When we returned to the reunion about 5-6 years ago after a 3-4 year hiatus, it was with a bit of apprehension. To placate my discomfort, we brought along a fairly sizable collection of tabletop games: Anomia, Risk 2210, Cthulhu Dice, Formula Dé, etc. My thinking was, if things got dull or we got bored, perhaps the girls and I could grab a table in the Elks hall and get a game in.
Perhaps mid-way through our first game of Anomia, we got our first curious onlooker; one of the teenaged cousins in the crew. We explained how basic the game was, dealt her in (and a couple other looky-Lous who were watching but hadn't spoken up yet, and pretty soon we had a fairly riotous game going. Later that day, a couple other cousins approached me to ask about Risk 2210, being fans of the original game. I explained the differences, set up the game with them and Fenya, and that accounted for the rest of the afternoon.
From that point on, we were "the game family." It turns out that a lot of the younger generation share some of my apprehension about these gatherings, and find tabletop games to be a great way to break the ice and purposefully socialize with people you only see once a year and don't have the shared history of the matriarchs and patriarchs of the Oldenburger clan. It's flattering to be told that some people base their decision on whether or not to attend based on whether we are coming or not, but in truth, I feel the same way about those folk.
We didn't get quite as many games in this year, because with the miserable summer we've had, particularly in the northern half of the province, many of us were content to sit outside in the sun and drink a beer (Leinenkugel's Lemon Shandy, in my case). Both major games, Risk 2210 and Formula Dé, were all right but dragged on to the three-hour mark, and Risk is also limited to only five players, one of whom turned out to only be intermittently interested in it.
But I am here to pronounce the Bang! The Dice Game is the best game to have on hand at this family reunion, and I will outline some of the salient reasons why on the off chance you have a similar occasion that requires a distraction or social monkey wrench of some sort.
This version of Bang! is derived from the Italian card game of the same name. It shares the same setting (a shootout in a spaghetti-western flavoured town) as well as the basic mechanics: each player has a role of Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw or Renegade, but all the roles except the Sheriff are secret. You can only shoot players within a certain "range" based on seating positions, and as players are eliminated, the range gets shorter and shorter. I still like the card game, but the dice game has several advantages.
It supports up to eight players - That's one more than even the card game. The majority of games max out at 4-6 players, so if you are trying to engage a group, this is a very efficient way to do so. It's practically like having two games going at once.
It's short - Games typically wrap up in fifteen minutes, whereas the card game is a 1-2 hour affair.
It's simple - The game rules are a single double-sided sheet, take about 5 minutes to explain. And I have had people pick up how to play simply from watching it being played.
It's different every time - the combination of roles, positioning, special character rules and the randomness of dice make every game a new experience.
It's team-based - Only one role (the Renegade) can win on its own. Everyone else wins or loses as a team, even if they got eliminated early on. And since games are only 15 minutes, folks are unlikely to wander off once their character is pushed into Boot Hill. Being told your side won really takes the sting out of being dead.
It's addictive - The combination or short games, different combinations and team victories make it easy to play multiple games. The first year we brought this, the older cousins asked if we could leave it with them when we went to bed just before midnight, and they ended playing past two in the morning.
It's characterful - In addition to having a role, each player is given a named character with a special rule that bends or breaks one of the other rules in the game. For instance, most players only get up to three rolls of the dice, but Lucky Duke gets four. Vulture Sam gains two life points every time another player is eliminated, making him extremely effective as the Sheriff (who gets two bonus lives to begin with).
It's luck-based, but there's room for skill - From determining just who you want to shoot in the opening turns of the game when nobody knows who's who, to knowing when to press your luck after two dynamite show up in a roll and you are one more away from having your turn abruptly ended, there are opportunities for skillful decision making. On the other hand, when you lose, everyone knows it was simply the luck of the dice.
It's got a nice form factor - The Formula Dé box is pretty big, plus you might want to bring extra tracks. My version of Pandemic now spans two boxes. Bang! The Dice Game can fit in a large coat pocket and is perhaps five inches by ten.
It's expandable - Just when you think the game is played out, they introduce an expansion called The Old Saloon with new dice and rules! This is done at the cost of a little bit of the simplicity I appreciate so much, but being able to replace an existing dice with a Saloon dice (in either Loudmouth or Coward variety) brings just a little more nuance and drama in for established players. The second expansion, Undead or Alive, is out later this year.
It's not a perfect game -what is? But Bang! The Dice Game has enough going for it that most people would benefit from having it in their closet, especially if they are looking for something to play over lunch while at work or school, or are hoping to make awkward gatherings much more enjoyable.
Oooo, an expansion! And another one on the way! I'm pumped!
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