Will Garris

High Stakes of the Wild West!

Durango is a tactical card game where 2-5 players compete to grow a cattle herd faster than their rivals. Recruit hires to your party, and perform their unique actions. Buy cattle with any coal or silver your hires produce each turn. Strengthen or rebuild your party, manage different cattle breeds, and steal hires and cattle from other players. But watch out — calamities can change the rules in a heartbeat. You reckon you’ve got what it takes?

Components

The game consists of the following parts:
● 1 Draw Deck – Includes five card types:
- 25 Town Hires
- 25 Frontier Hires
- 8 Companions
- 6 Items
- 2 Calamity Triggers
● 1 Calamity Deck – Contains 10 Calamity cards
● 1 Cattle Yard – Contains 50 Cattle cards (including 14 Blue Ribbon Cattle).

Objective

Be the first player to achieve either of the following:
● 10 total Cattle, or
● 5 Blue Ribbon Cattle.

When either condition is met, the game ends immediately, and that player wins.

Card Types

Below are examples of all card types.

Town Hires:

Feature unique actions, and produce Silver each turn.

Frontier Hires:
Feature unique actions, and produce Coal each turn.

Companions & Items:

Feature actions that interrupt other players, or ongoing actions that continue each turn.

Calamities & Calamity Trigger:

Disrupt the gameplay with actions that all players perform.

Cattle:

Blue Ribbon Cattle have a ribbon symbol below their name.

Setup

Step 1: Shuffle all Town Hires, Frontier Hires, Companions, Items, and Calamity Trigger cards together and stack face-down to form the Draw Deck. For a 2-3 player game, only use 1 Calamity Trigger card.

Step 2: Shuffle all Calamity cards together and stack face-down to form the Calamity Deck.

Step 3: Shuffle all Cattle cards together and stack face-up to form the Yard.

Step 4: There is no player setup. Choose a starting player at random, and proceed clockwise.

Key Terms & Resources

Party: The set of cards you currently have in play.

● Your party may contain up to 4 cards, unless an ongoing action allows for more. If adding a card to your party would exceed this limit, you must first discard a card from your party to make room.

● Cards in your party are to be kept face-up.

Reserve: A slot you may use to hold a card for later use.

● Your reserve may contain only 1 card.

● The card in your reserve is to be kept face-down.

● Reserved cards are not considered in a party and do not produce Coal or Silver.

● Reserved cards are not affected by actions, unless explicitly noted by the action.

Coal:

Silver:

Gameplay

Each player’s turn consists of the following 3 phases:

1. Selection Phase:

● Draw 3 cards from the Draw Deck.

● Perform one of the following:

- Select one card, and add it to your party.

- Select one card and add it to your reserve, if your reserve is empty.

- Add your reserve card to your party. Then, select one card and add it to your party.

- Add your reserve card to your party. Then, select one card and add it to your reserve, if your reserve is empty.

● Remember, if adding a card to your party would exceed the limit for your party size, you must first discard a card from your party. Unless otherwise stated by an ongoing action, your party size is limited to 4 cards. Your party can be a mix of any Town Hires, Frontier Hires, Items, or Companions.

2. Action Phase:

● Perform the action for any hires added to your party this turn, in the order in which they were added.

● Actions are written at the bottom of the card, below the graphic of the hire.

● Some actions allow you to steal, swap, or discard another player's cards. When performing these actions, apply the following rules:

- Actions may only target cards in a player's party. Cards in a reserve cannot be targeted unless the action specifically states otherwise (example: "Discard the reserve of another player.").

- When you steal or swap a card, you do not also perform the action of the card you acquired unless your current action specifically states otherwise (example: “Steal 1 Hire from another player and perform its action.”).

- When you steal or swap a card with an ongoing action (ie. items and certain companions), the ongoing action continues to be performed for the player who has acquired that card.

- When you steal or swap a card, you may not add it to your reserve or discard it. You must add it your party.

- As described in the Buy Phase section, some hires produce Coal or Silver each turn. Stolen or swapped hires continue to produce this amount of Coal or Silver for their new party.

● Some actions use specific terms. Refer to the definitions below for their exact meanings:

Card: Any Town Hire, Frontier Hire, Item, or Companion

Hire: Any Town Hire or Frontier Hire

Ongoing: Action is performed each turn, until card is discarded.

Interrupt: Action affects other players. Add to your party during another player's turn to perform.

3. Buy Phase:

● During your Action Phase, you might perform actions that produce Coal or Silver. Add up all Coal and Silver produced by your actions this turn.

● Additionally, some hires in your party will produce Coal or Silver each turn — shown as a number over a Coal or Silver symbol on the card's lower-right corner. Add up all Coal and Silver produced by your hires to your total (including the amount produced by the stolen or swapped hires you have acquired).

● Cattle may be bought for either 5 Coal or 5 Silver. Buy as many cattle as you can afford.

● When buying cattle, apply the following rules:

- You cannot combine Coal and Silver for a single purchase. (example: You cannot buy cattle for 3 Coal and 2 Silver. Each cattle must be purchased with either 5 Coal or 5 Silver)

- You may buy as many cattle as you can afford, there is no limit to the number of cattle you may buy on your turn.

- You may use both Coal and Silver during the same Buy Phase, as long as each cattle is purchased with a full set of 5 Coal or 5 Silver. (example: You may buy 3 cattle using 5 Coal and 10 Silver).

- Unspent Coal or Silver do not carry over. They expire at the end of your turn.

● After the Buy Phase, your turn ends. Pass play clockwise to the next player.

Calamities

During the game, players may draw a Calamity Trigger from the Draw Deck. When this happens, proceed as follows:

● Finish drawing cards, then stop your turn.

● Reveal the top Calamity card from the Calamity Deck.

● All players must perform the Calamity's action as instructed.

● Discard the Calamity Trigger into the discard pile.

● Continue the rest of your turn. You may not draw another card to replace the Calamity Trigger.

Please also note the following rules regarding Calamities and Calamity Trigger cards:

● The Calamity Trigger never occupies a party slot.

● Calamities with ongoing actions continue to affect all players each turn until a new Calamity is revealed.

● When a Calamity is triggered, place it face-up beside the Calamity Deck. Whenever a new Calamity is triggered, place it on top of the previous Calamity. If all Calamities are triggered during a game, shuffle the Calamities together to form a new Calamity Deck.

End of Game

The game ends immediately when a player has acquired:

● 10 total Cattle, or

● 5 Blue Ribbon Cattle.

Key Reminders

● Party Limit: 4 cards (unless increased by an action).

● Reserve Limit: 1 card.

● Cattle Cost: 5 Coal or 5 Silver per Cattle.

● Winning: 10 Cattle or 5 Blue Ribbon Cattle.

● Calamity Trigger: Draw and Reveal Calamity → All Players Perform Action → Discard Trigger.

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Thank you!-Will