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Saddle up, partner. It's time to ride your horses to the Deadwood Corral -- the worst movie studio in the entire world, bar none. The scripts are incomprehensible, the budgets are miniscule, the sets are bad, and the actors are worse. These actors consider themselves lucky to get a job as a Dead Man, much less a premium role like being Dragged Behind Train.

You are one of these actors.

You'll be working here for four days, wandering semi-aimlessly about the lots, taking parts in some of the worst movies ever made, and maybe upgrading your status a little bit. (People think higher status folk are good actors. They aren't, of course, but people *think* that.) Why are you putting yourself through this, you ask? Of course: money.

You'll be walking about a fairly nice-quality board (for the money); of course, you'll have to tape it together yourself like all Cheapass games. You'll try to find a movie that you can get lots of those important dollars from, and you'll sit there working on it until it finishes.

There are two strategies: you can either work as a main character, or as a bit part. Main characters hope the scene finishes quickly as they get paid at the end; bit parts hope it takes forever as they get paid per turn. Scenes have a rating for how hard they are to complete, between 1 and 6. Every turn, you'll roll a die, and if you roll the difficulty rating or higher, the movie will advance one place. Two or three advances usually finishes a scene.

The higher the scene's rating, the more money main characters get once they finish the scene. Main characters also get more screen credits (used to increase in status and take better roles) than bit parts. Bit parts get a reliable payment every turn and can sometimes sabotage main characters, reducing their status.

The movies and scenes are great fun. You'll be amused at films like "How They Get Milk: Not Like You'd Expect!", "The Day They Washed With Rum," and "Taffy. Because Gum Kills." You'll probably pick favorite roles, like "Falls From Balcony," "Dragged Behind Train," "Suprised Bison," and "Pharoah Imhotep."

Unfortunately, at this point you'll probably be getting slightly bored of the mechanic. What you mostly will do is sit around and roll one die every turn. Every turn.

The first time my elite cadre of playtesters and myself played Deadwood, we loved the films, we laughed, we had a good time. The second time, we were still amused, we picked out our favorite cards, we decided to play again. After the third time, we all decided that sitting rolling one die every turn was getting boring and we chose not to play again. Something like this would probably happen to you.

So, should you buy it? The answer is yes if you really like bad westerns, you don't mind only playing Deadwood a few times or not very often, or you want something new for a temporary diversion.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Deadwood
Author: James Ernest and Rick Fish Category: Board Game Company/Publisher: Cheapass Games Line: n/a Page count: n/a ISBN: n/a SKU: CAG020 Playtest Review by Sam Lindsay-Levine on 09/07/99. Genre tags: Comedy Old_West	Saddle up, partner. It's time to ride your horses to the Deadwood Corral -- the worst movie studio in the entire world, bar none. The scripts are incomprehensible, the budgets are miniscule, the sets are bad, and the actors are worse. These actors consider themselves lucky to get a job as a Dead Man, much less a premium role like being Dragged Behind Train. You are one of these actors. You'll be working here for four days, wandering semi-aimlessly about the lots, taking parts in some of the worst movies ever made, and maybe upgrading your status a little bit. (People think higher status folk are good actors. They aren't, of course, but people think that.) Why are you putting yourself through this, you ask? Of course: money. You'll be walking about a fairly nice-quality board (for the money); of course, you'll have to tape it together yourself like all Cheapass games. You'll try to find a movie that you can get lots of those important dollars from, and you'll sit there working on it until it finishes. There are two strategies: you can either work as a main character, or as a bit part. Main characters hope the scene finishes quickly as they get paid at the end; bit parts hope it takes forever as they get paid per turn. Scenes have a rating for how hard they are to complete, between 1 and 6. Every turn, you'll roll a die, and if you roll the difficulty rating or higher, the movie will advance one place. Two or three advances usually finishes a scene. The higher the scene's rating, the more money main characters get once they finish the scene. Main characters also get more screen credits (used to increase in status and take better roles) than bit parts. Bit parts get a reliable payment every turn and can sometimes sabotage main characters, reducing their status. The movies and scenes are great fun. You'll be amused at films like "How They Get Milk: Not Like You'd Expect!", "The Day They Washed With Rum," and "Taffy. Because Gum Kills." You'll probably pick favorite roles, like "Falls From Balcony," "Dragged Behind Train," "Suprised Bison," and "Pharoah Imhotep." Unfortunately, at this point you'll probably be getting slightly bored of the mechanic. What you mostly will do is sit around and roll one die every turn. Every turn. The first time my elite cadre of playtesters and myself played Deadwood, we loved the films, we laughed, we had a good time. The second time, we were still amused, we picked out our favorite cards, we decided to play again. After the third time, we all decided that sitting rolling one die every turn was getting boring and we chose not to play again. Something like this would probably happen to you. So, should you buy it? The answer is yes if you really like bad westerns, you don't mind only playing Deadwood a few times or not very often, or you want something new for a temporary diversion. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 2 (Sparse)