OutLawed!
OutLawed! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Become the new deputy by apprehending the highest value of outlaws.
Contents
- 5 sets of 11 Outlaw cards (one set per suit: Spades, Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds, Horseshoes)
- 5 Player reference cards
- One Starting Player card (the Deputy Badge)
Gameplay Flow at a Glance
- Set-Up: Each player starts by taking their deck of Outlaw cards and discarding one card randomly. The player with the Deputy Badge goes first each round. The badge gets passed at the end of the round.
- Claim Phase: Each player plays a card from their hand, face down, in front of them. This is known as their PLAYED card. When they play a card, the players also say OUT LOUD what card they are playing. This is known as their CLAIM. A claim does NOT have to be truthful!
- Apprehend Phase: After each player plays/claims an Outlaw card, players simultaneously reveal their cards and see if they have met their Outlaw's "Apprehend If" condition. If a player successfully apprehends their Outlaw, they place them face down, in a line, on their side of the play area. If a player fails the "Apprehend If" condition, they simply take their Outlaw card back into their hand to possibly play again in another round.
- Pass Phase: After the Apprehend Phase, the Deputy Badge card is passed to the next player and a new round is started. Rounds continue until at least one player has apprehended 7 cards. At that time all players add up the total Reward value of ALL their apprehended cards and the player with the highest total Reward value wins!
1. Set-Up
NOTE: If this is your first time playing OutLawed!, we suggest you play the BEGINNER game with variant rules for the set-up and end game conditions.
- Separate the Outlaw decks into 5 decks according to the suits on the back of the cards. There are 11 cards in each set.
- Each player takes one set of cards from any suit.
- BEGINNER: Remove any Outlaw cards that DO NOT have the small badge icon in the lower left corner of the box. They will not be used for the BEGINNER game.
- 2-PLAYERS ONLY: Remove any Outlaw cards that DO NOT have the bullets icon in the lower right corner and set them aside. They will be used for the 2-PLAYER game.
- Each player shuffles their set of cards and discards one card randomly from the game. (Place this card face down underneath the reference card, keeping it a secret from other players.)
- Players then keep the rest of their Outlaw deck in their hand.
- Choose a starting player and place the Deputy Badge card face up on the table in front of that player.
How to Play
OutLawed! is played over the course of multiple rounds. Each round consists of 3 phases: CLAIM, APPREHEND, and PASS.
2. Claim Phase
Starting with the player with the Deputy Badge card and proceeding clockwise, each player takes turns doing two things:
- Play one Outlaw card from your hand face down onto the table. This is referred to as the PLAYED Outlaw.
- Claim (announce OUT LOUD so all other players can hear) which card you are playing. THIS CAN BE A LIE, you do not always have to be truthful with your claim. This is referred to as the CLAIMED Outlaw.
Once each player has played an Outlaw face down on the play surface and made their claim, move on to the Apprehend Phase.
3. Apprehend Phase
Players simultaneously reveal all their Played Outlaw cards and check to see if they have met their Outlaw's "Apprehend If" condition. This is located at the bottom section of each Outlaw card.
- If a player has SUCCESSFULLY met their Outlaw's "Apprehend If" condition, that player takes their Outlaw card and places it face down in their Jail (the area directly in front of themselves on the table). Players must be able to see how many Outlaws are in each player's Jail.
- If a player DOES NOT meet the "Apprehend If" condition for the Outlaw they played, or if another Outlaw blocks them from apprehending their Outlaw card, the player takes their card back into their hand to be used in another round.
4. Pass Phase
After the Apprehend Phase, pass the Deputy Badge card to the next player in clockwise order and begin a new round.
End of Game
The game ends when at least one player gets 7 Outlaw cards in their Jail (4 cards in a BEGINNER game). At that time, each player reveals all the cards in their Jail and adds up all the Reward Values of those cards (located at the lower right corner of the Outlaw portrait).
NOTES: Stretch's Reward value is $150 multiplied by the number of players in the game. Dirty Duke ALWAYS sends Lionel back to players' hands, even if the player(s) playing Lionel were telling the truth!
The player with the highest total value of Outlaws in their Jail wins the game and gets hired as the new deputy!
If there is a tie: the winning player is the player with the lowest valued card discarded at the beginning of the game. If there is a still a tie, the player closest to whomever currently has the Deputy Badge card in front of them, in turn order.
Alternate Casual/Pub Scoring
The game ends when at least one player gets 7 Outlaw cards in their Jail (4 in a BEGINNER game). At that time, the player with the most Apprehended Outlaws is the winner. If there is a still a tie, the player closest to whomever currently has the Deputy Badge card in front of them, in turn order.
Anatomy of a Card
- A: Outlaw's name
- B: Reward Value
- C: Beginner Game Badge icon
- D: 2-Player Game Bullets icon
- E: "Apprehend If" condition for that Outlaw