Bounty Hunter: 1881

The American southwest: 1881. The “iron horses” are operating in these parts regularly now, and the turn of the century is near. The rise of cities out here is clearly on the event horizon, as ever-increasing numbers of “civilized” easterners move in. Yep, the old ways are about to end. Still, law and order largely remain in their formative years. Wanted posters circulate throughout the region, and bounty hunters are plentiful….

In Bounty Hunter: 1881, you are one of these rough-and-tumble men. You’ll obtain wanted posters and travel by train, stagecoach and on horseback to get to outlaws’ hideouts. Once located, you’ll try to apprehend your quarry, by fair means or foul. Be aware, however, that bounty hunters start out with a bad reputation. If you bushwhack too many wrongdoers you’ll be considered just as bad — or even worse. You’ll also have to be careful when apprehending your prey, since most of them are quite capable of getting the draw on you! So saddle up, pard’ner and let’s make some money — bounty hunter style!

Game Play (simplified): After a quick setup, a player will choose one of several possible actions, usually selecting one of the three Travel cards on display at the bottom of the board, along with its associated bonus. These bonuses are, left to right: draw an Outlaw card, draw an On The Trail card, take a silver dollar from the display. Each type of card has a hand limit, and players may need to pay dollars in order to discard unwanted cards. Players travel to the location where an outlaw was last seen via Train cards, then play an On The Trail card along with the Travel shown cards on it to try to apprehend an Outlaw card in his hand, which is accomplished via rolls of the dice, and may be attempted by fair means or foul. If successful via the latter method, one or more Black Marks are taken, but there is a limit. Players can be wounded by their quarry and lose turns. The game ends when the Travel deck has been exhausted three times– so shuffle the discards after it runs out the first and second times. The rewards for the outlaws captured/ bushwhacked are totaled and $300 deducted from the player with more Black Marks. The player with the higher total wins.