A: Unless it is specified that an appropriated card goes into your hand, you should assume it goes in front of you, just as you should assume the only valid targets of theft are cards in play unless otherwise stated. In general, a card will maintain its in- or out-of-play status even if it changes ownership: if it starts in play in front of someone else, it it stays in play in front of you. Exceptions (like Zap a Card, or Use What You Take) state the origin and destination of the card.

Thus all stealing of Keepers, whether via an Action (like Steal a Keeper) or Free Action Rule (like Plunder), or Keeper Power (like various Captains in several versions) involves taking a Keeper from in front of someone else and putting it in front of you.

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A: When someone counters your Play with a Surprise, no, you do not get to choose a different card to play. That play was canceled.

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A: No, using any special powers or abilities listed on Keepers or Creepers does not use up one of your plays for your turn.

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A: Well you can… just not until your next turn.

When a player chooses to take either of these Free Actions, the effect is simultaneous with their turn ending immediately. Most notably, this means that if you draw any Creepers with your draws from Swap Plays or Get On With It, you’re stuck with them until your next turn, even if there are conditions which allow you to trash or give them away on your turn. Your turn ended immediately with the draw, so that window is over.

For more info on when you can do what during a Fluxx turn, see the link at the bottom of the right sidebar: Order of Events in a Fluxx Turn

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A: When the Action is chosen to go with Let’s Keep Doing That, it becomes what is essentially a Rule-that-gives-a Free Action, so the counter-Action Surprise* can not be used to stop it.

It CAN, however, be stopped by the Surprise called No Free Lunch! (found in the More Surprises pack) which counters the use of any Free Action. Depending on what the Action is, if it allows the moving or stealing of  Keepers, some other Surprises may also be viable, like Skullduggery, It’s a Trap!, or You Can’t Take This Guy From Me.

* Stop That, Avast! Halt!, Belay That!, The Stars Are Wrong.

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A: Yes, you must finish drawing the rest of your cards for your turn – you might draw another Creeper which would prevent your win. You must accept any and ALL Creepers acquired during your initial Draw phase before assessing win conditions.

Consider the initial Draw phase to be all one simultaneous thing. Think of it this way: not everyone draws one… card… at… a… time. Some grab the total number for the Draw, add them to their hand, then deal with Creepers at that time, putting them immediately into play, and drawing to replace. Differences in draw style should not affect the outcome of the game.

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A: Yes, all three versions of That Woman count as each other. The reason Saffron doesn’t say it is because she came first, before we ever had the silly idea of making the other two!

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A: It has to be a Keeper you have in play.

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A: It’s like a power on a Keeper: it’s a Free Action.

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A: After some consideration, checking the exact wording on the card, which doesn’t mention Surprises, and thinking about it thematically as well… Andy says YES, you can use Surprises when you are Bound By Law.

Thematically, being Bound By Law is like you’re in jail, and you have one sort of limited, partly-lost turn where you draw but don’t play, and can’t use Free Actions – but a Surprise is, by nature, surprising, and who’s to say you couldn’t pull off some audacious plan that upsets your opponents, even from jail!

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A: No, the Surprise you draw via Mystery Play* cannot be used to stop the previous Canceling of your play. It’s far too late. Whatever card you played has been Canceled, and that’s that. With no Surprise available, you could not stop the Surprise, so you have moved on and taken your next game action: choosing to use Mystery Play.

Since choosing to use Mystery Play will always disrupt the immediacy required for a reactive Surprise play, any Surprise drawn via Mystery Play would have to be used for it’s in-turn function.

* Or any of its analogues below:
Mystery Play in Fluxx 5.0, SE, Remixx, Astronomy, SpongeBob, and Wonderland
Mythtery Play in Fantasy
Wormhole in Star, Star Trek TOS, TNG, and Voyager
Shiny! in Firefly
Allons-y/Geronimo! in Doctor Who
Spontaneous Reaction in Chemistry
Egads! in Batman
Unknown Variable in Math
THWIP! in Marvel
(the Infinity Gauntlet Keeper in Marvel has this as its special power as well)
Great Idea! in Stoner
Magic Spell in Fairy Tale
Magic Portal in Adventure Time
Magic Shoes in Oz (if you click your heels together three times)
Open The Door in Monster (if the Spooky Door is in play)
Open A Gift! in Holiday (if The Gift is in play)
Chemical X in Cartoon Network (if at least one Powerpuff Girl is in play)
Time Doorway in Regular Show (if the Time Machine is in play)

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A: You must finish distributing all of the cards. The person who got the winning combo might receive a Creeper which would negate their win. Consider the consequences of playing the one card, Mix It All Up, as being simultaneous. So you only check for win conditions after all of the Keepers/Creepers have been distributed.

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… The wording “final play” makes it seem as if there’s more than one play needed….

A: If you have only one Play (or only one card to play, even if the rules allow more) then that one card would be both your first and your final play. So yes, there IS a final play, even if you’d only be playing one card.

So, in order to use Get On With It, you’d have to do it before your final play, i.e. before your ONLY play. You’d just not take your Play for that turn, and do Get On With It instead.

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A: “On your turn” means every time your turn comes around (assuming favorable conditions apply).

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A: This is VERY good question, which we are surprised hasn’t come up before! We had to sit down and really contemplate the situation to make a ruling on this.

To recap, the Play All But 1 (New Rule) says “If you started with no cards in your hand and only drew 1, draw an extra card.” And, as we all know, when you play a card that increases the Draw amount, you get to draw the difference to increase your total cards drawn to the current New Rule in play.

The way Andy framed the question is “Is the extra card one draws like a ‘salary advance’ on your regular draw allotment , or is it more like a ‘bonus’ on top of your regular draw?” After some thought we felt that what the Play All But 1 card is doing is more like a temporary modification of the Basic Draw rule, and, as such, would make the extra card part of your total Draw allowance for your turn.

So, in the example presented in the question above, where (after having started with no cards, and Drawing 2) you have played Draw 4, you would draw only 2 additional cards (and continue to Play until you have only 1 card left in your hand).

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…does this mean the player can choose to discard a Keeper with the intention of getting rid the Creeper OR the Creeper may only be disposed of if other cards caused the player to discard a/the Keeper.

A: It’s voluntary. You have to choose to sacrifice your Keeper in order to gain the benefit of getting rid of a Creeper. You don’t get the benefit if it’s some other random thing that makes you lose a Keeper.

On the plus side, this means you can do it whenever you choose to. On the minus, it’s not some sort of consolation for having to lose a Keeper involuntarily. “I lost a Keeper, but at least I get to get rid of this Creeper.” Nope, doesn’t work that way.

See also: When a Keeper/Creeper (or Rule) says I can do something if I discard or move something, can I do that as a Free Action or…
And also: If I have a Keeper which says I get some benefit from discarding or moving it…

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A: No. In order to use the powers of a Keeper or Creeper in play, it must be in your possession. “You/your” in this case refers to the owner of the card only.

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… Player A played Random Tax. They went around to each player to take a random card from their hand. When Player A got to Player C, Player C played a surprise to cancel out Player A’s action. Is playing that surprise card allowed?

A: A player wishing to cancel an Action (like Random Tax) needs to do so right away after the Action is played, since it doesn’t protect only that one player, it cancels the entire Action. If that player was waiting to see what card got stolen from them, and only then decided “Oops! I should have canceled that Action!” it’s definitely too late. They needed to decide “Darn! I don’t want to lose a random card from my hand! I’ll cancel that with a Surprise.”

You see, once the receiving player has seen cards from other’s hands, it taints the game. Now, your group could decide that this effect is negligible, and let the Surprising player get away with it on a one-time basis (assuming they timed it that way because they thought that was the correct time to play it – but NOT if they were just waiting to see what card would be stolen; does that make sense?)

Of course if you let the Surprise go through, the person who played Random Tax would have to return all of the cards they took from people because it cancels the entire Action “as though it had never happened”. If it was a legitimate error on the part of the Surprise player, and they’ve been schooled, one should not cut any slack on a second offense, I’d say.

We often have the players being taxed mix up their own cards, pick one blind, and then hand it over to the person receiving the tax. This reduces the temptation to try to play a Surprise only after someone sees what card got picked. Because that’s really not okay.

Doing it the way you did still works, of course, but then we’d encourage players to mix up their hand and present it face down out towards the Taxing player, so that neither one sees what card is taken until it’s actually gone.

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A: TLDR: Officially, no… BUT, when playing in any of our games which include interrupt cards which cancel a previous play (Surprise, Memo From Your Future Self, Stop Time) it’s good practice to play a little slower if you happen to be executing multiple plays, so that your opponents have plenty of time to play one of these cards, should they so desire.

Deliberately playing super-fast, “shotgunning” as one fan put it, is just rude, and, rather than avoiding arguments about interrupts, actually ends up causing them. So if you have someone who insists upon playing that way, feel free to implement a requirement of a full one-hippopotamus silent count between card plays. We think those worried about their second-to-last winning play being foiled by an interrupt will find that others are not as psychic as they feared. Read on…

So here’s a typical Surprise situation, which can cause a bit of controversy:

I recently won when the rules called for Play 2. I played my first card, a Keeper, and then a moment later I played a Goal card that caused me to win. My opponent then showed me that he had the Surprise card in his hand that could have stopped me from playing the Keeper, and we had a brief discussion about whether I should have left him more time to consider playing it.

(Related question: A player doesn’t have to “announce” or “report” their play out loud, right? They can just play their cards and if other players aren’t paying attention, that’s the fault of the other players? We all want to have good sportsmanship, but you know how games can sometimes get, in terms of either other players not paying attention, or in terms of being very competitive!)

Here’s our response:
While we don’t have any official guidelines about exact timing of card plays, We recommend a slight pause between a two-card play like this when the active player knows it’s going to make them win. It’s rarely the case that the person with the Keeper-stopper will intuitively know that the necessary Goal is coming… until it gets there (or vice-versa: if they had the Goal-stopper, and you’d decided to play the Keeper last, they couldn’t know you’d have the winning Keeper to play after the innocuous Goal), so playing slow is often to your advantage, as the player who’s about to win.

In fact, playing casually, even pretending you don’t know what you want to play next, can be a great move. Playing slowly enough to allow a possible Surprise doesn’t have to mean broadcasting your impending win. (For example, looking significantly around the table as if expecting a challenge). Of course, announcing your your play is in no way required, but could even be part of your nonchalant act, depending on how you do it. (“Hmm… Well, there’s this Small Moon… and… let’s see… That’s No Moon, for the win!”)

That said, one often doesn’t have the presence of mind to think about deliberately hesitating. In real life, you’re usually just taking your play, and winning, at regular game speed.

Here is where the question is really about what your opponent was thinking, and they have to be honest about it: did it only occur to them to play the Surprise after you’d played the winning Goal? If you’d just accidentally played the Goal first, and then the Keeper, their Keeper-canceling Surprise would have gone through and prevented your win. But just as they couldn’t know your next play would be the end of the game, you couldn’t know they had a Surprise. For all you knew, they had the Goal-stopping Surprise, and it’s just chance which order you chose to play those two cards in. It’s not as though you deliberately played in such a way as to deliberately thwart a Surprise on your first play.

The thing to point out here is that, had you stopped playing after the Keeper, would it even have occurred to them to use the Surprise? Probably not, if they’re being honest. It’s extremely rare that one’s opponent is prescient or observant enough to realize that this play might be your second-to-last. People rarely want to squander a Surprise on the off-chance that your next play will be the winning one*. In the kind of situation you describe, the Surprise-having player usually just shrugs, and says “Darn! I had [the Surprise that would have prevented your second-to-last play], and I could have stopped that play, but it’s too late now… Oh well. Let’s deal again…”

Because, in the end, if they didn’t get that Surprise in after the applicable card, that’s the way it goes, and that’s the official ruling if people get – ahem – unruly.

*I mean, imagine it. If they’d canceled your Keeper before you’d played the winning Goal, your best reaction is probably simply to shrug as if mildly confused by such a powerful play, apparently for nothing, and make them feel like they just wasted their Surprise on a random Keeper play… heh heh. You don’t have to let them know they totally blocked your win. Meanwhile… you don’t have to get upset about missing that chance… it’s just Fluxx, and victory is snatched away at all the time in the course of any given game – usually completely by accident. Or you can let them know their spidey-senses were working, or congratulate them on how observant they are. It’s up to you.

Now let’s return to that “shotgunning” player who’s deliberately playing quickly so that nobody can slip a Surprise in on that penultimate play… It is, as the fan above pointed out, not entirely fair, and, moreover, it invites the argument “But you didn’t leave me enough time to play my Surprise!” If, on the other hand they had played it slowly, as described above, their opponent has no excuse to challenge the win, on the claim that they “were going to play a Surprise.” The opponent had plenty of time, but in the vast majority of cases, they won’t play the Surprise, because they have no idea what’s coming next. That’s part of the beauty of Fluxx!

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A: No, you don’t HAVE to use it immediately. You MAY use it immediately if you want to, however.

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A: Keeper powers do not usually destroy or take the Keeper out of play to use them – unless they specifically say they do.

A couple say you’ll have to pick the Keeper up and put it back in your hand when you use its power, and one or two say to insert the Keeper into the middle of the draw pile. Only a couple will cause destruction of the Keeper being used. In any case those requirements will all be specified on the Keeper in question.

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A: It’s up to you whether you want to have that many of her floating around under different names. You could replace the Saffron-based cards, and just play with Yolanda, or vice-versa, or keep them both. We will be coming out with a single Bridget card which says “counts as either Saffron or Yolanda” but that will just be at our webstore, for completists.

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…Double Agenda says “A second Goal can now be played…” The person I was playing with thought this meant they automatically got to put a second Goal down as part of the Double Agenda play.

A: Double Agenda allows there to be two Goals at the same time, but playing a second Goal (or even first if you’re really early in the game!) still uses up one of your plays for your turn.

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A: The first answer is very easy: No. D3P2 does not technically go in the discard pile until you are completely done executing everything on the card.

You also seem to be asking whether the card you don’t play from D3P2 is in the discard pile, available to pull out and use with Let’s Keep Doing That.

Technically, you should execute the instructions on D3P2 in the order stated: Play 2 of them, and [then] discard the last card.

So you play D3P2. It’s not technically in the discard pile yet. Then you play, from your mini-hand of 3 cards, Let’s Keep Doing That. Nothing in your mini-hand is in the discard pile yet. You must pick your Action out of the discard pile right then, as part of your play of Let’s Keep Doing that, so, no, the last card from the D3P2 is not yet in the discard pile, available for use with Let’s Keep Doing that. It will be after you’re done playing both of the cards you choose to play, and not before.

Note that this ruling will also apply to Draw 2 and Use ‘Em (D2UE) and Fizzbin. Cards executed from your temporary hand are not in the discard pile until the whole Action is completed.

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A: Yes, you have to show them to everyone as you draw them. That’s to keep players honest – otherwise you could just draw a bunch of cards and keep them, without the accountability of having to stop when you get to a Keeper or Creeper.

So you’d flip those face up into a pile until you decide to stop and take the pile into your hand… or until you draw a Keeper or Creeper, in which case you’d play that in front of you, and put the pile of previously drawn cards into the discard.

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A: Some versions of the rules deal with this explicitly, and some don’t, so we’re answering this here in the FAQ, just in case there is any confusion.

Creepers may not be held in your hand, so if you get a Creeper as part of your dealt hand, you put it on the table in front of you (play it pre-game, essentially) and draw to replace. If it’s another Creeper, continue until you have a starting hand containing zero Creepers.

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… For example, the Bat Signal can be exchanged for Batman on my turn, but couldn’t the other person just trade it back on their turn?

A: Yes, the Bat Signal is straight-up traded for Batman (or Stolen Goods/Garak can be traded for certain other Keepers as well) and your opponent could choose to simply exchange the two cards back on their turn. While this may seem slightly pointless, there are a couple of reasons this would be useful.

The optimal use, of course, would be to use your trade-forcing Keeper to get possession of another Keeper you need in order to win the game, in which case, future trade-backs would be moot. Batman in particular has some other useful qualities, like the ability to trash one of your Villains. He could then go to back to other parts of Gotham on your opponent’s turn, no skin off your back, especially since, should you need him on your next turn to trash another Villain, you could exchange him back again. (In the case of the Bat Signal, think of it as being able to have Batman on call whenever you need him (on your turn). Sure, this keeps Batman running all over town, but, hey, he’s a popular guy!)

Trade forcing cards other than the Bat-Signal include:

Stolen Goods (Firefly Fluxx) which can be traded for any other Keeper in play except The Serenity.
Garak (Star Trek: DS9 Fluxx) who can be traded for any other Visitor / Station Personnel in play.

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…Mal’s special ability is to be able to move a Creeper “to another player”, while the Alliance says it can be moved to any player with River Tam, Stolen Goods, or Serenity. My opponent used Mal to move the Alliance to me (so they could win), even though I didn’t have any of those cards. Were they allowed to do that?

A: The player with Mal can move ANY one of their Creepers to ANY other player, regardless of what other Keepers they may have. There is no restriction on that card about where Mal can move a Creeper. The note on the bottom of The Alliance Creeper is an indicator that ANYONE who has The Alliance can move it away from themselves to someone with those specific Keepers. Those Keepers are not meant to be a limit on where it can ever be moved, just on where it can be moved “for free”.

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A: Well, this is really a doozy! Just to recap, the in-turn action of You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (YCTTGFM) is to copy the power of any Keeper on the table as though you had it. The power of the Keeper Stolen Goods is to be able to forcibly trade it for any other Keeper in play (except Serenity). Let’s say it’s your opponent’s turn, and they’re trying to use YCTTGFM to copy the power of your Stolen Goods.

So, there are two ways the person using YCTTGFM might be trying to have this scenario play out:

They could be trying to use your Stolen Goods as though you had it, and were forcing Stolen Goods to be traded with themselves (or a third player). This would look like you ending up with some other player’s Keeper, either theirs or that third player’s, and whoever you were forced to trade with would end up with your Stolen Goods. It’s most likely they’d want to make you trade your Stolen Goods with them, so that they would get some benefit from the play.

OR

They could have been trying to use Stolen Goods as though they had the Stolen Goods to give to a third player and then they’d take back the “exchanged” Keeper from the third player, leaving the third player with your Stolen Goods, and you down a Keeper?

I couldn’t figure this out on my own, so I consulted with Andy, and the correct way that should be played is the first option.

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A: Sometimes when you play something, it has no effect, and is simply discarded when played. This is one of those times.

Usually this only happens with Actions, but Let’s Keep Doing That is quite different from other New Rules, so it ends up being discarded under these circumstances.

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A: The person with Stolen Goods is the active player (i.e. it’s their turn), and they get to decide what they take from the other player when they give away the Stolen Goods to make this forced-trade. Of course, they can only trade with Keepers already on the table, not Keepers in the other player’s hand.

In the case of Garak (Star Trek: DS9 Fluxx) there are limitations on what Garak can be traded for (only Visitors / Other Personnel) but of course it’s still the active playing who is using their Garak Keeper to forcibly trade for another player’s applicable Keeper-in-play.

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A: No. If the person “in their bunk” is watching from the other room, then they have not actually left the game, and are violating the spirit of the card. If they can see what’s happening enough to tell when their turn is, then it’s like they are actually still there with their stuff so there’s no reason you need to cut them any slack about messing with it.

Essentially, you are not allowed to use the immunity conferred (“you remain eligible for victory, but no one can mess with your stuff”) without also incurring the penalty of potentially missing turns. You can’t just hover there, being immune until your turn comes up, and then jump back into the game as soon as your turn comes up. And you can’t ask the other players to let you know when your turn comes up. They don’t owe you anything – you went to your bunk!

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A: It doesn’t. After getting a related question on this, we realized that this card is not practical for a two player game. If one player left, the remaining player would simply be playing solitaire, taking turns until they won.* That’s no fun. Just remove this card when playing with two people.

*Though it’s certainly possible that the remaining player might have a situation where they’re forced to make the absent player win, that’s fairly rare, and we’d rather just rule that this card is not to be used in a two-player game.

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A: The card Play All But 1 says: Play all but 1 of your cards. If you started with no cards in your hand and only drew 1, draw an extra card.

So, the player in question, starting with zero cards, must play the card they draw. If that card turns out to be Play All But 1, then, as per the directions on that card, since they “started with no cards in [their] hand and only drew 1,” then they need to draw an extra card. Since the current Rule is Play All But 1, they are left with 1 card in their hand, and their turn is over.

*Note that in some earlier printings, the last instance of the number 1 is written out as “one,” but, to avoid conflicts with Inflation, it should actually be a numeral as written here.

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A: Quick answer: Yes.

Obviously, the more generic Belay That/Stop That (counter Action) would work, but the question here is about whether Zapping could trigger the Trap/Sword/Skullduggery. The card It’s A Trap! is intended to counter Keeper “stealing” in all general senses to include more than just the specific Action Steal A Keeper. It was originally conceived to counter Keepers with special stealing abilities, like The Captain in various Fluxxen, but it also works if someone is invoking Plunder (AKA City of Thieves, AKA Crime Happens, AKA Get Over Here) to steal one of your Keepers.

So, since Zap A Card essentially lets someone steal one of your Keepers, we would answer yes: you can use It’s A Trap or any of it’s siblings (I Have a Sword, Skullduggery) in response to someone Zapping one of your Keepers into their hand. Of course, in the case of the Trap, specifically, if they don’t have any Keepers in play themselves, you won’t get anything back, but you will still squander their Zap A Card, and prevent your Keeper from being taken.

Note that You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (Firefly Fluxx) has the same trigger, and can be invoked by all the same situations. Although there is no Zap A Card in Firefly Fluxx, there is a Plunder card, and Zap A Card is available as a promo, so it could be added to any deck.

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…Since these cards are all played as part of a single play, would the player get to finish playing them out, or would their turn just stop? And if it just stopped, what would happen to any unplayed cards? We’ve been letting the player keep them.

A: The clear answer is that if you decide to play one of these turn-ending Actions, your turn would end immediately, and you would not get to continue playing cards from your temporary mini-hand (in other words, no, you would not get to finish playing D3P2/D2UE.

Of course, in the case of Fizzbin, you don’t get a choice as to the order of cards played, but that card most closely resembles D3P2/D2UE, since you set your main hand aside, and are working from a temporary hand of extra cards to execute the Fizzbin.

Using the optional Free Action Rule Goal Bonanza also creates a sub-hand with your main hand set aside. While it’s not in any decks with turn-ending Actions, it’s in the More Packs, which could be added to any deck, including those with turn-ending Actions.

However, there is NO way that any remaining cards would go back into your set-aside hand. They are never intended to go into your actual hand at all, as indicated by the requirement to set your hand aside. Any cards left unplayed when you played the turn-ending card are discarded. If you wanted to play them, you should have done it before the turn-ending card.

Brain Transference: Discard remaining cards in your temporary hand and trade places with the player of your choice. Turn ends.
Time Portal: Choose a card as described and add to your set-aside hand. Discard remaining cards in your temporary hand. Turn ends.
What Do You Want: If you choose to take a Keeper or Goal out of the discard, it goes into your set aside hand. Discard remaining cards in your temporary hand. Turn ends.
I’ll Be In My Bunk or I’ll Be Right Back: This card does not specifically say that your turn ends immediately, but you certainly can’t continue your turn if you “Excuse yourself from the game and leave the room for a few minutes.” Discard any cards remaining in your temporary hand. Leave the room.

Swap Plays For Draws and Get On With It, while they do involve having your turn end immediately, are New Rules, not Actions, so, as you can see from this answer, things would work a bit differently:
See: Can you Get On With It or Swap Plays For Draws with your cards from an Action like Draw 3 Play 2?

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…or are you supposed to choose one Action card when you put the Rule into play and then that Action stays assigned?

A: The latter. The Action you place on Let’s Keep Doing That does not go away. Whoever plays that Rule gets to decide what the one Action is that everybody has the opportunity to use once on their turn.

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A: If you are the active player, counter-Surprising does not use up one of your total plays for the turn. By the same token, however, this means you cannot use the Surprise for it’s function which would use a play. To wit:

You can only use a Surprise to do one of three things:

1) use it on your turn as a play, for it’s in-turn function
OR
2) Use it to Surprise another player,
2a) on another player’s turn to cancel a play
OR
2b) on your turn to counter their interruption of your own play (“counter-Surprise”)

You cannot do more than one of those things.

So if you’re using it to counter-Surprise on your turn (2b), you can’t also use it as one of your plays for it’s “in-turn” function (1).

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…I had one card in my hand, with Play 4 in effect. I played my card, an Action card which was then discarded. I wanted to claim to able to get 3 new cards because “Get On With It” which was on the table says I could since I had discarded my hand and had 4 – 1 = 3 plays left.

A: In order to take the option to Get On With It, you must be sacrificing (at least) one of your Plays, and you must be discarding a hand of at least one card.

The most obvious issue is that, at the point when you wanted to Get On With It, you didn’t discard your hand. You played an Action, and now your hand is empty. You have to have something to discard in order to discard something. Your hand has to exist in order to be discarded.

The second issue is almost a side effect. We would not consider you to “have plays left” if you have no cards to play. In this case your first play WAS your final play, so you can’t take this option because it’s not before your final play. In order to have a final play, you have to have a card to play.

The whole thing follows logically, since the card/s you could have played – but didn’t – will be remaining in your hand, and therefore among the cards you’re throwing away.

See also: Is Swap Plays For Draws limited by the number of cards you have in your hand?

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…It seems like it wouldn’t really matter.

A: Actually, this is mostly unnecessary. There used to be a rule where one could take things out of the top three cards, but that card has been replaced in all current versions with this one, which is more liberal. That said, there is a promo card which allows you to take the bottom card off the discard pile, so it would matter if you were playing with the promo card Composting. Hmm.

In Nature/EcoFluxx, the Action Scavenger lets you look down through the discard pile and play the first Keeper you find. Anyhow, you could look at the other cards in your deck, and see if this is going to matter for the version you’re playing with. It’s a matter of logic.

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A: No. The instructions on Get On With It (or Swap Plays for Draws) only temporarily override the instructions on Play All and only on the turn of the player using it. Since choosing to use one of these is optional, simply putting either of them into play doesn’t contradict Play All, so you wouldn’t discard Play All just because you played one of them (nor vice versa!)

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A: It’s true, the Creeper card does say “immediately draw another card to replace it” but this doesn’t mean you replace the Creeper on the table, discarding it. This means “replace the Creeper in the number of cards you drew.” If you needed to draw 3 cards, and you drew them and one of them was a Creeper, you play the Creeper and draw another card, because that Creeper doesn’t count as one of the 3 cards you needed to draw (neither does it count against the number of cards you get to Play on your turn), so you have only drawn 2 cards, so you still need to draw a third.

You’re not replacing the Creeper from it’s place “in play” (i.e. on the table). You’re just replacing the card “lost” as part of your draw count because it was a Creeper. The idea is that Creepers go into play automatically, whether you want them to or not. They’re usually a problem for you, and you have to work to get rid of them (though sometimes you need them for Goals, otherwise, they hinder you).

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…It says the card played does not count as a Draw or Play, so does it still end your turn?

A: Yes, while that card you draw from Wormhole (or any of its analogues) doesn’t count against the Draw or Play count as shown on the rule cards, it’s still part of your turn, and the card still counts as being fully played. Whatever it says happens, happens. That’s the risk you take, pulling a card out of the Wormhole! Keep in mind that the turn-ending effect of New Rules is optional, so simply playing them does not end your turn.

Also remember you can take the Wormhole option at ANY time during your turn: before your Draws and Plays, in the middle of your Draws, in the middle of your Plays, or after both, if you like. That’s the only control you get to exert: WHEN and WHETHER you decide to play a card from the Wormhole.

Analogues of Wormhole (which is in Star Fluxx) include (some with slight variations such as conditional requirements for use):
Magic Shoes in Oz Fluxx
Shiny! in Firefly Fluxx

There are many other Wormhole analogues in other versions, but those versions don’t also include turn-ending Actions.

See also: Q: What cards have effects that include ending my turn immediately if I play/use them?
See also: Q: What are all the different cards in different versions where you get to draw the top card and play it immediately?

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A: Cards (Actions) that end your turn immediately if you play them:

Brain Transference: Star Fluxx
Clean Cup!: Wonderland Fluxx
Time Portal: Star Fluxx, Doctor Who Fluxx, TNG Fluxx, Voyager Fluxx,
What Do You Want?: Star Fluxx, Oz Fluxx, Doctor Who Fluxx
I’ll Be In My Bunk: Firefly Fluxx
I’ll Be Right Back: Fluxx Remixx
(These last two cards don’t specifically say that your turn ends immediately, but you certainly can’t continue your turn if you “Excuse yourself from the game and leave the room for a few minutes.”)

Cards (Rules) that end your turn immediately if/when you execute them, but not when you play them:

Swap Plays for Draws
Get On With it
Play All +1 (not optional, but see below)

Free Action Rules are optional, so you could choose not to use one that will end your turn immediately. While Play All +1 is not optional, you have some options about when you choose to take that final +1.

Other questions pertaining to cards which cause your turn to end immediately:

Interaction with Play All
Interaction with Hand Limits
Using immediate turn-end Actions with compound Actions like Draw 3 Play 2, etc
Using immediate turn-end New Rules with compound Actions like Draw 3 Play 2, etc
Interaction with Play All +1

Also see:

Order of events in a Fluxx turn

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A: Those are not considered “Actions” in the sense that they are not Action cards, and Stop That (or Belay That) is intended to cancel out Action cards specifically. Nor will Veto! which cancels Rules stop this type of free action.

More broadly worded Surprises might prevent some of these, however. For example, Skullduggery, It’s A Trap and You Can’t Take This Guy From Me are designed more broadly, so that they can prevent “any game action” which can include the results of Action cards, Free Actions from Rule and Free Actions from Keepers or Creepers. The first two can be acquired in the More Surprises pack.

There might be some confusion on Let’s Keep Doing That, since there is an Action card permanently in play, but it is intended to act as if it were a New Rule, so we would rule that it’s no longer stoppable by the Stop That! Anti-Action Surprise.

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…One requires “Kaylee + Fresh Fruit” and the other requires “Guns + River”.

A: This is not a mistake, although it is unusual. The first version (Kaylee + Fresh Fruit) refers to a scene in which Kaylee chases after River in pursuit of a stolen apple and says “No power in the ‘Verse can stop me” when she gets it back. The second version (River + Guns) refers to the scene at the end of that episode, when River quotes Kaylee’s statement back to her, after shooting those 3 dudes. This is why the second version has quotes around it — River is quoting Kaylee.

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…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.

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A: We very carefully did NOT specify that it was the player’s own Creepers. After all, there are some Goals which require Creepers, and a player might want to move someone else’s Creeper to themself… or from one player with little chance to win to another who has a potential win condition which would be spoiled by the presence of a Creeper. All of these possibilities are allowed.

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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.

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A: Assuming the card being taken away from someone is a character Keeper, the following can trigger You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (YCTTGFM): Mix It All Up, Trash Something, Steal Something, Exchange Keepers, Plunder, and Keeper powers that let you take someone else’s Keeper.

Cards which definitely DON’T trigger YCTTGFM would be things which take cards from your hand, like Use What You Take, or Random Tax.

We would agree — YCTTGFM is a bit harsher than average for Fluxx, but there it is. Fluxx cards can vary from harmless or ineffectual to… taking someone’s whole hand. It does tend to even out, on the whole, we feel.

If you really hate the card, feel free to take it out of your deck. Totally your prerogative! Fluxx is supposed to be fun, so if this takes the fun out of it for you, then ditch it. We want you to have fun!

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A: It depends which Surprise you have, and when you play it.

If you have the promo No Free Lunch, found in the More Surprises pack, you can play it to prevent someone from utilizing Wormhole (or any of its analogues, see below). The trick is, you’d have to play No Free Lunch when they declare they’re using Wormhole, but before they reveal the card – you can’t wait to see whether it makes them win to declare you’re using No Free Lunch.

On the other hand the card that is drawn and played because of Wormhole is affected by any of the “standard” Surprises. So if the winning card played because of Wormhole was a Goal, then Canceled Plans would be able to prevent the win, since it cancels Goals. If the card played was a Keeper, you’d need to use the That’s Mine in order to stop the win.

Of course, you can’t cancel any of these if YOU are the one who is using Wormhole.
See Can one ever use the “out-of-turn” function of a Surprise during one’s own turn? (spoiler alert: no)

Analogues of Wormhole include (some with slight variations such as conditional requirements for use):
Magic Shoes in Oz Fluxx
Egads! in Batman Fluxx
Magic Portal in Adventure Time Fluxx
Shiny! in Firefly Fluxx

the following have a Wormhole analogue, but do not have Surprises naturally occurring in the deck (though they can be added if you pick up the More Surprises pack):
Mystery Play in Fluxx 5.0 and SE
Time Doorway in Regular Show Fluxx
Open The Door in Monster Fluxx
Chemical X in Cartoon Network Fluxx
Great Idea! in Stoner Fluxx

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Because if one could choose You Are Bound By Law (YABBL) to use with Let’s Keep Doing That (LKDT), wouldn’t the affected player just never get a real turn again besides drawing cards? Especially in a two person game, the unaffected player could just keep having infinite “full” turns if they wanted to as long as they didn’t do Rules Reset, Trash a New Rule, etc.

Our official ruling would be that you just can’t use YABBL with LKDT because YABBL does not function the way other Actions do (it is given out for a duration to penalize another player, rather than being like a more traditional Action which is truly a one-time, right-now function for the current player, so that it could simply be executed to completion by each player repeatedly on their turn). So yes, it cannot apply because of the reason you said.

The other card which we would flag as incompatible to use with LKDT is I’ll Be In My Bunk. It’s just not practical for multiple people to get up and leave the room.

In general, if there are multiple interpretations, and one works, and one doesn’t, you can bet we’re going to rule that the one that breaks the game is incorrect. But we understand that it’s nice to get official verification on these things.

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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

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A: Whoever caused it to go away gets to choose which Goal stays in play, and which gets trashed.

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Example:
Player A uses That’s Mine for its in-turn function to steal a Keeper from Player B
Player B uses It’s A Trap! to cancel the steal, and instead steal from Player A
Player A uses Canceled plans to cancel It’s A Trap, since Surprises can cancel Surprises.

Does the original steal go through? Player B argued that there was no steal in either direction, as both That’s Mine and It’s A Trap had been canceled by subsequent Surprises.

A: The short answer is that That’s Mine is carried out for it’s in-turn function for the Keeper steal.

The long answer:

• That’s Mine is played in turn: Keeper is stolen
• It’s A Trap is played out of turn by victim: That’s Mine is negated and the Keeper steal is reversed
• Cancelled plans negates It’s a Trap, which had previously been reversing the Keeper steal and negating That’s Mine. This leaves That’s Mine un-negated to steal the Keeper as originally played

It’s not that cards just get put on the discard pile, covered and they’re gone. Think of each card as going into a “being played” area only into the discard pile when they are done being used, or when negated for good. There was sort of a little wrestling match out there in the “being played” area between all the Surprises, and It’s A Trap lost.

Here is a generic version of what a battle like this could look like. It can continue until you run out of Surprises. Keep in mind that it’s totally possible and allowed for some other player, for example, Player C, to jump in on either side, potentially confusing the toggle state of the original play. If things come to this, it may be very important to keep track of the original play being canceled, perhaps putting it in the middle and flipping it over to indicate which state it is in: effective, vs canceled.

• A plays some card X.
• B plays Surprise 1, canceling X.
• A cancels surprise 1 with Surprise 2, so X is in effect again.
• B cancels surprise 2 with Surprise 3, so Surprise 1 goes through, and X is canceled again.

and so forth. If there were more, it would look like this:

• A cancels surprise 3 with Surprise 4, so Surprise 2 goes through, canceling Surprise 1, so X happens.
• B cancels surprise 4 with Surprise 5, so Surprise 3 goes through, canceling Surprise 2, so Surprise 1 is in effect again, so X is canceled.

So far, the maximum number of Surprises in a version is 6, in Batman Fluxx, but here’s the page where we would update that info:
Complexity Factors for Fluxx editions

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…and what about Smite a Card from Olympus Fluxx?

A: The answer is that when you pick an Action card to go onto Let’s Keep Doing that, it’s like they become grafted together, so you can’t do anything to one without affecting the other. In this case the Action is really just a reminder, sort of a “shadow card” that indicates the current power of Let’s Keep Doing that, which is the Rule which is actually in play, and the Action is not considered to really be “in play”.

So we would rule that you can’t actually zap Zap A Card, you could only zap Let’s Keep Doing That. When you zap Let’s Keep Doing That, the applicable Action would go in the discard pile, and, as per the Zap A Card instructions, the Rule would go into your hand.

With Smite a Card, the only difference is that BOTH cards would end up in the discard pile: trying to smite Smite a Card itself would end up smiting Let’s Keep Doing that, and it would go in the trash.

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A: There are many analogues to Wormhole (the first one we made) or Mystery Play (the most generic one). Some may require a token action (click your heels together to use Magic Shoes in Oz Fluxx, for example) or condition (if a certain card is in play) to activate them but they are essentially all the same kind of card.

Mystery Play in Fluxx 5.0, SE, Remixx, Astronomy, SpongeBob, and Wonderland
Mythtery Play in Fantasy
Wormhole in Star, Star Trek TOS, TNG, and Voyager
Shiny! in Firefly
Allons-y/Geronimo! in Doctor Who
Spontaneous Reaction in Chemistry
Egads! in Batman
Unknown Variable in Math
THWIP! in Marvel
(the Infinity Gauntlet Keeper in Marvel has this as its special power as well)
Great Idea! in Stoner
Magic Spell in Fairy Tale
Magic Portal in Adventure Time
Magic Shoes in Oz (if you click your heels together three times)
Open The Door in Monster (if the Spooky Door is in play)
Open A Gift! in Holiday (if The Gift is in play)
Chemical X in Cartoon Network (if at least one Powerpuff Girl is in play)
Time Doorway in Regular Show (if the Time Machine is in play)

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A: The wording on Let’s Simplify is as clear as we could make it. If we had said that you may discard up to half of the New Rules in play, and there were an odd number (for example, five of them) you wouldn’t know whether you should round up or down. But we tell you that you should ROUND UP when figuring out what “half” is, so in this example, you know you can discard up to three.

Of course, you may discard up to half – you don’t have to discard three; you could choose to discard just one or two, or even zero if you want. Those numbers are all less than “half (rounded up) of five”.

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A: Our call would be that you could win if you have both, since both are mentioned on the same Goal, and the rule regarding winning with Creepers is that it’s possible if the Goal specifically requires that Creeper. Another way to think of it is that it’s not an “exclusive or” (XOR) it is an “inclusive or” (and/or). An exclusive or would mean one or the other, but not both, whereas an inclusive or means one or the other or both.

This is true for any Goal which requires any subset of a group of Creepers. If the Creeper is shown on the Goal, it will not prevent the win, but if the person in question has any Creepers NOT shown on the Goal they’re trying to win with, then those excess unrelated Creepers will prevent the win.

It would be difficult to find all of them to list them here, but we will tag various applicable Goals as they are brought to our attention.
Terrifying Inspiration (Cthulhu Fluxx)
Q Who (Star Trek TNG Fluxx)

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[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 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.

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It doesn’t show a specific type of card that it counteracts, but the wording is “Cancel any single game action in which another player is stealing a Keeper you have on the table, and instead you steal one of their Keepers.”

A: In fact, special Keeper powers that let someone take one of your Keepers is exactly the kind of situation that It’s A Trap was designed to counter. The wording is deliberately not specific to a type of card so that It’s A Trap can prevent ANY situation in which some other player may be trying to take your Keeper, whether that originates from an Action card or not.

I have often deliberately put out tempting crew members when I had It’s A Trap hiding in my hand, in the hopes that the person with The Captain would try to steal them, and I’d get to Trap their Captain instead. Or put out the Energy Crystals to try to trap the Scientist, for example.

Also keep in mind that most things which you can use It’s A Trap! to counter also can trigger You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (in Firefly Fluxx).

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For example, in Star Fluxx, can you get the Captain and immediately use him to take the Scientist. Can you then immediately use the Scientist’s special power to steal, say, the Energy Crystals?

In the Back to the Future Card Game, can you play the Dust Jacket, and immediately use it to steal the Almanac?

A: Yes, you can chain Keeper/Item stealing-powers like this. It is a thing that can happen. While some feel this is overpowered, we don’t feel that it breaks the game, though. Not all of the cards are always out at the same time, and, of course, sometimes you might get screwed over mid-chain by the Surprise It’s A Trap (in Star Fluxx), or You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (in Firefly Fluxx). In the Back to the Future Card Game, of course, there’s only one Item that lets you steal another in this way.

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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.

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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.

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A: You could certainly put either of these New Rules (Get On With It, or Swap Plays For Draws) into play as part of an Action like Draw 3 Play 2 of them (D3P2) or Draw 2 and Use Em (D2UE), or Fizzbin (or your cards drawn via the Rule Goal Bonanza) but you could not utilize their functions while in the middle of executing one of these cards. While all four of these Actions/Free Actions do give you a sort of temporary hand, you can’t substitute it for your real hand to “discard and draw back up to 3”, for example.

You would either need to invoke Get On With It! before the Free/Action with the temporary hand is played or after. The Playing of D3P2/D2UE/Fizzbin/Goal Bonanza, and all actions as a result of it are considered 1 “Play”.

See also: What happens if I play an Action that causes my turn to end immediately in the middle of Draw 3 Play 2 or Draw 2 & Use Em (or Fizzbin, or Goal Bonanza)?

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A: When you play an Action or use a New Rule card says “your turn ends immediately” it means it’s specifically overriding any Play rule that might otherwise require you to keep playing cards on this turn. You also end any option you may have to use Keeper powers or “Free Action” Rules. If it says “your turn ends immediately” then your turn ends immediately – so make sure you’re all done with stuff before you play/use one of these cards!

See: Q: What cards have effects that include ending my turn immediately if I play/use them?

Also see: Would putting either of these two into play cause Play All to be discarded?

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A: You can use the counter-Surprise function at any time, either during someone else’s turn or your own. Here are some basic examples:

On your own turn:
Someone cancels one of your plays with a Surprise. You play a Surprise to counter their Surprise. Note: although it is your turn, this does not count as one of your Plays.

On someone else’s turn:
They play a Surprise for the in-turn function. You play a Suprise to counter it.

On someone else’s turn:
They play a card. You cancel it with the appropriate Surprise. They counter-Surprise you. You counter-Surprise them!

On someone else’s turn:
Player A plays a card. Player B cancels it with a Surprise. You decide to counter Player B’s Surprise, for whatever reason motivates you.
(In other words, if there is a Surprise/counter-Surprise “battle” going on between two other players, as described in the previous example, you can jump in at any time on either players “side”.)

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If I qualify for drawing three cards because of the No-Hand Bonus, and the Draw rule is five, do I draw a total of five cards or eight?

A: The No-Hand Bonus states: “Draw a new hand of 3 cards BEFORE observing the current draw rule” (emphasis added). Your drawing 3 cards is considered a “pre-turn action”: these cards essentially make up a “new hand” which simulates you having had a hand BEFORE starting your turn. Then you observe the current draw rule, which says draw 5 cards.

So you draw a total of eight cards in this case.

Secondary Q: So if I increase the Draw rule from Draw 2 to Draw 4 on my turn, do I still get to draw an extra 2 cards? One of my opponents argued that I had already drawn 5 for the Bonus plus the Draw 2, so I couldn’t draw more when I increased the Draw rule.

A: Since the cards drawn for the No-Hand bonus are separate from those drawn because of the Draw rule in play, and don’t count towards the number of cards drawn for your turn, YES, you get to draw two more cards when you increase the Draw from 2 to 4.

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Or to cancel City Of Thieves in Adventure Time Fluxx, or Fantasy Fluxx, or Crime Happens in Batman Fluxx, or Acquisition in Star Trek: TNG Fluxx

A: Yes.

(Note that if you stop Acquisition from happening, you don’t get to take a card from the Acquiring players hand either. The entire card play is canceled.)

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A: No. Hand and Keeper Limits apply to you when it’s not your turn, so you would observe them as soon as your turn ends.

See also: Q: What cards have effects that include ending my turn immediately if I play/use them?

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In my version of Fluxx, Everybody Gets 1 says (in part) “Count the number of players in the game (including yourself). Draw that many cards and give every player 1 card.” If we do that with Inflation, we only draw four cards in a four player game, and then we don’t have enough to give each player 1(+1), i.e. 2 cards.

A: Unfortunately, in the first printing of Fluxx 5.0 the wording on this card was accidentally modified so that it broke when used with Inflation. We have subsequently fixed the card to read as clarified below. Simply treat it as you would to execute “Everybody Gets 2”, specifically: “Draw enough cards to give each player 1, then do so.”

We have fixed the wording on this card to read exactly that for subsequent printings, starting in 2015.

Math Fluxx includes both Everybody Gets 1, and the Inflation cognate Increment All, which only works on Actions and New Rules.

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A: If a Creeper is drawn by the active player, they must take the Creeper (play it in front of themselves) and draw to replace, such that all the cards they have drawn for whatever the Action indicates will contain no Creepers.

For example, if I play Everybody Gets One, then I, as the active player, am the one drawing cards. As such, I have to take all the Creepers I draw, redrawing until I’m holding enough non-Creeper cards to give 1 to each player including myself. In a deck with a lot of Creepers, anything that makes you draw cards is a liability!

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…I say it’s just one card, but my husband says it should be three, since three Creepers were drawn. Who is right?

A: For practical purposes, you are correct. If you have laid down three Creepers in a row like that, you are left needing to draw 1. After your draw phase, you should end up having drawn just 1 non-Creeper for your Draw 1.

If anyone is having a hard time wrapping their head around why this is, here’s a blow-by-blow description of what happens when you draw three Creepers in a row while trying to Draw 1.

You Draw 1. It’s a Creeper.
It goes in front of you, and you draw to replace it, hoping for a non-Creeper to satisfy the current Draw rule.
Your “draw to replace” is… a second Creeper.
It goes in front of you with the first, and you draw to replace it, hoping for a non-Creeper to satisfy the current Draw rule.
Your “draw to replace” is… a third Creeper.
It goes in front of you, and you draw to replace it, hoping for a non-Creeper to satisfy the current Draw rule.
Your “draw to replace” is… finally a non-Creeper, which you add to your hand, and you have successfully followed the current Draw rule, which is Draw 1.

As you can see, in some ways, your husband is right… but the thing is, the three cards that were “drawn to replace” did happen… they’re just over as soon as you draw 1 non-Creeper.

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Does it count as one of your plays for your turn to do this thing?

A: No. That’s the whole point of it being “free”. It does not use one of your plays. Depending on the game we’re talking about (there are cards like this in Chrononauts and Back To The Future, in addition to many in Fluxx editions), you might only be getting one play per turn, and whatever this thing does won’t use up your play for the turn.

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A: There is no reason Surprises would work any differently depending on the number of players. Surprises always counter Surprises in full, no matter what the function of the Surprises in question.

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Some examples:

Example 3: Player A played Draw 3 Play 2 Of Them, drew three cards, and one of them is a Goal that let them win, so they played it. Player B then played Stop That (the counter-Action Surprise) to try to cancel the playing of Draw 3 Play 2, hoping to cancel the win.

A: In all of these cases, Player A’s actions stand, as the Surprise has been played too late. The counteractive Surprise must be played IMMEDIATELY after the card you wish to counteract. It also doesn’t apply to “the most recently played card of the target type played this turn.” Once another card of any type has been played, or a subsequent resulting action taken, it becomes too late to retroactively stop a previous card play with a Surprise.

Don’t be that person needing to ask for a special exception to the rules, and make sure the new players you’re teaching understand: Surprises need to be used in a timely manner. Whenever you have one in your hand, acquaint yourself with its power right away so that you can make a snap decision about whether to use it, since, if you hesitate too long, your opportunity is likely to pass.

So are there ever exceptions? It depends how relaxed you want to play, and how everyone is getting along. If Player B was a less-than-experienced player, it’s highly likely that it just took them a little while to read their own Surprise card to realize that it could be used in that way. If the results of a rewind are relatively inconsequential, one might cut them some slack. If Player A somehow anticipated that Player B was going to counter their play, and took their next action with barely a blink then that’s a bit rude. But if there was a heated disagreement, please do fall back on the official ruling. The ONLY reason you might choose to ignore it is if you wish to cut Player B some slack for being a n00b, or if you want to call shenanigans on Player A’s playing style for some reason.

Remember: it’s never appropriate to see the consequences of a previous card play, and THEN realize that you wish you’d stopped it before something else happened as a result of that play. In example 1, Player B probably didn’t realize that the first play would result in the win until the second card was played. In example 3, Player B couldn’t know when Draw 3 Play 2 was played that it would result in a win. Too bad. No exceptions for those cases.

This is where careful ordering of your plays and a good poker face are important so as not to broadcast your intentions. And people say there’s no strategy in Fluxx…

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… or does the card that was canceled go in the trash (or to my opponent in the case of That’s Mine), and my attempt has used up one of my plays?

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Little Answers

A: No, it’s that second thing you said: the card that got canceled goes away, and that play has been squandered. On the other hand, your opponent had to give up a card from their hand as well, so it’s not as though it’s without sacrifice on their part too.

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A: Yes.

See also: If multiple Surprises are canceled by each other, how do you figure out what happens…

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…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.

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A: Yes

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A: If you use the Surprise card as one of your plays during your turn, then you must use the “during your turn” functions. The “out of turn” functions almost always cancel some other card play, and it is not allowed to cancel your own play with your own Surprise. Thematically, consider this: it’s hard to really call it a “surprise” if you’re doing it to yourself in this manner.

The only time when you might not use the “during your turn” on your turn is when you’re using a Surprise to counter a Surprise played by another player against you during your turn.

See Does countering a Surprise on my turn count as…

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A: No. In general, you can’t use the out-of-turn portion of a Surprise during your turn, moreover the Canceled Plans card specifically says it is used to stop a Goal which another player has just played.

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A: Only the Goal just played.

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Player #1 contends that he won the game because the rules say that as soon as a goal is achieved the game is over and no other actions/cards can be played. Player #2 says that no, the Surprise card overrides the general rule and cancels the playing of the goal and therefore the game does not end. Which is true?

A: Yes. If the Canceled Plans card played is played immediately, it cancels the Goal and play continues to the next person. That is the intent of the card.

It works the same way for That’s Mine. If the winning play is a Keeper, That’s Mine can be used to cancel that play, preventing the win.

Again, Surprises are meant to be able to work this way… but you have to be using the correct Surprise for the type of play you’re canceling – and you must play your Surprise in a timely manner: say, within a few seconds of the player playing their card.

For more nuanced suggestions about how to resolve some tweaky timing issues, check
When a player is allowed multiple plays on their turn, are there any guidelines for timing between plays?”

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If I play a card on my turn and another player plays a Surprise to cancel it, then I play another Surprise to cancel the first one, since it’s my turn, does mounter Surprise count as a Play for me?

A: It does not count as a play. It’s sort of meta-out-of-turn.

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Also, could I use a Surprise that was part of the subturn to cancel the attacking Surprise, and if so would that count as one of the plays?

Example:
Player #1 plays “Draw 3, Play 2 Of Them” and gets an Action, a Keeper, and a Surprise.
They play their Action and Player #2 plays Belay That [Avast, Stop That] to cancel it.
–> can Player #1 use the Surprise in their mini-hand to cancel that Surprise,
–> and if so do they still get to play their Keeper afterwards?

A: Yes, you can use a Surprise from your main hand, or from your sub-hand, to cancel another player’s Surprise during your Draw 3, Play 2 Action. Playing a Surprise to cancel a Surprise is a free action, so yes, you would get to play the third card if your second card is a Surprise that you use to counter a Surprise being used to stop your first card.

Using Goal Bonanza also results in the play of a “sub-hand” while the rest of your hand is put aside, and the same things would apply there as well. Yes, you can counter-Surprise from either your main hand or your sub-hand.

In the case of Fizzbin, you don’t have the option of using any of the cards in your temporary hand, you have to play them blind, in random order, so any Surprises that are in that temporary hand won’t be useful to you – but you can still use Surprises in your set-aside hand to counter Surprises played against cards played as part of your Fizzbin action.

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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.

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Or must you discard a Goal/Action if you have one, and a random card only if you don’t?

A: Players get to choose. They may either look at their cards and select a Goal/Action to give up, or they may select a random card from their hand to give up. Of course, if they don’t have any Goals/Actions, they can only opt to lose a random card.

Note that random means RANDOM. They don’t get to decide which card they give up in this case. They can do this either by mixing their own hand face down, and pulling one out without looking, or they can have you pull one from their hand as they hold it up facing themselves.

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For example, if the Goals were He Bravely Ran Away (requires the 3-Headed Giant) and Rabbits of DOOM (requires the Killer Rabbit).

A: No, not if they are two different Creepers like this. The 3-Headed Giant you need to win with He Bravely Ran Away prevents you from winning with Rabbits of DOOM, while the Killer Rabbit you need for that prevents you from winning with He Bravely Ran Away.

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A: In the vast majority of cases, you cannot win if you have Creepers not specifically required by the goal.

Exceptions:
• Do your extraneous Creepers say that they keep you from winning? (Almost all Creepers do, but if they don’t then go for it.)
• Is there a Rule in play that lets you win even if you have Creepers? (There are a couple of these, depending on which versions you have.)
• In Batman Fluxx, if the Goal requires a Villain, Villains don’t prevent you from winning. However, if the Goal does NOT require a Villain, then Villains ANYWHERE prevent you from winning.

See also: The… Goal requires a Keeper and either of two Creepers…

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Or can it replace the single Goal in play, leaving a spot empty?

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A: If there is an empty slot for a Goal because of Double Agenda, the next Goal played must fill that spot, and not replace the single Goal already in play.

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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.

You need to take Play All But 1 as a unit into consideration: you can’t just break out the Play All, and apply the effects of the Computer, and then apply the …But 1 part.

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.

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Do I get to decide who gets what? Do I get to decide how many to deal to each player? Do the recipients put them in their hands or on the table in front of them? Are they face up or face down? When I’m dealing them out, who do I start with?

A: First of all, only for Everybody Gets 1 (or Dreams & Omens) does the active player get to look at and decide who gets what. That’s a very different situation that the ones we’re talking about here. This question focuses on random (fairly even) redistribution along the lines of Share The Wealth.

The cards in question are shuffled or otherwise randomized so that the dealer does not know what’s being given out. They are then dealt out evenly, going around the circle clockwise, one card to each player in turn, continuing until the cards are all gone. Dealing starts with either the active player or the player to their left, with the intention of providing any possible benefit to the active player.

• So if it’s for Keepers, or a mixture of Keepers and Creepers, the active player should get the first card, because this is felt to be to their advantage, so they won’t get shorted if the number doesn’t deal out evenly. However, we would consider it an officially sanctioned house-rule if your group wanted to give the active player the option of starting with the player to their left instead of themselves. There could be reasons…

• For redistribution of Creepers-only, the card will usually say to start with the player to the left of the active player, because Creepers are generally considered a disadvantage, and this would mean that if anyone was going to receive fewer, it would always be the active player. However, as with other redistribution cards, your group may choose to let the active player decide whether they want to start with themselves or the person on their left. Again, we can think of reasons why someone might want to start distributing Creepers to themselves first.

Once dealt, all cards will be put into play immediately, so it’s OK to deal them out face up, but it’s sometimes better to deal them out face down, then have everybody reveal what they got all at once. As mentioned above, re/distributing by dealing will cause all players to end up with roughly equal numbers of cards. So if there are large discrepancies in the number of cards players had in play, this will even them out: players with a lot more than other players will end up with fewer than they had, and players with few or zero cards in play may end up with more. That’s the way it goes.

Here’s a list of redistributing cards, and their types:

Scramble Keepers, which is only in early versions of “Basic” Fluxx (1.0-3.x) is the only Action which is different. While you still shuffle up the Keepers and hand them back randomly and they go back into play, you don’t deal them out evenly, but instead give each player the same number of Keepers they had before. When we came up with Share The Wealth, we felt it was far superior, as we liked the way it leveled the playing field, keeping the game more competitive, to maximize player engagement.

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The card reads, in part “You decide who gets what.” My brother thinks I should hand them out without looking at them, but I think I get to look at them so that I know what they all got, but they only know what they each got.

A: As you have surmised, there is indeed no meaning to the phrase “you decide who gets what” unless you get to look at all the cards before you hand them out (yes, the intention is that you hand them out face down so that each person only knows what they themselves got).

Many people’s first instinct upon seeing someone else play this card is to simply reach forward and draw from the deck themselves, as if it were indeed intended to be random, but most, upon a careful reading of the card, come to the correct conclusion.

Since we have plenty of room on this card, we started implementing clearer text on this card in 2016:
“You look at the cards and decide who gets what, dealing them out face down to each player.”

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My friends think you can add it to you hand, and play some other card from their hand.

A: You are correct, your friends are incorrect. You pull the top card off the deck, and immediately play that card. You do not get to add it to your hand, or play any other card from your hand.

Also see: What are all the different cards in different versions where you get to draw the top card and play it immediately?

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A: No. There is no limit to the number of Creepers you can have in front of you.

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A: You keep drawing until you get a non-Creeper.

You may be seeing this question because it relates to a deck with a Mystery Play analogue (a card with the same or nearly the same functionality, but a different name). To see all of the Mystery Play analogues, check out the Fluxx Card Comparison Chart, (also linked in the lower part of the right sidebar).

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