPECIAL rules, however, you can kamikaze the living shiznit out of Hawaii, if that answers your question. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Dear black baby jesus, I've been shot! Someone, please help me!"


How does Void Winnower affect face down spells and creatures? Void Winnower says

  Your opponents can't cast spells with even converted mana costs. (Zero is even)

  Your opponents can't block with creatures with even converted mana costs.

If I control a Void Winnower, does it prevent my opponent from casting Morph and Megamorph cards as face down spells? Does it prevent face down creatures from blocking?

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

The most important rule here is 202.3a:

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

The description of Morph is in rule 702.36a:

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

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

And the description of Manifest in 701.31a says

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

In addition, rule 707.2a says

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

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

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

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

Void Winnower works:

Face down spells: "Exception from the rule".
Face down creatures:  "This kind of creatures Like "manifest" or "tokens" are not affected by the card".

Author note: I am a player from South America -Chile. I started MTG 16 years ago with the portal deck and today im still an active player. I hope this post help you with your seeking.


Scenario: Can monster be targeted? H░░█░
░░█░M

Is the Monster (M) a valid target for a ranged Hero (H) attack through the Obstacles (█)?

TL;DR No

For reference, "Line of Sight" (pg 12) from the Rules of Play:

  In order for a figure to have line of sight to a space, a player must be able
  to trace an uninterrupted, straight line from any corner of that figure’s
  space to any corner of the target space.

  If the line passes through the edge of a map tile, a door, or a blocked space
  (a space containing a figure or obstacle), the target space is not in line of
  sight (see “Line of Sight Example” on page 12).

  If the line passes along the edge of a blocked space (see “Line of Sight
  Example” on page 12), the target space is not in line of sight. However,
  if the line only touches the corner of a blocked space (without passing
  through the space itself ), the target space is in line of sight.

Now let's address the possible lines from the Hero's space:

Top left corner

Any line from this corner must pass through the Hero's space. The Hero is a figure, so the Hero's space is a blocked space. So all lines are invalid because they pass through a blocked space.

Bottom left corner
Bottom right corner

For both of these corners, any line must pass through or along the Obstacle space. An obstacle space is a blocked space, therefore all lines are invalid.

Top right corner

Only a single line can pass from this corner through the obstacles. By geometry, that fixed line does continue to the Monster's bottom right corner, but passes through the Monster's space. A monster is a figure, so therefore the Monster's space is a blocked space. Therefore, the line passes through the edge of a blocked space and is invalid.

Summary: All possible lines are invalid; the Monster can't be targeted by the Hero.

For context, the "Line of Sight" section from the Rules of Play (pg. 12), reads:

  "In order for a figure to have line of sight to a space, a player must be able to trace an on interrupted, straight line from any corner of that figures space to any corner of the target space. If the line passes through the edge of a map tile, a door, or a blocked space (a space containing a figure or obstacle), the target space is not in line of sight. However, if the line only touches the corner of a blocked space (without passing through the space itself), the target space is in line of sight."

IMHO: It does not make sense intuitively for the target of an attack to count as an obstacle of said attack, so I believe you should have line of sight from the top right corner of the hero space to the bottom right corner of the monster space.


What happens if the legend rule doesn't apply to only one of a pair of legendary creatures with the same name? Brothers Yamazaki has the ability

  If there are exactly two permanents named Brothers Yamazaki on the battlefield, the "legend rule" doesn't apply to them.

So, say I control two Brothers Yamazaki (and there are no others on the battlefield), a Grizzly Bears, and a Leyline of Singularity, and I have a Spy Kit attached to one of the Brothers.

Spy Kit has the ruling

  The set of names the equipped creature has includes the names of all nonlegendary creature cards in the Oracle card reference, including the back faces of double-faced cards. Notably, the equipped creature won’t gain the names of tokens, such as Zombie, Goblin, and similar. It also won’t gain the names of noncreature cards that have become creatures, such as a Wandering Fumarole that has become a creature.

So, the overall result here is that I have 3 legendary creatures:

One named "Brothers Yamazaki"
One named "Grizzly Bears"
One with many names, including both "Brothers Yamazaki" and "Grizzly Bears"

Then because of the ability on Brothers Yamazaki, the "legend rule" applies to creature number 2, but not to creature number 3. What exactly does that mean? What happens to creature number 2?

You get to keep all 3 creatures.
The legend rule reads:

704.5j If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

The Brothers' ability makes the legend rule not apply to them as long as there are exactly 2 of them on the battlefield. What "not applying" means can be derived from the rulings for Mirror Gallery or Sakashima of a Thousand Faces:

Mirror Gallery removes the “Legend rule” while it’s on the battlefield.[..]

While the “legend rule” doesn’t apply to permanents you control, you can control any number of legendary permanents with the same name and none of them will be put into the graveyard.

While Mirror Gallery is on the battlefield, the game is played as though the legend rule did not exist, or, put differently, the legend rule check is disabled for all permanents.
Accordingly, while exactly two Brothers Yamazaki are on the battlefield, the legend rule is not checked for either of them. Any legend rule check that would compare either of the Brothers Yamazaki to any other permanent for name identity is not performed at all. That means the Grizzly Bears is also safe from the legend rule, because the one check that could get them killed (with the Spy Kit'ed Brothers) is not performed.
Therefore, it does not matter whether or not either of the Brothers shares a name with Grizzly Bears or yet other permanents. As far as the legend rule is concerned, the two Brothers do not exist on the battlefield at all.

Perhaps there's another interpretation: Since the Leyline of Singularity has made all permanents legendary, the Spy Kit does nothing (except add +1/+1). There are no non-legendary creatures to gain names from.


In Stone Age, can I use the resources gained on a turn to pay for the cards? In the current round, I have no resources but have placed 1 meeple on a card and the rest on wood. I roll the die and get a few wood resources which can cover the cost of the card. Am I allowed to use the resources gained in the current turn to buy the card?

Yes, of course you can. The only "problem" is that you risk not getting the resources you need and then you won't be able to pay for the card and thus you may waste that worker's turn.

That's not to say that good Stone Age play doesn't involve such risk-taking as long as it's realistic.

No, you can't. When you buy a card, this is how it happens:

1) You buy the card.
2) You do whatever there is to be done on top of the card.
3) You use it at the end of the game.

If you can't afford the card first, you can't roll the dice.


Is it possible to bluff in board games like chess generally? Let's think of games like chess or go, where everyone can see everything, but also games like uno where it's hard to predict what color or value the person has with one card. Can you bluff here? According to the definition

  .. an attempt to deceive someone into believing that one can or is going to do something.

it would be generally yes, but how can you bluff in e.g. chess? Would a move showing you are skilled, while you're not, be a bluff?

The definition just fits to every 'intention', so according to it.

  .. try to deceive someone as to one's abilities or intentions.

If the definition tells, that every move is a bluff, answer the opposite, is it possible not to bluff in a game?

Bluff (verb):
  1. Try to deceive someone as to one's abilities or intentions.

I like this definition because it speaks to the two different kinds of bluffing - abilities and intentions.

In poker, bluffing is focused on deceiving your opponents about your abilities - that is, how many different hands your hand of cards is capable of beating.

In chess, this sort of bluff is not possible, because all information about your possible decision space is public knowledge.  Instead, bluffing in chess is about deceiving your opponent about your intentions.  Tricking them into defending against a pawn advance in a way that leaves them vulnerable to an attack by the your knights, that sort of thing.

That said, there is some overlap in both games.  Concealing your abilities in poker goes hand in hand with concealing your intentions, since your intentions are shaped by what your abilities are.  And in chess you can try to conceal your skill level, creating traps that your opponents are more likely to fall for because they assume that your move was an error or mistake on your part and thus don't look as carefully for the hook hidden in the bait.  But the primary forms of bluffing for the two games are distinct.

It's (allegedly) possible to ambiguously make an offer of a draw, but then recant if the other player accepts.  Perhaps by muttering something like "I can't believe I almost offered a draw earlier".

This sort of thing is fundamentally deceptive, which encourages me to categorize it as 'bluffing'.


Hero Quest type games What other kinds of games are like Hero Quest...? In that, what other games are around with a degree of character development (although not the depth of something like D&D), items etc, that actually takes place on a board...?

I'm not chasing something like Munchkin Quest, as your character does not carry over from session to session.

I think of the greatest of this kind is Descent: Journeys in the Dark especially with Road to Legend expansion which makes carrying over your characters between sessions slightly easier.