Finger Guns at High Noon
Finger Guns at High Noon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
In Finger Guns at High Noon, you and your friends are gunslingers of the Old West. During play, one person will call "Three! Two! One! DRAW!" and each player will use hand gestures to try to eliminate their adversaries and be the last gunslinger standing. Though all isn't lost once you've perished to the quickdraw of a faster gun. Ghost players can try to eliminate all of the surviving players at once to win as an undead team.
Components
- 8 double-sided play mats
- 16 ally cards
- 8 health counter clips
- 1 sheriff badge token
Set Up
- Give one play mat to each player (Survivor side up). Give each player one health counter clip. They attach that clip to their mat and slide it to the 20 health mark.
- Shuffle the ally cards facedown to form the ally deck and place it in the middle of the table. Draw one ally card faceup and place it next to the ally deck.
- Place the sheriff badge within easy reach of all players.
How to Play
Finger Guns at High Noon is played over the course of multiple rounds until a winner(s) is determined. During a round, each player performs one hand gesture to signify their action. All of the actions are then resolved in the order shown on the play mat. If there are no winners at the end of the round, play proceeds to the next round.
Rounds consist of three phases:
- Discuss and Draw
- Resolve Actions
- End of Round
Discuss and Draw
During this phase, players can discuss which actions they plan to choose or speculate which actions they think other players will choose. There are no restrictions to what you may communicate during this phase. You are not required to tell the truth. Any agreements you make with the other players are non-binding.
Once any player is ready to move on to the next phase, that player says "Three, Two, One, DRAW!!!" Any player that does not have the sheriff badge may initiate this countdown. When the player counting down says "DRAW!!!," all of the players must simultaneously perform one of the hand gestures shown on the play mat.
Then, the player who initiated the countdown gains the sheriff badge.
NOTE: If you have the sheriff badge, you cannot initiate the countdown. There is no minimum time limit for this phase. If a player wants to initiate a countdown as soon as the round begins, they can as long as they do not have the sheriff badge.
Resolve Actions
Players now resolve the actions they chose in the Discuss and Draw phase in the order listed on the play mats, from top to bottom, starting with Posse and ending with Power Shot. If multiple players chose to perform the same action, these actions are all resolved simultaneously. Once your action is resolved or canceled (Power Shot), lower your hand.
If a player does not choose an action or chooses an illegal action, that action is canceled and that player resolves no action this round.
When you lose or gain health, slide your health counter around the edge of your play mat to the appropriate number. If you are reduced to 0 or less health, you have been Killed. Players that have been Killed leave their health counter on zero and cannot gain health. Killed players become Ghosts at the end of the round. If you are Killed before your action is resolved then lower your hand because your action is canceled. If you are Killed during the action you chose, your action still resolves.
Survivor Actions
Posse: If half or more of the Survivors choose Posse, all other Survivors lose 5 health. Otherwise, the Posse action is canceled this round. There must be at least three Survivors in the game to resolve this action.
Saloon: Show 2, 3, or 4 fingers. If you are the only player to show that number, gain that much health. If any other player shows the same number of fingers as you, both of your actions are canceled this round. You cannot have more than 20 health. If you are a Ghost or have 0 health, you cannot gain health.
Shot: Point two fingers on one hand directly at another player. That player loses 2 health.
Lasso: If you are the only player who chooses Lasso, gain the faceup ally card. If that ally says "Instant" in the lower lefthand corner, resolve that card and immediately return it facedown to the bottom of the ally deck. If it says "Keeper," place it next to your play mat. You have that ability for the rest of the game as long as you are a Survivor.
- If multiple players choose the Lasso action, that action is canceled this round.
- A Survivor may have any number of allies.
- If there is no faceup ally after this action, draw an ally card and place it faceup next to the ally deck.
Dynamite: Each of your neighboring Survivors loses 3 health. You lose 1 health. Neighbors are considered to be the nearest Survivors to your left and right. Dynamite skips Killed players and Ghosts to hit the nearest Survivor. When there is only one Survivor other than the player performing the Dynamite action, that Survivor only loses health as one neighbor would, not both.
Power Shot: Point four fingers on one hand directly at another player. That player loses 6 health. If you lost health to a Shot or Dynamite action this round, your Power Shot is canceled.
Ghost Actions
Saloon: Show 2, 3, or 4 fingers. Ghosts cannot gain health, but they may use this action to stop Survivors from gaining health.
Shot: This action resolves the same way for Ghosts as it does Survivors. The target loses 2 health.
Lasso: If you are the only player who chooses Lasso, return the ally facedown to the bottom of the ally deck without resolving its effect regardless of whether it is an Instant or a Keeper. You may want to do this to prevent a Survivor from gaining a powerful ally.
Posse, Dynamite, Power Shot: You cannot resolve these actions as a Ghost.
End of Round
After all of the actions are resolved, the round ends and you resolve the following two steps:
- If there are two or fewer Survivors, the game ends. In a three- or four-player game, the game ends when there is one or zero Survivors.
- All players Killed this round become Ghosts.
When you become a Ghost, flip your play mat over and return any ally cards you have facedown to the bottom of the ally deck. Ghosts are all on the same team. Ghost players do not have health. Ghost players can only perform actions as listed on the Ghost side of the play mat.
End of the Game
When the game ends:
- If there are only one or two Survivors (only one Survivor in a three- or four-player game), those players win.
- If there are no Survivors, all current Ghosts win. Players Killed this round do not win.