Mission Possible rules questions

[SOcoachB]

The MP rules are very long and detailed this year. I'm wondering how people have interpreted the following two items this season:

In 3(c), the scoreable actions, the phrase "use a falling marble" shows up a couple of times. A narrow interpretation would be to use *only* a falling marble. A broad interpretation would just mean that a falling marble would need to be part of what is used to perform the step (i.e. the marble might have extra weight attached to it).

In 3(d), the final action, part (i) says the marble from the start action must "stop on its own" and part (ii) says the marble is not allowed to touch anything other than its base. I interpret that to mean that if the edge of the base includes a short wall to prevent the marble from rolling off, and the marble touches that wall, it does not stop on its own and is touching something other than the base.

Any thought would be appreciated.

[jgrischow1]

The MP rules are very long and detailed this year. I'm wondering how people have interpreted the following two items this season:

In 3(c), the scrabble actions, the phrase "use a falling marble" shows up a couple of times. A narrow interpretation would be to use *only* a falling marble. A broad interpretation would just mean that a falling marble would need to be part of what is used to perform the step (i.e. the marble might have extra weight attached to it).

In 3(d), the final action, part (i) says the marble from the start action must "stop on its own" and part (ii) says the marble is not allowed to touch anything other than its base. I interpret that to mean that if the edge of the base includes a short wall to prevent the marble from rolling off, and the marble touches that wall, it does not stop on its own and is touching something other than the base.

Any thought would be appreciated.

For the first part, I would just be sure to check with rule 3aviii, "If a marble is to start the next action, the actual marble (not what is holding or attached to it) must initiate the next action." We had lots of weights attached at various points but made sure if the marble is to start the action, the marble itself starts the action.

For the second part, I don't think it can touch anything, including a short wall. Has to stop on its own.

[SOcoachB]

One other question about interpretation:

Rule 3(c)(vii) in the scoreable actions talks about the chain of 5 touching marbles. The "last" one must move 10 cm and initiate the next action. Which is the "last", the one closest to the scoreable action, or the one that is at the end of the chain being struck?

[knightmoves]

One other question about interpretation:

Rule 3(c)(vii) in the scoreable actions talks about the chain of 5 touching marbles. The "last" one must move 10 cm and initiate the next action. Which is the "last", the one closest to the scoreable action, or the one that is at the end of the chain being struck?

You have five touching marbles. Number them 1,2,3,4,5 in sequence. The incoming single marble strikes marble 1. Marble 5 must move 10cm and initiate the next action.

[marissaschwartz]

In section b that mentions the starts action, can a layer of cardboard be applied to the base and still be counted as the "base"?

[SOcoachB]

Hmm. I'm really not sure about that. The base must be a hard, flat plane. If it is cardboard, it would need to be hard cardboard, and it would need to be the entire base, not just in some areas. Even if you have a wood, covered with a layer of cardboard, covered with felt... seems risky. A base of hard cardboard, if you have such a thing, covered by felt seems safer.

[knightmoves]

What are you trying to achieve with the layer of cardboard? The only reason I can think of for doing that is to have an energy-absorbing cushion so the marble didn't bounce so high when you drop it. I think "hard" for the surface means that you can't do that.