Deadwood 1876 First Impressions
Deadwood 1876, gain Gold but then also be around people that also have a lot of Gold.
Then, have the biggest gun.
There’s gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and you’ve come to find (or steal) your share. You’re staying at one of the three major establishments in Deadwood where you and your associates are working together to steal some of the gold-filled safes floating around town. But you suspect that the “friends” you’re working with are secretly plotting to keep all the gold for themselves. Will you be ready to turn on them before they shoot you in the back?
Deadwood 1876 Game Play
Players will have a character card and a star of their colour placed randomly on several ‘coaster’ looking Establishments on the table. Players also have a couple of safes with various values of treasure in.
On your turn, you play a card for one of two reasons. For its ability in which case you just resolve it and discard it. If you use it for the Gun, you start a robbery or a duel.
If a Robbery, you put the card down in front of the other player’s safe cards and take a die of the matching colour gun. The defender will play a gun card and take a die. Roll-off with the higher player taking/keeping the safe card.
For a Duel, you do the same thing except the goal is to swap establishments with another player or kick them out of your establishment.
After everyone takes a turn it’s time for a Heist. Everyone plays a Gun card and fights for a new Safe card via a roll-off.
Badge Round & Final Showdown
Play then continues in the same way but after the last Heist, is the Badge Round. These are cards you can gain during the game to allow you to take a bonus turn at the end of the game.
Finally is the Final Showdown which leads to the end game. The players in each different establishment add their Gold together. The players in the establishment(s) with the most Gold go to the final showdown.
If that’s just one player? Well done, they win. If not players play gun cards rolling against each other with the lowest roller losing a life. When a player loses 2 lives they are out and the last player left is the winner.
Theme
The theme is the wild west. All of the cards and things all point towards this.
But all I really saw was a coloured star on a coaster. Ok so yes you have guns and you’re stealing from people and it is wild west adjacent but it’s still a brightly coloured star on a beer mat.
Setup & Rulebook
It looks pretty simple. Shuffle and deal out cards, nothing bad.
I don’t usually cover the rulebook for games I don’t own but I read the PDF online for this review and it’s VERY clear so is well worth a mention.
Components & Artwork
The coasters and tokens were nice. The cards were OK and I like dice with different pips on.
The artwork had a nice aesthetic.
Ease of Teaching & Accessibility
This was an awkward game to take in really. Have the most gold but not personally, just amongst those of you in your establishment at the end then go onto a final showdown and then maybe win.
Personally, I find hidden information games not accessible. The quick ones, yes but these that can go on a while no. This one isn’t so bad to be fair.
Also, like any good social deduction game, there are additional rules to add to make the game more complex in future plays.
Deadwood 1876 Summary
It’s another game with hidden information. For more information on this type of game including tips and the top-rated ones check out my Social Deduction Games Hub page.
I do like this game but it has one big flaw for me. If you have a lot of Gold yourself it doesn’t mean victory, which I’m OK with. But someone can ALWAYS wait until the last minute, switch establishments and cost you getting into the final showdown.
I will always be wary of this every game. Or, I might just try and get a badge card so I get that extra turn and keep a card that will allow me to change location. Just do that, why not? It’s not about getting the treasure, it’s about getting to where the treasure is at the end of the game.
That ruins it for me, but give this game a go and if it’s not for you just know there are a lot of other similar games like it you can try out.
Jesta ThaRogue
