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Our group does like a bit of Bang!, but one of the problems we have with it is this: there's no reliable way to guess how long a game of it is going to take, which, combined with the fact that players can get knocked out very early on, means that sometimes it goes on and on long past the point where some people in the room or even still playing are fed up with it.

As such, can your gunfighter elect to do the decent thing and shoot themselves in the head to spare themselves the misery? More importantly, if you shoot yourself from behind a Barrel, do you get to draw to see if your barrel protects you from damage?

(It's been a while since I last asked a question here, so I'm glad to be getting back into the fray with an issue as complex and important as this one.)

user1873
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thesunneversets
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    Why don't you just quit playing the game at that point and either start over or move on to a new game. Games are meant to be fun. If it ceases to be fun, then its not worth continuing. I have no problem with the question and in some cases might have strategic value, but for your specific reasons for the question, it just makes sense to me to just end the game. – Charles Boyung Apr 19 '11 at 18:19
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    @Charles: Presumably it's fun for some of the players at the table. If it's fun for nobody, then yes, they should all quit. If just you are having no fun, then maybe finding a funny, in-game way to leave is the best option, rather than just walking away? – thesunneversets Apr 19 '11 at 18:40
  • I'll give it to you in that scenario, definitely. – Charles Boyung Apr 19 '11 at 18:48
  • Since we're talking about custom rules, I'd safely say that if you allow to shoot yourself, of course the barrel will not protect you! The barrel protects you because you are hiding behind it to protect you from other people firing at you, which clearly does not apply in this case. – o0'. May 03 '11 at 10:24
  • @Lo'oris: Though you could be hiding inside it, in which case it would be hard to manipulate your gun effectively, no elbow room etc... – thesunneversets May 03 '11 at 17:08

3 Answers3

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You can get yourself shot by playing a Duel and then not responding if the person you dueling with discards a BANG! Besides that and Dynamite, I don't know of other ways to hurt yourself with your own cards.

However, there are other ways to solve your problems:

(1) Problem of Player Elimination: Add the unofficial BANG! expansion, Death Mesa, to the game. In this expansion, dead players continue on as ghosts, draw from a specialized deck, and influence who wins (all ghosts, regardless of role, can still achieve victory). Visit http://bangcardgame.blogspot.com/p/death-mesa-expansion.html

(2) Problem of BANG! Dragging On: Give BANG! an internal clock through adding one of the following house rules: - Play only with 3 life point characters. If you have Dodge City, this gives you 7 characters; The Bullet, 8 characters; with Wild West Show, 9. Or make all 4 life point characters have 3 life points and only play with them. - Players can shoot as many players as they want per turn (given distance constraints), but they can only fire 1 BANG! at each player per turn. - If things are really getting slow, you can impose a new rule after a certain amount of rounds: Beer and/or Missed! are not reshuffled into the deck. They are placed in a separate discard pile and cannot be reused.

If you are interested in different house rules, visit http://bangcardgame.blogspot.com/p/fistful-of-bang-variants.html

Martin Pulido
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No,

From a message board post by the Designer of Bang!

As I said, the "no-killing-yourself" rule is the official one to prevent unfairy behaviours in tournaments.

However, if you sure to play with fair people, you can allow self-shot, which adds strategic elements to the game as well (think of Bart Cassidy, for example).

Pat Ludwig
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  • What a spoilsport! But okay, if Bart Cassidy is hiding in a barrel in a game where self-shooting is allowed, is it harder for him to hit himself? Inquiring minds need to know... – thesunneversets Apr 19 '11 at 18:41
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    Also, I find the idea of a serious, high-level Bang! tournament quite an amusing one! – thesunneversets Apr 19 '11 at 18:47
  • @the - I'd play in a Bang! tournament :) – Pat Ludwig Apr 19 '11 at 19:05
  • @thesun I guess the question is really whether or not blue cards, like Barrel, are optional. Obviously Jail and Dynamite can't be optional, so something would have to differentiate the other cards. If I had to make a decision right now, I'd say they are not optional. – Todd Apr 19 '11 at 21:37
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Could you not just use the High Noon Expansion which limits the game to around 13 to 15 ish rounds and has the ghost town card so players come back for a single round?

Nytram12
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