Designed by: André Zatz,Benjamin Pope,Bryan Pope,Sérgio Halaban
Sheriff of Nottingham is a game of bluff and double-bluff that manages to be both tense and silly – in a good way.
Each player starts with six cards which represent goods – cheese, bread, apples and chickens. Mixed in with these goods are illegal contraband, such as crossbows and pepper, plus more exotic cheeses and apples the sheriff, being a suspicious type, isn’t so fond of. One player starts as the sheriff, overseeing the arrival of goods into Nottingham. The other players each arrive with their goods in sacks – actually cards in little seal-able bags – and tell the sheriff what they’re bringing into the city. They must tell the truth about the amount of cards in their bag, but what the cards actually are (legal, contraband, or a mixture) they can choose to be honest, or lie. The sheriff will be expecting all cards to be of a type, so saying “three cheese” when your bag contains two cheese and some apples will be treated as a lie, even if you weren’t smuggling contraband.
Having received all the bags, the sheriff now listens to the players declarations of what is in them and chooses whether or not to open them: this is the crux of the game, because a good sheriff will sniff out a lie! If the sheriff chooses to open a bag and discovers the player in question was lying, there is a cash penalty. If he discovers the player was telling the truth, then the sheriff must pay a penalty himself; to the insulted player. Conversely, if he decides not to open the bag and it transpires the player was fibbing, it’s then too late to do anything about it!
Amidst the chicanery there is also the option to bribe the sheriff – not to open your bag, or to open someone else’s. And amidst that there is of course the devilish double-bluff, encouraging the sheriff to think you are lying and have to pay you a penalty for doubting your word!
After all bags have been inspected or passed, a new round begins with players picking up new cards and the sheriff role passing to the left. Play continues until everyone has been sheriff twice, at which point money is totted up. Contraband goods are inevitably the most valuable, but legal goods reward with bonuses for having supplied the city with the most of them…
Potentially high - it depends how you approach the game, but you're unlikely to go the duration without at least one little fib.
Almost none - every player is involved at all times, apart from replenishing cards.
None of the academic kind; though you don't want your bribe to be worth more than your rewards... the brain-burning is whether to risk going big, try double-bluffing, open the bag or not... money rides on everything, and that tension sustains the game.
It plays fast, and card order inspires different strategies. You can play honest (mostly) or go for a big return on contraband... You can also choose to play with a timer (1 minute per negotiation on bags!) to keep things moving nicely.
3-5
Players
10+
Years
60-90
Mins
Sam says
It's all table-reading, this one: a hour of bluff, double-bluff and triple-bluff that poker players may enjoy. For my tastes, an hour of it is a little bit long for what's quite repetitive - but I enjoyed my few plays all the same. Even if I make a diabolical sheriff!