Calaboose

Players take the roles of sheriffs in the Old West, capturing outlaws and building face-up jails. Each jail holds up to five outlaws, whose strength and value affect how they can be placed and defended. On a turn, a player adds an outlaw to an empty space in their own jail or replaces a weaker outlaw in another player's jail. A targeted player can eliminate the attacker with one of their own outlaws, sending that defender to another jail and potentially starting a chain reaction. Sets of matching outlaws score more than individual cards, while higher-value outlaws are generally weaker, requiring players to balance risk and reward as the jails develop.

Players: 2–5 best 5
Playing time: 30 min
Age: 12+
Complexity: 1.1 / 5