okay, so the mat you get in the starter deck only has 5 friend zones, but nowhere in the rule book or in any explanation of the game does it specify how many friends can be in play at on time. the on;y rule is the unique rule about names. and even more confusing is the statement in the rule book that says an unlimited number of friends can be play in your action phase (which my friends and i thought that only uplied to how you play them) so the big question is,...

......CAN YOU HAVE MORE THAN 5 FRIENDS IN PLAY? AND IF SO, IS THE NUMBER UNLIMITED AS IMPLIED?

you can play as many friends as possible,

thanks, that helps more than you can possibly imagine. ^.^

You can have any number of friends on the feild as long as they all have seperate names. example, you cant have a level 1 and a level 2 goofy on the feild at the same time. Unless another card like monstro level1 is in play that says otherwise, the number of different friends and magic friends you can have in play is unlimited.