For Families
LOOTING THE WILD WEST
El Paso
Bank, Saloon, Gold Mine or Pasture
Kid
Family ein
Friends
Expert
Alter 10
Spezial
It’s unmistakable from cover and title, we are transported to the Wild West, we are bandits and loot what we can. And since we band together as a group of three, four or five, we are quite an opposition for the sheriff!
We loot seven towns and rethink in each move what we are going to accept as our haul. The stage is easily set up: the board shows seven towns, Deadwood, Cheyenne, Abilene, Santa Fe, San Diego, Tombstone and El Paso where we finish our raid. We have decided that our preferred crime scenes s are bank, saloon, goldmine, pasture, hotel or horse meadow, but not in every city all scenes are available. For each crime scene there is a stack of 8 cards placed face down next to the corresponding mark, each player draws one card from each stack.
Before we start to loot a town 30 loot tiles are drawn from the bag, sorted and placed on the corresponding crime scenes, cheapest on top, most valuable at the bottom of the stack. Loot drawn that is not available in this town is put back in the bag, but not replaced, so there might be less than 20 loot tiles in a town.
And now we start in earnest. Each of us chooses a crime scene card from his hand and puts it face down on the table. Then all cards are revealed at the same time. One of us has been designated the guard. He takes the dice, rolls all five of them and sets all dice that show the sheriff’s star onto the sheriff space and remain there till the next town is looted. If there at least one die without sheriff star the town is looted. First, we check for the special cases: If no brand was rolled, the pasture is not looted and if no 6 was rolled, the saloon escapes looting. Bandits who wanted to loot there were unlucky this time, they get nothing. Who is alone at a crime scene, takes the topmost loot tile there. If more than one bandit wants to loot somewhere, they pick up loot tiles in descending order of their card value.
Used crime scene cards are placed face up underneath the stack, when the first dace-up card becomes visible, the stack is turned over and re-used WITHOUT shuffling. A big advantage for those who can remember the order of played cards in six varieties. All players draw cards to replenish their hand at the same time, and you do not have to replenish with the same crime scene that you did play. Quick drawing makes you a winner. That is one of laws in the Wild West? Or was it survivor?
So far, it was easy – now comes the hard part. Do I remain in town for another haul or do I leave town. If you stay, you can make a better haul, because the lower in the loot tile stack the more valuable BUT the guard only rolls the remaining dice and again each sheriff star is set aside. Then we loot as before and this is repeated until all have left town or 5 stars are set aside or the loot is gone.
If you quit town, you either take your loot away or exchange it for nuggets. The first player to leave town can take with him 1 loot tile, the next one 2, and so on. Remaining loot tiles are exchanged for nuggets: If the loot is to be had in town, one exchanges according to the current exchange rate in town. If not, the exchange rate is 1:1, so taking loot away can pay off! And so might waiting! Or taking the risk! BUT if the 5th sheriff star is rolled, the sheriffs confiscate all loot from the bandits still in town, if it was acquired in a previous round. All they can save are their nuggets. Players who did leave keep their loot tiles. If loot tiles remain in a town that has been quit by all go back into the bag! And we ride into a town again!
When we have looted El Paso, we can exchange remaining loot tiles at the rate 1:1 for nuggets and if you have the highest value of nuggets you win.
A funny and witty foray into a time of smoking colts and boom towns, only purists will comment on there being bronze nuggets, but that is my smallest problem, because I need to decide what to do now. Three stars have been rolled, only one other bandit is in town with me and the 5 on the saloon is still there, and maybe he does not have a saloon card – but if no 6 is rolled I cannot loot the salon and if 2 starts are rolled I lose my 3-herd and my 5-hotel – what now? The horses champ the bit, my fellow players rattle their colts, what now? Okay, I‘ll risk it! I stay! My fellow players heave a relieved sigh and 10 seconds later smile happily because the sheriffs got me!
An exciting game of luck and dice with lots of ambience, a marvelous family game , all have the chance to get a big haul. I must stay in town!
Dagmar de Cassan
Spieler : 2-5
Alter : ages 10 and up
Dauer : ca. 45 min
Autor : Stefan Dorra
Grafik : Stefan Theurer, Victor Boden
Vertrieb A. : Simba Toys
Preis : ca. 20,00 Euro
Verlag : Zoch 2009
Genre : Dice, position, collecting
Zielgruppe : For families
Mechanismen : Choose loot
Zufall : 6
Wissen :
Planung : 3
Kreativität :
Kommunikation : 5
Geschicklichkeit :
Action :
Kommentar:
Topic and mechanisms go well together
Nice complete rules
Attractive components
Down time can be long before decisions
Vergleichbar:
Diamant, Can’t Stop
Atmosphäre: 6
Dagmar de Cassan
If you love gambling games and the Wild West, you will have fun in El Paso, dedicated tacticians rather less.