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Dictionary for Scrabble that doesn't contain ridiculous words
In playing Scrabble with friends, where can I find a dictionary that doesn't contain the ridiculous two-letter words that turn the game into a contest to see who has spent the most time reading the official Scrabble dictionary?
I'd want present-day words, but don't want words like:

ee: The sound made to say the letter 'E'

It seems that even online resources have been pandering to the hardcore Scrabble crowd.

The Scrabble rules explicitly state the conditions for a word to be legal in the game.  I guess you can add additional restrictions to what is legal, like stating a more limited word source, like a collegiate dictionary.

For what it's worth, many clubs allow beginners to play with club-printed lists of 2-letter words.  Rather than trying to arbitrarily dictate that 'QI' is bogus but 'EM' is legit - and remember which is which! - why not have a copy of that list handy and allow it as an explicit resource?

EE isn't the sound of "e", by the way - it's a Scottish dialect form of "eye".  Plural EEN.  I think you might offend a Scottish opponent if you called it "ridiculous" to their face.  Then again, I do have some sympathy for people not in the United Kingdom that are faced with some of the very localised forms that are legal in our (rather vast) official wordlist...

Rather than ridiculous- you should say technical QI is religious, AA is geological or foreign words that are not commonly part of the English language like EE. Basic lazy additions to English dictionary when they exclude all sorts of other technical words including the correct names for animals and infinite numbers of chemicals.

You could carry this to the logical extreme and limit your games to the ten hundred (The word "thousand" isn't in that list) most common English words: https://splasho.com/upgoer5/phpspellcheck/dictionaries/1000.dicin

Every dictionary has words that would be considered "ridiculous" in it. You can choose to have an arbitrary subset of ridiculous words, but that doesn't really improve the situation any. Most of these are in every reasonably-sized dictionary anyway (e.g. how do you feel about ZAX?).
There are a small enough number of 2-letter words that you can ban them on an individual basis (i.e. no QI, XU, XI, or ZA), or make a whitelist (these are the only 2-letter words we're allowing). If you do this and just use the regular Scrabble dictionary for everything else, you'll substantially lessen the edge of people who study the official word list, without suffering the problems of using a small dictionary that might exclude actual words.

Every dictionary is going to have some disagreements about whether certain informal terms should be listed or not. GOODER has 2.1M Google hits but is not in the OSPD - an omission, or a correct exclusion? Reasonable people may disagree; the point of any word list is to settle those disagreements.

@KennyLJ HEATY is unheard outside of South-East Asian English, and would not be considered a word by most native speakers. As it's an aspect of traditional Chinese medicine, anyone using it would almost certainly be using QI as well.

@KennyLJ citation needed...

Answer: A solution that doesn't change the rules of the game is to provide all players with a list of all valid two-letter words. I have tried this methodology and it works fairly well for equalizing the playing field which is part of the subtext of the question.
Explanation: One of the underlying problems of your question is the line between casual Scrabble players and those that do (or have at some point) taken it more seriously. I was a casual player up until the point where I discovered an PC version of the game that had a training mode. It grilled you on two-letter word combinations until you had them all memorized and then started grilling you on three-letter word combinations (I never memorized all of those.)
After this, my Scrabble playing was never the same, nor was it strictly much of a contest anymore when playing against "casual" players. The trick wasn't playing one ridiculous two-letter word, it was find a way to play one long word alongside another with 4 or 5 two-letter words mixed in, making use of several that you would dub ridiculous.
The reason providing the word list works well is because you are really only helping with a small subset of lesser known two-letter words. This takes the advantage away from the non-casual players and forces them to rely on their other Scrabble skills...or at least forces them to start practicing their three-letter words.
The other consideration of this method is that all players will eventually have learned the two-letter words well enough to stop providing the word list as it has done its job and helped all players be on "equal" footing again.
AA  AB  AD  AE  AG  AH  AI  AL  AM  AN  AR  AS  AT  AW  AX  AY  BA  BE  BI  BO
BY  DE  DO  ED  EF  EH  EL  EM  EN  ER  ES  ET  EX  FA  GO  HA  HE  HI  HM  HO
ID  IF  IN  IS  IT  JO  KA  LA  LI  LO  MA  ME  MI  MM  MO  MU  MY  NA  NE  NO
NU  OD  OE  OF  OH  OM  ON  OP  OR  OS  OW  OX  OY PA  PE  PI  RE  SH SI  SO
TA  TI  TO  UH  UM  UN  UP  US  UT  WE  WO  XI  XU  YA  YE  YO
I have bolded most of the two-letter words that I would have not known for sure were valid prior to "studying". Feel free to do your own count to see how many words you get help from if the list were in your hands during play.
Here is a link to site that talks about allowed two and three letter words.
http://phrontistery.info/scrabble3.html
Here is a club list that has definitions as well
http://www.yak.net/kablooey/scrabble/2letterwords.html
Also, wanted to give credit to Steven Stadnicki as this answer mirrors his suggestion.

This is a good answer in its way, but if the question is 'How do you stop Scrabble-for-blood players having an advantage over the rest of us?', I'm not sure 'Turn everyone into Scrabble-for-blood players' is quite in the right spirit. In the games I play your bold words would not be valid, because we play with normal words not what SOWPODS has decreed.

I think everyone learning (or having a copy of) the two-letter word list is a far cry from "Scrabble-for-blood". It is something more akin to a knowledge equalizer (a handicap). Although the term "Scrabble-for-blood" gives me a lot of good ideas for some fun game variants. I also think as soon as you start talking "normal" you have entered into @Johno's answer (which is quite valid) because you have entered the subjective zone. There are non-subjective ways to trim down that two-letter list.

I like this solution, however in official scrabble tournaments there is usually a timer, which makes doing a lot of searching a disadvantage.

We actually ruled AA invalid when we looked it up around '01 (and we already knew what it meant, that wasn't the problem). I guess it kinda depends on your dictionary.

@TimLymington, purgatory101 didn't say "for blood". "Scrabble-for-blood players" just means "good Scrabble players". I think the right spirit isn't to punish good players, but rather to enable weak players to improve. So let weaker players consult the book. This doesn't just involve 2-letter words. What if a player played TIARAED for a bonus and a "rest of us" player on a whim said "I don't care if it's in the book, it's not a word -- you can't just stick ED onto any noun"? That's not in the right spirit.

Speaking as a bit of a two-letter word aficionado, I like the nonsensical colourfulness of the competitive Scrabble player's vocabulary, but given that you don't... there is absolutely nothing stopping you from using a (relatively) small and concise dictionary, of the kind that you can buy for cheap at any bookshop.  These dictionaries are guaranteed not to have anything remotely off-the-wall in them, so should meet your purposes admirably.
I'm definitely against proposals such as "ban all two letter words".  There's nothing intrinsically weirder about the word EE than the word MBAQANGA or QIVIUT, and I've played all of those in real Scrabble games.  If you're going to ban two-letter words for being too arcane, then you'll just start having the same problems with 3-letter words that cross that line.  (Why should EE be banned and not its plural, EEN?)  No, just play with an ordinary concise edition of a dictionary, and if a word that's obviously fine turns out not to be in it, just don't challenge that word.  If your opponent insists on abusing the challenge rule to chase off perfectly good words, then do the same back!  And also start looking for someone new and more reasonable to play Scrabble with...

I think it's more the way knowing all the specifically two letter words facilitates playing words "in parallel" and how much that amplifies your scoring, that rubs the less competitive player the wrong way, than a notion that 'EE' is more or less "absurd" than 'EEN' :)

@Affe, that's not really the vibe I'm getting from the OP's question.  He says he's "okay with present day words" but not the "ridiculous" two-letter words like sounds of letters that reward "reading the official Scrabble dictionary".  If it's just the competitive advantage of knowing lots of 2-letter words that the OP has a problem with, then I'd wholeheartedly recommend making the 2-letter word list a publicly available resource during games.  But as I say it didn't sound to me like that was the problem!

And you like the way they don't accept common words like zoomy, zen and bendy.

You could have a house rule that you can only play a word if you can give  (a reasonable close version of) the definition.  That would eliminate the problem of players who memorise the word lists, but still leaves you with a general problem that somebody with a larger vocabulary will play a word his opponent hasn't heard of.  I don't think that's soluble: it's a word game, after all, and it's the reason why 'a specific dictionary' is used in the first place.  It also would permit EE, since the player has just placed two -well, what would you call them if not ees?

I spend a lot of time in Scrabble games giving fairly confident definitions of my obscure words... which turn out to be in the dictionary, but with completely different definitions!  I'd get my comeuppance under your proposed house rule for sure :)

If it doesn't cause too many fights, and you're only playing casually, you could allow/disallow words democratically.
If a player uses "QI" and the other players decide it's "ridiculous", then they must take it back. If it's a word like "QI" which normally is valid (as opposed to "SPLUX" or "DEFKASARJ" which are not valid by any metric) you could allow the player to play a different word instead.

This is too subjective.

@TheChaz Oh, it's incredibly subjective! But the OP mentioned that he's playing with friends. In lieu of a reduced word list (for which players would still need to "learn" what is and is not on it), this would be a quicker solution. That may be all that's needed for casual games.

I like Ryan Cavanaugh's suggestion of eliminating all/most 2 letter words. The board game Upwords does something similar to this by requiring that when changing a word (upward), you must use two tiles as a minimum.
You probably should blacklist all 2-letter words, and their 3-letter plurals, or at least the high value ones.

JO, KA, KI, QI, EX, XI, XU, ZA
KAS, KIS, QIS, XIS, ZAS

Then you either choose to whitelist any of those 2-letter words that everyone know the definition of to prove they aren't archaic.

Why is 'XI' any worse than, say, 'EM' or 'AA'?  I would be willing to bet that more people know the definition of the former than either of the latter! The problem with Scrabble is that you really can't eliminate all 2-letter words because it changes the way the game plays on a fundamental level. You could play the game, but it would bear only a vague resemblance to Scrabble at that point.

I think perhaps I would ban all two-letter nouns, except for pronouns.

@palswim so you would ban MA, OX, PI, AX, ES… ? I would never play a scrabble game where any official two-letter word is banned. I agree with Steven, if any two-letter words are banned just because they are too "hardcore" you're no longer playing Scrabble. Two-letter words allow a cramped board to be opened up, tiles to be discarded without passing the turn, and big scoring parallel plays to be made. The list of official two-letter words is really not that long, if you're just starting to learn Scrabble and it's a casual game, I'd allow a cheat sheet.

If you are going to exclude I think the key is excluding non-subjectively. You can trim the list down by cutting words by definition--letter words(ar, ef, el, es, ex), sound interjections(hm, mm, oi, oy, sh), greek letters (mu, nu, xi), etc. Anything less is subjective and is the same as saying you can only use words that all players know. Words like aa, ai and id have very definite meanings and are not archaic. Excluding all 2-letter words or based on point values, just feels like changing the game altogether. At that point, just take the tiles and make your own game--you might have more fun.

"excluding non-subjectively … is the same as saying you can only use words that all players know." — Hit the nail on the head. I guess that's why the whole premise of this question kind of offends me. What's the point of playing if you want to limit "hardcore" players? It would be like saying "I'll play chess, but you can't move your queen more than three spaces."

I think a better solution is some kind of handicap system if the skill levels of the players are significantly different.

ban names of letters? both roman and foreign. that would include ZED and ZEE of course. I assume XI is a greek letter which is why it is allowed.

You missed OX by the way. Of course it's an animal, we all know that. But it has an X in it and is only 2 letters. AX is one I was more surprised is allowed, the tool normally has an E at the end.

An alternative option might be finding a word frequency list file that works for you (and allowing players to check their word before playing). Given each such frequency list draws from a particular source to define commonality, such as movie subtitles, newspaper writings, textbooks, etc, it could be tough to find the perfect one.
But this English SE question offers a good start at finding one.  One suggestion there is this Wiktionary link, from which you may be able to combine the lists and work from them reasonably? I doubt zax or jo or ka are on such lists... but you might also eliminate some more reasonable specialty words (I thought to suggest the SubtlexUS list, but found meteorological words like updraft and hodograph were disappointingly worse than even jo and ka... either indicating the shortcomings of the subtitle list or of any frequency list).
(You also might have to work up rules on word families/plurals/etc, which are left off many such frequency lists... but that may be as straightforward as allowing plurals/word forms indicated in a dictionary of words valid from the frequency list)


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Are the German tanks in Axis & Allies Panthers?
I know in some A&A rulebooks it is printed what the plastic miniatures represents.
I own A&A 1942 and Pacific. When I see the German tank it looks like a Panther.. is it?  Is it the same tank issued for 1940? Which is .. a panther?

The 1942 2nd edition does indeed list the German tank miniature as a Panther. This is the most recent printing. You can make out the text in the top picture.
You can check the rule books from the official wizards site, unless you are talking about the older Avalon Hill versions, to discover if the units were changed from any of the different versions. If they are attempting to be historically accurate, you can compare the miniature to the Panzer I-IV, Panther, and Tiger I/II.
The game page on Wikipedia agrees with the other sites, but notes under Units that:

Changes in the figurines used may be due to evolving game mechanics (such as the introduction of player-specific antiaircraft gun pieces in 1942 Second Edition necessitating the replacement of artillery units that were previously represented by antiaircraft guns), increased realism (For example, prior to Anniversary, many British and Soviet units were recolored versions of American pieces; in later games they were replaced with pieces representing units from their own armies. Similarly, most ANZAC and Italian pieces, including infantry, were replaced in Pacific 1940 Second Edition and Europe 1940 Second Edition, respectively).

If this is your component set, Then yes it is a Panther.

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When drawing cards for each produced good, does it include goods produced on windfall worlds?
My friends and I have had disagreements about how one particular kind of production power works in Race for the Galaxy: powers that involve drawing cards for each good produced, e.g.
Diversified Economy:

draw 1 card for each kind of good you produced this phase

Research Labs:

draw 1 card for each Alien technology good you produced

When combined with powers that produce goods on windfall planets, such as the power of the Produce action card itself, do you draw cards for goods produced using the 'produce on windfall' powers?
In part it is that I don't understand what "no power can interrupt another" means in the RFTG rulebook and also because online versions of the games vary with how this applies.

Yes. Those powers apply to all goods that are produced on your worlds, regardless of how they are produced.

You got this from the rulebook?

Not as such. There is no division between "produced" and "windfall" worlds, so all goods count as "produced". It's just that production (i.e. non-windfall) worlds have a "produce a good" power.

Argh! There is no division between "produced" and "windfall" GOODS

Yes, you draw a card regardless of what kind of world the good was produced on. The rulebook mentions, (page 7) under Produce, that players who choose Produce get to "produce" a good on one Windfall world. It also gives an example of a special power that produces goods on windfall worlds. Since Research Labs draws cards for each good of a specific kind produced, and the rules indicate that goods on windfall worlds can be "produced" either as a bonus based on a players chosen action or card effects, you draw a card regardless of whether that good was produced on a halo/solid world.

Players who chose Produce, as a bonus, produce a good (if possible) on one of their windfall worlds that does not already have a good.
Some cards, such as Genetic Labs, can also produce goods on windfall worlds (without goods).

What does "no power can interrupt another" mean?
What is meant here, is that you should resolve a power/effect completely before applying the results of another power/effect. Example: If you have an Alien world (yellow) that allows you to Discard a Card to produce an Alien good, but you have no cards in hand and no way to produce yellow goods. You could draw cards from Diversified Economy (for producing goods on other worlds), and then discard one of those cards to produce an Alien good. This would not entitle you to draw another card from Diversified Economy for producing another kind of good, because you already resolved it's effects. If you control a Research Labs as well though, you could draw a card from it's power by resolving it's effect after Diversified Economy and the "Discard to Produce Good" effect of the Alien world.

Oh nice explanation of that last part, power interruption

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If there are two Lighthouse Chronologist with three players, will one player be pereptually skipped?
If you would play a game with 3 people (let's call them A, B, and C) and A and B have a Lighthouse chronologist, will this make A get a turn after B, and make B get a turn after A without C getting a turn in between?
So the turns would go:
A end turn: B gets an extra turn from his Lighthouse Chronologist
B end turn: A gets an extra turn from his Lighthouse Chronologist
Repeat.
Is this correct and will this put C out of play (assuming he has no mana or instants)?

This will also produce a stackoverflow in life.

@npst, Nah, no stack overflow. You'd be right it LC says something along the lines of "Take a turn", but it only adds a turn to the list of extra turns to be taken. There's no buffer overflow either, since the list of extra turns to be taken never has more than one turn in it.

This is correct. Here's a ruling on it from Gatherer (Emphasis mine):

In a multiplayer game, if multiple players each control a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist, extra turns may sometimes be created faster than they can be taken. Keep track of them carefully. If multiple Chronologist's abilities trigger during the same turn, the player whose turn would show up sooner in the natural turn order will get the first extra turn. For example, say Players B and C each control a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist. Player A takes a turn. The game will proceed like this (with extra turns in brackets): Player A's current turn, [Player B's turn], [Player C's turn], [Player B's turn], [Player C's turn], and so on. Because Players B and C will each add another extra turn after the other player's extra turn, Player A will not take another turn as long as both level 7 Lighthouse Chronologists remain on the battlefield.

Wow, sucks to be player A.

that would be mean if you played with a lot a people XD. 6 people just waiting because of 2 lighthouses.


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Puerto Rico - Custom gameplay tweaks to introduce player interactions
We have been playing Puerto Rico for on a regular basis. It's an excellent game, and one of the few well balanced games in buildup genre as:

There is almost no luck factor involved.
All of the Information about game and players buildup is revealed entirely. It makes the game highly strategic.
Not much of dirty tactics used by players. Say when player(s) tries to favor or screw certain other player, or delay other players winning.

We have been playing other resource management games like Le Havre, Agricola. Settlers of Catan has lots of player-to-player interaction, which makes the game more competitive. I was wondering if we could discuss and share some custom rules to modify the gameplay to have such player interactions; and would it be possible to introduce same new rules to create extra strategies.
Say by allowing other players to use production and service buildings for a fee. Player when in need of money or resources can mark only a building 'open for use' when selecting the role. Once open it can't be closed until her next turn. This fee could be really high 20%-30% of the service building cost, or one-third of production. Production building: Tobacco, Sugar, etc. Service: Harbor, Market, etc.
Many a times I find players getting blocked or waited to gather sufficient gold. Even when they have some of the good buildings.
Please share your thoughts.
Thanks.

Nice to hear this from a good game. Lalan just make sure to keep an eye and edit this if other users think that your question "is open ended" or "subjective"

Not sure what you mean by allow. Is this rental of buildings and colonists forced, or can either side object to the sharing/fee. Why would you want to help your opponents win. The point of many of the buildings is to deny your opponent a good or ability (at the cost of gold), so that you get an advantage during a certain phase. Why would I spend 5 of my own gold to allow an opponent to produce a tobacco the same turn as me and possibly beat me to the trading house or the boat. Why would I buy a Harbor for 8 just to allow opponents to get +1 VP for shipping at a reduced cost.

user1873: Nicely put, and your points are valid and justifies the absence of player-to-player interaction in the form of sharing buildings. And perhaps that's why designer didn't put it in the game. If you consider a player having choice of denying or letting someone use the building at 20-25% of the Harbor cost, or 1 tobacco for every time 3 tobacco barrels are produced. Player flags a building as 'open for business', when picking a role in her turn, if she needs extra gold and having trouble getting it, once open anyone can use it. At time I find lack of gold, even when I've good buildings.

quinestor: thanks for suggestion. I like Settlers of Catan a lot. And young designer in me was wondering, if similar mechanics could be introduced to encourage such interaction in form of trading or renting. Even when building use is set to be at a high fee, someone might be desperate enough to use it, perhaps that player is in similar situation as the one who needs money. If harbor is used for 4-5 times, one can make enough money to get even larger building. Only production and service buildings can be marked 'open for business' for others to use.

Have you tried these proposed rules? Rather than discussing them when nobody has any practical experience, it is often better to try them out, see how they work and then come here to ask specific questions about problems encountered.  See this meta question for a more in depth discussion.

Puerto Rico is mostly an open information game. The plantation tiles are randomized and hidden information, and VP points are hidden, although a player with good memory could count when each player earns victory points.
There is player interaction in Puerto Rico, but it isn't like Settlers of Catan wheeling and dealing, which allows multiple players who are losing to trade resources among themselves to help each other catch up to the leader. The other two games are very similar to Puerto Rico in their player interaction, in Agricola you can deny your opponents a particular role when you choose it, and in Le Harve you can get your goods to the ship first blocking the boat. (It is confusing that you mentioned them)
I almost never see a player waiting to use newly acquired buildings, any longer than the one round that would be necessary to choose the Mayor action to fill the building/plantation. Puerto Rico is designed as a resource management game. Nearly every turn, it feels like their are two things you need to do, but you can only choose one.
Can you modify the rules to allow trading coins for building use, sure but there will be added complications.

Do buildings "open for business" still require a colonist from your opponents to use?
Do your or other colonists "block" a open building for use by other players? (i.e. are the number of circles relevant on buildings)
How will players indicate they are using your building if colonists are required, how do you keep track of which colonist is which players?
If using a building doesn't require a colonist, when can a player decide when to use it? (i.e. Can I use a Factory right before/after crafting, a Storehouse/Harbor during shipping, etc?

If you think about adding this feature, realize what you are doing. You are allowing other players to trade coins to another player for Victory Points. How many players are going to leave their Guild House, City Hall, or other large building "open for business?" Why would I make my Harbor available to anyone else, when the point of getting it was so that when we ship, I get +1-2 extra VP? I am pretty sure you will find this rule rather pointless.

authors: ماجد الزهراني


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Dungeon! Quick opening strategy for wizard
We have been playing the wizard for some time, but it looks like the wizard has a lot of challenges: The wizard cannot do well unless it makes it to levels 5 or 6. Having said that, one alternative is to blow the secret door on the way to the levels. Otherwise, it has to travel till it reaches a chamber on level 4, and then tele-porting to 5, then level 6.
So both ways typically take a up (on an average) much longer time, then by the time the wizard gathers the treasure, it is usually too late.
What is a quick opening strategy for the wizard which at least lets the wizard start at nearly the same time as the others?

After consulting this guide :
How about walking to level 5, and using teleport cards to get back from a level 5 chamber to a relatively close level 4 chamber and then to level 3? I managed to win a game or two like that.

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After using Act of Treason and Cloudshift, does a creature re-enter the battlefield under my control?
If player A has a creature, and then on player B's turn, he/she uses Act of Treason on it, and then Cloudshift, does that card, once it has been cloudshift-ed, return to the battlefield under the control of player B, and thus, not return to A after B's turn has finished?
My thinking is that the card will be under player B's control until the end of the game/ or until the creature in question has been put into the graveyard or removed from play - because, Act of Treason states that you 'gain control of target creature until the end of turn' but cloudshift states that you 'exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.'.
Any thoughts? Can this be done?

It works just as you hope.
Previous "flicker" effects returned the target to play "under its owner's control".  Cloudshift returns it to play "under your control".
Act of Treason gave you control of the creature, making it a valid target for Cloudshift.  Cloudshift returns it into play under your control, and with no memory of its previous life as either the opponent's creature, or of having had Act of Treason cast on it.  It's yours for keeps, or at least until the game ends or another control-changing effect takes place...

611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts until the end of the game.

Also note, obviously the reverse is true. If your opponent has a Cloudshift of their own they can prevent your Act of Treason from resolving…

@ghoppe how would the cloud shift save it from the act of treason? Act of Treason goes on the stack, then cloud shift goes on top. As could shift resolves the creature is exiled and then immediately returned to the battle field. This means that when Act of Treason resolves, the creature is still a valid target.

@Pow-Ian CR 400.7 “An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.” There are seven listed exceptions to the rule, one of them (400.7g) allows Cloudshift to bring the card back. But none of the exceptions are applicable to Act of Treason. The creature initially targeted by Act of Treason (remember, targets are selected when casting the spell, not upon resolution) is not the same creature that has returned from the Exile zone.

Since Act of Treason no longer has a legal target, it fails to resolve.

That is an interesting interpretation. Thank you for the explanation.

Yes this works.  Any of the flickering mechanics allow stolen creatures to become your creatures permanently.  Going into the exile will reset the creature that is now yours.
This also works well with cards like Simic Manipulator.  Where you can steal their creatures and get counters to steal more creatures.

Not true: almost all 'flicker' effects before AVR specifically returned the card to play under its owner's control.  Momentary Blink returns the card under its owner's control, as does Flickerwisp, as do Oblivon Ring and Fiend Hunter, as does Obzedat (returning itself to play under its owner's control).  Avacyn Restored's flicker mechanics are the exception but definitely not the rule.

@StevenStadnicki Though, that means the owner of the card can use a flicker effect to take back a card that's been taken by some other means.


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Is a noble permanently yours once he's visited you in Splendor?
Splendor is a great game, but the rules were written sub-optimally.

At the end of their turn, each player checks the noble tiles in order to determine if they’re receiving a visit from one of them.

Do you check the nobles currently "visiting" another player, or is a noble permanently yours once he's visited you?

Two people from Splendor-distributor Asmodee have confirmed[1][2] that you retain any noble that has visited you.


text:
Confused with Bidding in Contract Bridge
I'm building an Android game based on Contract Bridge, where 4 players will be playing simultaneously once they are connected with the Game Server.
I have no prior experience of playing any card game, and have been learning Bridge while working on this project. I understand most of the concepts of the game, things like Deal, Trick, strength of a hand, major suit, minor suit, the actual game play, etc.
But I'm still a bit confused by Bidding, the key part of the game. Since I'm a developer, and will not be working on creating an artificial CPU player, I'm more interested in getting the Rules of Bidding right, rather than strategies for making a great Bid.
Here are my rule questions:

How long does the bidding process continue? I know that when a certain bid is made by a player, and the remaining three call "Pass" subsequently, the last bid is agreed as a final contract. But what if players continue to bid, "double" or "redouble" the last bid forever? Do the cards need to be re-dealt in that case?
When a player calls "double" for a last bid, what exactly happens on the score card? I've read that you double your stakes for the game, i.e. if the player who bid makes that contract, he wins double points, and if he fails, you win double points, but I need a more figurative explanation with examples. Same with "redouble".
How is the declarer (or the attacking team) decided? Does the player whose bid is chosen as a final contract (with the suit he chose becoming the trump suite) become declarer? Or does the player who was first to mention the suit, which becomes the trump suit of the game, become the declarer?
What would be the purpose of a dummy player in the game if his cards are played by the declarer? In the Android game that I'll make, he'll be just sitting idle in-front of the phone and watch the show doing nothing (except the time when he exposes his cards and is done).

I know I've asked many questions here, but they all relate to rules of bidding. Any help with getting these rules clear in my mind would be appreciated.
Update
Following are the sources I have referred so far to understand the game:

http://www.bridgeworld.com/default.asp?d=intro_to_bridge&f=bbeg5.html
http://www.acbl.org/learn/howToPlay.html
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/how-to-play-bridge
Videos of channel iBridgePlayer on YouTube.

P.S.: I'm a software developer and not an enthusiast, so please keep your answer jargon-free where possible.

There are many variations of Bridge. Which one are you talking about? Rubber Bridge? Can you point us to the source of your information?

@Aryabhata: All the doubts I asked regarding the rules refer to Contract Bridge. Also, I've updated the question with details you've asked for.

Contract bridge is a generic term and is applicable to different forms of the game (which all have the same basic rules of bidding and play). The mechanics and scoring are different between different forms of the game. If you want bridge players to play your game, just saying contract bridge won't do. You have to specify the form of scoring you provide (which in your case, I suggest you do Rubber Bridge).

@Aryabhata: Yes I'm learning the scoring patterns of Rubber Bridge, and looking for some sources that can help me understand the rules of scoring in clear and concise language such that I can implement it in the code.

Good luck. Trying to write a game without playing the game yourself can be challenging :-)

The bidding process continues until all players have passed in succession, or three players have passed in succession after a bid.  You seem to misunderstand the double and redouble bids - they can't go on indefinitely.  After a double from the opposing team, your only options are to go to a higher level or redouble.  After a redouble from the opposing team, your only option is to go to a higher level.  (Or pass out of course, in either case.)  If bidding reaches 7 no trumps redoubled, there is nowhere left to go.
It would be easy to assume that "double" and "redouble" imply x2 or x4 value for the contract - much too easy!  In fact doubling and redoubling also do some rather complex things to scoring overtricks or undertricks in the final score, dependent on the "vulnerability" of the contract, that has little to do with a simple multiplier.  And that's before we get into the additional "insult bonus" for successfully making a doubled or redoubled contract... Here's a link to the Wikipedia sections on the subject, probably better and conciser than me trying to outline all of it from memory.
Declarer is, as you say, the first player to mention the trump suit (or bid no trumps) in the partnership that ultimately wins the contract.
Unfortunately dummy has little to do except twiddle his thumbs until the contract is played out.  Fortunately Bridge is a complex and tense game that is usually as much fun to watch as play, and generally I don't find it a big problem to sit there watching partner play the hand, even online.  You definitely want to be able to berate your partner after she's finished making a hash of the hand, with useful advise about how you would have done it!  Er, I mean "commiserate with", not "berate", obviously...

So if all the four players (from very beginning) call it "Pass", then cards will be re-dealt?

@Kush: Yes, that's what happens. The hand is over and, strictly speaking, the next player in turn becomes the dealer.

At one time, doubles and redoubles could continue indefinitely; see http://www.bridgeguys.com/MGlossary/MississippiHeartHand.html for one reason why it was changed.

@Kushal: In tournaments the cards must not be redealt, even if during the first round of the session. Different partnerships have varying requirements for an opening the four positions, and later partnerships would have inappropriate information if the rule was otherwise.


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Phage the Untouchable as a Commander?
I was looking through the Black Legends with thoughts of building a mono-black EDH deck, when I came across Phage the Untouchable. Am I right in assuming that if she is cast from the command zone, you lose the game? (As the command zone is not considered your hand.) Is there any way to get her from the command zone into your hard or graveyard so you could cast her without losing the game?
The only one I can come up with is having a Platinum Angel in play, so you don't lose the game when you cast her.

Torpor Orb works too

You're correct in assuming that you would lose the game. Casting Phage the Untouchable from the command zone would be a sorcery-speed "Summon Game Loss" spell.
As Affe points out, she could be countered when you play her, which would put her in your graveyard (or library, depending on the counter spell used). You'd still need to get her back to your hand to cast her, though.
If you have Platinum Angel you can't lose the game and it will make Phage's ability do nothing, Sundial of the Infinite in response to the enter the battle field trigger will fizzle all triggers on the stack, or Torpor Orb stops her enter the battle field from ever going off.

I suspected as much. Can you think of any creative ways to get her from the command zone to your hand or graveyard?

The only way to play a card from the command zone is to cast it. I think having the Platinum Angel is the only way you could safely do so.

And it's in zone, so you can't fetch it with Ring of Maru'f or Death Wish, which let you get cards from outside the game. I guess she's pretty useless as a general, then.

It doesn't have to be your general. Why not stick it in your deck and fetch it with a tutor?

Also note you don't lose for casting her, she triggers on entering the battlefield.  If you can arrange to have her countered (you totally wanted to pay 14 for a Chalice of the Void, right?) she will go to GY and you can go from there.

@Affe Good point. As long as she's not Dissipated, which would just send her back to the command zone.

In Black, there's always Withering Boon available to counter her too...

Perhaps update the answer with the Command Beacon: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405180

Torpor Orb should work. You could make the deck have a minor focus on creatures that normally are a pain to get out, like Leveler...

Welcome to the site, Paul! Good catch on the Torpor Orb. :)

Sundial of the Infinite is another colorless option; if your turn ends in response to Phage's trigger, you don't lose.

Yeah, you would need several cards along the lines of Toppor Orb and Sundial, because you won't have much chance of ever seeing any 1 card.

Casting her from your command zone results with a resounding you lose the game, if she enters play.  There are several ways to still use her effectively.
I will list a few ways below that will help you to "Make it Work".  It is not the strongest style, but black has the tutors to pull it off if you really want to do it.  It is funny to see the look on people's face when you reveal Phage as your commander.  They don't know whether or not to take you seriously at first, but some might realize how big of a threat you are when you throw down a pair of Lightning Greaves.
A few ways that prevent the loss are (there may be a few others, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head and I can't look through my deck at the moment):

Having Platinum Angel in play (You can not lose)
Giving one of your opponents Abyssal Persecutor (keeps their opponents, you, from losing)
Having a Torpor Orb in play (Phage's enter the battlefield ability does not trigger)
Having a Sundial of the Infinite in play (End you turn in response to her ability going on the stack
Having Phage countered by an effect, such as Nether Void or Withering Boon/Dash Hope  so she goes to graveyard (choose to let her go to graveyard and use one of black's many ways to get her back into your hand to hard cast from there)

You need to explain how to give your opponents a creature in Black to include Abyssal Persector. Red and Blue are capable of doing this, but I cannot think of a way of doing so in Black off the top of my head.

Endless Whispers

If you're going to use Endless Whispers, you may as well take advantage of the Endless Whispers + Phage = Win the Game Combo. ;-) (Or make someone lose if it's multiplayer…)

Dash hopes won't usually work... an opponent would happily pay 5 life to instantly make you lose.

Hyppy's exactly right: the command zone isn't your hand, so casting Phage the Untouchable will cause you to lose the game.
Unfortunately, there are very few ways to get around Phage's drawback in a mono-black deck. The options available to you include Platinum Angel, Torpor Orb Sundial of the Infinite, and some truly awkward counter-your-own-Phage-and-then-Disentomb-her shenanigans. I don't think any of these are reliable enough to make Phage a worthwhile commander.
The easiest way to play Phage in Commander is to use an alternative general and just dig her out. Your options include:

Maralen gives you the built-in ability to search for Phage, though the big downside of running her is that your opponents will tend to immediately assume your deck is an "unfair" combo deck before the game even begins. (Ditto Griselbrand, but he's banned.)
Cards like Sheoldred, Whispering One and Geth, Lord of the Vault are less threatening but still thoroughly powerful mono-black generals.
The black legends from Odyssey and Onslaught blocks are the closest "flavor" fit. Going whole-hog "Vorthos" here probably means playing Cabal Patriarch as your general with Phage, Chainer, Dementia Master, Braids, Cabal Minion, and Balthor the Defiled in the deck. With cards like Cabal Coffers and Mirari, you can still make a pretty powerful deck despite any flavor constraints. (Alternatively, you could use Karona as your general and play Phage and Akroma within the deck in reference to her individual parts.)

Great recommendations!

Note: Griselbrand is currently banned in Commander, so he's no longer an option.

Lich's Mirror should also work to get her out. Or maybe not.

Yes, this will let you put Phage on the battlefield and not lose. It's not very practical, though, since it will get shuffled into your library almost immediately, along with the rest of your permanents.


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Sorcerers versus Seafaring
We had this situation in a game of Small World tonight. Seafaring Tritons took over the lake (using two race tokens) and then removed one of them during re-deployment. There was an adjacent Sorcerer player and we wondered if he could use their special ability to take over the lake. We ended up not doing it, but it seems to me that the Sorcerer's special ability would allow them to replace the single Triton there and conquer the region. Would that work?

No, you need to be able to conquer the adjacent territory. Only races with Seafaring can conquer the sea or Lake Regions. The rules state on the Seafaring ability (page 11):

As long as your Seafaring race is active, you may conquer the Seas and the Lake, ... Only seafaring races may occupy the seas and the lake.

On the Conquering a Region section (page 4), regarding what conquering means.

To conquer a region, a player must have available to deploy: 2 Race tokens + 1 additional Race token for each (cardboard piece) ... Seas and Lakes cannot usually be conquered.
Upon conquering a Region, the player must deploy the Race tokens he used to conquer this Region inside the borders on the map.

Following Conquests, showing that you must have conquered a region to occupy it.

Each of the newly conquered Regions must be adjacent to (i.e. Sharing a border with) a Region already occupied by his active race tokens, unless permitted by his Race and Special Power combo.

And finally, the sorcerer's ability (page 9)

Once per turn per opponent, your Sorcerers can conquer a Region by substituting one of your opponent's Active tokens with one of your own taken from the storage tray.


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Clarification on Privileged Attacks
When making a Privileged Attack, the rules say that no one else can "interfere" with it. "Interfere" is defined by the rules as spending money from your Illuminati group to aid either side. Can the attacking group and the defender group still spend money during a privileged attack? Can their respective Illuminati?

Yes, the attacker and defender groups and Illuminatis can spend money during a Privileged Attack.  A Privileged Attack only means that external parties are forbidden from interfering.
I think you can justify this solely by reference to the traditional usages of English words: you don't "interfere" in your own attack on someone by bringing more resources to bear; neither do you "interfere" in your own defence by using everything in your power to defend yourself.  To "interfere", both generally and also in this specific case, means to "intrude into the affairs of others".  Attacker and defender are not "others" in this case, and can get involved in the struggle to the maximum of their ability and financial resources...


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Can I buy a district after landing there by taking the train?
In Monopoly City can I buy a district after landing there taking the train via a station?
Background:
I rolled the dice, went forward and ended up on a district owned by me that includes a train station. I decided to take the train to Diamond Hills which had a train station as well, but was not owned by anyone yet. Can I now purchase Diamond Hills?

Yes, the rules specifically tell you you can. Under the Where Did You Land section on (page 7)

A district you own:
Do nothing unless there is a railroad on it. If so, you can immediately move to any other district with a railroad on it and buy it or auction it (if it is unowned) or pay rent (if it belongs to another player).

haha obviously. During our game of yesterday I read the station rules on page 9 and couldn't find the answer. So we applied common sense and came up with a house rule. The rules on page 7 are very clear though. Thanks for pointing them out to me.


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Where can I find an exhaustive inventory of cards in Ticket to Ride?
I have fallen quite in love with Ticket to Ride on my iPad, but don't have the physical board game. As I attempt to master the game, I'm finding one difficulty, however- I don't have an exhaustive inventory of the destination cards in particular, nor do I know the odds of drawing any one color after a certain number have already been drawn.
Knowing, for example, the number of color cards would give me a better handle on the odds of drawing say, a 6th, 7th, or 8th white. As the game progresses, that is the kind of information that would allow me to plan a route.
Additionally, knowing all the destinations helps me know the best routes to take to maximize my ability to be able to draw a destination card I've already connected. (Even in the classic game, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and
Calgary, for example, appear to be far more common then, say, St. Louis.)
So, is there either a published list of all the destination cards, or else is somebody interested in posting the odds for them?

The card distribution for train cars is set out in the Ticket to Ride rulebook;
it is 8 colors with 12 of each, and 14 locomotive wilds.
There are 30 destination tickets which can be read in this image on BoardGameGeek.
They are listed here by points:
  4: Denver to El Paso
  5: Kansas City to Houston
  6: New York to Atlanta
  7: Chicago to New Orleans, Calgary to Salt Lake City
  8: Helena to Los Angeles, Duluth to Houston, Sault Ste Marie to Nashville
  9: Montreal to Atlanta, Sault Ste Marie to Oklahoma City, Seattle to Los Angeles, Chicago to Santa Fe
  10: Duluth to El Paso, Toronto to Miami
  11: Portland to Phoenix, Dallas to New York, Denver to Pittsburgh, Winnipeg to Little Rock
  12: Winnipeg to Houston, Boston to Miami
  13: Vancouver to Santa Fe, Calgary to Phoenix, Montreal to New Orleans
  16: Los Angeles to Chicago
  17: San Francisco to Atlanta, Portland to Nashville
  20: Vancouver to Montréal, Los Angeles to Miami
  21: Los Angeles to New York
  22: Seattle to New York

While not intended as such, the various aides at BoardGameGeek.com include full lists.
The t2r route points.xls file includes all 30 base tickets.
The TTR-usa 1910 Ticket Values and City Frequencies.doc includes all the 1910 tickets.

The rulebook indicates that of the 110 train cards, there are 12 each of 8 different colors, plus 14 wilds.


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Lifelink and fatal damage question
My life is down to 1 and my opponent 4. I attack with a 4/4 lifelink creature, and my opponent answered with a Shock to deal two damage to me, will I lose or will lifelink save me first?

hum... Why did your opponent wait that long to cast Shock? He could have cast it on his turn, before you untapped and drew.

maybe the 4/4 lifelink had some counter/prevent damage ability and he needed to wait for it to be tapped, or maybe it was a multiplayer game.

You will die first.
The attack phase is actually a series of steps, of which declaring the attacking creatures is only the second. After you have determined your attacking creatures, there are several opportunities for each player to play instant-speed spells (such as Shock) and abilities before the attacking creatures can deal their combat damage. So, unless you agreed to resolve combat first, if your opponent can reduce you to zero health or less, you will lose.
For reference, these are the steps of the combat phase:

At the end of the first main phase, when the stack is empty and all players have passed, combat starts. Every player can play spells and abilities now.
You declare with which creatures you want to attack, if any. You tap them, they now count as attacking.
Every player can play spells and abilities until the stack is empty and everyone passes. (This is where your opponent played Shock, which killed you right there).
The defending player declares with which creatures to block, if any. They now count as blocking.
Every player can play spells and abilities until the stack is empty and everyone passes.
Combat resolution starts. First, all creatures with First Strike and/or Double Strike now deal their damage, simultaneously.
Every player can play spells and abilities until the stack is empty and everyone passes.
All creatures with Double Strike and all creatures who didn't deal damage in the first damage step deal damage now (this is where you would have killed your opponent with the 4/4 and gained 4 life).
Every player can play spells and abilities until the stack is empty and everyone passes.
Combat ends.

You over-truncated by a step there.  There is a Beginning of Combat Step, which is after combat has begun but before attackers are declared, during which players get priority.  This is really important if you are a fan of Cauldron Dance for EDH shenanigans like some of us :)

It's also important that the default shortcut for "ready for combat?" and similar statements is an offer to pass priority to the beginning of combat step.  Casual players frequently assume they can play more sorceries if an opponent responds to that offer with a spell or ability, which is not the case under standard tournament rules.

@Affe That's very possible, I am old and wrote this down from memory :) I guess I can fix this easily by moving "beginning of combat" from my step 2 to step 1.

Sounds like shock was used before blockers were declared and therefore before combat damage was dealt. In this case, the shock will resolve and reduce your life to -1 before your creature can attack. You lose.

You're dead.
You and your opponent both have the opportunity to cast spells and activate abilities during both the declare attackers and declare blockers steps, both of which happen before the combat damage step. So you've taken the two damage well before your creature would deal its damage and let you gain life.
Of course, this is a slightly unusual situation anyway - your opponent could've probably just killed you with Shock earlier in the turn, or even during their turn.

could have been multiplayer. That would have been the best opportunity to cast shock.

@Jefromi, could you put your second paragraph into comments? It's not really important to the question and more appropriate as a comment.

@Hackworth: I think it's perfectly appropriate in the answer the more concise way it's written now.


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Bridge - Counting and Visualising
Been playing Bridge for a couple of years now. Have improved in bidding, strategy and other stuff. But one place where there is no improvement is counting and visualising.
At best, I can keep track and visualise trumps in opp hands. Becomes very difficult to do any more than that. If I try anything else - i.e. tracking/counting a 2nd suit, visualising opponents hands etc, I lose even the trump count. Basically, my mind just can't visualise and juggle these things. I have tried all standard ways to improve. But of no avail. Anyone have any radical methods to help with this?
I am looking for people for who this didn't come easy.

Can you describe what you tried? ("Standard" ways, might be different for different people)

Tried 1) memorising different distribution patterns eh 4-4-4-1, 4-3-3-3 etc - all possible combinations 2) Tried visualising a distribution of each suit or of each opponent at the beginning based on distribution and keep adjusting - but the brain is just not able to juggle so many things. The moment I think about strategy everything else goes out of my mind. 3) Counting up, Counting down - anything else given in books/websites.

There are many books written on this subject; Ron Klinger's 'Improve Your Bridge Memory' was the one I used, but I imagine your public library or bridge club will have a selection.  The problem is that nobody but yourself knows what methods work for you.
Two examples from Klinger, one easy and one harder; you don't need to count how many of your own trumps (or other important suit) have gone, so long as you pause at the beginning of the hand, say to yourself 'I have four trumps and dummy has three; that means they have six between them', and then count each time one of the six is played.  And secondly, always try to make up a mnemonic for a principle: playing Roman Blackwood, 5H shows two aces the same colour, 5S either two major-suit or two minor-suit aces, and 5NT two either hearts and clubs or spades and diamonds. That's hard to remember, but if you think of clubs and hearts as both a rounded shape, and remember C for colour, RA for rank and SH for shape, C-RA-SH should be enough to remind you what your response should be. (You make up your own mnemonics based on what helps you to remember, of course).
Personally, I found the second tip useful and the first counter-productive; but only you can tell what will work for you, and only after hard work both in finding methods and in practising.  (Don't believe anyone who says 'it just comes naturally'; usually they have been playing for thirty years, and have forgotten how long it took before it all came together.)
Edit: I gather the real problem is remembering everything at once. In that case, try to build up your memory gradually, and try to separate the problems. So don't try to remember the exact probability of every possible distribution, start with '3-1 is 50%, while 3-2 is 60%'; you can add more, and refine the numbers, as you get better.  And having made your plan based on the assumption that trumps will split 2-2, you don't need to remember why you came to that conclusion, just to count how many have shown up.

I don't have problems remembering bidding conventions.

The Chase-Simon experiment with expert and novice chess players suggests that you don't need a superhuman memory to play bridge, and, moreover, that what you perceive as a memory-skills deficit between yourself and better bridge players is more likely to be caused by their being good bridge players rather than the cause.
(If you haven't read about this experiment, it's explained nicely in the first couple paragraphs of this webpage. The short summary is that chess experts are way better than chess novices at remembering realistic chess boards and absolutely no better than them at memory tasks not directly related to the play of chess:
https://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericssonk/ericsson.mem.exp.html)
The point is that the human mind is not so good at remembering lists of numbers, but is great at remembering narratives. When you start playing bridge, "I started with AKJT3 of spades and dummy had 84" sounds like a list of numbers. After a while, it seems like a narrative.
So, my first advice would be: forget about your memory trouble, and get better at bridge. The most fun and productive way to do this is to play at your local duplicate club. This is much better than the slow play you will get by taking bridge lessons or playing casually with your family/friends (I don't recommend jumping into the deep end of the pool for total novices, but it sounds like you know what you're doing). Slow play is particularly taxing for the memory.
My second advice would be: turn what you see as soon as the dummy comes down into a narrative. You can start this simply. If you are declaring: "I am missing 5 trumps and we have a lot of clubs, so I hope I can set them up after a few tricks." Much later in the hand, when you are thinking "I can't remember if my 8 of clubs is good or not," hopefully you will remember, "wait, I started out with a bunch of them, and I don't remember anything really crazy happening, like righty being void in clubs, so, probably my 8 is good." If you find yourself wondering about the 6 of diamonds, well, you and your partner had bunches of spades and clubs, so it seems unlikely that the 6 is good late in the hand. Of course this is not perfect or even very good, but it's a lot better than giving up.
Or, if you don't have a long suit, maybe there's a suit that you'd like to finesse in. Remembering that this was the suit you were trying to grab an extra winner in will help you remember that you started with AQ in your hand (or maybe a naked king on the board, or...) Or maybe RHO bid hearts a billion times before you finally shut her up with 4 spades and partner comes down with a long heart suit. Part of your story is "there aren't a lot of hearts to my left." Maybe you only remember that.
As you get better you will get really used to situations like the ones above. So hopefully, after a month or so of playing at the club once a week, you will have been declarer with a long side suit sufficiently many times that it's no problem remembering exactly how extreme your extra length is (8? 9? 10 cards in the suit?). And then remembering strength within the suit, etc., will follow.

Also, since you ask for experience from people who also had trouble. I played bridge (badly) for many years on BBO before going to the club and never got any better. I found club play improved my memory substantially. I remember that when I first started going, partner would ask after a hand "how many spades did you have?" and I'd have no clue. After a year, it was easy, not because I got better at remembering numbers, but because I could remember "I was hoping you would open 1NT because then I could transfer you to my horrible 6 card spade suit and pass." Having a regular partner helps.

I fully agree it's not a memory skill. But it's a skill alright. It's not something everybody can learn, though everyone can improve. The skill I am missing is to arrange stuff in my mind & solve problems in my mind. With any kind of problems which aren't trivial, in general, I am very good if I have a paper & pen in hand & pretty average without a paper and pen in hand. I have compared it with others who are better than me in solving stuff in their mind, but I kick their ass if I have a pen and paper with me. It's this same skill which gives me problems in bridge also.

Here's the way I've approached it. I am still learning but seem to be getting better. First, my partner and I practice counting and visualizing online against a pair of robots. There are downsides to the robots (they don't always card the way humans do), but they're good about letting you chat as much as you like. After bidding, whether we're declarers or defenders, we'll discuss what we've learned from the bidding, what honors are out there and where they might be, and how we think the cards might be distributed.  We then begin thinking about strategy and potential obstacles. I've found that if you have a strategy (or several) mapped out, it becomes a little easier to count, b/c u know what you care about and what you don't. Maybe you can see that a 4-1 break in a suit will hurt your strategy, so you look for that break and change your strategy if the suit breaks that way. Maybe you know from the bidding that the K of hearts and the A of diamonds can't be in the same hand so you look for the play of one of them to figure out the location of the other. By thinking about the hand that way, counting becomes part of your overall play and not something separate.  Of course, this takes a lot of thinking when the hand is first laid down, but I'm hoping it will become faster as we practice more. A good teacher is also crucial, b/c they help to give you ideas about what to look for.

Counting trumps is a good start. If at least one of the opponents has bid a suit, you can count him/her for at least five of them (except for a short minor). By looking and your holdings and dummy in this suit, you can get and idea of what the fourth person has.
The other thing is that if one opponent has bid/overcalled and you are in game (less so in a part score), you can expect the bidding opponent to have most of the outstanding honors. This is particularly true if non-bidding opponent has played an honor or two early on.
Likewise, if neither opponent has bid, you can expect outstanding honors to be SPLIT, meaning that if one opponent plays a bunch of honors early, the other probably has the remainder. And probably neither opponent has a six card suit, and possibly not a five card suit.

I can count one suit. But if I start thinking about a 2nd suit, I forget my strategy and the first suit count. I know all the theory about splitting etc, but it doesn't help.

@user93353: One world class expert, Terence Reese, advised people to focus on TWO suits (not four). Most people look at two many. But if you can look at only one, that's probably "too few." As a practical matter, if you "know" three suits, the fourth is pre-determined. Knowing two gets you a long way there; knowing one does not.

I am not sure how it is for an expert - but for me, even if I manage to remember three suits, the mental jugglery of calculating the 4th suit from the three will make me forget something else - i.e some count, or my strategy for the hand etc. This isn't because I am weak with calculations - I think I am pretty good at it. But because I am unable to multitask between so many things.


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BlackJack Game with no splitting
I'm playing a black jack game that does not allow splitting. My question is, do I play A/A as a soft 12 or hard 2? If I play it as a soft 12, do I follow the same hit/stand procedures as say a soft 13 (in other words, double if the dealer shows 5 or 6). Recommendations? Should I ALWAYS play it as soft until it becomes a hard number (provided I'm not at 18 through 21)??
Thanks for your input

I am no expert but this would be my answer.
I would play it as a soft 12, like a soft 13, and hold on to a good position (18 to 21) unless it becomes a hard number. This seems to be the most practical solution I could think of.

You're obviously going to hit, so the only question is whether to double or not.  Since you have about a 70% chance of ending at something 16 or lower on a double, you really have to be looking for the dealer to bust. There's no chance of you busting, so if the dealer is showing a lousy card like a 5 or a 6, doubling seems to make sense.  Otherwise, I'd just take a hit and proceed from there.

It's hard to say for sure, because there aren't a lot of places that prevent you from splitting aces, so there isn't a lot of strategy available that I could find about a soft 12 that says anything other than "split them, duh." From what I could find, it looks to me like the consensus is to play a soft 12 just a bit more conservatively than a soft 13.
One site I found recommends playing a soft 12 as a soft 13 unless the dealer has a 5 or 6 showing; in that case, he mentions doubling down on 13 through 18, but does not mention 12. That could be an oversight, or it could mean he would just hit a soft 12 ... he does mention a soft 12 in other situations. (I have seen this mentioned other places too ... not sure who posted it first.)
Another one plays them the same except for a 6, where you would double down with 13 but not with 12. That site specifically mentions a soft 12 separately from A-A (so you know to split aces if you can and hit if you can't - he does not recommend doubling down with soft 12 against anything.


text:
Can a Wizard use his charm ability with no cards in the hand?
In Munchkin, Can a Wizard use his charm ability when he has no cards to discard in the hand?

No he can't, although official evidence is a little circumstantial. This question is in an old version of the Munchkin FAQ (but not the current one):

Q. A wizard must discard his hand to use his charm ability. Can he do
  this if he has no cards?
A. No. If you have no cards, you don't have a hand.

This is corroborated on the Munchkin wiki:

You can't use the wizard's abilities if you don't have any cards in your hand.

As was already stated in the other answers, discarding an empty hand is not possible.
This clarification is missing in the new Munchkin FAQ, because the wizard cards' text changed in the newer editions. The changelog summarizes:

The Charm Spell now requires a hand of at least three cards. You cannot discard a smaller hand to activate this power. To balance this, the Flight Spell now may be used after the Run Away roll.

This means with the old rules you need at least one card, with the new rules at least three cards for the Charm spell.


text:
Picking up a pile
We play by the old-fashioned (original) canasta rules (not the American). Question is: if your opponents make a canasta, and you hold two cards in that rank, and the opponent to your right discards that rank, can you pick up the pile? Is this different with different sets of rules?

Yes, you can, (For example, your opponents have a Canasta of 9s, and you have two 9s in your hand, and then they discard a 9).
But I'm wondering why they would discard it instead of adding it to their Canasta (unless you have the rule where once you get a Canasta, you put that pile aside and it is not allowed to be added to).

Sometimes it's better to have a safer discard than an extra 5-10 points.

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


text:
Bang! 6 Player Problem - It's unbalanced one way or another.
My group has played a good amount of bang of the year. 6 player bang however always seems to be unbalanced no matter what we try.
We've taken the advice of a message board to shuffle randomly a outlaw or a renegade instead of the third outlaw. But that conflicts with robbers roost who can do actions given an unbalance in players.
We've tried two renegades, or two deputies, but either way it becomes really unbalanced in favor of the law.
We've tried better informed players where the renegade is strongly encouraged to play as the law until the outlaws are eliminated. This has proven to be the most effective. But our data tracking sheet is still showing a clear biast for outlaws to win.
Also we've tried giving the sheriff a built in mustang. This helps, but is much like the random renegade/outlaw where it's still unbalanced it's just random which way its going to lean. Because it's just a matter of luck if the outlaws are able to get a gun or not.
The only thing that seems to come close is a general rule that no one can shoot bangs against the sheriff on turn 1. This prevents the sheriff from getting jumped early and rallying the outlaws before the other two players have time (or cards) to respond.
Any one else have any suggestions for 6 player bang~?

Can you provide more information about why you think it is unbalanced? I have played a lot of games and have found no issues at all with 6 players and it seems to be balanced to me. As for your comment about the renegade why would they ever play anything but law until later in the game? The renegade can't win until all 3 outlaws and the deputy is dead and is best served if they convince the sheriff early in the game that they are the deputy.

Actually I would go as far as saying that no matter how many players there are in a game the renegade should always start out playing law (even in  4 players where no deputy) since they always have to kill all the outlaws before they can win and any deputies that may also be in the game.

For the Dice version of Bang, 6 also feels unbalanced.  Even with different gameplay, the hidden role balance just isn't right.  We've had to resort to giving the sheriff preferential character selection in setup (better health/abilities).

Our data shows that in 6 player with out any modifications there's a steep biast for outlaws to win. There's always a good chance that an outlaw is on the sherif's left or right if not both. Which really puts the sherif at a disadvantage in most games. Also with an outlaw on the left or right they usually come out shooting against the sherif and rally the other two early on. There's alot going against the sherif in a 6 player game.

I think it's a good rule of thumb to act as a deputy early, but working with the other deputies to buff the sherif is not always a good idea. It can oftern put you in a position where its you and the sherif and but the sherif's sitting pretty with barrel/mustang/hideout or something.

From reading your question and responses in the comments I would say that 100% you are playing the game in the spirit that it was designed.
Rules

4 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 2 Outlaws
  5 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 2 Outlaws, 1 Deputy
  6 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 3 Outlaws, 1 Deputy
  7 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 3 Outlaws, 2 Deputy

Killing a player

Eliminating a character
  When you lose your last life point, you are eliminated and your game
  is over, unless you immediately play a Beer (see below). When you are
  eliminated from the game, show your role card and discard all the cards you
  have in hand and in play.
  Penalties and Rewards
  •    If the Sheriff eliminates a Deputy, the Sheriff must discard all the cards
  he has in hand and in play.
  •    Any player eliminating an Outlaw (even if the eliminating player is
  himself an Outlaw!) must draw a reward of 3 cards from the deck.

End Game

The game ends when one of the following conditions is met:
  a) the Sheriff is killed. If the Renegade is the only one alive, then he wins.
  Otherwise, the Outlaws win;
  b) all the Outlaws and the Renegade are killed. The Sheriff and his
  Deputies win.

I will break down the conditions that need to happen in order for the renegade to win.
4 Player Game:

The renegade needs to kill (or assist) both outlaws
Once both outlaws are dead the renegade needs to kill the sheriff

5 Player Game:

The renegade needs to kill (or assist) both outlaws
The renegade needs to kill (or assist) the deputy
Once both of those are done the renegade needs to kill the sheriff

6 Player Game:

The renegade needs to kill (or assist) all three outlaws
The renegade needs to kill (or assist) the deputy
Once both of those are done the renegade needs to kill the sheriff

7 Player Game:

The renegade needs to kill (or assist) all three outlaws
The renegade needs to kill (or assist) both deputies
Once both of those are done the renegade needs to kill the sheriff

Note with expansions there is also an 8 player game that adds in a 2nd renegade
8 Player Game:

The renegade needs to kill (or assist) all three outlaws
The renegade needs to kill (or assist) the deputy
The renegade needs to kill (or assist) the other rendage
Once all of those are done the renegade needs to kill the sheriff

I think it's a good rule of thumb to act as a deputy early, but working with the other deputies to buff the sherif is not always a good idea. It can oftern put you in a position where its you and the sherif and but the sherif's sitting pretty with barrel/mustang/hideout or something.

What you are forgetting or ignoring is that with no matter how many players (4-8) a game is setup with a renegade will have to ensure that every player but the sheriff is killed in order for them to have a shot at winning. So it will always come down to a situation where the sheriff and renegade are in a dual so there is no reason not to help the sheriff kill the outlaws. In fact if you do a convincing enough job you might get the sheriff to kill the deputy which would make them lose all their items and become easier to kill.
Another thing you should remember is that not all games are designed to be perfectly balanced for one side or the other and in truth the real role that has reason to complain is the renegade since they can only win when everyone else is dead.
I would also like to point out that in a 6 player (or larger) it is very possible for the players later in play order to be killed before they even get a turn so I would not say this game considers balance at all.

Given that everyone has an equal chance at being a member of the advantaged group, a small imbalance isn't a big deal. For instance, if the outlaws win 60% of the time, that means that The Law has a more challenging game. If it's 90%, though, then it can get dispiriting to play as The Law.
For balancing, the simplest balancing is to just give The Law advantages: more bullets, let them draw more cards, etc. Or let them draw two character cards, and each turn they choose whose special ability they have for that turn.
More complicated advantages would be to change how the knowledge works. For instance, the Sheriff gets to see one role card.

After playing BANG! for a few years, my group realized similar issues to yours.  The game is always going to be biased against the Renegade, and the game continues to be more "bursty" the more players you add (because all of the Outlaws all know who their target is, and more players means more Outlaws).
A few solutions we've implemented:

Fog of War:  For the first few rounds, players get a bonus to their defense that decreases by 1 each turn.  Fog of War is equal to [# of Outlaws - 2].

Improves Sheriff survivability in early rounds.

Grave Robbing: Once all Outlaws have been eliminated, all players that are not the Sheriff draw a card.

Improves Renegade chances, especially when playing with more than 1 Renegade (which I recommend past 6 players)

Man of the Law: When the Sheriff dies, the Deputies reveal themselves.  The Deputy next in turn loses 1 HP and becomes the new Sheriff.  This life loss cannot kill the new Sheriff.

Improves chances of The Law dramatically.

For 6 players, the Fog of War variant should work fine to mitigate the burst-damage of 3 outlaws.  If you feel otherwise, replace it with the Man of the Law and the Grave Robbing variants.
When playing 7 players, I'd recommend using a second Renegade instead of a Deputy, along with the Grave Robbing variant, as this allows Renegades to invest heavily into dealing with Outlaws while still having enough resources to deal with the 2nd phase of the game.

I am not sure how any of those rules make the game more balanced. Fog of war doesn't seem like it will protect players from AE attacks or ones with unlimited range. Grave robbing seems to give the law a bigger boost as the renegades still have to kill each other. Man of the Law will make it next to impossible for the renegade to win as they may have to kill the sheriff up to 3 times to win.

@JoeW FoW won't protect players from AE attacks, but generally, those are much more limited than standard Bang cards, and most cards with unlimited range also come with additional costs (like discarding a card or telegraphing your move as a green card).  The question is, does this rule reduce the risk of burst-damage in early rounds, or does it not?  There'll always be exceptions, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.

@JoeW Grave Robbing is one I would only recommend if you don't have more Deputies than Renegades (which I suggested to be done later, when having games with more players).  With 2 Renegades and 1 Deputy, The Law is only getting 30% of the benefit.

@JoeW Lastly, MotL is something I'd really only recommend to deal with the bursting factor of 3+ outlaws.  It becomes more balanced with more Renegades, as it allows Renegades to quickly take down the Sheriff if he's weak without losing the game, while also revealing and weakening their common enemy (the Deputy).  Instead of a bunch of in-fighting, the Renegades can pull off what's effectively an Outlaw strategy of going all-in.

You say that but I have lost count of how many times the 7th/8th players have been killed due to multiple AE/unlimited range attacks before they can get a single turn. As for grave robbing as long as you have more than a single renegade it will always been in the laws favor as the renegade has to kill everyone else while the law just has to slowly wear down everyone but the sheriff to win. In a game with 2 renegades and 1 deputy as an example the renegades have to  kill 2 other players before they can kill the sheriff and hope during that time the sheriff doesn't get over powerful.

@JoeW I've also experienced the opposite, with the Renegades picking apart the Sheriff until he's 1 HP with hardly any gear, baiting out the Deputy to show his hand, killing him, and then dueling each other while letting a crippled Sheriff watch.  As for the AE damage, you're right that it's an issue, and one I've been frustrated with myself, although I have not implemented a solution that tackled it directly.

@JoeW Although the Ghost Town and Dead Man event cards (From High Noon or Fistful of Cards) really helped mitigate the frustration of a player getting killed early.

You may have but from my experience that has tended to leading to the renegades being killed faster since the deputies know exactly who to target and the sheriff getting killed by mistake letting the outlaws win.


text:
Charter boat vs. Sea Lanes
The action Charter boat states that one can move to a city as long as one can draw a route to it by sea.
The draw sea-lane action states that it's only allowed to cross one red line.
So my question is, which of the three interpretations is correct?

Charter boat refers to routes as previously defined sea-lanes.
Charter boat can move to any city to which there's a complete stretch of water.
Charter boat can move to any city to which there's a complete stretch of water, but only crossing one red line.

The rulebook (Page 6) is actually quite clear on this:

SEA LANES & SEA ROUTES
Locations are connected to each other in the ocean by sea lanes.
Locations directly connected by a sea lane are adjacent.
A series of connected sea lanes is called a sea route.

Given this definition of a sea route, you can only charter a boat from and to a location where you can trace a continuous series of series of sea lanes. So your option 1 is the correct interpretation.

Thanks! Somehow I missed this, but that's the interpretation we used (and hence lost).

@Þórgnýr Not a problem, it's easy to miss rules in Pandemic Legacy with so much changing all the time. Don't forget to accept an answer if you feel that someone has covered everything.

Right. Learning.


text:
Catan Cities and Knights: Aqueduct and The Robber
If you have the Aqueduct, do you take a resource card if you didn't receive any production due to the fact the robber was on your only producing hex for that turn.

Yes. The rules text for Aqueduct is

If, when the dice are rolled for production, you do not receive any resources or commodities, you may take any one resource of your choice from the bank. You may not, however, use this ability when a "7" is rolled.

I think the first sentence is sufficient evidence: the rule does not care about why you do not receive resources (except as qualified by the second sentence), so your case counts too. However, I include the second sentence as additional evidence: it shows they thought about and explicitly listed exceptions. Your case is not listed, so your case is not an exception.


text:
When you use "just say no" to a "rent" do others player still need to pay?
When player A uses two colored rent. And player B uses "just say no".
Does player C still needs to pay to player A?

What do either of those methods mean?

@JoeW I think you believe this is a Monopoly question but it actually is a Monopoly Deal question as the tag suggests. More info on it here

The wording on the "Just Say No" card says "Use any time when an action card is played against you. Play in the center to use." Which doesn't even tell you what the card does. So that's no help.
The rules themselves say "Use this card at any time to cancel the effect when another player plays any Action card against you. If that player has another Just Say No card, they can use it to cancel yours ... sorry! Can also be banked as money." Ok, so it "cancels the effect". But is that effect the whole card, or just the bit where you have to pay rent? Not clear at all.
The official website, as far as I can tell, doesn't exist. However, there is what appears to be a fairly official-looking fan-built site at http://www.monopolydealrules.com that has a FAQ, which includes an entire section on "Just Say No". Question number 7 seems relevant:

7. Does a Just Say No cancel the action against you or everyone? If I Just Say No someone's two color rent card do I only get out of paying rent or does everyone?
This is something that can be played either way but most people play that it only no's the action for you. So in a scenario where someone charges everyone two million using a It's My Birthday card and you lay a Just Say No, only you would not have to pay.

So the most official source available that actually answers the question is not actually official at all, and doesn't actually answer the question one way or the other (although it does make a suggestion as to which ruling to pick). Short of playing the Ubisoft version and seeing how the cards are implemented in it, I don't think there is an answer to have.

I see, we will probably used the most used rules
and thanks for sharing that site

I actually don't know the game but what I can see from the Wikipedia page the card only collects rent from one player any way:

Multi-colored rent cards: The function of this kind of cards is collect rent of any one of the colors of your properties from one rival.

That's true of the multi-coloured rent card (the one that collects on any colour of property), but there are also rent cards that let you choose one of two specific colours, and they collect from all other players. I will need to check my cards at home to see the specific wording of the cards.

@ConMan is right
i meant normal/double colored rent cards not multi/all colored ones
from the same wiki:
Rent cards: You can collect rent of either one set of your properties from all rivals.


text:
One Night ultimate werewolf Hunter Question
So I just bought One Night ultimate werewolf and I am about to play it for the first time in about 2 hours but I have a few questions:

I know that in the night, you do the action of whatever was your card at the start of the game, regardless of if that card was switched. But what about the Hunter? So if I start with the hunter, but later on it gets switched and I don't know that. At the end of the game I die, can I still point at someone that also dies? Or do I actually need to have the hunter card.
Likewise if someone dies and figures out they have the hunter card, are they allowed to use the hunter power?
If a doppelganger copies the hunter power, how does she prove that the hunter was the card that she looked at? I don't think my friend group would cheat but I also don't like having the option for someone to lie outside of the game content (lieing inside the game is of course great).

Let me know if that didn't make sense. I have searched for these answers but can't seem to find them so it must be something simple that I am overlooking.

The whole idea of who you are in ONUW isn't as clearly presented as it should be, so you are perfectly within reason to be confused!

For voting, it matters who has the hunter when voting, not who started with it. What you started with only matters for what you do during the night phase. Similar with the Tanner and the Werewolves.
For the doppelgänger, you just have to trust them. You always have to trust them to tell the truth about what they copied, no matter what it is.

1) & 2)

If Hunter dies, the player he is pointing at dies as well

So it resolves like this: you are voted out > you reveal your card and find out you're a Hunter > the person you pointed at during voting also dies. It doesn't matter who was Hunter originally, just who is Hunter at the end.
3) If it bothers you that much, have Doppelganger write role they saw and possibly person who had it during their night phase.


text:
Game of Thrones Catan: Can Othell move a road segment from an “interrupted” road chain?
PlayerA has the longest road, via a long road-chain, like this:
A - - - - - A
PlayerB interrupts that road-chain with a settlement, like so:
A - - B - - - A
PlayerA has now lost Longest Road, because they no longer have an “unbroken road of at least 5 segments”.
Now the question we have is: can PlayerA use Othell Yarwick to move the segments of this now-broken road?
The text of Othell’s card is:

“Remove 1 of your roads from the board and rebuild it for free at a
  different legal location. The road you remove must only be connected
  on 1 of its 2 ends to your own pieces. Ignore opponents’ pieces when
  checking connections.”

...so that means that PlayerA can’t use Othell, right?
(I think I’ve just answered my own question by typing this up, but I wanted to post this question in case others also had it!)

You can answer your own question and accept it.

No, Othell cannot move PlayerA's road segments.
Even though PlayerA lost their longest-road, they cannot move these road segments - because, as Othell's card says, "The road you remove must only be connected on 1 of its 2 ends to your own pieces. Ignore opponents' pieces when checking connections."

Correct. When ignoring opponents' pieces, that road piece is
connected on both of its sides to its owner's other pieces.


text:
Playing pairs of non-cat cards
I am unclear on a detail.  Can I play a pair of cards with instructions (such as shuffles)?
From the instructions: "If you play matching pairs with no instructions on them,....".
It seems like there might be "advanced rules" where this is allowed.

Can you please add an example to your question? That would make it easier to understand what you're trying to ask.

The instructions that come with the game have the quote in the question and indicate that there are basic and advanced rules.
The basic rules state that cards without instructions must be saved and played in pairs. They say that "if you play matching pairs with no instructions on them," you can randomly steal another player's card.  With the later section, it is clear this only applies to "cat" cards with no instructions.
There is a later section "for advanced play" which specifically states that "play pairs .... no longer only applies to cards with no instructions on them, it now applies to ANY cards in the deck with the same icons in the corners".  It also gives the rules for three of a kind play and 5 different cards play.  This seems to be the only set of rules listed on the "official rules" webpage in the other answer.
Ergo: Whether you can play non-cat pairs is based on which rule set you are following.

Yes, you can play 2 of any card as long as the icons match per the official rules.

Important note: You can play any card as two or three of a kind, as long as the icons in the upper left match.


text:
What happens if your partner hits you in Pegs and Jokers?
Question for marble movement.
Your partner has a marble in their in-spot (start of home). If you hit that marble with yours, what happens to your partners marble? And yours?
We have been playing with this sequence of events:

The rule is that when you hit your partners marble it is sent to its in-spot.
That position is now occupied by your marble so now your partners marble hits yours and sends you to your in-spot.
The end result would be both of you are in your in-spots.

Any thoughts on this play?

Yes, that is actually (and strangely) correct.
https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/72993/instruction-sheet

Rule 3:

If a player lands on a hole occupied by a teammate's ("your partner's") pegs, the teammate’s peg is moved to the hole directly in front of his/her home position ("the in-spot").
If your partner's home position hole ("in-spot") is occupied by one of his/her own pegs then move that peg to his/her start position ("start area").
If your partner's home position hole ("in-spot") is occupied by any other peg, follow rules 3 and 4 recursively until the last peg has found an unoccupied hole.

Rule 4:

If a player lands on a hole occupied by an opponent’s peg, the opponent’s peg is returned to the opponent’s start position.

Some of the basic rules:

You cannot pass or land on your own marble (either moving forward or moving backward).
You can pass or land on your partner's or an opponent's marble.
If you lands on your partner's marble, your partner's marble is moved to its in-spot
(the space just outside of the safe/home area).
If your partner's in-spot is occupied by one of your marbles, that marble is moved to its in-spot and then the landed on marble is moved to your partner's now empty in-spot.
If your partner's in-spot is occupied by any other marble, that marble is returned to its starting position ("start area").
If you lands on an opponent's marble, the opponent's marble is returned to its starting position ("start area").

Other links:
https://liftbridgefurniture.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Lift-Bridge-Furniture-How-to-Play-Pegs-and-Jokers.pdf
http://www.rovin.texasgoodsam.com/Games/Jokers%20&%20Marbles%20Game%20Rules.pdf


text:
Minimum score for 7 letters and what beats it
My girlfriend and I got into a discussion about scrabble the other day and we were wondering what the smallest score you could get for a 7 letter word is, presuming the board is empty. The word can be placed anywhere and all other scrabble rules are adhered to.
And then what would be the smallest scoring word that would be able to beat said 7 letter word.
Is there a way you can work this out? I could probably work out the first bit if I had a scrabble board but I wouldn't know where to start with the second part.

Playing anywhere on an empty board is too contrived to be relevant.  This question would be better if it were asking about any possible legal Scrabble setup.

The minimum score for a seven letter word if you can place the word anywhere is 55.
e.g.

RETiNAs C2 across. (lower case indicate blanks)

The score is 5 for RETNA, 0 for the blanks, and 50 bonus for using all 7 letters. The word would lie on a TL square, but since this is covered by a blank, it gives no bonus since 3x0 = 0.
This could be beaten by a three-letter word e.g.

ZAX A1 across

The score is 19 x 3 = 57. I can't think of any common three letter word that would fit here, but ZAX is valid in both TWL and SOWPODS dictionaries. For common words, I suspect you'd have to go to four letters and something like QUIZ.
The largest possible score for a two-letter word, before bonus squares, is 11 (QI, ZA or ZO), so you couldn't get higher than 33.
While these match the criteria in your question, they could never occur in isolation in a real game since they would either have to be opening moves across the central DW square, or joined onto existing words.

In a real game, the minimum is 56 due to the need to connect to another word.  Also, in a real game, a two-letter word can score over 60, such as if there is an "A" next to a triple letter score, in which case you can play "ZO", also making the word "ZA", with the Z on the triple letter score for both words.

Are you interpreting it as "smallest (scoring word)" rather than "(smallest scoring) word"? The latter seems the natural reading, although rather vacuous: the answer is obviously a word scoring 56 points.

The minimum turn score for a 7-letter word is 5, supposing that the 7 tiles are both blanks and 5 1-point tiles, no premium squares were covered in that turn, and fewer than 7 tiles were played in that turn (that is, at least one tile in that word had been played earlier).
The minimum turn score for playing 7 tiles in one turn is 56, not 55.
If the board is empty, the word played will get doubled, and so will score at least 5*2+50=60.
If none of the tiles played hooks anything, they make a word of 8 or more letters. If any of the tiles played hooks anything, 8 or more tiles will be involved in the score: the 7 played and at least one other in at least one hook word. These 8 tiles will score at least 6 before the bonus is added.

You're absolutely correct in your reasoning, but the question states "presuming the board is empty [and] the word can be placed anywhere"

The lowest score possible, under real game conditions, when placing all 7 tiles down in one go, is 56.
This can be achieved in many different ways around the board but it must be an 8-letter word that is played, and it must involve 6 single point scoring tiles and both blanks.
One way is by playing an 8-letter word, all single scoring tiles and both blanks, playing across any of the 4 central triple word squares that is already occupied by a previous turn and putting a blank scoring tile on the double letter square that is on that line.
I have scored less than 60 points, using all 7 tiles, on many occasions playing against a computer, but I`ve never scored 56.

Congratulations on your skill!

I can only assume, by the fact that you have been able to edit my post, that you are Admin.  Nij .
Could you tell me why?

@Jake - Any user with rep over 2000 can edit your answer. If anyone with less rep tries to edit it, it will have to be reviewed by two users with over 2000 rep. Welcome to the stack exchange model. As to "why": you can read that in the edit log: "Removed irrelevant meta commentary." Stack exchange is a strict Q&A site, not a discussion forum; we're interested in answering the question, and each answer should stand alone.