Wild Shots
Wild Shots Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
The goal is to collect as few negative points as possible by avoiding tricks that contain cards with the symbol that causes hits.
Components
- 40 Wild Shots cards: 10 each in black, red, green and blue, numbered 1 to 10. Some cards show one of the following symbols: cowboy hat, sheriff star, revolver or wanted poster.
- 14 Snake Oil cards. These are the trump cards that determine the active trump symbol.
- 1 Round overview card (Runden-Übersichtskarte). It shows which symbol causes hits in each round and how many negative points each hit costs.
- Pen and paper are also needed to record scores.
The round overview card shows the following, with the number of Wild Shots cards carrying each symbol in brackets:
- Round 1: revolver, -2 points per hit (10x)
- Round 2: cowboy hat, -3 points per hit (7x)
- Round 3: sheriff star, -4 points per hit (5x), and wanted poster, -5 points per hit (4x)
- Round 4: revolver -2, cowboy hat -3, sheriff star -4 and wanted poster -5
Note: the card values listed above for Round 4 are read from the printed overview card image, which shows all four symbols with their point values in the bottom row.
Setup
- Shuffle the 40 Wild Shots cards. Each player receives 10 cards. With 2 or 3 players, the surplus cards are set aside unseen.
- Shuffle the 14 Snake Oil cards and place them as a face-down draw pile (Nachziehstapel) next to the round overview card.
- The player who was last in the Wild West becomes the starting player.
Note on the starting player: the leaflet's setup rule above is the only starting-player rule in the leaflet; the leaflet's Round step 8 says the active player begins each new round. The separate 4-page German Spielanleitung describes the starting player role as rotating between the players. This transcription follows the leaflet as printed.
Game Overview
Wild Shots is played over 4 rounds. At the end of each round, every hit scores negative points. Which symbol causes hits in which round, and how many negative points each hit costs, is shown on the round overview card.
Example: In round 1 every revolver causes 2 negative points. The number in brackets (10x) shows how many Wild Shots cards carry a revolver. This means that in round 1 a player can lose at most 20 negative points.
Round Sequence
A round consists of 10 tricks and always proceeds as follows:
- The active player reveals the top card of the Snake Oil draw pile. The symbol shown on it is the active trump (for this trick).
- The active player plays 1 Wild Shots card from their hand. Then the other players, in clockwise order, each also play 1 Wild Shots card.
- It is determined who won the trick, and that player becomes the new active player.
- Important: before the new active player leads the next trick, they reveal 1 new Snake Oil card, which determines the new active trump (for that trick).
- The round ends when all cards have been played.
- An intermediate scoring takes place according to the round overview card. The negative points for each player are noted.
- All Wild Shots cards (including the cards set aside) are shuffled and each player again receives 10. All Snake Oil cards are also shuffled and placed again as a face-down draw pile.
- The active player begins a new round.
Example: not all players can follow suit, the highest trump wins
Player A is the active player and plays the red 2. Player B follows with the red 4. Player C follows with the red 10. Player D cannot follow suit and plays the black 7. Player D wins the trick, even though they did not follow suit, because their black trump 7 is higher than the red trump 4 played by Player B.
Example: all players follow suit, the sheriff star is trump
The active trump is the sheriff star. Player A is the active player and plays the red 8. Player B follows with the red 3. Player C follows with the red 9. Player D follows with the red 2. Player B wins the trick, even though their red 3 is lower than the red 8 and the red 9, because the card carries the trump symbol (here the sheriff star).
Important Terms
Trick (Stich)
In Wild Shots, the player who played the card with the highest value, or the highest card with a trump symbol, wins the trick. Follow-suit obligation applies (see Follow Suit). The player who wins a trick takes all the cards of that trick and places them face down in front of them. They become the new active player (see Round Sequence). A player may look at their own tricks at any time, or have the most recently won trick shown to them if they did not win it themselves.
Follow Suit (Farbzwang)
Every player must play a card of the suit of the first card played in the trick. So players must follow suit. There is no obligation to win the trick: the card played does not have to be higher in value than the card(s) played before it. If a player has no card of the matching suit in hand, they may play a card with a trump symbol or any other card.
Trump (Trumpf)
Which symbol is trump in the active trick is determined by the Snake Oil card that was revealed. A new Snake Oil card must be revealed before each trick.
- If only one player plays a card with the trump symbol, that player wins the trick.
- If several players play a card with a trump symbol, the player who played the highest card with a trump symbol wins the trick.
- If no player plays a card with a trump symbol, the card with the highest value of the suit that the active player played wins the trick.
Example: classic trick (no trump), all players follow suit
Player A is the active player and plays the red 5. Player B follows with the red 1, Player C with the red 7, and Player D with the red 2. Player C wins the trick, because their red 7 is the card with the highest value.
Scoring
At the end of each round, every player totals their negative points according to how many cards in their tricks cause hits under the round overview card.
Example: scoring after the 2nd round, cowboy hats. Player A has the following cards in their tricks: red 2, red 3 (sheriff star), red 8 (cowboy hats), red 9 (revolvers), red 1, black 9 (cowboy hat), green 9 (revolvers) and red 7. Two of these cards show a cowboy hat. Player A scores 6 negative points (2 x -3).
End of the Game
The game ends after the 4th round. The player with the fewest negative points in total wins the game and becomes the new sheriff of Silver City.