Originally released back in 2014, Colt Express is a classic board game about pulling off a train heist. Over the years, it has gotten a variety of expansions that have added elements like solo play, stagecoaches, and a whole posse of new characters. Now the Colt Express: the Complete Collection crowdfunding campaign is bringing features from many of the expansion released over the years together into a single package.
Colt Express is a game that's as much about hidden information and cautiously plotting out your moves as it is about robbing trains and dated Wild West stereotypes.
Players choose cards that determine their actions. They make these choices far in advance of those moves actually resolving, and stack them together into a single pile at the center of the table. Sometimes face up and sometimes face down, depending on the situation. Then this big stack of cards resolves, often leaving chaos in its wake, as a move that seemed brilliant when you were mulling it over in your head five minutes ago, emerges in practice as a flurry of self-defeating anarchy.
The most notable aspect of Colt Express is its tactility. The cardboard train standee that acts as its board is by far its coolest feature. It makes the experience quite literally three dimensional, as you scramble onto the roof to blast your way to the front of the train.
There's loot to gather as you slip from carriage to carriage on the Union Pacific Express, and whoever has scooped up the most by the end of the game wins.
Four days remain on the Colt Express: Complete Edition crowdfunding campaign, so take the next train down to Gamefound if you feel like backing it.
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For more wacky games for groups, have a look at our list of the best party card games.