The Breakdown:
Players: 3-5
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Weight: 2.5/10
Publisher: Arcane Wonders
Mechanics: Bluffing
Hand Management
Set Collection
Components: 216 Goods Cards
144 Legal Goods (Green)
60 Contraband Goods (Red)
12 Royal Goods (Red w/ Gold Banner)
110 Coin Tokens
5 Merchant Stands
5 Merchant Bags
1 Sheriff Marker
Rulebook
The Review:
One of my favorite aspects of gaming is bluffing. Games like Coup and The Resistance often are huge hits with regular gaming groups because a meta game develops and past history comes into play, much like poker. When I heard about Sheriff of Nottingham, an extended bluffing game that had the potential to develop that same sort of meta game, I knew I had to have it. Let’s open the box and take a look.
Players: 3-5
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Weight: 2.5/10
Publisher: Arcane Wonders
Mechanics: Bluffing
Hand Management
Set Collection
Components: 216 Goods Cards
144 Legal Goods (Green)
60 Contraband Goods (Red)
12 Royal Goods (Red w/ Gold Banner)
110 Coin Tokens
5 Merchant Stands
5 Merchant Bags
1 Sheriff Marker
Rulebook
The Review:
One of my favorite aspects of gaming is bluffing. Games like Coup and The Resistance often are huge hits with regular gaming groups because a meta game develops and past history comes into play, much like poker. When I heard about Sheriff of Nottingham, an extended bluffing game that had the potential to develop that same sort of meta game, I knew I had to have it. Let’s open the box and take a look.
Sheriff of Nottingham really manages to have a love-hate relationship with the components, which is rare. The merchant bags are a novel idea integrated into a game, but they feel very flimsy; this is certainly the case as multiple people have reported broken bags after only a couple games. Likewise, the cards feel extremely flimsy as if they were printed on lower-grade card stock. The cardboard tokens are pretty decent, the money feels thick and the merchant stands are solid. The sheriff figure is a little awkward, but displays his pompousness quite well. The art for the game is top notch on the merchant stands and for the Sheriff, while some of the cards are a little underwhelming.
Gameplay:
Objective: Have the most money at the end of the game (combination of goods and starting money
Set Up:
On your turn:
There are 5 phases, and the player who is currently the Sheriff only participates in Phase 4.
Phase 1: Market
You may discard up to 5 cards and draw (either from the discard piles or the draw pile) back up to 6 cards.
Phase 2: Load Merchant Bag
All players must load between 1 and 5 goods into their bag and snap the bag shut
Phase 3: Declaration
Players must declare which goods they are bringing into the city to the Sheriff following these rules:
Phase 4: Inspection
The Sheriff can choose to inspect any bags he or she wishes. In this round players are welcome to bribe the Sheriff to avoid opening their bags, or bait the Sheriff to open someone else’s, or basically make whatever deal they want.
If your bag was not inspected: You bring all the goods into the city and you show the legal ones and place all contraband face down at the top of your merchant stand
If your bag was inspected and you told the truth: The Sheriff must pay you the penalty cost on each of your cards (The number in red)
If you bag was inspected and you lied: You must pay The Sheriff the penalty cost on your contraband, but you do get what you legally declared (i.e. Your 5 cheese was actually 4 cheese and a contraband, so you keep the 4 cheese)
Phase 5: End of the Round
The Sheriff passes to the player on the left, all players draw up to 6 cards again.
Game Ends:
When each player has been the sheriff twice in a 4 or 5 player game, or three times in a 3 player game.
Players total the value of all their legal goods and contraband as well as King and Queen bonuses. For example, whoever has the most apples and the second most gets a bonus for doing so. This goes for all legal goods. The values of these goods, bonuses and leftover money is totaled to determine the winner.
Final Thoughts:
Sheriff was one of the games I had to get my hands on and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The lame quality of the components notwithstanding, the actual game is absolutely perfect for my group. Every time we play, some other strategy has been thrown out there. This game really lends itself to a group that gets into negotiation and trying to play the other players instead of the game. That being said, the game is certainly not for everybody. I could imagine this game with a room of strangers can be kind of awkward and not as deep as a group of longtime friends, kind of similar to The Resistance.
A lot of bluffing games are very short, like Coup or The Resistance, and some of them are way too long like Battlestar Galactica, so I think a mid-length game like Sheriff of Nottingham was a welcome addition. It toes the line between a filler and a meatier game for groups that love the social interaction it provides while not really having a lot of “game” outside of the negotiation and bluffing. If you like lying to your friends and having an ongoing “experience” type game where your past habits can be a benefit and a deficit to your plans, this game might just be for you
Positives:
Final Score: 8/10
Gameplay:
Objective: Have the most money at the end of the game (combination of goods and starting money
Set Up:
- Each player takes a merchant stand and merchant bag of a matching color
- Each player takes 50 gold from the supply (any denomination works)
- Deal 6 cards to each player
- Turn over 5 cards to form Discard Pile 1, and then turn over an additional 5 for Discard Pile 2
- Choose the Starting Player and give them the Sheriff marker
On your turn:
There are 5 phases, and the player who is currently the Sheriff only participates in Phase 4.
Phase 1: Market
You may discard up to 5 cards and draw (either from the discard piles or the draw pile) back up to 6 cards.
Phase 2: Load Merchant Bag
All players must load between 1 and 5 goods into their bag and snap the bag shut
Phase 3: Declaration
Players must declare which goods they are bringing into the city to the Sheriff following these rules:
- You can only declare legal goods
- You can only declare only one type of good
- You must declare the exact number of goods that are in the bag.
Phase 4: Inspection
The Sheriff can choose to inspect any bags he or she wishes. In this round players are welcome to bribe the Sheriff to avoid opening their bags, or bait the Sheriff to open someone else’s, or basically make whatever deal they want.
If your bag was not inspected: You bring all the goods into the city and you show the legal ones and place all contraband face down at the top of your merchant stand
If your bag was inspected and you told the truth: The Sheriff must pay you the penalty cost on each of your cards (The number in red)
If you bag was inspected and you lied: You must pay The Sheriff the penalty cost on your contraband, but you do get what you legally declared (i.e. Your 5 cheese was actually 4 cheese and a contraband, so you keep the 4 cheese)
Phase 5: End of the Round
The Sheriff passes to the player on the left, all players draw up to 6 cards again.
Game Ends:
When each player has been the sheriff twice in a 4 or 5 player game, or three times in a 3 player game.
Players total the value of all their legal goods and contraband as well as King and Queen bonuses. For example, whoever has the most apples and the second most gets a bonus for doing so. This goes for all legal goods. The values of these goods, bonuses and leftover money is totaled to determine the winner.
Final Thoughts:
Sheriff was one of the games I had to get my hands on and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The lame quality of the components notwithstanding, the actual game is absolutely perfect for my group. Every time we play, some other strategy has been thrown out there. This game really lends itself to a group that gets into negotiation and trying to play the other players instead of the game. That being said, the game is certainly not for everybody. I could imagine this game with a room of strangers can be kind of awkward and not as deep as a group of longtime friends, kind of similar to The Resistance.
A lot of bluffing games are very short, like Coup or The Resistance, and some of them are way too long like Battlestar Galactica, so I think a mid-length game like Sheriff of Nottingham was a welcome addition. It toes the line between a filler and a meatier game for groups that love the social interaction it provides while not really having a lot of “game” outside of the negotiation and bluffing. If you like lying to your friends and having an ongoing “experience” type game where your past habits can be a benefit and a deficit to your plans, this game might just be for you
Positives:
- Highly interactive
- Perfect for a laid back atmosphere (“Beer and Pretzels” game)
- Engaging meta game
- Cool/Different theme
- Kinda shoddy components
- Bluffing games can turn people off
- Very group dependent
- Can run very long if The Sheriff takes too long to inspect (We use a timer)
- Player count can be a little limiting for a party-ish game
Final Score: 8/10