In Quarriors, can the Portal Dice be used multiple times?

Question

Say I've culled most of my dice. I have 3 portals, 3 basic quiddity dice and 1 assistant. I draw all but 2 portals from my bag, and the one portal die I do draw I roll a "2 portal". I draw two portals from my bag and roll them, and put the portal die I just used into my Used pile. Both portal dice come up "2 portal" I set one in my used pile, and refill my bag from my used pile.

I imagine you can see where this is going. Is it okay to tournament-short-cut 2 of the three portal dice to "1 quiddity" and then roll the last one? Or can dice rolled this turn not go back in the bag?

Answer 1

As of the Quarmageddon expansion, the rulebook has been updated. The change is this: dice (such as Portals) that are spent during the turn are placed into a separate Spent Pile, where they are ineligible to be put back into the bag until the end of the turn. This is a change from the earlier FAQ, and makes it much less likely that in the given situation, the Portals would end up producing Quiddity.

Answer 2

You can actually shortcut all three of them to 1 Quiddity.

I had a similar question myself, and found on another forum the official answer from a representative from Wizkids, the game publisher (released 8/15/2011):

Q) Can portals keep pulling themselves?

A) Yes, but if you are only pulling portals, the player may declare that the end state of 1 Quiddity is reached and not have to keep rolling them (simulate infinite rolls)."

The moment you try to use your first +2 portal, it goes into the used pile. Since now you have two dice in your bag/used pile (the portal you pulled on the first go plus the one you just used), you can reroll them. At this point you're only pulling portals, so you can actually shortcut all three of them and get the +3 total Quiddity you want.

Answer 3

My understanding is that when the bag needs to be drawn from and cannot be, the Used pile is emptied (same mechanic as in Dominion, from which it draws inspiration). In this case, it would seem like your portal dice will be re-rolled, moved to the Used pile and returned to the bag until you've rolled your Quiddity. Should you somehow have no dice in your Used pile OR in your bag and you need to draw, I say the drawing effect is lost.

Caveat: I've never played Quarriors, but I have read the rules (and look forward to playing it). I also know it's inspired by Dominion which I HAVE played. If it turns out I've totally misinterpreted the rules, be gentle, I'm only trying to help!

Answer 4

Although, I can't figure out why (in reality) you would only have the dice in your example. Because you only cull a die when you score with another die. And your assistant is now the only score-able "creature" left in your pool...it could happen, but it shouldn't (if you actually want to win).

Anyhow, the rules states "immediate effects" such as Portals are resolved immediately and multiple immediate effects are resolved in any order you wish. The 2 portal you rolled is actively used to draw the two additional portals...after that it would be moved to "Used" and could be drawn by one of the other portals, but one of your portals would alway be in play as a "portal"...

If the last portal roll came up as a 1 portal and the drawn die rolled 1 Quiddity. You'd never get to that last portal in the bag.

So, since you can't guarantee the last "in-play" portal would alway roll a "2" portal when the others each rolled quiddity. you could only theoretically "short-circuit" one of the dice to the only non-portal action of 1 Quiddity.