A: There’s no time-limit on how long someone may take for their turn, but annoying the other players by taking forever to make decisions may make them decide they don’t want to play with you very often. In other words, the only time limit is the tolerance of your fellow gamers.

We’d suppose this applies to… almost any game, though what is considered a reasonable amount of time for a turn probably varies from game to game. As long as you are within what is considered average for that game, you’re probably fine.

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A: Killing Time is described as:
If you choose to discard a card instead of playing, you may also choose to discard a second card, and draw one to replace it.

So, Killing Time simply means, at any point during which you might choose to discard –>instead of playing<– you may choose to discard 2 and draw 1. This should leave you with the same number of cards that you started with. (Since the number of cards in your hand is a way of winning, Killing Time should not be a way to achieve this.) The way you Draw & Play in ÜberChrononauts is described as: • Draw 2 cards & add them to your hand • Discard 1 card from your hand • Play 1 card So, if you were Killing Time in ÜberChrononauts, it would look like this: Let's say it's the beginning of the game, and you have a hand of 3 cards • Draw 2 cards and add them to your hand (now you have 5 cards in your hand) • Discard 1 card from your hand (now you have 4 cards, and must either play 1 or discard 1) • Looking at your hand, you decide you don't want to play any of these, you'd rather discard instead, and you choose a card from your hand to discard. (now you have 3 cards in hand) • Since you're deciding to discard –>instead of playing<– you may Kill Time • You discard another card from your hand, and draw to replace it (leaving you with 3 cards in hand) ...and your turn is over. I find it helps to talk out loud describing processes like this, both to make it clear to everyone what I'm doing, and also to assure everyone and myself that I'm doing it right. You could also describe the process like this: • Draw 2 cards and add them to your hand (now you have 5 cards in your hand) • Discard 1 card from your hand (now you have 4 cards, and must either play 1 or discard 1) • Looking at your hand, you decide you don't want to play any of these, you'd rather discard instead. • Since you're deciding to discard –>instead of playing<– you may Kill Time • You discard 2 cards from your hand, and draw 1 (leaving you with 3 cards in hand) ...and your turn is over.

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A: We figure that you’ll rarely end up needing to deploy more than four Gold Watches before someone wins.

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A: No. If you accomplish FRED’s Mission and/or the Head’s ID then you simply keep that Mission or ID card as if they were your own. You still need to complete all three win conditions.

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A: No. You keep your old one, it’s just face up now. You’re still you, but everyone knows you now, and your mission becomes a reminder of past accomplishments, like a diploma on the wall.

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A: Yes. (“It’s Gold!” was added in the 3rd printing.)

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A: You draw two cards, look at them both, and decide to either keep them both or put one of them back onto the draw pile, taking instead the top card from the discard pile.

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A: Luckily for you, fan Ryan Hackel asked himself this very question, and did the math to find out the answer! See his answer below:

In UberChrononauts, the universe is destroyed if, at any time, there are 13 paradoxes within any four consecutive rows of the timeline. (This is especially important to Crazy Joe, the Lost ID who wins by crashing the universe.)

But, if your game table is like mine, it has a hard time holding all 64 timeline cards in the traditional 8×8 arrangement (69 with the Gore Years). More often than not, I have to arrange the timeline in a different configuration to make it fit conveniently, with 9, 10, or even 12 cards per row as the table size dictates.

But wait, if I change the number of rows, it also messes with the number of possible paradoxes in each row. If there are more or less than 8 cards per row, the magic number 13 for timeline collapse is no longer valid!

So, I’ve done the math. For timeline configurations between 6 and 14 cards per row, I counted the number of Ripplepoints per row (always with the Gore Years included). Then I summed up the number of Ripplepoints per every set of four consecutive rows, and took an average. Then I compared the average Ripplepoint density against that of the usual 8-per-row timeline, and scaled the magic 13 accordingly.

Results:

6 cards per row = 9 paradoxes within four rows
7 cards per row = 11 paradoxes within four rows
8 cards per row = 13 paradoxes within four rows
9 cards per row = 14 paradoxes within four rows
10 cards per row = 16 paradoxes within four rows
11 cards per row = 17 paradoxes within four rows
12 cards per row = 19 paradoxes within four rows
13 cards per row = 20 paradoxes within four rows
14 cards per row = 23 paradoxes within four rows

Note that the number of paradoxes is approximately 1.6x the number of cards per row, in case you need a quick rule of thumb.

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Does that mean you draw 2 cards, keep 1 and discard the other, or do you draw 2 cards, add them to your hand, discard any card you choose from your hand, then play a card?

A: The latter. It’s kind of like a game of Fluxx, if the rules at the time were Draw 2 plus a New Rule called Discard 1 which, if it existed, would require you to discard 1 card between the Draw and Play parts of your turn.

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A: No. The flipped up card (Mission or ID) or the symbolic Gold Watch is only an outward, physical representation of the work that you’ve done. It’s the work that matters. No one can steal the work you’ve accomplished (nor can they trade it out with New Mission). The work itself is done, past, finished… intangible, therefore unstealable (and unsellable*). The cards mentioned are only an indications of the work, not the work itself.

* The collectors who buy up Artifacts are not interested in it for any Missions (the Midas Mission, Futuristic Alchemist) OR the Sell An Artifact “Midas Bonus”. As another FAQ posits: it’s probably electroplate anyhow.

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A: No, once achieved, their ID is turned over as accomplished. The timeline state can be altered, and it will not affect the fact that that player successfully complete their ID goal.

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…The rules say they are discarded, but do they go into the discard pile, or are they removed from the game?

A: They go into the discard pile.

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A: When you get a FRED/Head victory, you take that Mission/ID for your own, and discard both the Gadget and your own uncompleted Missions/IDs. However, if you have FRED or the Head but accomplish your own Mission or ID, you reveal your card, discard your extra, and then simply retain the Gadget. At that point, it becomes useless to you; but FRED and the Head retain their mission/ID cards, and they stay in your possession. The Head is still who he is, and FRED is still programmed to complete that Mission, so the Gadgets stay in play as usual.

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A: You randomly choose one of the other player’s ID to discard and replace.

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A: No. (See question about whether the Gold Watch can be stolen – it’s just a symbol of your achievement. It’s probably electroplate anyhow.)

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A: In regular Chrononauts, the game ends immediately if the Universe is destroyed, with everyone losing – unless Crazy Joe was in the game, in which case he wins. However, in UberChrononauts, the game wouldn’t be able to continue if Crazy Joe meets his goal, and since the UberGoal requires you to accomplish more than just your character’s conditions, the universe needs to be kept from collapsing in order for the game to work.

Fortunately, there’s this special team of Time Police agents, who have been pursuing Crazy Joe across the timestream for eons, who will suddenly show up to solve this problem if it occurs.

Here’s what happens: Crazy Joe is credited with having destroyed the Universe, which teeters on the brink of destruction but doesn’t actually collapse. (The player keeps the ID card face up on the table thereafter, indicating that this part of the UberGoal is complete.) Then the Time Police rule described below is used to put the TimeLine back in order enough for the game to continue. (And while they’re busy keeping Time intact, Crazy Joe gets away scot-free! Laughing maniacally, of course.)

The Time Police Rule:
If the Universe is on the brink of destruction, and it would be awkward for the game to end without an actual winner, a special team of Time Police agents will suddenly step in to save the universe. This is done by giving all players an imaginary Restore History card, which each player must immediately use in turn on the Red Linchpin of their choice. After everyone has done their share of repair work, the Time Police will vanish and the game continues as usual with the next player. But the Time Police will not return. If the Universe is destroyed a second time, it really does get destroyed, and all players are considered losers.

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