A game for 4-7 players, aged 8 and up

BANG! is a shootout game, in Spaghetti Western style, between a group of

Outlaws and the Sheriff, who is their primary target. The Deputies incognitos
help the Sheriff, but there is also a Renegade pursuing his own goal!
In BANG! each player plays one of these roles, and represents a famous Wild
West inspired character.

CONTENTS

• 7 Roles: 1 Sheriff, 2 Deputies, 3 Outlaws, 1 Renegade;

• 16 Characters;

• 80 Playing cards;

• 7 Summary cards;

• 7 Playing boards;

• 30 Bullets;
• These rules.

OBJECT OF THE GAME

Each player has his own goal:
Sheriff: must eliminate all the Outlaws and the Renegade, to protect
law and order.
Outlaws: they would like to kill the Sheriff, but they have no scruples
about eliminating each other to gain rewards!
Deputies: they help and protect the Sheriff, and share his same goal,
at all costs!
Renegade: he wants to be the new Sheriff; his goal is to be the last
character in play.

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 PREPARATION
(Before the first game remove carefully the bullet tokens from their frames.)
Each player takes a playing board (place it in front of you to hold your role,
your character, your weapon and your bullets).
Take as many role cards as the number of players, divided as follows:
4 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 2 Outlaws
5 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 2 Outlaws, 1 Deputy
6 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 3 Outlaws, 1 Deputy
7 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 3 Outlaws, 2 Deputy
Shuffle the cards and give one, face down, to each player. The Sheriff
reveals himself by turning his card face up. All other players look at their
role but keep it secret.
Shuffle the characters and give one face up to each player.
Each player now announces the name of his character and
reads his ability. Each player takes as many bullets as
shown on his character.
The Sheriff plays the game with one additional bullet: if
his character card shows three bullets, he is considered
for all effects to have four; if he has four bullets, then the
Sheriff plays with five.
Put the remaining roles, boards and character cards back
in the box.

Shuffle the playing cards, and give each player as many cards, face down, as
the bullets he has. Put the remaining playing cards face down in the middle
of the table, as a draw pile. Leave room for the discard pile.

Note: for your first few games, you can try a simplified
version of the game by removing all cards with the symbol of
a book before getting started.

Characters
Each Western character has some special abilities, which make you unique.
The bullets you have show how many life points you begin the game with,
i.e. how many times you can be hit before being eliminated from play.
Moreover, the bullets indicate how many cards the player can hold in his
hand at the end of his turn (hand size limit).

Example. Jesse Jones has 4 life points: he can be hit four times before being
eliminated from the game. Moreover, he can hold up to four cards in his hands
at the end of his turn.
If during game Jesse loses one life point and he is down at 3, he can only hold
up to three cards in his hand at the end of his turn. But fear not! Life points
can be recovered!

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 THE GAME
The Sheriff begins. The game is played in turns, in clockwise order. Each
player’s turn is divided into three phases:
1. Draw two cards;
2. Play any number of cards;
3. Discard excess cards.

1. Draw two cards

Draw the top two cards from the draw pile. As soon as the draw pile is empty,
shuffle the discard pile to create a new playing deck.

2. Play any number of cards

Now you may play cards to help yourself or hurt the other players, trying
to eliminate them. You can only play cards during your turn (exception:
Missed! and Beer, see below). You are not forced to play cards during this
phase. You can play any number of cards; there are only three limitations:
• you can play only 1 BANG! card per turn;
(this applies only to BANG! cards, not to cards with the symbol )
• you can have only 1 copy of any one card in play;
(one card is a copy of another if they have the same name)
• you can have only 1 weapon in play.
(when you play a new weapon, discard the one you have in play)

Example. If you put a Barrel in play, you cannot play another one, since you
would end up having two copies of the same card in front of you.

There are two types of cards: brown-bordered cards (= play and discard) and
blue-bordered cards (= weapons and other objects).

Brown-bordered cards are played by putting

them directly into the discard pile and applying
the effect described with text or with symbols on
the cards (illustrated in the next paragraphs).

Blue-bordered cards are played face up in front

of you (exception: Jail). Blue cards in front of
you are hence defined to be “in play”. The effect
of these cards lasts until they are discarded or
removed somehow (e.g. through the play of a Cat
Balou), or a special event occurs (e.g. in the case of Dynamite). There
is no limit on the cards you can have in front of you provided that they do
not share the same name.

3. Discard excess cards

Once the second phase is over (you do not want to or cannot play any more
cards), then you must discard from your hand any cards exceeding your
hand-size limit. Remember that your hand size limit, at the end of your
turn, is equal to the number of bullets (i.e. life points) you currently have.
Then it is the next player’s turn, in clockwise order.

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Distance between players
The distance between two players is the
minimum number of places between
them, counting clockwise or counter-
clockwise (see figure). The distance is
very important, because all cards with a
sight take it into account. Normally you
can reach only targets (players or cards)
within a distance of 1 (note the
of your Colt .45 on your playing board).
When a character is eliminated, he is
no longer counted when evaluating the
distance: some players will get “closer”
when someone is eliminated.

Eliminating a character
When you lose your last life point, you are eliminated and your game
is over, unless you immediately play a Beer (see below). When you are
eliminated from the game, show your role card and discard all the cards you
have in hand and in play.

Penalties and Rewards

• If the Sheriff eliminates a Deputy, the Sheriff must discard all the cards
he has in hand and in play.
• Any player eliminating an Outlaw (even if the eliminating player is
himself an Outlaw!) must draw a reward of 3 cards from the deck.

END OF THE GAME

The game ends when one of the following conditions is met:

a) the Sheriff is killed. If the Renegade is the only one alive, then he wins.
Otherwise, the Outlaws win;

b) all the Outlaws and the Renegade are killed. The Sheriff and his
Deputies win.

Example 1. All the Outlaws are eliminated, but the Renegade is still in play. In
this case, the game continues. The Renegade must now face the Sheriff and
his Deputies alone.
Example 2. The Sheriff is killed, but all Outlaws are eliminated, and one
Deputy and the Renegade are still in play. The game ends with the Outlaws
winning! They achieved their goal at the cost of their own lives!

NEW GAME
If you play more than one game in a row, players still “alive” at the
end of the game may choose to keep their character (but not the cards
in hand or in play!) for the following game; players which have been
eliminated must draw a new character randomly.
If you want to give each player the opportunity of playing the Sheriff,
you may decide, before starting the game, to pass this role among
players from game to game, randomly assigning the other roles.

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Now that you are familiar with the rules, let’s see the cards of BANG! in detail!

THE CARDS
Weapons
You start the game with a Colt .45 revolver. This is not
represented by any card, but it is drawn on your playing board.
Using the Colt .45 you can only hit targets at a distance of 1,
i.e. only players sitting to your right or your left.
In order to hit targets farther than distance 1, you need to
play a bigger weapon: place it over the Colt .45. Weapons can
be recognized from their blue border with no
bullet holes, black-and-white illustration and the number
into the sight (see picture) that represents the maximum
reachable distance. The weapon in play substitutes the Colt
.45, until the card is removed somehow. Even if weapons are
played on the board, they can still be stolen (e.g. through
the play of a Panic!) or discarded (e.g. through Cat Balou).
The only weapon you can never lose is the ol’ Colt .45!
You can only have one weapon in play at a time: if you
want to play a new weapon when you already have one, you
must discard the one you already have.

Important: weapons do not change the distance between

players. They represent your maximum reachable distance
when shooting.

Volcanic: with this card in play you may play any number
of BANG! cards during your turn. These BANG! cards can
be aimed at the same or different targets, but are limited to
a distance of 1.

BANG! and Missed!

BANG! cards are the main method to reduce other players’
life points. If you want to play a BANG! card to hit one of the
players, determine:
a) what the distance to that player is; and
b) if your weapon is capable of reaching that distance.

Example 1. With reference to the distance figure, let us

suppose that Ann (A) wants to shoot Carl (C), i.e. Ann wants
to play a BANG! card against Carl. Usually Carl would be at
a distance of 2, therefore Ann would need a weapon to shoot
at this distance: a Schofield, a Remington, a Rev. Carabine
or a Winchester, but not a Volcanic or the ol’ Colt .45. If Ann has a Scope in
play, she would see Carl at a distance of 1, and therefore she could use any
weapon to shoot at him. But if Carl has a Mustang in play, then the two cards
would combine and Ann would still see Carl at a distance of 2.
Example 2. If Dan (D) has a Mustang in play, Ann would see him at a distance
of 4: in order to shoot Dan, Ann would need a weapon capable of reaching
distance 4.

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If you are hit by a BANG! you may THE SYMBOLS ON TH
immediately play a Missed! - even though
it is not your turn! - to Each card shows one or more symbols that
cancel the shot. If you do Count as a BANG!: remove one hand
not, you lose one life point life point one c
(discard a bullet). Discarded
bullet go into a pile in the
middle of the table. If you Count as a Missed!: cancel
have no more bullets left, the effect of
i.e. you lose your last life regar
point, you are out of the
Regain one life point. Only
game,, unless you play the player playing this card
immediately a Beer (see benefits from this effect, unless
next paragraph). You can only cancel shots otherwise stated.
aimed at you. The BANG! card is discarded, who
even when cancelled. the d
Draw a card. If “any player”
is specified (see that symbol),
Beer then you can draw a random
This card lets you regain card from his hand, or you can
one life point – take a bullet choose one in play in front of him.
from the pile. You cannot If no player is specified, draw the top reach
gain more life points than card of the deck. In any case, cards
your starting amount! drawn are added to your hand.
The Beer cannot be used
to help other players.
Force to discard a card. You
The Beer can be played in
can force a specified player to Musta
two ways: discard a random card from his distan
• as usual, during your
turn;
• out of turn, but only if you have just
received a hit that is lethal (i.e. a hit that takes away your last life point),
and not if you are simply hit.
Beer has no effect if there are only 2 players left in the game; in other
words, if you play a Beer you do not gain any life point.

Example. You have 2 life points left, and suffer 3 damages from a Dynamite.
If you play 2 Beers you will stay alive with 1 life point left (2-3+2), while you
would be eliminated playing only one Beer that would allow you to regain just
1 life point. You would still be at zero!

Saloon
Cards with symbols on two lines have two simultaneous
effects, one for each line.
Here symbols say: “Regain one life point”, and this applies
to “All the other players”, and on the next line: “[You] regain
one life point”.
The overall effect is that all players in play regain one
life point.
You cannot play a Saloon out of turn when you are losing
your last life point: the Saloon is not a Beer!

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MBOLS ON THE CARDS Stagecoach
and Wells Fargo
symbols that show the effect(s) of the card. Symbols state:
e one hand, or you can choose and discard “Draw two
one card in play in front of him. cards” (three
with Wells
Fargo) from the
ancel It specifies that you can apply top of the deck.
the effect to any chosen player,
regardless of the distance.

Only
card It specifies that the effect
unless applies to all the other
players – i.e. not the player
who played the card -, regardless of
the distance. General store
layer” When you play this card,
mbol), turn as many cards from the
ndom It specifies that the effect deck face up as the players
u can applies to any one player, still playing. Starting
him. provided that he is within a with you and proceeding
he top reachable distance. clockwise, each player
cards chooses one of those cards
and puts it in his hands.
It specifies that the effect applies
to any one player at a distance
You of the number or less. Note:
yer to Mustang and Scope can alter this
m his distance, but weapons in play do not.
Panic!
The symbols state: “Draw
a card” from “a player at
distance 1”. Remember that this distance is not modified by
weapons, but only by cards such as Mustang and/or Scope.

Cat Balou
Force “any one player” to “discard a card”, regardless of
the distance.

Gatling
The Gatling shoots “a BANG!” to “all the other players”,
regardless of the distance. Even though the Gatling shoots
a BANG! to all the other players, it is not considered a
BANG! card. During your turn you can play any number of
Gatling, but only one BANG! card.

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Indians!
Each player, excluding the one who played this card, may
discard a BANG! card, or lose one life point. Neither Missed!
nor Barrel have effect in this case.

Duel
With this card you can challenge any other
player (staring him in the eyes!), regardless of
the distance. The challenged player may discard a BANG!
card (even though it is not his turn!). If he does, you may
discard a BANG! card, and so on: the first player failing to
discard a BANG! card loses one life point, and the duel is
over. You cannot play Missed! or use the Barrel during a
duel. The Duel is not a BANG! card. BANG! cards discarded
during a Duel are not accounted towards the “one BANG!
card” limitation.

Mustang
When you have a Mustang horse in play the distance between
other players and you is increased by 1. However, you still
see the other players at the normal distance.
Example. In the figure of the distance, if Ann (A) has a Mustang
in play, Ben (B) and Flo (F) would see her at a distance of 2,
Carl (C) and Emma (E) at a distance of 3, and Dan (D) at a
distance of 4, while Ann would continue seeing all the other
players at the normal distance.

Scope
When you have a Scope in play, you see all the other players
at a distance decreased by 1. However, other players still
see you at the normal distance. Distances less than 1 are
considered to be 1.
Example. In the figure of the distance, if Ann (A) has a Scope
in play, she would see Ben (B) and Flo (F) at a distance of
1, Carl (C) and Emma (E) at a distance of 1, Dan (D) at a
distance of 2, while Ann would be seen by other players at
a normal distance.

Draw!
Some cards (Barrel, Jail, Dynamite) show little poker suits and values, then
an equal sign and then their effects. The player using such a card must
“draw!”, i.e. he has to flip over the top card of the deck,
discard it, and look at the poker symbol in the lower left
corner. If this flipped card shows a symbol (and value!) that
matches, then the “draw!” was successful, and the effect of

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the card is resolved (the “draw!” card is always discarded without effect).
Otherwise, nothing happens: bad luck! If a specific card value or range is
specified on the card, then the “draw!” card must show a value within that
range (including the pictured symbols), and the suit shown.
The value sequence is: 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A.

Barrel
The Barrel allows you to “draw!” when you are the target of a BANG!:
- if you draw a Heart card, you are Missed! (just like if you
played a Missed! card);
- otherwise nothing happens.
Example. You are the target of another player’s BANG! You
have a Barrel in play: this card lets you “draw!” to cancel a
BANG! and it is successful on a Heart. So, you flip the top card
of the deck and put it on the discard pile: it’s a 4 of Hearts.
The use of the Barrel is successful and
cancels the BANG! If the flipped card
were of a different suit, then the Barrel
would have had no effect, but you could
have still tried to cancel the BANG! with a Missed!.

Jail
Play this card in front of any player regardless of the distance:
you put him in jail! If you are in jail, you must “draw!” before
the beginning of your turn:
- if you draw a Heart card, you escape from jail: discard the
Jail, and continue your turn as normal;
- otherwise discard the Jail and skip your turn.
If you are in Jail you remain a possible target for BANG!
cards and can still play response cards (e.g. Missed! and
Beer) out of your turn, if necessary.
Jail cannot be played on the Sheriff.

Dynamite
Play this card in front of you: the Dynamite will stay there for a whole turn.
When you start your next turn (you have the Dynamite already in play),
before the first phase you must “draw!”:
- if you draw a card showing Spades and a number between 2 and 9, the
Dynamite explodes! Discard it and lose 3 life points;
- otherwise, pass the Dynamite to the player on your left
(who will “draw!” on his turn, etc.).
Players keep passing the Dynamite around until it explodes,
with the effect explained above, or it is drawn or discarded by a
Panic! or a Cat Balou. If you have both the Dynamite and a Jail
in play, check the Dynamite first. If you are damaged (or even
eliminated!) by a Dynamite, this damage is not considered to
be caused by any player.

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 THE CHARACTERS
Bart Cassidy (4 life Kit Carlson (4 life points):
points): each time he loses during phase 1 of his
a life point, he immediately turn, he looks at the top
draws a card from the three cards of the deck:
deck. he chooses 2 to draw, and
Black Jack (4 life points): puts the other one back on the top of
during phase 1 of his turn, the deck, face down.
he must show the second Lucky Duke (4 life points):
card he draws: if it’s Heart each time he is required
or Diamonds (just like a to “draw!”, he flips the
“draw!”), he draws one additional top two cards from the
card (without revealing it). deck, and chooses the
Calamity Janet (4 life result he prefers. Discard both cards
points): she can use afterwards.
BANG! cards as Missed! Paul Regret (3 life points):
cards and vice versa. If he is considered to have
she plays a Missed! as a Mustang in play at all
a BANG!, she cannot play another times; all other players
BANG! card that turn (unless she must add 1 to the distance
has a Volcanic in play). to him. If he has another real
El Gringo (3 life points): Mustang in play, he can count both
each time he loses a of them, increasing all distances to
life point due to a card him by a total of 2.
played by another player, Pedro Ramirez (4 life
he draws a random card points): during phase 1 of
from the hands of that player (one his turn, he may choose
card for each life point). If that to draw the first card from
player has no more cards, too the top of the discard pile
bad!, he does not draw. Note that or from the deck. Then, he draws the
Dynamite damages are not caused second card from the deck.
by any player. Rose Doolan (4 life
Jesse Jones (4 life points): points): she is considered
during phase 1 of his to have a Scope in play
turn, he may choose to at all times; she sees
draw the first card from the other players at a
the deck, or randomly distance decreased by 1. If she has
from the hand of any other player. another real Scope in play, she can
Then he draws the second card from count both of them, reducing her
the deck. distance to all other players by a
Jourdonnais (4 life points): total of 2.
he is considered to have a Sid Ketchum (4 life
Barrel in play at all times; points): at any time, he
he can “draw!” when he is may discard 2 cards from
the target of a BANG!, and his hand to regain one life
on a Heart he is missed. If he has point. If he is willing and
another real Barrel card in play, he able, he can use this ability more
can count both of them, giving him than once at a time. But remember:
two chances to cancel the BANG! you cannot have more life points
before playing a Missed!. than your starting amount!

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 Slab the Killer (4 life Vulture Sam (4 life points):
points): players trying to whenever a character is
cancel his BANG! cards eliminated from the game,
need to play 2 Missed!. The Sam takes all the cards
Barrel effect, if successfully that player had in his
used, only counts as one Missed!. hand and in play, and adds them to
Suzy Lafayette (4 life his hand.
points): as soon as she Willy the Kid (4 life
has no cards in her hand, points): he can play any
she draws a card from the number of BANG! cards
draw pile. during his turn.

REMEMBER:
• Any card with a Missed! symbol can be used to cancel the
effect of a card with a BANG! symbol

• you can only play one BANG! card per turn, but you can play any
number of other cards which show the symbol

• you cannot have two cards with the same name in front of you

• you can only have one weapon in play, but at least you always
have a Colt .45

• weapons do not change the distance between players, they

represent only your shooting range

• Beer has no effect when there are only 2 players left in the game

• when you are losing your last life point, you can only play a Beer,
and not a Saloon.

Curiosity
In order to keep track of your life points, you can use
another character card, from the ones left over. Turn it
face down and cover / uncover the bullets by sliding your
character card on it, just like in the picture. This makes
easier to bring BANG! with you and play it anywhere!

Jesse Jones with three life points

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Note: throughout these rules “he”, “his”, etc. are used to indicate both genders.
Thanks to all the play-testers, to their gaming groups and to all the players, for all the precious
suggestions. The author would personally thank all the members of the Chess Club “Luigi Valentini” in
Civitavecchia, for their constant support and enthusiasm.

Game idea: Emiliano Sciarra

Development: Roberto Corbelli, Domenico Di Giorgio
Artworks: Alessandro Pierangelini
Art Director: Stefano De Fazi
Rules editing: Roberto Corbelli, Andrés J. Voicu
Origins awards 2003:
BANG!® - Fourth edition - Best Traditional Card Game
Copyright © - Best Card Design
daVinci Editrice S.r.l.
Via S. Penna, 24
I-06132 Perugia, Italy

For any questions, comments and suggestions: Lucca Games 2002:

www.dvgiochi.com info@dvgiochi.com - Best Italian Game

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Game idea, development, design, artwork, packaging, the BANG! name and logo, and the dV GIOCHI name and logo are
all Copyright, and Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of daVinci Editrice S.r.l. All Rights Reserved.

The BANG!® Game System™

In 2002, a new Sheriff rode into town…
BANG! is the best-selling, award-winning, Wild West shoot-out card
GAME SYSTEM
game. The original mechanics of the BANG! Game System feature:
• The distance between the players is an actual part of the game!
• Unique character combinations make every game different!
• Different goals and secret roles for each player create tension and surprises with
every play!
• The “draw” mechanic and the many different types of cards add depth to the game!
After all, more than half a million cowboys can’t be wrong!

BANG!® – DODGE CITY™

This is the “must-have” expansion for BANG!
Our all-new edition includes:
• More characters with unique abilities!
• New green-bordered cards with their own special rules!
• Additional mechanics for playing your cards!
• Rules and role cards to expand your shoot-out to 8 players!
• Complete rules for 3 player games!

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