Wyatt Earp Review

A game that I bought last year while vacationing was Wyatt Earp.

Wyatt Earp is basically rummy with special cards. However, more specifically (in case you've never played rummy), here is what you do each turn... You may draw 2 cards from the deck or the one card on top of the discard pile. Next, you can play any number of cards from your hand (but only one Sheriff). When playing cards from your hand, the first time each "set" of outlaw cards is played, there must be at least three played (playing cards also puts reward money on the outlaws) - after that, you may play any number of them at a time. Finally, you must discard a card from your hand. This continues until the deck has run out twice or until a player runs out of cards in his hand. At this point, most of the robbers (based on what was played) are scored, with most of the money going to the player with the most "capture points" for that robber. Rinse and repeat (until someone has $25,000).

The first pro for Wyatt Earp is that it is a pretty fun, laid back game that basically anybody can play. (After all, you start the instructions with, "have you played rummy? Then you basically know how to play.") I like rummy; and so I like Wyatt Earp. It's not really a complicated game, but it can be fun to play with your non-gamer friends (and your gamer friends that need a break from strategy games).

The next pro for Wyatt Earp is the Sheriff cards. These cards are really what distinguish the game from rummy. Some of the things that Sheriff cards can do include: "hiding" your opponent's card set for a given outlaw, add points and/or money to an outlaw, draw extra cards, and ask an opponent for a specific outlaw card. These really do help the game, but do not really provide a drastic change - the primary cards that will be used include the "Hideout" (which hides an opponent's card set for a given outlaw) and "Wyatt Earp" (which counters "Hideout" or lets you draw extra cards).

Now for the main con for Wyatt Earp: the box is too big. Now, I realize that you're probably already thinking "really, that's it?" or "but this box is smaller than 90% of my game collection." You're right; however, compare it to a normal deck of cards. If I were to play Wyatt Earp without the Sheriff cards (we call this "rummy" - have you noticed a theme? In case you missed it, the theme is "Wyatt Earp is rummy"), then I would only need a standard deck of cards. A deck of cards is way smaller than Wyatt Earp (easily fitting in my pocket) and is also much more versatile (I can play Bridge, Euchre, Spades, Hearts, Pinochle, etc). Therefore, I'm probably not ever going to carry around Wyatt Earp - and since I don't carry it around, I'll never wind up playing it.

Now that I've typed all of that, I'm going to give up on this review. Hopefully you know enough about the game (it is rummy) that you can decide whether or not you like it (do you like rummy?). That's really the point of these anyway - to let you know whether you would like a game or not, and to let you know why I do or don't like it. Hopefully you have enough information to make that decision by now.

Overall, I give Wyatt Earp a 7.5/10. It's a fun game. However, again, I can play rummy with a normal deck of cards, so I'm going to wind up getting rid of my copy.

If Wyatt Earp sounds interesting, you might also check out Dixit, Glory to Rome, and Innovation.