Advanced Rules

Note: This page is under construction. Rules and rulings will be added to this page sporadically and may not be in any order.

This page contains any more detailed rules and rulings that may not be not covered in How to Play.

Rules

Effect which trigger off of an action or ability last until the end of the current turn, unless otherwise stated. This contrasts with recurring effects from Scenes, Fields and grabbed Toys, which are considered game states (e.g. "while this Toy is grabbed") and apply until the state no longer applies.

Card Types

Quick Actions are considered a subset of Actions, i.e. a Quick Action is an Action but an Action is not a Quick Action.
Cards which are multiple types simultaneously (such as Patches) count as both types in terms of card counts and taking up slots, i.e. a card that is both a Character and a Toy could not be played if you already have 5 Toys or 5 Characters on your Playground.
Cards which count distinct card types treat unique versions of each card type separately (i.e. 101 Textbook's explanatory text is applied to all cards which check for distinct types, such as Harmony, Tour Guide).

Value Changes

Values halved by a card or effect (e.g. Confidence , Maturity , Cookie Gain ) are rounded down, unless otherwise stated.
Temporary changes to Confidence , Maturity , Resources, or Fight Rewards affect only one side of a Character.
- For example, if an Adult Character gains +2 from Bike Helmet and then regresses, the Regressed side does not benefit from the +2.
In contrast, Toys, Fields, and Scenes that provide an ongoing, non-expiring effect will continue to affect the Character. For example, if an Adult Character gains +2 from grabbing Cardboard Shield, then Regresses, the Regressed side continues to grab Cardboard Shield and still receives +2.
Fixed-value temporary stat changes are "remembered" if a Character returns to its original state, while any exchange, set or overwrite is not.
- If the Character gaining +2 from Bike Helmet is Regressed and then Restored in the same turn, the +2 will still be applied to their Adult side.
- However, If Character A (2/2) and B (3/3) swap values (so A has 3/3 and B has 2/2), and then A was Regressed and Restored, it would return to 2/2, and B would continue to also have 2/2.
Stat changes are considered to be "checked" when the effect is applied or at the start of the turn, and this new value is considered for future effects, such as swaps. For example, if a Character grabs a Toy, increasing its Confidence , and its Confidence is then swapped with another Character's, this increase value is what is swapped, and the Confidence increases from the Toy is not reapplied.

Fights

Quick Abilities and Quick Actions can be used during a player's Pre-Fight Step, even if it is not possible for a Fight to occur due to not having valid Characters to fight. This contrasts with cards which skip Fights and each player's first turn, as in these cases, the Fight Phase goes directly from the start of the Pre-Fight Step to the end of the Rewards Step, giving no window to use such actions.
A player winning a Fight refers to the action of receiving a Fight Win and the Fight Reward from your opponent's Character. Losing a Fight refers to the action of a Character regressing or being sent to Timeout.
In general, winning a Fight implies your opponent loses the Fight.
- However, if a Character is prevented from losing a Fight due to a card effect (e.g. Cardboard Armor), the other player still wins, i.e. Fight Wins and Rewards are still handed out to the winner, but that Character does not regress or go to Timeout.
Cards which specify "the next Fight" do not affect a Fight in progress. To affect the current turn's Fight, such cards must be activated in the Build Phase or Pre-Fight Phase.
Similarly, effects the mean a Character "cannot be picked for a Fight" do not by default protect a Character that has already been picked for a Fight.

Fight Replacers

If both players control different cards which modify how Fights behave (such as replacing them with mini-games), the active turn player's card has priority.
Fight replacers (such as Sword In The Stone) cannot be used if you are unable to Fight, for example due to a fight skip or due to either player having no valid Characters. If a player may Fight multiple times in a turn, this option is available for each distinct fight.
As with normal Fights, one player winning a Fight as per the rules of a fight replacer such as Jousting Arena or Cafeteria Trading Grounds implies the other player loses the Fight.

Variable Values

Cards that Cost X

See also: Category:Cards with cost X

Values of X must be chosen so resolution of the card effect produces a whole value greater than 0. For example, if a card says “X: draw X/3 cards”, you must choose multiples of 3 for the value of X.
Players declare the value they are choosing for X when they first activate the card by revealing it in their hand/targeting it in Timeout.
Cards with a cost of X are still affected by Cookie cost modifiers in play. The modifiers will change the cost once a player has chosen the value for X upon activation.
While not in play, cards with a cost of “X” are not considered to have a Printed Cost. They are only considered to have a cost on activation and during resolution of effects resulting from said activation. This means they are unable to be chosen by cards that allow you to play a card costing a certain amount or less, as these cards would not have a cost at the time the ability is played.
Further implications of this are best explained using the Field Grade School. Grade school reads “Players may only play Action cards in ascending order”. If the last card played during the turn was a card with a printed value of 3 in hand (for example, Bike Helmet) then the following would be true concerning cards costing X.
A player must choose at least 4 for the value of X if they wish to play a card costing X as their next action.
If a player does play a card with a cost of X for their next action, Grade School will not refer to this new value of X when looking to see if the next card is played in ascending cost. The next card played will still only have to have a printed cost higher than 3.

Printed Values of *

Clarifying text relating to values of * are not considered part of a card's ability and are thus unaffected by cards which remove a card's effect text, such as Got The Formula Wrong.

State Changes

Cards which change Character state (Adult/Regressed), such as Just Naturally Short, Infinite Play Tunnel Maze and The 37th Floor Copier, give the affected Characters that state in addition to their current state, for purposes of card effects only. This simply means that these cards are considered that state for effects that require it and for counts, and does not affect how the Character works otherwise:
- Characters who are both states are valid targets for effects involving Adult Characters *and* effects involving Regressed Characters.
- An Adult Character also treated as Regressed is still able to Regress due to card effects or as a result of a Fight (unless stated otherwise), and cannot be Restored.
- A Regressed Character also treated as Adult is still able to be Restored due to card effects (unless stated otherwise), and cannot be Regressed.
- Characters who are both states count as 1 for each state. For example, a Playground with 5 Adult Characters and Infinite Play Tunnel Maze in play would be considered to have 5 Adult Characters and 5 Regressed Characters, but only 5 Characters in total.

Characters that cannot be Regressed

The category of Characters that cannot be Regressed referenced in cards such as Dragon's Den refers to Characters who cannot currently Regress. This includes the following:
- Adult Single-sided Characters (as there is mechanically no way to regress them).
- Regressed Characters in general.
- Characters stating "This Character is immune to Regression.".
If a Character is under the effect of a single-time "the next time they would regress" protection effect, such as Refuse to Compromise, Cardboard Helmet and That Tune's A Bit Catchy!, they are also considered a Character that cannot be Regressed while this effect remains active or resolvable.
- Characters with this protection are able to be targeted by effects which Regress Characters.

Counting and "Exactly"

Conditions which check for a count, such as Pass For Big or Football Field, are still met if you exceed that count, unless the card asks for an exact amount or state, such as Ruler Of The Playground.
- That is, Pass For Big is still completed if you control more Characters or Characters which count as both states, and Football Field is still sent to Timeout if it has more than 4 Down Tokens on it, but you would not be able to win with Ruler Of The Playground if you controlled a Goal.