The Wyatt Earp card game by Alea (in Germany) and Rio Grande Games (In the US) is written by Mike Fitzgerald and Richard Borg. This game is often informally spoken of as a member of the line of Mystery Rummy games by Mike Fitzgerald, but is actually not -- having no mystery theme and a different publisher. The game is a rummy-based game with an old west theme for 2-4 players and is pretty quick to play at about 15-45 minutes. In Wyatt Earp, the players are jointly hunting the bounties on seven outlaws: Belle Starr, Billy the Kid, Bob Dalton, Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, Sundance Kid, and Wes Hardin.*
In Wyatt Earp there are two kinds of cards: Outlaw Cards -- which are melded in sets of a kind (of which there are seven, one for each outlaw), and Sheriff Cards -- which are played one per turn to accomplish one of a variety of special effects. Each Outlaw Card has a bullet hole icon on the colored sidebar. Each Sheriff Card has a sheriff's star icon on the sidebar. Each player takes turns in order around the table each of which consists of: drawing (the top two cards from the play deck or the top card from the discard pile), optionally playing cards (melding sets of outlaws and playing up to one Sheriff Card), and discarding one card. Every player, on every turn, must draw and discard.
When melding outlaws, the following things must be kept in mind:
- Each Outlaw Card is worth two Capture Points.
- If no meld of an outlaw has taken place, that outlaw must me melded with at least three Outlaw Cards.
- Once a meld of an outlaw has been laid down, anyone may play down more Outlaw Cards of that type in any quantity.
- Any outlaws played are laid down in front of the player with the card. When a player is adding to an outlaw that has been melded by another player, the new cards do not go on the other player's existing meld, but separately in front of the player laying them down.
- Whenever Outlaw Cards are melded, $1000 dollar bills are added to the Wanted Poster (lying flat on the table) equal to the number of cards laid down minus one. (e.g. An opening meld of three cards, adds two to the reward. Laying a single card down adds nothing.)
The hand is over when one player goes out (draws, optionally plays, and discards his last card) or when the deck has been completely cycled through twice. At this point, the money on the Wanted Posters is divided up, one poster/outlaw at a time, among the players as follows:
- If any outlaw has fewer than eight Capture Points in active melds on the table, he gets away and no money is awarded to players.
- The player with the most Capture Points melded for a given outlaw takes $2000 from the Wanted Poster.
- Only players within four Capture Points of the leader receive any share at all. (e.g. If one player has eight CPs, another has four, and a third has two, only the first two get a share of the reward.)
- The rest of the players who will receive a share for this outlaw take turns in order of the number of Capture Points they have, taking $1000 off the Wanted Poster.
- Once everyone has taken their first share, if money remains, the process begins again with each player, including the leader, taking only $1000 this time.
- If any number of players tie for the number of Capture Points, those players receive equal payout simultaneously.
- Any time there is not enough money remaining on the Wanted Poster to pay the next recipient(s) entirely, payment ends for that outlaw. (e.g. If $5000 is on Belle Starr and three players tie with six Capture Points each, no money is awarded because $5000 is insufficient to award everyone their $2000 for having the most.)
- Any money remaining on a Wanted Poster stays in place for the next round of play.
- If any player reaches $25000 at the end of a round, the game ends and the player with the most money is the winner.
- When the new hand begins, each Wanted Poster receives $1000 which may be added to a sizeable reward left from the round before.
The seven kinds of Sheriff Cards add to the game in a variety of ways. Each of these displays a sheriff's star to make identification easy. Only one Sheriff Card can be played per turn (with a slight exception detailed below):
- The Photo cards look similar to Outlaw cards in that they have the colored side bar of the outlaws. There is one photo for each outlaw/color. The Photo can be laid down with (or as) a meld of that color and is worth four Capture Points. Playing the Photo Card also increases the reward for that outlaw by $1000.
- The Bank Robbery, Stagecoach Robbery, and Fastest Gun cards are also added to melds to increase the number of Capture Points but are colorless and can be used to augment any meld. But these cards are not a sure thing. A successful shot must be taken in order to activate these powers and if missed, the card is discarded. To take a shot, the top card on the deck is revealed and discarded. If it shows a bullet hole (if it is an Outlaw Card) the shot succeeds, but if it shows a sheriff's star the shot is a failure. Robbing a bank is worth two Capture Points and increases the bounty on the outlaw by $1000. Robbing the stage is worth only one Capture Point, but increases the bounty by $3000. The Fastest Gun card adds only $1000, but is worth three Capture Points and has the special feature of being unique. There can be only one! If a Fastest Gun card is successfully added to a meld, any other Fastest Gun card in play is removed and discarded. You can not play Fastest Gun onto an outlaw who already has a Fastest Gun card in a meld.
- The Most Wanted card has two functions, both of which attempt to get an Outlaw Card that you want. If you see an Outlaw Card in play, you can slap down your Most Wanted and take a shot. If your shot succeeds, you take that card from the other player and add it to your hand. You can hold it or meld it immediately. The other way to play the card is to announce which outlaw you are seeking and decide which of your adjacent players should give it to you. If they have one, they must hand it over. If they do not, then the next person around the table must, if possible, etc. If no one at the table has one of your preferred Outlaw Cards, then your card is discarded and your turn continues.
- The Hideout card is the most offensive of the Sheriff cards in the game. You can play a Hideout on any one of any other player's melds. You have to take a shot, but if successful, the affected meld loses all effect on the game --leave the Hideout sitting across the meld to show that it's not currently valid. If the game ends while the Hideout is in play, final calculations take place as if that meld didn't exist. If the shot fails, then the Hideout is discarded.
- Wyatt Earp, with three very useful functions, is the most versatile card in the deck. During your turn, you can play Wyatt and draw two more cards from the deck, or search through the discard pile and take whatever single card you want. When used with the discard pile, you must inform the other players of your choice. The third function played by Wyatt Earp requires a successful shot, but allows you to remove a Hideout from one of your melds. Through these last two functions there are minor exceptions to the rules as previously discussed. If you use this card to draw from the discard pile, you may not select a Wyatt Earp card, but you can select any other Sheriff Card. If you do, you may play it immediately -- skirting the only one per turn rule. The other exception is in the removal of a Hideout. If someone plays a Hideout on one of your melds while a Wyatt Earp card is in your hand, you may interrupt the turn to attempt to remove the Hideout. If you do this when Wyatt Earp is the last card in your hand, you have gone out and the round is over. The person who played the Hideout does not get to finish their play.
*I find it amusing that none of these seven outlaws had anything to do with Wyatt Earp in real life.