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In the untamed frontier of the Wild West, outlaws roam freely while determined settlers try to build, grow, and defend their towns. But it’s not just about staking a claim or expanding land—players have to face off against villains, manage resources, and make their town thrive. One wrong move, and your dreams of prosperity could disappear faster than a tumbleweed caught in a storm.
👥 2-4 players, ages 10+
⌛ Playing time: 50-100 minutes
📝 Designer: Piotr Dachtera
🎨 Artwork: Tomasz Bolik
🏢 Publisher: Smart Flamingo (prototype copy provided)
Check out the Gamefound campaign by clicking here
Gameplay Overview
In West Story, the game is played over several rounds, with the length determined by the gold coins in the mining pan. The game starts with 12 coins in the pan, and at the end of each round, the player with the most wealth takes one of these coins. That player also rolls the dice to determine the income for the next round. Based on the dice roll, players will mark two action spaces on their player board, collecting bonuses along the way. If a rolled space is already marked, players move to the next available one to the right. And here’s where the strategy kicks in: if both rolled spaces share the same symbol, you can create combos! This allows you to mark another matching space, unlocking even more actions.
During the income phase, players collect a mix of resources—cowboy hats, coins, points, and sometimes cows (which can act as wild resources for coins or hats). Some rolls might also trigger a special effect, which can be used only for that round. When a player fills a whole row on their board, all markers are cleared for a fresh start in the following round.
After gathering income, players take turns using the resources they’ve earned. The first step is checking the region where their score pawn is located. If there’s a villain there, they’ll need to either fight or pay them off. If they choose to fight, they’ll pay the cost in coins and hats, and in return, they collect the villain token, which will score points at the end of the game. If they opt to pay instead, the money is placed next to the villain for the next player to win when they fight the villain off.
Most regions contain a trading post, where players can trade resources by marking the corresponding symbol on their player board, earning more income as a result. Marking these town trading posts also earns points at the game’s end.
The desert region, however, operates differently. There’s no trading post here, but players can purchase a railroad certificate, which will grant points based on how many of a specific symbol the player collects during the game. These symbols can be gathered by buying cards in the next phase of the turn.
Players can purchase up to two cards from the market. There are three types of cards: production, scoring, and building cards. Each type enhances the action spaces on a player’s board. When purchasing a card, it’s placed over an unmarked action space or an existing card, covering the printed action or the one that was there before.
Players finish their turn by resetting their hat marker—any unused hats are lost. At the end of the round, a coin from the gold mining pan is awarded to the richest player, which also acts as a countdown for the game. If any player reaches the 42-point mark on the scoring track, they get an additional coin, speeding up the endgame.
The game concludes when there are no more coins to take from the pan. In the final scoring phase, players tally points for defeated villains, trading post markers, railroad certificates, collected symbols on their cards (including covered ones), and points from animal scoring cards. Victory belongs to the player with the most points, leaving the rest to wonder if their towns ever stood a chance in the unforgiving wilds of the West.
Game Info
Designed by Piotr Dachtera and published by the indie board game studio Smart Flamingo from Poland, West Story hits Gamefound today for a crowdfunding campaign. This fast-paced, medium-weight Eurogame is designed for 2-4 players, ages 10 and up, with a playtime ranging between 50 to 100 minutes, depending on the number of players. From our experience, games took around 55-70 minutes with varying player counts, so it’s definitely manageable within a game night—no need to clear your whole evening!
Components, Production, and Artwork
We were fortunate to receive a preview copy of West Story, so keep in mind that the components are still in development, and what you see in the photos could change. Even so, the game impressed us with its clear rulebook and intuitive design—so intuitive, in fact, that we didn’t need to reference the rules once during play. Tomasz Bolik’s artwork perfectly captures the Wild West theme, with visuals that fit the setting as naturally as a cowboy fits into his saddle. The components are practical too: action cubes, for example, are simple yet effective for tracking actions and keeping the game moving.
Mechanics and Gameplay
The game mixes some of our favorite mechanics—tableau building, set collection, and resource management—into a fun and challenging experience. At the heart of West Story is the careful placement of cards, which allows you to build a tableau of powerful actions and trigger rewarding combos. You’ll constantly be on the lookout for matching symbols to unlock even more benefits, turning your dusty town into a well-oiled machine. Or, perhaps more fittingly, a steam engine powering through the frontier!
Upgrading your tableau is key—sometimes, it’s worth covering an old action with a new, more powerful card. But timing is everything! Upgrade too early, and you might miss out on valuable actions. You’ll also need to manage resources wisely, balancing your supply of coins and hats to fend off pesky villains or invest in expanding your town. The challenge? Keeping that steady flow of resources while deciding when to go big and when to play it safe.
What really spices things up is how the scoring track affects your choices. Your position on the track not only scores points but determines which regions you can access, each with its own villain to fight and trading posts to visit. Sometimes, scoring points too quickly can actually be a disadvantage—trust me, you don’t always want to be the first to face off against a particularly tough villain! Do you push ahead, or do you hang back and build your town’s resources before the big showdown?
And when it comes to fighting or paying off those villains, it’s a choice you’ll face frequently. Defeating them gets you points, but paying them off saves you the resources for bigger, more impactful moves later. Like a real showdown at high noon, it’s all about timing your actions just right.
Replayability and Crowdfunding Goodies
One thing that really boosts the replayability of West Story is the variety in building cards. While the prototype version we played had five building types, the final game will offer more options, ensuring that no two games will ever feel quite the same. With only five buildings in play at any time, each game forces you to adapt and rethink your strategies.
If you’re a fan of keeping things fresh, the Gamefound campaign promises some exciting extras: layover tokens to swap out town symbols, new villains you can’t defeat (yes, really!), and an expansion that adds solo mode or enhances 2-3 player games. And of course, there’s the potential for juicy stretch goals—because we all know how these campaigns go, right? (Hint: the more, the merrier!)
Final Thoughts
West Story is a medium-weight game with mechanics that feel familiar in all the right ways, but has just enough twists to keep things exciting. What we really enjoyed was how your position on the scoring track could both open up opportunities and create tricky situations. It’s not often in a game that you don’t want to score points, but here, sometimes staying put and gathering resources is the smarter play. That’s especially true when you’re not quite ready to face off against a villain in the next region.
While the game gives you plenty to strategize about, it’s worth noting that direct player interaction is somewhat limited. Most of the gameplay revolves around managing your own tableau and resources, with occasional indirect competition when racing to defeat villains or trade in towns. This makes West Story more about optimizing your personal strategy than constantly outwitting your opponents.
The fast-paced gameplay keeps things moving, and it’s really satisfying to see your town grow as you pull off those powerful combos. If you’re into games with a mix of resource management, dice-based actions, and a bit of luck mixed with strategy, West Story should definitely be on your radar. Head over to the Gamefound campaign to check it out—you won’t want to miss this Wild West adventure.
📝 We received a preview copy of the game from the publisher, Smart Flamingo.
