Galakta made quite a stir earlier this year with their heavy depressingly realistic game This War of Mine. Wanted: Rich or Dead could hardly be different in tone, feel or play. From the cartoon art, you know from the start that this is going to be a light Western-themed game.
In Wanted: Rich or Dead, each player represents one of five Western desperadoes. Each has a hand of cards representing the buildings in a frontier town. Each turn, players play a card face down to choose the location they will go to rob. If two or more choose the same location, then they have a shootout involving cardplay and die rolls. There are special loot cards that give special abilities, some of which change hands as the consequence of a gunfight. The winner is the bandit that ends up with the most money when the town’s cash tokens are all gone.
Wanted: Rich or Dead is a fun game that plays quickly. It plays up to five and it comes with an alternative set of rules for games with just two players. Part of the game’s appeal is its thematic artwork, but you’ll enjoy this game for its elements of bluffing (over which locations to rob) and for the opportunity to face off against opponents in gunfights. The characters and their cards are asymmetric, so different players will be stronger or more vulnerable in different situations; something else to bear in mind when choosing or bluffing over the location to rob.
As you’re rolling your shootout dice, I guarantee you’ll be telling each other that the town ain’t big enough for the both of you.
Wanted: Rich or Dead makes for a welcome alternative to Bang! The Dice Game. Happily, my games group is big enough for both games.