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Exploring Christmas Town
by Andrew Parks
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Jack Skellington is back, and this time he's much more interested in Christmas Town than in his own domain! The Christmas Town Expansion features two new versions of Jack: the first one (shown right) is Jack Skellington, Explorer of Unknown Realms. This version only has a Scare Number of 2 (Jack wasn't very scary when he was visiting Christmas Town!), which means he can be played on your opening turn no matter which Starting Locale you're using.
This version of Jack has special text that allows him to move to Christmas Town without the help of any special Surprises. He can simply spend a Movement to move from the edge of Halloweentown to the edge of Christmas Town as if they were connected. Once he's there, he's going to go exploring! Every time he moves to a Christmas Town Locale, you get a free Pumpkin Point!
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Moving Jack is easy to do if you're playing with the right Locales. However, if you want to have your Locales focus on drawing cards and adding Pumpkin Points, then there are other ways to move Jack around Christmas Town. The easiest way to move Jack is to play Electric Lights, which can move Jack from one Christmas Town Locale to another of your choice. Of course, if Jack is still in Halloweentown, Electric Lights won't work yet, so you'll have to get Jack there first by using some other form of Movement. And in order for Electric Lights to work, you'll have to have at least 2 Christmas Town Locales in play. But once it's up and running, it's worth a free Pumpkin Point every turn that you play it!
Another great way to move Jack each turn is to use the Skating Pond, a new Christmas Town Locale. This Locale's Bonus lets you move two Characters every single time you perform a Halloweentown Function, as long as you're willing to discard a card first. The Skating Pond will keep Jack skating along until you draw your next copy of Electric Lights.
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In this article, we're also introducing the first of many cards in the expansion which don't center around Christmas Town itself. Introducing Sally's Arm, which can move around Halloweentown on its own! Combine this with another new card, Sally's Leg, and you can have Sally in three places at the same time!
These two "Appendages" strengthen a lot of strategies from the Premiere Set, especially cards such as It's a phase, my dear (a Surprise which rewards you for having Finklestein and Sally together), I never realized (a Surprise which rewards you for having Jack and Sally together), and the Sandy Claws Outfit (a Creation which is cheaper to play if Jack and Sally are together).
These new cards won't cost you an arm and a leg either (pun intended!). You can even play them for free to Sally's Room!
The Appendages also work great when combined with either version of Sally from the Premiere set: Sally, Shy Creature can discard herself to draw 3 cards when she's with Jack, but you can keep one of her Appendages with Dr. Finklestein to continue using It's a phase, my dear, and keep the other Appendage with Jack to continue playing their support cards as well. Sally, Skilled Alchemist can stay in her Room to use her special text while her Appendages allow you to play her support cards as if she were still hanging out with Jack and Finklestein!
Of course, there's also a new version of Sally coming out in the Christmas Town Expansion, as well as a support card for Sally's Appendages entitled Falling to Pieces. But those will have to wait for a future spoiler!
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