Universal Rule for Board Games - Players Decide Ambiguity: If players ever arrive at a situation not covered in the rulebook, and the rules offer no definitive answer, then players should feel free to decide what happens.

Q: I rolled "10" (double 5's) on the NORMAL Minutes chart. The defense has no squares. Does the defense still get a breakaway?

A: No, if the defense doesn't have any players with a "square" symbol, then there is NO EFFECT. Roll again, and ignore the NOTE with the BREAKAWAY PLAY result. In order to get a BREAKAWAY PLAY in this scenario, the defense must have at least one player with a "square" symbol.

Q: When there is a penalty does the power play start during the minute it was called, or does it start the minute after?

A: It starts in the following minute.

Q: A special result refers to player d6, who is that?

A: That’s the goalie of the team on defense.

Q: On normal minutes penalty event, PEN number is 0 and according to the dice roll, no penalty. What's the play then?

A: No shot, face off, change lines.

Q: In a Power Play situation, if the short-handed team gets a breakaway - do BOTH the short-handed shooting team AND the power-play goalie get the benefit of momentum stars for the play?

A: Yes

Q: Short-handed goalie makes a Spectacular Save - if it's the 1st minute of the 2-minute power play, does the short-handed team gain momentum?

A: No, but if it’s the LAST minute of the power play, and the Spectacular Save ends the Power Play, you WOULD give the momentum to the goalie's team.

Q: If a LULL occurs in the 17th minute of the 3rd period, what is the procedure?

A: LULL extends through the 19th minute, only the 20th minute is left to resolve.

Q: I am halfway through a 2 minute penalty and a PK LULL due to circles is drawn. Do I still mark it as a two minute lull or just a lull for the remainder of the power play?

A: Mark it as a two-minute LULL, even if one minute of the Power Play has elapsed.

Q: Regarding the new penalty shot procedure for HOCKEY BLAST 5.0: For dice rolls 2 and 10 there’s an empty square and it says ‘shooter must have shot stars to score.’ What does that mean?

A: It's based on the shooter’s SHOT rating. If the player has one shot star, you'd have to roll a "1." If he has three stars, he’d score on a die roll "1," "2" or "3."

Q: How should I handle 3 on 3 situations?

A: If you have the new 5.0 Gamebook then you are all set! If not, first, ignore any "scissors" ASST ratings and consider them to be "no symbol." Second, give every shot in overtime a two-star SHOT "bonus." That is, whatever the shooting player's SHOT rating is, add two stars to it. (A player with double-scissors SHOT rating would then be "no symbol.") These changes are in addition to the overtime guidelines already listed in the rules booklet, where all "7" LULL results are considered "3" PLAY results, and so on.

Q: In 2016, the NHL changed face-off rules in the defensive zones so that the player who is on the defensive side of the red line must be the first to place his stick on the ice before the puck is dropped. In doing so, that player is at a slight disadvantage to the attacking player, who can put his stick down second. Previously, the rules required the player on the visiting team to put his stick down first in ALL zones, including at the center-ice face-off dot. Can this be accounted for in Hockey Blast?

A: From Keith: If you'd like to reflect the slight attacking team advantage created by this new rule, you can make the following adjustment in your HOCKEY BLAST game book: on all face-offs that follow a "puck frozen" result (i.e., Goalie Save chart, result "7") change face-off result "8" from "HOME wins face-off" to "ATTACKING team wins face-off." Of course, if the home team IS the attacking team, then no change is made. Similarly, no change is made to the Power Play or Empty Net minutes face-off charts, as those scenarios give the advantage to the attacking team already.

Q: How do I resolve a penalty shot?

A: The same way as shoot-out shots, explained on page xvii of the rules.

Q: Is there any way to increase the frequency of penalty shots to modern day levels?

A: From Keith: Yes, on breakaway plays, change PLAY result "2" from "o2-o3-o5" to "(choice) player pulled down from behind by defender, PENALTY SHOT." This change, coupled with the penalty shot results already called-for in the Unusual Penalties chart, should get your penalty shot frequency up to modern-day levels.

Q: What am I supposed to do when there is a Fight roll, but no resulting fight?

A: From Keith: Whenever a FIGHT result (dice roll "2," main chart) comes up but no FIGHT ensues, either because no player has a FIGHT rating or because one or both players rolled outside his FIGHT rating, assume that someone threw a punch anyway. Make ONE roll on the FIGHT chart, use that result to determine momentum. A full-blown scuffle does NOT occur, and no penalties are whistled. Mark off the minute, conduct a face-off, and resume play.

Q: According to the game action book, if a three is rolled under normal minutes, the result is a Play, and the team with the most triangles gets a Play. If neither team has a triangle on the ice, the result is a Lull. However, in the rule book, there is no mention of a lull if there are no triangles. Instead it says that if both teams have the same number of triangles, the scoring opportunity goes to the team with momentum, and if neither has momentum, to the home team. So, if neither team has a triangle, is it a lull, or a play for the team that wins the momentum/home team tie breaker?

A: It is a Lull.

Q: Whenever a team is in submission, and a '7' is rolled, the rules states to treat as a fight roll. In a lot of modern sets, it is quite possible to have entire lines without fighters on the ice. In this case, does a LULL still occur, or should I treat it as a momentum '9' roll? I guess my question is can LULLS still occur while a team is in submission?

A: From Keith: If there are no players on the line with a fight rating then the submission would stay in effect and a LULL would occur. That's why you would want to put a goon/enforcer on the ice! A number of gamers (including me) play it that you can break submission on a '7' roll if there's a FIGHT rating on ANY line, the idea being that the goon is gonna drop his gloves when he gets the chance!

Q: In the rule book it states, "The vacant position, obviously, offers no challenge for QUALITY match-ups." Does this mean that the vacant position always loses a quality check (in other words, vacant is worse than zero)? Or does it just mean that the vacant position has zero of the checked quality, and so the opponent would need to have that quality to win the check?

A: From Keith: The way I play it is an automatic "win" for the unopposed player, regardless of whether he has the quality or not.

Q: I noticed some players have empty symbols. What do they signify?

A: From Keith: The open symbols are in effect when the team has momentum. In recent years, I have moved away from using open symbols, mainly because people find them to be confusing. They are equal to "half" a symbol, and if you prefer to use them in a different way, feel free. One idea would be to have them be in effect for home games only, or roll a die odd/even before the game.

Q: Are there specific rules to govern 4-4 situations?

A: There can be no lulls. Use result 3 in place of lull and team with the most triangles gets a play.

Q: Does a team with temporary BREAKAWAY momentum retain that momentum (able to use hollow stars) on any subsequent REBOUND shots during the sequence?

A: No.

Q: On the Optional Charts Penalty Finder (pg 17 v5.0) is the FIGHT X reading an automatic fight (no fight check roll) if the opponent has a skater with a fight rating on the ice?

A: Yes.