Desperados

About this board game

Desperados is a Wild West strategy game for 3–6 players, played in about 90 minutes, in which outlaws plan robberies while one marshal tries to keep them honest.

Most players take the roles of card sharpers, highwaymen, or bank robbers seeking enough money to live comfortably. One player becomes the marshal, controlling a marshal token and sheriffs who patrol the frontier cities.

At the start of the game, money tiles are placed in banks, poker tiles are placed in cities without banks, and a stagecoach appears in a randomly selected city. Each outlaw begins in a city, while the marshal places the sheriffs and marshal token wherever they will begin their pursuit.

The game lasts five turns. During each turn, players use five movement cards to secretly plan their routes. Every outlaw has an individual hand, including a Saloon card that allows them to remain where they are. Before planning begins, the marshal moves the stagecoach and may move each sheriff or leave them in place.

Outlaws must reveal their location to the marshal before marking a bank, card game, or stagecoach as their intended target. Once the face-down movement cards are revealed one at a time, everyone moves. If the marshal reaches an outlaw’s city, that outlaw is jailed, loses the rest of the turn, and permanently loses the revealed movement card.

• Plan five movements while trying to conceal your destination.
• Rob banks, poker games, and stagecoaches when your action is available.
• Outlaws succeed only when they outnumber the sheriffs at a target.
• Collect at least $4,000 per outlaw by the end of the game to win.

Players pool their money, turning every successful robbery into a shared step toward victory. In Desperados, daring plans can bring a fortune, but the marshal’s patrols and carefully timed interceptions can leave the outlaws short of the security they need.