Designed by: Cédric Lefebvre,Christophe Raimbault
As with its big sister game Colt Express, Super Express dresses you up as Wild West gangsters, intent on robbing a train as it barrels its way cross-country. But you’re not a gang of regimented heist-minded criminal geniuses – more a motley crew of trigger-happy morons.
The train is a set of cards laid out across the table with the engine at the front, and a long line of cabooses behind. The players start on the train with a figure representing them. Everyone has four cards in their colour, and in every round all players choose three to activate and ‘program’ them into a stack, so they are revealed in the order of your choosing. Then, going clockwise, cards are revealed one by one and played out on the train.
Turn flips your figure – they’re directional, and the way they are facing is important to both the game and your survival. Move simply makes you scuttle in the direction you’re facing, onto the adjacent caboose (or engine, if you’re next to it). Climb moves you up on top of the caboose if you’re in the carriage, or down into the carriage if you’re on the roof already. And Shoot fires your gun – the way you’re facing. If there’s anyone in your line of sight who is still standing, they are knocked back onto the next carriage and laid flat to show they’ve been hit. But these morons are almost bullet-proof – the next card you play when hit won’t do it’s normal action, but will stand you back upright instead, ready to continue the madness.
At the end of each round the rear-most caboose falls off the back of the train, and if you’re the player closest the back when this happens (not on the lost caboose itself, but the next one up) you claim the card as loot – the most loot when all cabooses are gone wins the game. But one can – and this is far more likely – win the game sooner by virtue of being the last one standing. Players are constantly getting shot off the train, falling off the train, accidentally running off the train, or simply be standing in the wrong place when that caboose at the back falls off. Most loot/most alive wins!
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Our copy of the game also came with two optional cards for each player that we recommend incorporating for additional silliness and unpredictability. The Horse will gallop you to the very front of the train, and the Reflex allows you to Turn and Shoot in one single action.
Always, all the time.
Low.
Minimal. The rules are dead easy, and success is often about reading the table and judging what others are planning.
It's light and silly with an almost poker-esque angle on brinkmanship, and lots will enjoy it. We found it fun, and funny, but not one we wanted to play over and over.
3-7
Players
8+
Years
15-30
Mins
Sam says
Short, simple, silly, Colt Super Express has all the bunfight madness of the original game but in half the time - which for me personally is a good thing. Much as I'm tickled by the chaos of it, the hour or so that Colt Express took felt like a bit too long for what it was and this version suits me better. That said, it's still fairly chaotic and you still need to be okay with the slings and arrows of misfortune. Some of the funniest moments in Super Express is when things go wrong, because the card you thought was going to change your direction is now being used to get you back on your feet after a shooting, and your next card sees you run wildly off the end of the train. If I don't love Colt Super Express - it does get a bit samey after a few plays - I do love those moments in games.