Wild West Show FAQ in English

Emiliano Sciarra recently published an unofficial FAQ for the relatively new Wild West Show Expansion. Unfortunately, this FAQ is only in Italian. To help English-speaking BANG! players, I have provided an English translation and elaboration of Emiliano's FAQ. I hope it is of use. I still need to polish it up some and provide standardized English card names, which I will get to soon. Enjoy!


Wild West Show FAQ

Written by Emiliano Sciarra

Translated by Martin Pulido

NOTE: This FAQ has been put together by me (Emiliano Sciarra), but it is unofficial and is not binding in a tournament. The answers are almost identical, however. Here I decided to include questions not included in the official FAQ, which you can find on the download page of the dV Games site.

Q1. When Gregory Deck opts to change the characters whose abilities he is using, does he set aside the character cards whose abilities he was using, or does he shuffle these cards back with the rest of the others so that he might potentially draw them again?
A. Gregory Deck must mix these character cards in with the others, and then randomly draw 2 (which could also be those he just discarded).

Q2. When Miss Susanna comes into play on a player's turn, do the cards already played by that player count towards the three cards necessary to be played, or must he play 3 more cards to avoid losing a life point?
A. All cards played by this player during his turn count towards the 3 cards needed.

Q3. If more than 1 player has more cards in his hand than Youl Grinner, who gives a card to Youl Grinner?
A. All players who have more cards in their hands than Youl Grinner.

Q4. Do I have to describe an order completely with Dorothy Rage before I can know if my target actually has that card?
A. Yes, you must declare the full order (the effect of playing such a card) even before knowing if the player has that card. Thus, you cannot say "play a BANG!" but "play a BANG! against this player." For them to carry out such an order, the action must be possible (they cannot play a BANG! against a player that is not reachable given their current range).

Q5. What distance is calculated when you order another player to use a card when Dorothy Rage is in play? And if you ordered Slab the Killer to play a BANG! to shoot a player, must the target use two Missed! to avoid the blow or not?
A. The distance, effects, and so forth, are based upon the position/abilities/situation of the player ordered to play the card; not the orderer. Thus, the target of the ordered Slab must use two Missed! to avoid the blow.

Q6. If Dorothy Rage is in play, and a player orders another to duel some other player, and the ordered player loses the duel, who loses a life point: the ordered player or the player who ordered the duel to occur? Similarly, if a player orders another player to play a Stagecoach or Panic (or similar card), who draws the cards?
A. Consistent with what was answered in the previous question, the player who loses the life point is the player who has been "ordered" to play the duel. Similarly, the cards are drawn into the hand of the player who personally played the Stagecoach or Panic card, not the player who ordered that such a card be played.

Q7. Can Big Spencer use a Barrel, or other cards that have missed in their effect?
A. Yes; his ability only restricts him from using Missed! cards.

Q8. Is there a limit to the number of consecutive times you can use the ability provided by the Lady Rose of Texas when it is in play?
A. As a general rule, to avoid too prolonged a loop that would exclude a player from the game, you should set a limit of X times in a row, where X is the number of players in the game. Thus, when 5 players are in the game you cannot use this ability more than 5 times in a row.

Q9. If Big Spencer is Sheriff, how many cards does he start with in his hand, and what is his card limit?
A. Regardless of his role, Big Spencer always starts with 5 cards in his hand. Being Sheriff only entitles Big Spencer to have 1 more life point (thus, he has 10 life points). As his life points suggest, as he draws more cards, he may potentially hold up to 10 cards in his hand at maximum.

Q10. When Gag is in play, does it prevent all forms of communication between players (posts, texts/SMS, sign language, etc.) or just verbal communication?
A. It is up to the group playing. In principle, it should prevent all such things to keep the game from slowing down. Gag is designed to make people play quickly without consultation from other players.

Q11. What happens if Vera Custer copies John Pain's ability and a card is "drawn!"
A. The card is picked up by the player whose turn is next given whomever player's turn it currently is. Thus, whoever is in closest proximity to the left (clockwise) of the player whose turn it is.

Q12. What happens to the Apache Kid if Lee Van Kliff repeats the effect of a card that has a suit of diamonds against him? What happens if Lee Van Kliff uses a BANG! card that has a suit of diamonds to repeat an effect against the Apache Kid?
A. Lee Van Kliff can use a BANG! of diamonds to replicate the effect of the previous brown-bordered card against the Apache Kid. Apache Kid will either suffer or not suffer from this repeated effect depending on whether the previous brown-bordered card was of diamonds or not. For example, if Lee Van Kliff had replicated Indians! (which are always of diamonds), the Apache Kid would not be affected. However, if Lee Van Kliff had replicated a Gatling, even if he repeated it through discarding a BANG! of diamonds, Apache Kid would be affected. As I explain in Q24, the BANG! card used for replicating the previously played brown-bordered card is not itself "played," but "discarded."

Q13. Can Lee Van Kliff replicate the effect of a card even when the target of this effect is different from the target of the original card played?
A. Yes.

Q14. If Gary Looter must discard cards because he exceeds his card limit at his discard phase, can he draw his own discarded cards because of his ability?
A. No. He only draws the discarded cards of other players.

Q15. When the specific "Wild West Show" card is in play, does the Sheriff still incur a penalty for eliminating the player who possess the Deputy role card?
A. NOTE: Sadly, Emiliano's reponse is missing even in the Italian FAQ. My hunch is that the Sheriff does not incur the penalty, but I may be wrong. I will let you know when Emiliano answers this question.

Q16. Are new Wild West Show cards brought into play when cards with effects similar to Diligence or Wells Fargo are played (such as the Conestoga in Dodge City)?
A. No, only for the Stagecoach and Wells Fargo cards.

Q17. How do you handle Flint Westwood's and Jesse James' abilities, and also Panics, Cat Balous, or other cards with these effects, when Sacagaway is in play?
A. When such a card or ability is used against another player's hand, the affected player temporarily hides the cards in his hand and shuffles them. Once 1 or 2 cards are drawn randomly, his hand is again to revealed to all other players. The cards drawn from a hand are always done at random.

Q18. What happens if Terren Kill has a beer in his hand when he loses his last life point?
A. Two things can occur:
1) He may play the beer and remain at 1 life point. By doing so, he will not get to draw a card from the deck.
2) He may not play the beer and "draw!" On spades, Terren Kill is eliminated and may not play the beer to save himself. On any other suit, he remains at 1 life point and draws a card.

Q19. When Lee Van Kliff repeats the effect of a Stagecoach or Wells Fargo, do you have to swap out the Wild West Show cards for others?
A. No, only when you play a real Stagecoach or Wells Fargo card. Lee Van Kliff's ability repeats those cards' effects, not the cards themselves.

Q20. To whom does a player need to show his hand if he claims he cannot play a card that is requested of him when Dorothy Rage is in play?
A. He must show his hand to all players.

Q21. If you come back to life once through the Cemetary, and then get eliminated again, do you come back once more if Cemetary is still in play by your next turn?
A. Yes, you come back to life as many times as possible while Cemetary is in play.

Q22. When Lucky Duke "draws!" two cards, does John Pain draw both?
A. Usually, John Pain will draw both. If John Pain has 6/+ cards in his hand, he will draw none. If he has 5 cards in his hand, he will only draw the first card "drawn!" by Lucky Duke (he does not get to pick which one). The cards "drawn!" by Lucky Duke are considered in the order "drawn!"

Q23. Is the ability of Lee Van Kliff's activated by cards that have the bang effect/symbol, or only BANG! cards themselves?
A. His ability is only activated by actual BANG! cards.

Q24. When Lee Van Kliff uses his ability, is the BANG! card used to activate his ability included amongst the 3 cards necessary to avoid losing a life when Miss Susanna is in play?
A. No, the BANG! card was "discarded" and not "played."

Q25. If Gary Looter is Sheriff, does he begin with 6 life points and 6 cards in his hand?
A. Yes.

Q26. When is Youl Grinner's ability activated?
A. During his drawing phase.

Q27. How many times can Flint Westwood use his ability during his turn?
A. Only once.

Q28. If the Dynamite explodes on Terren Kill and has the potential of eliminating him, how many times must he "draw!" to stay alive (once, or three times for the damage Dynamite inflicts)?
A. Once once. If a spade is "drawn!" he is eliminated; othermwise he stays at 1 life point.

Q29. If Lee Van Kliff uses his ability to reproduce the effect of a card that required discarding another card to use it (such as Brawl, Ragtime, or Whiskey for examples), must he discard another card do so?
A. No, only the first time. Lee Van Kliff's ability repeats the effect of the card, not its activation cost.

Q30. May Gregory Deck draw characters from expansions or other promotions to use their abilities?
A. No, he may only draw characters from the original game.

Q31. What happens if the abilities of original game characters drawn by Gregory Deck contradict one another or influence a similar aspect of the game, such as how to draw during a drawing phase?
A. If the two skills are in absolute conflict, Gregory Deck picks only 1 of them to use (he does not get to draw another character). If the conflict is not absolute, then combine the abilities. For example:
1) If the 2 characters drawn are Jesse Jones and Kit Carlson: You can take a card from the hand of a player (using Jesse Jones' ability) and then see the first 3 cards from the deck and choose the second card that you wish to draw.
2) If the 2 characters drawn are Jesse Jones and Pedro Ramirez: You have the choice of drawing your first card from the deck, a player's hand, or from the top of the discard pile.
3) If the 2 characters drawn are Kit Carlson and Black Jack: Look at the top 3 cards of the deck, select 2, and show the second one you selected. If it is red, draw a third card from the deck.

Q32. What happens if Flint Westwood decides to use his ability to remove the last (or last 2 cards) of Suzy Lafayyette?
A. Suzy simply hands over all the cards to Flint (1 or 2), after which she draws a card from the deck since she has no cards in her hand. Flint does not get the drawn card.

Q33. Can Flint Westwood use his ability against a player who has no cards in his hand?
A. No.

Q34. Is the card "drawn!" with Helena Zontera drawn by John Pain?
A. No, because it is "drawn!" by any player.