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1500 questions
31
votes
9 answers
Are general 3-to-1 or specific 2-to-1 ports better in Settlers of Catan?
Which type of ports do you find more useful in Settlers of Catan, General 3-to-1 ports or 2-to-1 ports for a specific resource?
ICodeForCoffee
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31
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11 answers
Why is real-money-betting necessary for poker to be fun?
Obviously, all games may be played with an ante, but it is often not mandatory for the game itself to be fun.
I've long wondered what makes poker so different from everything else: poker, when played without real money, instantly becomes boring and…
Gyom
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31
votes
6 answers
What makes a cooperative game require multiple players?
Many cooperative games (like Pandemic or Arkham Horror) could be played by a single player, even though they're intended to be played by a team of players striving against the board.
What makes a cooperative game require multiple players?
What…
Joe
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31
votes
11 answers
What is a good opening in Blokus?
I have played Blokus enough times to get a feel for the game and one thing that always bugs me is how to play the first few moves. There seem to be a couple of competing aims:
Get rid of big, awkwardly shaped pieces;
Create plenty of corners to…
tttppp
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31
votes
8 answers
What is the maximum score in Ticket to Ride USA, and how to aim towards it?
My wife has been playing Ticket to Ride on her iPod, and has achieved what seems to me a very impressive score of nearly 250 in the 2-player game. Naturally, nothing now matters to me except trying to beat her...
Even assuming a terrible computer…
thesunneversets
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30
votes
7 answers
How to Measure Luck vs Skill in Games?
Anyone who has played a wide variety of games knows that some games are almost purely skill (i.e. Chess, Go), while others are 100 % luck (ie. Candyland, card game of War). However, most games are in between. I would find it helpful as a game buyer…
Joe Golton
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30
votes
1 answer
What happens when you need to tear-down a hotel but no houses are in the bank in Monopoly?
Strictly following the rules of Monopoly will show that just because you have the cash to out-right buy hotels for your properties, you cannot if there are not enough houses in the bank to support an even build (ie, there are less than 12 in the…
warren
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30
votes
5 answers
Why is Homelands considered among the worst Magic expansions?
In various forums and articles, it is frequently mentioned that Homelands is one of the worst, if not the worst, Magic the Gathering expansions. Even on the main Wizards website, you will occasionally see this mentioned. Is there any canonical…
user2371
30
votes
1 answer
What are the main results in combinatorial game theory regarding Go?
What are the main mathematical results concerning Go?
Go is a game with simple rules but high game complexity. It is inefficient to apply primitive chess AI methods (such as position brute force and empirical position estimation functions) to a Go…
uhbif19
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30
votes
2 answers
Was it ever the case that Scrabble tiles had to be placed contiguously?
I learnt to play Scrabble with my grandma in the 80s, and for years she was the only person I played against (I didn't have a board). She played the rules she was taught when she first learnt the game as a young woman. One such rule was that you had…
David Neill Johnston
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30
votes
10 answers
Catan: when to buy development cards?
I never buy development cards in the beginning: the Knights are fairly useless, the Largest Army bonus is not a priority, and it's too risky to gamble on drawing a Road Building card.
When is the best time to start buying development cards?
Michiel de Mare
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30
votes
2 answers
If I buy a Mint, do I still get to use the coins from the treasures I played that turn to buy a Grand Market?
In the Prosperity rules it says "if you have 11 coppers in play and 2 Buys, you could buy a Mint, trash all of your played Treasures, and then buy a Grand Market." My question is: What are you going to buy the Grand Market with if you have trashed…
Patricia Hoppes King
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30
votes
1 answer
Two players would gain control of a creature after it dies — who does?
I have an Affa Protector enchanted with Unhallowed Pact ... My opponent kills my Affa with Dread Slaver ...
Who will take control of the creature at the end? This is taking into consideration that my aura spell was cast 5 turns ago. Meaning my aura…
Chris
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30
votes
3 answers
Seating orders effect on Puerto Rico
Within my group its taken for granted that some seats in Puerto Rico are better (if only slightly) than others. There's a general consensus that 3rd and 4th seat are strictly better than 1st, where 2nd and 5th lie is a matter of debate.
I remember…
Kevin Montrose
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30
votes
2 answers
Does Scrabble allow playing words which contain diacritics in their original spelling?
I know the fact that the words which are always capitalized aren't permitted in Scrabble. But there are some French loanwords incorporated into English, which aren't capitalized and aren't proper names in any way but contain a letter with a…
Alexander
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