SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM: 2nd Edition (2020)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
3-6	60 mins	Sérgio Halaban André Zatz	CMON Global Limited

In this bluffing card game, players are trying their best to sneak contraband past the Sheriff with negotiation, bribery, and big fat lies.

Or you can tell the truth and be an honest merchant, but where is the fun in that?

The Sheriff player rotates each turn. The rest of the players place 1-5 cards from their hand into a little velvet bag (in secret) before handing them over to the Sheriff. And of course you need to tell him what it is you’re bringing in to sell.

But who said that what you say is in the bag and what is actually in the bag are the same thing.

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It all comes down to whether the Sheriff believes you or not. They have to decide to open the bag and inspect the goods, or trust you and return your bag.

If the bag is opened, the truth will see the player earn compensation, while a lie will earn an awkward fine.

There are 4 ‘legal’ goods in the game; bread, apples, cheese, and chickens. There are also a bunch of illegal goods like crossbows and wine.

These illegal goods are worth more points at the end of the game so it’s the real reason for you to break the law.

But the legal goods are also useful to you as a player because there is a set collection element that sees the player with the most (and second most) of each item gain a reward. So becoming King Of The Cheese isn’t a bad idea either.

The game can fall apart if players don’t get into it. If no one challenges each other and if bags are just opened immediately then the ‘fun’ element is lost. The real meat of the gameplay comes from the interplay and accusations.

SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM is a great party game as it goes up to six players. It’s pretty light and the real fun comes from decieving each other and the retaliations rearing later in the game. And if you want to cause some extra chaos, you can always bride the Sheriff to open an opponents bag. That always goes down well.