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Q: Can a Surprise be used to cancel a Hand Limit on your own turn?

…Example:
Player A plays a Hand Limit
Player B and C discard down to the hand limit
Player A plays Veto to cancel the Hand Limit for themselves.

Is this allowed?

A: Well, it all depends how Player A was trying to play the Veto. Every Surprise has two different instructions on it. One for when you’re using it to interrupt someone else’s play, and one for if you play it out of your own hand as a regular card on your turn.

First case (the out-of-turn function):

If Player A was trying to use the out-of-turn function to cancel the play of their own card, that’s not allowed. It’s their turn, so they can only use the in-turn function. See also: Can one ever use the out-of-turn function of a Surprise on their own turn?

Note that even if it were another person playing out-of-turn to cancel the card (let’s call them Player D) the Surprise should be played immediately after the card one wants to cancel: in the case of a Hand Limit, that would ideally be before anyone has discarded anything.

Moreover, even if everyone decided to cut imaginary Player D some slack about the timing, and they did let Player D play the Veto after some people had discarded, canceling the Rule would “prevent it from ever taking effect” and everyone would get to take all their cards back as though the Hand Limit had never been played. Long story short: you can’t Veto a rule just for you. The Rule applies to everyone, so when you Veto it, it’s Vetoed for everyone.

Second case (the in-turn function):

If Player A still had a play left on their turn after playing the Hand Limit, they could simply play the Veto for its in-turn function. What it does in this case is let them “discard [their] choice of up to 2 New Rules currently in play”. The Rules discarded don’t even have to be ones that were recently played.

In this case, those rules are not being “canceled” without ever having taken effect, they’re just being discarded. The Rules were played, they took effect for as long as they were in play, and then they were discarded. So if Player A did that, they could simply trash the Hand Limit before their turn ends, thereby avoiding having to discard down at all. Of course, this uses up one of their plays for their turn.

Q: What happens with Hand Limit 0 and Play All in effect, if I draw 1 and play it, and it increases the Draw?

…Do I get to play those cards because of Play All, or do I have to discard them because of the Hand Limit 0?

A: You must play those extra cards because of Play All. Hand Limits only apply to you when it’s not your turn, and when you played the Draw increase, you extended your turn. You need to keep playing, and would only need to comply with the Hand Limit if one of the subsequent cards you played changed or removed the Play All rule.

Q: If I play Brain Transference and there is a Hand Limit, how does discarding work, if at all?

One player played the Brain Transference card, which states “your turn ends immediately.” At this time, the ‘Hand Limit 2’ New Rule was in effect. The player who played the Brain Transference card had more than 2 cards in his hand at the time the transference card was played.

Does this player discard down to the 2 card hand limit before switching places, or does the other player pick up the hand with more than 2 cards?

A: The two players would switch places, and the new player would get the large hand. Keep in mind, however, if it is their turn next, they don’t get to roll into their next turn with a giant hand. That giant hand is from a turn which is over, and whoever has it must discard down to the Hand Limit before starting their next turn.

Q: Limit cards say that the player whose turn it is should discard at the end of their turn. Does that mean the Limit card is discarded as soon as all other players have complied?

A: No, it’s not the Hand/Keeper Limit card which is discarded at the end of the active player’s turn. The Rule stays in effect like any other unless it is specifically replaced or discarded with an Action. The discarding which happens at the end of the active player’s turn is the active player discarding down to the Limit themselves.

Since Limits only apply when it’s NOT your turn, the non-active players discard down to the limit as soon as the card is played, while the active player does not have to discard until the end of their turn – since at the end of their turn, they cease to be the active player.

Q: Does having the Librarian in play let us draw & play an extra card for Miskatonic Study Group?

A: Well, as the Librarian card states, if the Necronomicon is not on the table, then the Librarian card counts as the Necronomicon for Actions and New Rules. Miskatonic Study Group is a New Rule. So, yes, players get to draw and play an extra card on their turn if the Librarian is out. The person who has the Librarian can take the extra bonus of ignoring Hand Limits – again, only if the real Necronomicon is not on the table. If the real Necronomicon is out, everyone will be able to take the general bonus, but only the person with the real Necronomicon gets to ignore Hand Limits.

See also: Does Animator count as the Finger Of God for smiting…

Q: The Hand Limit and Keeper Limit cards seem like sort of a downer. What is their advantage? Why would we ever want play them?

We weren’t sure how best to play with them, so we’ve been leaving them out of the game…

A:It’s true that the Hand and Keeper Limit cards can be sort of a downer, but sometimes you want to be able to limit your opponent if they seem to be getting way ahead of you in one or the other of those things. In that way, they are “game balancing” cards that help level the playing field, keeping one person from having a vast advantage over the other/s.

In addition the Hand Limit cards can be nice if your hand size is getting so huge you can barely hold it or mentally process it all. I’ve seen many a brand new player put down a Hand Limit card with a sigh of relief, just to get their hand down to something they can look at all in one go. It’s similar to playing Rules Reset or Let’s Simplify when you have six or eight different Rules out on the table. Yes, having lots of rules is fun, but sometimes it’s nice to have fewer.

On a more strategic note, beyond just overall game balance, there are times you can make sneaky combo plays where you impose a Limit on your turn, so that your opponent/s need/s to comply, but then manage to get rid of it before the end of the turn (with Trash a New Rule, or Let’s Simplify, or even Rules Reset).

Since Limits only apply to you when it’s NOT your turn (you have to comply when your turn ends if they are still in play) this means that your opponent/s will have to discard cards or Keepers, and you won’t. Now, you might still consider this a “downer”, but in any game there are things you do to get yourself ahead of the competition.

Finally, we are glad that you felt free to simply leave them out if you find that you don’t enjoy them. That is always an option for you. It’s your game, it’s your house, and you can have “house rules” (as long as everyone understands them at the start of the game and there are no unpleasant midgame surprises for those who are used to playing the game the way it comes out of the box).

Q: What if I can’t play anything on my turn in Fluxx?

for example, if I have the first turn of the game, and my hand has, after drawing (hypothetically):
Trash a Keeper
Let’s Simplify
Mix it all Up
Empty The Trash

It seems like none of these can be “played”, so do I just discard a card, and the turn moves to the next player?

A: One of our fans pointed out to us that a wonderful quality about Fluxx is that there are never cards that you “cannot play”. They thought this was great because even the youngest player could pick a card from their hand, and never be told “oh, you can’t play that.” Of course, that card might not actually DO anything when they play it, but it’s still a perfectly valid play, and that person has not made an error by attempting to play an unplayable card. It’s very inclusive.

So there’s that: all cards are playable, even if they don’t do anything on your turn. Secondly, you are never allowed to “pass” on your play requirement, or discard cards, unless you are reducing your hand size as required by a Hand Limit (and this only happens when it’s not your turn, or at the end of your turn, after you’ve executed all of your plays.)

It’s true that what ends up happening when you play an Action card that has no effect LOOKS A LOT like discarding it, since you “do what it says, then put it in the discard pile”. So you do what it says, nothing happens, and then it goes in on the discard pile. But it’s an important distinction, because of the rule against discarding or “passing” instead of playing: sometimes you may be forced to play a card even though it might make someone else win.

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    –

Q: Is it possible to win with 5 Keepers if there is a Keeper Limit in place? (Or 10 Cards in Hand with a Hand Limit?)

A: Yes. Because the Keeper and Hand Limits only apply to you when it’s NOT your turn, they are suspended (for you) DURING your turn. You can draw cards way up above the hand limit, and play Keepers to the table beyond the keeper limit, possibly meeting those Goals during your turn. Of course, if you don’t meet the Goal and win, you’ll have to discard down at the end of your turn.