I think that this has intentionally been left fuzzy by the game designers, in order to allow individual groups to decide for themselves. I am curious about how other groups play through this situation, though.

Here's the scenario.

1) I scout the destination deck and leave the card on top.
2) We jump.
3a) The admiral chooses the other card and puts the one I saw on the bottom. Am I allowed to say that he didn't choose the card I left on the deck? I know I can't reveal any information about what was on the card that's now on the bottom of the deck.
3b) The admiral chooses the card I left there. Am I allowed to confirm that this was the card I left there?

Is it public knowledge which of the two cards the admiral chooses; ie, does everyone know whether he chose the top card or the one after it, or is he supposed to shuffle them so that this information is kept secret? If it's public knowledge, the questions above are moot.

The same scenario can come up with scouting the crisis deck and having Roslin in play, of course.

[cross-posted to BGG forums)

You are allowed to confirm or deny that he chose your card. The other players are not required to believe you.

The three groups I play with say no - you cannot reveal/discuss any details of such cards you look at secretly and a confirm reveals details definitively and a deny makes clear implications about the specifics of the other card removing elements of the doubts, especially dependent on who may or may not know stuff about different characters. The FAQ allows at best a 'good' or 'bad' statement which is in fact implicit in the action of keeping a card or sending it to the bottom - it really bars medium, and so comparative statements which you make by IDing the card that was yours are out. We draw further inspiration for this from the skill check rules where it is explicit that id'ing cards you know about (even where others may or may not choose to believe you) is banned as revealing information. The instant someone has seen someone else's loyalty cards this becomes utterly vital.

We feel that stating 'my card was X or Y' after a play therefore violates both the letter and the spirit of the rule '"If a player has the ability to look at cards on the top of a deck, he may not disclose specific information about that card."

So for us, you look at a card secretly what you know is supposed to remain secret and undiscussed at pretty much all levels so far as we are concerned barring those where its explicitly stated otherwise (loyalty for example).

Except you aren't revealing any SPECIFICS about the card when you say the Admiral didn't pick your card.

Consider it in the context of the show. A raptor pilot goes out to scout a potential destination. It's a nice juicy target with little or no risk. If the Admiral picks something less optimal, as an insubordinate fighter jock, why wouldn't you say:

"Admiral, that location I'd previously scouted was a plum for the picking, why'd you take us into this mess?"

and let the accusations fly?

myrm said:

So how do you handle the fact that other players can simply watch which card is on top and which card is chosen by the admiral?

I agree that there is nothing stopping you from saying your card was not picked. It makes no sense if you left a distance 3 card on top and the Admiral chose a distance 1. Now you know the Admiral is a Cylon, but can't say why? On the other side, if you left a distance 1 on top and the Admiral pulls the 2 cards and sees the top is a distance 1, he knows you are a Cylon, and while he can't give specifics about the card he can certainly say that you left a bad card on top.

Basically, you can accuse the admiral of choosing a "bad" card, since you know the other one was "good". Likewise the Admiral could accuse you of leaving a "bad" card on top.

Not paying any attention to the "Secrecy" parts in the rules and the FAQs, we always played very open-minded in our games. Freely, that is.

In other words : you can say whatever you want, and believe whatever suits you. And that feeling is so like the series. So we think it is even greater that way

I got an answer from Corey regarding this question. Here was his response:

"You MAY say that he went did not go to the destination that you scouted, and even claim that yours was better. You may NOT however give specific information about the location you saw. The main reason for this is that players who are new to the game would not be able to make a bluff.

"Example: First time game with a new player. He scouts and tells everyone that the location causes them to lose 3 fuel. The experienced players know he is telling the truth because how else would he know that this card existed?"

That'll teach a lesson to these failed first creatures of God that are the humans ! Let them be naive and unexperienced ! We Cylons are the perfect race ! So say we all !

(man, me ducky duck turning into a bsg maniac)