Review #23: Bang! The Dice Game

# of Players: 3-8
Playtime: 0-30 Minutes

Core Mechanic: Deduction

Theme: Western
Type: Party

Weight: Light

Year: 2013

Rating: 8.5*

Bang! The Card Game was one of the first social deduction games I played besides Ultimate Werewolf. I really liked the game when I first played it, especially enjoying the variety of weapons and characters. However, after a few games that went on way too long for what the game experience warrants, I began noticing some of the glaring flaws that could emerge. Since then, I have been exposed to a much wider variety of deduction games, such as The Resistance and One Night Ultimate Werewolf, that I have found to be much more enjoyable. Then I heard that this game was released and that it condensed the Bang! experience into a much shorter, and ultimately much more fun, package.

There are three teams in this game competing with each other.  First, there are the Sheriff and Deputies, who must work together to ensure the survival of the Sheriff and to eliminate all Outlaws and the Renegade. Next, there are the Outlaws, who must eliminate the Sheriff. Finally, there is the Renegade, who wants to be the last character in play.  Everyone knows who the Sheriff is and the rest of the roles are secret. Each player gets a character card, which gives them a special ability and number of life points. Once a player runs out of life points, he or she is out of the game. The game ends when either the Sheriff is eliminated or all the Outlaws and Renegades are eliminated.

Players take turn rolling five dice up to three times. The dice have six different symbols. If you roll Indian Arrow symbols, you must immediately take an arrow for each Indian Arrow symbol you rolled from the center pile of arrows. Once the pile runs out, each player takes damage based on the number of arrows he or she has. Then there are the Dynamite symbols which cannot be re-rolled and if you have three or more, your turn immediately ends and you lose a life point. Bull’s Eye symbols allow you to deal damage to other players while Beer symbols allow you to gain life points or give life points to other players. Finally, if you roll three or more Gatling Gun symbols, all the other players take one damage and you can discard all your Indian arrows.

As can be seen from the rules, this is a quick, simple game where you are just rolling dice and dealing or healing damage with a bit of social deduction added into the mix. Unlike the card game where you can hold onto cards (to the detriment of the game) until an opportune moment arrives, in this one you are forced to use your dice results, which works out well if you are an Outlaw pretending to be a Deputy and can argue to the Sheriff that you couldn’t help damaging him or her. Because players are likely to deal out damage each turn, the game proceeds at a brisk pace.

The different characters and their unique abilities definitely help to add variability to the game. I do miss the different weapons from the card game, but something had to be done to help simplify everything. By simplifying some of these elements it has made the game shorter and by making the game shorter, it has turned a mediocre game into a fantastic game. I have not played the card game in a long time, but see myself playing the dice game as a regular filler. This has  replaced the card game for me and the only reason why I have not got rid of the card game is because I like the bullet container!

This game hits all the right notes and makes it a perfect fit for most collections. It is light enough to be in the Gateway collection but also has enough depth to be part of the Middleweight collection. It also is a great addition to the Essential and Collector collections. A perfect, quick social deduction party game!