Most Blood Bowl teams have a well-deserved reputation for, erm, bending the rules of the game in their favour. In fact, there only appears to be one team, that follows all the rules, all the time – the much maligned Bright Crusaders – and most commentators are pretty sure that they will wise up soon and learn to play dirty! This important aspect of Blood Bowl is incorporated into the game with Special Play Cards. There are 166 Special Play Cards, sub-divided into three different decks: 44 Dirty Tricks, 27 Magic Items and 45 Random Events.

At the start of a game the three decks of cards should be shuffled and placed beside the game board. Starting with the Home team, each coach rolls a die to see how many Special Play Cards he may take to use during the match.

Note that as many coaches roll separately to see how many cards they receive, they may get a different number of cards each.

It is up to each coach to decide from which deck or combination of decks he draws his Special Play Cards from. The only restriction is that a coach may never take more than one Magic Item card, to represent the fact that magic items are rare and difficult to find.

For example, if a coach was allowed to take three cards, he could take all three from the Dirty Trick deck, or one each from the Dirty Trick, Random Event and Magic Item decks, or any other combination of the decks that he liked. However, the cards must be taken at random from the top of the shuffled decks - coaches are not allowed to pick exactly which card they get, only the deck the card comes from.

Special Play Cards are kept secret from the opposing coach until they are used. Each card includes a full description of when it can be used and what effect it has on the game. A Special Play Card may be used once per game and then must be discarded; you do not get Special Play Cards back at half-time the same way as team re-rolls. Any cards that are not used during the match are lost and may not be retained for the next game.

Special play cards, which have wording such as "player automatically fails his roll", allow for a skill or team re-roll to be used. However this second roll will automatically fail as well. [JJ]

You can trade or sell Special Play Cards to your opponent. [JJ]

You are under no obligation to play all your Special Play Cards. You can accept a cash donation (bribe) for not playing a Special Play Card. Such transactions are not necessarily binding! [JJ]

The earliest a special play card may be played is immediately after both coaches decide whether or not to use the Apothecary to heal any Niggling Injuries.

Eye of the Eagle may be intercepted. [JJ]

Eye of the Eagle won't make a Hail Mary accurate. [JJ]

A player may not benefit from multiple magic helmets. [GWUK]. If you're feeling silly, allow a player with Two Heads to be the only exception.

Magic Hand of Jark Longarm will intercept a safe throw, but not a hail Mary pass. [GWUK]

Players may regenerate from Injured in Practice. [GWUK]

Apothecaries can prevent Injured in Practice, but are then unavailable for the match. [GWUK]

Blatant fouls aren't called after you get the ref. [GWUK]

You may argue the call on a blatant foul. [GWUK]

For purposes of Robbed! or Large Donation, winnings include Demo Game and tournament prizes, but not Will, Merchandising, or #1 with a Bullet. [GWUK]

The card Duh, Where Am I? is poorly worded. It should be played after a player is knocked down and armour is NOT penetrated.

The dazed player on the receiving end of a Duh, Where Am I? may be stood up and take an action on the turn he is knocked down.

The dazed player on the receiving end of a Duh, Where Am I? can not score a TD against his own team. He may score against the opposing team if he happens to be holding the ball in the End Zone. [JJ]

The dazed player on the receiving end of a Duh, Where Am I? gains no Star Player Points for completed passes to opponents, causing casualties to team mates, or intercepting a team mate's pass. [JJ]

A player may take a handoff from a player who has been "Mindblow"-ed.

The accumulated Star Player Points for a non-star player who has been Peaked still contribute to team rating. [JJ]

Players hired through a Special Offer or That Kid's Got Talent contribute their list price for Team Rating purposes, not the price actually paid. [JJ]

Diving Tackle or Dump Off may be used by the blitzed player when Is It A TD? is played.

If a player using a Sewer Map enters the field in an occupied square the occupying player is pushed back, as if hit from the square indicated by the second scatter roll.

Blood Bowl negotiators are not very bright. If they call a Player Strike and you have no money in the treasury, they will play the match anyway. [JJ]

Spy may be used to prevent the use of _any_ Re-Roll, including skill Re-Rolls. [JJ]

If your Away Fans have been banned, and you play Merchandising, you receive 10,000 x your Fan Factor, as recorded on your roster, not 10,000 x 0, where 0 is your FF for the game. [JJ]

Custard Pie and Stink Bomb may not be thrown by a player holding the ball. [JJ]

Custard Pie and Stink Bomb may not be Pass Blocked. [JJ]

If a team gets either of the Demo Game or Charity Match random event cards they can opt to play an actual match rather than taking the result printed on the card. They can play the match and count the results for money, injuries and SPP. The match will not count towards the points race for the playoffs. (ABBA)

The 'Sorry' and 'Sorry Sir' special play cards can result in a team's Head Coach (i.e. me!) getting killed. If the Head Coach is injured or killed then he may not argue the call for the rest of the match (and Undead Necromancer's may not use their 'Raise The Dead' spell either). If a Head Coach is killed then he is replaced for free in time for the next match. Undead teams that lose their Necromancer Head Coach can carry on playing, but none of the players in the team are allowed to Regenerate as this function is performed by the Head Coach rather than the players themselves. The Necromancer will be replaced for the next match in the same way as a normal Head Coach.

Special Play Cards do not cause a Turnover unless stated explicitly on the card, or if the player carrying the ball is knocked over or pushed off the pitch. (ABBA)