This is a situation I saw potential to happen in our game last night, but thankfully it didn't come to pass. Still I'm curious what people think and if there's an official answer I missed.

I had two alien artifacts, the Answer to Everything and the Great and Magnificent Secret. (One says I win if I have exactly 42 points at the end of the game, the other says "reveal at the end of the game to gain 10 points.") Now, by fortune more than skill I managed to land myself exactly on 42 points and this led me to wonder, am I required to reveal the Great and Magnificent Secret, thus sending me to 52 points and potentially losing a sure fire victory? Or can I choose not to claim those 10 VPs? The wording on the reference sheet for alien artifacts doesn't make it sound like I have a choice - I must claim these points. On the other hand, 99% of the time a player probably wouldn't have issue with claiming extra points, so maybe the card's ability just wasn't worded as clearly as it could have been.

I think I prefer to believe the former conclusion (that I must take the points.) That seems like the kind of thing that fits for a game like this one, and also the entire rest of the game rules are so tight and well written that it's hard for me to believe they slipped up on this one card. Fortunately I was forced to gain more points from other players playing score cards, so this question didn't interfere with our game. (I ended up winning anyway =D) Still I remain curious, what do you folks think about this situation?

Is there a certain order one has to resolve the cards in this sense?

We did indeed miss this possibility. I'd say that, if such a situation arose, you could claim the victory for the 42 points, because it's hard enough to land exactly on 42 and I've seen very few games won this way.

bruno faidutti said:

Well it doesn't get much clearer than from the man himself.

bruno faidutti said:

Thank you kindly for the answer, sir. We'll keep that in mind for future games, although it is a pretty rare circumstance.

In response to Nerv's first question, both cards say "reveal at the end of the game" so neither one has priority over the other.

Yeah it makes sense that you needn't be forced to reveal the great secret, right? And can I just applaud Bruno one more time for his forthright input