Gold Rush
Equipment purchases, gold nuggets, and the Shadow-Gunslingers variant.
Setup
Shuffle the 24 Equipment cards as a separate face-down pile. Reveal three cards face up as a market. Put the 30 gold nuggets in a shared supply. Players start with none of these. Shuffle the expansion’s eight characters into the character deck.
Earning nuggets
Whenever you cause another player to lose a life point by any means, take one nugget. If one effect wounds several players, take one per wound you caused. Keep nuggets visible. Use a substitute if the supply runs out.
Equipment actions
During phase two of your turn, you may repeat any of these actions as often as you can pay:
| Action | Cost and result |
|---|---|
| Buy equipment | Pay the face-up card’s cost. A brown card resolves immediately and goes face up under the Equipment deck; a black card stays in play. Refill the market immediately. |
| Remove equipment | Pay its printed cost plus one nugget to discard another player’s black equipment. They cannot prevent this. Return it face up under the Equipment deck. |
| Turn a Beer into gold | Play a Beer to take one nugget instead of healing. Other healing cards cannot be converted this way. |
Equipment cards cannot be targeted by Panic!, Cat Balou or similar effects. Duplicate names remain forbidden. On elimination, discard your equipment under the deck; Vulture Sam does not take it. If a face-up card appears while drawing, shuffle the equipment deck and start a new face-down pile.
Shadow-Gunslingers variant
This optional mode can be played with or without Gold Rush, though its characters are balanced for Gold Rush. When a player reaches zero life, apply the usual elimination effects and reveal their role, but keep their nuggets. On each of their scheduled turns, they temporarily return as a shadow version of their role: draw two cards, take a normal turn with zero life, and then leave play again, discarding all cards and equipment they acquired. They cannot gain or lose life while shadowed.
A shadow player is absent outside their turn: they do not count for distance, General Store, Dynamite or other effects, and their character abilities do not work. They keep nuggets between turns and may earn or spend them while shadowed. A shadow Renegade takes the Shadow-Renegade card and, at the start of each turn, joins the side with the most other revealed roles; ties go to the Outlaws. Their team remains fixed until their next turn and they never return to the original Renegade role.
Card and character effects
Publisher card faces and character text are listed below; each component entry links directly to its effect. Effects are concise paraphrases of the printed face and expansion rules.
Boots
Does not apply to the last life point you lose
Bottle
Even though this card has the same effect, it is not considered a Panic! , a Beer , or a BANG! . The BANG! you can shoot with this card does not count towards your one BANG! per turn limit
Calumet
This equipment has no effect during Duels
Gold Pan
To keep track of the cards you draw using the Gold Pan , put the gold nuggets you pay on the Gold Pan card, then return them to the heap at the end of your turn
Gold Rush
Turns proceed counter-clockwise, starting with the Sheriff. Card draws and Dynamite still proceed clockwise.
Gun Belt
Buy it for 2 nuggets. Keep it in play; your end-of-turn hand limit is eight cards.
Horseshoe
All “draw!” cards are discarded afterwards
Lucky Charm
Does not apply to the last life point you lose. Always take the gold nugget from the heap, not from the player who wounded you!
Partner
Even though this card has the same effect, it is not considered a General Store , a Duel , or a Cat Balou
Pickaxe
Buy it for 4 nuggets. During phase 1 of your turn, draw one additional card.
Rhum
All “draw!” cards are discarded afterwards
Rucksack
May be used out of turn, if you are losing your last life point
Shot
Pay 1 gold nugget; one player of your choice, including yourself, regains one life point.
Union Pacific
Buy it for 4 nuggets, then draw four cards from the deck.
Wanted
The 2 cards and the gold nugget are in addition to any other effect (e.g. if you eliminate an outlaw, you get 3 + 2 = 5 cards and 1 gold nugget—if the Sheriff kills a Wanted deputy, he draws before discarding his entire hand, but keeps his nuggets)
Don Bell
At the end of his extra turn, he does not “draw!” for an extra turn again
Dutch Will
He must discard one of the two cards he has just drawn (his choice) during phase 1 of his turn
Jacky Murieta
He may shoot more than one extra BANG! provided he can pay the gold nuggets. He does not need to play any cards to use this ability
Josh McCloud
This ability can be used only during his turn. If he draws a black-bordered equipment card he already has, he must discard it
Madam Yto
It doesn’t matter whether the Beer was played to regain a life point or to take a gold nugget. It doesn’t matter who played the Beer , even Madam Yto’s Beer cards count. This ability does not work if someone uses any other similar card such as Whisky or Bottle as a Beer
Pretty Luzena
She may buy more than one equipment card per turn, but only one has its cost reduced by 1 gold nugget. If she uses her ability on an equipment card with cost 1, she takes it for free
Raddie Snake
To keep track of the cards you draw using this ability, put the gold nuggets you pay on your character card, then return them to the heap at the end of your turn
Simeon Picos
Always take the gold nugget from the heap, not from the player who wounded you!
Shadow Renegade
When the Renegade is eliminated in the variant, reveal this card. At the start of each of your turns, count other face-up roles: join the team with more; a tie goes to the Outlaws. Flip to the matching Shadow Deputy or Shadow Outlaw side, and keep that side until your next turn.
Gold nuggets
Currency for buying equipment and paying abilities in Gold Rush.