A: Magic Ring? What Magic Ring? I don’t see any Keepers there at all!
Once you have “put on” the Ring by picking it up off the table and putting it back into your hand (facing out) all of your Keepers are “invisible” and cannot be interacted with.
But, more to the point, the Magic Ring is no longer in play (face up on the table). It’s in your hand. This means that, while one can’t use Steal a Keeper or Exchange Keepers to get it, note that someone could get it by Trading Hands with you.
A: The bottom of the Treasure Map card says “This card cannot be Plundered, but if it is lost or stolen, the Booty goes with it.” This indicates specifically that you CANNOT save your hidden Booty if the Map is stolen. Being able to “reveal [Booty] at any time” does not include retroactively deciding to have already dug up your treasure when you realize that someone is about to take possession of the map.
Once someone plays Steal A Keeper, the transfer of ownership is considered to take place instantaneously; there’s no time in between playing that card and them owning your Map during which you could reveal those cards. The only thing you might do after Steal A Keeper is played is play the Surprise that prevents Actions. Surprises are the only cards intended to interrupt or retroactively prevent what is normally an instantaneous effect.
[Note that in Firefly Fluxx, the Surprise You Can’t Take This Guy From Me has a similarly retaliative function as It’s A Trap, though the punishment is different. All of the same issues might arise with that card as with It’s A Trap!]
Player 1 played Steal a Keeper. Player 2 played It’s A Trap, then Player 1 played Belay That.
Player 1 believes that Belay That cancels It’s a Trap as if those two cards never got played, so the original Steal A Keeper stands, and Player 1 gets to steal a keeper from Player 2.
Player 2 thinks that when Player 1 played Belay That it should have then stopped Player 2 from stealing a keeper from Player 1, but that’s it. It should have been a wash and nobody got to steal from anyone.
A: Player 1 is correct in this case. Here’s how that works:
Player 1 played Steal A Keeper (an Action) to steal Player 2’s Keeper
Player 2 played the It’s a Trap (a Surprise) to prevent the steal and steal a Keeper from Player 1 instead.
Player 1 then played Belay That (a Surprise) to use its Surprise-countering ability to counter It’s A Trap. In this case, Belay That is not countering an Action, it’s countering a Surprise. It counters the entire card as if it had not been played, not just the counter-steal part of It’s A Trap, so Player 1’s original Steal A Keeper goes through unimpeded.
In fact, Player 1 could have played ANY Surprise to counter It’s A Trap, not just Belay That. They could have played Canceled Plans, or Veto, or That’s Mine, since all Surprises counter other Surprises. In fact, if Player 2 had had a second Surprise of ANY type, they could have played it to counter Belay That, and their It’s A Trap would have gone through unimpeded.
The Elder Sign, in Cthulhu Fluxx specifically states that the Creeper it’s covering moves with it. This is not specifically noted for other attaching Creepers. Does that mean other attaching Creepers don’t move with their attached Keeper?
A: The reason the Elder sign specifically tells you that its Creeper comes along for the ride is that the Creeper associated with the Elder Sign is not actually attached, rather, it is being nullified. Hiding in this fashion does not constitute attachment: you’re completely hiding the Creeper as though it doesn’t exist for you. Therefore it can’t prevent you from winning, but neither can it be used for a Goal.
Also note that the Elder Sign can hide ANY Creeper, even if it’s one that is not capable of attachment (but if it is an attaching type Creeper, you can’t hide it if it’s already attached to some other Keeper, hence the requirement that the Creeper be unattached in order to hide it).
A: After some discussion, we decided that Exchanging Keepers or Mixing Up everyone’s Keepers does not count as “Stealing” a Keeper.
Think of it this way: you cannot then reverse the action against your opponent. What would that mean? “…and instead you [Exchange] one of their Keepers”? “…and instead you [Mix Up] one of their Keepers”? Those doesn’t really make sense. So we concluded that Exchange or Mix It All Up are unstopped by It’s a Trap!
However, You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (YCTTGFM) (from Firefly Fluxx), which has the same “trigger” does not have this “reversibility” issue. The reason why It’s a Trap can’t be used is that part of it’s consequences is to strike back in the same way, but YCTTGFM has a different penalty which does not use reflective language like It’s a Trap, so it can absolutely be triggered by Exchange Keepers. See: What things can trigger YCTTGFM?
What It’s A Trap! was designed to protect you against, in addition to Steal a Keeper, is any of those annoying other Keepers, like the Captain and the Scientist (who can steal certain Keepers at will. One of my favorite things is to put out a juicy Crew Member and wait for the person with the Captain to try to take it, at which point, instead… It’s A Trap! and I get to steal their Captain instead!
In Batman Fluxx, it was included for highly thematic reasons: Batman was always getting trapped by villains (at least in the live-action version). Also, Batman Fluxx includes a version of Plunder, called Crime Happens, which would be exactly the kind of thing which It’s a Trap! might also protect you from.
A: Plundering is different from Stealing a Keeper (or Exchanging it, or Mixing It All Up, etc…). Protection from the Plunder rule does not provide protection from someone using some other card to take your Keepers.
…or do I have to choose a face-down Keeper, and hope I get the one I’m looking for?
A:You have to select a Keeper, not knowing what it is, hoping you remember its placement. Part of the point of Government Cover-Up is to make Steals and Exchanges more difficult for one’s opponent.
A player could even deliberately mix their Keepers around after turning them face down, if they wanted to (then check their locations, since one can look at one’s own Keepers any time). Remember, everything that’s an advantage for your opponent under Government Cover-Up, is also an advantage for you if your opponent were in a similar position to Steal one of your Keepers.
A: The card alone is moved or trashed. The Humans inside are revealed and they remain with the player who used to have the Chamber.
…For example, if they’re using Steal A Keeper, or Exchange Keepers, can I get the Keeper they’re acquiring?
Or if they’re Plundering a Keeper, can I take the Keeper they’re Plundering?
Or if someone plays Mix It All Up, or Share the Wealth, can I get a Keeper that’s being dealt out to someone else?
A: No, No, and No. You can only use the out-of-turn* function of That’s Mine when someone else is putting a Keeper into play in a situation where it was previously NOT in play. You can’t use it to intercept a Keeper being allocated, traded, stolen, or acquired in any other way.
In most cases it’s an Action, or possibly a Free Action, for which there are Surprises you could use – but they wouldn’t gain you the Keeper which is in transit. They would only stop the Action or Free Action from happening, preventing the Keeper from changing hands in the first place.
There are, however, some situations besides normal playing of a Keeper from someone’s hand, where wording on another card does actually include the word “play” in the way a Keeper is acquired. See this FAQ about cards played via the Free Action Wormhole (AKA Mystery Play). Or this FAQ about Actions which allow you to take a Keeper out of the discard pile and play it.
* Of course you could use your That’s Mine card on your next turn, for it’s in-turn function which is essentially the same as Steal a Keeper, so you’re really not in a bad place, even if you couldn’t get that Keeper in the middle of the results of an Action.
A: Yes. “Plunder” has a very specific meaning in Pirate Fluxx, namely the power granted by the Plunder Rule. Steal a Keeper (and similar effects, like Exchange a Keeper) are not Plundering, they are stealing. So you CAN use the Steal a Keeper card to take away the Captain’s Hat as usual, but you can NOT take it with the free Plunder allowed by the Plunder rule.
A: No. The Finger of God reads, “Once, during your turn, you can smite (i.e. discard) any Creeper, then put this card back into your hand.”
So the Finger of God can only be used to Smite something during your turn, therefore you can’t Smite and tuck it back into your hand during someone else’s playing of Steal a Keeper during their turn.