Board Game Arena

Hi everyone,

I don't understand why sometimes I have the chance to block somebody trying to poach (steal) one of my guests,
and sometimes the stealing is just automatic, and there's nothing I can do.

Can someone explain this?

In order to block someone you must be able to serve the guest again with desserts at least as valuable as the person attempting to steal them is offering.

So, this means that if you do not have the requisite cards in hand to satisfy the guest, you will not be able to block the stealing.
If someone tries to steal with the guest's favorite food, it cannot be blocked (unless they happen to have two favorites, in which case it can be blocked with the other favorite).

Without looking at the code, I would guess that the system checks to see if you have the necessary card(s) to block the stealing. If not, the stealing happens. If you do, you are given the choice if you want to block by spend the card(s) or if you want to use them for other purposes.

Pretty sure the only time you aren't given the option to block is if the other person is stealing with the guest's favourite. Apart from using a favourite, I don't think I've ever seen the steal happen automatically even when I definitely don't have the right desserts to counter.