text:
Dominion: Throne Room broken in base game?
Me and my friends have been playing the base game of dominion and after about 10 games I’ve found a strategy no one can seem to beat. Three of the 5 standard sets have throne room and every time we play with it I win. Strategy usually includes 4-6 throne rooms, some draw cards like smithy, and some extra action cards like village or market. By late game I can cycle through a massive deck in a single turn about 50% of the time and usually buy a duchy and province each. Everyone feels there’s no viable counter to this strategy and as such refuse to play with throne room. Any suggestions for counter strategies that can make the game fun for everyone without banning my favorite card?

This might be too broad of a question for this site; but I can tell you that 10 games of experience is a very tiny sample size in Dominion. I have played over 3000 games of Dominion; and have not had an experience like yours. In your particular case, Throne Room by itself it not what is doing most of the things that are happening... Villages, Smithy, and Market are.

You should also specify what player count you are playing with. If you are playing 3 or 4 player games; then no one player should be able to get 4-6 of the same card most of the time.

Also can you please clarify the specific steps you are taking when playing Throne Room? It's common for newer players to play Throne Room incorrectly; in a way that could make it stronger than it actually is.

3 or 4 player. I often go for the throne room early game while other people buy real actions, which does hurt my mid game. But I usually get at least half of the available throne rooms.

We’ve extensively researched proper throne room play. I always lay out the cards in a tree structure. The way we play, chaining three throne rooms lets me play 3 different cards twice. If I pull a hand with three throne rooms, a smithy, and a copper, I’ll chain the throne rooms to play the smithy twice, usually draw another smithy from those six cards, play that twice, and then play a card like village or market. Overall this nets me 12 cards, 4 actions. The five cards in the initial hand don’t always work well, but about  60% of the time I can do these ridiculous chains

Thanks. That all sounds correct; I've just seen a lot of people (myself included when I was new!) think that 2 Throne Rooms and a Smithy means you could play that Smithy 4 times, for example.

If you are pulling off the combo that often then I would be asking how well you are shuffling your deck.

In case you can't get a good answer in this type of Q&A format; I recommend checking out http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/; where people will be happy to go into all sorts of detail about the strengths and weaknesses of Throne Room and the specific games that you played.

"If I pull a hand with three throne rooms, a smithy" How are you managing to reliably get a hand with three throne rooms if you have (at most) six in your deck? Assuming no deck thinning, you've got (at least) 17 cards in your deck, probably more like 21-25? I think it's a hypergeometric I'd need to run there, but my gut feel says this is rather unlikely, especially if you don't have a decent number of smithies as well - which decreases the hit rate of throne rooms.

It would be useful to have the outcome of an example game - e.g. exactly what cards did you end up with in your deck and how many turns did it take?  Often new players underestimate the power of treasure cards and it would be useful to compare your strategy with e.g. Smithy-Big Money: https://dominionstrategy.com/2012/06/13/terminal-draw-big-money/

@ATyshka "If I pull a hand with three throne rooms, a smithy, and a copper": If you play a throne room with a smithy, you draw 6 cards, but you are also out of actions at that point. You cannot play another throne room or smithy. You can only buy now.


text:
Medic abilities
The medic card says that they can “remove ALL  cubes of one colour when doing Treat Disease”.
One interpretation from the rules is that Treat Disease applies only to the city you are in. However another implication from the above wording is that ALL the cubes of that colour wherever they may be on the board are removed.
Can someone help clarify this?

While it could the text could be clearer, the answer gives the universally-accepted reading of the rule (in my experience, which has seen many games with many people). This is already an extremely powerful ability with that reading.

And it can be confirmed by playing the app version, which definitely applies the effect only to the city the Medic is in.

No, you can't remove every cube of the same colour from any location as the Medic - it is only all cubes of the same colour on the same location.
The rulebook (page 5 under the Treat Disease action) elaborates slightly further on the rule:

The Medic may remove all the cubes of a single color (instead of 1) when performing the Treat Disease action.

It does not say from any location - it specifies when performing the Treat Disease action, where the Treat Disease action normally specifies:

Remove a disease cube from the city your pawn occupies. (Each removed cube costs one action.)

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
Neighing the active effect of Special Delivery in unstable unicorns
So the neigh card states you can only neigh a card that is played, so the debate is does the active effect of "You may bring a baby unicorn card from the nursery into your stable" count as playing a card?

No, this does not count as "playing" a card.
From the rules:

Play vs. Bring Directly into Your Stable
"Play" specifically refers to playing a card from your hand
during your Action phase or playing an Instant card at any
time. If you "bring a card directly into your Stable," you
do not "play" that card. This means that any card that is
brought directly into your Stable cannot be Neigh'd.

Note that there are two print runs, and the earlier version included a different rulebook without this clarification.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Can you use a tool to knock out block?
Are you allowed to use a tool such as a pencil or stick to help tap the block out from the tower?

No.
From the rulebook:

Use only one hand

While it doesn't specifically give an answer to your exact question; you are only allowed to do things that the rulebook allows you to do; and the rulebook does not mention anything about being allowed to use anything other than "only one hand".

So, this one is forbidden: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/388956/jenga-pistol ?

In the same way that placing a rook upside down is forbidden in chess, sure... It being against the official rules of a particular organisation doesn't mean you can't do it, it only means you're not playing the same way most people will be.

@Nij - it begs the question: "what do we mean by upside-down?"


text:
Why don't players draft the week before a new set releases?
I'm a new player, and I enjoy draft -- I went to my local card shop this week and draft didn't happen, though it always has before. The store owner explained it's because a new set is coming out next week - but I think I'm missing the point. Why does that affect if players want to draft, this week?

Just speculation, but people may want to save the money they would spend on draft this week for a prerelease event (if you've only got so much to spend on Magic you may have to choose what you can go to).  Or maybe the store is hoping that's the case and can sell more stuff during the prerelease when they have more staff and product available.

I believe it's because of how the store stocks itself, and because of the economics of a draft/prerelease.
Stores only have so much they can spend per week on their product. Given that they know they will have a lot of customers interested in the new set coming up, it would make sense to spend a large amount of budget on product for the upcoming set. (Or if they can't buy the product yet, save up for a larger spending the following week.) The store might have packs for sale right now they could use, but they probably want to save those to remain stocked on specific sets. They don't want to appear out of stock of certain things if they can help it!
Additionally, they want to make sure there's a large turnout when they do a draft. Most drafts will effectively sell packs for less at a prerelease, when you account for prizes (At my store, a pack usually costs $4. A prerelease gets you 6 packs and costs $25, and the store gives out an average of ~1-2 prize packs per person.) Thus, during a prerelease, each pack is effectively sold for ~$3.12. Also, the store probably has to have more employees present to accommodate many players during an event for handing out packs, enforcing rules, etc. A store might normally get by with just one or two people working, but an event might require 3-4 employees (or more, depending on store size). More employees means more money spent paying those people for their time.
To make it worth their while, a store will want to pack people in to sell a lot of packs.  (If each item sells for less, you need to sell more items to make the same amount.) Many customers don't have the time or money to go to events every weekend, and are more likely to prefer going to an event with the new set that is hyped up then with an ordinary draft of an older set. The store doesn't want to put on the event that risks having only a mediocre turnout because everyone is waiting for next weekend.
Last thought: it's probably pretty tiring for the workers. A lot of events can stretch into late hours, and even if they don't it's still a lot of time to be working directly with customers. More people means more picking up and restocking afterwards, more cleaning the bathrooms, etc. A weekend off is nice, and helps make sure the employees are refreshed and ready to give their A-game next weekend at the prerelease.


text:
Dwarven Ale curse Munchkin
We have a dwarf player who got Dwarven Ale as curse that gives him +4 on battle (only for Dwarfs). But he got temporary amnesia on the next turn. And he forget that he is a Dwarf.
Our question is: will Ale give him +4 on this turn or not ?
We have a heated debate around this question. Does amnesia eliminates Ale effect ?

It is not in the FAQ. But the Temporary Amnesia is mentioned on a forum.
Question:

Had a little debate in a game today over this one...
I say that since the card (Temporary Amnesia) says you are Human "for all purposes", that trumps items like Casting Couch for special powers and Fake Ears and
Fake Beard for the sake of monster bonus/penalty and Race/Class
specific items.
The other side says that those are simply items that override or
sidestep your actual Races/Classes and are thus not affected by
Temporary Amnesia. You're actually a plain old Human, but if you put
on Fake Ears, monsters will think you're an Elf, and so on.
Which is right?

Answer

Your friends are right. Fake Ears/Beard don't actually change your Race; they just change the way it appears. The fact that you don't remember your real Race doesn't affect how those Items work.

This implies that as long as Temporary Amnesia is in effect, you are not a dwarf so the +4 does not apply. But if you wear a fake beard, the +4 again works.


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Triominos “take from the well” rules
At Triominos, when you decide to take from the well; but you have a tile that fits on your board, can you decide to use the tile that you already had and therefore skip the second (-5) and third (-5) time to pick from the well including the extra minus points (-10)  as punishment if you cannot place your third pick from the well?


text:
Phase 10 rules on discard pile
In phase 10, can I pick up a card from the discard pile and then relay that card back down in the discard pile?

Does this answer your question? Phase 10 discard pile

Yes.  The rules say that you must draw a card and that you must discard a card as part of your turn. (At least my edition) It does not state specifically about not being able to discard the draw off the discard pile.
However, I do question it as a strategy.  If the card to be picked up from the discard does not help the hand, then there is a much greater probability that the card from the draw pile will help the hand.

I can see why this could be advantageous.  Say that you and the player on the left have satisfied the phases you are on, but other players haven't.  You have two or three cards in your hand, whereas the player on your left has one.  The top card of the discard can be played on the field.  Rather than playing it yourself and hoping to find another 1-2 cards to end the round, you draw and discard the top card from the discard pile, allowing the player on your left to pick it up and end the round.  While you will gain 15-45 points (assuming 3 cards in hand), your other opponents won't progress.


text:
1970s code-cracking game, similar to Mastermind
I am trying to identify a 1970s game similar to Mastermind, which involved cracking a code consisting of a few numerals. I believe the name was something like Quikwit, or Kwikwit - I'm uncertain of the spelling. As with Mastermind, I think solving attempts were 'scored' with pegs.

There is/was a mastermind with numbers: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13609/number-mastermind


text:
Do "if you would gain life, gain that much life +1" abilities trigger once per turn, or once for every instance of you gaining life
For example, I have a Black/White deck built around life gain. If I have 2 creatures that cause me to gain 1 life with every creature summon and 1 creature with "if you would gain life, gain that much life +1"...
When I play a creature would I gain +1 (summon) +1 (summon) and then +1 (additional) totalling 3
Or would I gain +1 (summon) +1 (additional) and then +1 (summon) +1 (additional) totalling 4
I guess the question is does it trigger for every instance of me gaining life, or just the fact I have done that turn.

Note that this is not a triggered ability, but a static ability that creates a replacement effect.

A creature like that is Angel of Vitality; its ability applies for every instance of gaining life, not just once per turn.

The middle ability of Angel of Vitality applies just once to each life-gaining event, whether it’s 1 life from Impassioned Orator or 4 life from Dawning Angel. If you gain an amount of life “for each” of something or “equal to the number” of something, that life is gained as one event and the ability of Angel of Vitality applies only once.

(emphasis mine)
So in your scenario you would gain 4 life, since the 2 creatures' abilities trigger separately and are considered two separate life-gaining events, even if they're triggered by the same event.

You should avoid using the word “triggers” here since it isn’t a triggered ability.

Re "its ability applies for every instance of gaining life", Except if you gain life from multiple likelinked source at the same time [CR 702.15e]. If you gain life from two different lifelinked source at the same time, it counts as two life-gain events even though you only gained life once. As such, Angel of Vitality will grant an extra life for each source in that situation. This is in direct contradiction of the normal handling of events. For example, if you are damaged by two different sources at the same time, it's a single damage event (but different damage from a source events).

4 Life
Each life gain is evaluated separately. A creature enters, causing two triggered abilities to be placed on the stack of 'gain 1 life.'
Because of the other creature's replacement effect, each of those effects are replaced with 'gain 1+1 life.'
Each trigger gains you two life, for a total of four.


text:
Avalon Hill Gladiator
Recently got my hands on this old gem, but the rules are a bit vague on some points.

When doing the defence action, do I defend only that combat phase or all of them?
Do I need to specify what area I defend?
How does shield damage work?

For the future you should break this up into separate questions to ensure they can all be answered properly

(Note: I'm using the fan-revised and clarified rules. If you feel these answers contradict official rules, please update your question with quotes from the appropriate sections of the rules.)

Just that phase. When doing special defense actions (Duck, Block, etc.), record the defense letter "during the Combat Allocation Step". Quoted bit implies that it's for that phase, since you do this each phase: "Each combat phase, gladiators allocate their CF for attack, defense, net attacks and escape"
You allocate CFs for attacks and defenses to specific body areas, yes. And then: "ATTACK RESOLUTION: Conduct each attack by declaring the target body area and the attack CF allocated, then subtract any defense CF allocated to the same body area."
From the Shield Damage section (12) :

When a gladiator suffers a shield hit (’S’ or ’S*’) from a
  non-net attack [see 9.6], add the Combat roll WHITE dice
  (2D6), the attacker’s ST, and the modified CF (+1 DRM for
  an ’S*’ result) for possible shield damage.
  NOTE: CF gained from a Weakened Defender do not modify shield
  damage rolls [see 9.4.7].
  12.2.1 Compare the result to the shield’s damage points
  (highest unchecked box) on the Shield Damage display [see
  3.14]. If the result is < the shield’s damage points, check
  off a number of shield boxes (right to left) equal to the
  shield damage result, minus the shield’s damage points [see
  3.18].
  12.2.2 If the shield edge (‘S*’) was hit [see 9.6], also add the
  Combat roll WHITE & BLACK dice (3D6) for shield drop.
  12.3 When the last shield damage point is checked off, the
  shield is battered useless, and must be discarded [see 13.1].
  12.3.1 If a ’P’ or ’H’ shield damage box is checked off, the
  defender suffers the appropriate CRT result [see 9.6].


text:
Is there a quick comparison list of the different Warhammer 40k Space Marines Chapters?
As per the title, I'm wondering if there is a comparison list/tool somewhere that show the difference between the different Space Marines Chapter.
I'm starting Warhammer 40K with my son and I understand each chapter has different special abilities. Obviously we can't buy ALL the different codex to find out.

Space Marines are part way through a redux at the moment so a few chapters are still waiting for new books (Imperial Fists and Salamanders) which should launch shortly.
The tactics pages on 1d4chan can be useful but they are not family friendly! The go into a lot of detail but the pros/cons section can give a good overview. The space marines page covers most loyal chapters and then the Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Grey Knights and Deathwatch get their own pages.

I'm not sure I actually answered your question. Are you looking for a single page/table that compares them?

yes, I was looking for a comparison table.

Ah, sorry. I don't know of a source like that. If I find one I'll let you know.


text:
Can you take an Immortal Phoenix out of the game?
I am a fairly new player and the person I have been playing with has a card called Immortal Phoenix and I was wondering if cards that say "destroy" wouldn't activate the Phoenix's resurrection feature.

'Dies' means 'is put into the graveyard from the battlefield', so any effect that destroys it will end up causing this trigger to happen. The four main ways this card could move from the battlefield to the graveyard is:

Being dealt lethal damage
Having toughness reduced to zero
Effects that say destroy
Sacrificing the creature.

A creature going to the graveyard and removing a creature from the game* are very different things, but there are ways of putting Immortal Phoenix into the graveyard (and keeping it there) and exiling it.
A card like Oblivion Ring can exile it, and some cards like Annihilating Fire can change where it goes. (If it goes into exile instead of the graveyard, it never actually 'died')
If Immortal Phoenix is put into the graveyard from anywhere that's not the battlefield (perhaps by being discarded from Mind Rot), that's also not dying, so it does not return to your hand.
One more complicated way of stopping Immortal Phoenix from going back to a hand is by preventing the creature's ability from happening. You could either counter the ability (such as with Disallow) or by causing the ability to not trigger, such as with Hushbringer
*This is called 'exiling', although there are technically ways to get it back from exile

As for "taking it out of the game", stuff like Pacifism would also be effective in making the Phoenix irrelevant, regardless of it technically still being on the battlefield.

It may be worth discussing the case of countering the spell, since it may not be clear to a new player that a creature card on the stack isn’t on the battlefield, and a countered creature spell doesn’t produce a creature who then “dies.”

"Dies" is shorthand for "is put into the graveyard from the battlefield". So cards that say "Destroy" (e.g. Murder) would result in the Phoenix returning to it's owners hand. Not all removal spells trigger this though. For example cards that say "Exile" (e.g. Vraska's Contempt) do not put the creature into the graveyard (but rather in exile) and thus, do not trigger "die"-triggers.


text:
Asymmetric "Jurassic Park"-esque 2 player game
I remember playing a game at a board game event, but can't find its name for the life of me.
Two players only. One plays as a Velociraptor mother (and her younglings), and the other plays as a dinosaur hunter. The hunter tries to capture as many dinosaurs as possible and kill the mother, while the Velociraptor tries to escape with her young.
The box is on the smaller side, about 20x5x5cm.
Any help?

Could it be Raptor? From BoardGameGeek:

Mamma Raptor has escaped from her run and laid her eggs in the park. A
team of scientists must neutralize her and capture the baby raptors
before they run wild into the forest.
Raptor is a card driven boardgame with tactical play and some double
guessing. Players use their cards to move their pawns (scientists on
one side, Mother and baby raptors on the other) on the board. Every
round, the player who played the lowest ranked card can use the
corresponding action, while his opponent has movement / attack points
equal to the difference between the two cards values. The scientists
can use fire, can move by jeep on the tracks, and can even call for
reinforcements, while the mamma raptor can hide in the bushes, yell to
frighten the scientists, and call for her babies.

Likely, assuming those box dimensions aren't correct!


text:
Interaction with Grismold and Adarkar Valkyrie
Setup
Player A controls Adarkar Valkyrie, Grismold, the Dreadsower and a bunch of creature tokens.
Player B casts Akroma's Vengeance.
Question
If Player A responds with Adarkar Valkyrie's tap ability and targets Grismold, will Grismold - after he returns to the battlefield - receive the +1/+1 counters from his triggered ability?

No.
The Grismold that returns to the battlefield is a completely different one from the one whose ability triggered and was about to get +1/+1 counters.

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 nine 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.

400.7d is the exception that allows Grismold to return to the battlefield. But there is no exception that allows this new Grismold on the battlefield to know anything about the triggered ability that would be giving counters to the Grismold that left the battlefield.
For extra clarification, Adarkar Valkyrie's ability creates a delayed trigger:

603.7. An effect may create a delayed triggered ability that can do something at a later time. A delayed triggered ability will contain “when,” “whenever,” or “at,” although that word won’t usually begin the ability.

603.7a Delayed triggered abilities are created during the resolution of spells or abilities, as the result of a replacement effect being applied, or as a result of a static ability that allows a player to take an action. A delayed triggered ability won’t trigger until it has actually been created, even if its trigger event occurred just beforehand. Other events that happen earlier may make the trigger event impossible.

When Akroma's Vengeance resolves, both Grismold's triggered ability and the Adarkar Valkyrie delayed trigger will trigger. It doesn't matter which order you choose to order them on the stack; what matters is that "new Grismold" is not on the battlefield yet at the time that the triggering event (tokens being destroyed) happens, so it will be too late for new Grismold's triggered ability to do anything.

No
Adarkar Valkyrie's ability creates a delayed triggered ability that watches for Grismold to die.
Then, all creatures are destroyed by Akroma's Vengeance. All creatures that were destroyed are put into the graveyard. This includes Grismold, although since Grismold died, Adarkar Valkyrie's ability triggers.
(Assuming there are no other death-based triggered abilities above it on the stack,) Adarkar Valkyrie's ability resolves, and Grismold is returned to the battlefield. In many cases, now Grismold will be the only creature on the field.
From this point on, Grismold is watching to see if creatures die. Of course, at this point, all the creatures that died from Akroma's Vengeance have already done so.


text:
Interaction between Torment of Hailfire and Persist
If I choose a creature with persist for one repetition of Torment of Hailfire, will it return to play before the next repetition to choose it again?

No, it will not.
Persist in a triggered ability:

702.78a Persist is a triggered ability. “Persist” means “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.”

Triggered abilities trigger while other spells and abilities resolve, bit they aren't put on the stack until afterwards, and they don't resolve until a little while after that.
The only (common) thing that can really intervene in a case like this is a so-called replacement effect (those usually contain the word "instead"). And while there may be replacement effects that can let you get out of the Torment predicament cheaper, I can't think of one right now.


text:
What is this round board game on a turn table?
The board has 32 sections with 4 peg holes in each section. There are 4 numbered pegs each a different color.  There are 4 die with numbers 1 through 6 following the same colors as the pegs.  It is mounted on a turn table.  Does anyone know what game this is?

note: this question has also been asked on Board Game Geek

It looks like a home made tabletop version of Horse Racing.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Horse-Racing-Game/
You roll the dice and move the horse along the number that's on its die.  The first to cross the finish line wins.


text:
Magic the gathering question
Sarkhan the masterless +1 ability. It becomes a 4/4 dragon with flying. Can it attack that turn? Does it depend if the planeswalker was on the field already or just played?

Welcome to the site! Unfortunately I had to close your question because it has already been answered elsewhere, this is how the site works. Please refer to the Help center on how to ask questions and which. We will gladly answer any other question you might have.

Re "Does it depend if the planeswalker was on the field already or just played?", Yes.

From the rulings in Gatherer:

A planeswalker that becomes a creature due to Sarkhan’s first loyalty ability can’t attack unless you’ve controlled it continuously since your turn began.

Once it is a creature; it follows the summoning sickness rules just like any other creature.

Fun thing to keep in mind and what won me the pre-release at the time. You can give the creature haste with a spell, as you can with any other creature so it can attack right away. The thing what did it for me was the static ability of Samut, Tyrant Smasher. Which gives haste to creatures you control. Together with Menace from Angrath, Captain of Chaos.


text:
Heroic fantasy god game
I am looking for the name of a board game that I played in uni (6 years ago). It's an heroic fantasy game where each player is god and can take control of any race on the board and have them fight any other race. Each player is secretly dealt a race that they have to make grow.

Just googled the description and this came up (Age of Gods)
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13636.phtml
Is this the one?


text:
Pressman Rummikub joker rule
From the Pressman Rummikub rules:
"When a player retrieves a joker, the joker will once again have any value or color. However, a player who retrieves a joker must play the joker on his/her current turn to make a new set, and must also use at least one tile from his/her rack on that turn (just as on any other turn). A player cannot retrieve a joker before  s/he has played his/her initial meld."
My question: If a player uses a tile from his/her rack to retrieve a joker. Does that tile count as the "at least one tile..." or must the player use another (second) tile from his/her rack?

The tile does not count as the "at least one tile." You would still need to use an additional tile(s) from your rack to play the joker.

No.
You only retrieve the joker after you played your tile to retrieve the joker. So you need to play an additional tile to play the joker.
Besides. If you don't want to play the joker, there is no need to retrieve it.
(Ok technically there can be situations in full sets like 3 3's and a joker where a fourth 3 is used to replace the joker. But you still can't do that without playing an extra tile.)

Does the "No"  refer to: (a) that tile count as the "at least one tile..."  OR (b) must the player use another (second) tile from his/her rack


text:
Can "Healing Stone" be used to gain Stamina or Sanity beyond the investigator's initial values?
Can the unique item "Healing Stone" be used to gain Stamina or Sanity beyond the investigator's initial values?
The card doesn't include this restriction so I am assuming you can but wanted to make sure.

Your copy of Healing Stone may differ depending on what version of the game and/or which expansions you have. In particular, Dunwich Horror comes with a new version of this card.
However, according to the rulebook (second printing), sanity/stamina as listed on the character's initial values are also their Maximum values. (emphasis mine)

SANITY AND STAMINA An investigator begins the game with a number of
  Sanity and Stamina tokens equal to the values listed on the
  investigator’s sheet. These two values are the investigator’s maximum
  Sanity and maximum Stamina.
  While an investigator may gain and lose Sanity or Stamina over the course of the game, the investigator’s current Sanity or Stamina may
  never exceed the investigator’s maximum Sanity or Stamina.

The card may not have that restriction, because it's built into the game itself - a character's sanity and stamina start at the maximum values for that character - while they will go up and down over the course of the game, they can't ever go past that starting, maximum, value unless there you have cards that specifically change this maximum, like Ashcan Pete's Duke.


text:
Effect dependencies and ability adding/removing effects
I have an abstract question about MTG comprehensive rules, regarding 613. Interaction of Continuous Effects.
Suppose I have some active continuous effects A, B, C (given in timestamp order) in layer 7. Suppose A depends on C: rule 613 tells me I need to apply the effects in the following order: B, C, A.
Now a new continuous effect D is created in layer 6, which removes all abilities from the object that contains the static ability that is producing effect C. After an event occurs, I reevaluate the game state. I have 4 continuous effects, A, B, C and D. Rule 613 tells me to sort them so: D, B, C, A. But right after I apply effect D to the game state, effect C becomes inactive.
My question is: am I supposed to continue applying the remaining effects in the initial order (B, A), or am I supposed to re-sort them into A, B as the dependency that forced B to come before A no longer exists?

I get that this is an abstract hypothetical that you already answered, but I'm wondering how dependencies even would show up in Layer 7 (or specifically in some sublayer of layer 7).  It seems like it would have to be a static ability that is worded something like "1/1 creatures get +2/+2" or something like that.  Since this would feel like a weird paradox to most casual players, I don't think they would ever print something like that, but I could be wrong.  Still interesting to consider since the rules do account for something like that.

Never mind, I shouldn't be reading comprehensive rules late at night...
613.7c After each effect is applied, the order of remaining effects is reevaluated and may change if an effect that has not yet been applied becomes dependent on or independent of one or more other effects that have not yet been applied.


text:
Opponent has a run in trump
Can't find the answer to this anywhere, it happened to us last night. I got the bid and didn't make my run. BUT, the opposing team did get a run in Trump. Is their meld 150 points? Or just a marriage and dix?

They get the full 150 for their run.
A run is by definition an A, 10, K, Q, J of trump suit; which is what they had. It is not required to be the person who won the bid in order to have a run.
From the rules:

The values of the melds are:

A,10, K, Q, J of trump suit (flush, or sequence) 150


text:
Identify board game with a castle divider, air plungers, soldier-shaped plugs?
I remember a game my grandparents had, but I have never found it searching on the web.
This game was likely made in the 1970s, it was 2-player.
It had a green board that was injection molded plastic, it had a set of plastic castle towers and a cardboard castle wall as a divider. The top of the main board was a grid of holes, underneath the holes were interconnected by a network ducts.
The pieces were little soldier-shaped plugs that fit in the holes. It also had two colored air plungers.
The game mechanic was a bit of a cross between checkers and Battleship. You moved a piece and were allowed to plunge a hole as turn elements. If you plunged a hole on your side and the adjoined hole on the opponents' side had a piece in it, it would fly out and be removed from play.
Has anyone heard of or played this game?

I think you might mean Battleboard.  I found it typing "air plungers board game castle" into google image search
According to information on BGG it was from 1972. It is a two player game.
The photos fit your description of being green with a castle.
the description says :-

Each player has four knight pieces and one king piece. At the
  beginning of the game they are placed in the row furthest from the
  dividing wall. Players take turns moving one of their pieces one space
  (orthogonally). They then get to use their "air catapult" to try to
  pop out one of their opponent's pieces. This is done by placing their
  plunger in one of the vacant spaces on their side of the board and
  then banging it. If their opponent has a piece in that corresponding
  space, it will pop up into the air. Pieces captured in this way remain
  out of the game until that player moves his king up to the dividing
  wall, at which point he can claim a captured knight piece back (but
  also tips off his opponent that his king is in the front row). The
  first player to move two pieces into the front row (next to the
  dividing wall) wins the game.

That is exactly it! I must have been blind not to find it the way that you did. Thanks!


text:
Thunder Drake second spell of the turn
If I play Thunder Drake as my first spell of the turn, then cast another spell, will it get a +1/+1 counter?

Yes, if Thunder Drake is the first spell you cast in a turn and then you cast another spell, that spell is the second spell you cast that turn, so Thunder Drake's ability triggers.
You're not supposed to think about it as though Thunder Drake is counting the spells, and only triggers on the second spell it sees you cast. Rather, it's simply a fact that whichever spell is the second one you cast that turn, independent of Thunder Drake.


text:
Are the expansion number tokens in 5-6 players expansion different from the basic Catan?
I am currently in the process of creating my own custom Catan board and wish to create number tokens for both original and 5-6 players extension gameplay. I have managed to find a detailed list of the original number tokens already, but cannot locate the list of the extension tokens (I only know there are 28 of them).
Could anyone let me know what numbers come under thoe 28, how many of them and whether of not they have alphabetical letters as well?
Many thanks!

Someone has created a pdf with all this information over on BGG here
If you dont have a BGG account to view the file I've converted it to a jpg for you.

Is there a meaning to the boxes around the I's and N's?

@Jonita,  sorry I don't know.  The question was just about number for each letter token and that a reference I found.  Maybe post a question to BGG user who made the original file on there?

@Jontia, the letter/number combinations with the box are unchanged, the others are changed.


text:
Does Cycling a card to trigger an ability allow you to target a creature protected by the color of the card you're cycling?
If I'm going to use the Cycle ability of a card of a certain color, and that activated ability is connected with a triggered ability that needs to choose a target for its correct resolution, it is possible to activate it by targeting a creature that has the ability to protection from the same color as the starting card, ie the card with the Cycle ability?
For example -
 if I have the blue card Choking Tethers in my hand,
  and the opponent has on the battlefield a Serra Angel,
with the Aura Blue Ward that enchants him,
I can avail myself with success of the Cycle ability of the Choking Tethers,
and tapping this way the Serra Angel?

No, the angel with protection from Blue cannot be targeted by the ability of Choking Tethers.
The relevant rule about Protection:

702.16b A permanent or player with protection can’t be targeted by spells with the stated quality and can’t be targeted by abilities from a source with the stated quality.

In your case, the source of the ability, Choking Tethers, has the quality 'blue'.
Note that (as mentioned in the card's Gatherer rulings) it is allowed to cycle Choking Tethers even if there are no legal targets for the triggered ability (e.g. there are no creatures at all, or only creatures with protection from blue). This is because the Cycling activated ability itself does not require any targets to activate. The triggered ability that taps a creature will not successfully be put on the stack, but the Cycling ability will resolve just fine and you will draw a card.


text:
Are "Gods" indestructible even when they are not yet creatures?
As long as the card Nylea, Keen-Eyed -
(or the parallel red card, or Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded, or Athreos, Shroud-Veiled, or other specular cards, often with the subtype "God") -
is not yet a creature, since his devotion to the indicated color has not yet reached the sufficient value, does he still possess the indestructible ability? I'll explain better.
For example, since it's a card that's also an enchantment, could it be destroyed by a Disenchant as long as it's not a creature; or is the indestructible ability active even when it's not yet a creature?

Yes, the Enchantment Gods are always indestructible, whether or not they are creatures.
When the Gods stop being a creature due to insufficient Devotion, the only things they lose are the creature type, the creature-related subtype (God), and their power and toughness. Abilities of that object are not affected, even if they are abilities that wouldn't make sense on a non-creature, such as Trample. However, Indestructible isn't even a creature-only ability, as there are non-creatures with that ability, such as Darksteel Relic.

208.3. A noncreature permanent has no power or toughness, even if it’s a card with a power and toughness printed on it (such as a Vehicle). [..]
205.1a [..] If an object’s card type is removed, the subtypes correlated with that card type will remain if they are also the subtypes of a card type the object currently has; otherwise, they are also removed for the entire time the object’s card type is removed. [..]

As Gatherer says on each of the Gods you link to, as well as any other such God:

The abilities of Gods function as long as they’re on the battlefield, regardless of whether they’re creatures.

So the indestructible ability still works when your devotion is too low.


text:
Is there a maximum duration for MTG official matches?
In MTG official tournaments, is there a maximum duration for matches?
Or, can each match last as long as it takes to end the game normally (and therefore there are pauses, in case of particularly long games) ?
If the first is correct, and therefore there is a maximum duration established before the start of the match, what could be the criteria for deciding who should be considered the winner in that case?

Before downvoting this question, please make sure if someone hasn't already asked it before. If your search should be in vain - as I think I can say without any doubt - then I think your low rating is completely arbitrary and fanatic.

The official tournament rules are available online - it is true - but I think it is still appropriate to clarify this important issue with a specific question, and to add - as Ben did well - other information, such as the very long game he mentioned in the comment below. Furthermore, by creating a post with such a question, you can create a discussion point for anyone who has something to say on related issues: for example, to discuss wheter the current criteria by which you choose the winner of a game that went too far long are right or not.

The MAGIC: THE GATHERING® TOURNAMENT RULES are the authority here.
The question of whether or not there is a time limit is covered by Appendix B. Essentially, there is no requirement, only a recommendation. In practice, most swiss rounds have time limits and most single-elimination rounds do not (though I have played in a tournament with timed single-elimination rounds once in my life).
Section 2.5 covers what happens if a match ends due to time.

If one player has won more games than the other, that player wins the match. Otherwise...
In swiss rounds, the match is declared a draw.
In single-elimination rounds, the winner is the player with the highest life total. If both players have the same life total, the game continues until someone loses due to having less life than the other.

In single-elimination rounds, matches may not end in a draw. If all players have equal game wins at the end of
  additional turns, the player with the highest life total wins the current game. In the event all players have equal
  life totals (or are between games and the game wins are tied), the game/match continues with an additional statebased action: if a player does not have the highest life total, they lose the game. Two-Headed Giant teams are
  treated as a single player for determining a game winner.

For fun: here's a high-profile match that lasted long enough that the tournament organizers instructed other players to move on to a later stage of the tournament while this match was still playing out: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/event-coverage/quarterfinals-life-life-2006-12-03

Highest life total will probably be unfair in the case of platinum angel on the battlefield.


text:
Are "infinite loops" legal?
With this question I intend to clarify whether the game situations in which "infinite loops" are created can be considered legal; and, if they are not, if there are formats in which they are legal.
The example that can be built is that of the - well known - combo consisting of the Splinter Twin and Deceiver Exarch cards, which today is no longer possible to perform, due to the removal of Splinter Twin from the Standard and Modern formats, in which it is no longer legal.
A reconnaissance of the combo follows.

If you already have a Deceiver Exarch on the battlefield from the previous turn, you can enchant it with Splinter Twin;
tapping the Deceiver, it is now possible to produce a token copying the Deceiver, and with Haste ability;
then, if the opponent does not play with the white color (or, if he does, hoping that he does not have a Disenchant in his hand with which respond to!),when the token enter the battlefield ,it is possible to choose one of the two triggered abilities of the just-created Deceiver-Token;
choosing to untap a permanent, the first Deceiver will be targeted (the original non-token one, the one enchanted with Splinter Twin), which in this way can be tapped again to produce a new token equal to the Deceiver;
You can repeat this process indefinitely to produce as many tokens as you want;
then,it is possible to attack the opponent to win the game.

Hoping that all the above is correct (if not, please tell me where there may be a misunderstanding),  I think the procedure in question is able to be a good example of what I mean with the expression "infinite loop".  Or, in any case, I think it's a good way to define it:if there are better ones, a mention of them is welcome in the answer.
Since this operation is today no longer possible - due to the removal of Splinter Twin from the two most recent formats - I wonder if this may be due to the possibility that this card has well demonstrated in producing "infinite loops".
The reason for a possible ban of this kind of game actions may be due to the fact that, in order to make this action legal, one should be able to physically perform the "infinite loop": what is however impossible. Even if, obviously, the operation may be stopped at a certain point, for example by producing 300 tokens, of course, and therefore avoiding a real "infinite loop".
But there remains the obvious possibility, within this combo, of being able to make an infinite loop in this way.
If the removal of the Splinter Twin card is due to this (and this reason only) then I wonder if - in Modern and Standard formats - other operations that can produce "infinite loops", or that in any case can be associated with them through the use of various cards:
1) are considered legal game actions; or
2) are not considered legal game actions.
In other words: are "infinite loops" legal or not?

Incertain way, i have to say:-"Yes!",but there is some other sub-question in mine.

See also https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/47596/is-famished-paladin-and-resplendent-mentor-a-legal-infinite-life-combo, another question about the legality of loops

You say there are other sub questions in this question. The only question I see is "are infinite loops legal?". What other sub questions are you referring to?

Also more directly answered here: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/6333/is-it-valid-to-exploit-infinite-loopholes-in-magic-the-gathering/6335#6335

The sub-questions were mainly these:1) to clarify if my reconstruction of the combo that can be performed with ST and DE was correct;2) if one of the reasons for the removal of ST from the Modern Format - and here I thank DenisS, who is right: speaking of Standard,I was wrong - was precisely due to its ability to produce that particular combo.The fact that the combo itself was the only reason for its removal was obviously an error,even if in fact the 2 reasons are indirectly linked (the fact that that combo actually "killed" the game, and the fact that it was just ST  to make it possible).

It seems to me that there are sufficient reasons to make my question useful. Then, it is true that the general and marked question "Are infinite loops legal?" can also be answered in the linked questions .But, as usual, and as I often point out, the questions I propose are in fact "similar"; but never "the same", and always have some aspect that,in my opinion, are not addressed by other questions proposed by other SE users. However, if it makes you feel more comfortable, you can always report my questions as duplicates ... it has now become a national sport.

There's a lot of misconceptions in your question, so I'm going to try and go through all of them.

1. Splinter twin isn't allowed in Standard because it rotated out of the format.
Splinter twin was printed in Rise of the Eldrazi and Modern Masters 2015 Edition.  Neither of these sets have been allowed in Standard in years.

2. Splinter Twin was not banned just because it can make an infinite damage combo.
From the Banned and Restricted announcement.

Antonio Del Moral León won Pro Tour Fate Reforged playing Splinter Twin, and Jelger Wiegersma finished third; Splinter Twin has won two of the four Modern Pro Tours. Splinter Twin reached the Top 8 of the last six Modern Grand Prix. The last Modern Grand Prix in Pittsburgh had three Splinter Twin decks in the Top 8, including Alex Bianchi's winning deck.
Decks that are this strong can hurt diversity by pushing the decks that it defeats out of competition. They can also reduce diversity by supplanting similar decks. For instance, Shaun McLaren won Pro Tour Born of the Gods playing this Jeskai control deck. Alex Bianchi won our most recent Modern Grand Prix playing a similar deck but adding the Splinter Twin combination. Similarly, Temur Tempo used to see play at high-level events but has been supplanted by Temur Twin.
We considered what one would do with the cards from a Splinter Twin deck with Splinter Twin banned. In the case of some Jeskai or Temur, there are very similar decks to build. In other cases, there is Kiki-Jiki as a replacement.
In the interest of competitive diversity, Splinter Twin is banned from Modern.

Splinter Twin was banned because too many decks were using Splinter Twin.  This was by no means the only infinite combo in format at the time, as replacing Splinter Twin with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker gave you the same outcome.  See also this article from Channel Fireball titled "10 Game-Winning Infinite Combos with Modern Horizons" which was all about new infinite combos introduced just with the Modern Horizons release.

3. There is nothing illegal about the combo.  You may be playing an illegal deck if you're playing Modern with Splinter Twin in it, but there is nothing stopping the combo.
Standard and Modern are only two MTG formats.  Using the Twin/Exarch combo would be illegal in Modern, but only because the Twin is banned and you would be playing with an illegal deck.
The card is still legal in Commander, Vintage, and Legacy, and if you had both cards on the field in that format you can execute the combo.

4. There is no such thing as "Infinite " in magic.
What are commonly referred to infinite loops aren't actually infinite.  You are required to specify the number of times you would execute the loop in question, and you can't say "infinity times".  You can say whatever number you want, and the number can be arbitrarily high, but the number must be real.
You can't start the Twin/Exarch combo and generate infinite tokens.  You can say you generate 300, a million, or a googolplex of tokens, but you can't say infinite.

5. All infinite combos are legal, regardless of format, with one important exception (and even then, that exception is a tournament rule and nothing wrong with the cards themselves).
If you can demonstrate a loop in Magic, the loop is legal.  For instance, using your example above, you could say

I tap Exarch, creating a copy of Exarch.
Token enters the battlefield, I use it's ETB ability to untap the original Exarch.
The board state is the same as before step 1, but I have an extra Exarch on the battlefield.
I repeat steps 1 and 2 50,000 times, giving myself 50,000 extra tokens.

The only requirement is that the combo advances the board state.  You can't activate a loop that does nothing to advance the board state, as this is considered Slow Play and is a penalty in tournament formats.
See also this article, also from Channel Fireball, titled "Nine Game-Winning Infinite Combos with Throne of Eldraine".

Re point 4: if every step in a loop is mandatory then there is no finite number of times it can run before stopping, and the game is drawn (provided that running the loop doesn't lead to one player winning after a finite number of steps).

DenisS perfectly clarified- for Murgatroid99,too-what the sub-questions contained in my question were.In particular,I appreciate this point:"4.There is no such thing as"Infinite"in magic.What are commonly referred to infinite loops aren't actually infinite.You are required to specify the number of times you would execute the loop in question,and you can't say "infinity times".You can say whatever number you want,and the number can be arbitrarily high,but the number must be real".The fact that the infinite loops were not the reason for the removal ofST I had also guessed,but the doubt remained.

Now, thanks to @DenisS, it's all really clearer. Please forgive me for the fact that, having re-started playing after many years, I face things with an inconceivable delay for who, and compared to whom, has followed the game in recent years with attention.

Sorry, but I did not understand  what @user3490  says in his comment. Does the expression "The game is drawn" mean that "the game is even"? That is, when, by looping a finite number of times, there is still no winner? I did not understand clearly what it means ...please clarify if you could do this, thank you.

@ManoFromBerlin an example of this is if you play Ajani's Chosen followed by Enchanted Evening. This triggers Ajani's Chosen, which produces a cat creature token that is also an enchantment due to Enchanted Evening, triggering Ajani's chosen again... Unless a player interrupts the loop (e.g. by destroying one of the two cards), the game is a draw - no-one wins or loses.

@ManoFromBerlin on the other hand it might not be a draw if you also controlled e.g. a Corpse Knight, as then all of your opponents would probably reach 0 life after a finite number of iterations of the loop.

-"There's a lot of misconceptions in your question".Well,somewhere I agree with you,DenisS.But the part where I say:"The reason for a possible ban of this kind of game actions may be due to the fact that,in order to make this action legal,one should be able to physically perform the IL :what is however impossible.Even if, obviously, the operation may be stopped at a certain point,by producing300 tks,of course,and therefore avoiding a real IL- indicates precisely whether I am asking the question why I could misunderstand it,or in the sense in which you have made it clear later in the answer

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

After all, if you think about it, the fact that you, DenisS, first marked my question as a duplicate, and immediately afterwards - or in any case, almost-simultaneously - answered my question very well, can be considered as an important one contradiction ... don't you think?


text:
Missing rules: "L'ecologia" Clementoni
I have an old copy of "L'ecologia" of "I giochi di Sapientino" by Clementoni.
Unluckily the instructions are missing.
Can anyone help?

You might want to try reaching out to that company and they might be able to quickly help you with the rules. It might be hard for this site to find rules for an Italian game

I found the contact form from the company: https://www.clementoni.com/it/slug-assistenza-form/
I presume you should be good enough with Italian to be able to file in an enquiry to ask them if it would be possible to download the PDF manual.


text:
Monopoly - Passing Go Backwards
I played Monopoly, and I passed Go, and landed on the Community Chest 2 spaces after the Go space. I picked up the "Pay $10, or draw a Chance Card". I drew a Chance card and I got "Go back three spaces."
Now, since I passed Go backwards, do I get $-200 (i.e., pay $200), and/or do I get another $200 the next turn when I pass Go forwards again?


text:
Building Houses Evenly in Monopoly
I was playing Monopoly with my friend one day and I had an orange full set AND a red full set. I started to add houses to the sets. However, as soon as I added a second house onto Vine Street/New York (the formation of houses for the oranges and reds were 1-1-2 0-0-0), my friend suddenly told me that I wasn't following the rules of building evenly. According to him, I had to build houses on the reds, i.e. 1-1-1 1-1-1, before I could start on second houses.

The properties in a color group must be developed evenly, i.e. each house that is built must go on a property in the group with the fewest number of houses on it so far.

This is what the rulebook says about building houses evenly across a colour set, however, I couldn't find anything that says that houses had to be built evenly across colour sets.
Is what I did against the rules?

You played within the rules. Houses must be built up (and sold off) evenly within a color group, but different color groups can be built up differently without regard to each other.
The section of the rules you quote is exactly the section that supports your play.
Addendum: not an official source, but this same question came up on boardgamegeek (with the same answer).
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/435348/confuse-about-building-evenly

The rules specify that the build up only applies to the same color group. There is nothing to control what is built on properties of other groups in the rules.
Houses

But
  you must build evenly, i.e., you cannot erect more than one house on
  any one property of any color-group until you have built one house on
  every property of that group. You may then begin on the second row
  of houses, and so on, up to a limit of four houses to a property. For
  example, you cannot build three houses on one property if you have
  only one house on another property of that group.
  As you build evenly, you must also break down evenly if you sell
  houses back to the Bank (see SELLING PROPERTY).


text:
Switching Cards Around in Monopoly Deal 2
Firstly, I know that there is a question on switching cards after charging rent on them. However, the case I did is a bit more extreme.
I had 2 green, 2 red, 2 light blue, 1 yellow, and a multi-colour wild property card.
Firstly, I moved the wild card from its original position, with the yellow, to the green and make it a full set. (This counts as 0/3 of my moves.)
Then, I charged everyone 7M each. (1/3)
After receiving the money, I moved the wild card to the red set, and charged everyone 6M each. (2/3)
After receiving the money, I moved the wild card to the light blue set, and charged everyone 3M each. (3/3)
Then, I moved the wild card back with the yellow card.
Is any part of my moves out of the Monopoly Deal rules? Although I don't think so, people are saying that I might have cheated.

Looking at the rules here it says (emphasis mine)

Each player can play up to 3 cards per turn. A play is considered any
  time a card is laid on the table (such as money into your bank,
  property cards on the table, action cards played into the middle,
  etc). You do not need to play all 3 cards per turn if you do not want
  to.

The same website in there strategy section here says

It’s important to remember that you can re-arrange your monopoly cards
  on the table during your turn without sacrificing one of your three
  moves. This simple fact can help you maximize your income when
  charging other players.

You are allowed up to 3 'plays' a turn  this is defined as placing a card on the table.  moving a card from set to another is not one of you 3 'plays'


text:
Catan - Cities & Knights - Barbarian Attack
Player A have 2 cities and 1 active knight point, player B have 2 cities and 2 active knight points and player C have no city and no active knight.
What will happen when the barbarians attack?

No one will loose city as player C is the least contributor and have no city
Player A will loose a city as least contributor with 2 cities

One ignores players with no cities when determining who loses a city, so Player A must convert one of their cities into a settlement.

If the barbarians are stronger, they are victorious! If the barbarians win the battle, they pillage one or more cities. Pillaged cities are reduced to settlements (replace the city piece with a settlement). The barbarians pillage one city belonging to the player who had the lowest total strength of active knights when the barbarians attacked. Any player who contributed no knights are automatically considered to have the lowest total strength of active knights. If various players tie for having the lowest total strength of active knights, each of those players loses 1 of his cities.
Important: When determining which player has contributed the weakest group of knights, do not count any player who has no cities or any player who has only metropolises. These players are immune to the effects of the barbarian attack.

5th ed rules

Thank you. Have a question about one more scenario. Player A have 2 cities and 2 active knight points. Player B have 2 cities, 1 metropolis and 2 active knight points. The barbarians attack. In the illustration given in the Catan documentation, the person with metropolis is immune to the attack. Both player contribute equal knight points. Should player B loose one of his/her city when is without metropolis? Or is the player B completely immune to the barbarian attack?

Both players would have to lose a city. ("The barbarians pillage one city belonging to the player who had the lowest total strength of active knights when the barbarians attacked. [...] If various players tie for having the lowest total strength of active knights, each of those players loses 1 of his cities.") The metropolis is immune to barbarians, not the player. ("A metropolis is immune to barbarians.")

Basically, despite the stereotype, the barbarians aren't dumb. They're not going to attack settlements (no value) or a metropolis (too strong). They'll go after the countries (players) that offer the least resistance (fewest knights) as long as those countries have value to loot. So they won't go after countries (players) with no cities other than metropolises, but they will go after countries with cities even if that country has a metropolis.

Thank you @ikegami


text:
For Star Realms, what's the appropriate ratio of Wealth-per-Card-per-Faction?
I have lots of cards for Star Realms (2 decks of the standard game, 1 expansion deck), and I'm trimming everything down to fix balance issues and the overall deck size.
However, the tricky part is adjusting for the viability of certain Factions between the early-late game phases, the viability of Explorers throughout the game (2 cost, 2 Trade, Scrap: 2 Combat), and the prioritization of early-game resources (Trade) vs. late-game resources (Draw, Combat).
For example:

Red (Machine Cult) and Green (Blob) are very effective in the late game stages due to their high Combat values and deck efficiency/combo potential.
Yellow (Empire) is good for mid-game, due to the fact that their easy draws can accelerate your early game (when draws would normally be impossible) and their discard effect synergizes with itself to gain effectiveness in late-game.
Blue (Trade Federation) is good for early-game, since it deals mostly in accelerating your deck by producing a massive amount of Trade and purchase high-impact cards earlier than your opponents.

What is the ideal curve that should be used?
E.G. Should Blob have a limited amount of early-game Trade to force players into splitting off into other solutions that have less late-game potential?

By 'ideal', I'm referring to any mention of this topic from the developers, common trends of the various sets, or reasoning from experienced players.

"common trends" and "reasoning from players" each indicate that this is an off-topic primarily-opinion-based question. Is there any non-opinion-based metric you'd like to investigate, or should this question be closed?

@L.ScottJohnson Though this might be better in Meta, I'd assume this kind of question is just as in-line as this boardgames.se question, which had the most votes for the [tag:mtg-manabase] tag and has a similar topic.

@L.ScottJohnson For reference, here is the entire linked question, with a few minor modifications to make it more universal: > "When choosing cards for a deck, one of the most important things to consider is the number of currency you put in. The biggest issue is [...] curve, of course. What shortcuts are best for determining the proper amount of currency with a given [...] curve?"

Isn't exactly answering your question, but Card Tier List might be helpful. https://megahaulin.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/star-realms-card-tier-lists-updated-incl-frontiers/

Alright, so I found google docs with cards, added some more data concerning base sets and made a diagram with it. I used a sophisticated formula of counting only half of the trade from ally and scrap abilities and counting optional abilities as full trade.
Google docs data
Here are some diagrams I came up with:

This one shows generated trade by card costs, I didn't do other factions because they only have trade-generating cards up to a cost of 4 (with a single exception).
Initial source of data I used: BGG files

Cool analysis! Can you please add a few summary points from the spreadsheet directly to your answer? Right now it's too close to being a link-only answer, even though you've put so much work into the page behind the link.


text:
Is there a dictionary for Woogles.IO?
I've been getting into Scrabble recently, playing at Woogles.IO.  Only I don't know what are or aren't counted as words there.
I realize that, depending on playing mode, I can try placing words midgame and they won't be placed if they don't count, but that's not an ideal way to study.
Question: Is there a dictionary for Woogles.IO?
I didn't find the answer via a Google search.

Do you have any reason to believe the dictionary is anything other than OSW?

The two main English dictionaries you can use on Woogles as of this writing, I believe, are:

CSW21 (World English) -- This is the Collins Scrabble Words list used pretty much everywhere except North America
NWL20 (North American English) -- This is the NASPA Word List, used in most North American competitive endeavors

When you start a game, you have the option to choose whatever dictionary you please. When you are looking to challenge another player when they have a game requested, you should be able to see in the "Words" column what dictionary they wish to play with.

As you said, it depends on the lexicon you use, either OSW (Official Scrabble Words) or CEL (Common Word Lexicon)

scrabblewordfinder finds if a word exists at the OSW.

For words in CEL look at the Dictionary-sheet, which is referenced in their github, which is referenced in their blog: Woogles.io’s secret features

Note that:

If you want to play with an English Common Word Lexicon, you must have all lexicons enabled (go to Settings, select Preferences on the menu on the left, and click on the “Enable All Lexicons” slider).
Now you can play a very small dictionary of only common words. This dictionary is subject to change at any time as we experiment with it.
You can find the word list here: https://github.com/Fj00/CEL


text:
Do scope take up a slot after being combined with a gun?
I have recently began playing Zombicide and started with season 3.
There is a 'Scope' which can be combine with 'Rifle' to make a sniper rifle. No question about the effect of the weapon, just the number of slots it requires to carry or equip.
There is a molotov which works on a similar principle, combining 'Gasoline' and 'Glass Bottle', but there is a 'Molotov' card which you replace the combination with and it'll take up only 1 slot.
However even after being combined the sniper rifle is technically a 'Rifle' with a 'Scope', so should it take up 1 or 2 slots?
If it takes up 2 slots, does the Scope need to be on the other hand or can it be carried and still be in effect like 'Plenty of Ammo'?

No, if the scope is combined with the gun, it counts as one card.
You can see this in the rules:

Specific  Equipment  cards  can  be  combined  to  build  im-proved
  weaponry.  Take  the  two  appropriate  cards,  which  must  be
  already  stored  in  the  Survivor’s  inventory,  and  combine them
  into the new weapon. This does not cost an Action, and the new weapon
  takes only a single slot in your Survivor’s inventory. When built,
  Survivors may immediately and freely equip improved weapons to their
  hands.
Sniper Rifle: Combine a Rifle and a Scope to get a sniper rifle. Put
  the Scope card under the Rifle card. Now you can choose your targets
  when firing with this Rifle

+1 for quick answer, do you remember which part of the rule book is this in? It'll help if I know where to look for as reminder during the game.

I added the section of the rules (found one online).

Happy zombie hunting ;-).

on a side note, which expansion would be most recommended to go with Season 3? I am thinking of which box to buy next

We have no expansions yet. But I downloaded some of the additional scenario's (https://www.zombicide.com/en/missions/) for extra fun.


text:
Monster unaffected by Spell/Trap vs. Monster given protection via Spell/Trap
If a monster's effect makes it unaffected by spells/traps, what happens if it attacks a monster protected by Waboku or something? Does it still get destroyed?

The thing here is that the one unaffected by spell/traps is your monster.
However, that does not make your opponent's monster unaffected by spell/traps.
Protecting your monster from spell/traps does not negate a spell/trap card that affects your opponent's monster.
You could, however, make your opponent's monster unaffected by spell/traps (for example targeting with whatever effect made your monster spell/trap proof), and if you do that then the spell protecting it from being destroyed won't save it from your attacks.

"Waboku" protects the monster(s) of the player and the player who activated it. It does not affect opponent's monster at all. So what would happen in this scenario is:

Your opponent's monster will not be destroyed by battle with your immune monster.
Your opponent will not receive any kind of battle damage.


text:
In Gloomhaven, can you get the effects of winning a scenario twice?
I am not sure what the answer is. It doesn't say you can't, but I assume you can't

It depends on which effects you're referring to. You always get the experience (including the base XP depending on the scenario level), any loot you've picked up, as well as your checkmark or two if you've completed the battle goal, and any progress you've made towards your personal quest.
You do not however get any of the scenario rewards that are listed in the scenario book. This is because after beating the scenario, it can only be played in casual mode, which doesn't grant these rewards. You also can't loot any numbered treasure tiles if you've done so before (however, if you missed the treasure the first time around, you can replay the scenario to grab it).
Relevant sections from the rule book:

Numbered treasure tiles can only be looted once. After they have been looted, they should be crossed off in the Scenario Book as a reminder. — p. 15

In addition, once a scenario has been completed in campaign mode, it cannot be undertaken again in campaign mode by any party. — p. 34

[In casual mode,] Players can still gain experience and money, loot treasure tiles, complete battle goals, and make progress toward completing their personal quests, but any story text or rewards listed at the end of the scenario are disregarded. A party in campaign mode can switch to casual mode to go through a scenario they have already completed [...]. — p. 34

You might want to add "make progress toward completing their personal quests" to your first paragraph to make it clear to this can also be done in a rerun.

The rules are a bit unclear but since most of the time some of the rewards (mostly unlocks) are unique, and others (like prosperity) limited, the whole reward should be given only on the first run through a scenario.


text:
Is there skill in rolling a spinner?
Several board games, particularly those made for young children, use a spinner instead of a die to control movement. A spinner is harder to lose, less likely to choke a younger sibling, and easier to manufacture with odd probabilities.
There are tricks to manipulate the probability of outcomes on dice without resorting to loaded dice. For example, "Tricks to Rolling Dice" by Jessica Fletcher mentions a "bowling" trick in which the player avoids two numbers on opposite sides of a fair d6, such as 1 and 6, by carefully rolling the die down the equator to pass over only the other four numbers. Are there analogous tricks to manipulating a spinner?
Part of the motivation is a comment by PotatoEngineer to an answer by Task to "Is Fluxx a game of skill or luck?". It states that while luck dominates each individual hand of poker, iterated poker depends far more on skill, calling out Hasbro's Hi Ho Cherry-O as "the sole exception" that remains purely luck. HHCO is a put-and-take game analogous to teetotum or dreidel. Yet like HHCO, Hasbro's Chutes and Ladders and Care Bears: Warm Feelings use a spinner, and neither game offers any player agency other than through the spinner. Another part is finding a way to keep C&L interesting as children grow into appreciating agency, though that might be a question by itself.

A spinner will move along one of two paths every time you spin it (clockwise or anti-clockwise).  There is no variation in the spin which could occur with dice, such as bounce, roll, etc.  It's always travelling consistently along one path.  This means that the distance it travels is always dependent upon how much force was used to spin it.  Therefore, if you get used to a particular spinner, you can adjust your flick power to make the spinner travel further or shorter depending on need.  Hasbro's Game of Life has a twist spinner instead of a flick spinner, but it's the same concept.  Growing up, my brother and I were able to figure out how to spin the spinner with enough force to fairly reliably get the number we wanted.  Every spinner will be a little bit different between copies of the game, so you may need to calibrate when playing at a friend's house.

Further to this, some spinners will have high and low friction points around their path (I used to fairly regularly play The Game of Life with a spinner that liked to stop on 6-7-8 and almost never on the opposite side of the wheel), and it can make a difference in some games (again, like TGOL with alternative paths) if you know your spinner has such a preference.

@ZeissIkon Yeah, my friend had a copy that had been stepped on by their dog.  That warped it enough to have a non-level path, where it dipped down on a number, and slowed down a bit on its way back up.  Really there is no consistent uniform strategy for all spinners, and it's mostly a matter of practicing with the one you have so that you can learn its quirks.


text:
Can you have the same Pokemon with different names
I was thinking about a character in the TV show during one episode of sun and moon Ash meets a trainer who just loves Pikachu and I wanted to make a deck baced on her so I understand you can only have 4 with the same name but what if they had a different name like "Pikachu libre" or "detective Pikachu" or ex and gx

I guess this isn't a complete duplicate, but a similar question has an answer here:
Pokemon cards with the same name and different features
You can play up to 4 copies of cards with the same name. If they have different names you can play up to 4 copies of each of them in your deck.
Rules text on the rule of playing multiple copies of a card (quoted from a quote in this answer: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/47062/24175):

DECK BUILDING
(...)
Also, except for basic Energy, you can only have 4 cards with the same name in your deck. This means you can have only 4 cards called “Pignite” in your deck, even if they all have different attacks. Finally, your deck must have at least one Basic Pokémon in it.
(...)

If you are wondering what it means to have the same name (quoted from a quote in this answer: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/47062/24175):

WHAT DOES AND DOESN’T COUNT FOR A POKÉMON’S NAME?
• Some Pokémon cards have extra information after their name, such as a Level or a symbol like GL. A Pokémon’s name changes how you can evolve or play certain cards. Level is not part of a Pokémon’s name:
      ◆ Gengar, Gengar LV. 43, Gengar LV. 44, and Gengar LV.X all have the same name
  • Symbols at the end of a Pokémon’s name are part of a Pokémon’s name:
      ◆ Alakazam, Alakazam 四, and Alakazam ☆ all have different names from each other
      ◆ However, δ (Delta Species) is not part of a Pokémon’s name. Aerodactyl and
  Aerodactyl δ (Delta Species) have the same name
  • An owner or form name in a Pokémon’s name is part of the Pokémon’s name:
      ◆ Meowth, Alolan Meowth, and Rocket’s Meowth have different names
When you are building a deck, you can have only 4 copies of a card with the same name in it, except for basic Energy cards. If your deck has 1 each of Gengar, Gengar LV. 43, Gengar LV. 44, and Gengar LV.X, you can’t put any more cards named Gengar in your deck! However, you could have 4 Meowth, 4 Alolan Meowth, and 4 Rocket’s Meowth.


text:
Do I get the continent troops on every turn I have conquered the continent?
If I have conquered the entire continent do I get those bonus continent troops on each turn I play or just one turn after I have conquered it?

You receive bonus troops for a continent each time you begin your turn in control of every district/nation on that continent, for as long as that remains true.  That is, if you lose control of any district on the continent, you will not collect the bonus troops at the start of your next turn.
from Rules of Risk

Continents
In addition, at the beginning of your turn, you will receive armies for each continent you control. (To control a continent, you must occupy all its territories at the start of your turn).

A quote or link to the relevant ruling would be great :)


text:
In Texas Hold'em, how does the floor penalize a player who has received more chips than he should have (as through an add-on)?
I was running a poker tournament this evening. The type of tourney is freezeout with up to a $25 dollar add-on worth 5500 in chips. I seated him, gave him the starting stack plus the add-on, and told him that I needed the marker from him which signified he purchased the add-on. At a later point, he had the marker on the table, which is in play, and when he went all in, he was awarded an additional 5500 in chips, due to the in play marker. How would I penalize/fix this situation in the event that my attention is not drawn to the error immediately?

At what point did the player get a marker saying they were entitled to an add on?  Would this not be given to them at the registration desk with there starting chips?  Undoing a mistake like that is a tricky one as lots to considers, Did the player make an honest mistake or was it deliberate cheating?  How do you avoid other players feeling disgruntled?  Did they player accept they made a mistake or deny it?  Can the mistake be proven using casino security footage?

To the best of my ability to gauge the situation, there was no deliberate attempt to game or cheat the system or other players. It was a mistake made by everyone, including myself. The player was given his add-on chips at start with a verbal commitment. No marker was presented to me until much later.

my experience in poker is that 'verbal declarations are binding'.   I'm also confused as to how a player goes all in and then gains an add on?  I've never known any casino allow a player to buy extra chips during a hand.  Personally I would remove the 5500 from the player and make sure any player who lost extra 5500 during that hand also had that returned.   However I can't give you a specific rules guideline from Roberts Rules as an answer.  You might have more luck at poker.stackexchange.com


text:
How does Agricola Solo version determine the food at the beginning of each game?
At the beginning of each game I start with different amount of food. I understand that it is related to how I end the previous game. What is the rule?

This is in the rules here
On page 9

To play a Solo game, start with 0 Food.

and later on the same page

Because you have more permanent Occupations after each
  game, the goal score that you must reach goes up in each game:
  In the first game, your goal is 50 points, then 55, 59, 62, 64, 65,
  66 and 67 points. After the eighth game, the Solo game series is
  over. (You can of course play on with all permanent Occupation
  cards, in which case the goal score increases by 1 point per
  game.) At the start of each game in the series, you receive 1 food
  for every 2 points by which you exceeded the goal score for the
  previous game (rounded down).


text:
2 eternal souls 1 destroyed dm unaffected? Or destroyed
If I control 2 eternal soul and 1 gets destroyed are the dark magicians destroyed or left unaffected due to the other eternal soul?

Read "Eternal Soul", it says unaffected by your opponent's card effects. They would be destroyed in your scenario.


text:
4 Person Peg Board Game?

Anyone have any idea what the game is called?

Are you certain that it is a 4-person game, and not a 2-person game?

Not really! Just guessing from the way it is set up.

Was the person who gave or sold it to you unable to give you any provenance information at all; for example, country of origin, age?

I purchased it at a Church Yard Sale in Punta Gorda, FL.

It appears that there are pegs of only one colour; a game would have different coloured pegs. I would guess that it is not a game at all, but rather a knitting board.

Robert Miller, I wondered that but couldn't find anything like that either.

It could be a single player game if all the pegs are a single color

The pegs are not colored and it has been a mystery search trying to figure it out.

With 54 holes and - apparently - only 8 pegs of one color, I would guess that it is a solve-this-puzzle kind solitaire game - if it is a game at all.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because the object is not a game board, but a knitting board.

It looks like a flower loom for knitting/crocheting, not a game at all.
See for example  from https://www.prym.com/en/flower-loom-624156?c=5726


text:
What happens to 'Crackdown' when it targets 'Traptrix Sera'?
Apparently, some gullible players forgot 'Traptrix Sera' effect:

This Link Summoned card is unaffected by Trap effects.

If they decided to target 'Sera' with 'Crackdown' what happens to 'Crackdown', if in some case I decided to Link Summon other monster with 'Sera' as Link Material?

Crackdown has two effects, the first of which reads:
Activate this card by targeting 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; take control of it, but while you control that monster, it cannot attack or activate its effects.
Sera is unaffected, but only when she's Link Summoned. She can still be targeted. but if she was Link Summoned, Crackdown remains in its activator's field, but it simply does nothing and is destroyed when Sera leaves the field. If she was SPECIAL summoned, however, (like, by card effects), then it's resolved normally.


text:
Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic vs Starlight Road
My opponent controlled "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" on their Pendulum zone and has 6 Spell counters scattered on his part of the field. I controlled 2 face-down cards on my S/T zone, one of which is "Starlight Road". My opponent activates the effect of "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" and removed 6 Spell counters as cost.
Can I activate "Starlight Road" in response to "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" Pendulum effect?

Pendulum Effect:

You can remove 6 Spell Counters from your field; Special Summon this card from the Pendulum Zone, then count the number of cards you control that can have a Spell Counter, destroy up to that many cards on the field, and if you do, place Spell Counters on this card equal to the number of cards destroyed. You can only use this effect of "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" once per turn.

No, Starlight Road cannot be activated.
In order to chain Starlight Road, it must be certain that 2 or more cards will be destroyed at the time of resolution; see various OCG rulings:
Dark Master Zorc/Time Wizard

"Starlight Road" cannot be Chained to the activation of effects like that of "Dark Master - Zorc" or "Time Wizard", since it is unknown whether or not the effect will destroy two cards on your side of the field.

Elemental Hero Stratos

If the effect of "Elemental Hero Stratos" which destroys Spell/Trap Cards is activated, then when resolving the effect its controller can choose to not destroy any Spell/Trap Cards. Thus, "Starlight Road" cannot be Chained to this effect, since it is unknown whether or not the effect of "Elemental Hero Stratos" will destroy two Spell/Trap Cards you control.

As Endymion's effect destroys "up to" that many cards on the field, the player can theoretically choose to destroy fewer than two cards, so Starlight Road cannot be activated.

What about "Stardust Dragon"? It doesn't specify the number, can it be chained to Endymion?

It cannot, for the same reason as above; it has to be certain that cards will be destroyed at resolution, but the player using Endymion's effect can opt to destroy no cards.

But the destruction is mandatory, since Endymion can put Spell Counter on itself, therefore a minimum of 1 card would be destroyed, isn't it?

It's true that destroying "up to that many cards on the field" is mandatory, but "up to" allows for the choice of zero cards unless the card specifically contains the text "(min 1)." So no, it's not technically guaranteed that anything must be destroyed. Even if the player's field is full of cards that can have spell counters placed on them, that player can still say "Yeah, I won't destroy anything."


text:
Do adventure cards have summoning sickness also?
Do adventure cards have summoning sickness?

Can you explain why you are asking that? What makes you think they might not have summonign sickness?

Yes.

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

The rule covering what happens when you cast an Adventure:

715.3d Instead of putting a spell that was cast as an Adventure into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves, its controller exiles it. For as long as that card remains exiled, that player may cast it. It can’t be cast as an Adventure this way, although other effects that allow a player to cast it may allow a player to cast it as an Adventure.

I'm assuming the possible confusion here is about what happens if the card has been in exile since your turn began. This makes no difference. The card is not a creature unless it is on the battlefield (instead, it is a creature card), and so it will still have summoning sickness even if you cast it from exile multiple turns after the Adventure resolves.


text:
Buffing an Unblockable?
I have a card that basically says any creature with power or toughness = one is Unblockable, is it possible to buff them after declaring blockers? Thanks ahead of time for the info

Yes.
There is a particular step of the game called the "Declare Blockers Step", and the very first part of it involves the actual act of choosing which creatures are blocking. After damage assignment ordering is chosen, the active player receives priority.

509.1. First, the defending player declares blockers. [...]
509.2. Second, for each attacking creature that’s become blocked, the active player announces that creature’s damage assignment order [...]
509.3. Third, for each blocking creature, the defending player announces that creature’s damage assignment order [...]
509.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority.

If your creature has one power (and is therefore unblockable) at the time blockers are declared, and then you later use, e.g., Giant Growth to increase its power, there is nothing that allows your opponent to "re-declare" blockers. The game has already moved on past that point, and the blocking choices made at step 509.1 are "locked in" for the remainder of combat*.
* Plus or minus any cards/effects that cause creatures to become blocked or unblocked (e.g., Curtain of Light).


text:
Is it legal to continue building a route after it has been cut off by an opponent's settlement?
Say I have a 6 road segment path with only a settlement at one of the ends.
If an opponent were to intercept at halfway and place a settlement, splitting my road in half of 3 segments, can I continue developing (placing more roads, building new settlements) the half which has been cut off from the origin settlement?
Thanks in advance!

The rule you might be thinking of is that your opponent's settlement divides the road in two for the purposes of calculating who has the longest road.

Yes.
The rules state that that you must build connected to your own buildings/roads, which you still are in the situation in question.
From the rules:

A new road must always connect to 1 of your existing roads, settlesments, or cities. Only 1 road can be build on any given path.

And

You must meet 2 conditions when building a settlement:

(1) Your settlement must always connect to 1 or more of your
own roads

(2) You must observe the Distance Rule

However, as I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong) you can NOT build a road "beyond" an intersection settled by an opponent.

Those rules apply to new roads that aren't already established. In the scenario of the question, the roads already exist and then another player "splits" the roads by building a new settlement. In this case, any new roads would still be connected to other existing roads and are legal to build.


text:
How many Development cards can a player play on their turn?
Is there a limit to the number of development cards one can play on their turn?

According to the Catan rules, you can only play one (1) development card on your turn.

You may build roads, settlements or cities and/or buy development
  cards. You may also play one development card at any time during your
  turn.

Catan Rules

This pertains to Knight or Progress cards.  There is an exception for Victory Points.

@LeppyR64 : The question is about "Development Cards". There are NO development cards in Catan Cities and Knights. From the rules, there are «6 “Defender of Catan” Victory Point Cards. Each VP Card is worth 1 VP and is placed face up in front of the player... Victory Point Cards must be played immediately when
drawn. »
https://www.catan.com/down/?/files/downloads/catan_ck_5th_ed_rules_150303.pdf

From the link you posted "You may only play 1 development card during your turn—
either 1 knight card or 1 progress card. You can play the
card at any time, even before you roll the dice. You may not,
however, play a card that you bought during the same turn.
Exception: If you buy a card and
it is a victory point card Y that
brings you to 10 points, you may
immediately reveal this card
(and all other VP cards) and
win the game.
You only reveal victory point
cards when the game is over—once
you or an opponent reaches 10+
victory points and declares victory."

@LeppyR64 : As I illustrated in response to your first comment, the OP's question was clearly about "Catan", and not about "Catan Cities & Knights". Therefore, this discussion is off-topic and I suggest that you post another question if you want to get answers concerning "Catan Cities & Knights"

@RobertMiller There may be some confusion here because later editions of Catan renamed “soldiers cards to “knight” cards. A terrible choice IMO since “knight” already has a different meaning in Catan. But “progress” and “knight” are 2 different types/categories of development cards.

Note that VP cards are not ever played. You simply always have the VP the moment you buy the card. You simply reveal them when you reach 10 total points. You don’t play them.

@RobertMiller Leppy's comments do not refer to Cities and Knights rules, you have become confused. Leppy is correct, in base Catan, multiple VP development cards may be 'revealed' in one turn to win the game - though these are not technically 'played' at all - so it's kind of tangential to the question


text:
Is sharing your ports with other players legal?
Catan 5th edition.
Assuming I have a settlement on say a 2:1 sheep port.
Can I let others use my port in exchange for a small/no commission? If yes, are there rules governing when they might be allowed to do this? Are they restricted to use it only on my turn out can they also use my port on their own turn as well?
Is it mandatory for me to pocket a commission ( say 3 sheep for 1 ore, where I pocket the extra sheep)? Or may I let others use it on goodwill?

Ports/harbors enhance the maritime trade. This is a trade between one player and the bank. You can only use maritime trade during your turn. So it is not possible to offer port services to other players.
From the rules:

You can also trade without the other players! During your turn, you can always trade at 4:1 by putting 4 identical resoirce cards back in their stack and taing a 1 resource card of your choice for it. If you have a settlement or city on a harbor, you can trade with the bank more favorably: at either 3:1 ratio or, in certain harbors, at 2:1 (trading resource type shown).

However, you can trade the turn of the player owning the port in several steps. Using your example (Player A wants to trade 3 sheep for an ore with player B who does not have an ore yet.

On his turn, Player B trades a wood (or an other non sheep/ore) for two sheep with player A.
Player B uses his port to trade two sheep for one ore.
Player B trades the ore for the sheep and the wood.

The effect is the same. It is only possible on the turn of the player owning the port

This leaves the question of Player A trades 2 sheep to Player B for nothing, Player B trades the sheep for a ore in the port, Player B trades the ore to player A for nothing (or for his commision).  Is this legal, and can a binding agreement be made prior to the first trade?

@Taemyr you can do the double trade. You can't have a binding agreement.

@taemyr Note the restriction against trading for nothing. So you'd have to get more creative in your accounting to ensure that each trade involved an actual exchange of resources.


text:
How do I score this field in Carcassonne?
Me and a friend were playing Carcassonne earlier and weren't quite sure how to score this field. Does it have 3 or 4 cities in it? Not sure if all 3 meet at the same point and therefore all 3 are in the field or not.

Note: How fields are counted has changed at least twice (for a total of three different ways) over the different editions.

According to the rules:

Each field is worth 3 points per adjacent completed city.

So the city must share a line with the field. It does this for three of the cities. The small vertical city is adjacent to two fields which does not connect to the field with the red meeple, so this one does not count.