THE CARD
Name: Townsfolk Riot
Type: Event
Affects: Opponent's Investigator
Special Effect: Your opponent's foul deeds are exposed. Even if already Walking, opponent must play a Travel Event or a new Location next Turn or suffer an attack worth 5 points. Allies may defend. Then, Bury this card.
CLARIFICATIONS
The opponent you play this card against gets a choice. If he chooses not to play a Travel Event or a new Location on his next Turn, then he is hit by an attack.
If your opponent plays another Card, that Card takes its full effect before the Riot hits. Thus, he could put out an Ally to block, arrive at a Sanitarium so the attack won't kill him, or something else.
Though the Riot won't go off until the other Card has taken its full effect, it has already been "triggered". Thus, even if the played Card makes the Riot go away, the player is still hit by it.
The Riot happens just before the end of the player's Turn, even if the Round is about to end.
Order of Events during Rioted Player's Turn:
1.) Player plays card or takes action
2.) If card was not a new Location or Travel, Riot is triggered
3.) Full effects of played card occur
4.) Riot occurs
5.) Turn ends
QUESTIONS
Q: What happens if I play Aldeberan Moves in the Sky after Townsfolk Riot is played against me?
A: Townsfolk Riot is buried (along with all other Events). However, the instant you play Aldeberan, the Townsfolk Riot is triggered, and thus you're hit with it anyways.
Q: What happens if I play Yithian Mental Contact against a Townsfolk Riot played on me?
A: The Riot is buried, and you do not take the 5 Sanity Loss, because it was an effect the card had.
Q: If I end the game on my Turn, do I still get hit by the riot?
A: No. If you end the game (by playing an Adventure, or killing an opponent), then you never arrive at the end of your Turn, when the Riot would hit you. You're safe!
Q: Am I stuck if I've already started walking, or my Current Location is a Travel Event that I can't currently get off of, and someone Townsfolk Riots me?
A: No. As of the most recent rules, you can Discard either card and play a new Location "While walking to one Location, you might find that you wish to change to a different Location instead. Your previous destination has never been rotated right-side-up and is Discarded. It never became part of your Story. Your new Location is played crosswise, replacing your previous card. You may also do this if your Current Location is a Travel Event."
Q: Am I stuck if I lose the next Turn, and someone Townsfolk Riots me?
A: Yes.
STRATEGIES
Location Denial - One of the prime uses of the Riot. Someone is walking to a cool Location (in particular, a Sanitarium, or something required for an Adventure). By playing Riot, you force them to either Discard the card, or take 5 Sanity loss.
Attribute Denial - The other prime use of the Riot. Someone is already at a cool Location, but they haven't had a chance to use its attributes yet (ie, Gate, Tome, Artifact). Again, they either lose their chance to play the cards they were hoping to, or lose 5 Sanity. This might also apply to denying the usage of other card effects, such as the subregion (for finding Allies), or a special effect box (ie, using a sanitarium to bury a phobia).
Hitting Opponents When It Hurts - Want to automatically cost your opponent 5 Sanity? You can occasionally do this with Townsfolk Riot. If an Opponent has just arrived at one of the Sanitariums that causes them to lose a Turn, play Riot. Alternatively, if it's very late in the Round, and you think your opponent might be out of Location cards, you can Riot them.
The Yithian Trick - You play Townsfolk Riot, and then when they play a new Location, you Yithian it. They take 5 damage because they didn't play a Location.
Warding Off Passing - If someone passes, you can play Townsfolk Riot, and force them to play a new Location, breaking up their passes. You'll get one extra Turn before they start passing again. Not quite as convenient as In The Nick of Time, but occasionally useful.
COUNTER STRATEGIES
If someone is making good use of Townsfolk Riot, it's hard to avoid it, but here are a few tricks.
If your opponent is denying you Locations, never walk to the important ones. Take a Train or a Tramp Steamer to hide your final destination, or alternatively, first walk somewhere else in the City that your final destination is in (ie, if you're in a different City, walk to Arkham Gazette, and then you can play Arkham Sanitarium right-side-up in one play). Cars and Camels work too.
If your opponent is denying you attributes and other card effects, make use of special cards such as Create Gate (for finding Monsters), Discover Secret Cache (for finding Tomes and Artifacts) and Trains (for finding Allies). However, it's unusual for Attribute Denial to be more than a temporary nuisance.
And then, there's always Yithian Mental Contact, the one real sure defense against Townsfolk Riot.
Or, you can always take the 5 Sanity Loss, making Sanitariums a sort of Counter Strategy.