Your Favorite Rule
Dr. Awkward
United States
Cincinnati
Ohio
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What's your favorite rule? I never had one until I read for the first time the rules to Revolution: The Dutch Revolt. Feel free to add your favorite. (1 per person, please.)
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Xavi Rubio
Spain
Barcelona
Catalonia
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Talking about movement of units through the map, rule 7.11 of "Flintlock: Black powder, cold steel":
"Units cannot move off the map, they would fall off the table".
Simple and effective, I suppose 
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Bill Wood
United States
Eden
North Carolina
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The Elephant Rampage rule:
If there is a Leader in the hex (alone or stacked with a unit), and he
cannot withdraw [4.62], he is tragically impaled on the elephant’s
tusks, tossed high in the air, and then crushed to death under its feet.
All that without a die roll!
Rampaging elephants have no ZOC, and they may not be rallied.
Each Rampage is undertaken until its conclusion, so there may
never be more than one Tuscaloosa at any given time...
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David Ells
United States
San Clemente
California
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This game reverses the usual old Avalon Hill game pronouncement that the die is strictly used for combat and has nothing to do with movement. So here, it comes out as:
"The die is strictly used for movement and has nothing to do with combat."
(Combat is regulated and determined by chit draws for its outcome.)
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"The player who had the worst day goes first; if you've all had equally miserable days, the owner of the game takes the first turn."
So, how was your day today?
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Steven Israel
United States
Durham
North Carolina
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Admittedly, the manual for this one has a few good ones, but this is the one that sticks in my head.
"Even if you lost more components than this, you only have to pay this many cosmic credits. Pangalactic Insurance Company will pay the difference to Corp Inc. just as soon as they can get a claims adjuster out to the edge of the Galaxy.
However, if you lose over twice this many components ... well, then you still just pay the maximum. But Corporation Incorporated will fire the guy who signed you up for this job. How you assuage your guilty conscience is up to you."
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Filip Gökstorp
Sweden
Lörrach
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Card: Divine Intervention
"Regardless of who drew this card, or how, all Clerics immediately go up 1 Level. If this ends the game, the winner is entitled to mock the other players mercilessly."
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Murray Lewis
United Kingdom
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
Good at learning, useless at playing
No secret message here
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"The outhouse has no effect."
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Hawkeye
United States
Astoria
New York
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I no longer own the game so I can't quote it, but there was a rule in the section on flamethrowers that prohibited their use against descending paratroopers, and it made me wonder how just how many times that came up and how many people tried it that they had to make a rule for it ...
Perhaos one of our ASL brethren can open their hymnal and help us out with referenced passage?
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Mike Hutton
United Kingdom
Unspecified
Unspecified
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I really can't believe this isn't in the list... or at least, I haven't seen it this far...
Three classic "rules"
Wild Flich - you can pinch cards from the deck and keep them until you are caught in the act
Wild Empath - while it's on the table people have to address you as "Sir" or "Madam" (as appropriate) or you get to kill one of their tokens
and finally (although this is from the Mayfair edition), the wonderful "Cheese" moon:
Mind Blank Moon - all players not breathing in or speaking must hum. 
This last one is remarkably effective at removing all ability to concentrate.
It's rules like this that force you to be really alert, just in case they're in the game...
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Thomas Herrlich
Germany
Marburg
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The rulebook contains this very aptly rule:
6.66 The Rule of the beast
*some rules about commissars IIRC*
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Just call me Erik
United States
Waldorf
Maryland
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When the Omega star is replaced with a black hole, all the scientists are banned from the galaxy because those incompetent pointdexters failed to predict this calamity. Thereafter, nobody may use the scientist role.
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Ryan Hackel
United States
Falls Church
Virginia
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DINER ICEHOUSE
The Server's Turn - The waiter, waitress, bus boys, etc. are special Icehouse players. However, they do not realize that they are part of the game, and should not be told. In general, it is uncool to play during the waiter's "turn" (i.e. when he's taking orders, placing food, or retrieving plates). Tip: Find out the servers' names so you can warn the other players of their approach ("Here comes Henry", or "Sharon's turn").
Server Plays - The server can make plays and cause crashes without even knowing it. .... If a server happens to pick up a piece, remark on its splendid color, and set it back on the table, it is not a crash. This is a special placement, and the piece should be left where it is. [Note: It's uncool for a server to do this if they know how to play the game.]
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Roberto Bueno
Spain
Gijon
Asturias
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Something like... "Before starting to play it would be recommended that someone would have just read the rules"
(not literally but... almost that) 
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Thomas Herrlich
Germany
Marburg
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Quote:
Rule 9.4.2 Shore Battery Critical Hit results
Admin Building
A support building associated with the battery, but not vital to it's function, has been destroyed. If enough paperwork is destroyed, the battery's efficiency may actually improve.
The amount of cynicism is appalling.
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140.
Board Game: NATO
[Average Rating:6.01 Overall Rank:4695]
Joseph Lappin
Canada
Halifax
Nova Scotia
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I suppose it's not technically a rule but in the Designer's Notes section the following option was presented. "NATO has rules covering the use of tacticalnuclear weapons. To simulate the use of strategic nuclear waopons simply soak the map with lighter fluid and apply a flame"
Times change. I wonder how many people could lay their hands on lighter fluid today.
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United States
Fall River
Massachusetts
This is how I spent my supporter bonus Geek Gold. With more support I could have had both Over Texts.
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Under game terms:
Quote: FUN: A mandatory rule. You must have it, or else.
Or else what?
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Thomas Lang
Germany
Gaißach
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"Place the map in the center of the table with the map you want to play on face up."
The scary thing is that maybe you do have to mention that...
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Leonardo Miranda
Brazil
Curitiba
Paraná
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"Heroes are never obligated to exit the dungeon if the enter a tower run. They are welcome to stay as long as they like..."
Not really a rule, but it's funny.
Also:
"It is important to note that a hero may not exit the dungeon unless he possesses at least one loot card (no hero would leave the dungeon empty-handed; otherwise, what was the point?)"
"Even if the first player is eliminated, he stills advance the sun token at the start of his turn."
- Guys, i'm dead anyway, i'm going for a walk...
- No way dude! You need to advance the sun token!
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Paul Breslin
United Kingdom
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Well it is a bit abtruse but I like Rule 44 whereby the entire European theatre war is decided by the Japanese player rolling a few dice on the "European War Results Table' during the Spring 43 turn.
I just have visions of some worthy grognards getting to that point in Pearl Harbour, saying 'This simply won't do' and breaking out War in Europe to do the job properly...before returning to Pearl Harbour 
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Ken Grazier
United States
South Euclid
Ohio
Check out my boardgame demoing website! www.geek-craft.com
Near northeast Ohio? Come to one of my game nights! www.geek-craft.com
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It's not written in the rules, but at least at Origins the rule of ties is:
If two (or more) players both reach the 7 panel goal at the same time, the person who played the card wins the game.
You'll notice that it doesn't say that the person who played the card has to be one of the two (or more) players. If I play it and make at least two people win at the same time, I win instead.
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Lou Coatney
Norway
Lørenskog
Lørenskog
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My Rabaul Volcano Rule, which is bitterly resented by most of SS&J's players.
Basically, it states that the Japanese Player must roll the die once for this in each of his player-turns. If he rolls four consecutive 6s, the Rabaul Volcano catastrophically erupts (like it did shortly before the war, killing 500 natives), every ship in its Simpson Harbor is sunk, every air unit on its airfields is destroyed, and half of its land units are destroyed.
Understand that Rabaul is the immediate operational base for "The Tokyo Express" down the Slot to Guadalcanal, as well as optionally for the Coral Sea.
Of course, the odds of an eruption are infinitesimal - 1/1296 - but it nonetheless means that there is some random chance that no matter how brilliantly the Japanese Player plays, it could all go up in smoke ... and down in lava.
Essentially, this is psychological harassment with a purpose: Japan itself is seismologically unstable ... as we recently saw ... and I believe this foundational insecurity is part of every Japanese citizen's mental load. The non-Japanese Japanese player may come to appreciate that with this rule.
As far as the game, it is a distraction and irritant which occasionally becomes seriously alarming: three consecutive 6s is much more in the realm of possibility ... and do you dare ignore your geologists' warnings?
My desktop published game comes complete with the makings of a green cone and a long puff of cotton, with a circle near Rabaul on the map for it.
Some players want to do the Rabaul Volcano rolls all at once before the game, to be absolutely certain they won't be wasting their time, BUT THAT IS ILLEGAL. And the game MUST be played with the rule to be a valid SS&J game.
Some of SS&J's players have gotten really sulfurous about Rabba the Volc, but the designer isn't fazed.
ENJOY.
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The Greedy Get Eaten Rule
"When Cleopatra finally strolls into her new Palace, at the end of the game, the most corrupt architect (the one with the most amulets) will be seized and offered to her sacred crocodile as a tasty morsel! Only then will the wealthiest architect, from among those still alive, be selected and declared winner of the game."
In our house this is called the "Dad, you don't meed to bother counting your points" rule!
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Greg Wilson
United Kingdom
Bristol
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The rule on what happens when a pet is not bought by the players:
Quote: Oh. But what if the upper half has pets left over from previous rounds? Well, it doesn’t make any sense to keep those around any longer. Before moving pets from the lower half to the upper half, discard all pets in the upper half. They are removed from the game, but don’t worry: They go to farms in the country where they live happily ever after. For each pet discarded, add 1 meat token to the meat stand in the food market. Um, it’s just a rule.
The optional advanced rule:
Quote: As you know, pets in the upper half of the pet corral must go to a farm if they are not purchased. Normally when this happens, you add 1 extra meat token to the meat stand. But when Stareplant is sent to a farm, you should add 1 vegetable token to the meat stand instead. If Baby Golem is sent to a farm, add 1 gold token to the meat stand. If Ghosty is sent to a farm, do not add anything. As in the basic variant, there is no thematic reason for this rule.
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Matthew Barratt
United Kingdom
Royal Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
Beware the nun of doom
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I've a new favourite rule; Blood Bowl: Team Manager's little gem.
"Cheating is mandatory"
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Michigan
Justin (Marvel Nemesis) will always win a standoff between two or more players. That means any game, any time, and any day.
To simplify the above rule: I always win!
Granada Hills
California
Broomfield
Colorado
Someday I'm going to design a wargame in which units may freely transfer their unused movement points to other units, or save up their movement allowance for the entire game and then move 120 hexes on the last turn.
SPI's Stargate had a Coalition of races fighting against a single race. The ships of the various Coalition members had special movement powers clearly meant to do this. One race could save MPs from turn to turn, another could transfer MPs to another ship, another could skip over hexes...
Brussels
They key rule from the rather disturbing game called Drive on Frankfurt. I was altogether too young and earnest when I first played that game in the 80ies. Seemed somehow shocking at the time, now you just laugh about it.
Kirkland
Washington
The thing is, almost invariably in games where the oldest goes first going first is a disadvantage, while the youngest goes first in games where going first is an advantage; it's a common design decision meant as a handicap when playing with youngsters...
Justin (Marvel Nemesis) will always win a standoff between two or more players. That means any game, any time, and any day.
To simplify the above rule: I always win!
Have we learned nothing from The Twilight Zone ?