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Q: If someone plays Trade Hands with me, and I have some Surprises (other than Stop That, which could prevent the trade) can I use them up with no effect, just so I don’t have to give them to the other player?

A: No. Surprises can only be played for an out-of-turn effect when there is an effect to be had. You can’t just play a Surprise for no effect just to burn it.

When used for their in-turn effect, of course, they behave much the same way as Actions, and, as such, may or may not have an effect.

Q: For the card I’ll Be In My Bunk, does it mean that no-one can steal a Keeper, or just that they can’t cheat and look at your cards?

A: It means no-one can steal a Keeper, or a card from your hand, or trade hands with you, or whatever might alter your assets while you’re gone* (but you also would not benefit from Everybody Gets One!). We would consider not looking at someone’s hand to be baseline good sportsmanship, which does not have to be regulated.

“Don’t cheat” is kind of the first rule of every game (unless the game is really outside-the-box, in which case I’d expect it to be very explicit about what kinds of “cheating” are allowed, I guess. And if it’s allowed… is it cheating?)

* Here is a list of the cards in Firefly Fluxx which would not apply to you while you were “In Your Bunk”:
Exchange Keepers
Steal Something
Random Tax
Mix It All Up
Everybody Gets 1
Trash Something
Trade Hands
Use What You Take

Q: Are players required to show how many cards they have in their hand?

A: The number of cards in each player’s hand is supposed to be open information, so, while a player may wish to obfuscate how many cards they have, by stacking them, or trying to minimize their appearance, if directly questioned, they should give an accurate answer.

They may feel free to try to discourage you from taking or utilizing their cards, of course: “Yeah, I have a big hand, but my cards all suck…” for example. That’s allowed – it’s just opinion, of course.

Q: If Play All is in effect, and my last play is Trade Hands, do I play all those new cards I got in the hand traded to me?

My opponent argued that because this was my “final” play (last card in my original hand), I was done playing all, and would not be able to play all of the new cards from the hand I’d just traded for.

A: You’ll be happy to know that you were correct, not your opponent. After the Trade Hands is completed, you now have cards in your hand, and the Play All rule says you keep playing as long as you have cards in your hand, so your turn doesn’t end, you just keep going.

Q: If a player uses Trade Hands, and their hand contains Stop That (which cancels actions) can the other player use it immediately upon receipt to cancel the Trade Hands?

In this scenario Player #1 has the Trade Hands and Stop That, and Player #2 is being forced to trade hands.

A: No. If the surprise were in Player #2’s hand, then Player#2 could use it to stop the Action, but if the surprise is in Player #1’s hand, then Player #2 does not have access to the card until after the Trade Hands Action has been resolved, by which time it’s too late to be stopped.

If you think about it too hard, you’ll realize it can ONLY work this way. If it worked the way you described there would be a paradoxical loop:

You used the Stop That you received in Trade Hands to stop Trade Hands, so you didn’t trade hands, so you didn’t have the Stop That, so you couldn’t use it, so you traded hands, but then you had the Stop That, and you used it to prevent the Trade Hands, but then you didn’t have it, didn’t use it, but then you traded and had it…

…and so forth to insanity.

Q: How does 10 Cards in Hand work in conjunction with Trade or Rotate Hands?

If you and an opponent each have 11 cards in your hand, and you play Trade Hands, would you win because after the card’s effect occurred you had 11 while the opponent had 10, or would the opponent win as soon as the card was played and left your hand?

A: This is a tricky question. At first it seems like you should need to finish the step you were in the middle of (i.e. follow through with the hand swap), before considering the issue of someone meeting the Goal. After due consideration, Andy concluded that we must obey the underlying principle of everything happening instantly in Fluxx. So, while the trade does happen simultaneously, the card must first leave your hand (be played) in order for the trade to happen, therefore, you lose the game the moment the 11th card leaves your hand.

Q: How do I Trade or Rotate Hands, or Discard & Draw, in the middle of Draw 3 Play 2 or Draw 2 & Use Em (or Fizzbin, or Goal Bonanza)?

Suppose I play Draw 2 and Use ‘Em (D2UE) and the first of the cards I play is Draw 3 Play 2 (D3P2). From the second D3P2 set of cards, I play Trade or Rotate Hands. Which of my three “hands” would I trade – my D3P2 hand, my D2UE hand, or the original hand with which I began the turn?

A: For anything played as part of one of those Actions (D3P2, D2UE, or Fizzbin, or when executing Goal Bonanza) any things referring to “your hand” mean your set-aside “main” hand. So, you would trade or rotate your original hand away (or discard it, if playing Discard & Draw) – the one you set aside at the start of the first set-your-hand-aside Action. The hand you receive through trade or rotation, or from redrawing after discarding it, would then become your new set-aside hand, dormant until all of the D3P2/D2UE/Fizzbin/Goal Bonanza cards are fully processed.