First Player Card and Bluff Token

By X_Shrike, in Battle for Rokugan

Where does a bluff token go if it was discovered by the First Player Card?

If a bluff token is discarded it returns to the owners hand to be used again. The First Player Card reads: "Play at the start of your turn during the placement phase. Choose one combat token on the board belonging to any player. Look at the token without revealing it to the other players, then return the token to its owner’s token pool ."

If you read the rules literally then the bluff token should go back into the general token pool. However the general theme of the bluff token is you always have it available. Is the bluff token's pool the player's hand?

It goes back to your hand like you said. How obvious or discreet you want to be about it is up to you.

I dont think anyone would argue if you set it next to your token pool and then during the reveal phase show it to everyone and put it back into your hand, that way other players wouldn’t know it was your bluff token until after everything is placed.

Of course, if it goes back to your hand you could just use it again. It doesn’t seem like the ideal option to me but at the same time I see no reason why you couldn’t. You just draw fewer tokens next round.

On 01/01/2018 at 2:39 PM, TheSpitfired said:

It goes back to your hand like you said. How obvious or discreet you want to be about it is up to you.

Shame then that wasn't stated on the 1st player cards, as there would always be potential for this to happen. After my first game, we just assumed if you were caught out on a bluff then the penalty was to shuffle the bluff into the pool, to maybe be found later. The idea of placing it nearby to grab next turn did cross our minds, but we came to the conclusion the pool was a random pool. Now that might be harsh and against the idea of the bluff token, but the rules don't help as concise as they attempt to be, and with FFG letting cards do the job of a rulebook. Hopefully an FAQ will pop up.