Questions tagged [house-rules]
Rule changes, additions and options proposed by players for players. This is not for officially sanctioned variations - use the [variants] tag instead.
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In Euchre, can you call a misdeal with "No ace, no face, no trump"?
In the game of Euchre I have been dealt a hand of nines and tens, none of which are trump. May I declare a misdeal? I have seen some groups play that the hand is redealt by the same dealer while ...
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In Euchre, Can a person of the opposing team go alone if trump was ordered up by the other team?
I ordered up trump from the dealer of the opposing team and the same person said they were going alone and asked for their partners best card. Is that legal in the euchre rules?
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Rules for a "short to medium length" game?
The standard rules for Trivial Pursuit say that in order to win, the player must collect all six wedges from the special category spaces, then proceed to the center and answer a final question in a ...
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How to speed up a game of Empire Builder?
Are there any rules variants that I can use to speed up a game of Empire Builder? I love playing Empire Builder, but the fact that it takes so long tends to put off some of my friends.
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What's a good handicap for a less experienced player in an MTG Draft?
My drafting group has a few hardcore players like me who have been playing magic for a while. We've memorized almost all the commons and uncommons in the sets we're drafting (usually Innistrad or 2012)...
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Does anyone know how to add or write a new rule for Hand and Foot card game into boardgamesarena.com? [closed]
Does anyone know how to add or write a new rule for Hand and Foot card game into Board Game Arena, so we can play online with distant friends the same rules we would play if in person?
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Playing Pokemon TCG with more than two players
I want to play Pokemon with my brother and sister. The only problem is that there will be three people playing, which means it would be hard to alter rules so that they do not give other players an ...
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Can you use a clue that contains a word on the board within it in an unrelated way in Codenames?
In Codenames, can you give a clue when the series of letters of one of the tiles on the table is contained within it?
For example, can you give the clue "barrier" when "bar" is on the table? Or "...
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Can you trump the first trick in Spades?
I just played a game of Spades with some family. The Ace of clubs was led on the first trick, and I was out of clubs. Needing quite a few tricks, I chose to trump. My fellow players instantly ...
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Are "three way" trades allowed in Catan?
My basic understanding is that all trades must involve the player whose turn it is.
Player A, whose turn it is, has ore and wants wheat. Player B wants ore and offers brick, which is not acceptable to ...
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Friendly Blackjack, with players edge over the house?
I am hosting a casino-night party. These are not money games, but there are prizes at the end of the night for whoever wins the most chips overall. I will be dealing blackjack. I want my players ...
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Can one change their mind before playing marker or if wrong card played?
While playing Sequence and a player places his card down that he intends to play and then changes his mind before placing his chip down is that allowed? or does he have to play the card he showed? ...
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Recommended Axis & Allies alternative rules / variations?
What rule variations do you recommend for playing Axis & Allies, from ones meant to balance the game to ones that add a little spice?
Here are the variants I've played with - always looking for ...
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How can I play a short/small, but still satisfying round of Diplomacy?
I liked playing Diplomacy back in university, where I had almost no problem gathering seven people with a whole day (including the nights) to spend.
Nowadays however, I'd consider myself lucky to ...
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Good ways to speed up a game of Ticket to Ride
I just played my first game of Ticket to Ride and we loved it. Our only issue was making it a little faster. We had some small obvious ideas that wouldn't affect the gameplay much, like keep score on ...
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Texas Holdem All-In Question
This is regarding a Texas Holdem No Limit home game.
After the flop, Player 1 and Player 2 are the only remaining betting players.
After the river card, Player 1 goes all in.
Then Player 2 decides to ...
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Texas Hold ‘em Rules
I have recently played some cash games in Las Vegas and I have found that there are a number of unwritten rules that seem to have poor coherence between different players and dealers. Tournament rules ...
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How can I make Agricola vegetarian friendly?
Agricola is a great game, with good theming, and I'd like to introduce it to a couple of friends who are vegetarian.
The problem is they might feel uncomfortable with the 'eating your animals' ...
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Choosing same color after Wild (+4) Draw 4
Playing Uno this weekend, one of the players played a Wild+4 but chose the same color that was in play (this led to a successful challenge). I had thought that, regardless of what's in the player's ...
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Clarifying house rules for Monopoly
It seems likely that I may be involved in a game of Monopoly soon. I'm not a big fan of Monopoly for a number of reasons, one of which is that part way through the game someone will reveal that they ...
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Limiting the number of silver and gold cards available in Dominion
One of the interesting aspects of Dominion is how you have to plan which kingdom cards you're going to get while they're still there. If there's 2 attack cards available and somebody's snagged all the ...
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Do non-random alternative methods of choosing a starting player actually WORK, and if so which?
So I've been noticing that there's a vogue in gaming recently for the starting player to be chosen by some method other than simple lot. I'm wondering if this is a good fashion, or if it's just ...
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Tri-Ominoes: Is the -5 points per drawn tile rule necessary?
I have the 1997 edition of Tri-Ominoes.
Beside the per tile and bridge/hex scoring, there are three kinds of scoring relating to getting rid of tiles quickly.
First to get rid of all their tiles ...
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Ways to handicap in Magic the Gathering?
I play Magic the Gathering with my kids a bit. But, the games are often very one sided (in my favor) as they haven't mastered all the rules, and intricacies of game play. For most board games, I can ...
CommunityBot
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How can I reduce the planar die "whiff factor" with house rules?
I like to play Planechase sometimes. Mostly this variant, which gives players some additional choices when planswalking.
However, the most annoying part of Planechase is that the planar die has such a ...
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In Uno, can you quickly finish a two player game by skipping your opponent's final turn and without saying Uno?
So me and my friend are playing Uno.
It's a 2 player game and we play where you can stack draw 2’s or draw 4’s.
My friend (player 1) has 2 cards left.
I (player 2) have 2 cards left.
It is player 1’s ...
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Handicapping an experienced Agricola player.
One of my friends and I often play Agricola, and he's considerably better than me at it - I'm getting better, but he seems to be advancing at a faster rate, and it's getting to the point that although ...
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Is No Thanks! playable with just two players?
No Thanks! is advertised as a game for 3–7 players. I've never played it, but going by the explanations I've seen on YouTube (such as Tom Scott playing it with some friends), there seems to be nothing ...
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How do I fix the statistical distribution of using 3 dice to handle Chance and Community cards in Monopoly?
I bought a Grab & Go edition of monopoly and realized they changed the Chance and Community cards.
Instead of physical cards, they have you roll 3 dice, and pick out of a list (3-18) of effects.
...
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How can I play games by myself when I don't have a table?
I often find myself in a bus/train/subway/car without a tray available or any other way of managing even a small play field. There's always games on my phone, but that lacks something compared to an ...
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How would these Ticket To Ride variants change the game?
In a recent question we securely established that the "Longest Route" bonus in Ticket to Ride is earned by the largest number of train cars used to make the route, not the largest number of stops.
...
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Munchkin as a two player game
Has anyone had any experience with playing Munchkin with 2 players? If so, what variant/house rules do you play with, and how do you feel the experience compares to 3+ player Munchkin?
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Parcheesi: Doubles bonus
We are playing Milton Bradley “Parcheesi” and have an ambiguity in the rules to settle.
DOUBLETS
A roll of matching dice is called
doublets.
• If you roll doublets before all of your
pawns are ...
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Where can I find good tile layouts for Settlers of Catan?
I just bought a copy of Settlers, and noticed that there was a suggested starting layout that is included in the Almanac. I noticed it was mentioned online as well:
"new editions of the game also ...
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How can we make Just One more difficult/competitive?
Our friend group has been playing Just One a lot but it gets a bit boring quickly as 95% of the time the person can guess their word, even if we follow all the rules strictly (only dictionary words, ...
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How can we prevent wins by pure luck in Decrypto?
I've played Decrypto over the weekend and wasn't impressed with it due to how big of a role luck plays in the game. For example in the very first round one can win by simply guessing all three numbers ...
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UNO Stacking a Draw 4 Card instead of picking up 4 cards?
Need clarification on the Draw 4 rule.
- Player 1 lays down a Draw 4 Card and says the color is Red.
- Player 2 does not have a Red card but has a Draw 4 Card.
Can Player 2 lay down his Draw 4 Card ...
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Can a factory contain only one color or is there a rule to redraw four tiles?
When I play the physical version of Azul, I redraw tiles if all four that I place in a single factory are the same color. Recently Board Game Arena added Azul and I started a game. One of the rounds ...
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Is a rotated solution valid in Q-Bitz?
new here and couldn't find anything related to Q-Bitz, so I hope it's ok to ask this question. It has my family arguing!
So in Q-Bitz the challenge is to match the pattern on the card with your own ...
CommunityBot
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Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries: endless destination cards harvesting loophole
For the moment we have had fun playing Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries, however, the fun has been spoiled by now due to the following incentive of which I don't know whether it is allowed.
Consider ...
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Is it feasible to do a Yu-Gi-Oh! booster draft?
Magic: The Gathering has a Booster Draft format in which each player opens a booster pack, picks a card to keep, then passes the rest to the next player. After this is repeated a number of times, ...
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Star Wars Rebellion Resolve Space Combat before Ground Combat
I'm considering the following variant for Star Wars Rebellion (inspired by Twilight Imperium):
Resolve space combat entirely and reconcile transport capacity before resolving a ground combat in a ...
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Do you know any rules that make Pandemic's difficulty more even?
Pandemic varies vastly in difficulty depending on the number of players. Does anyone know of any custom rules that make it more even?
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Does anyone have a way to modify Ticket to Ride to accommodate six people?
I recently bought Ticket to Ride to play at our monthly game night, which consists of three couples, i.e. six people. Stupid me, didn't read the five player limit before ordering the game. I've played ...
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Quoridor rules when faced the opponent
I could not find an official rule that states directly what exactly to do when 2 pawns are face to face. It says that you can jump over it to go it's behind if there are no walls between the opponent ...
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Short-version of Settlers of Catan
What are some rule changes that shorten the game, and what drawbacks do those changes have?
Please limit your answers to rules changes with which you have first-hand experience!
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Could the Japanese player suffer anti-aircraft losses under the Midway reduction rules?
One optional feature of the game, "Midway reduction," forces Japan to conduct an air (or sea) bombardment of Midway before the transports accompanied by the Atago invade it. There is a ...
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Does a book of 3's in Hand and Foot work?
My wife and I play Hand and Foot from time to time. We have toyed with the idea of allowing a book of 3's to count positive, with the caveat that they are only positive if the book is closed and clean....
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What strategies are there for the “no forced jumps” variant of checkers?
In the standard rules of Checkers as it is played in tournaments and the like, jumps are mandatory, i.e. if it is possible for you to jump, you must jump, and if it possible to do jump again you must ...
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In Monopoly, can you save an 'advance' card to use later?
Playing with friends, and they give me this rule I've never heard of before, can't find any info.
They say you can save an 'advance token' card (like a go to jail card) to use at any time.
Their ...
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