OK here is something that I am disagreeing with someone over; In the scoring guide it says you get -1 point for every elder sign played during the game. I've been playing this as -1 each time you seal a location but a friend says it only counts when you play the card. The terminology is a bit muddled there because they are both called the same thing which way does this work?

The -1 point applies to the Elder Sign card, since an ES is such a boon.

I think the key words are, "each elder sign used."