I'll be brief:

In out latest game one of the players raised the question if there is a limit how many Gates/Monsters you can trade for clue-tokens at the Miscatonic University. If you read the text it says something like "pay 1 gate trophy or 5 monster-toughness to gain 2 clue-tokens".

My question is if I for example can use 3 gates in one turn to get 6 clues or if I will have to do this procedure 3 times. How do you play it?

Only once per turn per investigator. So 6 Clues at Science Building takes 3 turns.

Is there any official answer for that ? Wilson's, or FAQS ? thing is, in our games we sometimes blessed two invests in a row at S.Church.....

It's an "instead of an encounter" power. If you had a (custom) Investigator who could take multiple Arkham Encounters in a single turn, then they could use it more than once. Generally, though, you only get one encounter, so you only get to use the "instead of an encounter" power once. Similarly, Wilson Richards from Dunwich can only use his personal "instead of an encounter gain $1" power once a turn.

(Probable Exception: Falcon Point from Innsmouth is used in Movement, not Arkham Encounters, so if you have the money and don't move yourself with it, you probably can move multiple Investigators in a single turn from there)

There might be something in one of the "collected answers" threads.

Hem said:

I did not find any official answer in the FAQ or from Kevins answers (hence the post).

In our case it was one investigator spending 15 toughness worth of monsters gained from the terrible experiment to get 6 clues. We decided to let the first player decide wheter it was possible or not to gain several clues. Now in retrospect I think we should have ruled it to a limit of 2 clues per investigator and turn but was curious if anyone else had discussed this. The exact word say "instead of an encounter..." so I might imagine it's like Dam says.. one swap per encounter.
As we were facing Hastur those 6 clues really helped a lot and we would have won regardless. This way we only shortened the game with a couple of rounds.

If you go by infinite or up to the amount you have, you could also then shop more than once per turn, that's also a "instead of an encounter".

Or you could gain the 1 free Sanity at the Asylum as many times as you want.

avec said:

Yeah, puts the pay $2 to go to full kinda out of business !

Oddly enough, I did the same thing last night- Beat down the Terrible Experiment then cashed in my pile of trophys for the 8 clues I needed to stop the "Good Work Undone" from destroying 5 Elder seals

SJE

I know the answer is once, but I tend to make an exception for the science building in play. Just too dull to camp there mutliple turns without encounters. I played this way before I realised it was wrong, and frequently yiled to the temptation to still play this way.

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

While we're at the topic, there's something that has always botherd me.

To clear out the rift tokens at Kingsport, you got to have encounters at the shown locations, right?

So, what if you use the locations ability? The abilitys say, they are "Instead of an encounter", so can't you remove a token if you've used the locations special ability? How about Richard Wilson? Can he make tokens disappear while using his $1 ability?

Vitus_Prem said:

Don't know if that's ever been officially clarified. Arm-wrestling thread from BGG:

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/325606

As pointed out in the thread, Wilson has been clarified that if he gets a move to any location in Arkham and have an encounter there, he can use his special ability instead (or you can use the printed instead of an encounter at the new location). So that would perhaps support the side that any form of an encounter would suffice. Then again, it's kinda silly to imagine that you go to location X, fail a check and are moved to the street, that the Rift was somehow investigated. You wouldn't get a Clue on a Task by getting dumped to the street, but for Rifts it's okay?

Vitus_Prem said:

I've always played that you need to take an encounter, the special doesn't work. My impression is that this situation has been clarified and the way I play is wrong, but I'm sticking with it. It makes players/investigators optimise, do I take the stamina heal ability that I really need or invetsigate the rift as the team needs. This makes the game more interesting to me.

I hold this up as proof that my innapropriate useage of the science building is not motivated by making the game easier, but by making it more interesting your honours. (Of course this falls a little flat if I am in fact doing Kingsport rifts right ).

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

Mariana the Ex-Nun Cultist said:

Well, you're talking about KH, so let's not get crazy here (even if you said "for me).

Dam said:

I got an encounter in Kingsport last night:

"GRANNY ORNE invites you in for tea and cakes after which seh opens uo and says:

'Yeah well folks round here don't like that Dam none too much either'.

You are delayed".

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

And Mark Harrigan just drank the cup in one go instead of merely sipping, ready to move next turn as normal !