Pokemon Infractions - Remedies for common errors

[gamersgambitct]

Judges:

Is there an official rules resource for applying remedies for common errors in Pokémon tournaments? The Penalty Guidelines gives the penalties, but does not necessarily provide a remedy.

Example: Player B has Silent Lab in play. Player A activates Hoopa-EX on the bench, and searches the deck for Pokémon. At this point the players realize the error and call a judge. What does the judge do with the cards, and where is this documented?

Thanks!

-Steve

 

[PokePop]

Well, the goal of the fix is to bring the game state back to where it should be, or as close as possible.

In this case, playing Hoopa EX was a legal play, so it stays on the bench. The player does not get to take it back, unless the opponent wises to allow it.

There was an illegal use of an Ability. The penalty would be for this. Warning or Prize Loss, depending on the level of the tournament.

The deck search can't be undone, but that is part of the use of the Ability.

The search and taking of Pokemon would be rewound. Any Pokemon obtained would be shuffled into the deck.

At this point, you have rewound the game state as much as possible to the last legal action.

 

[gamersgambitct]

Pokepop:

Thanks. This all makes logical sense. Is there a place where remedies to common problems are documented?

(i.e., where does it instruct the judge to rewind?)

Sincerely, Steve.

 

[ShadowCard]

gamersgambitct, you have presented two questions. The specific example was addressed by PokePop.

A document to fix common errors has never existed. As new cards and new situations come up, understanding of situations may change and philosophies about the game also change the way fixes are made. Even the most common and frequent errors ignite pages of discussion. Unfortunately, there is not an agreed consensus on who tracks fixes for common errors. Team Compendium handles card rulings but doesn't get too much into fixes. There is only discussion, such as on these boards. The last time I saw one attempted was years ago but it gets bogged down by a number of reasons. The strength of vagueness/generalization is that you can apply a large rule to specific situations.

The closest answer is one that PokePop gave you: do your best to rewind a situation, going back through the illegal plays until you arrive at the last legal play, and then apply any penalties. There is an agreed resource for penalties, which is the Penalty Guidelines which has examples of specific situations for which penalties apply, but even that has a lot of latitude and you may find judges who interpret it strictly or loosely.

Judge rewind is an agreed philosophy on how to handle errors but I think it is in the penalty guidelines that a judge should try to fix a game as much as possible before applying a penalty. How that fix happens is up to the judge.