Playing too quickly?

[Jonwainwright17]

Hi y'all,

Player A has finished their Charity step and it becomes Player B's turn. Player B is a level 8 super-wizard with the cards Cleric and Wand of Dowsing in Hand. Divine Intervention is the bottom card of the discard pile (making it easy to find). Expecting the combo, I have kept a curse in my hand solely to change the top card of the discard pile to mess with the cleric's power. Player B then plays their Cleric and in one breath says "Wand of dowsing, Divine Intervention, Kick Down the Door, Divine Intervention, Game" at about the speed of an auctioneer. I attempted to interrupt it with my curse but an argument broke out about timing of cards played.

My question is, does the 2.6 second rule (or similar effect) apply outside of combat, or is this solely a "fastest player wins" scenario?

Thanks for your help.

[Devin Lewis]

The rules themselves state that you must wait a reasonable amount of time after doing anything to let other players react. This was clearly an attempt to circumvent that rule.

[Niewodnik]

On top of that there is actually specific ruling for this exact situation.

Please look here: http://www.worldofmunchkin.com/faq/

Q. I was beating a monster and one of my opponents played Wand of Dowsing and said I couldn't claim victory until she had searched the entire discard pile. It took her 20 minutes to decide! Is that really what "reasonable time" means?
A. Not even a little. "Discard diving" as a stalling tactic is not in the spirit of the rules. If your opponent knew there was a specific card she wanted to play against you, she should have told you so as she went into the discards so you knew she wasn't just wasting time. You would have been perfectly correct to call reasonable time if it was clear she was just searching for something to play against you. That said, many groups allow a more informal method of saying "I'm pulling the +10 monster enhancer to play on you" and count that as playing the card even if the dowsing player doesn't yet have it in hand, as long as the card is actually in the discards to be retrieved.

And here: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=148639

Your friend broke sevral rules by making his play, first of all he needs to physically find said card to play it (of course you can allow him not to do it to make game go faster, but i don't think that's the case in this scenario), and also he did not give you "reasonable time" to react to what he's done.

[Argendauss]

OP's Player B was wrong for not making separate plays, as others said.

Originally Posted by Devin Lewis

The rules themselves state that you must wait a reasonable amount of time after doing anything to let other players react. This was clearly an attempt to circumvent that rule.

What the current version of M Deluxe rules say in relation to "reasonable time" is only: If you kill a monster (or monsters!), discard the monster(s) and any other cards played, and claim your rewards. But note: someone may play a hostile card on you, or use a special power, just as you think you have won. When you kill a monster, you must wait a reasonable time, defined as about 2.6 seconds, for anyone else to speak up. After that, you have really killed the monster, and you really get the level(s) and Treasures, though they can still whine and argue.

Supporting AH comment:
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=144911
Supporting scenario:
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=1360153

[Devin Lewis]

I'll happily have a chat with Andrew, but Munchkin isn't supposed to be a dexterity game.

In one of the posts you pointed out, it is stated that each action has to be performed and completed before you can do any other actions. By that standard, at minimum, you can't 'announce' what you're going to do for the win. You actually have to do it. And if anyone plays something to stop you, then you have to perform their actions too.

In any game that I run, anyone who tried that would be swiftly disinvited from ever playing again. There are plenty of ways to cleverly win Munchkin. Playing so fast that no one has time to think isn't clever and it isn't fun.

[Argendauss]

Right, OP's Player B is wrong for not actually making separate plays for the string of actions he had in mind. That's different than saying he's wrong for not giving reasonable time (semi-jokingly defined as 2.6 seconds in the rules) to respond to every play.

[MunchkinMan]

The "2.6 second" rule is with respect to killing Monsters. However, you still can't bunch up card plays as one single play event. You also should allow people to stop you between card plays to read a card just to be certain they understand what's happening if they ask for it. The purpose of the game is that your character, not you, the player, is a munchkin/jerk. Akin to Devin's sentiments, anyone who wants to be a for-real jerk at my table is welcome to leave.

[Andrew Hackard]

Coming off vacation VERY briefly to say, in brief: the player in the original scenario is confusing BEING a munchkin with PLAYING a munchkin (and sounds like a bit of a jerk besides). He is also ignoring one of our guiding precepts: every action you take stands alone and must be completed before you can take a new action. So playing Wand of Dowsing to get Divine Intervention is fine, but you then have to resolve DI before continuing with your turn, and you do not get to use the resurrection ability of the Cleric class until you discard, and only THEN can you take the top card off the Door discards. If someone makes you lose your Class or plays something else on top of DI after you use Wand of Dowsing on it, that sequence is interrupted.

As a meta-issue, ANY question posted here that starts with "I think my friend is being a jerk" is likely to have the answer "You are correct; your friend is being a jerk."

Going back to vacation now. See y'all in a few days. Don't forget to check out Munchkin Shakespeare if you haven't yet; link is in my sig.