text:
What variations are there on Solo whist?
This was the second trick-taking game that I learned as a kid and it involved bidding and gambling (we played for tiddlywinks). Needs 4 players and you can play to lose. It was used as a  training-wheels simple introduction to the concepts of contract bridge (my dad was a bridge-player).
Since childhood, I've never heard of anyone else playing the game - is it known as something else? I've found it in the odd card game book, but the rules were slightly different to what I recall.

Was the game an Auction Whist or a Contract Whist? In the former points are scored solely on the basis of how many tricks were taken by each side with bidding only used to determine trump; in the latter there are additional bonuses for both bidding and making  specified numbers of tricks. (This is obviously the same distinction as between Auction Bridge and Contract Bridges including both the modern game and Plafond variants.)

At an intermediate stage, the 3-player Whist variant known as 9-5-2 (http://halfwisehalfwit.blogspot.ca/2012/03/9-5-2-what-great-3-handed-card-game.html) introduces some additional strategic choices, plus the requirement to constantly assess which of the other two opponents is the lesser evil to cooperate with.

How did the game you recall differ form this Solo Whist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solo_whist?

Are you asking us to identify the variation you have played (in which case this needs to be retagged [[tag:identify-this-game]] and retitled), or are you asking us to list the extant variations of this game?

@Pieter - we never played the Prop and Cop thing, and dealing was 4333/3433/3343/3334.  If everyone passed there was no shuffling of the deck after stacking the cards and before the re-deal.

@doppelgreener - I am just interested in what what variations of the game are available.

@Dave45: So you played Ghoulies, an optional deal / redeal rule applicable to all (casual) Whist and Bridge variants to encourage wild hands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goulash_(bridge).

I voted to close as too broad since the question in the title is wide-open and just attracted four new answers. The body of the questions suggests you just want the name of a specific variant, which would be fine, so if you come back and want to try to refine your question, go for it!

The Pagat site is very useful:
http://www.pagat.com/boston/solowhist.html
It explains the main game "Solo Whist", and also lists some minor variations, and other similar games in this "Boston group".
They say that it is mainly played in Britain. Here in Australia we also play it. Solo Whist was taught to us as children to introduce us to card games, and has held us in good stead for Bridge.
Regarding the "Prop and Cop": We believe that that is an important aspect of the main game.  We do have that bid, and we find it to be very enjoyable. It is an opportunity to collaborate as two teams, rather than three people collaborating to defeat the solo declarer. If a Prop-and-Cop does not eventuate, then we also sometimes do the "Goulash" deal.

See Wikipedia's page on trick-taking games for a lot of variations. The version you mention could possibly be Spades.

We have a variation regarding the dealing:
We deal in clumps, i.e. one round of four, and three rounds of three. We allow the dealer to do whatever order that they want. Some try to get fancy regarding when they deal each four (e.g. different for each round), while most just start with a packet of 4 (i.e. 4,3,3,3) so as not to confuse themselves.
The Pagat and Wikipedia descriptions involve a single deck and use the final card of the dealer face-up to determine the trump suit. We instead use a second deck. This is then ready to go for the next game, being already shuffled and so just needing to be cut. So the game should be faster. This also means that the dealer does not need to expose one of their cards.

We have a three-handed variant. We simply remove the whole Clubs suit. No Prop-and-Cop. Misere is difficult and often does not occur, so we add a "Triste" bid below 8-out, allowing one trick to be won. Everything else is the same, just need to modify some guidelines for hand-assessment and play.

We have a variation which we call "Nash Whist". (Disclosure: Our group of players has been refining "Solo Whist" for many years. I have documented our version at the linked location.)
We have streamlined and simplified the shuffling and dealing (as described in the earlier answer).
In the original game the bids are limited. Apart from the Misere bids, the solo bids are Solo (five tricks) and Abundance (nine tricks) etc. This means that the main bid that occurs is Solo, and you also get paid for any "over-tricks" that you manage to make beyond the five.
For Nash Whist, we added other bids at every level from 6 to 13. We also added rank of suits, as for Bridge (explained below) and No-trumps.
Apart from the normal Prop-and-Cop, the minimal bid is the normal "Five-in" solo, i.e. play alone against the other three with the initial turned-up suit as trumps. So win five tricks in the indicated trump suit.
The trump suit can be changed by any bidder when it is their turn to bid.
Higher bids will beat the previous bid. For example "Seven-Out" in any suit will beat "Six-In" (i.e. Six in trumps) and Seven-In will beat Seven-Out.
The rank of suits is as for Bridge (i.e. Spades is highest, then Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs).
For example, if Hearts was turned up trumps and the current bid is Six-In, then a bid of Seven-Out Clubs would beat that, and a bid of Seven-Out Diamonds would beat that. Note that a bid of Six-Out Spades does not beat Six-In, because in this example Hearts are trumps and so automatically rank at the top.
The bidding can start at any level, and proceeds with higher bids until no-one wants to bid further. The last bid is the "declarer". Their suit is now Trumps.
There are no payments for over-tricks. This encourages people to bid to the limit of their hand and not be safe.


text:
Can a "hero" player voluntarily become a traitor?
Can a player who is supposed to be a hero character become a traitor by their own will? For example: if the haunt doesn't specify any hidden traitors or others but  the hero character wants to help the monster any way is that allowed?

Aside from a player just doing this for kicks and giggles, is there some reason why a "hero" player would actually want to help the monster?

No, a hero cannot become a traitor unless the rules of the scenario cause him to become one.
Allowing that would be no different than allowing a traitor to simply declare "I am a hero". Now, technically a hero can help the traitor if he wants to in a number of ways; but if the traitor wins that player would still lose.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
What types go well together in a Pokémon deck?
Which types combine well with water types in Pokémon? I have water types, so I need to know which types go well with them so I can make a good deck.

To close voters, how is this question any different than What is a good Pokémon deck ratio?, which the community has considered to be on-topic and not opinion-based?

@Thunderforge, That other question should have been closed for being one that solicits endless opinions. (No opinion on this one since I don't know anything about the Pokemon CG. It's possible there's an answer such as "X and Y will cover most of the Pokemons to which Water types are weak". Or maybe it's clearly opinion based or too broad.)

@ikegami There are similar questions for Magic too (e.g. How should I determine how many lands of each different color to put in my deck?). While questions of this sort may appear at first to be opinions, I think they're asking about aspects of deck consistency, which is an important part of strategy in CCGs (and I think that's on topic).

@Thunderforge I think the main difference between this and your examples, is the amount of research/effort put in by OP. Those questions show the OP's thought process and how they came to the question a bit more. I don't think that the root question here is off-topic, but I think it would be greatly improved if the OP included a bit about what they have tried so far/what research they have done. I have not VTC as I would like to see if OP makes and edits

@Thunderforge, In MTG, there is a rough agreement on how much land is needed --and perhaps even empirical data from tournaments?-- and on the factors that might cause one to vary from the default

@ikegami Those who play Pokémon competitively also have a rough agreement on these sorts of things, and there is certainly empirical data from tournaments, so I would think that any such arguments for Magic would also apply for Pokémon.

Really it depends on what pokemon you are running in your deck

@Thunderforge, Again, I don't know anything about the Pokemon card game, but the question to which you linked contradicts your claim

Check out the World Champion Decks to see which type synergies the top-ranked players are using
World Champion Decks have been released since 2004 and contain non-tournament-legal cards matching the decks of several high-ranking players in the Pokémon World Championships.
Regarding Water types specifically, the only Water decks released between 2004 and 2017 were:

Pure-Water decks (x7)
Water/Electric decks (x4)

Therefore, I think it's fair to say that Water and Electric go well together, possibly better than others.
Check out which type synergies are used in Theme Decks
You might also check out other Theme Decks that have been released to see other combinations that might go together. There isn't any guarantee that they'll be good, but presumably the deck synergies that are released will be functional, and types that work well together will probably get multiple releases.
For instance, there have been more Water/Electric and Water/Psychic decks released that Water/Fighting decks, and no Water/Darkness or Water/Fairy decks. Therefore, I'd infer that the former are probably more likely to go well together than the latter, since the Pokémon Company keeps producing decks with those synergies.

Rather than focus on types, the focus is generally on what your deck's archetype is.
The deck archetype is basically the main "goal" of the deck - if everything goes well, how are you going to be doing your damage and knocking out opponent's Pokémon?
Typically when constructing a deck, you have one Pokémon line or a few related Pokémon that are the "archetype".  Then you have some "tech" Pokémon who exist for their ability and/or for some other purpose (they probably won't ever attack, and might not have the right kind of energy to attack), and you have some ancillary Pokémon that you use to support your archetype if it's not working well.
This is where Type synergy could come in: if you have, for example, a Metagross deck, you're weak to Fire, so you want to have (say) Ultra Necrozma, which is Dragon, as an ancillary attacker who can step in if the opponent is running a Volcanion (fire) deck.
You also could consider certain types as ancillary attackers who are super effective against particularly common Pokémon that you run into and have trouble handling (say, a Fighting Pokémon or two to handle Zoroark, or a Psychic to handle Buzzwole).
In general, though, you won't find all that many decks that actually run two energy types as co-equals, among strong decks.  It's too important to have a single strong archetype most of the time.

And just to reinforce the idea, in looking at the top decks, you almost always see they only have the one type of energy card for their archetype Pokemon combined with colorless and/or rainbow energy to enable their tech pokemon, rather than having to stock two types of energy such as in theme decks.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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


text:
What is this four-player card game with only Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces?
Deck dealt contains only Jack, Queen, King, Ace. Four players. Each player gives one card to his neighbour in each round. Each player tries to get pairs and gets rid of them. Once one person is finished, everyone tries to put his hand on the pile of cards (the cards not used in the deck, penalty cards) in the middle of the table.
The last one has to take the penalty card.

In my family (Austria), it is called "HAUSDEPP". So it lasts a little longer than EZEL ;)
We dont place a hand in the center, but have #numer_of_players-1 walnuts in the center of the table, and everyone needs to grab one, as soon as one player reaches 4 equals and grabs the first.
Apparently, the game is "well known" under that name. Could not find official rules, but several references. You can also take bottle caps in the center:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28527236@N05/3361355864

This looks like a dutch game "ezelen" (There is probably an English name but I haven't found it. Ezel is the dutch word for donkey.
There are 4 cards per player. They pass a card each round and the goal is to get 4 of the same kind (for example 4 jacks). If you get four, you put your thumb on the table. And the other players must also put the thumb on the tabel. The last one gets a letter (first 'E', then 'Z' until you have the word "EZEL" and lost the game).

When I played this we used to put our thumb on the edge of the table as casually as possible, as not to alert the other players.


text:
How does a freeze/stop pile work in Canasta?
I played Canasta many years ago in my teens - so memory may have faded somewhat - but O would like to refresh and try playing more.   On revisiting the rules, I am confused by the Freeze Pile / Stop Card as described by Scarne (the rules by which we used to play).
The 'Frozen pile' is created by either a wild card (Joker/Deuces)  OR a RED three being placed on the discard.
The 'Stop card' is either by a wild card OR a BLACK three
A Red three 'freezes' the pile, and a black three 'stops' the next player picking up the discard - but how do you know if a pile is stopped or frozen when a WILD CARD (J's/2's) is used?
I have looked everywhere for explanation of this ruling, but nowhere can I find a reference to a 'stopped' card, only to the 'Frozen' pile.   Has this 'stop card' part of the game now changed and is it no longer used?
A wild card on the discard surely 'freezes' it and takes precedence over being a 'stop'card.   Does this mean that it is ONLY a BLACK three which 'stops' the discard for just the next player?
Hope this makes sense!  Never seemed to be a problem years ago, but now I can find no reference to a 'stop card' and Scarne's version seems unclear - I am not sure which way to play this.
Update
Thanks Joe & Gendolkari, I am aware of all the points you make on the rules. I though my question was straightforward, so to clarify I will quote Scarne on the points concerned!
“frozen pile - discard becomes frozen whenever it contains a wild (J’s & 2’s) OR A RED THREE (contrary to a comment above). Discard may only be taken up when player holds two natural cards ....etc”
“Stop card. When the upcard is a WILD card (J’s & 2’s) OR A BLACK THREE. It is a stop card; the next player cannot take the discard pile......etc”
Why is Scarne implying that a card which is known as a freeze card (J’s & 2’s) when added to the discard, can somehow become ‘just’ a stop card?
I don’t think I am ‘overthinking it’ given Scarnes unclear explanation!
So I will go with J’s, 2’s AND red 3’s s freezing the pile - but only BLACK 3’s as being a stop card.
Technically, I guess, if you deal with the red 3 in just one hand - pick-up and discard into the discard pile, you are actually disclosing you have one! Yes, not something you want to do willingly - but there may be times when nothing else will do!

I am not familiar with the term “stop card”, but it seems to be used here to simply mean “a safe discard” as in a card that cannot allow your opponent to pick up the discard pile no matter what.
Wild cards are also safe discards, but they have the added effect of freezing the discard pile. In order to mark that the pile is you place the wild card sideways, so that it sticks out even when other cards are placed on top of it.
A black 3 does not have any lasting effect on the discard pile; it only is something that cannot be picked up while it is on top, so it is discarded normally and covered up / hidden after that.
A red 3 can never be discarded, because if you ever draw one you must meld and replace it immediately. However, if the starting card of the deck happens to be a red 3, then it starts sideways and marks a frozen discard pile.
So in terms of what that makes wilds, they are BOTH “stop cards” AND cards that freeze the pile. The 2 terms are not mutually exclusive. A stop card is simply one that can’t be picked up; it hasn’t no direct relationship to freezing. I think it’s much simpler to not think of “stop cards” as any special thing. Any card that is safe to discard can be a stop card. This includes black 3s, wilds, or any card at all if the pile is frozen and you know your opponent can’t have 2 more in their hand (because the rest are melded or in your hand).

I think you are over complicating what a "stop" card is. When looking at the rules to draw a card from the discard you will note that you have to include it on a meld on the table. Also it should be noted that the only time you can play a black 3 to the table in the meld is when you are going out so normally if a black 3 is on the top of the draw pile it is impossible for the next person to draw a card.
Also with red three's they should never be in your hand as when you draw them they are immediately placed on the table and a replacement card is drawn.
As for your overall question the only state that matters for the draw pile is if it is frozen from a wild card being discarded and that can be noted by discarding the wild card perpendicular to the other cards there is a visual that it has been frozen.
If a red 3 is the first card flipped over to start the discard pile at the start of the game it will be frozen just as if a wild card was flipped over.

When I have played Canasta we always put a card that freezes the pile in the discard turned sideways.  This way the card is sticking out the side to remind you that the pile is frozen.
In contrast a stop card is played the same direction as the other cards as the stop is only in affect when it is the top card of the pile.  When a stop card is on the top of the discard pile the pile cannot be picked up for any reason.
In the rules you are reading the WILD cards can be used to freeze the pile, or as a stop on the top of the pile.  I would differentiate them by turning the wild if it is to freeze the pile.

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


text:
What makes a game a Microgame?
I'm looking for help figuring out what exactly makes a game a microgame. Some considerations I have for what might make a game count as microgame include:

How many 'pieces' (chits, dice, cards) are too many?
If a board is included, what size limitations are acceptable? Is folding allowed?
Is there an agreed on size for Microgames (within an Altoids tin, etc.)
Are there any gameplay or other considerations I should be thinking about in terms of this definition?

Where are you getting the term “microgame” from? Is some game you’ve seen labeled as such? I’ve never heard of it before.

@Thunderforge - here's a popular Geeklist about microgames.

The original Microgames from Metagaming had a rule booklet no larger than 32 small pages (A5 size, approximately), and a counter sheet the same dimensions, plus a map that folded to that size to fit in the plastic envelope.  Counters have to be large enough to read, so there's a limit to the number of counters that will fit on that size sheet.
Another design criterion was that they should take no more than an hour to play, ideally half an hour for experienced players.
Worth noting that within this definition fell the original Car Wars, the original Ogre, the original Melee and Wizard (that eventually evolved into GURPS), and a space combat game called Warp War, among others.

This is a great answer. Do you know if there is an different term I should be aware of for very small games with limited components? Everyone I know who is interested in creating games refers to them as Microgames.

I don't know anything else you'd call them, other than microgames.  For myself, I'd be inclined to think of anything smaller than an original Microgame as being in that class.

Is there an agreed on size for Microgames?

This is the crux of the question. There isn't a standard. People unaware of the history of Metagaming and Steve Jackson Games (from another answer to this question) might only consider games like **Love Letter* - with 20 cards and 13 small cubes - to be microgames.
Then Coin Age, with just one card and a few coins, came out (and won a Golden Geek award), further shrinking the component count.
I've been party to "microgame design" competitions where the organizers specify component count (e.g. the 18 card microgame contests on BGG) or a box size (e.g. in-person competitions at conventions, usually sponsored by a publisher with standard box sizes for their games).
So there is no answer. "microgame" isn't a well-defined term. I would suggest that you research the meaning of the term from the context where you found it... since obviously you saw it somewhere and it means enough to you to ask!


text:
Can you move some else’s Jenga piece?
Can you move someone else's Jenga piece (properly placed in center position) at the top of stack before placing your piece? Husband moved wife's piece in attempt to not lose.

Check the related question for more info on rules: What are the official rules of Jenga?

Games define what actions its player can take (and when). Ask the player that moved the top-row piece to point out which rules allowed them to do that.

It strikes me as odd that the pieces would be thought of as belonging to one player or another (e.g. "wife's piece").

“Husband moved wife's piece in attempt to not lose.” Whichever ruling keeps you two happily married is the correct one ;-)

If the block was properly placed
That's not legal.
It's not legal to move a block from an incomplete top row.
It's not legal to move a block from the topmost complete row.
In fact, if you start moving a block other than the one you move to the top, you must put it back into its original position before continuing.

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

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

If they were moving it from say the centre position to the left or right side, then absolutely not, if they were fixing it because it was placed improperly, IE overhanging the edge, off-centre, that's acceptable.
HOWEVER doing this is a risk to you, since it was you who would make the tower fall, what you should do is have your opponent fix the piece they placed before starting your turn, that way if they make it fall, they lose, not you.

Re "it was placed improperly, IE overhanging the edge, offcentre, that's acceptable", That would be ok, but why take the risk? The player that misplaced it should fix it!

@ikegami Agreed, but this was asking for legality, and it is legal.


text:
Are Twilightsworn considered Lightsworn?
What is the official ruling for Twilightsworn cards? Are they considered Lightsworn?
For example, using Judgement Dragon, would Twilightsworn can be used as one of the "Four Lightsworn in the graveyard"? I've searched the web, but I haven't found a definite answer.

Yes they are also considered Lightsworn cards.
The key part is to notice that "Twighlightsworn" also contains the word "Lightsworn" on its name, so they are also considered part of the Lightsworn archetype.
Another case are the Tellarknight achetype, which include cards with "Satellarknight" or "Stellarknight" on their names. Example cards that belong to this archetype are Tellarknight Ptolemaeus, Satellarknigth Vega, and Stellarknight Triverr.
Other strange cases are cards like Darktellarknight Batlamyus (also Tellarknight archetype), and Satellarknight Zefrathuban (which is both Tellarknight and Zefra archetypes).

In case this was not convincing, there is another reference from the Yugioh Wikia that states:

"Twilightsworn", known as "Twilightlord" (トワイライトロード Towairaitorōdo) in the OCG, is a series of DARK monsters introduced in Code of the Duelist, and a sub-series of the "Lightsworn" archetype.

Furthermore, if we compare the Japanese names of both we can see they share a same root which enables them to belong to the same archetype.
Lightsworn or "Lightlord" in the OCG is spelled "ライトロード Raitorōdo", and Twilightsworn or "Twilightlord" is spelled "トワイライトロード Towairaitorōdo".
This is similar to the case of the Archfiend archetype, which due to translation from Japanese, includes now all cards that in their OCG names include the "Daemon" character (デーモン).
This means that cards like Summoned Skull, which OCG name is デーモンの召喚 (Summoned Daemon, translated), are part of the Archfiend archetype.

Do you have any other credible sources? Thank you though for the answer. Just one problem: I asked my friend few hours ago, (who wouldn't lie to me about Yu-Gi-Oh ruling) said that where he found it, "Twilightsworn" wasn't considered Lightsworn. Now I'm really confused!

@North not to be rude but your friend is wrong. Perhaps he is not lying, but ignores such thing. I'll try to find a more official source, although the Yugioh Wikia which I linked is pretty thorough and correct, to set this matter straight :)

@North another argument and example I can think of is the Archfiend archetype. Surely you have seen some cards of those. The interesting thing is that other cards like Summoned Skull are part of the Archfiend Archetype, as they derive from the Japanese Names which included the "Daemon" character. Thus, any card that has such character was later retroactively classified as Archfiend card (like Axe of Despair for example). More info here, if it helped I can include it to the answer

The most credible source is "Lumina, Twilightsworn Shaman"s effect: Once per turn: You can banish 1 "Lightsworn" monster from your hand or GY, then target 1 of your banished "Lightsworn" monsters, except "Lumina, Twilightsworn Shaman"; Special Summon it. Once per turn, if your other "Lightsworn" monster's effect is activated: Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the GY.
Why would she need to mention herself, if she would not be considered "Lightsworn"?

@pascalpuetz exactly, that is also evidence that they are the same archetype


text:
What’s the name of this three row solitaire?
Start building three rows/piles, one card at a time in each. When three adjacent cards in the same row together add to 10, 20 or 30, remove them and put them in the bottom of the draw pile (in your hand). If you empty a row entirely, don’t put any more cards in it. The goal is to empty all three rows, thus having all 52 cards in your hand.
IRL this game sometimes uses an entire table, so it’s better to play electronically. I had it in my computer some 20 years aco, but don’t remember the name and haven’t been able find it again. Anyone here who recognises it and can help me?

Sounds like a variant of Decade, except that doesn't use piles and uses a lot more than three rows and only needs two or more adjacent cards to make a match and matches get discarded instead of going into your hand and actually now that I typed all of that out they don't sound much alike at all so this is a comment instead of an answer. But the 10/20/30 thing totally sounds like Decade.

The solitaire game you are looking for is a variant of 10-20-30 (ten-twenty-thirty), but with only 3 tableau piles (instead of the standard 7 tableau piles).
10-20-30 is itself a variant of Decade and it also in some meaning resembles Accordion.
A couple of versions of 10-20-30:

Catalyst Deluxe - with 7 tableau piles - for both Windows, OSX and Linux
https://www.lostluggagestudios.com/projects/CatalystDeluxe.php

10-20-30 - with 4 tableau piles - not working on 64-bit Windows computers
https://10-20-30.soft32.com/

A description of the game from Duke University
https://users.cs.duke.edu/~ola/courses/cps149/problems/week2/solitaire.html

10-20-30 (ten-twenty-thirty)
A simple solitaire card game called 10-20-30 uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards in which suit is irrelevant. The value of a face card (king, queen, jack) is 10. The value of an ace is one. The value of each of the other cards is the face value of the card (2, 3, 4, etc.). Cards are dealt from the top of the deck. You begin by dealing out seven cards, left to right forming seven piles. After playing a card on the rightmost pile, the next pile upon which you play a card is the leftmost pile.
For each card placed on a pile, check that pile to see if one of the following three card combinations totals 10, 20, or 30.

the first two and last one,
the first one and the last two, or
the last three cards.

If so, pick up the three cards and place them on the bottom of the deck. For this problem, always check the pile in the order just described. Collect the cards in the order they appear on the pile and put them at the bottom of the deck. Picking up three cards may expose three more cards that can be picked up. If so, pick them up. Continue until no more sets of three can be picked up from the pile.
For example, suppose a pile contains 5 9 7 3 where the 5 is at the first card of the pile, and then a 6 is played. The first two cards plus the last card (5 + 9 + 6) sum to 20. The new contents of the pile after picking up those three cards becomes 7 3. Also, the bottommost card in the deck is now the 6, the card above it is the 9, and the one above the 9 is the 5.

If a queen were played instead of the six, 5 + 9 + 10 = 24, and 5 + 3 + 10 = 18, but 7 + 3 + 10 = 20, so the last three cards would be picked up, leaving the pile as 5 9.

If a pile contains only three cards when the three sum to 10, 20, or 30, then the pile "disappears" when the cards are picked up. That is, subsequent play skips over the position that the now-empty pile occupied. You win if all the piles disappear. You lose if you are unable to deal a card. It is also possible to have a draw if neither of the previous two conditions ever occurs.


text:
If Maiden with Eyes of Blue is targeted for an attack and is face down, can it still activate?
I have Maiden with Eyes of Blue and it says that when targeted for attack, it can change position, cancel the attack, and bring forth a Blue Eyes White Dragon. But can its effect still activate if it was face down when attacked?
The reason I'm asking is because if it doesn't activate when face down, then everyone will know that it will bring forth a Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Welcome to Board & Card Games Stack Exchange! I've fixed up some of the grammar issues within your question. If you don't like my changes, you can feel free to edit or revert my question further.

Short answer is no.
Because the effect does not activate while it is facedown, when it gets hit it flips face up. Problem being, the effect would have to activate AFTER its targeted for an attack. She would not be flipped face up until the damage step.

This is basically part of what I said in my answer. Anything new you would like to include or point out in yours?

Sometimes a different perspective works differently for people. I was putting the question in a step by step phase format.

It's ok, both of us mentioning it gives the whole point validity in a way.

Unfortunately, you can't activate a monster's effect unless they are face up.
It is true that at some point you will have to flip Maiden to perform battle calculation, but her effect activates only when she is targeted for an attack as the card text reads.
To use the summoning effect the Maiden has to be face up when targeted for an attack.

TL:DR
No you cannot.

Cards and effects cannot be activated unless they are common knowledge. This means any face-up card on the field or in the graveyard (noted as GY on more recent cards), however cards in hand card be activated as well but these say you either need to discard the card (like Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring) or reveal it to your opponent (like Trickstar Lycoris).
So as Maiden is not common knowledge while face down so the effect cannot be activated as it "misses timing" which I will explain a bit more on.
This next part is a bit more general so I will use generic examples.
During the battle phase there is something known as the Battle step during this there are multiple sub-steps;

Attack Declaration
Damage Step
Damage Calculation

Attack Declaration
This step is kind of self explanatory to what it means, it is the point in which the turn player declares their attack on a monster, at this point you can respond with certain cards like Mirror Force which has a specific activation requirement of an attack declaration.

When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Destroy all monsters
  your opponent's attack position monsters.

Note: any other traps/quick-play spells/monsters using quick effects can still be activated at this point providing it is a legal play.
Damage Step:
The damage step works slightly differently so bare with me if I am not clear. The damage step begins when both players have agreed to proceed after attack declaration, to put it simply at this point you can only activate Attack/Defense modifiers or cards that negate activations however other things can be activated too which I will get on to soon.
Attack modifier example Rush Recklessly

Target 1 face-up monster on the field; it gains 700 ATK until the end of this turn.

Negate activation example Solemn Judgement

When a monster would be Summoned, OR a Spell/Trap card is activated: Pay half your Life Points; negate the Summon or activation, and if you do, destroy that card.

Notice how it says activations.
Damage Calculation
This happens when both players have finished activating any cards in the damage step before the attack goes through so at this point is when the attack actually takes place and damage is dealt(if any), however this is still part of the damage step.
Earlier how I said other cards can be activated in the damage step, this is this point, these effects are cards that trigger if they are destroyed by battle (something like Sangan) or if it destroys something by battle (something like Sky Striker Mecharmory - Hercules Base) these still count as triggering in the damage step so cards like Ash blossom (which I mentioned earlier) cannot be activated in response as Ash negates effects not activations but however Solemn Judgement can be activated in response to these.
Back to Maiden
So if we go back to the example of Maiden with Eyes of Blue in face down. Monsters are not flipped face up when attacked until the Damage Step which is after Attack Declaration (so Maiden has missed timing which is a phrase I mentioned earlier), so by then using the steps I provided you can see why Maiden cannot be activated even in the damage step.

Will post blockquote text of all cards I have linked later, yugioh wikia is blocked in work (so the ones there I typed from memory :D)


text:
Dragon Ball Z TCCG (old style before GT came out) collectors sales costs
I have have a collections of many dragon ball z tccg cards since they started to come out. I have them in a collection as well as personally played with ones (collection ones aren't played with).
I have been saving them for years to sell. The rule of thumb is that anything that is a collections gains value over time. It's been about 15-18 years since I bought these.
However, about 8 years ago I went looking for prices and I found them to be worth pennies... now I am looking again and they are even more worthless!
This game rivaled Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh back then, so I am unsure of why these cards are now worth so little, can anyone explain this to me?
These cards are out of print and not sold anywhere anymore. Many of the cards in the collection I have are holographic first edition/ second edition cards. There is no way that these are worth .35c to a 1.50 still after almost 20 years.

I’ll borrow an answer from The Street.

The collectible market is a tricky one, and a lot of what people believe will be valuable winds up becoming completely worthless (remember that '90s Beanie Baby craze?). The sector evolves over time, and interests -- and generations -- change.

The basics of supply and demand. You unfortunately selected a collectible that has little demand.

I think your link isn't working...

@DarkCygnus Thanks! Just corrected the url paste error.  =)

Dragon Ball is very very popular still though....

@user24124 Popular does not necessarily mean highly collectible... Popularity has to outstrip demand to create value. That is why trying to guess what will become collectible is a gamble at best.

yeah well demand does not equal being more valuable. its the rarity of something and what a person is willing to pay to have it.


text:
Which card combinations are required to score 29 points in a hand?
In the game of Cribbage, which card combinations are required to score 29 points in hand in the game of cribbage? If there are multiple, please list in decending order.

There's just one hand, and you can search for "29 points in cribbage" to see that hand.

@TheChaz2.0 And if this question is answered, then the search results will include this question. So I don't see the problem.

Welcome to Board & Card Games Stack Exchange! Please take the tour if you haven't already. I've made a few edits to your question to clarify the title and to make it sound more like a question, rather than a command. If you don't like my changes, feel free to edit or revert them.

@Thunderforge it definitely gets the -1 for "This question does not show any research effort"

@BenjaminCosman And I would argue that we should give some slack to new users instead of downvoting their posts to oblivion. Stack Overflow/Exchange has a problem with welcoming new users, and bad first impressions like this are one of the reasons. Heck, we just had a blog post about that very topic.

Fair enough; I probably shouldn't have done that. Instead of my downvote or your this-question-is-totally-fine comment, we probably want something in between - "Welcome to the site and thanks for your question! Someone will probably write up an answer soon, but for now I'd check out the first google result for "29 points cribbage" (and I'd encourage you to always try google first - there are many questions it can answer a lot faster than we can!)"

The only hand that will score a 29 consists of all four 5s and the Jack of nobs.
The scoring of this hand is nicely broken down in this Cribbage Corner post:

We score the 29 hand in the same way as any other: taking 15s first, then pairs, runs, flushes and nobs.
First count 15s. The Jack makes 15 with each of the 5s, that's 4 15s. Also, there are 4 ways of choosing three different 5s to make additional 15s. That's 8 in total, for 16 points.
Then pairs: there are 6 different pairs of 5s, for another 12 points. That's 28 so far.
There are no runs or flushes, so the Jack of nobs gives us a final point for 29.


text:
Does a person playing an illegal Draw 4 in Uno still get to pick the color?
If you play an illegal Draw 4, then are challenged and fail, do you still get to pick the color? I know the player who got caught playing the illegal card has to Draw 4 cards, but it's unclear if whether or not they still get to pick the color.

As per the (2008) Rules sheet from Mattel (emphasis in second paragraph mine):

Wild Draw Four Card - When you play this card, you get to choose the
  color that continues play PLUS the next player must draw 4 cards from
  the DRAW pile and lose their turn. However, there is a hitch! You may
  only play this card when you do NOT have another card in your hand
  that matches the COLOR on the DISCARD pile (but it is acceptable to
  play this card if you have matching number or Action Cards). If turned
  up at the beginning of play, return this card to the deck and pick another
  card.
NOTE: If you suspect that a Wild Draw 4 card has been played on you illegally (i.e. the player has a matching card), then you may challenge that player. The challenged player must show you (the challenger) their hand. If guilty, the challenged player must draw the 4 cards instead of you. However, if the challenged player is innocent, you must draw the 4 cards PLUS an additional 2 cards (6 total)!

The takeaway from this: Since the penalty on this states that the challenged player draws 4 cards instead of the challenging player AND since the rules never state that an illegally-played "Wild Draw 4" card is taken back, the card remains on the discard pile and the declared color remains in effect. This means you can't prevent an unfavorable color change from an illegally-played Wild Draw 4 card.
Official Uno Videogames handle this the same way: the Wild Draw 4's declared color remains in effect (at least one version recolors the Wild cards after a color's been declared to make it clear what color the top card is).
Some rule revisions, such as the 2003 Rules Sheet from Mattel, also specifically refer to playing a Wild Draw 4 while still having cards matching the current color as bluffing.

Wild Draw Four Card - This is the best, meanest, most sneaky card to have. Not only does the player get to call the next color played, but the next player has to pick 4 cards and forfeit his turn. There is a hitch, however (of course): you can only play this card when you don't have a card in your hand that matches the color of the card previously played.
  Note: A player may have a matching number or word card of a different color in his hand and plays his "Wild Draw Four" card.
If a player plays a Wild Draw 4 card illegally and gets caught, he must first show his hand to the player who challenged. If guilty, he must draw 4 cards. If not guilty, the challenger must draw 2 cards in addition to the 4. The challenge can only be made by the person required to draw the four cards.

uno rules
Notice that the penalty does not indicate the card illegally played should remain in play. The only guidance in the rules is derived from the initial statement that you cannot play this card. The only interpretation I see is to remove the illegally played card from play since it could not be played and to instead play another card. That results in no choice of color having been made. To do otherwise would encourage this illegal play.

The rule also doesn't indicate that it shouldn't remain in play just says that the person who improperly played it will draw 4 cards instead of the person that was supposed to.

@JoeW But it also does not say it should remain in play, which is why I would see one falling back to the statement of when that card can be played.

You are missing my point as the rules don't say anything about what should happen to the card after it was illegally played just what happens to the player for playing it,

I see your point that the penalty rules says nothing about if the card should remain or not. That is why I argue you must return to the rule about when the wild draw 4 can be played to determine for any guidance. That rule indicates it cannot be played. Not that it can be played illegally...

Actually the rules do make it sound like it allows illegal play with the sentence "If a player plays a Wild Draw 4 card illegally and gets caught" That phrasing practically encourages players to try it and not get caught. Playing illegally has no penalty on its own, getting caught does.

There are a couple revisions of the rules (including the 2003 revision from Mattel) that specifically refer to playing a Wild Draw 4 while having matching color cards as "bluffing" and thus technically a legal play. However, challenging a Wild Draw 4 also remains legal even under those revisions, and the penalty is the same.


text:
Identify a card game where one player points to cards and the others try to figure out the one they are signalling
I play this game with my friends but I forgot the name of the game.
First, Player 1 lays out 9 cards on a table face up in the shape of a perfect square. Then player 2 looks away. The other people watching point at a card. Player 1 notes the card picked. Player 2 now looks back at the cards. Player 1 now starts pointing at cards randomly saying “Is it this one?” Until player 2 chooses correctly or incorrectly the card. Once you figure out the rule, you have “the gift”.
Does anyone know the official name of this game?

You might want to elaborate more, there isn't much to go on.

It's tricky, since folk/party "games" like this tend to either not be named, or get a whole bunch of different names that don't mean much.

You say they are pointing randomly but also trying to work out 'the rule' or have 'the gift'?  If there are just nine cards its not going to take long for someone to randomly 'win'.  Are there other rules, number of rounds, scoring?  Does 'the rule' stay over from one dealing of cards to the next?    What this mostly remind me of is not a game but a magic trick I've seen children do. One of the people who knows what card was selected secretly signals to the 'psychic' but touching a part of there body to correspond with with the card selected.

It's not really a game, it's just a magic trick.  I'm with @ConMan - I doubt this has a "name".

There are lots of variations of this game, and various names
One version I found didn't use cards, but rather used magazines (so it could be more easily seen by a large group of people), and called itself "Nine Magazines". I imagine that there is a card game version of this called "Nine Cards".
What you refer to as "the gift" is that Player 1 has a magazine in mind, and he follows a rule where he somehow signals that magazine. Say that the "correct" one is the one in the lower right.

The trick is in the location where you tap each magazine cover. For our example above, you would tap each magazine in the lower-right corner.
It can be very difficult to figure out this trick. Make the location on the cover more obvious each time. Or, try it with 4 magazines. It's better to stop after a bit more than half the group has figured it out.

In other words, when you point to one and says "Is this the one?", you are touching the card in the bottom right corner. Someone who has figured it out would know that the correct answer is "No" for all cards except for the bottom right card. A player who has figured out the rule has "the gift" and might take over as the player signaling until more players figure it out themselves.
A more tricky rule is that only the first card (or second card, etc.) that you point to signals the card you have in mind, while the rest of the point locations are arbitrary.


text:
In Phase 10, can Wild Cards be discarded?
Can you discard a wild card in order to NOT have them as points in your hand?
For instance, I was about to go out and someone else discarded their wild so that they wouldn't have those extra 25 points.

Assuming you mean as your normal discard on your turn, yes.
From the rules:

End your turn by discarding any one of your cards onto the top of the discard pile.

For clarity, if you by "about to go out" you mean that it is your turn, then no, your opponent cannot discard anything when it is not their turn.


text:
How do you calculate hand probabilities for 10 cards per hand (8 suits); e.g.: Cripple Mr Onion?
Cripple Mr Onion is a card game that involves 8 suits (104 cards in toto), with 2-7 players being dealt 10 cards each (without replacement).
I've tried several different websites for hypergeometric distribution, but really don't know what I'm doing with them (I've no idea whether the results are correct or not, since I can't tell if I input the appropriate data).
I've also tried it by hand, but can't wrap my head around the proper method.  When the suit doesn't matter, then it's easy enough; when the suit matters, it becomes rather more complicated.

How does one calculate the probability of hands in a card game, when the deck involved has 8 suits?
Taking two basic examples, I would hope that I could then work out the rest for myself:

I imagine that calculating the probability of my hand containing two aces (of any suits) is the simplest starting point for this game's rules.
For comparison and contrast, I then also calculate the probability of my hand containing {4, 5, 7} in only one or two specific suits (not the other six possible suits).

There is an excellent work-up regarding Yu-Gi-Oh! in another post's answer, but I don't know how to modify it properly for this problem (which would probably be the best solution possible).

How good a programmer are you?  Writing a small program that generates a large number of hands, will get you very good approximations.

@John There is no need to write a program to do that as you can use math to calculate the exact values, just need to know the correct formulas.

I'm math-oriented (which is frustrating, since card probabilities shouldn't present any difficulties whatsoever... yet they do).  Knowing the exact values isn't necessary, since this is only for my own curiosity, but I'm too OCD to rely upon a program's generated aggregation.

This is (still) a math question and not a board game question. You'll have better luck on the stats site.

@mmathis, several of us are capable of answering this question.  I have an answer ready, once/if it gets reopened.

@John I have no doubt that many of us are capable of answering the question, but that doesn't make it on-topic here. It is a math question pure and simple.

@mmathis If it's better suited to one of the math Exchanges, then I'd be perfectly O.K. with it being moved to there instead.  (I had considered the possibility when I first posted it here, but figured that it was specific to cards -- especially with the "probability" tag, and other questions here being probability-related.)

Simple math questions on games are on topic.

I included an answer, but I feel that example No.2 needs clarification. When you say: "containing {4, 5, 7} in only one or two specific suits"... is it one? is it two suits? It is at most 2 suits? Please clarify as the probability calculation of those scenarios varies.

@DarkCygnus I didn't want to get into specifics, and thus run roughshod (again) over the issue of multiple questions in a single post, but since you've asked explicitly for that info: the eight suits get paired off, which means that if I were to draw a 4-spade and 5-spade, then that 7[x] would have to be either a 7-spade or a 7-axe (either one is fine, just not a 7 of any of the other six suit-pairings: club/trident, heart/rose, diamond/dove).  The official rules are linked in at the opening of the post to this URL: http://www.justforests.org/custom/public/files/cripple-mr-onion.pdf

I find hypergeometric series nice for computing, but poor for explaining.  For teaching purposes, I much prefer expanding these out using binomial coefficients.  Some books, and Wolfram Alpha call this "choose."
The key here is to realize that order does not matter.  The total number of possible hands is choose(104, 10) = 26 trillion.
Now, to count how many hands have 2 aces, you need to figure out how many ways there are to choose 2 aces, and multiply that by the number of ways to get 8 cards with no aces.  Writing it out in detail we have:
                    # of hands w 2 aces
P(2 aces in hand) = -------------------
                        # of hands

     # ways to choose 2 aces * # ways to choose non aces
  = ----------------------------------------------------
                      choose(104,10)

     choose(8,2) * choose(96,8)
  = ----------------------------  = 0.14
           choose(104,10)

Here's the Wolfram Alpha expression for all the accuracy you could ever want.
Your second question, how to find {4,5,7} in one of two suits is ambiguous.  Do all three have to be in the same suit?  Or different suits?  There's another issue.  Let's call the suits ABCDEFGHIJ, and say you want the 4,5,7 to be in suits A or B.  Do you care if there is a 4 in suit F?
P(4,5,7 in either of 2 suits, don't care about other suits) =

     # ways to choose {4,5,7} * number of ways to choose other cards
  = ----------------------------------------------------
                      choose(104,10)

         2*2*2*choose(98,7)
  = ----------------------------  = 0.004
           choose(104,10)

Or, the related:
    P(4,5,7 in either of 2 suits, no other 4,5,7 in hand) =
     # ways to choose {4,5,7} * number of ways to choose other cards
  = ----------------------------------------------------
                      choose(104,10)

         2*2*2*choose(80,7)
  = ----------------------------  = 0.001
           choose(104,10)

You might reasonably ask, why are these numbers so much lower than for aces?  This is because you are specifying three cards in the hand, and the aces are only specifying two cards in the hand.
Keep in mind, that in most games, this isn't the full story.  For instance, the way I've computed things, I've included a pair of aces and three kings.  In poker, that's a full house, and so needs to be removed from this probability.  If that's what you want, then things get more complicated.

On the P(2 aces in hand) part ... you wrote choose(10,2) for the # ways to choose 2 aces... however, as there are 8 suits, there are 8 aces in the game. So, shouldn't it be chose(8,2) instead? ... seems that the prob is correct (0.12) but you just confused the 8 with 10 (i.e.: the calculation was made with 8, but you wrote 10).

@DarkCygnus, you are correct.

How does one calculate the probability of hands in a card game, when the deck involved has 8 suits?

This depends on the query you seek, and the specific restrictions it might have. Answering your example:

I imagine that calculating the probability of my hand containing two aces (of any suits) is the simplest starting point for this game's rules.

First, I'm taking this as the probability of your hand containing two, and exactly two, Aces.
You have 8 suits, 104 cards in total, which gives 27 cards per suit.
We know that each suit has only one copy of an Ace. That is, there is only one ace of Hearts, etc. Thus, there are 8/104 cards that are aces. This gives us a 8/104 chance to pull out any Ace. From this we also have a 96/104 chance of not pulling an Ace.
So, a hand consists of 5 cards 10 cards. Based on the previous probabilities, and considering that when you pull a card the total number of cards is reduced by one we have:
Prob. of a hand with exactly 2 aces = (8/104)x(7/103)x(96/102)x(95/101)x(94/100)x(93/99)x(92/98)x(91/97)x(90/96)x(89/95) = 0.003161
Do note that the chances would be higher if the query where containing at least two aces.
The terms being multiplied are: The first two the chances of pulling Aces, and the rest the chance of not pulling an ace. All factors consider that cards pulled out are not returned to the pool.

Edit: If we consider the a priori probabilities instead, that is without accounting for cards drawn and without any specific order, the calculation changes to:
(8/104)2x(96/104)8 = 0.003119

You need to multiply your result by binomial(10,2).  You are computing the probability the first two cards of the 10 are aces, but the order of the draw is unimportant in this case.

@John so, you say that probabilities should be considered as a whole, without counting the reduced deck size per each draw? That would give instead: (8/104)**2 x (96/104)**8... or is that combination probability to include to compensate for the cards drawn?

I don't understand your question.  You used permutations (instead of binomial coefficients) to compute your probability.  But that forces order to matter.  Your proposed computation in the comments is appropriate for a dice rolling scenario, but as these are samples without replacement, we need an "urn" model.  Not sure I'm helping.  So, I wrote up a complete answer.  Hope that makes it clearer.

@John perhaps yours is more clean it seems :)


text:
What game is this wooden die from?

What game, possibly a children's board game, is this die from or used to play?

Looks like a Haba component. What are the dimensions?

What is on the other sides of the die?

This looks a lot like a dice from the game Tipsy Tower, specifically the Dutch version called 'Toren van Pisa'.
The goal of the game is to add pawns to the tower without it toppling. The colour rolled marks the floor where your pawn has to be placed. The star is a wildcard.

No picture of the game shows a wild spot on the die. No description of the rules mentions a wild card. A video showing a play through of Pisa, the game in the photograph you posted, shows a die without a wild spot.

The version I have at home does have a wildcard on the dice, and (as far as I remember) always had it. I'll have to dig it out and check what the rules say: maybe the dice got replaced at some time.

Is the die in your version the same as that die? Sid Sackson's Bazaar has a similar die with a wild card, but the wild card is a five pointed star, not an eight pointed one.


text:
Identify this card game with a 52-Card deck and two teams
I played this card game without knowing its name and had forgotten some rules. So here is a description of the game.
It is for 3-12 players and players team up as the good or the bad. (Played using a 52- card deck) Players will sit in a circle.
A dealer will not take part in the game and will choose who to be good people and who to be bad people. This is done by giving a  red card (bad team) or a black card (good team) to the players by lying face down. (The identity of every player is unknown to the others at the start) The bad players must be lesser than the good players. (Ex: 3 Good Players and 2 Bad Players or 4 Good Players and 2 Bad Players)
A few special identities are given to some players like
-(The Queen of Spades - Leader of Good Team)
-(The Queen of Hearts - Leader of Bad Team)
-(The King of Spades and The King of Hearts which I had forgotten their role)
Once done, the players will "sleep" by putting their heads down.
a) The dealer will call up the bad players so they will know who their allies are. Then, they will be asked to sleep again.
b) Now, the Kings and Queens are asked to rise (Which I forgot too, so it might be untrue)
c) Then, everyone will be asked to sleep again. Once done, everybody rise and the game begins.
d) The dealer chooses a player to begin the game and he or she must choose two players to play with her.
e) Each chosen player (3 in total) will be given a black card (spades or clubs) and a red card (hearts or diamonds)
f) Then, they will choose a card to place at the centre (The good can only place black cards while the bad can place either one)
g) The motive here in part 1 is to win 5 points by either the good or bad. (The good wins if all the card placed in the centre are black while the bad wins if one of the cards at the centre is red)
h) Therefore, the good players have to identify their allies while the bad players have to trick the good players into choosing them to place their cards
i) The game continues with the left person of the last chooser and he or she now choose 3 players instead of two.
j) The increase in a chosen player will go on until a team reaches 5 points or the max number of good players are reached. (Ex: If there are 6 good players, the increase will stop until only 6 players are chosen per game)
k) The part one of the game ends when a team reaches 5 points.
Part 2- The part that I forgot (might be untrue)
a) Players are required to guess the leaders of each team and will try to prevent the other team from knowing their team leaders
b) The team who identifies the other team's queen wins.

Sounds a lot like The Resistance, just with some house rules.

Indeed, I would say that this is a some sort of The Resistance. If you're going to proxy the game with a standard deck of cards, you'll want to study the official rules in more depth. Also, you can see the number of players per mission (at each player count) here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Resistance_(game)

The Resistance with Regular Playing Cards
and see
The Resistance (with Standard Playing Cards)


text:
Pokémon energy cards with circled numbers
I have these Grass type energy cards in my collection, they're from 2017, fairly new. But I have no idea why they're numbered. I can't even remember where I got them from. The numbers are on each card in a white and blue circle, not quite at the bottom, right corner.

I guess what I mean to ask is, what are the numbers for? What do they mean?

I have a wild suspicion that they may come from some kind of demonstration deck - the numbers help put the deck into a fixed order so that the demo always goes the same way.

Trainer kit cards are numbered.

These are from Sun & Moon Trainer Kit: Alolan Sandslash & Alolan Ninetales, the first instance of Trainer Kit that uses those circled numbers instead of the previous approach of using set number for purpose of sorting the two half decks for a demonstration game.


text:
Discard White Stone of Ancients to activate effect

Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this card is in the GY because it was sent there this turn: You can Special Summon 1 "Blue-Eyes" monster from your Deck.

That's the effect of The White Stone Of Ancients, so I'm not sure if I can use a card to discard it and then activate its effect, or if I need a card that's says "Send to the GY"
Update: Yeah, I know, what I am asking is, if after discarding it with the effect of another card (let's say, Dragon Ravine), can I activate White Stone of Ancients's effect? Because I sent it to the graveyard by discarding it, but I'm not sure if it works like that or I need to sent it there by using a card that says "Send to the GY"

Yes you can use the effect in the End Phase if you send White Stone of Ancients (WSoA) to the Graveyard by some means throughout your turn.

In your question you mention Dragon Ravine

Once per turn: You can discard 1 card, then activate 1 of these effects;
● Add 1 Level 4 or lower "Dragunity" monster from your Deck to your hand.
● Send 1 Dragon monster from your Deck to the GY.

As discarding a card implicitly sends it to the Graveyard you gain use the effect of WSoA if you discard it for Dragon Ravine's cost, or if you send it to the Graveyard as part of its effect.
Other means of getting WSoA out of your hand to use it's effect in the End Phase could be a card like Cards of Consonance

Discard 1 Dragon Tuner with 1000 or less ATK; draw 2 cards.

or you can summon it and link summon into Linkuriboh.

No. The ability on The White Stone of Ancients does not allow you to discard it just to get it into the graveyard, you need some other way to get it there.
he ways that a card can be sent to the graveyard, by Yu Gi Oh's definition of sent are, tribute (including materials for ritual, syncro and link), destroy, discard detach and of course anything that specifically says send. Destroyed includes when it is by card effect or by battle. Exchange of the Spirit does not send cards to the graveyard when it swaps the grave and deck, and cards like Burial from a Different Dimension also don't send a card to the graveyard when they return it from banish.


text:
Do I have to use Link monsters on my Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck?
Like the title reads, I was just wondering whether or not I need a link monster in my deck to play Yu-Gi-Oh! at tournaments or my local game store.

Using Link Monsters is optional.
It's the same case if you decided to, say, build a deck without any Trap cards.
If your deck or strategy doesn't require them, you can play without having to have one.
However, if you plan to play in tournaments, or play competitively, I'd suggest you include or at least considering using Link Monsters, as your options could improve (and because the meta game is tending towards using Links).

You don't need them. A reason someone might say they 'need' them is because their strategy relies on swarming cards from the Extra Deck.
They're absolutely optional, but I highly recommend looking into how the new Master Rules affected the decks you're currently playing, and see if Link Monsters would help your strategy.
There are still decks in the format that work fairly well without any cards in the Extra Deck, like True Draco, for example.

Thankfully as of master rule 5 the extra is no longer being held hostage by link monsters, so link monsters are no longer required (unless you play a deck that relies on pendulum summoning a bunch of monster from the pendulum deck)

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.


text:
What is the maximum number of dice you can roll in Arkham Horror 2nd Edition?
I have the complete set of Arkham Horror 2e, including all the expansions.  I'm now wanting to get some custom dice for AH, and I'd like to know what the max number of dice needed is to be able to make a single roll no matter the situation.  Does anybody have any ideas what this would be?  Someone mentioned a situation where a player would roll 13 dice, but it was an example, not a limit.  That's the highest I've seen so far though...

I've seen 18 fwiw.  Since I saw 13 myself I started keeping track;)

There is no maximum number of dice you can roll - it is infinite as the rules never explicitly call out a maximum dice total.
Considering the mechanics of the game though the extreme theoretical limit would be somewhere over 70 (but likely less than 80).
In theory....
I don't have the time to go through every card to work it out, but given the example from the rulebook as a basis where Ashcan Pete has 16 dice (it was 13 after accounting for the monster he was facing), we could easily add a further 2 by replacing his .45 Automatic with another copy of Shrivelling, bringing us to 18.
We then account for the fact there should be 48 Clue tokens in the game according to the rulebook (extremely unlikely a player could ever get all of them, but we are talking pure theory here), we are up to 66 dice.
Then considering a few monsters give a positive combat modifier, and some skills give further bonuses, and (it's been a long time so I don't quite remember) there may be character abilities that can add a few more points (situationally or by spending resources), we could push past 70 dice for a single combat roll.
In actuality....
Around 15 dice will do in most real cases, and any player who does stack up a larger hit has the satisfaction of rolling multiple handfuls of dice (and the pain of keeping a running tally if they really want to roll all of them).
My personal copy of the game has 30+ dice, but that is more for spreading them around the table within easy reach of all players, than in the expectation of a massive roll.

Thank you, I appreciate the answer. Given the idea of 15, I'm thinking then that around 30 would allow most cases to not have to multiple roll the same die, while also lowering the instances of needing to pass dice around as much.  Thanks again!

@KevenM please consider accepting the answer if you're satisfied.  It gives both you and the answerer rep and closes the question.

For fun, Voice of Ra gives you +1 to all checks and as far as I know stacks, so you could probably get 4 more from 4 successful castings.  +1 for fun theoretical then actual answer.

I'm normally really good about accepting, I must have missed it this time.  Thanks for the reminder!

Clue tokens allow you to roll additional dice one at a time. At no point that I see do the rules permit you to roll multiple dice at once from clue tokens. (rules page 13): "A player may
spend Clue tokens, one at a time, after any skill check
(failed or not)." So, you dont need nearly +48 dice to execute such a scenario unless you insist on keeping your failed dice around until you finish your skill check, or have a check needing an absurd number of successes. Or perhaps if you permit rolling multiple dice at once from clues as a shortcut (which just sounds like poor strategy anyway)

@Matt The rules as you point out say failed or not so a player could (for some strange reason) intend to use every Clue token they have regardless of the outcome of the roll. It would be incredibly silly in such a situation to roll one at a time.

Yes, I guess they do. I'm not sure how I missed that possibility. Although I don't believe the rules say you must keep successes around until the skill check is complete either. But thats how I always play since it makes keeping track easier.

Also the 70+ dice is just a crazy theoretical limit - it was intended as an exercise in the limits of the game, not as an indicator of what could happen or is likely to ever happen.


text:
What is the penalty for the dummy failing to follow suit?
I failed to have the dummy follow suit because the remaining card of that suit was accidentally hidden under a card of another suit. This was discovered later in the game, and treated as a normal revoke. Should the penalty have been reduced because the dummy is face up and everyone (opponents included) failed to notice that it had only 12 visible cards to begin with?

Possible duplicate of What is the penalty for failing to follow suit?

"Standard American" is a bidding system, not a game variant. Were you playing duplicate bridge or rubber bridge, or a strange other? And you were penalised "as if" you reneged because you did in fact renege.

Feel free to object to my rewrite, but I wanted to make it clearer what the crux of this question is because I think it's an interesting variant of the linked question and not quite a duplicate (though the answer is probably the same).

Close voters please note: the penalty for dummy revoking is not the same as for another player; and BCG should not be telling inquirers that it is.

Yes, this is a unique question, and does not deserve to be closed.

The actual answer is in Law 64D

there is no trick penalty for the established revoke ...3. if the revoke was made in failing to play any card
  faced  on,  or  belonging  to  a  hand  faced  on,  the
  table, including a card from dummy’s hand.

But a clearer view is given in In bridge, is there a penalty if dummy incorrectly lays down his hand? (not quite a duplicate but very close).


text:
Crazyhouse Chess: is it possible to get all eighteen queens?
Over here it was previously discussed whether one can end up with all nine queens.
There is a variant of chess called Crazyhouse in which captured pieces may be reintroduced as the capturer's. In theory, then, a player may have two queens and sixteen pawns which all may be promoted.
Is it possible to get eighteen queens without checkmating before that, or else putting the opponent into a draw?

If that is the goal of both players, should be easy to achieve.  Simply move weak side king away from his 1st rank and build a wall of minor pieces between him and the passed pawns.  With a little more effort a player with a huge lead could force the king out and achieve the same thing.


text:
Are white bordered cards allowed in DCI sanctioned tournaments?
Everywhere I look has specific ban lists for Magic. I have heard that "all white border cards are banned in DCI sanctioned tournaments" But my 'Stream of Life' is white bordered and not listed on the modern banned list.
Are all white bordered cards banned in DCI events?

Although the question is different, the correct answer is given here: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/28808/can-i-draw-something-on-my-card-and-play-tournaments-with-it

Note that specific cards are banned based on the card name; not which set they came from. So the fact that your specific Stream of Life is white bordered wouldn't affect if Stream of Life is on the banned list. If Stream of life were banned, all versions of it would be banned no matter what color boarder it has.

I note that in your title you ask "Are white bordered cards allowed...?" but in the body you ask "Are white bordered cards banned...?" which may lead to confusion. I suggest editing the title to match the body.

White bordered cards are both legal and ugly :)

What you likely heard was that "all silver border cards are banned in DCI sanctioned tournaments" - such cards are from the Un-sets (and also the Wizards holiday cards) and are all illegal for sanctioned play.

(Gold-bordered cards are also banned in DCI sanctioned tournaments; those are 'specialty' reprints of cards that might be otherwise tournament-legal. For instance, a gold-bordered Stream of Life was printed in the original Collector's Set; that card is illegal for tournament play even in formats where Stream of Life is legal.)

I do want to add to this that there may never be a visual difference between the cards in your deck when looking at them face down! I know of someone who was disqualified for using white bordered lands because you can tell them apart from black bordered by looking at the edges. Also in a major tournament a player was banned once for using 4 foils in his deck. With a slightly more curved card as result.

Yes, white bordered cards are legal.
From the Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules (English version):

Players may use any Authorized Game Cards from Magic: The Gathering
  expansions, core sets, special sets, supplements, and promotional
  printings. Authorized Game Cards are cards that, unaltered, meet the
  following conditions:

The card is genuine and published by Wizards of the Coast

It is important to remember that fake Magic cards exist. Usually,
  these cards can be identified as fake under scrutiny. If these cards
  are found to be in use in a tournament, they should not continue to be
  used. Also, the player using the card may not realize that they are
  using fake cards, so aside from alerting them that they are using fake
  cards and informing them that they must replace them, we, as judges,
  should not take further action unless we believe they knew and were
  using such cards intentionally.
Also, Tournament Officials do not have the legal authority to
  confiscate fake cards and should not attempt to do so. Stopping their
  use in the event is sufficient.

The card has a standard Magic back or is a double-faced card, or is a card that is part of a meld pair.

Artist proofs are published by Wizards of the Coast, but do not have a
  standard Magic back. They are, therefore, not usable in tournament
  play.

The card does not have squared corners.

Collectors’ Edition cards have black borders on the face, but square
  corners and a gold border on the back. These are not legal for
  tournament use. Also, uncut sheets of cards are sometimes cut for use.
  It is important that these cards have the same corners as all other
  cards.

The card has non-silver borders.

Cards from Unglued and Unhinged have silver borders with a standard
  Magic back. These are not legal for play. Gold bordered cards also
  exist, though they do not have a standard Magic back.

The card is not a token card.

Tokens are used to represent objects that don’t exist as normal Magic
  cards. While some official tokens exist, it is not required that they
  be used during tournament play.

The card is not damaged or modified in a way that might make it marked.

Significantly creased cards can be distinguished from other cards in a
  deck, even sleeved. Also, altered cards may be thicker than the other
  cards in the deck, depending on the method used to alter the card. If
  any cards can be distinguished from the other cards in the deck
  without viewing its front face, then those cards are marked and not
  legal for tournament play.

The card is otherwise legal for the tournament as defined by the format.

The cards being played in the deck must be printed in a set that is
  legal in the format, even if the printing being used is from an
  otherwise illegal set. For example, it is okay to use the Stronghold
  printing of Mana Leak in Modern even though Stronghold is not a legal
  set for use in Modern.

White bordered card are legal.The only border color that is illegal for  sanctioned play is silver, all other border colors aren't inherently illegal (gold bordered cards are also not legal, but that is because they have a non-standard back not because of the border color).
Also cards are banned based on the card's name, and not any other features of the card. So for example Shock is currently legal in Standard because it was printed in Aether Revolt, but I can play any version of it I want to like the 7th Edition version which has a white border (and the old card frame).
From the Magic Tournament Rules:

3.3 Authorized Cards
  Players may use any Authorized Game Cards from Magic: The Gathering expansions, core sets, special sets, supplements, and promotional printings. Authorized Game Cards are cards that, unaltered, meet the following conditions:

The card is genuine and published by Wizards of the Coast
The card has a standard Magic back, is a double-faced card, or is a card that is part of a meld pair.
The card does not have squared corners.
The card has non-silver borders.
The card is not a token card.
The card is not damaged or modified in a way that might make it marked.
The card is otherwise legal for the tournament as defined by the format.

White-bordered cards are completely legal. The criteria for determining whether a card is legal in tournament play are laid out in the Magic Tournament Rules section 3.3:

Players may use any Authorized Game Cards from Magic: The Gathering expansions, core sets, special sets, supplements, and promotional printings. Authorized Game Cards are cards that, unaltered, meet the following conditions:

The card is genuine and published by Wizards of the Coast
The card has a standard Magic back, is a double-faced card, or is a card that is part of a meld pair.
The card does not have squared corners.
The card has non-silver borders.
The card is not a token card.
The card is not damaged or modified in a way that might make it marked.
The card is otherwise legal for the tournament as defined by the format.


text:
Is there a way to play The Generals without a referee?
I've recently introduced The Generals (a.k.a Game of the Generals) to my girlfriend's brothers. They took to the game pretty quickly and we three end up doing matches with one of us as referee or arbiter to determine who wins a battle.
However, when they want to play by themselves, they can't, because no one would arbitrate battles for them whenever their pieces clash.
I wanted to know if there is a way to play The Generals without a referee that still keeps the secrecy of the pieces whenever they battle.

The referee's job is fairly simple, so a computer can fill in for them.
There was an electronically-assisted version released in the '80s, which did exactly that. You may still be able to find a copy online, but be careful to check the condition — some may have busted electronic components.
Wikipedia suggests that there are online clones of the game as well, probably under the name "Salpakan."

Stratego is a commonly-available game with a lot of similarities, that simply has players reveal the pieces to each other when they clash. It's also got different special pieces (including, notably, immobile 'mine' tokens). Depending on the particular dynamics of play you enjoy, you may find it a good alternative or a pale imitation.

The Generals should always have an arbiter, try asking anyone else in their household if they are interested in arbiting the game (who knows, they might be interested in actually playing some day). The arbiter could just have the rulebook in-hand for easy reference of what piece beats what, and could be doing something else when pieces aren't clashing, albeit with some difficulty, as pieces clash fairly regularly.
Failing that, I've come up with a protocol whenever pieces clash, the players should run through these things to determine who wins:

Both players check if their own battling piece could be removed by a Private. If it can, the player/s removes the piece. (this removes spies, tied spies, tied privates, and flags)
Check if their piece can be removed by a Sergeant.
Check if their piece can be removed by a 2nd Lieutenant...
Continue up the ranks until one or both pieces are eliminated.

It takes fairly long to resolve one clash, and it slows the game to a crawl but I think it's the only way to play without an arbiter. So always try to get one.

Your link doesn't go into to much detail on the rules, but if each unit has a strength, and the highest strength wins, then you could use the following method: get a column the height of the highest possible strength. The attacker puts in a rod the height of its strength, and the defender puts in a rod the height of the highest possible strength minus the defender's strength. If the total height is more than the column, then attacker wins. If it's less, the defender wins.
But it would be simpler to just use an app.

If you still require to play it physically, it comes with the detriment of having to say the rank of the piece when you move in to kill the opponent's piece. It's in the rule book, so have a read on it because it details it there, or if not it's in the limited edition set manual but still applicable if you so wish to.


text:
Could someone stay in market points more than one turn?
It's about the Timeline game from Cheapass Games.
Could a player stay on market points and somehow skip his/her turn for multiple turns, waiting for buying some goods for high value?

Rules are purportedly here, though I can't read them right now: http://cheapass.com/freegames/timeline

I have read that rules and still have this question.

Yes.
The rules of the game state:

You don’t have to sell anything in a market, and you can even sit still and sell something on the following turn if you so desire. For example, you expect that the 4 you’re now sitting in will be connected to Oilpetrol on the next turn, so you wait there in hopes of selling your Oilpetrol next turn.

The requirement for moving is stated in the rules as:

On each turn, you may move your pawn.

So you never have to move if you don't want to, and the rules specifically say you can wait on a market space for a good's price to reach a high value.


text:
How does Applied Entropy (Control) and Sealed Scroll interact?
We were playing Argent: The Consortium (with Mancers of the University Expansion) and one of the players ended up getting the Applied Entropy spell to third level.
He then proceeded to target a Sealed Scroll with the Control (third level) spell.
How does this interaction work?
Since he's already at his regular action, can he use the fast action on this treasure?
If he can, where does the Sealed scroll go? His discard or the original owner's?

No, the player can not target the sealed scroll.
The rules (emphasis from the printed rules) for fast actions State :-

You may not use a Fast Action after you take your regular
  Action.  Also, you may not use a Fast Action in place of a Regular
  Action.

The Control spell, level 3 of Applied Entropy, says :-

Action: use an opponents Treasure Card, exhausting it after use.

Sealed Scroll says :-

Fast Action: Research a Legendary Spell of your choice, then place this into your personal discard pile.

So as the player is in his action phase he can not then go back and do anything that counts as a Fast Action from his own cards or that of another players.  As Control is 'Action' and Sealed Scroll is 'Fast Action' this is completely prevented.


text:
Identify a game involving placing cardboard food into a mouth using forks
I'm trying to remember what game was just a heads and neck made of cardboard. It came with forks and cardboard junk food. You had to put the food in the mouth one at a time then it would tip and dump it out

Sounds like the opposite of Operation.

When were you a child? What country did you live in as a child? What language were the game's instructions in?

This is possibly Big Mouth, published by Schaper in 1968 (BoardGameGeek also lists Hasbro as a publisher, but doesn't list a specific version that they published).

This seems to match most of your description. From the website:

Each player is given a large 14" red plastic fork and a paper plate on which there are 6 different plastic food items and a green bug. A thin piece of cardboard is placed over a plastic bowl. The cardboard is designed in the shape of a cute clown with a hole forming the entrance to his oral cavity, which is formed by the bowl.

The biggest difference between your description and this one is that the food is plastic, not cardboard. It also doesn't look like there is a dumping mechanism, but everything else seems to fit.
If this doesn't quite fit your game, please let us know why and perhaps edit your question with more details


text:
Is this Barbarossa token used in a boardgame?
I found a few of these Barbarossa tokens in the back garden - similar to those depicted here.

BARBAROSSA - CORSAIR KING OF ALGIERS
  SCOURGE OF MEDITERRANEAN AS PIRATE AND ADMIRAL OF THE TURKISH FLEET FROM 1536

It's aluminium and just feels to me that it might be part of a treasure chest piece on a board game, or a tacky souvenir from a Turkish tourist trap!

From a quick search it looks like a generic souvenir.

I agree with Samthere, does not appear to be a game piece to me.

The token you have found is not from a board game, but is rather a promotional token minted as part of a 4 coin series for Sugar Puffs in 1967.
Barbarossa is the most common of the tokens, but considering one of the tag lines was "Stash away your own pirate treasure" it makes sense a child might bury their treasure.

How on earth did you unearth that? Well done!

I recently received one of the Long John Silver tokens that was labeled as "Sugar Puffs Long John Silver", before that I thought they might have been tokens from an arcade or magazine.

As you indicated in the question, there are existing tokens (i.e. coins, possibly as a souvenir) that bears the exact same inscription in your question.

Two commenters have already indicated that the token does not appear to be part of a board game. Given the similarity to non-board game tokens and the fact that nobody has been able to identify it as part of a board game in over a year, I'm inclined to say that this is not a board game piece.


text:
Do you win a game of Catan even if you don't realize you have won?
If someone "wins" the game and then all players count points and a different player realizes that if they had played their victory point, they would have won, who wins? The person who declared the win or the person who had enough points but didn't realize it, but figures it out when or after another person has declared victory. In other words, do you have to declare victory 'on your turn' to win? If your turn has ended, can you declare victory on someone else's turn?

I have found reference to this in other posts, though I didn't see a question phrased as directly as this.
In reference to the online Rules (PDF):
On page 5, you will find the following under "Ending the Game":

If you have 10 or more victory points during your turn the game ends and you are the winner! If you reach 10 points when it is not your turn, the game continues until any player (including you) has 10 points on his turn.

There is no requirement of declaring victory (though in other parts of the rules it does use the phrase "claim victory" or something similar.
On the online FAQ the question is addressed pretty directly:

Victory Conditions - What if someone has reached the required number of victory points for a win but is unaware of it? Did this player win anyway?

With response:

Yes. The game ends as soon as a player has reached the required number of victory points on his turn. If he’s unaware of it, you should tell him, because you can’t take an already gained victory away from him.

And on another FAQ page you are not allowed to not claim victory to "pad" your score in an official game:

Victory Conditions - May I continue scoring points after having reached the number of victory points required for a win?

With response:

This could make sense in a private tournament where the scores from several games are added up. For individual games and official tournaments, the following applies: You have won as soon as you have reached the required number of victory points on your turn – and then the game is over.

So, if you want to run a private tournament with some "house rules", you could, but in an official game the first player to have 10 points on their turn wins, regardless of if they realize it or announce it.

Thank You for a meaningful response. As I read your response it says over and over "on your turn". If someone has passed their turn without claiming victory, is it fair to claim victory after someone else claims victory "on their turn" which is NOT "on your turn"? Also, concerning the directive to "tell him"; the other players have no way to know "to tell them" IF the win is accomplished by an undisclosed development card that is a "victory point". If in fact you can win without declaring a win "on your turn" with the game continuing, it sure is a bummer for the person who" thought" they won!

@DavidB. - It doesn't sound like the rules care at all about who "claims"/declares the win.  If it is your turn and you have 10 points then you win, full stop.  If you then allow someone else to start their turn, and they have 10 points, it doesn't matter because you already won when it was your turn.  In a nutshell, the winner is whoever had 10 points on their turn first.  Not 'whoever's turn it was when someone realized they had 10 points'.

Another phrasing: As far as the rules are concerned, there is no such thing as "declaring victory." You just win the game when you have 10 points on your turn.  That's it, the game is over.

And Kevin, do you agree you win even if you don't know you won until someone else thinks they won? To me, that seems to reward carelessness, stupid and/or asleep at the wheel, so to speak. I had thought maybe the phrase "on your turn" might mean you have to win..... on your turn.

@DavidB. It doesn't reward carelessness - after all, they had to get to 10 VP somehow - it just doesn't punish it.

The question then becomes, does a victory point card that has not been played count toward a player's score?

@KevinKrumwiede No, according to Mayfair at this answer. If you had 10 points visible, you won. If you were holding points secret, you didn't.

@KevinKrumwiede VP card are never "played". The moment you buy a Development card that gives 1 VP, you have that 1 VP. The rules/FAQ say that these cards are simply revealed at the end of the game. You never "play them" to get the points. I know this contradicts what Mayfair was quoted as saying in that other answer, but it seems clear that Mayfair's response is not in line with the actual rules/FAQ, given that they talk about "declaring victory".

@GendoIkari Every other type of development card must be played to have effect.  The idea that victory points don't would require specific documentation.

@KevinKrumwiede The rule quotes and such are discussed in a few different questions/answers on this site... But it's on Page 7, under Development Cards: "You may only play 1 development card during your turn -- either 1 knight card or 1 progress card.... you only reveal victory point cards when the game is over..." So the game must already be over before VP cards are revealed. And the game doesn't end until someone has 10 points.

@GendoIkari I see. The distinction between revealing victory points after the game is over and the revelation of victory points causing the game to be over makes all the difference.


text:
What is the gold token used for in Kitty Paw?
Just opened our game of Kitty Paw and there is a gold paper/cardboard token not listed on the game components, does anyone know what this is? I also don't see it mentioned anywhere in the rules.

I think it's just a mistake. When I checked the unboxing video on BGG there wasn't any token looking anything like that in the game parts.

It is in this picture (also on BGG) https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3535264/kitty-paw

Yes. I didn't see that before. Boy, now I'm really scratching my head on this one!


text:
In One Night Ultimate Alien, can neutral roles win if the Synthetic Alien dies?
If you have a game of ONUA where the Synthetic Alien gets killed, can the Mortician and Blob still win? If the Blob keeps its whole blob alive, and/or if the Synthetic Alien was neighbor to the Mortician, do those roles still win?

As best I can find, this is what the rulebook says for the Synthetic Alien (copied from a BGG thread):

The Synthetic Alien wakes up with the Aliens. Even though he is an Alien, he has a different winning condition. Due to the self-awareness he is programmed with, he realizes that his advanced technology is too powerful for the aliens to wield, and too dangerous for the villagers to have, so he only wins if he dies. If the Synthetic dies, everyone on the alien and villager teams lose.

Since only the villager and alien teams are named, I would say that the roles not associated with either can still win regardless of what happens with the SA.


text:
In Yu-Gi-Oh, when you banish cards from the field, can you banish spell and trap cards in addition to monster cards?
I have a Eater of Millions:

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 5 or more cards from your hand, field and/or Extra Deck, face-down, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card gains 100 ATK and DEF for each face-down banished card. This face-up card on the field cannot be Tributed, nor used as Material for a Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz Summon. Once per turn, at the start of the Damage Step, if this card battles an opponent's monster: You can banish that opponent's monster, face-down.

Am I allowed to banish spells and traps from the field too?

Welcome to Board Games Stack Exchange! I added the text of the card for clarity about what you are asking about.

There are three types of cards: Monster, Spell, and Trap. If one of these types are not specified, then it is assumed to be any of those types of cards. In this specific case, that means that Eater of Millions can indeed banish any type of card.
If you were only allowed to banish certain card types, it would be like Bazoo the Soul-Eater, which says that you banish "monsters" instead of "cards":

Once per turn: You can banish up to 3 monsters from your Graveyard; this card gains 300 ATK for each, until the end of your opponent's turn.

This card would not be permitted to banish spell or trap cards.


text:
Sinuous Striker query around pump in reaction to combat/defending
So I heard a while ago that damage doesn't kill creatures, state based actions kill creatures. Not relevant but this was a judge who said it.
So I wanted to ask, is it possible for someone to attack with say a 4/4 Bitterblade Warrior and me to declare 2/2 Sinuous Striker as a defender then attacking opponent casts a spell or combat trick on another minion or maybe does nothing in this example, then I say before damage is dealt to pump the Sinuous Striker by two to be a 4/0 so that it's damage is enough to kill the 4/4 Bitterblade Warrior. Does a State based action check happen before damage is dealt or is the move I'm talking about legal to do at this stage? The finer points of movement between phases still eludes me as I'm getting my head around it.
If anyone can explain this as clearly as possible (as opposed to just saying 'no you can't do that') I would be quite grateful, I'm looking to also learn about phasing and how it works here and how each steps resolves as the stack steps through the corresponding actions.
From my own perspective this is how I imagine it would work:

Combat starts
Attacker declared
Blocker declared
Nothing from the opponent like spells etc,
Defender gets priority to respond before damage and pumps creature
Damage is then resolved
State based action happens then it sees the 4/4 attacker and the 2/2 defender are now 4/0 and 4/-4 respectively ergo they both die as their toughness is 0 or less.

You seem to be asking a lot of different questions here, it would be a good idea to try and narrow down your focus to one specific question that you want answered.

You're getting one important thing wrong that's not directly tied to your question. If a 4/4 takes 4 damage, it is NOT now a 4/0. It is a 4/4 with 4 damage. Similarly, a 4/0 that takes 4 damage would not be a 4/-4. It would be a 4/0 with 4 damage.

@GendoIkari this is exactly this kind've granularity I need to get correct. When exactly do damage states get checked between people playing instants. After damage is dealt do the creatures become 4/0? Or does the state become 4/0 -4 which equates to becoming dead?

Damage doesn't subtract from a creature's toughness. If you deal 4 damage to a 4/4, it is still a 4/4. It will never be a 4/0. One of the state-based actions that is checked will destroy any creatures that have at least as much damage as they do toughness (so a 4/4 with 4 damage will be destroyed).

Sinuous Striker will die without dealing combat damage.  Your opponent's creature will remain blocked, but will not be destroyed.

The problem with this combo is that there is no way to activate Sinuous Striker's ability without state-based actions being checked immediately afterwards.  State-based actions are checked immediately after any ability resolves.
Let's assume that the Declare Attackers Step is complete.  Here is the order of events:

You declare that your Sinuous Striker will block your opponent's creature.509.1
The active player (your opponent) gets priority.509.4
Your opponent passes, giving you priority.116.3d
You activate Sinuous Striker's ability twice.  You and your opponent both pass (twice) allowing both of those abilities to resolve.  Sinuous Striker is now a 4/0 creature.
The active player (your opponent) will get priority after the spell resolves,116.3b so a check for state-based actions is triggered.704.3
Sinuous Striker is destroyed by a state-based action.704.5f
Combat damage is assigned.510.1  Your opponent's creature remains blocked510.1c but takes no combat damage.

that was the best, most concise and well laid out answer i've gotten anywhere in the stack exchange ethos. Thank you very much for that that clears up alot of my confusion around the area.