Sheriff of Nottingham - Shut Up & Sit Down Review

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First published on ​​October 24, 2014.

[sinisterhunter]

Best moment we ever had in this game:

My wife (the Sheriff) "So what is actually keeping me from opening this bag?"
Friend-with-no-hesitation: "Fear"

Best and greatest bluff ever

[Bynx]

In my opinion, the expansion and the app fixes all the flaws he mentioned. Scoring is easier and the modules in the expansion add a very nice later of depth and replayability

[ErikvO]

Best fun I had with this game was when I actually started to treat it as 'Customs: The Game'

Peoples reactions when
1. You offer anyone who honestly declares contraband a fair price (~3 gold each) when they're still picking up cards.
2. Someone is stupid enough to actually believe you.
3. When you actually honour your word.
4. When you make the same offer next round.
5. (optional, I didn't do this) When you open everyone's bag after they've put 5 contraband in it.

All are hilarious for different reasons.

[aftiley]

We played this a number of times in a pub. The poppers on the pouches were broken, and you are absoltely right it did detract from the game. Maybe it was just the people who we played against, but I found that I could win comfortalby by simply being honest and stockpiling lots of legal goods, which I think was a bit of a loophole.

[callopski]

This is my favourite game ever! Best with 4 or 5 people.
The Expansion pushes lying and trying to get through contraband.
In the original game you can often win by only using the legal goods every time.

[rmsgrey]

In the dim and distant past (1950 according to boardgamegeek), there was a card game published called "Contraband". One player is the Customs Officer.

During the game, the player to your right has a hand of 4 cards, and declares any sutiable items therein to the customs officer, who, after accepting payment for them, can choose to inspect the cards. If they do, they either pay compensation for a clean hand being searched, or collect fines for all undeclared items, and you'll draw a fresh hand of 4 cards to attempt to get through customs. If the hand reaches you unmolested, you have a choice - either you turn in your untrustworthy colleague - in which case you're liable for the compensation if they were honest, but get a flat bonus if they get caught out (fines go to the customs officer as usual). If you accept the cards instead, you look through them, choose one to discard, and draw a replacement. Either way, you then have a hand of 4 cards which you have to pass on, declaring any taxable items and paying the relevant duties before potentially being challenged.

Once the deck runs out, you change customs officer and shuffle the deck. At the end of the game, whoever has most money wins.

[Durtpsico]

I think that all bluffing games depends of the social interaction between players. In my group, Sheriff of Nottingham runs amazinhgly well because people love making roleplays. But, in some groups, people just play it without interaction and it looses too much fun. That same problem happen with Modern Art too. Even with this social interaction dependency, I still love this game. It is really fun, and if you recognize its limitations and put on the table with the right group, probably will be a very pleasure moment.

About the point system, I don't think it is complex.

[tracesigns]

Sheriff of Nottingham's one of those games where I really enjoy the moment to moment gameplay then start feeling weird when we're scoring? because I realize I had no strategy and no sense of how well I or anyone else was doing, so I never really knew when I should've been pushing it with a risky play. the few games I've played the winner didn't bluff once.

and that's fine, really, cause it's still just fun to play and who cares about winning, but as an exercise in design I feel like it could be improved.

[mohammedharoon]

Aaand 4 games in, the button rips....

[core]

I may have missed anyone mentioning this but there is a nice app that we use when we play. It acts as a timer and a way to calculate scores.

[rodgermccallister]

it only took my game group 3 games before the first bag broke. Now about 7 plays through almost every single bag is broken. I dont know if anyone else has this problem but its just not the same without that *snap* when you open the bag

[forceown]

As someone said I find that it is way to easy to win without bluffing. I also found that counting the points was really long first 2 times I played but it is really fast when you use the free app.

[imaloony]

You can get more card variety if you pick up the expansion to the game or any of the promo cards. That can add some nice variety to the game.

[danton]

when you take the cookies from the hotel Tea and Coffee room facilities

*CONTRABAND!*

[laynaTheLobster]

Finally! A review of a game I've actually played.

[Saktoth]

For real though get your mums recipe, it's so easy to follow a good cake recipe. And then you have cake.

[lepdoptero]

Here I am 8 years later to wonder what are the Matt's variants to improve this already good game! :D

[jshaffer]

I highly agree with everything he said. My biggest mark against the game (I played it at a bachelor party) is that it depends on the social situation. There is sometimes that one guy that won't take the time to negotiate with players. He'll open up the bag for each player, each time. It's infuriating. I like it, it creates good situations, but it has to be with people that are extroverted. And many board-game geeks are not.

[robmulholland]

SON is a poorly upgraded version of Milton Bradley's smuggle (1981) which just overcomplicates a really fun game.

[sarahevers]

My poppers died on the first game on my red bag