Cash ‘n Guns (Second Edition) How to Play & Review
Cash ‘n Guns (Second Edition) is a take that game.
Title: Cash ‘n Guns (Second Edition)
Year Published: 2014
Designer: John Kovalic
Publisher: Repos Production
Players: 4-8
Game Time: ~ 30 Mins
Set-up Time: >5 Mins
Ages: 10+
Theme: Gangster
Mechanic: Take that, Player Elimination, Drafting
How to win: Survive and earn the most loot.
Game Description
In an abandoned warehouse a gangster band is splitting its loot, but they can’t agree on the split! It’s time to let the guns talk and soon everyone is aiming at everyone. The richest surviving gangster wins the game!
Ca$h ‘n Guns helps you relive the best scenes of your favourite gangster movies. The goal is to have more money than anyone else after eight rounds while still being alive.
Set-Up
Each player takes a Foam gun, 5 Click cards and 3 Bang! cards. They also take 1 Character standee.
Then shuffle all of the Loot cards and divide them into 8 piles of 8 cards with the Godfather token in the middle of the table, next to the Loot cards.
Place the Wound tokens nearby and give the Godfather standee to the oldest player.
Cash ‘n Guns Game Play
Flip over 8 loot tokens from one of the piles and add the Godfather token to it.
Each player places a card face down, either a bang or a click.
The Godfather counts from 3 then each player points a gun at someone. Once everyone has pointed their gun, the Godfather can order one player to choose a new target.
After negotiation, the Godfather counts from 3 again, at 0 you have 2 options…
Lay down your gun, and character and leave any right to any loot, discard your bullet card face down.
or…
Leave your gun up, character up and shout Banzai!
(Need help spotting a liar? Check out my Top 10 tips for Social Deduction Games)
The remaining players reveal their bullet cards. on a ‘Click’ – Nothing Happens but on a ‘Bang’ you shoot, the target takes a wound and knocks their character over, also receiving no loot.
These cards happen simultaneously so players can wound each other at the same time. If you get 3 wounds, you are out of the game.
All the players left standing, starting with the Godfather and going clockwise, take a share of the loot. This continues until everything, including the Godfather token which will make you the Godfather in the next round.
After this, the next round begins.
Game End
After 8 rounds, all living players count up their loot with the player with the most Diamonds getting a bonus tile. (No one gets it on a tie)
The highest loot amount wins with the player with the most wounds winning any ties.
Cash ‘n Guns Round-Up
Pointing foam guns at people’s faces is a lot of fun. Bluffing and trying to get people to put their gun down when you have a Click is awesome when it works… and they never find out!
As for the loot, do you just go for Money? Or do you try and get the Diamonds and the large bonus that they come with? Do you try and gather Pictures which are worth more the more you have?
Or do you take loot when you can take a Heal card or a card that lets you get an extra Bang? These are the decisions that you have to make when during the loot share phase.
The character roles vary the gameplay and make you play differently. Some make certain loot types more valuable so you’re more likely to stay in when maybe you wouldn’t have without that role.
Rating
A fun one for 6+ players.
I give it 6/10
Cash ‘n Guns (First Edition) Review August 2014
In Ca$h ‘n Gun$, you point Guns at people…
What else do you want in a game?
I’ve wanted to play Cash ‘n Guns for a while but hadn’t gotten around to it yet, mostly due to its lack of general availability. Also, it’s one of those games that’s just a bit older than my time in the hobby so it was played to death before I had the chance.
My question was “Is this a novelty game where you point a gun? Would pointing a finger at work like One Night Ultimate Werewolf? Is there anything else there?”
Well, the answer is no, yes and yes.
Novelty?
It’s not a novelty game. There is tactical play, banter and bluffing. You divide the money in the table by how many players are left in the game at the end of the round. Some will have been shot, some will have dropped out after having too many guns pointed at them.
You have to decide who needs to be out of the round, how many you think will be left in at the end, how much you will get and whether is it worth staying in and taking a wound to risk getting a slice of a rather large pie.
Yes, finger guns will work, you don’t need a foam one but hey, no one ever complains games are overproduced! (too often)
Summary
As I mentioned earlier there are a lot of choices so there is a game behind the foam guns.
After the first round of everyone pointing and someone, there is a chance for those who have too many targets on their head to bow out. They won’t get any Cash, but they won’t risk losing a life either. Not everyone fires. If you play a Bang card, you fire but you only have 2 of these for the entire game, most cards are ‘Click Click Click’ cards which are used for bluffing. There is a ‘Bang Bang Bang’ card too which fires before Bang, but you only get one of them.
This is a fun game and I’m looking forward to picking up the Second Edition when it is released.
Jesta ThaRogue