Sheriff of Nottingham

A fun game for friends and family. At first glance you might think this game is about Robin Hood and his Merry Men combating the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Not so much, this one is actually about running a customs checkpoint during the Robin Hood era... and it is fantastic! Each player takes on the role of a merchant trying to get their goods across this checkpoint run by the Sheriff of Nottingham. The more items you get safely through, the more money you make. If you can successfully smuggle in contraband goods through the checkpoint, you can make even more money. Like for some in real life, the goal of this game is make as much money as you can. The meat of the game is played through the declarations and inspection phase. Players place cards that represent their goods into a colored pouch (one pouch per player), they declare to the Sheriff what type of item is in the pouch and how many are there. The pouches are sealed and it is up to the Sheriff whether or not these merchants are telling the truth or not.If the Sheriff opens the pouch and finds exactly what the merchant declared, then the Sheriff must pay the merch a penalty fee AND let those items through to the market. If the Sheriff discovers items that don't match what was declared (or contraband items) then the players have to pay a fine directly to the Sheriff (and loose any contraband they tried to smuggle through the checkpoint). The best part of the game is between the declaration and the haggling that all the players do to get the Sheriff to either not open their pouches or open another player's pouch. You can flat out bribe the Sheriff with gold (or even items from your pouch once they get through) to let you past or you can bribe the Sheriff to open another player's pouch! It's all about bluffing, negotiation, and how well you know the other players. Each round another player must take on the role of the Sheriff, so everybody gets a chance to play the game from both sides of the table. The game is pretty simple to understand and most people catch on to the rules shortly after a few rounds have been played.The game features some great artwork and the quality of the cards and tokens are top notch. If you find yourself having some trouble totaling up each player's scores at the end of the game, there is a free application available on iOS and Android that was makes keeping score a breeze.

This game is loads of fun and extremely easy to play! I will consent that anything over $30 seems steep based on what comes in the box, but having said that I would have paid upwards of $50 considering all of the replay value this game has. In the box you'll find loads and loads of standard playing card size/quality cards containing both legal goods and contraband (a pain to shuffle between games), small bags with snaps to keep them closed (by far the best component in the game), cardboard character tiles, a cardboard sheriff that gets passed around each turn to denote who the sheriff is for that turn, and lastly some decent quality thick cardboard coins. The removable plastic box organizer is average at best, nothing special on the organization front and is made from poor thin plastic...as I said, materials not worth much more than $25-$30.The gameplay is where you'll find the added value. It is extremely easy to learn to play, and after a round or two into your first game you'll have every game concept figured out. The only "difficult" part to this game is the scoring at the end, as there are lots of factors to consider when scoring - this is easily remedied by using the free downloadable phone app, which makes scoring a breeze.The object of the game is to be worth the most at the end, this takes into account the actual money in coins you have, the value of your legal goods and the value of your contraband. Each round you place a certain number of cards into your pouch, snap it shut and hand it to the sheriff declaring how much and which kind of legal goods you have in the bag. You can only declare legal goods, so any contraband you place in the bag is subject to seizure and fines if you're caught. It is up to the sheriff to decide whether you are bluffing to get contraband through, or if you are telling the truth and only have the legal goods you claim to have. If the sheriff decides to open the bag, whoever ends up being in the wrong has to pay the other person the penalty depicted on the card(s). The really fun part of this game occurs during this decision for the sheriff, as all players can get involved in bribes, trades, etc... to influence the sheriff. The little bags are by far the best component in the game. The fact that there are snaps that make an audible popping sound is great and adds a little finality to the sheriff's decisions. It is great when someone is trying to plead their case, and halfway through a sentence the sheriff 'pops' open the bag and the person just stops talking and starts paying the sheriff for all of the confiscated goods!Replay value is enormous, even if you keep playing with the same group of people. The game's central mechanic makes it almost impossible for someone to use the same strategy each game, which forces variety and keeps the game fun for a long time. Last I checked, Amazon has it for $28 which is most definitely worth it...you won't regret this purchase.

Sheriff of Nottingham is a game where you try to bluff your friends, or catch them bluffing! The goal of the game is to collect as many points through obtaining goods for your market. Each round one player will take on the role of the sheriff to inspect, or not inspect, each players' bag of goods. If a player is hiding something in their bag, which they didn't legally declare, then they pay a fine. What's so much fun with this, beyond the bluffing, is that anything goes. The game encourages back door deals and everything. If you don't want the sheriff to look in your bag because you're smuggling all kinds of illegal stuff, then you try to make a deal, any deal, whatever you want. We had roommates playing the game and one said that he'd clean the bathroom if his roommate didn't look in the bag. All is fair in the game! You can bribe the sheriff with coins, you can try to "play it cool" so they maybe won't look in your bag also. As the sheriff, you try to look for the most lucrative offers, or you try to catch the players if you think the penalty will be enough to help you in the end game. It plays up to 5 players, and up to 6 if you get the expansion. This game doesn't get old for us. The shining element is developing new techniques on how you'll try to get more passed the sheriff, or if you're the sheriff, you'll try to figure out the best way to get whatever you can in order to hinder your opponents while increasing your own benefit. Components are well done, gameplay is easy to learn, and it is no more than about an hour, though that's with maximum player count. I recommend 4 or 5 players. 3 is fine too, but it's not a game that is meant to be intimate. You want the larger player count.