Bang The Bullet

If you love playing board/card games then this is the game for you.. A must get after you get the hang of it totally fun and you can play for hours.. Extremely fun and entertaing a must have..

We love this game at my house. It takes about one or two games to get used to the cards and then you are shooting the sheriff like a pro. You first get to choose a character and each character has a special power to help you win (with this set there are tons of characters). Then you get a job (you could be an Outlaw, Deputy, Renegade, or the Sheriff). You pass out cards equal to the amount of life you have (5-3) and then you are ready to play. Each job requires you to do something to win (like with the Outlaw, you have to kill the Sheriff). In my opinion that is the easiest one. This game is so much fun and it's exciting to guess who is what (the Sheriff is the only person known on the board). If you get this set you will not be disappointed (that is as long as you have at least 3 friends who want to play with you.)

This is the complete collection of Bang and its upgrades for the series. It may seem complex to the new player though after a round or two it becomes very easy to get a grasp of. It is lots of fun and I would highly recommend it.

As far as tabletop gaming goes, there are winners (Dutch Blitz) and there are losers (Monopoly). And there are excruciatingly painful losers (Sorry!) and jaw-droppingly awesomely awesome winners (Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights). Bang! happens to fall somewhere in the no-man's land between winners and jaw-droppingly awesomely awesome winners. It's a good game. It may even be better than a good game. But it's not a great game. Still, I've only played one card game that was (Before the Wind).

So you guys remember that group game you may have played as some form of youthful individual (I played it in high school) called "Mafia," right? Well, imagine that Mafia was a three-to-eight player card game. Also imagine that it was fun instead of a great big ball of suck (like Mafia inevitably is). That game you're imagining might be something like Bang!

Bang! is a card game set in the world of Spaghetti Westerns. Players take on the typical roles: a sheriff, his deputies, outlaws, and the diabolical renegade. The identities of all players (save for the sheriff) are kept secret and players' roles are made known by their actions (by their fruit you shall know them!). The outlaws are trying to kill the sheriff, the deputy is trying to kill the outlaws and the renegade, the sheriff tries to outlive both the outlaws and the renegade, and the renegade must kill the outlaws, the sheriff, and the deputies. It's a tangled web of life, death, Indian attacks, and life-giving beer.

Building on the unique flavour of the game, each player, in addition to his general role (e.g. sheriff or outlaw), takes on the identity of one of a fistful of colourful western characters. Each character has his own particular strengths. For example: Slab the Killer fires a six-shooter that is very difficult to avoid; Tequila Joe heals better than anyone when alcohol touches his lips; and Willy the Kid is so quick he might as well be firing a semi-automatic.

The playing cards themselves are fun and feature simple icons that make it easy (in an ideal world) to understand how each card operates. There are barrels to hide behind, jails to throw people into, horses to ride, guns to collect, duels to be had, and dynamite to throw. And for added flavour, everything is in Italian (with helpful English subtitles).

The only real problem I've found with the game is what to do with players who have been eliminated (as the game can meander on without them for some time, it can become particularly boring for those who get killed off early in the game). As a partial means of salvation, fans of the game have developed a variety of "ghost's rules"ways in which ex-players can continue to affect the game even as the dearly departed (albeit with less direct influence than the living players).

This brings me to Bang! the Bullet. While it's certainly a cool set and is great way for those who love the game to get all the expansions without hunting, it's just a shame that the Bang! basic set is no longer available. When I first purchased Bang! to give it a try, the reason I gave it a try was that it was only $[...] (discounted from $14). While I now know that The Bullet is a great deal, I wouldn't have likely given the game a chance way back when if it was retailing for $[...]. And again, my wife and I wanted to get some Bang! sets for friends this last Christmas and while $[...] or $[...] is fine for Christmas spending for us, $[...] to $[...] per gift certainly is pretty far outside our budget. So while there's nothing wrong with the Bullet and it's a great game, I'm sad that its existence killed the basic set.

This is an incredibly entertaining game, reminiscent of the cardless "mafia" game many of us played in junior high and high school. It has become the game of choice among my friends and me in the last few months. Each player is dealt a role that he or she plays in the game (sheriff, deputy, outlaw, or renegade). All the roles are secret, except for the sheriff's. Game play proceeds as players eliminate each other in hopes of doing what is best for their role. The sheriff tries to stay alive and kill the outlaws and renegade(s). Outlaws try to kill the Sheriff, and so on. It gets pretty addictive and aggravating at the same time, but in a very good way.

Just read the rules and deal everyone the picture-instruction cards, and the game is relatively easy to understand. The game is the most fun when you have about 5 or 6 players. It doesn't make much sense with 4 (too easy to guess others' roles), and the pace slows a lot with 7 or 8 unless everyone is paying attention and knows the rules.

One small downside to the game is that it is an elimination game--when you die, you're out of the game/round until either the Sheriff/deputies or renegade(s) or the outlaws win. Usually this doesn't take very long, but it always sucks to be the first one out. When I play, I usually usually go through at least 3 or 4 rounds during one sitting. Also, for very conservative families, it might be noteworthy that "beer" and "whisky" cards heal your character.

Bang! The Bullet comes with several expansion packs that keep the game interesting and add new rules/restrictions that change up game play. Start with the core game first as you learn. Then you can add expansions later. It also comes with a nifty badge that Sheriff gets to wear.