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[colleenparade]

I just had a disagreement with my grandson over the play of Throne Room multiple times. He played the Throne Room card four times. On the forth card he played Council Room. By his calculation that should mean that there are 16 Council Room cards with 4 extra cards each, resulting in a 64 card draw. Is this correct?

[Awaclus]

It isn't. Playing a card twice doesn't mean "play a card once, multiplying all the numbers in it by two"; it means "play a card, following its instructions from top to bottom exactly as they are written on the card, and then do this a second time". Therefore, if you Throne Room a Throne Room, you can play a card from your hand twice, then you can play another card from your hand twice. If one of those cards is yet another Throne Room, that one also plays two more cards from your hand twice, and so on.

So in this example, your grandson would draw a total of 8 cards, get a total of +2 buys, you would draw a total of 2 cards, and he would then get to play up to three more Actions from his hand twice.

[colleenparade]

Thank you for you explanation Awaclus, it is very helpful.

[Dylan32]

It isn't. Playing a card twice doesn't mean "play a card once, multiplying all the numbers in it by two"; it means "play a card, following its instructions from top to bottom exactly as they are written on the card, and then do this a second time". Therefore, if you Throne Room a Throne Room, you can play a card from your hand twice, then you can play another card from your hand twice. If one of those cards is yet another Throne Room, that one also plays two more cards from your hand twice, and so on.

So in this example, your grandson would draw a total of 8 cards, get a total of +2 buys, you would draw a total of 2 cards, and he would then get to play up to three more Actions from his hand twice.

Had to upvote this for two reasons. 1) It is correct. 2) Your respect is now an awesome palindrome.

[colleenparade]

I'm really new to this forum, what is an upvote? Also, I showed your message to my grandson (a 13-year-old "genius") and he refused to accept it, just kept trying to argue his point. Guess my house rules will say no one can have more than 2 Throne Rooms.

[Dylan32]

I'm really new to this forum, what is an upvote? Also, I showed your message to my grandson (a 13-year-old "genius") and he refused to accept it, just kept trying to argue his point. Guess my house rules will say no one can have more than 2 Throne Rooms.

Sorry, I was replying directly to Awaclus, not to your post. But to your followup, perhaps if your grandson won't accept one online stranger's opinion, perhaps showing him the official wiki might help.

http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Throne_Room

In particular the lines, "If you Throne Room a Throne Room, you may play an Action card twice, then may play another Action card twice; you do not play one Action card four times." as well as, "Throne Room plays a card twice; it does not double the effects of a card. It is possible that the card played by Throne Room does different things each time it's played."

[Dylan32]

Oh, and an upvote is the little arrow pointing up at the top right of each comment/post. If you like the comment, it was the correct answer, was particularly helpful, funny, or whatever reason you come up with, you can click that arrow, and the "Respect" counter on the person's profile will increment. It's basically just a superficial indicator of how active or helpful a person is on a particular forum.

[silverspawn]

There is a nonzero chance that Donald (creator of dominion) is going to visit this thread and confirm Awaclus' interpretation personally. Of course, the opinions of people who have spent hundreds of hours on this game (e.g. Awaclus) should probably be sufficient.

[chipperMDW]

You also could tell him to look at the rule book's description of Throne Room, where it says, "If you Throne Room a Throne Room, you may play an Action card twice, then may play another Action card twice; you do not play one Action card four times." (That's quoted from the latest edition, but the first edition says the same thing with slightly different wording.)

[scolapasta]

And if all that is not enough, just set up a game on Dominion Online with those cards to demonstrate him how the official online version handles it.

[colleenparade]

Great ideas, thanks to all who have responded.

[mxdata]

It isn't. Playing a card twice doesn't mean "play a card once, multiplying all the numbers in it by two"; it means "play a card, following its instructions from top to bottom exactly as they are written on the card, and then do this a second time". Therefore, if you Throne Room a Throne Room, you can play a card from your hand twice, then you can play another card from your hand twice. If one of those cards is yet another Throne Room, that one also plays two more cards from your hand twice, and so on.

So in this example, your grandson would draw a total of 8 cards, get a total of +2 buys, you would draw a total of 2 cards, and he would then get to play up to three more Actions from his hand twice.

Had to upvote this for two reasons. 1) It is correct. 2) Your respect is now an awesome palindrome.

Clearly, no one can ever upvote another post by Awaclus now

[GendoIkari]

Great ideas, thanks to all who have responded.

In pretty much all* Dominion rules questions, you always want to just read the card you play word-for-word and follow literally, exactly, what it says to do. Never try to apply your own logic or reasoning to it, simply follow the card's instructions.

Play Throne Room:
 - It says "you play play an Action card from your hand twice" so do literally that:
 -- Choose a Throne Room card in your hand as the one to play twice. Each time you play it, literally follow the instructions on the card:
 ---Play #1: Choose an action card from your hand and play it twice. Choose Council Room, play it twice
 ----Draw 4 cards; opponent draws 1
 ----Play it again. Draw 4 cards; opponent draws 1
 ---Now play that Throne Room a second time. Choose an action card in your hand to play twice. You cannot choose that Council Room, because it's not in your hand; it was already played.


*There are some very rare strange cases where the most literal reading of a card is not correct, but they generally only come up when dealing with multiple expansions and interactions between cards that only players who have played thousands of games of Dominion ever even think about.