Sheriff of Nottingham FAQ
66 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setting Up the Game
The Goods Cards
Phase 1: Market
- Can you draw from the discard piles during the Market phase, and in what order?
- Can you split the cards you discard in the Market phase between the two discard piles?
- Can you look through the discard piles during the game?
- Do other players see the cards you take from the discard piles?
- How many cards can you discard in the Market phase, and do you always draw back to six?
- Can your hand ever hold more than six cards?
- Does the Sheriff take a turn in the Market phase?
- In the Second Edition, can you draw from the discard piles during the Market phase?
Phase 3: Declaration
Phase 4: Inspection
- Must the Sheriff inspect every bag, and in what order?
- Until when can the Sheriff open a bag or hand it back during negotiation?
- If the Sheriff threatens an inspection and nobody bribes him, must he open the bag?
- Can a merchant take the bag back from the Sheriff during inspection?
- What happens if the goods in your bag do not match your declaration?
- If you lie about a legal good and the bag is not inspected, where does it go? And if it is inspected?
- Where do confiscated goods go, and who chooses the discard pile?
- Can other players see the goods in your merchant stand?
- What happens if the Sheriff opens the wrong merchant's bag by mistake?
Bribes and Negotiation
- What can a bribe cover: leaving your bag alone, opening someone else's, or opening your own?
- Can other players join, or pool their money, in a negotiation over someone else's bag?
- Can you offer a bribe on a bag that holds only legal goods?
- What can go into a bribe, and can you offer cards from your hand?
- Can a bribe include things from outside the game, such as favours or real-world items?
- Where do the goods and gold you receive as a bribe go?
- Can merchants offer bribes during the declaration phase, before the Sheriff has heard every bag?
Honor Among Thieves
- Is a bribe binding once the Sheriff accepts it?
- Can a player be forced to take a bribe or pay one?
- Once a bribe for a bag is accepted, can the Sheriff still open that bag?
- Does an accepted bribe for your bag stop the Sheriff from taking bribes on other bags?
- Are promises of future favours, such as passing a bag in a later round, binding?
- Are agreements not to inspect each other's bags binding?
- Is a bribe to open another merchant's bag binding if the Sheriff accepts it?
- Are conditional bribes, such as a payment that depends on contraband turning up, binding?
- Does a counteroffer such as "make it 8 gold" keep the other terms of the original offer?
- Is a bribe offer made before the Inspection phase, such as during the Market phase, binding?
- If you promised a good you do not have, must you show your cards to prove it?
- Can a merchant keep bribing about other bags after his own bag is handled?
Phase 5: End of Round
Winning the Game
Promo and Optional Cards
- When you declare with Royal Goods in your bag, do they count as one card or as their legal type?
- When can you play Gambler's Risk during an inspection, and on whose bag?
- Does King's Decree's 15-gold penalty apply when the bag holds only one other card?
- Where do legal goods destroyed by Brimstone Oil go?
- What happens when the Royal Summons is in a bag that the Sheriff inspects?
- Does an Arcane Scroll in a player's bag change the King or Queen bonus for the next player?
Sheriff of Nottingham: Merry MenExpansion
- In a six-player Merry Men game with no discard piles, can you draw from the discard piles during the Market phase?
- With Merry Men, does the Merry Men card you keep count toward the six-card hand limit?
- Can Will Scarlet discard a Black Market card from another player's contraband pile?
- In Merry Men, does the Sheriff keep the contraband from a bag he opens?
- Do goods used to fulfil a Special Order still count for King and Queen bonuses, or pay for a Black Market card?
- Where does the gold go when a Law tells you to pay or buy something?
- Do goods that a Law turns into Contraband still count for King and Queen?
- After being caught with a Merry Man, do you draw one Merry Man or two when you regain the right to draw?
- Can you play with deputies in a five-player game?
- With Merry Men, when is a Black Market bonus claimed if two players want the same card?
- With Merry Men, who gets a Special Order when two merchants claim it at the same time?