Game created by Daniel Gallagher for Round 5, Challenge 8. Based on party games like Mafia and Wink Murder.

Overview

The game's ideology is "gun violence" and the theory that when everyone has a gun, there are far more victims. The cowboy flavor of the game evolved over time.

Setup

To set up, you must select one person in the group to be IT, or the "perp". We selected our perp by handing out playing cards at random: whoever got the joker was the perp. Players must keep their markers or cards on hand for later in the game. When they die, they reveal their marker. A 45-second timer is also necessary; a digital one that can be programmed to go off with church bells or gunshots is ideal.

Play

Each round, the players stand in a circle, facing each other. Each player makes a finger gun with both hands, forefinger pointed forward, thumb pointed up. Place your guns to your sides to holster them.

The round starts with the "talking round". Players are encouraged to talk freely, and attempt to discover who the "perp" is. The talking round is the only time when players may aim their guns: point one of both of your finger guns at other players, thumb pointed up to make it clear you have not yet fired, but choose carefully: you only have two shots, one in each gun, to last the entire game.

When the talking round ends and the alarm goes off, the QUICK-DRAW begins. You may put down one or both of your thumbs to fire your finger gun(s) (if you do not, you do not use your shot(s)! Re-holster your gun). You cannot aim or re-aim your finger guns, only fire them! Make it clear who you have shot, whether with eye contact or shouting.

If you are shot, die as dramatically as possible and reveal your marker. If the perp is shot, any player who shot the perp and lived is a Hero. Any player who shot the perp, but was shot themselves, is awarded a Posthumous Medal. Anyone who survives is Deputized. Anyone who dies, dies.

If the perp has not been shot at the end of the round, re-holster your guns. If you have used one or both of your shots, put one or both of your hands behind your back. play continues with surviving players in a new Talking Round.

It is very unlikely in such a gun-happy town, but if the perp manages to become the sole survivor, they become the Crown Prince of Crime, or any other title they deem worthy of their own majesty.

Changes

As the game was revisited in Part 9, there was time for many changes.

• We tested both one-minute and thirty-second "talking rounds", but in the end, forty-five seconds ending with high-noon style clocktower bells was perfect.
• Initially, players had one shot per round. However, this meant there was never really any incentive not to shoot someone. While this matched the hidden ideology, gameplay is ultimately more important. 
• Originally, players could fire at any time after the timer ran out. Adding the quick-draw increased the tension.
• We experimented with putting players who shot innocents in "jail", preventing them from shooting in future rounds, but the limited bullets made this unnecessary.
• We also experimented with when the players should reveal their cards and markers. At first, all players revealed their cards at the end of the round, but this meant there was never much tension built, nor did games last very long. Though we went back and forth several times, we ultimately decided that having a player reveal their card or marker as soon as they died along with having multiple rounds increased the tension among living players in future rounds.
• At first, players had to keep their guns holstered for the entire "talking round". Forcing them to aim, but not fire, added some extra dynamics, suspicion, and heated interaction to the "talking round".

Example Play

This game was played early-on, before the rules about aiming during the talking round.

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