[Deputy Monty]

The stars may have to do with accuracy but they also have to do with degree of damage or amount of gags received. I'm not sure exactly how it breaks down but you can drop a 4-star SOS and only get 60 damage pianos, same with sound; trunk instead of fog. Same goes for trap, tnt vs. trap door. I dropped a high star SOS on unlured cogs and it missed. I've seen pianos drop on lured cogs and hit. I've used re-stock for a gag I didn't have and got nothing in return. I've thought I was restocking toonup but got a toonup and visa versa--thought I was going to give a toonup and got gags. The cards change order in your book when you use them in the game so it's important to make sure you are choosing the SOS card you want.

I don't know how many of one shopkeeper you can get (I've only had 3 of a kind) but when you rescue a shopkeeper you already have in your book, it adds another "use" by telling you "2 left", etc. It helps if you can communicate your intentions to your team before you use the SOS card.

One more thing, I've seen the toonup used and then in the next play lost all the laff that was gained. This happens a lot both with regular toonup and without.

I've attached a copy of my SOS books just to give you some references.

Bottom line: Use them for fun. They are too unreliable to use in emergency situations. LOL