Tabletop games
Sheriff of Nottingham
Sérgio Halaban, André Zatz2014
- players
- 3–5
- minutes
- 60
- years
- 14+
In the box
Goods cards: legal goods and contraband · Merchant bags · Gold coins · Merchant boards · Sheriff marker
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designers
- Sérgio Halaban, André Zatz
- Mechanics
- Betting and BluffingNegotiationHand ManagementSet Collection
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Each player tries to bring as many goods as possible into town, honest or not, to finish the richest. Each round, one player is the Sheriff: the merchants secretly put one to five cards in their bag and announce their exact number and a single legal good, then the Sheriff inspects or lets the bags through, after negotiating. A lying merchant who is inspected pays penalties, an honest one is compensated by the Sheriff; when everyone has been Sheriff twice (three times with three players), the richest player wins.
The rules, step by step
Setup
1 bag, 1 stand each, 6 Goods cards, 1st Sheriff chosen
- Each player receives a bag, a merchant stand, gold and a hand of six Goods cards.
- Form the draw pile and two face-up discard piles.
- Choose the first Sheriff.
How to play
1 to 5 cards in bag, Declare, negotiate, Inspect or let through
- Each round, one player is the Sheriff and the others are merchants.
- Market: each merchant may discard cards and take as many back, from the draw pile or the discard piles, to return to six.
- Each merchant secretly puts one to five cards in their bag, then tells the Sheriff their exact number and a single legal good.
- The Sheriff inspects the bags of their choice or lets them through. Anyone can negotiate: gold, promises, goods.
- Bag let through: its entire contents go on the merchant's stand, contraband included.
- Bag inspected and honest: the Sheriff pays the merchant the penalty of each card.
- Bag inspected and false: the merchant keeps the cards truly declared, loses the others and pays their penalty to the Sheriff.
Scoring
Gold left, Goods on your stand, King and Queen bonuses
- Gold remaining.
- The printed value of each good on your stand, legal or contraband.
- King and Queen bonuses: for each legal good, the largest and second-largest number of cards score a bonus.
End of the game
Sheriff twice each, 3 times with 3 players, Richest wins
- The game ends when everyone has been Sheriff twice (three times with three players).
- The richest player wins.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
Can the number declared be false?
No. The number of cards in the bag is always exact; only their type can be a lie.
Can you declare contraband?
No. You always declare a legal good, even if the bag contains none.