Game Overview: Desperados of Dice Town, or This Town Might Indeed Be Big Enough for the Lot of Us But We'd Really Prefer to Be Left on Our Own If You Don't Mind

Game Overview: Desperados of Dice Town, or This Town Might Indeed Be Big Enough for the Lot of Us But We'd Really Prefer to Be Left on Our Own If You Don't Mind
Board Game: Desperados of Dice Town
French publisher Matagot released Desperados of Dice Town by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc in the middle of 2014, with Asmodee distributing the title in North America and elsewhere. Here I present an overview of the game and try to keep my Western accent to a minimum:


For those who want to skip the video, DoDT uses Yahtzee-style dice-rolling to have you free your familial varmints from jail. If you then have the most loot on hand, you win; otherwise you need to raise your holdings or lower everyone else's. Alternatively you can just run people out of money to boot them from the game.

The dice have symbols that match your five desperados as well as one action face. Pair that action face with a desperado and you bring him one step closer to freedom or (once he is free) use him to gun down others, apparently shooting their wallets in the process since such gunfire costs them money. Crummy rolls, in addition to three- and four-of-a-kinds, net you special action cards that can be either equally crummy or game-changing depending on the game state.

Gameplay is quick, with everyone alternately praising and cursing the dice for doing or not doing what you want. I've played eight times on a review copy, all with two or three players, and have seen a bankruptcy just once. Four players would undoubtedly lead to more bankruptcies as each freed desperado would have more targets, them growing an additional gun per opponent, as it were. In conclusion, I'd like to say:

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