Re-Fantasy: how to stay in Fantasyland hand after hand
Getting into Fantasyland is hard. Staying in — making a Re-Fantasy — is where the scoreboard really takes off. Good players don't just get in: they chain one Re-Fantasy after another. Here's how.
The Re-Fantasy requirements
While in Fantasyland, to make a Re-Fantasy and get back in the next hand you have to build, without fouling, one of these two hands:
- Trips or better on top, or
- Quads or better on the back.
Watch out for this, because a lot of people get it wrong: a FULL HOUSE in the middle does NOT give you a Re-Fantasy. Only those two routes count: trips on top or quads on the back. Either one gets you back in. Notice how the bar is much higher than it is to enter (there QQ+ was enough): the Re-Fantasy demands a very specific hand. And a format note: in Pineapple Progressive (the tournament standard) a Re-Fantasy always deals you 14 cards, while in Ultimate you receive the same count as your first Fantasy.
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Already signed up on this device? Content unlocks automatically.Place for two goals at once
Here's the art: when you're dealt all your cards at once in Fantasyland, you don't just place to score (royalties and scoop), but also to make the Re-Fantasy. The best placement achieves both: for example, quads on the back gives you royalties and keeps you in Fantasyland.
Before you lock in your Fantasyland board, always ask yourself: do I have a way to make trips on top or quads on the back? (remember: a full house in the middle does not count for the Re-Fantasy). If you do, it's almost always worth prioritizing.
The mistake of wasting Fantasyland
The most expensive error is placing a "pretty" Fantasyland that scores well but doesn't make the Re-Fantasy, when you had the cards for it. You drop out of Fantasyland and lose the snowball effect. Seeing all your cards and not using them to chain is throwing money away.
The snowball effect
Every hand you stay in Fantasyland is a hand where you play with a huge edge over your opponents, who place blind. Chain two or three and the points gap becomes devastating. That's why "staying in" is the true objective of advanced strategy.
Quick recap
- Re-Fantasy: only trips+ on top or quads+ on the back, without fouling (a full house in the middle does NOT count).
- Place to score AND Re-Fantasy at once.
- Don't waste a Fantasyland on a hand that doesn't make the Re-Fantasy.
- Chaining it is where you really win.
With this you close Module 2: you now know how to place your cards well. In Module 3 we make the leap to reading, information and discipline.