BANG! (La Pallottola!) The Bullet!

BANG! Is an Italian game. When you get your game, you'll notice that everything is written in two languages: Italian and English (there are two sets of rules in the respective languages). My friends and I have found this to be quite an addicting game, and has been known to be our game of choice for months on end (some got a little burnt out on it, so we had to switch it up). As someone who speaks a little bit of Italian, I really enjoy having the Italian printed on the cards. I use it as a tiny bit of practice (as well as a tool to annoy my friends from time to time).This is an incredibly fun game that's best played in a larger group, though not necessarily best learned in a large group. There's a lot of information thrown at you the first time you sit down to play, which can be overwhelming to a first-time player. I think that the best approach to teaching a new player is to just play and explain what cards mean as you play. Some things that also make it easier include: (1) playing with the base, instead of some of the extras (like green cards) and (2) playing with role cards face up. If you have a group of people who have played before and have one or two new people, taking a person or two who has played before and pairing them with a new person can sometimes help too (as long as the experienced player isn't doing all of the playing). Despite all of the new stuff to learn, it's a pretty easy game to pick up.Many players feel that the elimination element is the biggest drawback of the game. Included in The Bullet are the High Noon cards, on of which allows eliminated players to come back for one turn. If that's not enough of a solution for you (which is definitely understandable), my friends also found the Death Mesa expansion. If it's something you're interested in, I'd encourage you to look it up... just know that playing with ghost players all the time can/will extend your game play and definitely adds an extra element to the game.As for what's included, at least one other reviewer mentioned the lack of mats in the bullet version. As someone who has played with just the original base game, The Bullet does lack the mats and bullet tokens. However, the mats and tokens don't actually add anything to the game. My friends and I found them to be rather useless and never used them anyway. For what The Bullet offers, you have everything you need (though know that it does not include every expansion available). Additionally, The Bullet will give you 5 ready to play and 2 blank extra cards you wouldn't get through buying the base + high noon, dodge city, and a fistful of cards expansions.It's an excellent starter set for players looking to get into the game. Plus, how can you resist that shiny sheriff badge?!.

This is an awesome game. I played it recently with a group of friends and I knew afterwards that I HAD to have it. It is very reminiscent of a game I used to play back in high school and college with my buddies called MAFIA, except this game uses cards and rules to give the game more of a structure, which I like.The game is an old Western Card game, which strangely, for a reason I have yet to determine, is written in Italian (don't worry, there are also English captions underneath the Italian). It plays best in medium-large groups, ideally 5-7 people, but we've played with groups as large as 12 before. Upon setup, each player is secretly assigned one of 4 roles: the Sheriff, an Outlaw, a Deputy, or a Renegade, and each player's objective in the game depends on the role they have been assigned:- Sheriff is trying to kill the Outlaws and Renegades- The Outlaws are trying to kill the Sheriff- The Deputies are trying to protect the Sheriff- The Renegades are trying to be the last one standing with the Sheriff, and then kill him one vs one.The only person who's role is known is the Sheriff, who reveals it at the beginning of the game. As the game progresses, you try to figure out who is who around you, and use weapons, various ability cards, and other items to try to accomplish your objective.The game ends with either the Sheriff dies, or the Outlaws are all killed.If any of that sounds confusing, don't worry, once you play the game once or twice it becomes second nature.Pros:- Tons of fun. This has become our go-to game over the past month. People will literally text me during the day while I am at work asking when the next time we are going to "BANG" (their words, not mine).- This particular packaging includes A LOT- the original game, the first expansion (High Noon), the second expansion (Dodge City), and the third expansion (A Fistful of Cards).- Comes in a cool metal bullet-shaped case.Cons:- Can be a little complicated for newbies, especially with the expansion packs (you have the option to play without them, however)- Games can take quite a while, depending on the size and experience level of the group. I've had games of 8+ take over 2 hours. However, on the flip side, I've had games end in under 30 minutes.- It is an elimination game, which means that when someone is killed, they have to sit and watch until the game is over (with the exception of a few cards in the expansions which can bring dead players back to life). Can be frustrating for people if you have a large group and they die early in the game as this means they will be sitting and watching for a good 30 minutes or longer.All in all, this is definitely money worth spending.I would definitely recommend this to a friend (and have).