Question re Association card 1 and 4p

[Smoo]

i don't play 4p often, so i'm unsure if this is a bug or a feature.

I had the Association 1 card (the one that lets you double up on partnerships and universities) upgraded. i had started on partnerships, while the other 3 players got early universities. When i went to get my first university, the others already had their copies of hand size and science + 2 rep from earlier rounds. The game wouldn't let me choose either, because even though the last copy was available on the board, the card says to get my copy from the supply.

This seems like a drawback that isn't intended.

[danielvictor]

Yes that's an annoying feature,but it is the way that the game works,and a known drawback of the card.It's advantageous early on ,but can be worse,later.

[woelpad]

Just had the same happen in my game. It appears to stem from an extremely literal interpretation of the rules, which have since been revised to make it persist. Here's an extract from the rulebook:

If there are no more instances of a partner zoo in the supply, you can no longer take it, even if the last instance is still on the Association board. (If all of you already have a specific partner zoo, don’t replenish it during the break.)

This only talks about partner zoos, but then the same applies to universities once you upgrade.

It says not to replenish when all players already have the same zoo or uni, allowing the Assoc 1 player in e.g. a 3 player game to take the same one a second time, while also avoiding the issue seen in a 4 player game. This is because the total number of identical zoos or unis in the supply at the start of the game is always 4, irrespective of player count. But in a 4 player game, once all players have one, there's nothing left in the supply, so this replenish rule has no meaning. It would be so easy to tweak this rule to prevent the issue from happening. Just change all of you to all other players and there you go. Justice served. But no. Someone had to be stubborn and leave in such a baffling gotcha, that is so counterintuitive that quite a few people in house games will allow the player from taking it anyway to keep the peace.

Edit: Reworded to acknowledge the rule update.

[FDHenneberg]

In case it makes a difference for anyone, this has been specifically addressed in the official glossary, so at least there’s no doubt whatsoever that the way it works on BGA is correct.