LogFAQs > #933838209

49. Ca$h 'n Guns (2014)

Category: Player vs Player
Genres: Party game, take that, simultaneous action selection, push-your-luck, set collection
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 1
Game length: 20 minutes
Experience: 10+ games over 10+ sessions (2016-2019)
Previous ranks: NR (2016), 57/80 (2018)

Summary - Each player is a conspirator in a series of successful robberies, armed with an actual foam toy gun. Over the course of eight rounds, players simultaneously load their guns, point them, and then (after assessing which guns are pointed at them) choose whether or not to "stay in," i.e. participate in the splitting of loot. Players who both stay in and do not get shot by a real bullet get to draft the loot.

Design - There's not a lot of strategy to CnG. It's fast and mean and occasionally groan-worthy, where your agency can often be restricted by the take-that mechanisms. But given the entire game is about take-that, it doesn't always feel quite as personal as in many other games. (A safe thing to do is point your gun at someone who shot you, or at the godfather, or at anyone before you in the turn order.) At only eight snappy rounds, it flows really well.

The best part of CnG is probably the small details. It's just really, really satisfying to point the foam guns at people. If you reveal your bullet, you show either a "BANG" or a "Click" for a blank. Then there's the cardboard cutout stands for your characters, which you knock over when you bail out. And speaking of the courage round, the game encourages you to yell "BANZAI!" if you do stay in. And there's the godfather piece, which both indicates the person with godfather privilege (and who starts the draft), but which also is the sole place that lists the phases of the game. For a game with an actual structure, it's super-useful to have a (rotating!) designated player who essentially narrates the round.

It can be unfun too. If people are determined to gang up on you, you can be locked out of the game, and it's possible to get entirely killed in a round or two. That realistically shouldn't happen, though, with sane people. For me it's a light filler that works really well.

Experience - CnG might have been my first (used) blind-buy. Not every play has been spectacular, but like many simpler games, it's high-floor/low-ceiling. I really like its effortless scaling.

Future - Since I've gotten plenty of mileage out of my copy of CnG, it's no longer something I pack every time I go to a meetup. That said, it's still fun pretty much every time it hits the table, as long as people are okay with a bit of take-that. I think it's a good option to have on hand without the explicit intent to get to the table.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness