A card game (non-collectable) by Emilio Sciarra, published by daVinci Games, a small Italian game producer, but distributed all over Europe. The game is available in two editions, one Italian/English and one German/Dutch.In 2002, it won the title of "best Italian game of the year".
4-7 players take the roles of Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw and Renegade in a small western town, but only the Sheriff reveals his role in the beginning of the game. Additionally, every player takes the role of a character with special abilities. The Sheriff has to keep the order in the town, i.e. the Outlaws out, they want to kill the sheriff, the deputies want to protect the sheriff, and the renegade wants to be the next sheriff (i.e. survive to the end with only himself and the sheriff alive, and then shoot the sheriff).
A player's turn is divided into 3 phases:
- Draw 2 cards
- Play any number of cards
- Discard cards exceeding the hand limit
The players can shoot each other, drink beer to gain back lost health, send each other to prison, throw a stick of dynamite into the game (i.e. the hot potato: "Round and round this stick must go, but where it goes boom, nobody knows"), hide behind barrels, get attacked by indians!, go shopping, receive deliveries from Wells Fargo and use equipment such as horses and special guns. Bullets are flying all the time, and the mystery of having to find out who is who just adds to the exitement. The characters can only shoot at other players if they are in range, with range being handled by the seating of the players, and special cards or abilities.
All of this might sound a bit complicated but is, in fact, quite easy and intuitive. One game can take about 20-40 minutes of game time, and is usually a lot of fun, so much so, that it has usurped the prime spot on my regular games night from other classics like Cosmic Encounter, Dalmuti and Taroque.
There are two expansions, High Noon and Dodge City, with High Noon adding special global effects every turn, and Dodge City adds new card types, characters and a second renegade.
Webpage: http://www.davincigames.com/