My family loves to play board games, though we usually stay too busy to play them except on holidays. So over Christmas this past year, we squeezed in as many games as we could. One of our new favorites was a gift from my husband’s brother, who is a board game aficionado. It is great for our family of five and can easily expand to seven if the grandparents join us for game night. And my favorite part?
IT’S A WESTERN!!!
Bang is a tabletop card game that is kind of like Clue in the kill-before-you-can-be-killed world of the old west. The terms are in Spanish with English subtitles which makes me feel like I’m in early Texas. Everyone has their own secret identity. You’re either the sheriff, an outlaw, a deputy, or the renegade. The sheriff must wear his badge where others can see, but everyone else hides who they are. Outlaws are out to kill the sheriff. The deputy is determined to help the sheriff even though the sheriff doesn’t know who he is. And the renegade? Well, that desperado wants to kill everyone so he can rule the West.
The first couple times we played, our sheriff was none other than Slab the Killer. How’s that for an intimidating name? Makes your imagination spin with possible backstory, doesn’t it? He must have been a vile outlaw before the love of a good woman convinced him to change sides and wear a white hat!
Bullets represent your life. When you use your last one, you’re a goner. The only way to heal yourself and gain more time in the game is to belly up to the bar for that sacred elixir of life – Beer!
Each of the characters have their own special abilities and some fabulous plays on iconic western names like Jesse Jones, Willy the Kid, Calamity Janet, Bart Cassidy, and Kit Carlson just to name a few.
Everyone starts out with the trusty Colt .45, but as the game progresses, you can trade up for weapons such as a Winchester rifle or a Volcanic repeating pistol. A cowboy is only as good as his gun.
If someone plays a Bang card on you, you have to have a Missed card to avoid getting shot. Or you can hide behind a barrel or get on your mustang and ride out of range. You can increase your shooting distance by adding a scope to your weapon. You might spend a turn in jail or take a risk and try to take out your enemies with dynamite. Only problem is, that stuff is unpredictable. You might blow yourself up in the process.
The stagecoach and Well’s Fargo can bring you additional resources, or you can visit the Emporium to pick out something special. The saloon offers beer (life) for everyone, and the Indians offer death. And don’t forget the classic Western play – the duel.
With elements of both cooperation and competition with a little mystery thrown in along with a healthy dose of Western flair, this game was a hit with everyone at our house. After playing, I suddenly found myself hankering for episodes of the Rifleman. Ha!
If you like to play games with family and friends, this is a great one. The more people the better.
- What are some of your favorite board games?
For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. Karen is a firm believer in the power of happy endings. . . and ice cream. She is an avid cross-stitcher, and makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children. Learn more about Karen and her books at: www.karenwitemeyer.com.
That sounds like a lot of fun! My favorite board game is probably Aggravation. Although, it sometimes aggravates some members of my family making it not quite so fun. Oh well.
Is that the one with marbles? I played that growing up, I think. 🙂 Fun game.
Yes, it is.
That sounds like an interesting game. It sounds like fun to play. Thank you for sharing it with us. I wish I had someone to play games with. I used to love it when I was younger, but my husband doesn’t like them. Of course with no children and not much family that comes to visit, I have no choice but to just let game playing go.
Maybe you could start up a game night with people from church. We have a game night on New Year’s Eve every year up at church. People bring board games and cards and snacks and we play until midnight to ring in the new year. It’s a lot of fun. Bunco used to be a big thing around here, too, where groups of women would get together one night a month to play. You could probably do that with board games, too, if you wanted.
We play Mystery Mansion, Clue, The Settlers of Catan, Rummicub, Monopoly and Risk.
I’ve never played Mystery Mansion. Is it like Clue? Sounds fun. I love Settlers of Catan. My boys love Risk. They have a Star Wars version they really enjoy.
You enter different rooms that have different pieces of furniture. Each piece has a number on it. You get 3 turns to either move into a room, some are locked and you need a clue card with a key on it, or you can check out a piece of furniture for a clue. It may be a secret clue which only you will see on a screen, or it says you found a clue and you get to pick up a clue from the clue pile. In the end you need to be in the correct room , with the correct villain card and the correct piece of furniture and a clue card with a letter or a map. Everything changes each time.
It’s fun!!
That does sound fun, Laurie. Thanks!
A friend of ours has Bang! and we often play it at game nights at her place. Some of my favorites are Pandemic (in which everyone works together to hopefully defeat the board and save humanity), Dominion, and Iron Dragon. Lots of strategy games!
I like strategy games, too, Rachael. Some of our favorites are Ticket to Ride, Ascension, Settlers of Catan, and we recently got 7 Wonders.
I used to enjoy monopoly. I played snakes and ladders when I was a kid.
My kids like Monopoly. I like it, too, but I have to set a time limit. If it goes over an hour, I usually divide my money and property among the remaining players to try to help end the game sooner. 🙂 I remember playing Chutes and Ladders as a kid. I guess they decided to get rid of the snakes for my generation. Though, I remember seeing the snake version on an episode of Murdoch Mysteries. 🙂
Karen, I never heard of Bang but I simply must have it! I love the interaction of board games and you can really learn a lot from each other during play.
We once had the same Monopoly game going for three days. We just left it whenever we had to and picked up where we left off. We now play it with a timer. The game of Life is also another one we’ve played which is a good way to get kids thinking of the future. Racko is fun, too, and teaches sequencing. Then of course we play scrabble which really helps with vocabulary. Can you tell that I was once a teacher?
I bet you would love bang, Margaret. 🙂 Games are a great way to keep the brain active in a fun way. Every 5-10 years I have to clean out the game closet to make room for the new ones that have accumulated. We saved a few of the old classic children’s games to play with future grandchildren, but gave most away. Th closet is always full, though. 🙂
We played Monopoly and Twister a lot when I was a teenager.
At the university where I work, they have a giant (entire basketball court sized) Twister game that they play with the incoming freshmen. Talk about a crazy game! It’s definitely a way to get close to people and force you to get to know them. 🙂
That sounds like so much fun, Karen! My family loves board games, so I’ll have to invest.
I bet you’ll like it, Jeannie. It’s quick to play and has a ton of variety with all the different players and roles that get shuffled every time.
that sounds like so much fun,my grandsons and I love to play board games,,usually monopolopy i dont have cable so it gives us some good quality time together
I agree, Vickie! Board games are a great way to spend time with family.
This looks like such a fun game!
We had a lot of fun playing it, Susan. 🙂
Karen, what a fabulous post! I had no idea there was a wild-west game out there! And thanks for including the buy link. Wow. We, too, love to get games going when the herd is all together. Last weekend we had a massive sleep-over for Super Bowl Weekend and our annual chili cook-off Thanks! for this new one to try. xo
Sounds like fun, Tanya!
What a fun post! I love board games too. It’s a wonderful way to spend family time. 🙂
I agree, Jane.
After reading your post I really want to play BANG! We have a grandson who loves board games. We have struggled though many for his sake. This year he got CLUE for Christmas. We laughed so much and made a good family memory in teaching how it was played. I can’t wait till we can play this one.
Hope you like it, Rosie. It has a touch of Clue to it since you have to guess what roles people are playing. If the Sheriff accidentally kills the deputy, there are severe consequences. 😉
Karen, this sounds like way too much fun! I’ve got to get one. A group of us gets together every Sunday afternoon to play games of some kind. Our favorite is Scrabble, but we also get a kick out of Redneck Life (which is a twisted version of Life in which the object is to loose all your money and teeth and have as many young’uns named Darrel as possible — don’t look at me like that).
Thanks for giving us the lowdown on Bang! 🙂
Ha! I’ve never heard of Redneck Life, but that sounds hysterical. I bet my boys would love it. 😉
Thanks for the fun post,Karen! Never heard of Bang before,our favorite is Clue.Nice to know that in this world of X-boxes and Playstations people still play board games!
Having conversation and looking at actual people instead of screens? I agree. We need more of that.
This sounds like great fun. I wish our family wasn’t grown and scattered.
When we get together with our oldest daughter and her husband, we play Scrabble. She is really good and plays often with a friend who is even better. She also has a couple of online games going.
Another one I enjoy is Sequence. It is a lot of fun. We (meaning the whole family) also enjoy Tripoli, Sorry, and Life (when they were younger). We enjoyed Trivial Pursuit but haven’t played it in a while. Monopoly is a favorite and we have several versions: Traditional, US Air Force, National Parks, and maybe a University of Florida version. We have Risk and we bought a special Lord Of The Rings version of Risk for our Scrabble loving daughter. Cribbage and chess figure in for several family members.
All of those sound wonderfully familiar, Patricia. We have several versions of Monopoly, too. I think we have a Pixar/Disney version and a Star Wars version. They add their own little twists to the game which makes them fun.
My son in laws family love to play games all the time. I know what I’m getting them!
Perfect, Melody! Hope they love it. 🙂
My adult kids love playing Bang! They play it a lot when they get together! My hubby and I have never gotten into it, however! Our family has always played games. We love them!
I love family games. Such good times. Glad your kids have enjoyed Bang, Valri. 🙂
I love playing games with my kids. This sounds like great fun. Thanks for sharing.
You bet, Nancy. It’s a fun one!