Bang! Dodge City – A Favorite Card Game even better

When asked how we got started doing video reviews of family board games and card games, our story revolves around Bang!

We bought Bang! near the start of 2009 and it was an immediate hit in our family. After watching a few times, Caleb (then 6) said he was ready to play. As luck would have it, he got the role of Sheriff – which meant that most of the other players would be gunning for him.

I was so impressed when he held a stiff upper lip and fended off all the efforts to take him out. So we turned on the video camera while he talked excitedly about the game. That’s when we decided to start doing video reviews where the kids talked about what they like about a game.

So The Board Game Family was born from Bang!

 

Bang! Dodge City

Since Bang! has been one of our favorite family card games, we just had to pick up the expansion – Bang! Dodge City. And we’re glad we did.

If you’re unfamiliar with Bang! you can check out our initial video review by Caleb and Brooke from 2009. Basically, it’s a card game of hidden identity where you’re trying to take each other out. Doesn’t that sound like such a fun family card game?

Bang! Dodge City, ups the ante by adding room for an 8th player as well as rules for playing with just 3. With an 8th player, you get two Renegades in town which makes things very interesting. It also introduces new characters and new cards to add to the mix.

Roles

The roles in Bang! Dodge City and their winning conditions remain the same:

• Sheriff – eliminate the Outlaws and Renegade
• Deputy – protect the Sheriff and eliminate the Outlaws and Renegade
• Outlaws – eliminate the Sheriff
• Renegade – be the last person standing

Since the game ends when the Sheriff is eliminated, the Renegade has a tough, but fun role.

 

Characters

The new characters added to the game are just as cool as those already in the game. But now there are 31 characters in the game!

Like before, every character has their unique ability and we love how creative some of the names are. Like Greg Digger – that regains 2 life points when someone else is eliminated. Or Elena Fuente who can use any card as a “Missed”. Or Vera Custer who gets to use the ability of another character for each round. And Sean Mallory can hold up to 10 cards in his hand!

 

Other Cards

Bang! Dodge City also adds cards with a green ring around them which are played like you’re foreshadowing your use of them. You set them out on one turn and then can use them on a subsequent turn. Sure it will telegraph what you might do later, but it’s also a way of managing the cards in your hand better.

We also like how every card in the Bang! Dodge City expansion has a little buffalo icon in the upper-right corner of the card. So if you want to play a game with just the original cards, it’s easy to do so. (So far we haven’t felt that urge.)

 

High Noon

The other cool thing that our copy of Bang! Dodge City came with is the card deck from the 1st Bang! expansion – High Noon. High Noon cards are fun to play with because they add yet another twist to the game. Every round a new High Noon card is revealed which changes the rules for that round. For example, the Thirst card stops players from drawing a 2nd card, the Reverend card disallows Beer cards from being played, and the Ghost Town let’s eliminated players back in the game for that round.

We’ve found that these cards can also change the game quite dramatically as well. The first time we played with these cards, the “High Noon” card came out midway through the game – which says “Each player loses 1 life point at the start of his turn.” And before that round was over, 3 players were eliminated because they were down to only 1 life point when their turn started.

 

Overall impressions

We’re very happy with the Bang! Dodge City expansion! It takes everything we love about Bang! and enhances it. So if you’re a fan of Bang! don’t wait any longer before picking up a copy. And if you haven’t played Bang! before, it’s high time you tried it. And before you know it, you may be picking up a copy of Bang! Dodge City as well.

Or just skip those single steps and pick up a copy of Bang! the Bullet! And get Bang! plus all the expansions included.

Happy Trails!

The Board Game Family Game Ratings
	Caleb
	Brooke
	Jaden
	Trevor
	Mom
	Dad
	Average