BANG!- Spaghetti Western in the Cards

Recently my group of gamer friends took a break from slaying dragons and cultists to spend a night in my favorite realm, the Mythic West.  Over a pot of Texas chili and a bottle of whiskey we tried out a pair of western themed card game, including the Spaghetti Western influenced BANG!

BANG! is played with anywhere from four to eight player, with one Sheriff, one Renegade, and a whole lot of Outlaws.  Everyone knows who the Sheriff is, but like a good Spaghetti western everyone else’s true motivations are a mystery to the end.  From the deck, players build hands with cards like horses, guns, lit dynamite, and of course many, many flying bullets. 

I managed to win the first game of the night as one of the Outlaws.  After the Sheriff sent over a dance hall girl to steal my supplies I stirred up an Indian attack against the town, then plugged the Sheriff while he was down.  Even hiding in a rain barrel couldn’t keep him safe from my Scholfield. During the next game the new Sheriff played it like Virgil Cole and came out gunning for me, throwing lead like opening the gunfight in Open Range.

For a card game, BANG! is very evocative, and it is easy to imagine every hand of the game being part of a movie.  BANG! is a fairly simply game, but it is an extraordinarily fun game.

"The Outlaws hunt the Sheriff. The Sheriff hunts the Outlaws. The Renegade plots secretly, ready to take one side or the other. Bullets fly. Who among the gunmen is a Deputy, ready to sacrifice himself for the Sheriff? And who is a merciless Outlaw, willing to kill him? If you want to find out, just draw (your cards)!"

Card night in New England