recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Pygmy Marmoset

## Ability

### Ability

**Small World****(Play)** If your deck has 3 or fewer Primates cards, your Primates cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Meet the world’s smallest monkey: standing just 15 centimetres tall, the **Pygmy Marmoset** is a tiny genus of New World monkey native to the rainforests of the western Amazon Basin in South America.

This type of tiny monkey is particularly partial to something called plant exudates, such as sap, gum and latex, which can be found in trees and vines. To get to their favourite food, pygmy marmosets have special teeth adaptations that allow them to gnaw holes in the bark of certain trees and vines to stimulate gum production.

Like peanut butter and jelly, bangers and mash or Kermit and Miss Piggy, some things come better as a pair – and the pygmy marmoset is one of them, typically giving birth to sets of twins.
Powered Exoskeleton

## Ability

### Ability

**Super Suit****(Draw)** Your Science cards in hand gain +10 Power for 3 turns. Repeat if your deck contains Skeleton.

## Did You Know?

We may not be at the point of fighting wars with giant humanoid robots, but we have made pretty big leaps in the development of a **Powered Exoskeleton**.

If you’ve seen Ridley Scott’s ‘Aliens’, you’ll know the general idea of an exoskeleton, but for those who haven’t, the concept involves a wearable mobile machine that can sense the user’s motion and send a signal to motors that manage the gears. In short, the technology works in tandem with the user to increase strength, mobility and endurance.

In the case of Powered Exoskeletons, you don’t have to worry about robots rising up and enslaving you, because you \*are\* the robot. As well as medical applications, powered exoskeletons are helping soldiers and first-responders go the extra mile while carrying mission-critical equipment.
Qin Shi Huang

## Ability

### Ability

**Burning Obsession****(Return)** All remaining cards in both player's hands **Burn** (20) this round and if you won the turn, your opponent's remaining cards in hand **Burn** (20) this round.

## Did You Know?

The founder of the Qin dynasty, **Qin Shi Huang** of China felt the history books undermined his legitimacy. So, under the guidance of his chief advisor, he ordered 460 scholars to be killed and all histories in the imperial archives except those written by the Qin historians to be burned. Apparently, being “king” didn’t quite cut the mustard – Qin Shi Huang felt it necessary to self-invent his title. And so, he became the first Emperor of China. And what's the must-have for any Chinese Emperor worth their salt? That’s right: a giant Terracotta Army. Designed as tomb companions (basically pottery bodyguards), work started when he was just 13 years old, involved some 700,000 workers and took 36 years to construct. There was an upside to this, as the terracotta warriors were a substitute for the human sacrifices his predecessors had used to line their tombs.
Paracelsus

## Ability

### Ability

**Third Defence****(Return)** Your remaining Marvellous Medicine cards in hand gain +35 Power and cost -1 Energy next turn.

## Did You Know?

Credited as the “Father of Toxicology”, **Paracelsus** was a Swiss physician and alchemist who pioneered the use of minerals and other chemicals including mercury, iron and copper sulphate in medicine.

Born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, it’s fair to say this leading scientist’s name was a bit of a mouthful. The name “Paracelsus” was a nickname, meaning “equal to or greater than Celsus” – a noted Roman physician. During his time as a military surgeon, Paracelsus demanded that people stop applying cow dung and feathers to wounds in favour of keeping them clean. Although this seems obvious today, Paracelsus’ advocation of cleanliness came at a time when doctors actually believed that infection was a natural part of the healing process. How far we’ve come...
R.U.R. (1920)

## Ability

### Ability

**I, Robot****(Play)** Your Robot Companion and Cyborg cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

What if we could create a race of artificial beings to help us run factories at no cost? Surely, they wouldn’t rise up and cause the extinction of the human race… right? To find out, you’ll have to watch **R.U.R (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti)** - Karel Čapek’s 1920 science-fiction play.

It was the first recorded use of the word ‘robot, however, the robots described in Čapek's play aren’t the mechanical kind, but rather artificial, biological organisms like the Replicants in Blade Runner, the “hosts” in Westworld and the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica.

While Karel Čapek popularised the term, he claims it was his brother who invented the word. In Czech, ‘robota’ means ‘forced labour’ and is derived from ‘rab’, meaning ‘slave.’ Maybe it’s time we gave them a new name.
Rembrandt

## Ability

### Ability

**Light and Dark****(Draw)** If you are winning the round, this card costs -3 Energy until played and if you are losing the round, this card loses -10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

First things first - he was actually Rembrant, not **Rembrandt**. He added the silent ‘d’ himself in his late twenties. Art historians claim that we don’t know why - but let’s be honest, it’s exactly the sort of thing precocious artists do (cf Prince, Bono, and the Japanese master Hokusai, who changed his name 30 times).

Rembrandt’s most famous painting - *Officers and Other Civic Guardsmen of District II of Amsterdam, under the command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch*, or as it’s more commonly known, *The Night Watch* - was also his largest (at 12ft x 14ft). It is a great example of *chiaroscuro*, where a painting plays dramatically with light and dark.
Peter Higgs

## Ability

### Ability

**Spin-Zero Boson****(Draw)** Your Science cards in hand gain +10 Power until played and your Energy cards, wherever they are, gain +22 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In the words of Frank Sinatra, the best revenge is massive success. Just ask **Peter Higgs**, the theoretical physicist best known for his prediction of the existence of the Higgs boson.

In 1964, Peter Higgs submitted a paper to a European physics journal outlining his proposed mechanism for how particles acquire mass. When the paper was reviewed by the editor, he rejected it, calling it "silly" and "trivial." Higgs' idea was considered too speculative at the time and was not taken seriously by many in the physics community. Nevertheless, Higgs persevered.

Paradoxically, the editor who rejected Higgs belonged to CERN, the institute responsible for confirming the existence of the so-called God particle in 2012 and Peter Higgs went on to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013, shared with François Englert.

'Peter Higgs' by Hans G (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Planet X

## Ability

### Ability

**Beyond Neptune****(Play)** If your deck has 9 or fewer Space cards, your Space cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power permanently. If your deck contains exactly 4 Space cards, give them an additional +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Don’t the years fly by so quickly? Not on **Planet X**. This hypothetical planet that researchers say could exist deep in our solar system could have a mass about ten times that of the Earth. In theory, Planet X would take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to complete one full orbit around the Sun.

It’s worth noting that Planet X is only theoretical at this point, and no direct observation of the object has been made. However, scientists have found mathematical evidence for its existence. Nicknamed ‘Planet Nine’, some researchers think that this object could be the core of a giant planet that was ejected from its orbit by Jupiter during the genesis of the Solar System.
Pterodactylus

## Ability

### Ability

**Night Pterrors****(Return)** Your remaining cards in hand gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Kids growing up in the 90s will remember Kimberly Hart yelling "Pterodactyl!" when it was morphin' time on Power Rangers, but that would be inaccurate - there was no such creature as the Pterodactyl. It was actually Pterodactylus, and if they'd known that it would have been a much more realistic programme about teenagers using kung-fu to save the world from Japanese stock footage.

Despite the fact that no one can name the thing correctly, it's one of the most recognisable and iconic pterosaurs. It was actually one of the first to be discovered - in the late 18th century, it was discovered in Germany by people who didn't have a concept that dinosaurs could fly and believed that it was an aquatic creature.
Red Widow Spider

## Ability

### Ability

**Small Red Markings****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more Arts & Culture cards, your non- Arts & Culture cards in hand gain +12 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

The **Red Widow Spider** is the reigning queen of the sand-pine scrub habitats in central and southern Florida. Sporting a stunning reddish-orange head, thorax and legs, this species are the true fashionistas of the spider world.

Like other members of the Latrodectus genus, the Red Widow is indeed venomous — however, there have been no recorded bites from this species in medical literature. Perhaps it's because the Red Widow prefers to avoid human encounters, unlike its cosmopolitan counterparts in black and brown.

When it comes to expanding their family, the Red Widow doesn't hold back. During a single summer, a female can lay anywhere from 200 to 400 eggs per sack, and they can produce up to nine sacks in total. That’s a whole lot of spiderlings (aka a whole lot of nope.)
Photocopier

## Ability

### Ability

**Counterfeit****(Draw)** Your Money, Money, Money cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Chester Carlson invented the **Photocopier** in 1983 because his job as a patent attorney required him to make a large number of copies of a lot of papers. This was a painstaking process for Carlson, given that he suffered from arthritis.

Hell-bent on finding a more efficient solution, he started experimenting with photoconductivity in his kitchen. Using a zinc plate covered with sulphur, he made the first photocopy. Don’t get too excited, it wasn’t of his posterior as would become the trend at office parties – it was of the words “10-22-38 Astoria”.

Carlson tried to sell his invention to some companies, but the process was still quite underdeveloped. He got rejections from IBM and General Electric who both argued that there was simply not a market for his contraption.
Pentamerone

## Ability

### Ability

**The Tale of Tales****(Play)** If played next to any Once Upon A Time card, gain +5 Power/Turn for 5 turns.

## Did You Know?

If you ever wondered what Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm were reading for fun, then look no further than the “Tale of Tales” - the **Pentamerone.** Some of your all time favorites started out here including “Cinderella”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Hansel and Gretel.” So next time someone complains about Disney bringing out a new version of one of a classic fairy tale, it’s worth reminding them that even Perrault and the Grimms were guilty or rebooting an oldie or two as well.

Much like 1001 Nights, the Pentamerone features a framing narrative - a story within a story. Princess Zoza must entertain an evil witch who has stolen her husband by telling her 50 stories over 5 days (which is where the title comes from - ooooh, clever!). Written by poet Giambattista Basile, the stories weren’t published until after he died and were released in two collections by his sister, to preserve his work. They were also written in the Neapolitan dialect, meaning that they actually sounded like someone telling you a local folk tale, rather than anything lofty or fancy. This made them more accessible for all and made a better attempt at capturing the person who was telling the story.

The Grimms were nuts about these stories and banged on about them to anyone who would listen - like a Disney adult trying to explain the lore of The Haunted Mansion or describing the differences in each of the parks’ castles to you, whether you want to hear it or not. So it’s no surprise that it had a huge impact on their work. You do you, lads. You do you.
Penelope

## Ability

### Ability

**High Fidelity****(Play)** Your Odysseus card in hand gains +40 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

If you hadn’t seen your husband in twenty years, you might start to lose hope and entertain the idea of being with other suitors lusting after you. Not **Penelope** – she stayed loyal to her husband Odysseus, even devising convoluted strategies to avoid marrying any of the 108 suitors. Spoiler alert: Odysseus wasn’t as faithful. When he washed up on the island Ogygia, he stayed for a whole *seven* years with the goddess Calypso until finally deciding he might miss his wife.
Poplar Tree

## Ability

### Ability

**Strange Holliday****(Play)** Your Weird World cards in hand gain +10 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Live fast, die young - that’s the mantra the **Poplar Tree** lives by, growing rapidly but succumbing to disease at about 50 years old. A deciduous tree belonging to the Salicacea family, the Poplar Tree can be found throughout the northern hemisphere, where it takes advantage of the temperate climates that offer enough moisture, sunlight and nutrient-rich soil.

With regards to the name, the word ‘Poplar’ comes from the Latin word Populus, meaning “people”. Some say this refers to the idea of the tree being a “tree for the people,” as it’s easily cared for and grown. However, historians argue it comes from ancient Rome, as poplars were typically grown in areas where public meetings were held. In reality, both are true.
Persian

## Ability

### Ability

**Villainous Pets****(Play)** Your Hair and Blue-Ringed Octopus cards, wherever they are, gain +30 Power permanently and gain +3 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

Their sweet faces, luxurious coats and calm personalities have made **Persians** one of the most popular cat breeds in the world. Plus, despite their pug-like flattened faces, most Persians don’t typically suffer from breathing issues as you might expect.

Kings of the lap-nappers and one of the biggest drivers of lint-roller purchases, the first documented record of the Persian cat dates back to around 1620, when these long-haired beauties were imported into Italy from Persia.

Unlike most domestic cats, Persians simply aren’t natural predators: they don’t have much interest in chasing small critters and would prefer to just laze around being admired by their owners. If you want to buy a pure-bred Persian kitten, you can expect to pay a whopping £800 or more.
Plutus

## Ability

### Ability

**Plutocracy****(Play)** If your deck has 4 or more Money, Money, Money cards, your Unruly Rulers cards, wherever they are, gain +21 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

When you’re the god of wealth, it’s important you have no bias whatsoever and bless everyone - not just your friends - with equal fortune. To that end, Zeus blinded **Plutus**, the Greek god of wealth, when he was very young. It seems a bit drastic, but in Zeus’ defence, it’s a simple and effective way to keep the wealth equal. Unfortunately, Plutus wasn’t just blind, but also handicapped. This myth was used as an allegory of why wealth sometimes took a long time to come.

While their names sound similar, Plutus is not to be confused with Pluto, the god of the underworld. That being said, Plutus does appear in Danté’s ‘Inferno’ as a demon of wealth who guards the fourth circle of Hell, making matters all the more confusing.

'Statuette of Ploutos' by George E. Koronaios (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Lemmings

## Ability

### Ability

**Muroidea, She Wrote****(Draw)** A random opponent's card, wherever it is, loses -100 Power for 5 turns.

## Did You Know?

Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about **Lemmings**. Notably, they aren’t spontaneously generated in the sky and fall to earth like rain. It sounds crazy, but in the 17th century, naturalists were perplexed by this small rodent’s ability to pop up in large packs out of nowhere. The truth was more simple: lemmings migrate in herds. But we prefer the other story.

And that’s not the only insane myth surrounding this creature. To this day, many people still believe that herds of lemmings have a population-control mass-suicide event every few years. Instinct is said to drive the species to seaside cliffs where they throw themselves off for the “greater good” of their species. Fortunately, that’s not true either: they just move out in search of a new home.
Raygun

## Ability

### Ability

**Zap!****(Return)** Your remaining cards in hand with 6 or more Base Energy cost -4 Energy next turn and lose -20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you’ve ever watched Star Trek, or Star Wars, or Flash Gordon or…actually, just pick a space opera…then you’ve probably dreamed of wielding a **Raygun.** Pew pew pew! Or wait…should that be - zap zap zap!

First appearing as the “heat ray” in H.G. Wells’ *The War of the Worlds*, they became popular in the pulp science-fiction novels of the 1920s. Sometimes referred to as “death rays” or “phasers” or about 100 hundred other names, these fictional weapons draw on a seemingly infinite source of energy and fire a beam of energy, heat or light at the victim. Much like Batman in the Arkham games, in old TV shows and movies, they usually just stunned the victim or knocked them out. (Even though Batman riding the Batmobile over a crowd of goons in Arkham City would have 100% killed them, but let’s not get into that right now). However, some would disintegrate or vanish the victim altogether. The moral of the story here though is that there was very seldom blood, okay?!

With any luck though, the person who is currently chasing me with a raygun will have the aim of a Stormtrooper and I’ll never have to find out what damage a Raygun might do to an actual living person.
Philosopher's Stone

## Ability

### Ability

**Elixir of Life****(Draw)** Your Excellent Elements cards, wherever they are, gain +11 Power permanently. Repeat if your deck contains Gold.

## Did You Know?

Look. If you had one stone. One opportunity. To grant immortality. In one moment. Would you capture it? Or just let it slip?

Okay, so the **Philosopher’s Stone** may not be real, but from the Middle Ages to the 17th century, it was the most sought-after object in the world of alchemy. Although the stone may not have been a stone at all but a powder, it was apparently capable of turning any metal into gold and silver and could act as an elixir of life, curing illness and even extending life.

While there’s no proof that it actually existed, a bookseller turned alchemist called Nicholas Flamel (yes, you read right) did claim to have a substance that could transform lead into gold, and Flamel did get hella rich at the time.
Petunia

## Ability

### Ability

**Oh No, Not Again...****(Play)** Your Sperm Whale card in hand gains +70 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Fans of Douglas Adams' trilogy in five parts, The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, may remember that a bowl of Petunias (along with a Sperm Whale) were called into being by the Infinite Improbability Drive. Their only thought as they fell to their demise was 'Oh no, not again.'

If you haven't read all the books, please do so now. We'll wait.

All done? Good. Back to some facts:

Petunia is a genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin.

In 1803, the French botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu named the genus 'Petunia' because the plant was a close relative of tobacco - which at that time was known as “pétun” in France. The word ‘petun’ itself derives from the name of a Patagonian tribe that smoked tobacco. Please note: This information will almost certainly never be of use to you, and in the process of learning it, you've probably forgotten where your keys are.

Petunias are a pretty robust genus and can tolerate relatively harsh conditions and hot climates, but not frost and cold. They also need 5 hours of sunlight - coincidentally, 5 hours more sunlight than anyone on the CUE dev team is allowed.

This card is awarded upon reaching the Master rank. The following users were the first ten to reach this awesome level:

DaVeDeadly
Djay1976
Clashinator
andrewstas
curious1
quidam
justin88
LightningJoe
MattB1313
NopetyNope

## Trivia

* This card is obtained from the Mystery Level Up Pack in Master level.
Postman Butterfly

## Ability

### Ability

**Special Delivery!****(Return)** Your Paper card, wherever it is, gains +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

A native to the pine and pine-oak forests of Mexico, Central and South America, the **Postman Butterfly** is a remarkably long-lived species, living as much as six months feeding on nectar and rotting fruit.

Interestingly, it's poisonous. They acquire this toxicity as larva from the passionflower vines they eat. The chemicals are retained for the duration of their lives and the Postman's vibrant red pattern serve as a warning of this to would-be predators.
Perchta

## Ability

### Ability

**Shapeshifter****(Draw)** This card loses -30 Power until played and a random Life on Land card in your hand gains +30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Have you worked hard this year? Did you behave well? If you answered ‘yes’, good news! **Perchta** will place a small silver coin in your shoe at Christmas. But if you answered no, Perchta will be slitting your belly open, removing your guts and stuffing the hole with straw and pebbles. She will then stomp on your unfinished work with her deformed goose foot.

Well, that’s according to the folkloric tale of Bavaria and Austria, in which a woman named Perchta roams the countryside in midwinter, entering people’s homes to do her coin-gifting, belly-slitting biddings. Yet, the Germanic Pagan version contradicts this, presenting Perchta as a goddess and protector of children. Clearly, the fear of witchcraft turned this beautiful goddess into a boogeyman. But it’s still worth behaving, just in case.
Phobos

## Ability

### Ability

**Fear and Panic****(Play)** If you are losing the round, your opponent's cards in hand lose -18 Power until played. **(Return)** Lose -2:energy/turn: for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Whether it’s spiders, heights, leaving the house or the feeling of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth, the word for your condition comes from the Greek god for panic and fear: **Phobos**.

Although this deity didn’t have a major role in mythology, Phobos was known to cause disorder in battle and served his father, Ares - the Greek god of War. Later in history, Phobos chimed in with a “haven’t you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?” - of course, Phobos! at the Disco doesn’t really have the same ring to it.

But you get the point: where there’s panic and hysteria, there’s Phobos. Oh, and in case you wondered, that very specific peanut-butter related fear is known as Arachibutyrophobia.
Red-Eared Slider

## Ability

### Ability

**Lean, Green and Mean!****(Draw)** Your Reptiles cards in hand cost -1 Energy until played. **(Play)** Your Life on Land cards in hand gain +20 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your opponent loses -20 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

Native to the southern United States and northern Mexico, the **Red-Eared Slider** turtle rose to prominence as a pet in the 1950s. Back then, sliders could be purchased in the mail. For just $1.69, you could have a mail-order turtle shipped to you in a “<link="https:>special moss-protected package</link>.”

A few decades later, kids started begging their parents once more for turtles. Why? Because a cartoon gang of anthropomorphic turtle brothers who fight evil in NYC made them cool. However, unlike the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Red-Eared Slider turtles spend most of their time chilling, swimming around and eating. Disappointed, turtle owners dumped their new pets in the wild, not realising that the Red-Eared Slider turtle features in the top <link="https:>100 most invasive species</link>. Turtle Power!
Quokka

## Did You Know?

You've probably seen this cute Australian critter as the subject of many selfies with tourists on West Australia's Rottnest Island. In fact, the **Quokka** has got such a great selfie game that they put most of the big social media influencers to shame!

These sociable plant-eaters hang out in massive clans, enjoy munching on swamp peppermint (great name for a new chewing gum flavour) and other greens and store fat in their tails. They're also partial to digging tunnels through vegetation for napping and hiding, and hop like kangaroos!

More than 500,000 people visit the 7.3-square-mile Rottnest every year and the invasion is mainly down to the selfie appeal of the Quokkas.

Quokkas have adapted nicely to the human invasion (and why wouldn't they when they're social media stars!). They're bold enough to bound through streets and are as skilled as raccoons in rummaging through trash for goodies... or perhaps discarded selfie sticks.
Philippine Eagle

## Ability

### Ability

**Manelike Crest****(Play)** If played between two Cool Cats cards, your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, gain +16 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

“But why couldn’t Gandalf have just sent the big eagles on a return trip to Mordor to dump the Ring into Mount Doom?” We don’t have enough space on this card to discuss this nonsense but we have plenty of space to discuss the **Philippine Eagle!**

The majestic Philippine Eagle is the largest eagle in the world, measuring 3 feet from the top of its head to the tip of its tail and has a wingspan of 7 feet. There’s also sadly only about 500 of these big bois left in the world.

When first discovered, the bird was called the monkey-eating eagle but that’s actually some feathered fake news because Philippine Eagles eat more than just monkeys. They also eat bats, squirrels, lizards, and OTHER BIRDS OF PREY. We’re not sure if that makes them cannibals but for the sake of drama, we’re going to say that it does.

So it’s safe to say that Gandalf wouldn’t have sent the eagles off on a round-trip to Mount Doom because it’s very likely that hobbits make nice snacks for these guys. So just shut up and enjoy your 14 hours of hobbity-elfy goodness.
Sailfish

## Did You Know?

The clue is in the name - with a huge dorsal fin that spreads out like a boat’s sail, the Sailfish can jump out of the water as high as the length and width of their body. At 10 feet and weighing almost 100 kg that’s a pretty big sail.

When it comes to these fish, teamwork really makes the dream work - they thrive when hunting in groups, working together to disrupt other schools of fish. That huge dorsal fin is their USP; they use it to create a fence, thus defending themselves from bigger predators. En masse, a school of Sailfish use their sharp, pointed bill to pierce and slash enemies. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Red Admiral Butterfly

## Ability

### Ability

**Turf Out****(Return)** If you won the turn, your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, gain +4 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In Scottish folklore, the woodland-loving **Red Admiral Butterfly** was believed to be a witch. Okay, metamorphosis is pretty wild, and their colouration is striking, but that’s a bit of a leap. What is a bit odd are the expectations of female red admirals - they’ll only mate with males that hold territory. So, if you’re a male red admiral, what are you still doing here? Get out there and get on that property ladder!
Recorder

## Ability

### Ability

**Beginner's Luck****(Play)** If it's before Round 3, your Riding the Waves! and Musically Minded cards in hand gain +26 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Radiohead, Pink Floyd and Metallica all have one thing in common - the absence of a lead **Recorder** player. Which, when you think about it, is quite odd considering many of us had to play the recorder at school. Even stranger considering one of the US's largest music retailers, Music & Arts, reckons it sells 100,000 per year.

While we can't put a precise date on it, the recorder goes back to at least 1500 and has, at times, been front and centre of popular music. So popular that people have even written concertos specifically for it (Vivaldi's Concerto in F major, for example).

So, why do so many of us start with the recorder (and then ditch it)? Well, that's thanks to a chap called Carl Orff, a German composer who was heavily involved in shaping music education theory. The recorder is relatively cheap to produce and also matches the vocal range of a child, making it an ideal learning tool. It is, of course, viewed as slightly less cool than a guitar (particularly as a house party winds down), although I can't imagine why...

P.S. I was being slightly facetious with the opening paragraph:
Ruby Tuesday, Stairway to Heaven and Lou Reed's masterpiece Satellite of Love all heavily feature its dulcet tones. <link="https:>It's also featured in the theme tune to Squid Game</link>, the popular TV show.
Quests

There are two categories of Quests, Daily Quests and Weekly Quests. You can refresh one Quest per period, so 1 refresh every 24 hours for the Daily, 1 refresh per 7 days for the weekly.

### Daily Quests

The Daily Quests refresh every day at midnight GMT , so you have 24 hours to complete them.

### Weekly Quests

The Weekly Quests refresh on midnight Thursday/Friday GMT, so you have 7 days to complete them. The requirements are higher than the Daily Quests, but so are the rewards.
Peace Apples

## Ability

### Ability

**Christmas Crunch****(Play)** If it's after Round 2, your Festive Traditions cards in hand gain +22 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

This Christmas, give them a gift they’ll always remember: an… apple?

No, we aren’t talking about technology, we mean a literal apple. In China, for the festive period, regular apples are packaged in a special box or wrapped in coloured paper; some have messages like “Merry Christmas” printed on the sides.

Known as **Peace Apples**, these festive fruits are a staple in Chinese Christmas celebrations. But why apples? Apparently, the tradition is rooted in homophones – words that sound the same but mean different things. In Mandarin, ‘Christmas Eve’ is ‘Ping’anye’, meaning “the evening of peace”. But the word also happens to sound like the Chinese word for apple: ‘Pingguo’. So, they connected the two words and created a whole new one: ‘Ping’anguo’, meaning ‘peace apple’.
Resplendent Quetzal

## Ability

### Ability

**Verdant Vibes****(Play)** Your Tremendous Trees and Plant Life cards in hand gain +25 Power this turn. **(Return)** If you won the turn, your remaining Tremendous Trees and Plant Life cards in hand gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The national bird of Guatemala, the **Resplendent Quetzal** is nothing short of majestic. With its vibrant green and scarlet plumage, this dazzling bird is basically a tiny dragon, minus the fire-breathing part. Size isn’t everything, but during mating season, the males turn their courting game up by growing twin tail feathers that form an amazing train of up to one metre long.

These tail feathers were donned by Aztec and Mayan rulers, who saw the bird as a symbol for goodness and light and being linked with the Snake God “Quetzalcoatl”. If you were found to have killed a Resplendent Quetzal, the outlook wouldn’t have been good for you. Since these birds were sacred, the penalty for killing one was death.
Red-eyed Tree Frog

## Ability

### Ability

**Death Glare****(Play)** Your opponent's Life on Land cards in hand lose -10 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Although **Red-eyed Tree Frogs** have bright blue sides and bright orange feet, they can go into 'camouflage mode' by tucking in their legs and showing only their green skin areas. The sudden appearance of those red eyes is used as a defence mechanism to frighten predators.
Philip K. Dick

## Ability

### Ability

**Android Dream****(Play)** For every Futurology card in your deck, up to a maximum of 5, your opponent's cards in hand lose -5 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

What if the Axis powers won World War II? What if the US was ruled by a police state after a second civil war? If you enjoy this level of dystopia, there’s a strong chance you’ll vibe with the works of **Philip K. Dick**.

Despite being one of the most acclaimed sci-fi writers of all time, his first novel only made him around $1500. Fortunately, that didn’t stop him - after all, Philip K. Dick was being guided by a spiritual voice. Apparently.

The truth is stranger than fiction - which is saying something given Dick’s works. But the author claimed that a voice would pop up in his head to guide him through crucial moments of his life, and that this voice warned him of his son’s urgent but undiagnosed health issue.
Piranha

## Did You Know?

They’ve long held a reputation as cold-blooded killers, but the **Piranha** won’t usually attack if you leave it alone. Also, their ability to chew through food has been blown way out of proportion. Experts have found that it would take a whole day for a swarm of them to make a dent in a chicken, and you’d still have enough meat to feed a family of four.

That said, they do have a tendency to get hangry when food is scarce. When under threat, piranhas make a barking sound. So, as you might expect, that’s not your cue to throw a stick and ask the piranha who’s a good fish.
Pass the Parcel

## Ability

### Ability

**Small Packages****(Start)** This card loses -4 Power and costs -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

It’s hard to employ a winning strategy when you’re playing **Pass the Parcel**. For one, the music is stopped by an adult who isn’t playing the game (so buttering them up can't hurt...) Plus, you have no idea how many layers there are to the parcel. You might take your time passing the parcel in the hope that the music will stop while it’s in your hands, only to rip open the paper and discover there’s still another layer to go.

Ultimately, whether you win at this game comes down to chance. Originating in Britain, the rules to this game are very similar to musical chairs – except the stakes are slightly higher, since the winner receives a prize rather than simply the ability to sit down.
Periander

## Ability

### Ability

**Tyrant?****(Play)** Your other Seven Sages of Ancient Greece cards in hand gain +10 Power this turn. **(Return)** If you won the turn, your Ancient Greece cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played and if you lost the turn, your Unruly Rulers cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The Corinthians depict the tyrant **Periander** as a cruel and oppressive ruler. Although his 40-year rule saw Corinth become one of the wealthiest city-states in Greece, stories emerged after his death that slandered Periander as the worst of the worst – a murderer, a traitor, a man who abandoned his son and killed his own wife… so, which version of events is true? Was Periander an effective ruler or an evil tyrant?

Well, potentially both. Periander did upgrade Corinth’s port (“the diolkos”) and used the money gained from this endeavour to abolish taxes in Corinth. However, two stories survive about the death of Periander’s wife, Melissa, and they both put the blame on the tyrant for her murder.
Plains Viscacha

## Did You Know?

New conspiracy just dropped: when Groucho Marx died, they took his DNA and mixed it with that of a large rodent. The result was the **Plains Viscacha**, a large chinchilla type creature with a prominent moustache.

Found in the grasslands and desert scrubs of Paraguay, central Argentina and southern Bolivia, these mammals construct remarkable community burrow systems called viscacheras that consist of many interconnecting tunnels and chambers. Picture the London Underground, but replace every human with a Viscacha.

Although that’s (probably) an exaggeration, the average viscachera can cover up to 600 sq metres and contain between 4 and 30 entrances, some of which are large enough to allow a person to stand waist deep in them. So, if you’re ever in their habitat, be sure to mind the gap!
Rhodopis

## Ability

### Ability

**Original Cinderella****(Play)** If you have played Fancy Fashions this game and if it's after Round 2, gain +2:energy/turn: for 6 turns.

## Did You Know?

Have you heard the story about the slave girl who gets bossed around, loses a beautiful slipper and eventually gets married to royalty? Nope, we don’t mean Cinderella.

In an ancient Greek tale dating back to the sixth century BCE, a courtesan named **Rhodopis** has one of her shoes stolen by an eagle, who flies across the Mediterranean and drops it in the lap of an Egyptian king. That’s pretty fortuitous - after all, the eagle could have dropped it literally *anywhere*. But the king took the shoe as a sign from the heavens and set off on a quest to find the owner.

Despite the challenge (made harder by the lack of internet), the king finds Rhodopis from her shoe alone and makes the courtesan his queen.
Raven

## Ability

### Ability

**Nevermore****(Return)** If you are losing the round, your opponent's cards, wherever they are, lose -15 Power next turn.

## Did You Know?

The true goth of the bird world, with their shiny black feathers and piercing dark eyes, it's probably not surprising that the **Raven** was once considered to be the embodiment of evil in many European countries.

For example, in Germany, they were considered to be damned souls incarnate; France the souls of wicked priests; and in Sweden they considered them to be the embodiment of murdered peoples souls.

All pretty unfair considering they are extremely clever; they can use tools, play with one another and inanimate objects, vocally mimic other animals including humans, solve puzzles and feel empathy for one another. Does that sound evil? NO.

Found across the northern hemisphere, they are the famous residents of the Tower of London. Legend has it six **Ravens** must remain lest both Tower and Monarchy fall. The story is pretty vague, but astronomer John Flamsteed supposedly asked Charles II if he could have them bumped off for interfering with his equipment. But before this happened, Charles was warned that the crown and the Tower itself would fall if they left. With a level of restraint not often shown by the British monarchy, Charles called off the slaughter.

One other interesting thing about **Ravens**; they like to indulge in 'anting'. This involves them rolling around in ant nests until they are covered and then frantically rubbing them all over their bodies and under their wings. Theories for this range from controlling parasites to the formic acid creating a soothing balm during moulting.
Peryton

## Ability

### Ability

**Imaginary Being****(Draw)** Your Mammals cards, wherever they are, gain +17 Power until this is returned to your deck. **(Return)** Your Birds cards, wherever they are, gain +12 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Like an evil Pegasus, the **Peryton** combines the features of a stag and an eagle to create a fearsome mythical beast more powerful than either one. With the head, neck, forelegs and antlers of a stag and the feathers, wings and hindquarters of a large bird, the Peryton is known and feared in Dungeons and Dragons lore for tearing out the beating hearts from their victims’ chests.

First named by Jorge Luis Borges in his ‘Book of Imaginary Beings’, the Peryton is said to have come from Atlantis, escaping the deadly earthquake that destroyed the city by flight. Oddly, the creature doesn’t cast its own shadow, but the shadow of a man. Only after it makes its first kill does it start to cast a peryton-shaped shadow.

'Artist's Edit of Peryton' by Tsaag Valren (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

## Ability

### Ability

**Dark Nebulae****(Draw)** Your Nebulae cards in hand cost +1 Energy and gain +18 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Despite Belinda Carlisle’s best efforts, heaven is still not a place on Earth. However, were she to travel 460 light-years away from our planet to the constellation Ophiuchus, she would find a nebular cluster that comes close to heaven.

One of the most-photographed objects in the night sky, the **Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex** is a colourful cloud of cosmic dust that stretches out 4.5 degrees by 6.5 degrees across the dome of the sky. For reference, the width of the full moon is ½ degree.

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is one of the nearest star-forming regions to the Sun, and can be viewed through basic backyard telescopes from both hemispheres for at least a part of the year.

'Nebulae in emission, reflection and absorption' by Adam Block/Steward Observatory/University of Arizona (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Snowy Owl

## Ability

### Ability

**Familiar Friends****(Draw)** If you have played Cane Toad this game, this card gains +13 Power this turn. Repeat for Bombay Cat. **(Play)** Your Cane Toad and Bombay Cat cards in hand gain +13 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Every year, **Snowy Owls**  descend out of the arctic en masse to spend winter in southern Canada. During this time, they can be seen in some very odd places – atop lampposts in car parks and haystacks in farmlands. One was even spotted near an airport runway.

Native to the Arctic tundra, the snowy owl’s species name in Latin is *Bubo scandiacus* – bubo meaning owl, and scandiacus referring to Scandinavia, as the Owl was first observed in the northern parts of Europe. In Inuktitut, the creature is called “Ookpik”.

During non-breeding seasons, you won’t hear a peep from the snowy owl. But when trying to attract a mate, the male snowy owl bellows a loud, booming “hoo, hoo”, although they have also been known to make dog-like barks and bill-snapping noises.
Pesse Canoe

## Ability

### Ability

**Log On****(Draw)** Your Riding the Waves! cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Boaty McBoatFace ain’t got nothing on the **Pesse Canoe**. Believed to be the world’s oldest known boat, or at the very least the oldest known canoe, carbon dating places the boat’s construction to be around the early Mesolithic period between 8040 BC and 7510 BC. Measuring only 298cm long and 44cm wide, this little pine canoe walked so ships like the Mayflower could run!

The Pesse Canoe was discovered in 1955 during the construction of the Dutch A28 motorway, which passes south of the village of Pesse. After a Danish historian questioned whether such a small boat would even be seaworthy, a replica canoe was crafted by archaeologist Jaap Beuker. When a canoeist successfully paddled the replica, the historian’s argument no longer held water (see what we did there?)

'Boomstamkano van Pesse' by http://museaindrenthe.nl/collectie/object/27368409-69dc-0888-ab8e-252b1d4f5760 (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Pocahontas and John Smith

## Ability

### Ability

**Bridge the Cultures****(Play)** Your History and Arts & Culture cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn. **(Return)** If you won the turn, gain +2:energy/turn: this round.

## Did You Know?

The true story of **Pocahontas and John Smith** is tragic, and miles away from the Disney retelling. In fact, there is no historical basis for the claim that the two were in love, since Pocahontas was only 11 at the time. Several years later, she was captured by a naval officer and held hostage as a ransom for English prisoners. She was only released as an exchange for agreeing to marry a tobacco planter called John Rolfe and converting to Christianity.

The fact that John Smith embellished upon the tale making him seem like a heroic hunk of a man whom she fell in love with after he rescued her, which echoed down the centuries and became the version adapted by Disney, is heartbreaking in and of itself.
Peacock Butterfly

## Ability

### Ability

**Butterfly Effect****(Play)** Your Beautiful Butterflies cards in hand gain +10 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The common yet spectacular **Peacock Butterfly** has a pattern of eyespots (similar to that of a male Peacock), which likely evolved to confuse or scare off predators.

They lay their eggs in late spring, predominantly on the common Stinging Nettle. Unlike many other native European butterflies, the population numbers have been steadily *increasing* since the 1970s. This may be due to milder weather, or to changes in pesticide use.
Scaly-foot Gastropod

## Ability

### Ability

**Armoured Shell****(Return)** Your Machines of War cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

The shell of the **Scaly-foot Gastropod**, a deep-sea snail discovered in 2001, is so well constructed that the U.S. military is extensively researching its design, hoping to incorporate its defensive layers to strengthen military armour. But that’s not the only unique trait of this mollusc, often nicknamed the sea pangolin.

In fact, this species is considered one of the most peculiar deep-sea gastropods for several reasons – namely, that it is the only known animal in existence today that incorporates iron sulfide into its skeleton. It also has a big heart (physically speaking, of course. Whether this animal has a lot of love to give remains to be seen.) The heart of the scaly-foot gastropod comprises approximately 4 per cent of its body – that’s unusually large for any animal.

'Photo of right side view of Chrysomallon squamiferum' by Kentaro Nakamura et al, Discovery of New Hydrothermal Activity and Chemosynthetic Fauna on the Central Indian Ridge at 18° – Figure 5A. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 2.5 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Raijin

## Ability

### Ability

**God of Thunder****(Play)** If played next to Fūjin, your opponent's cards in hand lose -25 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

In a country regularly hit by typhoons, it figures that the god of storms would be among the most feared and respected Japanese deities. Together with his wind-welding brother Fujin, **Raijin** brought vital rains but left a wake of death and destruction.

Plus, he was one scary looking god. A toothy smile, an intense gaze, unruly hair and fierce eyebrows don’t exactly make for a welcoming appearance. Of course, when you’re born to the rotting corpse of the creation god deep in the Shinto Underworld, you’re hardly going to come out looking angelic.

Given how Raijin was brought into existence, those menacing demon vibes are fitting. Like something from an Iron Maiden album cover, the terrifying Raijin is usually depicted with the drums he uses to create thunder.
Protoceratops

## Did You Know?

Paleontologists do like a good theory - probably because it's hard to state anything with certainty about creatures that lived tens of millions of years ago. One theory about Protoceratops is that it was the inspiration for the mythical Griffin creature (the one with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion). The thinking is that people finding a Protoceratops fossil would have seen a sheep-sized quadruped with a frontal beak, and drawn their own conclusions from there.

Of course, like all good theories, there are plenty of people who argue that it's complete garbage.
Philippine Crocodile

## Ability

### Ability

**Critically Depleted****(Draw)** For every Round completed this game, this card loses -25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Meet the **Philippine Crocodile**, a small, freshwater crocodile endemic to the country. Not so long ago, it was considered a subspecies of the New Guinea crocodile, but is now recognised as a croc species in its own right.

Unfortunately, there are only an estimated 250 individuals left in the wild. That’s a shame, not just for the species, but for the whole ecosystem, since the Philippine crocodile moonlights as a fish population control officer.

When it’s not guarding its young, this savvy reptile helps maintain a balanced ecosystem by snacking on the most common fish and keeping any uppity species in check. And if that's not enough, the croc's droppings are like a superfood for the fish, packed with all sorts of nutritious chemicals.