Arcane Wonders / £24.99 / 3 – 5 Players / 60 mins / Age 8+ 

Sheriff of Nottingham is a fast paced, engaging experience that provides fun for all!  Players step into the shoes of the Sheriff himself, looking to inspect other players, acting as merchants, as they attempt to bring goods into the city.  Will players go the safe route and bring legal goods into the city or risk it all to smuggle contraband in under the Sheriff’s nose?  Profits await the bold but your fate, the Sheriff holds! – Arcane Wonders

 

Why did we want it?
T – It was on TableTop! Wil Wheaton and co looked like they were having a blast.

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M – Table top, such a good program. This game would not have been one that I would have looked at, the theme doesn’t really drag me in, but I saw my wife’s eyes light up when it was shown and I knew she would be pulling the trigger. It’s one of the funny things that’s happening recently is that my Wife is getting more excitable about the games and purchasing more. The strange thing is that they are usually the go to games that we play and I’ve not seen her purchase a dud.

Why did we keep it?
T – Turns out our families are all just backstabbing cheaters! Which is fun when playing this game.
I cannot lie, just flat out cannot do it. I then also think my husband can’t lie to me and just let him get away with all the contraband had can stuff into those stupid little pouches.
It is a great game to play with others as you cant play with just two.

M – It’s awesome and it teaches you to put on a poker face. I never used to lie until I played this game and now I’m getting quite good at it… Is this a good thing?

Handy tips/techniques?
T – I can only recommend keeping an eye on everyone else and try to go for the most of each item. Although Chickens are harder, cuz they are worth more everyone goes for them, so I don’t really bother.
As Sheriff no one wants to bribe me, so I don’t get anything out of that either. In fact I pick on the one person telling the truth that round!!
As for trying to get contraband through, I try to keep it short and sweet with the Sheriff – but that obviously doesn’t work!!

M – Practice your poker face in the mirror before the game. Play a few games where you don’t pass any contraband then just load that pouch up with as many as you can and concentrate on that poker face. Then when they suddenly realise you are a lying bastard load up with all the same card, “Yeah, this is 5 Cheese” then watch as they don’t believe you, call your bluff and have to pay you a small fortune… WAAAaa Ha Ha!

Artwork
T – I love the character artwork. They each have a proper personality about them.
The little stands you have to collect your cards for market are well designed, with an area for each item/contriband.

M – Really good and the standee Sheriff is great.

Components
T – Comes with some fab little pouches to put cards into. I was a little concerned about the quality, they use a popper to open and I thought it would just rip the plastic after a few rounds. They seem to be holding up well. Luck of the draw as some have been known to come out the box and break straight away. Although publisher seems to sort out replacements hassle free.
I did toy with the idea of replacing them with something else, but it turns out that little popper and the sound it makes is fairly integral to the game. The ‘ POP’, ‘Uh-oh, Sheriff has done it now’ when the bag is opened just adds to the overall experience. So I don’t think I could replace them with something else now.
The game seems to come with a crazy amount of coins, like, we are never gonna use that many in a game. We use them to add up scores at the end though, so they help.

M – The pouches for this game really make the game fun. They make a fantastic “POP!” when they are opened and just waiting for it when the Sheriff has it in their hand is great. Also it’s nice to see publishers thinking about the box inserts with areas for the cards and coins.

How does it feel to win/lose?
T – I sorta hate this game. I cannot do the whole lying thing with contraband. So my general strategy is to go for all the bread, then cheese. So I only win once in a blue moon. Infact, I feel really let down and cheated when I see how much contraband other people get through and I just get caught each and every time.

M – Love this game and the feeling of getting one over on your friends when they see you have lied to them can almost be heart breaking at times… But BOOM! 5 Silk baby!

Summary
T – So I don’t like this game, I cant lie and I never win. That said, I love playing it and finding out just how cheeky everyone else is. The added bit of role play that we encourage makes it more interesting – getting into character with whole back stories and all sorts! As for this being an 8+ game, not sure I would want to introduce kids to this level of corruption so young!!! Mind you, they would probably be the best at all the sneaky backstabbing :0)

M – Love this game and I like that fact it can teach life skills, like how to lie to your friends… yeah Ok so it has a bit of a down side with the whole lying thing but yeah I love the tension it brings with those poppers.

For more info check out Arcane Wonders