Death Mesa: More Positive Feedback of GFBR

In Geekinsight's recent recap of his gaming weekend on Giant Firebreathing Robot, he noted the following about Death Mesa:

Bang! and Death Mesa. I’ve been dying to try out the new Death Mesa Beta Version [link requires Google sign-in—Ed.] to the table. Let me say, there has been much improvement. In both of the games that we played, the ghosts felt like they were at right about the correct power level. Ghosts still had an influence in the game, and could still help their teammates, but not nearly as much as when they were alive.

I’m looking forward to more plays, especially to try out the Zombie Renegade version. Go get it and test it!

And in his weekly Errata, he recommended BANG! for 8-player games and again mentioned Death Mesa:

The other standby is Bang!, though you’ll need the Dodge City expansion. And, with eight players, I’d recommend giving the Death Mesa variant a shot since that will avoid the player elimination that might otherwise cause the game to bog down.

If you haven't looked at Death Mesa yet, check it out now!

Review: Wild West Show

"Wild West Shows" were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States popular during the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. They caricatured the lives and work of those who lived in the American West, performing plays with western themes and showcasing exhibition shooters (such as Annie Oakley, "The Little Sure Shot of the West"), ropers, and more. Buffalo Bill's Wild West was the most famous of these shows, marketing itself as an annually touring, circus-like attraction. Wild West Show, the latest addition to BANG! the card game's official expansions, tries to adopt the showy, thematic elements of the Wild West Shows of old.

Theme. The expansion provides 8 new characters, all of whom are inspired by famous western actors, not historical figures of the American West. 10 event cards, in the vein of A Fistful of Cards and High Noon (and even more the unofficial El Dorado), are included too. These event cards consist of cards pointing to Wild West Show gimmicks: references to shoot out reenactments, dances, banjo music, wild west women ("Helena Zontero" inspired by Elena Montero, the fictional character from The Mask of Zorro played by Catherine Zeta-Jones), the woman that Wild Bill Hickock and Dave Tutt supposedly fought over (Susannah Moore, "Miss Susanna"), and more. A few, like Sacagaway, Bone Orchard, and Gag seem thematically out of place for the expansion. Nonetheless, in terms of theme, Wild West Show excels.

Thematic Value: 9/10.

Artwork. The art for Wild West Show, I believe again provided by Alessandro Pierangelini, is beautiful as always. The character art is a little crisper than in the original BANG! or the Dodge City expansion, but this is not a fault. The character poses are fun and reveal their personalities and abilities. For instance, Gregory Deck is shown at a card table holding a full hand of cards with his right hand. His left hand, which is placed just under the table, shows him cheating by having kept an ace of spades. Flint Westwood looks quick on the draw, and Sheriff John Pain is pushing open Saloon doors. The event cards have nice backs, and the art for each card is in full color like all BANG! player cards. Many of the sketches are excellent; some like Darling Valentine, Lady Rose of Texas, Showdown, and Wild West Show I consider to be amongst the best art in the whole BANG! franchise. To the artist's credit, almost all of the pieces communicate well what the effects of the cards are too. As for the card stock, Wild West Show is printed like previous BANG! expansions on sturdy, linen-textured card stock.

Aesthetic Value: 9.5/10.

Gameplay. So far, so good for Wild West Show. Unfortunately, the new BANG! expansion's value plummets in the gameplay arena. I will start with the positives. Wild West Show is a modular expansion like Dodge City, A Fistful of Cards, or High Noon. It is easy to add or remove Wild West Show from any game of BANG! You can choose to incorporate just the event cards or just the character cards from the expansion (of course, you can incorporate both). This makes it an easy addition to the BANG! Arsenal. Next, the new characters possess abilities that are truly novel, not mirroring abilities possessed by previous BANG! characters. They will require real adjustments to gameplay when they are in play. Most of the character abilities are "neutral," not clearly offensive or defensive. Only Lee Van Kliff and Big Spencer are clearly offensive characters, and Teren Kill clearly a defensive character. The others suit the strategy of the player. Like usual, these new characters provide more variety in game situations and thus increase the replayability of BANG!

In terms of the Wild West Show event deck, it is more novel than its High Noon and A Fistful of Cards brethren. The event cards are player dictated: they occur when a Stagecoach or Wells Fargo is played by any player. The card stays in effect until another Stagecoach or Wells Fargo is played. If a player who possesses a Stagecoach or Wells Fargo really enjoys the event card, he can choose to wait to play the card, or in extreme cases discard it, to prolong the event card's effect. This gives 2 cards in the BANG! deck that can activate/replace the event cards. Obviously, the event cards are replaced more often from round to round in larger BANG! games as a result. This new gameplay element in the event cards seems clearly inspired by the unofficial El Dorado expansion, where to activate/replace the event cards players had to play/discard an Ace.

Despite these positive additions to BANG! gameplay, I believe that the textual confusion, severe unbalance of the characters and somewhat with the events cards, increased randomness, and lack of novelty counterbalance them.

1. Textual Confusion.
   
   
   Several of the Wild West Show card descriptions are not clear, and clarity is important when it comes to character abilities. Take Flint Westwood: "During his turn, he may trade one card from hand with 2 cards at random from the hand of another player." The trading of cards is clear, but how many times can Flint Westwood use this ability? If infinite, then Flint Westwood could reduce every other player's hand to 1 card and keep swapping until he has the best possible hand. This seems epic OP, so it does not seem that he can do it infinitely. But that does not mean he cannot do it more than once. Perhaps he can only do it once a turn per player? The extra explanation cards do not help on this question. For Flint Westwood it states, "The card from your hand is of your choice, not at random. If the target player has only one card, you get only one card." How could dv-Giochi neglect such an important detail from the rules? The FAQ, which I translated into English in January 2011, finally clarified this (Flint Westwood can only use the ability once on his turn), but until then, English players were in the dark regarding the limits of Flint Westwood's ability. You could assume that any really powerful ability can only be done once, but then you would be wrong. Lee Van Kliff is a character who may "discard a BANG! to repeat the effect of a brown-bordered card he just played" on his turn (this includes Wells Fargo!). He can use his powerful replicating ability as many times as he desires (given that he has BANG! in his hand to discard).
   
   
   Now that I have given an example from the character cards, let me turn to the event cards. One event card, Dorothy Rage, states, "During his turn, each player can force another player to play one of his cards." This initial description is incredibly vague! Does it mean during each player's turn he can select another player to play a card if he can? Since cards are not played out of turn in BANG! except via reaction (Missed!, Dodge, etc.), what does it mean for them to play the card? Do we pretend it was their turn during this selection process, and then they play a card of their choice? If so, you could see it as a way for a team to coordinate an attack on another player perhaps.
   
   The further explanation card for Dorothy Rage only brings further surprise and confusion: "If the forced player does not have the called card, he must show his hand. If he has it, he must play it as if it was his turn (also for counting the distances), but you choose any target(s) if the card requires so." It mentions a "called card" that was not described in the original card (nor calling at all): where did this come from? Apparently, each player is supposed to select a player and then "call out a card." If the player has the card, then he plays the card, but the selecting player chooses whom it effects (given proper distance constraints) if choice is required. This is very different from the initial card! Even then, some items still require a lot of imagination. I imagine, although it is not specified, that the "called card" must be in his hand, otherwise there would be no need for the calling. Even though Dorothy Rage says the card must be played, I imagine that the cards that cannot be played without an appropriate event (Missed!, Dodge), need not be played. Or is it that Missed! cannot be called out at all since they cannot be played on one's turn? I could imagine if I was Slab the Killer and attacked another player with a BANG!, I might want to use Dorothy Rage to force that player to play 1 Missed!? That way, I might force him to play a useless Missed! (unless he adds another), and then hit him with another attack card like a Knife. Whether or not this is allowed, and when you can choose to activate the Dorothy Rage ability during your turn, is important.
   
   As one other quick example, Gag states that "Players may not talk (they can gesture, moan, ...). Whoever talks loses 1 life point." The question with Gag is whether players lose 1 life point each time they talk, or if they can only lose 1 life point while Gag is in play.
   
   Summary: Many descriptions in Wild West Show were poor, leading to confusing gameplay. This is not to claim all were worded badly (Gary Looter is easy to understand, for instance), but rather that enough were to be a detriment.


2. Unbalanced Characters and Cards. Generally, in a game like BANG!, you want to make all characters at the same level of power. Despite some exceptions (Lucky Duke or Claus the Saint are examples of generally weaker characters, amongst others), previous characters in BANG! basically had this. Of course, some required greater strategic gameplay to utilize well, and many characters' values fluctuated depending on your assigned role. Still, all this granted, no character was extremely more OP than another.
   
   All of this is thrown out with Wild West Show. You get the sense that the designers were thinking, "Ooh! We need to make an expansion--let's get people excited by making really powerful characters!" Unfortunately, this had a negative impact on game dynamics. The most obvious abuse is Greygory Deck: "At the start of his turn, he may draw 2 characters at random. He has all the abilities of the drawn characters." Even though an explanation card qualifies that these characters can only come from the base game, the fact remains that he get 2 character abilities! Clearly, under any balancing scale, 2 is better than 1. And while most players have to deal with the ability they are stuck with, he can swap them out for others! Lee Van Kliff's ability to "discard a BANG! to repeat the effect of a brown-bordered card he just played" on his turn is likewise obscene.
   
   I can imagine some player responding that you just have to concentrate on this character more to eliminate him, that's all. But there is a problem with this response: it doesn't work when it comes to that character being the Sheriff. The other players are already concentrating as hard as they can to eliminate him! The Sheriff, in this case, gets a straight up upgrade. For instance, I have yet to see a 5+ player game where a Gary Looter Sheriff was defeated. Gary Looter's ability (besides starting with 5 life points) specifies that "He draws all excess cards discarded by other players at the end of their turn." So first, the Sheriff Gary Looter has a huge defensive benefit by having 6 life points. Second of all, whenever a Deputy or Renegade wants to pass a card from his hand to the Sheriff, he can simply discard it when he is over his card limit! This card feeding to the Sheriff is ridiculous. In general, the Sheriff gains an undue benefit from the OP Wild West Show characters.
   
   Some of the event cards also have unbalances, although they are not as grievous as the character cards. Let me give 2 examples. Miss Susanna states "During his turn, each player must play at least 3 cards. If he does not, he loses 1 life point." All things equal, this card clearly favors 4+ life point characters, who not only are more likely have more cards in their hands to play initially, but have more life points to spare.
   
   Bone Orchard states, "At the start of their turn, all eliminated players return to play with 1 life point. Deal their roles at random from those the eliminated players." I think most BANG! players can attest that Outlaws tend to die both more often and earlier in the game. I have been in several games where the Outlaws are the only roles amongst the dead. You might believe that this therefore favors the Outlaws when it comes to Bone Orchard, but this is not the case! Being either the only ones dead or the majority of the dead, the living have almost sure knowledge or a good guess that the resurrected players are outlaws. Because the resurrected outlaws have only 1 life point, and likely gain no defenses from the 2 cards they draw on their turn, they are open to quick elimination. Why is this bad? Because there is still a 3 card bonus for eliminating Outlaws! Bone Orchard makes Outlaws get farmed for card bonuses. I am sure that the card was designed to try to keep dead players involved in the game, but the most likely eliminated players get placed often in a worse situation than before.
   
   Summary: Most of the new characters were not created with balance in mind (not all). Some of the event cards were poorly conceived. Amusingly, the designer admits this: the expansion was conceived for "sporting characters more wild than balanced." For a game that I believe was wild enough, this expansion only made things worse.


3. Increased Randomness. Fluxx fans and many BANG! fans may love randomness, but many of us don't. Randomness is in BANG!, and in my opinion already plays too large a role, but it shouldn't be the focus of the game. Wild West Show's event cards add even more randomness, which BANG! fans such as myself won't appreciate. Of course, which event cards come into play are always random, but the event cards themselves also employ random effects. Darling Valentine states, "At the start of his turn, each player discards his hand and draws the same number of cards from the deck." Were you building up a good hand over several turns? Too bad. Helena Zontero instructs, "When Helena comes into play, 'draw!': on Hearts or Diamonds, shuffle all active roles, except the Sheriff, and deal them at random." Were you playing well as a team and about to win? Too bad.


4. Lack of Novelty. While the characters definitely bring wild new abilities into play and the event cards provide a new structure to gameplay, I think many who purchase Wild West Show will think, "that's it?" BANG! already had event cards with High Noon and A Fistful of Cards, so why should we be that excited about the event cards in Wild West Show? It is very unlikely that you will be playing with 2+ event decks simultaneously, so the new event deck isn't as great as a modular component as you might think. It doesn't seriously add to the gameplay, as the excellent Dodge City expansion did. And some of the event cards like Gag, which doesn't allow players to play on penalty of losing life points, just isn't fun. So all the showiness seems a bit unnecessary: event cards and characters like these could be written on slips of paper. A significant expansion should provide more.

Gameplay Value: 8/20.

Cost. Lastly, there is the question of money. At $10 (or $8.71 on Amazon), and only providing 18 cards to the game, Wild West Show is pricey. You might find it used for cheaper, but then you will have to swallow shipping costs that will make it cost about the same. Since Wild West Show is the only expansion not available in the special edition Bullet, you can't get it any other way. Of course, it came after the Bullet, so I can't blame it for that. What really irks you with Wild West Show is how padded the product is. The expansion comes in a big plastic box, hiding how little you are really receiving. 4 of the cards you get are rules cards and 1 card is an advertisement! When it comes in a big plastic box, an advertising card is unnecessary. And why not give us more cards and less rule cards (just provide an info pamphlet or even a web address instead)?

Financial Value: 6/10.

Conclusion

Wild West Show is too true to its name: it provides a nice show with its thematic touches and artwork, but the expansion is only skin deep. BANG! gameplay is made (at least further) off unbalanced and random. The lack of new features makes the expansion feel mind-numbingly unoriginal. And for $10 you ask yourself, "why didn't I just buy a used version of some other game?" I think another reviewer's remarks are apt: "you'll like it if the chaos sounds fun and you won't if you think that Bang! is already silly enough." This expansion I believe is very divisive: many BANG! fans may buy it, but a good chunk of them won't enjoy it that much.

Overall Value: 32.5/50 (Just OK).

Death Mesa: Reviewed on Giant Fire Breathing Robot

Geekinsight at GFBR has been playtesting Death Mesa and wrote 2 reviews of his experience at Giant Fire Breathing Robot. His first review noted both positive things about the expansion and some of the downsides of it in his initial estimation. The second corrected some of his remarks in the first review, while also aptly noting where Death Mesa could use some improvement.

As for the first review, Geekinsight noted the following positive things about the expansion:

Death Mesa does a good job with keeping the dead players in and feeling useful. After all, if the dead players felt like they couldn’t impact the game, then they would be just as bored as if they were out of the game completely. I also like the idea of a separate “dead man’s deck” of powers that the dead players draw from.

However, Geekinsight also noted some defects. He felt that some of the cards were "completely overblown with power," and so the ghosts were too powerful, distorting teamplay. He also thought the concept of the "buried goods" needed some work.

But he added:

Still, as an “Alpha” version proof-of-concept piece, I like it. I’ll be watching for a revised Beta version hopefully in the near future.

Read the full initial review here.

I was a little confused by the cards that Geekinsight thought were overpowered, and so I asked him which ones in the comments section of the review. He noted Seance and the East Wind as being too powerful, but he understood them incorrectly. He thought that Seance stole 2 cards from a living player and gave them to another (instead of simply showing them to another living player), and the East Wind bled cards from 2 rivals and potentially prevented them from attacking team mates (versus simply making it more difficult for 2 rivals to attack one another). I blame this on my poor wording of the cards, which I will update in a 1.02 patch.

Geekinsight and I began a good e-mail correspondence back and forth with one another about Death Mesa. I clarified the seemingly overpowered cards to him and he thought the cards were much better balanced afterwards. We found out that he also forgot to play with the rule that living players could play BANG! to discard Dead Men's Deck cards from ghosts. He was very positive and thoughtful, helping me envisage some new ways to play with, gather, and disseminate the "buried goods," which I agree with him needed some work. He kindly noted, "With just a few kinks to work out, I think it would be an absolutely mandatory expansion [to BANG!]." He playtested Death Mesa again with a better understanding of the cards and the rules, and wrote a second review.

In the second review, Geekinsight claimed he "had a much improved experience." In some detail, he observed:

With the clarifications personally provided by the creator, as well as an additional rule that we overlooked allowing living players to force dead players to discard, the ghosts ended up being at just the right level of powerful. Frankly, in our first games we were hoping our teammates died. They had a much improved impact on the game as a ghost. Now, that changed. While ghosts were still a factor, and certainly able to influence play, they were not the unstoppable juggernaut. It was always better to have a living teammate than a dead one, even if a dead one was still able to provide some aid.

This is exactly what I hoped Death Mesa would do with the ghosts, in terms of their level of power. Besides this, Geekinsight noted that the "buried goods" mechanic still needs some work. I will be introducing some different options to improve this mechanic soon, some of which were provided by Geekinsight. These too will appear in the 1.02 patch. The review concluded:

It’s certainly playable, and I think even in its current form, it improves the Bang! experience. But it isn’t perfect just yet. Still, that shouldn’t stop you from downloading it and giving it a play. I’ve found Martin to be exceptionally open-minded and willing to discuss any feedback. Perhaps with all the input we’ll get a new and improved Beta version.

I think Geekinsight's estimation of Death Mesa is correct, and I hope that with both his and many other's help that it can be much improved.

Read the second review here.

Geekinsight also has scheduled an interview with me about BANG! and Death Mesa tomorrow evening. I will provide a link to the interview when it is completed.

Learn more about Death Mesa.

Review: Peterson Pack Unofficial Expansion

An unnamed event card deck was created by R. Peterson in 2006 (hereafter calledd the Peterson Pack). It plays just like A Fistful of Cards, High Noon, or the unofficial O. K. Corral. Let me discuss and critique the event cards that this unofficial expansion adds to BANG!


Sawed-Off Shotgun. You can shoot two players sitting next to each other with one BANG! as long as both players are in range. This card and its description are thematically appropriate. It is similar to the "Scatter Gun" event card in the O. K. Corral, but has range stipulations. I prefer this one.

The Old Switcheroo. Immediately after phase one, you can exchange your cards with any other player (all for all). The description fits the card name, but I think this card is OP and messes the game up too much. It really favors the Outlaws who can swap an offensive hand for all of the defensive cards in the Sheriff's hand, and then the other Outlaws can pound him with attack cards. And small hands can trade for bigger ones too of course.

Prison Break. All prisoners are now free. The player(s) that imprisoned them must play a Missed! card or lose 1 life point. If no one is in prison, players must defend against an escapee by drawing! ♠ = hit. This card is thematically good and the conditions are great, accomodating the fact that very rarely will this card be in play when a player is in Jail. Good.

New Sheriff in Town. If you are a deputy and kill the Sheriff, you become the new Sheriff. You get full health and all of the Sheriff’s cards (those in his hand as well as those in front of him). I don't like this card; it has very little utility. The only time I can imagine intentionally popping off the Sheriff as a Deputy would be if he had almost no health and no cards. Otherwise, why would I want one less ally on my team? This card would make more sense if the Renegade killed the Sheriff, but even then, the chances of being able to off the Sheriff in 1 round are very unlikely. I would nix this card.

Iron Will. Each time you are about to lose a card from your hand or in play in front of you, you can choose which card to lose. Fun; very few people will use a card or ability that discards/steals a card from another player this turn, but it is an interesting concept. It will at least keep people from discarding/stealing a card for a round (unless there is only 1 in the hand or in play in front of another player), so it is somewhat useful. Okay I guess.

Kaboom. If you have a dynamite card, you may chose where to start it. It is in play when that player begins his turn and explodes (for that player only) if that player draws! any ♠. I think it is very unlikely that a player will have a Dynamite saved up in his hand coincidentally or waiting for this card to show up. Don't like it.

Mother Load. At the beginning of your turn, you may use any card as a General Store. Instead of other players picking their cards, you decide who gets what. I imagine you get to play any card as a General Store, do so only once, and then get to draw your normal amount of cards. The General Store plays like Claus the Saint's ability, minus the fact that Claus draws 2 (+1 card added to the General Store). This card could be interesting; I would have to see it playtested.

Quick Draw. You can play cards with the ‘add one more card symbol’ without having to add another card. The idea behind this is cool, except that there are only a few cards that require adding one more card to play them, and it is not likely they will be drawn during this round. So this isn't the best event card in my opinion.

Returning Fire. Each time you are hit, you draw—on ♥ or ♦, the player hitting you must play a Missed! card or lose 1 life point. Like this card a lot, except I wouldn't make it a Missed! card, but playing or using any card with a missed symbol on it (including Barrel).

Gypsy Rose. You can look at one other player’s hand. I'd have to see this card play tested to know if it was OP for some roles or not. You could limit it to a set amount of cards in someone's hand to nerf it some.

Green Flash. You can play green bordered cards immediately. While this should say "use" the cards immediately, I like the idea. "Green Flash" is a pretty hokey name for this, though.

Hazard. When you must draw! (dynamite, prison, barrel, etc.), you can discard a card from your hand and use it as the result. This takes a Boot Hill character's ability--Matthew Hazard's--and grants it to everyone for the round. Interesting idea. The title is somewhat confusing, as few people will actually know about Matthew Hazard to recognize the connection.

Poker Hand. Select up to 2 cards from your hand and then draw 3 cards. Player(s) with best hand regain all life points and keep cards. All other players discard their poker hands. I get the idea of this card, but the gameplay is a little confusing. Must all players participate or is it completely optional? It is hard to prep for a good hand when you must select the cards before you see the flop, making the outcome far more random. That could be good or bad. The reward is somewhat obscene though: gaining all of your health back plus the cards. This card needs some rethinking.

Spit Shake. You may give any player one of your cards. That player must then give you one of his. He is allowed to give the same card back. I like this card a lot; well done.

Peeping Tom. At the start of your turn, you draw! If you get a 2-9 ♥, you may take a peek at the role of any other player. This card is terrible, like the Search Warrant in O. K. Corral. Roles should not be directly known until a player is dead and the role card is flipped over. It kills the whole mafia intrigue of the game, which is central to BANG! Boo.

Outlaws Unite. The Sheriff narrates the following sequence: Everyone closes their
eyes. All outlaws reveal themselves by opening their eyes. Outlaws close their eyes. Everyone opens their eyes. As with Peeping Tom, I hate this card. Role-revealing is stupid, and this card is even worse because people can cheat at it.

Rapture. The first person to die is granted the option of becoming the Sheriff of the next game. This card is interesting, but it doesn't make sense as an event card. This should be a house rule instead.

Indian Poker. Everyone draws! a card and holds it to forehead facing out. Each player discards or holds. Highest card wins and gets cards of losers who must discard all hand cards. Order: A♥-♦-♣-2♠ This card is too strong because all losers have to discard all the cards in their hands. It would be better if the winner just gets all of the cards. If you discard you only lose that 1 card, and if you hold, perhaps the winner gets to take one card at random from your hand.

Consensus

The Peterson Pack is a double-edged sword; while certain event cards it adds to BANG! are fantastic (Green Flash, Spit Shake, Returning Fire, Prison Break), others are impractical (New Sheriff in Town, Kaboom, Quick Draw) or unacceptably ruin the game's deception dynamic (Peeping Tom, Outlaws Unite). I can imagine keeping some of the cards from this deck and combining them with some of those in O. K. Corral to get a higher quality custom event card deck.

The cards in the Peterson Pack are written pretty clearly, despite some grammatical problems, and they have a very consistent (although bland) format. The problem is more in what gameplay effects they create, not as much in how the cards are written. Theme is followed pretty carefully throughout, but I can't give it points for novelty. Yet it has the best ease of production I have seen for a custom expansion!

Gameplay Enhancement: 2.5/5

Clarity: 3.5/5

Design: 2/5

Theme: 4/5

Novelty: 2/5

Ease of Production: 5/5

Download the Peterson Pack here.

Review: O. K. Corral Unofficial Expansion

The O. K. Corral is another unofficial expansion to BANG!, available in English and Italian. It was designed by Steve Elmore in 2008, and the expansion functions just like A Fistful of Cards or High Noon expansions. Thus, after the first round, the Sheriff flips over an O. K. Corral event card that stipulates a gameplay change for the round. At the beginning of the next round (the Sheriff's next turn), he flips over an O. K. Corral card that replaces the old one. The old gameplay condition is removed and the new one is in place. For those of you who liked A Fistful of Cards and High Noon, this expansion might work just right for you. If you are not a fan of these, there is a gameplay variation that removes the randomness of these event cards (having them flipped out in order at the beginning of the game), that might make O. K. Corral appeal to you more. Anyway, I'll move on to reviewing the specific event cards added to O. K. Corral.


Deadly Deal. Each player may lose 1 life point and discard all cards in hand to "draw" the same amount of cards from the discard deck. I like the gameplay effect for the card's theme (losing a life point is "deadly"), and the picture is nice. I don't know why draw is in quotes for this card. It shouldn't be. The quotations are reserved for "draw!" which involves flipping over cards. This, however, doesn't make much sense for this card. I am pretty sure you are just drawing like normal from the discard pile. Of course, I imagine your discarded cards are not placed on the discard pile and then you draw from it. Otherwise, you would lose a life point and draw the same cards! Rather, it looks like you are are supposed to draw the same amount of cards as cards in your hand from the discard pile; set these drawn cards aside. Then discard all the cards in your hand, and pick up the prior drawn cards as your new hand. In terms of gameplay, this card is a little hard to balance as I can imagine playing a Wells Fargo, drawing 3 cards, using the one's I wish and then losing a health to repick and reuse the Wells Fargo. That seems a little unfair. Of course, the chance of this happening is low.

Gunfight. All players must play as many BANG! cards as they have, one at a time. On a tie, players "draw" a card. The last person to play a BANG! card chooses another player to lose 1 life point. The description fits the title, but it really knocks a lot of BANG! out of people's hands for very little impact in terms of life points. It also really favors the Sheriff. Since everyone is forced to play BANG! until they have none left, this knocks a lot of ammo out of others (most importantly the Sheriff's opponents), and makes many susceptible to Duels and Indians! for the round. I am not sure if I like that. The description isn't quite clear, but this is how I understand it. Immediately after Gunfight enters play, starting with the Sheriff each player in a clockwise order must discard a BANG! This cycle continues until all players but 1 have expended the BANG! in their hand. In case of a tie when multiple players run out of BANG! at the same time, they draw a card. This condition doesn't make too much sense: does each player draw a card until they get a BANG!, and if they both draw and discard BANG!s, do they draw again? At this point, I would have the tied players, "draw!" instead. They call a color for 2-player ties, and suits for 3-4 player ties. After the "draw!" the player whose suit or color it is wins. I guess if there were more players in a tie (unlikely, but possible), they could all call numbers, and whoever is closest wins. The winner of the tie, or the last player with a BANG! in his hand, chooses another player to lose a life point. This card should be reworded to be more clear.

Bullseye. Missed! cards cannot be played this round. This is a straight forward card, thematically appropriate, and favors the Outlaws. This is fine as long as there are a variety of cards favoring different roles. Good image.

Snake Eyes. At the beginning of this round, each player must pass all cards in hand to the player on their right. The description fits well for the title, but this card could devastate and will likely hurt the Sheriff by receiving a hand lacking many defensive cards.

Bushwhack. Each player who is the target of a BANG! card may "draw." On a SPADE, the BANG! card affects the attacking player unless he has a Missed! card. This is an easy card to understand: the BANG!s can backfire. "Draw" should be "draw!" to avoid confusion. I think this is a neat card.

Gusher. When a "draw" card is played, double the amount of cards specified. Hmm, not a fan of this title, but good image. It isn't quite clear what a "draw" card is, but I imagine it is a Wells Fargo, Stage Coach, General Store, and Pony Express (Dodge City). Pony Express is questionable because of the use of the term "play", but I imagine the designer intended "use." General Store opens up a bit of a problem, as there are 2 ways to interpret it. Does the person who plays it flip over double the amount of cards and then pick 2, or does it go in a round twice, with each player picking 1 each time? I prefer the latter interpretation.

Scatter Gun. When a player targeted by a BANG! card plays a Missed! card, the players on both sides of him become the target of the same BANG! card and must also play a Missed! card. Good name for the description, although I prefer "Scatter Shot." The card is pretty straight forward except for 2 things. First, if a player shoots a player directly to his left or right, is he the target of his own BANG!? The description would have this occur, but this doesn't thematically make any sense. I suppose you could go either way on this, but I would make it so the player firing the BANG! is not the target of his own BANG! Second, it doesn't make sense that the players in the "spread" must play a Missed! card. It should say that they must play a Missed! to avoid the attack. But even then, it shouldn't a Missed! card specifically, but that they must play or use a card to avoid the attack or take a hit (thus, they could use a Barrel, Dodge, Sombrero, Ten Gallon Hat, or Iron Plate also to avoid the attack).

Lucky Horseshoe. At the end of each player's turn, they may "draw" 1 card. I like this card: it is thematically appropriate, easy to understand, and a fun variation for phase 3.


Wanted. Except for the Sheriff, only the player or players with the most life points can be targeted this round. This card greatly favors the Sheriff, although it is thematically appropriate. It wouldn't impact the game much at the beginning of the game, but could really impact mid-late game, even changing the tide of the whole game. Of course, many players would not fire instead of hit their team mates. Love the picture.

Trading Post. During phase 1, each player may choose any one of their cards in play and trade it for another player's card in play as long as the agreement is mutual. Thematically clear, and potentially very useful. It was good that it was done from the cards "in play" in front of players because this makes discussion less problematic. Of course, it does favor players with cards in play in front of them, but many will have at least 1 unless Trading Post is flipped over at round 2.

Flesh Wound. No player can lose their last life point this round. Very interesting card, even if it is not likely a player will only have 1 life point when it is in play. It helps you save your last second beers too.

The Gambler. Each player draws a card face down. All reveal at once and the highest card regains 1 life point. The theme is a little off as you are not gambling anything, and I would have the title be "The Gamble" instead. The card makes sense, but it seems strange to draw cards face down when you have no influence over these cards nor do other players. Rather, I would have each player "draw!" a card, and the card with the highest value wins. Since there could be a tie with these "drawn!" cards, I would have those who tie "draw!" again. I like the idea of the winner gaining a life point.

Ace Up Your Sleeve. During phase 1, each player may discard an ACE to draw a card from the discard pile. Thematically good, but it doesn't seem to be that interesting of a round card. Having an Ace isn't too likely, and swapping it out for the top card of the discard pile doesn't seem that great. I might make it 2 cards. I imagine the "during" versus "at the beginning of" phase 1 entails that you can discard an ace you draw that turn.

Gunpowder. If a barrel is used, the player "draws" a card as normal to see if it's a HEART. If not, they "draw" another card: on a SPADE they lose another life point. While this card has some merit, it is written poorly. For one, even if you don't successfully "draw!" a heart, this doesn't entail that you lost a life point. You "draw!" for your Barrel and then you have a chance to play a defensive card. So Gunpowder shouldn't say on Spades you lose "another" life point; you just lose a life point. I would reword this card to say: After a player "draws!" for a Barrel, if the "drawn!" card is not a heart, he must "draw!" again. On spades, that player loses a life point. For fun, I think it would be neat if the Barrel exploded (was discarded) after this too.

Reservation. No one may play an Indians card this round. Somewhat thematically appropriate, but not impactful enough for my taste. It seems like a waste of an event card.

Fatal Shot. For this round, if a player is hit, he must "draw" a card: on a HEART, he loses another life point. So, it's sort of a reverse Barrel, which is neat. I would rather have the drawn card be a spade if he is to lose another life point to be more in line with the BANG! suit themes. On the whole, I like it.


Search Warrant. The Sheriff may see any other player's identity card. I imagine that "identity card" refers to "role card." I cannot express how much I hate this card. It ruins the game of deception that is at the root of BANG! It can really screw the Renegade trying to play the Deputy, and really helps the Sheriff. I would either remove this card from the expansion or change it to this: "The Sheriff may see any other player's hand." This fits the theme even better in my opinion, as a Search Warrant checks a location for evidence and items. This card is still very powerful, and so I might limit it to 2 cards at random from another player's hand.

Short Fuse. Any Dynamite card explodes if a SPADE is drawn. This card is somewhat like Curse, where all "drawn!" cards are spades. Curse was stronger for exploding dynamite, as 2-9 covers around 50% of the cards. Short Fuse will explode only 25%. This could still be fun, but the chances of Dynamite and Short Fuse overlapping is less likely. Curse's ability to nullify barrels made it more impactful. I might change this card so that, "At the beginning of the round, if there is a Dynamite in the discard pile, it must be taken out and immediately played. There is no round to 'activate' the Dynamite. Thus, the Sheriff immediately "draws!" for the Dynamite. On spades, this Dynamite explodes." This would make Short Fuse far more impactful, but then it might be too brutal.

Closed Sunday. No General Store or other "draw" cards may be played this round. Ugly image. This card lacks significant impact, as the chance of having "draw cards" this round are not very likely. Perhaps the card should be changed to include any cards that steal or discard cards from other players. That would make the card more impactful, but then it would be less thematically appropriate.

Mystery Tonic. During phase 1, each player draws a card. Red-suited cards gain 1 life point; black-suited cards lose 1 life point. This card is very impactful, and I think pretty neat. It is a little unclear whether Mystery Tonic entails each player showing the first card they draw on the turn, drawing an extra card on their turn, or "drawing!" I think it makes best sense for the "draw!"

Rustlers. All horse cards in play must be discarded. This card is vicious, but neat, and thematically appropriate. I might add the Hideout, even though it has little to do the theme. It just makes the effect cleaner in removing all increasing distance modifiers.

Train Robbers. All cards in play are discard. This card is just ridiculous. For one, it stomps on Rustlers, removing horses all over again and affecting all other cards in play in front of others. To help this card, perhaps the following could occur: All players flip the cards in play in front of them face down and shuffle them. The Sheriff selects 1 card at random from these cards to be discarded, and then the player to the left of the Sheriff selects 1 card at random from his card pile to be discarded. The remaining cards are flipped face up and immediately return to play. This would dull the edge from this card, but still make it very powerful.

Moonshine. All players regain 1 life point. Very clear and thematically consistent.

Bounty Hunter. During phase 1, each player must "draw" a Missed! card; if not, they must discard a BANG! and a Missed! card or lose 1 life point. Okay, so each player has a 82% chance of losing a life unless they have both a BANG! and a Missed! (which is very unlikely). I might change this card somewhat: During phase 1, each player must "draw!" Unless the "drawn!" card has a missed symbol on it, they must discard a BANG! and any other card or lose 1 life point. This effect is still vicious, but a little more forgiving.

Consensus.

O. K. Corral ends up being a very prophetic name, for this expansion is just that: OK.

While O. K. Corral adds some really neat event cards to the game, some cards such as Search Warrant and Train Robbers really kill it. A lot of the cards are not that clear, and require a lot of interpretive effort on part of the players. This review is evidence of that. The design, on the other hand, is decent. The green border on the cards echoes well the border of official BANG! event cards, and the Playbill font was a great alternative for the event cards font (which I still have been unable to determine). Many of the pictures are very good: they are thematically appropriate, although many lack the sketchy, cartoonish feel of the original BANG! cards. The biggest fault against the design is the inconsistent size of the text descriptions. Next, the theme for O. K. Corral is very strong, as the card descriptions fit their titles very well. I do have to strike the O. K. Corral expansion in the novelty area, as another event card deck really isn't something that different to add to the game. However, custom event card decks make great unofficial expansions, as their ease of production is so great.

Gameplay Enhancement: 3/5

Clarity: 2.5/5

Design: 3.5/5

Theme: 4.5/5

Novelty: 2/5

Ease of Production: 5/5

Download a zip of the O. K. Corral expansion here.

Italiano (tradotto da Superkaze): scarica ora.

Review: Customer Reviews of BANG! the Official Video Game

Over at Board Game Geek, some people have downloaded and played the BANG! video game and noted the following:

- The game is pleasant looking, and the sound quality is nice. It provides an easy way to understand the rules of the game. On the flip side, they can be a little too in your face and irritating, and the card explanations are poorly displayed (or not displayed at all if others play cards). One reviewer explained

"During each player's turn you get a view of the full board with everyone's cards and whatnot. Perfect. That's what I'd expect. In the transition between turns, however, everything's wiped off the screen and a huge picture of the next player's face appears for a moment. Doesn't sound like much, but it gets old fast when it happens every 5 seconds. Sort of UI whiplash or something."

- The game is generally noted as being buggy and unfinished. For instance, 1 player noted having errors even during game installation, which made it impossible to play for 20 or so days after purchase when Palzoun patched it. In terms of it being unfinished, several options are not available, the most important being Multiplayer! Who'd have thought you were purchasing this to play against some crappy AI! There isn't even a normal difficulty yet available. Sadly, the Expansions (while listed), are not available either. At the moment, there is nothing to differentiate BANG! the official video game from KBang, which at least has great multiplayer, besides its cute graphics. In fact, it is far worse. Characters in the current release do not even have special abilities yet. This was a surprise for some players. One remarked,

You know the game's not off to a good start when you're Willy the Kid and the game automatically ends your turn after one Bang! played with two more in your hand.

The AI is as bad as KBang's, in that the Outlaws will not band together to shoot the Sheriff, but will even shoot and duel each other. The Sheriff will shoot his allies instead of firing at his immediate enemies. In some games, everyone shoots you randomly regardless of their roles. One player's remark was, "Out of the 7 games I have played so far, only 1 of them made sense."
- It has a somewhat irritating interface. Besides being forced to go through a tutorial when you start the game, you are told to do things without having any idea of how to accomplish them (what to click on/what buttons to press). There are also buttons that you have to press (like a skip/end your turn button) that are not easily visible, or visible at all. One player noted the following frustrating scenario, which shows the game's current glitchy interface:

Before the game starts you are shown an objectives screen. It lists the roles that are being used for the game. On this screen you select the role to read a description. When you are done, you click the skip button to move on. I could not see the cards or the skip button. I had to click randomly to find the skip button and move on to gameplay. During the gameplay, I could not see the skip button or the cards. So I closed down the program and tried again. Attempt #2 yielded better results, but the game was still unplayable. This time around I was able to see the role cards and the skip button. I couldn't see the playing cards, so I closed down and restarted. Attempt #3 allowed me to play the game. I could see everything. After completion, I tried again. I wasn't sure if the game needed add little by little or if it was luck of the draw. Attempt #4 was bad. This time I could not see the characters or the playing cards. Attempts #5 and 6 worked perfectly.

- The interface is also noted for being non-intuitive. Another review observed,

It's sort of hard to de-select a card you don't want to play. If you click it once to get that scrolling text, you have to wait a few seconds for the card to slink back into your hand. If you click it again before it slinks (as I did, assuming that would put it back into my hand), guess what? The card gets played. There needs to be some system for this--maybe allow us to click elsewhere on the playing field to send the card back into our hands, unplayed?

CONSENSUS: Now is not the time to buy this buggy wretch that was tossed out too early to swindle people's Christmas cash. Don't waste your time or money. Wait for updates to arrive, such as those that at least allow characters to have special abilities, multiplayer or place in some of the expansions. Sadly, as others have noticed, it sounds like this game wasn't tested... at all. For die hard BANG! fans like myself, this is quite a disappointment. How could they not make a game at least as good as KBang, a game designed by 1 college student for a bachelor's thesis?