How good is your Poker Face?

Sheriff of Nottingham is a bluffing game with a very simple premise – it’s Border Force: the Board Game.

In Sheriff of Nottingham, 3-6 players are merchants trying to get rich quick by bringing goods through the Nottingham tollbooth and into the city to sell. You could be an honest trader, bringing in a cornucopia of apples, cheese, chickens, and bread to earn your riches, or…..you could smuggle valuable goods into the city right under the nose of the Sheriff!

Every round, one player is made Sheriff. The other players then stuff up to 5 goods into their bag before sending it in for inspection. They then look the sheriff in the eye and declare (truthfully or otherwise) what they have in the bag. However, they cannot lie about how many things are in the bag, they cannot declare any contraband items, and they can only declare one type of good. For example, they could say that there are “four chickens” in the bag, but couldn’t say “three crossbows” or “two chickens and two cheeses”.

The sheriff has one decision to make: open the bag, or let the merchant through untouched?

If the sheriff catches any undeclared goods in the bag, the merchant pays the sheriff a fine. But, if the sheriff opens a bag where the merchant was telling the truth, the sheriff pays the merchant! This makes every round a cowboy-duel standoff, a battle of wits between two players to see who has the best poker face.

Everything, and I mean everything is scrutinised. Did the merchant make a weird sound when declaring the goods? Are they fidgeting? Is that player famous for lying? The merchant, on other hand, is going bananas trying not to break character. Or, better yet, they may even fake a subtle tell to trick the sheriff into thinking that they did smuggle something in when they didn’t!

Then, in the middle of the staring contest, the merchant makes a move.

It’s a bold strategy, let’s see if it plays out.

They put 3 coins on the pouch and say, “This is taking too long. Take the 3 coin and let me through”

That’s right, players can – and are encouraged to – bribe one another. This final layer of trickery sends the mind games into overdrive. That simple cowboy duel is now a cowboy duel in a bouncy castle, with guns that are loaded half with real bullets and bullets made out of…pepper? It throws everything into chaos, and timing the bribe at the right time can throw the sheriff off just enough so that they make the wrong decision.

Each player gets to be sheriff twice in each game, and then scores are counted up. Players count up the money they have, the value of goods they’ve brought into Nottingham, and set bonuses (players with the most of each legal good get bonus points), and a winner is crowned. This entire shakedown takes place in a comfortable 20-45 minutes, making it a great game to bring out on a lazy evening, or in between heavier games. It is silly enough to be played casually, but the thrill of being lied to is more than enough to make you want to play again.

This is the second edition of the game, which comes with a few expansions ready to go. These expansions add incentives for sneaking in contraband, and include fun modules like temporary laws and contracts to fulfil.

If you’re on the hunt for a quick, exciting game to play with your friends and family, Sheriff of Nottingham has a great kick to it. Not only is it a great feat of strength, but it’s also got great strength of feet.