KillDog

I was browsing Bruno Faidutti's Ideal Game Library, when I came across KillDog (Geek entry).

KillDog, named after Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs is a bluffing game. Players are gangsters fighting over a pile of loot. Each turn, four bills worth 5, 10 or 20 are turned over. Each player chooses whether they are ready to shoot or not and then, after count to three, point their gun at another player.

Then the intimidation starts. Players try to convince the person looking at the barrel of their gun that they're serious and will shoot them. The other guy can push their luck and doubt you or give up and lay down their gun. Once everybody who wants to back off has done so, the cards are revealed.

If you're shot, you lose a life point (one out of three; lose all and you're eliminated). After that, the players remaining (those who didn't back off and those who didn't get shot) divide the loot between themselves. However, the loot must be divided equally and there's no changing money, so there's a good chance nobody gets anything. Any leftovers remain on the board for the next round.

Game lasts eight rounds. Players use a card per round; there's five "just kidding" cards, two shots and one fast shot, which hits the victim before he or she can shoot.

I haven't tried the game, but will do so as soon as possible. So far the game has been published by French game magazine Jeux sur un Plateau and Belgian Repos Productions is apparently working to publish the game this year as Casa Coronés. Maybe we'll see it in Essen, maybe not. If it's there and contains nice toy pistols, I'll be sure to pick it up. Until that, I'll play with a home-made edition - it's an easy game for do-it-yourself gamers.