Archives

Q: What happens if Play All is in effect, and there is also a Bonus that adds to Plays per turn?

A: You can’t play more than All, so if you are getting a Bonus to your plays-per-turn, you still just Play All. Andy compares Play All to a sort of “Play Infinity” where, if you add 1 to infinity, it’s still just infinity. If you add 1 to “all” it’s still just “all.”

But wait – wouldn’t the existence of Play All Plus 1 mess with this analogy? For reference, the Rule: Play All Plus 1, invented for Hundred Acre Wood Fluxx, says: Play all of the cards in your hand, then take 1 card from the top of the Draw pile and play that as well. This immediately ends your turn.

It has long been established that a Play Bonus will turn Play All But 1 into Play All. (Play All -1 +1 = Play All), so does the existence of Play All Plus 1 mean we should treat Play All with a +1 Play Bonus as if it were Play All Plus 1?

Think of the +1 in Play All +1 as tacking a mandatory Mystery Play on to the end of a regular Play All. That extra +1 played isn’t really the same as your other card plays from your hand because it’s completely random, so we don’t think it should be treated strictly mathematically as when adding a Play Bonus to Play All But 1.

For reference: Rules that add to your Play count:
Child Bonus: Optional. Extra 1 Play for anyone 12 or younger, or the youngest player if none are 12 or under.
Rich Bonus: (unthemed versions) Mandatory. The player with the most Keepers Plays 1 extra.
Christmas Bonus: (Holiday Fluxx) Mandatory. If it is Christmas Day, all players add 1 to their Draw & Play. Otherwise only the player with Santa in play does so.
Martian Technology: (Martian Fluxx) Mandatory. Any player with a piece of Martian Technology in play adds 1 to their Draw & play.
Monster Bonus: (Monster Fluxx) Mandatory. Any player with a Monster in play adds 1 to their Draw & Play.
Fear of the Unknown: (Cthulhu Fluxx) Optional to reveal a fear and get to Draw and Play 1 extra on your turn.
[certain Keeper] Bonus: Mandatory. If a certain Keeper is in play, all players add 1 to both their Draw & Play count.
        Party Bonus (unthemed versions) (if the Party is in play anywhere)
        Love Bonus (Fluxx Remixx) (if Love is in play anywhere)
        Miskatonic Study Group(Cthulhu Fluxx) (if the Necronomicon is in play anywhere)
        Bacchus Bonus (Olympus Fluxx) (if Bacchus/Dionysius is in play anywhere)

Keepers with powers that add to your Play Bonus:
The Computer (Star Fluxx, Trek Fluxxen, promo card)
BMO (Adventure Time Fluxx)
BatComputer (Batman Fluxx)

Q: If I have the Computer in play, and I draw Malfunction as my first card, does it immediately eliminate my extra draw?

…We had the Basic Rules in play, and I had the Computer, so I would be drawing 2 on my turn. If the first card I draw is the Creeper Malfunction, does it immediately attach to the Computer, thus eliminating my extra draw? What if it’s the second card I drew, do I NOT get to draw to replace the Creeper?

A: Not everyone draws their cards one… by… one… in fact, the draw phase should be considered one simultaneous acquisition of your Draw allotment at that time. So you should draw 2 cards. Then, seeing that you have Malfunction, you should put it down and, yes, redraw, as you need to complete the draw phase in its entirety as defined at the time you started it. Then and only then do you have to worry about exactly what your Malfunction is going to attach to.

In short:
According to the game-state when you started your draw phase, your Draw allotment (the Draw rule for you) is 2 cards.
So you draw 2 cards, and if there’s a Creeper among those, you put it down on the table and redraw until you have drawn 2 non-Creepers.
Then you attach the Creeper if applicable.

Now… later in your turn, if you increase the Draw rule, you’ll have to take a look at your current Draw allotment for your turn, which no longer includes a mathematical increase to your draw. So if you go from Basic Rules (Draw 1) to Draw 2, you’ll take a look at how many cards you drew for your turn, and conclude that you’ve already drawn 2, so you don’t get to draw for the increase.

The situation is similar to this: It’s just as though the Draw rule (for you) at the beginning of your turn is Draw 2, so you get to do that. Then Malfunction effectively reduces the Draw rule (for you) down to 1. Well, you’re not required to “undraw” that extra card you took, but if the Draw rule then increases back to 2… well, you’ve already drawn 2 on your turn, so you don’t get to draw extra. (Or if you increase to Draw 3, then you’d only get to draw 1 more, since you already drew 2 on your turn.)

Q: If there is a Rule (or Keeper) in play that adds to the Draw/Play, and then I increase the Draw/Play, does that added Draw/Play count against the new Draw/Play total?

The situation was there was a Rule in place that required us to draw an extra card and play an extra card. On the second play, a draw 4 rule was implemented, which increased the Draw from 1 to 4. There was a disagreement as to whether the extra draw counted towards the new Draw total. Should I have gotten to draw 3 extra, as if I’d increased from 1 to 4, or would it only be 2 extra, since I’d drawn 1 plus the extra draw?

A: Essentially, when you have a Rule in play that changes the draw and play by a formula (you get 1 extra draw and 1 extra play per turn, for example) that formula is still in effect on the increased Draw.

If you had Draw 1 and increased to Draw 4, then you draw 3 more cards.
If you had Draw 1 (+ 1) and increased to Draw 4 (+ 1), then you draw 3 more cards.
You can see how that formulaic increase does not affect the number of cards you’ll get to draw on an increase of the base Draw Rule.

See also what happens when you play the special Rule first: What happens if I play a Rule or Keeper that’s not a Draw or a Play, but increases…

Q: I if I have the promo card The Computer (or Batcomputer) in play, do I get to draw extra when invoking Actions that have me draw or play cards?

For example, if I play Recycling, could I throw away a Keeper to draw 4 cards instead of 3? Or when I play Draw 3 & Play 2 Of Them, can I draw 4 and use 3 of them because I have The Computer?

A: No, not with the Computer (or Batcomputer). The promo card Inflation would cause all of these numbers to increase as you’ve described, but the Bat-/Computer only applies to the actual Draw, Play, Hand Limit, and Keeper Limit rule cards in play, not to any other circumstances that might cause you to do any of these things.

Q: If Play All But 1 is in effect, and there’s something that requires me to increase my plays, do I end up playing all?

The Computer promo card, or Batcomputer in Batman Fluxx, for example, increases both your Play and your Draw by 1. So does the Rich Bonus. Play 1 extra doesn’t affect Play All, so why would it affect Play All But 1?

A: Play All But 1 isn’t the same as Play All: when you Play All But 1, you do have 1 card remaining, so when you are then required to play +1 cards, you do have one left to play, so you must play it.

In this case, we don’t separate the “Play All,” and apply the effects of the Computer for no effect, and then apply the “But 1” part. Note that Play All Plus 1 is functionally a bit different, so we DO break out the Play All from the Plus 1, since that extra card beyond what you have in your hand is

Note that since the effects of the Computer are not optional, you have to do it, whether you like it or not. Other similar effects may be optional, so always check on that. It’s pretty easy to see whether something says you “may” do it, or if it just happens.

Q: If I play a New Rule or Keeper that’s not a Draw or Play, but increases my Draw or Play, do I do that immediately?

A: Rules that increase your Draw or Play based on a formula (Doom, or what Keepers or Creepers are in play in front of you or elsewhere) as well as Keepers that change the way the rules work for you personally, should be treated as you would an increase in the actual Draw or Play Rules, so the total number of draws or plays you get on your turn increases:

If you had Draw 1 and played a card that made it Draw 1 (+1), then it’s just like you have gone from Draw 1 to Draw 2, and you draw 1.
If you had Draw 4 and played a card that made it Draw 4 (+1), then it’s just like you have gone from Draw 4 to Draw 5, and you draw 1.

Likewise, if such a card is already in play, increasing the Draw rule results in the exact same draw increase as though the formula were not in place.
See If there’s a Rule (or Keeper) in play that adds to the Draw…

Contrast this with Actions that give you extra draws on a one-time basis. If I play an Action or use a “Free Action” that lets me draw cards…

Q: The Computer promo card says it “counts as an Appliance.” Does this mean it counts as Television for the purposes of the goal Brain No TV?

A: No. The Computer promo card does not state that it counts as either The Television or The Toaster specifically, but merely that it counts as “an Appliance” so it doesn’t have the powers of either of those other cards, but can substitute for any ONE of them only with respect to the Goal The Appliances, but does not, for example, “count as” the Television for blocking the win with Brain No TV, or for any other Goal involving the Television or the Toaster (you can’t toast your Bread with your Computer to win with the Goal Toast)

Q: Are the powers of the Computer optional?

A: Well, it depends which version of The Computer you’re using. The bottom line is: check the language. Where it says “may” or “can” it means you don’t have to if you don’t want to. If it just says certain parameters are increased… they’re just increased, no choice about it.

For all versions of The Computer, the increase in Draw and Play quantity is required, which interacts with Play All But 1 to make it Play All – no choice for you. For the versions in Star Fluxx and both Star Trek Fluxxes, the Limit increase is optional, but for the promo card version and the Batcomputer, the owner must use the increased limits.

Note that BMO (Adventure Time Fluxx) has the power of optionally increasing Limits by 1, and Data (Star Trek: TNG Fluxx) has the power of optionally increasing Play by 1.

   Star Flux
   Star Trek Fluxx
   Star Trek: TNG Fluxx 		   Batcomputer
   Computer promo 		   BMO    Data
   increase Play/Draw    required    required    –    optional
increase Limits    optional    required    optional    –