Bang! (card game)

Bang!

Designer(s)	Emiliano Sciarra
Illustrator(s)	Alex Pierangelini
Publisher(s)	daVinci Games Mayfair Games
Players	4–7 (3–8 with expansion sets)
Age range	10+
Setup time	approx. 5 min.
Playing time	20–90 minutes
Random chance	Card drawing
Skill(s) required	Card playing

Bang! is a Wild West-themed card game, designed by Emiliano Sciarra and released by Italian publisher daVinci Editrice in 2002. In 2004, Bang! won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game of 2003 and Best Graphic Design of a Card Game or Expansion.^[1]

The game is known worldwide as Bang!, except in France, where it was known as Wanted! until September 2009.

Overview

The game is played by four to seven players (three to eight players with variants and expansions). Each player takes one of the following roles:

• Sheriff (x1)
• Deputy Sheriff (x0, x1 or x2)
• Outlaw (x2 or x3)
• Renegade (x1, x2 with expansions)

Each player also receives a unique character card with special abilities and a certain amount of 'bullets' (i.e. life-points).

The objective of the game is different for every role:

• the Outlaws must kill the Sheriff;
• the Sheriff and his Deputies must kill the Outlaws and the Renegade(s);
• each Renegade's objective is to be the last character in play. The Renegade(s) must kill all the characters with the sheriff being the last one dead.

Game

Set up

Each player is randomly dealt a Character card and a Role card: there is always a Sheriff, two Outlaws and a Renegade. Roles depend on the number of players (for example, with 7 players there will be 1 Sheriff, 2 Deputies, 3 Outlaws and 1 Renegade). The Role cards are given face down to each player. The Sheriff shows his card. With the expansion, it is possible to play with only three players using a Deputy, an Outlaw and a Renegade.

Gameplay

The game is played in turns, in clockwise order. The Sheriff begins. Each player's turn is divided into three phases.

1. Draw two cards

• The active player draws the top two cards from the draw pile. He or she must do this at the beginning of his or her turn. As soon as the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile to create a new playing deck. Some characters have abilities that vary the number of cards drawn per turn.

2. Play any number of cards.

• Now the player may play to help himself or hurt the other players, trying to eliminate them. He is not forced to play cards during this phase. Any number of cards may be played; there are only two limitations.
• Only one BANG! card may be played per turn (unless there is an effect that allows them to play more than one).
• No player can ever have two identical cards face up in front of him.

Each player can only have one weapon at a time. If you want to play a new weapon card when you already have one, you must discard the one you already have. This is explicitly noted in page 3 of the rules.^[2]

When a card is played just follow the symbols on it. Cards can be played only during your turn (with the exception of Beer, Bang! and Missed!).

Normally a card has an effect which is immediately resolved, and then the card is discarded. However, blue-bordered cards, like weapons and horses, etc., have long-lasting effects, and are kept on the table face up in front of you. In the Dodge City expansion, green-bordered cards are played face up and cannot be used until the following round, then are discarded.

The effects of these cards (in play) lasts until they are discarded or removed somehow (e.g. Cat Balou or Panic) or a special event occurs (e.g. in the case of Jail or Dynamite.)

3. Discard excess cards.

Once the second phase is over (you do not want to or cannot play any more cards), then you must discard from your hand any cards exceeding your hand size limit. The hand size limit of a player (at the end of his turn) is equal to the number of bullets currently shown on the card that lies under his character card. Then it is the next player's turn, in clockwise order.

Game concepts

Generally speaking (as there are exceptions):

• Distance: Distance is defined as the smallest number of characters from one player to another. For example, at a table of four, the people to the left and right of the player are at a distance of 1, and the player across the table is at a distance of 2.
• Dealing damage: Cards bearing a "Bang!" icon are used to deal damage to other players.
• "Bang!" cards: Cards explicitly labeled "Bang!" can only be used in accordance with a player's range. By default, a player has a range of 1. If he has a weapon that can fire to a distance of 3, he can target any player at a distance of 3 or less. A player may play only one "Bang!" card during his turn. Other cards can be played without restriction during the turn.
• Avoiding damage: If a player is targeted by a "Bang!", he can play a "Missed" card to avoid getting shot; otherwise, he loses a bullet.
• Bullets: A player's life points are represented by bullets. When a player loses his last bullet, he is dead and removed from the game.
• Restoring bullets: Cards bearing beer icons are used to restore bullets up to the character's maximum. "Beer" cards can be used out-of-turn to prevent death and remain at 1 bullet.
• "Draw!": To "draw!" means to reveal the first card of the deck and check the card's suit and value. Some cards will trigger only when Hearts or Spades are revealed.

Penalties and rewards

• If the Sheriff eliminates a Deputy, the Sheriff must discard all the cards he has in hand and in play.
• Any player eliminating an Outlaw (even if the eliminating player is himself an Outlaw) must draw a reward of 3 cards from the deck.

Determining the winner

Once the Sheriff is killed, the game is over. If the only player left is a Renegade, the Renegade wins. However, if two or more players are still alive or the only remaining player is an Outlaw, all the Outlaws win, dead or alive.

On the other hand, if all Outlaws and Renegades are dead before the Sheriff dies, the Sheriff and all the Deputies win, dead or alive.

Strategy

The game is an interesting application of Game theory. As only the Sheriff is known, it is hard to know who has what role. Generally, a person's role is implied if he tries to shoot, or otherwise harm, the Sheriff. Others' role can be implied if they try to harm those who harmed the Sheriff. The advantage of keeping one's role hidden from enemies must be weighed against the need to accomplish one's goal.

Since the Renegade loses if the Sheriff dies when there are still others in the game he must defend the Sheriff to some extent. On the other hand, his ultimate goal is killing the Sheriff. This leads to a "two faced" nature of the Renegade, trying to weaken each side (Outlaws and Deputies) while keeping the Sheriff alive until the end. This also makes it harder to ascertain who is an Outlaw, who is a Deputy, and who is a Renegade, as their actions may be similar.^[3]

Official tournament score

An official scoring system can be found on daVinci web site, the official web site of the Italian editors of Bang!. The scoring rules are as follows:

• If the Sheriff wins:

the Sheriff wins $1500 for every Outlaw;

the Deputies win $1000 for every Outlaw if they survived, and $700 if they died;

the Renegade wins $400 for every player if he died last, leaving the Sheriff alive alone.

• If the Outlaws win:

the Renegade, if he is still alive at the end of the game, wins $300 for each player in the game;

the Outlaws, if they are alive, win $1000 for each Outlaw in the game, dead or alive; otherwise they win $800 for each Outlaw in the game.

• If the Renegade wins:

the Sheriff wins $100 for each player in the game

the Renegade wins $1500 for each player in the game

• Extra Penalty:

if a deputy kills a Sheriff, he loses $5000

Character descriptions

As the game constantly maintains an ironic point of view on the western clichés, some of the characters of Bang! are named after famous people. There are 16 different characters in the basic set:

• Bart Cassidy = Butch Cassidy – Each time he loses a life point, he immediately draws a card from the deck. (4 life points)
• Black Jack = Tom Ketchum (known as Black Jack) – During phase 1 of his turn, he must show the second card he draws: if it's a Heart or Diamond, he draws one additional card that turn (without revealing it). (4 life points)
• Calamity Janet = Calamity Jane – She can use "Bang!" cards as "Missed!" cards and vice versa. She is still subject to "Bang!" limitations: If she plays a Missed! card as a "Bang!", she cannot play another "Bang!" card that turn (unless she has a Volcanic in play). (4 life points)
• El Gringo = gringo (slang Spanish word) – Each time he loses a life point due to a card played by another player, he draws a random card from the hands of that player (one card for each life). If the player has no more cards, he does not draw. (3 life points)
• Jesse Jones = Jesse James – During phase 1 of his turn, he may choose to draw the first card from the deck, or randomly from the hand of any other player. Then he draws the second card from the deck. (4 life points)
• Jourdonnais = "Frenchy" Jourdonnais, the riverboat captain in The Big Sky novel and movie (Fictional person) – He is considered to have Barrel in play at all times; he can "draw!" when he is the target of a BANG!, and on a Heart he is missed. If he has another real Barrel card in play he can count both of them, giving him two chances to cancel the BANG! before playing a Missed! (4 life points)
• Kit Carlson = Kit Carson – During the phase 1 of his turn, he looks at the top three cards of the deck: he chooses 2 to draw, and puts the other one back on the top of the deck, face down. (4 life points)
• Lucky Duke = Lucky Luke (Fictional person) – Each time he is required to "draw!", he flips the top two cards from the deck, and chooses the result he prefers. Discard both cards afterward. (4 life points)
• Paul Regret = Paul Regret – The Comancheros (film) – He is considered to have a Mustang in play at all times; all other players must add 1 to the distance to him. If he has another real Mustang in play, he can count both of them, increasing all distance to him by a total of 2. (3 life points)
• Pedro Ramirez = Tuco Ramirez – The Ugly in the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Fictional person) – During phase 1 of his turn, he may choose to draw the first card from the top of the discard pile or from the deck. Then he draws the second card from the deck. (4 life points)
• Rose Doolan = She is considered to have a Scope (Appaloosa in older versions) in play at all times; she sees the other players at a distance decreased by 1. If she has another real Scope in play, she can count both of them, reducing her distance to all other players by a total of 2. (4 life points)
• Sid Ketchum = Tom Ketchum – At any time, he may discard 2 cards from his hand to regain one life point. If he is willing and able, he can use this ability more than once at a time. (4 life points)
• Slab the Killer = Angel Eyes, the Bad in the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Fictional person) – Players trying to cancel his BANG! cards need to play 2 Missed!. The Barrel effect, if successfully used, only counts as one Missed! (4 life points)
• Suzy Lafayette = As soon as she has no cards in her hand, she instantly draws a card from the draw pile. (4 life points)
• Vulture Sam = Whenever a character is eliminated from the game, Sam takes all the cards that player had in his hand and in play, and adds them to his hand. (4 life points)
• Willy the Kid = Billy the Kid – He can play any number of "Bang!" cards. (4 life points)

Official expansions

High Noon

Released in 2003. A set of thirteen scenario cards that are given to the Sheriff, and revealed at the start of each of his turns – the card's scenario is effective until the next scenario card has been revealed. The name is inspired by the Western High Noon. The scenario cards have these effects:

• Blessing: the suit of all cards is Hearts.
• Curse: the suit of all cards is Spades.
• Ghost Town: during their turn, killed characters return in play as ghosts, with 3 cards. They cannot be killed but they leave the game immediately after their turn.
• Gold Rush: the game proceeds counterclockwise. Card effects proceed clockwise as usual.
• Hangover: all characters lose their special abilities.
• Shootout: each player can play a second Bang! card.
• The Daltons: when this card enters play, each player with at least one blue card discards one blue card at his choice.
• The Doctor: when this card enters play, the player(s) with the fewest current life points regain 1 life point.
• The Reverend: players cannot play any Beer cards.
• The Sermon: players cannot use Bang! cards.
• Train Arrival: each player draws an additional card at the beginning of his turn.
• Thirst: each player draws one card fewer than normal at the beginning of his turn.
• High Noon: each player loses 1 life point at the start of his turn. This must be always the last card, and stays in play until the game ends.
• Schofield: A card that increases the player's distance by 2, but when combined with another Schofield, may form a Mustang or Wells Fargo(only in old versions of BANG!).

Dodge City

Released in 2004. A set of fifteen new characters and 40 new play cards. There is also a set of 8 "role" cards (7 duplicates) allowing up to 8 people to play. The name is inspired by the Western, Dodge City. The new characters are:

• Apache Kid = The Apache Kid (Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl) – Cards of Diamond played by other players do not affect him. (3 life points)
• Belle Star = Belle Starr – During her turn, cards in play in front of other players have no effect. (4 life points)
• Bill Noface = He draws 1 card, plus 1 card for each wound he has. (4 life points)
• Chuck Wengam = During his turn, he may choose to lose 1 life point to draw 2 cards. This ability can be used more than once in the same turn; however, the last life point cannot be lost. (4 life points)
• Doc Holyday = Doc Holliday – Once during his turn, he may discard 2 cards from the hand to shoot a Bang!. This ability does not count towards his limit of one Bang! card per turn. (4 life points)
• Elena Fuente = She may use any card in hand as Missed!. (3 life points)
• Greg Digger = Each time another player is eliminated, he regains 2 life points. (4 life points)
• Herb Hunter = Each time another player is eliminated, he draws 2 extra cards. (4 life points)
• Jose Delgado = Gordito Delgado (Fictional person) – Twice in his turn, he may discard a blue card from the hand to draw 2 cards. In the first edition of the expansion, he could use his ability as long as he had blue cards in hand. (4 life points)
• Molly Stark = Each time she uses a card from her hand out of turn, she draws a card. (4 life points)
• Pat Brennan = Pat Brennan from The Tall T (Fictional person) – Instead of drawing normally, he may draw only one card in play in front of any one player. It can be either a hand card, blue-bordered card, or a green-bordered card.(4 life points)
• Pixie Pete = He draws 3 cards instead of 2. In the first edition of the expansion, Pixie Pete draws 4 cards. (3 life points)
• Sean Mallory = John H. (Sean) Mallory from Duck, You Sucker! – He may hold in his hand up to 10 cards. In the first edition of the expansion, he had no limit at all to the cards in his hand. (3 life points)
• Tequila Joe = Each time he plays a Beer, he regains 2 life points instead of 1 (4 life points).
• Vera Custer = For a whole round, she gains the same ability of another character in play of her choice until the beginning of her next turn. (3 life points)

Dodge City features also a new symbol, meaning "discard another card from your hand in order to play this card", and a new card type, the green-bordered cards: they are played like blue cards, cannot be used until the next opponent's turn (in case of a Missed! effect) or the owner's next turn (in all other cases) and are discarded immediately after they are used.

A Fistful Of Cards

Released in 2005. A set of fifteen new scenario cards, designed by players around the world selected by the original author, which can be mixed with the High Noon expansion. The name is inspired by the Western, A Fistful of Dollars. The cards include:

• Abandoned Mine: players draw from the discard pile and discard on the top of the deck.
• Ambush: the distance between players is 1.This is only modified by cards in play
• Blood Brothers: each player may choose to lose one of his life points to give to another player at the beginning of his turn.
• Dead Man: the first eliminated player returns in play with 2 life points and 2 cards.
• Hard Liquor: each player may forfeit his drawing phase to regain 1 life point.
• Lasso: cards in play in front of all players have no effect. "Draw!" is still required for Jail, but this Jail has no effect regardless the result of draw.
• Law of the West: players must show and play (if possible) the second card they draw in their turn.
• Ranch: once at the end of his turn, each player may discard any number of cards from his hand to draw an equal number of cards from the deck.
• Ricochet: players may fire Bang! against cards in play: those cards are discarded unless the player controlling them plays a Missed!.
• Russian Roulette: when this card enters in play, starting from the Sheriff each player discards a Missed! or loses 2 life points (thus ending the effect).
• Sniper: players may discard 2 Bang! cards to target an opponent: this counts as a Bang! but 2 Missed! cards are required to cancel this effect.
• Peyote: players try to guess the suit of the card they draw and keep drawing until they are wrong.
• The Judge: players cannot play cards in front of themselves (i.e. Green or Blue cards). Cards that are already placed in front of players will not be affected.
• Vendetta: players "draw!" at the end of their turn: on a Heart, they play an additional turn(but does not 'draw!' again).
• A Fistful of Cards: at the beginning of his turn, each player is the target of as many Bang! as the number of cards in his hand. This must be always the last card, and stays in play until the game ends.

Player must choose either High Noon or A Fistful of Cards as the last scenario card when the two expansions are mixed together.

Wild West Show

Bang! Wild West Show! is an expansion released in August 2010 with characters that revolve not around historical figures but rather around actors iconic to the western movie genre. The expansion also includes cards and rules not seen in previous expansions.

The 8 new characters are:

• Flint Westwood (Clint Eastwood) = During his turn, he may trade one card from hand with 2 cards at random from the hand of another player. (4 life points)
• Big Spencer (Bud Spencer) = He starts with 5 cards. He cannot play Missed! cards. (9 life points)
• Lee Van Kliff (Lee Van Cleef) = During his turn, he may discard one BANG! card to repeat the effect of a brown-bordered card he just played. (4 life points)
• Youl Grinner (Yul Brynner) = Before drawing, players with more hand cards than him must give him one card of their choice. (4 life points)
• John Pain (John Wayne) = If he has less than 6 cards in hand, each time any player must "draw!", John adds the card just drawn to his hand. (4 life points)
• Greygory Deck (Gregory Peck)= At the start of his turn, he may draw 2 characters at random. He has all the abilities of the drawn characters. He can only draw characters from the basic game. (4 life points)
• Gary Looter (Gary Cooper) = He draws all excess cards discarded by other players at the end of their turn (phase 3). (5 life points)
• Teren Kill (Terence Hill) = Each time he would be eliminated, he must "draw!": if it is not Spades, Teren stays at 1 life point, and draws 1 card. (3 life points)

The 10 special cards that come with Wild West Show! play similarly as the scenario cards in High Noon and A Fistful of Cards. A special card is revealed every time a Stagecoach or Wells Fargo is played.

The 10 new special cards are:

• Bone Orchard = At the beginnings of their turns, all eliminated players return permanently to game with 1 life point. Shuffle role cards and the returning player takes one random role card.
• Darling Valentine = Players discard all hand cards and then draw as many they had before their phase 1 (followed by their draw).
• Dorothy Rage = During each player's turn they may force any player to play one hand card. The player calls out the name of a card. If the target player does not have the card named, he must show his hand cards. If he has the card, he has to play that card like it was his turn, but the caller chooses the target (if necessary).
• Gag = All players play without talking. Only gestures and sounds are allowed. Whoever breaks this rule loses 1 life point.
• Helena Zontoro = when Helena comes into play, "draw!": on heart or diamonds, shuffle all roles except the Sheriff and deal them out at random.
• Lady Rose Of Texas = Each player can swap place with player on his right. If he does, player on right move to place and skip his next turn.
• Miss Susanna = All players have to play at least 3 cards on their turn. If not, they lose 1 life point.
• Sacagaway = During their turn all players play with their hands revealed.
• Showdown = All cards may be played as if they were Bang! cards, and all Bang! cards may be played as if they were Missed! cards.
• Wild West Show = The goal of each player becomes "Be the last one in play". Roles still apply as normal (Sheriff may not go to jail, killing an Outlaw brings the usual 3-card reward, etc.), but killing the sheriff does not end the game.

Gold Rush

Bang! Gold Rush was released in 2011. It introduced some innovative gameplay mechanics: thanks to the shadow-gunslinger game variant, players are never really out of the game. During his turn, the shadow-gunslinger temporarily re-enters the game and he can play as if he was still alive. With Bang! Gold Rush, the outcome of the match can even be determined by an eliminated player. – Players can collect gold nuggets to buy equipment. The purchase of an "equipment" card allows the player to selectively enhance his or her character and develop new strategies. The box contains:

• 8 new characters
  • Don Bell – At the end of his turn, he must "draw!": On Diamond or Hearts he plays one extra turn. At the end of the extra turn, he doesn't "draw!" for another turn. (4 life points)
  • Dutch Will – In his phase 1, he draws 2 cards, he must discard one of them and gets 1 golden nugget. (4 life points)
  • Jacky Murieta – By discarding 2 golden nuggets he shoots extra BANG!. (4 life points)
  • Josh McCloud – Once per turn, he may buy 1 random equipment by discarding 2 golden nuggets. (4 life points)
  • Madam Yto – Each time a Beer card is played, she immediately draws a card. (4 life points)
  • Pretty Luzena – Once per turn, she may buy 1 equipment for 1 less nugget than its cost. The equipment with 1 cost she buys for free once per turn. (4 life points)
  • Raddie Snake – On his turn, he may draw a card by discarding 1 golden nugget, up to a maximum of 2 times per round. (4 life points)
  • Simeon Picos – Whenever he is hit, he gets 1 golden nugget from bank. (4 life points)
• 24 equipment cards
  • Shot (3 stock, 1 cost, brown border) A player of your choice will refill 1 life point. You can select yourself, too.
  • Bottle (3 stock, 2 cost, brown border) You can play this as Bang!, Panic! or Beer.
  • Pardner (3 stock, 2 cost, brown border) You can play this as Cat Balou, Duel or General Store.
  • Union Pacific (1 stock, 4 cost, brown border) Draw 4 cards.
  • Gold Rush(1 stock, 5 cost, brown border) You end your turn and play another turn. Your life will restored to maximum.
  • Horseshoe (1 stock, 2 cost, black border) Whenever you "draw!", you reveal 1 additional card and choose the result. Lucky Duke draws 3 cards with Horseshoe.
  • Wanted! (3 stock, 2 cost, black border) Play in front any player. Anyone who eliminates a player with Wanted! draws 2 extra cards and takes 1 extra nugget.
  • Gun Belt (1 stock, 2 cost, black border) Your limit for hand cards is 8 in your phase 3 (Sean Mallory has still 10 hand cards limit with or without Gun Belt and Big Spencer's limit equals MAX(8, actual life points amount)).
  • Gold Pan (1 stock, 3 cost, black border) During your turn, you may discard 1 nugget to draw one card. This can be used up to 2 times per turn.
  • Lucky Charm (1 stock, 3 cost, black border) For each lost life point, you take 1 golden nugget from the bank (Simeon Picos takes 2 golden nugget with Lucky Charm).
  • Boots (1 stock, 3 cost, black border) For each lost life point, you draw 1 card from deck (Bart Cassidy draws 2 cards with Boots).
  • Calumet (1 stock, 3 cost, black border) You are not affected by cards with the Diamond suit.
  • Pickaxe (1 stock, 4 cost) During your phase 1, you draw one additional card.
• 30 gold nuggets
• 1 "Shadow-Renegade" card

The Valley of Shadows

This expansion consists of 20 cards, mostly playing cards and several new character cards. First unofficial version was released in September 2011 in Czech and Slovak Republic. It was officially released on October 16, 2014 by the Czech editor ALBI check ALBI webpage.^[4]

5 new characters:

1. Lemonade Jim – Lemonade Joe (fictional character) Each time another player plays Beer card, he may discard a card to regain 1 life point. (4 life points)
2. Henry Block – Each time another player discards or draws card from Henry's hand or in front him, that player is the target of a Bang!. (4 life points)
3. Evelyn Shebang – She may decide not to draw some number of cards in her draw phase. For each card skipped, she shoots a BANG! at a different target in reachable distance. (4 life points)
4. Colorado Bill – Each time he plays a BANG! card, he does a "draw!": on Spades, the shot cannot be avoided. (4 life points)
5. Mick Defender – Each time he is the solo target of a brown card other than BANG!, he may discard a Missed! card to avoid it. (4 life points)

3 bonus characters:

1. Tuco Franziskaner - During his draw phase, he draws 2 extra cards if he has no blue cards in play. (5 life points)
2. Black Flower - Once per turn, she can shoot an extra Bang! by discarding a Clubs card. (4 life points)
3. Der Spot-Burst Ringer - Once per turn, he can play a Bang! card as Gatling. (4 life points)

5 new blue border cards:

1. Shotgun – range 1, weapon – Each time a player is hit by a Bang! card from player with a SHOTGUN, that player discards 1 card of his choice from hand.
2. Lemat – range 1, weapon – Any card (except Missed! cards) can be played as a Bang! card on the player's turn.
3. Rattlesnake – Play in front any player. At the beginning that player's turn, he must "draw!": On Spades, he loses 1 life point.
4. Bounty – Play in front any player. Players that hit that player with Bang! cards draw 1 card from the deck.
5. Ghost – Play in front any eliminated player. That player returns to the game without his ability and cannot gain or lose life points. He plays as a normal player as long he has the Ghost card in front him.

10 new brown border cards:

1. Escape – If you are the solo target of card, you may discard this card to avoid that card or its effect.
2. Last Call – Regain one life point. (Different from Beer in that it can still be used when only 2 players are left, and it cannot be used out of turn to revive.)
3. Poker – All others players discard a card. If no one discards an Ace card, you can draw 2 cards from the discarded cards.
4. Wild Band – Others players may discard Bang! card or 2 cards from hand of his choice.
5. Saved! – Play only out of your turn. Prevent any player from losing 1 life point. If this saves them from elimination, you draw 2 card from the hand of that player.
6. BackFire – Counts as Missed!. Any player who targeted you with Bang! is now a target of Bang!.
7. Tornado – Each player passes 2 cards of his choice to the left.
8. Tomahawk – Bang! at distance 2.
9. Fanning – Counts as Bang! at range. All players (except you) at distance 1 from primary target are also the target of Bang!.
10. Aim – Play together with a Bang! card. If target player doesn't miss, he loses 2 life points instead 1. Only 1 Missed! is need to avoid this. (2 Missed! in the case of Slab The Killer).

Bang The Duel

This is a standalone game, without any need for prior possession of Bang! Expansions. It is for 2 players only. One player controls a team of law enforcers, while another player controls a team of bandits.

12 law charactes:

12 bandits characters:

1. Sid Curry - (4 life points)
2. Slim Poet - Each time your opponent makes Slim to lose a life point(except last one), you may discard a random card from your opponent's hand. (4 life points)
3. Soundance Kid - One per turn, you may discard a card of your choice from hand to draw 2 cards.
4. Toco Ramirez - You may use any card in hand as a COLT.
5. Tom Thron - Each time become AC, your opponent's RC is target of the HIT.
6. West Harding - You may play any number of BANG! cards on your turn.

Unofficial expansions

El Dorado

El Dorado was designed by Jidan, available here. The first unofficial expansion for BANG!, El Dorado is an expansion that provides event cards such as in Wild West Show that can be impacted by the cards a player plays and discards. In February 2011, El Dorado was retranslated into English and modified by Martin Pulido over at The BANG! Blog. Pictures of this new English edition are available below. It is available for download.

Cover to the El Dorado Guidebook

Cards in the El Dorado expansion

Example of Changes in the new English translation

Another look at changes in the new English translation

Backside graphic for El Dorado cards

Death Mesa

Death Mesa^[5] is an unofficial expansion to BANG! developed by Martin Pulido over at The BANG! Blog. The cardsheets for Death Mesa are also available for free online, and can be downloaded as 1 large zip file or a series of 9 PDFs.

Death Mesa is designed to improve the element of player elimination in BANG! by having eliminated players remain in and influence the game as ghosts, who are able to impact the game's outcome, help their teammates, and even succeed in their roles. Ghosts have no life points, no distance constraints, cannot die, and also draw from a specialized deck of cards called the Dead Men's Deck. Cards from this deck allow the ghosts to possess the living, bequeath items from their will, inspire or weaken others, reveal information on cards in player's hands, warn of impending doom, and so forth. Ghosts however, can spoil each other's plans. With a strong thematic background, Death Mesa should add to the fun of BANG! and draw new fans to it who could not stand the player elimination. For more information on Death Mesa, visit the BANG! Blog.

Example of a Death Mesa card sheet

Another card sheet example

Backside graphic for Death Mesa cards

Card explanations in the Death Mesa Guidebook

Robber's Roost

Robber's Roost^[6] is an unofficial BANG! expansion under development by Martin Pulido over at The BANG! Blog. The alpha version of Robber's Roost was made available free to the public on April 26, 2011. The expansion can be downloaded as a series of 12 PDFs. Robber's Roost is a comparable expansion to Dodge City. Besides adding 16 new characters, it also adds 56 new playing cards to BANG!, with many of them being new "orange cards," which are played differently from the others.

Orange cards can never be played on your turn. Instead, they are played at or during events on other players’ turns, as specified on each orange card. Most orange cards are designed to enhance teamplay (Deputies with the Sheriff, Outlaws amongst each other, and the Renegade with whatever group he chooses), as they only occasionally help you directly. They are also designed to speed up the game, and make you more involved in the game when it is not your turn. Thus, orange cards allow players to do actions like these: back up another player when he shoots at someone, push a player out of harm's way when he is shot at (or dive and take a hit for him), confiscate a card in play in front of a player for a round, give a card from your hand to another player, shoot at a player when he shoots at someone else, add/remove distance modifiers to another player for a round, taunt another player which forces him to shoot at you if he can, and so forth.

Orange cards are placed face down in front of you whenever they are acquired. You may look at them whenever you wish, but they are not for the eyes of other players. When you use orange cards at the appropriate events, flip the card over and do as it specifies. There is a "grace period" when orange cards are played. As long as they are played in a timely manner, they count. If orange cards are laid quickly in succession of one another, treat them as simultaneous. Thus, if 1 orange card is contrary to another, they are nullified. However, if the orange cards are the same, temporality dictates the order and validity of the cards.

Orange cards may be directly discarded. However, they cannot be directly stolen. When a player attempts to steal an orange card, the orange cards are brought into your hand, shuffled, and then a card is randomly stolen from your hand instead. Afterwards, place down your remaining orange cards.

While the orange cards function in the above specified way at the beginning of the game, some of them change when the game reduces to 2 players or your team is eliminated. Orange cards that are designed to solely help team mates provide an option to function as different cards in these situations. Their optional function is specified in the bottom right hand corner of the card. They are placed face down like usual, but these optional functions can only be used on your turn. Altered play is activated for the following: for an Outlaw when he is the last of his team remaining; for a Sheriff when there are no Deputies or Renegades remaining; for Renegades, Sheriffs, and Outlaws when there are only 2 players remaining. Finally, the addition of orange cards also affects card limits. Every player is allowed 1 extra card to their limit, as long as that 1 card is orange. After this card, all orange cards contribute to your limit.

Robber's Roost also adds a large variety of new character cards that will continue to provide a balance between defensive, offensive, and neutral abilities. Some of the characters will have some really unique abilities that are unlike any BANG! characters from before. Some examples of Robber's Roost characters are provided below. For more information on Robber's Roost, visit the BANG! Blog.

Orange Cards in Robber's Root

More Orange Cards

Other New Player Cards from Robber's Roost

Custom Characters from Robber's Roost

More Characters from Robber's Roost

Cusp of Carabelli

Cusp of Carabelli is an unofficial expansion to BANG! the card game, designed by Quincy Thompson and tested with the help of fellow dental students. Cusp of Carabelli is a comparable expansion to Dodge City. Besides adding 17 new characters, it also adds 36 more playing cards to BANG!. It is named after a dental term along with many of the character names coming from famous dentists and current faculty at his dental school. Many of the other cards are inspired by and use the artwork from the custom cards made in the various unofficial expansions created on The BANG! Blog.

Team Fortress Expansion

Team Fortress Expansion is an unofficial expansion to BANG! the card game, designed by Ferenc Asztalos. It combines the classic western game with the popular first-person shooter Team Fortress 2, containing 9 characters, 20 playing cards and 13 event cards. The balance of the original game considering both the ratio of playing cards and the poker numbers has been kept owing to the long testing phase, and the high-quality design provides a great experience for the fans.

Deluxe version: Bang! The Bullet!

A deluxe version of Bang!, called Bang! The Bullet!, was released in 2007.^[7][8]

This set included three of the official expansions, High Noon (second edition), Dodge City, and A Fistful of Cards (second edition), along with several extras:

• A Sheriff's Badge
• Three special character cards:
  • Uncle Will – Once during his turn, he may play any card from hand as a General Store. This card is a reference to Will Niebling, former CEO of Mayfair Games (which published the game in the USA until 2008).
  • Johnny Kisch – Each time he puts a card into play, all other cards in play with the same name are discarded. This card is a reference to Jo Nikisch, CEO of Abacus Spiele, the German publisher of the game.
  • Claus "The Saint" – He draws one more card than the number of players, keeps 2 for himself, then gives 1 to each player. This card was a bonus, "unglued" card originally included in the online daVinci newsletter. The author considers this card to be quite unbalanced and not suited for serious play^[9]
• Two additional High Noon cards:
  • New Identity – At the beginning of their turn each player looks at the character he is using to keep track of his life points. He may switch to the new identity for the rest of the game, starting with 2 life points.
  • Handcuffs – After drawing his cards in phase 1, the player whose turn it is names a suit: he can only play cards of that suit during his turn.
• Two blank cards – one for a character and one for a normal card.

The 2007 release of Bang! the Bullet! game follows the 3rd edition rules of the basic game and the 2nd edition rules of Dodge City.

The 2009 reprint of Bang! the Bullet! game follows the 4th edition rules of the basic game and the 3rd edition rules of Dodge City. It does not include the player mats nor bullet tokens as found in the boxed version of Bang! 4th edition.

BANG! 10th Anniversary Edition

This edition was released in 2012. It comes in a metal tin, and contains the complete most recent version of the base game with original 16 characters. It also contains 30 wooden bullet markers for keeping track of health, 7 player boards each with different artwork, and 10 bonus characters.

The 10 extra characters are as follows:

• Apache Kid, Chuck Wengam, Jose' Delgado, and Pixie Pete (all from the Dodge City expansion)
• Big Spencer and Youl Grinner (from the Wild West Show expansion)
• Madam Yto (from the Gold Rush expansion)
• Colorado Bill and Henry Block (from the Valley of Shadows expansion)
• Annie Versary (this is a new character available only with the 10th anniversary version): She may use any card as a BANG! card. (4 life points)

Video game

On October 29, 2009, Palzoun entertainment (which acquired the official license from DaVinci Games) officially announced the development of Bang! The Card Game into a video game. The game will be developed in partnership with SpinVector.^[10]

During the Lucca Comics&Games 2010 Palzoun has announced that BANG! The Official Videogame would have been available on Christmas 2010 on different platforms, including iPhone, iPad, Samsung Wave (BADA), PC and Atom Netbook (APPUP). The iPhone App has been published on the iTunes App Store on December 18, 2010. A console version was also expected to arrive in March 2011 but has been delayed.

With a future update, Bang! The Video Game will be the first video game ever to support the "MULTICROSS-PLATFORM", an online infrastructure which will permit the players to play against each other regardless of the platform possessed.

A live action trailer of the game was released on November 2, 2010.

Online Version

On May 14, 2012, Christopher Gordon Carr's Software Developer Portfolio^[11] released Kraplow! an open source online Bang! clone. You can play this in your browser with AI or with other people. Kraplow! features all the rules from version 4.0 of Bang! and is free to use and open source.

The Starcraft II mod Barcraft^[12] is a copy of Bang! that replaces the wild west theme with themes and characters from the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo franchises.

See also

• Sanguosha, a Chinese clone of the game
• Game theory
• Mafia (game)

References

External links

• BANG! the Official Video Game
• dV Games (formerly daVinci Editrice) official website
• FAQ, Editions, Designer's notes and other info at the author's personal website
• Bang! at BoardGameGeek
• BANG!cz {en, cz} : Eldorado, MartinCity, BANG! Card Generator, Forum, Downloads and more
• The BANG! Blog: Death Mesa, Robbers' Roost, character strategy guides, card explanations, variants, modding, and more
• Bang! at Boardgaming.com
• Kraplow! Online Bang! clone/Web/Browser/Free at Christopher Gordon Carr's Software Developer Portfolio
• Barcraft Arcade Highlight A mod for Starcraft II