Colt Express

It’s the wild west, and the Colt Express is a train traveling across the country with a cargo of money and gems. You the players are bandits, out to rob the train – and while you’re at it, each other.

The game comes with a 3D cardboard train you’ll need to assemble yourself. Having done so, moneybags and gems are placed along the carriages, and the players start near the rear of the train. Each player has a deck of cards which give them certain actions – move, climb (onto the roof, or down again), pick up money, shoot, punch, or move the Marshal (more of him in a moment).

During each of the five rounds an Event card is flipped that shows the amount of cards players can play, and what – if any – event occurs at the end of the round. Then players in turn play one card at a time, creating a deck that will determine play for this round. Once all cards have been played to the deck, the deck is flipped over (so the starting card is now back at the top) and the cards played out one by one. So there is an element of planning to you cardplay in that you can decide, for instance, to move, pick up some loot, then move again – but there is also an element of luck, as the other players may throw you off course.

When players shoot at each other they are not out of the game, all that happens is they take a ‘bullet’ card from the perpetrator, and this basically takes up room in your deck. The Marshal, if you encounter him, automatically shoots you and forces you onto the roof of the train.

If at the end of the game you have managed to shoot six times, emptying your pistol, there is a bonus for being a sharpshooter. There is also, as well as the moneybags and gems, a briefcase in the train’s engine with an enticing $1000 in it. Colt Express is a fast-moving and fairly chaotic game where your best-laid plans can blow up in your face!